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A dull but incessant headache is what finally wakes Chiaki up. As he slowly and groggily opens his eyes, he begins to take into account the situation he is finding himself in. That position being the bed of Kanata, his friend and fellow member of Ryuseitai. Chiaki only fights the urge to go back to sleep due to the abnormality of his circumstances The bed is warm and comfortable, with bedding made of the most luxurious materials Chiaki has ever encountered. A fitting sleeping chamber for a god.
“Chiaki, I see you are awake. Do not be alarmed, I have abducted and confined you~!”
The cheery voice emanates from Kanata, sitting in a plush armchair in the corner of the room. He seems to be wearing a housecoat and bears a leisurely facial expression that does not at all match what just came out of his mouth.
“Saying that cheerfully doesn’t make it any less alarming!” Chiaki exclaims.
“I thought you would be alarmed by the headache you likely have, so I sought to provide an explanation to assuage your worries. I deemed it best for you to be unconscious so that you would not resist me when I brought you up here, so I hit you over the head with a blunt object in order to achieve that goal~”
“Kanata, what’s going on? You said you had a problem with your family–”
“I lied. I knew you would not cooperate with me if I told you my real intentions were to abduct and confine you in order to ensure you rested while you were sick~”
Chiaki has a million questions and knows Kanata will answer none of them. At least, not in a way that’s straightforward enough for him to comprehend through the headache and the fever. Resigned to his fate, Chiaki decides to lay back, letting the perfectly-fluffed pillows support his aching head. The Tanabata Festival is rapidly approaching, and if Chiaki has any hope of getting better in time, he quickly realises Kanata’s approach may unfortunately be necessary.
“You may have a point… But I still think you could have done something other than abducting me!” Chiaki stammers, readjusting his position to be able to look at Kanata. “I would have listened to you if you had just said you wanted me to stay here.”
“It is impossible to lie to me. You would proclaim that you are a hero and can take on any burden, making yourself worse~”
Chiaki opens his mouth to protest, only to realise Kanata is exactly right. He settles on staring at Kanata indignantly instead. “A real superhero also knows when it’s time to take a break, I suppose… Very well! I am going to rest as quickly as possible so that I can get back to my duties as a hero and as a member of Ryuseitai!”
“I am glad you are finally coming to your senses. Now go back to sleep. I will be back later~” Kanata trails off. He then dons a perfectly neutral expression—Chiaki quickly realises this is due to the fact that they are, in fact, in the Shinkai household as of presently—before drifting out the door. A soft click indicates that Kanata locked it on his way out. Chiaki does not think he is kidding about holding him captive, but it is somewhat of a surprise nonetheless.
Without Kanata in it, the room falls silent. Soft afternoon light bleeds through the gaps in the drapes covering the windows. Between the silence, the warmth, and the comfort of the bed Chiaki finds himself in, it is impossible not to succumb to the allure of an afternoon nap.
The smoke alarm is the next thing to wake Chiaki up, sounding throughout the room and likely the entire household. In a flash, Chiaki is out of bed. “Let me out!” Chiaki exclaims, banging on the door to Kanata’s room. He silently hopes to himself that someone is on the other side of the door, guarding the exit. “I am sure Kanata told you I am not to leave my room under any circumstances, but I think this is an exception!”
Thankfully, Chiaki is right. The door is quickly unlocked by one of Kanata’s attendees, and before they have a chance to ask why Chiaki is in Kanata’s room, he is running down the stairs toward the source of the noise. After a brief period of stumbling through corridors and walkways, Chiaki finds himself in the kitchen, where Kanata is calmly standing by the counter.
“You should not be out of bed, Chiaki~” Kanata scolds.
“I could not sleep! The smoke alarm–”
“Yes, the smoke alarm. Could you help me turn it off? This is a task I was never allowed to do when I was younger.” Kanata looks up at the smoke alarm affixed to the ceiling, blinking and beeping incessantly.
“Why is your smoke alarm going off, Kanata?”
“Likely because of the smoking oven behind me~” Kanata steps out of the way to reveal an oven that is most assuredly smoking behind him.
“Why is your oven smoking?!” Chiaki shouts before pushing past Kanata to get to the oven. He begins to frantically push buttons in the hopes of turning the oven off. “What were you trying to achieve? Were you trying to cook something?”
“Yes. I was trying to bake some cookies to bring upstairs to my sick friend, Chiaki~ Unfortunately the oven had other plans. I do not understand what went wrong. I followed the recipe exactly. The oven is set to the exact temperature listed on the recipe, 375 degrees Celsius~” Kanata declares, holding up the recipe and pointing to the passage in question.
“Kanata! That says 375 degrees Fahrenheit! 375 degrees Celsius is almost double that! Where’s the button to turn this thing off…”
A brief search through the buttons on the oven elicits a result. A heroic press of the “cancel” button is all that is needed to stop the source of the smoke. The next problem is the alarm sounding throughout the kitchen and loud enough to be heard from Kanata’s room. “Kanata! Can you tell anyone in the household who was alerted by the alarm to ignore it while I figure out how to make this thing stop beeping?”
“I can do anything~ Puka puka ~” Kanata hums as he walks out of the room at a leisurely pace. Chiaki is disconcerted by his seemingly untroubled attitude toward the fire hazard erupting from his attempts at cooking. But there are more pressing matters at hand.
Standing on the counter, Chiaki peers at the alarm, still beeping with fervour. “Surely there must be some way to disconnect it from the ceiling,” Chiaki thinks aloud. “I would just find the buttons while it’s still in place, but I can’t read the fine print from this distance without my glasses. Maybe if I twist it…?”
He grabs the entire alarm and twists it, and to his surprise, the alarm comes off the ceiling, revealing a battery pack inside of it. He quickly climbs down from the counter, then carefully removes the batteries from the system, ceasing the unending beeps of terror. “Ryusei Red saves the day once again! Now to clean up around here before Kanata gets back…”
The kitchen of the Shinkai household is unsurprisingly as luxurious as Kanata’s room. From the marble countertops to the stone-tile floors, everything about the room expresses a level of wealth Chiaki has never seen before. The one exception is the state of the art oven, which is currently filled with a molten attempt at cookies.
Before Chiaki has a chance to figure out what to do about the oven, a characteristically carefree Kanata reenters the kitchen. He is carrying a large bottle of oven-cleaning solution. Upon seeing Chiaki still at the stove, he puts it down. “You have solved the problem, hero. Time to go back to bed. Someone else can do that. This is not a job for people who should be resting~”
“It’s just cleaning. Surely even someone with a fever can clean a–woah!” Before Chiaki has a chance to finish his thought, he finds himself being scooped up by Kanata’s surprising strength. “Kanata! You don’t need to carry me like a bride! It’s just a fever!”
“Too late. Humans with fevers need to go back to bed~”
Chiaki has no choice but to allow Kanata to carry him back upstairs to the bedroom.
Kanata deposits Chiaki safely back in his bed, tucking him in with a gusto unbefitting of the situation. It is subtle, but implied that this is being done with the intention of Chiaki not going anywhere. Once again confined to his rather absurd prison of pillows and silk bedding, Chiaki makes himself as comfortable as he can be in such a bizarre situation. Kanata, presumably satisfied with his efforts, reclines in his plush armchair after tucking Chiaki in.
“Why were you trying to make cookies for me, anyway?” Chiaki once again has a million questions, but this seems like the most pressing, and the simplest to answer.
“This is something humans do for other humans when they are sick.”
“But you don’t have to, Kanata. You can just ask me what I need to feel better.”
“Will you not be making a wish, in that case? Humans do not make wishes to other humans, and I am no longer a god.”
At that moment, Chiaki realises this is about more than just one burnt tray of cookies. Disease and sickness were the one thing Kanata could not fix when he was a god, so this must be a sore spot for him. The good news is, Ryusei Red knows exactly what to say in this situation.
“Come lie down next to me, Kanata.”
Kanata tilts his head at his friend, confusion written all over his face. “Why?”
“Because it will make me feel better.”
Kanata is still evidently perplexed, but does as he is told, and lies down next to Chiaki. There is a passing thought in Chiaki’s mind that his fever combined with the warm bedding will likely overheat Kanata at some point, but he decides that will be a problem for the future. Chiaki takes advantage of this moment to grab Kanata into a tight hug, much to the other boy’s surprise.
“How will this make you feel better?” Kanata asks, but doesn’t resist Chiaki’s hug.
“Sometimes humans don’t make sense, and unlikely things end up making them feel better. Right now all I need is a hug and some company from my partner. We can worry about food when I’m hungry. Does that sound alright?”
Kanata pauses and thinks for a second. Chiaki watches as the gears turn in his partner’s mind. “Yes, I can do that. I will hug you and keep you company and you will feel better. Then you can resume your heroic duties~”
A comfortable silence fills the room. Kanata keeps true to his word and hugs Chiaki tightly, gently running his fingers through his short, brown hair. Chiaki wonders absently if Kanata is aware how soothing this gesture is, but decides to let the thought drift away from him, like a wave on the ocean. Perhaps Kanata simply has that impact on people; his perpetual state of calmness rubbing off on other people is not the most extraordinary of thoughts. Chiaki wants to thank Kanata for everything he has done, and everything he will do, but he decides against it. He is sure Kanata already knows. With this certainty in mind, Chiaki squeezes Kanata even tighter, as if to convey everything he could possibly have to say with the power of hugging. Whether or not Chiaki is actually achieving this goal is a mystery to him, along with everything else about Kanata. But this aspect of mystery is part of what endears him to his fellow Ryuseitai member. Thoughts of mysteries and heroism fill Chiaki’s mind as Kanata’s gentle presence lulls him to sleep once again.