This was originally written for Moon_Blitz on Ao3 for the 2016 Kamen Rider Girls Exchange.

Lightning flashed outside the window. Thunder cracked in the distance. Hiding under the table with her brother and Takeru, Kanon shrieked in fear.

Akari was kneeling beside the table with her nose in a book. She made a show of sighing loudly, since her friends couldn't see her rolling her eyes. "If you three want to grow up anytime soon," she said in a sing-song tone. Which was hilarious, because she was only seven.

"But it's scary!" Kanon cried. Makoto had his arms wrapped around his sister and was glaring up at Akari.

"It's just electric discharge. Even if it was dangerous, you can tell from the length between the lightning flashes and thunder claps that the storm is at least two miles away."

"How can you tell that?" Takeru challenged.

Akari sighed again, louder. "Sound is slower than light. We see the flash of light almost instantaneously because light is so fast, but the sound takes longer to get here. About a second for each mile it has to travel."

Thunder clapped again. Takeru shouted.

Makoto started to say, "That doesn't change the fact that—" but Kanon cut him off by extricating herself from his deathgrip. "Kanon?"

Kanon wiped her eyes and climbed out from under the table. "Is that really true, Akari?"

Akari smiled. "It sure is. I have a book about storms at home if you want to borrow it sometime."

There was a flash of lightning outside. Kanon held her breath and covered her ears for two seconds, until the thunder passed by. When she opened her eyes, she managed a shaky smile.

Akari still lived with her family, in the house she'd lived in as a child. Kanon knew exactly where it was.

The pink eyecon tapped against Akari's bedroom window three times. When there was no answer, she tried again. Still nothing—so she floated from window to window to try and find her. It was late, but maybe Akari had gone to the kitchen for a midnight snack.

Nothing in the kitchen. Nothing in the living room. The bathroom light was out, so Kanon didn't even try it. But there was one light shining, Kanon finally realized, from a tiny shed in the backyard that she didn't remember from her childhood.

The lights in the shed flickered briefly but violently.

Kanon would have smiled if she could have. Akari had to be there.

Three knocks was the signal. Kanon felt a bit dizzy after flinging her entire body against the wooden shed door; it was much more strenuous than tapping a glass window. But the stirring she heard from inside the shed paused after she did so. After a long moment, she could hear footsteps. Then the door opened.

Akari's eyes went wide behind her safety goggles. Her grip tightened around her crutch. "Kanon? Is something wrong?"

Kanon bobbed from side to side. "No... I just wanted to come see you, and right now is the only chance I had to slip away from my brother. Are you busy?"

Akari was obviously busy. She was decked out from head to toe in goggles, a lab coat, and thick rubber gloves. But she smiled and held the door open anyway. "Come on in."

When she floated inside, Kanon could see more of the shed. The long table lining one wall was covered in beakers full of toxic-looking chemicals. There were papers strewn pinned up on all of the walls, crammed so full of handwriting and sketches that the white space was barely visible. In the back of the shed was a rolled-up futon.

Kanon sighed. "Don't tell me you sleep in here..."

Pulling her goggles off, Akari blushed. "I only take short naps. Takeru got me that futon so I'd stop falling asleep on the table."

Kanon giggled.

"But I haven't been using this lab much lately..." Akari plopped down into her chair and set her crutch aside. "I've been doing most of my work at the temple since this whole Ganma mess started."

"How long have you had this lab?" Kanon asked. "I don't remember it."

"My father built it for me three years ago." She smiled. "I kept wrecking the kitchen with experiments."

That was believable. Kanon could just picture Akari's kitchen after some project or another. She still remembered that time Akari had brought a baking soda volcano to class one day. That seemed like a whole lifetime ago.

Finally Akari asked, "Are you sure your brother won't miss you?"

"It's fine," Kanon assured her. "I don't have to spend every moment with him."

"He probably doesn't agree..." But Akari grinned good-naturedly. "Don't worry, I won't tell."

Kanon bobbed up and down gleefully. "I didn't think you would."

Kanon stretched her legs out until she felt her muscles tense. She put her feet on the floor and stood up.

When the door to the hospital room opened, she shrieked in surprise, wobbled, and fell back onto her bed.

Akari gasped. "Ah, Kanon! Are you all right?"

Kanon could feel her cheeks heating up. "I-I'm fine... I thought you were my brother."

"Makoto? Oh, he must come to see you a lot."

"Yeah. He doesn't want me pushing myself..." Kanon pulled her legs up onto her bed and folded her arms around them. "But..."

Akari tilted her head and made an inquisitive sound.

Kanon sighed. "I'm tired of being cooped up. First I was stuck as an eyecon, and now I'm stuck in a hospital bed. I'm not sick! He's worrying for nothing!"

"Oh, I see." Akari took a seat in the visitor chair. "Well, if you want to get up and walk around, I won't tell."

Stretching her legs out in front of herself again, Kanon smiled a small smile. "Even if I leave the room?"

"Is there somewhere you want to go?"

"Well, I've been wanting to get some takoyaki..."

"Ah, from old woman Fumi's stand in the park?"

Kanon lit up. "Does she still run it?"

Akari nodded. "C'mon, let's get you out of this stuffy old place."

The park was chilly, but the fresh air made Kanon feel more alive than she had since... well, since before she'd become an eyecon. Even though she was wearing nothing more than a hospital gown, slippers, and Akari's jacket, she was too busy relishing the sensation to hate the cold.

Despite her insistence on going out, before long Kanon found herself exhausted. She took a seat on a bench while Akari went to get some takoyaki.

"It's so good!" Kanon said with her mouth full. "Just like I remember..."

Akari smiled. "Fumi did try switching her recipe up a few years ago, but Takeru got so mad about it she had to change back."

"Really? That's hilarious!"

The park was still around them, the silence only broken by the occasional tweeting of a bird. But the quiet was different from that of the hospital. Kanon liked this a lot more.

The weeks seemed to fly by. Kanon adjusted to her body as though she were picking up an old bicycle she hadn't ridden for a while—one never truly forgot. When she wasn't spending time with her brother, pestering Alain, or visiting Takeru's temple, she liked to go over to Akari's house.

On one cloudy day, while she waited for Akari to return from the kitchen, Kanon ran her fingers along the spines of the books on the bookshelf. Ah—that spine looked familiar.

Akari emerged with a couple glasses of tea. "What do you have there?"

Kanon held the book up and grinned. "Do you remember when you lent me this, Akari?"

"Weather Patterns and Storm Formation... Oh!" Akari set the serving tray down. "When we had that really big thunderstorm! Didn't the power go out?"

"I was terrified," Kanon admitted sheepishly. "But I know better now." She knew more about the science behind thunderstorms... and she knew that there were things out there that were genuinely scary.

"Didn't you have trouble reading it, though? I remember you getting frustrated."

"It's full of high-school kanji!" Kanon exclaimed. "How did you even read this when you were seven?"

"It wasn't that hard."

As the two girls knelt down at the living room table, rain started to tap against the window. In the distance, thunder sounded.

"Going to hide under the table?" Akari teased.

"Would you like to join me?" Kanon challenged her.

"Ah, I—"

She would just let Akari process that on her own. Kanon grinned, took a sip of her tea, and flipped the book open. Now that she didn't have to stop and ask Makoto for help every three words—or cross-reference a kanji dictionary, since Makoto had been befuddled too—things made a lot more sense.

Sitting with Akari, reading while thunder gently rumbled four-and-a-half miles away, Kanon felt at ease.

Kanon couldn't think straight. Ever since the red haze had appeared in the sky, she'd had trouble breathing. It was just like before; just like in the Ganma world.

She pulled her blanket up over her head and squeezed her eyes shut. Not again. She didn't want to die again!

The bedroom door slid open. When Kanon didn't pull the blanket back down—honestly, she was too busy coughing to really notice—Akari gently spoke. "Kanon?"

"Hnn... Akari...?"

"I brought you some cough medicine. It won't cure all of your symptoms, but it should at least make your throat feel better."

Kanon lowered the blanket. She stared at Akari for a second, then forced herself to sit up. "Th... thanks, Akari." She coughed weakly.

Akari smiled, pouring out a tablespoon of the thick syrupy liquid. "Any time. Now, you can only take one dose every four hours. If it doesn't work, don't try taking more. I'll figure something else out."

Kanon nodded. She eyed the medicine warily. She'd always hated medicine, but she hated the way her throat felt like sandpaper even more. So she took a deep breath and downed it in one gulp.

"It tastes bad, huh?" Akari said sympathetically. "Next time try holding your nose. That'll dull your taste buds a little."

"Really?"

Akari handed over a glass of water that Kanon hadn't noticed before. "Your senses of smell and taste are really closely related. Pay attention next time you have a cold and you'll notice you can't really taste anything."

Next time she had a cold? It was like Akari was wishing it on her! Still, Kanon mused as she gulped the water and washed away the cough syrup's flavor, a cold would be better than this.

They sat in silence for a moment. The coughs didn't return. Kanon sighed in relief and flopped onto her back. "Thank you so much..."

Akari leaned over her and drew her blanket up. "Get some sleep, okay?"

"O-okay. But first..."

"Hm?" Akari tilted her head.

Kanon tried to lean up, but her body stubbornly refused to move. The most she could manage was to lift her hand and place it on Akari's cheek, but Akari pulled away, her face burning bright red.

"It's okay," Kanon protested. "If you haven't gotten sick already, I won't pass it on to you."

"It's not that. You need your rest." Akari tucked the blanket in around Kanon's shoulders. "I'm... glad, though."

Kanon smiled.

"Not just that you aren't contagious!" Akari was quick to amend. "I already suspected as much. I mean I'm glad that you... ah..."

"I understand." Kanon stifled a yawn. Was that cough syrup a sleep aid too, or was she just getting sleepier now that she knew she wouldn't keep herself awake coughing?

Akari stood up, gathered up the empty water glass and cough syrup, and returned to the door. "Take care, okay? I promise I'll make this all better."

But Kanon was already out.

Even once the antidote was in her system, Kanon laid on her back and stared up at the ceiling for a while. She took deep breaths, telling herself she would sit up soon. Soon.

But she could tell Cubi was getting anxious. She gave him a fond smile. "I'll draw with you soon, okay?"

Before too long, Akari had returned. She slid the door open forcefully, panting as though she'd worn herself out. "The red aurora is gone. I did it!"

That's when Kanon finally did sit up. The world spun around her, but only for a second. She grinned from ear to ear. "That's great, Akari!"

"So we can draw now, right?"

"Soon," Kanon promised Cubi. "I just have one thing to do first."

And then she was on her feet, her arms wrapped around Akari's waist, and lips locked together. Akari let out a muffled gasp, but she quickly softened and returned the embrace.

From where Cubi sat, they could both hear the sound of paper rustling. Akari broke away and laughed. "Cubi, are we getting a portrait to commemorate—"

Kanon shrieked. She broke away from Akari and lunged for Cubi to grab away his paintbrush. "You can't draw this, Cubi! And Akari, when Takeru and Alain save my brother—"

Akari covered her mouth in shock. "Is he... I mean, would he be..."

"It's not because you're a girl," Kanon was quick to elaborate. "But he doesn't want me dating until I'm thirty." She groaned. "The two of you absolutely cannot tell him, okay?"

Cubi tilted his head in confusion. "I won't!"

"And I won't tell, either." Akari mimicked a motion of zipping her lips and throwing away a key. "Until we're sure he won't freak out."

Good. With that settled, Kanon returned to Akari's arms.

Everything would be just fine.