a/n: i guess it's been a while, huh? writer's block kept trying to kick my ass and i've been working on an original novel for a while, so i had a hard time writing this, but i still love kumirei dearly

Kumiko cursed her apartment's air conditioning. She cursed it for choosing today, of all days, to break down and leave the apartment a sweaty mess of fans clothing stuck to her skin.

"Geez," she groaned, all but pressing her face against the whirring fan she'd dug up from the closet. "Why's it so hot?" Reina, unsurprisingly, popped into her mind as she lay with her head on the coffee table as the fan tried its best to cool her off. "Hmm . . ."

An hour passed until Kumiko couldn't take it anymore, and she grabbed the phone with a sudden burst of energy, hitting Reina's name on her contact list.

"H-hey, Reina?"

"Kumiko?"

"The, uh, air conditioning at my place b-broke down, so I was wondering if I could . . . head over to your house for a little while? It's really hot in here."

"I don't see why not. My parents aren't home, so it'd just be the two of us."

"Okay, see you then!" Kumiko hung up the phone and picked up her bag, wiping sweat off her brow. The magnitude of what she'd just done didn't manage to hit for a few seconds. "I'm going to see Reina. At her house. Without her parents there. Oh, crap."

The bus wasn't much better in terms of heating, nearly suffocating in its packed space. Kumiko was sure that she'd downed at least three water bottles by the time it reached her stop, and she stumbled off with sweat drenching most of her body.

"Reina's house has air conditioning, Reina's house has air conditioning," she whispered to herself as the sidewalk seemed to glare up at her. "It'll just be me and Reina and air conditioning. It'll be great. It'll be perfect."

The Kousaka house was just as foreboding as it always was, shuttered windows and gardens manicured to perfection. Kumiko shivered as she rang the doorbell, and the distant sound clanged through the rooms beyond the door.

"Kumiko?" Reina pushed open the door. It took Kumiko a moment to form any words.

"Oh, uh, Reina! What're the chances of us meeting here?"

"This is my house."

"Right." Kumiko put her hands in her pockets, blushing furiously.

"You look exhausted. It's colder in here, I'll get you some water." Kumiko managed to mumble out a thank-you as she followed Reina inside, immediately breathing a sigh of relief when the cold drafts hit her.

"You're lucky, y'know." Reina turned.

"Hmm?"

"I mean, you're not sweltering in this heat." Indeed, Reina didn't look bothered in the slightest. "I'm just about ready to pass out."

"Kumiko, you really shouldn't have come all this way if it was going to have this kind of toll on you."

"I'm fine, Reina," Kumiko slurred. "Your couch is really soft, y'know that?"

"I'm going to get water. Stay here, alright?"

"Aye aye, captain." Kumiko watched Reina retreat into the kitchen. The Kousaka household never failed to strike her with just how big it was, crystalline chandeliers hanging over her while lush furniture remained untouched. It looked like something out of a real estate catalogue.

"I'm back," Reina announced, sitting down beside her. Kumiko gulped down the water greedily.

"S-sorry, by the way," she mumbled. "For dropping by like this."

"It's fine." Reina tossed the television's remote back and forth in her hands, eyes turned downwards. "Since you're here, is there anything you'd like to . . . do?"

"We could, uh, watch a movie." Kumiko pointed to the television, as if emphasizing her point. Reina shrugged.

"I don't see why not. I heard that there was some kind of superhero film marathon, we could watch that."

"Yeah." Silence began to rear its ugly head not a second later, and Kumiko fidgeted in her spot until Reina reached for the remote and the television clicked to life.

"They're making too many of these." It had happened gradually, but Kumiko had somehow found herself snuggled up with her head on Reina's lap, and Reina wasn't saying anything about it at all.

"Hmm?" Reina stirred, pushing a lock of hair out of her face.

"There're just . . . so many of them, y'know? They start to lose their meaning." An alien invasion occurred onscreen, extras screaming for their lives while the heroes charged into battle. "It's just, 'oh, hey, new superhero movie!' It's just there for money or something." She paused. "They're fun to watch, though."

"They are."

"We could make one, I bet." Kumiko let out a quiet laugh. "The Adventures of Euph and Trumpet."

"Who would be our sworn enemy to fight, then?" Reina thoughtfully held a finger to her chin. "A rival band?"

"Or the trombones."

"Tsukamoto-san wouldn't make much of a foe, would he?"

"I guess not." Kumiko rubbed the fabric of a blanket between her fingers. "Ooh, maybe it'd be Knuckle-senpai!"

"Asuka-senpai could work, too."

"She's not really much of a villain, though." Kumiko dropped the blanket. "She's more like . . . I dunno, one of those misunderstood sidekicks who ends up on the good side in the end, but they were always on the good side, really."

"She seems like enough of a villain to me, with that voice of hers and the way she's always sneaking up on people."

"I guess."

"I could be the villain, too." Kumiko looked up at Reina in surprise.

"What? Why?"

"I'm selfish, arrogant, chasing after goals I can't ever reach." Reina folded her arms, holding herself close despite the warm weather. She looked smaller than Kumiko usually saw her. "Those all sound like textbook villain characteristics to me."

"Okay, then what if you h-had a redemption arc? We'd join forces in the end to fight the real evil." Reina smiled softly.

"That could work," she murmured. "We'd be back to the beginning, then. Who's the 'real evil?'" Kumiko looked at the screen again, where buildings toppled and an offscreen villain cackled.

"Society?"

"Cliché."

"D'you have a better idea, smarty-pants?" Reina stopped to think.

"Competition judges. They'd be the villains, eyeing us with their critical attitudes."

"Mizore said something similar, once, I think." Kumiko wriggled closer, the heat of the outside all but shut away by the menacing French doors that guarded the house. "She hated competitions."

"I don't hate them, but it doesn't mean that they're good, either. I'm going to become special, no matter what a panel of stuffy old men say."

"See, that's the kind of ambition that's kinda . . ." Kumiko could feel her eyelids drooping closed as Reina ran her delicate fingers through her fluffy curls, gentle and comforting.

"Heroic?"

"Badass." Reina chuckled softly at that. "I'd stay with you either way, Reina."

"Even if I tried to blow up the Earth?" Reina pointed to the television again.

"Even then."

The two girls fell asleep like that, the movie fading out and replacing itself with another sequel, another in the pattern of good vs. evil and monumental battles that felt incredibly small, after a while.

"I'd offer to drive you home, but I'm not old enough for a license and my parents are out." Kumiko stood at the doorway, hands in her pockets.

"I think I'll live, Reina." She paused. "This was nice."

"It was." Reina looked down at the ground. "We should do it again sometime."

"Yeah." Kumiko clasped Reina's hand in hers before letting go and waving, walking down the sunlit sidewalk.

The weather was still suffocating, but Kumiko felt lighter than air.

a/n: if you're looking for a good superhero movie go see power rangers (2017) at a cinema near you