Part Two
The first time Reiji meets Ai, he feels a sting of nostalgia.
He has kept it to himself for a long time, but there are certain chunks of his memory missing from before he woke up from his coma six years ago.
What he couldn't remember weren't events. They seemed to revolve around a certain person, though his face and name were both unknown to Reiji. All of his memories regarding that person seemed to have vanished, though he seemed to have been an important person to him.
Yet, when he meets Ai, he can't help but be reminded of that someone, yet he just doesn't know why. Using knowing his fellow members of the new Quartet Night better as an excuse, he decides to attach himself onto the mysterious cyan haired teen, hoping to trigger some of his memories.
What he doesn't expect is to fall for the robotic idol, Mikaze Ai.
...
The first time Ai meets Reiji, he feels emotions that aren't programmed in him.
Are these Aine's feelings? He wonders, narrowing his eyes at the brunette.
However, just as suddenly as they came, the feelings dissipate... along with Aine's consciousness. Outwardly, Ai is simply stoic, though he doesn't show his inward turmoil. How did Aine simply just disappear?! His brain activity was linked with Aine's, so the only way Aine's consciousness would disappear was if he either died or his consciousness left his body.
Ai is deep in thought. Should he tell the professor about what had occurred? The robot part of him tells him "yes," to obey his purpose. After all, he was built to quicken Aine's revival. He should tell the professor what happened to Aine, right?
But the part of him that identifies himself as "Mikaze Ai" tells him "no." If he told the professor, there was a 75.1% chance that he would be shut down since if Aine wasn't connected to him anymore, he was useless.
He didn't want that. Especially now that he is curious of the feelings that Aine felt towards this Kotobuki Reiji. Ai had a craving for knowledge. And he wanted to know. He decides that he would keep Aine's condition to himself for a while.
He acts cold to the brunette that attaches himself to him, though he allows it, for his research. Just until he finds out how to identify Aine's feelings, he tells himself.
What he doesn't expect is to fall for the annoying brunette, Kotobuki Reiji.
...
When Aine awakens, he isn't in Ai's mind anymore. His consciousness is floating in midair, like a ghost. He glances down at his body, sound asleep in coma.
Why did he detach himself from Ai's brain again? He tries to remember, and then it hits him like a truck. Reiji. It pains him too much to see Reiji now, especially since he has forgotten about Aine's existence.
It's for the best, he tells himself. By putting himself in a coma and erasing Reiji's memories of his existence, Reiji's curse of death has been broken. It's for the best.
He knows, but why does he feel such pain?
He also didn't want to burden Ai with his feelings for Reiji invading the already confused robot's mind. He felt bad for the poor robot, who was forced to live a life in order for him to wake up. Hopefully, if Aine was detached from him, Ai could live a life of his own.
It's for the best. His ethereal form closes his eyes. He wouldn't bother either Ai or Reiji anymore. He will just wait here in the lab, until his body finally breaks down and his consciousness fades.
However, a year later, he finds himself drifting towards that Shining Master Course Dormitory, to check on Ai, he tells himself as he hesitantly floats down the street, invisible to everyone. To see if he was doing alright by himself.
Oh, who is he kidding?
He wants to see Reiji.
...
When he arrives, he floats through the dorms, looking around for traces of Ai or Reiji. There are more people here than when Ai first arrived, he notes.
In the hallway, he finds a redhead running towards a grumpy looking silverette, who Aine faintly recognizes. Kurosaki Ranmaru. If he remembers correctly, he is another member of Reiji's new idol group, Quartet Night.
"Kurosaki-senpai!" The redhead halts in front of Ranmaru, panting. "Do you know where Rei-chan is? Tokiya and I want to show him our newest piece!"
Ranmaru rolls his eyes, before turning away and heading down the hall, bored with the conversation. However, his answer lingers behind. "Don't bother. Last I heard, he went with Ai to the park. He's never going to listen to you with Ai around."
The redhead seems a bit disappointed, but let's out a "oh" of understanding. He rushes back in the direction he came, where a bluenette was waiting for him.
"Rei-chan went with Ai-senpai to the park." He announces, a bit down. The bluenette smiles slightly, though rather fondly.
"Don't worry, Otoya. We can show him 'Roulette' later. Besides, Kotobuki-san and Mikaze-san don't go out very often. Let them be."
"Ok..." The two's voices fade down the hallway, while Aine stiffens.
It can't be... Why Reiji and Ai went to the park was still rather vague, but from the conversation Aine just witnessed, he could feel a few implications.
One of which he didn't really want to believe.
He rushes out of the dorms in the direction of the park.
...
It's spring, the season for cherry blossoms. Delicate sakura petals drift down from the trees all around the park where a disguised brunette looks up with a smile at the arrival of a younger cyan-haired male.
"Why did you call me out here, Reiji?" The cyanette's hair is down and a hat along with fake glasses conceal his identity. Though his tone seems annoyed, a bit of fondness shows through his emotionless eyes. Something that only Reiji can pick out.
"Don't be like that, Ai-Ai!" The brunette whines, even though he knows that Ai isn't really annoyed. He takes the younger male's hand in his own. "We rarely are allowed to go out! And you're always so busy! Since it's our day off, let's enjoy ourselves a bit, okay?"
Ai sighs, ever the tsundere even as a small smile graces his lips. "Fine." Reiji is about to cheer when he adds, "Only if you buy me marine jelly. If you do, we'll go out on a date."
Reiji seems relieved at Ai's request. After all, the last time they went out, the price was that Reiji had to perfect the singing and choreography to "The Dice are Cast" in one day. It had been exhausting. "Of course, Ai-Ai! No problem!"
Aine watches them as they leave the park, Reiji chattering happily on as Ai quietly lets him with a fond smile. He feels a sting of jealousy and hurt, but he smiles bittersweetly at the scene before him.
"Do you regret your choice?" Somehow, he is not surprised when Haruka appears besides him, watching the couple alongside him. It isn't even surprising that she knows that he is there.
"No." He turns his gaze away as Reiji leans over to press a chaste kiss to Ai's lips under the sakura trees. He meets the sparkling goldenrod eyes of the woman who changed his life. "After all..."
"It's for the best."
A/N: Ok. Sorry if there were too many scene breaks.
I'm not a big fan of ReiAi, but I found the prompt and I immediately thought that this was quite perfect.
The original prompt credited to OTP Prompts: Imagine Person A being cursed from birth to die an early death. Person B, who is madly in love with Person A, chooses to change Person A's fate in exchange for Person A's memories of Person B. Person B becomes invisible as well. Years later, Person A has fallen for Person C while Person B lingers on, watching over them.
I tweaked a few details, but I mostly follow the prompt.
I hope I fully conveyed Aine's pain. Please review! It will make my day if this touched someone's heart.
See you all next time (probably in Hearts Intertwined)!
~Crystal