Some Assembly Required

Summary - Rome wasn't built in a day, but Rina-chan Board was built in a night. (Takes place in S1E6 before Rina's Live)

Ship: AiRina

Ai stepped into the room, a bag of electronics in one hand and Rina's smartphone in the other as she returned from her errand.

"Rinari, I brought the wires we needed, and I picked up some more solder while I was there," said Ai, kicking off her shoes. She sighed in relief as she tossed the bag onto Rina's bed. "Man, I'm super amazed the academy store is even open at this time of night!"

"Thank you, Ai-san," spoke Rina as she hammered away at the keyboard. "The 3D printer is almost finished with the final piece. We can begin assembly soon."

"Great! How's the software coming along?"

"No errors so far, but there have been multiple exceptions."

"Oh? Sounds pretty exceptional," punned the blonde with a grin. Rina nodded in acknowledgement, but Ai knew there was a small part of her that appreciated the levity.

"Ideally, I should be able to complete construction and finalize the device before midnight," remarked Rina.

Ai hummed in acceptance, but both of them knew such a rosy projection wouldn't come true. The information processing course both students were a part of had thoroughly disabused them of any notion that developing technology was ever as straightforward as initial estimates claimed. Given that this was literally an idea Rina had thought up a scant few hours ago, delays would be unavoidable.

The other girls of the Nijigasaki School Idol Club had attempted to assist in Rina's endeavor, but it wasn't long before they reached the collective conclusion that they would be more hindrance than help. None of them was better with technology than Rina, and only Ai was able to keep up with her beloved kouhai's breakneck design process. So the other eight girls went home, promising to check up on them in the morning. Though at the rate they were going it was possible the two would be up all night.

Thank goodness Rina's Live was in the afternoon.

An insistent beep signaled the printer's completion. "Ai-san, can you bring that to the workbench?"

"Ai'm on it!"

The blonde set the final piece of plastic next to the others, emptying her shopping bag of the components she'd bought and arranging everything into a workable order. Screws, wires, LEDs, circuit chips, and more were grouped neatly by size, property, and function. She leafed through a few papers Rina had scribbled her designs on.

"Should I start attaching the LEDs?" she asked.

A soft hum emerged from Rina's lips. "No," she decided. "I still need to finish prototyping."

"Alright then. Here, let me help you," offered Ai as she pulled up a chair next to Rina. "Is this breadboard big enough for everything?"

Rina looked to her blankly, blinking. "Ai-san, you don't have to. I've troubled you enough, haven't I?"

"What? No way Rinari! We're in this together!" declared the blonde emphatically.

"It's not your Live though. And I know you've spent several hours this past week working with electronics for your classes, right?"

"Well, yeah, I guess that's true," acknowledged Ai.

"I don't want to waste your time doing work when you could be having fun with your other friends," said Rina, a subtle undercurrent of guilt lining her words.

"Rinari... There's nowhere else I'd rather be, and no one else I'd rather be with. Understand?"

Rina gave a shy nod. "But this really isn't a task suited to multiple people."

"Then I'll make us some dinner. Something simple but warm and filling, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you, Ai-san."

"AH!"

A sudden yelp of alarm drew Ai's attention as she looked over to see a thin wisp of smoke rising from the circuit board.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. But I accidentally shorted the circuit," said Rina shakily, "I... I've ruined it."

"It's okay, Rinari. We still have time to make another circuit board. I'm just glad you're safe."

"But it's already past midnight, and I can't perform without this." The pinkette looked down. "I think I need to cancel."

"No you don't," said Ai gently as she drew the shorter girl into a hug. "Rinari, we'll just start over. We can salvage some of these parts, so I'll take care of rebuilding what we can while you figure out what happened and fix it. Okay?"

"Ai-san..." She didn't say anything further, but her arms tightened around Ai comfortably, and Ai knew it would be okay.

As the first ray of sunlight began peeking through Rina's curtains, the Rina-chan Board was finally declared complete.

Gently setting the device down on her desk, Rina loosed a soft sigh of exhaustion before collapsing on her bed. "We did it..." she murmured.

Still standing, Ai let out a yawn of her own. "Yeah, we did..." Despite the overwhelming feeling of triumph, the blonde couldn't help but notice how messy Rina's room had become. Bits of solder, gobs of glue, discarded packaging, and empty energy drinks were strewn about without rhyme or reason. There was also the Cardboard Box of Inspiration, honored for its contribution by being shoved into a corner. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to focus her flagging mind. "Rinari, you go ahead and get some sleep. I'll clean up here and head home, okay?"

"No," intoned Rina insistently. She looked up at Ai and spread her arms wide, invitingly. "Sleep with me," she all but demanded.

"But Rinari-"

"Ai-san also needs some shut-Ai," punned Rina wearily.

At the mercy of such an adorable gesture, Ai couldn't refuse. She stumbled over to the bed with exhaustion, feeling relief as her body sank into Rina's satin sheets. She snuggled up against the pinkette with a hug of her own, sporting a content smile as they fit together.

Just before drifting off, both girls could only think of how warm the other felt and how satisfying it was to fall asleep in the arms of their beloved.

~END~

AN: I imagine that in Japanese, Rina's Ai-pun would be something like: "Ai-san. Urusai. Get in the bed."

Anyway, someone in Japan actually made a real, functioning Rina-chan Board. I highly recommend looking it up.