#ryo and his ever growing collection of adopted children

[curedeity]

Aquario's Rest

Summary: Hikaru and Madoka stay late at work one night, not the first and certainly not the last.

    The last rays of the sunset had already disappeared over the horizon, and the light switch had been mindlessly flicked on as Hikaru had continued to work. Her fellow workers had slowly left the office, one by pair, packing up their things and going home for a good night’s sleep. 

    Hikaru, of course, remained, putting the finishing touches on next month’s tournament schedule. 

    Footsteps echoed through the empty office, harmonizing with the clack of her fingers on her laptop. Ryo stepped out of his room and sighed as he peered over at Hikaru at her desk. She blinked at him, blearily.

    Most workers would be happy to leave as soon as their shift was over. Ryo didn’t reproach any of them this. He himself didn’t like working late, a good work-life balance was necessary. He had a son to spend time with. Hikaru, on the other hand, had deeply thrown herself into her work for the past year.

    Finding her in the office as the clock ticked closer and closer towards the new day had almost become a routine, like when Gingka used to stay up late at night, watching stars with Hyoma, and Ryo would have to collect him. Gingka was easier to get home than Hikaru though, who even sleep-deprived could form good arguments.

    Of course, there were some easy ways of dealing with this, and Ryo, in all his fatherly-instinct, had discovered them.

    He snatched the keys to the office off Hikaru’s desk and quickly stepped away. “Looks like I lost my keys today, mind if I borrow yours? I can offer you a ride home while I lock up the office.”

    “Or you could go home and I could lock up, Director,” Hikaru merely spared him a tired glare. Hikaru was a smart teenager, but she also had no qualms about sleeping at her desk. So in that respect, Hikaru was a very short-sighted teenager.

    “But I really should be going now, and because of a small emergency we had to miss our 5pm meeting. You said you wanted to inform me about stadium management? It would be much more efficient to do that in the car.” Hopefully it would’ve taken long enough that Hikaru wouldn’t try to tell him right now.

    Hikaru sighed and rubbed at her eyes. Glancing out the window, the sky was inordinately clear tonight. She could see the large crab constellation taking up the sky, cancer in all its summer glory. It was a rare occasion to be able to see the stars so beautifully in the city, going home and stargazing would be nice���

    She closed her laptop and stuffed it into her bag. “Alright Director,” she told the man who seemed hellbent on adopting her. “You win.”

    Ryo smirked and tossed the keys into the air, catching them again in a victorious motion. “You mind checking to see if anyone else is hanging around while I start locking up?” It was almost a rhetorical question, with how automatic the roles were. It took about ten minutes to lock up the whole building, and everyone had to be cleared out.

    Hikaru padded through the hallways and started checking the rooms.

    Faint rays of the moon lit the hallways, and Hikaru’s heels clicked as she walked. During the height of the workday, people would stop her as she walked from place to place, firing quick questions at her as they recognized it would probably get them a quicker response than an email. It was a lot of work, but Hikaru had found herself quickly rising to the challenge and excelling. Her memory had always been great, and there was some part of her that adored being able to help plan and manage this complex operation.

    It was slowly becoming her passion, in the way battling had once been.

    Besides, while battling, there were some things she had ignored.

    The engineering department wasn’t quiet when she entered. This was normal, the whir of computers was a constant here during the day. Now, the room was filled with soft snores. 

    The smile that crossed Hikaru’s face was automatic, but she made no effort to remove it as she approached her sleeping friend. Madoka was slumped over her desk, her head laying on her arms. Her laptop was still on, its light flickering across Madoka’s form. A bey lay disassembled in front of her.

    Madoka was just as hard worker as Hikaru, and late days at work, coffee breaks in early mornings, had quickly strengthened the bond between the girls. Hikaru… Hikaru loved working with her, the way Madoka would excitedly wave whenever Hikaru entered the department, the way she’d quickly babble about whatever she was working on.

    The way they’d walk home together sometimes.

    “Madoka,” Hikaru giggled as she crouched beside her friend, shaking her shoulder lightly. “It’s time to close up.”

    Madoka groaned and buried her head deeper into her arms. Her body shivered slightly as it awoke, it was a rather cold night for the summer.

    “Come on Madoka, the Director will give us a ride home,” Hikaru continued to encourage her drowsy friend. 

    Madoka glanced up at Hikaru with half-lidded eyes, her face the picture of misery. “Five more minutes,” she begged.

    Hikaru slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from bursting into raucous laughter. “I’ll let you nap on my shoulder in the car,” Hikaru offered between huffs of amusement. Her face burned as her semi-joking suggestion sank in. Were they close enough friends to do this?

    Yet Madoka seemed completely unaware as she unsteadily stood up. She swayed on her feet, eyes unfocused, and Hikaru instinctively threw an arm around her for balance. “Let’s get you home,” she whispered softly, leading her friend out the door.

    “Hey Hikaru,” Ryo whisper-called from down the hall, raising a hand in a lackadaisical wave. “You ready to- Oh, hey Madoka.” He gave the tired mechanic a smile, taking in her complete exhaustion. “Looks like someone else was working for too long too.”

    Hikaru and Madoka fixed him with identical glares, Madoka’s scariness coming out at full-force.

    “Sir, can you just take us home?” Hikaru sighed, scrubbing a hand down her face.

    The key jangled in the lock as Ryo locked the final door behind them, whistling as he shoved it in his pocket. “Come on, we’ll drop Madoka off first,” he announced as he led them to his car.

    Hikaru had ridden home with her father-figure many times before, as he insisted on driving her if it got too late. Normally, she took the passenger seat, ostensibly to make sure Ryo wasn’t in control of the music. Today though, she slipped into the back with Madoka.

    The stars outside were beautiful through Hikaru’s hazy vision. Her cheek was probably smudging the window as she leaned against it, but Ryo wouldn’t mind a bit of dirtiness. They twinkled brightly against the backdrop, like someone had spilled glitter over construction paper. Like a child had designed the world to be their perfect vision.

    A head fell on her shoulder, and Hikaru nearly jumped out of her skin. Thankfully, her body remained calm, like Madoka’s breaths as she slept on Hikaru. Hair drifted out, falling in front of her face. Her goggles sat askew. Peacefully, she dozed on, arm against Hikaru’s arm as warmth passed between them.

    Hikaru blinked down at her friend, breath torn from her lips. 

    Maybe the stars outside were beautiful, in a distant way. A perfection that could not hope to be imitated or reached. Hikaru wasn’t an astronaut, she’d never lay among the constellations.

    But it paled in comparison to the beauty of existing side by side with another. 

    Hikaru hoped she never forgot, and that she never remembered, because realizing every so often how amazing people were, how amazing having friends was…

    They pulled up outside the Beypit, Ryo twisting around in the driver's seat. “You need any help bringing her in?” His voice was so quiet it could not even be called a whisper. The night made them all silent.

    “Nah, I got it sir,” Hikaru replied, unbuckling her seatbelt and Madoka’s. Digging through her bag, she found a spare set of keys that Madoka gave most her friends. 

    “The Beypit is open to all of you,” Madoka stated confidently, pressing the cold metal into Hikaru’s hands, her warm fingers curling around.

    Madoka was small for her age, a shortie, as many of their friends affectionately called her. It was easy to lift her up and carry her to the door, carefully unlocking it while not jostling Madoka too much.

    The lights flickered on as Hikaru hit the switch, and she groaned as harsh illumination filled the shop. The sudden change pounded in her head, a headache for sure. But, she didn’t want to trip over anything while trying to navigate. It would be a disaster for both and Madoka to get hurt.

    The metal stairs creaked with rusted sighs as Hikaru walked down them. Laying Madoka down on the couch, she glanced around for a blanket. 

    Gingka slept on that couch often when he was in town. Hikaru would come visit and find them both hanging out in the basement. She… didn’t even know where Madoka’s bedroom was.

    How many times had Madoka fallen asleep at her desk here? Did she spend the entire night there, head buried in arms as she had been at the WBBA? 

    Hikaru threw a blanket over her shivering friend, watching her curl up under the new warmth. Should she check in on Madoka more often, make sure she was going to bed? Would that get her to be called a hypocrite?

    Maybe. 

    “Good night Madoka,” Hikaru breathed out into the air, silently walking back upstairs and out through the door.

    She slid back into Ryo’s car, ready to be taken home to her apartment. The glow of her phone filled the backseat as she penned a text to Madoka.

    “Night Madoka, hope you sleep okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.”