Title: Ashita no Kioku
Pairing: Arashi friendship (Nino x Everyone tbh)
Notes: Since I love my ojii-san who doesn't look a day older than seventeen, my little way of saying thanks for being an inspiration to a lot of people. Picture prompts of Ninomiya for 30 days until his 30th birthday! This fic inspired from
this picture.
Summary: If we can trust each other so strongly, then what colored future will be waiting?
Staring at the different pots of paint in front of him, Nino pouts as he closes his eyes, thinking about things he could draw. The doctor said he loved painting before he lost his memories, and doing it could maybe stimulate his brain to remember again.
Plus, those four guys who always came to visit him had these hopeful expressions on their faces, something in him didn't want to disappoint them.
They had introduced themselves to him one by one, and he remembered their names pretty quickly. It was like each one had a color unique to them, and in his head he had catalogued them this way for future reference, in case he starts to forget again. He was sure they were great friends before; even if his brain can't remember, something in his heart tells him they all know each other pretty well.
The guy called Aiba always brought him mabo tofu from his parents' restaurant and seemed to know a lot about animals. He was the tallest among them and always talked a lot, but he enjoyed listening to the stories he told. Aiba told him that he was scared of hospitals that for some reason he understood, but he brightly said it was okay since he's coming to visit Nino anyway. He got teary-eyed when Nino hit him on the arm with the manga they had brought him and Nino got worried, but the others said that it was normal for Aiba-chan to be emotional. Something felt familiar with the gesture, so he always made sure to poke Aiba on the arm (gently and playfully of course) from time to time. Nino also liked playing Magical Banana with him, because he almost always wins.
Sho looked and acted like he was the oldest, acting like a mother to all of them. He tries to not show how worried he was about Nino, but Nino in a burst of anger and frustration from not remembering anyone or anything had complained about him being insufferable and a control freak. Sho had walked out of the room for a few minutes (enough to make Nino feel really guilty) then came back and started handing out food (that looked really expensive despite being very simple) like nothing happened. The others left them alone for a moment (finding the sudden urge to go to the rest room at the same time) and they had talked it out. He was very intelligent and often debated with Nino about a lot of stuff, like the weather, or the news, or the importance of backpacks having straps across people's chests so they won't fall off.
Jun always wore stuff that Nino wouldn't consider seeing outside a fashion runway but since it was Jun, he could probably do anything. Like save the world, or walk upside-down on the ceiling if he could. He looked very scary and standoffish but Nino was never afraid of him and his eyebrows. He always brought DVDs and talked to Nino about acting, also bringing Nino his iPod and making him listen to the songs he loved before the memory loss and learnt to love again. Although he was younger he was very attentive, though not as hovering as Sho was. He was quick to lose his temper however, and he and Nino had a shouting match that had nurses running to check on Nino's blood pressure after he blacked out from the stress of shouting. When he regained consciousness Jun wasn't there, but he left a note. And a jersey jacket with square cutouts on the front and back, with a "sorry" note tucked into it. Nino had smiled and wore the jacket to sleep, even though it only warmed up his hands.
Ohno was quiet. Always quiet. Nino almost never heard him say a word. He would laugh at the jokes people would tell, and from time to time he would be caught humming to himself. Nino always caught him staring at his phone and teased him one time about looking at porn. The older guy blushed and mutely shook his head, showing Nino the phone screen of the fishing website he was looking at. Nino caught a peek and saw that Ohno's phone's wallpaper was of the five of them smiling at the camera, sitting around a table and eating barbeque. When Nino catches Ohno looking at his phone or when he was spacing out Nino would pout and act bratty at him, or poke his arm or pinch his cheek or tease Ohno to come back down to the earth, and Ohno would always smile as a response. He was also the one who brought Nino the art materials. And everyday, he would give Nino a drawing on a Post-it, which Nino soon found out was a flip-art of the five of them saying "the five of us will always be here".
Sometimes at night, when Nino was sure nurses won't come to check on him, he opens the curtains and stares out the window at the moon and the stars. Wondering who he was. What kind of person Ninomiya Kazunari was before he lost all his memories of the people he cared about. Wondering how his sunsets and nights never seemed to end... until those four would come to visit, and he could feel the rays of the sun shining from the distance.
Sometimes he would lose hope of ever recovering those memories again. In a dream he was running through a maze where everyone else was already at the exit. It seemed like a race against time, of trying to grasp at the sand running through the gaps of his fingers. A heart that has been put out of focus would make anyone stand still and lose sight of everything.
Yet at the end he knew the other four would be waiting. Things would be familiar again.
Things would feel like home.
He smiles as he picks up the brush and begins to paint.
A five-colored rainbow. Blue, red, yellow, green, violet.
He looks out of the window. It had just stopped drizzling.
At the distance, he could see a double rainbow arching through the sky.
A smile was on his lips.
"Saa... what color would tomorrow be...?"
There was a knock on his hospital door.
They were back.