8

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That morning, Yogi woke up with tears running down his cheeks. He just had the most horrifying nightmare ever. He could still remember the details very clearly- Nyanperona's fluffy form towering over him, its beautiful eyes glaring down on him with sharpness that pierced his heart as it said.

"Yogi, I don't need you anymore. -more… -more… -more…" Its voice echoed in the silence of the bright dressing room, drowning out the loud cheers of the people watching Tsukumo's acrobatic performance on the stage just beyond the door.

"No… please don't hate me…" Yogi sniffled.

He grabbed a box of tissues (with Nyanperona print, of course) on the bedside table and blew his nose. Looking at it, he remembered he had given Nai the same one a week ago when the little one had suffered from pollen allergy. Every time he heard Nai sneeze, he found it so adorable he couldn't stop himself from lunging at the poor thing to give him a tight hug. Three sneezes and hugs later, a very irritated Gareki snapped and blocked him, flinging him as far away from Nai as he possibly can.

"Give him a damned breathing space, idiot!"

He laughed at the memory. Then he suddenly perked up 'That's it! I should go see Nai-chan!'. Looking at Nai's dazzling smile had never failed to cheer him up. So he knew for sure that this time it will drive away the memory of his terrible, terrible nightmare too. He got out of bed and out of the room, in Nyanperona pajamas with a matching night cap and all.

Upon reaching Nai and Gareki's room, Yogi started to hear voices.

"Haaah" That was Gareki's trademark sigh "So I had to come all the way back here even though the sheep could've done it."

"It's rare for Nai-kun to wake up later than you. Isn't it okay once in a while?" That was Tsukumo.

"Well, I guess" Another sigh. "I don't mind waking him up, it's just that Hirato said I have to do it exactly as he told me to."

"That's how Hirato-san wakes me up, isn't it normal?" From where he was looking behind the door, Yogi saw Tsukumo's head tilt sideways.

"Who knows… Oh well. Here goes."

Gareki put an arm around Nai's shoulder and supported his head as he gently lifted him up and brought their faces closer. With his other hand, he touched his face- lightly running his thumb over his cheek- as he uttered "Nai. Wake up."

Stirring, Nai's eyelids fluttered open and, upon seeing Gareki, his face instantly lit up into a smile brighter than the morning sun.

"Good morning, Gareki!"

"Yo." Gareki grinned back.

"Ah, good morning, Tsukumo-chan!" Nai beamed upon noticing Tsukumo behind Gareki.

"Good morning, Nai-kun." Tsukumo timidly smiled.

"Wash your face and change out of your pajamas so we can go get breakfast." Gareki ruffled Nai's hair.

"Okay!" Nai chirped happily.

"Maybe we should go get Yogi-kun too, so we can all eat together."

Yogi's ears perked up at the mention of his name. Suddenly, Tsukumo's suggestion gave him an idea. Giggling, he excitedly bolted back to his room and jumped right back into bed, hoping Gareki would 'wake him up' too.

True enough, not too long after he dived under the blanket he started to hear all too familiar voices getting closer. The louder the voices became, the harder it was for him to hold his chuckling in. Finally, he heard a knock on the door.

"Yogi-kun?" Tsukumo called.

"Yogi! Time to wake up!" followed Nai's happy voice. The thought of little Nai's cheerful face as he was calling him made Yogi's heart go a-flutter.

After a short while of not getting any response, as Yogi had predicted they opened the door. As the sound of their footsteps got closer, he could also feel his heart beat harder.

Just a little longer… Gareki will…!

The next moment, Yogi felt something hit his back- hard- before he fell out of bed and face first into the floor. By the time he realized what had happened, he was already hanging on one side of the bed upside down. He felt a dull throbbing pain on his head and on his back.

"Wake up, idiot."

"Owowow…" He crawled out of bed and looked at Gareki miserably. "Why did you kick me?"

With unblinking eyes and a very honest, straightforward tone, Gareki replied "To wake you up."

"But that wasn't how you woke up Nai-chan!" Yogi retorted, before suddenly realizing what he had just blurted out.

Gareki and Tsukumo looked surprised before the latter asked. "Yogi-kun, how did you know?"

"Urk." Yogi felt his cheeks heat up. Having his heart crushed into itsy bitsy little pieces from his breakup with Nyanperona, feeling betrayed by Gareki, and embarrassed by his own silly slip up, Yogi couldn't take it anymore. Wailing, he ran out of his room screaming.

"BUT ALL I WANTED WAS TO BE LOOOVED!"

Gareki scratched his head in defeat, "I don't think I will ever understand him."

Tsukumo nodded solemnly. "Me too."

"Yogi…" Nai followed him with his eyes, looking bothered, then darted out of the room as well. "I… I'll go look for him!"

"Oi, Nai…!"

"Nai-kun!"

Yogi went into one of the storage rooms aboard Circus' second ship. There were towering shelves to his front and back, but at the moment, he couldn't care less if it all toppled over him. He was so detached from his surroundings that he didn't notice someone had come in until the person was already there.

"Found you, Yogi." Nai crouched down in front of him. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"Because Nyanperona doesn't love me anymore… And as if that wasn't bad enough, Gareki kicked me too." Yogi sniffled.

Nai's head tilted to the side. "How do you know Nyanperona doesn't love you anymore?"

"He said so in my dream." More tears rolled down Yogi's eyes as he said this.

"It's okay, Yogi. It was just a bad dream. I'm sure Nyanperona loves you because Yogi loves Nyanperona sooo much." Nai raised his slender arms and stretched them as far away from each other as he can as if trying to emphasize just how much.

"You think so?" He looked at Nai hopefully, biting his lower lip.

"Yup!" Nai nodded, beaming.

Yogi's face lit up for about three seconds, then hung his head in depression again. "But Gareki doesn't love me. He kicked me awake."

"That's not true!" Nai shook his head fiercely.

"Nai-chan?"

"Um… You see… The other morning, when they stayed over, I saw Kiichi-chan waking up Jiki in the same way too. I was also shocked to see it at first. But then, you know, Iva-san told me Kiichi-chan wasn't being mean and she doesn't want me to hate her. 'Some people just have a different way of showing love.' She said."

Yogi lifted his downcast eyes and looked at Nai "…Really?"

"Mm!" Nai nodded enthusiastically. "What did she call it again? Uh… um… oh! The whip of love!"

Yogi's face slowly relaxed and soon lit up into a smile. "I see. Thanks, Nai-chan!"

"You're welcome. Don't cry anymore, Yogi." Nai softly patted him on the head, making Yogi flinch a little. "Sorry, Yogi! Does your head still hurt?" Nai looked at him worriedly.

"Just a little, but I'll be okay in no time." Yogi grinned sheepishly.

Nai got up and held Yogi's head before giving him a swift kiss on the forehead. Yogi's eyes grew so wide they looked like they were about to fall off.

"Nai-chan…"

"It's a magic kiss! Iva-san did that to me when I cut my finger. She kissed it and said it's a magic kiss that makes all kinds of pain go away! How was my magic kiss, Yogi? Did it work?" Nai looked at him with a glimmer of excitement and childlike innocence in his brilliantly red eyes.

Besides himself with joy, Yogi took Nai into his arms and gave him a crushing hug. "Mmmm, Nai-chan you!" Then he lifted him up and spun him around and around.

The next morning, Hirato had just come back from picking up Akari-sensei from the research tower and the first thing that greeted them was Gareki's yell coming from the dining room. "You said what?!"

"But isn't it true? Kicking Yogi to wake him up means you love him."

"Well, well, aren't they lively so early in the morning." Hirato chuckled. "Good morning"

Upon hearing Hirato's baritone voice, everyone turned their heads.

Nai was first one to greet him a very lively "Good morning, Hirato-san! ...Ah, Akari-sensei too!"

"Good morning" Tsukumo nodded to them, voice barely louder than a whisper.

Looking around, the commander noticed someone was missing. "Where's Yogi?"

"He hasn't come for breakfast yet, baa." A black sheep, who was busy flipping pancakes, answered from the kitchen.

"Hmm, that's no good. Since we're all here we should eat breakfast together. Go wake him up."

"Wait" Gareki cut in, and with a scheming grin suggested "Nai, you go do it. You should also show Yogi that you love him once in a while. Go give him some whip of love."

Without a second's hesitation and with absolutely no shadow of doubt, Nai eagerly agreed. "Okay!"

Finding this terribly amusing, Hirato added helpfully "Nai, you know how the whip of love works? The more it hurts means the more you love the person. So make sure to hit him really hard, okay?"

"Okay!" Nai nodded excitedly, making the lavender tips of his snow-white hair sway, before merrily dashing out. Soon after they heard a scream come from Yogi's room.

"Yeowch!"

It was shortly followed by Nai's warm "Good Morning, Yogi~!"

"What on earth are you teaching the kids, Hirato?" Akari gave him a Look.

"It's my way of doting on our kids, darling."

The next moment, Akari grabbed the closest frying pan and hurled it at Hirato with all his might.

"Spoken from experience, huh…" Gareki smirked at the sight of Hirato dodging one kitchen utensil after another.

In the midst of all the ruckus and flying knives and pots, Tsukumo sat on the table calmly sipping her rooibos tea.

- The End -

A/N: Thought I'd write something to celebrate Karneval getting animated ^^ Hope you all enjoyed it, even just a little bit.