Yu Jimin was a dreamer, a wishful thinker, adventurous wanderer, you name it. She loved to dwell in her imagination because it was fun. And Jimin loved fun. It was nice. Comfy. Wonderful.

And yet, for someone whose mind is always running wild with the strangest and most unrealistic scenarios, you would think that Yu Jimin would have already expected something like the situation right in front of her.

But no. Whatever was being splayed in front of Jimin's eyes was far stranger than the robotic watermelon-firing hippo she had dreamt of last night, or the crocodile fist fight she had been imagining a week ago. Wilder than the fact that each piece of Froot Loops she was eating just tastes the same with no distinguishing flavor from each other. (Okay, maybe that was just a stupidly random observation, but still!)

She's having a stare-off with Aeri. 

An unusual occurrence? No! Stare-offs with Aeri was a normal thing for the two of them! Jimin liked to stare at Aeri's face because she finds her pretty, and Aeri liked staring at Jimin's face because Aeri thinks she's pretty!

But, see, the peculiar thing about this stare-off she's having now is that…

This isn't Aeri!

Not the Aeri she's accustomed to seeing, at least. 

Jimin doesn't understand how she's gotten herself into this situation in the first place. All she remembers is that when she woke up, she felt funny. She felt like something was odd. Out of place. 

And when she got out of her room, she almost had a heart attack when a small kid who funnily looked exactly like her roomie Aeri Uchinaga was staring up at her.

When her eyes began to sting and water, she blinked and stepped back and looked down at the girl.

"...Aeri?"

The girl grinned, her teeth all crooked and some of them missing. A fleeting memory of a younger Jimin with crooked teeth enters her mind, her heart clenching with an emotion she couldn't exactly pinpoint.

But the girl's smile was built the same as the one she's used to seeing everyday. Charming and sweet through its crookedness.

"Hi! Jimin-unnie, right?" Aeri enthusiastically greeted her. Jimin's eyes wandered to the brown headband on the girl's head, and then to the fancy white blouse and simple brown skirt the girl was wearing. For a five-year-old, she looks tenfolds more stylish than Jimin was as an adult. And that's saying something, because Jimin was often applauded for her sense of fashion by many. 

If this girl actually was a younger version of Aeri, it scares Jimin how the girl's voice sounded much like her, too. Just a tad higher.

Oh God, this is so weird!

Jimin looked around, pinching her cheeks. Really hard.

Nothing. 

"This isn't a dream?" asked Jimin for confirmation. She had way too many encounters that involved dreaming about the weirdest stuff ever. And Jimin didn't understand a single thing that's going on right now. She doesn't understand why there are also four other little Aeris in the room.

Apparently, little Aeri didn't seem to understand anything any more than she did.

"A what?" Preppy Aeri looked around, looking confused. Offended, even, alarming Jimin, sensing that her words didn't seem to present a good impression in front of her.

"No-Nothing!" said Jimin panickedly, shaking her head rapidly. Kneeling down, she held Preppy Aeri's shoulders, giving her an apologetic smile. "It's nothing, I just- I just think that I woke up a while ago and thought that I was still dreaming…?" It sounded more of a question than it was a confident statement, even to Jimin's own ears.

That seemed to have done the trick, however, because Preppy slash Fashionista Aeri stopped glaring at her and, with eyes so wide and so innocent, looked at her curiously with a gentle smile on her face. 

"Did you dream of a bear wrestling a huuuuuugeeee jar of honey too?"

Jimin opened to speak when she realizes something. 

'Too'?

"I- what?"

Preppy Aeri's grin widened. 

"I have a friend. Her name's Jimin too!" Preppy Aeri tilted her head sideways in a polite manner. "She's taller than me, she's got a cuuteeee mole like the one you have. And she's awesome! Funny too," she added with a giggle. Preppy Aeri stood taller and twirled around. "My friend Jimin told me she dreamt about a grizzly bear wrestling a huge jar of honey! It was cute, her dream. She's cute too!"

Jimin could feel her ears burning up. She had, in fact, once dreamt about a bear wrestling a jar of honey. But that happened a long time ago, when she was younger, probably when she was the same age as this Aeri was. Jimin remembers this because she knows that she was bragging about it to her parents and to her older sister.

"See!" Preppy Aeri said suddenly in a loud voice, pointing at the (poor) startled Jimin. "Your ears turn red too! Like my friend!"

"O-Oh…" Jimin doesn't even know what to say. Could it be that there were actually mini-sized Jimins in this universe, too? She cringes at the thought. She can't have dumb little Jimins running around freely and make fools out of themselves. Even as a grown adult, Jimin was prone to making foolish mistakes.

"Aeri-ya?"

All Aeris turned to her, anticipating her next words. Jimin marvels at the utmost interest the girls were displaying to her. Clearing , she asked:

"How old are you?"

"Five!" Prim and Proper Aeri pompously answered, flipping her hair and Jimin snorts into her bowl of cereal. Blinking milk out of her eyelashes, she sets her bowl of cereal aside, still in a state of shock.

Five…

So they were all seventeen years younger than her Aeri…

Seventeen years younger than Jimin too!

A series of noises reached her ears and, sensitive as they are, she plugs her index fingers in them, looking around.

If she thought that this dream or figment of her imagination or whatever this is couldn't get any worse, she was wrong.

There's one Aeri bopping her head along as she played her mini keytar, wearing a flashy pair of sunglasses as she poorly played her instrument to the sound of Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars — Jimin cringes at the shrill melody that the girl produces — looking extremely proud of her musical skills. Jimin smirked when she remembered the video she once discovered while she was (snooping around) borrowing her Aeri's phone and how this was almost the exact same Aeri she saw in the video, except with a different instrument.

There's another Aeri doing the Harlem Shake on the couch, following the beat (was there even a coherent beat?) of Keytar Aeri's song, sunglasses sliding off the bridge of her nose, aggressively dancing to the point that it worries Jimin, because what if the kid accidentally hurt herself by falling off the couch?

One Aeri looked like she's seen better days, hissing and glaring at Jimin with beady eyes. Hair parted into a side bang and black eyeshadow coating her eyelids, Jimin supposes this Aeri was the 'emo' kid her Aeri used to talk about from time to time. She continued to glare at Jimin as she hid inside her long black coat, looking formidable and unapproachable. 

Another Aeri was wearing — hold up, is that Jimin's hoodie?

"Hey!" exclaimed Jimin, pointing at the Aeri that practically stole her hoodie from her closet. "Isn't that my hoodie?"

The girl sassily rolled her eyes, hands on hips as she leaned forward. Jimin shrinks under her gaze, hand instinctively scratching her nape. This Aeri was maybe more intimidating than her Aeri, even as a tiny five-year-old who was barely taller than Jimin's knees. 

"It's not like you're gonna get mad if I borrow it from you anyway. My Jimin-ie even hugs me whenever I ask permission to borrow her beanie!"

…Well…

Smiling sheepishly at her, Jimin supposes that she's right. Adult Aeri borrows her clothes from time to time, her favorite piece of clothing being Jimin's plaid shirt. Adult Aeri normally asks Jimin if it's alright if she borrows her clothes and even if Jimin did mind, she doesn't say anything and just lets Aeri do whatever she wants because… well, she's Aeri!

So Jimin figures that Clothes Stealer Aeri deserves a free pass too, because she's still technically Aeri.

"Can I have some of your Froot Loops?" asked Clothes Stealer Aeri, peering at the contents of Jimin's bowl. She hands it to the small girl wordlessly. Recalling how she would share her bowl of Froot Loops with her Aeri and how her Aeri also shares her bowl of Reese's Puffs with her at breakfast