Airiena

"Airi is a dear friend of mine."

- Ena in "Outstretched Hand" first side story

Airiena is the femslash ship between Airi Momoi and Ena Shinonome from the Project SEKAI fandom.

Canon
Airi and Ena are second-year high school students who have been friends since middle school. They ended up attending different high schools. Ena goes to Kamiyama and mostly attends night classes while Airi goes to Miyamasuzaka. Though the two remain close friends and go shopping and hang out every now and then. They are both headstrong and described as "tsundere" by their friends and groupmates. Airi is also empathetic towards Ena's struggle and feud with her father about her art skills. Airi admires Ena's perseverance, which she also sees as Ena's best quality.

What's On Your Mind? Exciting Picnic!
Airi calls Ena and asks to hang out. She mentions that she wants to introduce Ena to Shizuku Hinomori, someone in her idol group. Ena initially turns her down, but agrees to go out, reasoning that she won't be able to get her mind off the thing that is bothering her. Airi and Ena meet up early in the morning with Shizuku. They go shopping, and Airi says it was fun and and she found cute clothes thanks to Ena. Ena tells the two about Mizuki and how she wants to help Mizuki but feels like Mizuki is avoiding her. Airi then comes up with a plan and the four decide to go on a picnic in the highlands. After Mizuki and Airi come back, having participated in the one of the side activities after the camp, Airi notices a bee flying above Ena's head. Ena starts screaming and freaking out, and Airi tells her to calm down. On the way back to the bus, the group accidentally goes to the advanced route (due to mistaking a worn-out sign), and Ena and Airi slip and fall off a ledge after the rock under Ena's foot falls. Ena immediately asks if Airi's okay, and then complains about her clothes getting dirty. Airi attemps to climb up a few times, but fails both times due to the environment being too slippery. After Mizuki runs out to look for help and Shizuku stays behind trying to think of ways to help the two, Ena yells and asks what they can possibly do before apologizing to Airi. Airi commands Ena to think about her art instead of apologizing and how much of a fighter she actually is. This helps Ena to calm down and Mizuki returns to the scene with Rui and Nene, who help Airi and Ena to finally climb up again.

Someday, From the Depths of Despair
In Ena's 3* card's first side story, she reminisces about the times in middle school after she had been harshly shut down by her father in regards to her art. Her mother knocks on her door and Ena angrily tells her she doesn't want food, but decides to come to the living room after her mother mentions that Airi is on the TV. Ena first wonders when was the last time they talked to each other, and then is dazzled to see Airi finally onstage and thinks how Airi never gave up and finally managed to become an idol, while she was just wallowing in self-pity. Her mother then mentions she had recorded all the shows she could find where Airi is featured. Ena asks if she can start watching all of them, and her mother in return smoothly asks her if she'd like some food while she's at it.

Growing Distance
Airi receives a call from Ena via her Re-Tie Friendship card, which she tells her she's happy the fact that Airi made time for her and that she's thankful Ena wanted to talk. She addresses about the fact that MMJ appears to be busy and yet how she's still concerned about Airi, even though she believes she would be okay in such a scenario. Right after some small talk, Ena asks if she had come across the new cafe located in front of the station. She tells her how adorable the decorations are and asks if she'd like to come. Airi guarantees Ena that they will be visiting it as soon as she has some spare time, despite knowing she will likely be busy the following week. Airi begins to think; when Ena finds a place to visit, she is invited. Similarly, when things go wrong and they are unable to see each other for a while, Ena's smile and the way she runs up to her with such joy cuts off the awkward feeling of seeing Airi for the first time in a while. Airi begins to recognize how little Ena has changed. They got along just as well as ever, and Ena was always forthright about how she felt. Afterwards, Airi says that she always felt that she couldn't be there for Ena throughout her lowest moments. However, Ena claims Airi was always by her side, that seeing her on TV gave her the strength to carry on drawing and that simply seeing her smile temporarily made the painful feelings disappear... She then gently thanks Airi for that time. Airi tears up by this conversation, then proceeds to say how thankful she is to be friends with Ena.

Quotes
"Airi, happy birthday. I want to throw a real party for you, so please, if you're free! I beg you!"

- Ena's birthday message for Airi from happy birthday!! (Airi)

"Before I really started getting work as an idol, I was a regular junior high school student and Ena was in the same class as me. We didn't really talk much at first, but one day, some of my classmates started making fun of this variety show I appeared in... It's not like I was being bullied or anything, but I knew that people were talking about me behind my back. That was when Ena got mad... She yelled, "You really think that's funny?!" I thanked her for what she did later, but she just replied, I said that because I didn't like what was going on. That's all... But what she did made me really happy. I'd never seen someone stand up for a stranger like that before... Everyone stopped talking about me and I became friends with Ena after that."

- Airi in What's On Your Mind? Exciting Picnic! Chapter 4 - For My Friends

Fanon
Despite their canon interactions and status as childhood friends, Airiena is a rarepair. It's mostly overshadowed by their more popular ships, Mizuena and Shizuairi. Some people like to ship the four of them in a poly ship, though it is an even rarer. Other people decide to ship Airiena alongside other Mizuki and Shizuku pairings like Mizuan, Mizurui, Shizuharu or Shizukasa; Airiena is especially shipped alongside Mizuan due to the two ships both having Valentine's Day art. Despite Airiena being a rarepair, it has a decent amount of fanworks. There are currently 41+ romantic works and 42+ gen works for the pair on AO3.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION


 * FAN ART


 * TWITTER

Trivia

 * Their ship is referred to with the "🍑🎨" emojis.
 * Their Kizuna Ranks include: "Can't Leave Someone Behind", "Brave When Need Be" and "My Best Friend Forever!".
 * In an area conversation about nail art between Airi, Shizuku and Haruka, Airi immediately thinks of telling Ena about the nail salon Haruka's mother works at.
 * Some of their Cheerful Carnival Team names is "Friends That Tell Each Other Anything" and "Most Precious Friend".
 * In one of Ena's 2021 Fall Menu Lines, she thinks of inviting Airi to eat some limited time fall-flavored pancakes with her.
 * In one of Ena's 2022 Summer Menu Lines, she mentions how she's thinking of telling Airi about a shaved ice shop that has been trending on social media (as it would make a good topic to talk about during MMJ!'s livestreams).
 * According to Project SEKAI Wondershow Channel #26 developer stream, they own matching cat plushies, which they bought while shopping in middle school.