Work Text:
The work is in full swing. Asakusa is drawing like a madwoman — waves of determination are rolling off her. Kanamori’s steady cold-blooded voice can be heard from the stairs — she must be pressuring someone on the phone, as usual. Doumeki, well, she isn’t seen right now, but she always does her best for the sake of the club. Everyone does. However... For Mizusaki everything is falling apart. She clutches her head violently and grits her teeth. She is sitting here god knows how long but nothing works out. Every line is a torture. Nevertheless, Mizusaki draws, and draws, and draws — she forces herself over and over again. All for nothing. Every new shot is uglier than previous one. Hideous. And nothing like she pictured in her head. More than anything Mizusaki’s angry with herself. Her own hands are betraying her.
Mizusaki sighs and lays her head on folded hands. She feels uneasy at the very least. And now because of her they are going to fall behind schedule and the project will suffer, and she will let everyone down, and... And suddenly there is a hand on her shoulder. Mizusaki turns around sharply and faces Kanamori:
“Ah, sorry, Kanamori-san! I’ll be back to work...” Mizusaki waves her hands around and bubbles apologizing.
For some reason, Kanamori isn’t going away. Instead, she continues to watch Mizzusaki intently, her intense thinking process is loud enough to hear. That’s it until something clicks in her head: Kanamori glances from Mizusaki’s distressed face to her works and then asks abruptly:
“Midzusaki-shi... Did you get any sleep today?”
“Eh? Well, not really, but...” Mizusaki starts to mutter, scratching her head and looking away, before Kanamori interrupts her. “I see. Actually, I need your help with some business right now.”
“Aw, is it a date, Kanamori-san?” Mizusaki sing-songs mockingly.
Surprisingly, Kanamori doesn’t say “no” and only gives her a long look in reply.
“Get ready.”
Absorbed with her work, Asakusa barely hears them when Kanamori and Mizusaki with backpack behind their backs stop to say goodbye to her. Mizusaki feels guilty again: she really needs to go back to working...
“What? Are we having a break?” Asakusa blinks at them.
Without turning around Kanamori shouts at her:
“Draw your backgrounds!”
The door slams behind two of them with a loud bang.
“Are you hungry?” Kanamori asks and before Mizusaki has any chance to answer, they are already going down to the underpass.
Although Mizusaki was joking about date, she must admit: it’s really nice. At the underground fruit banban noodle restaurant Kashima greets them like a family. They sit down and make their orders. The small shop is filled with the aroma of ramen with exotic fruits and warm rumble of voices. Mizusaki waits for Kanamori to tell her what’s the big deal with the mysterious “business”, but when Kanamori starts talking it’s not about work and the Motion Picture Club. And that’s nice, too — just to talk about nothing and everything at the same time. Then their orders are ready and just like the first time Mizusaki is surprised how delicious it is. Moreover, Kanamori even lets her try her ramen. Under the table their ankles are touching. Mizusaki smiles more easily.
“Thanks for paying, Kanamori-san. I really should start carrying cash...”
“It’s okay”, She grins from ear to ear. “I view it as an investment in our relationship.”
To that Mizusaki only laughs happily, throwing back her head. When they leave the underpass, the sun blinds them at the same moment, but Mizusaki only smiles and squints, covering her eyes with a palm. She cheerfully walks along the curb, following Kanamori, who seems to have a clear idea of where they are going to.
White clouds are flying above electric wires. Together, Kanamori and Mizusaki are going down a pedestrianized street. They pass a vending machine, then a bookstore with a big orange sign, there is a sewer manhole in a pavement — Mizusaki jumps over it.
“So what’s now? What’s the business?”
Mizusaki hears mewing, but when she twists her head around, the cat is nowhere to be seen. Ah, must be in someone’s apartment. They are so small here! And how people even live there?
“That must have something with the club, right?”
When they cross the bridge, Mizusaki leans over the railing and listens to the beautiful melody of splattering water. The mensural humming of air conditioners is heard from above.
“Do you need my modeling for something or what?”
They turn right. The steps echo in synch, while one by one they go down the narrow staircase: once white, now — faded and covered with dark spots. The noises of water are much louder down here. Mizusaki talks with Kanamori’s back:
“Kanamori-san! So where are we going to?”
All the time Kanamori calmly ignores all of the questions. Finally, wide-eyed Mizusaki silently watches her take of her shoes and black tights. Kanamori is already tying up her skirt when she glances up to Mizusaki, grey eyes shimmering like clear water.
“Are you coming?”
To say that Mizusaki is quite surprised is to say nothing: such a behavior is more of an Asakusa-thing. But still it makes Mizusaki smile warmly. In a minute she joins Kanamori shin deep in a channel. She doesn’t ask any questions anymore — just follows Kanamori trustingly.
The flowing water is crystal clear and icy cold, the concrete bottom of the channel is solid and completely smooth. Mizusaki’s legs are numb and she can’t feel her toes, but all of that doesn’t bother her. She eagerly absorbs every little detail in front of her eyes: how sunbeams refract peculiarly through the water, how all objects are distorted from under its surface, and how differently feel all the movements.
Kanamori leads them along the way that only she knows: through winding channels, higher and higher on the hills. Here from above, where all Shibahama is spread before the eyes, the refreshing wind ruffles Mizusaki’s hair. The sun blinds her eyes, but she stubbornly continues to look around, listening to the gentle rustle of leaves. When the channel becomes wider and steeper, Kanamori offers Mizusaki her hand:
“Hold on tight before you slip and break your neck.”
But even after, when the channel narrows and is no more dangerous, Kanamori continues to hold her hand, and Mizusaki feels warm all over... must be because of the bright sun, yes.
Mizusaki realizes that they are close to the destination when the channel becomes that narrow that it’s not possible for them anymore to walk side by side. Still she can’t actually see anything behind Kanamori’s back. She’s so incredibly tall!
“So? Are we finally here?”
“Well, yeah, kind of,” Kanamori answers, trying to put on a mask of boredom, and steps aside.
And now Mizusaki sees — yes, and how she didn’t recognized this place sooner! They saw it during a walk with Asakusa... The one with awesome swing! Mizusaki doesn’t hold back laughter, and it pours in a sunny afternoon, intertwining with fresh breeze and water’s meandering. She jumps out of the water and runs over to the swing: grass under her freezing feet is warm, soft and ticklish. It doesn’t take long for Mizusaki to climb onto the tire, so when she does, she awkwardly turns to Kanamori. Mizusaki’s eyes are shining brightly and because of it there might be a small smile, hiding in the corner of Kanamori’s lips.
“Care to give me a little push?”
“Like I have a choice...”
Kanamori comes closer in an unhurried pace, while Mizusaki enthusiastically swings her legs, a smile on her face so wide it almost hurt. One push — Mizusaki’s bare feet are thrown up, heart leaps to her throat in a thrill and a wind-flow blows her hair back. Then her heart stops: she soars over the abyss, Shibahama, as far as the eye can see, flashes before her and then for a short but eternal moment all she can see is warm azure sky. Mizusaki feels like she has never been this close to the sky. Just like that she is back on earth, heart wildly beating in her ears. When the power of speech comes back to Mizusaki, all she has to say is:
“One more time!”
After that there is another one and another another one, all in all there are a lot of “one more time’s”, but Kanamori isn’t complaining, no, not at all.
Together they sit right on the edge of a cliff, legs hanging in the air and hands incredibly close to touching, under them are only wild thickets.
“Well, Kanamori-san, that surely was fun!” Mizusaki laughs light-heartedly, but then her face darkens. With a guilty smile, she scratches the back of her neck: “But maybe it’s not the right time for fun, you know? I... I really must be working right now. With the deadline and everything, eh...” She glances anxiously at Kanamori: “I didn’t take you for the kind to waste time...”
“Mizusaki-shi!” Practically shouts Kanamori, gritting her teeth. “You are not a waste of time!”
After regaining her composer, Kanamori continues, a look directed at Mizusaki is sharp and certain: “Look... I know — everybody knows — how hard you are working. And everybody has hard times!”
With a sour expression, Mizusaki opens her mouth, but Kanamori stops her by lifting her palm.
“No, don’t interrupt. Just listen. Look... You know how Asakusa-shi can work like crazy for days, but then she always needs to go outside and interact with some bugs or whatever. I don’t bother her in these moment because it’s just her way of coping and I know that. But... I have no idea how to help you when you need it. But I really want to. So... well, yeah, that’s it, I guess...”
Kanamori turns away (maybe a little bit flustered?) and Mizusaki just sits there with wide eyes and mouth dropped open. The feelings inside her roll over again and again.
“Kanamori-san... You help. You really help!.. I...” Mizusaki stops, unable to describe all of her feelings. All that is left for her is to hope that Kanamori understands.
So Mizusaki bravely leans forward and places an honest and gentle kiss on Kanamori’s cheek. Kanamori looks at her, stunned and wordless, and then smiles like she has won a lottery (in some way maybe she has).
Still smiling, Kanamori lays back, and Mizusaki follows her readily. Together they lay in the grass on the edge of the cliff, fingers intertwined. All they see is sky and clouds flowing by. Two let the world pass by for forever. Feels like they could go on for forever this way. Just them two on a perfect day. They just talk and take in the view. At some moment Mizusaki reaches for her backpack and gets her sketchbook. Although she’s no more on a swing, she feels like flying. At first, Kanamori pretends not to notice and only watches Mizusaki from the corner of her eye. Nevertheless, some time later she smirks to her.
“Drawing again, I see.”
Mizusaki raises her twinkling eyes and smiles.
“Yeah, and I even don’t hate these. Quite the opposite,” With these words, she hands the sketchbook over to Kanamori. There are some drawings of a landscape and the sky, sure, but, if been honest, it’s a whole spread, full of sketches of Kanamori. “Well, maybe it’s just you. You always look so good.”
Kanamori stays silent, but Mizusaki is sure that she understands.
The sun begins to set when Kanamori stretches with a sign.
“It’s time to go, I think. I’ll walk you home. And! No work for today — it’s an order! After all, it’s my duty to maintain the efficiency of my coworkers.”
Kanamori gets up and a long shadow falls on Mizusaki. But it’s okay: Kanamori is much nicer to look at than the sun. So Mizusaki smiles brightly and takes her hand.