Chapter Text
I don’t have many friends.
I used to get along with all kinds of people as a kid.
But in middle school, well…
I changed a lot, and people didn’t like that.
Still, the friends I do have mean the world to me.
Mizuki rested their chin in their hands, elbows on their thighs. They weren’t really a fan of winter or the cold, but the early sunsets were nice, sometimes. It at least meant that they could wait on the school rooftop to watch the sun go down without having to wait up there too long. Their gaze moved briefly to the person sitting next to them, who had also been staring up at the view.
Rui looked over, noticing that Mizuki was staring. “Need something?”
“No.” Mizuki’s eyes moved right back to the sky. “Just…thinking, I guess.”
“Oh?” Rui gave a soft chuckle. “What about?”
“Dunno…” They shrugged. “It’s…pretty out here. I don’t watch the sunset often.”
“Ah…” Rui tilted their head back to get a better look. “It’s a nice sight, isn’t it? Though, what comes after is just as beautiful, I’d say.”
“Night?” Mizuki questioned, then shrugged again. “I guess so…It’s quiet. And the stars are pretty…”
“Quiet…” He repeated.
***
The past week had been different than usual, that was for sure. Anyone that knew Mizuki from school also knew how infrequently they actually showed up to class. So, it was surprising to many that they showed up every day that week. Then again, they weren’t the type to leave someone to work on a group project by themselves.
Mizuki slid into their seat, immediately turning to greet the person beside them. “Morning, An!”
The dark-haired girl beside them turned her attention to Mizuki. “Yo! You ready?”
Mizuki gave a shrug. “Ready as I can be.” In all honesty, they were nervous, but…it’s not like they were even speaking during their presentation. All they had to do was present their video, so…
“We’ve got this in the bag, don’t even worry about it,” Some way or another, An must’ve picked up on their nerves. Well..they probably didn’t need to give any hints for An to understand that they’d be worried about doing anything in front of the whole class.
Mizuki avoided presentation days like the plague. If they needed to, they’d even mark up parts of projects that they worked on in order to still get credit. This one was a bit different, though. It was..fun to work on, actually. Not to mention they got to work with An. She was nice, and funny, and always mindful of Mizuki’s feelings and worries. Not to mention that she actually carried her own weight on the project.
“I hope the video uploaded correctly..” Mizuki muttered. Their project consisted of a short song and a music video. Since An already had some experience in music, and Mizuki had put together some simple music videos before, it wasn’t too hard. Though, the song itself was mostly made from premade music loops in the program they used. Still, for a simple literature project, Mizuki felt like they kind of went above and beyond.
“On my end everything looked good when sending it, so..” An shrugged. She was pretty surprised Mizuki stuck around the whole week. She’d even asked if they’d rather just work on it outside of class, but they refused, insisting they were fine. Despite their insistence, An doubled down on making sure she did all or most of the minimal talking needed for the actual presentation.
"Thanks, An."
**
Mizuki rested their face in their hand with a sigh as they stared at their computer screen. What a long week…They just wanted to relax, but couldn't get themselves to focus on the anime they put on. Were they still bothered by the presentation earlier that day? Everything went smoothly, and their classmates even seemed impressed…maybe they were just nervous about the grade?
As they tried to pinpoint the source of their discomfort, they heard their phone ping with a notification. A text from An..? It wasn't too often that they communicated outside of school, but…
「Hey, Mizuki! Our grade on our project just got posted.」
「Also, do you have time to hop on a voice call real quick?」
A call…? An had only ever called them a few times, and it was usually just to let them know about important things regarding school. Not that they were opposed to talking with An, but…it was unexpected.
「Sure. Gimme just a sec!」
Mizuki turned around in their chair to glance at themselves in their mirror. Yeah, they were presentable enough for a video call. They turned their attention back to the computer, pulling their desk chair a bit closer to the screen.
A few minutes passed until An actually called. As soon as Mizuki picked up, they were greeted with their friend's smiling face.
"Hey!" An waved. "How're you doing?"
"I'm okay," Mizuki shrugged. "What's with the call all of a sudden? Our grade's not that bad, is it?"
"Oh!" An straightened her back. "Nope! The opposite, actually. We did really good! According to the notes we 'chose an interesting topic and a very creative medium.' What I wanted to talk to you about is still related, though."
Mizuki hummed quietly. "Yeah?"
"Well…" An started. "I just thought that making that song was really fun! And I spent some time messing around in that program some more…" She clicked around, seemingly looking for something on her computer. She kept talking as she worked. "I know it wasn't the main focus or anything, but I thought the research we did on the Andromeda galaxy was pretty cool, too…"
Mizuki tilted their head. An was always pretty big on music, huh…it was surprising to them that she hadn't tried making her own already.
"Okay, I shared a folder with you," An announced. "It's nothing special, but I made a little demo song. I dunno if the Andromeda vibes really come across, but-"
"That's so cool, An!" They interrupted. "Hold on, let me open it up…"
Mizuki opened the folder An shared with them, and clicked the song file in it. It was only about a minute long.
Though the song was only a demo, once again using premade loops, Mizuki still felt…entranced by it. An had already seemed to have gotten a grasp on the right way to mix sounds and instruments. They weren't all that knowledgeable when it came to the technical parts of music, but they knew what kind of music sounded good to them.
"This is really nice!" Mizuki commented after the song finished. "Already a pretty big improvement from our first one, ahah."
"You think so??" She lit up. "I was actually gonna try writing some lyrics, but it's..harder than it looks."
Mizuki had already started getting lost in thought as they ran through the song in their head again. "Hmm..An, do you think you could make a full version of that? No lyrics if you don't want to, but.." They hummed. "I wanna try making another music video. I think..I want to try making more music with you."
They weren't able to see An's reaction to their words, as their computer screen emitted a sudden flash of light. As they blinked, they noticed their computer had pulled open the folder An had shared. More importantly, there was a new file inside.
"Untitled…?" An mumbled. "I didn't put that file in there. I only have the one copy of the demo…"
“Huh…” Mizuki frowned. They couldn’t help their curiosity…after hesitating for only a moment, they double clicked the file to open it.
Once again, their eyes reflexively shut as they were blinded by bright light. As they slowly opened their eyes, they very quickly realized they were no longer in their room. Furrowing their brow, they tried to get a good look around. Surrounding them was a brilliant sky, the sunset painting it in all kinds of colors. They were standing..on a rooftop. It was familiar, but it certainly wasn't Kamiyama. Kamiyama's rooftop definitely didn't look like it went on forever…
The next thing to catch their eye was…An, standing a few feet from them, looking just as bewildered.
"Mizuki..?" Her brow furrowed. "What…happened?" She approached them, still looking around as she did.
"I don't know," They crossed their arms with a frown. "I just blinked, and now I'm here…"
"I don't even-" An was cut off by a sound from behind her.
Both of them stood alert as the rooftop door opened and someone stepped out.
"Eh- Miku?!" An shook her head in disbelief as the figure came into view.
"Woaaah, what??" Mizuki gasped. "We didn't just get snapped into a different reality, did we??"
Miku giggled, walking closer to them. "Mizuki, An! I'm glad you're here."
"You know our names?" An's astonishment didn't die down. "This isn't one of those weird shared dream things, is it?"
"This is your SEKAI," Miku explained. "A world born of feelings."
"SEKAI..?" Mizuki repeated. This was…beyond weird. The only reason they even questioned if this was a dream was the fact that An was experiencing it with them. They dreamt about their friends sometimes, but An seemed just as aware as they were.
"Yes!" Miku smiled. "When you discover your true feelings, they'll form a new song."
"SEKAI, true feelings?" An shook her head. "I don't understand at all."
"I didn't think you would…" Miku hummed with a tilt of her head. "But…I think you will! That's why I'm here as your senior to guide you."
"Okay, huh?" Mizuki crossed their arms. "This is just getting more confusing…"
"We have plenty of time to explain, but.." Miku slumped. "Not right now. I'll see you guys later, I hope. Just open that Untitled file again, okay?"
Before either of the two could respond, Miku and the rooftop disappeared in another flash of white.
Mizuki groggily opened their eyes. When had they fallen asleep..? And…had they fallen asleep at their desk.
"Mmph…" They mumbled, blinking the sleep from their eyes. As they awoke, their computer screen came into view, still open to their call with An.
"Mm….Mizuki..?" Came An's voice through the call. Had she fallen asleep too?
Mizuki couldn't help but break into laughter. "Oh man, did we both fall asleep..? I didn't think I was that tired."
"Me neither.." An rubbed at her eyes, then suddenly sat up straight as if she were remembering something. "Oh!"
"What is it?" Mizuki sat up straighter as well, a little alarmed by An's sudden shift in energy.
"I forgot to tell you," She explained. "There was one more thing I wanted to talk about while we called."
"Shoot," Mizuki hummed.
"There's, uh, some rumor that's hit the school…"
Mizuki couldn't help the way their stomach dropped. "Yikes, it's…not about me, is it?"
"No, no," An shook her head. "I dunno if it's true or not, but…sounds like our class is getting a new transfer."
"Okay.." They hummed. What was so special about that?
"And, apparently, she's some pretty popular idol who just retired."