Work Text:
“Yukiii~ I finished storyboarding the music video for that song you wrote!”
Mafuyu Asahina flinched in her seat from Mizuki’s eager voice, unaware that she had spaced out halfway through the nightly voice call. “Yuki? You there?”
“Mmhm.” Mafuyu responded promptly, nodding apologetically as if Mizuki’s disembodied voice could see her. “What about it?” She clicked around to the corresponding text channel to the one she was calling in, in case they had sent something through. No unread messages, so luckily Mafuyu didn’t have any explaining to do about ‘ignoring’ anything.
“I just thought you’d be curious, reckon I should send it through?” Mizuki chuckled through the call.
“I.. I guess so.”
Mizuki, or rather Amia as they were implied to be online, happily complied and sent the video of their plans through to Mafuyu, a little over-enthusiastic. Mafuyu spent the next minute or so intently watching the thrown-together storyboard, while Kanade and Ena (who, frankly, Mafuyu forgot were there) made small comments and thoughtlessly shared their reactions. Upon finishing the video, Mafuyu sighed emphatically which warranted a giggle from Mizuki and an assumption that it had been watched.
“Any comments? Criticisms?” Mizuki requested.
Mafuyu spent a second gathering her thoughts, and muttered unintelligibly to herself, the only comprehensible word being “Hmm… criticism…”
Even through the screen, Ena’s expression seemed to radiate through the call, a subtly concerned and apprehensive emotion that was quickly put into words.
“Oh fuck, it’s happening again.”
“What’s happening?” Mizuki retorted, confused.
-
“…Honest opinions?” Mafuyu repeated, barely above a whisper. As the chat responded with affirmative silence and a recognisably-Ena awkward chuckle, she took it as a ‘yes’. “Well, from the start, when I watched it, I noticed the timing was a little delayed. You can fix that, right?” she called to Mizuki, somewhat rhetorically.
“Mmhm..?”
“And the colour palette… it clashes, but not in a good way. At this point in the song, the colours should probably be soft since the music is pretty calm here, so I don’t understand why you went for this.”
Mizuki attempted to debate against Mafuyu’s unintentional torment, but was left stuttering at the helpful, yet targeted feedback.
“Amia?” a distinct, mellow voice noted. Kanade had been silent almost all of the call, working diligently on her own compositional projects. “You can do all that, right?” Mizuki grumbled audibly, the nonchalant agreement with Mafuyu starting to get on their nerves.
“I like the effects here.” Mafuyu continued, sending through a screenshot of the particular shot she was referencing. Mizuki was briefly relieved at some real positive feedback, and it seemed like Ena was somehow relieved on their behalf too. “Could you maybe reuse those later in the song? I think that might work better than what you put in.”
The light in Mizuki’s eyes dissipated promptly, echoed in chat by yet another retort.
“Oh, shut up, did you like the video or not?” A little too provoked for reason, Mizuki complained right back to Mafuyu.
“..She didn’t say anything wrong just now.” Kanade muttered.
“Thanks, K… Amia, I think you might be getting this from Enanan. All.. the anger.” Mafuyu was clearly taken aback, but she had never been one to let her emotions flood out through her voice like Mizuki had just demonstrated, so despite her sheer surprise, her composure was consistent.
“Oh YOU TAKE THAT BACK YOU-“ Mizuki’s reaction was visceral anger, but ironically, Ena was the one who stopped things from escalating too much.
“Sshhh, shh, Amia, don’t deny it, that’ll make things worse.” Ena consoled, uncharacteristically calm and non-offended. Mafuyu had gone on criticism-tangents before, particularly the day after that doll exhibit, but Ena had noticed that Mizuki seemed to have purposefully blocked that day out of their memory.
Mafuyu had resorted to staying out of the Nightcord drama for the moment, as she was only seeming to make things worse and an angry Mizuki wasn’t the ideal sight, however Kanade was watching and listening intently, finding the whole exchange quite funny. It was more of a therapy session between Ena and Mizuki with an occasional banging on the door from an oblivious Mafuyu at this point, so Kanade and Mafuyu left the two to their own to sort out some bubbling anger issues.
“Don’t think you’re safe, Ena.” Mafuyu finally commented after a few minutes, making Ena physically recoil on her bed at the soft, yet intimidating voice.
“….what do you mean?”
“You’ll figure it out. Anyway, find me in the SEKAI if you need me. I’m looking forward to your second draft, Amia.”
And just like that, Mafuyu had left the call.