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today was worst than usual.
the bullies at school were more annoying than usual. they pushed mizuki against many lockers, picked their hair, and threw food at them. of course today wasn’t the worst, like in middle school where they would get their head shoved into a toilet in the boy's bathroom. but today the bullies got on their nerves much more since they used that name.
mizuki was so close to punching them in the face, but an gripped their arm and told them not to worry. they took a breather and muttered a “sure,” and the rest of the day, they tried to ignore.
but, on the way home, they ran into their middle school bully. the boy saw mizuki and waved, running up to them, saying, “hey, akiyama, still in that phase i see?” he gave a sinister smile. “that’s fine! i hope you’ll get fixed.”
wow, so disrespectful. “oh, by the way! remember that kid who shoved your head on the toilet? yeah, he wanted me to give you a little something.”
what was that something you ask? the boy punched mizuki in the face. “so defenseless, as usual.”
mizuki bit their lip, they tried so hard not to say anything. their voice back in middle school was deeper than their voice now, so saying something would definitely get them punched again. “not gonna say anything? tch, i hope you get better soon,” the boy walked away, texting something on his phone, probably what he did.
mizuki didn’t want to go home now. all they wanted to do was to be comforted. and it was a good thing that their girlfriend’s home was just down the street.
the pinkette walked up the stairs and knocked loudly, hoping that only ena was home. akito opened the door. “akiyama? what are you doing here? here to see my sister?”
“oh, hello, otouto-kun! you’re home early, i thought you were gonna be with your group?”
“shouldn't you be at home at this time? also, toya is sick so we all decided we wouldn’t meet up.”
“is that so…well i need to speak with your sister so can i come in?” apparently, akito saw right through mizuki, cause his eyes softened a bit.
“sure,” he stepped aside and mizuki walked in. “she’s doing her homework, so be careful.”
“got it!” mizuki quickly thanked akito and walked down the hall.
something happened, right? their eyes showed it. and their cheek was bruised up.
mizuki knocked on the door. “enanan~~i’m coming in~!” they opened the door and saw ena on the bed, crying. her homework on the ground. “e-ena?!” they cried, closing the door and running over to their girlfriend. “are you okay? what happened?!”
“m-mizuki…” ena looked at her partner with teary eyes. “i-i was just…looking at some comments on our newest video and…” she started bawling again, which absolutely broke mizuki’s heart. ena hugged mizuki, pressing her whole body against them. mizuki wrapped their arms around her in return.
“did one of the comments say their art isn’t good enough?”
“y-yes…but it wasn’t just one comment…i looked through the replies and a-all of them…a-agreed.”
oh . mizuki was here to be comforted, not to comfort her. “hey, it’s alright, don’t listen to what those random people say on the internet. their opinion doesn’t matter,” ena looked away, fat tears falling from her eyes. “look at me.”
ena carefully obeyed.
“your art is good enough. your art is beautiful, like you. your art is good for niigo. you’re needed. kanade chose you to be our artist. do you know why?” mizuki asked, tracing circles on her back.
“n-no.”
“K chose you because she thought your art is superior,” ena laughed a bit at mizuki’s word choice. “i know for a fact that everyone else in that comment section was flushed over your art and how amazing it was.”
“flushed?”
“sorry, they’re not me,” mizuki giggled.
“y-you blush over my art?”
“of course! they’re so pretty! they give me butterflies.”
“oh.”
“sorry if that was too straightforward, but…i’m being serious,” they murmured, placing their hand on ena’s shoulders, letting her go, and staring her in the eyes. “your art is beautiful. don’t listen to what those stupid people say on the internet. you didn’t ask, so their opinion doesn’t matter.”
“mizuki…” ena felt mizuki’s thumb wiping her tears away. “th-thank you, i feel m-much better now.”
“you’re stuttering.”
“that’s because i was crying, dummy!”
“aw, enanan’s back to her usual self! i kind of liked hopeless and sad ena!”
“MIZUKI!”