Work Text:
“I’m so glad we can finally dorm together! This will be amazing!” Mizuki exclaims loudly. “I can finally pull off some dorm pranks on you!” They chuckle. It was a while in the afternoon, the two on a facetime Nightcord calL.
“I’m only being your roommate because Airi was with someone else, I would’ve been with her.”
“You don’t have to lie to yourself, I know you love me,” Mizuki says with a smile, and Ena thinks nervously to herself.
“I know you love me.” She would’ve brushed it off, but this was coming from Mizuki, someone she in fact did love romantically. Someone she cared about. Ena held back her feelings this whole time, and of course so did Mizuki.
“Right. ‘I love you’ totally real,” She says with a bit of hesitation. Her heart beats quickly and her lips form a smile.
A flash of sadness appeared in Mizuki's eyes, and Ena couldn’t help but feel a sort of pity for Mizuki through the screen. “Gosh, you really are mean, Ena. Oh wait, I'm currently packing right now, who is going to bring the stuff for the puppy?”
The puppy belonged to one of their mutual friends, and this said friend was busy for a weekend, so they left Mizuki and Ena to look after their puppy. “I can bring some food, but we can always just ask them if they could lend us their stuff for the puppy.”
“Have you ever taken care of a puppy? You are the type of person to just stay in your room all the time. Hey, if we ever liked taking care of the puppy, should we get a real puppy?” Mizuki asks with bright eyes, looking into their screen. Ena could tell they were looking at her video, rather than looking directly at the camera.
“I’d rather get a kitty than a puppy, in my opinion.”
“Kitty? That reminds me of one of our songs. That was so long ago, I think we were both still in Kamiyama.”
“Right! I remember back then, I wanted to…” Ena paused, and an awkward silence filled the room. A sigh parted from Mizuki’s lips and they went to their desk, sitting on their chair for a bit.
“That was such a long time ago. We should continue packing,” Their hair is down, and Ena recalls Mizuki a long time ago—their soft pink hair usually tied to the side with a ribbon that matched their outfit was no more, they grew out their hair, and often styled it in multiple different styles, usually following tutorials online to recreate looks. It was a tradition for most, if not everyone to give them any sort of hair accessory on special occasions.
Ena’s hair was also slightly longer, sometimes she braided it into a short braid, tied it in a but or just left it loose, unbothered to style it.
However, both Ena and Mizuki’s style both evolved in a way, after amassing a large collection of accessories, they started to maximise the amount of things they could use to tie in their outfits more.
Mafuyu even cut her hair into a short mullet before, Kanade also usually braided her hair now.
It was surreal to think about how many things changed in their musical group, yet how many things stayed the same. They grew as a group, and they treasured the moments they have together—they couldn’t possibly imagine losing touch with each other.
It has been a few days since Mizuki and Ena moved into their shared home. And they’ve never been more busy—and today, a puppy was about to stay with them temporarily for a few days.
“Thanks a lot for being willing to take care of my little puppy here, I’m glad you guys are taking care of him. I hope he doesn’t cause you any trouble, since you both haven’t lived here for very long,” Their friend thanks them profusely, and they say their goodbyes.
“Ah! He’s so cute! I might cry!”
“Wait! I want to see him too!” Mizuki pops their head out of the corner, running over to Ena and the puppy in her hands.
“Just look at his eyes! And he's so soft and fluffy! He’s adorable!” Ena says. A smile on her face. She hugs the confused dog tightly, and he sniffs the surrounding areas.
“We should put him down and let him walk around, I’ll give him food after a bit,” Mizuki pets the soft exterior of the dog with a smile and Ena looks at Mizuki with admiring eyes.
A few barks can be heard in the late hours of the night, Ena wakes up, and opens the door to see the small puppy outside with pleading eyes. She sighs softly with a slight grin on her face. “Did you want to sleep in our room?” She asks the puppy as if it could respond to her.
“Come in, I’ll let you sleep in my bed if you don’t ruin it,” She opens the door wider for the petit puppy to walk inside, careful not to make any noise in order to not awake the dreaming Mizuki in their bed. Peacefully snoring softly.
She picks up the dog, holding him tightly, and places him on the bed. Getting into her sheets, the dog cuddles up near her, and she gently rubs his fur in one repetitive motion until they both end up asleep.
Mizuki wakes up in the morning, with a few errands to do on that Saturday morning, they don’t hesitate to get up from their bed the moment their eyes adjust to the bright sunny morning. Getting up with a soft yawn, their eyes shift to Ena’s sleeping figure, however, there is a little puppy that she is cradling in her arms, both of them sleeping well.
They let out a deep exhale, thinking about a few things.
They were glad they could wake up to see Ena’s sleeping figure, for her to be one of the first things that they could see when they woke up. To spoil Ena with small gifts and just being there with her. It made them happy, but not satisfied.
They wanted more with her. To be able to share anything with her with the assurance that they would be friends no matter what. Yet, even after living together, Mizuki still couldn’t let out the words they wanted to say for so long. The words Ena were waiting for this whole time.
They were sure she already forgot about it, but their heart told them to say it. However, their brain didn’t allow them to speak their truth.
A soft bark is heard behind them as they start cooking breakfast for both Ena and themself.
“Oh, you’re awake?” Mizuki asks the puppy, and they receive another bark in response. “I wish I could be a dog, I would be fed with food and wouldn’t need to go to school or study at all! I could just play, eat and sleep. You don’t have to deal with love problems.”
Bark!
“What? Are you trying to give me relationship advice? Because, I’m not going to take it. Did you know I like Ena?” They continue cooking.
Bark! Another bark in response.
“What are you? Can you understand me?” They sigh, “Is it obvious that I like my roommate?” They glance at the dog with soft eyes, before turning back to the stove. The puppy barks in response to all the questions thrown at him.
“I'd tell her my feelings, but I wouldn’t want Ena to feel awkward living with me. It’s better to confess another time, I probably should’ve asked sooner, huh? I wonder if anything would be different if I did—or, if the universe ends up in the same end no matter what. Maybe, no matter what I do, Ena rejects me, it feels hopeless like that sometimes.”
They continue speaking to the small little puppy, who is sitting still on the floor as they prepare breakfast for both Ena and themself.
“Gosh, am I talking to a puppy that can creepily respond perfectly to my questions?” They laugh in the silence, thinking for a moment.
“Did you come here because you’re hungry? You have such an easygoing life, I’m sort of jealous—you don’t have to deal with issues like mine. The only issue you may find trivial is that you don’t have someone taking care of you at your beck and call, and even then, you’d probably be taken to a shelter,” The dog did not respond. Yet Mizuki took their bowl and added some food to it, thereafter placing it on the ground.
The puppy did not eat. “What do you want? I could play with you after I finish this, but I’d have to leave. I have some errands to do today, I think Ena would be here with you,” Mizuki starts finishing preparing the breakfast they made.
The puppy whimpers, and Mizuki looks at it with soft eyes, “Gosh, what do you want? You don’t want food,”
Bark!
“Does that mean you want food? The bowl is right there, you can eat it.” Silence. “Bathroom?” More silence. “Play? Do you want to play?” More silence followed.
This back and forth went on as Mizuki could list out whatever they could think of, a sleepy Ena, walking in on this interaction, squints her eyes in confusion, “What’s the puppy doing?” She rubs her eyes at Mizuki, who was now sitting at the dining table with the puppy on the floor at their side. They had started eating, and another plate of food could be seen across the chair they were sitting at.
“I’m trying to ask it what it wants, but it doesn’t seem to want anything,” Their voice is muffled due to their filled mouth.
“Puppies are like that, that’s why I love ki-”
Bark!
“Huh? He barked?” Mizuki looks at the dog with wide eyes. The puppy did not bark at all in the past few moments, so why now? Mizuki thinks for a moment. “Enanan, maybe it was something you said!”
The use of her username was now normal to her, but it still made her have to do a double take whenever it was used by Mizuki. Either way, she pushed back the thought and focused on what was more important right now, finding out whatever this damn puppy wanted. “Something I said? But all I was going to mention was how I prefer kittens over puppies, is it mad that I am a cat person?”
“I assume so, but it’s fairly strange, isn’t it?” Mizuki bends down to the sitting puppy, and speaks with a slight baby voice, “What do you want, little puppy? Do you want headpats? Or or, maybe-”
“Mizuki, how long are you going to sit here and talk to a puppy that won’t even respond back to you?”
“Oh! I forgot how late I was, whatever, It’ll be fine, I have a knack for doing things last minute anyway.”
“You have such bad habits…” Ena muttered as they left, closing the door as they waved goodbye to Ena and the little puppy. Once Ena checked that they were fully gone, she looked down at the puppy near her feet, “You barked when I mentioned that I love kittens more than puppies. Are you mad about that, or do you know too much?”
She could tell what the sweet little puppy barked at. She knew exactly. “Was it just a coincidence or are you a telepathic puppy? You’re really different, I have to say.”
Bark bark!
She chuckles, “I assume that means, ‘Thank you’. No wonder Mizuki was talking to you. What did they say?”
Bark bark bark!
“Three barks? What could that mean? Sorry I can’t fully understand dog language, but you seem to have a strange understanding of human language,” Ena thinks out loud. She has a slight suspicion, but she doesn’t know what to say.
Bark!
“Now I’m lost. If only there was such a thing as a human and dog translator, it would’ve been helpful right now. I wouldn't have to play cat and mouse with you, but what would the dog version of that be? Nevermind, we are getting off track, 3 barks mean its 3 words, right?”
Bark!
“Do any of the words relate to love? You barked earlier at it. To make it easy, bark twice for yes, and once for no.”
Bark bark!
A quick response, Ena couldn’t help but get her hopes up. She thinks carefully before asking another question, “Okay… Is it about me and Mizuki?” She hesitates slightly after saying these words. Her nerves can’t help but go slightly numb.
Bark!
…
Bark!
The barks are quick. Ena takes a deep breath. Inhaling and exhaling before asking the big question, to a dog no less. “Does Mizuki like me back?” The question makes her cringe internally, she’s scared to find out if the dog will be the bearer of bad news. Or the one who will help matchmake the two roommates.
Bark!
…
The suspense kills her. It makes the hairs on her skin rise as goosebumps form on her arms and legs. She closes her eyes and carefully listens, waiting. Hoping for another bark.
…
Bark!
There it was. She couldn’t help but feel ecstatic. Her heart rate rose (as if it wasn’t already high due to the suspense) and she could feel her cheeks burn and grow red, but she didn’t care because this was the person she loved the most, and after so long, they finally liked her back. It was all the confirmation she needed.
And she could finally tell them the feelings she kept in her heart.
[“Oh? You’re back home? I wanted to tell you something recently, actually…” Ena now says those words. It makes Mizuki nearly tear up. They couldn’t comprehend such words. It made them feel special. The two have been waiting their whole lives for this moment, for each other.
Those words were…
Those words made Mizuki feel like a different person.
”I really like you. Love you almost.”
“Wow, so you only like me? You don’t love me?” Mizuki says, their words are blunt but their demeanour is not—in fact, they’re in shock. They’re overjoyed. They just had to joke in this manner. In this serious situation, they smile brightly, and raise their head up high.
“You know you like me back.”
“How did you know?” Mizuki asks in shock.
“It was the puppy. That damned telepathic puppy told me you liked me back. It sounds crazy, I know, but that’s the truth,” Ena says bluntly. She couldn't believe it either.
Mizuki liked her back for so long, it was just a little push that helped Mizuki and Ena get together in the end.]