Chapter Text
Malice had been around long enough to feel the "canary" coming long before she made herself known. She also knew better than to try and escape the "canary"—if you did so, she'd hunt you down until you let down your guard... upon which time she would sneak up on you and scream loudly in your ear.
It was vexing.
"What do you want, Naru?" Malice didn't look at her yellow compatriot as she spoke, instead inspecting her nails.
"Where are you off to, Mally?"
"Nowhere in particular."
"Goin' somewhere?"
"Maybe."
"Can I come with?"
"No."
"You're real frosty, Mally." Naru puffed out her cheeks in a pout.
"You're not worth my time, is all."
"Why's that?"
Malice briefly glanced over her shoulder before going back to checking her nails. "There's no reason for you to be worth my time."
There was a pause, and for a brief moment Malice thought she was going to start with the crocodile tears. If she starts the wailing, I'm going to freeze her solid.
"What if I say I'm not like the others?"
That caught Malice's attention, and Malice turned around with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
Naru leaned forward, a smile spreading across her face. "Got your interest now, Mally~?"
"I suppose you do, for the moment. Congratulations."
"What I mean is... I remember things, like you do." She tapped her temple with a finger. "Not like you do. I don't have any past lives to remember, aside from the first one."
"Then...?"
"I remember her life. Yayoi Kise, the crybaby. Everything she knows, everything she remembers, it's all up here." Naru straightened up, crossing her arms. "Before you ask, I don't know why, either. And I've got memories of things I shouldn't know..." Naru shook her head. "It kinda sucks. Is this how you feel? No, it's probably worse for you, 'cause—"
"It is."
Naru clammed up, eyes slightly wide as she looked at Malice expectantly.
"They're fuzzier, the memories. Different than yours, I'll hazard a guess. Things blur together, but the sensations stick with me the most." She grimaced. "Blood. I remember blood the most. Copper tang in the air, iron taste on my tongue, the way it smells when it gets stale and dried. Other tastes, too... bitter anger, salty tears of shame—"
"Nothing sweet?"
The question caught Malice off-guard. "...No, I can't say I have any memories that taste sweet." What an odd question. "Apart from—"
Much to her surprise, Malice found her words cut off by Naru's lips. What? What?? Unsure what to do with her hands, Malice left them frozen in a half-surrender gesture. She hadn't thought she was capable of blushing until just now, but the heat in her face and the faint hiss of steam that accompanied it proved her wrong.
"Mmwah~" Naru withdrew, winking and sticking out her tongue. "Maybe that'll be one, who knows?" Naru pivoted on her heel, about-facing away from Malice and walking away. "Later, Bukki. Enjoy wherever you're goin'~"
Despite her tongue feeling numb from shock, Malice managed to shake enough sense into herself to respond. "Bukki?"
Naru spun back to face her, a smile on her face like she'd expected the question. "Ibuki. It means 'breath'."
Malice's brow furrowed. "I... don't follow."
"Do I gotta spell it out for you? Fine, fine~" Naru walked back up to Malice and poked the other girl's chest, right in the center of the bat-winged heart brooch that spanned her collarbone. "Your name is too edgy. It doesn't fit with the rest of ours."
"Lady Ritz—"
"Oh, who gives one about that? She named you that 'cause it's the name you used to have in your past lives. In my mind? New life, new you, new name." The smile widened into a grin. "So, Ibuki." She continued walking, past Malice and down the hall the other way. "Up to you if you wanna keep it or not! Laters." Her footsteps continued down the hallway, fading into silence and leaving Malice standing there alone, her face still a bit warm.
Ibuki.
It did sound nice.
"Cheers!"
Four glasses clinked together, followed by a pause as the holders drank.
"Puhahhh!" Hibiki Hojo's glass hit the table with a hefty thunk. "That hits the spot! Nothing like a bit of Suntory to warm you up on a shitty day like this!"
In contrast, Ako Shirabe still held hers, nursing the lemon drop she'd ordered. Alcohol was still pretty new to her, despite having been of drinking age for several years. "Hibiki-san, you're being loud again."
"C'mon, kid, let me live a little! My bus into Kanon was delayed almost an entire day... I deserve to cut loose a little."
Kanade Minamino put a hand on Hibiki's shoulder. "Ako's right, though, you are being a bit loud. You're not even drunk yet, are you?" In comparison to the others at the table, Kanade contented herself with iced tea. She never really got into alcohol the way her friends did, not least because she couldn't hold her liquor at all.
"'Course not! I'm not you, I don't get drunk after one sip~" Hibiki playfully rapped her knuckles on Kanade's forehead, earning an indignant grumble from the other.
"Some things never change, huh?" Ellen Kurokawa had no idea what her drink was called—she'd just asked the bartender for "something blue" and gotten this. It was bubbly, tasted nice, and had a little bite to it, so she was fine with it! It went well with the peanuts on the table.
"For better or worse." Ako grumbled. She wasn't one to talk, though—she was just as grumpy as she had been since she was young.
Ellen took a sip of her drink. "So, Hibiki, how's the road treating you?"
Hibiki sighed and shrugged. "Touring's a pain. There's a reason I try to keep to smaller venues for my live shows."
"Oh, I liked your new album, Hibiki!" Kanade smiled. "Thank you for sending me a copy. I would've bought it on my own, though—"
"She would've bought three, at least." Ako took a sip of her lemon drop. "Probably on vinyl, then begged to borrow Ellen's record player."
Hibiki snorted as Kanade blushed. "A-Ako, jeez! You didn't have to tell her that!"
For the first time, Ako cracked a smile. "No, I didn't."
"Good comeback, kid!" Hibiki reached for a high-five but was left hanging as Ako turned to Ellen and began a quiet conversation about something to do with Major Land. Crestfallen, Hibiki turned to Kanade. "Man... it's been a long time since Noise, huh?"
"Mm, yeah."
"A lot's happened since then, but I still miss those days." Hibiki's hand slid down to her pocket, where it brushed over the gift she'd received from her juniors earlier in the year, while she was on tour. Just in case you ever need it-Y+Y, the note had said. "...Kanade, you've been here the whole time for the past eleven years. Is this much snow... normal?"
Kanade shook her head. "No, the winters haven't been this bad for a long time. Since before we were born, according to my parents."
"D'ya think something's up?"
"Hibiki, that's really vague. This could just be climate change, you know."
"Look, I don't know much about science, but I know that's probably not how global warming works."
"Hibiki, global warming isn't the same thing as climate change, one is—"
"Point being." Hibiki cleared her throat, drawing the attention of Ako and Ellen. "It could be that. Remember, last time the weather was fucked up before they arrived, too."
"Right, but that time it was—"
"Winter in July." Ako set her drink down, leaning towards Hibiki and Kanade's conversation with great interest. "You think...?"
"Maybe." Hibiki shrugged. "Maybe I'm reading too much into it. I'm just saying it's best to be safe."
Kanade bit her lip. "I don't want to fight them again... not after last time. What they did to me, it was..."
"It was terrible." Hibiki took Kanade's hand and squeezed. "I won't make you fight, Kanade. We won't make you fight. Right, girls?"
"Right." Ako nodded, her hand joining Hibiki's. "Put bluntly, if your heart's not in it you'll get hurt again. And maybe this time, we won't be able to fix you."
"Ouch, kid, twist the knife." Ellen's hand joined the others. "But she's right. Don't fight unless you're 100% in it, okay? No, unless you're 1000% in it."
"...Thank you, everyone. That's a huge load off my shoulders, really. I never liked to fight, even back then... and now, I'm just scared in a way I wasn't before." Kanade shuddered as she remembered the sensation of a clawed hand digging into her, tearing the G clef out of her breast as Hibiki was forced to watch...
"It's no problem." Hibiki cracked a smile, though her heart felt twisted like a pretzel. Melody without Rhythm. Will we be all right?
Snow crunched underfoot as Malice walked slowly through the snow-choked streets of Kanon Town. The air was frigid, biting, and howled like a wounded beast, pelting her face with fluffy snowflakes that stung like little needles with such force behind them. I don't like it. Even one with the cold as she was, this was too cold. Well, there are worse times to don a disguise. She ducked into an alleyway, grateful to be free of the violent gust. "Spiegel." Her form shimmered faintly before fading away to reveal a different person entirely. Light skin, nails painted black, with a mane of waist-length straight black hair that looked like a curtain of silk. Icy blue eyes capped off the look, giving her a quite stern appearance.
There. She felt her slender body warming up already under the fur coat she'd created, though she still shivered. Neither this form nor her true form had much in the way of excess body fat, so she felt every degree of the likely negative wind chill. Scheisse. She huddled up, pulling a thick scarf up over her face. Shelter. I need shelter, somewhere to think. She took a few steps towards the street, then stopped. A name. She needed a name. It was something people almost always asked when they met each other, and not having an answer would make her look suspicious.
Damn it. This was a waste of time... but it had to happen. She thought for quite a while, growing frustrated when nothing came to mind—
Ibuki. It means "breath."
It hit her in a burst of minty clarity. Unbidden, her fingers went to her lips, gently touching them in reminiscence. That name, given to her by the "canary"... no, by Naru.
Ibuki. It means "breath.
Her own breath frosted in the air as a hint of a smile came to her lips. Ibuki. Ibuki Narukami.
It tasted sweet.