Chapter Text
Coming home had always been a safe haven for the Mizuki.
Whether it was coming home in the morning to a sleepy and cuddly Kanade who had just awoken, coming home at noon to a grumpy yet loving Ena who was preparing food, and finally coming home at night to an uncharacteristically needy Mafuyu who wanted pre-dinner cuddles.
Coming home at whatever time was always fun for Mizuki. To dive into her home’s warmth and comfort, share food with her lovers, and then be held in the arms of her girlfriends? Something she had always looked forward to doing every day!
Today was not anything different, it was a cloudy afternoon and she so badly wanted to be home and warm up with her lovers.
Hence, as she approached the door, there was a bounce in her step. It was pretty light outside still, meaning Mafuyu would be home too today! And Kanade and Ena would be making dinner.
It was a Friday, meant game night, followed by a movie binge-watching session and finally a group cuddle before they slept in from today till the next day’s afternoon, and she was looking forward to it so much! Eagerly letting her footsteps carry her closer to where her apartment doot stood.
However, the stark silence that met her when she had just approached the door sent a shiver down her spine that she chose to ignore, unlocking the door with enthusiasm.
“I’m home! Yahoo~” Her cheerful voice echoed through the apartment, yet the silence was all she was met with. Cold, empty stillness flooded through her ears as she emerged through the front door, her smile altering slightly. “Hello?”
Her voice escaped an octave quieter, as she felt confusion dance in her mind while she wandered further into the apartment. “Anyone… home?”
And yet? No answer.
Usually, while Mafuyu tended to be late at times, her two other girlfriends mostly worked from home so it was very weird for them two not to answer when she arrived. By now at least one person would have held her and kissed her a soft gentle ‘Welcome home!’, yet she was still very alone by that moment.
The youngest of the four wandered in further only to be stopped in her tracks, a gasp escaping her lips as her eyes widened from shock.
The living room was trashed.
Pillows and books were thrown everywhere, coffee spilled over the table, TV and monitors all left on despite no one being in the room itself…
Uh oh...
Someone had a meltdown, but for some reason, Mizuki knew it was way worse than that. Whether Ena had another breakdown, Mafuyu had a stressful day, or Kanade had a relapse, usually there was at least one person at home to comfort the person, and clean up the mess yet...
“Enanan? Mafuyu? Kanade? I’m home-” Knocking lightly, as she opened the door to their shared bedroom before another panicked gasp escaped her lips, voice dying in her throat as she witnessed what was in front of her.
“Oh gosh...”
Hunched over the desk where the monitor sat was a shaking Kanade, who had headphones in blasting music past the healthy limit. Her small form was tightly wrapped around herself, shivering as audible heart-wrenching sobs escaped past lips and into where her head was buries in her knees.
Not standing to see her lover in such a panicked state, she dashed as fast as she could, making her way across the room.
“Kanade?!” Mizuki exclaimed as she stood behind the smaller girlfriend, gently shaking her shoulders to alert her that she was there before removing the headphones. “K?! What’s wrong love?”
However, the sobbing only increased as the composer flung herself towards her girlfriend upon making eye contact with her. She was burying her head in Mizuki's chest deseperately, sobbing out incoherent words that only ignited deeper panic inside her younger girlfriend’s heart.
“I got you… I got you…” The pink-haired girl tried to comfort as best as she could, unconsciously lifting Kanade into her arms, feeling her shorter lover wrap her legs around her waist and arms tightly around her neck. “You’re okay now everything will be okay, I’m here!”
She tried her hardest to soothe her, feeling Kanade’s head bury itself in her neck desperately. Hating how needy and hurt the elder girl was as she longed for her touch, she decided to start petting her head comfortingly, and letting her other hand wrap around Kanade’s frail waist to keep her in place, stable and fully loved and supported. “What happened? Are you okay? Where’s Mafuyu and Ena?”
But this only prompted the composer’s sobs to turn into muffled wails as she appeared to try to speak but wasn’t able to muster the power to do it, shaking her head in the editor's chest. The anxiety running through the course of Mizuki’s body only doubled, but she swallowed it down and held onto her girlfriend tighter trying to de-escalate her panic and comfort her, rocking her in her arms gently.
Kanade had never cried this hard before, and if she had it had been so long ago that the pinkette was barely able to remember it. The hysteria in the composer’s voice alone was causing blood to run cold in Mizuki’s body, her mind racing, reaching every corner of her nerves and causing her to shake with anxiety herself.
Fear keot on igniting in the pits of her stomach and it was starting to make her believe that either Mafuyu or Ena or even Kanade’s father had been hurt, yet she did not want to force the composer to try to be coherent in such a vulnerable state, focusing on comforting her, and deciding to gnore her own anxious mind.
She sat back down in the silver-head’s gaming chair, setting the girl in her lap and holding her close in her arms. She continued to pat her head while rocking her in her arms, gentle coos and hushes leaving her lips as she placed kisses on the top of Kanade’s head.
The gentle motion until the elder girl’s cries subsided to little sniffles, but her body continued to shake in her arms. Mizuki held onto Kanade tighter, burying her nose in her nape to place soft kisses there before gentle and s oft hums started to roll out kindly,
‘It’s okay, you’re okay…’
‘Deep breathe in, deep breathe out, yes! Just like that…’
‘There we go, you are doing so good, Kana...’
And it went on and on for another few moments until Kanade let out a shuddered breath and completely limped in her lover's hold.
The gentle hums and strokes kept on going until the composer weekly pushed herself off of the fashionista’s chest to finally weakly look at her. Her eyes were beyond swollen, red, and puffy, eyebrows scrunched in so much panic and sadness that Mizuki's couldn't help but frown at, before leaning down to place a kiss on them.
The composer's nose, cheeks, and even forehead were also painted a harsh crimson from how hard she was pressing them against Mizuki's chest. She looked so cute... pathetically cute even, but it was completely inapproaprote for the pinkette to let her cuteness aggression and love for cute things win at that moment, and decided on pulling her sleeve down to wipe away the tears instead.
After she managed to wipe away as many tears as she could, and kiss some away, she cradled Kanade's face in her hands, smiling at her gently giving her all the patience in the world before letting her speak.
The gentle kisses seemed to have finally soothed the composer's tears who only remained a sniffling little thing as she cuddled closer to her younger girlfriend, and allowed her face to be held tenderly by Mizuki. Taking a deep breath, she composed herself before finally allowing herself to try and speak,
“Mafu… an-and Ena fought,” She managed to weakly choke out, shivering lightly as she was trying her best to continue while Mizuki rocked her in her hold softly, “Ena is gone… I don’t know w-where! And Mafuyu won’t talk to me…”
FInally, she managed to finish the sentence, before she collapsed again against the pinkett's chest, letting tears continue to slip down quietly and Mizuki immediately wrapped her arms around her to hold her close and care of her.
That was bad… What happened during the fight must’ve been bad enough for the situation to escalate like this, however, it at least explained the living room situation and the quietness.
Mizuki took a shuddered deep breath, throwing her head back in worry as she continued comforting the girl in her arms. Just what had ignited the fight?
It made the fear gnawing in her stomach only expand… Where is Ena? It was getting late and she was so worried the brunette wouldn’t be somewhere safe. And Mafuyu... it’s not like her to shut them off like this and it was all starting to freak Mizuki out more.
Instead of wording out her worries, she forced herself to mutter, “Thank you for telling me Kanade, are you feeling better now?”
The silver head nodded weakly against her chest, hence encouraging the younger girl to continue, “Let’s go talk to Mafuyu now?”
And with Kanade still in her arms as she carried her, sniffling against her shoulder they both approached Mafuyu’s study room.
Despite all of them being together all the time, they all had a room dedicated to their crafts to not bother the other during their work time, or for when someone needed some space such as today.
Hesitantly, Mizuki raised her hand knocking gently. “Mafuyu? It’s me! Can I come-“
But before Mizuki could finish their sentence the door was pulled open harshly and in front of them stood Mafuyu, tall and intimidating as she glared at her.
It felt so similar to the first time they met in the Sekai all those years ago and it made Mizuki’s stomach drop. Mafuyu has not looked this angry in so long, and despite it freaking Mizuki out, she tried to smile back gently to get on the elder's girls good side.
Mafuyu on the other hand, glanced at Kanade’s sniffling form, eyes shifting in worry before shifting back to the cold gaze sent at Mizuki. She clenched the door knob harder before angrily muttering,
“Go away.” Two words, cold and harsh yet stabbed Mizuki in the heart like a scorching knife. As Mafuyu was about to shut the door, Mizuki stepped right closer in attempt to get the door to stay open but it only ignited the nurse's voice to get harsher as she whispered again, “Mizuki, I won’t repeat myself… leave .”
Yeah, that won’t do.
“I won’t leave till we talk about this… ‘till everything is communicated like we agree on Mafuyu, so please… let me in,” The younger girl hummed softly but the twitch in Mafuyu’s body indicated that she had to leave and give their lyricist some space before triggering her into an episode.
Sighing, she gave her one last sad smile before she walked away to place Kanade back in studio. She knew Kanade was sensitive to their fights and often had fears during them that the four of them would separate of break up, keaving her abandoned and alone again... She couldn’t afford to upset Kanade, as she already had two girlfriends to calm down and one more would complicate things further.
Once Kanade was settled in her chair, Mizuki grabbed her headphones and went to put on her comfort playlist. It was a compilation of song's they made for each other that went unreleased, and their voices were raw and unedited, comforting the composer whenever she needed her lover's presence even if they were far away.
“Will you be okay?” The silver-haired girl hummed, voice soundeing smaller than usual as she refused to meet Mizuki’s eyes, deciding on looking down at where her hands scrunched the fabric of the hoodie she was wearing, one that belonged to Ena.
Mizuki gave her a soft smile, leaning down to place a gentle kiss on her forehead before comfortingly murmuring, “I’ll be fine, Mafuyu too! And we will find Ena and everything will be okay by the end of the day!” She leaned down to place a soft kiss against her lips, pressing their foreheads together before humming softly,
"I promise you..."
Getting a smile back, the elder girl nodded no longer sniffling and instead giving her an even more encouraging smile before she patted Mizuki’s cheek and turned to her computer.
'All done! Kanade will be okay for a little' She hummed to herself as she approached the door, 'Now on to... Mafuyu.'
One last glance to ensure Kanade was secure, Mizuki made her way towards Mafuyu’s study.