Work Text:
Hey Mizuki… Do you remember when we first broke up?
She awoke from a teary dream on that foggy Monday morning.
Closed eyes, she opened them to the ceiling of her room, still the one she occupied since her childhood.
Immediately, a wave of nostalgia and melancholy washed over her as she recounted the events of her dream, painfully remaining her of days long gone from her youth.
A youth filled with friendship and passion. Of course, the highlight of her youth was the musical project she partook in, Nightcord at 25:00, and along with it, the fleeting relationship she had with one of its members, Akiyama Mizuki.
It seemed Mizuki had occupied the majority of her dream from last night.
She lazily turned over to face her alarm clock sitting on her nightstand, the time reading 4:58 A.M.
Far too early for Ena to be awake.
However, she had felt fully rested more than ever before, and the thought of sleeping more wasn't as convincing as it usually has been. Her shift didn't start for at least another 4 hours.
Tossing aside her blankets, she jumped out of bed, carefully navigating around all the misplaced belongings she had lying around the floor. Her room wasn't in the greatest state, but it looked extraordinarily better than it did in her youth. Not as much art supplies lying around, not as many drafts.
I have so much shit to catch up with at work. God, I don't even wanna check how many sick hours I have left. Not that I've been using them unwisely, but the temptation to take a personal day is there.
She exited her room, making a beeline for the kitchen.
She found some sort of break from the mundane in cooking.
She's not nearly as passionate in it then she is art, but it's a nice reprieve and it feeds her.
She fetched the ingredients to make pancakes from scratch. She set the flour, eggs, milk, baking powder, sugar, and all the wonderful things needed to make pancakes on the counter. The baking soda is to make the pancakes fluffy, something she has tried to make various times, but always failed.
Whether it be the pancakes never rose, or the pancakes ended up being tainted by the pungent baking soda.
Ena hasn't tried in a while, but she wanted to recreate the ones she saw in her dream last night.
Around a half hour later, she sat at the table with mildly fluffy pancakes sitting across her. Promising so far.
She took the fork and with one fell swoop, took a bite right off. It was delicious, but nowhere near the amount of fluffiness it had in her dream.
Maybe around ten minutes or so later, she took the last bite, and set down her fork. She sighed as she realized she now had to get dressed.
In record time, she put the dirty dishes away, got changed, put on her makeup, and grabbed her canvas bag.
She exited the apartment, the sky still dark as the first light had not arrived yet.
Her neighborhood remained the same throughout the years. The same street she walked down to get to the train station still looks the same as the street she walked down to get to class. Exactly the same. The lack of change was almost scary.
She arrived at the station, and looking up at the screen, she never failed to notice the train to get to her workplace and the train to Sapporo leave at the exact same time.
God... When's the last time I ever went somewhere new? When have I seen something new?
These kinds of thoughts would plague her every time she noticed that similarity.
She stood longer than she had before at this very moment.
She sighed. She hadn't even checked how many sick hours she had left. Despite this, she bought the ticket to Sapporo.
Hokkaido. The northernmost island of Japan. A sort of winter wonderland. Somewhere far away. She dashed ahead to the corresponding track number, and got on the train.
As the train departed from the station, she looked out, watching it pull away from the station at increasing speeds. She watched the ever changing scenery of the city.
She sat down, throwing her canvas bag to the seat next to her. Gazing out the window, she kept track of what was familiar.
She counted the time as well. Thirty four minutes after the train left her station, she had seen something she hadn't seen before. New sights were introduced to her, as she gazed intensely, locking it into her memory.
The journey getting there was half the fun. She was going to spend the next four hours or so seeing a side of the country she had never seen before, and some she had never heard of. She saw the sunrise from her window, rising over unfamiliar towns and cities. She saw nature she hadn't before, and watched in awe as the country woke up.
As she rested her head on the window, scenes of the dream she had earlier constantly replayed in her mind.
She analyzed every frame and detail of it. It mostly resembled a specific date with Mizuki. Much like today, the two had decided to hop on a train going anywhere, and get off at a random stop and explore.
God, that day trip was fun. They looked so beautiful with the landscape behind them.... I wonder if they knew I was staring at them the whole time.
She sighed reluctantly, as she pulled out her phone.
Guess I'm one of those exes now.
She searched on multiple social media sites to find Mizuki, ultimately finding their Twitter account. She scrolled through all their tweets and photos, a small blush arising on her face as she viewed just how pretty Mizuki remained.
Ena thought Mizuki was always the most beautiful person in the world, and looking at their pictures, she is reminded of that.
As she was scrolling through her photos, her thumb slipped just a bit too much, and to her horror, she saw her thumb hover over a bright red heart button.
She audibly gasped, as she tried to unlike it. However, amidst all the chaos, she heard a familiar tone from somewhere on the train.
Her breathing stopped. She eyed around the train, her heart beating out of her chest.
Suddenly, her phone dinged.
@mimizuki_aki followed you!
Bright pink hair suddenly shot up from a seat across the train car.
"Ena?!" The person shouted, as they stared at Ena with absolute shock and bewilderment.
Ena turned around with fear in her heart. That's when she made eye contact with the person from her dreams.
Akiyama Mizuki.
Mizuki kept staring at Ena as her face broke into a faint smile. She softly waved towards Ena.
Dumbfounded, Ena waved back and offered a faint smile in return. She found herself beckoning the other over.
"O-oh, I'm sorry! I didn't-"
Mizuki got out of their train seat, and started heading towards Ena.
Upon seeing this, she slumped back into her seat and intensely stared out the window with her hand covering her mouth.
Mizuki appeared next to them, standing over her.
"Um... is it okay if I sit here?" Mizuki said shyly.
Before Ena could even answer, the train jolted violently as it screeched to a halt. The force made Mizuki lose balance, pushing them forward and tripping them right onto Ena’s laps.
The two said nothing, as Mizuki, with the deepest blush running across their face, got up and adjusted themselves.
“Apologies, the train will be making a short stop.” The conductor spoke on the intercom.
“I uh. Yes, you can sit with me.” Ena said, who was hiding her face in embarrassment.
Mizuki sat down awkwardly, leaving a considerable amount of distance in between them.
Ena cleared her throat.
"M-mizuki. It's been a while, huh?" She nervously chuckled, averting Mizuki's gaze.
"Ah, yeah! God, it's been at least a few years, huh?" Mizuki offered a nervous chuckle back.
A sharp silence followed suit. The two would occasionally check their phones, or just look anywhere but at each other.
“Um… where are you going?” Ena asked, as she stared intensely out the window.
“I uh. I don’t know honestly! I woke up today in a funk. I guess I just wanted to see something new, y’know?” Mizuki chuckled nervously. They finally turned their gaze to Ena, their eyes softening as they watched her look out the window.
“Jeez, ain’t that just like you!” Ena looked back, a playfully annoyed expression on her face. Her eyes widened as her smirk faded. She cleared her throat, and secluded herself to the window.
Mizuki stood up straight, shooting their gaze away. They rested their elbow on the armrest, hand on face. They hadn’t seen that expression in years. Truthfully, they missed it.
“Oh! Uh, what do you do for work?” Mizuki asked, finally breaking the silence.
“Work..? Ah.” She debated for a hot minute whether to tell the truth. How could she say to them that they kind of gave up on her passion? How could she face them and tell them they gave up on something that was so integral to her back in the day.
She sighed. “I work at an office. For the meantime. I’ve been trying to save up money to … afford an art studio. Yeah.” She smiled sadly. She couldn’t even believe it herself.
“Oh, that’s so exciting! I’m so proud of you Ena!” As they found themselves going for a hug, they quickly found another excuse to lean over. They pointed at the outlet on the wall. “Gonna use it?”
Ena shook her head.
Mizuki’s phone was still at a strong 83%. They didn’t really need it. Reluctantly, they plugged in their charger.
“So, how about you?” Ena asked.
"Oh, me? I've been in between jobs. I'm mostly focusing on school right now."
Ena perked up. "Something in fashion, I presume?"
Mizuki chuckled. "Yeah, you guessed it."
"I'm glad." Ena said in as a monotone voice as she could.
There was a prolonged period of silence after that. The two sat awkwardly next to each other, as the train continued towards it's destination. The two would occasionally shoot glances at each other, sometimes catching themselves making eye contact.
"Hey, uh... I'm gonna go get a coffee probably, you want one?" Mizuki asked.
Ena nodded. "I would appreciate that."
Mizuki got up and dashed towards the cafe cart. If Ena didn't know any better, she would assumed they were just excited to exit that tense interaction.
Finally, Ena could breath. She exhaled heavily, slumping back into her seat.
"God, I suck."
Mizuki soon return with two cups of coffee.
"Here you go."
Ena grabbed the cup from Mizuki, and took a sip. Immediately, she could recognize it exactly as how she would make her own coffee. 4 sugars and a bunch of cream. As the coffee rushed down her throat, it warmed her with nostalgia and longing. She was somewhat surprised that Mizuki remembered just exactly how she liked her coffee made.
"I uh. Thank you." was all that Ena could say.
"Of course." Mizuki said as they took a sip of their own.
"Hey, you better had eaten something this morning." Ena scolded Mizuki.
"Heh, you caught me!" Mizuki chuckled nervously, somewhat shocked Ena knew they skipped breakfast.
"You're gonna regret it! Go up there and get yourself a muffin or something!"
"Ena, I'm fine! Trust me! This has never backfired before."
There was a brief moment of silence before they both broke out into laughter. As they settled from their laugh, they both caught each other staring right at the other, and they smiled. It felt warm. It felt somewhat right even. Yet, they cleared their throat and looked away.
The tension had subsided a bit, they could finally breath and talk as normal people.
With only hours and hours to go until they reached their destination, they had no idea just what they would do in Sapporo, or what it would mean for them.
to be continued.