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As she opened her eyes, the rain of pink instantly surrounded her, nearly blinding her.
Cherry blossom petals, Ena immediately figured. She couldn’t help but feel captivated by them for a moment, especially as a light breeze shifted their flight’s direction ever so slightly. A picturesque image, rendering the young illustrator speechless for a mere second. While she was content with the answer coming from the storm of petals encompassing her, however, her mind finally began to wonder why she was seeing a sight. Moreover, how she was seeing rows upon rows of cherry blossom trees in full bloom, as she recalled that it had already been the middle of summer.
Ena tried to rack her brain to retrace her steps. The last memory she had was being in Sekai on a particularly late and empty evening, attempting to stay awake before she saw a flash of pink. After that, her mind went blank, and the next thing she knew, she found herself standing in the middle of a cherry blossom-filled park on what was normally supposed to be a hot summer day.
The girl frowned, but the first logical thing had been to see if Untitled was still playing. There was a possibility that she was still in Sekai as it had been her last memory before coming here, and turning Untitled off could be her key out of this strange phenomenon.
Certainly enough, Untitled had been playing, and Ena tried to pause or stop the silent song but to no avail. Ena tried to fidget more with her phone, in an attempt to find another solution to her situation.
But to her surprise, she found something even more bizarre.
“Wait…. This date was three years ago….”
Ena had to rub her eyes, even going as far as closing the calendar app and reopening it, yet surely enough, the date had been printed clearly. It had been an early spring date, presumably around the time that Ena had graduated middle school and was on the track to taking her entrance exam for an art high school she had been eyeing for some time.
She couldn’t help but shudder, as it was a dark time for Ena to recall. Ena looked down at herself, expecting herself to look different from her present self, but she could only see the same blouse and skirt combination she wore that day, having not changed into her pjyamas for the night despite it being rather late. She even felt for the side braid and the accessories she paired with the outfit, and sure enough, they were there.
Such a strange occurrence could only happen in movies and anime, and almost always it would be explained with the concept of time travel.
So could that have been what happened to Ena? But how could she have done so?
Was it just a happening in Sekai, as the pocket dimension happened to be one of the biggest mysteries that Ena had yet to fully understand?
She could only shake her head at the unbelievable thought.
Frowning at the surge of unanswered questions now flooding her brain, Ena put her phone away, and tried to look beyond the flurry of cherry blossom petals to see where she had been exactly. With a step forward, her path cleared, and she could finally recognize the park that she had been in.
Nonogi Park.
A quick glance of the scenery told Ena that she hadn’t been alone, just as she had expected from the place and time of this phenomenon. Scattered around the field were faceless families, couples, and even individuals sitting in picnics, cheerfully conversing with one another about topics Ena could not understand, nor had any interest in.
Laughter, cans of soda clanking against one another, children running around while their parents sternly warned them to not be a bother to others. Even teenagers were strumming away on their guitars and singing joyfully without taking themselves too seriously.
Amongst the clamouring of people, Ena sensed so much joy in the atmosphere. So much tranquility, to the point of unfamiliarity within the young illustrator.
A perfect little sight of a typical cherry blossom viewing session.
She walked down a clear path, seeing the endless rows of both cherry blossoms as well as the small bursts of people dotting the whole park. Ena could only hear the sounds of laughter piling on top of one another, but for some reason, she couldn’t find it in her to get annoyed or feel deafened by it. Rather, she only felt a fleeting sense of envy, wishing she could enjoy the same scenario as all these faceless strangers.
However, such jealousy was very short-lived as she spotted a cherry blossom tree larger than others, with no one underneath it.
Or more accurately, a lone person stood underneath the massive tree, with short pink hair blending far too well. Making it seem like they’d disappear if another gust of wind blew in their direction. Ena could only see this person’s back, being clad in what looked like a maroon blazer which was odd for the season. Yet it was strange, that even from a distance, even if the person had their back completely turned towards Ena…
…she could just sense the air of melancholy around them, heavily contrasting the joyful scenario surrounding them.
Ena felt compelled to see more of this strange person, who remained unmoving from their spot, and only staring up at the massive cherry blossoms that towered over them. With each step she took, she drowned out more and more of the crowd, until it felt like the only two people in the world had been her and the pink haired individual.
She approached them from behind, though had no plan on what to say exactly. Though she could feel the sorrowful ambiance only grow as Ena reached out a hand. It would be rather peculiar to greet the stranger as if they were close friends, seeing as she didn’t even know who they were to begin with, so she opted to a much simpler and hopefully less strange way of catching their attention.
Yet…the more she wavered on what to say, only staring at the person’s light pink hair rustle slightly from the breeze, Ena couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity with them. As if she knew exactly who in her very little acquaintance circle had the same atmosphere.
It had almost been like…a certain member of her music circle.
Ena sighed, shaking the thoughts away as she needed to now focus on who had been in front of her. The young illustrator figured out the words to say, hoping they weren’t taken as awkward. “Hey, are you…waiting on someone?” she stammered.
Without flinching, the person turned, almost surprising Ena with how young they looked. Listless pink eyes stared back at her, with a blank expression that reminded her so much of Mafuyu’s. “Oh, sorry. Did you need this spot?” the pink haired teenager asked back with a deep, lifeless tone, taking a step away so as to give Ena the room to set up, but when Ena responded with a shake of her head, they only furrowed their eyebrows.
“No, it’s okay. But if you’re going to watch the cherry blossoms, you should at least sit down, you know,” Ena went on with a frown. “You seem to be really interested in it, after all, and you’d just get a cramp both on your legs and your neck if you stay standing and looking up at full force like that.”
The teenager only let out a low grumble of annoyance. “.... Can I ask who you are, Miss? Last time I recalled, you and I haven’t met yet, and you’re talking to a minor.”
Ena couldn’t help but twitch her eye at the implication that the individual thought of her as older than she really was, yet their nearly condescending tone further reminded her of the same member of the music circle from early. Not that they were condescending, but the unique way of bluffing had definitely been there.
In other words, the sense of brattiness had been far too similar, almost identical, even.
“For your information, kid, I’m only barely eighteen, so I’m also a minor just like you, and I’m not talking to you in that kind of way,” she retorted, crossing her arms sternly. “But, fine, I guess it’s fair that I introduce myself when I’m the one who approached first. I’m Shinonome Ena.”
The younger teenager hummed, crossing their arms in a similar fashion, but slowly turned away from Ena as if to say they’ve lost interest in the conversation.
Ena couldn’t hold back another twitch of her eye. “W-well? What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Your name, duh?”
The teenager scoffed, paying no mind to Ena as they only kept their pink orbs locked to the equally pink petals causing a storm above them. “Who knows.”
Ena’s jaw dropped, now unable to hold back the thoughts in her mind. Perhaps she had also been shocked to sense the sudden change of atmosphere from the younger teenager, as if the air of melancholy surrounding them had come to a halt. Or that it had just been a joke. “You’re a little brat, aren’t you?” She rebutted. “And here, I was trying to be nice and accompanying a lonely person for cherry blossom viewing.”
She only heard a small hum of confusion from the other teenager, followed by a tilt of their head and a deeper knitting of their eyebrows. “Accompany me? A stranger?” They questioned, trying to process the rather foreign idea in their mind. “Why would you do that? It’s not like I’m really doing any cherry blossom viewing, you know….”
The gloomy aura came back once again, as Ena watched them lower their head. Finally turned away from the cherry blossoms and seeing less of their features, it again felt as if their entire being would just be swallowed up by the world.
“You aren’t? It sure felt like you were, since you’ve been staring up there for a while….” Ena assumed, unable to hold back a small frown with the way Mizuki’s face dropped. They turned their head away from her further, so as to attempt to hide their expression.
With a small sigh from the teenager, they finally replied. “I just came here to see what the big deal is, to be honest. Why people are so loud about seeing a bunch of flowers, that is. I mean, they can just do that at home, can’t they?” They mumbled, hands beginning to fidget with the ends of their blazer. “It’s not like I like cherry blossoms…. They’re too…dull….”
Ena tilted her head.
“But it seems like you’ve stayed longer than you intended.”
The younger individual only remained silent for a few moments, unable to refute Ena’s observation.
She took the opportunity to continue, flashing the younger one a small smile. “Besides, I think the cherry blossoms would make for a great art piece, don’t you think?”
They finally lifted their head to look at Ena, being nearly stunned by the gentle smile on her face. At the mention of art, they only looked at her in even bigger confusion. “...do you like art, Miss?”
A noteworthy question, but one that made Ena stop for a moment.
Did she like art?
“...I do. So much so that it hurts me.”
The rustling of the leaves cut through their silence, and Ena felt as if she knew the younger teenager somehow understood what her stance was on art just based on a few words. She could see them looking back up at the tree, trying to reach out for one of the cherry blossoms to no avail.
“...I know how that feels,” she heard them whisper.
Ena could only give them a sad smile in return, figuring that the person before her had similar experiences. To be hurt by the very thing you like, but still continue to chase after it knowing they couldn’t live life without it…. It had been a more common ideology than Ena had though right until that second.
It just seemed as if the teenager internalized that hurt a little more than Ena did, and let it kill them from the inside.
After what felt like an eternity, the teenager looked back at Ena, their listless eyes gaining a bit of life in them. “Shinonome-san, was it?” They began. “I’ll join you for some cherry blossom viewing, then.”
“I was the one who offered first, you know,” she answered back with a nonchalant shrug, “and you can just call me Ena. No point in formalities even if you don’t tell me your name.”
“...Akatsuki.”
Ena nearly missed the word that the teenager spoke. “Akatsuki? Is that your name?”
“No, but you can just call me that.”
She thought about the name for a moment, assuming it had been something that was a part of their real name, but was being secretive for a variety of reasons. However, Ena couldn’t blame them, as they seemed to be rather protective of their own identity. After all, she was still technically a stranger to them, and the adolescent seemed to be overly cautious, possibly because of the potential to have their identity used against them.
Ena couldn’t help but commend Akatsuki for their caution over strangers.
“Alright, Akatsuki,” she replied with another smile, but paused as she thought about their choice more. It seemed awfully on the nose and way too close to her own last name, and it could have just been the fact that they looked 14 years of age at most, yet she couldn’t help but think that it had been something they came up with on the fly. “...did you happen to choose that name to counter my last name?”
Akatsuki only shifted their eyes, a little too suspiciously for Ena’s liking. “Maybe, maybe not.”
“You fickle little—”
“Anyway, if we’re going to do this cherry blossom viewing properly, I guess we should get some snacks, right?” Akatsuki countered, beginning to walk away as they fished for their wallet in their pocket. Ena twitched at their pacing of doing things, before chasing after them with a small grunt. Under her breath, she could only curse their rather cat-like whimsicality, but that was none of her concern as Akatsuki walked faster.
“H-hey!”
Their quick convenience store trip managed to net them a fairly decent selection of snacks to choose from; a variety of onigiri flavours, some chips, as well as a couple of carbonated drinks. Ena almost felt bad for having the younger teenager pay for everything, as she had forgotten her own wallet back in what she now assumed was her original time, but Akatsuki seemed to have no issue spending a little extra that day and even bought Ena a little sketchbook with a set of pens.
When asked about it, however, Akatsuki only shrugged and said, “you said that the cherry blossoms would make for a great art piece, right?”
Ena couldn’t help but feel moved in that moment, as it felt like they were saying it’s okay for her to let loose and draw without hurting. She gracefully thanked the adolescent for it, and walked back to the park.
As they made their way back to the large cherry blossom tree, they luckily still found the spot vacant as they both agreed to use their outer layers as makeshift picnic blankets. Ena took her shawl off, laying it flat on the grass alongside Akatsuki’s school blazer, before positioning themselves and their acquired snacks to face the tree.
Akatsuki reached for the cola first, while Ena settled for the salmon onigiri before she cracked her new sketchbook open. With their angling, she had a perfect frame for how she wanted to draw the tree, and got started right on it.
“Come to think of it, I don’t recall seeing such a big cherry blossom tree like this. You managed to find something pretty good, didn’t you?” Ena inquired, without glancing at Akatsuki who only hummed in response.
“Really? It’s been here for as long as I can remember,” Akatsuki pointed out. “My big sister and I used to go to this spot as kids all the time.”
“Huh, you have a big sister?” Ena asked with genuine curiosity, though her eyes still remained darting back and forth between the paper and the tree itself.
Akatsuki didn’t seem to particularly mind the lack of eye contact, as they, too, only stared up at the tree. “Yeah. But we’re so far apart in age that we don’t really hang out anymore,” they replied, before finally opening up one of the chip bags and beginning to munch on a few pieces as quietly as they could.
Ena paused momentarily, suddenly being reminded of the same circle member that she’s kept in the back of her head the whole time she’s been talking with Akatsuki. “Is that why you came here on your own? Are you just not that close with your big sister?”
“No, we are. I like to think we’re close. It’s just that she’s busy right now, chasing after her dreams and all, so it can’t be helped. I wouldn’t really want to get in between that, you know,” they admitted, somehow gaining just a bit more life in their tone. From that, Ena could tell that Akatsuki seemed to really care for their older sister to not want to disturb her pursuit to her dreams.
Though she can’t help but be jealous over the fact that they seemed to be in good terms with their older sister. “Wow. I wish my brother was as caring as you. But no, he’s just a brat,” she complained with a small frown.
“Even more so than me? You did call me a brat earlier, didn’t you?”
“L-look, I’m sorry for that, alright!” Ena defended herself, yet it didn’t seem as if Akatsuki was particularly hurt or upset about being called a brat by a stranger. “But even more so than you. That guy is so damn arrogant and disrespectful, and I’m his older sister!”
Akatsuki quietly opened up the drink Ena had chosen earlier, and swiftly handed it to her at the perfect timing as she snatched it and drank a few swigs of it. “That doesn’t sound like a good little brother, then,” they mumbled nonchalantly. “I can’t imagine acting that way to my own sister.”
“Well, you’re already miles better than that dipshit of a brother. You’re a little brat, but at least you’re more decent in respecting your elders,” she complimented with a shrug, to which the younger adolescent only frowned to.
“It almost feels like you’re pressuring me to respect you more. Weren’t you the one who forced yourself to talk to me?”
“Never mind. I take back what I said. You’re a brat.”
“You can’t just take back a compliment when I’ve only said the truth. That’s rather childish of you, isn’t it?”
Ena grunted, and with a click of her pen, she glared at Akatsuki. Their teasing felt so familiar, that she couldn’t help but to react in a similar fashion. “Do you just find taunting me like this to be entertaining, you little brat?”
Akatsuki shrugged after a swig of their own cola. “You just make it painfully easy,” they admitted.
“Oh, you’re lucky you’re way younger than me or I would’ve stabbed you with this pen right about now,” she threatened, holding the pen like a dagger towards Akatsuki. To this, they visibly shuddered for a moment, knowing they’re teetering painfully close to overstepping a boundary.
“I genuinely fear for your brother’s safety, in that case….”
With a hum of triumph and a bite of her onigiri, Ena ended their conversation for the time being, focusing on the sketch now beginning to come to life. Akatsuki also focused on downing the chips they had picked out, in an attempt to keep themself busy.
The quietude between the two of them didn’t feel as suffocating as Ena anticipated, though it also didn’t last long as this time, it was Akatsuki who spoke up.
Their attention had been on the shawl that Ena used as a makeshift picnic blanket, tracing the finer details of it with a clean hand. “Ena-san,” they started, observing the delicate lacing on the trim. “Are you into fashion, by any chance?”
Ena’s hand stopped mid-shade of her drawing, giving the younger teenager a glance before noticing where their attention had been. “Ah, well, I keep up with trends the best I can, actually. Are you?”
“...no, I’m not,” they hesitated with a small frown, before hiding it behind their drink. “My sister just won’t stop yapping about it, s-so I’m kinda forced to listen and learn against my will….”
She could only respond with a small shrug, unable to notice the small hesitation on Akatsuki’s end. She found it to be rather typical, as Ena was sure that Akito mostly felt the same. Of course, that was something she wouldn’t exactly admit, as Akito could take anything she throws at him. “Huh, well I guess that’s typical of older sister things,” she agreed. “So what do you know about fashion?”
“What?”
Ena momentarily set her sketchbook down, giving Akatsuki an intent stare from top to bottom. Something about them felt just a little bit more familiar up close, yet Ena couldn’t quite put her finger to it. Still, she found herself staring for longer than she intended, studying the younger teenager’s fair face clear of blemishes, pink eyes, and slender, yet well-maintained physique, despite the bag of chips they had downed. “You seem like you’d have great fashion, although I can’t say the same right now for your school uniform,” she admitted, frowning at the layers that they wore.
Akatsuki swallowed their food down nervously, instinctively backing away from Ena as they shivered from her strong gaze. “I-I told you, I’m not really into fashion. All I know is what my sister has told me or what I see whenever I come with her to the mall, a-and it’s not really a lot,” they admitted, yet Ena couldn’t hold herself back from narrowing her eyes a little more. There had been something quite off about the way they displayed their nervousness, but for the sake of their comfort, Ena decided not to pry.
Though the familiarity she felt remained, or rather, it grew ever so slightly the more she observed.
With Ena’s silence, the adolescent finally spoke up once more. “A-anyway, I just figured you’d be into it, because this seems like a pretty fashionable summer scarf,” they admitted. “Not really something I’d expect for a spring look especially from a high school student, but l-like I said, I don’t know anything.”
Out of anxiety, they took another swig of their cola.
She wasn’t quite sure as to why Akatsuki seemed to be nervous around the topic of fashion, considering it had been them who asked first. Ena took another glance at them, before raising an eyebrow. Despite claiming to not know anything about fashion, as they claimed, they seemed to know enough to strike a conversation.
So, she decided to indulge in it for a bit.
“Ehh, but you have a pretty cute face. I think you’d fit certain fashions really well.”
Akatsuki’s eyes widened, coughing from the sudden compliment. “C-cute…?!” They stammered, voice cracking in an almost comical way, yet Ena only gave a small laugh.
“Yeah! There’s this fashion that a friend of mine really likes, and I feel like it’d suit you a lot,” Ena went on with a firm nod. She figured that while this person hadn’t quite acted the same as the circle member she’s been thinking about, they looked familiar enough to remind Ena of that very member’s image. Perhaps the more she studied Akatsuki, the more she had been learning.
On the contrary, in Akatsuki’s face had only been confusion, as Ena refused to elaborate any further.
“Huh…?” Akatsuki asked, only to get no straight answer in return from Ena who picked her sketchbook back up and readjusted her focus once again to her incomplete sketch.
“Well, it’s up to you, Akatsuki. I’m just saying what I think.”
Ena gave Akatsuki another simple smile, leaving them speechless for a moment. She heard them clear their throat, deciding to reach for an onigiri as they fidgeted with the opening for a moment or two.
As they took a bite, and settled down from their nervousness, Akatsuki spoke once more, this time their attention on the drawing that Ena made. From the way Ena had been angled, however, it was clear that Akatsuki couldn’t see much of it.
“A-anyway…so do you also like to doodle clothes and such? You seem like you’d be pretty good at it, since you’re into art and all,” they started, once Ena had caught them staring at her half-visible page. It was surprising to Ena to hear them beginning to become invested in their time together, as compared to earlier when they seemed to be quite distant. The difference within such a short time only made her grin.
“Oh, no, not really. Though that friend I mentioned just now is the one who’s really good at designing and rearranging clothes, and they’ve taught me a few styles I could draw for projects,” Ena explained, though she only bashfully smiled so as to say that she wasn’t exactly well-versed in such a topic, despite being an artist.
Akatsuki, however, only nodded, possibly choosing to avoid the topic of fashion once more. “A-ah, I see…. So, then, what kind of art are you into?”
Ena paused to ponder about it. Of course, the answer would be a simple all kinds, but she felt as if it had been more complicated than that. It was as if Akatsuki was asking what art is to her. She used art to run away, but she also thought of art as her life.
Unfortunately, it had simply been too complex of an answer that Ena decided against it, and decided to tone it down for the sake of the conversation.
“All kinds of art, I suppose. I do digital on my spare time, but I go to an art classroom for extracurricular, and, well, I learn all sorts of traditional art from there. Kind of like this.”
Ena finally tilted her paper over towards Akatsuki’s direction, clearly showcasing what she would only consider a sketch. On the paper had been a rather detailed pen drawing of the cherry blossom tree, complete with the image of Akatsuki’s back underneath the flurry of petals.
While still incomplete, it made the teenager’s jaw drop in awe, their pink orbs darting across the paper to observe the finer details that Ena had just added before showing it to them. “W-whoa…. I can’t even imagine drawing with that much detail with just one pen…! You’re amazing, Ena-san!” They exclaimed, now looking back at the older girl with amazement painting their face.
Admittedly, it made her feel slightly bashful that she only scratched the back of her head with a shy smile.
“A-ah, well this is really nothing!” She replied with a timid giggle. “Like I said earlier, the cherry blossoms are a good subject for an art piece, and I felt like doodling it anyway.”
At the look of astonishment that Akatsuki displayed, staring at the incomplete art piece with the slightest glint of curiosity, Ena only chuckled once more. She had an inkling that the teenager had been holding back on something, yet couldn’t quite express it. It had been quite prevalent with the way they stammered about, feeling as if their cold disposition from earlier had just been a joke.
Yet the fact that Akatsuki seemed to be genuinely intrigued by the things Ena told them was more than enough to convince her that their melancholy from earlier had just been a defense mechanism of sorts, to hide their true self. In a sense, she understood why they had done such, especially to a stranger like her.
Ena proceeded to rip out a few pages of the sketchbook, handing them to Akatsuki alongside a spare pen.
“Here, why don’t you try it out, too? You can draw whatever you’d like on this paper.”
The look of intrigue on Akatsuki’s face changed, holding up their hands in refusal to take the art materials from Ena. “E-eh, but I’m not good at drawing….”
However, Ena was a person that refused to take no for an answer. She simply placed the loose leaf papers as well as the pen right on Akatsuki’s lap with a stern frown on her face. “Just try it out!”
No longer able to refute, Akatsuki gave a sigh of defeat. “A-alright….”
The two of them shared several minutes of silence after Akatsuki had taken the papers and pen.
They seemed to be rather focused on drawing something that Ena couldn’t quite see from her angle, while they used their bookbag as as a flat surface to draw on. Akatsuk’s pen moved in quick, light, yet inconsistent strokes, similar to how designers would etch their ideas onto a page.
Perhaps Ena’s inkling had been correct, but she couldn’t be too sure quite yet.
She neared completion of her own work, however, and simply waited for Akatsuki to get into a good position before she could ask. Yet Ena was a rather impatient person, and after a few minutes of waiting for them finish, she dared to peek over to their paper. “Hey, can I see what you drew, too?” She asked, but as she did so, Akatsuki only jumped in their spot.
They instinctively hid their paper, but Ena had already seen it all. Doodles of armoured tokusatsu warriors were something that Ena might have expected, but certainly not the magical girls. Moreover, the latter felt rather familiar to the illustrator, as it had been something she dragged to watch one day with one of her circle members.
But what really stood out among their rather cute, rounded style of drawing had been the little sketches of ribbons all over the paper, of varying designs. Those, too, also looked like it had been something Ena had seen many times already.
At the realization that the older girl had already seen their papers, Akatsuki’s face became painted beet red, all while continuing to hide it with their arms and body. “A-ah…! I-I…um…. I-I just have a friend who likes these kinds of things, s-so….” They tried to reason, before remorsefully hiding their face away from Ena.
Ena could only watch, slowly coming to an understanding of just why Akatsuki seemed to behave with such shame, throwing excuses over topics that they, themself, had brought up.
They were probably thinking that someone like them liking things such as fashion and ribbons had been weird, and feared that Ena would think so, as well.
But Ena couldn’t bring herself to think so. Not when they shared the solidarity of being hurt over the things they liked.
“...you don’t have to hide it. I’m not here to judge you, you know?”
Akatsuki hadn’t looked up nor had they stopped hiding their papers, but she could only hear a small question of confusion through their muffled gasp. Ena reached out, tapping them on the shoulder and waited for them to lift their head up.
Once they did, Ena only flashed them a small smile, finding the words to say that would hopefully reach their heart in that moment. “You were telling me to let loose by buying me the sketchbook, right? Even though I told you that I loved art so much that it hurt me? I’d like for you to do the same, too, Akatsuki,” she continued on, before gently taking the pages from them and observing them intently. “If these are really the things you like, then you don’t need to hide it from me, okay?”
Another gasp escaped Akatsuki’s lips. Ena knew that she had reached them somehow, but still, she had one more thing to say as she placed the pages back onto their book bag.
“Besides, I think your art style is really cute, you know! It has a lot of character to it.”
They hesitated, but dared to look back at their pages. At the thought of Ena’s words that uplifted them as well as the compliments she gave to her style, even going as far as calling it cute, they mustered up a tiny smile with gentle pink orbs glistening with relief.
Ena, in return, blinked in wonder at the sight.
“...hey, so you can smile.”
Akatsuki froze, the corners of their lips dropping immediately. “...I wasn’t smiling.”
“Yes, you were!” Ena retorted, pointing at Akatsuki accusingly. The teenager, however, only shifted their gaze completely away from the older girl. “You bring back that smile, now!”
“...all of a sudden, I don’t feel like it anymore,” they grumpily mumbled back, the frown deepening from their face. Ena could no longer fight the urge to grab them by the shoulders.
“Why, you little—!”
After quite some time, the two of them settled down, as did the wind blowing tornadoes of cherry blossom petals all over them.
Their snacks also had began to finally deplete, having bought more than enough for the two of them that they realized they’d need to speed up with the eating process otherwise they’d be stuck there well past sunset. With their now completed sketches, the two of them displayed it right on the ground, with their phones and Akatsuki’s book bag now acting as paper weights.
Ena’s eyes darted to the blazer they used as a picnic blanket, knowing that it had belonged to Akatsuki’s school uniform. As she looked back up at the cherry blossoms, she kept reminding herself that this world had been the past, especially with the seasons being so different than when she had been used to.
Then she took a glance at the scenery beyond the tree, once again seeing the faceless strangers that she had forgotten due to the conversations she and Akatsuki had had in the duration that she’s been there. From the moment she started talking to them, Ena forgot all about the noise, blocking it from her ear as she only focused on the teenager sitting next to her in that second.
She observed the boisterous display of teenagers around their age chatting up a storm in various places of the field, of which Ena’s ears could not pick up.
“School has started for most already, huh? You can really see the other teenagers soaking up their youth,” Ena said, catching Akatsuki’s attention while she gestured all over the area. As if on cue, some groups of middle and high school children laughed soundlessly, while others clinked their cups of tea and soda together and cheered much like a group of drunk adults.
But Ena turned back to Akatsuki with a shake of her head. “Oh, that means you’d be in…?”
Akatsuki only looked down, an expression of glumness only painting their face. It deepened as their silence prevailed, but eventually, they responded to Ena’s question, albeit with a gloomier tone that they have had all day.
“3rd year middle school. I’m…not really looking forward to it, though. Same old classmates…. Same old everyday….”
They turned away, seemingly refusing to elaborate any further from the answer they gave. It looked as if Akatsuki didn’t want to talk about that aspect of school, and Ena felt as if she teetered over a boundary they had that she simply opted to no longer ask about it.
“Ah, 3rd year, huh… I’m also a 3rd year. In high school, that is,” she admitted with a soft laugh. “Well, do you have any subjects you’re good at? You could totally focus on those subjects since you’d have to think about high school next year!”
The younger teenager paused, placing a hand on their chin to ponder over the question. Just for a moment, the gloominess in their eyes had dissipated, now focused on a different aspect of school that they could potentially talk about. “Eh? I’m not really sure. I guess I can get decent grades for every subject…. I had a genius tutor me before, so….”
A genius? Ena questioned in her mind, but what shocked her even more was that they got decent grades for every subject. They didn’t quite look like the type to really focus on class much like her, yet they seemingly downplayed it with another excuse. “That’s some confidence you’ve got there, though,” she admitted.
“Though, not like I’m the one to talk. I should really work on studying especially when I’m graduating this year, too. Math…is the worst….”
She only saw Akatsuki tilt their head, dumbfounded at Ena’s statement.
“Math is simple, though. All you need is the formula and you’re set for most of the questions. Or are you the type to forget the formulas?”
Their seemingly innocent question came out more snarky than Ena had anticipated, but it seemed as if Akatsuki finally garnered the courage to throw a small smirk in regards to their next assault. “Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if you are.”
“Why, you–! Do you just take enjoyment for taking jabs at me like this?”
“I told you earlier. You make it painfully easy.”
Ena grumbled, much like from earlier. “Test me one more time, and I will shove this in your eyeballs!” She picked up a few pens, clicking them open all at once and holding it up to Akatsuki’s eyes threateningly.
They let out a small chuckle. “Okay, sorry, sorry…!” Akatsuki finally let out, holding their hands up to prevent Ena from really clawing their eyes out. With a deep breath, however, they calmed down and smiled. “But….” They began, pulling their knees close to their chest.
“I think… I wouldn’t mind having you as an art tutor, Ena-san.”
“Eh…?”
“I guess…that’s my way of saying that I really like your art, Ena-san,” they added, looking at Ena while their head rested on their knees, a gentle grin on their face as the wind picked up and surrounded the two in a flurry of pink petals.
Ena nearly lost the other teenager amidst the storm of petals, but their smile burned deep into her heart alongside their words. She wasn’t sure if she could even consider Akatsuki to be a stranger at that point, but to know that someone really liked her art, even when they’ve only met that day, warmed her to the core.
It made her feel more appreciated.
“...thank you, Akatsuki.”
As Ena finished the last of her snacks, she noticed that the sun had been setting and the faceless people surrounding them had began to pack up and leave. Akatsuki had also drank the last of their drink and compiled all the trash into the same vinyl bag that they had received their snacks from, before tidying up the area. Ena decided to help out as well, only to stop as she spotted a darker shade of pink amongst the cherry blossoms.
At first, the illustrator couldn’t quite recognize what it had been, but as she caught sight of Luka’s indigo eyes staring at her, she could only blink in confusion.
It hit her quite hard to see Luka outside of Sekai, only for Ena to realize that she had been in Sekai this whole time, as evident with how Untitled remained playing on her phone. And the place that she was in at this very moment must have been a fragmented feeling.
How she got there, however, was beyond her.
Luka waved in the distance, aiming to get her attention as she finally neared them. But Akatsuki saw the look of puzzlement on Ena’s face, paying no heed to the newcomer in the picture. Or perhaps, they just didn’t see Luka standing right by them. “Ena-san, are you okay?” They asked with concern.
“A-ah! Yeah, I’m fine, but….” Ena hesitated, only slowly taking her phone back. “It looks like I have to go now, though.”
Akatsuki looked almost disappointed, casting their gaze down. “Oh, I see. I guess I did kind of keep you here long enough,” they admitted, before they stood up alongside the trash that they had compiled into the bag. “I’ll clean up the rest of the stuff and be on my way, too.”
They hastily collected their phone and book bag, but when it came time to the pages of doodles that both of them worked on, Akatsuki only held onto it with a pause. Ena, however, only smiled and gave the papers a gentle push closer to them. “I’ll let you hold onto them. It…makes me feel better knowing that someone like you who likes my art would keep it,” she admitted, though Ena knew that she probably couldn’t keep it as per the rules of Sekai.
“Thank you, Ena-san,” they replied, before gently sliding the papers and what was left of the sketchbook in their bag. The only things left to retrieve had been their outer layers, to which Akatsuki quickly did, even going as far as dusting off any dirt that may have gotten on Ena’s shawl before handing it back to her.
With a small nod of gratitude, Ena wrapped the shawl around her, but was interrupted by Akatsuki’s voice once more. “Oh, um…. Ena-san?”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“This was…fun,” they said, and to Ena’s surprise, they flashed an all-too familiar grin that made her eyes widen.
A bright, goofy smile that finally made Ena realize that her intuition all along had been correct.
“I wouldn’t mind doing something like this again with you…!”
Even their strangely cheerful tone had been so recognizable at that point, that Ena was left stunned for a few moments. Finally, things made sense to her. Why she had been in the past despite still being in Sekai, and why Akatsuki’s entire being, from their smile, to their teasing behaviour, even down to their sense of distance, had been something Ena thought to be so distinguishable from her past experiences.
Luka’s rather mischievous smile from the distance also confirms it, but Ena couldn’t find it in her to get mad at herself for not knowing sooner. Instead, she only returned the grin twofold. “Well, you never know. It could happen in the near future, too. Maybe you could even plan a trip to see the cherry blossoms somewhere else when we meet again.”
Akatsuki chuckled. “That would be nice…. Thank you, Ena-san.”
“You’re welcome. Take care, now.”
With a wave, Ena started making her way back to Luka, whose grin only grew wider than when she first showed up. At that point, the fields had all been barren of people, perhaps because Ena’s time in the Fragmented Sekai had been nearing its end. She faced the pink-haired woman, and as if the weight had been lifted off her shoulders, Ena gave a long sigh.
“Good to see you, Ena,” the Virtual Singer started with a cunning glint on her eyes to match her grin. “It looked like you were having fun with that fellow over there,”
“I have…a lot of questions right now, but I won’t ask them. I know you have the answer to them, though, Luka,” Ena remarked, crossing her arms. In reality, she only really had one question; why had she ended up in someone else’s Fragmented Sekai to begin with? Ena now knew who these fragmented feelings belonged to, yet she couldn’t help but wonder if Luka had anything to do with such an occurrence.
No, she was almost certain that this had been Luka’s doing, which was why she refused to ask.
“Oh, well, Rin was rather getting antsy over you having not returned yet, but it looks like you had quite a good reason to be here,” she innocently added, turning away as she gestured towards the illuminated door nearby. “That would be our way out, but I’d hate for you to get stranded here so please do stick close.”
“Wait, Luka. Just…one more thing.”
Ena turned away from Luka, bringing her attention back to the massive cherry blossom tree. To her surprise, the young teenager remained under it, staring up at the flurry of pink much like how she found them in the beginning.
Only this time, they had such a serene smile on their face, most likely reminiscing of the wonderful moment they just shared with Ena.
Even if this scenario, including the adolescent themself, would all go away as soon as she left, even ceasing to exist, she still had to leave them with one final thing.
“Hey!” She called out, and as the teenager turned their head towards her in curiosity, Ena beamed, uttering the words that transformed their serene expression into that of shock, unable to say anything in rebuttal. However, it had only been the last thing Ena saw before the storm of petals obstructed both of their views, making them vanish in her vision, and Luka had to pull her to the door by the arm.
“Good luck, Mizuki.”
She could no longer feel the wind as she opened her eyes. Instead, she was met with the same grey hues of the cold Empty Sekai.
Though, she supposed, it hadn’t felt quite as empty as she anticipated, as Ena immediately caught sight of at least three people surrounding her, as well as remnants of the light pink petals that had made its way past the door and back into Sekai. Ena found herself on the ground, leaning against one of the triangular objects while being surrounded by Luka, Rin, and a very concerned Mizuki, still clad in their frilly nightgown.
Ena had to blink a few times, having been used to seeing the past version of the cinematographer for the last little while, who had looked very different from their current image. But Mizuki didn’t give her any time to recover, as they only leaned closer and pressed a hand to her forehead while mumbling an apology for invading her personal space.
“Oh, thank God you’re awake! I was worried something happened to you!” Mizuki exclaimed, nothing but worry in their tone. “Are you feeling ill or anything? It doesn’t look like you have a fever or anything….”
“I-I’m fine. I was just…asleep…?” Ena managed to say groggily, rubbing her eyes a little. “But why are you so concerned. And also, weren’t you already sleeping when I got here? It’s like, late right now, so why are you here?”
Rin answered before Mizuki could even open their mouth, though a frown had been visible on her face. “I knew you came into Sekai, but I couldn’t find you anywhere. I called Mizuki, since they woke up in the middle of the night, and we came looking for you only for Luka to drag you out of a fragment.”
Luka flashed a shrewd little smile, much to Rin’s chagrin. “Silly little me, I suppose.”
Rin only shot her a glare, yet her expression remained unwavering. The only thing Mizuki could do was chuckle bitterly. “Well, there you have it. But in any case, I’m just glad that you’re safe, and uh…you should probably get to a proper bed to rest this time.”
Ena stood up, giving her arms a big stretch. All of her tiredness seemed to have dissipated, but she knew Mizuki was right, even if it had been a weekend she could sleep in for. “You’re right. I’m sorry for disturbing your rest, too,” she started with an apologetic smile. “Thank you, though. Please rest well, Mizuki.”
“You too, Enanan!”
The two Virtual Singers exchanged glances before giving the two teenagers a wave. “We should also make our way back to Miku and the others, as well,” Luka said, before taking a hold of Rin’s hand and dragging her away from the pair.
Mizuki proceeded to fish their phone out, preparing to leave through stopping Untitled. Yet before they could do so, Ena stopped them with a pull on their pyjama sleeve. “Eh, what is it?” They questioned, but Ena only pulled harder causing them to bend down to her level, and pressed a hand on the crown of their head without a word. “E-Ena? What are you—?”
The illustrator patted their head so gently, doing so with ease as Mizuki’s hair had been down for the night. Still, the shocked and confused Mizuki only furrowed their eyebrows at the action. “Seriously, what’s up, and why are you suddenly messing with my cute hair like this, you sleepyhead?!”
Perhaps it had just been Ena’s urges, but with Mizuki’s words, she roughened up her hand and proceeded to ruffle the video editor’s hair aggressively. “Damn you and your silky hair.”
“Ena! My hair! Oww!!”
Once Ena found satisfaction with the damage she caused, she pulled her phone out. “Alright, I really should get going now,” she said, nearly starting out a chuckle at the sight of Mizuki’s usually styled hair now sticking out everywhere due to her aggressiveness. Still, it had been something she felt like doing, as she couldn’t get her chances at the Fragmented Sekai with the past version of Mizuki.
Ena’s gaze softened up, as Mizuki combed their hands through their hair to mend it. She could see it so clearly, how different Mizuki was compared to their past self who wore such a gloomy expression and hid everything they loved from others. The Mizuki of the present time looked like they were having so much more fun than before, and perhaps Ena was a little glad to do some time travelling to realize this.
Even if her time travelling hadn’t quite been real, Ena wanted to believe that her words still left an impact on Mizuki.
And to her, that’s all that mattered.
“You’ve done well, Akatsuki.”