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Ena stared intently at her phone, silently thanking Hatsune Miku that no one felt the need to speak. A glance at the clock in the corner suggested the reason— it was almost time. Of course no one would want to strike up a conversation when it could be cut short at any minute. This part was not so comforting.
“... Enanan?”
Of course it was Mizuki who broke the silence. Her beautiful wife was never one to stay quiet for long, especially when she was excited. She didn't show most of the usual signs of it— drumming her fingers wasn't exactly an activity she was willing to do, given the IV in her hand, and being on strict orders to not get up rendered pacing impossible too. The big, dumb smile on her face, though, especially bright today, was ever-present, and more than enough to make up for the lack of movement.
“E-na-na-n~? Earth to wife?”
Shit. Ena had been so caught up in staring that she'd neglected to reply.
“Ah, sorry! Did you need something?”
Mizuki looked Ena up and down. “Yeah, can you come over here?”
Stiffly, Ena stood up, closing the distance between herself and the hospital bed.
“Okayyy, now lean down? Get as close to my face as you can.”
Ena hesitated, glancing at the wastebasket in the corner of the room, the packaging of recently-used antiseptic wipes sticking out of the top. “Am I allowed to do that? I'm not exactly as clean as you are, I don't want to mess anything up.”
“Such a worrywart!” Mizuki giggled. “It should be fine, it's not like you'll be anywhere close to what they're actually operating on.”
Instead of taking Mizuki's word for it, Ena looked over at Mafuyu, silently pleading for confirmation. To this, Mafuyu shrugged. So much for Mr. Nurse having any valuable input.
“Enanan, pleeease~? I'm sure they can just clean me up again if it turns out this was a bad idea.”
Mizuki gave Ena the wettest, most pathetic and pleading look she could muster, and Ena relented, leaning down until they were nose-to-nose. Mizuki tilted her head to the side a bit, lifting her head as well as she could, until their lips connected. “Mwah! Hehe, love you.”
It was the briefest of smooches, but ultimately too much for Ena to bear. The lump in her throat, having been present but bearable for a little while now, suddenly became impossible to ignore, and her eyes welled with tears. She stood up quickly, nearly falling over backwards in the process— she probably would've, had Kanade not stood up to steady her.
Mizuki gave her a look that was equal parts pity and amusement. “Ena, you're acting like I'm gonna die.”
“Well… I mean, nonzero chance, y'know?!” Ena's voice came out shaky, interspersed with shudders and hiccups. “I'm scared! I love you, and I don't want to lose you, and…”
At that point, words failed her, and she sobbed into her sleeve. As her vision blurred, she was dimly aware of Mafuyu's strong arms wrapping around her, pulling her into a hug. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a member of the hospital staff peek into the room, and Kanade rush to greet them. Though the sounds of the hospital blurred together with the deafening roar of her heartbeat, she could make out Kanade and Mizuki's voices, frantically explaining… something. Probably that there was no crisis occurring, and that she was just a big baby who was scared of her wife going under the knife.
Though it took a moment for it to kick in, Mafuyu's hold on her did an excellent job at grounding her, as did the rumble of his chest when he, too, started speaking. The flow of tears dwindled, and she looked up to see five pairs of eyes staring at her; those of her partners as well as two members of the hospital staff.
“Ah, sorry…” she sniffled, tugging at the hem of her shirt. “Is it time?”
“It is!” One of the staff members nodded affirmatively, taking hold of the headboard of Mizuki's bed. “Would you like to wish her good luck?”
Ena nodded frantically, detaching herself fully from Mafuyu, turning to look at Mizuki. “Good luck! Please come back safe! If you don't make it, I'm dragging you out of the afterlife myself—”
She remembered that there were medical professionals in the room, who had undergone years of training specifically to keep patients alive, and bowed apologetically. “Sorry! Sorry. No offense meant to you. I trust you guys to keep her safe, I'm just—!”
Kanade cut her off with a hand placed on her shoulder. “Ena, breathe. It's going to be okay.”
“Mhm!” Mizuki chimed in. “It's gonna take more than a knife to the crotch to take me down.”
Mafuyu and Kanade winced in unison at the imagery Mizuki provided. Ena, on the other hand, found her beloved's words to be the most comforting thing in the world. Her heart's BPM dropped from 120 to a comfortable 110.
“Okay… See you soon, Mizuki.”
♡
Ena's calm was short-lived. Mizuki was wheeled to surgery, and she, alongside Mafuyu and Kanade, boarded the elevator to the main floor of the hospital. As it descended, so too did her faith in the doctors.
As the doors slid open, she stumbled out, her companions both jumping to grab onto her when she nearly fell for the second time today. As they righted her, Mafuyu and Kanade shared a knowing look before the latter spoke.
“Ena, can you walk?”
Ena nodded, her affirmation incongruous with how hard her legs shook. “Mm, yeah. Just a little disoriented from the elevator.”
Kanade smiled, rubbing her back. “Good. In that case, should we see if we can find the therapy dog?”
“... What?”
Mafuyu raised an eyebrow. “Were you not listening when the staff came in?”
Ena blushed, puffing out her cheeks. “I was a little preoccupied.”
“When they saw you crying, we told them it was your first time accompanying a loved one to surgery. They informed us that they have a therapy dog on the main floor, and suggested we visit it.” Mafuyu replied, wholly unbothered by her display of aggression.
Despite it being true, Ena was less than pleased with Mafuyu's assertion that she had been crying. She was about to snap at him, but Kanade took her hand before she could say anything.
“I'd like to see the dog, too. Can we, Ena?”
Disarmed immediately by Kanade's presence, Ena nodded.
♡
The next several hours were a blur. Kanade and Mafuyu did their best to keep Ena's anxiety at bay, with… some degree of success. She couldn't be considered calm by any means, but she didn't spontaneously combust, which she was fairly certain she would have done, had she been waiting on her own.
They had found the promised therapy dog, a large golden retriever who she sat on the floor with for a while. She was given permission to pet it, an experience she enjoyed for approximately one minute. After that, the soft curls of the fur on its chest began to remind her of the nights that Mizuki asked her to brush her hair. The hairbrush would be used for about a minute or two, and then Ena would give into temptation, combing through her beloved's freshly-conditioned locks with her fingers instead. She hoped she'd get to do it again. If that time last week was the last time she'd ever get to do it, then…
Seeing her tear up, Mafuyu and Kanade quickly thanked the dog's handler, whisking Ena off to do something else.
Now, instead of being with a dog, Ena was the dog, being taken for walkies so she didn't go insane. She and her partners explored the perimeter of the hospital, pausing every short while to inspect things of interest. According to Kanade, the place was filled with hidden beauty. The leaves of the surrounding trees, for instance, were such lovely colors, and maybe Ena would like to take a picture to make a color palette out of, later?
Eventually, the group happened upon a bench, and decided to sit down for a moment. Ena observed the standing clock nearby. About an hour and a half had passed since Mizuki had gone into surgery. She took out her phone, opening her search engine.
> How logn
Shit.
> How long doee
Shit!! Come on, Ena, get it together! You haven't even gotten to the hard word yet.
> How long does a vaginoplasty take
Hm. Okay. So, Mizuki could be as much as halfway done by now!
Then again, Ena's Law dictates that Ena Shinonome never gets the best possible outcome, and must suffer as much as possible, because she's God's least favorite. So it was just as likely, perhaps even more likely, that the operation could take the full ten hours. Which would put Mizuki at— she did the math in her head— fifteen percent done?
Ena truly didn't know what she would do for the next eight-and-a-half hours. She did have a very terrible, very inadvisable idea for how to spend the next minute, though.
> Vaginoplasty survival ra
“That's enough of that.” Mafuyu swiped her phone from her hands, holding it high up where she couldn't grab it. “Ena, don't make yourself more miserable than you already are.”
“Sorry…”
The trio walked around some more, with Kanade continuing to look for things to distract Ena with. It was mostly plants, none of which were actually notable in any form, but Ena appreciated the effort all the same. What was truly impressive was Kanade's ability to praise run-of-the-mill trees several times over without sounding samey. There were so many synonyms for “beautiful” in her head.
At some point during Ena's anxiety-fuelled descent into madness, Mafuyu disappeared, and returned a short while later with one Yuuki Akiyama in tow. She'd intended to arrive earlier, before her little sister went under, but flight delays had other plans. She hadn't yet had a chance to eat today, and Kanade took the opportunity to recommend the delicacy that is hospital cafeteria food.
There was a shocking amount of variety in the cafeteria. The café, in particular, had a surprisingly large list of offerings. Ena looked at the iced coffee options for a while, but upon it becoming apparent that she was doing so, she was stared down by Mafuyu and Kanade. She shot back a pleading look. Mafuyu shook his head. Ena sulked. Since when was this guy in charge of her eating decisions? It wasn't like he was a medical professional or anything.
Mafuyu directed her attention to the “actual food” parts of the menu, suggesting a cream cheese bagel. Ena informed him that she did not like cheese. Mafuyu pointed out that honey was an optional topping for the cream cheese bagel, and surely she'd like that, because it was basically cheesecake at that point. Ena inquired as to Mafuyu's definition of “cheesecake”, to which he replied that cream cheese, sugar, and a grain product being in the same place made cheesecake. Ena was so incensed about this that she briefly forgot to be anxious.
Ena did not get a cream cheese bagel. Much to her delight, actual cheesecake was an offering as well, so she had purchased it alongside a salad to make her feel less bad about her eating decisions. She had also acquired a bottle of water, which she hadn't particularly wanted, but Kanade insisted.
Because Yuuki wasn't freaking out quite as badly as Ena, she wasn't forbidden from purchasing iced coffee. It was caramel flavored, and Ena knew this thanks to Yuuki sneaking her a sip. Yuuki attempted to offer another a minute later, but was caught red-handed this time, and subjected to Mafuyu's slow head-shake of disapproval. She mouthed an apology to Ena.
Everyone eventually found themselves back in the waiting room. Exhausted from spending Miku-knows-how-long with every muscle tensed and her heart pounding at a hundred miles per hour, Ena rested her head on someone's shoulder. She wasn't sure whose, and she couldn't be bothered to open her eyes and find out.
♡
“Ena?”
Ena jolted awake at the sound of Kanade's voice. When had she fallen asleep? Mafuyu and Kanade stood in front of her, a member of the hospital staff standing a short ways behind them. Yuuki stood up, and as Ena groggily did so too, she tried very hard to ignore the wet patch on Yuuki's shoulder that was almost certainly her fault.
The staff member led the group to an elevator, giving Mafuyu some directions. As the doors shut, Ena came to her senses enough to wonder what was happening.
“Ah, sorry, where are we going?”
Kanade chuckled. “Where do you think? Mizuki's out of surgery.”
Ena nearly collapsed, her heart rate shooting right back up to where it had been before her nap. “Is she okay?!”
Now it was Yuuki's turn to laugh, her hand in front of her mouth doing approximately nothing to hide it. “We wouldn't be smiling if she wasn't.”
The doors opened, and Ena bolted out as fast as her legs could carry her. She stopped after a couple seconds, realizing she had no clue where to go. The collective snort from her companions made her face go red.
After a short journey, they reached the recovery room. Inside it was Mizuki, looking exhausted, but beaming from ear to ear despite that.
“Enanannn~!” she slurred. “I think I lived… Tha's pretty cool, innit?”
Ena nodded, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. “You did! And it is! I'm so proud of you, baby.”
Murmurs of agreement arose from her companions, who then gave their congratulations one-by-one. As Mizuki groggily responded to all of them, Ena couldn't help but notice the growing strain in her voice.
“Baby, are you okay?”
Mizuki gave an affirmative hum, one that didn't match at all with the tears that streamed down her cheeks. Her smile didn't falter, though, and that put Ena at ease.
“‘M jus’ really happy…” Mizuki mumbled. “Enanan, I'm—” a little sob slipped out. “‘M a girl! D'you know that?”
Ena relaxed, the tears in her own eyes spilling over as well. “I did! You're the prettiest girl in the world, Mizuki.”
Her hair was a mess, she was in about as much exhaustion and pain as one would expect from someone who had taken, in her words, a knife to the crotch, and her nose was running like its life depended on it. The smile on her face, though, was radiant enough to light up even the darkest room. Ena was absolutely right— Mizuki was the prettiest girl in the world.