Chapter Text
For never being able to face you,
I'm sorry.
...
It was terrifying how easily one could wipe themselves off of the grid if they entirely wanted to.
Two weeks had passed since Kamikou's cultural festival-- which meant it had also been two weeks since Ena had heard from Mizuki. There had been no messages, no teasing remarks, no anything. Every time she tried to reach out to her friend, she was greeted by the unsettling sight of their dead-still, quiet looking profile. All of her Nightcord messages to them had been left as sent, with no indication on whether or not they had been received.
With an exasperated sigh, Ena threw her stylus down onto her worn out desk before covering her face with her hands. Her phone sat idly on her desk, awaiting a message from anyone. She had been sitting at her desk, attempting to draw for the past hour, but all of her efforts were futile. No matter what she did, she couldn't seem to shake her clouded mind of the events from that damned day. Every little thing constantly scratched at her mind, completely etched into her thoughts:
The sight of Mizuki's terrified expression when they realized what had occurred on the roof,
The way they had ran away from her,
The way they had shoved her arm off of theirs,
The way their voice quivered and fluctuated in pitch as they spoke, all while facing away from her,
The way they had ran away for good, offering her one final I'm sorry before they went.
Yet nothing seemed to bother her more than her very own reaction. Ena had been stunned; unable to move at all. She knew she should've said something in an attempt to reach out to her pink haired friend, yet nothing was able to come to her mind.
It seemed like now that the opportunity had passed, she was able to find all of those unspoken words that she lacked the strength to convey in that very moment.
Why had those boys done what they did-- said what they said?
Why had Ena naively listened to their hateful words?
Why did she look at Mizuki like she had?
That frustrated her to no end.
Ena's messy train of thoughts were soon interrupted by the sound of a loud and recurring bang on her door. She could practically imagine Akito outside of her room, his expression agitated as he slammed his knuckles on the door, having been forced to get his older sibling to join him and his mother at the dinner table.
"Oi, Ena! It's time for dinner!" the ginger's loud voice managed to ring throughout the entirety of Ena's room, shooting a wave of irritation through her bones. "If you don't come out, I will personally come in and drag your ass out. You can't keep yourself up in your room all the t-"
"Oh, be quiet will you?" Ena managed to hiss out through gritted teeth, cutting her younger sibling off. "Open that door a centimeter and you'll be wishing you stayed downstairs."
Despite her aggravated tone, Ena knew deep down that Akito wasn't entirely in the wrong. She had, after all, basically been locked up in her room for the past few weeks-- but it wasn't like it was entirely a bad thing.. and she was absolutely too prideful to admit those thoughts anyway.
To Ena's ultimate dismay, Akito eventually forced the door open. Dodging the pillow that was quickly chucked in his direction, he leaned against the doorframe as he stared at Ena.
"Seriously, Ena. You have to eat something other than just a few snacks here and there," he spoke in what appeared to be an annoyed and uninterested tone, moving a hand through his fluffy orange hair as he did so. "It isn't healthy, and I am not going to be the one having to explain why you passed out to our parents."
Ena sat up and turned her full attention towards the door as she began to protest. "I- Hey! I eat plenty! I don't see why it matters so much to you anyway, its not like I'm dying or anything-"
"Ena, don't lie now. You're not fine, are you?" he immediately questioned as he moved further into the room, shutting the door just a tad so their conversation wouldn't be easily heard.
"Is it about what happened the day of that festival? Why won't you just tell me what's going on?"
"Shut up, will you?" Ena muttered quietly as she looked down at the ground. Her hands clenched at her sides and her throat felt like it was closing up-- the sensations from that dreaded day were coming back suddenly like the waves of a raging sea storm. She wanted nothing more than to scream, to speak properly, to say anything else... yet she could only manage a soft, strangled plea.
Akito looked down at his older sibling, examining her. It wasn't often that she acted like this; sure, she often acted like a total jerk towards him, but it had never quite sounded like that.
"Y'know, you came home so damn pissy that day and have been so cold ever since. It'd be nice to know what's going on with you, especially when you've been such an asshole recently-"
"..shut up, Akito," Ena managed to whisper out. Her head was spinning and it felt like the world was closing in on her.
This usually never happened-- she never felt like that. Why was it happening now, of all times?
"You know, I bet this has something to do with that persistent Akiyama you always talk about, doesn't it? Did they say something to you? I can g-"
Mizuki.
Upon hearing his voice once more-- the annoying sound buzzing through her soul like a mosquito-- Ena snapped.
"Shut up, Akito! Actually just shut the fuck up for once!" She shouted, standing up from the chair of her desk. She grabbed her phone, clutching it tightly in her hand as she began to speak once more.
"Don't even pretend like you know everything, because you don't. Nothing is wrong, so stop pretending like you know what's going on!"
Ena could see her sibling's expression falter for a second, but she paid absolutely no mind to it.
"Ena, st-" Akito began to speak, before the short girl began to push against his chest, resorting to using her physical strength in an attempt to get him out of her room. When he was just outside of the doorframe once more, she locked and slammed the door on his face.
She could only let out another strangled, frustrated cry, before she threw herself onto her bed.
If she just pretended he was completely gone, she wouldn't have to face him. Things would be better if her issues and thoughts managed to disappear..
right?
25.00.
Ena found herself sitting at her desk once again, scrolling through the Nightcord messages with her friends as a way of getting her mind off of what had happened hours prior. She never ended up going downstairs to eat something and was rather hungry, but she figured she'd deserved it; besides, what was just one more hour? Ena had better things to focus on at the moment-- and she didn't want to face her mother or father, let alone Akito, at all. She'd be able to get up later and heat up some leftovers or get something light to eat.
Ena's DMs weren't the only thing that had been 'Mizuki-less' for a while now, either.
It had been two whole weeks since Mizuki had sent a message in their group chat as well. Without their teasing comments, the chatroom felt rather... empty.
Sure, Kanade and Mafuyu were still there-- sending messages back and forth about possible lyrics and when they would be able to meet up in a voice call, but it wasn't entirely the same:
There was no more 'Enanan~' to be seen in the group chat,
There were no more silly little emoticons sent in the group chat,
There were no more 'memes' (that were totally unfunny) in the group chat,
There were no excited messages sent every other minute in the group chat.
Instead, the haunting image of their friend's still offline profile stared back at all three of them. She wished for nothing more than to just go back to that damn day; to be able to speak to them once again. But they had disappeared-- and weren't responding to anything.
The artist let out a small grumble as she began to look for the stylus she had thrown in her earlier frustration.. before she heard the sound of an incoming call. Looking up from her search and towards the screen, she noticed it was in their group chat.
It was 25.05--
Ena assumed it couldn't hurt to pick it up.