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With the sun shining its rays on him, Asahina Mafuyu waits patiently in front of a homely residence. The slowly dissipating summer warmth laps at his form, but he remains stagnant, unaffected.
Though, that's merely what Mizuki can assume from observing him through their window and interpreting on their own. They’re no lyricist, but they’ll give it a shot.
Quickly, they rush down the stairs with an excitement-filled pitter-patter to open the front door.
He had reached out to Mizuki very suddenly only a few days earlier, and it came as a complete shock on their part. After Mafuyu had escaped from his household, the rest of Niigo, minus Kanade, was patiently biding their time, only vaguely able to gauge the emotional after-effects of the separation from a parent.
Frankly, they were impressed at how nicely he seemed to be acclimating to the massive change in his life. There was nothing else to do but keep moving, after all. They knew that, somewhere in their heart.
With some time, things had fallen back into routine, of course. The only clear difference being that the two quieter members of their music circle now sat next to each other during their calls, occasionally interacting in ways that were previously impossible. Living with Kanade appears to calm the restlessness in Mafuyu’s soul.
Now downstairs and taking no pause to open the door, Mizuki walks out with a skip in their step, swiftly reaching their dear friend.
“Mafuyu!”
He turns to face them, looking at ease, “Mizuki.” His hair is down, abandoning his typical high ponytail-look, and his clothes are simple, a mere button-down and loose slacks, prioritizing comfort above all. Call them biased, but it’s quite an endearing sight.
“Long time no see! And this time you’re at my house, meaning you’ve officially completed the ‘Visit every Niigo member’s house’ quest. Congratulations!” They joke in an announcer-esque tone, earning a mild hum of agreement, but find themselves quickly mellowing back down.
“...No, but seriously, everything’s been going okay with you, right? You seem more content staying with Kanade, but I want to hear it from you.” A light breeze passes over the pair as Mizuki speaks.
“I’m okay. It’s different… But I think I feel more free.” He looks away, wistful.
Mizuki’s face brightens at that. Knowing what he’s there for, they both make haste and enter their home.
As they climb the stairs together, Mizuki takes notice of how their guest keeps observantly glancing all around the new environment, smiling at the minute softening of his face. They’re glad at how that’s become more and more of a common sight.
Entering their room, Mizuki goes to habitually drop their body onto their soft bed, quickly shifting into a sitting position. They pat the space next to them as a sort of offering, face brightening when Mafuyu indeed bites and takes a seat beside them.
“So… A little birdie told me that Asahina Mafuyu-kun here is looking for a haircut?” Playfully tilting their head in his direction, Mizuki nudges him in an effort to keep a light mood going.
He gives a small nod, even daring to nudge back. “Didn’t I already tell you that the sudden honorifics are redundant? You never used them before.” Aw, no dice.
“I’m just teasing, you know that!” Subtle nod. “Would it be better if I made up an entirely new nickname? Enaemon was a total hit.” Very apparent shaking of the head.
With a giggle, they lean their elbows on the surface of their bed, loosening up a little seeing that there's clear content on Mafuyu’s face as well.
Their now consciously shared bond has caused a special kind of closeness to form between Mizuki and Mafuyu. As a music circle, they have always been more emotionally-driven and willing to aid one another anyway, but there’s a certain kinship between the two that has allowed them to flourish a little way’s beyond that. The kind that makes Mizuki feel unusually hopeful.
In any case, they have a wish to help and support him, and Mafuyu has been kind enough to accept that and let them in.
“Is there any big reason you’re seeking out your very multi-talented friend for this? Long hair is cool on guys too, y’know.” They speak airily, not overly serious but still beckoning an answer from him.
“It gets in the way,” he states simply.
Already having a pair of scissors ready on their bedside-table, Mizuki smiles evenly. “So, just shorter? Ear-length? Or more shoulder-length?”
“I don’t want to get rid of it completely.” Mafuyu pensively holds his fingers up, before settling for putting them to the area a few centimeters below his ears. “To here, maybe.”
“All right, gotcha! C’mere.” Nodding enthusiastically, they make their way over to the nearby bathroom, Mafuyu easily following behind them as if being pulled along by an invisible string.
They pull a small stool out of the corner for him to sit on, presenting it as if it were only the noblest of thrones. When he sits, Mizuki goes to fumble with the drawers of their vanity in search of a spray bottle and a comb. (It’s been a while since those were needed, they distantly think.)
Once they’ve gathered their necessary equipment, they turn around to meet Mafuyu’s back, placing a cautious hand on his shoulder to make him conscious of their presence next to him.
“And you’re sure about me doing this, right?”
He lowers his head for a moment, thoughtful.
“Yes… You should.” He peeks at them when he speaks those words, and that’s enough to calm their nerves a bit.
Mizuki carefully takes hold of Mafuyu’s thick hair, letting their fingers dive in to feel along the individual strands. Being allowed to carry out such an intimate, vulnerable gesture for his sake makes them pause and color a little, but they ultimately resolve to fulfilling their task.
Aligning their grip on the hair in one hand and grip on the scissors in the other to a height slightly under his ear, they take a small breath.
It takes a few seconds to make the largest cut, with the sound of the scissor blades splitting the hair only making pressure rise. They both flinch at the big bunch of hair then flopping onto the ground, and Mizuki slowly pushes it away from them with a socked foot.
With further thought-out chops and snips to keep the layers in his hair intact, they make their way up from top to bottom by dampening smaller sections and then working away with the scissors, Mafuyu waiting patiently all the while. The only sounds coming from either of them are occasional hums from Mizuki, until they finally decide they’ve finished.
Pensively, they rest their chin in their hand, fixing his appearance with an examining peer. He, in return, gives an expectant stare.
“Did you make a mistake?”
“Who, me? Of course not!” Objectively, they haven’t. But Mafuyu-wise…
“Then let me see.” He moves to stand up and walk to the vanity.
“Wait! Let’s look in my room’s mirror!” Mizuki rushes to cover Mafuyu’s eyes with their two palms and begins to push him out of the bathroom.
“Why over there—?” He grunts, flummoxed.
“Ah, well, it’ll give it a grander feeling! Just hold on!” The two of them stumble along the way back, Mafuyu nearly bumping into a wall due to Mizuki hanging off of him like a little parasite. Their nervous giggles fill the halls and the waning light streams of a sunset shining through the doorway welcomes the pair once the duo re-enters Mizuki’s room.
He’s led to the bed (Sit, sit! Wait, no, a little further!) and after minor deliberation, Mizuki takes their hands off of him, unveiling his newly cut hair to his eyes.
“It definitely suits you, in my opinion… But, do you like it, Mafuyu?” They ask from behind him.
Does it feel more like you?
He’s staring into the mirror with an expression that one can only describe as utterly mesmerized, fruitlessly grabbing for space where his hair no longer reaches. It’s just nothing up to around his ears, where his locks begin sprouting out again.
No words are necessary to properly indicate his opinion on his new look, and Mizuki emboldens themselves enough to take hold of his palm. An attempt to connect and share warmth— happiness, maybe.
It’s something that they can only really yearn for right now, after all.
Their smile gets a little rough around the edges.
“Mizuki. You’ve been acting off around me.”
Through the reflection of the mirror, they can see his eyes flickering up at their expression, which makes them want to jolt away, but…
Mafuyu’s hand is bathed in golden light when it reaches to place itself over Mizuki’s own. And when they look at him, no longer a mere reflection providing distance, their eyes immediately dart all around the expression on his face, mind racing with interpretations of what he could be thinking, the judgements undeniably being made at that very second— But they ultimately realize the futility in their actions. There’s nothing for Mizuki to find.
The way he stares up at them in a silent question… This is him making an open display of care for them.
He's open. Frighteningly so. But it makes sense, Mafuyu hasn't kept secrets from them in ages. That very openness, though entirely puzzling to the boy himself, is what has aided him all this time. This is someone Mizuki can open their heart to.
A firm yet comforting squeeze of their hand makes them pull away from their thoughts.
Taking a breath to steel themselves, they begin to speak. “I’ve… wanted to tell you about something for a while. Not just you, Kanade and Ena, too. It’s better for you to know, if we’re going to keep being together like this.”
He remains quiet, turning his body to better listen.
“I wasn’t always who I am now. Well, no— It's more like I wouldn’t let myself be that. Distancing myself from what I really wanted was scary, but at that moment, judgement from others scared me even more. I hid, I ran, I deceived myself. With time it got worse, and now I just can’t imagine going back. I was miserable. It wasn’t me.” Mizuki’s head hangs low, letting the words settle in the air.
“But what matters is that… I can be me now. I’m a girl just like any other, regardless of what anyone else says about me. I know myself best. I could try to hide it or deny it, but I could never be anything else. Even if I wanted to, it’s impossible. That’s why I felt more comfortable helping you like this, I guess. I know how it feels, too.”
With all of her cards exposed, no secret left to be hidden, she can only sit and stare. Petrified somewhat, but her thoughts are at a halt, for once.
“Okay. I thought so.”
“What?”
“It doesn’t change anything for me.”
“It doesn’t…” Mizuki repeats, trying to register the words.
He forms a further response. “It’s like you said. You’re a girl. If you’ve always known who you are, and if there wasn’t anyone or anything who could stop nor change you from being what you truly are… Where’s the problem?”
Mizuki’s eyes widen a fraction. She thinks back to when everyone met for the very first time in the Sekai, where a lost, younger Mafuyu had not even the inkling of an identity to cling to or push away, only the hope to disappear. Back then, Mizuki supplied him with acceptance, only that, much like he is giving her now.
Shoulders go slack as she allows herself to relax.
Of course Mafuyu understood. It's a weight off of her back to outright tell him, yes, but it's really just a confirmation of what she'd already been aware of deep down.
She's just gotten over her first hurdle, lucky her. And she's happy, she really is.
But she's more than aware what will inevitably follow after.
“Even if you understand… It’s really no wonder that you would.”
Taller hurdles would be incoming, with higher peaks than she might be able to conquer.
“I’ve always thought of us as similar, actually… But, it’s different with them, right?” Mizuki’s minutely tranquil expression spoils once more.
Mafuyu doesn't tip-toe around words, he doesn't have the means to when he isn't performing as another. Though he can't formulate exactly what he feels, Mizuki recognizes compassion in his eyes when he speaks. If he was once like a bird trapped in a cage, now released, he’s the messenger pigeon sent to enlighten them. It feels unreal.
“...If how we’ve struggled is so similar, then why wouldn’t they do what they did for me for you?” Mizuki knows they would. She knows it very well, knows it as a fact, knows that it makes her crack and crumble.
“I— Of course I know how they reach out to others! I know just how kind the three of you are! I know that…!”
Her voice starts to shake.
“I just… I don’t want them to have to handle the same judgement I get, just because they’re taking on the burden of associating with me. Even if they’ll accept me, knowing how they’ll have to walk on eggshells after… I just hate the thought of how things will change with them…!”
“Mizuki.”
She dodges eye contact with him. She already knows what kind of expression he’ll have. But, unexpectedly, his voice softens when he speaks up again, making her risk a peek.
“You showed me that it’s okay to escape. And now that I have, even if it was difficult, I feel relieved. Things have changed. I still haven’t found myself… But I’ve been able to feel more than just cold recently. Most days aren’t frigid anymore. I think that, because you’re Mizuki, you…” His eyes peer down, as if imagining something unpleasant taking place where his eyes burn holes through her mattress. Something lightly tugs the edges of his mouth down.
I think that you will be able to manage that change, good and bad.
She thinks she understands what he means, hearing his perspective. “There were times where I wanted to, had to escape… I don’t want to escape from you.” The steadily forming lump in her throat makes the words tumble out painfully. Struggling against her own body, against the fear she’d gotten so used to being entrenched in, the words that Mizuki says are desperate with the desire to express herself.
Mafuyu’s stare still remains oh-so firm, and it makes her start to sniffle. “I don’t want to lose the warmth you give.” He finally confesses, fixing his grip on her forearms. “I think that you will be okay.”
She wants to believe that, too. She does.
“I want to stay…” Trembling in his not-too warm hold, her voice spills out of her mouth faster than she can think — a selfish plea coming to replace that heavy pressure within her, one that would have been impossible for Akiyama Mizuki to be allowed to speak out into the world before.
“Stay with me. Please…?”
Wordlessly, the hold around her becomes an all-encompassing embrace, and she thinks she might see the other’s face break too, just a bit, but with her face nestled deep in the space between Mafuyu’s neck and shoulder, Mizuki can’t do much except for letting the tears on her cheeks seep into him.
With that embrace, she is taken to a safer place, like a flower drowning under the force of a rain storm, forced to grow beyond its own wants or needs, now safely situated under an umbrella, finally achieving a drier and calmer existence. A girl who had been forced to adopt a life of fear, finally receives a chance at solace.
Hands thoughtlessly move to Mafuyu’s back, leaning into the tender expression of care, one that comes off as unexpected from him, but Mizuki welcomes it, keenly realizing how much it must mean for him as well. Knowing that they’ve both been able to open up here, despite it all, fills her with hope for the future.
She’s already started to think of the space between Mafuyu’s arms as a home, when she notices him opening his mouth to speak.
“...Let’s stay together. I want us to stay together, too.” He repeats, allowing the statement to linger on his tongue, half for wanting to reassure Mizuki and half for his own sake. If such a human act as not wanting to brave the world alone is selfish, then the two of them may be damned for all of eternity. As long as it’s together, Mizuki thinks she can handle it, that and whatever else may come her way.
At some point, she raises her head up to see the world outside of Mafuyu’s (now drenched) thin button-up shirt, and comes face to face with a bright and welcoming full moon.
Where the beautiful yet brazen heat of a sunset would be overwhelming, the even and familiar lull of the night is what heals Mizuki’s heart. She hadn’t even noticed that the sun had set, at first, not through all of her worries.
Maybe it’s the rush of adrenaline still flowing through her veins, but Mizuki manages to gather enough courage to allow her lips to just barely brush against Mafuyu’s cheek, the last few drops of her hidden feelings unveiled in one action. Filled with uncertainty, she pulls back to look at him, that pesky habit of overanalysing others facial expressions taking charge again.
Though for naught, as his face remains firmly blank, with nothing clear to read into, even for Mizuki.
One blink. Two blinks.
Mafuyu suddenly leans in, going unveeringly straight, and presses his lips against hers.
She freezes up. The sensation of his cold skin colliding with her own overloads her senses at first, but a gentle hand on her back makes her carefully lean in, deepening the kiss. An abrupt sigh escapes her when they separate, making her realize just how fleeting it all was.
With a discreet look for permission, Mizuki dares another coy little peck. Lip to lip this time.
She can feel Mafuyu’s face warm up.
“I think I can tell them the next time I see them.”
Mafuyu then slumps fully onto her, causing their two forms to tumble onto the bed, warmly intertwined. She lets out a little yelp of surprise, but it's a comforting sort of weight.
“Good…” He mumbles.
They both seem to realize just how weary they’ve grown at that moment, nuzzling into each other. Mental overexertion is not for the weak, it seems.
“It’s late.”
“Mm… Do you want to stay over? I think we have a futon somewhere.”
“Here is okay.” Arms slowly close around her waist.
“Right… Shouldn’t you tell Kanade?”
A pause.
“Tomorrow.” And he smiles! Cheekily!
Chuckles begin to flow out of her at that, and before she knows it, they’re both crawling under the covers and pressing against one another so intensely that they must be losing their breaths. Pulling away, the one thing she can recognize in the darkness that has blanketed over them is his tiny and contented grin.
That familiar little smile, this familiar atmosphere, everything is just so familiar to her. Mizuki thinks that she’s finally found a calm, safe haven in this world. Her eyes flutter closed.