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“Hm? The boy I was talking to earlier… What boy? Oh, my roommate? She’s not a guy,” the streamer spoke, a tinge of annoyance slipping into her voice, voice echoing into Mizuki’s headphones. Failing to suppress a grin, she shifted her laptop a few inches closer to her, upping the volume.
MorningCandidaGlory , Candida for short, a relatively small VTuber, and Mizuki’s new favorite past-time. Streaming twice every other week, Mizuki first started watching her streams about four months after her debut. However, she had discovered Candida back when she was a concept, hearing about it from her roommate. She had even helped create the design and the model. Yet, as much as she liked cute stuff– which certainly applied to Candida– she never found the time.
So when, five months ago, she went to her roommate’s room to ask if they were out of anything and she heard her streaming, she stopped. More specifically, she walked back to her own room, turned on her laptop, plugged in her headphones, and began watching Candida’s stream. What she originally intended to be five minutes very quickly turned into thirty, and then sixty, and then eighty, right as the stream ended.
Oh, wow, was the first thought after a solid minute of gleeful silence, and then a more more surprised, verging onto shocked, oh, wow .
That was Nene. Kusanagi Nene, her roommate who she could count her number of conversations with on one hand, was suddenly one of the bluntest, most sharp-tongued people she’s seen. Funniest, too, if she was willing to basically insult An and Ena for that.
Which. As much as the difference was jarring, it did line up with Rui’s descriptions back when she had first asked him, right after her and Nene became roommates. It really should not have been that surprising, or at least not have captured her in the way it did.
“Oh shi- huh - where did that guy just come from?” The VTuber shouted, barely cutting off a curse. Blinking, Mizuki focused back down on the screen, the loud call dragging them out of their thoughts.
Candida was playing some crappy zombie shooter game. Something one of her fans suggested on a previous stream, off of what Nene told her when going to some game store together. It was one of the few streams Mizuki’s missed, which had disappointed her; she missed her perfect opportunity to make Nene play some more cutesy games. Honestly, she had the chance when they were at said store, but Nene’s rambling about her future stream plans were enough to pluck that idea right out of her brain.
Besides, Nene— and therefore the Candida persona— were cute already. One little dress-up game (or dating sim, that crossed Mizuki’s mind too) would probably be overboard, and Mizuki was fairly certain that ‘too much’ of something wouldn’t be good for a stream. VTubers weren’t really her thing, but they were Nene’s, and Mizuki’s been careful as to not recommend anything stupid.
“Why did this one drop a gun? That doesn’t resemble any of the ones it showed in the archive.” To prove her point, Candida opens up the menu, clicking on the archive. Scrolling through the guns shown, she clicks on each one. “Is it a special one?”
Looking down at the comments, she waits a few moments before continuing, reading everything coming in.
“Okay. So it’s just another skin for the worst gun, didn’t realize they included those. Do they drop anything b- oh, nevermind, I guess they do.”
The stream ends after another hour, and Mizuki leans back quietly in her bed, taking off and setting her headphones on her nightstand. Her laptop remains open, though she’s quick to close the stream tab in case Nene came in. It was, generally, really embarrassing to have your roommate catching you watching one of their streams, or having just watched one of them, even when they were already aware you did.
Shaking her head in an attempt to pull out of that hazy warmth and straightening her back, she glanced down at the Nightcord tab it automatically switched to. Eyes drifting past the last opened DMs— they were with Rui, and thinking about a conversation they had right after a Candida stream made her insides squirm— and to Nene’s, she suddenly recalled something. Nene was probably done closing down all the streaming applications and stuff, meaning it was the perfect time to bug her!
Gently setting the laptop onto the nightstand, she, as quietly as possible, left her room and walked to Nene’s, pushing the door that was already slightly ajar slowly, careful as to not cause any creak. The VTuber was still hunched over, staring at her computer, way higher quality than Mizuki’s. Mizuki bit back a small giggle, because Nene so focused on essentially nothing was so strangely cute. So cute, in fact, that she could feel her face heat up in a way nothing else had done before.
“Yoho, Nene-chan!” Mizuki yelled, shoving the door fully open, though holding it back before it slammed against the wall. The other hated loud, sudden sounds like that.
She briefly recalled Nene saying to her, “oh, your and Tsukasa’s voice is kinda an exception to that.”
“Ooh? So does that mean you really don’t mind me tryna scare you?”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Mm-mn! Nope, you need to spell it out for me.”
“Missing so many classes is starting to affect your critical thinking skills.”
“Hey! Don’t compare me to Tsukasa-kun!”
“Good to know that’s how you think of him,” she had said with a light laugh. It was one of the prettiest sounds Mizuki had heard at the time.
“Huh- Mizuki, how do you always know when-”
“I have great timing!” Mizuki interrupts, voice cheerful as ever, ignoring the immediate strike of embarrassment. Seriously, supporting her friend should not make her feel this way .
“Sure,” Nene replied, looking over her shoulder. “For the past two months.”
“Wow, what’re you accusing me of?” Mizuki dramatically sighed, draping herself over Nene’s chair, tangling her fingers in the streamer’s hair, head resting only a few inches above the other. “Can’t believe you and Enanan are such bullies…”
“I know you watch my streams,” she replied, face tinted the faintest shade of pink that Mizuki barely noticed.
Mizuki’s breath hitched, feeling something akin to butterflies in her stomach, not too far off from how Candida made her feel. She rolled her eyes instead of saying anything, the action comfortable.
“Not gonna argue back, okay,” Nene shrugged. “Wait, Mizuki, I wanna ask you something,” she said abruptly after a moment of silence— or, more accurately, the mentioned girl pouting at her— turning her head back to look at the computer. Clicking through a few tabs and documents, she lands on one titled CIAILANAT .
“Yeah? What’s up?”
“How was the stream? The game’s actually been on my idea list for a bit now, but I’m not sure if it was any good.”
“It was great! The game itself was kinda shit, but you always make them entertaining! Plus, people like watching them. Insults and rage, ya know.”
“Okay,” she nodded silently, body tensing up for whatever reason after the entertaining part. “Would it be good to play again? Some of my other ideas still need some prep time, and Ena-san’s still making a new model for the big one.”
“For sure!” Nene starts typing on the doc. “Oh, oh, is that what this is for? Your stream ideas?”
“Yeah,” she nods again.
“Are th-” Before she can finish her sentence, she’s cut off with her phone ringing. “Oh! Hold on! I’ll be back in a second!”
Running out of the room and back into hers, she looks at her phone. Which, why she went in with her, she wasn’t sure. On it, it simply said Missed Call — Rui♪ . Looking back at her laptop, now fallen asleep, she turns it back on, Nightcord opened by default, just to see seventeen notifications from Rui.
—
Rui♪ at 20:39
Done bugging post-stream Nene?
Amia! at 20:41
what
no
Rui♪ at 20:42
Ah.
Sorry. Must’ve miscalculated this time.
Amia! at 20:42
miscalculate..
am I really that predictable
also you called me
Rui♪ at 20:43
Partially, yes.
You’re also just obvious with your crush. You’ve kept up the same behaviors since when I assume it first developed, so it’s easy to guess when you’ll be free.
Amia! at 20:43
shut up I do not have a crush
besides Nene hasn’t even said anything. and you know how she is
Rui♪ at 20:43
That would be because she’s oblivious, or you have always acted this way towards her.
You and Nene only started actually talking when you discovered her streams, correct? If you’ve always been like that towards her, she wouldn’t notice.
Amia! at 20:44
well we first talked when she asked for help coming up with a model and channel name?
before Enanan stole that job from me…
also why did you call
Rui♪ at 20:45
I actually had a small favor to ask. I was trying to get your attention ♪
Amia! at 20:45
no
Rui♪ at 20:46
Could you help design stage costumes for Tsukasa-kun and I?
Oh
—
Ignoring the stream of messages from Rui in the next few minutes, she got right back up. Time to keep bugging Nene, and not thinking about what Rui said.
It was not a crush. She was just a fan of Candida, and a friend of Nene. The butterflies she felt were not like those that Rui described when talking about Ena. Nene was just cute, and that was the catalyst.
Right.
Back to bugging Nene!
“Mizuki, can you help me with something?”
Its been about two weeks, or four streams, and her conversation with Rui has kept flickering in and out of her head. She couldn’t detail exactly why it was; she’d dealt with false crush accusations plenty of times before, there was no reason for it to keep lingering like this.
“Oh, yeah! I’ll be there in a sec, just need to… y’know, finish this.” She gestured towards the fabric laid out on her sewing table as if Nene could see.
“Okay,” she called out in response, and Mizuki hurriedly finished up on what she was doing.
Which, what she was doing was designing stage costumes for Rui and Tsukasa. Emu too, but hers wasn’t as urgently needed. It was for some rendition of The Little Mermaid , which Mizuki made sure to take an internal note of buy tickets to it for her and Nene as soon as she found out. On multiple of their movie nights (something Mizuki suggested to ‘give her more streams ideas’), they watched and rewatched the movie, so Mizuki had no doubts Nene would love to see a play of it, especially one that was made by her childhood friend.
Setting the white-blue fabric aside, she got up, stretching her arms out for a brief moment, letting out a quiet groan. She already had a general idea on what Nene would need help with, and she already had a general list on how to help.
“Alright! I’m here!” Mizuki called out, shoving open her door. “Stream ideas I presume?”
“Huh? Oh, no, not this time,” Nene shook her head, swiping out of some app on her phone. “Or, yes, but I have something more important to ask.”
Mizuki’s cheeks heated up, just slightly. “Hehe, knew it. You always ask me for ideas… oh, wait, what else do you want though?”
“Uh, do you know any good hang-out spots?”
“Eh?”
“Hang-out spots. Sorry, I know this is a weird ques-”
“What for?” Mizuki interrupted, barely noticing the tremble in her tone, the way her eyes widened in… something.
“Just for a… friend,” she murmured, face flushed, eyes averting Mizuki’s gaze.
“Wait, are you asking me for good date locations ?” She laughed, surprise overriding any previous feelings for a moment.
Nene just glanced at her, brows furrowed in what would normally be an absolutely adorable way. And suddenly, the surprise was shoved away by heaviness. It wasn’t like Nene’s love life was something Mizuki could dictate, hell, it wasn’t as if she was even involved with it to begin with, but… something about it was just, off . She couldn’t detail why, exactly, but in the back of her mind was the idea to convince Nene to not ask whoever out on a date. For completely platonic reasons. She’d bite back that urge, though, in favor of giving actual advice. Because, of course, she wanted to be a great friend for Nene, and maybe if Nene was happier in real life, Candida’s streams would get even better. It’d be a win for both of them. Definitely a win.
“Well, you asked the perfect person! Not as if I’ve actually been on a date,” Mizuki giggled lightly at her self-insult. “You could go with the standard cafe thing, or maybe a restaurant if they prefer that sort of food. Depends on what the person likes, y’know?”
“Yeah,” she nods. “What would you go with though?”
“Mm? Probably a cafe, I think. A restaurant would be cool and all, but honestly, I’m kinda broke right now, and cafes are usually cheaper.”
“Okay. What else is there?”
“Picnis are another option, if you wanna go with another food thing. Now might not be a great time though, since it’s still freshly spring. It’d be way better to do when the flowers are actually bloomed and stuff. Oh, there’s also a themepark date! I’m sure Rui-kun would be more than willing to help you get cheap tickets. Then there’s movies, which of course depends on what the person you’re asking would want.”
The conversation continued from there, Mizuki giving plenty of suggestions that Nene would promptly add into her notes app. Or, at least, what Mizuki assumed to be her notes app. After a bit of Nene asking for more and Mizuki gladly– admittedly, it was more reluctantly than willingly– giving ideas, she asked the grand question lingering in her throat of who are you asking out ?
Nene refused to answer, opening her mouth as if she were going to and just staying silent. Mizuki had lifted her eyebrow, a joke prompt for her to answer, and then the other just asked for stream ideas, ignoring Mizuki’s confused asks for why she wasn’t answering.
Whatever. Mizuki would probably find out eventually, when Nene would inevitably tell her about it.
She frowned.
Looking up from her phone, Mizuki watched as Rui walked over, the faintest smirk ever resting on his lips like he already knew what she wanted to talk about. A harsh gust of mid-spring wind blew against her face, hair now obscuring her vision. Scowling, she pushed the strands behind her ear, Rui standing only a foot away from her as she finished doing so.
“Nene-chan, right?” He guessed, hands placed in his pockets.
“Am I not allowed to hang out with my dear best friend without him thinking I wanna complain about my other friends?” She sighed, running a hand through pink hair as she started walking, gesturing towards Rui to follow. “You know, just go on a casual walk.”
He cocked his head to the side, “mhm. And that’s why most of your messages have been about Nene-chan?”
“Hey! They have not been! Also, I didn’t even mention her when inviting you to a walk!”
“Fair. But you’re certainly getting defensive, are you not? Fufu.”
“Man, you’re rude.”
For a minute, not really much longer, they continued walking, Mizuki hesitant to continue. Unfortunately, what she did want to talk about was Nene, and the fact Rui clocked her immediately made her much more hesitant to do so. She did not talk about her that much, and she was confident of that. Rui had to be overexaggerating. Maybe Nene had told him about her date plan, and he just assumed Mizuki was also told. That would make sense. Mizuki talked about Nene just as much as she did any other friend, because all the adoration she held was purely platonically and fan…onically.
She did need to ask him for advice though. As insane as he was at times, having almost gotten expelled back when they were in highschool, he knew Nene better than she did, and he could probably help her figure out her feelings. As long as he didn’t pull out one of those false accusations, of course.
Were they really false? No. Yes. They totally were.
“It is about Nene-chan,” she sighed in defeat.
“Of course. It’s about the whole date ordeal, correct? She told me about it already, so you don’t need to go through the exposition.”
“Yeah.”
“So?”
“I just feel, like, weird about it? I don’t know, I should be happy since we’re friends and all, but I’m not. It’s like dread, but that wouldn’t make sense, and I know it’s not dread, so I…” she trailed off with a sigh, shoving her hands into her pockets. “I gave her advice and stuff. I’m trying to be nice, really. But I don’t want to be.”
“Hm? That just sounds like jealousy, Mizuki-san,” he teased, that mischievous glint flickering on in his eyes. “Maybe a crush, if you’d allow me to suggest that. It sounds like how I felt about Ena,” he continued, eyes locked onto Mizuki’s.
“No- no, it isn’t!” She huffed, crossing her arms.
Nope. It totally was.
She could not hide behind the face of ‘being a good friend’ and ‘being a fan’ forever. Hell, she couldn’t even do it for more than a minute, if Rui could see what it actually was before she herself did. Granted, it wasn’t like she was intentionally trying to deny it, but still.
Finding your friend so adorable that you apparently talk about her almost every day to your other friend is not very platonic. Neither is immediately thinking of her whenever you hear about a play you were asked to help with, or seeing anything related to VTubers, or hearing the word can . Neither is having a full list of ideas for her streams to help but with a background thought of she won’t need to ask anyone else . Neither is feeling dread at the idea of your friend getting a partner probably.
Also, thinking about kissing your friend regularly when you’re trying to sleep is probably the direct opposite to romantic.
Huh. She was gay.
“You seem to be in thought,” he said abruptly, eyes still locked onto Mizuki’s.
“Can I have my moment in peace, man? I gave you your hour when you realized you liked Enanan.”
“Mhm, of course. Glad to hear you finally realized it. Let’s just keep walking though, people are looking at us.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
There was still the problem of Nene going on a date with someone, or at least planning to. She probably hasn’t yet, considering in all her time between classes she’s been eith streaming or preparing for a stream, which both renewed the sense of pure dread and washed her over with meager relief. She’d have time to mentally prepare for that inevitable day, but it still meant she was screwed.
Realizing you like your friend right as they like someone else.
Lovely.
Suddenly, her phone rang. Pausing, she pulled it out, looking at the notification. A message from Nene that just read, are you coming home any time soon? A bitter frown etching itself onto her lips, she reread the text, wondering what Nene needed her for. Or didn’t need her for; that was a possibility, that she wanted someone else over.
“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” Rui said abruptly, looking down at her phone. “Please trust me with this, it isn’t about her going on a date with someone else.”
“Are you sure?” She groaned, shoving her phone back into her pocket with a bit too much force.
“Mizuki. Nene-chan and I are friends, I would know.”
“Did she tell you about who she’s asking out then?”
He nodded.
“So, who?”
Eyes widening for a brief second, he looked away before his eyes drifted down to her phone. “I don’t think it’s my place to tell you right now. You’ll find out soon enough.”
“You’re rude,” she sighed, trying to mimic herself from earlier. She laughed internally, the copy sounding shaky. Her voice was almost unfamiliar.
His breath was equally shaky, and that former glint of mischievous devolved into nervousness. They stood there in silence, Rui seemingly circling through too many events. She wondered what exactly he was considering.
“You should probably go home now, yes?” He coughed out. “If Nene-chan asked you now, it’s probably urgent.”
“She didn’t ask me to come home, though.”
“Implications, Mizuki-san. Implications.”
She blinked. He was true, yet there was some other motive there. But, said motive didn’t seem dangerous, and the fear creeping up her body was enough to convince her to listen. Seeing Nene would be nice, too.
“Bye then, I’ll see you tomorrow? I’ll let ya know what happens.”
“Alright. Bye, Mizuki-san,” he hummed.
Sitting in a cafe, she leaned against a wall, looking up at the clock hovering over her. 8:51, about six minutes after Nene had asked her to show up. The conversation from the previous day lingered inside her mind, alongside the question of why she’d invite her to one of the places she recommended. Kind of, at least; the cafe she actually recommended was closed down today, but this one’s menu was pretty close.
“Oh, Mizuki, I thought you didn’t see my text.”
“Nope! I did! So, what’d you need me for?”
“Could you come with me to a cafe tomorrow? I’ll send you the name later.”
“Eh? You couldn’t just ask me over text?”
“No, I wanted to ask you in person. But again, can you come? I don’t think you have any classes.”
“Well, of course! What time?”
“I still need to check over my schedule, so I’ll also send it to you with the name.”
“Alrighty! I’ll be on time!”
It wasn’t like Nene to be late. In their one class they shared, with Candida’s streams, with meeting up, she was always on time, nearly on the dot. Her head felt heavy. Glancing at the clock again, she decided to leave at the 55 mark if the other didn’t get there soon. She’d understand, even if she ended up coming later, after Mizuki had left. It’d be stupid to accuse Nene of being rude or anything similar to that, all she was doing was testing out a date location. Probably.
The food smelled nice, which was a nice distraction. Flicking open the image she took of the menu that was hung right above the counter that she was nowhere near, she read through everything again. It was all standard cafe stuff, really. Way too many kinds of coffee and tea, water and flavored water (ew), some sandwiches, one of which was named American Style and sounded completely inedible, pancakes, waffles, blah blah.
The door bell rang as it was swung open, and Mizuki instinctively turned to look at it. It was only a random man, and she slumped over with a sigh. As the oakwood door audibly shut, though, it reopened, and then it was Nene. At 8:54.
Her outfit was surprisingly formal, more so than her usual casualwear. It was a medium-length white dress, turning to a purple ombre towards the bottom. She was lucky that it was warmer than usual; Mizuki could only imagine how freezing she’d be if it was still cold. The ends of the sleeves, dress, and collar were golden yellow, and the coat— because she was actually aware of the season— she hung over it was the same shade.
And suddenly Mizuki’s mouth was dry.
Nene was, in the simplest words Mizuki could possibly say without killing herself, pretty . Not cute or adorable, but pretty .
“Mizuki,” she said flatly, seating herself on the other side of the table. Mizuki hurried to sit up straight, trying to muster the most serious expression she could. “This isn’t a business meeting,” she giggled lightly, “you don’t need to look so formal.”
“I know! It’s just, you know,” she gestured towards nothing in particular, cheeks flushed into light red.
“I don’t know,” she giggled again.
“You just look formal!”
“I was hoping to go for a different look,” Nene shrugged, leaning to the side in search of the menu. “Oh, do you know what they have?”
“I mean, I’m not saying formal is bad, you just look pretty,” she choked out, the blush definitely getting worse. Sliding her phone with the image still open to Nene, she stared out the window, glad no one she knew was out there. “Do ya want me to get your- our, our food, or do you want to?”
“Oh, thank you. I can get it, just give me a second to read.”
She watched as Nene leaned down to look at her phone, brows furrowed as she read through the menu. The image was honestly pretty bad quality, and she almost felt bad for using that image. It wasn’t as if she had any other pictures though, and she certainly wasn’t gonna go take one right now, since that’d just be a waste of time.
“What do you want?”
“Those blueberry pancakes, they looked pretty good.”
“Okay. I’ll go order. Now.”
As she got up, Mizuki noted a nervous glint in her eyes, the way that she was slightly biting her lip.
“Nene-chan, are you alright?” She asked, her own question surprising her. With a lack of any sort of response, she rushed to continue, “sorry if that seemed random. You just seemed concerned about something, so I was just asking!”
A moment’s pause, and Mizuki opened her mouth to apologize.
A single inhale. “I like you, Mizuki,” Nene blurted out, still standing.
“Eh?”
What. Hey. What. Hey? Huh? What? Hello? What? Huh? What? Excuse me? What? What? What now? What? Haha. What. She was hallucinating. For sure. Because what the fuck. Was Rui lying. Was he not lying. Why is she thinking about Rui right now? What? What? What?
“I, um, will you be my girlfriend, Mizuki? I’ve liked you for a while now, and I know this is… you were supposed to not realize. Sorry, I had a full speech ready, and-”
And she was promptly cut off by Mizuki hurriedly pressing her lips against Nene’s. Because, apparently, this was a great (terrible) way to accept a confession. In all fairness, it wasn’t as if she was against this way of accepting, since her hand snaked up to Mizuki’s cheek, eyes fluttering shut and eyelashes brushing against hers, tilting her head to the side just a bit. It was somewhat uncomfortable, her waist pressing against the table, but that was ignorable.
Her lips were soft and warm, and Mizuki sighed, trying to lean closer in, closer into Nene. Into Nene-chan, who for some reason decided to ask her for date advice, just to use it to ask her out. It was heartwarming, and she made mental note to not let Nene ever forget about that, because it was also way too funny to not tease her about. Mentally, too, she looked forward to the eventual banter about that, since that was always a given when talking to Nene.
Pulling away, Mizuki’s eyes opened, murmuring, “I like you too, Nene-chan.”