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Like a bug on a glue strip, Kanade was stuck.
Now, granted, as far as shackles went, her slumbering girlfriend's limbs ranked pretty highly. She certainly hadn't put up any resistance when Mizuki came back from class and swiftly, wordlessly, dragged her into bed and attached herself to her. The fact remained, however, that she was trapped. She hadn't even had the foresight to grab her phone before this somewhat-involuntary internment—not that she had the range of motion to use it anyway, considering how tightly Mizuki was wrapped around her.
She wasn't exactly sure how long they had been lying here. An hour? Two? Far from being able to take a nap herself, her body thrummed with restlessness, an itch to return to her music production. She couldn't just let all the ideas swimming through her head go to waste. Sure, she'd probably needed a break—the relief she felt when she closed her eyes was perhaps a sign that her screen time was maybe, potentially, not the healthiest—but it was high time for her to get back to work.
And yet, she couldn't. Not for lack of trying, of course; as much as she struggled against her bonds, Mizuki just kept on clinging and dreaming. Curse these atrophied muscles of hers! The thought of simply waking Mizuki passed through Kanade's mind... but she couldn't do that, either. She didn't have the heart to. If her girlfriend had needed to cuddle so badly that she hadn't even offered an explanation beforehand, it just wasn't right to disturb her rest.
That being the case, Kanade was left entirely at the mercy of Mizuki's rather mercurial circadian rhythm. Even though their circle's name had become something of a relic—no point in always meeting at 1 a.m. if everyone lived under the same roof—none of them had adopted sleep schedules that could be considered particularly normal. Kanade certainly hadn't; the blackout curtains on her window saw to that.
In this particular instance, they also prevented her from ascertaining just how late it had gotten. She could make assumptions, of course; even if her ability to unerringly keep time fell off after a few minutes, Mizuki had gotten back late enough in the day that the sun had likely begun to set. If that was at all accurate, their partners would probably be arriving home soon. Probably being the operative word. Without access to her phone, Kanade had no way of knowing if Ena would be out late crunching on an assignment, or if—
Kanade's ears perked up. Past the gentle rumble of Mizuki's snoring, she detected the click of the front door opening and the thud of it closing. Far too gentle for it to be Ena, which meant...
"Mafuyu?" She attempted to project her voice while simultaneously keeping its volume low enough as to not rouse Mizuki... which is to say, she called out in her regular speaking voice. Despite her greeting barely constituting anything more than a squeak, the approaching sound of footsteps meant it hadn't gone unheard.
"Hi, Kanade." Mafuyu nudged the door open and stepped in, noticing the bedroom's other inhabitant as they set down their bag. "Mizuki."
"Ah, she's asleep... maybe better to be quiet?" Kanade gently advised.
"Of course."
Although Kanade's vision was just as restricted as her movement, held against Mizuki's chest as she was, the rustling of clothes and clunking of drawers served as indication enough that Mafuyu was changing out of their acting-like-a-normal-human clothes and into something more comfortable. In a way, Kanade was proud of them; after they'd spent so many years feeling hollow, even the small steps they took towards happiness never failed to put a smile on her face.
Once Mafuyu was finished dressing, they took several more small steps: namely, to the bedside, close enough that their face was no longer obscured by Kanade's captor. They looked... well, not in high spirits, but about as good as Kanade could generally expect. Again, small steps.
"I'm going to go read," they stated in their usual monotone. "I'll start dinner in half an hour or so."
"Is Ena—"
"She should be back by then. She left some colorful words in the group chat about one of her studio classes." It was subtle, but Kanade detected the slightest hint of a grin in their voice.
"Mm. Okay." Once she had access to Nightcord again, or once Ena got home, she'd have to offer her some words of encouragement.
"Do you need anything before I leave the room?" they asked with a tilt of their head.
"No, I don't think so...?" She considered having Mafuyu bring her phone over, but there was no point; Mizuki remained asleep, so Kanade's arms remained bound.
Mafuyu nodded, giving the duo their closest approximation of a loving gaze, before turning around and heading for the door.
"Oh, wait, Mafuyu?" Kanade was met with a noise of acknowledgement from the doorway. "Can you make something Mizuki likes? I think she might need it..."
"I'll see what I can do." Despite sounding terse and noncommittal, this translated to "yes, okay" in Mafuyuese.
They left the room without another word, leaving Kanade in her cage of arms and legs and blankets. Half an hour. That was manageable enough. She figured she could afford to rest her eyes for a bit longer; her composition duties weren't that pressing, all things considered. What mattered was her partners' happiness, and she'd long since learned that there were better ways to achieve that than through song.
Even as Kanade relinquished herself to Mizuki's warmth, she began to mentally prepare for the heartache of having to wake her. Surely a nice, warm meal would soften the blow. Or, maybe, if Ena got back before Mizuki decided to wake up, she could help to free Kanade from her imprisonment? Ena had always had much more of a knack for wrangling Mizuki, to say nothing of her impulsive tendencies.
Although...
There existed a distinct possibility that Ena would only pry Mizuki off of her so that she could get her dose of Kanade cuddles. If anything, she tended to be the member of the household that was most desperate for attention, always pleading for kisses and touches and anything else Kanade might provide her.
Kanade let out a small sigh as she resigned herself to her likely fate. More snuggling wouldn't be all that bad, she supposed. At the end of the day, she would endure anything if it meant making her partners feel happy and safe.
After all, it's what they had always done for her.