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Joy is meant to be shared. That mindset was exactly why Mizuki began her journey with video editing: To share the joys she felt from her favorite show, Miracle Magic Girl ☆ Lala. Colorful outfits and emotional story were what erased Mizuki’s day to day struggles and filled in the empty hole that was life with a meaningful joy.
But a mere seasonal anime can only last so long. When MiraMagi ended, the joy the colorful magical girls had brought to Mizuki’s dull life also ended, whatever brief respite found faded to a familiar, meaningless gray.
If not for the chance meeting with the wonderful girls of Nightcord, Mizuki may not have grown to see the miracle that was a surprise sequel to her cherished MiraMagi, years after it’s original ending. The astonishing announcement almost felt like a karmic reward for the suffering she had been forced to endure.
And Mizuki was definitely not going to defile her deserved dose of joy in a silent cinema all alone. No, she was, of course, going to invite everyone from Nightcord to come and see the sequel with her! Never mind that none of the girls seemed to have even a passing interest in anime or that they hadn’t seen the original show, this was Mizuki’s beloved MiraMagi!
Ena especially had many opportunities to join Mizuki on one of her constant rewatches of MiraMagi. Mizuki basically lived in her DMs, and she was not shy about bringing up the show any time she got a chance to. If a specific color Ena used in her art reminded Mizuki even slightly of her favorite show, a MiraMagi watchalong invitation, whether hinted or outright asked, was soon to follow.
In Mizuki’s mind, Ena would have loved MiraMagi if she gave it a chance. That was why she was so persistent in pushing her friend to come and watch the show with her. Ena even unknowingly showed interest when Mizuki sent one of the MiraMagi outfits to her as a reference. That was why, even though Ena had no interest, she was going to be the first one Mizuki was going to try to invite to the upcoming sequel.
Without even asking, Mizuki figured neither Kanade nor Mafuyu would be interested. Kanade had enjoyed music from the show in the past, but going to the movies would be a difficult task for her to undertake. Mafuyu was likely too busy with prepping for upcoming tests to even consider going to an anime movie she wasn’t interested in.
It had to be Ena.
Mizuki rested her chin on her palm as she pondered the exact wording of the MiraMagi movie invitation. Not only would this be the first time inviting Ena to the movies since the secret distance looming over all of their interactions had dissipated, but it would also be the first time mentioning MiraMagi. Maybe it would be best to start with just a simple movie invitation.
25:00 was close approaching and Ena was already parked in the Nightcord voice channel. As always, she was accompanied by her usual, trusty mute icon. A sly smirk slipped onto Mizuki’s lips at the thought of the angry artist scowling at her art tablet at the other side of that icon. She would probably be searching for any opportunity to escape from her self-imposed, art-induced torment. If a Nightcord notification were to pop up right about now...
Amia Today at 12:34 AM
heyy enanananan!
do you wanna go to the movies later? :))
The sudden, reverberating jingle of a received Nightcord call sent Mizuki recoiling back from her desk into her chair. Mizuki expected to get a later reply, maybe even in the voice chat at 25:00, not an instant reply, especially a call!
Recovering from the momentary shock, Mizuki hovered her mouse over to the reply button as the Nightcord chime continued through her ears. If Ena was so eager to talk about this little invitation, maybe she would actually go to see the MiraMagi sequel?
“Woah, Enanan, you scared me!” Mizuki said as soon as she hopped into the waiting call. “You want to go to the movies that bad, huh?”
There was no immediate response. Not even a quick jab back.
“...Yeah. Did you want to go tomorrow since it’s the weekend?” Ena mumbled into her mic.
Mizuki blinked, dumbfounded as she stared into her monitor. Ena agreed way too quickly! She didn’t even ask what movie Mizuki wanted to see! The type of movie was an important detail that Ena probably wasn’t going to be a fan of. This, of course, absolutely needed to be cleared up before plans for the outing got too far.
“Actually, I really want to see the upcoming MiraMagi movie next week!” Mizuki said. “The sequel announcement came out of nowhere! I didn’t want to go alone, but it doesn’t start airing until next week. I was wondering if you’d be interested, even if it’s next week?”
“Okay.” Ena’s reply came surprisingly quickly. “I’m not doing anything.”
Mizuki wanted to jump up from her chair. “Eh? Really??”
“Yes, really!” Ena snapped back. She then cleared her throat and was back to her mumbling. “What’s so surprising about me wanting to go to the movies with you?”
“You just never seemed very interested whenever I would talk about MiraMagi,” Mizuki said, preemptively taking cover behind a nervous laugh. “Honestly, I was expecting you to change your mind when I said what movie I wanted to see.”
But, instead of firing shots of her own at Mizuki's cover, Ena went silent.
The sound of her pen tapping at her tablet, always a constant in the background, was completely gone.
Everything was completely still.
Mizuki took a quick look over at Nightcord to see if Ena had muted herself or silently left the call, but, no, she was still there. There was no sound of her headset dropping or her getting up to leave. Did she just not feel like replying to the jab? Was she caught up in a particularly difficult part of her art, too distracted to speak?
Unwilling to let the uncomfortable pause drag on too long, Mizuki continued. “Well, the MiraMagi sequel will be way more enjoyable if you know what happened before. It is a sequel after all! That’s why it’s called MiraMagi: Mia’s Miracle! Mia used to be Lala’s rival in the original series, but they worked together in the end of the series to defeat the Demon Lord! It was such an amazing experience to watch them triumph at the end!”
Ena was still silent, but Mizuki was already on too much of a roll to stop now. “But this time, Mia’s the focus of the movie! Ahhh I’m super, super excited! Mia’s my favorite character! It’s almost feels like they made the movie just for me! Oh, I wonder what it’s going to be about... The trailer had Mia saying something about reclaiming her destiny. That sounds really ominous, right? Maybe Mia is like secretly a princess of a far away planet or something. Y'know, because there were a lot of pretty castles and knights in the trailer! Oh, oh or what if she and Lala somehow become, like, friendly rivals in the movie somehow. I don't think the Demon Lord is actually gone for good, even! There were hints at the end of the show that maybe he had just gone into hiding! Ahhh, there’s just so many options, the movie needs to come out already!”
Mizuki took a deep breath as she paused to glance over at her monitor. Nothing still. The Nightcord call display hadn't changed. Ena’s Nightcord profile hadn’t lit up once, even though the mic was very clearly still on.
The silence was starting to actually bother Mizuki. “Enanan? Are you still there? You’re being really quiet.”
It took a moment, but Ena finally blurted through the mic as though she had just been shocked back to life. “Ah! Sorry! I was busy with something...”
“Ehhh?? Then you didn’t hear anything I just said!” Mizuki pouted at her computer screen as if Ena could see. “I was trying to tell you what the movie’s going to be about!”
Once again, the expected snap back from Ena did not come. “Oh, no, I was listening. I was just... thinking,” she stuttered.
Leaning back into her chair, Mizuki rested her eyes on the ceiling. Of course. That would explain why Ena had been acting so off today. There had to be something important on her mind that she was more focused on. Maybe she called so quickly because she wanted to talk to someone about whatever was troubling her.
“Thinking? Thinking about what?” Mizuki asked. “You can always tell me whatever’s on your mind! I’ll be there to listen!”
“Ah... Uhm...”
Pure panic. It had to be something big.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it! We can just talk about the movie if you want,” Mizuki said, immediately trying to walk back the conversation.
A deep, distorted sigh blasted through the Nightcord call. It was so needlessly loud that the sound clipped off a few times as it peaked Ena’s microphone. The exasperated cry for help was punctuated by an audible tapping and yet another less expressive sigh.
“I was thinking about...” Ena took a deep breath in and out before continuing. “I was thinking about how cute you are when you’re this excited, okay?!”
The heat flew to Mizuki’s cheeks quickly as she heard what Ena had just said. When the meaning of the words finally registered, Mizuki’s hands also instinctively flew to cover her reddened cheeks. That was what had been bothering Ena so much? That was why she had been so quiet?
“...Cute?” Mizuki almost whispered the word into her mic, disbelief weakening her tone.
This wasn’t the first time Ena had called Mizuki cute. Of course not. She remembered every time the compliment had come her way before, but this time felt different. No, the word wasn't why her face had heated up, it was where the word came from. It felt as though it came from a place in her heart that Mizuki had suspected for some time.
“Don’t go getting the wrong idea now!” Ena shouted into her mic. “I was just thinking about how I can tell how much this MiraMagi thing means to you when you talk about it! That’s all!”
With a measured breath in and out, Mizuki gathered whatever thoughts had scattered at Ena’s admission. As much as Ena was trying to clearly avoid the conclusion, there really was no other explanation for how oddly demure she had been about a simple movie invitation. The two had been to the movies plenty of time before.
At least the porcupine of a person that was Ena had returned to her usual self. What a tsundere...
Mizuki’s lips curled up into a devious smile. “Hmm~? What kind of wrong idea might I be getting, Enanan~?”
The smile on Mizuki’s face only grew as Ena responded with pure silence. Of course she knew what ‘the wrong idea’ was, but this was a prime opportunity to tease Ena. Though she may have called it ‘the wrong idea,’ the silence said it was almost certainly ‘the right idea.’ The porcupine had lowered her spikes again.
“...So, you said the first showing was next week? What day of the week?” Ena mumbled.
“The first showing is next Saturday night! That’ll work right? I’ll go order the tickets now if you’re okay with the first showing,” Mizuki said. “It might be a little crowded though.”
“Yeah, that’s okay for me.” Ena said, relief clear on her tongue.
“It’s a date then~!”
Mizuki beamed at her screen as she imagined the blush that simple, innocent statement caused on the other side of the screen. The word had been used casually between them before, but she knew exactly what she was doing with this timing.
“Wh-- Huh?? It’s not a d-date!” Ena hollered. She’d never replied to the word that way before.
Even though Mizuki obviously couldn’t see her, she could just feel the heat from Ena’s cheeks emanate through her words as they came across through Nightcord. How bad Ena was at hiding her true feelings made Mizuki feel warm, even if heat couldn't travel through the internet. Normally, she was so open with her feelings. It was obvious she hadn’t practiced hiding them much before.
“Sorry, sorry!” Mizuki laughed. “Ah, I’ve got to go do something real quick before 25:00. I’ll see you then!”
“Ah, wait, Mizu--”
Mizuki hopped out of the call before Ena could finish. She didn’t actually have anything to do in the 10 short minutes until 25:00, but she did want to give Ena some time to sort out her thoughts.
She jumped into her bed and giggled to herself. Ena had agreed to go see MiraMagi! Not only that, but she’d also been the first to let her crush slip out for once. Mizuki had always been the one to do all the flirting.
Maybe she was finally ready to move on from their mutual crush situation to make things official? Just the thought of finally making that dream a reality had Mizuki excitedly kicking in her bed.
After all, they already had a movie date planned~!