Chapter Text
the gentle grace of a piano fills her ears.
a few chords ring out.
they’re calming and happy.
it comforts her in the darkness of her mind.
a song that brings her to that floating feeling.
the melody wraps around her like a bundle of ribbons
it's warm.
and then it's gone.
the blanket of sound ripped away from her.
a cold void enveloping her.
everything darker.
the lights in her mind fade, the warmth of their spirits ripped away
When Sunna opened her eyes she was on the floor. She figured she fell from her chair by accident while leaning too far back in a stretch. Sitting at her desk motionless made it harder for her to get used to dancing so she started taking stretch breaks at Yu’s suggestion. She appreciated how much the others cared for her well being even when she was busy working on songs. It helped keep her grounded even when music was the only thing on her mind. Though it was quite embarrassing the amount of times she's fallen out of her own chair, the back of it being rather short led to a few unfortunate incidents when she was too deep into her compositions.
When she stopped berating herself over her fall she started to finally focus on her surroundings. It was unfamiliar and dark. A soft glow came from monitors on the desk above her illuminating her face in a light blue. The chair she fell out of was much taller than the one in her room.
“Where…?” The words came out of her mouth subconsciously as the heat of anxiety built up inside her. It was possible that she forgot what practice room she rented while being zoned out working on her next song. Seeing a bed in the corner of the room quickly disproved that theory. This was someone's bedroom. She took a deep breath for a few moments, just to ease her anxiety. What was it that Aria recommended? In for four seconds, hold four seconds, exhale four seconds, and hold one more time for four seconds. Right, that was it, looping that exercise a few times always made her feel better.
With each cycle the burning flame pushing at her from inside got dimmer until her hands stopped shaking and her face no longer hot. Ready to tackle her situation again she got off the floor and stretched her hands out in front of her, looking for a sign that she was dreaming. She was sure that wherever she was part of her mind or just some place she accidentally wandered to. Instead an unfamiliar blue tracksuit greeted her as she peered down at her arms. Sure she had a wide variety of clothes for all sorts of occasions but she definitely didn't have a blue track suit. Scanning down the rest of her body, more unfamiliar garments covered her. A purple shirt laid beneath the track suit that looked like it was in desperate need of a wash, and under that a pair of rather cute mint green shorts. At least that was something she’d actually find in her closet. Surely the foreign clothes were a sign of a dream, there couldn’t be any other explanation.
And then pinching herself didn’t do anything. Instead of an easy wake up to her bed she felt her arm sting. So she tried again, and when that didn't work she tried even harder. Pinch after pinch the skin on her arm turned red as she felt that fearful flame build up inside of her. Her face was getting hot again as the pain started to cause tears to build at her eyes. It was pointless to keep trying, though she knew that far before the point she was at now. Wherever she was she had to figure it out and to stop crying about it. She wiped the few tears that escaped her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket hoping whoever it belonged to wouldn't mind.
Looking around the rest of the room she found scattered sheet music written out in pencil of songs she’s never heard before and a keyboard standing behind her. At least whoever's room she found herself in seemed to be someone like her. It eased her mind slightly that there was some common ground between the owner of this room and herself, maybe they’d be slightly more understanding if they weren't completely alien to each other. Brushing past the keyboard Sunna found herself looking at the monitors that had been the only source of light in the entire room. There was a somewhat familiar music making program pulled up, not too different from the one she used though she never heard of this brand before. The pair of headphones and the mouse hovering over the play button tempted her. Surely a quick listen before figuring things out could hurt right?
As she pressed play, emotions started to hit her with each passing second. It started slow and mellow, it wasn't very complex but it didn't have to be. It did just enough to set the atmosphere. Then the vocals came. They sounded different from what she usually heard, If anything they sounded like the demos Aria recorded, a quality she thought was unique to her. As the song progressed she heard more of the lyrics and they hurt. There was pain in the singer's words, whoever wrote them had certainly been through something traumatic for the emotion put into this song. And then it eased, the backing became softer and there was acceptance in the singer's words, like a gentle recovery. It made Sunna feel warm inside, despite having no knowledge on who this song was about or if it was even a real story the lyrics finding relief brought calmness to herself.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The noise took her out of the world she was so immersed in. It didn’t make sense to place in the song and it wasn't even on beat. She paused the song to give herself a moment to think about its placement, looking through the timeline to find the sample before she heard it again.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Someone was at the door.
A muffled voice gently rang out from behind the door “Yoisaki-san?”
Panic set in, she had immersed herself in the song so much she forgot about where she was. She hadn’t considered someone else might be in the house when she first came to. A bright fire was melting inside her, what should she say to the person behind the door, “Sorry I stole the position of your friend in some magical body swap” that certainly wouldn't do. She mustered up the courage to greet the person at the door and go from there, her face burning in anxious worry.
And then she tripped on the headphone cable. She came crashing onto the hardwood once more as the person behind the door made a worried eek at the noise. It took everything in her not to start crying again on the floor in defeat as she slowly pulled herself back hearing the door start to click.
“Excuse me Yoisaki-san but I’m going to let myself into your room.” The girl's voice was filled with concern after hearing an unfortunately familiar thud of someone falling onto the floor.
As the door opened a girl with light brown hair stepped into the room, followed by a large cast of light from outside lightening up the dark space. It took her a moment to adjust to the darkness of the room, only spotting the person behind the noise after a few seconds. And then their gaze met, an unfamiliar foreign stare. The girl's face went from one of worry, to confusion, and then fear.
It was impossible for Sunna not to cry now.
“You said your name was Sunna right?” The brunette brings another tissue to her face, wiping away the last few tears.
“My name is Honami Mochizuki, it's nice to meet you” Her voice was gentle and polite.
“I-Its nice to meet you too…” Her face was covered by a tissue and where it wasn't her bangs covered up instead. She had gotten over the initial panic of their meeting, Honami ended up being a reasonable person about the situation if not a little scared at first. Still though, it was hard for Sunna to feel comfortable when she felt at fault for creating this issue that while she didn't know the extent of, knew it affected the kind girl in front of her.
A kettle in the back starts to vocalize as water boils. Honami excuses herself for a moment standing up from her chair across Sunna to move to the counter, pausing for a moment to take a few deep breaths before pouring out two cups of water and placing a tea bag in each.
“I’d like you to have some as well” Honami had sensed the tension still inside Sunna as she sat back down at the table.
“Thank you.” Sunna brought the cup up to her lips immediately, too busy wrapped up in her anxiety to realize how hot the drink would be until it burned her tongue. It was the type of mistake Honami would see Kanade making when she was lost in thought about a new song.
“S-So… where am I?” Sunna was still struggling to meet Honami’s gaze even as she asked her a question instead opting to look down at the tea that burned her moments ago.
“We’re in Shibuya, this is the house of someone I take care of.” A tinge of red crept up on her face as she thought about the girl who lived here, the one who greeted her at the door a bit less than an hour ago only to disappear to her room. “Do you know how you got here?”
“N-No, not really” It embarrassed Sunna that she couldn't answer what should be a simple question.
It didn’t help that she had no clue where “Shibuya” was located, it didn't sound like any place she knew in the Janus Quarter let alone the rest of New Eridu. The thought that she might not even be in New Eridu anymore crept into her mind but it seemed unlikely currently. And then she thought about it. Everything she's seen so far has been foreign to her, the computer was filled with applications she's never heard of before, the keyboard a brand she didn't recognize.
“W-Whats the closest hollow to here?” The question left her mouth the moment things started to click, any answer would help orient herself.
“Hollow? I’m not sure I follow…” That's when things made sense. She was no longer in New Eridu.
“Ms. Mochizuki, can I ask you a really big favor?” Sunna's voice finally perked up. “N-Not that you have to say yes but… Can you help me return home? I know it sounds weird but I think I've swapped places with someone- Th-That girl you were talking about I think it was with her!”
Honami looked at Sunna with an expression that was hard to read before softening into a smile.
“I’d be happy to help you.” There was a quality in Sunna that Honami saw that reminded her of Kanade, it pushed her to want to help even more than usual. Not to mention that she wanted to find out where Kanade was now considering that she must’ve ended up wherever Sunna came from.
Either way, this was going to be a lot to explain to Mafuyu when she returned from Cram school.