Chapter Text
"Thank you!"
With a receipt in hand, Mizuki walked to the table and sat down. It was well past dinnertime by this point and the diner wasn't particularly busy, so her food would be ready soon.
Even though they had only parted fifteen minutes earlier, Mizuki pulled out her phone to Mafuyu's Nightcord contact.
- Direct Messages -
amia, Yuki
Today / 08:44 PM
[amia] you get home okay?
Fortunately, she didn't have to wait too long for an answer,
Today / 08:46 PM
[Yuki] I just got home.
[amia] alright! i'll see you hopefully soon
[Yuki] You as well. Thank you for today, Mizuki.
Mizuki reacted to the last message with a thumbs-up emoji before closing the Nightcord app.
She hadn't intended to be that personal with Mafuyu, but all of the words had flown out of her mouth naturally. The exchange had ended up going about as well as Mizuki hoped it would, and considering her impression of Mrs. Asahina, she could only hope that it would help Mafuyu in some way.
Still waiting for her food, Mizuki was in the process of opening social media when she received a call. Upon seeing the contact name, she picked up instantly.
"Hello?"
"If I may ask, how did it go with your friend?"
She smiled.
"Hopefully well. I ended up telling her more than I thought I would - not about that, but that it's okay to run if she doesn't have any other options."
"That's good to hear."
Rui wasn't fully aware of what was going on, but Mizuki had told him enough for him to be able to offer assistance where he could. Emu had also told him about "her upperclassman" back at Shibuya Festa, so Rui had ended up knowing more about Mafuyu's situation than most people at Miyamasuzaka - excluding Mafuyu herself, and maybe Honami.
He was still a long way off from knowing the full truth, however.
"If anything else comes up, don't hesitate to give me a call."
At that moment, a buzzer sounded from the front counter.
"Oop, that's my food. I'll text you later."
"See you around."
Mizuki hung up, walked back to the counter, and held up her receipt.
"Number 26, one order of French fries?"
"Yup, that's me!"
"Alright, enjoy your food."
"Thanks." She picked up the bag, turned around-
-and immediately collided with the person behind her.
A flash of yellow entered Mizuki's vision, but she didn't fully register what had happened until she looked down to see her dinner scattered across the tile floor.
Ah, shit.
"Oh no! Are you alright?"
Mizuki looked back up to see the girl who she'd seemingly run into, and two pairs of pink eyes met.
"I'm fine," Mizuki replied. "My fries, on the other hand…"
"Don't worry about it! I'll pay for another order."
Huh?
The girl seemed genuinely sorry, and something told Mizuki that saying "no" wouldn't work very well.
"I- alright, fine." Mizuki relented.
Without needing any further response, the girl skipped over to the counter (thankfully without a line) and began talking. Mizuki opted to start gathering her previously planned dinner off of the floor and into the garbage, as to not cause any inconvenience to the employees.
As soon as the last fry was discarded, Mizuki heard the familiar sound of the buzzer once again.
"Oh- that's mine. Number 27?" the girl asked the cashier.
"Yup, here you go."
"Thank you!"
Mizuki watched as the girl picked up a bag of ginger fried pork and katsu curry, seemingly enough to feed two people. And now, not even two minutes after the collision, the friendly stranger turned back towards Mizuki.
"Enjoy the fries, okay?"
And without another word, Mizuki watched the girl leave the diner. It was only now that she was able to get a good look at her - an oversized pink sweater, blue shorts, and twin pigtails that faded from yellow to vibrant pink at the ends. Something about her hair felt familiar to Mizuki, but she was still trying to pinpoint exactly why when she heard the buzzer ring a third time.
"Number 28?"
"Amia?"
Kanade's voice jolted Mizuki out of her daydream (if it could still even be called that at 25:00).
"Are you good? You've been out of it for the past like ten minutes." Ena's voice rang through the call.
"Huh? No, I'm fine."
Mizuki turned to look at her trash can, with a now-empty takeout container sitting inside. It was just the three of them for tonight, since Mafuyu had been… well, preoccupied, to say the least.
"If you say so. Anyways, K wanted to tell us something."
"Alright, shoot."
"Okay," Kanade started, "so you two know how Ms. Mochizuki is part of a band, right?"
Both Ena and Mizuki nodded, even though neither of their webcams were on.
"They signed a contract with a record label not too long ago," Kanade continued, "and they're having their first concert since then this Saturday. They were able to get ten free tickets to split between them, and Ms. Mochizuki gave me two of them in case I wanted to go with a friend."
"So, do either of you want to go?"
"As much as I'd like to," Ena said, "I have plans with Airi that day. What time is the concert?"
"Um….. 7:30pm."
"Yeah, I can't make it. How about you, Amia?"
Mizuki thought it over for a bit. She wasn't doing anything in particular that weekend, but she did have to go to school for another day this week to keep up with attendance.
…something to look forward to, I guess.
"I can probably go."
"Thanks, Amia. I can send you the ticket infor-"
Kanade was cut off from a loud slam coming from Ena's microphone.
"…the hell? Akito, is that you?" Ena's audio sounded far away, suggesting that she had stood up from her chair.
A moment of silence passed.
"Everything okay, Enanan?" Mizuki asked.
"…he went straight to his room and slammed the door. I'm… I'm gonna go see if he's okay."
"Take care." Kanade said.
Ena's Nightcord username disappeared from the call and went offline, leaving just Kanade and Mizuki.
"I might head to bed as well - I have to go to school tomorrow, unfortunately." Mizuki said.
"Alright, good night, Amia."
"Night, K."
Mizuki clicked on the disconnect button and shut off her computer, falling into her normal bedtime routine. She was in bed by 2:30, but ended up taking longer to fall sleep than she would have liked.
As she sunk into her blanket, the interactions from both Mafuyu and the blonde girl looped through her mind.