Chapter Text
"K~..."
The composer sighs. She's been going around in loops for hours, tweaking bits of her new song here and there, to no avail. Every time, something feels just so, so slightly wrong. Her mouse hovers once more against the EQ settings, iterating through dozens of possibilities inside her head.
"K?"
She remains silent. She's this close. This close to finding whatever's been plaguing her for these dozen hours.
Maybe there could be an extra beat here? Would that fit...?
No...
"Kanade? Are you okay?" Mafuyu stares across the room at her. Her roommate had been scrawling through several sheets of paper, seemingly deciding on the right pair of words to properly fit the draft Kanade sent yesterday. Perhaps she, too, is struggling.
"Hm?"
"You've been staring at that screen for a while. I think Mizuki wants to talk to you."
"O-oh..." Kanade takes a second to adjust her window. Had she completely tuned Mizuki out? Maybe the audio overpowered it. She should probably figure something out, at some point. It's been happening too much.
Mizuki tones down her voice, fitting the gentle girl that is her audience. "Hey, Kanade... are you alright? You can't keep on doing the same things expecting it to work the next time. It's just... not how things work, you know? And I know you're working hard, and you probably don't know it, but... oh, this shit is too hard. You need a break, man. Woman? Whatever you are."
Mafuyu sighs, and stands up.
"She is right. You aren't going to achieve anything new by trying the same things over and over."
In her heart, Kanade wants to believe the two. She slumps in her chair, and forces herself awake when her eyes instinctively close along with it.
Maybe she does need a break. How long has it been since she woke up? If she can't remember, it's probably been too long. Yet, this song is just... nagging, like if an itch had developed on her leg.
"Thank you for worrying, but I think I'll be fine. I can take care of myself, I think..." Kanade says. "If I get too fixated on a particular thing, I can always try something else..."
Despite the lack of a camera, Kanade can perfectly envision Mizuki shaking her cute, pink head. Abandoning the previous volume she was at, Mizuki, quite loudly, exclaims "You already are, silly! Methinks you need another Mystery Tour~"
Mafuyu mumbles quietly in disagreement. Kanade agrees. Mizuki's Marvelous Mystery Tours, as the titular character likes to call them, usually exhaust her beyond belief, even if they can be fun. If Mizuki really wanted her to go, though, she'd probably be fine with it. Isn't that what friends are supposed to do?
"Eh!? Are my Marvelous Mystery Tours not enough for you? Should I, Magnificent Mizuki, go above and beyond for you?"
"It's just... a lot. Sorry. I think I'll pass, too, unless you want me to go."
"Ugh, fine, I guess. That wasn't what I was thinking about, though. Remember that show we all saw a couple months back? I managed to secure some more tickets to another one. Maybe you and I could go on a little special trip together~"
Kanade tries (and fails) to hide her blush from the girl next to her. "O-of course," she blurts, "I'd be, I-"
"Then that's a deal! I'll meet you at Shibuya at one tomorrow!"
"A- Alright,"
As Kanade clicks back into her DAW, she can hear some disgruntled mumbling from the corner.
Frankly, it is too hot outside to be outdoors right now, thinks Kanade.
After meeting up in Shibuya, Mizuki brought her to Pheonix Wonderland.
"It's so... lively," says Kanade. "Everyone here, with their own lives, problems, and histories..."
"Hm?"
"Isn't it beautiful?"
"Y-yeah, of course," a perplexed Mizuki replies. At some point in the walk, her hand had drifted towards Kanade's. It felt... warm, yet so unlike Mafuyu's warmth. A hint of compassion in that touch, yet a lingering tension. Could...? No... Kanade grips tighter as Mizuki suddenly jerks her aside.
"Shit, sorry! It's actually over in that direction!"
After showing the guards their tickets, Mizuki brought Kanade to their destination.
"... Did it really have to be outside?"
"You should've seen this place before Wonderlands×Showtime got here! If you thought the mansion felt abandoned back then, you might have passed out seeing..." — Mizuki gestures around at their surroundings — "...this."
"How do you know?"
"My friend showed me a bit of it. He's the director of this whole gig. I can barely imagine it, personally."
As they passed the time, an elaborate dressed man adorned the stage. The man had striking purple and blue hair, and while Kanade wasn't particularly concerned, several people around her clearly gazed at him with a little too much passion, if you were to ask her.
"Welcome! Today, you have all gathered here at-"
...
oh.
At a single moment, Kanade suddenly realized how loud it was. The constant chatter ahead of her, the couple behind them making a fuss, Mizuki pointing out small details that she desperately tried to listen to, it all just felt... overwhelming.
As she hears the main character — some boisterous hero trying to defeat an evil goat lord — enter a cannon, she resigns herself to the bombardment of noise that she has happened upon.
"...and that's Ku- Kanade?"
Kanade's head limps over Mizuki's shoulder. "Are you there? Are you okay? I'm sorry, I didn't expect it to be so overwhelming," she asks, clearly not expecting much of a response. The only thing she gets is an incoherent mess of a reply.
Kanade lays there, for a while. Her mind has faded from the moment, and she tries to only think of the warmth of the head beside hers. Wouldn't it be nice to stay like this forever, she thinks. To stay next to Mizuki, hand stroking her hair and little whispers in her ear telling her that it'll all be okay, that…
Suddenly Mizuki's arms are around her shoulder and her head too is leaning against Kanade's and all Kanade can think about is-
A voice more beautiful than anything Kanade has known cuts into the moment, and she is instantly brought into the action. A green-adorned girl is now on center stage, singing her heart out to the fallen king.
The girl beside her lets out a dejected "Eh?" as Kanade sits up straight, looking onward to the star shining upon that stage. The actress's eyes twinkle only as the song comes to a close, and Kanade's sudden epiphany along with it.
She savors every moment that she can as the girl walks off stage and the play finishes. The way her hair flows across her body, the way her dress highlights the best parts of her body, the raw, brilliant emotion on display, all of it just feels so...
"Beautiful," Kanade whispers.
A strange tension lingers between the pink and the blue as they venture outwards into the part, though Kanade isn't certain of why. If she were to be honest, she doesn't need to know why. The only thing that matters right now is...
"That girl..."
"That will be ¥9200. Thank you for visiting."
A day had passed since the play, and yet Kanade had been in a daze for the entire night. Only when Mafuyu had asked her to fetch some music supplies (she was too sick, apparently) had Kanade finally snapped out of whatever spell she had been under.
Really, she has no idea what happened. She has more important things to dwell upon other than that show; while she had been dragged out to Phenny, she still has no clue how to continue her song. Maybe she needs something new. Maybe she n-
"-!"
"Ah!"
"Oh... um... s-sorry. I didn't mean t-"
Kanade stares up at the girl she has bumped into on her way out of the store.
"You're... that girl. From the show."
"Oh... You saw one of our shows? Did you... um... like it?"
Kanade moves over to not block the entrance to the door. The person in front of her shifts uncomfortably, as well.
"Very much. I particularly appreciated the power of your singing."
If only I could use my voice like that...
"T-thank you! I didn't know that people... I...
Sorry... Can we go outside for a bit?"
'Outside' is still a bit too warm. Not to mention, Kanade has to carry around a bag with an unnecessarily heavy synthesizer. The pair find a spot to sit right next to the doors. Her hair causes her to stumble a bit when she tries to wipe the elevated sidewalk with her right hand, resulting in a concerned look from the girl next to her.
"I haven't even gotten your name yet, have I? I'm sorry."
"Kusanagi Nene. I'm a part of the theatre troupe Wonderlands×Showtime."
"I'm- ah. Yoisaki Kanade. I'm part of a music group. It's nice to meet you."
Kanade fidgets a bit. Neither of them are the best at small talk, so she decides to try another angle after a momentarily awkward silence.
"Ah... forgive me, but how do you practice singing? Your voice is pretty unique and I'm interested as— a-ah, sorry! In a good way. I think your voice is b-beautiful, and I'm just interested as to how you've... cultivated it?" Is that the right word?
"Hm... I guess I sing a lot in the shower. I like to do bursts of rehearsals before a show, too? I'm not entirely sure I can answer that properly..."
"Oh... that's okay." Unknown to either party, Kanade nudges a bit closer to Nene. Kanade wonders if there's another topic that could keep Nene talking. She's not sure why she desires her company. Maybe she's lonely after spending the previous day with Mizuki. Maybe Nene's voice is just pretty. Nothing else, surely.
"Would you... maybe like to listen to one of our songs? A-ah um sorry if you d-"
"Of course! I'd be honored."
Kanade, stumbling over her words, manages to drop her phone on the concrete. Through some miracle, it remains intact. She picks it up and starts to play Kanadetomosusora.
…
"Is that you?" Nene asks.
"Y-yeah..."
"You have nothing to worry about."
"Hm?"
"Your voice is perfect. It's soft, and yet powerful. It's delicate; it feels like it would break if I, um, dropped it on the floor, but I can still feel the emotion beneath. It's strong in the right moments, and…"
Nene trails off.
"Oh..." Nene embarrassedly mutters as she turns away from her.
Kanade knew that her music was decent. She had spent her teen years refining it, after all. Her voice was the part she was hesitant about. It didn't feel right. It's not fit for a song; it's too weak. It's not loud enough.
But, hearing those few words from Nene, someone with no other impressions about her...
Maybe she's not so bad at it after all.
"Ah... I should get going... I have to deliver this to my partner." Kanade holds up the bag so that Nene can see what's inside.
"Your... partner?"
"My roommate."
"…"
Kanade's stomach growls. That's right... I haven't eaten since last night, have I... As she gets up, she feels her hand being tug back. "Hm?"
"A-ah, um, sorry, I saw you were hungry, and I just wanted to make sure you were okay, so, I- I wanted you to come with me to the, um, diner over there but you don't have to if you don't want to I don't want to force you it's just that um ah sorry i didnt mean to alarm you its just that I I i i i feel- a ah.
Sorry. Um, I know that people like you probably have trouble treating their body right when they're so passionate about what they do. I... feel the same way, sometimes. S-so..."
Kanade looks back down. Nene seems to have shrunk into a ball — her face is obscured by her hair, and her other arm is held behind her back. "Um..."
Nene blushes and looks up at Kanade, her eyes twinkling with a desperation that could sway even the most stalwart of women.
"Okay. If that's what you'd like, I'm in no position to deny."
"T-thank you..."
Maybe Kanade would've refused if she knew that Mizuki would be sitting a couple tables across from her.
Oh well.
Really, she shouldn't complain. Across from her is the prettiest girl she's ever seen, taking some bites... from...
Um...
"Warabimochi?"
"S-shut up. It tastes good, okay?"
"Okay..."
Kanade herself was having more ramen. Nothing particularly interesting, to say the least. Yet, Nene seemed to be staring intently at the bowl in front of her.
"Sorry for making you come all the way here," Nene says. She blushes with an adorable tint after seeing the intense observation of her own fancy dessert. "Do you... want any?"
"N- um, s-sure, if you don't mind."
Nene's small hands offer up one of the desserts. While a small part of Kanade wants to eat it right then and there, she maintains a reasonable level of decorum and takes it with her own respectively small hands before eating it.
...oh. wow.
"It's good, right?" comes from the other side of the table as Kanade finishes eating the delicacy.
"Yeah. Do you get it often?"
"I don't have the money to... Figure this is an enough of an excuse to try it, I suppose," Nene despondently replies. After taking a glance up, Kanade notices Nene gazing quite firmly at her face. Did she forget to brush her hair in the morning? No, that couldn't be it, could it?
Kanade takes another piece and savors the taste of the... quite expensive meal. "'This?' Why is this so special?"
"I don't really have that many opportunities to eat out on my own. Sometimes it's nice to forget about the rest of the world, you know? Everything happening around me is so... intense. It's hard."
"Oh... I can see that. Feeling as if everyone around you is changing, and yet you're the one who wants that same old desires? That it- oh. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be saying things like that to someone I've just met."
"N-no, it's fine... oh. Hold on a second. Can you stay still for me?"
Hm? Kanade thinks for a little. What could warrant her to stay put? Did she want a photo? Maybe she really did forget to do her hair.
As she falls still, she finds her eyes staring directly at Nene's. Those stars, burning with passion for a purpose, for a reason to keep on pursuing her dreams, outshine the brightness of any light in the room, and as Kanade runs through the list of all the possible events that could have led to this moment, the very moment where this shy and yet persistent girl sits just a meter away from her, Nene reaches out with her hand...
and...
um.
I.
"Ah, sorry. I saw some food on your face and just thought it would be easier for me to get it off."
y-yeah. easier is a strong word.
Kanade, for once in her life, cannot think of what to do.
Well, she blushes. A lot.
Nene stares, a bit confused. "Is something wrong? Sorry. I probably shouldn't have-"
"N... no. Please. It's... fine. Don't be sorry. I...
Thanks?"
Kanade looks around one more time. Did anyone see them? Did... Mizuki see them? Oh God. She would never be able to live that one down. Maybe she should just pretend it didn't happen.
"So, did you want t-" Kanade instantly drops her chopsticks onto the floor. "Sorry. I..."
"Pff, it's okay. You really should be more careful, though."
"I know... but, you kinda... Oh, whatever. Hold on..."
Kanade goes and cleans up her mess. The two eat in silence for a while, the only sound coming from the seats next to them.
It was... nice.
Yet, eventually came the time to leave, as all things do. (As always, Kanade paid for it.)
As she stood up to leave, Kanade felt something nagging at her. Was she missing something? It felt like she needed to do something important.
"Oh.
Sorry, do you mind if I... um...
do you have a nightcord account"
"Of course I do? Who doesn't anymore?" Nene emphatically responds. "It's, ah... here. I'll just write it down for you."
...
"There we go."
"T-Thank you," a blushing Kanade replies. "Thank you for... today. It was nice."
"Yeah. Do you mind if we do this again some time? I think I'd like that."
"Sure..."
Kanade thanked her one last time and exited out the building. Thankfully, she didn't think Mizuki ever noticed them.
Kanade never really thought of herself as an outgoing person. She did what was needed, and didn't bother with any of the details.
Then, why is she so fascinated by that girl? Why is she compelled to keep on talking with her?
... Oh well.
She'll figure it out tomorrow.