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Its peaceful up here, always been for her. Sat near the green fence, thinking to herself potential animation ideas for Nightcord’s upcoming song. Thrilled to share them with Ena, Kanade, and Mafuyu in her late-night call with them. Scooting over to the edge, looking down upon the bottom of the school seeing students, the view makes her feel like she's up in the sky with the white fluffy clouds. Up here, her mind can feel at ease, at peace.
Being alone isn’t so bad, its much better than being truly alone, but she can deal with it. Today is different from years ago, years ago she felt she was held up by strings attached to her body keeping her alive, those strings felt like they'll never go away. Today, she has friends who support her, a group she's adored in, someone that loves her to the core, inside and outside. Those strings from years ago disappeared, as she felt alive.
It all makes her...
Happy.
Twirling her pink ponytail, fingers swimming through a pink sea gorgeous like sakura trees blooming in spring. Her other hand scrolling through her phone, light from the sky obscuring half of the screen. Swiping, Swiping and Swiping, till she turns it off letting out a sigh, her left shoe tapping on the floor out of ideas on what to do with her spare time.
Hanging out with Ena on the rooftops would’ve spice up her day, loveable, frustrated face will certainly make her day even better. Yet, the brunette told her she would like to be alone today to sketch out illustrations for their upcoming Nightcord song. Not like it's an issue for her, it gives her more time to think of getting a reaction out of the brunette later.
Thought process interrupted by a creaking noise from her right, tilting her head to the direction of the sound to see no other than a familiar, orange haired boy standing where the door was. It's her favourite lil’bro!
“Lil’bro! Didn’t expect you to come up here!?” She raised her voice “Did you see me being up here sad and lonely, needing someone to talk to?” She points at herself, hoping Akito sees her cute smile.
“I came up here to get fresh air, Mizuki!” Akito crossed his arms, looking back at her with a deadpan face.
“Owwww...so hurtful!” She dramatically whines, clasping her hands together while trying her best to look hurt.
Akito didn’t budge from her sorrowful acting, his deadpan face remained with no subtle changes on it, she felt her precious heart wither away. Hearing a sigh come from the boy he starts walking towards her, sitting close enough near her to not shout from afar. Akito looking at her with a confused expression on his face, akin to trying to solve a puzzle piece.
Akito questions her, “What's with the grin?”
“Because you came here to talk to me! I knew you had a heart lil’bro!” She swayed in joy left to right.
“Whatever you say.” An annoyed response from the boy, he continues "How's the school day going for you?”
“It has been quite boring until you showed up! Now it's going a lot, lot, lot better!” her voice filled to the brim with happiness.
“One positive thing about this school is this place right here! I could tell you the latest gossip and nobody would even hear us!” her words leaving trace of deviousness.
Akito smirks “If the gossip you heard around the school are interesting as looking at paint dry, then safe to say nobody would’ve cared if you spilled it all out in the hallways.”
“Oh okay, may as well tell the gossip about your sister when we walk to class!” she teased.
“What!?”
Akito stares right into her eyes, a slight jump from the friendly lime-coloured iris looking at her to them staring into her soul. She regains her posture, thrilled to have Akito’s attention.
“Didn’t you say my gossip would likely be boring as ‘watching paint dry’, what's with the sudden interest lil’bro?” voice filled with nothing but teases.
“Isn't it normal to be concerned, if one of them revolves around my sister?” Akito quietly said.
“Awww, Lil’bro showing concern for his older sister, it warms my heart to hear these words coming from you!” Her voice playfully rang out around her.
Akito eyebrows frown, “It's not the time to joke around, Mizuki!”,he stopped before continuing on with his sentence “Is this gossip about her serious or not?!” voice raised a lot more than before.
She reassures Akito, “Hey, Hey, chill out lil’bro it isn't too serious, its more of a fun fact about Ena!”
Akito’s eyebrows lift, piercing eyes slightly lose focus on her their gaze now on the concrete floor. Her head tilts intrigued by Akito’s reaction, getting an inside scoop of a side she never sees the stoic ginger is like winning the lottery. He returns to back to his neutral face, a slight annoyance in his eyes to accompany along.
“Fine...spill.” he hesitantly said
She claps her hands together three times in a row, energy brighter than usual she takes a few seconds to process what to say, it clicks in her head what words would give a beautiful reaction out of Akito, and it’ll be the most mischievous one to come out of her mouth.
“I heard around the school, Ena is...” she unintentionally pauses, “a...”she unintentionally pauses again, receiving a fed-up look from Akito.
“L E B S I A N.” huge emphasis on every letter she said.
Akito raises his left eyebrow “Ena already told me?” his confused voice echoing in her head.
All the built up came with measly results, a one of the kind reactions from Akito was swept away from her unknowingly by her Ena. she's definitely going to nag at her about it whenever they meet again.
“Didn’t know it spread around the school, is there anyone who's talking bad about her because of it?” Akito questions her.
“Oh, not at all! I didn’t hear no cruel remarks about her!” she answers.
His eyebrows narrow upon receiving her answer putting a moody look, Mizuki can’t help but internally giggle to herself.
“When did she open up to you? Yesterday? Last week? Last Month?” She leans more into Akito’s direction
“It was three days ago.” his eyes concentrate on something “I heard a familiar knock on my door at night, I didn't answer at first.” pausing before talking again.
“Until the knock grew louder and louder, I went up to the door opening it to see my unamused sister like always, although she didn’t shout at me about something I’ve done wrong.” directly looking at Mizuki “Instead, she asked if she could tell me something important, which was meant to be kept between us two.”
a faint smile appears on his face, “She told me she's a lesbian. I told her I will support her and if anyone dares make fun of her of it, she tells me straight away.”
“Although.” that smile turns into a frown, as he crosses his arms “Her voice was shaky when she shared it with me...and I don’t understand why?”
Mizuki understands, understands it far too well. A bleak reminder of who she once was, incapable of sharing the truth to others she holds dearest to, suffering from her own stubbornness. Pathetic, the only word she could describe herself back then.
But her before isn't the same person as her now, after everything she went through, all the suffering she endured, even if the first time opening up to Ena went south, that maybe she wouldn't even dare talk to a person like her after what happened. Instead, Ena searched for her, told her that everything will be okay. That moment alone made her life brighter.
It'll be the best option to let him know why Ena feels like that, in her own words.
“Well, when someone has a deep secret, they’ll be scared to tell it to anyone! Even people they’re close to!” Mizuki pauses, "Its dreadful not knowing the consequences of telling a secret holding down your wings, will it be lifted? Or will it never get the chance to spread out?" A timid tone in her voice.
She sees Akito's concerned face, "I might've gone off the rails with my words, whoops!" embarrassed by the look he gave her. She tilts her head, thinking of an answer to his question tapping the ground with her shoe “Perhaps, she feared you not accepting her?”
All she receives is Akito’s concerned expression worsen. Quickly, she thinks of a way to avoid a stressful outcome.
“You may not get along well, but I doubt she’ll ever think of you in a bad light!” she pauses and smiles “But I don't think she ever will, knowing you did accept her for who she is, LIl'bro!"
“Right.” Akito’s expression softens a little. “It was a delight to see Ena happy talking with me, she had the brightest smile I’ve ever saw her with,” A fond smile on the boy's face.
The marvellous sight pierces her heart, it may not be a reaction she intended in getting out of him first, but a sweet reaction from him is on par as an annoyed reaction.
"Brother and sister getting along, how cute!" She holds her hands together, her head swaying left and right.
Akito smirks "She's still annoying."
Akito lays back onto the fence "Now what you said about earlier there being rumours going around about her, when did they start?"
"Today! Couldn't stop hearing about it while getting to the rooftop, Ena being this popular is making me jealous." she sighed.
Akito smiles, "That's funny, really funny."
Mizuki notices his expression, she can't place her finger on it, but Akito seems to know more than her.
"Didn't hear any of that, not the slightest hint of it." Akito puts his hand on his chin, raising an eyebrow.
"Guess the hot topic became cold topic!" Mizuki said with a smile.
"Mizuki, that was a horrible joke." Akito crossed his arms.
"Right, let's get back on topic!" She just knew she had the cheekiest grin ever.
"Mizuki...whatever." The boy baffled by her response, "Ena also told me something after that, the only other person who knows about her secret is her girlfriend." Akito calmly said, as he looks up into the sky.
Mizuki doesn't know why, but tension starts to brew in her head, it's almost as if Akito has caught onto her...before she could speak, Akito had a head start.
"It's strange how you know she's a lesbian, it is odd how you heard rumours around the school when I heard nothing similar to it at all." He turns his attention to Mizuki, his eyes dead lock on hers "It's almost like, you're lying about it?"
Mizuki speechless to answer.
Akito grins "You're my sister's girlfriend, aren't you?"
...
...
...
She shouts, "AKITO, IS THAT TOYA-KUN BEHIND YOU?" Mizuki lifted her hand, finger pointing at a direction.
"Huh?" Akito's direction now focuses on the one Mizuki pointed at.
It's the perfect opportunity for her to escape. She stands up in a blink of an eye, picking up her bag and dashing towards the roof's door.
"MIZUKI, where the hell are you running off to? You haven't even answered my questio-HEY!" She heard Akito's bewildered voice.
She lets out a laugh as she opens the door "See you later, Lil'bro!"
"This only proves my assumption, MIZUKI!