Chapter Text
"I just can't get it right!" Kanade silently screams to herself, slamming her hand softly onto the table as to not alert anyone.
This was likely the one point where she'd need to write the most, but she just couldn't comprehend any semblance of warmth from Mafuyu's mother of all people.
Kanade reaches for the keyboard again and stops halfway there. Her vision starts getting blurry, and dark circles form around her vision as if she had been holding her breath for hours.
The composer tries her best to steady herself but is too weak. Falling under the weight of a feather, she grabs tightly onto her desk; however, she can’t hold on long and crumbles to the ground. She slightly pushes herself upwards, but falls right back down, hitting her head on the ground, and passing out.
A yellow haired girl is seen yelling on the computer screen as Yoisaki wakes from an accidental slumber. The pleading from Rin causes her to sit up and deem herself "okay" despite that not being true at all. The door opens as her roommate walks inside.
"What were you even thinking?" Asahina puts on a calm voice, disappointment slowly creeping out of it, to the point it almost causes Kanade to flinch.
Looking at the ground in failure, she responds. "I was just hoping to make a song to save you, bu-"
"No excuses, saving me can wait for as long as your health deteriorates."
Mafuyu picks Kanade off her feet and places her on her bed, scattering a couple papers onto the floor. More paper is shoved onto the ground just to maintain temporary comfort for the newly bedridden composer. Mafuyu hates making more of a mess for Honami, soon opting into picking up the scattered sheets.
Mafuyu places a hand onto Kanade's forehead, sending a small jolt of comfort through the girl's entire body. This soothing feeling is ignored in place of many restless nights worth of unease built up in the composer’s feeble bones.
From a phone placed across the room, comes a recommendation. "It's probably best if you make her some food; she hasn't eaten much in days."
"Thank you, Ena." Mafuyu replies "I believe that is a very good idea, you two keep her company."
The door shuts as Mafuyu storms off to cook, still irritated by the inconvenience, despite it being a selfless gesture.
The phone continues speaking to Kanade, reassuring her of her safety, despite it feeling anything but. A simple conversation is brought out of her, enough to keep her conscious for the time being.
[]
The door creaks back open and Asahina returns with a steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup. The bottom of the bowl is hot as expected.
“This is already troubling enough as is.” Kanade thinks, attempting not to spill any of the liquid on her person, with her already shaky hands.
Despite slight fear, Yoisaki takes a small sip out of the bowl and is met with instant gratification. The food numbed the pain slightly and she finished it quite quickly.
"Now sleep." Mafuyu says bluntly, throwing an entire blanket on top of the composer.
Kanade slightly wiggles out trying to get back to writing, but the thought is instantly rejected, and she is forced to return to the comfort of her own bed.
"I would like to check this draft you made." Mafuyu's curiosity peaks as she walks over to the computer.
Mafuyu assumes it will be the same, a nice song with no effect on her whatsoever. Kanade’s perfectionism very well could have pushed her to downplay the piece though.
The keyboard clicks once and the song plays.
“…”
A single tear rushes down the eyes of the lyricist and she quickly but quietly rushes to her guest room.
Yoisaki struggles to get up, worried for her friend, but as if the earth's gravity was against her, she falls back into her bed, and faints off of built up stress.
In the room down the hallway Mafuyu feels a new emotion, conflicting ones. Not quite understanding them yet, she decides to weigh them, discovering that the bad is overweighing the good in that moment.
Today, dealing with any more emotion doesn't sound optimal to her. In response to the thought, Mafuyu uses a quick sleep drill she uses most nights to conserve her normal 5 hours a night, quickly drifting off to ignore any tension.
[]
Waking up, the issue at hand is not confronted. Neither is it through her whole morning.
Asahina makes dark coffee and quickly swigs it down before packing loads of books for math and science into her bag. Then the front door is opened and Asahina sets off to school.
Mafuyu stops at a large crossway, checking her phone before a busy day, and waiting for her crosswalk to open. A message was sent on nightcord only dated a few minutes ago.
Amia: @K @Yuki Hey, sorry for the short notice, Enanan invited me to this sports facility called Spojoy last night, and we forgot to ask if you guys wanted to tag along.. I bet we'll get a bunch of prizes if Yuki can make it! No issue if you can’t show.
Mafuyu took a long strand of thought, and decided it would be okay to test the waters of staying out late with her newfound freedom.
Yuki: What time do you guys plan to go, if you don't mind me asking?
Mizuki’s response was faster than the hakari bullet train of Tokyo station.
Amia: Oh! My bad! We were planning to go around 8:00pm tonight.
Yuki: I suppose I could fit that in after cram school, but I will be about an hour late.
Amia: YES!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!! No worries though, do you know when K will be awake?
Yuki: No idea, she seems to be out of it, so I would give her some time.
Amia: Oh okay, it would suck to have to go on a group trip without her.
Yuki: Agreed.
Mafuyu puts her phone down just in time to pass the crosswalk and continues making her way to school.
[]
"Ugh, what time is it?" The exhausted girl speaks to a room with no one to hear.
Kanade sits up and makes her way to the chair she spends her life in. The same draft from yesterday is set at the last few seconds of the song. This helps her get her mind back into focus about the last thing she stressed herself over the day before.
An unexpected ping from nightcord appears and the tab automatically opens. The message from Mizuki shows on screen and she thinks it out, just not for too long.
"I don't feel like going because I'm sore from last night, but my friends would probably want me to go." Yoisaki replies without mentioning her gripes with the idea, and accepts the request.
After Mizuki becomes overjoyed once again, Kanade decides to take a visit to sekai in order to do something proactive that isn't composing for once. Not out of laziness, but in an attempt to solve Mafuyu's mysterious departure the night before both quickly, and easily, instead of harping on it for hours.
A finger click hits the mouse and untitled starts playing, teleporting Kanade to another realm.
"Oh, welcome Kanade." Miku is on the ground playing cat's cradle once again. Rin is in the direct area playing the same game practicing to be more synchronized for their next game together.
"H-Hi" Kanade is startled by the fact that Miku was right in front of her upon entry.
"Rin sees Kanade and rushes over "Are you hurt at all? You didn't seem to be looking so hot yesterday." Rin checks all over Kanade looking for scratches or bruises to no avail.
"I'm sorry for worrying you Rin, I’m doing okay now." She straightens out her jacket that was wrinkled by Rin's frantic searching.
"Thank god" replies Rin sitting down onto the ground, the others soon following.
"So what have you been up to recen-"
"Oh, spare us the small talk." Kaito appears out from behind a nearby pillar and joins the group, refusing to sit down.
"Everytime you guys come here, whether or not you want to talk about it, you almost always have a problem." Kaito stares downwards coldly “Usually I'm patient enough to wait from a distance, but I'm not feeling that generous today." Kaito crosses his arms and stares down fiercely.
"I don't think you are ever feeling generous." Rin whispers mockingly.
Kaito hears this but decides to ignore it.
"So... What’s the problem?"
Kanade sighs. “Last night Mafuyu ran off after hearing my draft and I haven't been able to speak to her since."
"That's it? What a waste of visiting time.." Kaito adjusts his sleeves “Just speak to her, you guys are close, you don't need us to dictate everything for you."
"What if I say the wrong thing?" Kanade gains a more fearful expression on her face.
"You guys are practically best friends, if she leaves because of an understandable concern that you convey to her, she probably shouldn't be your friend in the first place." Kaito then walks into the distance, fading into nothingness.
"He always has to act so mysterious." Rin complains.
"Best friends?" Kanade thinks to herself "I've never really seen her that way, but I would say she is the closest to me. If I had to choose at least.”
"Hello? Earth to Kanade." Rin waves her hand around Kanade’s face trying to catch her attention.
"Huh!?" She leaps upwards as if she was just jumpscared.
"Where did you learn to talk like that?" Miku wonders.
"Mizuki.. and where did you?" Rin starts fidgeting with the strings in her hands once again.
"Also Mizuki.." Replies Miku, putting a barely noticeable grin on her face.
[]
The girls are lost in conversation as Kanade checks her phone. The time reads 8:30pm.
"Oh no, I'm late!" Kanade quickly picks her stuff off of the ground, shoving them into any pocket she has.
Instead of arguing as she’d like to, Rin wishes her farewell along with Miku as Kanade pauses untitled, sending her back to her room.
"I got to go.." The sentiment repeats in her mind on loop as she collects essentials and rushes out the door.
At one and a half miles the soreness from last night already starts to catch up, and Kanade starts to slightly slow down.
At one mile sweat starts pouring down in amounts she didn't even know she had, but she continues pushing.
At less than half a mile a crash is heard from the sidewalk beside the SpoJoy.
Kanade plants onto the ground once again, being dragged down towards the earth's core. Without a word, someone swoops her off the ground.
"You're lucky I got out of cram school early." Mafuyu says situating Kanade on her shoulder comfortably.
"Yeah.. I am." Kanade sadly admits.
"Don't worry, you were almost there." They both walk inside together after confirming Kanade can even stand.
"Now where ar-"
"AHHHHHH" Ena screams as she is dragged to the arcade by Mizuki.
"Guess we know where we are going now."
Mafuyu first sits down and pats beside her, opting for Kanade to do the same.
"So about yesterday.." Kanade awkwardly moves her hands, trying to find the right gestures to convey her feelings.
Mafuyu is confused, but that confusion is interrupted by Mizuki.
"Oh hey guys!" Mizuki runs towards the pair, Ena trailing behind her. "I almost thought you guys weren't going to make it!"
"I'm very sorry, I just got caught up on a conversation in sekai!" Kanade blurts out quite loudly.
"Oh! That's not a problem!" Mizuki opens her phone showing the few the group chat. "I just would've preferred either of you responded to my calls." Mizuki puts on a clearly fake sad expression while pointing out the four missed calls on her phone.
"Don't worry about it guys." Ena puts her hand on Mizuki's mouth to stop any more words from coming out. Mizuki counteracts this by licking Ena's hand causing her to jolt back. "Ew! Why would you do that!" Ena wipes her hand on her skirt, trying as hard as possible to remove any bacteria. "You were practically asking for it." Mizuki sticks her tongue out mockingly.
"Can we just go somewhere? I paid for both of our tickets." Mafuyu points at Kanade with her thumb and she shyly attempts to respond. Nothing comes out.
The group stands up and walks toward the back end of the building. Mizuki recommends they all play bubble soccer.
Ena, more excitedly than expected, hops up. "Do you want to rematch Kanade? I know I’ll beat you this time!"
Kanade thinks of refusing because she is in bad shape, but her mouth thinks otherwise. "Sure thing, I’d love to."
The group walks in the ring and picks teams.
Mafuyu & Kanade vs Mizuki & Ena.
The bell goes off and Mizuki and Ena instantly rush at Kanade as Ena did with Ichika before. This time it works. Mafuyu doesn't mind using people as leverage while playing, so she allows Kanade to have a premature departure from the game. Ena staggers herself pushing Kanade out just as Asahina predicted. This chance is taken, and Ena is pushed in the out of bounds area right beside Kanade.
Now facing away from her, Mafuyu assumes Mizuki is going to rush straight at her. When Mizuki goes for the rush down, Mafuyu dodges so effortlessly you would think she wasn't wearing the bubble suit. Mizuki gets sent straight into the wall and past the line from her own force, winning the game for Mafuyu and Kanade.
"I'm sorry I couldn't help at all." Kanade makes a painful groan, turning herself over.
"You still helped me." Mafuyu spots a scratch on the back of Kanade and instantly removes her suit.
The scratch is bleeding quite bad for how small it is.
"I'm so sorry." Mizuki, insanely worried she might've caused the injury, stumbles over toward the pair on the other side of the court.
"No, it couldn't have been you." Mafuyu already knew she would've assumed that. "This is a scratch, the most Kanade could've got here was a bruise, there is nothing sharp.” Mafuyu removes her own suit preparing to treat Kanade. "Even that would've been unlikely, she had a thick layer of protection. She likely got this on the way here."
Mafuyu picks Kanade up, and walks out of the building placing her on a bench outside. She had prepared for something like this ever since she worked first-aid at the Shibuya Festa. Almost instantly, the wound is bandaged up.
"Ma-Mafuyu.." Kanade grumbles, trying to flip herself over.
"Just lay here for a second." Mafuyu contemplates the best way to comfort her for a good spell.
"W-what are you doing?" Kanade's hand is grabbed and held by the girl sitting on the ground right beside her.
"I'm sorry, I assumed it would help. I'm guessing you don't like it." Mafuyu starts to drag her hand away.
Kanade stops her and grips her hand back harder. "I don't mind it." Kanade smiles.
That was the exact way Mafuyu responded when they first interlocked fingers.
They both sit in silence for what feels like an eternity, taking in each other's warmth from their palms.
"I-I'm sorry." Kanade finally decides to break the silence.
"For what? you've only ever helped me." Mafuyu returns.
"That's not true, my demo messed you up last night." Kanade had beaten herself up about that for the full duration they had sat there in silence.
"That would be wrong.." Kanade sits up slowly and confused, maintaining the same grip on Mafuyu's hand as before. "That demo actually might be the closest you've ever got to saving me." Kanade's eyes shoot open.
"but you seemed worried." Is returned anxiously.
Mafuyu sits for a few seconds, trying to string the parts she understands into words.
“That's because I realized, no matter how much you understand me, I still lack identity, and I still lack the confidence to confront my own mother." Mafuyu hangs her head low.
“I'm sorry” That is the only thing Kanade can offer until she breaks the silence many minutes later.
“I promise I'll stay here.. Right beside you" Kanade doesn't think of the words, she feels them. Despite her feeling this, she debates the wording.
"I appreciate that." Mafuyu gives a half-smile, more than many others could dream of getting out of her.
The cold night brushes over the two, both lying beaten in their own ways, but the sense of ease they get from one another is stronger in that moment.
"What are you guys doing!?" A slightly enraged Ena speaks from the entrance to the building.
"Not just are you two going to freeze up, but the building closes in thirty minutes!" Ena stomps her feet like a cartoon character.
"We were just talking.." Kanade sounds guilty, as if this was the worst thing she had ever done.
Ena looks down to see their hands interlocked and lets out a quick sigh. "You guys are fine, just come back inside, Mizuki's waiting at the arcade."
The trio walks inside and Kanade opts to check her phone before joining the group. Ena and Mafuyu make their way toward the basketball machine where Mizuki is playing. Kanade takes this time to view her notifications, being surprised by a couple missing calls.
"It is probably spam." Thinks Kanade, but she decides to open her voicemail anyways.
"Hello, this is the Shibuya Hospital. We are calling to inform you about your father's condition. As of a few hours ago, his condition has reached critical. Call us back for more information or an update if you would like it. Thank you.."
Kanade is left speechless, dropping her phone onto the ground as she begs herself for an answer on what to do.