Chapter Text
It’s the evening time when Ena is sitting in the dining room and picking at some cheesecake Akito brought back. After gracefully swallowing a mouthful— unlike her brother, who all but vacuums the slice—she notices Akito’s hair has gotten longer. Cascading down his neck a bit, nearly shoulder length. His bangs aren’t super grown out, so at least he’s kept up to date on that.
Really, Ena feels bad about some things in her life with her little brother—mostly that she, as the older sibling, was never there for him; didn’t care when he’d disappear late into the night to unknown places when he was far too young to be out there. She’d throw things at him or claw at his skin until he was near bleeding when she was too stressed and he pulled her last straw—really, she had a feeling he did it on purpose, perhaps to let her get it all out—and Akito never really gave her attitude about that. He’s full of attitude, but not for the things that actually matter.
Oh , and Ena totally still throws things at him, but he does the same so it’s OK now. That’s far besides the point, though. If Akito wasn’t cutting his hair, he might be in one of those depressive slumps again.
“Your hair’s getting pretty long.” Ena points out, half mumbling.
Akito hums in acknowledgement. “ So ?”
Ena’s eyebrow twitches. That was most definitely passive-aggressive. But whatever, she’ll let it slide this time. This was just how they interacted, after all; short replies, eye rolls, and passive-aggressive remarks.
“Let me handle it for you.” Ena offers easily. “I’m good at cutting hair, you know. I chopped Mafuyu’s off.”
Akito raises a skeptical eyebrow, “But did it actually look good, or did Akiyama fix it?”
Okay, fuck you, see if I ever offer again! “It looked fine! Jeez, I’m just trying to help, you know.”
“Yeah, I’m good,” Akito scoffs, “I don’t want to go around with my hair looking like an unfinished tetris game.”
Oh, now he’s done it. “ God , fine! Forgive me for offering something out of good will! If you wanna go around looking like a girl, be my guest!” The comment is dripping with sarcasm, and Ena is expecting a simple middle finger and a return to silence, as per the average interaction between the two.
Instead, Ena flinches back as Akito slams his cutlery onto the table and stands up. “ Shut up! I don’t look like a fuckin’ girl! ” His tone is evidently aggressive, and Ena sees a look in his eyes that she’s become mostly unfamiliar with; something between anger and arrogance. He turns on his heel and stomps all the way back up the stairs, slamming his door shut.
…Okay, what the actual fuck is his problem?! Did Ena miss the Akito-is-sexist-now memo or something? Boys are so goddamn dramatic. Part of her is tempted to shout up and say that he does—even if she doesn’t really believe it to be true—just to piss him off more. She stays silent instead and bitterly eats her cheesecake with a bit too much aggression in biting it off of the fork.
It’s no big surprise that later that same night, Ena is blabbering away on Nightcord about her asshole little brother, and it’s no big surprise that interrupting the short moment of silence is a deeper, monotone voice saying “ I don’t care. ” And it’s certainly not even a slight surprise that Mizuki is off of her chair wheezing on the ground moments later. God bless Kanade.
“Fuck both of you.” Ena grumbles.
“I don’t get it.” Mafuyu replies, “Aren’t we supposed to be working on music?”
“Sorting out emotions can be helpful for song-writing…” Kanade hums gently.
“...I see.”
At the very least, the rambling eases her frustration from her annoying little brother, loading it all onto Mafuyu and Mizuki instead, so at least this wouldn’t be a consistent problem.
Really though, god bless Kanade.
Apparently, ‘ not a consistent problem’ was a wildly incorrect deduction, as Akito ties his hair up at light speed every time Ena sees him and generally side eyes her a majority of the time. Whatever. Not a big deal, he can do what he wants. But after a few days of a general lack of response from him, snappy replies, and outright ignorance of anything Ena asks him to do, she’s incredibly sick of his behavior.
So, she stages an intervention. Akito is just leaning down to tie his shoelaces and leave the house when Ena all but stomps down the stairs and clears her throat. Akito groans, I kid you not, groans at her and leans back.
“Whaddya’ want?” He sighs, crossing his arms. He has that cocky expression on his face as he leans back against the wall.
“ Oh fuck off with that tone.” Ena hisses, crossing her own arms as well. Like brother, like sister, she supposes. “We need to talk. Seriously . Where are you going?”
“Weekend Garage. Meeting my friends. None of your business, really.” He grumbles back.
“In the evening? When are you going to be home? You’re too young to be out that late, you know!” Ena chides.
“You’re hardly older than me!” He snaps back. “And besides, it’s none of your business. Why are you fuckin’ interrogating me? You never cared before, so stop acting all high and mighty now! ”
Ena flares up with anger, but quickly deflates. Oh. Ouch . She doesn’t have much to say to that, other than opening and closing her mouth over and over again trying to formulate a response. After he raises a cocky eyebrow at her, she finally releases. “Fine, do whatever you want. See if I care. No skin off my back.”
And she storms off, completely forgetting the conversation she meant to have in the first place.
“So, how’d it go?” An annoying, girly, sing-songish voice rang through Ena’s crappy Walmart headphones. She broke her nice ones after throwing them at Akito a couple months ago. Mizuki still hasn’t let that go.
But more importantly, Mizuki had asked a question, one that Ena had completely forgotten even existed in the first place. “It went like shit . He left and I didn’t even get anything of value out of him.”
“ Figures… ” Mizuki whistles, whispering as if Ena can’t hear her when her stupid pink lips are literally millimeters away from her mic. What an infuriating individual.
“Oh shut it, if you knew it was gonna go so bad why didn’t you stop me in the first place!?” Ena huffs, crossing her arms.
“ Because it was worth a try, ” Mizuki says at the exact same time as Mafuyu says “ Because it’d make you shut up about it. ”
Before Ena can absoloutely lose her shit on her two obnoxious friends, a sweeter, gentler voice cuts in. “I’m sorry it didn’t go well, Ena… I’m sure you can get through to him soon.”
“T-Thank you, Kanade…” And fuck you, Mizuki and Mafuyu. She leaves that part out.
“...So can we actually make the music now?” Especially fuck you Mafuyu.
Something seriously needs to change. Like, seriously seriously. Ena had felt like she was finally drifting closer to her brother, finally getting to know him like she should’ve done in the first place, and now all of a sudden it’s like a massive rift was torn open between the two by industrial standard machinery. And Ena’s made many mistakes, but losing her little brother isn’t about to be one of them.
So first, she appeals to him with a fat stack of pancakes. He looks at her skeptically, but says thank you and eats them. So far, so good. Now, to subtly broach the topic.
“What kind of person is Toya?”
…What the hell kind of question is that? ! Ena’s met Toya enough times to know that if that boy is a sexist , he’s also an oscar winning actor . And Akito just stares at Ena, bewildered by her incredibly stupid comment, and for once Ena actually agrees that what she said was incredibly stupi
“...Well you’ve met him, haven’t you?” Akito grumbles back. And Ena can’t really say anything to that because yes, she has, and yes, she thinks he’s quite the upstanding boy. She’d totally trade Akito for him.
…She wouldn’t really , but that’s not the point.
“ Ugh , yeah, I know. He’s a great guy, blah blah…” Ena can’t even stop herself from banging her forehead against the table. Come on, just get to it. Their parents aren’t home, it’s the perfect opportunity. “Look, Akito. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this, but ever since I made that comment about your hair, you’ve been so incredibly bitchy. What’s going on in that little head of yours?”
“What the fuck did that have to do with Toya?” Akito furrows his brows, focusing on entirely the wrong portion of Ena’s words.
“ Nothing ! I didn’t mean to say that!” Ena sighs, exasperated. “Fine! I’m done beating around the bush! Do you hate women or something ?! I didn’t even mean that comment, and you're all side-eyeing me, being rude to me, ignoring me—and frankly, it’s driving me insane! Who the hell are you hanging out with?!”
Akito stands up, his face quickly morphing into a very, very pissed off expression. “ Oh my god , you’re so, so fucking dramatic! You think I have it so easy, you—”
“ This !” Ena shouts, also standing up and smacking the table for dramatic effect, “This is exactly what I’m talking about! What the hell are you even saying, do you hear yourself?! What, do you think men are under oppression or some shit?! You talk like you think your life would be so much fucking easier as a woman!”
“ Maybe it would be! ” He shouts back.
Ena sees red .
“Maybe it would be? … Maybe it fucking would be?!” She stops up to him and grabs his hoodie, shouting into his face, “You incel! What the hell changed?! You were never like this before! You think it’s easy being a woman ?! You think it’s easy—”
“No! Of fucking course not!” Akito shouts back, interrupting her, “I’ve left the house in the middle of the night to buy you chocolates and products that you need, I’ve fallen asleep outside your door when you were in pain on your period worrying sick about you, just wanting to make sure you were still okay, I’ve punched a couple kids in the face for talking shit about you and Akiyama! I know I’ll never understand! Of course I know that! But fuck , maybe, just maybe , if I was a girl, I wouldn’t have to sit through your snide comments about my hair length, or An’s teasing about the key I sing in—Maybe I’d actually be able to dress the way I want to without everyone laughing, maybe I could express that I like those stupid cute Sanrio characters just as much as you do without someone doubling over laughing at me! Maybe that would be easier!”
“ You know nothing about being a girl! ” Is all Ena can think to shout in that moment, and if Ena had been seeing clearly, maybe she would’ve noticed the tears streaming down his face, or the way he was shaking, pale as he talked, or the way he sobbed out the words ‘ I know ’ before he ran upstairs—how he ran , not stomping up to make a scene, but instantly fleeing like a scared mouse.
Maybe, Ena could’ve had one last chance to be there for her little brother.
What Ena does do, however, is clue into her massive fuck up as soon as she turns to Mizuki who’s been awfully silent this entire rant only to see her staring wide eyed and pale at Ena. What Ena does do, is see a shocking parallel between the Mizuki staring at her face to face in her ridiculously pink bedroom and the Mizuki in abject horror on the rooftop, the Mizuki who ran and ran and isolated herself until Ena could finally break her out of it. What Ena does do, is think more clearly on what happened that night, and what Ena does do is realize that Akito had made that exact same horrified, terrified face.
“ Fuck .” Is all she can say in the moment. After a painful, grueling second, she throws herself at Mizuki, wrapping her arms around her best friend and rocking her back and forth gently. “I’m sorry, Mizuki, I’m so, so sorry…”
And this time, Mizuki clutches her back immediately and goes right along with it, patting Ena on the back to reassure as if Ena hadn’t been the one to trigger a horrifying flashback in her . “It’s okay,” She manages, but her tone is awfully uneven, “ I’m okay, Ena.”
Ena only holds on tighter, because Mizuki’s ‘okay’ , tearing up in her arms, and Akito is god knows where, probably all on his own, while Ena just ranted and complained about everything he was insecure about to her best friend.
“Mizuki— Shit , Mizuki, what do I do?” Ena sobs rather ungracefully into Mizuki’s shoulder. Mizuki’s probably going to be sporting a nice glob of Ena’s snot after this, but neither of the two girls find themselves caring about that.
“I don’t know,” Mizuki replies, “I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out, okay?” And Mizuki’s voice isn’t annoying and sing-songish, but rather gentle and low and still girl-ish, and to Ena, that means that everything’s going to be okay, because Ena will always be Mizuki’s rock, and in return, Mizuki will always be hers. Everything will be okay, because they’re both in it together, as a team, always .
It’s a few hours later when Ena is pacing around Mizuki’s living room, muttering and mumbling. “What do I do? I said that to my own brother —Is Akito even my brother anymore?”
“I don’t know,” Mizuki says gently, “You’ll have to ask.”
“Okay. Okay, I can do that. What else do I do—Fuck, what do I do? Should I script this? A peace offering ! We need to buy a peace offering!”
“Ena, calm down, it’s going to be okay.” Mizuki assures softly, grabbing Ena’s wrist. Nothing feels okay. It feels like Ena just made the biggest mistake of her life. It feels like Ena just repeated her worst mistake, letting Mizuki go that day, and made it even worse by being the asshole that made them run . But somehow, Ena knows that Mizuki understands that and sticks with her still.
“ Right . You’ll be there, right?” Ena tries, looking at Mizuki desperately.
“I’ll warm him up first, but you’re gonna need to do this on your own, okay? I know that you’ll find the right words to say, Ena. You found them for me, after all.” Mizuki tucks a strand of hair behind Ena’s ear, and Ena softens considerably.
“You’re right… Okay, you’re right. Let’s go find him.”
When Ena and Mizuki make it up the stairs, Mizuki is the one to knock on the door.
“Yo~ You in there, Akito-kun?” Mizuki’s voice is playful and light despite the red under her eyes.
There’s no response. Mizuki looks at Ena. She nods.
“Okay, I’m coming in then~” Mizuki hums, turning the knob. When Mizuki is in there for longer than 30 seconds, Ena knows that he’s in there. And now, it’s Ena’s turn to wait on her own.
The first thing Mizuki does when she spots Akito is plop down behind him, facing the other direction.
“Heya. It’s me.” Mizuki says carefully. Akito is quiet. And even with all the lights off, she could still see the way he shook and the scratches on his arms from his own nails in the split second that she saw him before turning around.
Instead of saying more, Mizuki opens up her phone and types into the notes app.
‘not looking ;)’ And she slides the phone over to Akito wordlessly. It takes a while until curiosity seems to get the best of him and he grabs Mizuki’s phone with shaky hands. He looks at it for a long, long time. And that’s okay. Mizuki can wait.
If relief had a sound, Mizuki decides that it's the sound of Shinonome Akito shakily typing on Mizuki’s phone. It takes a long while, and Mizuki is sure the answer will be short regardless. And that’s okay, because Mizuki can wait.
If it weren’t for the particularly emotional moment, Mizuki might’ve laughed when she saw the word ‘okay’ on her notes app with nothing else. Mizuki had definitely heard far, far more characters being typed than four . That’s fine, though.
She can wait.
Mizuki spends a while too, for her part, wondering what to write. After a long moment, she settles on a longer entry.
‘can i talk to you? you can just use my phone to answer. we don’t have to see each other. it’s okay if you’d rather not, too.’
She slides the phone over to him again. This time, he takes it much faster. And then they both wait for a while. Mizuki can wait. Mizuki will wait. And this time, a bit of air does escape her nose when she sees what he writes back; ‘okay’
“You know,” Mizuki starts carefully, ignoring the strange rasp in her voice. She waited once. She waited a long, long time. And others had to wait too, for her , but that was okay. They were okay with it. Mizuki is okay with it, so she waits. “You’ve always treated me like a normal girl.”
And Mizuki waits a bit longer in case he wants to reply, and he does. And Mizuki waits quietly as he fumbles around with her clunky, decorated phone.
‘i really don’t want to do this right now. sorry’
“I’m not scolding you, you know.” Mizuki smiles sadly as she speaks. “I’m thanking you. You know, I really appreciated it when you punched that guy in the face.” There’s a sharp inhale behind Mizuki, which she confidently assumes is an attempt not to laugh mid sob. She’s been there. A couple times, actually. “Not everyone is okay with treating me like a girl.” She slides the phone back to Akito, because she forgot to do that before she started talking again.
He takes the phone as soon as Mizuki’s finger is off of it. And Mizuki hardly waits before it’s slid right back to her.
‘i dont get it’
Distantly, Mizuki wonders if there was some kind of mix up on which Nightcord member this kid was a sibling of. “I think you could get it better than most people.” Mizuki replies gently. Akito stiffens. Mizuki doesn’t wait; she doesn’t slide the phone back. “You know about those rumors, don’t you? I mean, you did punch a guy because of them.” Maybe this was the wrong way of going at this, but it was too late for second thoughts. She couldn’t keep waiting for this part, it was time to come clean.
What she does do is wait a simple moment, just a beat, for Akito to interject verbally. And he does.
Mizuki would too.
“No, I—...” His voice is all too high, cracking, “I know I don’t under–understand… What… What you go through.”
“You can’t understand what Ena goes through.” Mizuki confirms. “Neither can I.”
And there’s a bit of silence, and Mizuki hears ruffling. There’s no phone sliding between them, but there is a faint tap on the back of her hand, and Mizuki can’t help but smile. She turns around.
Ena’s younger sibling is staring at her, wide-eyed, with tear stains on his cheeks and red, puffy eyes. And honestly, Mizuki is sure she looks the same.
“Things won’t always stay the same,” Mizuki says softly, “And that’s okay . Even if it isn’t at first. Even if it really, really feels like nothing will ever be normal again, like nobody will ever see you as you again, even if it feels like you’re drowning in something and you don’t know what, just that you can’t get out no matter what you do and it’s suffocating,” and Mizuki is crying too, and even Mizuki doesn’t really understand what she’s saying anymore, “ Eventually , the water goes down. Eventually, it’s not the same, but it’s okay. Sometimes, it’s great .”
“I don’t—”
“I know.” Mizuki interjects. “I know you don’t know. But you understand , and that’s enough for me. I know that it feels like you’re about to sever the last link you had left, like you’re about to lose everything that you worked so, so hard for, and you might lose that link for a moment. It might snap in half, but when you tie it back together, it’s going to be stronger than ever before.”
Akito only stares, lips slightly parted, clearly unsure of what to say. Mizuki never knew what to say.
But Mizuki speaks. “I know you know what to do.” And in a gentle, albeit kind of goofy gesture, she pats him on the head a couple of times.
Mizuki stood up. Akito didn’t stop her. Mizuki smiled again, and she left the room.
When Mizuki gently shuts the door behind her with red eyes and a faint smile, Ena knows she’s in. She takes a deep, deep breath before nodding to Mizuki.
“You got this.” Mizuki whispers with a small, fond smile.
Ena nods, and does her very best to smile back. Carefully, she pushes the door open.
Akito is on the floor hugging his knees, avoiding eye contact but not hiding himself, and for that, Ena acknowledges that Mizuki did a damn good job. Ena doesn’t go too close just yet, keeping a respectable distance between them, and she drops down to the ground as well, getting level with him.
“Hey.” Ena says, forcing a small smile. Akito doesn’t reply, he only shivers. “I really fucked up. I’m sorry about what I said, it wasn’t true at all.”
Ena pauses for a moment.
“But this isn’t about me.” She settles, trying to keep her tone as soft as possible. “I’ve been a dick to you, I know, but I’m really worried about you. I’ll be here for you no matter what, okay?”
Ena waits. She’s waited before, and she can surely wait again.
“I—” Akito gasps, “ —I don’t… Don’t know .” His face falls into his hands, shaking like a scared child. “I’m scared , Enanan— I’m really scared…”
It all comes flowing out at once—The conversation with Mizuki, the insecurity is his own identity, the self isolation—and when he finishes talking, he chokes on tears and shakes his head. Ena opens up her arms, and he dives forward, burying his face in her shoulder.
“It’s okay,” Ena assures gently, running her hands through his hair, “We can take this one step at a time, okay? It’s okay to test the waters, you know.”
“But I— What do I do ? Ena, what—” Akito stops, gasping for air.
Ena isn’t sure if she’s saying the right thing when she speaks, but she does it anyway with hope heavy in her heart; “I’d love to have a little sister, if that’s what you want to try.”
And Akito gasps, and then sobs, shaking and gripping onto Ena like a lifeline, and Ena holds Akito carefully like the most precious thing in the world, running her hands through their hair. “ What if I’m wrong —What would I do?”
“It’s okay to be wrong.” Ena replies. “But you know, nothing ventured, nothing gained. So…”
“I think—” Akito gasps, “I want to–to try.”
Ena was never really there for her little brother. Ena may have missed her last chance to do so. But at the very least, she’ll make damn sure she’s there for her little sister.
‘Akiko’ is what Mizuki says jokingly, but she likes it a lot, so Ena and Mizuki decide to keep calling her that for real. Ena is all too excited to stick her My Melody bandaids all over Akiko’s scratched up arms, which Mizuki laughs at in good nature. If only they still had the badtz maru bandaids… Oh well.
Maybe Ena’s a little too excited about having a little sister. But who cares. Mizuki stays the night, helping as Ena basically forces her little sister to let her do her makeup, and despite Akiko grumbling and complaining all the while, it’s very clear that she’s enjoying this. A single word pops into Mizuki’s head; tsundere .
“Oh, right!” Mizuki suddenly perks up. Ena, who is half-way through braiding a strand of Akiko’s hair parallel to her own, looks over to her.
“What’s up?” Ena’s voice is light and gentle, evidently tired from the mentally exhausting day she’s had—all three of them have had. Mizuki tugs at the ends of her hair ribbon, letting her hair flop unceremoniously onto her shoulder. “Oh wow. Perma-ponytail. Do you ever take that thing out?”
“Oh, be quiet.” Mizuki laughs, running her fingers through her hair to even it out. She scooches a bit closer to Ena and Akiko and snatches the hair elastic from Ena’s hand, shoving her ribbon there instead.
“ Wh – That ribbon’s way bigger than mine.” Ena raises a brow, pouting slightly.
“ Wow . Overbearing much?” Mizuki whistles, “Akiko, don’t you wanna look like big sis Mizuki instead?”
“Absoloutely not.”
“See? She wants her hair done like mine .” Ena replies confidently. Mizuki scoffs.
“No, I just don’t care.” Akiko quickly shuts them both down, unimpressed. “And don’t call yourself ‘big sis,’ Akiyama. We’re the same age.”
“ Ouch… Need some ice for that, Mizuki?” Ena hums back.
“ She doesn’t want to look like you either! ”
Despite the continued grumbling, Ena ties Mizuki’s ribbon into Akiko’s hair, ending the braid with a big bow instead of a tiny one. It looks nice, actually. Very nice. Akiko finds herself staring at it for perhaps a bit too long…
“Wow, she’s like a mix of both of us now! Our daughter…” Mizuki sighs dreamily, to which Ena quickly shuts her down, saying “ She’s my sister ” and such.
Akiko also gives her a very, very similar look of disappointment. “Akiyama. Same . Age .”
Mizuki realizes just how alike Akiko and Ena look in facial structure.
Before long, Ena springs to her feet with a sudden wave of energy as she hears the kettle come to a boil. She quickly excuses herself, leaving to make some tea. Knowing Ena well, Mizuki’s sure she’s going to attempt to make it the exact same way that Kanade does.
In the moment of brief silence, Akiko suddenly tugs on Mizuki’s sleeve. “What’s up?” Mizuki blinks.
“It’s just…” She bites her lower lip, contemplating, before shaking her head. “...Nevermind. It doesn’t matter.”
Oh no. That simply won’t do.
“What’s wrong? It’s clearly not nothing.” Mizuki’s used to others pushing her away when she tries to help—after all, her four best friends are experts in that field, Rui included—but even more so because she herself is used to pushing others away, to fearing those who get too close.
“Well, it’s just…” Akiko pauses, shoving a hand up her sleeve and scratching at her arms frantically. Mizuki quickly grabs her wrists. “It’s stupid, I–”
“It’s not stupid if it’s affecting you.” Mizuki smiles softly.
“I’m…” Akiko sighs, avoiding eye contact, “I’m just… I’m scared. Like, really scared. I’m not used to being scared—I’m…I’m used to getting hurt , to getting sad , to getting angry , and generally feeling impending dread, and—and I think I would’ve called that fear before, but this is—It’s just, I’ve never felt so…” She trails off, but it’s okay, because Mizuki knows the feeling. She nods patiently, letting her finish. “I… I guess, there’s a lot I’m scared about now. Like—Like what you said before, and what Ena said before. I’ll never really understand her, will I? Won’t that just… I don’t know, make her angrier ?”
Mizuki is tempted to ask, is Ena usually mad? But she doesn’t think she’ll like the answer much—because Ena was once a very, very troubled person—and a very angry troubled person, though for good reason. “You’ll come to learn and understand a lot of what she goes through.” Mizuki shakes her head. “Sure, there are some things you can’t understand, but for each of those things… I’ll be there instead to share the struggle, you know? And Ena knows that too.”
“Well… That’s…” Akiko sinks into the couch a little bit, looking rather overwhelmed and flustered.
“ Akiko .” Mizuki brings Akiko’s hand to her chest, smiling softly. “I’m here for you. And as for Ena… She’s really excited about all this, you know? She’s here for you, too. She really, really wants to be there for you; will you give her that chance?”
Akiko gapes at Mizuki for a moment, before nodding faintly, small tears forming in the corner of her eyes. “M…mhm…” She tries, finding herself struggling to speak.
“I’m glad. And if she’s mean, tell me and I’ll throw something at her.” Mizuki giggles.
“I can do that myself, though..?” Akiko tilts her head oh-so-innocently , wiping the tears from her eyes with her oversized sleeves, and Mizuki can already tell that having a sister might be even harder for Ena than having a brother was. Oh, how the guilt-trips of puppy-eyes work so much better from girls.
By the time the next school day rolls around, Mizuki playfully trots over to Akiko, who’s nervously tugging at the bow Ena put in her hair—the one Mizuki gave her—and nudges her side.
“What are you doing at school?” She raises an unimpressed eyebrow at Mizuki. It was honestly a fair question, considering Mizuki’s questionable attendance record.
“Getting my education, duh!” Mizuki doesn’t mention that part of it because she thinks it might be easier now, knowing that there’s someone like her. She doesn’t need to mention it—it goes unsaid.
Akiko rolls her eyes but still has a faint smile on her lips and begins to walk away, but Mizuki places a hand on her shoulder before she can get away and whispers into her ear.
“ Lil’ sis. ”
Akiko paused for just a moment, before going bright red and hauling her bag at Mizuki. Oh dear, it looks like I’m on the receiving end instead of Ena, Mizuki thinks to herself. Even so, Mizuki is clutching her stomach laughing, trying not to completely double over, as Akiko continuously haphazardly throws her bag at Mizuki. They were definitely getting some weird looks from their classmates. They didn’t particularly care. People will always talk; if they can focus slightly more on Akiko hauling her bag at Mizuki instead of the ribbon in her hair, then really, isn’t it for the better?
…Bag-throwing aside, even as the two practically ran laps around the courtyard in a chase, there was still this fresh, new sense of giddy fondness in the interaction. This wasn’t a rude guy throwing stuff at an annoying girl, nor a guy throwing things at another guy; this was a playful interaction between friends, between girls .
Mizuki decides that she really wouldn’t trade her identity, her life, her upbringing for the world . In every tragedy, there’s a blessing to be found. For every moment she’s struggled, she’s learned how to help someone like her.
She’s learned how to be happy.