Work Text:
Hurrying back to her house from the cheesecake store, Ena carefully balanced the bag that held her precious sweet.
She’d lost track of time while browsing the new cake flavors, and now she was running out of time to finish her sketch for the cover art of Nightcord at 25:00’s new album. Shoot, she was supposed to have that done by tonight’s meeting!
Flinging the front door open, Ena ignored Akito’s noise of annoyance and dashed to the fridge. She tentatively placed the cheesecake in it, before blowing a raspberry at Akito and going upstairs to her room.
Messily straightening up her disheveled desk, Ena sat down in her chair and took out her tablet.
“Okay… I really need to finish this…” She mumbled, pulling up the drawing software and twiddling her pen between her fingers. “What to add…”
The entire album was based on a theme of a secret code and people using codenames and communicating through it. Sort of like what they were doing through Nightcord. She wanted to add a little cipher on the side as an easter egg, but she wasn’t sure how to do it.
“Hm…”
After staring at the half-finished sketch, utterly stuck, for a few minutes, Ena sighed.
“If I play some music, maybe I’ll get some inspiration,” she muttered, grabbing her earbuds and placing them in her ears. Pressing shuffle on her playlist, Ena continued frowning and staring at her art.
A lyric from Young Girl A caught her attention.
“Collecting the dreams I threw away, because of a little mistake that I made.”
Letting the song overwhelm her thoughts for a moment, Ena sighed. She closed her eyes, resting her head on the desk as the music enveloped her.
I’m a little tired. I’ll rest for just a few minutes. Then, I’ll work on the cover art again.
— — —
Slowly opening her eyes, Ena yawned and stretched her arms. She slowly moved to turn on her computer, only to realize that it wasn’t there.
It wasn’t there.
Ena’s eyes jolted open. She wasn’t in her room anymore.
“Where the hell am I?” She muttered, looking around.
There wasn’t much in sight, just a warehouse and a bunch of… easels? Ena walked up to one of them. A painting materialized, startling her.
“What the…” she whispered. The canvas was ripped nearly to shreds, ugly slashes going through the fabric and tearing it up. For some reason, the painting looked strangely familiar.
When she tentatively touched the canvas, an involuntary memory rippled through her.
— — —
“Ena, your drawings will never be good enough.”
“You don’t have the talent to be an artist.”
“Just give up on chasing your childish dreams already.”
“Give up.”
A younger version of Ena sat on the steps that led up to her house. She gripped her skirt tightly and angrily, trying not to break down into tears.
“Why does my dad have to be so fucking shitty?!” She cried, clenching her fists even harder. “Why can’t he just be nice to me for once?!”
There was no one around to answer her call, so Ena wasn’t even sure why she expected someone to. The small, naive, and selfish part of her silently wished that her dad would come out and comfort her, to say he was only being harsh and that she was full of artistic potential.
Was it really too much to ask for someone just to understand? To just fucking tell her that she was worth something?
The painting Ena had so eagerly brought home lay discarded next to her. With nothing else to take her anger out on, she grabbed it, letting out a frustrated scream and tearing the canvas to shreds.
“Stupid. Fucking. Painting! I hate this!” She sobbed, raking her nails over her colorful meadow. “Why can’t I just be good at art?!”
After there was nearly nothing left for her to tear apart, Ena tossed the canvas away and buried her face in her hands. She knew that her father would never acknowledge her. She knew that he would never be the kind, loving person that she wished he would be.
Yet a small part of her still had hoped that he would walk out the door and sit next to her. Maybe even tell her it was okay.
…Of course, he never came.
— — —
Ena whipped her finger away from the painting. She gasped for air, cradling her hand like she’d just been burnt. Her heavy breaths echoed throughout the barren world.
What. The. Hell.
Ena didn’t understand what was happening. Slowly stepping backwards, away from the easel, she tried not to look at the other paintings.
“Hello.”
Startling her, a voice quietly spoke behind Ena.
“AAGH!” She screamed, tripping over her own feet and landing on her tailbone. “Shit… ow…”
“…Are you okay?” The mysterious person asked, and Ena looked up to see them hovering right over her head.
Yelping, Ena scrambled away and grabbed a rock nearby.
“Don’t come near me!” She warned, pointing the makeshift weapon at the person. They just tilted their head and stared at the rock, two off-white pigtails swaying with a smeared smock.
“Oh…”
After a few moments of silence, Ena shivered.
“Why is it so cold here?” She muttered, resisting another shiver.
“It’s a reflection of your feelings.”
“…And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re scared. This Sekai holds all the sources of your fear,” the person said, like it was the simplest thing in the world. It quite frankly was not .
A sudden thought struck Ena.
“Wait… Sekai? Like… the Empty Sekai?” She questioned, glancing up. “Does that mean… you’re Miku?”
“Please don’t mention that Sekai here.” Probably-Miku’s gaze hardened, almost looking… angry. “I may be Miku, but that does not mean I am in any way connected to the other Mikus.”
Other Mikus?
“Does that mean there’s even more of you?” Ena asked.
“…Yes. But that doesn’t matter right now. How did you get here?” Miku asked, tilting her head once more.
“…I fell asleep listening to Young Girl A… then I was here,” Ena admitted. Hesitantly, she added, “Can I go back?”
A part of her felt weirded out by the Sekai. She wanted to go back to her room, where it was probably safer. But there was a nagging voice in Ena’s brain that told her to stay . It told her that it was okay, that she couldn’t be hurt here. Even though that was completely crazy…
Ena didn’t want to stay. But she also never wanted to leave.
Miku seemed to notice her confliction, stepping towards Ena and pointing to the warehouse nearby, which suddenly looked oh-so comfortable…
“You can sleep here. You can rest. Nothing matters anymore. You can give up.”
Something about that didn’t seem right to Ena, but it had to be better than staying in her own home, where she was subject to fights with her dad too often for comfort. She slowly walked over to the warehouse, leaning against it and closing her eyes.
Quietly, Miku started singing a song. The tune seemed so familiar…
It sounded like Miku was repeating the word for ‘cold’ over and over again. The sound was soothing nonetheless. Giving into her sudden exhaustion, Ena drowsily faded in and out of consciousness.
As she drifted off into sleep, Miku’s voice slowly became far away.
— — —
Ena jostled upwards, eyes darting open. The sight of her room greeted her.
Was she actually awake? Had that been real? Was that Sekai real? What would happen to the Empty Sekai now? Her head spun with questions.
Quickly opening her phone, Ena checked her music files. There were still two ‘Untitled’ songs there, but one of them had her name next to it with an underscore.
“Does that mean…” she whispered. “I have my own Sekai now?”
Her words echoed in the dimly lit room with no answer.
Ena’s elbow bumped against a small plate on her desk. There was a slice of cheesecake she had bought earlier on it, alongside an orange post-it note with scribbly handwriting.
“You didn't come down for dinner.”
Sighing, Ena crumpled it and tossed it into the trash can. She’d thank Akito later, maybe.
Glancing at the window, Ena nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized that it was the dead of night. Quickly closing the blinds, she checked her phone clock.
“…What?!” She gasped, immediately clicking onto her computer and opening Nightcord. “Shit, shit, shit, I’m so late!”
Clumsily opening the chat log and clicking the ongoing video call button, Ena hastily pulled up all the necessary browser tabs.
K’s voice drifted through her earbuds, which she hadn’t taken out since she fell asleep.
“…Enanan? Is that you?”
“Yeah, sorry I took so long getting on!” Ena apologized, fumbling to finish the quick sketch she never did lineart for. “Something came up.”
“This late?” Yuki asked quietly, with a hint of skepticism. “If something’s wrong or you can’t make it to the meeting, you can tell us.”
“Yeah, we’re here for you, Enanan,” Amia said earnestly. Ena bit her lip. She really didn’t deserve these people.
“…Everything’s okay. There’s… nothing out of the ordinary,” Ena lied, with an easy smile on her face.
That was right. Even if things weren’t okay right then, they would be soon.