Work Text:
Ena laced her fingers together and stared at the purple-haired girl sitting in front of her.
She had been called to Shibuya Diner enigmatically at 2:03 AM by Yuki and as such, the 24/7 restaurant they were currently in was basically empty—occupied only by two girls (both wearing rumpled pajamas) and a half-drunk iced tea melting slowly on their booth table.
Ena narrowed her eyes.
“What is this about.”
Mafuyu blinked at her.
“Did you call me here to chastise me about my art?”
“No.”
“Did you kill someone?”
“No.”
“Are you going to kill me, and then chastise my art over my dead body?”
“No.”
Well, I'm out of ideas.
Ena leaned back in her seat.“Is this a N25 matter?”
“No—yes. Kind of.”
“What does that—okay…” Ena waved her hand slightly, indicating Mafuyu to go on.
“I have a crush on someone.”
And with a snap, Ena’s head snapped around so fast that it made multiple noticeable cracking noises because what the fuck what did she just say.
Mafuyu, the emotionless one, the robot who’s whole deal is literally about her inability to feel feelings—is in love.
Ena’s neck muscles spasmed and she stiffened—bringing a hand up to massage the side of her throat.
This is what I get for staying up and actually finishing my work on time for once—okay, God, I see what you mean.
“It's Kanade, right?”
She catches the way Mafuyu looks away a moment, eyes glistening and slight flush on her face—like a schoolgirl in those shoujo mangas, romanticizing over their black-haired, brown-eyed, basic ass MC.
Holy shit, it's worse than I thought.
Mafuyu coughed. “Yeah.”
Ena frowned. “And you're telling me this because…?”
“I need ideas on how to confess to her.”
Ena’s eyes raised to the ceiling, deep in thought. Absent-mindedly, she picked up her forlorn drink on the table and sipped on it—chewing quietly at the plastic straw.
“Hmm…here, I have an idea.” With a swipe of her fingers, Mafuyu’s phone flickered to life.
New text from ENANAN, 2:30 AM:
tickets.jpg (10 KB.)
“It's tickets for a couple’s event happening on Friday—to a cat cafe. I was originally planning to go with someone else,”
“Mizuki?”
Ena’s face colored slightly. “—but it turns out I have something on that same day, so I can't use them anyways.”
Mafuyu clicked on Ena’s text, and with a soft whirr of the phone, downloaded the JPG. She cast a slight smile at the brown-haired girl.
“Thanks. And sorry for taking away from your ‘beauty sleep’.”
Ena flapped a hand. “Yeah, yeah, it's fine. I've been sick of seeing you two pine over each other since, like, we met each other in the SEKAI. Let me know how it goes, ‘kay?” She shot a half-smile at Mafuyu and stood up—indicating the end of their impromptu meet-up.
“Okay.”
. . .
Yuki (Friday, 6:03 PM):
I took her to the cafe.
She thought it was platonic.
Like a platonic couple day
She said “thanks for bringing me here, you're a really great friend!”
Enanan (Friday, 6:08 PM):
😬
____________
“Mizuki.”
A peal of wild laughter—slowly increasing in volume over time, attracting curious glances from unwanted passersby.
“Mizuki.”
The pink-haired girl was bent double over a table and laughing her vocal cords out—across from a very unimpressed Mafuyu. Tears streamed from Mizuki’s face—byproducts of the absolute idiocy she had had the pleasure of hearing.
When a mom and their kid passed the booth and gave the two an ugly look, Mafuyu took that as a sign to slap her hand against Mizuki’s mouth and shut her the hell up.
Mizuki coughed and pushed her arm away, still chuckling quietly.
“Pfft, I’m sorry, but—platonically? Hello? How dense is Kanade?”
The two were back in Shibuya Diner, this time with Mizuki instead of Ena—Ena had sent her to help wingman, saying that she had to finish the deadline for a project she was working on.
And Mizuki could not believe her ears and eyes because how the fuck did Kanade not see Mafuyu’s attempt to flirt with her.
Like she knew the composer had the social skills of a lab-grown vegetable, but geez—
Mafuyu flushed slightly and looked down. “She thought it was a couple—like couple of friends—event.”
“HELP— ’couple of friends’ ,” Mizuki slapped her hand against the wooden table and immediately recoiled at the impact, “ow— she's her own historian.”
“Historian?”
“Nevermind,” she said, waving away the sentence, “chronically online stuff—you wouldn’t get it. Anyways, you called me here because you want me to help set you up with our dear composer, right?”
Mafuyu jerkily nodded. “That is the case.”
“Well, here's an idea—how about you go to her house with a gift or two? Flowers, a bouquet, and chocolate—ooh, or something that reminds you of her, to make it extra special.”
“That’s—actually a good idea.”
“ Actually?! Wow, Yuki, you think so low of me—I’ll have you know that I am a master at romance! I managed to get Akito and Toya together, An and Kohane—well, most of that was An being too loud to hide anything, but…” Mizuki rambled on and on and on, running circles around Mafuyu’s head and making her hands shake with the desire to leap over and strangle her throat.
Mafuyu squinted. “Aren't you the one who's been pining after Ena for multiple months?”
Mizuki’s face dropped.
____________
Later, when Mafuyu was hurrying home after cram school, a thin silver necklace inset with a light-blue gemstone sparkled in a corner store on Shibuya Street, catching the student’s eye.
It looks like Kanade’s hair, she mused.
As if on a whim, she went into the store and came out with a small jewelry box—the composer’s name written in dollar-store Sharpie on the bottom-right hand corner.
You’d think one of the richest stores in Shibuya would have enough to splurge on better-quality writing instruments…
. . .
Yuki (Yesterday, 5:02 PM):
necklace.jpg
Do you think she'll like it?
amia (Yesterday, 5:04 PM):
YES YES YES
THAT IS SO PRETTY
LMK HOW IT GOES
Yuki (Yesterday, 7:04 PM)
Okay
Yuki (Today, 4:03 PM):
I gave it to her
amia (Today, 4:03 PM):
AND??????////
Yuki (Today, 4:45 PM):
Kanade said thank you and promised to get a matching one for me.
She
She said she’d call them friendship necklaces.
amia (Today, 4:04 PM):
💀
____________
The SEKAI was empty.
As usual—all there was to the place was rolling gray hills and chains and blank sky, periodically brightened with floating shapes of color flouncing lazily about in the air.
In one corner of the pocket-dimension, Miku sat toying with a long piece of red string, flipping and twisting it into different patterns in the classic game of cat’s cradle.
Suddenly, a flash of color appeared in the SEKAI, replaced with the bright outline of a person.
Mafuyu appeared in the area, looking like the world had come together to beat everything she loved up into a messy red pulp.
Another issue with her parents? Difficulties at school? Trouble with grades?
Miku pocketed her string and rose to meet her, ready to shelter the girl in her arms and provide the support she needed.
Mafuyu sighed and turned to her.
“Miku—how do you confess to a girl?”
Oh.
What?
Miku blinked. “I'm not sure. Is this—Kanade, by chance, you are referring to?”
Mafuyu nodded slowly. “It seems I've been getting a lot of that lately.”
Miku placed a finger to her chin. “Well—though I don't understand love quite well—what if you wrote something expressing to her how you feel? You write such impactful lyrics, perhaps they could be translated over to a letter or two.”
Mafuyu’s eyes glossed over, deep in thought.
After a moment, she dipped her head again. “I will try that. Thanks, Miku.”
“No problem, Mafuyu.”
She watched the girl go in another burst of color.
. . .
Later, Mafuyu appeared once more in the SEKAI—shaking her head.
Without a word, she showed Miku her phone, open to a text conversation between her and Kanade.
K (Today, 6:02 PM):
Mafuyu, you said you left something on my doorstep, right?
Yuki (Today, 6:02 PM):
Yes.
Did you read it?
K (Today, 6:02 PM)
sorry.jpg
(Attached is an image of a letter—or half of it, at least, the other clenched in the jaws of a Shiba Inu. Its contents are thoroughly ripped apart and drenched in dog spit—unreadable, by all means.)
sorry, honami came over with shibao and she didn't see the letter in time
do you want to just say what was in it here?
Yuki (Today, 6:03 PM):
Nevermind
It wasn't that important anyways
K (Today, 6:03 PM):
Okay
i’m gonna go back to my work now
Yuki (Today, 6:04 PM):
👍
Miku stared at the screen.
“Huh.”
“Yeah.”
____________
Mafuyu was at the end of her rope.
Physically, and mentally—on top of the exhausting activities of daily life and upkeeping her good-girl mask, her efforts to go somewhere with Kanade had ended in disaster thrice —leaving Mafuyu to question if the girl even liked her that way at all.
It had been two weeks since Mafuyu’s last attempt to confess to Kanade, and to be honest, it was painful how dense the composer was—Mafuyu might actually rip her hair out if she got another “friend”-related sentiment from the white-haired girl.
Maybe she had just been reading too much into everything—the hand-holding, hugging, cuddling, supporting each other during rough times and saying they'll always be together—maybe Kanade just does that with everyone.
Maybe Mafuyu isn’t special.
She was in Shibuya Diner, again—alone, this time, with no one else but the ticking clock to remind her of her failures, looking for all the world like a washed-up vagrant wasting away in a bar.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed.
K (just now):
Have you been hitting on me?
Mafuyu’s mouth dropped open—
Yuki (just now):
Yes.
K (just now):
Oh.
Will you be my girlfriend?
Yuki (just now):
Yeah
K (just now):
I need to finish up this section of our new song
Can we talk soon?
Yuki (just now):
Okay
K (just now):
💙
Bye
—and with a dull thunk, her head hit the table.