Chapter Text
“Ena…?” Mizuki’s voice broke when she saw the pale, motionless body laying before her.
She looked peaceful in the worst possible way. It made Mizuki want to shake her awake, just to hear her complain and get annoyed - anything to show she was still there.
“Mizuki,” Mafuyu’s voice was desperate and small. “I-I’m so sorry I-”
“What did you do to her?” Mizuki’s voice was hard and cold, sending a glare so vicious to Mafuyu that even Akito flinched.
“I didn’t do this, I swear,” Mafuyu said, her voice filled with so much more emotion than Mizuki had ever heard from her before. “But I… I know who did. It was my mother.”
“What did she do?” Akito demanded, hovering over Ena as though he were scared of getting too close to her.
“...Ena’s in a coma,” Mafuyu said shakily. “But she won’t be waking up. Ever.”
“What?” Akito’s voice broke. “You can’t be serious! Wake her up right now!”
“I can’t ,” Mafuyu protested weakly. “My mother said that Ena can only wake up if she wants to, a-and she was so desperate to escape all of this and-”
“Why would Ena want this?!” Mizuki cried out, dropping to her knees in front of Ena’s bed and holding her cold, calloused hands tightly on her own. Ena’s rough hands brought her no comfort with how clammy and limp they felt.
“She thinks she is going back home,” Mafuyu clutched her own shoulders tightly. “She’s stuck in a dream, I guess. I-I don’t know anything about this kind of spell. It’s so much more advanced than I’ve ever dealt with.”
“How do we wake her up?” Akito asked, knuckles white with how tightly they clutched his sword’s hilt.
“I don’t know,” Mafuyu looked genuinely devastated. “I’m sorry. I don’t know.”
Mizuki wanted to cry. Seeing her get hurt was enough to send Ena into this deep of a spiral. Mizuki couldn’t let Ena go on any longer thinking it was her fault. She racked her brain for all of her magical knowledge, reaching into the depths of her memory for something - anything - that could be relevant.
Her mind trailed back to a book she had read while researching Ena’s curse. Something she was looking into in case there was a way for Ena to at the very least talk to her parents inside their dreams, as a way to say goodbye.
“If she’s dreaming, then send me in there.”
“In… Where?”
“Her dream. I know it’s possible! I’ve read about lucid dream magic. I-If I can talk to Ena, I can convince her to come back, to wake up.”
Mafuyu hesitated. “Dream magic is complicated. My… friend’s father was in a coma, and she tried to enter his dreams to speak with him but he had completely blocked her out. It’s like the mind’s immune system, it’s delicate and will do whatever it takes to protect its owner’s psyche.
“If Ena thinks she’s really back home, then she’s going to do whatever it takes to preserve that illusion - even if it’s subconscious. The second you show up trying to tell her it’s all fake, you’ll get kicked out faster than you can blink. It’s like when you gain consciousness during a normal lucid dream, it doesn’t last long once your brain catches on.”
Mizuki paused to think. Ena didn’t seem like the kind of person who’d delude herself that much. In the little bit of time Mizuki has known her, Ena has always been painful aware of her own reality. Even if her psyche would reject the truth, something told Mizuki that Ena herself wouldn’t. “Okay, then I’ll be careful.”
“ Mizuki ,” Mafuyu implored. “You can’t-”
“I can. What’s the alternative, we do nothing and she dies ?”
Mafuyu looked so pained that Mizuki almost felt bad, but held onto her anger and determination. She could apologize to Mafuyu later - at least she’d still be here to apologize to - but Ena couldn’t wait any longer.
Mafuyu looked to Akito, as if hoping he’d speak some reason to Mizuki, but unluckily for her, he was just as stubborn and nodded in Mizuki’s support.
The witch could only sigh, nodding slowly. “Okay. Okay. Just… Lay down. I’ll figure out the rest.”
“Ena! Are you paying attention?”
Ena jolted upright, trying to straighten out her posture and ignore the sounds of her classmates snickering at her expense.
“S-Sorry, miss,” Ena mumbled, rubbing her tired eyes.
The teacher sighed. “I understand that your sleep schedule is quite different now that you’ve switched into day classes, but falling asleep in class is unacceptable, do you understand? I’ll be lenient this time, but you’ve had weeks to adjust.”
“Right, I’m sorry.” Ena said, avoiding eye contact and feeling flushed from all the eyes on her.
Ena hadn’t realised how much she missed night classes until she was forced to fix her dodgy sleep schedule. It was one of the conditions her father set out for her once he agreed to give her art lessons. She supposed it was fair enough, since she didn’t expect him to uproot his own sleep for her, but it was still brutal.
Ena didn’t have many friends before in her night classes, but she at least had enough camaraderie with her classmates that she felt fine being alone. In her new day classes, Ena was the odd one out. No one was outright bullying her or anything like that, but they certainly had no interest in getting close.
The most embarrassing part was the fact that during their lunch break one day, Ena was caught drawing Mizuki over and over in her sketchbook. Her classmates had giggled and teased her. It was nothing malicious or cruel, but even as Ena tried to laugh it off with them, she felt a deep sense of not belonging.
Now her classmates teased her about her ‘fake girlfriend’ constantly. It only served to make Ena feel worse about her loneliness.
She sighed, poking and pinching her arms in a weak attempt to keep alert. She was already falling behind steadily in her classes. It was as though the new concepts they were learning went right in through one ear and out the other. They were all so blurry to her, she just couldn’t get herself to focus.
It didn’t help that her mind kept straying back to classes about potions and magic, runes and spells…
She had opened up her computer to check on the game ever so often, but ever since that first day it hadn’t glitched again. It was perfectly normal, just as it was before all of this started.
She needed to stop. She really, really needed to stop. It’s been weeks since Ena’s woken up back home, and yet she couldn’t help but think of the other world and all of its chaos and beauty.
How was any of that fair? She should be more than grateful to leave all of that behind her.
And yet…
Ena had barely tuned back into reality when she noticed her classmates standing up and packing their things. It seemed that she had spaced out for the rest of class, almost not catching her teacher’s dismissal.
She pulled her messenger bag decorated with pins and buttons onto her shoulder and pulled her hair behind her ear. Her fingers nudged the small braid that she had religiously re-tied every day, and let them linger on the soft ribbon that reminded her oh-so-much of Mizuki.
With a heavy sigh, she slid her seat back and walked out of her classroom. Her eyes darted over the other students as they stood in the halls, talking to one another and laughing contentedly. She found herself staring at a few of them for too long, feeling a strange sensation of discomfort as their faces almost blurred completely.
She must be more tired than she thought.
Luckily, her father didn’t have any lessons planned for that evening. He had to attend a gallery event and rescheduled, something that bothered Ena more than she could verbally explain.
It seemed like they hadn’t made any progress with Ena’s lessons since they started. It felt like they were just going over the same concepts she already knew, over and over again, and Ena found herself hesitant to raise any objections to her father out of fear that he’d decide she was being too ungrateful or something.
As Ena made her way to the exit of her school, a rush of lightheadedness took over her and she staggered forward, needing to brace herself against the front door as she tried to catch her breath. It felt like the world was rippling all around her, like a still pond being disrupted by pelting stones.
Ena ignored the strange looks other students were giving her as she stumbled over to the shade of a tree and leaned against it. Ena’s weakness hadn’t let up at all since coming back home - if anything, it felt like it was far worse than before.
A quick trip to her doctor didn’t reveal much, either. A shrug while she explained that Ena was just anemic, and there was nothing to worry about.
It didn’t ease any of her fears - if anything it only made her more anxious than before. The iron supplements she was taking didn’t seem to be helping at all, and it seemed like none of the adults in her life were all that concerned.
Admittedly, she was starting to miss Mizuki’s almost obsessive doting. She hadn’t realised how much she cherished the feeling of being so deeply cared for, how much she missed it.
With a weak huff of breath, Ena ignored how much the world around her seemed to be spinning, and wandered back home, vowing to stop dwelling on the other world.
“She’s getting paler,” Akito said in a near whisper from where he hovered over the girl who he had started to view as his sister.
Mafuyu was too busy rushing back and forth, reading through her mother’s journals and notes, to respond to him. She had jarringly switched back to a facade of pure monotone focus, her previous burst of anxiety nowhere to be seen in her almost cold demeanor.
Meanwhile, Mizuki was crammed next to Ena on the already tiny bed, a focussed look in her eyes as she gripped the dying girl’s hand tightly.
“C’mon Ena,” She said in a voice dripping with shaky resolve. “Just give me a little longer.”
“Okay,” Mafuyu sped back to their bedside and knelt down with arms full of supplies and written runes. “I can merge your subconscious just enough for you to get inside her dream, but you need to be incredibly careful. Her mind will do whatever it can to protect her delusions, it’ll make it nearly impossible for you to even get to Ena if her mind detects you as something out of place.”
“So what do I do?”
“Play along,” Mafuyu said calmly. “Be as subtle as possible, act as though you’re just another person existing in her world and it should convince her mind that you’re not an obstruction. Once you actually get to Ena you’ll still have to tread lightly, but you’re running on little time so you need to hurry once she starts to… Fade away.”
“Fade away?” Akito echoed. “Are we seriously dancing around the fact that she’s literally on her deathbed right now?”
Mafuyu sighed, but continued to ignore him. “You’ll know it’s happening. Her dreamscape will start to crumble. But Mizuki, you need to listen to me. If you can’t convince Ena, you have to get out of there before she fades. Otherwise your subconscious will fade along with her, and we won’t be able to recover you.”
Mizuki swallowed nervously before giving Mafuyu a determined nod. “Okay. Yeah. send me in.”
Mafuyu directed Mizuki to lay down flat, her shoulders pressed up directly against Ena’s on the much too small bed.
“Bring her back, okay?” Akito muttered, looking at Mizuki as she tightened her grip on Ena’s hand.
“Of course, l’il bro.” Mizuki grinned. “I’m not letting her get off the hook this easily. She owes us for all this stress.”
Akito huffed out a half-hearted laugh but nodded at Mizuki regardless, backing up as Mafuyu whispered out enchantments and pressed the bottle with the rushed potion against Mizuki’s lips.
Once she drank it, her eyes fluttered closed. Akito and Mafuyu were left to watch in worry, as Ena’s body grew paler and paler.
Mizuki felt like she had been run over by a wolfbear when she managed to pull herself upright. She groaned as she looked around, realising that she landed on the hardest, most scratchy-feeling grass she had ever felt in her life.
Rubbing her eyes, Mizuki barely had a moment to collect herself before her breath hitched in pure awe and terror at the sights around her.
Buildings, tall as castles and clock towers - maybe even taller - shot up into the sky, covered in bright glowing pieces of glass, that must’ve been enchanted enough to have images and drawings alternating through them.
Didn’t Ena say her world didn’t have magic? What was all this, then?
Mizuki almost screamed when a loud horn sounded off, coming from the roadways where large, chunky vehicles were speeding past, stopping at changing lights and swerving onto different lanes in a bizarre pattern.
Forcing herself to stand, Mizuki felt a little breathless at just… how grand everything was. There were so many people, all crowded on sidewalks waiting to be directed where to walk by more lights (everything here was lit up, it was like a firework show that never ended) and so many had their heads down on little rectangles, with wires that led up to their ears.
Their clothing was fascinating to Mizuki, simple and yet complex in their own way. There was a saddening lack of ribbons or lace, but there was a different kind of beauty to their fashion too.
Mizuki looked down to see that her outfit stood out like a sore thumb, and quickly realised she’d need to change. She tried to blend in with crowds, never staying in one place long enough to be truly observed. She had attempted to enter a clothing store, but oddly enough the doors were shut as though they were never meant to be opened at all.
Mizuki noticed that the shop signs resembled swirls of gibberish more than real words.
Ena must not be able to remember all of the finer details about certain parts of her world. Mizuki couldn’t help but snort at the fact that the clothing in the windows were all so detailed and precise, while the more boring aspects of the world faded away into Ena’s psyche.
“Gods Ena, how do you not get lost in a maze like this?”
Mizuki was almost on the brink of losing hope before she noticed that there were certain parts of this world that were much more detailed than others. It must be the parts that Ena frequented more often.
Strategically following the gradual increase in focus, Mizuki found herself in front of what could only be a school - Ena’s school, specifically.
She quickly recognised the architecture from a doodle Ena had made earlier in her sketchbook, and let out a breath of relief before speeding up.
Mizuki hadn’t felt insecure in a very long time, but she had to admit that the whispers and giggles from the students on campus made her uncomfortable and self-conscious.
She noticed that on the giant grass field beside the main building, there were students out playing soccer. Her smirk grew when she realised that they all changed off into gym clothes, which surely meant that…
Digging around through a spare bag that was pulled off to the side of the field proved Mizuki’s theory right. Inside was a girl’s uniform, looking to be close enough to fit Mizuki herself. With a grin, she ducked into a shed that held sports equipment and changed.
Once she was done, she walked outside and moved towards the front door as if she belonged, only feeling bad for stealing for a moment, before she remembered that none of this was real, anyway. The stares and laughter had petered out mostly, hardly anyone seemed concerned with Mizuki anymore.
Except…
A student with glasses and an unpleasant haircut cut Mizuki off from her path suddenly, with a smarmy kind of smile that made her want to puke in her mouth a little.
“Hey, aren’t you Ena’s little girlfriend?”
“Ena’s what ?!”
“Don’t be mean!” Another student teased, elbowing the first guy with a snicker.
“Sorry, sorry,” He said, not sounding sorry in the slightest. “I just mean, you look an awful lot like that girl she’s always doodling. She’s obsessed or something.”
Mizuki felt too relieved to be as annoyed as she should’ve been. Who did this loser think he was? “Ena! I need to find her. Can you show me where her class is?”
She felt a little satisfied with how of sorts her sudden enthusiasm made the jerk.
Ena was finding it harder and harder to stay awake through her classes every day.
It didn’t make any sense! Surely by now her body had adjusted to her new sleep schedule, right? So why was she more tired than ever? Why did she feel weaker than ever?
Tugging on her hair in a weak attempt to keep awake (she had to stop pinching once she realised she was leaving awful ugly marks all over her forearms), Ena’s eyes drifted towards the window. The weather outside was looking uncharacteristically gloomy, too. Despite the fact that it should still be the peak of summer, the leaves were already falling off of trees, the grass turning sickly shades of yellow, animals hiding away in dying bushes.
Ena was once again pulled out of her reverie by the sound of her teacher speaking up, with some kind of announcement. She was ready to tune back out until she heard her teacher finally speak.
“Ah, class, it appears we have an unexpected new student today.”
Whatever. Ena didn’t care, it hardly affected her.
“Please, introduce yourself.”
“Huh? Oh, okay! I’m Mizuki Akiyama, it’s nice to meet you all.”
Ena froze, eyes widening a comedic amount as she looked up to see the face of the very same girl who’s been haunting her for the past few weeks except-
She was wearing a student’s uniform, and looked as beautiful as ever with her long pink curls draped over her shoulder.
This couldn’t be happening. Ena didn’t want to think about what it meant if it really was.
With a pep in her step, Mizuki made her way to the back of the class, in a seat conveniently empty next to Ena.
The teacher continued on with the lesson while Mizuki slowly - and not subtle at all - scooted her chair closer and closer to Ena. When the artist looked over at Mizuki with recognition in her eyes, she was filled with a new sense of hope. Maybe Mafuyu was wrong, and this wouldn’t be as difficult as it had originally seemed.
“Psst,” Ena resolutely tried to ignore Mizuki. This didn’t change Mizuki’s approach. “Hey, Ena, psst!”
Ena turned suddenly, brows raised and body shaking slightly. “H-How do you know my name?”
Before Mizuki had a chance to answer, every single head in the class turned to face the duo sharply, almost inhumanely fast. Ena gasped but Mizuki just flinched, tensing up before laughing nervously.
“It’s… On your sketchbook?”
Ena looked down to see that her name was in fact scribbled on the cover of the closed book.
Every head turned back to where it was before, as though nothing had happened at all. Didn’t their necks hurt from that whiplash?
“Oh,” Ena said quietly.
Mizuki frowned. Did Ena not remember her? Or was this the weird influence of her psyche, trying to preserve her illusion? There was absolutely some recognition in her eyes, Mizuki was certain of it, but she couldn’t outright say anything without the rest of the residents of Ena’s dream getting weird about it.
This was going to be more annoying than Mizuki initially thought.
She glanced back at Ena, who was squinting at the board with a dazed expression. There was a vacancy there that had never graced Ena’s features before - even when she had seemingly been at her sickest. Mizuki felt a chill wash over her, the world shaking slightly.
Ena was deteriorating more and more, it had even leaked right into this dream world.
“Are you okay, Ena?” Mizuki asked softly, noticing the tears welling up in her eyes.
Ena shook her head, but the motion looked like it was making her dizzy.
Mizuki only took one last look at the rest of the people in Ena’s dream before turning back to face her, a sad wave of understanding washing over her.
“Ena… We don’t have to play this game, do we? You know this isn’t real.”
Mizuki felt it as the rest of the characters in the dream turned to look at her, the teacher’s lecture cutting off into a piercing silence.
Ena let out a sob. “Please,” Was all she managed, though she didn’t seem to have the energy to finish her sentence. Mizuki waited patiently, her hand itching to reach out.
“I need this to be real,” Ena finally whispered, her voice scratchy.
Mizuki felt her heart break all over again. “I know. I’m sorry. You need to come back home with me, Ena.”
Ena’s head hung low. “Can’t I stay here? Isn’t it better for everyone? Does it matter if it’s real? Can’t I pretend?”
“You’re dying, Ena.” Mizuki said.
“I was dying before, what makes this any different?”
Mizuki couldn’t help but scowl at the same flimsy reasoning Mafuyu’s mother had used to justify her actions, according to Mafuyu herself. She hated how trivial they made a life seem, as though it were something so inconsequential that you could dismiss it with logic and act as though that made perfect sense.
Sure, they were all going to die one day, did that seriously make the time they had until then meaningless?
“ Ena .”
Mizuki didn’t have to say anything else, her admonishing tone seemed to be enough.
“I can’t go,” Ena tried again. “M-My mom’s making cheesecake tonight. Homemade. My favourite.”
Mizuki let out a sad laugh, but it didn’t seem like Ena was entirely joking. Mizuki couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must be like, to have your old life dangled in front of you like a bait, only to have it be fake. Ena’s pale skin looked clammy, like she was running a fever. Her time was running out, but Mizuki knew this would be a delicate situation.
“Okay, let’s go then.”
“Go?”
“Yup. You’re inviting me over for dinner tonight.”
“Mizuki-”
“Y’know what? Why wait until tonight? Let’s go now!”
Mizuki grabbed Ena’s hand and subtly stuck her tongue out at the lifeless faces of the rest of the “students” staring at them - their empty eyes trailing them. Ena didn’t seem to notice them as much, her eyes still looked a bit glazed over.
Ena didn’t say much of anything at all when the two of them left the building, hand in hand and as close to one another as they could be while still walking forward. Mizuki noticed the way Ena’s eyes lingered on the world around her, as though she were trying to memorise each detail.
It didn’t take long to get to Ena’s house. It was small and quaint, but looked cozy and lived in. The front door was creaky and the wood looked like it was slowly starting to rot, but it was clearly a beloved home. Dead flowers were laying limp in pots, Mizuki recognised one immediately - nightshade.
The flower made her feel nearly ill now, but she forced herself to look away, to watch as Ena unlocked the front door and made her way inside.
Ena kicked off her shoes once she got through the threshold of her house, Mizuki startled as she rushed to do the same - though her combat boots from her previous outfit were a little difficult to slide off.
Finally separating their hands - much to Mizuki’s despair - Ena wandered over almost robotically to the kitchen, where she opened a large fridge and sighed before closing it shut. Mizuki took the moment to look around, a bit in awe at the hominess of everything.
She gasped quietly before quickly speeding over to a wall covered from head to toe in photographs. She started with the ones that looked the oldest - with an adorable baby Ena looking grouchy as the camera was pushed in her face.
She was pouting as if the camera personally offended her, and it was so Ena that Mizuki couldn’t help but smile. The photos continued as Ena got older, showing her waddling down a hallway, or scribbling on loose pieces of paper with crayon. Then there were photos of her at school, posing like she was born to be a model.
Mizuki felt a little breathless at how… Confident Ena looked in some of these. She was so in her element, looking comfortable and knowing she belonged.
She glanced over at Ena, who was opening the fridge again as if it would garner different results this time, still stuck in her haze.
What would it take, to get Ena to feel like that again?
It made Mizuki - not for the first time - mourn the kind of friendship they could’ve had, if Ena hadn’t been forced into her world. Though, maybe that kind of life wasn’t as out of reach as it seemed.
“You were such a cute kid,” Mizuki cooed, mostly to get Ena’s attention.
The girl in question startled, as if she had forgotten Mizuki was there, and turned to see what she was looking at. “Oh, yeah I guess so.” There was a moment of pause before she spoke again. “I used to be so…” Her voice trailed off as she tried to find the words she was looking for. “So loud .”
Mizuki snorted. “You looked like you would’ve been a bossy kid.” She ignored Ena’s squawk of indignation. “Commanding all the other kids on the playground, telling them what to do.”
Ena crossed her arms and scoffed, but didn’t deny the claims, only making Mizuki snicker more.
“Don’t worry, I was the complete opposite as a kid. I basically had no backbone - I would’ve followed you around all over the place.”
Ena blinked. “ You? No backbone? You’re the bravest person I know.”
Mizuki flushed a little at the praise but shrugged. “Sure, but I wasn’t always like that. There was a time where I was just… So insecure. I won’t get into all the nitty gritty details but let’s just say I wasn’t exactly a delight to be around.
“It took a lot of self-reflection and my sister’s help for me to try and get a bit more confidence. To be more comfortable being me .”
“Oh.” Ena said softly. “...I guess that means there’s hope for anyone, right?”
Mizuki lit up at those words, not wanting to scare Ena off with too much enthusiasm. Ena’s eyes were glazing over again, though, her knees shaking with the bare exertion of standing.
“W-Why don’t you show me your room?” Mizuki asked quickly, not wanting Ena to drift away again.
It was enough to snap her back to consciousness. Ena attempted to blink away her sleepiness and just nodded, gesturing for Mizuki to follow as she made her way up the stairs and through a thin hallway.
Ena’s room was just as Mizuki imagined it to be, messy but filled to the brim with personality. There were discarded sketches strewn about the floor, mixed with clothes and makeup in a heaping pile. The walls were adorned with posters and artwork, as well as some photographs printed and strung up on lights.
It was really pretty.
Mizuki noticed the giant computer - instantly recognising it from Ena’s sketchbook - and knew right away that’s where the infamous game was located. She eyed it with only a brief moment of hesitation before sitting down on the creaky seat in front of it and pressing buttons at random.
“Hey- What’re you doing?” Ena asked, storming over and waving Mizuki’s probing hands away.
“I wanna see the game!” Mizuki grinned. Video games did exist in her world, though it seemed the technology behind them were pretty different. Mizuki was fascinated by the idea of games existing solely on one of these screens.
Ena hesitated. “Are you sure? Won’t that be kind of… Weird?”
Mizuki shook her head adamantly. “Pleeeeaaaasssseee?”
With a resigned groan, Ena pressed a button on the giant device and the screen quickly burst to life with light. Ena waved around the thing she called a “mouse” and with a few clicks, suddenly a bright image of Mizuki’s friends appeared with selectable menus below them.
“Woah,” Mizuki whispered, peering closer to see how… Different her friends appeared. It was much clearer here that they were designed to be “love interests”, with the way they smiled almost… flirtatiously at the screen. It made Mizuki giggle before her eyes darted over to who she could only assume was Lady Enanan herself. She looked a little different from the photo Mizuki had seen, but undoubtedly unlike Ena.
“So that’s her, huh?”
Ena shifted awkwardly in place from where she stood behind Mizuki, her hands gripping the back of her seat with unease. “Yeah.”
“Huh. You’re way prettier than her. Without that spell there’d be no resemblance at all.”
Mizuki revelled in the way that Ena sputtered out in shock, trying to hold in her smile at the big reaction. Despite Ena’s insecurities, she seemed to take a deep pride in her appearance, something that was all too easy for Mizuki to compliment.
“Okay that’s enough of that!” Ena said with a huff, closing the game and pulling Mizuki’s chair away from the desk, ignoring her giggly protests.
As Ena grumbled to herself, Mizuki felt oddly at peace. There was something so soothing about sitting here with Ena, pretending that she wasn’t on the brink of death, and messing around the way friends were supposed to.
That peace was starkly interrupted by a light shaking that rattled the ground beneath them, causing Ena to stumble forward a little into Mizuki’s waiting arms.
“Ena…” Mizuki gripped her forearms tightly, even after the shaking ceased. “We can’t stay here any longer.”
“But…” Ena sounded so childish with her quiet plea. “So soon?”
Mizuki’s heart shattered over and over again, but she forced herself to hold strong. “Ena-”
“Y-You said that you were going to try my mom’s cheesecake, right?” Ena interrupted harshly. “So you have to wait.”
Mizuki winced a little as she looked around to see Ena’s room grow grayer and grayer in hue. Did they really have enough time to risk it?
“...Okay, but we’re leaving right after, right?”
Ena didn’t answer but she physically relaxed, not looking any healthier than before but less anxious, at least. Mizuki didn’t get the chance to push any further before she heard the sound of the front door opening and shutting with heavy footsteps.
“Ena? We’re home!” There was some muffled speaking before the voice called out again. “ Who’s shoes are these? Do you have a friend over?”
“C’mon,” Ena grabbed Mizuki’s hand and pulled her back out of her room and downstairs to where two adults were taking off their coats and putting their bags away.
Ena looked a lot like her parents, sharing their deep brown hair and golden eyes. Her mom had a soft but surprised smile on her face at the sight of Mizuki, while her father raised a brow and looked more skeptical.
“Ah, mom, dad, this is Mizuki, my um, my-”
“It’s nice to meet you!” Mizuki extended her hand eagerly, waving it awkwardly when it took too long for Ena’s mother to shake it in return.
“Oh, it’s been so long since Ena has had someone over!” Ena’s mom said, finally snapping out of her stupor and teasing her daughter fondly. She pretended to fan tears with a sad voice. “I was starting to wonder if you were too embarrassed of us to invite friends here.”
Ena rolled her eyes. “You’re so dramatic. Mizuki’s only here for the cheesecake, anyway.”
Mizuki gasped, scandalised, but Ena’s mother only laughed. “Well, I’m flattered anyway. It’s my special recipe, after all.”
“Can we help make it?” Ena asked, though her mother froze still for a moment - terrifying Mizuki once she was brutally reminded that these weren’t actually Ena’s parents.
When her mother unfroze she just laughed good-naturedly. “No no, you girls, go sit down. It won’t take me long at all.”
She ushered the two out of the kitchen, to the living room where Ena’s father was sat on the couch sketching away in his own sketchbook.
Ena pouted. “I guess my mom wants to keep her recipe to herself. I don’t know what she adds to hers to make it so good.”
Mizuki smiled weakly but internally, knew that it was only because Ena’s mind wouldn’t know what to conjure up to maintain the illusion if she didn’t already know what the secret ingredient was.
Ena seemed less aware of the little glitches in her dream. Mizuki had originally thought it was her willfully ignoring them, but now it seemed more like she was too out of it to notice.
She yawned a little before her father lowered his sketchbook slightly.
“So, Mizuki, was it? You a classmate of Enas?”
“Uh, yup!” Mizuki wondered if Ena’s parents would react as creepily to her as Ena’s classmates did earlier. She figured it’d be best to play it safe and keep playing along. “I’m new, just started today!”
Ena’s father narrowed his eyes. “You only met today, and Ena invited you over?”
Mizuki laughed a little. “Uh, to be fair I guess I invited myself over!”
“Dad, stop interrogating her,” Ena admonished. “She’s just my friend.”
“I heard you hesitate earlier,” Her dad continued. “If she’s your girlfriend you have to tell me. Same rules as if she were a boy - no sleeping in the same bed.”
“ Dad !” Ena shrieked. “It’s not like that !”
Mizuki was a little confused why her being a girl or not made any difference. Was that just another weird quirk of Ena’s world she didn’t understand?
Ena’s dad raised his hands defensively, though there was a hint of a smile on his face. “Alright, alright. Just making sure you know.”
Ena grumbled under her breath and sounded just about ready to curse up a storm before her mom’s voice called out for the girls to go back to the kitchen.
“Done already?” Mizuki asked. Time worked really, really weirdly here. They had only just left school and yet the sun was beginning to set.
Ena’s mom had already sliced the cake into slices and handed them to the two girls with a smile.
“Are you eating cake with a fork?” Mizuki asked.
“Uh, yeah? What else would I eat it with?” Ena asked.
“A spoon? You use forks for things you need to stab, not scoop.”
“I’m not scooping my cake,” Ena frowned. “Who scoops their cake? It’s not ice cream.”
“But the cake will just crumble in between the fork prong-things.”
“What kind of liquid cake are you used to eating?” Ena scoffed. “A fork works perfectly fine.”
Mizuki was about to return another snarky remark when Ena suddenly dropped her plate, the dish shattered upon impact as her hand seized up.
Mizuki practically tossed her plate into the table before rushing forward to try and stabilize Ena. Ena, however, pushed her away and staggered backwards, holding her head tightly with a small groan.
“Sorry, sorry, I just-”
“Ena,” Mizuki pleaded. “We can’t stay any longer.”
“We can’t leave now,” Ena protested. “M-My mom and dad would freak out-”
“Ena, your mom and dad aren’t even here anymore.” Ena was about to respond in anger before she noticed how quiet her home had gotten, and how neither of her parents had rushed out to check on her.
She shoved past Mizuki and ran out to her living room, to see her dad no longer on the couch, and her mother no longer in the kitchen. Her home grew grayer and grayer, until there was almost a faint staticky buzz on the edges of her vision.
“Where…?”
The windows outside showed nothing but a blindingly empty white void. The world was disappearing around them.
“Ena, c’mon, we have to wake up now.”
Ena shook her head. “I can’t, I didn’t get to say goodbye,”
Mizuki grabbed her hands tightly in her own, squeezing all of her feelings into the gesture. “They weren’t real, Ena. You wouldn’t have been able to say goodbye anyway.”
Ena closed her eyes, forcing a few tears out as she dropped her head. “Why do I need to go back? What life am I going back to?”
“You know, Akito never really felt like he had a sister until he met you.”
Ena startled, looking up bemused.
“He’s waiting for us, right now. Standing guard while he waits for his sister to wake up.”
“I’m not-”
“Families are built on more than just blood,” Mizuki said gently. “An once told me that she wished you were her big sister, too. Rui and Tsukasa want you to help paint backdrops for their next show. Kohane still wants to thank you for helping her find her courage with An. Toya was building a whole lesson plan to help catch you up on school.”
Ena looked a little overwhelmed. “They… Is that all true?”
Mizuki laughed a little weakly. “Of course it is, Ena.”
“What about you?” Ena asked a little shyly.
Feeling a surge of confidence, Mizuki grinned. “I came all this way to drag you back home, and you really have to ask?”
Huffing out a laugh, Ena pulled her bangs out of her eyes, her expression sobering slightly. “But wait… You got hurt because of me. Because of the curse. If I go back I’m just going to put everyone at risk.”
“I know it looked scary but you gotta remember that the rules are different back home. I was healed in a few hours, and I’m good as new! Anything your curse throws at us, we can handle.”
“But for how long?” Ena pleaded. “You can’t seriously tell me you’re okay with putting up with this forever. What happens when you get sick of having to tread so lightly around me?”
“I’m not going to sit here and pretend any of this is going to be easy. But we’ll fight your curse together, all of us care so much about you, Ena. This isn’t a burden to any of us. It’s not a burden to me.” Mizuki felt a little breathless at the truth beneath her own words. “Lucky for you, you’re best friends with some of the most talented prodigal magic users in the kingdom. If anyone can keep you safe and happy, it’s us.”
Ena opened her mouth as if to protest but she shut it abruptly. She laughed weakly. “Honestly… I think I’m tired of fighting you on this.”
“Yeah?”
“Mhm,” Ena gently leaned forward and leaned her forward against Mizuki’s sternum. “I want you to be right about this.”
“I am,” Mizuki said with confidence. “For future reference, I’m always right about everything.”
Ena flicked her arm, ignoring her giggles. “You’re probably the most stubborn person I know.”
“Look in the mirror, then,” Mizuki wrapped her arms around Ena and sighed. “Maybe we’ll cancel each other out and be reasonable people.”
“I doubt it.”
Mizuki shrugged. “Yeah, probably. You ready to come home?”
Ena hesitated, but this time it didn’t feel like it was out of indecision, but rather just that she was taking a moment to really prepare herself.
Mizuki tried to be patient but felt her self-restraint waning the more the world around them began to fade. She felt Ena’s chest heave with one last deep sigh before she leaned up and looked up at Mizuki with a shaky nod.
“Okay. I’m ready. Let’s go… Home.”