Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Hikaru’s still in Hawaii.”

Tomoya barely gives the door room to click open before making that quip — barely letting Misuzu’s footsteps thud into the air before it.

How Tomoya knows who’s come to visit without so much as a turn towards the door, Misuzu will never know. But this does not concern her right now; Mana lies still — doll-like, even — on a table near the entryway, and there goes Misuzu’s wishes of talking to her.

Misuzu thus asserts, “I know that! I’m not here for him. I'm here for you, and Mana.”

She all but slams down the box she’d carefully taken to assort. Delicate confections await inside — beady eyed birds that may chirp and fly away at a moment’s notice, flowers with gradients only achievable by years of practice, plump fruits comparable to the real thing. Misuzu wonders when Mana will be able to sink her teeth into all these delights.

She’s certainly had a while to think about how it could go: perhaps, her eyes could gleam about as bright as Ultraman, and her smile could be sweeter than all the wagashi around. Or perhaps she’d furrow her brows, before spouting an idea that’s too intergalactic for Misuzu’s mind. What a wonderful challenge that would be!

She places a hand on Tomoya’s desk, leaning onto it; she wonders when she can finally call Mana’s smile hers.

“How's everything been on your end? I knew you'd be working hard this late, so I decided to drop by,” she says.

“I,” and Tomoya sighs deeply, sinking into his chair, “Am in the middle of figuring out which parts of her program translates to each ability of hers, and how it does. It took me a while to figure out the language itself in the first place, but I understand now.”

“Eh?! That’s awesome! Does that mean you can put in anything you want?”

“I should be able to.”

Anything. Anything. Being on the fast track for the Nobel Prize. Travelling the world to watch fire dance in front of one’s eyes, or capturing a beauty right beside in a still image. Labouring light by song. Confections made of foresight and skilled hands that helped save the world. Saving the world.

…The ability to dream? To call someone Mana’s one and only?

A light flashes in her mind, just as the rumbling of thunder echoes through the laboratory. No matter — it only fuels the spark Misuzu needs to grab Tomoya’s shoulders. She’s quick to shake him vehemently, and he’s quick to let out a noise of discontentment.

She exclaims, “That’s great! Then, you can put feelings in!”

Tomoya’s brows furrow in a dubious frown.

“...Feelings?” he asks.

“Yeah!” she says, nodding cartoonishly, “Like, feeling happy when the weather’s perfect, wanting to cry when she watches a really sad movie, being able to love… love her friends, love her job, fall in love.”

“Fall in love? Even with all the tissues she’ll need for that?” he scoffs.

Another nod from Misuzu slowly follows.

“...I was thinking, she should be allowed to feel that, too.”

What use would the so-called side of justice have as the “good guys,” if Mana were to be a tool in their midst? It wouldn’t make them much different from Chibull. To offer justice to Mana would be to offer the luxury of the first streak of rainbow-hued light after a rainstorm, or to offer the aroma of a homecooked meal to look forward to. Small freedoms, here and there, interwoven into a fulfilling life. That ought to be something Mana can look forward to while she’s asleep.

Misuzu, on the other hand, decisively claps her hands in front of her face, bowing slightly to Tomoya.

“I’ll help you out any way I can! Please, Tomoya? Please?”

Thunder grumbling above rules the noise level in the room for a moment — no, two. When Tomoya sighs and turns back to his work, however, it’s heavy, and Misuzu has won.

“Whenever she gets heartache,” he mutters, “I'll be sure to send her thanks to you.”

Misuzu can’t help but crack open a radiant grin at the newfound clacking of Tomoya’s keyboard. To Tomoya first, of course, but the currently deactivated deserve it as much as the living. Thus, Misuzu offers some of her sunshine to Mana immediately after.

Hopefully, when Mana finally wakes up, she can bask in Misuzu’s smile, too.