#michina

Nazuna is lying there casually on her side with a knowing smirk on her lips, and she nearly startles Michiru out of her skin.

After quieting herself down from the jolt, Michiru crawls up to join her on the bed. The pink glow of the cult crystals and lavender candles all around gives off an eerie, unnatural kind of light, dyeing Nazuna's skin a sickly pale color.

And as she looks up into her old friend's eyes, Michiru can't help but feel a rush of nostalgia and sadness. They'd had such big dreams together, and after that accident, whatever disease this was had ripped it all away from them. They've missed out on so much, lost so much.

But somehow, they haven't lost each other.

"Let's run away together."

The request falls from her lips before she can even give it a second thought. She doesn't need to think it over, though. It's what she truly wants in her heart of hearts. They can search for answers together without Shirou or that gross Boris guy. Even if no one else will help them, Michiru believes it would be better to just have each other again. Just like old times.

Nazuna's ears flick a tiny bit when Michiru takes her hands and squeezes them. It's small, but it doesn't slip past Michiru's expert nocturnal eyesight. Nazuna's missed her too. She knows she has.

But she should've known better than to mention that Boris guy again. Nazuna only defends him more, and it sends a prickly feeling up Michiru's spine. It's untrustworthy and defensive. She doesn't want Nazuna anywhere near him anymore if she can help it.

She just wants her to be safe, more than anything. She wants to be the light that leads Nazuna back to where she wants to be, to help her become a real idol with all the adoring fans she deserves, not some creepy old guy and a bunch of shady cult members.

Michiru wants to help show her the way, to guide her back, to be her path to a better future. It's in her name, after all. It's the least she can do for her one and only friend...

And for Nazuna, it was never supposed to be a matter of using Michiru to get what she wanted-

And yet somehow, that's exactly the type of beast she'd become.

After all, she was a fox. Deceit was in her genes, wasn't it? It was in her birth. Her name can be read the same way upside-down. She feels pretty upside-down too, and she has ever since she'd turned into a fox. Of all the animals to become, this one had been it. It just proved who she really was deep down. Her name could trick people just like her flip-flopped personality.

So what better way to use her skills of cunning than to exploit an innocent, helpful little tanuki who'd been wrapped around her finger from the start? Boris had taught her how to fool the citizens of both the cult and Animacity by taking on a wolf's form, so why not continue down her path of trickery? Why stop now? Even if it is Michiru…

It's all too easy to follow her nature, slowly planting the seed of her plan into Michiru's head.

"Animacity isn't willing to welcome a cult," she says. "It's possible we just might have to leave."

She'd seen the photo in Michiru's room, the one with the Mayor. She'd been plotting this ever since then. After all, Michiru is a dumb little tanuki who would do anything to help her without even thinking it through properly. All Nazuna has to do is say sad things like "we'll never have a place here" and "that guy said I couldn't stay, right?" It gives Michiru a sense of responsibility, makes her feel like she needs to do something to help.

And so she falls right into Nazuna's trap.

"The Mayor?" Michiru says hopefully. "You want to meet her? Leave it to me. I know she's always at a particular store in the morning."

And there it is, that determined little spark in her black-rimmed eyes that Nazuna remembers so well, that foolish heroism that can so easily be manipulated into doing anyone's bidding if they were smart enough to know how to use it against her.

But she feigns shock, as if this idea is Michiru's instead of her own, as if she's truly surprised and this had never crossed her mind.

Michiru more or less makes the decision herself as she burrows under the blankets and bundles herself up. She beams, grinning up at her with that same childish naivety she's always had. Ears perked and features lax, she closes her eyes happily, just like an unsuspecting animal lured into the hunter's cozy trap.

"I'm sure it'll be okay. This way, I can be with you…"

Nazuna gazes down at her hollowly, ignoring the sudden pang that shoots through her chest. She'd steeled herself long ago to live this kind of lifestyle. But leave it to Michiru to sway her hardened heart, just a little bit.

Slowly, Nazuna lies herself down beside her, and Michiru lifts up the blankets to let her underneath. She giggles and cuddles up to her chest, looping her arms around Nazuna and nestling into the crook of her neck. She sighs, her tail swishes once, and then she's snoring softly.

And for some reason, Nazuna doesn't pry her off, even after she's fallen asleep. She supposes this is the smallest mercy she can afford to show her.

Resting her chin on top of Michiru's head, Nazuna swipes her tail over her hip and drapes it across the both of them. With nowhere else to put her arms, she lays them over the tanuki. Exhaling slowly, she closes her eyes, and again ignores that painful throbbing in her chest.

She won't ask for forgiveness.

But at least for now, she just sleeps with Michiru huddled up against her chest, trying not to think about what she's going to do tomorrow.

[Fin]

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A/N: Listen, I just wanna keep believing that Nazuna still has all the good in her somewhere buried deep down. I need them to reconcile and be friends again or else I’m gonna implode.