#nullsekai

the kindest presence in toya’s life is,   and always has been,   tenma saki.   followed closely by her brother,   of course,   but there’s a gentle bravery and instinctual empathy she possesses.   toya may not be as close with her as he is with tsukasa,   nor does he idolize her the way he does him,   but there’s a level of innate understanding between the two of them.   saki mourns a childhood she never got to have,   replaced instead with long days,   months,   years in the hospital.   toya thinks of long days,   months,   and years spent in front of pages and pages of sheet music,   and knows that they're the same in many regards.

she’s also always been able to read toya’s emotions much better than he himself can.   of course she’d catch onto his self-blame as soon as he alludes to how and why it’s been unbearable being at home lately.   one of his older brothers came back from the states to visit a few days ago,   and,   as the rebellious one in a set of siblings otherwise taking after their perfect father,   he’d of course ended up in a fight with him.   the argument had been loud,   insulting,   and had shaken toya to a degree he hasn’t felt in a while.   while he’d made some sort of peace with his father regarding his music of choice   (   shaky peace,   ready to fall to pieces at the drop of a pin,   but something resembling peace nonetheless   ),   that truce never reached his brothers.   and now the aoyagi residence is more tense,   more suffocating than ever.   the most his brother spares him now are condescending side-glances and patronizing comments.

but toya had been the one to defend himself in the argument   —   how was that not his fault   ?   he’d known it would spark a fight,   and he did it anyway.   he doesn’t need his family’s validation.   he could have just left it alone.

Though there was a brief moment Mizuki even needed to truly process the other’s words; several more moments were spent in pause hearing them. That sort of honesty from Enanan was hardly something they were particularly used to, even if this was hardly a time the two should be expected to be bickering at anyhow.

“ ... Hey now, easy there; more words like that and I might start thinking you actually like having me around. ” While the words come out as a bit of self-assured snark, they’re spoken lightly - clearly not with any intent to push her away. It may be different; but it certainly wasn’t that her honesty was in any way unwelcome to them. They pause for a moment longer, before the mischief on their face disappears; their voice following suit moments after as they add,

“ ... Hey, I was glad to be here, too. Isn’t that what friends do for each other? ” Might be a little more forward than they were used to, considering; but they wouldn’t want her backing down from leaning on them more when she needs it. It was nice. Talking to her like this was nice.

   “   ah   —   ena - san...   ”   toya freezes for a moment as the door to the shinonome household opens and reveals not the family member he was expecting.   and after realizing that if ena of all people answered the door,   it occurs to him for the first time since storming from his own house to get away from his irritated father that akito might not even be home.   toya hadn’t even had the foresight to text him in advance,   too blinded by the need to leave his house.   it was too late to bother ken at weekend garage   (   whether or not ken would agree being a different matter,   of course   )   or visit an arcade,   so his partner’s place had seemed like the next logical place to go.

shibuya is a nonstop thrum of noise,   color,   and movement.   it’s the sort of chaos toya likes,   like that of a bustling arcade or an excited live house before a show.   he always keeps an eye out for the street performers,   nodding to the ones akito has introduced him to.   it’s still strange to receive smiles and waves in return,   but regardless he eventually comes across a small crowd beginning to disperse,   and peeks through to catch a glimpse of whoever is seemingly finishing up their performance   —   ah,   he recognizes him.   it’s not who he might’ve expected,   but he does remember tsukasa once telling him about his director and troupe-mate occasionally taking his storytelling to the streets.

toya waits for a few moments while rui says his goodbyes to his audience,   but subtly startles when their eyes meet.

It had become something of a habit at this point, in Emu’s interactions with her senpai; how she found herself hanging onto every word they spoke to each other, listening closely, feeling closely, for any modicum of genuine happiness she could find in her words.

“ ...!!! ” Thus it was that hearing those words from Asahina’s mouth added a fair bit of levity to Emu’s own rather forced smile talking to her. The emotions she could catch were never as strong as her own, or Tsukasa-kun’s, or anyone else she knew - but that only made her value each one she found so much more.

And while she may not be saying those words with the big, beautiful smile she hoped to see on her face one day - they were real. Even simply the gentility on her face amidst the scarier side of her that, in this moment, was pushed aside, made her look far less frightening to Emu’s empathic perception. Emu couldn’t help but find herself beaming seeing this from her - being able to see those scary emotions and frightening false smiles push themselves away for something so much more real. This fuzzy feeling she felt every time she got to be graced with how beautiful the other was when she wasn’t hiding behind a false smile... it more than made every bit of fear she felt from her false smiles so very worth it.

“ ... M-Mm! Mm-hm...!! ” Of course, Emu didn’t do a particularly good job of hiding how happy it made her to hear those sorts of words, even if she was (somewhat) trying (after all; she couldn’t expect a real smile if she made it clear how much she really, really wanted it). “ It is, isn’t it? Eheh... it’s all so...! ” So much, so beautiful that she couldn’t find any word in the moment to describe it all, except... “ ... so Wandahoi! ”

shizuku hasn’t been so happy in a long time,   she thinks.   she certainly,   once upon a time,   never thought that she’d feel such joy after practice.   becoming an idol wasn’t something she ever aimed for so much as it was something she just went along with,   but she’s never been so thankful for that application sent in against her knowledge years ago   —   without it she wouldn’t be sitting on miyamasuzaka academy’s roof surrounded with the best friends she’s probably ever had.

her thermos of miso soup is warm in her hands,   and the gentle breeze ruffling her hair cools her skin,   too.   she watches fondly as airi instructs minori on something or other,   her advice sound and confident as it always is,   and minori takes it in with all the eagerness of a well-trained puppy.   she almost doesn’t notice haruka gradually leaning into her side until the unmistakable weight of a head falls to her shoulder.

she looks down to see her friend’s sleeping face and giggles softly.   she looks serene,   visibly worn from dancing,   and very cute.   a wave of affection surges through her,   not unlike that she feels whenever she sees shiho,   and sets down her soup beside her so she has a free hand to lightly brush a few stray strands of hair from haruka’s face.