"Ena! What a surprise and delight to see you here on our day off. Please come sit with us," said Mizuki, waving her over. "Mizuki . . . what are you doing here?" "I could ask you of the same thing."
Why was Mizuki so formal all of a sudden? Ena sometimes did that when she was nervous, so maybe that's what it was?
"Enanan . . ." Their voice was becoming all soft again, making Ena feel odd. ". . . come here. Sit next to me." Mizuki offered, patting the floor beside them. Ena went over to them and sat down. She and the others exchanged polite greetings. Without thinking, she laid her head down on Amia's shoulder and closed her eyes, still feeling worn out. "Ena . . . you look a little green." said Mizuki, one hand focused on her tablet and the other brushing the hair out of Ena's eyes. Sometimes it felt like Mizuki was taking care of her and not the other way around.
~미~} { 주 <3 엔 } {~나~
Ena woke up to a fuzzy gray ceiling, her head pillowed in something soft and fuzzy. Still half asleep, she got up and to find out that she'd been smushing a plushie under her head for what was probably several hours.
It was a handcrafted plushie.
Of herself.
Which made a weird thought pop into Ena's head. So . . . . I was sleeping on myself?
She looked around for Mizuki, but they were nowhere to be found. Why did that make her feel so disappointed?
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"Good morning, Ena." A twin-tailed Vocaloid appeared behind her. Miku.
"Good morning. What time is it? How long have I been here?"
"I do not know. The passage of time in the sekai follows Mafuyu's whims. If she wants to spend an hour here, she will. If she wants everything to pass by quickly, it will."
"Huh. It that why hours have always passed whenever we return from a group meeting even though it feels like we've only been there for a few minutes?"
"In the standard time of your world, yes. Yuki doesn't know she can do it. She controls the time subconsciously."
"Do you need anything, Miku?"
". . . are you trying to save Mizuki?"
Ena never thought of it that way before.
". . . . yes."
"Good. I sense that . . . . a new sekai has been created from Mizuki's feelings. That's what that shard leads to, if my suspicions are correct."
Miku gestured towards a blinding ball of light in front of Ena that she was embarrassed to not have noticed before.
"So, I can visit Mizuki's sekai if I go there?" Miku nodded. "As long as Mizuki's subconscious accepts your arrival. Similar to how Mafuyu's subconscious let you in the sekai when her conscious mind had me kick you all out." Ena did not appreciate being reminded of the first time N25 met Yuki in real life.
She stood up, packing up her drawing supplies and the plushie into her lilac bag. "Thank you, Miku."
Now that she thought about it, the fact that she could access Mizuki's sekai via Yuki's was a weird stretch of logic. Not that sekais in general made a lot of sense.
"Goodbye, Shinonome Ena." "See you soon, Miku." They bowed to each other, then Ena stepped toward the ball of light as Miku watched. "I wish you safe travels." "Thanks, Miku,"
