Worry

by Magical_Souls

Summary:

Haruka notices the state of everyone in her home.

Notes:

Once again I ask Avery and Val to not kill me in my sleep

See aren’t you GLAD I make Ichika suffer all the time know. Because the MINUTE she and L/N are actually completely fine everyone else’s lives go to fucking shit.

The house has been…quiet, lately.

Too quiet.

There were twenty of them. Twenty teenagers. All under one roof. Quiet was simply not a possibility. And yet, Haruka’s ever light footsteps could be heard across the long halls.

It was strange.

She hadn’t seen Mizuki in a few days. Ena burst into tears when asked about it Mizuki herself only told the others that “Mom wants me home for a bit. Be back soon.” Over text.

Very vague. Very strange. And it worried her. She had grown very close with Mizuki this past year. She loved her like a sister. And it wasn’t like her to be so…absent.

Haruka asked An if she knew any reason why Mizuki would be acting this way, or why Ena would refuse to talk about them. But An simply shrugged, telling her to “ask Ena about it” with an air of hostility.

One issue with that, though.

Ena was locked away, drawing.

Or, allegedly. Haruka wouldn’t know. She didn’t go in Ena’s room, Airi did, because Ena hadn’t come downstairs to eat and Airi was concerned. What she found were papers upon papers and canvas after canvas, all with the same person painted on them. Mizuki.

Pinks and reds and blacks littered the entire room, the paint all never the place. In the center of it all, Ena, mumbling something to herself as she shakily painted.

”Where’s her smile? She’s not Mizuki without her smile. Give it back, give it back…!”

Except she was the one painting it. What did she mean by “give it back?” Why was it gone in the first place?

Honestly, whatever went on between those two sounded a lot more complicated than a fight…

Even Kanade and Mafuyu didn’t know what was going on. And Haruka could tell they were getting anxious. Kanade especially. She’s been stuck in her room, more so than usual. 

Haruka wished she could say everyone else was much better, but that would be a fat lie.

Well, Ichika, Saki, Honami and Shiho were doing fine. For once. Which was shocking, because for some reason, it was always something with those four. Mostly Ichika, but honestly? It hardly mattered. If one of them went down, they were all down. But no, the only thing bothering them was the fact that everyone else was bothered.

An had been especially irritable lately, though. Due to worrying about Mizuki. And Haruka was fairly certain that An thought Ena had something to do with it. It’d be a logical conclusion, she supposed. They were hanging out together at their school’s event that day, so maybe something went on between them while they were there? Haruka couldn’t say for certain.

Whatever the case, An was convinced Ena might’ve been at fault for it, although she wouldn’t actually say it out loud, instead being cryptic and petty in her responses when asked about it. Which, in turn, was making Akito annoyed with her.He’d understand if Ena had actually done something wrong, but they didn’t even know if she had. It was all just assumption and An was, quite frankly, being a bitch about it. Besides, even Akito would admit that Ena would never hurt Mizuki on purpose, and that, if she was the reason for Mizuki’s absence, she’d be doing everything in her power to fix it, but An refused to listen to that argument. Which was causing tension between all of Vivid BAD SQUAD as a whole.

Haruka also noticed a slight shift in Nene’s behavior. They’ve always been quiet, so much so that sometimes Haruka forgets they’re there, but lately, it’s been more of the afraid quiet than the natural quiet. Hunched shoulders, skittering away like a mouse being chased by a broom. Haruka isn’t around Nene nearly as much, though. So she’s not sure what’s going on. She ended up talking to Saki about it the other day.

”It’s a student at their school…Eto? Emu tells me about him. He likes Nene, or something like that, and he’s really weird towards them. And he’s apparently trying to get closer, but he can’t do much with Tsukasa and Rui around. Which makes him angry. It might be stressing them out. I know I’d be all over the place.”

Oh, and there was the matter of Rui.

He and Mizuki had always been close. Haruka knew that. It kind of seemed like he knew something about why Mizuki was gone that he wouldn’t tell anyone, but it was clearly eating him up and everyone was starting to notice.

So, her favorite bunch of theater kids weren’t doing to hot, either.

And as for her and the girls…

Well, Shizuku was worried. About Airi. Haruka assumed it was because of the whole Ena situation, but no. Airi’s been on her phone a lot. Too much. Okay, she usually is on her phone, scrolling or scheduling or whatever, but this much is strange for her. Shes been reading a lot. The comments under their posts, she means. And she’s been looking in the mirror more. But whenever Shizuku’s asked, Airi’s just shrugged it off and refused to continue the conversation.

Speaking of their comments…

Her phone buzzed again.

>Ahh!! The girls all look so CUTE in this picture <33

>lol yeah. But is it me, or does Haruka look a lil different?

>Different?

>a change in clothing size, if ykyk

>that’s weird to say

>yeah, what the hell? That’s a teenager.

>even if she wasn’t, it’s still weird 

>just an observation, no need to get upset

“Haruka?”

She jumped at Minori’s voice.

“Y-yes?”

“Are you alright? What were you reading just now?”

“Nothing, just…”

She quickly shut her phone off.

“My mother.” She settled on after a moment. “She was just asking me how I was, that’s all.”

Minori looked at her skeptically.

“Did you need something?” Haruka asked to break the tense silence.

“No!” Minori said quickly. “No, just…wanted to talk to you!”

“Oh…well, you’re always welcome to.”

I’d hope so. We sleep in the same room almost every night… Is what Minori thought. She didn’t say that, though.

“Mhm!”

Haruka just smiled at her.

She didn’t like lying to Minori. She didn’t think she should be lying to Minori, really. But she didn’t want to worry her girlfriend, either. Especially with all of the tension already in the house. If Minori hadn’t felt it already, she would soon enough.

And she didn’t need to worry about Haruka on top of it all.

Notes:

It’s only gonna get worse

You guys can handle it

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 3 of Mizu5 (Kat style) (x20)
• Part 46 of Kitty/Kat/Kit’s PJSK Universe