Chapter 9,5
To say Ena was tired was the biggest understatement ever.
Fuuta layed on the mattress on the floor of her messy room, as asleep as can be.
He had agreed to stay the night at their parents' request, although their father had specifically made it clear to not move anything in Akito's room, making it more clear that Fuuta should not sleep in his room for the night and making it even more clear that neither of them were the favorite child.
So there he was, asleep on the flattest mattress ever and Ena on her drawing tablet, logged onto Nightcord.
"Hey, Enanan, glad you could make it today…"
K greeted her, clicking things quickly on her computer.
Ena hoped Fuuta's snoring weren't too loud.
"Hey K… I'm guessing we're doing that duet thing you suggested?"
K hummed.
"That's right… It will take a while due to it being just us but… I'm sure you and I can make this song reach people."
Ena couldn't bring herself to telling Kanade that Mizuki and Mafuyu were missing.
"I have a demo ready, would you like to listen to it?"
"Sure!"
Ena opened the audio file, not being able to quite describe how it made her feel.
She had been trying to learn some kind of Music Theory with Kanade's help, trying to do what Mafuyu used to do with the arrangement.
"Uh… Look…"
They discussed the little things they needed to change, or at least tried to.
A couple hours later…
"Okay… How about this, Enanan?"
"Woah, yeah, this is definitely the best one."
She said, her feet steadily hitting the floor at the rhythm of the song.
"Great… Let's record the vocals tomorrow then."
Kanade replied, going to log off for the night.
"Wait-- uh… why not do it now? My parents have already left for work anyway."
Kanade went back to the call.
"Sure, why not?"
Fuuta woke up to his sister being as loud as could be.
"Oh my god, shut the fuck up, Ena."
He covered his ears with a pillow.
"Oh, sorry K, be right back"
Ena muted herself, turning around on her chair.
"Stop yelling, Fuuta! I'm working over here!"
"You're hooked up to Nightcord since yesterday, it's 8 in the morning, shut the fuck up."
He shouted, Ena completely ignoring him and unmuting.
"K, if you hear something on my side it's just the most annoying fly in existence, it's buzzing pretty loudly right now."
K giggled softly at the siblings' teasing.
"HEY! Don't talk shit about me with your friends!"
Fuuta pulled his own head up to look at Ena, who had turned back around.
"Well, believe me, Fuuta, I'm doing you a favor considering how full of shit you are."
She replied nonchalantly, not turning around this time.
"That's not even what full of shit means?!"
Fuuta ended up going out, bumping into Shidou and Kazui.
"Ah, hey, Fuuta."
Kazui greeted him, with a bag hanging from his shoulder.
"Fuuta, hello."
Shidou waved at Fuuta, him looking at both of them.
"Oh, great, now I gotta call the retirement home to tell them you two ran off"
He joked, and Kazui laughed.
"No, Fuuta, don't snitch on us!"
Kazui jokingly said, letting himself fall dramatically.
"It is what it is, oldie."
Saki was getting tired of being in the dark about whatever happened to her brother.
Emu ran away when asked, and whoever had answered the phone that day didn't really say anything.
Plus, after some time no one was coming back.
Ichika, Tsukasa, Honami, and even more people she had some kind of bond with had not come back.
So she had decided to go to Phoenix Wonderland herself, to at least find anything about Tsukasa.
The Wonder Stage was empty, no sign of Emu or anyone.
She jumped when she heard noises coming from backstage.
She sneaked in. Well, more like just walked in.
The robot making those noises was huge, being almost the same height as her.
She got closer, and the robot turned itself on.
"SCANNING"
Its eyes shined bright, scanning Saki's face.
"IDENTIFIED TENMA SAKI.
PLAYING KUSANAGI NENE'S RECORDED MESSAGE"
Saki's eyes widened in surprise.
"Hello, Saki. My name is Nene Kusanagi."
The same voice who had answered her call with Emu's phone came out of the robot.
"I'm recording this message to tell you the truth."