Chapter 26,5
It was a Monday evening.
Kanade entered Sekai, as she had nothing else to do, all songs in progress were finished, Mizuki and Mafuyu weren't going to be there anytime soon, and Ena had night school.
Plus she hadn't been there in a while.
She had cup noodles in her hand, and she planned to give some to Miku.
“Miku? Miku!”
Kanade’s voice echoed through the empty Sekai, and she could hear that little song Miku used to sing when she was all alone with only Mafuyu by her side.
"Kanade."
Miku turned to look at her, Kanade getting closer to her.
"Hello, Miku… Are you alone?"
Miku looked at something in the distance before humming monotonously.
"Rin was here a couple days ago."
Miku told her, Kanade passed her some cup noodles.
"Sorry we haven't been here in a while."
Kanade sighed as she opened herself a cup of noodles.
"Don't worry, Kanade. We'll always wait for you four."
Kanade smiled briefly.
"Thanks, Miku. How have you all been?"
"Rin learned how to braid, she's been chasing MEIKO left and right to try."
It was then that Kanade realised that, although still in her two ponytails, Miku's hair was braided quite nicely.
"She's really good at it…"
Miku nodded.
"Yes. KAITO has been in a good mood lately… He said something like… 'The bitch is dead'? I think…"
Kanade almost choked on her noodles, coughing, making Miku squeak a little.
cough "Really…?" cough
Miku grabbed Kanade's cup noodles from the latter's hand and put it aside.
When Kanade stopped coughing, she spoke.
"Sorry. I didn't expect that..."
Miku nodded, looking above them.
"Recently it's been livelier here. More colorful."
Kanade looked up too, the Sekai's "sky" was a desaturated shade of purple, as opposed to its former grey. It was almost unnoticeable, but not impossible to see.
"Could it be that… Mafuyu's starting to find herself…? Wherever she is…?"
Kanade wondered, grabbing her now lukewarm noodles.
"That would be nice…"
"Hey Hanasato!"
Mizuki poked their head into Minori's cell.
"Akiyama?"
Half of Minori's face was bandaged as she looked up at them.
"Hey, I told you to call me Mizuki! How's your… Everything?"
They asked, with a much more serious, concerned tone than before.
"It hurts…"
Mizuki walked closer, putting medical stuff on the nearby table and looking at a bloodied key.
They looked at her.
"Hey… Hanasato… An had an injury on her hand… Did you do that?"
Minori hesitated before nodding slowly.
"It was just as she was starting. As you can see though… It didn't help much."
"Well, yeah…" Theythought, An had attacked her with a metal bar after all, so Minori didn't have that many chances with a key.
Still, Mizuki couldn't stop thinking of why An of all people would do something to another human being.
Of course, all of them were murderers, they knew that all too well, but An was a kind person when they were out, she was always kind to them. To everyone, morally correct, a generally good person.
This was just out of character for her.
Had they… failed to see something? Was Mizuki a bad friend?
"You're friends with her, right, Akiyama?"
Minori asked, breaking Mizuki out of that thought.
"I guess…? Why?"
They scratched the back of their neck.
"Why are you here? I mean, why are you here instead of being with her?"
Mizuki sighed.
"She beat you almost to death. An might be my friend, but you don't just go around beating people up."
Minori nodded at the answer, an awkward silence setting in.
Akito tapped Honami's shoulder from behind.
"Mhm? What is it, Akito?"
Akito quickly wrote something on a notebook.
"What day is it?"
It'd been something Honami suggested when he lost his voice.
"Monday, I think?"
Akito looked worried all of the sudden.
"Didn't that rabbit say the warden came back today?"
Honami jumped slightly.
"It did?! She's coming back today?!"
Her eyes shined as her cheeks got slightly pink.
"You're not kidding, right?"
Akito shook his head before writing again.
"Simp."