Chapter Text
Forgetting what she saw that afternoon wouldn't be an easy job.
For starters, Kanade wasn't sure if she even wanted to forget about it. She figured it would be common courtesy to try to and pretend nothing had happened, but that wouldn't sit right with her.
Kanade stared blankly at her screen, the same few seconds of her track looping over and over.
She hadn't meant to intrude. Kanade was used to living with a roommate, after all that was her arrangement with Mafuyu for a good while — roommates, plural, especially ones that were a couple, was a whole different story, though. There were a lot more things she needed to be aware of now.
She knew better than to not respect other’s privacy. She had knocked on the door. But the issue at hand had never crossed her mind as something that had a real possibility of happening before (because, until they moved in, it in fact didn't). So when no one answered, she simply assumed the room was empty; and even if it wasn’t, she hadn’t expected it to be anything that would make opening the door a problem.
Kanade had yet to adjust to that… Though this experience should be enough to make her brain register it properly.
Still, learning a lesson or not wouldn't make the current situation any easier to deal with. It wasn't just about what happened, but the way it happened, specifically. It somehow made the scene ten times worse. And that part was entirely her fault, not even an accident or anything.
Kanade let out a quiet breath, tugging at her sleeve. It was only natural, wasn't it? They were together, lovers, in their room, with the door closed. That specific combination kept replaying in her head, only losing to the moment’s details in terms of how much it occupied her thoughts.
Ena had been sitting on the bed, leaning back with her hands holding Mizuki’s waist. Mizuki was sitting on her lap, naked, moving up and down as she softly called Ena's name.
Mizuki’s hands gripped Ena’s shoulders, possibly trying to keep steady while she fucked herself on what Kanade assumed was a sex toy. She couldn't tell for sure, Mizuki’s lower body blocked her view of the object…but what else could it be ?
Kanade had merely meant to ask a simple question when she reached the bedroom. As of right now, she didn't even remember what the question was anymore. Something trivial and dumb, that she could’ve asked any other time, that's for sure.
Upon knocking and receiving no answer, she absentmindedly decided to open the door. And she kept staring, looking attentively at their bodies as if she were mesmerized by them. Maybe she was, so much so that she froze in place, the door still wide open.
Ena wasn't even naked, not completely. She had her shirt on, just not her bottoms. That was another thing that piqued Kanade’s interest. She wasn't even receiving any kind of direct stimulation, and yet, Ena looked like she was feeling so, so good. Like watching Mizuki moan her name was the most erotic thing in the world. And it probably was, for her.
And for that brief moment, for Kanade too.
Mizuki’s voice sounded nice when she sang, when she talked. But especially when she sang, having spent so much time working on music together, of course Kanade had developed an affinity for it… but her moans were something else entirely. Definitely. They were quiet and could easily go unnoticed. Maybe that’s how she didn't listen to them before entering the room. She would've needed to be paying really close attention to catch it.
Even with only the small fragments of sound Kanade was able to hear, she could tell that she wanted to continue listening to it. She almost felt jealous that Ena got to hear them any time she wanted, as horrible as that sounded.
God, what was wrong with her? Getting jealous over something she had absolutely no right to feel jealous about, not when they were a couple. When it was theirs, not something she was meant to have, let alone covet like this.
The moment lasted for less than half a minute before they noticed her there, but for Kanade it might as well have been a whole hour. She surely had gotten ahead of herself, was it even possible to overthink as much as she did in such a short period of time ?
Mizuki faltered when she saw her, accidentally going all the way down onto the toy as she fell in surprise, releasing a loud whimper. That startled Ena immediately.
“What—? Mizuki?” she started, her grip tightening out of reflex, confusion flickering across her face before it shifted into pure mortification as she turned her head to the door, where Kanade stood.
Mizuki tried to speak, eyes wide, covering her mouth with her hands. “A—Ah. Kanade… hello…?”
She didn't even bother getting off the strap. Not that it would’ve made things any less uncomfortable, or that she had the time for it anyway.
“I… Sorry. Didn't mean to…” Kanade stuttered, stepping back. “…Well, bye ! I'm really sorry.” She panicked, leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.
“Kanade—” Ena tried calling out to her, reaching out slightly — Bad idea, considering she was still inside Mizuki — but Kanade had already left.
Her heart raced wildly as she leaned against the closed door. Kanade clutched at her chest, feeling it rise and fall as she took deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down.
Silence fell on the other side of the door at once. She kept quiet as well, or as quiet as she could. Kanade idly turned, trying to head back to her room.
Once there, Kanade threw herself onto the bed. She closed her eyes for a moment, then her gaze drifted to the ceiling, then to her room’s door.
What were they doing now? Had they gone back at it…?
... No, judging by their reactions, they were certainly too busy freaking out just as much as her.
Kanade let out another long breath, then abruptly pushed herself up.
“I should just work,” she muttered, walking to her desk and plopping down on the chair. “It’ll distract me. Yeah,” she said to herself, though with no conviction.
And there she was. Headphones settled firmly over her ears, half-managing to shut the world out as the hours slipped by unnoticed. Faint remnants of afternoon light stretched across her desk in thin lines, shifting from gold to orange before fading into the muted blue of evening. Kanade didn’t notice until her eyes started to sting.
She blinked, pulling one side of her headphones off. “Night already?” Her voice came out hoarse, the words catching in her throat as she broke into a cough, turning away and pressing the back of her hand to her lips.
“Ouch…” Kanade waited for the irritation to settle, silence falling over the room once more, until a knock at the door cut through it.
“Uhm… Kanade?” Mizuki could be heard from outside of the room.
Kanade jolted. “Yes?”
“Can I come in?” Mizuki asked, noticeably quieter than usual.
Kanade hesitated for half a second too long before answering. “...Yeah.”
The door creaked open slowly as Mizuki carefully walked in.
“Eh… so…” she toyed with her fingers, looking around awkwardly. “We just finished dinner, you should come join us. If you want to, of course.”
“T—thanks. I will.”
“I also wanted to say sorry,” one of her thumbs pressed over the other, subsequently moving to pick at the skin around her nails.
“You don’t have to apologize,” Kanade replied, a bit too fast, then immediately softened her tone. “I mean, it’s not like you did anything wrong.”
Mizuki gave a small laugh. “Didn’t I…?” she muttered, glancing off to the side. “Kinda feels like I did.”
“You didnt,” Kanade said. “Not at all. I was the one who just burst into the room.”
Mizuki shook her head. “We didn’t answer. That’s kind of on us too.” She paused, then said, “We should’ve locked the door.”
“... Are you and Ena okay ?” Kanade asked.
“Yeah. Yeah, I mean, accidents happen, don’t they? I guess it's normal when you live together,” Mizuki chuckled again. “ So everything’s fine, aside from Ena really considering moving out of the country and changing her identity right now, that is.”
Kanade also chuckled in response, “please tell her I’m sorry.”
“I will, but don't worry, she's not upset with you or anything. She knows you didn't mean to. Even if you did…” Mizuki stopped talking. “And you? You’re not upset, right ?”
“Me?” Kanade echoed. “No, don't worry, please… I'm fine.”
“I'm glad,” Mizuki softly sighed in relief. That seemed to ease the tension between both of them, if only a little. She took a step back, fingers resting on the handle as she pulled the door open.
“I’ll be waiting, then,” Mizuki said.
“Okay.”
“…And, um,” she added sheepishly, “we’ll be more careful next time."
“Don't worry about it,” really.