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Meiko had noticed exactly when Mizuki had entered the Sekai.
From the moment Rin’s flower corsage had fallen apart at the lake, to Mizuki’s arrival… it had been only two hours, from what she could tell.
Two hours since something had irreparably changed for Mizuki.
Kaito seems to have noticed the young girl’s arrival too, but Meiko glares at him with a concentrated venom – a word of warning, of which he seems to completely understand this time, as he scoffs and begins to walk in the opposite direction. Well. At least that was easier than she expected.
The next stage would be more difficult.
The Sekai was vast, but not infinite. Therefore, as much as Mizuki wished for it, she could not disappear completely into the world. She could conceal herself and make herself difficult to find, but it would never be impossible to find her.
And so Meiko walks. She keeps moving forward, even when she notes that the air has become much more frigid and the atmosphere almost oppressive. The frown on her lips deepens, but she keeps walking, walking, walking.
She ends up at a stretch of the newly formed lake, far from where she had started. If she had to estimate, she supposed it had been around… forty minutes, since she had started walking. Meiko’s eyes scan over the expanse of water – it was hard to tell just how vast the lake really was, and she could find herself walking for much longer.
After another ten minutes of walking on the side of the water, Meiko’s footsteps finally slow down to a halt.
Her eyes land on one person only: a figure curled into herself, loose hair draped around her shoulders. She’s dressed in a simple yellow shirt, far removed from the usual cute aesthetic she took so much pride into. Meiko supposes that was her class shirt for the festival. Mizuki leans against a pillar, tucking her legs into her body, attempting to make herself as small as possible.
Willing herself to disappear.
Meiko doesn’t rush to her – she takes slow, measured steps, but she refrains from tiptoeing. She wanted Mizuki to be aware of her presence; to have the choice to run away from her if she so wished.
She kneels down next to the girl; she doesn’t look up, or make any attempt to move at all. If it were anyone else, she would assume that they hadn’t noticed she was there, but Mizuki was always much more perceptive than that.
Meiko observes. Mizuki doesn’t seem to be crying, but she has been crying. A lot. She can hear the sound of her breathing: it’s mostly steady, yet has a tremor to it that is all too obvious.
Meiko continues to observe. Mizuki’s whole body tenses once in a while, before slumping again in what she can only interpret as defeat. She still makes no attempt to lift her head, arms hugging her knees tightly, as if trying to give herself a semblance of warmth.
Meiko waits. She waits, until Mizuki finally decides to lift her gaze towards her, her head still dipped downwards towards the ground. If she was at all surprised to see Meiko, she didn’t show it. In fact, she probably knew from the start that it was Meiko sitting by her.
“...Why are you here, Meiko?”
Mizuki’s voice doesn’t reach much more than a low whisper, her voice broken and tired. Meiko keeps silent, instead lowering her gaze, her eyes landing on a neatly bandaged up hand.
“What happened to your hand?”
The girl scoffs, presumably at the fact that her question was completely ignored. She traces the edges of the bandages with her other hand, seemingly considering whether to tell her or not.
“I… had an accident with my mirror.”
“...I see.”
Mizuki scoffs again, and Meiko can finally see the dull pink of her eyes clearly.
“That’s it?”
“...Who bandaged it up for you?”
“...My mom. She… heard me when I… her expression…”
Mizuki’s voice wavers, words audibly becoming clogged up in her throat.
“I don’t want to talk about this,” she admits in the end, diverting her eyes back to the pool of water.
Meiko hums. “I see. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologise!” Mizuki snaps, and Meiko sees the bright fear in her eyes: eyes that tell a story of many past nightmares, before she immediately curls into herself. “Fuck, I’m sorry, I’m–” A sob escapes from her, and she attempts to steady her breathing before speaking again. “...I’m sorry.”
Meiko decides to remain silent this time. Mizuki probably didn’t need to hear empty reassurances right now.
They remain in silence for a little while, before Mizuki lets out an empty laugh.
“God, I’m so awful. For saying that to her. She didn’t need to hear any of that.”
Meiko doesn’t challenge her utterance – forcing her to say anymore would be too much for her. She simply maintains her gaze upon Mizuki’s features. She was doing her best to avoid her gaze, but she couldn’t hide the redness around her eyes, and the exhausted look that came with it.
Meiko sighs. “...You should rest. You can lean on me if you want.”
Mizuki doesn’t appear to have heard her at all at first. So Meiko cuts through the resulting silence again. “No one else will bother you here. For now, at least.” She can think of a certain artist who would be capable of finding her, time and time again. But for now… “It's just me.”
A few heartbeats pass before Mizuki shifts herself closer to Meiko, deciding to reluctantly rest her head upon her lap.
They remain in silence, but Mizuki doesn’t relax into her at all, her breathing unstable. Meiko hesitates at first, but decides to gently comb her hand through Mizuki’s hair. She doesn’t attempt to protest against it, yet she doesn’t completely melt into her touch either.
Eventually, Mizuki breaks the silence, voice more fragile than Meiko has ever heard it.
“Meiko?”
“...Yes?”
“...It hurts… Everything hurts so badly…” Her voice trembles, breathing becoming increasingly more laboured.
Meiko’s eyes soften.
“I know.”
She begins to sob, clearly making an attempt to suppress them, but to no avail. Meiko continues her feeble attempts of comfort, watching over her trembling figure.
Meiko wonders: how many times has Mizuki cried to herself like this, not wanting to bother anyone, not wanting anyone to hear her agony?
…All she can do is watch over her.
All she can do is watch over that trembling figure until the end.
Meiko really, really wished she was capable of more.