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Mizuki was, in all honesty, fucking terrified when she lifted the blankets on her bed at 9am.
She’d already decided that morning (at 1am, of course) that she’d take another day off school. A treat after exams — a day of shopping for cute clothes and accessories alongside Ena.
Mizuki did not account for the fact that she might be dying.
A massive pool of dried blood stained her sheets, and probably the mattress below as well. Not to mention the mess on her night clothes—her favourite shirt was safe, but her pants looked as if she’d just mopped up a butcher store.
Did Mizuki even have this much blood in her body on normal days?
The pink haired girl sat herself upright in bed, still bathed in the dried blood and struck with a barrage of confusion. Lifting the blankets yet again, revealing the aftermath of a twenty-year long odyssey, Mizuki was hit by the immediate scent of fishy carcass.
Concerningly, it seemed like her body wasn’t waiting until death to begin decomposing.
And as if the sudden (unsourced) bleeding wasn’t enough, some inivisble force decided to welcome her into the day with a loving bombardment of stomach squeezes. Mizuki doubled over on her bed, hastily grabbing her abdomen and grimacing in pain.
Similar to the feeling of being punched in the gut without warning, Mizuki dry-heaved on the side of her bed, before falling back onto the mattress and curling into a ball.
If things couldn’t get worse for the pink-haired editor at nine in the morning, she had about half a day left to finish the new music video. Even worse, she’d already promised to meet up with Ena in a few hours, additionally planning their outing to exceed a couple of hours.
Realising the imminent disaster, Mizuki fell limply into her pillow.
To be fair, she brought this specific dilemma onto herself, claiming that she could finish the new mv by tonight due to her ‘treat day’. Of course, Kanade had pushed back, saying that Mizuki deserved that rest day without Nightcord activities if she wanted, but the pink-haired girl was adamant on finishing the video.
Groaning heavily, she pushed herself upright again, leaning onto the pillow she’d propped up.
‘You got this, Mizuki..’
Dragging her legs onto the side of her bed, one at a time, Mizuki slowly lifted herself off the mattress and into her pink slippers.
She wasn’t ‘sleepy’ tired. Her entire body just hurt.
Mizuki forced herself to step, one after another, to the bathroom to wash up and clean the mess. And find out the source of all this blood. And the pain.
Just everything. What happened overnight?
Was she going to.. die?
‘Be so for real..’ Mizuki mumbled, words barely escaping her mouth. Her arms were so heavy, but she needed to clean up.
Changing her stained clothes (including her ‘clean’ shirt), Mizuki held the pair of pants up to her eye level.
Wow. Whatever happened really made a big mess.
Gratefully, the whatever had begun to calm itself. Just over fifteen minutes after she’d woken up, Mizuki had managed to persevere and defeat the evil force of nature.
Throwing her dirtied clothes into a wash-tub and filling the basin with warm water, Mizuki swished the bloody fabrics around. She can’t think of anything that may have caused this whole predicament, especially so suddenly.
Mizuki chewed on how much liquid detergent to put into the tub. She’d never dirtied anything to this degree before. Even when she was younger and had no control over bodily functions, she’d just assumed that her mother could magically make every stain disappear.
Eventually, with the unhelpful encouragement of the pain in her gut beginning to rise again, Mizuki settled on half a cap. Surely, that would be enough. Trailing slowly, one arm supporting her stomach and the other leaning against the wall, the pink-haired girl made it back to the safety of her room.
Mizuki considered cleaning up the rest of the blood-stained problem. Her mattress and bed sheets were still patchy with deep crimson, and the smell was beginning to waft across to her desk.
Heaving loudly, to the audience of zero, Mizuki braced herself and tore the layers off her bed, making yet another trip to the washroom and letting the fabrics soak.
Turning off the rushing water for the second time, she clapped her hands together with the little energy that she could muster. ‘Okay Mizuki, you deserve to relax a bit.’
Slumping down onto her ergonomic desk chair, Mizuki allowed herself some down time, leaning back and shutting her eyes.
Mizuki was awakened by the unusually loud nightcord call ringtone, and the absolute hell that was assaulting her lower abdomen.
Grunting in pain, Mizuki swiped on her phone to the call, almost falling over her chair’s armrests as she gripped the sides of her stomach.
‘..Hello?’
‘Ah, Amia. You’re awake.’ A gentle voice echoed through her phone, a contrast to the pain echoing in her body. ‘Are you free at the moment?’
Could I really tell her no, I think I’m dying again?
‘Of course..! I wasn’t up to anything importa– gah!’ The pink-haired girl winced, a sharp feeling stabbing through her gut. ‘Anything important. What’s up?’
Sending a crackle through the cell, Kanade evidently tilted her head. ‘Mizuki? Are you alright?’
‘Perfectly fi–eek–fine.’
A distinct silence echoed through the call. Mizuki attempted to keep her voice quieter, hoping that Kanade wouldn’t suspect anything.
‘So what did you.. need from me?’
‘Ah. I was wondering whether we could meet in the SEKAI briefly, to discuss something.’
Did Mizuki really have it in her to go to their SEKAI in this state?
Yes. Yes, she did.
‘Oh, of course!’ Mizuki bit her lip, silencing the yelp she was about to release. ‘I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.’
The pink-haired girl heard a soft murmur from within the phone, before Kanade’s clear reply. ‘That sounds good. See you then, Mizuki.’
Great. Now all she had to do was find a way to relieve this pain before going to their SEKAI.
How was she supposed to do that?
Kanade ruffled through her bathroom cabinet, holding the two boxes with a third in her lap.
She didn’t really have a confirmation that Mizuki was going through this, however, Kanade could almost telepathically sense the cause of Mizuki’s sudden jolts of pain.
Kanade guessed that the pink-haired girl would already have a stash in her own bathroom, but just in case she was out and needed more.
Additionally swiping her back-up microwavable heating pad, Kanade placed the supplies in a spare shopping bag before heading off into the SEKAI.
Mizuki hopped into the SEKAI with zero hopes and less than zero desires to physically survive.
Kanade, however, gracefully phased into the empty space holding a plastic bag in one hand and her phone in the other.
It took all of Mizuki’s effort to prevent herself from bodyslamming the reflective floors, steadying herself with one of the reinforcements planted into the ground. She’d taken a painkiller, and purely hoped that the pain would hold off.
For now, it was her best shot at disguise.
The composer glanced around, waving to Miku in the distance before handing Mizuki her items. ‘I want you to listen to this demo. I changed some of the measures, and it might clash with your vision.’
Mizuki was mildly confused, taking both Kanade’s phone and the bag. ‘I.. can do that.’
She couldn’t tell whether Kanade was ignoring the obvious elephant in the room, as she skipped to the revised section of the composition. ‘Here you go.’
Right. I guess Kanade wants me to open her gift when we go back to the real world.
Kanade smiled to herself, watching as Mizuki head-bopped to the hauntingly sombre melody.
Phasing back into her room, Mizuki placed the bag onto her desk and herself into her chair.
Opening the handles, she peered inside to see two boxes and…a teddy bear.
Mizuki, tilting her head, lifted up the bear first. The weight to it was unusually heavy, and after inspection, Mizuki was certain that the bear’s body was filled with tiny beans.
To Kanade’s credit, it was slowly becoming colder, with the temperature outside dropping by the day, but a microwavabe teddy bear?
And so suddenly?
Continuing on with her utter confusion, the girl lifted one of the boxes, reading the label on the side.
‘Ultra-thin, leak-free, 100% comfort, regular..’
Oh.
Oh.
Kanade had given her pads.
…So, how exactly was Mizuki supposed to use them?
Mizuki gathered that she should be in the bathroom and unpeel the wrapping first, based on the three articles that she’d read about how to use a pad.
She wasn’t sure about the next few steps.
Did they even apply to her?
Setting the opened pad onto the floor, Mizuki decides to call upon another valiant knight to help her through these trying times. Kanade had helped enough, providing her with the sanitary supplies that she’d honestly forgot existed. Asking Ena would entail a barrage of questions, and the pink-haired girl really did not want to answer any.
Even with a sister, Mizuki barely paid attention to this matter.
The only other option that she really had was to ask Mafuyu. Surely Mafuyu wouldn’t have too many questions, right?
This whole.. predicament.. was taking enough out of her physically. Mizuki was struggling to breath without effort, inhaling and exhaling as if a weight was forcing against her. She really didn’t want to further the emotional impacts.
Holding her phone to her ear, Mizuki prayed that Mafuyu would be free (and hopefully, in private) to assist her.
It took two and a half rings to get through.
‘Hello, Amia.’
Mizuki had never been so relieved. ‘Hi Yuki! Sorry to bother, are you available right now?’
Soft rustling of paper sounded through the speaker, before Mafuyu grunted a reply. ‘Sure, what did you need?’
‘How do you use a pad?’ Mizuki glanced downwards at her lower body, the decomposition scent increasing.
Mafuyu paused. Mizuki’s heart rate spiked, a sudden dizziness rising to her head
‘Mizuki, you’ve never used one before?’
‘..No?’ Mizuki coughed uncomfortably. ‘Should I have?’
Mafuyu paused again. If Mizuki wasn’t focusing on her own body deciding to teeter between reality and the dizziness, she’d be more concerned.
‘Alright then.’ Mafuyu’s sudden reply broke the silence, drawing the pink-haired girl back to the world. ‘Everyone starts somewhere.’
Mizuki, after breaking down about three more times in the confines of the bathroom, sighed a breath of relief as the pad was safe and secure in place. ‘Yuki, thank you so much for your help.’
‘It was nothing. I have alot of pads that I no longer need, if you want them as well.’
..no longer?
Mizuki scrunches her brows at the statement, before deciding that she is excessively reading into the situation. ‘That would be great, you’re the best!’
‘I’ll bring them over through the SEKAI when I’m free.’ Mafuyu promises, before hanging up with another click.
Great. Now I won’t free-bleed.
..If that’s even a thing.