Crystalshipping (Mana/Mazaki Anzu)
. . .
"And this is our current stage manager since the usual one is out sick—oh, goodness, Miss Mazaki, are you all right?"
Anzu flushed as she quickly bent down to grab the scattered pages from the script she had dropped. Oh, gosh, she couldn't believe she had just done that in front of the director for her first ever big stage production! Right when she was being introduced, too—except...she had a reason for dropping everything all over the place...
"Oh, gosh, are you okay?" the high voice said. "Here, I'll help!"
The girl popped down to help Anzu gather up all the pages, smiling brightly as she handed them over.
"T-thanks," Anzu said, trying not to stare. "W-what did you say your name was again?"
The girl laughed as she stood, her sand blond hair bouncing behind her as though it had its own gravity, the pale strands framing her round, dark face.
"I didn't say my name yet," she said, holding out a hand for Anzu to stand up. "I'm Mana, the current stage manager! It's great to meet you Miss Mazaki!"
Anzu felt her cheeks going even redder under that sparkly emerald gaze, and she took the hand offered her to help her up.
"It's...nice to meet you, Miss Mana," Anzu said.
"You can just call me Mana," Mana said with a laugh, the same laugh that Anzu remembered from that long ago time in a shadowy memory world from ancient Egypt, a memory that honestly shouldn't be existing right in front of her right now. "I'm gonna be doing my best to take care of you and everyone for this production! Let's work hard together!"
She extended her hand with a smile that could light up a universe, and Anzu smiled shyly back as she accepted the handshake.
"Thank you," she said. "You can call me Anzu—I hope we can work together well."
It was incredibly strange to see a girl that was supposed to have died three thousand years ago bouncing around the backstage, wielding stage-building tools or a headset or flapping a script at other stagehands while running scene changes, but Anzu supposed she had experienced far weirder things. And you couldn't just ask someone if they remembered meeting each other in a time pocket in ancient Egypt. That would be weird.
"Ah! Anzu, you look beautiful!"
Anzu blushed as she turned around slowly to look at her first test of the costuming in the mirror. Mana sat on a chair behind her, kicking her legs back and forth with a sparkling smile on her face.
"You're going to be amazing," Mana said bouncing up and down. "I can't wait to see you from backstage!"
"I just hope I don't mess up my lines," Anzu said. "Some of the pronunciation is hard for me…"
"Oh hush! I've seen you rehearse, you're amazing! You memorized all of those lines and they're in a language that's not even your first one! I'm actually jealous—I mess up English all the time and I've lived here my whole life!"
Anzu had to laugh at that, and they giggled for a minute together.
"Thank you, Mana," she said, gripping the folds of her dress in both hands. "I hope some of that confidence of yours rubs off on me!"
Mana hopped up from her chair and threw her arms around Anzu's shoulders.
"I can be confident cause I know you're amazing!" Mana said, giggling as she dropped her chin onto Anzu's shoulder. "You know, it's really funny—sometimes I think that I knew you before we met, and that's why I know that you're as tough and awesome as you are!"
Anzu's breath caught a bit. Was Mana saying…did she remember, somehow, the memory world where Anzu had first seen her?
But then Mana only giggled again, and pecked Anzu on the cheek.
"Good luck with the dress rehearsal! And send some my way too, I feel like we might need it for those scene changes!"
"You guys will be great," Anzu said, feeling her cheeks burn from the quick kiss, and hoping Mana didn't notice how badly she was blushing.
"Thanks!" Mana said. "Break a leg!"
And then she was bouncing out the door, leaving Anzu sitting there with a hand pressed to her cheek and an awkward smile on her face.
. . .
A/N: I like this ship way too much guys, I need to write more of it. Next is Crypticshipping (Rishid x Shadi).
