A/N: I think this chapter would offend some people. I'm sorry if this is in bad taste, but I'm going to use it to try to get my message across.
Mutsumi comes home, finding everyone there; everyone. She's taken aback at first, as they all turn to look at her. They open their mouths, bringing her to her knees on the verge of tears. She reaches out, her vision blurred but she could see six figures all reach out to help her up. On her feet again, she wipes her face dry and flashes everyone a sad smile. Her sisters pull her to their side, nearly crushing her in an embrace. She lets her body go lax, resting on one of their shoulders. They say something to her.
"I won't. Thank you...and sorry."
"Talk about bad luck!" Mutsumi yells as she looks at the paper Itsuki is holding. Five of the six sisters stand around the apartment, Nino and Miku are in the kitchen while Yotsuba is with Mutsumi and Itsuki looking at papers.
"It's so hot~" Yotsuba fans herself with another paper. She turns off the TV, it was the news on a break-in nearby and a few missing people reports; it was making all of their moods lousy.
"It's the perfect time to go to the beach! Let's go!" Nino says as she and Miku make lunch. She's been wishing for that for days now.
"Give it up, we have more important things to worry about." Miku starts cleaning up the scraps that weren't used. Miku wanted to go to the mountains, a nice quiet place to relax.
"It's still hard to believe that we have to move out so soon. It's going to be sad to see this place go." Itsuki comments as she rereads the notice that tells them of this building's slated demolition.
"Is it really that hard to believe? Look at this." Mutsumi hits the wall, causing the light to flicker for a moment. "Whether we like it or not, we gotta let go of this place."
"Ichika's trying to find us a place, we'll just have to wait for the results of the call." Miku says. She and Nino sit down at the kotatsu.
"And we still have half a year before we have to move out. Around December is our deadline, right?" Yotsuba asks. She fans her face harder, causing her ribbon to tickle Itsuki's nose.
"Yes, but that'll right in the middle of exam week. We'd better move out earlier so we don't panic about it while taking the tests." Mutsumi starts eating.
"Still, even though it's not the best home..." Miku looks around. "We had so many memories here together."
"Oh! Will there be any reparations?" Nino asks. The look of opportunity in her eyes is dazzling
"So pragmatic..." Yotsuba laughs.
"I'll ask Ichika." Itsuki says, getting up.
The rest of them go quiet. It was awkward, nobody talked or had any idea what to say.
"Who's going to tell Fuutarou?" Miku asks, saving all of them from the silence. "He hasn't come to visit since summer break started."
"Either you, Itsuki, or Nino. I'm busy and you all know where to find him. Go try it, ms. top score." Mutsumi says. Just then, Itsuki comes in with a look of worry on her face.
"Ichika's up to something again. What's she planning?" She thinks silently. Miku glances towards her, which prompts everyone else to do the same. "Ah, sorry." She sets her hand down.
"I..." Mutsumi sighs as she can't sleep. "Do they hate me? Maybe I'm just overthinking things, like Miku said..." She gets up, leaving the room and going into her bag and pulls out a small box, along with some paper. She pulls out a miniature microphone and attaches it to the back of her shirt, an oversized black tee.
"They filtered their words because they were talking to me, but if they think that they're only talking to themselves then they'll.." She slaps her face a little. "I shouldn't do this...I'll be tricking them again...but if I ask them, then nothing will change; they'll still sugarcoat things to not hurt my feelings. I..." She laughs a little at herself. "Great...now I'm just basically fishing for affection." After some debate, she decides to proceed with her plan.
She takes the paper, writing lies on it. "Dear Fuutarou-san, I've decided to run away from home. I just can't live with myself after my actions in Kyoto. I'm fairly certain that my sisters want me gone, even though they would probably say otherwise. If I try to ask them, they won't tell me the truth, hiding their true feelings to keep from hurting mine. Please take care of them in my absence. By the time you see this, I'll already be go-" She stops, leaving the rest blank. She makes sure to not finish it, to make it seem like she fell asleep while writing it. She checks to see if the mic will stay on until morning before holding the pencil in her hand and pretending to sleep.
Nothing happens for a while, then sleep actually takes her. In the morning the next day, the paper is gone. She looks around, nobody's home. It's around noon, the house is empty. "We're moving out tomorrow. I might as well pack up while I wait for them to get back." She stretches her back, finding a covered plate of food with her name on it. "Hmm, Miku left this for me? Was she the one that saw it?" She thinks as she eats her late breakfast, some fish and rice. "It's still warm..."
She removes the mic and her recorder, leaving it on the Kotatsu, planning to check it later. She starts packing her things, starting with her hats. The beret from Fuutarou, a snapback that she uses often for casual disguises, and a fedora for formal ones. "I've always been dishonest, huh?" She mutters to herself as she spots Rena's sunhat among them.
She finishes packing her clothes, a lot of tee-shirts and pants, and goes to listen to the recording, the first thing she hears is the sound of police sirens. "Mutsumi. I know you're recording me. Which is why I swapped what I said last night with the recording you're hearing now." Her sister says, her disguised voice pairs with the bad quality of the mic to make it indistinguishable. "You're planning something on your own again. I can't say I appro-" She stops it.
"They knew. Then it's pointless to try again. Whoever it was will probably tell the others and they'll all just keep trying to stop me from running away." She thinks to herself. "She managed to swap the real recording with this one while I was packing. That, coupled with the fact that my food was still warm, means that they were here. She might've left already, only staying to swap the recordings probably." Her hand drifts to the front of her mouth.
"Damn it!" She curses herself. "What will they think of me now?" She paces around, scratching her head until she hears a knock on the door.
"We're home! Mutsumi, can you let us in? Our hands are full." Yotsuba yells from outside.
"Oh, so you started packing our stuff while we were out. Thanks." Ichika says, looking around.
"What's in the bags?" Mutsumi asks as her two sisters set down half a dozen paper bags.
"Nino and Itsuki wanted us to buy some special ingredients, we also needed to restock our fridge." Yotsuba rubs her arms.
"Looks like these two aren't in the know. They haven't even asked about it. Gotta play it cool, I can get the truth from them if I don't tip them off." She thinks silently. "Couldn't you have waited? We're going to be moving out tomorrow."
"They were really pushy for some reason. Even Miku wanted us to get these." Ichika said, bending down and reaching for a stick of butter. "From the looks of it, they're going to be baking."
"Oooh, what's the occasion?" Mutsumi asks, scanning the two.
"Maybe it's to say goodbye to this place." Yotsuba says, adjusting her ribbon. Mutsumi decides to go back to packing. "Why did you write that letter by the way?"
"You knew?" Mutsumi turns around, shocked. "But I didn't...they hid their tells..." She smirks slightly. "You two are getting better at lying."
"Answer the question, Mutsumi-chan. Are you really planning on leaving again? Do you really not believe us when we say that we're not mad?" Ichika asks, putting the butter in the fridge.
"You won't understand sis... Let's just give it a rest." Mutsumi sighs.
"No, we want answers." Yotsuba puts her foot down. She's quite intimidating whenever she gets this serious.
"..."
"She wanted the truth." Miku says, walking through the door. "She knows that we won't tell her how we really feel unless we're either pushed too far, or think we're talking to ourselves."
"Where's Nino and Itsuki?" Ichika asks, looking outside to see the two of them talking on the phone.
"Talking to dad." Miku says. "Let's talk, just us sisters."
"Mutsumi, explain yourself." Itsuki says as they all sit around the Kotatsu. "Why resort to this? Do you not trust us?"
"It's not that...I just..." Mutsumi can't find the right words.
"Just what? Do you think we hate you?" Nino leans in.
"A little."
"Nobody here feels tha-" Ichika interjects
"Miku and Yotsuba do."
The table goes silent as attention shifts to those two.
"You do?" Nino asks, to which both reply.
"A little..." Yotsuba mutters.
"Look, I'm sorry for writing that and trying to trick you again. I don't want to deal with this. Goodnight." Mutsumi stands, walking towards her futon and going to bed.
That dream returns, the six figures all shining gold. Slowly, their luster fades, one by one they flicker out. "I'm...I've gone and done it again." She says as she stands in the void, the wind howling in her ear. "I've pushed them all away again."
"To think, we'd be back here again." Ichika says as the six of them step out.
"If I knew we'd be back so soon, I'd have stayed those few weeks instead of going back." Mutsumi jokes.
"Could you have handled it? That egg was pretty sad." Miku taunts. She's been quite good with her quips recently.
"Shuddap! I could've!" Mutsumi pouts, her face going red.
"This is only temporary though! We're still going to look for our own place!" Nino says, trying to not look excited at the thought of having a bed again.
"You're so stubborn." Yotsuba laughs. "Ah! My plants! They're probably all dead!" She cries out in pain.
"Fuutarou-kun was re-hired as our tutor. He should be allowed back inside." Ichika says as they step in the familiar building.
They enter their old home, it's spotless. "Hey Ichika..." Itsuki mutters under her breath.
"Hm?" Ichika turns to face her.
"Oh, It's nothing."
Yotsuba and Nino head into their rooms, Miku goes toward the kitchen. "What's up sis?" Mutsumi asks, catching Itsuki in deep thought.
"It's nothing. I'm just taking it all in again." Itsuki looks around the place.
"We bought those ingredients, let's have a party." Miku suggests, putting yesterday's groceries in the fridge.
"Good idea. Let's invite Fuutarou-san too." Mutsumi smiles. "They've stopped questioning me, for now." She sighs.
They finish moving all the boxes around 7:30 that night. Raiha calls Itsuki and they explain why they couldn't go to the beach. "Huh? You want to talk to them? Okay, sure." Raiha's voice says through the phone as Itsuki puts it to speaker mode.
"Hey it's me." Fuutarou's voice comes through the phone. They get mad at him for not checking his phone, but he gets to the point. "...Want to go to the pool?"
"Y-You're the one extending an invitation!?" Itsuki yells, in shock. "W-We can't we still have to finish the move tomorrow!"
"Oh, then how about the day after? Are you guys free then?" He asks.
"We should be...it's only unpacking anyway. We'll be there, you can bet on it." Mutsumi says as the call hangs up. "Crap...I don't have a swimsuit..." The fact dawns on her, and her sisters. The same idea runs through their head. "What kind of swimsuit would win him over?" The five of them think, almost like a hivemind.
"We should be finished by noon tomorrow. We all saved up our money to pay rent for the last place, we can use that." Ichika says.
"Time to go shopping!" Nino says excitedly as they all get ready to eat dinner.
"Yeah, she's overthinking again." Someone says in their room. "But I have a plan, we're going to save her, Fuu-kun." Nino says, the light from her phone illuminating her determined eyes.
"Alright, I'll get everyone. You and Miku will get the cake ready for tomorrow, right?" Fuutarou asks.
"Yeah. The two of us will take care of that. Yotsuba and Ichika will take care of decorations while Itsuki will keep her out of the house. We need to get through to her, before she does something drastic again. Meet me at the cake shop around three, I'll give you my keycard so you can get everyone in." She says as she hangs up. "I won't let that letter come true, I've decided that since I saw it that night!" Nino lies down on her bed.
"How about this?" Mutsumi holds up a one piece, a fairly concealing one at that.
"No!" Nino yanks it away from her. "You are not going in a one piece!" She pushes her to the side as all of them find their swimsuits for the pool.
"Ah! Mutsumi, how about this one?" Miku holds up a black monokini, a hybrid between a one piece and a bikini, with blue six pointed star patterns, the top would wrap around her right side to connect to around her thigh. "I think it'll look good on you." She holds it up, looking through it at Mutsumi. The sixth sister blushes, covering her waist with her arms.
"This was a bad idea! I'm going home!" She whines, chickening out due to her self-consciousness. Nino grabs her hand, pulling the two of them into a changing room. "What is it?"
"It was your idea to accept his invitation so early. Why are you so scared anyway? Where's your usual confidence?" Nino asks.
"I just...it doesn't feel like...I just can't pull off the look. I'm not as pretty as-"
"We're sextuplets! We have the same appearance! Here, try this on!" Nino shoves a purple flounce top with black dodecagons forming a net like pattern on it. one short stint in the changing room alone later, Mutsumi pulls aside the curtains and finds the other five waiting for her.
"It doesn't suit her, it's a bit too girlie." Ichika says. "How about something...bolder?"
"This maybe?" Yotsuba holds up a two piece, the top a white Bandeau with a black strip lining the bottom of it, the bottom the same white but the black is in a small skirt and in a few errand vertical stripes.
"This might work. Hurry and change into it!" Itsuki pushes Mutsumi back in and shuts the curtain.
"Is this better?" Mutsumi comes out sheepishly. "Isn't this a bit too...revealing?"
"Mine shows off more." Ichika comments, holding her swimsuit up.
"But it's you! Being seductive is like, your thing!" Mutsumi's words cause everyone to blush slightly.
"Then strike this pose." Ichika bends her body forward, using her arm to push her chest together and placing a finger on her lips. Mutsumi goes flush with embarrassment as she reluctantly mimics her sister. "Yes! That's perfect!" Ichika says as the sisters all agree to get that suit.
"Hey, Mutsumi..." Itsuki walks beside her as the two of them trail the other four.
"Yeah?"
"If you're too embarrassed, you can always wear this overtop of it." She hands her a white button up, a polo style and the length of a lab coat but thin enough to be comfortable and flowing.
"N-No, I'll be fine. But...maybe I'll use it."
"Are you hungry? Let's get some food before we get home." Itsuki suggests, her stomach growling.
"It's dark, I'm not so..." She thinks for a moment as she spots the sun going down. She checks the time on her phone, 19:54. "You know what, why not? Let's go."
Itsuki leads the way to a small diner, not empty, but not too crowded as well. The clock on the wall reads 20:00, and it wasn't too far from home, maybe 30 minutes at most. Itsuki sits down first.
"Mutsumi, the burgers here are..." She stops herself, hurriedly pulling out her phone. "Mutsumi's gone!" She calls Fuutarou.
"Where are you?"
"We're at...she couldn't have gotten far."
"Alright, I'll look for her, you go and help the others get ready. I left Takeda and the others at the apartment." Fuutarou says, hanging up.
"What am I doing?" Mutsumi thinks to herself. She's been running for the past six minutes to get to here. She took all the shortcuts possible to end up back at the lake ten minutes away from home. "Stupid...stupid! Why didn't you just believe them?" She mutters to herself as she takes a seat by the bushes.
"Haha...I'm such a fool. They just wanted to go shopping, I just had to go and ruin it." She blames herself as she hangs her head. "Miku was right, I overthink everything. I guess I should apologize to them soon." She thinks silently as footsteps approach her.
"It's lonely tonight, isn't it?"
20:10. The door opens to the Nakano suite. "I'm back." Fuutarou says, exhausted. He rests his hand against the wall and catches his breath.
"Where is she?" Nino was about to ask when...
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"The tracker!" Yotsuba yells as they pull out their phones. A black blip pops up, flashing once every two seconds. It's moving towards Fuutarou's house, but goes past it, going deeper into the slums until it reaches a certain street, a certain building. It moves maybe one or two pixels, but it appears to be trapped in that building.
"That street, it's club street! Most of the nightclubs can be found in that area!" Maeda peeks at Fuutarou's phone.
"She's in trouble. I'm going to get her, call the police." Yotsuba runs out the door, followed by Fuutarou.
"What else can we do?" Nino asks.
"Stay on call with the police, we can give them her location as long as that black marker is on your screen." Takeda suggests as he dials the authorities on his phone.
"I'll call dad, Ichika, call Yotsuba and Fuutarou, we'll keep them updated." Miku says, all that time in strategy general games keeping her calm. "I'll call Itsuki and tell her what happened. Matsui, there's an emergency kit in a drawer somewhere, find it just in case."
"Get away from me!" Mutsumi runs around a dark room, lit by a dark violet strobe light. "Let go!" She feels a hand grab her arm. She struggles and struggles, but the grip doesn't give her any wiggle room. They hold her down, forcing something down her mouth and blocking the door.
"She's quite a looker, isn't she?" A deep voice says from the darkness.
"Quite feisty too. I like them like that." A ragged voice says as she hears the licking of his lips.
Mutsumi backs herself into a corner, looking carefully at her surroundings and keeping her distance and trying to think of a plan to get out of this situation. "This is all my fault...but like hell am I going down without a fight!" She mutters to herself as she keeps pushing them away for the next 30 minutes.
"Mutsumi! You traitor!" Yotsuba's voice echoes from behind her.
"What?" Mutsumi turns around, finding nothing.
"How could you?! I thought I could trust you!" Miku's sounds off from her left. Mutsumi clutches her head.
"Calm down...calm down...they're at home! Stop! Stop it!" She mutters to herself as she hears chuckling coming from the other people in the room.
"How much time has passed?" The ragged voice asks as he pulls something out of a pocket in his shirt.
"A couple hours, she should be peaking by now." She could see a bright light, unsure of what it was.
"Hours? Has it been that long?" Mutsumi thinks as she looks right at the light. "What...it's so...colorful...what kind of light is that?" She touches the wall, feeling a pulse from it.
"This is definitely going viral!" The two of her captors laugh.
"Mutsumi~ Welcome baaaacckk~" Nino's voice whispers into her ear. She turns to find her face protruding from the wall, distorted with a twisted smile. "Don't ever leave again~" It shifts and contorts, flipping inside out and upside down.
Mutsumi screams, running all around the room trying to get away from the voices. "Get out! Get OUT OF MY HEAD!" She runs and bumps into some...thing? She couldn't tell, she didn't want to know anyway. She backs up on all fours, curling up in the corner of the room. "Stop it! Stop! Stop!" She keeps hearing the echoing voices in her head.
"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE COME BACK! YOU'RE LEAVING AGAIN! YOU'RE TEARING US APART! MUTSUMI~ MUTSUMI~" She rocks back and forth, clutching her head and covering her eyes. She feels a hand touch her back.
"Mutsumi! Are you okay?" She feels another hand take hers gently. "It's okay. It's okay..."
"That's most of the missing people from the reports." A cop says, talking to another as other officers take out a few men in handcuffs.
"We've found one of their phones open. They were recording them inside and using it as blackmail to get ransom money." Another says as Yotsuba and Fuutarou come out of the building, carrying Mutsumi on their shoulders.
"Thank you officer. We don't even want to think about what could've happened if you didn't arrive when you did." Fuutarou bows.
"Just doing our job. That device is really something, though. We wouldn't have been able to make this bust without it."
"Did you hear that Mutsumi? Mutsumi?" Yotsuba turns, finding her sister trembling and shivering. "It's okay...it's over now."
"Y-Yotsuba?" She asks before she starts giggling. "You saved my life, I love you!" She takes her arm off of Fuutarou and kisses Yotsuba on the cheek. Mutsumi reaches into her pocket, pulling out the tracker and pressing the button again to shut off the blip.
"Seems like they're using Lysergic acid. This is probably the peak portion, which is about 2 to 3 hours in." An officer says, looking at her watch that reads 11:30. "Get in, we'll take you home. She'll be like that for the next few hours."
The clock read around midnight as Fuutarou and Yotsuba enter the apartment. Mutsumi hangs in the hallway for a while, the voices whispering in her ear again. "Stop it...you're not real..." She tries fighting it off. She slowly reaches for the doorknob.
Mutsumi comes home, finding everyone there; everyone. She's taken aback at first, as they all turn to look at her. They open their mouths.
"Welcome home. We've been waiting for you." Miku says gently.
"Are you okay?" Ichika's face is concerned, but relieved.
"I'm so glad that you're back." Itsuki wipes away a tear of joy.
"Don't scare us like that again." Nino grumbles through a smile.
"Welcome home." Yotsuba extends her hand.
"You're safe." Yuusuke stands from his chair and breathes a sigh of relief.
"You're not hurt anywhere, are you?" Matsui holds out a roll of gauze.
"You had us worried there." Maeda smile, rubbing the back of his head.
"Mutsumi. Don't leave us again, we're here for you." Fuutarou's voice was calm and relaxed, it seemed to pass to everyone inside.
Mutsumi falls to her knees, trying desperately to keep from crying. Why was she crying, she didn't feel sad.
She reaches out, her vision blurred but she could see five figures all reach out to help her up. On her feet again, she wipes her face dry and flashes everyone a sad smile. Her sisters pull her to their side, nearly crushing her in an embrace. She lets her body go lax, resting on one of their shoulders.
"Please don't leave again. We love you, even if we fight, we'll always love you Mutsumi."
"I won't. Thank you...and sorry." She lets the tears flow out again, crying for what seems like hours to her. The voices fade as she looks around the room, it's bright and colorful. She sees something at the edge of her vision, six identical girls all smiling, looking down and pointing at them from the second floor. On the balcony, she sees a few familiar faces, her friends from overseas waving her goodbye with smiles. "Why is everyone here?" She asks.
"Umm actually...we uhh have a cake." Miku says, moving towards the fridge to get a plate with a nice nutty brown. "Nino and I..."
"Come on, let's not waste time then!" Mutsumi perks up, smiling and giggling.
"Just...what exactly happened there?" Matsui asks Fuutarou as Mutsumi takes the cake and cuts it into 10 uneven parts.
"It...wasn't pretty. Drugs..." Fuutarou says grimly. He winces at the words.
"You're telling me she's high right now? She was all panicky earlier!"
"Perhaps the drug in question increases the risk of anxiety attacks. But now that she's returned to a safe environment that euphoria has overtaken it."
"I can't be too sure..." The four of them look on at the siblings as Mutsumi puts some icing on Nino's nose. "But I guess this is a good trip for her...I think."
"Fuutarou-saaaann~ Have some cake!" Mutsumi walks up, holding out a slice on a plate. As he reaches for it, she pushes it into his face. The four of them snicker as Fuutarou licks his lips.
"Toffee." He laughs as he notices her skip away.
2:30. Mutsumi walks around, smiling and getting ecstatic when she touches something new. She wants to feel the cool breeze of nice, so she walks outside, finding Maeda and Matsui trying to sneak a kiss out of sight of the others. "Oh you two lovebirds!" She giggles as she turns her back and looks away.
"Mutsumi-san, can I ask something?"
"Shoot."
"Why did you run away?"
Mutsumi thinks for a while, audibly humming.
"I guess I was scared of them. Yeah, that sounds right."
"Scared of your sisters? Why?"
"Well, we got into a big fight back in Kyoto. And I went home on my own before the trip ended. I was scared that they were getting sick of my shit and that they were holding grudges."
"They probably don't hate you for it. After all, it's the little things like that that make relationships work. Take Maeda for example."
"Don't tell her, come on!"
"Yesterday, at the beach, Uesugi-kun hit him on the head. He wouldn't stop whining about it until sundown. He was so unmanly."
"Hahaha...true."
"I'm right here, you know!"
"But that just made me like him more. Those little things that make me happy and sad, they make Maeda Maeda."
"I think I get it...thanks Matsui. Enjoy your make out session!" She laughs as she leaves the two.
4:15. The high is dying down and everyone's gathered pillows and blankets, forced to sleep over by Mutsumi. "I'm glad you're back." Nino says, looking at Mutsumi.
"I'm glad too. I was so scared that you all hated me, but you all helped me." She hugs a pillow, rocking back and forth with a smile.
"Why would we hate you?" Miku asks, putting her headphones on Mutsumi's head and playing a slow calming song, Hearts Don't Break Around Here by Ed Sheeran.
"Well, I was the one that kept starting shit that got us in these kinds of situations. I was worried that you'd all had enough and would leave me."
"We'd never." Yotsuba say. She rests her head on Mutsumi's shoulder.
"But I did...six years ago. I left you all." Mutsumi sniffs loudly, even though she wasn't sick or crying.
"You didn't have a choice, it's not your fault." Itsuki puts an arm around Mutsumi.
"Still, I'm so glad that you all came for me. I...I don't want to be alone. I'm sorry, for everything."
"We're sorry too, we should've talked about this sooner." Ichika lays her head on Mutsumi's lap.
"Hahaha...it's just like that one time you let Fuutarou sleep on your thighs."
"You what?!" The sisters suddenly got a burst of energy at Mutsumi's last statement. For that high, nothing held back her words. She let everything out, confiding in her sisters.
"Oh, so you planned everything Nino?" Mutsumi pulled her into an embrace. "Thank you! I love you!"
5:20. Fuutarou wakes up, finding Mutsumi pouring herself a cup of coffee. "Don't worry, it's decaf." She says.
"You sleep well?" He asks, concerned.
"Not yet, I did some researching once I got a better grip on myself. I'm coming down now, the high's almost over. Whatever drug that was, it was an upper and gave me heightened sensory experiences. It also means that it pushed my tiredness to the side until it starts to end." She says, looking up at the sunrise out the window. "Thank you, Fuutarou-san. You've saved me from myself yet again."
"You should sleep soon. We can move the pool to tomorrow."
"No, we're going later today. I'll be fine by then." Mutsumi sips her coffee. "It was so scary. I was seeing and hearing all kinds of scary things."
"Things like?"
"Them. The voices were mad, they wanted me out of their lives."
"Is that how you thought of them?"
"A little."
"It's not true, you know."
"Yeah. I do now." They both just stare at the orange sky. "Fuutarou-san, I love you."
"Is that the drug talking?" He asks, surprised.
"Maybe." She smirks as she downs her coffee. "I'm going to sleep. I'll see you when I'm sober."
A/N: I'm not sure I did it justice. I tackled quite a few touchy subjects this time, drugs, kidnapping, and anxiety. I'm sorry if this is offensive, inaccurate, or a generalization of the circumstances. I have no personal experience with them except for anxiety, all events are purely based off of research and firsthand accounts from people I watched. (Misfits podcast ep 10). If I overstepped my boundaries, I can fully understand if people get angry. But I wanted to touch on these subjects in a manner that felt like a way for me to tell a story to insight conversation on the topics.