The world was filled with some of the most wonderful sounds.
The gentle ruffling of leaves as the wind rolls through the park filling you with a sense of profound calmness. The distant sizzle of breakfast being prepared early in the morning enveloping your home with a familiar feeling of comfort. The delicate twinkling of a windchime among the rhythmic buzzing of cicadas during a cool summer evening.
Life is full of sounds that evoke a special feeling or treasured memory, that are so deeply intertwined to our very beings. What may be noise to one, might be a joyous cry to another. We all carry with us a treasure trove of sounds, a soundtrack of our collective existence.
Delighted giggling echoed through a sparsely populated park, tinkling laughter wafting through the canopy of trees as a pair of students strode casually side-by-side down the paved walkway, the sun shining down from above reflecting off of the light coating of condensation dripping from the drinks in their hands. After Mizuki's classes had ended for the day, and Ena's night classes were yet to begin, the pair had decided to meet up and check out a new Boba place that the pink-haired girl had heard about on the news.
Never one to reject a chance at getting a couple of selfies for her social media page, Ena had readily agreed to meet up with her fashion-inclined friend, the pair wiling away the afternoon in the gentle shade of a nearby park, their peaceful solitude only broken by an occasional passerby. Taking a sip of her iced milk tea, its delectable taste sending a thrill of joy down her spine, Ena glanced at her friend and bandmate from the corner of her eye, Mizuki animatedly gesturing with her hands as she regaled her with another story of Rui's many failed creations.
"So, you see, Rui's new invention just bolts, right? It just goes and he, being who he is, failed to build in a remote off-switch, so it gets all the way to the track field before he even has a chance at catching up with it. And, as luck would have it, it is right as they are having the prefecture-wide track meet. They are rounding the last lap right as this metallic monstrosity lurches onto the track and just, BLOWS UP, the finish line. Without the finish line, they weren't able to declare a winner and the whole thing ends in disaster. Suffice it to say, Rui now has several weeks' worth of detention."
Mizuki ended her story by throwing her head back as she let out a boisterous round of laughter, her eyes closed as peels of ecstatic giggles passed her lips and drifted to the blue sky above, the pink-haired girl a vision of pure bliss. As the pink-haired girl giggled merrily at the memory of her friend's unfortunate circumstances, her laughter continuing unabated, Ena continued to stare at Mizuki, a soft smile subconsciously curling on her lips.
To Ena, amongst all of the wondrous sounds surrounding them, from the birds singing in the trees to the gentle crunch of gravel beneath their shoes, this was her most favorite one of all. In the whole world, with all of its beauty and wonder, nothing made her heart soar more than hearing the joy in Mizuki's voice when they laugh. It was bright and cheery, so free and unrestrained, Mizuki letting out all of her happiness and joy in a single beautiful exclamation of beauty.
It was something Ena loved more than anything.
Wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, a couple of straggling giggles passing her lips, Mizuki turned her head toward her brown-haired friend, Niigo's resident editor quirking a curious eyebrow as they noticed the other girl's stare. Jumping slightly, a soft blush coloring her cheeks, Ena quickly averted her gaze, internally chastising herself at being caught staring like some love-struck fool.
Having caught the short-haired girl in her unintended staring, Mizuki began to snicker softly as a smug smile curled on the corner of her lips, Ena's eye already twitching in annoyance at what was guaranteed to follow, having been on the receiving end of her friends endless teasing untold amounts of times.
"Hmm, Ena? Whatcha looking at?" Leaning in closer to the painter's side, mouth quirked into an almost catlike grin, Mizuki's pink eyes glimmered with mischief as she got uncomfortably close to Ena's face.
"Nothing." Ena huffed in annoyance as she angrily averted her gaze, the blush on her cheeks darkening slightly at how close Mizuki was standing to her, the pink-haired girls piercing gaze practically burning a hole into the side of her head.
"Eeeh? Really? Did maybe something of interest catch your eye? Or were you just admiring how cute I was?" Clearly not believing the artist's obvious lie, Mizuki felt a giddy joy within her chest as she annoyingly needled her friend with questions, her voice taking on a familiar teasing tone that Ena could frankly do without at the moment.
"Hmph, as if! You wish." Shooting the fashion-conscious girl an annoyed glare, all Ena managed to do was cause Mizuki to giggle softly before bursting out into full-blown laughter, the pink-haired girl hunching over slightly as she grabbed her sides with delight. Glaring angrily at her bandmate, her incessant laughter echoing gently through the leaves, Ena's annoyance slowly washed away as she listened to Mizuki's delighted giggles, a warm smile replacing the frown on her face.
Yeah, Mizuki may be annoying, like all the time, but…she wouldn't trade hearing her laugh for anything in the world.
A/N: Laughter is the best medicine.
So, being the smart person that I am, I decided to start up a new fanfic. This one will be mainly used as a way to just get out quick, short, little chapters, to get that creative flow going, so updates may be a bit sporadic. But! I do have a whole bunch of chapters planned for this story so I hope you enjoyed this and look forward to more in the coming future.
I've been wanting to write a Project Sekai fanfic, and a MizuEna one specifically, for quite a while. The two of them are absolutely adorable, something Mizuki would surely be pleased to hear, and I look forward to getting to write some sweet little moments between the two of them.