-ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴛᴡɪɴᴇᴅ ᴘᴀᴛʜꜱ, ʟᴏꜱᴛ ᴏɴ ᴀ ᴅɪɢɪᴛᴀʟ ᴄᴀɴᴠᴀꜱ-

Boundaries

Kanade's POV:

Type... type...type...

Click... scroll... click...

Flick... write... trash

Click.

Tick...tick... tick...

0:55 am.

"Oh hey, K! You're here early."

A familiar voice rang through the monitor as I entered the Nightcord video call.

"Ah, Amia." I said with a gentle smile. Looks like Mizuki's on time today. "Yeah, I got here a few moments ago. The new demo is almost done."

"Haaa... Kanade, hard-working as ever. Though don't push yourself too hard, ok?"

At that moment another person popped into the call.

"Oh, Kanade, Mizuki, you guys are early." It was Ena.

"Yep! Or maybe Enanan is just late~" Mizuki teased. I laughed a bit as Ena and Mizuki started going back and forth as usual.

After settling down, Ena's eyes darted around her screen and she sighed. Huh?

"Hey, Ena. Is everything quite alright?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

"Ah... K. Observant as ever." She laughed nervously. "It's just that... Mafuyu..."

Oh. Right.

My eyes drooped down a bit and so did everyone else's.

Mafuyu...huh...

2 weeks ago.

"My mother... she... she took my synthesiser."

"She WHAT?!"

"Yeah... she said it would help me focus on my studies..."

"Mafuyu... that's..."

"She also took my laptop..."

"Huh?!"

"She said that she spilt coffee on it whilst using it... it's at the repair shop now. I can still use my phone to access Nightcord and write lyrics on notes but..."

Back to present.

"..." There was an uncomfortable silence in the call as we all recollected our thoughts from last week. Despite Mizuki's advice to Mafuyu when they met a few days ago to find an escape, to run away, despite us still being able to communicate over Nightcord and even meet up for after parties...

It's not enough. There is no way Mafuyu can bear this whole thing on her own, especially not when living with her mother...

"Hey... you know we can't do much about it right now. We can still text her, maybe even ask to meet up but it's all very risky..." Mizuki sighed. She wasn't wrong, anything we say to her could be monitored.

"You're right, but still, what if something worse happened? She said herself at the after party for our video last time that the lyrics would be delayed and she hasn't said anything for a week, it probably means something's gone wrong!" Ena yelled worriedly.

She's not wrong... after her equipment got taken away I doubt her mother's going to keep her eye off her anytime soon.

...

"I think that, for the meantime," I sighed. "We should try our best to contact her and do as much work as we can for the new song. Even if it's not a lot, I want there to be a sense of calm and peace for Mafuyu when she's not here with us."

"Y-yeah... you're right Kanade. Let's get back to work shall we?" said Mizuki.

...

"Amia, I've finished the sketch. Let me know how it is, I sent the file to you in the group."

"Ok!"

...

"The demo for the main half of the song is done, I'll send it over so you guys can get started on the storyboard."

"Alright, thanks K."

...

"Hey, Yuki? Could I have the ly- ah... right... sorry."

...

"Could I take a look at the lines for this verse- o-oh..."

...

"Hey hey Mafu- haaa.... whoops..."

...

It's really eerie with the fact that Mafuyu's not here and is in a difficult situation. Everyone's been really quiet for a while now, it's already 3am as well.

"Haaa... how about we take a break for a while then, yeah?" suggested Mizuki. "Go get some water, a snack and stuff ok? I'll be right back."

"Alright..."

I went to the kitchen whilst the other two muted to get something to eat as well and found the stash of instant cup noodle in the box in the cupboard. It only took a minute or two in the microwave before I could go back to my desk. Mochizuki-san has noticed I've started skipping meals again due to working more now, so I'll make sure I've eaten something to prevent her from worrying.

I got back only to see Ena and Mizuki looking down at their phones in shock.

"Huh? Sorry, did I miss something whilst I was gone?"

"K! Look at the message in the Nightcord group chat!"

I picked up my phone whilst chewing at a bit of noodle and when I saw the notification I almost spat it out.

———————————————————————————————————
Nightcord  || 03:06
Nightcord @25:00
Yuki: Sorry for my inactivity, but I have something to say everyone.
———————————————————————————————————

"Mafuyu?!" I exclaimed softly.

I clicked on the notification immediately and saw a few more messages from Mizuki and Ena.

Enanan: Yuki! It's fine but what is it? Are you alright?

Amia: Waahhh?! Yuki's back? What is it you need to say?

K: Mafuyu?

Yuki is typing...

We all intensely waited for her to finish typing her message.

It loaded in on my page and I heard a few gasps from the call.

Yuki:

I'm temporarily leaving Nightcord. I'm very sorry everyone.

Author's note: This came out a lot earlier than I expected lmao. Hope you enjoy the book as there will be more updates and feel free to leave any suggestions for the future plot too!

858 words.