astr0nomies

[astr0nomies]

feeling blessed that i got astronomy autism not n4zi autism

[astr0nomies]

mizu5 - warning it's LONG and the quality of the images are shitty

Mizuki’s 5th focus ended months ago. Despite that, it was (and still is) a significant and impacting event, similar to the “What lies behind, what lies ahead” event (also a Mizuki focus). I’ll start by explaining that and give you a bit of background.

In  “What lies behind what lies ahead”, Mizuki feels unable to connect with and get closer to the members of Nightcord. In the cards, while both Ena and Mizuki are Hermits, Mizuki's Hermit is inverse, which flips the meaning from searching to concealment. The cards are also flipped, with Mizuki facing right and Ena facing left. Ena is searching for Mizuki, and Mizuki is hiding from Ena. 

In episode 2, after celebrating that their newest song blew up, the group runs into An, who’s been friends with Mizuki since middle school. Ena asks what Mizuki was like at school, and before An can answer, Mizuki cuts her off nervously. “H-Hey, Ena~ Why’re you asking this out of the blue?!”, after this, Ena replies that she’s always teasing her, so she wanted to ‘get some dirt’ on her too. Mizuki gets anxious about what An would say, but thankfully, she doesn’t reveal anything, saying that she’s a ‘free spirit’. In episode 3, Mizuki thinks about revealing her secret to N25, but she quickly pushes the thought down as flashbacks of her past (bullying her for who she was after she changed) pop up. In episode 8, Ena confronts Mizuki about her behaviour. Ena then says “If you ever feel like you want to confide in me, go ahead. I can wait until then.” “I’ll wait forever if I have to.” Mizuki lies about being okay, and asks Ena to wait for her to reveal what’s been on her mind. “Honestly, I haaate waiting, but I’ll do it just for you.”

Mizuki then says “I lied to her just now. I mean, if I never tell her the truth, I might be able to stay with her forever.” 

The event ends there, with Mizuki hiding a secret.

Back to Mizu5, “Where does the path of thorns lead to?”

Mafuyu manages to connect with her dad, and this makes Mizuki want to move forward too. She doesn’t want to run away anymore, she wants to tell Ena the truth. Kamiyama High School (the school where Ena and Mizuki go to) is preparing its annual culture festival. Mizuki decides to tell Ena after the festival. After Nightcord does all the festival events, it’s sunset (the sunset detail is important here, as in "What lies behind, what lies ahead", Ena's confrontation of Mizuki is also on the rooftop at sunset) and Mizuki asks Ena to meet on the rooftop. However, Mizuki gets called by another classmate to help them since a student from her class got hurt, so she tells Ena to wait for her on the rooftop. Whilst Ena’s waiting for Mizuki, 3 students also enter. They confront Ena, asking her about Mizuki. Student A asks Ena if she’s a guy too, which confuses her. Ena asks what they mean, and Student A replies with “…No, that’s why I’m sayin’ my bad. I was thinking you were an ordinary girl--“ and mentions that Mizuki ‘isn’t hiding it after all’, this confuses Ena even further. She puts the pieces together and realises that Mizuki is transgender (she was a boy, and now she’s a girl). Mizuki enters the rooftop as if on cue, having heard everything, and episode 7 ends there. In episode 8, we get a notification in-game before it starts, saying “After this story, Mizuki Akiyama will not appear in the [Real World] temporarily. Are you all right with proceeding?”.

Mizuki runs away from Ena crying, and Ena chases after Mizuki. Once she catches up, Mizuki starts mentioning how she should’ve said it earlier and how she knows that Ena wasn’t judging her for her identity, she was just surprised. Mizuki then says “I’m sure, starting from tomorrow too, you’d talk to me as if nothing happened...! Kanade too… and Mafuyu too…! I’m sure they’ll just say [so that’s how it was]…! They’ll work, like the usual, as if it were natural…! And that on the next day, and the next day, and the next day, everyone, won’t ever change — you’d… ‘have me think’ that…! That’s, just everyone’s… kindness… The truth is, it’s warm, and I’m sure it’s really… a good thing…! But… but!! To me, for that kindness to end up being born within everyone — I can’t help but… hate that!!” Mizuki then pushes Ena away, saying: “…….Sorry. For not talking about it this whole time… Sorry. For not facing you — sorry.” and after this, Mizuki runs away, leaving Ena to call out to her. Episode 8 ends.

In-game, after you finish this episode, Mizuki doesn’t appear in the real world anymore. She rarely appears in the sekai. Ena doesn’t tell any of the members of Nightcord what happened. 

This whole event is a direct parallel to the “Secret Distance” event. In “Secret Distance”, Mizuki moves forward, embracing her identity. In “Where does the path of thorns lead to?”, she’s distancing and isolating herself from N25. 

These are both in the same room. In the first image, it’s bright and cute, and it shows an unfinished dress. The second image is darker, but it’s the same room. This shows what the finished dress looks like, minus the red pieces. Mizuki has her eyes covered, showing that despite her secret being revealed, she’s still running away, afraid to confront it. It’s stripped of its cute and pink identity, leaving shades of dull blues and greys instead.

In “Bake no Hana”, Mizuki’s 5th focus song, she doesn’t sing with anyone apart from KAITO (Virtual Singer), this is also similar to “IDSMILE”, Mizuki’s 1st focus song, where she doesn’t sing with anyone but MEIKO, showing how although she moved forward, she’s been keeping them at arm’s length for a long time. In “Bake no Hana”, Ena also doesn’t sing with anyone apart from KAITO, which shows her confusion toward everything and her focus on finding Mizuki, especially because she’s off-beat in one part of the song. The song is 1:59 long, just one second away from 2:00. It’s done that way deliberately to show how she doesn’t want 25:00 (1 am) to end or for the group to disband (Nightcord at 25) because of her secret (it’s fear).