Mizuha/Plot

Plot
Five hundred years after Fushi began spreading his roots throughout the entire world, Mizuha overlooks a city from a field on her way to school. Yuki Aoki, Mizuha's junior, calls her name repeatedly, and when she turns around, he presents her favorite hairtie that she'd left behind.

While Aoki and the rest of the Occult club are in their club room and thinking about what a "peaceful world" would be like, Mizuha joins them, explaining that she left the Naginata club. Shortly after, she leaves and makes her way home. After she arrives home, she only has a short moment to relax before her mother comes in and tells her about a girl from another floor of the apartment building, entering into an important ballet tournament. She offers Mizuha to try ballet as well, oblivious to the fact that she had already won the tournament when she was ten. After Mizuha tells her about this, her mother proudly takes a picture with her. However, as soon as Mizuha mentions that she wants to take a break, her mother becomes quiet. Mizuha backtracks almost instantly and adds that it'd be only for a day. After her mother leaves, she goes outside onto the balcony of the apartment and thinks that she wants to die.

A few days later, Aoki notices that the roots covering an old building on the school grounds stopped growing all of a sudden. He tries to set up a meetup for the next Saturday and asks Hanna to invite Mizuha, but she refuses, stating that Mizuha's mother is very strict and wouldn't let her go. Mizuha overhears this conversation and promptly invites herself.

On Saturday morning, Mizuha says goodbye to her parents and is about to exit the apartment, but her mother tries to stop her, reminding her that she would have lessons that day. Mizuha says that she has already told her teachers that she'd take the day off and quickly leaves. At the roadside, she meets her grandfather, who offers to give her a lift to wherever she wants to go. However, before Mizuha can get into the car, her mother is already behind her and tells her that she would be doing personal studies instead. Mizuha refuses at first, saying that she was allowed a day off, but her mother angrily grabs her wrist and pulls her back. Mizuha frees herself from her mother's grip and succumbs to her will.

Supposedly after the weekend, Mizuha decides to join the Occult Club. Aoki promptly invites her to come over to his house to meet Fushi, but this time Mizuha refuses because of her lessons. After hearing Fushi's name, she grips her left arm and gets lost in thought for a moment. Soon after that, the school bell rings and a boy appears to tell Mizuha that a third-year wants to talk to her. Before she leaves, she tells Aoki that his family sounds really nice.

After she leaves, Hanna reveals a bit about Mizuha's middle school time: She used to be very lonely and was probably poorly treated by her classmates and teachers because she had to carry a tower of books all by herself. Mizuha and Hanna become friends.

The next time Mizuha appears is during a field day practice session. A girl intentionally steps on her foot, causing Mizuha to fall and hurt her ankle. A group of girls tries to help her afterward, but instead, a boy approaches and lifts Mizuha up to carry her in his arms. This upsets the girls and they start crying. After Mizuha arrives in the nurse's office, Hanna excuses herself to check on her. She says that she wants to help Mizuha and that she sees her as her friend. Mizuha gets up and asks her if she would cry if she dies. Hanna is a bit overwhelmed and doesn't answer immediately, which makes Mizuha pull back and excuse herself. She leaves the school and meets Fushi on her way home.