Chapter Text
A theatre is set up. Twenty-one seats, one big screen. Your friends have been missing, perhaps the only way to find them is to watch.
Blinking away the sleepiness in her eyes, Saki slowly came to her senses. She was in a room. Some sort of movie theatre? Honami and Shiho are on either side of her, Luka is next to Honami.
What is this? Some sort of SEKAI? Could… could her questions be answered? It’s all so strange, really. She was asleep in bed, then she appeared here?
She wasn’t even in her pajamas!
There were others that were waking up too. Honami, Shiho, and Luka were waking up… so was Haruka and her group mates. Actually, it seems everyone was waking up, like her.
Saki decided to see if someone knew where they were. “Hona-chan, do you know where we are?”
Honami shook her head, “Unfortunately not Saki, I was asleep in my house earlier, but it seems that when we all woke up we were here.”
Saki glanced to her other side, Shiho was scowling, “Why the hell are we here anyways?” Her gaze softened slightly when she saw Shizuku who was a row behind her, “Why is Onee-chan here as well?”
She heard yelling from above, gingerhead, oh! Tsukasa’s underclassman! Oh… Tsukasa has been missing for three days. She had checked with his troupe as well, but nobody had seen him.
Akito was yelling, “Hey! Why the hell are we here! Show yourself!”
Electronic-like static buzzing came from the speakers around the room. The voice sounded pouty, “Now is it so hard to be patient while I set everything up?”
There was a pause, a weird-looking KAITO who was sitting next to Tsukasa’s troupe decided to speak up. “Miku?”
There was a monotone looking Miku who spoke up, and Miku sat next to Asahina-senpai. “...Yes?”
KAITO shook his head, “My apologies, I didn’t mean you, I meant the voice.”
The speaker buzzed again, “It is me! Congratulations!” Speaker Miku’s voice paused as if waiting for applause, “Awh, so boring, but yes! It is I, Miku!”
Airi looked angry, “We were planning to see if we can find Minori today! Did you have to interrupt us?”
In Saki’s opinion, she sounded kind of sad, which is reasonable. Minori hasn’t been coming to school lately, nor has Kohane, to Shiho’s account.
“Oh! Right! Yes, your group members, the ones that have been missing! Hehe, so hilarious, is it not?”
That Miku was really annoying Saki, was Tsukasa’s disappearance entertaining to Miku? Was Icchan’s?
“I have information that you need in order to find them.”
Asahina-senpai and Tsukasa’s troupemate, Rui, perked up.
“Information to find Kanade?” Asahina-senpai questioned.
Rui muttered out loud, “To find them…” He looked at the speaker, “How do you plan to show us this information? Through that television?”
The speaker buzzed up with excitement, “Exactly! Now, tuck yourselves in, it’s time for the show to start!”
.-- .- - -.-. ....
Honami was in between Saki and Luka. The strange speaker told them to face the television.
There was a blank screen. Nothing was showing. How could this even help them find Ichika or Kanade in the slightest?
But sound started, flickers of a rich blue flickered throughout the screen, to show that it was working.
The anxiety is piling up. Is she not enough for them?
Honami thought out loud, “Is this… audio? It sounds familiar to me.”
Beside her, Saki nodded, Shiho seemed deep in thought and Luka looked like she caught on immediately.
The people behind and around them shuffled around.
A voice behind her, An, spoke up, “I think I heard this voice before, but how is this going to be able to help us find them?”
Akito kicked her in the shin, “Stupid, if we all recognize that voice, then it has to be one of them, right?”
The voice and color was awfully familiar to Honami, but something was preventing her from thinking too hard about it.
To the left of her, she heard Nene speak, “We know it’s a girl, and something with anxiety..?”
Honami frowned, that sounded like it described Kohane, but the color on the screen tells her it isn’t.
She tries as hard as possible to catch up to them, everything she has, but it’s clearly not enough. She’s behind. They deserve better, right?
Haruka looked like she was thinking of something, a little prodding from Airi caused her to speak up, “I hate to say it… but inferiority issues?”
Akito, Ena, and Nene looked vaguely uncomfortable at that.
Mizuki poked at Ena, and whispered something that sounded like, “I’m pretty sure it isn’t Kanade.”
No. Don’t think that. The others already said that she’s enough, that they wouldn’t leave her.
She blinked. The “leave” part of the audio was stressed, to put emphasis on. Middle school flashed in her mind.
Honami looked past Saki and at Shiho, she seems to have had a flashback of middle school briefly as well.
Emu looked unhappy at this piece, but Honami supposes that she doesn’t like anything that would make people sad.
They say that she’s the reason why they’re all together, but that’s false. It wasn’t her. Stop. Don’t think that. If they say that she’s enough, then she’s enough. Right?
The reason why they’re all together? So someone that helped and led to the making of the group?
Shizuki perked up at that, but seemed to deflate seeing the voice say it’s false. Honami could hear her whisper to Airi about how, “It’s describing Minori-chan,” but Airi rejected that saying, “It doesn’t feel like it though.”
The quiet Miku spoke up, “I think the person that’s speaking really relies on the opinions of her friends to determine her self worth.”
It sounded awfully familiar.
Just continue to write these lyrics, it’s the least she can do after all. After all, she doesn’t deserve them, she doesn’t deserve them after all what she is, she’s not enough to even stand by them.
Shiho stood up from her seat at that first part, shaking. “Lyric? So she’s a lyricist. That sounds like-”
Saki had stood up as well, putting her hand on Shiho, trying to get her to sit back down. “Shiho-chan calm down..!” But she was frowning as well, deserving? What person had to deserve to stand by their friends? Plus still thinking they’re not enough who could it be?
Shiho was grumpily sitting back down, and Honami started to speak, “We’re still not completely sure… Plus I don’t think she has such… self-worth issues. It can’t be Ichi-”
The deep blues on the screen started to merge into a person, kneeling, holding their knees to their chest and another arm covering their head, as if trying to make themselves as small as possible. Like they feel as if they don’t deserve the space they’re taking up.
星乃一花 (Hoshino Ichika)
“Ka-chan. It’s Ichika-chan?” Shocked, that’s all that Honami could feel, is this what Ichika-chan has been feeling? Why would she not come to them if she had problems, then?
Shiho was nearly vibrating, “I knew it was Ichika, I knew it!”
But Saki looked despondent, “Icchan..?”
The speaker sounded again, “The first person has been discovered, yes, all, this is Ichika Hoshino’s first lead!”
Rui looked curious, “First lead? So there will be more for an individual person?”
Speaker Miku sounded sheepish, “Well, more like first out of two. You’ll see.”
.-- .- - -.-. ....
Haruka felt bad for Leo/need. She also felt bad in general. Ichika was her classmate, and now both her closest friends and everyone else had seen her deepest thoughts. Probably something meant to be kept private, or talked about privately.
The TV started up again. Instead of the blue earlier, it was now a light orange.
Repeat the move. Repeat, over and over and over and over again.
Move? Movement, so it has to do something to do with moving around. The gender hasn’t been specified yet.
Why was she even wondering about who this could be? They all know that five people were missing. Why does she want to know whose problem is who’s after it’s been shown that it didn’t show exactly how they went missing?
Haruka could answer that question to herself, actually. She wants to know what Minori is keeping from them, if they could’ve helped in any way. Haruka wants to know Minori through and through. To help Minori, to support Minori, to care for Minori, like the newbie idol had done for Haruka.
That’s all she’s ever done, right? Repeating, but it’s never enough. She’s holding them back. She has to improve, to be better for them .
An frowned, “This is kind of what was for Ichika’s thoughts, they’re all repeating!”
She hissed backwards at An, “Maybe it has to do with them going missing.”
Haruka felt that this was familiar. But… she’s gotten away from that mindset, right?
But everything she’s done, all her effort, she will never amount to be even close to their level. At this point, anyone would be better than her. No. Don’t think that. She achieved the first part of her dream, all she has to do is follow through .
Airi muttered next to her, “All the effort? Anyone would be better?”
Besides Airi, Shizuku whispered to Airi and Haruka, “She achieved the first part of her dream… doesn’t that sound like..?”
The pinkette made no effort to stop Shizuku from thinking that. Haruka agreed… it sounded awfully like someone they knew.
She isn’t holding them down, she isn’t dead weight!! Repeat the move. Ignore the comments, ignore social media, ignore everything, just shut it out and repeat the move.
Now that Haruka thinks about it, repeating the move as in choreography? Sure there’s other groups that do choreography, but the girl had mentioned social media. Not many of the other groups were on social media.
The comments like on a livestream, could it be-?
Light orange formed into a body, it looked wobbly, imperfect. It was molded into a shape, but there were multiple errors in the way it was forced down. The arms were out, as if trying to regain balance.
花里みのり(Hanasato Minori)
The light blue-haired idol gasped, “It is Minori-chan..!”
Airi frowned, “These thoughts for her are dangerous, she could overwork herself again.”
Everything snapped together for Haruka, how could she have missed this, it was her hope, her clover, her idol , Minori.
“Hehe! You figured it out! Yes, it is indeed the first lead for Minori Hanasato!”
.-- .- - -.-. ....
Haruka was still in shock from Minori, and An could understand, actually. She’d be shocked to see her partner’s deepest thoughts.
Besides that, the audio was sounding out again.
Toya muttered from the left of Akito, “There’s only three people left… Tsukasa-senpai, Yoisaki-san, and Azusawa.
She has to catch up. They’re doing so well.
That voice was immediately familiar to An. Wow, now she could really understand what the other people were whispering about being “too familiar” or something like that.
So far the information was barely anything to go off of, other than the speaker being female.
Rui looked disappointed from what she could see. Flecks of a vibrant pink were sparking on the black screen.
They’re full of desire, to surpass a dream. But is she ready for that? Is she good enough for that?
Akito nudged her, “A dream?” He made some random hand gestures that An could not decipher, then sighed, “You know who’s left. I don’t know much about Yoisaki, and Tsukasa’s a guy, don’t you get it, a dream?”
Something was stopping An from thinking too clearly, but she nodded anyway, “It does sound like her… but we can’t be too sure yet.”
She has to be. She has to help her achieve it. They promised, and she has to be good enough to stick with that.
An could tell that Mizuki tilted her head at the “help her” part of the thought. She glanced over at a purple-haired girl, Mafuyu.
A little higher pitched, higher… This isn’t working out. Train more, catch up. She can’t stand by her side if she isn’t good enough to make her heart race. She wouldn’t even be here without her.
Toya looked shocked, panicked, and he waved his hand to capture An’s attention. “She wouldn’t be here without her, Shiraishi didn’t you-?” He was cut off by the audio playing again. Akito rested his hand on his shoulder, as if comforting him.
Heart… race?
Be better, to stand by them all, even if she still isn’t completely sure of her passion , she has to push.
Akito looked incredulous, “What do you mean “not completely sure of her passion?!” Who in the world is not sure what they want?”
Toya nudged Akito so he would calm down.
The bright pink blob was pushed together to make a shape. It seemed hesitant, but conforming to what it’s supposed to turn into. Yet it looked like it was dripping its own substance, sweating if you will, holding up a microphone, yet hiding in itself.
梓沢こはね (Azusawa Kohane)
An could completely understand the other’s reactions. Cold washed all over her. It was Kohane, her lovely partner, the most cute singing partner in the world. Are these her thoughts, what? How could this be?
The only thing she was able to get out was a small, “Kohane..?” before the Miku who took them here sounded on the speaker again.
“Yahoo! We’ve found Kohane Azusawa’s first lead!”
An wishes she could punch that Miku so she wouldn’t have to hear that irritatingly “happy at their misery voice.” No offense to their Miku, of course, only this one.
.-- .- - -.-. ....
“Time for the next one to start!”
It was very interesting on how they were able to get into this SEKAI without playing an untitled.
Rui took in all the facts he scraped up from everything so far. First of all, this “Miku” was making them watch some sort of tapes in order to find out where their missing group members are.
That was the first thing that was suspicious, this “Miku” didn’t immediately just show them where they are through the TV, she showed them their deepest feelings. They haven’t gotten to Tsukasa’s yet, but there’s only two people who are missing left that they haven’t watched a tape for, and Tsukasa is one of them.
Another thing is that no one seems surprised about the Virtual Singers; They must also have their SEKAIs.
Back to the groups, it’s strange how only one member from each group is missing, on the same day as well. No trace left behind either, from what he knew.
These feelings of not feeling enough… did they perhaps run away together? So far, three out of three of them have felt inferior to their group, believed that they are ruining or burdening them.
As Rui was immersed in his thoughts, the screen started up. As per normal, it was a black, blank screen, but it had a different color, some sort of mix color closer to yellow yet having an orange tint.
A smile to assure them that he’s the same, okay, positive, as usual.
Emu squirmed beside him, “It’s Tsukasa!”
Nene was smooshed right with Emu and next to Rui, she nodded while patting her shoulder, “It is Tsukasa, since he’s the only boy that… missing.”
Tsukasa’s sister, Saki, also seemed excited, but she also seemed uncomfortable. He could relate what did Tsukasa mean by “a smile to assure them that he’s the same.”
Continue to train his acting, his voice, to be perfect. He has to be good enough to achieve his dream, to be better . But he isn’t perfect, all eyes on him now.
“All eyes on him..?” Nene was muttering, she too, seemed rather concerned by this mental state of Tsukasa.
Emu pouted, “Tsukasa-kun doesn’t need to be super duper perfect! He’s already wonderhoy the way he is right now!”
Chuckling, Rui agreed, Tsukasa is already a shining star.
One more line, one more smile, he isn’t going to be left behind, he isn’t going to be stewing when he could be getting better. Again, smile, adjust his voice, and jump into the show.
In the corner of his eye, he can see Saki frowning. She was really worried for Tsukasa, it is to be expected, she is his sister.
He knows he can’t compare with his groupmates, but he has to try, be better, smile, and again.
Nene tsked at that sentence, “He can’t compare to us? More like I can’t even catch up to him…”
As Nene said that, Akito and Ena raised an eyebrow, someone that feels the same way they do? But, to be fair, a bunch of these tapes were showing that the others felt the same way as well.
Rui raised an eyebrow at Nene, while Emu’s smile turned upside down. “Have something to say, Nene?”
Emu looked at her with puppy-dog eyes, and Nene looked down, “It’s nothing.”
The black screen with orange lighting soon turned into the shape of a star, but it cracked apart, still the same color, but much dimmer, it formed to make a figure that stood on stage.
天馬司 (Tenma Tsukasa)
Rui spoke out, “Even if we practically knew it was Tsukasa, this was a particularly eventful sequence.”
The Miku of the speakers came to life once more, “The first lead of the great Tsukasa Tenma!” She sounded like she was mocking Tsukasa.
.-- .- - -.-. ....
It wasn’t exactly tiring to keep on the facade if she simply just didn’t talk too much. Just keep the “bright” eyes and smile and Mafuyu should be fine.
Ena was still annoyed that she was in her “good girl mode” or whatever she called it. Mizuki has just resorted to poking at Ena to get her to keep quiet instead of raging at Mafuyu.
The girl in question seemed resigned, “There’s one last one left, it has to be Kanade.”
Mafuyu herself was glad that she would finally get some sort of information on Kanade. She had been in her room, composing as she always did, and then when she entered, she was gone. Mafuyu honestly thought that she was using the restroom, or running an errand, but when she got home, everything was the same and there was no Kanade.
It has been nearly exactly three days since then.
The screen started up, a pastel magenta flickered onto the screen, scattered across the blankness.
Clicks, more clicks, and adjustment of a note, dragging a new melody in. She has to. Again, and again, again, and again. Day after day.
Beside her, Ena let out a small sigh, “Kanade… she overworks herself far too much.”
Mizuki leaned against Ena dramatically, “Ah, but that’s what makes Kanade, Kanade, doesn’t it? Even if she should take a break.”
Mafuyu blinked, and lowly told them to be quiet so they could all pay attention.
She has to. It is her duty, her curse. If being “ blessed by music ” meant anything, then she has to be able to write this one song to be enough.
Some people looked confused at that, Akito spoke up, “Blessed by music? What the hell does that mean?”
Ena nearly propelled out of her seat, “None of your damn business, Akito!”
The boy beside Akito, Toya, looked like he was questioning the wording, “Surely Yoisaki-san didn’t just come up with being blessed by music, did someone tell her that before?”
“Eh, huh. Probably! We never really know about that though!” Mizuki was yapping, probably a distraction. That’s good.
A melody played in the background. It must’ve been one of Kanade’s compositions. It made her feel a little warm. Mafuyu let out a small smile.
Shizuku hummed from her seat to the beat of the song, “Oh! Is Yoisaki a composer?”
Before she could respond, she saw Honami nod at Shizuku, that was good.
“It sounds really nice,” Nene was appreciating the music, it looked like Toya was taking notes on the composition.
It’s not enough, try again, more, again, more. Trash that work in progress, it isn’t good enough, she isn’t good enough.
The melody shut down abruptly. The little sound of the trash icon on the program that Kanade uses played.
“Huh? It stopped?” Emu looked downcast. Mafuyu could relate.
Ena was murmuring under her breath, “K… it really is beautiful, don’t believe that it’s not enough.”
Amia was sighing, “This really is exposing K, how cruel.”
Does Kanade think that she’s not good enough?
She’s letting down everyone, letting down her. Start again, start a new draft, compose this has to be better, arrange again. Try again, again .
Ah, the brunette was frowning now, anger was intense on her face, “Hah?! K is not letting anyone down!”
Mafuyu put on her fake smile, “Hey, Ena, let’s calm down now! I’m sure that nobody wants such loud noise while they’re trying to find leads, okay?”
The pinkette giggled, “She got you there Enanan~!”
“Shut up!”
In his seat, Mafuyu noticed Toya was listening carefully to the melody. “It sounds like there are many overlapping songs, nothing is clear, but it is beautiful, nonetheless.”
She has to save her, she has to save just anyone, if only to support her own selfishness, start over, make a new draft, this one has to be right.
Oh . Of course Kanade was doing this for her. She really had no self worth, no self preservation if she wasn’t composing. Doing this to save her.
Ena’s eyes softened, “Kanade…”
Shiho paused, “Does Yoisaki have some sort of savior complex?”
Mizuki made a kind of unsure gesture with her hand, “I mean… kind of? It’s not like she demands to try and help you all the time, if you need help, she’ll give you help. It’s more like she feels a need to save but won’t do anything that would make you like… really uncomfortable.”
Huh. That was one way to put it.
The flecks of a smooth magenta were coming together, it was everywhere yet together at once, one side looking like it’s mourning, tears of its own color coming down from the figure, the other side looking like it was working, bit by bit of it moving towards what it was working on, the figure slowly shrinking.
宵咲奏 (Yoisaki Kanade)
“That’s the first lead of our savior, Kanade Yoisaki!”
The Miku that spoke was too loud, too joyful, too… everything that doesn’t feel right for the situation at hand.
The Miku beside her looked worried for Kanade. That was understandable, Kanade was a very important person for all of them.
Rui questioned the Miku, “So is everything over now? Can we go back to the real world?”
Huh. The speakers were buzzing, Speaker Miku sounded smug, “Not quite yet at all, you’ll see!”
Then suddenly, from the screen, the Speaker Miku voice started to play.
The sparkles of the SEKAIs start to dim in light of these new feelings.
Airi stood up, “Hey! What is this?! What does it mean by starting to dim?”
The video continued to play, the voice paying attention to Airi. Shizuku and Haruka were having her sit back down.
It seems like some of the feelings that first influenced it have now started to slightly disappear, and new ones form, of not being enough .
Again, Rui was murmuring to himself, “So them having feelings of inferiority was correct. How about the others?”
Honami’s eyes narrowed, “Their feelings that made our SEKAI start to disappear? No way, Ichika-chan would’ve surely… come to us.”
Their colors start to dull, and soon… a new SEKAI starts to be created into existence, these feelings, are they truly what you feel, leaders?
An stood up, “A new SEKAI?”
Mafuyu started to speak up, “So they disappeared by this SEKAI, then?”
Leaders? What did it mean by that?
It seems Saki was questioning that as well, “Leaders..? Isn’t Hona-chan our leader..?”
Perhaps this SEKAI will help you come back to your old ones, how about you see what could have been, could never be, could happen, and what will never happen, oh dear leaders?
What did that mean? How in the world is that SEKAI helping them come back when it’s the one that made them disappear. “How is it going to help them come back when they went missing?”
Mizuki looked confused, “That’s a great question Mafuyu, I don’t know.”
Suddenly, Emu jumped out of her seat, “Maybe they’re going on a super wonderhoy adventure and then instead of feeling so womp womp, they go back to feeling good and wonderhoy again!”
“Fufu, maybe it is so! It did say view what could have been, could never be, could happen, and what would never happen! Perhaps this SEKAI is making them view things in a theatre just like us! Though it is taking quite some time.”
Haruka scowled, “That was an understatement. They have been missing for three days.”
…
An untitled mp3 appears on five phones.
Welcome to the Connecting Tree SEKAI, oh lost ones! I hope you enjoy your stay, after all, you have nowhere else to go but to relish in these feelings do you?
Lost ones? This Miku was referring to them as lost?
Akito scowled, “What does Miku mean by having nowhere else to go?!”
Shiho nodded, “Ichika has us, and I suppose everyone has a support system. Why would they have nowhere else to go but “relish in these feelings?”
Speaker Miku finally spoke up, “How was that! That was their first leads! How exciting, isn’t it!”
Trembling, Ena was trembling in anger, “What do you mean “how exciting” you’re the one that practically made them go missing!”
“I mean, they had to face their feelings somehow.”
Uncharacteristically Honami had a mad expression on her face, opposite from the normally gentle girl, “Not this way! You could’ve just directed them to talk to us, to their friends! Not send them to some sort of mysterious SEKAI!”
“The Connecting Tree SEKAI, actually!”
Nene scowled, “That’s not the point.”