Chapter Text
“Don’t look directly at the sun brave explorer! You’ll go blind if you do! You’re naught but a fool!” The purple haired sorcerer declared to the yellow haired knight below. The witch with green hair standing in the upper sections of the library with said sorcerer adding onto the scolding. “That includes you with the pink hair!”
The knight could only scoff at the two’s dismissal of his drive, the energetic explorer standing next to him as his companion.
“I have seen kings and performers bringing joy to each corner of this world! I have seen jesters and shadows spread their negativity as well! Even just to observe the goods and bads of our fellow human! Nothing could stop me from wanting that kind of existence.”
The boisterous knight strikes a pose to showcase just how self assured he is in this declaration, soon his pink colored companion strikes a pose in the same fashion as his.
“What he said! The wonders that this word has is so super duper to even think about! Being able to experience it so closely is just what makes our journey so wonderhoy!”
The two continue to pose in their chosen places for a couple seconds as the purple and green intellectuals look down on them from the library’s second floor.
“They have a point Witch, don’t they?” the sorcerer exclaims to his close friend. “I have to agree with such a statement, let’s let them use our magical telescope to peer into the sun’s beauty!” Despite being so high above, he joins in the dramatic pose of the pink and yellow travelers.
The witch can only sigh as her companion has let himself get overly excited at the prospect. “We can’t,” is all she says as she pulls the hat of hers tighter on her head.
“And why not?” the blonde haired knight cries out to the quiet witch all the way up. Still holding that dramatic pose of his, “to rob me and my fellow traveler of such an opportunity would be-“
“You’d go blind. If you stared into the Sun, you’d go blind.” The witch replies in a curt manner.
“We would?” The yellow and pink pair say simultaneously, finally breaking out of their dramatic poses.
The witch is genuinely shocked as she asks her question, “You didn’t know that?”
The two nod their heads no in a comical fashion, the witch turns to her sorcerer companion, still in that dramatic pose of his.
“And you were just gonna let them?! I know you know that stating at the sun is a bad idea!”
The sorcerer stays still for a good while, as if he didn’t hear the witch’s voice before finally repairing with a tongue in cheek, “whoopsies.”
The curtain closes as the end of the first act comes to its conclusion. The audience, consisting of the SEKAI’s plushies, laughing in their seats at the performance they’ve just been graced with.
~
Behind the curtain though, the theater troupe have all changed out of their costumes and into the comfortable clothes they always wear.
“Your line delivery was really good Tsukasa.” Nene says as the four take a walk around the SEKAI. “I guess those acting classes really helped out huh?”
Tsukasa responds in his explosive voice, “Well of course! Even if we were just presenting our first draft of the first act, I’m always careful to do my very best on stage!”
“I am glad that we have an audience for these test runs, it lets me get extra ambitious with the machinery and scenes than I would in front of a live audience.” Rui says as he jogs down notes in his notebook full of inventions and prototypes.”
Emu chimes in with her thoughts shortly after. “I want all of our audiences to have that sparkly and fuzzy feeling when they watch our shows! It wouldn’t be fair if we were the only ones feeling that way!”
The four continue to wander around the SEKAI. The inital excitement of the honeymoon phase of the Wonder SEKAI has long gone as the troupe have made it part of their daily lives over the past year. It’s enough to just look around and soak in the atmosphere with friends. Soon though, it’s about time to get headed home.
“The sky is changing…” Rui comments as the night time sky begins to overtake the SEKAI, allowing the stars to shine brighter still. “It amazes me everytime, how the SEKAI seems to synchronize with the time outside.”
Emu pats her pockets as she looks for her phone to check the time. “Gyah! It’s about time I headed back to wag dinner with my family, I complete forgot in the fun of the moment and-“ She stops speaking and pats herself down, even more panicking than before. “Eh! I lost my phone!”
Tsukasa strikes a pose, similar to the one in the play earlier. “We shall assist you with finding it Emu! It seems we’re on a rescue mission to find your dear old phone-“
“I’ll just call her and we can bumble around the SEKAI until we find it.” Nene says as she interrupts Tsukasa’s declaration. But her own face fills with panic. “My phone’s not in my pocket either…”
Rui can’t help but stifle a laugh. “Haha! You can be pretty clumsy yourself, can’t you Nene?” But both boys pat their own pockets, only to emerge with nothing but pocket lint. The phone’s all having flown the coop it seems.
Tsukasa grips his head in panic with both hands and yells in his iconic boisterous face! “GYAH?! WITHOUT OUR PHONES, HOW ARE WE GONNA BE ABLE TO LEAVE THE SEKAI?!”
“Don’t worry Tsukasa! We can just ask the plushies and the others to help us! Like you said, it’ll be a SEKAI wide rescue mission!” Emu declares, rehashing Tsukasa’s earlier words. “Or we can just wait for our phones to die! If they die in SEKAI, then we get transported back out!”
“How did you figure that out Emu?” Rui asks with an inquisitive look, although not doubting the girl for a second. “I wonder why that happens or why it’s even a feature of the SEKAI?”
“Well I’m the one that experienced it.” Nene admits with a sense of shame. “Emu was watching me grind in my RPG and I forgot to stop my phone from playing music. I forgot I left it on mute and I forgot how low the battery had gotten…”
“AND THAN SHE DISAPPEARED WITH A WHOOSH!” Emu says as she interrupts. “The same kind of WHOOSH when we come into and get out of the SEKAI!”
“Oh… well that’s some sort of relief I suppose.” Tsukasa brushes the nonexistent sweat off his head. Emu and Nene’s little revelation doesn’t quell Rui’s troubles though.
“We should still look for our phones. The obvious answer would be that they’re back at the stage we just performed at. And I don’t wanna accuse anyone of anything but…”
“You think the plushies might’ve stolen them?” Nene interjects. “Sometimes when I come here to play my games alone, they’ll yank my console out of my hand and try to make me chase them.”
Tsukasa can’t get the image out of his head. “The thought of those cute little plushies managing to successfully play keep away with you, someone many times their size. I imagine that’d be quite a scene! I’m sure they look so cute while doing it!”
“Shut up…” Nene snaps back. “but you’re right, it is pretty cute. I think they’re just trying to help. Even if sometimes I’d rather not.”
“A-anyways, we’re getting sidetracked! Our phones are still gone and the prime suspect are the plushies! We can just ask around!” Nene says with a surprising sense of urgency. “And if none of them at the stage fess up, we’ll just ask KAITO and the others to help us.”
“Let’s go team!” Emu cheers, as she hooks the three’s arms with a surprising amount of strength and walks in the direction of the stage.
Rui unhooks his arm and points in the opposite direction. “Actually, I was thinking it would make more sense if one group went to go fetch KAITO and the others, while the other group talked to the plushies.”
The three seem to agree without much resistance, knowing they can rely on their signature engineer to look at things logically.
“Me and Nene are gonna go talk to the plushies!” Emu declares as she hooks Nene’s arm with her own. Nene lets out a resigned sigh, “Yeah. Since Emu’s pretty good at talking to them and they’ve already stolen stuff from me. I’m getting used to asking for it back.”
“Aha! Than Rui and I shall go consult with the vocaloids!” Tsukasa proclaimed, with the same amount of confidence as Emu’s declaration.
“Hmm… let’s agree to meet up somewhere in the SEKAI in thirty minutes or so. Let’s say…” Rui points at the Ferris Wheel that looks over the SEKAI. “…there.”
The duos almost began to walk in opposite directions before Nene cuts in. “How are we supposed to tell the time without our phones though?! We might let time slip us by.”
Tsukasa points to the sky, specifically the moon that shines as bright as the Sun. “Just use the position of the moon! When it’s around…” He points to an empty part of the sky. “…there! We’ll meet up here!”
“…”
All three group members look at him in silence before Emu speaks up.
“Tsukasa… we can’t see exactly where you’re pointing y’know?”
Tsukasa doesn’t let that childish slip up get to him. “Y-you guys get the general idea! When the moon reaches… around that area, we’ll all meet up here!”
And with that, the quartet splits into their two duos and go their separate ways.
~
“Why do you think the plushies would steal our phones Nene?” Emu ponders outloud as the two walk back in the direction they came from.
“I’m not sure… but I can’t get too mad at them I guess.” Nene responds.
“They might be worried about something and maybe this is the only thing they know to do…” Emu adds on. “At least that’s what I think.”
Nene looks at Emu with a guilty look. “Well I was just gonna forgive them because they’re cute enough to get away with it… b-but you have a point Emu!”
The girls continue to walk in the direction of the stage in comfortable silence. The pink haired girl skipping and humming while Nene trails behind with a soft smile on her face. The thought of being surrounded by so much joy and whimsy of the SEKAI, and next to amazing and wonderful friends didn’t seem like a reality to the her of the past. This is her new daily life and it’s better than anything she could’ve wished for. The walk feels oddly nostalgic.
The bubbly, bouncy, girl leading the charge as the two finally make their way to the stage where they performed on only moments ago. They enter through the entrance of the audience stands, only to see the entire place empty.
“Aw… where did everybody go?” Emu exclaims as she begins to search everywhere, including under the seats. It wouldn’t be the first time that a plushie got stuck in them.
“I’m not sure… it the plushies are scattered around the SEKAI it’ll make our search harder. I didn’t see any wandering earlier though.” Nene joins in the search, noticing the neat state the seats are left in despite the audience being here just moments ago.
The stage’s light are just dark enough for a slight feeling of unease to occupy the room, but not too dark as to stop the girls from searching around. Emu seems to be paying no mind to the darkness, but Nene can’t help but feel a tad bit anxious.
“Peek a boo! I’ll find you!~” Emu says as she continues to look for any plushie that may be intentionally hiding from them.
“W-when you say it in a sing song voice like that, you give me the chills.” Nene retorts. “I don’t think we’ll find anyone here, maybe we should look elsewhere?”
“Let’s keep looking a liiitle bit more? I got a good feeling someone might be here!” Emu responds.
“Okay than, let’s not spend too long-“
Nene stops in her tracks as she hears the sound of footsteps somewhere in the dark room. One things for sure, they definitely aren’t Emu’s.
The girl of green goes completely silent, trying to hear that sound again to make sure it wasn’t her imagination. “E-Emu…?” She mutters in a meek manner.
“Hm? Yeah?!” The girl of pink replies, obviously not in much of a worry. Her voice is just as pronounced as ever.
“Did you hear that?” Nene asks as her eyes are glued down the aisle, the location of the sound’s source. There isn’t anyone, or anything, there.
“Hear what? The-”
Emu’s interrupted as the sound turns from a footstep into a stomp. Now both of the girls look down the aisle to see, a hooded figure they can’t quite recognize.
Before they’re given a chance to ask any questions, the stomping hooded figure makes their way to them in the darkness. Both girls unsure what do as the entity only gets closer and closer before-
~
“Ugh, KAITO is normally supposed to be around here…” Tsukasa grumbled as he and Rui sat on a bench near the Ferris Wheel, defeated. “It feels like we’ve searched all the usual places and still nothing. Not even Miku, or Len, or Rin or-“ Tsukasa cuts himself off as he notices how Rui hasn’t spoken in a while, in fact he’s staring into the sky. He joins the purple haired boy in the silence for a bit, Rui clearly having something else on his mind.
“…”
“…”
The girls still haven’t returned despite the boys having waited for what seemed like ages. The two stare into the starry night sky together. The wonderland only glowing brighter when faced with the darkness of the night sky. After sometime, Rui finally speaks.
“The moon…” is all he says.
“…it’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Tsukasa replies.
Rui can’t help but laugh at Tsukasa’s comment. “…haha. That too but what I noticed about the moon is that, it hasn’t moved. At all.”
“WHAT?!” Tsukasa stands up suddenly from the bench to really sell his shock, the exaggerated gestures of his being second nature.
“Yup, it’s been bothering me the entire search. Normally it follows the same cycle as the Sun and Moon outside.” Rui points out.
“…first our phones go missing, than the vocaloids too, and now the Moon’s acting all out of order?!” Tsukasa ponders all these things that are so off.
“Something is wrong. That much is obvious.” Rui stretches his arms and follows Tsukasa in standing up from the bench. “It’s not like we can do much just us two, let’s find the others and see if they’ve had any success.”
Tsukasa’s heartbeat increases as his very body feels something is very very wrong. It might just be the nervousness under the circumstances that make it beat so intensely, but he won’t let himself succumb to the fear. It’s likely nothing and the four are just confused about a part of the SEKAI they’ve yet to learn.
He takes a deep breath and raises his hands high, before slowly letting it out as they fall to his sides. A relaxation technique he’s used multiple times in the past.
“I don’t remember when we entered the SEKAI, or what time it was last time we checked.” Rui tells Tsukasa, as the two try to gather any information they can.
Tsukasa replies after some time spent thinking, “Well I think it was about an hour after school when we first came in today, as for the last time we checked the time… I’m not sure about that.”
The two boys sit and ponder for a few moments. Unsure what to think of the current situation. They might be thinking about the girls they just sent in the opposite direction, and if that was the right choice or not.
“…well eventually our phones will die and we’ll go back home. So we shouldn’t worry too much about it, we’ll have to do a lot of explaining if we don’t return before curfew.” Tsukasa reasons to Rui, although it’s mostly just to quell both their nerves at the same time.
“You’re underestimating the battery life of a phone. You see the actual intricacies of how the machinery inside…“ Rui catches himself rambling about technology like he always does, stopping before it turns into some sort of college lecture. “Let’s just say, it’s better to find our phones than wait for them to die without being used. They have to be ON to go through the battery afterall.”
They knew that. They both knew that their phones dying without being used was unrealistic. But believing in that impossible possibility acted as some sort of safety net. But now that that possibility’s been shot down, the looming sense of urgency and dread continues to fester.
“S-sorry, let’s just get back to the stage already…” Rui says as he realizes he’s killed the mood with his knowledge of technology.
The two boys make their way to the direction the girls did earlier, although not as chipper as they did. The two’s legs growing tired from the sheer amount of walking done in such a short time. The SEKAI being much bigger than it looks like it is at first glance.
“This is your SEKAI right Tsukasa?” Rui asks him. “Why don’t you imagine us a trolley, or a ski lift so we can get there faster!”
“If I could, I’d imagine us a beach and a pirate ship so big, we could have eternal summer vacations!” Tsukasa replies, appreciating the more cheerful conversation. “Like a big water park!”
“Was the island experience not enough beach time for you I take it?” Rui chuckles.
“I don’t think you can equate island survival with fun in the sun…”
“It’s all about perspective Tsukasa!”
~
Even from afar I can see the plushies beginning to file into the stage’s audience seats. Scrambling to catch a view of the show despite watching one quite recently! Of course, Tsukasa and Rui wouldn’t know, but soon a new play is about to start.
…
Of course this is only the first act of what’s to come