Chapter Text
I really, really wanted to be an idol.
I wanted to be up on stage, using my charm to try and help people, even if it's just bringing a hopeful smile to their face.
I got so into being an idol that I ended up quitting guitar when I was younger.
I even got accepted to an agency a little while back, but…
"Honestly, as an idol, she's pretty run of the mill, so I'd like to shift her work away from that..."
"You just don't stand out enough as an idol. We've decided to phase you out of that line of work."
I wasn't really cut out for it, really. I left my first agency, and at least the second one I went to let me be what I wanted to be for a little while, but they went back on that too.
Nobody saw me as an idol anymore. I ended up retiring. I lost the one thing that made me happy, and I barely even accomplished my true goal.
I couldn't bring a smile that wasn't from some sort of comedy to someone's face. I couldn't bring any sort of hope.
I don't know if I could try that again.
airi skids her feet against the ground of the courtyard, watching as a small amount of the leftover dust from the foot traffic billows in a tiny cloud beneath her feet. She hums, staring at the ground.
Today was fine, she didn't know why she was getting so worked up. Classes were fine, nobody really pointed her out, and she didn't end up tumbling over something or getting trampled by the crowd as everyone escaped from the school.
She was just getting hung up on the past again. That was it. She really needs to stop pondering over something that already happened. Why was she stuck thinking about what could've been? She left that behind.
With a final kick and a decisive huff, Airi stands, one hand going to her hip and the other holding onto the strap of her bag. No time to worry about the past. I've got homework to do.
With that thought in mind, she sets off, listening to the tapping of her shoes as she walked, accidentally bumping into a person as she still silently feuds over nothing. Taking a step back, Airi goes to try and help her up in case she fell.
"Ah- I'm sorry, are you all right?-" She asks, holding out a hand to the girl with blonde hair in front of her.
The girl just shies away slightly as she helps herself up, dusting the dirt from her uniform, "N-no, I wasn't watching where I was going, my apologies."
Airi barely saw her fix her grip on a… camera, she thinks, and readjusts her glasses before scurrying off into the crowd, not another word exchanged. Airi's hand falls back, and she goes back to making her way to the train to get home.
…That was kind of weird…
Airi shoves that thought away from the front of her mind, shaking her head as she gets on the train, shuffling in and barely being able to snatch up a seat so she wouldn't have to hold on for dear life the entire way.
She pulls out her phone, scrolling through a few different songs before picking out one, pressing play, and slumping against the backpack now in her lap, closing her eyes. She could relax a little now, at least.
Something about the ride was nice. It was quiet, the only sound filling the air as buildings whizzed by, being nothing more than sometimes colorful shapes in her vision of the window, being the sound of the train on the tracks, a constant whir in the background as vocals commanded her attention, powerful voices blaring in her headphones and thankfully not disturbing anyone around her.
She watches as stops pass and people leave and get on before it's her own, where she stands up, and gets off as quickly as she can, making sure she didn't lose any of her stuff along the way.
She nearly dropped her phone, though. Twice. Maybe today wasn't going as well as she would've thought.
Walking down the streets as the area became more and more familiar to her, before she was finally on the front step of her house. She fiddles with the keys for a moment before inserting them into the lock, hearing the satisfying click and shouldering the door open.
As if that wasn't enough, she also announced her presence to the surprisingly empty house with an "I'm home!"
Hearing no responses, she just heads to her room after slipping off her shoes and drops her bag off by one of the legs at her desk, finding enough energy to climb up the latter to her loft, slumping over onto it while her feet cling to one of the rungs to keep her still on.
She eventually slips all the way onto the mattress, sinking into the plush material with a sigh. At least this was comfortable enough to let her avoid homework for just a little bit…
After enough of being a human rock, she moves her head to finally see her room, eyes laying on something in the corner, peeking out ever-so-slightly from the side of her closet, swathed in shadows like it was avoiding the light from her window.
An old, dusty guitar case, a binder and book propped up against it, various patches and pins attached to the case's fabric outside.
Airi stares at it almost longingly for a moment, old memories coming back in the back of her mind. Since I wasn't cut out for idol work, maybe I could… She almost wants to bang her head against a wall at the thought. What was she thinking? Now wasn't the time for that, and could she stick with it this time even after quitting it for literal years?
But, something compels her to just try it again.
Maybe I could try just one song…
She slowly sits up, scooting to the edge of her bed, climbing down and slowly making her way across the room to the guitar, first placing the books on her desk. No music stand, so she'll have to make do with what she has.
Haphazardly adjusting the book, flipping it to a page with a few simple chords, she deems it good enough, returning to the case and slowly unzipping it, taking the guitar out by the neck.
Slipping the strap over her head and adjusting it to fit her better, she stands back up, holding it hesitantly as she reads the tableture with a bit of struggle. She decides to hell with it, and strums all of the open strings before quickly regretting that choice and cringing heavily as the discordant, out-of-tune notes sound out in her room.
One hand is quick to move to the pegs on the headstock, going one at a time as she turns it one way, plays the note, and keeps going. Eventually the first string gets close to sounding vaguely like an E, where she calls that good enough.
She moves onto the next string until she can at least understand what notes are on each string. Fine tuning can happen if she picks this up again at all. The pink-haired turns back to the book, slowly placing each finger on the fret needed, mumbling it out to herself as she does so.
"Third fret on fifth string, second on fourth, and first on the second string…" She double-checks her work, adjusting her fingers to have it look right and not give her a hand cramp later.
No pick in hand, she just plucks the strings with her right hand, letting the chord play out. It certainly wasn't that correct, and her fingers were already hurting a little from the pressure of putting her fingers down on the metal, but it sounded vaguely like the chord it was supposed to.
She makes a low whistle, "Better than nothing, I guess…"
She tries a few other little things, moving her fingers around carefully. Starting with chords, to other simple, single-string melodies. It feels elementary, but she occasionally stumbles on a note or misses as she strums. It's surprisingly… fun, even if her fingers are sore after just a few minutes of playing around and messing with the sounds. Moving up and down the fret board, trying out some of the stuff handwritten in to make it easier for her.
Her brain takes her off-track, and she ends up finding herself scrolling through her phone and searching for a drum beat to try and play along with. What time signature was she supposed to use?
4/4 seemed the most right, so she searched for that, scrolling through different videos before she found one that worked best, connecting her phone to a small speaker and placing it atop her desk.
The sounds filled her ears, and she slowly fumbled through a few exercises before doing her own thing and trying to make it sound cool. Maybe she could do this again, and a small, hopeful seed planted it in the back of her mind.
Maybe I could try and bring hope to people with this, if I knew enough…
The backing beat pauses, the video buffering, and a white flash glowed from her phone screen for a short moment. Airi looks up, slipping the guitar off and placing it against her desk, sitting in the chair and grabbing her phone to see what was going on.
The video was paused for whatever reason. She tapped at the screen a few times before a notification appeared in a banner atop her screen. A new… download? She wasn't supposed to be notified about these. She looks it over.
A new song has been added to your library.
She clicks on the notification before it disappears, and it sends her to a random file, not added to any playlists or part of a specific album, just… Untitled. This was starting to get a little creepy.
She stares at it for a moment, before exiting the song's view. She shouldn't worry, right?
Her phone flashed again, growing brighter before she could notice. It encompassed her vision, and she felt a weird shape brush past her hand before she opened her eyes again, being met with… A stage?
She took a further look around to see that she was in a concert pit, all black, with small stairs leading to god knows where beyond. The entire place was swathed in red and pink of varying shades, and a mic stand was set up on center stage.
Airi considered going up to the mic out of curiosity, but as she braced her hand on the flat surface, sharp footsteps clicked on the stage, causing her to freeze. Was she trespassing? Was she gonna get arrested?—
The figure crouched down to look at her, tilting her head to the side curiously, like she wasn't expecting someone else here. "You're here."
The pink-haired stumbled over her words, unsure of what she was supposed to say, a weak "Y-yeah?" being all she could muster up.
She looked up, and was met with a teal-haired girl with pink streaks, tied into buns sitting atop her head and in an outfit that seemed matching for the decor here. She extended out a hand for Airi to hesitantly take, before tugging her up onstage to join her.
"KAITO's probably around here somewhere… forgive him. He got a bit spooked when he saw you entering, even left his mic up and everything," The mysterious girl chuckles, just helping the other keep her balance.
Being somewhat sensible, Airi asks a nervous question, "Where am I?! I was just practicing in my room when I found this weird file on my phone—"
"This is your SEKAI. It's made of your feelings, that file you used to get here will turn into a song when you fully realize what your feelings are. The others, too."
"—Others? What are you on about?—"
"The other people who share the same feelings as you. I don't know how well they'll express themselves, though. You might've run into one of them today."
Airi was just left with more questions, trying to run through everything to make it make any sort of sense. This felt like some weird dream, or something she'd read about in an ISekai manga, not real life!-
She paused, looking over at the girl next to her, "Who even are you?"
"Miku," The other answered nonchalantly.
The pink-haired flinched. So. The person standing in front of her was a singing software, yet… human? Her head was already starting to spin from just the chaos of it all.
She wasn't fully registering that she was slowly but surely being sent back to the real world, white creeping in at the edges of her vision. She blinked, and saw Miku slowly fading out in front of her eyes, unable to say anything out of surprise.
Miku seemed unfazed, however, just giving her a curt nod, "I guess you need to go, then. Being the others next time you visit, alright? Your guitar, too. I'd like to see you play."
Airi doesn't respond, closing her eyes as the world goes too bright for her to handle, seeing the surroundings of her familiar room once reopening them again. She blinks, the harsh glare sticking with her, and gets to her legs as a gentle knock comes from the other side of the door.
"Airi? Are you alright in there? You missed dinner, but I saved you a bit if you want it," Just her older sister. The pink-haired opens her door, giving a gentle smile in greeting.
"Yeah, that sounds great," she says, letting herself be lead to the kitchen to try and walk off that weird experience.
She just needs to convince herself that that was just a dream. That's all it was.
Hopefully.