Work Text:
199X.
Live on stage, Tsukasa shakes with intense energy as he sings with such power and passion. Rui makes the final strum of his guitar, and the room is quiet for just a millisecond. Then, the crowd yells and cheers.
“Goodbye Sengen! GOODBYE SENGEN!!! you know what we want!!! play iiiiitttt!!!” someone yells loudly through the crowd.
Rui moves to the front and speaks into the microphone, “Ah, this next one focuses upon a horror you may never understand. Here we give you: Becoming Potatoes.”
Several whoops are heard enthusiastically scattered throughout the crowd as Rui begins abruptly with electric guitar, and Nene commences her robot-like, consistent and rapid pattern following drumming.
Rui sings with such terrible but calm vigour as the people beneath him yell and cheer. Emu stands at the very back, watching them happily, but suspicious. Crowd today is spontaneous and overenthusiastic. they're waiting for something. What could she have missed when doing pre-show preparations?
Meanwhile, Hatsune Miku is standing behind the scenes, alongside Meiko and Kaito, managers of Telecaster Phoenix, a popular underground nightclub in the area. They offered quite a fair amount of cash for the band of Miss Otori, who were feeling desperate and struggling financially as of recently. Miku felt quite bad and offered an excessive price, and the deal was immediately settled. Meiko, drunk as hell, was asleep, and so was Kaito, who'd been working overtime trying to get record deals the previous night. Miku, the young assistant, was left wide awake, and was truly blown away by the eclectic ecstasy and madness of Rui and Otori’s band, “Hoshizora Orchestra”, a semi depressive, semi mad coffee fueled madness of the gothic Rui Kamishiro with his wonderful, terrifying yells, of Nene Kusanagi, who anyone could've mistaken for an otherwise silent, emo drum machine, Tsukasa Tenma, a stark contrast and a burst of bright energy, dressed in white, dancing enthusiastically and occasionally joining Rui on the chorus with excited shouts. Miss Otori, a young businesswoman and daughter of a far more famous CEO, doesn't move so much as her rapid arms which keep the backing synthesiser in check when needed: she remains more as the glue that keeps them all together, the bands owner, founder, sometimes writer and economic provider who initially put the band together after seeing Rui and Tsukasa perform an impromptu jam in the middle of the street one day.
Miku looks down at the dancefloor below and something shining on the surface below suddenly catches her eye. colourful but fading, translucent shards like ice scatter a small section of flooring here. Where did they come from? Did someone get into the show with drugs, but had left them carelessly upon the show floor?
She makes her way out into the hall, and finds them herself. Hoshizora orchestra are finishing up on “The World Hasn't Even Started Yet” and Miku goes to carefully remove the crystals with her little gloves, but is suddenly distracted by a man next to her, eyeing her closely. Miku is quick and perceptive, especially as it's such a crucial part of her job, so she immediately spots a little bundle on the man's belt. Her reaction is one of absolute horror as she realises that this bag contains within it masses of these little shining crystals. How does she know? Miku cannot even comprehend this herself. But instinct feels stronger than ever and she dashes behind him to prepare to make an attempt to remove the bundle before he “uses” the crystals, whatever that use may be.
Rui is out on stage saying his thanks and the crowd is enthusiastic as ever. Miku is well aware The Orchestra has an extended encore ready of 3 songs, in which anything can happen. The word “Sekai” is on her mind, but why ?? She makes her move and the man turns. Miku makes a dash for his hand and the man wraps his own arms around her waist in a frantic retaliation. She moves her one free leg to the side and places him in an arm lock. She has the skills, but clearly isn't quite ready for this.
Onlookers scatter as miku comes close to breaking the man's arm before he throws her a metre across the dancefloor. The bag falls and crystals shatter everywhere. Emu dashes out onto the floor with a brush – she's clearly been watching – but she's too late. The Wish Vial, the Essence of Sekai is scattered in pieces across the floor of the Telecaster Phoenix..