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“Since I was little, I had this idea of wanting to perform exciting shows that got people pumped the way my father did. Those vague ideas finally took shape as a dream on that fateful day. Ever since that legendary night…”
“Come again!” The shop clerk called out to Kohane as she walked out. She’d been looking for a copy of a CD for her mom, and the clerk at the store near Miya had sent her to one of the “alley shops.” So here she was, lost and confused in streets that Kohane honestly found kinda scary.
“The map on my phone says the station is back this way…” Kohane murmurs to herself. Her phone’s running low on battery, she notices, but she should be able to make it to the station before it dies on her.
The walk to the station is uneventful, for the most part. She passes some rowdy passersby who seem to have no regard for anyone around her. It’s getting dark, but for just a moment, Kohane’s gaze falls on an alley that she knows isn’t the right way. But she can’t help but get a feeling of déjà vu - perhaps, in another world, walking down that street would have changed her life.
But it’s no matter. Kohane takes a seat on the station train, and she’s set off home without a care in the world.
Shiraishi An is tired. She can practice all she wants, but she knows that she’ll never get close to RAD WEEKEND without bandmates. Every performance, she glosses over the crowd a couple times, in hopes that someone can catch her eye. They never do.
Maybe this time will be different, she tells herself. She knows it’s a slim chance, but that slim chance is the only thing keeping her sane. And this time, she is in a slightly different environment - she’s traveled pretty far from Weekend Garage to this live house she’s never heard of.
And she can tell that there’s something different. There’s a lot of groups here, which isn’t that unnatural, but is the cause of some envy. No, it’s the guitars. Most of the groups here are proper bands, with all varieties of instruments.
An doesn’t care, though, about her being out-of-place. She’ll take the venue by storm anyways, she knows it. She’s one of the first few performances at this live house tonight, and she steps out into an unfamiliar light.
As she sings, she scans the moderately-sized crowd. Once again, she finds herself disappointed with the pickings. She steps off stage, resigned.
Now, usually, An would just hang out backstage, congratulate everyone on their performances - common courtesies, especially at a live house she’s never been to. But, An figures, she might as well enjoy these performances from the crowd - it’s not often that she sees bands play live.
It’s the final performance. An’s been here for a few hours now, and she really is tired now - on multiple levels. 4 girls come out from the stage wings. An’s eyes flicker to the one who looks to be about her age - she does consider that a requirement for her bandmate, even if it is unlikely that her bandmate ends up being from an actual band.
But something about this girl keeps her gaze. She’s still wearing her school uniform - Miya Girls, if An remembers correctly - with a black jacket over it. Her eyes are a striking shade of green, and her silver hair seems to shine under the stage lighting. Her face is dimly lit, within the shadows of the background’s blue glow, but An prides herself on being fairly observant when it comes to potential partners. And An can just tell - this girl is also amazingly beautiful. She strikes a line between beauty and handsomeness that An can’t take her eyes off of.
The band’s started playing. An’s barely noticed - her eyes are still glued to this girl. A bassist, she notices, as she keeps listening. But despite the objectively fitting voice of the main vocalist, she can’t help but want to hear this girl sing.
Her wishes are granted: for just a moment, this girl sings one lyric. Her voice provides enough power to provide depth for the main vocalist, yet there’s a hint of softness - she’s supporting the main vocals, not overtaking them. An realizes, now, that she may have been a bit biased - but for a bassist, An thinks this girl shows remarkable technique.
An can see it in her mind. With some practice, this girl could be a phenomenal vocalist. She can see this girl standing beside her. And then and there, she makes her decision.
This girl will be her bandmate. Yet, somewhere deep inside her, she can feel that she’s also thinking of a different way this girl can be beside her.
“I found you! I’ve finally found you!”
The bassist looks up from her phone, in the live house backrooms not long after she’s just finished playing. She scowls slightly, squinting her eyes.
“...and who are you?”
An perks up, giving the other girl a comical salute. “An Shiraishi! Nice to meet you…and you are…?”
She appears unimpressed, turning away her gaze from An to idly fiddle with her guitar. “...Shiho Hinomori. Are you looking for something?”
“YES! I’ve been looking for a teammate, someone I can sing with, for so long…! And now, I’ve finally found someone! Please, Shiho, won’t you team up with me! If it’s with you, I know that we can take the world by storm!!” With each word, An gets progressively closer, her eyes filled with sparkles as she pleads.
“Respectfully, Shiraishi, I don’t know anything about who you are. How do you even know that I’m the teammate you’re looking for? You literally heard me sing one time.”
An takes a step back, her tone shifting to one more of casualness. “Shiho, I’ve listened to a lot of people trying to find a teammate. How I felt when I heard your voice…I just know, Shiho. Oh, and, please, just call me An.” She gives Shiho a wink.
“...”
An goes into ‘thinking mode,’ for a moment, putting her finger up to her chin. “Hmmm…you know, there’s still a crowd here…what do you say? You and me, one song. If you still don’t want to be my teammate, I’ll drop it…probably.” She gives a sly smile.
“I’m not a fan of that ‘probably,’ but…” Shiho looks around, scanning the room for whoever is around them. She sighs. “I guess I can see if the manager can let us sing one.”
A brisk half an hour later, An finds herself once again queued up to sing on stage. She and Shiho had briefly coordinated an idea, but nothing concrete. An knew she could improvise well enough, and, hopefully, it proves to be enough for Shiho…
The gray-haired girl shrugs her bass on next to her. “Let’s go, Shiraishi.” The two walk forward, side-by-side, to a roaring crowd.
“Soooo…is this a good sign, or are you leading me on?”
An and Shiho sat in the now empty Weekend Garage. It has closed nearly an hour ago, and An’s father had gone out for the night. They’d arrived a few minutes before, and, despite An’s attempts to strike up a conversation, she settled for cleaning as Shiho stoically sipped on a cup of coffee.
Shiho, for the first time since entering the store, actually looks directly at An. “You’re…not half bad.”
“Thanks! I have been known to practice singing around here. Ohhh, you should come by and join me sometime!”
Shiho brings the mug to her lips again, drinking the last of her beverage before setting the cup down to look at An once again. She stares at An intently, thinking, before letting out a lengthy sigh.
“...is that a good sigh?”
“I’ve had this dream for a while.” At An opening her mouth to say something, Shiho hushes her. “I’m trying to go pro. As…a bassist. In…a band. Not as a…’teammate’. And if you can’t prove your dreams equal to mine, I’m out.”
An smiles. She stands across from Shiho, leaning her arms against the counter. “When I was a kid, there was a big event around here. RAD WEEKEND. My dad took a bunch of the best artists from around here, and put on…the coolest event ever.” Shiho blinks at her. “It was a mix of all sorts of genres, but everyone shared an absolute love of music.” While An had been animatedly waving her arms around for her monologue, she settles down and looks deep into Shiho. “All genres of music. We may not be like my dad’s music, but that’s fine. Shiho…you and I, we can surpass that event. I know we can.”
For what seems like an eternity, Shiho continues to stare at An. An takes the moment to study all of Shiho’s features. Her wolf-like face gives her a sort of charm, and An begins to drift off, losing herself in Shiho’s beauty as-
“...I can tell that your dream has a resolve equal to mind. Or, at least, you believe it does.” An snaps out of her stupor. Shiho gets up from her seat, walking over to her guitar case. “We’re playing. Right now. Show me your resolve, An.”
An lost track of time. She could have been singing for minutes, for hours, and she wouldn’t have known. The line between Shiho’s guitar and Shiho’s voice blurs - it doesn’t matter where the music comes from on the other girl’s part, it always just works. Every time An hears her, a sense of euphoria blooms like she’s never felt before. All she can think about is how much she wants to sing with this girl.
When An finally comes back to full consciousness, it’s the morning. Thankfully, it was a Sunday, and neither girl had school. She glances around groggily, seeing Shiho asleep on one of the seats and her father behind the counter. An looks over, admiring Shiho’s sleeping face before walking up to her father.
He notes how An is awake now. “You two were going at it pretty late.” He puts down the glass he was wiping. “Is she the one?”
“...yeah!”
An’s got a brilliant idea. Shiho was all on her case about how she needed to “show her resolve,” so, she’s simply going to be the best partner of all time. Easy, right?
Of course, being the best partner of all time obviously means running over to your partner’s high school as fast as possible to pick her up and beg to practice with her. It’s only been a few days since they’ve become partners, but An is extremely keen on her partner, and she, like an addict, is constantly searching for the ever-higher peak that comes with their cooperative performances.
Shiho’s not as enthusiastic. She walks out of the school gates looking at her phone, before looking up and seeing the over-excited figure of An. She rolls her eyes and sighs as An walks up, with the pair getting strange looks from other Miya students.
“Hey, Shiho! Let’s go, we’ve got a practice to go to!” An grabs Shiho’s hands and begins running off, and, despite Shiho’s protests of taking care of her bass, the gray-haired girl lets herself be taken along.
Shiho had thought that An would run until they were out of sight of the school, and then slow her pace to allow the certainly less active partner rest.
An ran all the way to WEEKEND GARAGE. Shiho leaned against one of the tables, panting, while An began to setup their equipment in the cafe’s stage. Thanks to a couple of prior practices and a few lessons from Shiho, she’s fairly versed in how to set up the speaker for Shiho’s bass. Today, however, for some reason, she was taking a few moments longer.
Shiho, breath intact, comes up from behind her. Her head peers over An’s shoulder, despite their similar heights. “Hmmm…you have the wrong cord here.” Shiho speaks in a low voice, her lips right next to An’s ear. An knew she had liked Shiho’s voice, but hearing it from this distance was kind of…dangerous, for her. An freezes, her face beginning to be dusted with blush. Shiho’s hands came up from under her, the bassist’s calloused hands coming atop her own. An continues to be frozen, absorbing the detail of her partner’s hands. Shiho gently moves her hands out of the way, before beginning to fiddle with the plugs herself, still from a distance scarily close behind her.
“There a reason you’re not moving?” Shiho’s voice, once again quiet and close to her ears, knocks her out of whatever trance she was in. She hesitates for another moment, continuing to not move, allowing another comment from Shiho. “Or, what, you like being in this situation?”
An jumps out of Shiho’s…embrace, for lack of a better term. “You…you’re teasing me!” She cries incredulously, her face now red with both anger and embarrassment. “What was the point of that!?”
She gives a slight, wolfish smile. “Had a theory I wanted to test.” Her smile widens a bit - maintaining her cool character, but showing a more playful side. “Looks like I was right.”
“Right!? There…there’s…nothing to be right about in that situation!” An’s movements are exaggerated, but deep down, there is something her heart’s realizing - even if she’s not aware of it.
“Well…I at least know you weren’t lying about liking my voice.” Shiho’s face returns to a neutral expression, her playful tone fading but still not gone.
“Huh? I mean, yeah! Your voice is really good!” An gazes up for a moment, thinking. “You know…you should try singing!” Upon Shiho’s interruption of “I already do,” An shakes her head. “No, no, not those backing vocals you do…you’d be a great lead vocalist, along with me!”
Shiho makes a noncommittal grunt. The playful smile on her face appears again. “What, not keeping my voice all to yourself?” Upon seeing An’s rapidly reddening face, Shiho begins to chuckle.
“Ugh, SHIHO!”
The crowd cheers as Shiho and An finish their set on the street corner. Shiho, nonchalant as she is, ignores them and beings putting her bass away while An waves to them excitedly. In the crowd, unbeknownst to them, however, a pair of orange-haired and blue-haired boys walked away, one of them muttering and discontent.
Nonetheless, Shiho and An have packed up and begin heading towards Weekend Garage, their now-usual hangout spot, with or without the singing. As they step through the doors, Shiho pulls An’s arm, tugging her over to a discrete corner of the cafe. An flushes slightly from the contact with her. She’s not entirely sure why.
“Shiho?”
“Can I see your phone for a minute?” Shiho deadpans. Her face is filled with a subtle doubt and concern - one that even someone so perceptive as An can barely see it.
An, of course, unflinchingly hands her her phone, unlocked. An peers over Shiho’s shoulder, watching her navigate to her music app and scroll to the bottom of her personal playlist. There, a song she’s never seen before lies. A song simply named Untitled.
“Huh? That’s weird, I don’t know what that is.”
“It appeared on my playlist a couple of days ago, too.”
“Oh, really? Let me play it, then!” An clicks play, and she disappears into another world in the middle of a thankfully empty cafe.
An looks around. She’s on a street she’s never seen before, outside, far from the cafe she was just standing in. But most importantly, she’s alone. Shiho’s nowhere to be found, despite An’s calls for her.
A cafe catches her eye. Perfect, I can ask for directions! An thinks, as she walks in. “Excuse me! Is anyone there?”
Hatsune Miku looks at her from the counter seat. “Welcome. Oh, there you are. You’ve finally come to visit.” She looks at An, then at the door for a few beats. “...you came alone?”
“...yeah…? My partner and I got separated when we came here. Hey, where even is this, anyways?”
MEIKO walks out from the back of the cafe. “Miku, who was that out ther- oh! I see you’ve finally come to visit this SEKAI. I’m glad.”
An raises her eyebrows, not entirely believing in the reality of Miku and MEIKO, but she looks around the cafe. For some reason, despite never having seen this in her life, it feels strangely nostalgic.
“I feel like I’ve been here before…but I know I haven’t.”
“That’s because this is your SEKAI.” Miku waves at MEIKO, and the brown haired singer passes her a cup of something.
An once again looks around, briefly running her hand against the wall closest to her. “Which is?”
“A place born from feelings. From your desire to fulfill your dreams, this SEKAI was created.”
An looks up from a slightly downcast pose, brightening up with hope of finding her partner. “I guess that makes sense…a little bit. Um, by any chance, do you know how to get back? Shiho should still be back in the cafe, if she’s not here. Unless you know her? She’s my partner.”
From the backrooms once more, a familiar yellow-haired boy walks out. His gait is rugged and he seems angered, but the person behind it is instantly recognizable. “Miku! MEIKO! You’ll ne- oh, we have guests! You must be An! Nice to meet you, I’m Len!”
An leans against one of the tables towards the edge of the shop, drumming her fingers on the tabletop. “Hmm…nice to meet you too.”
Len makes an exaggerated movement of searching for people around, despite there very clearly being nobody else. “Um, is it just you? This SEKAI was the creation of four people’s feelings…”
An looks out the window, her mind drifting elsewhere. “Huh…well, I guess I’m one, and I assume that Shiho would be the other one…she’s my partner, after all.”
Miku stands up, putting her hand on An’s shoulder. “...there’s no Shiho in this SEKAI, An. I don’t want to doubt you…but are you sure that your partner’s the right one...?”
An stands up, offended. “Of course I’m sure! Shiho…Shiho’s perfect! I can’t imagine a better partner!” An pulls out her phone. “I’m going back to see her. I assume I just have to stop playing the song…”
An wakes up in the cafe, where she stood before she entered. Shiho’s sitting in the table closest to her, her eyes flitting over to where An had just appeared. “Welcome back.” She speaks drily, lacking emotion.
“Did you see any of that? That…SEKAI place?”
“...I didn’t see any of your SEKAI, no.” Shiho looks up to the ceiling. “I…have a different one, apparently. With…different people.” She looks at An. “I made sure no one entered the store while you were gone. But…I think we need to take a break for a little bit. I do, at least. Figure out where my priorities lie…”
“Huh!? Shiho, the event is in two days! What do you mean, a break!?”
Shiho sighs. “Fine. I’ll perform at the event. Then I’m taking a break. I’m sorry, An.” She grabs her guitar case, slings it over her shoulder, and begins walking away with no look back.
An can feel the beginnings of a tear at the corner of her eye. Her perfect partner, the path straight to her dreams…everything so close, so fragile. As she watches Shiho walk out the door, she feels the endless regret of entering what should have been the field of her dreams.
The atmosphere between the two partners is certainly more grim as they walk into the live house, two days later. Since that day, An had hardly seen Shiho - yesterday, An had walked over to Miya High to see if she could pick up Shiho. After a brief search, she did indeed find Shiho. She looked like she was arguing with a black-haired girl and a blonde. Just barely, An could overhear something about a “band” and some “childhood friends.” And for just a moment, An had locked eyes with Shiho - Shiho, upon seeing her, scowled and walked away. Both from herself, An, and the argument she was in, against the protests of the two she was arguing with.
And so, here they stood, face-to-face yet farther apart than ever before. An, barely audible to anyone except the girl in front of her, let out a small whisper, “Shiho…”
Shiho looked up from tuning her bass. “An.” She turns away. “You didn’t need to come to Miya yesterday…you didn’t need to see that.”
An is slightly hurt at the wall Shiho puts up. Her own partner, keeping secrets. And the worst part? Maybe it’s justified, maybe they won’t even be partners after today…
An shakes her head. She can’t be thinking like that. In her heart, she believes that their bond will surpass this. At least, she hopes she believes that.
She sighs. There’s an imposing sense of doom looming over her, like something drastic is about to happen and she doesn’t know what. But still, she tries to put on a brave face for Shiho. An resolves herself - even if today is their last performance, she’ll make it the best performance of her life. She lets out a smile. “Come on, Shiho! Even if…you don’t want to be partners after today…” An leans in close, her arms surrounding Shiho on both sides. There’s a slight flush on Shiho’s face, but she doesn’t notice. “We can make this the best performance of our lives!” She steps back, holding her fist out towards Shiho.
Shiho, for a moment, puts her fist out, before drawing it back, her heart not entirely here. An reaches for it, forcing the fist bump with a regretful smile. Shiho, wordlessly, gets up. She motions towards the stage. An follows behind at a distance.
The MC calls out to the crowd in an exaggerated voice. “Next up is the Vivids! They only just recently teamed up, but, hey, if you’ve been around here lately, you’ll have heard them once or twice! You won't want to miss this!”
Shiho and An walk out to a cheering crowd, yet a deafening silence fills the air between only the two of the stage. Another deafening silence is ringing out between two boys, backstage, where no one can see them. The girls, of course, have no way of knowing this.
An lets out a whisper, vocalizing the fleeting thought she hopes to hold onto. “...let’s…do this, Shiho…”
And An lets out a roar, her voice penetrating through the buzz of the live house. It’s filled with emotion - hope and despair, euphoria and regret - amplifying her voice into a performance that anyone would easily call her best. Behind her, Shiho’s bass gives her words a powerful kick with each chord, striking the hearts of every last member of the audience.
All except a few, of course. Even behind Shiho, behind the stage, a nefarious musician fiddles with a few plugs.
A crackle sounds throughout the live house. Both An and Shiho’s microphones cut out, with the speakers connecting to Shiho’s bass and their backing music track fizzling out moments after. The crowd hums with discontent and disrest, their excitement quickly beginning to fade.
An turns to Shiho. The other girl barely meets her eyes, flitting them back to the quieting crowd. She raises her hand up, guitar pick, and brings it down. An can feel her determination to finish what Shiho may believe to be their last set together. An begins her singing once again, yet her voice lacks all of the conviction it once had. As Shiho’s part in vocals comes up, evermore doubt begins to creep into her performance.
Shiho sings. Her voice is strong, taking control of the crowd despite the technological mishap. Yet, An can feel Shiho’s resignation, her uncertainty. But just hearing Shiho’s voice is enough to wake her up and finish their set. And once again, against the roar of the crowd, two divided partners walk backstage in silence.
Shiho and An walk out of the live house. The only words they had spoken to each other since their set ended was a brief congratulations, both girls awaiting the unavoidable confrontation certain to happen.
In the distance, an unfamiliar voice sounds. “Akito, you're the one who said you were going to crush them! The only reason I cut the power was to help you!”
An stomps over, confronting whom appears to be two high school boys and another musician. “You cut the power?”
Of the two boys, the one with orange hair briefly curses, before turning back. He clicks his tongue. “That’s right. It was me. I was planning to crush you.” He scoffs, turning away. “I may not have crushed you, but I think I proved a point.”
An poses up, furious. “And what point is that!?”
He turns back, his entire demeanor serious. “I refuse to let anyone without the proper resolve to mouth off about surpassing RAD WEEKEND.” He crosses his arms. “There was a point where I thought you did. Both of you. But surely you noticed it. The doubt in both your voices after the power cut. Maybe neither of you are cut out for this.”
He motions away, turning his back towards the girls. The other musician is long gone. The blue-haired boy appears apologetic, and sadly scolds him as they begin walking away. That doesn’t stop one last jeer of “Maybe you don’t belong here!” as they walk away.
“I thought you were better than this…you jerk!” An calls after their fading figures, to no response. Shiho turns to her.
“...you…know them?” Her tone is low and serious, contrasting the casual nature of her question.
An scoffs. “I thought I did. Akito was the orange-haired once, Toya was the blue-haired one. Both of them…also…want to surpass RAD WEEKEND. I didn’t know that Akito was such a jerk, though!”
Shiho shakes her head. “Sure, he may have been a jerk about it.” She gives An a sad smile. “But…he’s right. On my part, at least.”
An stares at her, dumbfounded.
“I…don’t have the resolve to surpass your event. Maybe at one point, I did. But now? I just don’t know, An.” She laughs ruefully. “Remember the day you went to your SEKAI?” Of course, An thinks. How could I forget such a terrible day? “I…have my own. A different one. Without…you.”
“...what…?”
“Hah…apparently, my ‘true feelings’ are to create a band with my childhood friends.” She shakes her head. “But…but…” She’s on the verge of tears now, her stoic mask beginning to fade with the onset of the moon over their heads. “There’s…something in me, An. Even if my ‘true feelings’ are to be with them…I…want to be with you, An. I really do. It’s tearing me apart.” Once again, she laughs with refret. “I’m usually pretty decisive…but when handed the choice between what you’re told will bring you happiness or the present moment filled with happiness, how could you choose?”
An also has tears in her eyes. She, of course, had no way of knowing that this was going on in Shiho’s head. But still, to hear this pain from her partner? It broke her heart. But still, she knows she needs to be strong…there’s no way she could convince Shiho otherwise.
“...I can’t say I know the answer, Shiho.” An walks closer to Shiho, her voice low and softspoken. “But…I need you, Shiho. Even if the world doesn’t say I need you, I need you. Screw fate…Shiho…” An musters the best smile she can. It’s not very convincing, but there’s something there.
Shiho looks torn. Her face, tears still beading up yet her gaze downward, grimaces. “I’m sorry, An.” She looks up, the regretful smile returned to her face. “But…I don’t know.” She stances herself in what appears to be preparation to leave. As she turns away from An, though, something seems to draw her face back. She faces An, and after a moment of hesitation, leans in to give her a light peck on the cheek. She gives one last smile. “I…also need you, An. But I don’t know if fate needs me more.” She turns, and walks away. Her last words come as barely a whisper, inaudible to An. “Thanks, An…I love you.”
An stares, unmoving, as Shiho’s silhouette disappears in the shadow of the night, Shiho’s parting words unheard.. She brings her gaze down. There’s something where Shiho had stood just minutes before.
An reaches down to pick it up. It’s a red guitar pick, well used. An holds it in her hand, clutching it to her chest.
An hasn’t gone out much since then. She can’t bear going to school - she doesn’t think she can hold herself back if she sees Akito. Even if she wasn’t the best student, she kept a near perfect attendance record; as a disciplinary committee member, it was something of a given.
But An knows it must be bad if Mizuki is texting her about not being at school. And despite her positive regard for her currently fellow class-ditcher, An can’t bring it in herself to respond. Somewhere inside her, it does hurt that Shiho hasn’t given her a second thought. It, of course, makes sense - they near separated after that day, but Shiho remains on her mind nonetheless. She puts her phone on top of the nightstand next to her. On the way, she sees the guitar pick. A pang of sadness rings through her body.
Just as she puts the phone down, however, it begins to emit a blue light. An, slightly curious, pulls herself slightly up in bed. From her phone’s blue light, a flickering hologram begins to appear - MEIKO.
“An…” MEIKO’s torso is all that is visible from the hologram. She’s leaning against a table in her world, the edge of An’s phone in the real world.
“...MEIKO.” An turns back to facing the ceiling.
“We’re here to help you on your journey to your true dreams, An. And…right now, An, you’re on the verge of losing the dream you’ve held for so long.” MEIKO’s tone takes on a twinge of sadness towards the end, but her overall encouraging and steadfast mood never fades.
An laughs wryly. “My true dreams, huh…” In An’s mind, a vision appears: Shiho, her striking green eyes wrought with tears, confessing her desire to simply be with An, despite everything. She gets up suddenly, almost as if possessed. “Well, SCREW my true dreams, then! After all, that’s- that’s what tore me and Shiho apart in the first place! Some stupid thing about how we could be chasing the wrong dreams!” She calms down, her bout of anger being replaces once again by resignation. “If I can’t chase it with Shiho, what’s even the point?”
MEIKO sighs. “I’m…also here about that. An, we’re sorry for disregarding your partner like that.” MEIKO’s tone truly does convey her sincerity, which is not lost on An. Just slightly, a hint of the girl’s depression fades. “But…my main point here is that the path to your dreams can change, An. What we have…the feelings that made your SEKAI…it’s only a guide. There’s an infinite amount of ways you can make your future. Perhaps, there’s another timeline where you followed the feelings of your SEKAI. But, An, if you try hard enough…” MEIKO smiles, eliciting some amount of hope in An as she listens. “You can be the one to change SEKAI.” MEIKO begins fading, disappearing once again into An’s phone.
An sits in bed for a while longer, ruminating on MEIKO’s words. And as she thinks, the more courage she builds. She jumps out of bed, readying herself for the day. She looks at the clock. She has enough time, she figures, to make at least one class of school.
Every day since then, An had been waiting outside of Miya, hoping to see Shiho. She’d asked about her whereabouts a few times, but she was always only met with vague answers.
On the eleventh day, An had finally gotten tired of simply waiting. Checking her surroundings, she entered the Miya courtyard, near empty at the time after school she was walking in at.
She believes that fate must have guided her to Shiho. She’s there, in the courtyard, sitting nearby but not next to three other girls. The black-haired girl and the blonde from before, as well as a brunette. The three were talking joyfully, while Shiho standoffishly tuned her bass.
The blonde-haired girl pulled out her phone, tapping a few times. Seconds later, they disappeared into thin air - a SEKAI, An realizes - before she begins to feel something familiar herself. Moments later, An Shiraishi also vanishes from the real world.
When An looks around again, she’s in what appears to be a high school hallway. In a classroom far down the hall, she can hear the girls’ voices, and an assortment of instruments being tuned and tested. She begins to walk towards them, curious of how she ended up here.
On the walk down, a hand on her shoulder from behind stops her. She turns around, to find…
“Miku?” Indeed, a Miku different from the one in her world was standing in front of her. She motions An into a nearby classroom, closing the door behind her. As the door closes, she turns to An, expecting questions.
“So…why, and how, am I here?”
“As you know, SEKAI is born of strong feelings.” An nods. “Shiho…her feelings towards you are strong enough that you were dragged in here when Saki opened Untitled. She must’ve been thinking of you as they arrived here…” An, in her heart, smiles. First of all, there’s a chance that Shiho can be with her, in her SEKAI. Second, Shiho cares about her enough for her to be here, right now.
Miku continues. “But, perhaps, the most important reason you’re here…your decisions here have the possibility of changing…many true dreams. The four girls here, the people whose feelings made your SEKAI, and many more.” Miku’s tone is grim. “I don’t say that to persuade you not to do what you’re about to do, of course.” She smiles, briefly. “But…these were made so people can follow the path to their true dreams. And…” An holds her breath, feeling the weight of what she, An Shiraishi, is about to do. “You…you’re the only person who’s ever had the opportunity to make new ones. Good luck.” Miku opens the door, walking out. An peers out the door, watching as she disappears into the classroom next to the four girls’ and shuts the door.
The only thing left for An to do is prepare herself. What happens next, An has just been told, changes the direction of the world. She reaches in her pocket, pulls out a red guitar pick, just to see for a moment. She lets out a deep breath, and walks out of the classroom.
For just a moment, outside of the room the band is playing in, she hesitates. The band does too, their song coming to a stop as Shiho calls something out, her voice lifeless and cold. Seizing this opportunity, An knocks on the sliding door, with the four girls turning to look at her.
“...An?” Shiho croaks out, looking on in disbelief.
The blonde turns to Shiho. “Shiho, you know who that is? All I can see is some…red shadow?” At her words, the other two that aren’t Shiho nod their heads in agreement.
“Yeah…I can see her. She’s…important. I’ll be back.” Shiho, still carrying her bass, walks to the door. She follows An into the classroom opposite, closing the door behind her. An, sitting on an empty desk, turns to Shiho, expecting questions.
“How are you…how are you even here? I thought this was…my SEKAI.” Shiho looks distressed, her stoicism fading under the pressure of the situation. “Why are you even here?”
“Well…” An’s voice takes on a teasing lilt, contrasting the seriousness of what An knows she needs to do. “Apparently, someone couldn’t keep their mind off of me…and those strong feelings brought me here!” Shiho flushes red, turning away from An.
An continues, pushing through Shiho’s frail defenses. “As for why…you know why, Shiho.” Shiho nods sadly. “We’re partners, Shiho. We can make our own future together. There’s never only one path.” An smiles, her tone serious yet full of hope. “Please, Shiho. We’ll make our own path to our dreams.” An puts her hand forward, an open palm, empty without Shiho’s.
Shiho looks back to the classroom door behind her, then back to An. “They’re…they’re my childhood friends, An. How…how am I supposed to choose between them and you? I’ve known them for so long…as much as I want to be with you, I also have a responsibility to them…”
An pauses for a moment. She had prepared for this question, but she had no clue how she was going to respond. She never goes to touch it, but she feels it in her pocket - the guitar pick. And for a moment, everything goes silent. An knows how to respond.
“Well, Shiho…” An takes in her outstretched hand. She pulls in closer to Shiho, putting their faces barely a length apart. Shiho, for a moment, steps back. Her hand, however, is caught by An’s. “We’ll just have to be closer than childhood friends then, no?”
An pushes in even further, placing her lips atop Shiho’s. They stay like that for a while, the world around them seeming to disappear as all of their focus goes on each other. Neither girl, both of whom are trapped in their own world of romance, notice the cheering from three curious girls behind Shiho.
As they separate, out of breath and flushed, Shiho looks deep into An’s eyes. An stares back fondly, letting out a dumb smile. Shiho chuckles. “You’re so unfair, you know that?” Despite her protests, she’s smiling wider than An’s ever seen. “How am I supposed to say no to you after that?”
“Shiho!!” An cheers, hugging the bassist. In her elation, she once again kisses her now-returned partner, to some groans of disgruntlement. As their kiss ends, Shiho, her face flush red, turns away, not meeting An’s eyes. In fact, she turns all the way around, only now seeing her childhood friends’ joy at the stoic girl’s new romance. As fast as she can, she scrambles away from An, her expression even more embarrassed.
An begins to feel herself fading - her job now done, the SEKAI begins returning her to the real world. “Shiho!” The bassist turns to her, a temporary reprieve from her friends’ badgering. “I’ll see you soon, love!” Shiho’s blushing face is the last thing An sees as she returns to the real world.
In a nextdoor classroom, Miku and Rin watch the starry sky of the School SEKAI. A shooting star begins to fly, amidst the squabble of the girls in the other room.
Miku addresses no one in particular, seeing the object of her dialogue had already disappeared. “Congratulations. Maybe now, we’ll see a story never seen before.”
Some time has passed since the day An and Shiho had their confrontation in the School SEKAI. A great deal has happened since then - beyond the two officially labeling themselves as “girlfriends,” they had reconciled with Akito and Toya, created Vivid BAD SQUAD, and cleared up the situation between An, Shiho, and the now newly-formed Leo/need.
Yet today was their first performance as the whole of VBS. In the crowd, An made out a couple of familiar faces. She could make out Mizuki, accompanied by an intense brunette. The girls of Leo/need were cheering Shiho on. Curiously, her eyes hone in on a meek-looking girl, her chestnut-colored hair pulled into long pigtails framing a glasses-covered face. An doesn’t know why she notices this girl, but she chalks it up to being someone that you wouldn’t typically see at these kinds of events. After waving to everyone she knows, however, the music starts. Led in by Shiho’s bass atop the music, Vivid BAD SQUAD creates an impact with their first performance as four.
“Did you have to do that, An?” Walking back to WEEKEND GARAGE, Akito presses An, pointing a finger into her face. “We get it! You and your girlfriend are very okay with sharing your relationship, but that doesn’t mean you have to make out at the end of our set!”
“Akito, just let them be. It doesn’t harm us, right? And…make out is kind of a strong word. They kissed once.” To Toya’s remarks, Akito simply sighs.
“Yeah, Akito, what he said! Why can’t I show off my lovely girlfriend!?” An’s indignant tone is coupled with a stroll over to her partner, who is idling on her phone. An pokes her on the shoulder. On Shiho’s look upwards, An kisses her. Multiple times. Akito rolls his eyes and does not respond.
The squad walks into the cafe, still cheerfully bantering. An, amidst a celebration of their performance, pulls out her phone.
“Hey, I wanna go let Miku and the others in SEKAI know about this! Why don’t we go now? Sorry, Shiho…” Despite Shiho’s integration into their group, she still had never been into their SEKAI. No amount of effort seemed to bring her in, and the group had all but accepted that Shiho was simply not in their SEKAI.
“All good. I’ll handle things around here.” During these times, Shiho usually helped around the cafe in An’s place - something An enormously appreciated.
“Thank you, Shiho!! I love you!!” An jumps at Shiho, pulling her into a hug. “We’ll be back, love!” An kisses her as she begins fading away, gone to another world.
To her surprise, as the colorful streets of SEKAI fade in around her, she’s still kissing Shiho. She detaches for a moment, frozen in a moment of surprise. Indeed, Shiho had finally entered the Street SEKAI.
“Shiho…Shiho!!!” An once again lunges at Shiho, wrapping her in a cuddle. Shiho resigns herself to An’s clinginess, her expression that of exasperation yet happiness.
As An separates from Shiho, and the Virtual Singers approach all four members for the first time, Shiho looks around.
Her gaze, finally, falls fondly on An. “Hah…I guess we really were able to make our own path.” The two partners smile, with their lips meeting in partnership moments later. Overhead, a shooting star - the first of many - flies through a brand new sky.