Work Text:
Yesterday when the plane from America landed back in Japan, An nearly thought she would pass out. Not as bad as Toya who looked too pale to be okay, but definitely still exhausted. After all the thinking about RUSH BEATS and the excitement her and everyone else had built up, by the end of the 10 hour flight she just wanted to rest up to be able to function the next day.
They've got to get ready for RUSH BEATS now that they have set in stone rivals!! And now that she's seen the scale of their goal, it feels excitingly huge. A new big thing to surpass.
...She really can't wait. She can tell because of the fact she's woken up an hour early despite the jet lag, and she can feel nearly every part of her kick into gear.
She wants to practice. She and the rest of Vivid BAD Squad will win RUSH BEATS. They will manage to reach past that dream of Nagi's, even with such talented rivals.
She lets the extra grogginess escape her using the always-blinding light from Ready Steady, prepared to go to SEKAI. Just a little solo practice for now!
...Eh?
She finds all of her teammates all in the same entrance to crase cafe, all in their day to day clothes. "...O-oh!! Good morning everyone!" Kohane stammers out, very obviously holding in laughter. Seems everyone had the same idea!!
Toya huffs, smiling pitifully. "It seems none of us could sleep last night out of excitement..."
"Nah dude, I passed out. I just really wanted to practice." Akito sighs, scratching the back of his head. She can tell he passed out from the insane bed head he still has. Toya idly picks at it, Akito mumbling something of annoyance to himself. Heh.
"I mean, how can we relax with RUSH BEATS to worry about!!" An laughs, watching all of her teammates nod. "Guess let's all practice together then!"
"Sure!!" Kohane cheers. Her partner's so excited that it boosts her even more too. Today should be a good day!
They walk down an alley, looking to find somewhere nice and quiet to practice. "We shouldn't disturb the VIRTUAL SINGERS this early in the day," Toya had said at some point, guiding away from crase cafe. She doubts honestly that they even sleep considering the different times of day she's found herself in SEKAI, but she isn't going to argue with Toya.
There's all kinds of posters she can remember from her childhood this way, and the pathway seems weirdly long. She hears Akito groan from behind her. "...Why is it so long."
"Dunno. And you'd think mister athletic would be more willing to walk more than Toya." An is honestly just assuming this chunk formed from her memories of RAD WEEKEND with how weird SEKAI logic is. If she can have her own special giant path in the plaza, she's sure she can have some weird alley based on her.
Akito pushes her, grumbling "Shut up." before Toya smacks him on the hand. Toya hums a little. "I'm curious what's at the end of this alley... We've never gone here before."
"Hehe, it is pretty exciting!" Kohane giggles. Maybe so!! She's definitely curious about the end of the hallway too. "I guess..." Akito sighs. Why is he acting like such a downer...
The spray paint of sunflowers feels like such a beautiful touch to this whole alley. They're super cool and vivid!! And there's some reflective glass that's part of the wall as well, shining super brightly in the sun. It sparkles beautifully. "Hey, I don't think I've ever seen SEKAI's walls do this before!" She stumbles over her feet a little.
"True.... It's strange but really pretty." Her partner mumbles, reaching up and covering one of the shards in the wall. Akito hums, tracing his hand along the brick. "It's definitely interesting."
Jeez, it's like the two of them are trying to suck up the artistry out of the wall!!
"Shiraishi. Tie your shoelaces." Toya says out of nowhere. She looks down. They're like.... half tied.
"Psht. I'm sure it's fine-"
"...Eh?! An watch out!!!" She hears from her partner behind her, but all she can see as she trips on her own feet is the incoming view of a glowing shattered piece on the floor right where her head will be in a good two seconds.
She really should've tied her shoe laces!!!
When she manages to struggle her head up from the fall, she finds herself riddled with pain in the knee and face. Jeez, it hurts waaay too much. Her head isn't necessarily in pain, just her nose, but still!! Hurts man.
....Where is she?
The hallway she's in is definitely different then before, nearly completely filled with doors. To start it's a hallway now, and it's way darker. Eerily dark. She's assuming this is a fragment SEKAI? Of all times!!
...She's also not used to it being so closed off. It's weird. And...kinda scary. Besides the pitter-patter of rain drops she's completely alone in a silent door-filled hallway.......Imagining a ghost might be here...
No!!!!! She's not going to freak herself out!! She's going to get out of here and practice!! Kohane and the others have got to be worried about her.
It's nothing like her past experiences in fragments before. She's used to bright cities, and clear skies.
The walls are covered nearly entirely in different event posters. Like a gross papier-mâché that is stuck to the walls. She even touched one and it was a little wet... yuck.
The doors are nearly all different shapes and colors, some even spray painted with words in English she can't even make out. She swears she paid attention in class and knows how to read in English by now, the graffiti is just so faded and in a font so stylized she can't make it out. Maybe a... K and A are visible?
Should she just start pulling open doors at random? If it gets her out it'd be quicker, but at the same time she has no clue what she's looking for. That's also assuming the fragment can't hurt her..... Stop freaking yourself out An!!!! She needs to focus!
She's going to work assuming her feelings can't hurt her. She really hopes. She figures that considering she's been able to overcome her feelings in the past, surely they can't come and bite her back here! ...She really really hopes.
She pulls herself up and wanders towards the closest door to her on her left, opening it to find....nothing? Just a white room??
That is the most suspicious thing she thinks she's seen in her life.
"...Yeah, I'm going to check the other doors first.."
All of them can be described as different variations of white rooms or reflections of Vivid Street, with all of the Vivid Street ones being scaringly plain and quiet. No one but the graffiti left. It makes her heart sink, an uneasy feeling in her chest. Why?
Some have different graffiti. Paintings of herself in colorful hues, some of her dad, some of Nagi... The time of day would shift in all of them too. Sometimes the sun is setting, or the sun is rising, or it's a stormy day and a mural of Vivid BAD Squad would wash away into the concrete. Sometimes an instrumental of a song she'd sing before meeting Kohane would play from super far away. BRING IT ON, a few RADder songs. Sometimes it's her voice, scratchy and desperate, or similar to how it was in that weird dream she and the rest of Vivid BAD Squad had when the black things off the tree got on them. Never like how it is now...
The white rooms would always just be that. Nothing in them at all besides the occasional floating particle or a distant hum. It's weird.
Either way, she couldn't enter them. Even when she tried the white rooms, all of them stopped her in her path right in the door... She could stick her head in but not go all the way in, which certainly was a lot more ominous.
She doesn't believe in ghosts!!! She doesn't. And she knows that logically it's just something up with the fragment SEKAI! Nothing paranormal!!
But doesn't this feel like some kind of horror movie.... She's got chills up her back...
One more door!! Hopefully she's not just stuck here. Please...
She twists the handle carefully. In horror movies this is where the jumpscare happens. Please..!!
...Huh? It's... Kamiyama. From when she was a kid, and had run away. In its incomplete glory...
Blue tapestry fills in for most of the walls, and steel beams are all piled near the walls. She can see a ton of cables on the floor too near the steel beams that later became classroom walls and pass them carts full of construction materials. She recognizes some of it from renovations her dad's forced her into helping do, things like light fixtures and a bit of tiling for the incomplete floor. Half the ceilings open, something she hadn't remembered from when she was a kid. Probably hadn't noticed it... She does recognize the hanging cords from the sides and lights inside the classroom. It was one of the only things she noticed before getting spooked by the sound of footsteps.
She pushes past some of the blue tapestry to look around, it crinkling extremely loudly as she does. She knows very well if back when she was a kid she heard crinkling like that she would've sobbed... It's all for nothing anyway, she just finds another future classroom of Kamiyama, a gap leading outward towards the still being constructed courtyard. She can't see any sunlights at all from where she's standing. Weird...
Man... she wonders how built her class would've been back then. The stairs are like... right there in the middle of the hall, but for all she knows there's something up there waiting for her!
It's extremely dark. Most of the light comes from behind the blue tapestry but very faintly, all of it coming from the not-yet installed classroom windows. She does not want anything to do with this place at this hour, even if it's cool in concept.
She still ends up going towards the stairs even if she can feel every part of her scream not to. Surely the fragment SEKAI will keep me safe. Yeah. Yeah!!!
An grabs the railing of the stairs, already in place for some reason. The glass separators are also something she didn't expect to see... Wouldn't they be at an active risk of shattering?? The rails are already covered in a bit of concrete dust anyway...
She hears sniffles.
Chills down her back. An is praying to everything that there is not a ghost. If she turns around and there's a ghost she will sob. Please.
She turns around, fully ready to punch at something, before seeing a tiny green thing hidden behind the pillar on the floor. And as her vision adjusts properly to the room more and more, she can tell more and more what it is. Who it is.
Her childhood self, covering her mouth in terror, crouched next to a pillar.
...Oh! Oh no.
Did she make her younger self believe she was the ghost? While thinking that she was the ghost????? She doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Can she see me is the real question..." She ends up mumbling, hand still a bit shaky on the railing. Her answer is seemingly found when her younger self tries to stumble a bit closer to the wall and fails, shaking like a leaf.
Aw man... She feels awful now....
"Hey... You don't have to worry. I'm not going to hurt you." She tries. It doesn't help at all. "Promise!! And I don't go back on my promises!"
Her younger self seems to freeze and then slump. "...No one keeps their promises."
Oh. Right. She's here…
"But they try to. Even if they don't follow through every single time..." Because she knows now. An knows full well how much Vivid Street cares and supports her. Because she was able to call to all of them for RAD BLAST, and they all supported her. They always have, just like Nagi said.
...This small version of her doesn't know how lucky she is to be able to still talk to Nagi.
Her younger self sniffles and huffs. "But they don't ever show up for me. I'm always a second thought to them... It's always someone else or something else first. Daddy's been keeping me waiting for a week now!!"
"It's because of how much they love this city. And you'll realize you do too." She smiles, mostly to herself, finally stepping down the stairs. Her brain's been on panic mode for so long now she realizes how shaky she is by trying to take one step down the stairs and feeling her whole foot wobble.
An finally meets eyes with younger An face to face. Doubt. She sees her past self filled with doubt.
Had she really not seen how loved she was? Whenever she told the story she always felt kind of silly, a good memory from the past where she was a bit of a dumb kid for running away in the moment even if it hurt back then. But looking herself in the eyes...
"...I don't. I hate everyone.... They don't care at all...." Her younger self's face is smushed up and red. It's gross but in a cute kid way, and she just wants to go and hug herself back to happiness. Tease her like Nagi did. Show off how much love Vivid Street had to offer..
She tucks some of the hair spilling out of her ponytail back a bit instead, her younger self clenching tighter to her own hoodie. She wants to be just like Nagi for this. To be a mature but still kind lady. To have a bit of aloofness but still seem cool. Just like Nagi...
"...Well, if they didn't care, why'd they make the promise to show up or watch you perform before?" She watches her past self try and think of a solution, nose scrunching up as she thinks. An really hopes she doesn't do that now.... It's cute but definitely a bit embarrassing.
Younger An finally stops hiding her mouth in her sleeve, making An's brain kick in even more how small she is. "...I dunno."
"It's because they care!! I'd know, in the future they all come to support you when you surpass Dad." She feels overwhelming pride fill her stomach. Even though she's made it so far now, especially with their current goal to reach for the world, it still feels amazing. Her and her group surpassed RAD WEEKEND.
Her younger self's face nearly lights up completely. "Really??!"
She's always wanted to be better than them. Ever since she was a kid. She's so glad. "Yep!! With an amazing partner, two bandmates, and a bunch of other important people too. Because dad, Uncle Taiga and Aunt Nagi are going to make the best event you'll ever see. And you'll chase after it for years."
"A partner?!? We really get a partner?" She seems excited now, face still red and smooshed in all the stupidest ways, but An can't help but feel some sense of joy. A little anxiety, maybe because she knows that this baby will one day experience her fear of Kohane surpassing her and leaving, but overall she can't help but feel so good because of this little her. It's her, but so small and excited.
An remembers how excited she was when she and Kohane became partners. When Kohane had just started and was still anxious over everything and An could help her with everything. Her partner's now all confident and knows how things work... and she's still so happy. "Yep!! And she's the cutest ever."
"Wow..." Little An has a bright smile too now, all flushed and mushy but happy. She can't help but just want to protect her.
Ah! Didn't she do that with Kohane too when they first started out as partners?? Maybe she shouldn't baby her so much....
"And the whole town's there for it. And they all cheer your name, because they've watched you grow up and practice. And it's beautiful up there, and the temperature's practically boiling. It's the most beautiful thing you've experienced, so far! And we'll reach the world soon enough too."
And they will because they'll never give up. Even with so many other people, they'll be better than everyone! For Nagi's dream. Her heart feels warm thinking about it.
Her younger self has nearly scooted completely forward, so enthralled with everything. She can't even fault her! She feels cool as hell right now. "Really??!"
"Yeah!! We're following Nagi's dream." She feels amazing telling her that.
"No way!!! Are we doing it with her??"
Oh.
Right. She had gotten so lost in the happy memories to share that she forgot she...
Should she tell her? Not telling her would just be sheltering her past self, and she knows how much it hurt when she was. It still hurts. Her throat gets tight and her eyes get watery every time she thinks about it. But at the same time...
How could this younger her ever feel loved knowing they'll all lie?
"...We aren't. We're rivals now, same with dad and Uncle Taiga!" She says. She feels a deep feeling of wrongness settle in her chest. It feels horrible to lie.
"Why not?"
"Well she's always been competitive right? Like with those shooter games you'd play with her! It's like that..." It hurts to swallow after every sentence.
She doesn't know... She really doesn't. An doesn't want to make it worse.
But it seems to satisfy her younger self. "Oh!!! That makes sense...Heh, Aunt Nagi is so silly!"
"You're just as bad you know! But, uh... Y-yeah..." She feels dread pool in her stomach.
Footsteps round the corner from afar and both of them nearly jump in place. She forgot completely about the fact they were in pre-built Kamiyama!
"...I-is that a ghost...?" Little An mumbles. Current An is just as terrified!!
"U....uuhhhh.... I don't think so!! Probably a worker, ya know!" She mumbles, patting her on the head reassuringly. There's just no way!! But if there isn't a ghost... She's still technically trespassing isn't she??
She isn't sure which is worse!!!!
"W-well, I should go!! I'm sure that they'll help you out!!!" She gets up to turn to leave, body terribly stiff. She is terrified...
Her younger self nearly burst into tears. "W-What?!?!?!? You can't just leave me here?! You're just as bad as everyone else then!"
"Well, I'm going to be in double the amount of trouble than you are!!! And don't say that, I already told you how many people love you." Like... Nagi.
...She's decided on a perfect way to tell this little her about Aunt Nagi. Not fully to hurt her but..
"Cherish your time with Aunt Nagi. She loves you a lot, okay?"
Her younger self blinks. "Wh..." Younger An stares around confused, before tucking herself more behind the pillar. A door opens ahead of her, one that objectively was not there before considering how bright it is.
...She forgot she was in a fragment. Jeez.. Getting so worked up for something like this!!! Get it together An!!!!
Who knows.. maybe this fragment was made just specifically to dig up these kinds of feelings.... Really mean to do it now of all times though!!! She just wanted to practice with her bandmates and now she's feeling horrible in a dark corridor and-
...Nagi?
"I knew you'd be here..."
She's here again? I mean, sure it was a memory from when she was a kid where Nagi would show up but she'd figured that it was just to talk to her younger self! Last time she spoke to her younger self in a fragment Nagi didn't physically show up so...
If she could talk to her past self then surely, maybe Nagi too? Maybe she could finally talk about everything, about Kohane and how everything's going and how far she's gotten.
Please. It's all she wants. Just this once please-
A large crack sounds comes from the roof above and before she knows it, the second floor blocks her way in the form of several slabs. There's nothing up above but the moon, staring down at her cruelly. Not even the city lights.
...She can't give up that easily. She can still hear them talking like it's nothing, so maybe, just maybe!
She rips at the stone, trying to pull it away, even just a centimeter. It won't budge no matter how hard she tries. An even breaks a nail in the process. She shrieks and cries for them to hear her but nothing.
...Please. I'll do anything... Please.....
This fragment really is cruel. She feels like her entire stomach might cave from the weight, and like her throat is so tight it might just crush itself. Her face is just as sloppy and wet as it was back then that night.
Please.... Nagi.......
"No! I'm never ever going home!"
The only clear words past the concrete slabs. The door shines behind her still.
...It really is cruel. But she can't have her way here, can she? She needs to go home as much as her past self did. Being stubborn like that means she's still acting like a kid. And she's learnt this from Nagi before.
To keep going. If the doors are the way out, then Nagi's dream is beyond the door. Back home, back in the real world.
She slams the door open, finding herself in the hallway of STAY GOLD. The same one from back then when she had been trying to protect Kohane without thinking and-
There's another door??
She doesn't have any option but to go forward towards the next door.
And the next door, where she did her first street performance, where she and Kohane did their first street performance, where Kohane made her feel unforgettable. It's next to the fence.
Faster.
Even if she got over the feeling of fear in her heart, Kohane still is closer to Nagi then the rest of them.
And the next door, where the crowd cheered her name around her for her to win against Kohane.
Quicker.
The town all cheered for her. So she knows she can do it.
With the same love Nagi had.
That thought in itself hurts. Quicker.
And the next, where she's back on COL's stage, crossing by the immense heat and passion of the room.
It hurts so bad to run. Her throat burns. Tears pool in her eyes, warm.
The fire in her heart won't ever die. She'll share this warmth with everyone, the same way it was with her and-
And the next, where they're back in America in the dorms.
But she needs to go down this path. She needs to. For her dreams, for everything in her life, for-
And the next, where she finally finds her friends.
"A-An!!! You're back!!" Kohane screams. She feels like she's going to throw up and scream and cry.
She's back. She's back...
Akito huffs. "Where did you even go? You..." Don't say it. Don't point it out like you always do, Akito. She feels like she's going to keel over and sob. "...An?"
All she can do is heave in breaths of air. Her knees are fully planted in the ground again.
"Are you okay?" She hears from Toya. She doesn't know herself.
...No. She is okay. Surely, the fragment was just trying to make her stronger. This is a learning moment, to stop looking back and thinking about it. How betrayed she's felt. Because... She needs to keep going.
It still hurts to think, and her heart's pounding, and she seemingly always forgets how hard it is to just stop thinking. "...Yeah! It was just a bit..."
"Painful? You look like a mess right now." Akito sighs, pulling her up. "Take a break. Don't make yourself practice now."
"Yeah!! And we should get your knees checked out." Kohane huddles closer. She wants to crush her in her arms.
"...Your shoelaces are still untied." Toya.... Oh, hey they are. "If it's any trouble to walk, we can carry you back to the cafe?"
...And she really isn't alone, is she? Just like she told her younger self.
With these people, she can carry forward no matter what. Even without Nagi, and even outside of Vivid Street. Because she's loved. Someday she'll be loved by everyone too...
"...Man, I still really want to practice....." She sighs.
Around three other tired sighs surround her, and now she's being full on pushed back to the cafe.
"Guys!!! C'monnn..."