Archive of Our Own

Nene sat at her desk with her phone propped against one hand, her lunch untouched beside her as she watched the newest interview of Kazamatsuri Yuka.

The classroom had gradually emptied around her as students dispersed for lunch, leaving behind the quieter atmosphere that always settled over the room once the bell had rung.

Nene barely noticed.

Her attention was fixed on the screen, where Kazamatsuri-san was answering a question about her latest stage performance with the same composed expression Nene had watched countless times before.

Kazamatsuri-san...

Nene's eyes narrowed slightly as she watched the actress's expression change while answering. She paused the video, rewound it a few seconds, and watched the same portion again.

She changed her expression before answering.

Her thumb hovered over the screen as she double tapped on the left side of the screen to replay it once more.

Was that intentional? It probably was. Her timing is always that precise.

She's in no way fake but she's… so admirable.

She scrolled through the comments beneath the interview, occasionally tapping on the screen to pause and resume the video.

There was something comforting about being able to analyze Kazamatsuri-san's performances like this. Even when she was simply sitting in an interview, Nene found herself paying attention to the small details in her expressions, posture, and tone.

It's just as precise as her acting—

Then her phone vibrated.

Nene glanced down.

A notification from the Wonderlands×Showtime Nightcord chat had appeared.

Nene stared at the chat for several seconds before slowly locking her phone and setting it down on the desk.

Well. There goes my lunch plans.

She picked up her lunchbox and turned it absently in her hands.

Who could I eat with?

Her thoughts moved through the people she knew at school.

Shiraishi-san... already left. I don't think I can find her before lunch ends.

Nene glanced toward the hallway, but the flow of students outside had already thinned considerably.

Shinonome-kun already ran off to get his partner the moment lunch started...

She could practically picture it. Shinonome-kunhadn't even waited for the bell to finish ringing before going to find Aoyagi-kun.

Who else…?

…Did Akiyama-san even come to school today?

I'm not very close with her—yet. It'd be nice to get to know her better.

Nene frowned slightly as she tried to remember seeing her that morning. She couldn't.

That left her with very few options.

She quietly set her phone beside her lunchbox and leaned back against her chair.

Guess I'm eating alone.

The thought wasn't particularly upsetting. She was used to eating alone. It was simply that, lately, lunch had become one of the few times when she could expect someone to show up and chat with her.

Nene had barely finished deciding that she would just eat alone when a familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Nene-shi!” a girl called from across the classroom, her voice bright enough to pull Nene's attention away from her phone immediately.

Nene looked up, blinking once as she realized that the classroom was nearly empty. The only other students still there were two of her classmates standing near the back of the room.

If she wasn't wrong—which she hope she wasn't, she really shouldn't be having early onset dementia about the classmates she's been with for about half a year already—the two were Hiomi Rei and Hinata Suzu.

Usually they'd be with two other people… but I don't think I know the other two well enough.

"Oh, Hiomi-san, Hinata-san,” Nene greeted them.

Hinata-san smiled and gestured enthusiastically toward the desk where she and Hiomi-san had settled for lunch.

Hiomi-san had turned her chair around so that she could sit facing the back of the room, while Hinata-san was perched beside her with her lunch already laid out.

“Come eat with us!” Hinata-san invited, patting the empty space on the desk as though Nene had already agreed.

Nene hesitated with one hand still resting against her lunchbox. What a weird coincidence.

She had just been wondering who she could eat with, and now someone had practically appeared to answer the question for her.

“Um, if you don't mind,” Nene said as she stood, picking up her lunchbox from her desk.

Hiomi-san shook her head, shifting her chair slightly to make more room for another chair to be dragged over. “Of course not. We invited you,” she reassured Nene.

Nene gave them a small nod before walking over.

She pulled a nearby chair away from its desk and dragged it across the floor, positioning it beside them before sitting down. The scrape of the chair against the floor sounded unusually loud in the otherwise quiet classroom, but neither girl seemed bothered by it.

For a moment, the three of them simply settled into their lunches.

Nene opened her bento and adjusted one of the dividers that had shifted during the morning, while Hinata-san happily unpacked hers beside her. Hiomi-san was quieter, eating at a comfortable pace while occasionally glancing between the other two.

Then Hinata-san suddenly turned toward Nene with a grin.

“Wah, it's so cool having Nene-shi back at school!” Hinata-san said as she rested her cheek against one hand. “I bet you had a lot of fun while you were at that acting school.”

Nene's chopsticks paused halfway to her mouth.

“Ah,” she murmured, lowering them slightly as warmth crept into her cheeks.

I forgot my classmates knew about it. It's kind of embarrassing now.

“It was fine,” Nene answered after a moment, keeping her gaze on her lunch as she picked up a piece of food. “I learned a lot, at least.”

“That sounds fun,” Hinata-san said, leaning forward with interest. “Did Nene-shi get to do anything really difficult?”

“There were a few things,” Nene admitted, chewing before continuing. “Mostly acting exercises and rehearsals… and an audition. Nothing unusual, really.”

Hiomi-san quietly listened while she ate, then glanced at Nene with a faint smile. “Still, going somewhere like that while you're still in regular school sounds like a lot of work.”

“It was,” Nene agreed, setting her chopsticks down for a moment. “But I wanted to do it.”

Hinata-san nodded enthusiastically, apparently satisfied with the answer. “That's really cool. I don't think I could handle that much acting practice.”

“You probably could if you wanted to,” Nene said, glancing toward her.

Hinata-san's eyes widened before she laughed and waved both hands dismissively. “No way! Suzu'd probably get too excited and forget all of Suzu's lines!”

Hiomi-san snorted at that—Nene would assume she knew Hinata-san well enough to know whether that was true or not.

For a little while the conversation became easier. They talked about school, rehearsals, and the strange amount of work that seemed to accumulate whenever lunch was supposed to be relaxing. Nene found herself listening more than speaking, but she didn't mind.

Then one of the two phones sitting on the desk buzzed.

The sudden vibration drew all three of their attention.

Hiomi-san reached for the phone closest to her and glanced down at the notification. Her expression changed almost immediately.

Her eyes widened. “I got in,” Hiomi-san blurted out, sitting up straighter as she stared at the screen.

Hinata-san's face lit up.

“You did?!” she exclaimed as she pushed herself out of her chair, practically moving around the desk before Hiomi-san had even finished looking up. “Rei-tan!! I knew you could do it!”

She wrapped both arms around Hiomi-san from the side, nearly knocking her chair askew in her excitement.

Hiomi-san let out a startled laugh, one hand instinctively catching the edge of the desk as Hinata-san hugged her. “S-Suzu, you're going to knock everything over.”

“I don't care!” Hinata-san insisted, squeezing her tighter. “You got in!”

Nene watched them with a small smile, her chopsticks resting forgotten above her lunchbox.

There was something strangely familiar about the sight.

The way Hinata-san had immediately thrown herself at Hiomi-san without thinking. The way Hiomi-san, despite being caught off guard, wasn't actually trying to get away. The quiet fondness between them felt oddly reminiscent of someone else.

They kind of remind me of me and Emu.

The thought made Nene's smile soften for a moment.

When Hinata-san finally released Hiomi-san, she returned to her seat while still looking absurdly pleased with herself. Hiomi-san straightened her uniform and adjusted her chair before looking back at the phone.

Nene glanced between them, curiosity getting the better of her.

“What did you get into?” she asked, tilting her head slightly.

Hiomi-san's smile faded into something more complicated. She lowered the phone into her lap and let out a quiet sigh.

“Badminton club,” she answered, rubbing one thumb against the edge of her phone.

Nene blinked.

“Oh,” she said, looking at the girl with mild surprise. “I didn't know you played badminton, Hiomi-san.”

“I don't,” Hiomi-san replied, her gaze dropping toward the desk. “Not… anymore, at least.”

“Oh.”

Hiomi-san was quiet for a moment, seemingly deciding whether she wanted to explain. Hinata-san didn't interrupt her this time. She watched with a more subdued smile, giving Hiomi-san the space to continue.

“I played back in middle school,” Hiomi-san eventually explained. “I wasn't particularly good, but I liked it. I practiced a lot because I wanted to keep up with everyone else.”

Nene listened carefully.

“But eventually, I started falling behind,” Hiomi-san continued, fidgeting with the grooves of her phonecase. “The others were improving faster than I was. I kept making mistakes during practice, and eventually it started affecting our matches.”

“There was one competition in particular, I messed up badly. I made a mistake that cost our club the match.”

Nene's fingers tightened around her chopsticks.

Something about that sentence bothered her.

Not because she thought Hiomi-san was pathetic. No, not at all.

Not because she thought making a mistake like that was unforgivable. If anything, Nene understood exactly what it felt like to make one mistake and have it stay lodged in your mind long after everyone else had moved on.

Still, as she listened, her expression slowly tightened.

Why is this bothering me?

Hiomi-san continued before Nene could figure it out.

“After that, I decided I wasn't suited for it,” she said quietly. “So I quit.”

The words settled over the table.

Nene looked down at her lunch.

I don't think she should have quit.

The thought came so suddenly that she almost frowned.

She didn't even know Hiomi-san well enough to say that. She had no idea what had actually happened back then, or what Hiomi-san had been feeling, or whether quitting had ultimately been the right decision.

And yet something inside her resisted the idea.

Why?

Hiomi-san suddenly looked up, apparently noticing how quiet she'd become.

“Ah, shoot,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck with an embarrassed expression. “Sorry for dumping all that on you so suddenly, Kusanagi-san.”

Nene shook her head immediately, giving Hiomi-san a reassuring smile. “It's fine. And congratulations on getting in.”

Hinata-san nodded vigorously beside them, resting both hands against the edge of the desk. “Mhm! You worked really hard for it, Rei-tan!”

Hiomi-san smiled at her friend, though there was still a trace of embarrassment in her expression.

“Thanks,” she said quietly, giving Hinata-san a small nod.

Then Hiomi-san looked back toward Nene.

“I'm not really like Kusanagi-san at all, though,” she said with a faint laugh. “You've been doing theater since middle school, right?”

Hinata-san looked between them before snapping her fingers as she remembered. “Oh, yeah! I think Ame-tan mentioned something like that,” she said, nodding to herself.

“That's right,” Nene confirmed, picking up her chopsticks again. “But it's not like it's always been smooth sailing.”

I failed an audition not very long ago, for example. There's still a lot to improve, even if I've been in this for a long time.

Hinata-san's expression softened as she thought about that. “I guess what's important is that you have no regrets,” she said after a moment, choosing her words carefully.

“Mm,” Hiomi-san replied, giving a small nod. “I'm gonna make sure I don't anymore.”

Nene's chopsticks stopped again.

No regrets.

The phrase lingered in her mind even as Hinata-san began talking about something else.

Nene tried to follow the conversation—she really did—answering when she was spoken to and occasionally nodding along, but her attention had already begun drifting somewhere else.

Why does it feel weird?

She lowered her gaze toward her lunch.

It's not like I have any regrets I can think of.

Maybe besides not practicing enough.

She thought about the countless times she'd convinced herself she could have done more. More rehearsals. More practice. More effort. The feeling was familiar enough that she almost dismissed it.

But then again, I know I should be taking breaks.

That was true. She knew it was true. She'd learned that much over time, even if remembering to actually follow it was another matter.

Nene slowly moved a piece of food around her lunchbox with her chopsticks.

So why...?

“Nene-shi!”

The sudden call jolted her out of her thoughts.

Nene blinked rapidly before looking up.

Hinata-san was leaning slightly toward her from across the desk, while Hiomi-san watched her with a concerned but gentle expression.

Nene realized she'd completely stopped responding to the conversation.

“Ah,” she said, quickly straightening in her chair. “Sorry. I was just thinking back there.”

Hinata-san tilted her head. “Ah, right. Kusanagi-san must be tired,” she said, lowering her voice as she gave Nene a sympathetic smile.

Nene shook her head lightly.

“I'm fine,” she assured her, though her gaze briefly drifted back toward Hiomi-san.

Something still felt strange.

She just couldn't figure out why.

Reminds me, I should go thank the Virtual Singers.

A familiar burst of light washed over Nene's vision.

Even with her eyes squinted, the bright white still seeped through her eyelids. The vibrant pink, warm yellow, and cool cyan refracted through countless translucent triangles drifting weightlessly around her. They spun and overlapped until the world dissolved into a kaleidoscope of shimmering light.

She waited.

The sensation faded as quickly as it had come, leaving only a faint warmth behind her eyes. Nene blinked several times, watching the floating shapes slowly dissolve into the air before rubbing at one eye with the heel of her hand.

I'm… honestly surprised I haven't gone blind yet.

By the time her vision cleared, the all familiar plaza stretched out before her.

The ferris wheel turned overhead, its lights glimmering beneath the perpetual aurora that painted the sky in ribbons of color. Cotton-candy clouds drifted overhead without ever seeming to go anywhere, the flying train glided along its invisible tracks with a cheerful whistle, and the floating carousel continued its slow orbit high above the ground. Beyond it all stood the enormous circus tent.

She had stopped questioning the scenery a long time ago. For the sake of her sanity, she had decided to pick up what Rui called it and chalk the oddities of the SEKAI to the simple, yet complex concept, known as SEKAI logic.

Instead, her eyes swept the plaza in search of the Virtual Singers.

Miku was nowhere to be seen, and neither was KAITO. MEIKO and Luka weren't anywhere in her peripheral vision either.

But two familiar flashes of yellow immediately caught her attention.

There they are.

Changing course, she made her way across the plaza, weaving between stuffed animals as they bustled about their day. A few greeted her with enthusiastic waves as she passed. She returned each one with a small wave of her own while still going forth.

The closer she got, the stranger the scene became.

An entire section of the plaza had been cordoned off.

Well... "cordoned off" was being quite generous.

Lengths of white ribbon had been tied between short wooden posts in an earnest attempt at police tape, with a handful of pillows as barricades completing the illusion. Sitting peacefully in the center was a glowing white orb no larger than a grapefruit. Wisps of pale light drifted from its surface, almost as if it was begging to be touched.

Patrolling in front of it were Rin and Len.

"Hup! Hup! Hup! Hup!" the two's voices were heard chanting as they marched like the guards of Buckingham Palace.

Their nearly synchronized marching echoed across the plaza with considerably more enthusiasm than accuracy. A pair of oversized black sunglasses completely hid each of their eyes.

Nene slowed to a stop.

Where did those sunglasses even come from?

She could picture the chain of events a little too clearly. There was a non-zero chance that while she was busy practicing, her troupemates were up to some tomfoolery. Emu suggested everyone needed "piko-piko super-duper cool secret agent sunglasses," Tsukasa enthusiastically committed to the bit, Rui would have encouraged the whole thing simply because he thought it was entertaining—

No. For my own sanity, I'm not going to overthink it.

The SEKAI has a lot of costumes somewhere right—? I think I remember Miku mentioning it sometime ago…

It's probably just that.

She had barely taken another step before the twins noticed her. Their marching stopped so abruptly that Len nearly stepped on Rin's foot, and after exchanging a hurried glance, they rushed over together.

Len darted in front of her with surprising speed, stretching an arm across her path while Rin hurried to stand beside him, trying her best to look intimidating despite the sunglasses sliding halfway down her nose.

"Nene-chan, stop right there!" he called out.

Nene obeyed without complaint, blinking once at the makeshift roadblock.

The twins straightened simultaneously, adopting their best attempts at an expression of utmost professionalism. Len puffed out his chest and reached into his pocket with an exaggerated flourish before producing what appeared to be an official badge.

It was a roughly cut circle of cardboard—the marker ink had already begun smudging around the edges.

"We're on guard duty," Len announced proudly, holding the badge up for inspection as though it carried genuine authority.

Rin nodded so vigorously her sunglasses nearly fell off. Catching them at the last second, she pushed them back into place before adding, "Very important guard duty."

Len spun on his heel and pointed dramatically toward the glowing orb behind them.

"We've been assigned to protect this fragment of feelings until everyone figures out who it belongs to!" he exclaimed. And by everyone, Nene was almost certain they meant their responsible troupe leader, KAITO.

Her gaze followed his finger, settling on the glowing white sphere once more.

A fragment of feelings… that would explain the barricades.

Nene shivered at the memory of her own experience with one. Her phone randomly started shining on its own and forced her into the SEKAI. Then, with no one else around, she picked up a ball that appeared and went into an unfamiliar place suddenly.

It was orobably for the best this one got barricaded off.

Her eyes drifted back to the twins. "I don't think I've ever seen just the two of you guarding one before."

Rin immediately turned around and pointed past the barricades. "Luka's helping too!" she cheerfully added.

Following her finger, Nene finally noticed Luka sitting against one of the barriers. Somehow she'd blended into the scenery of fluffy pillows so completely that Nene had overlooked her entirely. She sat with her back resting against the barrier, hands neatly folded in her lap, her breathing slow and even as she slept peacefully through the commotion around her.

Nene stared for a moment. "...She's asleep."

"Mm-hm!"

Len leaned in as though he were about to share classified information, lowering his voice despite Luka being well out of earshot.

"So we had to..." He frowned in concentration before looking to Rin for help.

Rin frowned right back. The two exchanged increasingly confused looks until she suddenly turned to Nene.

"Nene-chan, how do you say it again?" she asked sheepishly.

Nene blinked, taking a second to piece together what they were asking. "Huh...? Oh." She realized what they were trying to hint at. "Lock in?"

The twins' faces brightened instantly.

Rin nodded excitedly. "Yeah! We had to lock in!"

They grinned at one another, visibly delighted that they'd remembered the phrase. It was such a small thing, but the pride on their faces was infectious enough that a quiet laugh slipped from Nene before she could stop it.

"I... guess you did." she muttered.

The stern police act lasted all of three more seconds before it completely fell apart. Len pushed his sunglasses onto his head, where they promptly snagged on his hair spike, while Rin gave up on standing at attention altogether, rocking back onto her heels with her hands behind her back.

"So!" Rin beamed. "What're you doing here, Nene-chan?"

Nene thought for a moment. She somehow managed to get sidetracked by this whole silly situation. "I was actually looking for everyone."

"Everyone?" Len asked.

Nene nodded. "I wanted to thank all of you for helping me practice."

The twins exchanged another glance.

"Thank us?"

"I don't think I'd have improved nearly as much without everyone," Nene admitted, her eyes drifting across the plaza. "You've all spent a lot of time helping me."

For just a moment, the twins looked unusually thoughtful.

Then they smiled.

"You don't have to thank us!" Len said, waving both of his hands in front of Nene.

"It was fun!" Rin added with a bright smile. "We like watching you get stronger, Nene-chan."

"Ah…" A faint warmth spread across Nene's cheeks. She got flustered far too easily, atleast in her opinion.

The Kagamines had an expectant look on their faces though, so she had to continue.

"Even so..." A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "I wanted to."

Nene's attention wandered back to the fragment. It floated exactly where it had before, gently pulsing with soft white light. Yet the longer she looked at it, the more something felt... off.

The wisps of light curling from its surface seemed thicker than before. Instead of fading immediately, they drifted outwards like a spill, lingering for a few seconds before disappearing. One ribbon of light floated close enough to brush past her sleeve, dissolving before she could decide whether she'd actually felt anything.

Maybe I'm just imagining it… but—

She kept her eyes on the fragment as she spoke.

"Say... what if this one belongs to me?" she asked carefully.

When she finally looked away from the orb, Rin and Len were no longer looking at her. They were staring at each other. Nene watched the exact same realization spread across both of their faces at the exact same time.

"Oh."

"Oh."

Len spun back toward her so quickly his sunglasses nearly slipped off his head and fell off from the back of his head.

"Wait here, Nene-chan!" he yelled out, running off.

"We're gonna ask KAITO!" Rin added before either of them gave her a chance to respond.

The pair took off across the plaza at full speed.

Their marching had somehow transformed into an even sillier run—complete with exaggerated arm swings, knees lifting far higher than necessary, and sunglasses bouncing precariously with every step. Almost like a cartoon character's run cycle.

Nene pressed her lips together. "...Okay." she replied, though she wasn't entirely sure they heard her.

As their voices faded into the distance, the plaza grew quiet again. The fragment continued its gentle glow, Luka remained fast asleep against the barricade, and not a single stuffed animal seemed to think anything about the situation was unusual, so there weren't any curious plushies around.

Curiosity finally won out.

The ribbon barrier looked more symbolic than functional. After one last glance around to make sure nobody was about to stop her, Nene stepped closer and leaned forward for a better look.

Up close, the fragment was almost hypnotic.

Tiny lights drifted beneath its surface like stars suspended underwater, rising lazily before vanishing into ripples of white that spread across the orb. It radiated a gentle warmth—not against her skin, but somewhere deeper, like the faint pull of a memory she couldn't quite place.

…It's the same exact feeling as that ball from ages ago. But why is this one spilling out—?

Her brows knitted together.

Why does this feel so—

"Nene-chaaan!"

The shout made Nene glance over her shoulder just in time to see Rin and Len charging back across the plaza.

"We found KAITO!" Rin called, waving both arms overhead.

"He said—" Len began, sprinting beside her.

Neither of them slowed down. Nene watched them, her expression flattening as she realized—

...They're not slowing down.

The twins barreled straight into Nene's back.

"Wah—!"

She stumbled forward, arms flailing as she fought to regain her balance. But alas it was all futile—the force of both Kagamines running at full cartoon character speed at her was far too much—and the next instant gravity won.

A brilliant white light erupted the moment her right hand collided with the glowing orb, swallowing her whole.

The next moment, Nene's body crumpled gently onto the ground beside it. Luckily, her head landed on a part of the pillow barricade, preventing what would most definitely cause a concussion.

Neither twin moved. The two stared at each other with identical expressions of dawning horror.

…

Len swallowed thickly. "Uhm, Rin?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"I think we're…" He trailed off, nervously scratching the back of his head before looking at Nene's unconscious form. "How does Nene-chan say it—"

"We're so cooked." Rin said almost immediately.

"—How do we hide a body?!"

"Rin, Len, what was bright light that appeared just now?" They heard the robotic, older male voice from a distance. The footsteps accompanying the question drew steadily closer—there was no urgency to them, but it didn't make it any less terrifying.

The twins froze. Very, very slowly, they looked toward the direction of the voice.

Then back at the not at all concious Nene.

Then at each other.

"WE'RE SO COOKED!! RUN!!"

They immediately bolted in opposite directions. After several steps, they both realized that splitting up was somehow an even worse idea, skidded to a halt, doubled back into one another with a startled yelp.

They nearly tripped over the abandoned barricade in the process, and finally scrambled away just as KAITO approached, taking one bewildered look at the scene before him.

Drowning.

Nene suddenly felt like she was drowning.

There was no warning. One moment, she was in the SEKAI—and the next, everything around her had vanished beneath a deep, endless blue.

Water surrounded her from every direction, stretching farther than she could see. It pressed against her skin without actually touching her, cold and heavy and impossibly vast.

She tried to move.

Nothing happened.

Her arms wouldn't respond. Her legs wouldn't kick. Even her fingers seemed to have become distant things that no longer belonged to her.

She couldn't tell whether she was sinking or simply floating in place. There was no surface above her, no floor below her, no indication of which way was up.

What is this?

Nene tried to force herself to move again, but her body remained completely still.

Then she tried to breathe.

Her chest tightened.

Nene's eyes widened. I can't breathe.

She opened her mouth instinctively, before realizing her potentially deadly mistake—expecting water to rush inside. But nothing happened. There was no choking sensation, no burning in her lungs, no water filling her throat and lungs.

She wasn't actually breathing in anything at all.

And somehow, that made it worse.

Her chest continued to constrict as though something invisible were squeezing her ribs. Every attempt to take a breath became more difficult, despite there being nothing physically stopping her.

Why can't I breathe?

She tried again. Nothing.

The water around her remained perfectly still.

There was no sound. No distant voices. No music. No ringing of water currents. Not even the sound of her own movements.

Only the horrible awareness of her own breathing becoming shallower and shallower.

I can't breathe.

Her thoughts began to race.

I can't breathe. I̸ ̷c̴a̸n̶'̸t̴ ̸b̶r̵e̶a̵t̷h̶e̵. Í̵̤ ̷̦̪͝c̵͓͆a̷̲̹̓͝n̴̠̬̽'̵̜̋͠t̴̞̀͆ ̴̛̺̀b̸̛̞͑r̷̥͉͋́e̶͔̔a̸̳̐̆t̸͓͐͊h̶̢̪̓͠e̷̠̠͑̊

Nene squeezed her eyes shut, trying to force herself to calm down. She knew she wasn't actually underwater. She knew that. There was something wrong with this. It couldn't be real.

This couldn't possiby be real—

But knowing that didn't make the feeling disappear.

Her chest hurt. Her heart was beating too quickly.

She needed to get out.

She needed air.

She needed—

Suddenly, the sensation vanished.

Nene's eyes snapped open.

The water was gone. For one brief second, there was nothing beneath her. Then gravity remembered she existed.

“Wah—!”

Nene dropped straight out of the sky.

She landed with an undignified thump, her hands catching against the ground as she tumbled onto her side. For a moment, she simply lay there, stunned.

Then she slowly pushed herself upright.

Nothing hurt.

Nene blinked.

She looked down at herself. Her clothes were completely dry—there wasn't even a single drop of water clinging to her hair.

“What the hell...?” she muttered, wiping at her sleeve as though that might somehow explain what had just happened.

Her breathing was still uneven, but the crushing sensation in her chest had disappeared. She took a slow breath, then another, checking herself carefully.

Air.

Normal air.

She could breathe.

Nene looked around.

The strange dream—or whatever it had been—was nowhere to be seen. There was no ocean surrounding her now, no endless blue, no suffocating pressure. Instead, she was sitting in a familiar place beneath a familiar sky…line?

A very familiar skyline in fact.

She froze.

The scenery stretched out before her, and recognition settled over her all at once.

The familiar flooring of the street. The surrounding structures with all sorts of billboards and posters. The atmosphere she hadn't experienced in over a year.

Her eyes widened.

“No way,” she whispered, staring at the world around her.

She knew this place.

She had been here before.

Nene's gaze moved slowly across the scenery, her expression shifting from confusion to disbelief as the realization finally settled in.

“Isn't this...” she murmured, pushing herself to her feet as she looked around.

My old Fragment SEKAI.

How is that—

Nene slowly turned in place, her eyes scanning the familiar scenery as the realization settled more heavily in her mind.

How is that even possible?

She had thought this place was gone.

After everything that had happened, after the fragment had disappeared the first time she came to it, there shouldn't have been anything left for her to return to.

I thought it disappeared that time. But... it's still here?

Nene took another cautious step forward, then another, her shoes making quiet sounds against the not-quite-brick ground.

The broad streets and towering buildings of the Fragment stretched around her like a miniature theater district, impossibly grand and yet strangely familiar. It resembled a massive Broadway district still—more than anything else.

Besides the few new posters she could spot, there were now also what seemed to be theaters rising along the streets, the colorful posters covering their walls instead of faceless buildings.

She stopped beside the nearest one.

Did anything change?

Nene tilted her head upward.

The poster was enormous, stretching several meters above her head. She had to take a few steps backward just to see the whole thing properly.

Her eyes widened.

The Christmas show.

She remembered it.

A small smile tugged at her lips as she stared at the poster.

It was still there exactly where she remembered it, preserved among the countless other productions lining the streets.

The sight gave her an odd feeling in her chest. It wasn't quite nostalgia. The feeling was more similar to… finding an old photograph tucked away somewhere she hadn't expected to look.

Nene continued walking.

Another enormous poster caught her attention a little farther down the street, and she immediately recognized the mermaid show.

“That one too,” Nene murmured as she tilted her head back.

She stopped beneath it and looked upward, taking in the familiar imagery of the ocean and decided—after what had happened to her before falling out of the sky, it's best she ddn't look at anything else blue and wet for the next 24 hours or so.

She moved onward, her attention constantly being pulled from one poster to the next.

The Halloween show was still there too.

The townspeople and forest-folk show that the troupe almost got cancelled for online.

Then she spotted another poster.

Nene's expression immediately flattened.

“Oh, come on,” she muttered as she looked up at the ridiculous image of the Tsukasarion production—still unfortunately there. Even after all this time.

That stupid show was still apparently important enough to have its own enormous poster on the wall of her old Fragment SEKAI.

Nene crossed her arms and stared at it with an unimpressed expression.

Of course that one is still here.

She continued down the street. The farther she went, the more posters she began to recognize.

The Torpe show.

The one with the two androids.

The happy phoenix.

The travelling troupe.

And the movie they had helped out with.

Nene slowed down as she reached each one, sometimes stopping completely to examine the posters.

She had to keep moving around to see them properly. Some posters were positioned so high that she had to crane her neck until it started to ache, while others were partially surrounded by other productions.

The scale of everything made the place feel even more like Broadway.

Nene found herself stepping backward again as she tried to take in one particularly massive poster.

It towered over her, surrounded by several other productions that were equally extravagant. The sheer amount of work represented by all of them was almost overwhelming.

And yet, beneath the surprise, there was that familiar little flutter in her chest.

Nene looked up at the posters again.

They aren't real Broadway productions.

I know that.

This wasn't the real theater district she'd dreamed about since she was little. These posters weren't hanging in the real thing, and the performances represented here weren't being advertised to audiences from around the world.

They were fragments. Memories, feelings, and all in between. A world that shouldn't even have existed anymore—at least that's what she thought.

But still...

The things she had created with everyone else had become part of this strange little theater district, surrounded by enormous stages and productions just as grand as anything she'd ever imagined.

She slowly turned, looking down the street at all the posters she'd already passed.

For just a moment, that strangely giddy feeling returned.

It's not the real thing.

Nene looked toward the enormous theater buildings in the distance.

But it's still Broadway.

She couldn't help herself.

The thought was embarrassing. She knew this place wasn't actually Broadway, and she knew that getting excited over a collection of memories inside a fragment of a pocket dimension probably wasn't very practical or realistic.

But she couldn't deny what it made her feel.

I want the real thing.

She wanted to see her name on an actual theater poster hanging over Broadway someday. She wanted to stand beneath lightsof the big stage, and watch something she'd worked on become a real production.

I'll get there someday.

…

…

…

“Nothing...?” Nene asked, glancing around the empty street, expecting the view to suddenly blind her with a white glow and for her to be back at the SEKAI—or, even better, her room.

Still nothing.

Nene frowned.

Isn't this what it wanted me to realize?

She had looked at everything she'd accomplished and thought about what she wanted to do in the future. Surely that had to be the point.

What else could there be?

She folded her arms and stared at the ground. “Seriously,” Nene muttered, her shoulders sinking as she let out a quiet groan. “What else am I supposed to do?”

The Fragment, unsurprisingly, offered no answer.

Nene sighed and looked back up.

She couldn't exactly complain about being stuck here. Not really.

The scenery was beautiful, and the presuably endless theater district still held a strange kind of charm.

But she couldn't stay here forever.

I need to get out sooner or later.

Nene turned away from the posters and began looking around the surrounding streets. The more she examined the place, the stranger its layout started to seem.

There were enormous buildings in every direction, wide paths branching away from the main street, little alleys between theaters, and distant structures that she hadn't explored yet.

She slowly turned in a circle.

“Huh.”

The place was starting to look less like a normal city and more like something from a game. Nene stared down one of the roads.

When I think about it, this place is basically an open-zone RPG.

That thought immediately reminded her of something else.

Her phone.

Nene instinctively reached toward her pocket. Nothing. She checked the other pocket anyway, despite already knowing what she would find.

“Oh… right,” she muttered, patting down the front of her dress as though the phone might somehow have materialized there. “My phone.”

She hadn't really thought about it since arriving.

It probably doesn't come with me into the Fragment.

That made sense, she supposed. She had entered the SEKAI without any of her belongings, so there was no reason her phone would have followed her.

Still, the realization immediately brought another thought to mind.

I haven't done my dailies.

Nene's expression darkened.

She stood completely still for a moment.

Her daily quests. Her login bonuses. Her game. The things she normally did without even thinking about them.

Oh, I really need to get out.

Nene rubbed her forehead.

“Great,” she sighed. “I'm trapped in this place and I can't even do my dailies.”

She took a few steps forward, glancing down each branching street.

There had to be some kind of exit. There had to be some sort of clue.

If it wasn't going to let her out with her realization, she might as well try to find a way to brute force it.

Nene had already learned that the SEKAI wasn't exactly a logical place—the concept of SEKAI logic existed for a reason—but she still couldn't help wishing this one would at least give her some indication of what she was supposed to do.

She stopped at an intersection and looked toward the distant theater buildings.

I wish this thing would just give me a quest or something.

That would make everything so much easier.

At least then I'd know where to go.

Nene sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.

“Seriously,” she muttered, looking toward the road ahead. “Just give me something to do.”

Her vision suddenly blurred.

Nene froze. “Huh—?”

She blinked rapidly.

The scenery seemed to distort for half a second, as though someone had smeared a transparent layer across her vision. She instinctively rubbed at one eye before looking around again.

Everything appeared normal.

Then something appeared in front of her.

Nene's eyes widened.

It wasn't actually floating in the air. At least, she didn't think it was. The interface seemed to exist directly over her eyesight, following her gaze no matter where she looked. She could still see her surroundings behind it perfectly clearly.

The window remained. A quest notification.

She blinked again.

It stayed.

“Seriously...?”

Nene slowly raised one hand and reached toward the screen. Her fingertip passed over the translucent interface. A faint response appeared beneath her touch.

Nene's eyes widened further.

It's interactive.

The realization should probably have frightened her more.

Instead, a strange sense of familiarity settled over her.

It reminded her of those nights when she'd stayed up playing games for far too long, staring at a screen until her eyes started imagining menus and notification windows floating over everything around her.

Except this time, the menu was actually there.

Nene stared at the number—the distance she'd have to walk with her two feet.

Then she stared down the empty road.

Then back at the quest window.

“Wait,” she said, raising her hand to touch the objective. “It actually gave me one?”

The interface responded beneath her fingertip.

Nene's expression shifted from disbelief into reluctant fascination.

Okay. She lowered her hand and looked toward the direction indicated by the quest. This is weird.

There was no question about that.

She had somehow fallen into a Fragment that shouldn't exist anymore, experienced what felt like drowning despite never actually being underwater, and now had a literal game interface floating in her vision.

This is really weird.

Nene looked at the quest again. If the Fragment wanted to play by game rules...

Fine.

At least now she knew where she was supposed to go now.

Actually, is that settings button just for show or does it actually work?

She experimentally clicked on the gear button—surprise, surprise—it opened an actual settings menu. She could lower the brightness of these damn quest pop-ups.

Okay…

That looks decent enough. It's not as obnoxious, even when I minimize it.

Now where was I—

Is that 720 meters?!

"One-fifty," she murmured, checking the corner of her vision. "One-twenty."

Nene slowed occasionally to look around, but she never stopped for long.

This really is like an open-zone RPG.

She had played games with maps like this before. The kind where the player was dumped into a huge area and expected to figure out where to go next while the game placed a marker somewhere several hundred meters away with no teleport waypoint of any sort.

But with this, she had to walk with her own two feet. Her! Kusanagi Nene—willingly walked nearly aa kilometer! And didn't die!

Guess having been with Wonderlands×Showtime for that long has made her more active. And maybe the fact she paced herself helped. Maybe.

But this thing doesn't have a map.

That was probably the part she liked least.

At least in a game, she could open the map and figure out whether she was going in circles or actually progressing. Here, she had to rely entirely on the quest's distance estimation.

She continued walking.

The number dropped lower and lower until the distance counter finally reached zero.

Nene slowed to a stop.

The interface flickered.

The first quest vanished from the sidebar.

Then another panel appeared several inches infront of her rather than directly in front of her face this time.

Nene looked up.

A theatre stood directly ahead. She stared at it for several seconds before looking back at the quest window. Then she looked at the theatre again.

"Seriously?"

The interface remained completely indifferent. Nene merely sighed before starting toward the entrance.

Well, I wanted a quest.

I got one.

She quickly minimized the quest pop-up and head inside.

The theatre itself wasn't quite what she had expected. It was certainly grand enough to belong in this strange Broadway-like place, but it didn't seem to have the enormous lobby or elaborate entrance she associated with larger theatres.

The moment Nene stepped through the doors, she found herself inside the main theatre space almost immediately.

There was no long corridor leading deeper inside. No ticket counter. No ushers waiting to greet her. No crowds gathering around the entrance.

Instead, she simply walked straight into an ongoing performance.

Nene slowed instinctively.

It wasn't as though the theatre was overflowing with pomp and circumstance, either. There were no spotlights sweeping across the audience, no fanfare, and no applause waiting for some grand entrance.

Nene took another careful step forward.

Then someone walked straight through her.

She froze.

"What…?"

Nene instinctively raised both hands, staring at them as if expecting to see some sort of distortion. Nothing happened. Her fingers looked completely normal.

She slowly turned around.

The person who had passed through her hadn't even noticed.

"Excuse me?" Nene called, turning toward them.

There was no response.

Nene's expression flattened.

Right.

Am I invisible? Or… in some sort of spectator mode?

She lowered her hand and looked toward the stage again.

From where she'd entered, the performance was difficult to make out clearly. The stage was visible, but something about the distance made the details hazy.

It reminded Nene of the way a game sometimes deliberately kept distant objects indistinct until the player approached them. Mainly so the cutscenes wouldn't get spoiled too early.

She mentally sighed at herself.

I'm seriously thinking about this like a game.

Still, she walked farther inside.

The theatre was strangely quiet around her despite the performance taking place. She could see the audience seated in rows, but none of them reacted to her presence. She could move between them without anyone looking up.

Nene gradually made her way closer to the stage.

"Ugh, come on! Why won't you get it?!"

She stopped.

Something in the voice had immediately made her stomach tighten. She stared toward the stage.

A girl stood beneath the theatre lights.

Nene's eyes widened.

That's—

Her own middle-school self stood beneath the stage lights, staring at her fellow actors with an expression Nene remembered all too well.

Nene couldn't move.

She knew this scene.

She knew exactly what play this was.

Her throat tightened as the memory finally clicked into place.

That's the play—

The one I messed up.

…

Nene stared at the window hovering in front of her.

For a few seconds, she simply stood there with one hand up, still deciding whether she had actually read what she was seeing correctly.

The quest notification had appeared with considerably less and less fanfare each time, settling neatly into her field of vision instead of abruptly covering half of it. Still, the words were unmistakable.

Watch the performance.

Nene slowly lowered her hand.

So that's what this is about.

Her gaze drifted past the quest window toward the theatre around her.

I guess I should take a seat.

The notification responded to her thought almost immediately, shrinking into a much smaller icon in her sidebar, replacing the previous quest.

… Is it weird that I'm starting to get used to this?

That thought should probably have bothered her more than it did.

Nene found an empty row toward the middle and carefully stepped between the seats before settling into one. The cushion gave a faint squeak beneath her weight.

She adjusted herself until she was comfortable, then looked toward the stage.

“They're building a dam!” the girl—her younger self—cried as she stepped toward another actor, her hands tightening around the edges of her costume. “This shrine's gonna be torn down any day now! If you stay here, you'll disappear too!”

The actor playing the god stood firm in the center of the stage, his expression resolute as he raised his head.

“Even so, I care not!” he declared, planting his feet firmly against the stage. “It is my duty to guard this land! If I can no longer protect it, then I shall perish alongside it!”

The girl onstage stared at the god in disbelief. Her eyes filled with tears as she struggled to maintain her expression, and when she finally spoke, her voice cracked with emotion.

“You... You are so stubborn!” she cried, turning her face away as though she couldn't bear to look at him anymore. “I don't care anymore! Just perish if that's what you want!”

She ran away.

Nene's fingers slowly curled against the edge of her seat.

This is...

The girl returned a moment later, breathless and visibly conflicted.

She looked toward the shrine and pressed one hand against her chest as though trying to steady herself before speaking.

“I shouldn't have said that before, I just...” She swallowed, then forced herself to look ahead. “I still want to be your friend!”

She turned around. “I've gotta hurry!” she shouted as she hurried across the stage. “I can't let them tear down that shrine!”

The music stopped—the sudden silence made the theatre feel considerably larger.

Nene remained completely still.

I know this.

The scene changed.

The passage of time was represented by the shifting lights and movements of the actors, and eventually the stage settled into the scene she remembered most clearly.

The girl who was played by her younger self was now standing at the side of the stage.

Nene's breathing slowed.

She knew what came next.

She remembered the excitement she'd felt back then. The anticipation. The way she'd watched everyone else during rehearsal and thought they were doing so much better than they had before.

She remembered believing that everything would be fine.

Onstage, the younger Nene watched the other actors move into position.

Her expression was focused.

The god's voice rang through the theatre.

“Insolent fools!” he shouted from the center of the stage, raising his arms dramatically. “I shall not move an inch!”

The actors playing the workers moved toward him.

“My strength may be gone,” the god continued as he stood his ground, “but I shall bury you all under the earth if I must!”

The younger Nene stepped onto the center.

Nene's stomach twisted as she watched the younger girl stopped. For one agonizingly long moment, the younger Nene simply stood there, frozen in the center of the stage.

“Ah...” she managed, her voice suddenly small.

One of the villagers turned toward her.

“Who're you, kid?” the villager asked as he gestured toward the construction area. “We're about to start construction, it ain't safe here!”

Another actor looked at her with concern and shifted closer. “Do you need something here?” he asked, his expression encouraging.

The younger Nene opened her mouth.

“Um, I—uh...” she stammered, her fingers tightening around her costume.

She remembered.

She remembered every second of this.

The younger Nene stood completely still as the sound grew louder.

Nene's own hands slowly curled into fists.

Shit.

She looked away. Then forced herself to look back.

The younger girl was still standing beneath the stage lights. The sound of static began creeping into the performance. It started quietly, almost imperceptibly, before becoming louder and harsher around the edges of the scene.

The audience around her began to murmur.

“Hey, what's wrong with that girl?” someone whispered from the seats.

Another voice answered with an uneasy hush, “Shh... she probably forgot her lines.”

A third voice followed, softer than the others. “Poor thing...”

Nene's stomach sank. Her fingers tightened further. The fabric of her skirt bunched beneath her fists as she unconsciously grabbed it, squeezing the material hard enough that her knuckles began to pale.

Shit... this... this is—

Her chest felt tight. She swallowed thickly.

It's so painful.

She looked down at her hands.

I don't... I don't want to watch it, really.

Her eyes stung. It's too painful.

The instinct to stand up and leave was overwhelming. She could simply walk out.

There was nothing physically keeping her in that seat—it wasn't like she was being strapped onto an electric chair.

The theatre's doors were still behind her, and she could probably leave this strange Fragment if she waited for it to fade (who knows how long that would take?).

Even so, I have to face it head on.

Her gaze returned to the stage.

The younger Nene stood beneath the light, her body tense as she struggled desperately to remember what she was supposed to say.

That's what SEKAI brought me to.

The static continued.

The younger girl's breathing became increasingly uneven.

Then I have to face it.

As much as it hurts...

She watched her younger self lower her head.

I'm not the same girl anymore...!

The audience continued murmuring.

Nene's eyes moved across the theatre.

For a moment, she wasn't looking at the stage anymore.

She was looking at the people around her.

The audience members sat in their seats, watching the same scene she had spent years trying not to think about. Some leaned forward with concern. Others whispered among themselves.

None of them could see the girl sitting among them.

Nene slowly looked back toward the stage.

Ah...

She finally understood what the SEKAI had wanted her to see.

The moment the performance ended, the stage lights abruptly shut off.

Nene blinked as the entire theatre was swallowed by darkness. The last traces of the performance seemed to disappear with the lights, leaving the room strangely quiet.

She remained seated for a moment, looking toward the stage and waiting for something to happen.

Then a faint glow appeared on the floor.

One seashell-shaped outline. Then another. And another.

Nenestood up as the glowing seashells formed a trail leading away from the stage. They stretched across the floor and disappeared toward one of the walls, where a door now stood that definitely hadn't been there before.

Nene stared at it for a moment.

That's the backstage area.

She made her way down from the seats and followed the trail. The door opened easily when she approached, revealing a long backstage corridor on the other side.

She stepped through.

The atmosphere changed immediately.

The backstage area was much larger than she'd remembered—probably having been expanded and urned more maze-like for the fun of it—geez, thanks a lot SEKAI.

With corridors branching in several directions. Sets, props, costumes, and pieces of scenery were scattered around the space, some neatly organized and others sitting wherever they happened to have been left.

Fortunately, she already knew exactly where she needed to go.

She started walking.

Her steps were steady at first, but the closer she got, the more her thoughts began circling around the same question.

When I get to her… myself… what do I even say?

Nene slowed.

She had never considered this part.

Until now, she'd only been trying to understand what the Fragmentwanted from her. She'd watched the performance, watched her younger self freeze onstage, and forced herself to confront a memory she'd spent years trying not to think about.

But meeting her?

Actually meeting the girl who had been standing beneath those lights?

And presumably give some sort of advice—coming from the older and supposedly wiser version of herself?

That was different.

I've never thought about what I'd do if I actually met my past self.

Nene glanced down at her feet as she continued walking.

Can I even talk to her properly…?

She remembered how thepeople in the theatre hadn't reacted to her at all. She'd tried calling out to one of them earlier, and the person had simply walked straight through her as though she wasn't there.

Or will I just be able to watch her?

Her brows drew together.

What do I do?

The corridor turned, and Nene recognized the next section immediately. Her destination was close.

She stopped in front of a plain door.

This should be it.

Nene reached for the handle, then paused. She remembered this room, and she was fairly certain she'd locked it.

At least— I remember locking it...

She looked around the hallway. Nothing seemed unusual. Nothing out of the ordinary that gave any obvious way to open the door.

Nene frowned and glanced back at the door.

Then something caught her attention.

Off to the left, hovering above a table, was a screen.

Nene stared at it.

It was simply there.

There was no dramatic music, no spotlight, and absolutely no explanation for why it existed. It looked like someone had taken a completely ordinary YouTube tutorial and placed the entire thing in midair above the table.

Nene stared at it.

Why is there a lockpicking tutorial here?

She looked at the door. Then at the tutorial. Then back at the door.

Am I actually supposed to use this?

She shook her head. No...

Nene stepped toward the door and placed her hand around the handle. She pushed down.

Click.

The door opened.

Nene froze.

She slowly looked at the open doorway. Then she turned her head toward the floating tutorial. Her face immediately flushed.

It was never locked—?!

She stood there for another second, silently processing the fact that she'd just assumed a door was locked because she remembered locking it, while the door had apparently been perfectly willing to open the entire time.

The lockpicking tutorial remained completely oblivious to her humiliation, hovering quietly above the table.

Nene turned away from it.

She stepped in front of the doorway.

She had to raise an arm over her eyes.

A blinding white light filled the space beyond.

It was so bright that Nene couldn't make out anything on the other side. The light washed everything away, leaving no visible walls, floor, or ceiling.

Nene squinted.

Damn. I'm really going to need something for my eyes if this keeps happening.

She lowered her arm slightly.

There was no mistaking it though. This was the place she'd been looking for. Her self from the lowest point of her life—was somewhere beyond that light.

Nene took a slow breath.

This is it.

She closed her eyes.

Then she stepped forward.

The door creaked open, and Nene blinked, adjusting her eyes to the afterglow of white still blurring her vision slightly.

It really was like a cutscene. The 'game 'having apparently just loaded a teleported in between.

She took another cautious step forward, her hand still resting on the door handle, and looked around. The familiar game-like UI that had accompanied her through a good half of the Fragment was nowhere to be seen.

"Are you normally that sneaky or did I forget it's polite to knock before entering in the future?" a familiar voice asked, and Nene immediately froze.

Wow—if Nene were any less fond of her past self, she might've released some colorful vocabulary back there.

She slowly looked at the girl sitting on the floor in front of her.

It was strange seeing herself like this. She really hadn't changed that much since middle school, physically at least.

Three years separated them, but the difference was somehow both enormous and strangely small. Her hair was nearly the same. Her face was nearly the same. Her height—unfortunately for her—was almost exactly the same.

I really haven't changed that much.

Nene's gaze lingered on her younger face for another moment before she lowered it.

Physically, at least.

Three years…

It sounded like such a long time when she thought about it that way. Yet standing here, looking at herself from before everything had changed, she suddenly realized just how little those years had altered the person underneath.

I'm different now.

"Ah—sorry..." Nene muttered as she rubbed the back of her neck, her eyes briefly dropping toward the floor.

Then something flickered at the corner of her vision.

Nene's eyes shifted toward it.

In place of the game UI was a timer.

Five minutes.

The number had already begun counting down from the moment her conversation with her younger self started.

I only have five minutes?

Her stomach sank as she stared at the timer.

That's... that's not nearly enough.

There were so many things she wanted to say. So many things she wanted her younger self to know. She had spent years reaching the point she was at now, and somehow she was expected to compress all of it into five minutes.

There's so much I want to say.

Nene looked back at her younger self, her fingers fidgeting slightly against the fabric of her skirt.

How do I even start?

Her younger self broke the silence first, watching her with an increasingly confused expression.

"How are you... how are you even here...?" she asked, her eyebrows drawing together as she tried to make sense of the situation.

Nene stared at her for a moment.

Do I really want to explain SEKAI to her?

Even now, SEKAI was a concept she struggled to understand. Every time she thought she had figured out how it worked, something else happened that made her question everything again.

Trying to explain it to her middle school self would probably only make things worse.

Nene shifted her weight and gave a small, awkward shrug.

"Uh..." she began, searching for the simplest answer she could give. "You'll figure it out in like... two years. I can't really explain it either."

Her younger self blinked several times.

"Okay, then why are you here?" she asked, her expression becoming more serious as she watched her older self.

Nene's mouth opened.

Nothing came out.

She looked at the timer again.

What am I even supposed to tell you?

She lowered herself to the floor, sitting beside her younger self with her back against the wall. The younger Nene watched her curiously but didn't move away.

For a few seconds, Nene simply sat there.

Then she glanced sideways at the girl who had once been her. "What's wrong?" Nene asked quietly, her voice gentler than before.

Her younger self's fingers curled against her skirt. "I don't want to talk about it," she mumbled, lowering her gaze.

Nene was quiet for a moment.

"I mean..." she began, looking down at her own hands before continuing, "I already know. I am you, after all."

Her younger self looked over.

Nene gave her a small smile. "But it'd be nice to hear it from you."

The younger girl didn't answer immediately. Nene decided not to push. She knew herself at that time better than anyone would—considering the fact she isolated herself from everyone else.

She looked ahead, letting the silence sit between them before speaking again.

"We have a troupe now," she said, resting her hands against her knees. "You know Rui… the other two—are also really amazing people."

Her younger self's head immediately lifted.

"Rui...?" she asked, her eyes widening with surprise. "We're friends again?"

"Yeah," Nene confirmed, smiling faintly as she looked at her. "We are."

There was something strangely painful about saying it.

You have to wait two more years to meet them.

And even then, it wasn't as though everything immediately became perfect. She'd have to get over how annoying Tsukasa was, figure out how to deal with Emu's endless energy, and somehow survive Rui's bizarre inventions and schemes.

You'll have to go through all of that before you realize how much you love being around them.

Nene looked down at her hands again.

I owe them so much.

Her younger self was quiet for another moment. Her expression crumpled slightly.

"I messed up so badly," she admitted, her voice trembling. "It feels like my life is ending."

Nene's chest tightened.

"Ah..." she murmured, her gaze dropping.

That was what it felt like.

She had just watched that performance. She had thought she understood what had happened back then. Seeing it from the outside had made the memory hurt in a way she hadn't expected.

Nene took a slow breath before turning toward her younger self.

"Well… I just failed an audition recently," she said, keeping her voice as steady as she could.

Her younger self looked up in surprise.

"You know Morinomiya Revue?" Nene asked, gesturing faintly as though the name itself should be enough of an explanation.

"That acting school?" her younger self asked, blinking rapidly.

"Mhm," Nene replied with a small nod.

"You failed an audition there?" her younger self asked, staring at Nene in disbelief. "Hold on, how did you—how did we even get there?!"

"Long story," she answered with a small wave of her hand, deciding not to waste precious time explaining every detail. "But anyway, the point is... I didn't get the part of the main."

Her younger self fell silent.

Nene looked down at her lap.

"I thought it'd be way more painful," she admitted, her fingers slowly tightening together. "Failing to get the role when my singing got complimented so much, and I practiced so hard to be more on level with that person."

She didn't elaborate on who she meant.

Her younger self didn't ask.

"But..." Nene continued, lifting her gaze again, "I really did everything I could. With everyone helping me, and everything I learned from practicing with Kazamatsuri-san—"

"W-Wait—Kazamatsuri... Yuka?" her younger self suddenly interrupted, her eyes widening dramatically.

Nene blinked at her.

"You did what with Kazamatsuri Yuka?!" her younger self exclaimed, grabbing Nene by the shoulders and shaking her in disbelief.

Nene's head bobbed slightly with each shake.

"I know right—!" she exclaimed back, unable to stop herself from smiling at her younger self's reaction. It wasn't unlike her own reaction when they did the mermaid show and she first talked with her idol.

"Ah, right, anyway."

Her younger self reluctantly stopped shaking her, though she still looked utterly stunned.

"I gave this role my all," Nene continued, settling herself again. "It was frustrating, though. Giving it my all— but..."

She paused.

Her eyes drifted toward the floor.

"Winning and losing, failing, getting frustrated, and working to improve yourself," she said slowly, remembering everything she had learned since that time. "That's the way to move forward."

She took another breath.

"In the end..."

Her expression softened as a memory resurfaced.

'I guess what's important is that...'

Nene smiled faintly. "I really didn't have any regrets."

Her younger self stared at her.

"...You really didn't?" she asked, her voice small. "Even failing at that?"

"Not really..." Nene replied, shaking her head gently.

The timer continued counting down. She glanced toward it. Less than a minute left.

Her heart skipped.

She pushed herself to her feet and turned toward her younger self, extending one hand. Her younger self tilted her head in confusion before slowly reaching out and taking it.

Nene gently pulled her upright.

"Did you get it?" Nene asked, giving her hand a small squeeze.

"Get what?" her younger self asked, looking at her.

"It's okay to fail,"

…

Her younger self stared at her.

"I—..." she began, but the words failed to come.

Nene looked toward the timer again. She swallowed nervously.

"This is going to sound really awkward but u-uhm..." Nene muttered, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand. "Do you want a hug?"

Her younger self's eyes widened.

"H-Huh?" she stammered, staring at Nene in complete confusion.

It took a moment.

Then, slowly, her younger self stepped forward. Nene wrapped her arms around her.

It was awkward. Really awkward.

Hugging herself was already strange enough, but having her younger self bury her face against her shoulder and begin crying was something she had never imagined she'd experience.

Yet as Nene slowly wrapped her arms tighter around the girl, something inside her softened.

"It's okay to fail."

She gently rubbed her younger self's back.

"Please don't be scared to rely on someone. It really, really helped a lot."

"Okay..." her younger self whispered through a sniffle, tightening her arms around Nene.

Nene swallowed.

God, I really am pathetic like this.

The thought came automatically, but she immediately pushed it away.

But I can't blame her at all.

It had taken Nene long enough to stop being scared of asking for help herself. She knew how difficult it was to admit that she couldn't handle everything alone.

She could only hope her younger self would learn that sooner.

Nene glanced toward the timer again. Twenty-something seconds.

Her younger self suddenly stiffened.

Nene felt her arms begin to loosen.

She looked down.

The edges of her younger self's body were beginning to fade—a visual on the fact her time was ending. Her younger self stared at her own hands, her eyes widening.

"I-I don't want you to go!" she cried, reaching toward Nene as her body continued to disappear. "Please—I want to know how to be like you—"

Nene froze.

'Be like you,' huh?

Her eyes stung.

I really didn't think I'd be admirable to anyone... especially her.

She looked at her younger self.

But... I guess Wonderlands×Showtime proved me wrong.

Emu and Tsukasa and Rui, all of them proved me wrong. Even Byakkomachi-san and my classmates...

Nene's lips trembled into a small smile.

I improved, didn't I? Even if it was little by little?

She felt tears beginning to gather in her eyes.

...I'm glad.

"Don't be silly… I'm you..." Nene said, reaching out toward her younger self as the last seconds disappeared. "I'm always going to be waiting for you in the future... just wait three more years for me, alright?"

Her voice trembled.

She was tearing up now, but she didn't bother hiding it.

Her younger self pulled back. She looked at her through her own tears, her fading fingers reaching toward Nene one last time.

"Mm..." she whispered, giving Nene the smallest smile. "Thank you—for everything."

Nene watched as her younger self slowly faded away.

And then she disappeared.

Nene found herself back in the main theatre room.

For a moment, she simply stood there, trying to understand how she had gotten back. The stage was quiet now, the enormous theatre stretching out around her in the same strange stillness it had held when she first arrived. The seats seemed almost unnaturally empty.

Then something moved. Nene's eyes shifted toward one of the rows.

A small figure was hiding behind a seat.

She could barely see the top of her head.

Nene stared for a second before realizing exactly who it was.

Her younger self.

Not the middle-school version she'd just spoken to.

Much younger.

Her child self was peeking around the side of the seat, watching Nene cautiously as though she were some unfamiliar animal that might suddenly run away.

Nene's expression softened.

The little girl slowly stepped out from behind the seat. She kept her shoulders slightly hunched and her hands close to herself, approaching one careful step at a time.

Nene crouched down so they were closer to the same height.

She smiled.

"Let's go home together," Nene said softly, holding out her hand.

The little girl stared at it.

Then she cautiously reached forward and placed her tiny hand in Nene's.

Nene's eyelids fluttered.

At first, she couldn't tell whether she was awake.

She could hear voices somewhere nearby, muffled and distant, while the world slowly returned to her in pieces. The sensation beneath her head was soft, warmer than the floor should have been, and there was something faintly moving through her hair.

"Eh, KAITO—Nene-chan woke up," Luka said gently, and the moment Nene heard her name, her eyes snapped open.

She sat up almost immediately. Only then did she realize where she'd been sleeping. Her head had been resting in Luka's lap.

Nene's entire face warmed.

"Ah— Luka-san... sorry, why was I—" she started, rubbing one eye as she tried to gather her thoughts.

Luka only smiled, brushing a few strands of Nene's hair away from her face. "Fufu, it's okay Nene-chan. I let you sleep there... MEIKO does it for me sometimes and it's nice—better than sleeping on the floor, right?" she asked, giving Nene's head another gentle stroke.

"...I guess," Nene admitted, still looking slightly embarrassed as she straightened herself.

Before she could ask anything else, an unmistakably energetic voice erupted from nearby.

"NENE-CHAN!!" Emu cried as she appeared seemingly out of nowhere and threw both arms around Nene.

"Oof! E-Emu!" Nene yelped, instinctively grabbing onto her friend's shoulders to keep herself from falling backward.

Emu squeezed her even tighter, apparently unconcerned about whether Nene had fully recovered from whatever had happened inside the Fragment.

"Nene-chan's awake!" she exclaimed happily, rocking them both slightly as she held on. "You're okay!"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Nene reassured her, gently patting Emu's back. "You can let go now."

Emu reluctantly loosened her grip, though she remained close enough that Nene suspected she would immediately hug her again if given the opportunity.

Nene finally looked around at everyone else.

KAITO was standing nearby, while the Kagamines were hovering somewhat awkwardly behind him.

Nene blinked.

Both Rin and Len had cartoonish bumps on their heads.

She stared. Then stared a little longer, her lips twitching.

"What happened to you two..." she asked, pressing the back of her hand against her mouth as she desperately tried not to laugh.

The Kagamines immediately bowed.

"Sorry!" they both apologized in sync, bowing so quickly and repeatedly as though he were trying to apologize enough times to make up for whatever had happened.

Nene's shoulders shook.

She was trying.

She really was.

But the sight was ridiculous.

For one brief second, KAITO stood behind them with the expression of a father who had just discovered his children had done something catastrophically stupid.

Then his expression softened.

"Phew," KAITO said as he let out a relieved breath, giving Nene a warm smile. "Good to know you're okay, Nene-chan."

Nene finally managed to suppress her laughter and nodded.

"I'm really alright, KAITO-san," she assured him, giving him a small smile.

Luka continued gently stroking Nene's hair as she watched her with quiet concern.

"So, Nene-chan," Luka asked softly, tilting her head toward her, "what did you see in the Fragment SEKAI?"

Nene's smile faded slightly.

She looked toward the area where the Fragment SEKAI had been sealed off.

The barriers were still there.

But they were different now.

The strange space behind them seemed to be fading, its edges becoming less distinct as though the Fragment were slowly dissolving back into nothing.

Nene stared at it for a while.

She wasn't quite sure how to explain everything she had seen.

Nene lowered her gaze. "I think it was…" she thought back at the memory. She wondered whether her past self would remember—probably not. "It was something I really needed to see."

She looked back up and saw everyone there smiling at her. It was a really nice sight.

"Ah," she murmured, glancing around the SEKAI. "What time is it?"

Emu perked up immediately.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, reaching for her phone. The enormous taiyaki case around it was impossible to miss as she unlocked the screen and checked the time.

Her eyes widened.

"It's almost six!" Emu announced, holding the phone up excitedly.

Nene's eyes widened slightly as well.

Oh, good.

I still have time for my dailies.

She mentally began running through everything she needed to do when Emu suddenly leaned closer.

"Nene-chan?" Emu asked, lowering her phone as she tilted her head.

"Yeah?" Nene replied, looking toward her.

"Wanna go for taiyaki together?" Emu asked, clasping her hands together eagerly. "I wanna treat Nene-chan!"

Nene blinked.

She glanced toward the others, then back at Emu.

"Oh, if you want—" she began, but Emu was already lighting up.

"Yay!!" Emu cheered, jumping to her feet.

Before Nene could even react, Emu grabbed her hands and pulled her upright. Nene stumbled forward, quickly catching herself as Emu happily gathered her things and shoved them back into her arms.

"Wait, Emu, I can carry my own stuff," Nene protested, adjusting her belongings as Emu continued fussing over her.

Emu ignored the complaint completely.

"I'm going on a date with Nene-chan!!" she announced brightly as she pulled Nene toward the exit.

"Eh—wait—don't call it a date!"