Work Text:
In the dimly lit room, a student sat at their desk tapping away on their laptop. The screen glowed faintly, multiple tabs were open and Ruri, the student, was running on caffeine- induced determination alone. In their ears were headphones playing random songs which they didn’t mind, but when a strange, unheard melody started playing, curiosity got the best of them.
“Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V… Wait, what song is this?” Their hand moved to check their phone.
Untitled.
“Oh you’ve gotta be kidding me..what the fuck?” A strange light envelopes them, giving Ruri no time to look up the song.
Faced with a never-ending library, the teenager’s first response was shock.
“What the hell?”
Then excitement.
“Does this mean I can find answers to stuff here?”
Then more shock.
“How did I even end up here?”
A voice cut out from the distance, clear and robotic. “User detected, no… Welcome to SEKAI.” They jolted from the sudden noise, trying to locate the source. “What- Who are you?” The owner of the voice tilted her head. “That’s for you to find out.” Ruri is even more confused now. “Where am I? What is a SEKAI? What are you- no. Who are you? Oh shit..” They become quiet as realization dawns in. “You’re Hatsune Miku,” they said “Why is Hatsune Miku here. What is this place. WHY AM I HERE?????” They start panicking while Miku just smiles gently.
“You wish to know why you’re here, yes? Follow me.”
They turned and followed Miku.
“So you are..’Ruri’, correct?”
They nod.
“May I call you something else?”
They nod again.
“Well then. ‘Aster’.”
“Would you like to know about this place..your SEKAI?”
Aster doesn’t say anything, they just walk faster, following Miku.
“I assume the answer is yes, then.”
The view changed, from the endless library halls to what seemed like a museum. At a closer look, Aster realized it was another endless place, something that looks like it came out of a science textbook, a natural history museum.
“Look around,” Miku said. “You might find something interesting.”
So they do.
There are many specimens, ranging from crow feathers to an entire tiger skeleton which Miku assured are not real and taken from real-life information only. They stop at a specific exhibition.
Snow Leopard
Scientific name: Panthera uncia
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. uncia
Species: P. uncia
Unclassified
Species: P. uncia
Status: Endangered
Habitat: Alpine-subalpine zones, 3500-4000 meters from sea level.
The snow leopard is elusive and hard to spot. They do not usually attract humans. Their fur makes it easy to blend in with its habitat.
There was a glass enclosure with a rocky, snowy mountain inside it. Aster spotted movement, and at a closer look, a small snow leopard was moving inside it. Beside the glass enclosure was a life sized hologram.
“Something interesting?” Miku asked, receiving no reaction from the other except for a small nod.
Aster watched the hologram for a long time, fascinated by this ‘SEKAI’ they were in. The hologram moved and changed position, drawing a smile from Aster.
After some time, they got up and came to Miku
“It was interesting. Anything else to show me?”
Sure, they didn’t trust Miku at first, but who knows? Maybe the first step to getting to know someone is finding a middle ground. As they continued walking, they asked Miku about how time flows in the SEKAI, which the Virtual Singer says not to worry, because it stops in SEKAI.
Finally, they arrived at the next place: a lab. This only made Aster more interested in this world they were in.
“Guess where we are now?” Miku asked.
After a quick look, Aster answers her.
“Something like a mineralogy lab, maybe?”
Miku hummed, “Sort of. Feel free to take a look.”
The teenager walked around the lab, read some information, then stopped at a table, a note was on it, the note read:
Unidentified gemstone - Pending identification
At the bottom, someone wrote:
Possible sapphire with an asterism phenomenon? Star sapphire, maybe?
They turned to ask Miku.
“Can I try to ID this?”
Miku shrugged, “You can try. Here” And handed them a manual.
After some trial and error, Aster came to a conclusion.
“Yeah, this might be a star sapphire. Looks like whoever wrote this note was correct.” They held the gemstone under the light, admiring the six-pointed star on the dark blue stone.
As they looked back at the Vocaloid, they realized she was glitching.
“It’s time to leave, I’ll see you next time.” She said,
“Wait- what?!” Aster stared at Miku, and with a blink, they were gone, out of the SEKAI.
Ruri was right back where they were, sitting at their desk with notes still open. The time read 01:20 AM, the exact time that they checked that song. So with nothing better to do (except the homework) they started to type a message to their friends.
ASTER: so uh
ASTER: i just found some weird shit
ASTER: * song link *
SOLAR: hey so wtf
SELENE: why are you awake at 1 am
ASTER: you know
ASTER: homework
SKY: yeah reasonable
ASTER: join vc i wanna talk about ts
Ruri joined the voice chat, waiting for the other three.
SOLAR has joined the channel.
SKY has joined the channel.
SELENE has joined the channel.
> ASTER: m!play * song link *
> PLAYING : Untitled
____
Mei watched through her phone screen as her friend sent a link and played the song on the voice channel, nothing could go wrong, right? As ‘SOLAR’, no one would recognize her except Ruri, ‘ASTER’, right?
She was very, very wrong.
____
A bright light enveloped their rooms, and they were in the virtual world of SEKAI.
Mei found herself in a vast library with two other people, but Ruri ‘ASTER’ was nowhere to be found. First was a student in a school uniform with light brown hair. They looked less like a person and more like a ghost in the dim light. And second was a tired-looking girl in some casual clothing Mei could only assume as sleeping clothes.
The tired girl looked at Mei. “You must be SOLAR, correct?” Earning a shocked expression from Mei, as she had never told anyone how she looked. “Yeah, and you’re..SELENE?” She guessed, but it was not correct. ‘SELENE’ spoke up behind her. “No. That’s SKY. Who you just mentioned was me.” The student pointed out, “Plus, there’s four people in our group. Where’s ASTER?”
Now that they mentioned it, Mei realized her friend wasn’t here with the rest.
“Looking for someone?” A voice called out, “This way, follow me.”
Without hesitation, Mei turned and walked toward the voice, her pace increasing with each bookshelf she passed.
____
“SELENE, should we follow her?” Sai asked the girl with concern. “We can, sure. She’s always like that.” Fuyuko replied and started walking after Mei. “Wait, you know her?” Sai asked, running after the girl.
“Of course I do, we’re in the same school.” She replied. “And you must be from Kamiyama High, right? That’s the Kamiyama uniform.” Sai nodded, catching up to Fuyuko.
The library halls stretched on endlessly, until the scene changed.