Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kanade looked up at the monitor. There was a notification from Nightcord, the one she was expecting.

yakisoba39: I finished the lyrics

Can you take a look at them, K?

The recipient of the message perked up and inspected the attached file. It took a while for it to open up, which made Kanade all the more impatient to see its contents. The circle seemed to load for eternity, as per usual. Finally, she was able to see the lyrics her bandmate sent her.

Bandmate? Guess she could call her that. Their group wasn’t really a band, but it could work for the lack of a better term.

Kanade thoroughly read through Yakisoba’s work and took a moment to gather her thoughts. The lyrics weren’t bad, per say, but still lacked something. She didn’t want to pressure her group member to rewrite the whole thing, though, just a couple of phrases and words. Maybe she could help, too.

After a while, Kanade started typing on her keyboard, trying to convey her feelings as well as she could.

K: Overall, I really like the flow, especially in the chorus

I just thought some things could be rephrased to better describe the meaning we wanted to relay

Something like this, maybe:

Her fingers begun typing quicker and quicker as more ideas started appearing in her head. Her calm expression subconsciously changed to an excited and focused one, as it always did when she was working on a song.

It took a while for her to take her fingers off the keyboard to reread her message so that she could make sure it was ready to be sent. After that brief pause, she finally pressed Enter to pass her words to Yakisoba.

The next notification she got was from a different person, though.

droneミ☆: Oh, Yakki finished already~ Let me take a look as well!

Right, Drone. He had to review the lyrics as well – after all, their songs are whole group’s effort. They all helped each other with their work, even though their fields required different skills, but having another perspective proved to be immensely useful countless times.

Another few minutes passed as Kanade was waiting for a follow up.

droneミ☆: Yes, I mostly agree with K, though there’s just one thing – I believe leaving the lyrics in the bridges just as they are would help with making things a little vague, which the song could actually benefit from.

Other than that, both of you did splendidly as well~

A quiet chuckle escaped Kanade’s lips. Drone’s unusual way of speaking – or rather, typing – was quite endearing to her in a way. She couldn’t explain why, but it just was. Perhaps because it added so much character into his messages, she felt as if she could almost hear him.

Hear him… Come to think of it, how would he sound like? How would Yakisoba sound like?

yakisoba39: I see. Thank you for your feedback, you two

I’ll try incorporating your ideas and send it to you as soon as I’m done

Kanade was so busy imagining her bandmates’ voices that she was a little startled when the notification came. She quickly recovered and let her fingers drift through the keyboard to answer Yakisoba.

K: Sure, take your time

The long haired girl looked at the hour. It wasn’t even close to midnight yet, so they still had lots of time. She switched tabs back to her music program and continued working on the drums as they were particularly bothersome. Her mind focused on the task so heavily that for a while, she was back to her own world, forgetting about everything else.

She almost didn’t even notice when Nightcord rang again after half an hour.

yakisoba39: Is this better?

Kanade inspected the contents of the new file sent to her and was fully pleased this time.

K: Yeah, it’s much closer to what we wanted to convey

What do you think, Drone?

She didn’t have to wait long.

droneミ☆: Yes, indeed it is! Yet another beautiful work from Yakki ˚.•

Kanade subconsciously nodded, as if her bandmates could see her.

yakisoba39: Okay, I take it it’s ready for tuning then ^^;

Gonna start working on it now, if it’s fine with you

K: Sure, I’ll keep you all updated on the instrumental too

droneミ☆: Looking forward to it~ I’ve got quite a few sketches here, so I’ll get to them as well!

yakisoba39: Wait, already?! I sent the first draft of the lyrics not even an hour ago o_o

Kanade could almost predict what Drone was going to say.

droneミ☆: Hehe, I suppose having fun makes you work faster~

A chuckle escaped her lips again, though she was slightly worried as Drone seemed to be overworking himself a little.

K: Happy to hear that

Just make sure you’re not overdoing it, okay?

droneミ☆: Don’t you worry, everything shall be done in due time with an appropriate amount of rest!

yakisoba39: Alright, good luck then, everyone =)

With that, all three of them went back to their respective little worlds. Time seemed to stop for them as they once again fell into the spiral of their beloved crafts.

However, the real world could not stop that flow, which kept passing until a little after 1 AM. Kanade was the first one to send something.

K: Here’s how it sounds for now, I’ll probably still make some changes later and tomorrow

Tomorrow… Technically, it was already there. But with how the group were operating, it didn’t start until they logged out of Nightcord.

Another couple of minutes went by before Kanade’s message was greeted by Yakisoba’s response.

yakisoba39: It’s great!! I love how polished it sounds

I finished laying out Rin’s lines already, I was waiting for you to get more ideas on how to tune her and I already have a couple

It’s probably gonna be finished tomorrow or the day after

So soon? Goodness, everyone was on a roll today. Including Kanade – she managed to not only get the drums done, but also fine tune the bass line and the main melody. What was left was some final touches, mixing in Yakisoba’s Rin vocals and they were pretty much good to go. They had already agreed on making the MV on the simpler side this time, so Drone probably won’t take that long either since he was full of inspiration as well.

K: You sure you can handle that? It’s still a lot of work, after all

yakisoba39: Yeah, I’m actually feeling really motivated haha

droneミ☆: My oh my, aren’t we in top form~ I feel inclined to echo Yakki’s statement – your melodies are as inspiring as ever, K (˵•̀ᴗ•́˵)☆

Kanade couldn’t help but let a smile creep up her face – seeing as they all were so eager to work together made her feel really fuzzy and warm inside. A feeling she hasn’t experienced in a while.

A feeling she missed way more than she’d like to admit.

K: Thanks, glad to hear it

How’s it going for you, Drone?

It took a good few minutes for him to respond. A little more than Kanade expected, which for some reason made her worry again.

droneミ☆: All is surely coming together – with you two as my inspiration, I also believe to be able to finish the work soon!

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment. She didn’t even register how she typed “Are you sure you’re okay?” at first, but quickly deleted what she wrote after coming back to her senses. Drone seemed just as excited about their project as she and Yakisoba were, he’s probably doing fine. Maybe Kanade was just overthinking things, after all.

yakisoba39: Can’t wait to see your stuff either! Just make sure you take breaks too. Same goes for you, K

K: Yeah, let’s all do our best

droneミ☆: Couldn’t have put it better myself~

That being said, I think I will log out for today, as much as I would love to stay with you. I ought to start resting my eyes from the big computer screen for the night, haha.

Kanade felt a little relieved.

K: Of course, see you tomorrow

yakisoba39: Good night, Drone!

droneミ☆: I shall have the pleasure of speaking with you all again the next day~ Until then!

The little green dot next to Drone’s profile picture went grey, meaning he logged out.

yakisoba39: I might call it a day for now too

It’s Friday, so technically I could stay here a little longer, but I can’t mess up my sleep schedule too much ^^;

Right, both her bandmates went to school on weekdays, but unlike Drone, Yakisoba couldn’t handle losing many hours of sleep well. Kanade felt a little sorry for making her stay up so long.

K: No worries, please don’t force yourself

I’ll stay to finish the song, but don’t feel pressured to rush tomorrow or anything

yakisoba39: Of course

Please remember to get some rest too, K

After Yakisoba left Nightcord as well, Kanade slowly closed her eyes, fighting the sleepiness that suddenly washed up over her. No matter how much she tried to deny it, she was tired sometimes too, but it wasn’t like she always chose not to sleep. She often just couldn’t. She had to keep composing, it was the only thing keeping her from going insane. The only way for her to forget about her overbearing loneliness. About all her problems.

She had to endure for her bandmates’ sake. They were all so excited, she couldn’t let them down.

After getting her determination back, Kanade opened her eyes and switched tabs to continue working. Her mind focused just on the interface of her music program, letting go of all other concerns.

Ichika reached for her blue pajamas and closed the wardrobe. She was brimming with ideas for Rin’s tuning, but knew she should be sleeping already, so she settled on recording her thoughts on a piece of paper for now. Even after changing clothes, she came up with a few new things and ran back to her desk to write them down before finally deciding on going to bed.

However, while on her way to rest, her hand brushed against the empty space on her nightstand. The girl’s gaze turned to the place she touched.

It wasn’t always empty.

Ichika’s mind was flooded with memories of her dear friends – in the theme park, at the playground underneath the stars, in their houses and the countless hours spent at school. Some of these precious moments were captured and displayed here in the form of photographs, providing young Ichika comfort before going to bed, just as her friends used to give her happiness every day.

Not anymore, though. They couldn’t really even be called friends now, except for Saki who was still in the hospital, not having recovered enough to be able to come back home. Ichika made sure to visit her at least once a month, but it didn’t make her miss her or her lost friendships any less. She was still incredibly lonely.

She felt a tear or two coming to her eyes and quickly blinked, trying to stop herself from crying. She still couldn’t get over it, despite it having been a good couple of years already… Shaking her head, she sat down and breathed in slowly. While exhaling, she remembered something hidden in the drawer under the bed. She reached down and brought it out.

The Phenny plushie she got with her friends when they were younger. A blue variant, a part of a set of four, the other three belonged to her childhood friends. A small smile appeared on Ichika’s face – on the sadder side, but a smile that helped her calm down nonetheless.

She held the Phenny close to her chest, warming the plush with her embrace. It felt as though it was hugging her back, evoking a sense of company within the girl. She laid down and covered herself with a blanket, taking her small friend with her.

Soon after, sweet dreams appeared behind her eyelids, where she and her three companions embarked on a journey on their brave phoenixes, aiming to reach far galaxies no one has explored yet.

Having added a few final strokes to the lineart, Rui took a moment to rate the work he had finished so far. A grimace took over his face after he spotted a few remaining mistakes and attempted to fix them. Still pouting, he cast another look at the tablet.

A little better, but needed some more tweaking. It might look even more different with base colours, too, he had to keep that in mind as well. Rui chuckled – he was supposed to take a break soon, but it seemed like the night was going to extend.

Yawning, he stood up to stretch before continuing to work. When turning around, he noticed a light coming from the right side of the window.  Curious, he directed his steps towards the source of the glow to inspect it. As Rui drew closer, a faint sound reached his ears – a quiet, angelic voice.

It was Nene, without a doubt. Despite the passage of time, he’d recognize her singing anywhere.

Rui couldn’t help but smile a little, although he wondered why she stayed up so late today. It wasn’t like her at all, at least the her he knew. Maybe that changed, it’s been a while since they last talked, after all. A long while.

His chest tightened as Rui thought about the girl next door. He had to admit that he missed her. The shows they put together, coming up with ideas together, laughing together. She was his only friend, the only person who cared and understood his inner world. They used to have so much fun hanging out and exchanging perspectives on things they liked, often talking late into the night at sleepovers. Now, the only thing he and his neighbour still shared was a wall between them.

The troubled young man let out a deep sigh, trying to exhale all these thoughts, but he couldn’t deny that he was, in fact, lonely. It was a feeling he considered to be used to, yet the pain it brought still surfaced from time to time. Rui knew he would have to accept it eventually, though – it would be better both for him and those around him. Despite it still being hard to process, he knew it was the only way to survive.

Chapter Text

K: Good job, everyone

The next evening brought the group back together on Nightcord. Their efforts, fueled by a gush of inspiration, resulted in completing both the song and its music video incredibly quickly, especially compared to the time they usually took - two, maybe three weeks with occasional breaks. Kanade was so proud of their new work she couldn’t stop smiling after seeing the finished product.

yakisoba39: Yeah, we did great!! Hoping the inspiration is going to stay for longer haha

droneミ☆: Indeed, we need the good streak to keep going~

Fantastic work as always, you two \(^∇^)/

K: Same goes for you, Drone

yakisoba39: Don’t forget about yourself, Drone! Not only did you come up with these ideas so quickly, but executed them really well too

I love your art more and more with every piece you make

Rui couldn’t help but chuckle from joy. Both of his bandmates were always so kind, he didn’t know how to properly express his gratitude with words alone. Did it really just have to be through text?

An idea popped into his head. Despite still being quite unsure about it for many reasons, his fingers made their way back to the keyboard.

droneミ☆: Hehe, thank you so much~

Since our work is such a success, I believe we deserve to celebrate somehow. What do you two say about doing a little party?

Kanade’s eyes widened with surprise.

K: A party?

Rui took a deep breath before writing back, his hands starting to softly shake, but he tried his best to type normally.

droneミ☆: Are we not uploading the song tomorrow? We could organize a voice call and upload it together, wishing the fruit of our labour the best of luck out there~

Ichika rested her chin on her palm, needing to think. It wasn’t even the risk of her parents overhearing her that occupied her mind – the door to her room was always closed when she was working on Nightcord – but rather her own feelings. The girl was curious to hear her fellow group members and to spend some time with them, but at the same time she wasn’t completely sure about it. She was always a little anxious when it came to meeting people and even though she had known these two for a while now, she still couldn’t shake the nervousness off.

Still, she decided to try. Not exactly knowing how, Ichika stirred up some courage inside herself.

yakisoba39: That sounds nice, actually. We haven’t heard each other yet, have we? Might be a good way to celebrate

Kanade wasn’t against the idea, quite the opposite – it was an opportunity to finally hear her bandmates’ voices. The voices she was so eager to hear, although one wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell by her way of typing.

K: Sounds good to me

Their messages made Rui beam with excitement, a feeling more than welcomed. He was really glad he decided to take the chance to get to know his companions better. His next message appeared on the screen in a blink of an eye with him not being able to contain his happiness.

droneミ☆: That’s great to hear! I cannot wait ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝ •.˚  What time would be alright for you two?

yakisoba39: How about 7 or 8 PM? I unfortunately can’t stay up for too long, I gotta be able to walk to school the next day ^^;

Kanade was fine with any time, honestly. She was used to a shifting sleep schedule, so it didn’t matter too much to her.

K: 7 PM is alright with me

droneミ☆: Well then, it is settled~ I will be looking forward to letting our latest achievement out into the world with you all!

Seeing his enthusiasm, Ichika allowed a smile to form on her face. She was still nervous, but a part of that nervousness was coming from anticipation now.

Kanade also couldn’t help but feel her chest fill up with excitement.

yakisoba39: Yes, I can’t wait either! Great job again and see (hear) you tomorrow, everyone

K: Yeah, good night

You guys deserve a break after all that hard work

Rui shook his head. K always talked as though she didn’t work just as much as they did, if not more.

droneミ☆: My, someone’s forgetting about herself again, isn’t she…

You earned a quality rest as well, K, do not deny that (｡•̀ᴗ•̀｡)

yakisoba39: It’s been almost half a year and she hasn’t changed at all, has she haha

Kanade felt a little flustered. Haven’t they already had this conversation multiple times? Her hands temporarily left the keyboard’s vicinity while she was trying to come up with a response explaining her thoughts as well as possible to hopefully avoid future teasing.

K: I mean, you guys also have other stuff on your plate, but still make time for our music

I just really appreciate that

Ichika and Rui smiled at the exact same time. They were both thankful to Kanade too – it was thanks to her that they were able to be right here now, making things together. It was because of her that they were given a chance to feel a little bit less lonely.

The evening of the next day finally arrived. Ichika sat down on her chair, checking her microphone once more, even though she had done so many times already. She just really didn’t want it to malfunction now, when she needed it the most. Her softly shaking hand guided her mouse cursor to the Nightcord icon on her desktop. Taking a deep breath, Ichika opened the communicator, getting herself ready for the little song release party the group agreed on holding today. To her surprise, she was the only one online – not even K was present yet. Sure, there were still a couple minutes before 7 PM, but she kind of expected to be greeted by someone as usual. Maybe they weren’t as excited about this as Ichika was…?

No, she told herself, shaking her head, realizing that overthinking was trying to get her down again. She remembered yesterday’s conversation – everyone seemed just as willing to talk, especially Drone. They weren’t about to abandon the idea and neither was she.

Rui made sure everything was in place. His sketchbooks, pencils, books and various other things were neatly sitting on their respective shelves, almost shining as if they were happy to have been arranged. Rui wouldn’t be surprised if that were true – he hadn’t cleaned his mess of a room in a long time, so even one part of it made a gigantic difference. To think that this whole metamorphosis happened because of a microphone he needed to find.

There was still a second section of the wardrobe to be tidied up, but he decided to leave it be for now. He couldn’t possibly be late to the voice call he himself proposed.

He made his way to the computer and double checked whether the microphone was working. After discovering that it was, he inhaled some air in an attempt to ease his slight stress, then entered Nightcord to be greeted by the sight of Yakisoba being online already, much to his bewilderment. There he thought he was going to be the one welcoming everyone, he smiled.

droneミ☆: I see I was beaten to it, haha~ Hello, Yakki!

Ichika perked up when she got the notification. She was close to jumping from joy, but settled for smiling as widely as possible.

yakisoba39: Hi there, Drone! Yeah, I’m really excited for today

Rui felt a warm sensation in his chest. He wasn’t alone in his desire to connect with the others in the group. He wasn’t being weird, at least no one at Nightcord considered him to be.

droneミ☆: So am I, it makes me truly happy to able to do this with all of you~

I wonder when K will join us?

yakisoba39: She’s probably busy composing, but I’m sure she’ll get here on time

Oh, that reminds me – I found this band whose sound I really liked yesterday, I wanted to show you two

droneミ☆: Oh, truly? If they were worthy of catching your interest, I’m certain they are something special indeed, Yakki (^ᴗ^)☆

Drone was practically a professional when it came to cheering everybody up. Ichika couldn’t help feeling a little flustered, but she was happy to have someone appreciate and even share her music preferences.

yakisoba39: Well, I’m sure you will like them too, so that would make you have just as great of a music taste haha

droneミ☆: Oh my, are we starting a compliment battle? Very well, then~

Both of them let out a chuckle, enjoying their light-hearted conversation. The time for their first ever voice meeting was almost there, they just had to wait for the final member.

Meanwhile, Kanade was in the middle of laying out the chords of a new song concept. She was still skeptical about her work so far, however. She had spent half a day on this, but it wasn’t going as well as she had imagined. The song kept lacking something important, yet the composer couldn’t quite understand what it was. She looked back at her music sheets and furrowed her brows with frustration, considering the possibility of having to scratch the idea entirely. How was she not able to figure it out?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden, sharp sound – the alarm she had set for 7 PM, the time when the group was supposed to hold their special song release party.

Kanade looked at the hour, her eyes open wide, she had no idea how the time had passed so quickly. Being sure her microphone was in working order as she pretty much always had it plugged in, she opened Nightcord, hoping she wasn’t late. However, her eyes were presented with the sight of both Yakisoba and Drone already in the chat, wondering when she’d join them.

K: Hi everyone, really sorry for making you wait

I was kind of tangled up in stuff again

yakisoba39: Hello, K! Great to see you again

droneミ☆: Do not worry, it was us who made our way here earlier, haha. Welcome back, K~

Kanade let out a sigh of relief now that she knew she didn’t inconvenience her bandmates. Instead, she was filled with excitement – she couldn’t wait to hear their voices and see if her predictions were correct.

droneミ☆: So, shall we get started? We have a song to upload, after all ( •̀ᴗ•́ ) ˚.•

Right, that was the main reason for their gathering. But somehow, it wasn’t the most anticipated thing about it anymore.

yakisoba39: Sure! I’m ready

K: Okay, switching to the voice channel now

A short, clicky sound played three times, accompanying the three people who entered the channel where they could communicate audibly. All of them inhaled slowly before unmuting themselves.

“Hello again, everyone!” The first voice that could be heard was that of a young man, full of playfulness, but coupled with genuine joy.

“H-hi, is this working?” A bit shy, but sweet and pleasant voice of a girl rang in Kanade’s headphones next.

A smile formed on her face. They sounded exactly like she had imagined.

“Yeah, I can hear you both well.”

Ichika and Rui were a little surprised. They didn’t expect K to have such a gentle, whispy tone.

“My, you sound quite unlike anyone I’ve ever heard.” Drone chuckled, taken by Kanade’s entrance. “Who would’ve expected we had such a positively unique voice among ourselves.”

“Yeah, you sound gorgeous, K! I mean, both of you do, really.” Yakisoba joined in.

“Haha, thank you, Yakki.”

“Your voices are just as nice as I thought, too. It’s incredible how well your styles of typing resemble the ways you actually talk.” A smile could be heard through K’s words.

“You thought about our voices?” Ichika couldn’t help but be amazed by how much her bandmate was engaged in their meeting. Out of the three, she initially had seemed the least excited, but was actually enjoying herself just as much as the others.

“You guys didn’t?”

“K is truly always two steps ahead of us, it seems.” Rui let out a sincere laughter. “We considered it best to find out how the others sound for ourselves, but I suppose it was more fun for her to try guessing.”

“I mean… I was just really curious…” Kanade tried her best to hide the fact that she was a bit flustered, but it probably didn’t work out as her response was met by the other two chuckling.

“That’s K for you.” Ichika was warming up to talking through the microphone by the minute thanks to the light atmosphere provided by her companions.

“That reminds me, Yakki mentioned discovering a band she was dying to show us. Mind sharing the details, now that we’re all here?”

“A band?” Kanade perked up.

“Oh yeah! I found them yesterday and thought they sounded really nice. I figured you two might be interested as well…”

The conversation couldn’t have been going better. All three participants were happy with each other’s company, discussing various matters that were on their minds at the time. Not only related to music – Ichika and Rui also vented about their school responsibilities and how that conflicted with their desire to spend as much time on creating things for songs as possible. Unlike the two, Kanade didn’t go to school on a regular basis, but she still lent an ear and tried her best to empathize with her bandmates’ struggles.

Before they knew it, they had chatted away almost three hours. Ichika was the first to notice.

“Wait, it’s already close to 10 PM?!”

“My, you are right.” Rui was just as surprised as Yakisoba, even more after he remembered something else. “And we haven’t uploaded the song yet, have we?”

“Yeah… how did this happen?” Kanade’s eyes opened wide, dumbfounded. How could they have forgotten the reason they had gathered here in the first place?

“I believe I owe you two an apology.” Rui let out a chuckle, trying to hide his guilt. “It was me who asked you to publish it together and yet I completely lost sight of this meeting’s original purpose.”

“No, it’s okay! I should have remembered as well…” Ichika still couldn’t believe how quickly the time had passed. Yes, she knew how fast it could fly when someone was having fun, but that knowledge didn’t make her feel any less confused.

“Me too… Out of all people, you’d think I’d be the first one to remind you all.” Kanade’s gentle laughter, followed by the other two joining in, managed to lighten the mood.

“Indeed. How could our very composer have forgotten?” Rui immediately took a liking to K’s sense of humour, going along with her joke.

“Haha, it seems we all can get too busy chatting sometimes.” Ichika replied with a smile.

“And it’s not like the song was gonna run away from us if we didn’t upload it today.” Kanade scratched her head.

“True as that may be, I think it is time to do the honours while we still remember.” Drone’s comment made the three laugh again, keeping up the light-hearted atmosphere. “We worked hard for this moment, after all.”

“Yeah, let’s do this!”

“Alright, let me open up our channel page.”

The group took a while deciding on the different aspects of the post, such as the thumbnail or the description - something they did over text for their previous releases, but now it went much smoother. Finally, their newest creation was ready to go out into the world.

“Would you want to try counting down, everyone?” Rui was doing his best to contain his excitement, but it could still be heard in his voice.

“Oh, sure! That could be fun.” Ichika nodded energetically. It was just a simple act of publishing a song, something they had already done numerous times before, yet this particular moment felt like an incredibly important milestone.

“Okay, let’s start from three, then. Wanna go first, Drone?”

“Of course, as you wish. Well then, let’s wish our lovely song the best of luck on three!”

“Two!”

“One.”

With that, Kanade pressed the upload button. It was still going to take some time until the video would be up, but the most important step was already taken.

“Got it. Things are done on our end, we’ll just have to wait an hour or so to actually see it online.”

Ichika and Rui cheered, finally able to let their pent up energy out. Kanade was a bit shocked at first, but it took only a second for a smile to appear on her face instead.

Chapter Text

“That was really fun! Thank you for today, everyone.”

“Thank you all from the bottom of my heart as well. The fact that you agreed to this really means the world to me.” Drone’s voice turned a little softer – he genuinely meant what he said.

“Let’s do this again sometime, if you guys don’t mind.” The other two didn’t need to see K’s face to be able to tell she was smiling from ear to ear.

“Yeah, I’d love to! Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if it was always like this…” Ichika waned, realizing what she had just said and how much she was asking from her bandmates. “B-But it’s okay if you aren’t able to.”

Rui chuckled, happy beyond words. “Well then, it’s up to K – I’d be delighted to actually speak to you all from now on.”

“Fine with me, too. It would be easier to keep you updated on the song if we could just talk normally.”

“Really?” Ichika couldn’t believe her ears. She honestly did not expect to be met with a positive response, but it was all the more reason to be glad she tried asking. “I-I won’t use that as an excuse to slack off, of course, I’m gonna do just as much as before!”

“Hehe, we wouldn’t dream of that, Yakki, we all know how diligent of a person you are.” Drone’s gentle laughter eased the girl’s insecurity. “That being said, I do not intend to treat my work lighter, either.”

“Yeah, we’ve got songs to finish, after all.”

“Do you have a new idea already, K?”

An unpleased expression took over Kanade's face. “Kind of… I’m a little stuck, though.”

“Oh my, you really might need to take a break. Composing nonstop can’t possibly have a positive effect on your health.” Rui was quite concerned about his bandmate, knowing her unrelenting attitude when it came to making songs.

“Yeah, maybe… But I’ll keep trying and let you two know when I’m ready as soon as possible.”

“Sure, just don’t exhaust yourself, okay? I’ll do my best to come up with something, too.”

“Well then, I cannot just stand idly by. Although I am not as knowledgeable about actually making music, I will assist you in any way I can.” Drone’s voice was back to its usual, playful tone.

“Thank you, everyone.” Kanade felt the comforting warmth again. While still frustrated with the lack of progress on her project, it was nice knowing she wasn’t completely by herself.

“Of course!” Ichika was determined to help her companions. Despite only having known them for six months, she was deeply grateful to them for providing her a space where she could temporarily forget about her loneliness and focus on the thing she loved most. Where she could simply be herself as if nothing was wrong.

She had to save all that energy for the next day, though – it was already incredibly late.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow, then, I’m afraid I gotta go. Thanks for today again!”

“No worries, and thank you as well, Yakki. I will be leaving now too – who knows, perhaps going to sleep earlier might actually make tomorrow come faster, haha. Have a good night, everyone!”

“Goodnight, you two. Thanks for party.”

With that, both Yakisoba and Drone’s icons disappeared from the voice channel, leaving Kanade alone on Nightcord in the now awfully loud silence. She felt the energy flee her body, already missing her companions. Even doing something as simple as a voice call seemed truly special with them. How long has it been since she last had so much fun with someone? She couldn’t even remember the last time something like that happened in her life. It must have been before her dad landed in the hospital.

Her dad… There was not a single day Kanade didn’t think of him. She rarely went out of her house nowadays, but made sure to visit her father every week to check up on him, hoping his memory would recover. The image of him passed out on the floor, surrounded by countless sheets of paper and the suffocating sensation in her chest when she found him was still vivid in her mind.

She still blamed herself for that. If only she hadn’t showed him that stupid song…

After spending who knows how much time drifting through her memories in her chair, Kanade worked late into the night to distract herself from the painful thoughts. To no avail, however. She really couldn’t get anything to come out right. No matter how many times she tried, nothing was turning out decently. Not the melody, not the drums, not even the chords, which were usually the easiest part for her. She made the difficult decision to scratch her previous idea, hoping that starting a new one would give her mind an easier time with fleshing something out, yet she found herself completely stuck this time. Everything became impossible.

She sighed with frustration, a note of hopelessness hiding in her anger as well. She had never had such gigantic trouble with making anything, especially a simple melody. If there was something Kanade appreciated in herself the most, it would be her ability to come up with concepts really quickly – it was the process of fine tuning the song that took her the longest, but the base never caused any struggles. Up until now, of all times.

Kanade refused to accept that. Giving up felt simply wrong. Not when she promised to keep composing. Not when she wasn’t working for herself anymore. Not when others were relying on her. No matter how impossible it seemed, she had to find a way of restoring her usual creativity. No matter how painful it felt – she regarded herself used to it.

She was about to continue trying when her body decided to remind her of its poor condition. Her eyes had been fixated on the screen for so long that suddenly, all the elements started mixing together. First, it was just the small fonts, but the blur slowly enveloped other parts of her vision to the point where she couldn’t see clearly anymore. Kanade wanted to combat the helplessness, but her head started heavily spinning as soon as she tried, rendering her laying on her desk.

She gritted her teeth – she had never felt anything akin to this. Why was it happening now?

“Dad, I wrote a new song…”

Her eyes opened in an instant. That memory pierced her mind like a sharp arrow. The feeling she was experiencing wasn’t truly foreign, it had just never happened to Kanade herself. She had seen this exact scenario before – desperation, a fierce battle with one’s uncooperative mind, overexertion. Could it really be that… she was close to passing out? Just like her father?

Was she almost living the same nightmare?

A thousand emotions appeared within her – fear, shock, pain, many others she couldn’t quite name, all telling her to stop. All reminding her of the damage her health could take if she keeps going. Of her dad.

Kanade mustered the last amount of strength she had to quit the music program and shut the computer down for the rest of the night. An immense relief took over her as she put away her headphones and fell on her bed. She had never been this exhausted in her entire life – it seemed as though all air left her, making her look like an inflatable ball. The long-haired girl closed her eyes, apologizing to her father in her mind – not only because she failed to compose something today, but because of how close she was to sharing his fate. Would they be together in the hospital? Who knows, but it definitely wasn’t worth the risk of harming herself. He would never forgive her for that.

Soon, she drifted away, with the word “dad” escaping her lips one more time.

Ichika arrived at the main entrance to Miyamasuzaka Girls Academy, raising her head to get a full look at the building for the first time in a while. The call she had yesterday with her group made her feel much better and braver somehow, to the point where she actually didn’t feel bad about going to school today – even hummed some tunes along the way. Everything seemed a little bit more colourful than usual, or so Ichika thought, at least. It was probably just her mind playing pranks on her since she was simply doing well, but it was still a nice change from the slightly gloomy routine she had been going through ever since she and her friends drifted apart.

Just as the thought of them crossed her mind, she spotted Honami talking with her classmates on a nearby bench and Shiho traversing the stairs inside the school. As much as Ichika would love to talk to them, she knew she shouldn’t – both her friends were busy with their own concerns.

Right, friends... She still kept catching herself calling them that, even though it wasn’t really the right term to describe their relationship anymore. At the same time, finding another word as a replacement was hard.

For her, they were always going to be her dear “besties”, as Saki liked to call them as well. Ichika chuckled just at the memory – the blonde-haired girl had such a big smile every time she referred to them as such.

That’s right, she was supposed to visit the hospital today. Thankfully, there weren’t that many classes on Mondays, so there was plenty of time after school to buy a nice flower bouquet for Saki and still arrive at a fairly early hour.

Following a deep breath, the girl entered the school, passing a few other people. She subconsciously still kept her head up higher than usual, taking in the full scenery around her. It’s not like she hasn’t seen it countless times before, but the fact she was actually able to withstand the urge to hang her head down made it oddly special. She observed it all as she was walking through the corridors – fellow students talking and holding their notebooks, a pair of teachers conversing in front of a classroom, the tree leaves visible from the windows scattered across the halls. Nothing unordinary, but it was interesting at the same time. Ichika wanted to rediscover everything, to see as much of what the world had to offer today as possible. She was feeling a little like her former self again.

While still excited to leave for the hospital, waiting for classes to finish didn’t seem so difficult of a task now.

As soon as the lunch break began, Rui made his way to the rooftop as usual. He wasn’t expecting anyone to be there anymore, given that Mizuki started skipping school more often a while ago. When his fellow outcast was present, it was mostly for afternoon classes while trying to keep a low profile.

The purple-haired young man sighed, trying to rid his mind of the weight whose existence he couldn’t deny, no matter how much he tried. How strange – he thought he was starting to get used to it, but the ache in his chest resurfaced, a little stronger than what he had been experiencing earlier. Come to think of it, when was “earlier”? What could have caused him to feel his loneliness more?

Rui flinched at his realization. It must have been yesterday. The voice call he had with Yakki and K. The evening when he allowed himself to let loose and enjoy their company.

The evening when he really wanted to spend time with his bandmates and connect with them, at least for a moment.

That’s right, he had so much fun hanging out with them that excitement still resided within him even after he went to bed. He hadn’t felt this happy in what seemed like a hundred years. Rui still remembered the warmth their presence provided, their lovely voices and the passion in their words when they were talking about their interests. It felt like bliss, having people he could be around without the risk of being ostracized.

The thing is, he knew well he shouldn’t be getting too open or attached. He was aware of the fact that he would sooner or later end up alone again due to the way he was – curious, eccentric, experimental and always reaching for more when it came to his pursuits. He experienced this enough times to understand that solitude was the best way to avoid himself and possibly others getting hurt.

And yet, it was so incredibly painful when he actually thought about it.

Rui clenched his fists, trying to shake the negativity off his mind. It was not the time to be wallowing in self-pity, the lunchbreak wouldn’t last forever and he had already wasted precious minutes, not even being close to the rooftop yet. He picked up the pace and continued to walk the path he knew all too well, passing various students and trying to ignore impolite remarks from some of them. In such situations, the smile he always wore served not only as a mask, but also a combat tactic to hopefully make the intruders give up. It wasn’t like their rudeness affected him much, but it was still a bother alright.

Finally, he reached the entrance to his final destination, where he could just quietly spend time away from others while enjoying the somewhat beautiful view. Over the years, it had become something of a safe space at school – quite the haven for an outcast.

But Rui would have never expected to witness a sight that was now being presented to him after opening the rooftop door.

Against the fence, there sat a girl in her uniform, hands trembling while holding her lunchbox tightly as if doing their best to prevent her from crying. With her head down, the locks of her luscious, green hair provided a decent cover. However, it wasn’t enough to completely hide her face. Not for Rui, who recognized it instantly.

Surprised and worried, he felt his heartbeat quicken, unsure of what to do. He knew he shouldn’t approach her, but the thought of her letting her suffer alone was way more unbearable. Even if he wasn’t the best company, he had to able to at least find someone else who could help her. Mustering up the courage, he walked towards her, stopping a few steps away from the place where she was sitting. As he did that, the girl looked up to notice him, her expression changing to pure shock.

“…Nene?”

She flinched, hearing her name from his lips. They locked their wide open eyes, not being able to find the right words. Any words, for that matter.

“…R-Rui…?” Visibly distressed, Nene quickly turned her gaze back down, blinking a few times. Rui expected this, but knelt to match her eye level, waiting patiently for her to be able to speak up.

“Are you okay?”

The girl tightened her grip on the lunchbox at the sound of his voice, bringing her knees even closer to her chest. She couldn’t stop a tear from running down her cheek with her whole body beginning to shake.

“I…I’m…”

In the blink of an eye, she stood up and ran past Rui to exit the rooftop. He barely managed to get a glimpse of her blurred silhouette, but the sound of her shutting the doors pierced his ears like a scream. He instinctively reached his hand out, trying to stop her, despite knowing well the attempt was in vain. She was gone.

He let out a deep sigh, taking a seat on one of the benches. Forgetting the reason why he came here in the first place, Rui raised his head to look at the ever-present sky. It was clear, without a single cloud in sight.

A complete contrast to his mind.

After greeting the receptionist, Ichika headed to the room whose location she remembered like the back of her hand now. Carefully holding the flower bouquet, she knocked on the door and opened it after receiving a response.

There was Saki, with her hair tied in her beloved pigtails, sitting on a hospital bed, excited for the visit as always.

“Ichiiii!! You’re finally here!”

The girl at the entrance smiled and rushed to reach the patient, handing the bouquet over.

“I thought some blues and yellows would look nice today.”

“Anything looks nice as long as it’s you who brings it, haha.” Saki smelled the freshly picked flowers with her signature bright smile. “So pretty! Do they make perfume with these?”

“M-Maybe? I don’t know, I’m not too knowledgeable on that.” Ichika scratched her head.

“Oh, come on! Unlike me, you get all this time and you don’t use it well?!” Saki jokingly pretended she was mad at her. “You’ve gotta find out, Ichi, at least for me!”

“Sure, if it’s that important to you.”

“Of course it is! Everything outside this place is important to me.” The blonde-haired girl looked down at her blanket, smiling softly, yet with her eyes betraying a subtle hint of sadness. Not for long, though – she perked up a moment after, facing her visitor directly. “Since we’re on this topic already, you have to update me on all the school stuff! Anything new happen?”

Ichika began recounting all the noteworthy events that took place after her last visit, with her friend listening intently and occasionally chiming in. She enjoyed telling her all those stories, just as much as Saki loved hearing them, if not more. When she was almost done, something in the window caught her attention.

“Ichi? What’s up?” Her companion turned her face in the same direction to see what was so important.

“That cloud… Doesn’t it look a music note?”

“Oh yeah! Next to the sandwich looking one, right?” Saki pointed at the part of the sky she was talking about, Ichika's gaze following closely.

“Yes, over there!”

“Hehe, it’s so cute!! I’ll take a picture!”

After she did so, both girls inspected the phone screen to make sure the photo turned out well. Both chuckled as they zoomed in, admiring the details on the clouds.

Before they knew it, another hour had passed meaning Ichika’s visit was nearing its end. As sad as it was, she didn’t want to tire her friend too much.

“It’s already this late…”

“Aww, no fun! Why does time have to fly so fast when you’re here…” Saki frowned, but let her smile return after a moment. “Still, I know you’ve got tons of stuff on your plate, so I guess I can’t keep you any longer, haha.”

“No, you know I’d love to stay, but I don’t think they’ll let me.”

“Yeah…”

A short silence fell over the two while they were struggling to say their goodbyes. They knew they’d see each other again soon, but it was always hard, no matter how long they’d be separated for. That was until Saki remembered something.

“Right, Ichi… Next time, could you ask Hona and Shiho to visit too? I know they’re probably busy, but I haven’t seen them in a while and I want to meet you guys all together again.”

Ichika froze, surprised. She did her best to conceal her worry, seeing her friend’s hopeful expression, but she was well aware that fulfilling her request was not going to be easy, if achievable at all. Still, she had to at least try. It wasn’t just about her now, but Saki too.

“Okay, I… I’ll do my best.”

Chapter Text

Kanade slowly opened her eyes to find herself lying in bed, holding a pillow. Blinking a few times to make her vision sharper, she remembered the events of yesterday. The call she had with her bandmates, how she missed them afterwards and how she kept struggling with composing a new melody. Most importantly, how that struggle almost ended.

Shivers were sent down her spine at the recollection of that moment. She was still scared of how close she got to passing out, thinking of her father. If it hadn’t been for that memory, she would probably be on the floor now instead.

Kanade got up and felt a vast emptiness in her stomach, reminding her of the need to eat. She made her way to the kitchen and prepared some instant noodles, along with quick a cup of tea. It wasn’t much, but still better than nothing. While consuming her little meal, her thoughts went back to making music – as much as she hated to admit it, she was stuck. Yesterday’s traumatic ending still weighed heavily on her mind, causing her creativity to hide even deeper and Kanade had no idea how to retrieve it. The fear of accidentally exhausting herself again paralyzed her – she knew she would forget to be more careful as she loses track of anything else when focusing on something. Would setting an alarm help? What if she gets an idea right after it rings and keeps working on the song anyway? But then, will she even get any ideas at all? Her mind kept thinking of her dad, after all.

Kanade felt her chest tighten, missing her father’s presence. He was her closest family and yet, he was currently the hardest one to reach with his memory corrupted. She would give anything to have him back. Anything to turn back time so that she wouldn’t show him the song which made him spiral into overexertion.

That stupid song. Kanade still kept it, but hidden deep in her closet. She couldn’t bear to look at it anymore after what had happened. She had never meant for her father to feel talentless because of it, but no matter what her intentions had been, it still ended in him passing out.

Kanade felt tears slowly approaching her eyes, but shook her head, fending them off. She had no time for that. The only thing she could do now was to keep composing – she had to force her way out of that creative block, no matter what. She had to keep trying, even with the fear in mind.

Rui grimaced after taking another look at his new sketches, having a hard time with liking any of them. The first one felt dull, the next two seemed kind of generic and the fourth one just didn’t sit right with his aesthetic sense. He just really couldn’t get anything done.

A heavy sigh left his lips, expressing frustration with his inability to come up with a good idea. He had promised to help his bandmates with the next song by providing some ideas, yet he found himself rendered helpless against the slump he was in.

On top of that, the memory of today’s rooftop encounter still lingered within his mind. What could have possibly caused Nene to cry? Could he have done something else to help? Would it have been better if he hadn’t approached her at all? All these thoughts kept swirling in his head, intending to keep him question himself. Succeeding, at that.

Rui tried to direct his attention back to the tablet, but unfortunately, no new amounts of creativity struck him. He was still drawing a blank, unable to find any scraps of inspiration. His gaze subconsciously made its way to the clock.

Right, it was time to get on Nightcord to update his companions on his progress, or rather the lack of it. Quite relieved to have an excuse to take a break, Rui turned on the computer and logged in to catch up with the group.

K: Oh, there he is

Hi, Drone

yakisoba39: Hello, Drone! We were wondering when you’d join

A smile crept up his face, the first truly genuine one today. Some of his worries temporarily vanished, seeing both Yakki and K greet him.

droneミ☆: Why, hello again, everyone~

How have you been – well, I hope?

yakisoba39: Overall okay, but I was kind of busy today, so I didn’t really have much time to come up with something, sorry

K: No worries

I’m unfortunately also struggling over here, but trying my best

Rui raised his eyebrows. K had never had this much trouble with composing before, even though she dedicated pretty much all her time to it.

droneミ☆: Oh my, is everything alright, K? I cannot recall the last time you were this stuck (•́ ᴖ •̀)

Kanade couldn’t either, honestly. Sure, some parts took her longer sometimes, but it was never something she couldn’t overcome. Until now.

K: Yeah, I guess

yakisoba39: Please remember to take breaks! I’ll try making something too, as promised, so don’t worry

Rui wished he could say the same, but he knew he wasn’t in the right shape to echo Yakki’s words. All he could do was to reassure the group that there was no rush, partially to make himself feel better as well.

droneミ☆: Let us take our time, we’re thankfully on a fairly relaxed schedule here and our listeners seem to be enjoying the newest song! No need to pressure ourselves~

K: Yeah, but it’s so frustrating not being able to work…

Ichika and Rui couldn’t help but chuckle – despite worrying about their composer, they found her determination quite endearing.

yakisoba39: Classic K, huh?

droneミ☆: Hehe, she truly never changes, does she?

Kanade was already slowly getting used to the other two teasing her, but it felt different this time, like how she imagined actual friends would banter.

K: Come on, you guys act as if you didn’t feel the same

Well, they couldn’t protest.

They chatted for another hour, sharing their song related troubles and decided to have another voice call tomorrow, trying to figure out a way to defeat the creative block together. After encouraging each other and saying their goodbyes, they all went back to their own struggles – Rui to his sketch attempts, Ichika to her Vocaloid program while testing some lyrics and Kanade to her music software. She still couldn’t make a breakthrough, despite what she had told herself earlier. The fear of ending up like yesterday kept reminding her of its presence from the back of her mind, making her even more distracted and stressed. She really didn’t want to repeat those events, so she forced herself to leave for bed earlier than usual, but it still felt wrong and didn’t help with filling the void in her head with ideas.

“Sorry, I can’t.” Shiho’s short response caught Ichika off guard, even though she did consider rejection as a possibility.

“But-“

“I told you, I really can’t.”

The new day couldn’t have been going any worse. Not only had Ichika been unable to write anything song worthy since the last Nightcord conversation, but she was being forced to face her bassist friend’s sharp, almost scary expression now.

“I’ve gotta go. Tell Saki I’m sorry.”

“Wait, Shiho!” Too late, the girl she called out to had already gone too far away, leaving her alone in the corridor. Ichika clenched her fists with both frustration and sadness, still unable to fully comprehend what had happened. The worries that kept her mind occupied to the point where she wasn’t able to squeeze any amount of creativity proved to have had a good reason to be there. Her efforts were doomed to fail, no matter what she did or who she tried for. Honami had declined as well, politely as always, but it still hurt. Why couldn’t they just go this one time, for Saki’s sake? They can’t have abandoned her too, can they?

Why did things have to go so badly? Why can’t they just be friends, like they used to? Ichika couldn’t even remember the exact reason why they drifted apart from each other. She realized why she was still unable to move on – the way all this was happening just wasn’t fair. Not to her, not to Saki, not to the other two.

She was struggling to hold the incoming tears back. How was she supposed to tell Saki that her friends, who she was missing so dearly, can’t visit yet again? How was Ichika supposed to endure her friend’s disappointed expression after hearing those cruel words from her lips? Saki had waited so long that she had to ask for assistance with inviting the others and even that didn’t help. Ichika felt like an absolute failure - as a friend, as a person, as everything she could call herself. The world suddenly became heavy and overwhelming, being too much for her to handle at the moment.

She headed home, focusing all her energy on stopping the tears from flowing down her face. She was in such a hurry that she forgot to plug her earphones in, a thing she always did after school – listening to Vocaloid songs made the mundane walk much more bearable. Quickly passing all the people whose faces she didn’t even see as her eyes were facing the pavement, she shortened the distance between herself and her house drastically.

Having arrived and closed the door behind her, Ichika was greeted by her parents as usual, trying to hide her worries. Dinner and chatting with them helped her temporarily unwind a little, but all the previous emotions still kept swirling around her mind.

Eventually, they did get the best of her after she entered her room and sat on the bed, hiding her face in her palms, hot tears streaming down to her elbows. It was all just so unfair. Loneliness hurt.

Sure, she did have her family, but her friends meant just as much – losing them was one of the most painful experiences in Ichika’s life. Not knowing exactly why it had happened made it even worse.

She laid down and attempted to calm her nerves, taking deep, steady breaths. The small details on the white ceiling slowly became sharper as tears stopped escaping her eyelids. Once she reached a state where she was able to sit up, she reached for her phone, putting her headphones on. Following a few clicks, her favourite playlist began, enveloping the girl in a warm, gentle hug. She closed her eyes for a little, focusing on Hatsune Miku’s voice – the voice that always brought her so much comfort, that was always there for her when she needed it. Although Kagamine Rin had grown on Ichika a lot since she started working with her group on Nightcord as they used her voicebank for most songs, the cyan pigtailed girl was still the number one in her heart. As odd as it may sound, they’ve been through a lot together, after all.

After a few songs, the girl’s mind started untangling, slowly directing her thoughts towards music and the song she was supposed to work on, but none of her current few ideas were even close to being usable. She had promised to help K and yet here she was, just as stuck as her bandmate.

Right, they had agreed to have another voice call today! Ichika got up, realizing how much work she still had to do – homework, cleaning, a short guitar session so that she doesn’t forget how to play, trying to write some lyrics again… Curiously, she found herself a little motivated, despite today’s events continuing to linger in her mind. She was afraid she wouldn’t make any progress on the song again, but she wanted to try nonetheless for the sake of not completely disappointing K and Drone as well. It was the least she could do at the time.

Kanade sighed with frustration directed not at her monitor, but mostly at herself. She had spent an entire day coming up with different ways to combat her lack of inspiration, but it still didn’t help. She kept being trapped in a slump and could not find a way out of it despite her desperate efforts, which really started getting on her nerves.

Laying her head on the desk, Kanade’s thoughts drifted back to her dad again. He must have felt something even worse than what she was experiencing now, but she understood what he had gone through more, which made her guilt grow heavier. She passionately hated the day she decided to show him that stupid song.

She had promised her dad to keep composing as he believed her music had the power to save people, but it had hurt him instead. She kept going, but still hadn’t managed to help anyone with her songs. Words couldn’t describe how disappointed she was with herself.

After a long while, she raised her head again, despite how heavy it felt, to continue her battle with the creative block. She tried to channel her emotions into her desire to do something productive as she remembered her father’s gentle expression when he praised her melodies. Even though it was far from easy, the drive to push through was stronger than everything else – she had to keep her promise. Working was the only way to keep her sanity intact, the only way of life she knew. The only way to forget about her other problems.

Suddenly, just as she was getting ready to force herself to resume the fight, both her alarm and Nightcord rang, the latter notifying her of Drone’s presence online. Kanade looked at the hour, taken by surprise, but also feeling a little relieved – it was as though the universe itself sent her help. As slowly as the day seemed to go by, it was finally time for one of the few things she actually looked forward to. She was ashamed of the fact she had nothing new to show her bandmates, but she couldn’t help wanting to hear them again. Their beautiful voices still echoed in her head sometimes.

Opening Nightcord, she saw Yakisoba enter at the same time.

droneミ☆: Hello, you two~ It is a pleasure to see you, as always!

K: Hi, everyone

yakisoba39: Hello! Glad to see you guys too

Do we start now, or do you want to double check stuff?

Kanade wasn’t alone in her eagerness to talk with the others. That thought made her feel a little warmer.

K: Everything’s alright on my end

droneミ☆: Ready when you are, Yakki (^ᴗ^)

Just like that, the three found themselves in the voice channel once more. Less nervous, but still excited to hear each other, despite not having come up with anything song worthy yet. Kanade pressed the unmute button.

“Good evening to you all again!” Drone’s voice rang in her ears first, just like the last time.

“Hi, everyone!” Ichika found herself sounding a little more confident than previously. Thankfully, she had managed to get her chores done, which made most of her worries temporarily go away, allowing her to enjoy the meeting more. It hadn’t been long since their last one, but she already missed her bandmates, even though she was stuck with the song. A part of her hoped that they would understand as they expressed having similar troubles, yet she still felt guilty.

“Hello. You both sound good today, too.”

“Haha, it appears we have already formed a greeting, doesn’t it?”

“Oh, right! We are kinda saying the same things…” Yakisoba was a little flustered at the realization.

“Yeah, I guess we just have a pattern in our heads.” Kanade scratched her head, smiling awkwardly.

“I wouldn’t necessarily call it bad, per say.” Rui chuckled, amused with the situation. “Isn’t it natural for groups to make their own traditions? I personally find it endearing, even.”

“Honestly, it does seem kind of fun.” Ichika smiled at the thought of the group having collective habits.

“As long as the tradition isn’t teasing me nonstop, then I suppose it’s fine.”

The other two let out a laughter after K’s response. She did have a nice sense of humour, even though she didn’t seem like it.

“My, you wound me with your words, dear K. Whenever in the world do we tease you?” Drone went with the flow, pretending to be hurt, yet the playful tone was still prevalent in his voice.

“There’s literal chat logs to prove that, you know.” Yakisoba joined in, still giggling, but Kanade wasn’t offended in the slightest. Quite the opposite – their friendly banter momentarily brought back the fuzzy warmth in her chest.

They kept chatting for a while longer until the topic changed to their creative struggles. It turned out that all three hadn’t been able to make any progress despite their best efforts.

“I’m really sorry that I still couldn’t come up with anything… I don’t think I’ve ever been stuck this much, especially on a concept.” Kanade lowered her head.

“I’m sorry, too. I said I would help since you always do so much, but…” Ichika paused as she was looking for the right words.

“I’d like to offer my apologies as well. It isn’t fair to leave you two alone in this, yet I find myself unable to make anything worthy of a song either.” Rui kept his usual smile up, but it wasn’t as confident anymore.

“Maybe we really need to take a longer break, after all…?” Even before finishing the sentence, Ichika knew it wouldn’t sit right with any of them, including herself.

Kanade shook her head. “I want to keep trying. I know it might look like I’m exhausting myself…” She briefly stopped as she was reminded of the night she almost passed out. “…but it would be even worse for me if I gave up now.”

“I must agree.” Rui frowned, letting out a sigh. “As silly as it may sound, I fear that if I let go now, no matter for how long, I might never find my inspiration again.”

“Yeah, I get what you both mean.” Yakisoba’s voice regained a little bit of stability. “I feel the same, but I really don’t know what we should do anymore.”

A silence fell over their headphones as each of them thought about more ways to fight the block. It seemed as though they had already tried everything they could. Kanade’s eyes started wandering around the screen, ending up on their shared folders. She opened the main one, knowing well she wouldn’t find anything new there, but started scrolling down again, out of habit. Then, something unusual grabbed her attention.

“Hey, did you guys put a new file into our main folder?”

Ichika and Rui, caught off guard, widened the distance between their eyelids. “A file?”

“Yeah, there’s a new mp3 file called Untitled. It has a length of a normal song, it’s three hours old and I definitely didn’t upload it.”

The other two made their way over to the shared disk to verify K’s words.

“You’re right! But it’s not mine, I still don’t have anything ready yet.”

“I’m afraid I have no clue as to what this file is either. It is quite concerning.” Bewildered by the new addition to their folder, Rui’s voice became a little more serious.

“Wait, if it’s not ours, how did it get here?” Ichika asked the question they all had in their minds.

“I’ll try playing it, maybe it’s a glitch or something.” Kanade knew how unlikely that version of events was, but decided to check the file for herself.

“Are you sure? Perhaps it’s infested with malware or something of the sort, it’s not uncommon today.” Drone’s assumptions weren’t baseless, such cases weren’t unheard of.

“Yeah, be careful, K.” Yakisoba’s voice was filled with worry too. “I know it might look safe for the system since it’s still not deleted, but it could always be a trojan horse or something.”

“I know, but I gotta admit I am a little curious, this has never happened before.” Kanade was aware of the risk she was taking, but somehow she felt an inexplicable urge to inspect the file despite all the warnings. “I’ll play it and tell you what I hear.”

Just as she said that, her finger double pressed the left mouse button, causing the mysterious mp3 to play. Or so she thought it would.

Right after the clicking sounds her mouse had produced, Kanade’s vision got incredibly bright, pure white even, to the point where she had to close her eyes to preserve her eyesight. The last thing she heard was the concerned voices of Yakisoba and Drone, calling out to her once more.

Chapter Text

Kanade regained her senses after a while, or at least what seemed like a while. She was in a different place now, though, much to her surprise.

Before her was the interior of a big, hemispherical dome, its walls covered in wooden, labyrinth-like tiles with plants and paintings hanging from them and its ceiling made out of colourful stained glass. She could see the starry sky through the transparent roof. A thick, glass column occupied the space in the middle, surrounded by a soft, red carpet and flower beds filled with blue, purple and pastel pink carnations. Inside the column was a spiral exhibition of various items scattered across the shelves, which at first glance didn’t seem to have any correlation to each other: a model of a blue Fender telecaster with tiny drums, bass and piano surrounding it, four penguin-like plushies in different colours, a blooming cactus, a few robots and drones of varying sizes, a platypus model, a set of arts supplies and mechanical tools, a stack of music sheets and CDs, a music box, a computer keyboard, three pairs of headphones, paper airplanes formed out of notes and some cushions with the Nightcord logo embroidered on them. Roughly five meters away from the center, two step stairs connected the main area with some sort of lobby divided into sections by different wall colours and decorations hanging from the ceiling, where Kanade was standing.

The section to her left consisted of a grey rotating chair next to a simple, wooden desk, on which stood a blue table lamp, accompanied by a few photos of four little girls, some notebooks and an organizer for writing utensils. A couple other things could be spotted around: a cyan backpack, a blue electric guitar – just like the model in the column exhibition, except this one seemed to be a real instrument – and a speaker, hiding behind a guitar amplifier.

The one to her right seemed to be some kind of a workshop, with all sorts of things placed on the shelves and lying around – little robots, figurines, gears, paint, brushes, glue, a box with tools, pieces of various materials organized by type and colour, even plushies and toys. A corkboard hung over the measurement table, a few sketches pinned on it. The wardrobe, painted purple, couldn’t be fully closed as it was too packed with items inside it.

Kanade then turned around, causing the third section to fully reveal itself to her vision. The view was quite surprising, as it resembled her own room. The placement of the music equipment around the desk, the leftover water bottles, stacks of albums of her favourite artists, cables, even wrinkles on her chair – it was all way too familiar.

The girl, dumbfounded, tried to make sense of the situation she found herself in. What was this place? How was it created? How in the world did she get here?

Her last memory was her playing the mysterious Untitled file she had found in the group’s shared disk. Yeah, it might have been a glitch, but how would it seep into Kanade’s perception of reality as if she were a piece of software itself? More importantly, how could she get out of this vision? A few minutes have passed at most, but perhaps the flow of time here differed from that of the real world. The others must be worried about her sudden disappearance.

“Huh?”

“What just happened…?”

Kanade turned around, hearing familiar voices. She grew even more surprised after discovering the two people standing down the short stairs. One was a rather tall, purple haired young man with amber eyes in a beige cardigan over a white shirt and blue jeans. The other was a girl of an average height, her dark blue hair almost covering her grey eyes and falling down her grey hoodie, close to reaching her navy trousers. Both appeared to be Kanade’s age.

“Hello…?”

The figures’ gazes instantly turned to her, sharing a shocked expression. She remembered that her own attire was not really presentable – her blue track jacket with the black shirt and shorts underneath it made her look like she was in her pajamas – but there was nothing she could do about it at the moment. Three pairs of eyes kept exchanging looks before the silence was broken by the purple headed boy.

“Do we have the pleasure of speaking with K?”

Kanade’s ears weren’t tricking her – it was Drone’s voice, meaning the other person was most likely Yakisoba and that they both must have played Untitled too.

“T-thank goodness you’re okay, we were so worried!” As expected, the sound the dark haired girl produced was familiar as well. “But… what is this place?”

“You guys…” Kanade had never expected to meet her bandmates at all, let alone like this. She was so shocked she forgot to close her mouth after pausing. Her reaction must have made the other two’s priorities shift from worrying about her exclusively to being concerned about the current circumstances overall.

“Oh my, how unexpected a gathering, isn’t it?” Drone chuckled, trying to relax the slightly awkward atmosphere. “In this… interesting pavilion, of all places.”

“Y-yeah…” Yakisoba fidgeted with the strings of her hoodie, before being struck by a sudden realization as her eyes fixated on something. “…Wait, is that my guitar?”

The girl rushed over to Kanade’s left where the blue section was. She began inspecting it closer, clutching her heart as she seemed to recognize more things, especially the photos on the desk. “This whole thing looks like my room…”

Drone looked to Kanade’s right, equally taken aback by the sight. “I happen to recognize this part as well. It’s a spitting image of my workshop.” A smile started forming on his face, betraying both confusion and immense curiosity. “How interesting! I wonder, what could have caused this? It seems almost like magic, but perhaps it’s some sort of incredibly advanced technology instead? How was it created? Does it have access to our minds?”

“So it’s not just me…” Kanade tried to wrap her head around the situation, still dumbfounded. “Is this place made out of our memories, or something…?”

Ichika turned around to face the direction her white haired companion was focused on. The mountains of equipment and the desk full of CDs and bottles somehow fit her image. “This is based on your room, too?”

“Yeah. Not even based, it’s pretty much the same.”

Rui joined them, still not able to believe his eyes. “Whoever designed this interior is either a genius or a very lucky guesser. The question is, why would they bring us here in such a manner?”

“Is there even a way to leave?” Yakisoba looked around for an exit until she finally saw something noteworthy on the other end of the room through the glass column. “Ah, there’s a door over there!”

The group followed her lead, taking in as much of the surroundings as they could, marveling at the intricacy of the pavilion. The marble frames and pillars, comfortable sofas accompanied by coffee tables and bookshelves – more and more details were revealing themselves, showcasing just how much care was put into crafting this space. It seemed as if it was made for the three specifically. They weren’t sure whether to be amazed or uncomfortable, though – who did this and why?

Upon reaching the door, their attention briefly shifted to a giant, old clock with golden rims and ornaments decorating its surface. The time was synced with the real world, which caused a huge relief among the three – it had only been ten minutes since their arrival, meaning they likely haven’t made anyone else worry yet. The enormous, imposing door below the clock resembled some sort of a castle gate, with a marble frame connected to the ceiling guarding its shape. Each wing had elaborate, yet delicate engravings, depicting various flowers and musical instruments. The brass knob wouldn’t budge, no matter how Ichika tried to rotate it, much to her disappointment.

“Come on…!”

After a few more attempts, Rui decided to step in, not wanting his bandmate to get hurt.

“It seems we should try our luck somewhere else, Yakki. I don’t think there’s any use in fighting this door any further.”

Ichika let a sigh, saddened by the outcome of her efforts. She turned to face her companions with an unpleased expression. “Sorry, everyone… I brought you here for nothing.”

“It’s okay, you tried your best.” Kanade smiled in hopes to comfort Yakisoba. “I probably wouldn’t have even noticed the door without you.”

“Hehe, that does sound very K-like. You would be focused on other things, wouldn’t you?”

“As much as I hate to admit it, yeah…” Kanade lowered her head, the other two chuckling. Meanwhile, Drone approached the lock on the door, inspecting it closely with a glimmer in his eyes.

“How curious… I wonder where the key might be stored, if there even is one. What a shame I don’t have a lockpick on me.” A smug, almost devilish grin appeared on his face – a sight surprising to the girls as they hadn’t seen this side of him.

“What do you think is on the other side?” Ichika asked, a bit unsure of what answer she should be expecting.

“What lies on the other side, indeed? A library, containing all the secrets of this place? Servers, keeping up its projection up? I’m afraid naming all the possibilities would take me an entire day, if not longer.”

“Well, at least you are enjoying yourself, Drone.” Kanade couldn’t help but crack a smile seeing his enthusiasm. As odd as it looked, she was glad to get to know the real him more. “We kinda need that energy right now.”

“Hehe, I apologize, but this pavilion simply fascinates me.” Rui scratched the back of his head, having realized he had gotten a little too excited in front of his group. “You see, I take great interest in such enigmas to the point where I end up forgetting my manners. Please, do forgive me.”

Thankfully, his response was met with the other two being considerate of his sentiment. Ichika, although still a little surprised, tried her best not to make her bandmate feel like he shouldn’t be himself in their company. Sure, it was going to take time until she got fully used to all his antics, but she understood where he was coming from – she probably acted similarly when talking about her interests, especially Hatsune Miku.

“While we’re on the topic of doors, we still need to find an exit, don’t we?”

“Yeah, but there doesn’t seem to be anything else here.” Yakisoba looked up to the roof, its stained glass causing the stars above to shine in all kinds of colours. “I don’t think we could climb up to the ceiling…”

“Let’s see… Maybe we should think about how we got here in the first place. Everything can usually be traced back to the very beginning.” Drone supported his chin with his hand, almost looking like a philosopher pondering a riddle. His words lit an imaginary lightbulb in Kanade’s head, making her question how she hadn’t thought of that sooner.

“Oh! You opened the file too, right?”

“Yes, we were worried about you after you had gone silent, so we set on checking it out ourselves. That is what landed us here.”

Ichika exchanged looks with her bandmates, immediately understanding what they meant. “Right, there’s computers here too! Maybe Untitled’s the way out!”

The three rushed to the device on one of the desks, hoping to find the same interface as everything else seemed to be mirroring reality. Their wish was answered – Kanade found the Nightcord icon and after clicking it, a familiar sight greeted her expectant eyes. It was just like the real world, including the contents of their shared disk.

“There!”

“It’s here, too?” Yakisoba’s surprise reached Kanade’s ears from behind. “So…”

“Yes, it is most likely the exit!” As relieved as he was, Rui couldn’t contain his excitement, more and more intrigued with the pavilion’s mechanisms. “Do you want to try playing it again, K?”

“I’m about to.”

“Wait!!” Just as Kanade was getting ready to press the left mouse button, a robotic sound resembling a human voice rang in behind their backs, causing the three to turn around rapidly. Shock overtook their faces as their wide open eyes discovered the source of the noise.

Down the stairs stood a young girl with short blonde hair and a black, frilly headband decorating her head. Dressed in a gothic fashion, her shoes with short heels made her seem a little taller. The expression she wore was anxious, clearly pleading for the three not to leave. Despite her current appearance, she was immediately recognized by the ones she called out to, although they still couldn’t believe their vision.

“…Kagamine Rin?!”

The girl started nervously fidgeting with the frills of her black dress, turning her gaze down. “I-I’m really sorry for startling you… I just got here out of nowhere and I really didn’t want to be alone again. I have no idea where I am… or how I appeared here… or who I actually am, even… I’m just really scared…”

The awkward silence kept occupying the air for a while longer as everyone was struggling to find the right words. Rin looked up to the three as if to apologize for the situation again.

“S-so… you’re lost?” Ichika was still unable to process the fact that the group’s favourite Vocaloid was standing right in front of them, talking like an actual person. She couldn’t have even dreamed of it.

“I guess… I only remembered my name after you three said it. I think I can sing, too…” The young girl’s eyes turned to her left, escaping the other gazes. “…but I can’t recall anything else. I only know that after I appeared, I hid behind one of the paintings, even though there was no one else here. I was so frightened, my head felt so weirdly empty, but full at the same time, like there was something hiding from me, yet I couldn’t reach out to find it… Then, you guys came and I wanted to talk to you, but I didn’t want to interrupt, so I waited for a good moment…”

The part about her trying to get back the things buried deep inside her head sounded quite familiar.

“I see… Is there perhaps any way we could help you?” Rui, as bewildered as he still was, found it hard not to feel an obligation to assist the blonde singer. Making songs wouldn’t be possible for the group without her, so it seemed only natural to return the favour.

“We’re all confused about this too, but we’ll do what we can!” Ichika was of the same mind, with K nodding in agreement.

“That’s… Thank you, everyone, you’re all very kind.” Rin let a tiny, but relieved smile to form on her face. “I… Somehow, I feel like I’ve known you for some time already… Can I hear your names, if that’s okay with you…?”

The three flinched at the realization that they still haven’t properly greeted each other on their first actual meeting.

“R-Right, I completely forgot to introduce myself!! I’m so sorry…” Ichika turned her head down, flustered to the point where she couldn’t look anyone in the eyes.

“It’s okay… I mean, we aren’t in exactly normal circumstances, so I don’t blame you.” Kanade regained her ability to speak, seeing how ashamed the other girl was.

“Indeed, forgetting such a thing is more than natural in this kind of a predicament.” Drone joined her in an attempt to comfort their companion. “The first instinct is to be concerned with the surroundings, so you need not apologize in the slightest, Yakki.”

He flashed a smile Kanade always imagined he had on his face when speaking in this tone. She was overjoyed another prediction of hers turned out to be correct.

“Thanks…” Yakisoba exhaled, convincing herself to smile a little as well. “B-But still, let me do this properly – it’s nice to meet you, everyone! I’m Hoshino Ichika, but please feel free to call me by my first name.” The girl followed her words with a bow.

“Kamishiro Rui.” The young man joined his bandmate in bowing, doing so incredibly gracefully and almost theatrically, as if he had practiced the move countless times before. “It is my utmost pleasure to be able to work with you.”

Admiring the sounds of their names, Kanade realized it was her turn.

“Yoisaki… Yoisaki Kanade. Glad to meet you.”

Ichika and Rui. It was going to take some time until she would get used to associating their real names and faces with their voices instead of their Nightcord usernames, but she was happy to know them nonetheless.

“And… You know that already, but I’m Kagamine Rin.” The Vocaloid’s greeting was met with three warm expressions, their owners excited to officially welcome her into their team.

“Now that we are all done with the introductions, I’m afraid I must let my curiosity get the better of me and ask – have your guesses as to what our names were like been correct, dear K?” Rui looked at the white haired girl with a playful smirk, referring to their first voice call when she confessed she had been imagining how the others sounded. She was both surprised and amazed by his ability to read her like an open book.

“Well… I think so…?” Kanade scratched her head, trying to find a way to reply. “Wait, do you really think I had come up with a whole backstory for you guys?”

Her response was met with both Ichika and Rui chuckling, but she didn’t mind that, as it put a smile on her and Rin’s face as well. She knew they didn’t mean any harm with the friendly banter, it helped ease the tension of meeting for the first time. In this peculiar place, no less.

“Speaking of backstory, I really do wonder what yours is, Rin.” The purple haired boy turned his attention back to the blonde Vocaloid. “It is quite concerning that you landed here just as clueless as we are. I thought you might provide us with answers about this pavilion, but it appears you’re not the actual host.”

“I know… I’m really sorry…” She initially lowered her eyes, but they rose back up after a short while, determination shining in them. “I-I want to help you guys too, though! If there’s anything I can do for you, then please ask… I don’t want to be a freeloader.”

The three exchanged looks again, their minds drifting towards the same thing, but they weren’t sure whether it was right to say it out loud.

“It’s okay, we would help you no matter what. You’ve done so much for us already back in our world, we wouldn’t want to trouble you in any way.” Kanade tried to reassure Rin, not wanting to pressure her any harder. Although she did mean those words, a hint of uncertainty infiltrated them as she hesitated to voice the group’s other thoughts. The young girl picked up on that, offering her assistance once more.

“Well… maybe that’s true, but I can tell something’s still bugging you. I know I might not be in the best shape to come up with a good solution, but I promise I’ll try my best… Just please let me help, too!”

The trio felt a little more encouraged after her supportive declaration. She had made it clear she truly didn’t want to leave them alone with their problems.

“That’s… really kind of you, Rin. Thank you.” Ichika’s face was split by one of the widest smiles she’s had in her life. She was so moved that her eyes got a little bit blurry as a result.

“Well, if you put it like that, how could we refuse?” Rui lifted the corners of his lips higher as well, his voice sounding a little softer than usual.

Kanade let herself a little too, directing her warm gaze and tone at the Vocaloid. “Thank you, Rin. We really appreciate it.”

Their responses visibly put the blonde at ease. She tilted her head a bit, hands behind her back.

“S-so, can we visit you again, if possible? I’m afraid it’s getting a bit late where we live…” As much as she hated to ask that question, Ichika knew it had to be done. Fidgeting nervously, she couldn’t find the courage to look at Rin directly. Rui noticed how guilty his bandmate felt.

“Yes, it’s a shame… However, we might find some helpful answers to your problem in our world. Even though it can take some amount of time, we will keep our promise.” He decided to assist the girl next to him while comforting the Vocaloid as well, trying to resolve the tension.

“Yeah, we can come back tomorrow. Untitled is probably still going to be there.” Kanade nodded.

“Untitled… I had tried playing it before, but nothing happened. It seems to only work for you guys, so maybe it’s an exclusive entrance.” Rin lowered her eyes. “I’m going to try to learn about it too… I’m not sure if I can actually find something, but I’ll do my best.

“Me too. I’ve never seen this type of a file, so I’ll do some research on my own to see if there are other examples.” Kanade’s voice gained a little bit of determination.

“Other examples… Could it be… Perhaps it’s a method to create portals to different dimensions?” The excited glimmer returned to Rui’s yellow irises. “My, my, the list of questions grows ever longer. At this rate, we might never be able to discover all the answers.”

“I mean, do we really need every answer right now…?” Ichika looked at her companion, trying to be as polite as possible. “Helping Rin should be our priority, right?”

“Ah, yes, naturally. I wouldn’t dare to even dream of letting her troubles get cast aside in my mind.” He apologized, shaking his head as if getting rid of unhelpful ideas.

“You really do get invested in these things, huh.” Kanade noted, muttering to herself while observing her bandmates closely.

“You’re all so nice.” Their eagerness made Rin smile again. “I shouldn’t be keeping you here any longer, sorry… Let’s meet tomorrow, if that’s okay.”

“Of course. See you again, Rin.”

“Goodnight, Rin! Please, don’t worry too much, we’ll figure something out together!”

“Please excuse us, then. Until we meet again!”

“Goodbye…”

With that, the three waved to the Vocaloid and hunched over the computer once more, Kanade’s finger hovering over the left mouse button.

“Ready, everyone?”

“Three!” Rui started counting down, feeling playful as always.

“T-two!” Ichika joined instinctively, as if it was the natural order of things.

Kanade, albeit a little surprised, came to her senses after a moment. “One…”

“Play!” Rin’s quiet voice joined theirs as they ended the countdown. Then, the familiar bright vision revisited the group’s eyes, lingering for a while until they found themselves in their rooms again.

Chapter Text

The three blinked a few times, still processing what had just taken place. They had played an unknown file that had randomly appeared in their shared disk, had landed in a mysterious pavilion, had met their favourite Vocaloid and then just returned as if nothing unordinary had ever happened. Calling what they were feeling “confusion” would be a severe understatement.

“…are you alright, everyone?” Ichika was the first one to break the silence. Kanade rested her forehead on her palm, still feeling a little light-headed.

“I’m fine, I think… Just in disbelief.”

“As much as I am intrigued by what we had experienced, I find it impossible to blame you, dear K.” Drone – or Rui – seemed to be the only person in the group who wasn’t affected negatively in any way, his voice still emanating excitement. “How about you, Yakki?”

“I’m okay… It’s just…” Ichika was struggling to find words amidst all the swirling emotions. “We met Rin! The Kagamine Rin herself!! How is that even possible?!”

“Right? And not to mention that curious pavilion’s intricate design and even the very way we got there. With every step we took, a new mystery was presented to us with seemingly no way to solve it.”

“We… didn’t just have a collective hallucination somehow, did we?” Kanade’s head was unable to wrap itself around the situation, doing its best to find scraps of a reasonable explanation.

“My goodness, aren’t you just as creative as always, K?” Rui couldn’t help chuckling after her suggestion. He didn’t mean any offense though, as neither did Ichika who joined him.

“As unbelievable as all that was, I don’t think this is what happened either.”

“At this point, everything’s possible for me.” Their responses made Kanade a little flustered, but she was glad the atmosphere of their conversation got lighter.

“Haha, I cannot blame you yet again. It does feel like it now, doesn’t it? All these events were incredibly surreal, as if we had found ourselves inside of a painting.”

“Paintings… There were a lot of them there, too.” Ichika supported her chin with her hand. An idea struck her, widening her eyes. “Maybe it’s a hint?”

“A… hint?” Kanade tilted her head. “You mean, they want us to find stuff in paintings?”

“How marvelous! Perhaps the answers we need do lie in art as the scenario we found ourselves in is quite detached from reality.” Rui clasped his hands with joy. “ There were other things related to our crafts in some ways. If someone had made the effort to get to know us this much, they must have had a reason to – I dare hypothesize it’s so that we don’t have too bad of a time searching for further pointers. How considerate and unusual at the same time. But then, some things do have a tendency to hide in plain sight.”

“Maybe, but… how would we find anything about helping Rin get her memories back?” Kanade thought out loud, her mind drifting back to her dad. She was well aware how difficult restoring someone’s memory was, the knowledge making her even more worried.

“Well… there’s quite a few books and even movies regarding memory loss and finding your path again, right?” Ichika tried to reassure her companion, having noticed the growing uneasiness in her voice. “Maybe we can look there, too.”

“Since we are first and foremost focused on making music, I believe we might want to search through songs as well, especially the ones involving Rin herself. She mentioned she remembers singing, so exploring that path further could help uncover a part of her.” If Rui’s brain was a mechanism, it would be turning its cogs intensely now, trying to produce ideas on how to assist their beloved Vocaloid.

“I can do that! I listen to music pretty much all the time, so I can search through some pieces.” Ichika volunteered eagerly.

“I’ll look up Untitled first, but I don’t really expect to find anything, so I can dig through music too. I have more time, so I can get that taken care of, I don’t want you guys to be distracted from your other stuff too much.” Kanade joined in.

“I-it’s no problem, but thank you, K.”

“Very well, so we need not worry about music with you two as the experts. I can turn my attention to literature and art, then, my school should have an arsenal of additional knowledge we could use. As for movies…” Rui’s mind briefly drifted to Nene, who was in the movie club and could recommend something, but he knew well it was impossible, especially after the rooftop incident. They weren’t really friends anymore. “…I’m afraid we will have to get to that later with each of us having so much on our plates already.”

“I’m not as well informed on art as you are, so I guess I’ll leave it up to you, but do you want to make a list of books to read together, Drone?” Ichika asked, hoping to offer some more assistance. “I can check my library, too! Maybe we’ll find something that the other doesn’t have.”

“Why, I’d be delighted to, Yakki, if it’s truly not a bother to you.” Rui’s face was graced by a genuine smile yet again. “I’m going to stay up for a little longer and send you some titles I think would be worth checking, you can expand the list tomorrow as well.”

“Okay! I’ll try getting up earlier to look some up.”

“Are you two sure you’ll be okay? It’s even more work than we usually do…” Kanade frowned a bit, worried about her bandmates. If it was just her, she’d probably be fine – she had all the time in the world, after all – but they had other responsibilities. She didn’t read much, so she was unsure whether she could be of help in that department, but she was ready to try if it meant lessening her bandmates’ burden and solving Rin’s dilemma.

“It is alright, I won’t have any issue with keeping up with the studies. I have made it this far, after all.” Rui chuckled. “Although your concern is, of course, appreciated, you need not worry too much, K.”

“I’ll do my best to make time for everything, too! It’s no problem, really.” Ichika nodded energetically to further emphasize her readiness, despite the fact the others couldn’t see her. “Don’t overwork yourself either, K.”

“Right, I am afraid you might be the one at the highest risk of doing that.” Rui teased the group’s incredibly hardworking composer yet again, making her scratch her head. She was aware of how true that statement was more than anyone. Normally, she would recall how she had almost passed out and get shivers, but her bandmates’ company somehow made it easier to associate the remark with how she was almost always composing and often sent countless drafts to the group to their utter surprise at her speed.

“You literally never stop, huh…” Her response elicited a chuckle from the others, lightening up the mood. “I mean, it’s just that I’m always at home and I don’t have that many tests or homework and stuff. I may not know much about things other than music, but I’d like to help you guys with other fields if it means getting some of the weight off your backs. We’re in this together, right?”

Her question resulted in a short silence, leaving Kanade wondering whether she had said something wrong. It wasn’t that, however, the reaction was quite the opposite – Ichika and Rui cherished the feeling of warmth emanating from her words, her declaration of togetherness reaching the depths of their hearts. The responses they gave brimmed with happiness.

“Y-yeah, that’s right.”

“Indeed, we are.”

An hour later, after the group had wished each other a good night and Yakisoba - or Ichika - had left, Kanade was still at her desk, having checked the reading list Drone had prepared a few minutes prior. She had already looked some titles up and bookmarked the excerpts, just in case she felt like helping with the literature search too. Now was the time for the mysterious Untitled.

As expected, she found nothing of note after entering the name of the file into her browser. Even as she got more and more specific with her questions, no answers were visible on the horizon. Looks like the solution wouldn’t be so easily found after all.

The girl couldn’t get the giant question mark out of her head when she tried to comprehend the situation once more. What was Untitled? Why did it pop up? Why now? Who could have gone to such lengths to make all this? Why did they drag Kagamine Rin into it? Kanade wasn’t used to solving such riddles, the years she spent living alone and focused purely on composing had heavily changed her ways of thinking. Yes, she usually managed to get good grades for the tests she had to take for school, but music was the only thing that came to her easily. Up until recently, at least.

She pushed away the stray pieces of hair that had fallen on her eyes while she was lost in thought, gathering her resolve again, but directing it at something else this time. The Untitled might be considered a dead end at this point, it was time to try another thing she had promised to look through.

Her mouse cursor switched places multiple times with clicking sounds in between the movements. The monitor was now displaying the interface of the platform where the group published their songs, many notifications appearing to be asking Kanade to check them. She gave in and proceeded to read some comments, hoping the listeners were still enjoying the new track. Seeing the incredibly nice words from most of them made her smile a bit – it was always so fulfilling, knowing her and her bandmates’ efforts were indeed appreciated and that their music gave people at least one reason to feel better.

She wondered whether her dad would be happy with her as well.

After switching accounts to her private one, her hands quickly made their way into the search bar, typing Kagamine Rin’s name in, together with phrases related to memory and nostalgia as the group had figured that’s what would be the most helpful. To her surprise, the amount of titles that popped up was far greater than what she had initially expected. Kanade didn’t hesitate to start listening, though – she played the first song while gradually adding others into a temporary playlist so that they wouldn’t get lost. And so, her little journey began.

With each track, she found herself immersed in the worlds newly presented to her, her imagination visualizing the memories the composers might have written about and her mind analyzing each melody carefully. She was reminded of the reason she and her bandmates had taken such a liking to Rin – her beautiful, incredibly versatile voice that could tell all kinds of stories in all possible ways. Even the Vocaloid remembered singing, despite having forgotten everything else, that’s how much of an impact her voice had not only on others, but herself too. While listening, Kanade jotted down a few notes on the details she had noticed in the tracks to perhaps use for reference later. Who knows, maybe the group will want to make a song regarding memory as well.

Assuming they get to help Rin and find their inspiration back, of course, but Kanade really did want to believe they’d overcome their struggles eventually.

The rest of night passed peacefully for the girl, who hadn’t been this relaxed in quite a while. The contents of the new playlist had allowed her to reexperience the joy of admiring others’ works and letting their feelings reach her through their creations. It’s one of the things Kanade had treasured the most in music, aiming to include it in her melodies as well. She was grateful to her bandmates for making it really possible, with their own input and feedback becoming an essential part of her creative process.

As the playlist reached its end, she realized just how tired she actually was, her eyelids being on the verge of shutting down, telling her to finish things for today. It was nothing like the moment where she had nearly passed out, though, she was just feeling really sleepy, as a normal person would be after spending such a big part of the night in front of a computer screen. She breathed a sigh of relief – for her, it was a sign that her body was slowly recovering. As hard as it was, she was determined on working on herself not to let another similar incident happen, she promised herself today was the last exception of staying up so abysmally late.

Just as she had decided, her headphones were soon back on the desk, with their owner quietly asleep, pleasant dreams gracing her head for the first time since she had been left alone in her house.

Rui’s backpack was way heavier than usual, but he didn’t mind at all – it contained countless pages of possible solutions to Rin’s predicament. He had made the effort to arrive at school earlier so that he could look for specific titles at the library, just as he and Yakki – or Ichika, as he had learned the day before – had agreed. The bewildered expression of the librarian when he had set the stack of books down on the counter hadn’t stopped him from borrowing as many potentially useful materials as he could find.

He was heading towards his locker in order to temporarily store the heaviest of the volumes so that he wouldn’t have to carry them all day, glad to have come earlier as it meant he could easily avoid the other students. Not necessarily because he disliked them – except for a few, maybe – he knew well he wasn’t the most welcome sight for some, however.

Reaching the locker, Rui noticed a corner of a paper note slightly sticking out of it. He had no idea when exactly it might have ended up there as he hadn’t checked the locker in a good few days. Curious, but also skeptical, he unlocked the door and opened it to inspect the mysterious object closer. Fear flashed through his mind as he flipped the note and saw someone’s writing – it could always be just a prank from someone particularly cruel. He softly shook his head to ward off the negative thoughts and focused on the actual contents of the unordinary mail, which were a single sentence.

“I’m sorry for running away.”

He flinched.

There was no way the sight presented to him was real, and yet the probability of his eyes deceiving him was near zero. Rui reread the message once, twice, thrice, blinking between each attempt to make sure he was seeing correctly. His vision did not change.

The handwriting looked just like Nene’s.

He still couldn’t bring himself to believe it, even though he usually was the one who considered every scenario, even the most ridiculous one, to be possible. After all, he and his group had found themselves transported to another dimension by playing an unknown file yesterday. This note was incredibly hard to trust, however. Of course, Nene could have changed throughout the years, but surely not so much to the point where she would reach out to him, of all people, out of her own volition now. A part of him thought it was just a stupid prank from someone who simply had similar handwriting and somehow knew about the situation from a few days prior, but that would be even less reasonable.

Rui furrowed his eyebrows, still looking at the note, debating the next step he should take. Supposing the message was indeed from Nene, would it be right to respond? She was probably already hoping that she wouldn’t easily get a reply – she would have sent him a text instead if that hadn’t been the case. He couldn’t say that he was unable to understand her, it must have been awkward for her, too.

He let out a sigh, folding the piece of paper carefully and outing it into a notebook so that it wouldn’t get lost and crumbled in the depths of his backpack. He then proceeded to put the books he had borrowed into the locker in order to take them home after classes, trying to direct his thoughts to Rin’s dilemma instead of his own.

Come to think of it, couldn’t the Untitled be a message from the pavilion’s creator or even Rin herself? She had lost all her memories, so it was possible she had sent it before and just forgot about it. What exactly was the message supposed to convey, though? Why create a file, out of all things? Why in their shared folders specifically, what did they have to do with this?

Rin had mentioned something about feeling that she had known them for quite some time already before asking for their names. Who knows, perhaps her unconscious mind does recall singing for their songs. The question still was, why them out of all people?

Rui was so deeply entangled in his thoughts that he almost didn’t even notice when he passed by his classroom. Letting out a quiet giggle at his own carelessness, he turned around and knocked on the door, half expecting to be ignored as he suspected the inside was still empty. A teacher’s voice did ring out from behind the entrance, though, welcoming him in with a hint of surprise. The young man entered with his signature smile, bowing to greet the professor.

A couple hours had passed since that moment, leading to Rui heading for the rooftop during the lunchbreak. While on his way, he noticed a pair of violet eyes casting a worried glance at him from a distance. They turned away after a split second, their green haired owner rushing to her own destination, which was in the opposite direction of the place the boy wanted to reach. He stopped in his tracks, however, following the girl with his own eyes for a moment, surprised by the sudden encounter.

Nene’s expression and the look she had in her purple irises remained engraved in his mind for the rest of the lunchbreak. Rui knew he might have just seen things incorrectly – he hadn’t exactly looked for long – yet she had almost seemed as though she had been hoping for something. One more reason to suspect the note was indeed from her. Had she hoped that it had reached him? Should he let her know that he accepted her apology, after all?

The young man forced himself to push these thoughts aside as the bell rang. As puzzled as he still was, he had different priorities on his mind at the moment.

“…Ichika?” The dark haired girl’s music listening session was suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice calling her name, causing her to look up rapidly. Who she saw was quite surprising, if not shocking, enough for her to begin nervously stuttering.

“H-Honami?!” The unexpected source of the voice was no other than one of her childhood friends, with her blue eyes reflecting the library lights and her light brown hair tied in a side ponytail. Ichika blinked multiple times to make sure she wasn’t going completely crazy, even though everything could be possible after what had happened the previous day, honestly.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t want to startle you!” The other girl bowed apologetically. “I just… really wanted to say sorry I couldn’t come visit Saki.”

Ichika’s confusion grew even bigger. She wasn’t sure what could have prompted such a sudden approach – did Honami somehow know exactly what she was feeling? Had she really been wearing her emotions on her sleeve, or was it just her friend’s amazing intuition?

“I-I really would love to, but I’m genuinely busy for the rest of the month… I have committee duties, I’ve recently gotten a small job – it all added up in an unfortunate way.” The brown haired girl continued, her eyes dancing between Ichika’s face and the planks on the floor. “I know I haven’t seen her in a long time, and that she probably misses us all… I just cannot now. I promise I’ll do my best to finally find time when it’s all sorted out!”

“I-I mean, it’s okay…” The long, dark hair was scratched by its owner in an awkward manner. “But… why are you apologizing to me?”

“Oh, I…” Honami fidgeted with the buttons on her cardigan in an attempt to allow her mind to form a coherent response. “Well, I know you’re the one who visits and talks to Saki the most and how much it means to you too, so… I just thought I should clarify. I’m sorry.”

Considerate and kind as always, Ichika thought, fighting the urge to smile. Honami truly hadn’t changed much – she was still one of the nicest people walking on the planet.

“No, don’t be. It’s fine, I’m sure Saki understands too.” Her conversation partner was a bit relieved after the first words, yet the question that was asked next made the tension reappear. “I-if you don’t mind me asking, do you know why Shiho can’t visit either…?”

An almost deafening silence filled the air for a while. Honami’s blue eyes turned to her feet again, their eyelids twitching once or twice.

“No… Sadly, I don’t. But she’s probably just busy as well, especially with her bass practice.” She lifted her head with a slight smile, likely intending to reassure her, but Ichika could tell it that her friend was simply doing her best to be brave. Before she had a chance to ask if everything was okay, her temporary burst of courage had been prevented from spilling out with Honami casting a glance on the clock.

“Oh, I’m afraid I have to go now… Have a nice day, and sorry for taking your time again.”

Ichika opened her mouth, but the words that came out of it were not even close to what she had truly meant to say. “O-of course! It’s no trouble at all… Have a good day too, Honami.”

With that, the brown haired girl bowed and exited the library, leaving her friend cursing at herself. Had she been too straightforward and scared Honami away? This had been the first chance to properly talk to her in weeks, why did Ichika just blow it?

She sighed again, resting her weary head on her palms. She really missed her old self sometimes – the girl who wouldn’t be scared to ask things, the girl who wouldn’t hesitate to help others in possible need. She had thought she was close to recovering that courage, but it seemed even more difficult now than it had been before.

Ichika blinked a couple of times, trying to redirect her thoughts to what she had been doing before, knowing that her tendency to overthink wouldn’t do her any good. No matter how hard it was, the only way was to push further, others were counting on her. The only company she had left was her playlist and the stack of books, but it had to suffice for the time being.