The Puppeteers

Chapter 6: Awake, I opened my eyes

"Nene-chan! Nene-chan!" The voice shouted.

She opened her eyes. She was in an oddly familiar place, despite never coming there before.

"Emu? Where are we?"

She got up, rubbing her eyes and looking around.

"I don't know either...This look's like another SEKAI, but it also feels as if I've been here before." The girl uttered.

Their surroundings were a shade of grey, with random triangles or walls around them.

"What a strange place...I wonder who's feelings these are." Nene murmured.

"Ah, it seems you two are here aswell. Looks like we aren't alone, my star~"

"Rui-kun! Tsukasa-kun! Where are we?!" Emu weeped.

"I'm not sure, but it looks like we're in someone elses SEKAI?"

"It's pretty empty in here," Rui said, looking around while cupping his chin, "The owner must not have had good feelings by the time it was created."

"But, for some reason it feels oddly familiar." Nene added to Rui's sentence, "Have we been here before?"

They all stood silent, and Emu started walking around.

Nene stared at her other troupe members for a bit, before turning around and spotting a white-haired... wait, no, blue haired(?) figure.

"Miku...?"

As she said her name, the corrupted Miku turned to her, smiling.

"N3ne-chaa@n!" The girl shouted, "I'm so glad I finally found you!"

"Is that Miku? She looks different..." Tsukasa said.

"Ohh, that must be because of the bad connection we have here..." Miku explained, "Two Miku's tried to enter aSBnb3QgcmlkIG9mIGhlcg== at the same time dGhlcmUgY2FuIG9ubHkgYmUgb25l so it must be why we're having such a technical issue!"

"Technical issue...? That can happen?" Rui questioned.

"Miku, is this the overlapped SEKAI?"

"Why, yes it is~ The wind that blew Rui's mask at that show caused quite a mishap ― with your feelings and the SEKAI, I mean."

"Overlapped SEKAI?" Tsukasa cupped his chin, "I've never heard of such a thing before, but it feels like I know what it means already."

"Fufu, well then, I guess I don't need to make another explanation~" Miku giggled under her breath, "eW91dmUgYmVlbiBoZXJlIGJlZm9yZQ== How would you like to meet the other SEKAI's members, then?"

She turned around and snapped her fingers, in which a silhouette in the shape of a door appeared that lead into the Wonderland SEKAI.

"You'll come in with me, no?"

"Woahhh! What's that?" Emu's eyes shined.

"A trip back to our familiar Wonderland SEKAI! Although it might not be the real one, it's still nice to go back to the place you feel more comfortable in, right?"

"It's not the real one? How is that possible?" Rui asked.

"I'll explain this all later, it'll make sense, so don't worry!"

She looked at them one more time before nodding and entering through the 'door'.

...

"Tsukasa... Tenma?" Mafuyu mumbled, staring at the bright sky.

"Huh... this place isn't the Empty SEKAI. So, does that mean... what Miku told me..."

"Mafuyu?" She heard a voice.