The Puppeteers

Chapter 15: The real traitor within our sight

"Great. Another person lost." Rui groaned, seeing Ena run away out of the blue.

"If we don't act together, we won't be able to find a way out at all!" Emu said, "Miku, can you gather everyone here, please?"

"Okay." Miku said, slowly walking backwards before disappearing.

"That's...strange. Is Ena really the type of person to do that?" Tsukasa mentioned.

"Not really." Kanade answered.

"...Let's just wait until Miku gets back and discuss everything then." Emu voiced.

They began waiting...

---

A Miku appeared, greeting the puppet and the puppeteer, and ending the moment of solitude they had.

"Miku. You came back." One of them said.

Nene got goosebumps at the sight of her presence. She felt the urge to cling to Mafuyu.

"I was told to bring you two back to the surface," The blue haired girl said, "It seems we can't continue normally without all of the members in the discussion at once."

"How long were we gone for?" Mafuyu asked.

"Time doesn't exist in SEKAI. If you feel like you've been gone for 'too long', that's nothing but an illusion from your own brain."

"Woah. Okay then." Nene replied curiously. "Shall we go back?"

"Ofcourse." Miku held out her hand. Nene looked at Mafuyu first with uncertainty, but then held the vocaloid's hand.

The world around them distorted with colors they had never seen before. And in an instant, they were once again brought back to the Wonderland SEKAI.

The two girls looked around. The circus they teleported in looked empty, so it was obvious that the others had to be outside.

"Nene." Mafuyu tapped on her shoulder.

"Oh!" The girl got startled, then nodded and followed the latter out of the circus.

Only to find...everybody in a circle and Ena in the middle looking like she was being held hostage.

"We're back." 

"Welcome back!" Tsukasa greeted them with a smile, "We've got...a slight issue here."

"Huh? What is it?" The green haired girl questioned, "Is something wrong with Ena?"

"She tried running away and now she's acting like some wild animal that escaped from a zoo." Rui said in a low voice.

"Let me go home! I hate this! I hate this!" Ena screeched.

"She won't stop repeating this exact line." Kanade explained.

"Ena! I want to go home too but we can't do that if you don't calm down!" Mizuki said as she continued holding onto the distressed girl.

But she wouldn't stop hitting things around her and repeating the same words over and over again.

Some of them stared at Miku, signaling her to do something.

"Well, Ena." Miku walked over to her slowly with a menacing look. The girl immediately stopped, and stared at her.

"If you don't start acting normal, I might have to get rid of you like how I did with Nene."

Everyone's eyes widened.

"Nene was saved last minute because her's was more of a...'prank' than an actual execution. But you here, you're acting strange, could you perhaps be the actual traitor we're looking for to get out of here?"

"What?! I don't even know anything!" She shouted.

"None of us do. But we're trying our best to find the truth with the information given on my databank, aren't we?" Miku answered with a grin, "That being said, it only takes a majority vote to take you out of existence, so consider acting nice."

(Miku doesn't seem like she's stopped her threatening behavior. If anything, she doesn't seem like she's changed at all.) Mafuyu thought, (But it seems like a leader trying to keep her group in place rather than an actual thought of trying to kill us all.)

(I'd say I wonder why she's trying so hard to keep us all in our place, but I guess thats because if everyone did what they wanted to, the group would be chaotic and we'd never escape.)

(Or maybe, that's just what she wants us to think, and the real reason we're being kept in place is something entirely different...)

Ena got up from the floor and stood next to Mizuki.

"Enough silence!" Tsukasa said with a loud voice, "We need to start doing something."

"Do you have a plan, Tsukasa?" Emu asked.

"Not really. But I have so many questions, I don't know if we'll be able to find the traitor if we don't answer them all."

"I agree." Nene nodded, "We should start by discussing the things we don't understand, or that don't make sense."

Miku walked backwards, everyone turned to her.

"You may ask me anything you like! I'll answer them all."

"So," Mafuyu questioned first, "You told us that time can't pass in the SEKAI, and when we feel like so much time has passed, it's only our imagination?"

"Correctomundo! Time in the real world is real, because the world, the sun and the moon are an indication of time passing. However, in SEKAI's, there is nothing here that changes or shows an indication of time."

"Meaning, even if generations upon generations pass in the real world, the SEKAI will remain the same. The only exception for this is for the person's feelings to change, and since you people are from the real world where time exists, you are the only beings that can make it possible."

"Is that why none of us have gotten hungry so far?" Rui inquired.

"Ofcourse. Those feelings belong in the real world, where your physical body has needs that increase over time."

"So, time is still passing in the real world right now?" Emu asked.

"Unfortunately, yes."

(So our families and friends probably think that we're missing, or looking for us...)

"...Oh. That's not very good." Mizuki expressed.

Mafuyu grabbed her arm. Most of the group's mood went from curious to sorrowful.

"Hey, we can't just keep sulking like this. We're wasting time, aren't we?" Nene stated.

"I suppose that's true. Cmon, ask me more questions!" Miku demanded in a playful tone.

"I...know that what you did was just a trick, but, out of all people, why was I executed?" Nene interrogated, "I thought that, before the overlap happened, you counted on me to save everyone there."

"I had many reasons. One of them being the fact that you were the one the others suspected the most in that moment, and another one being the fact that you are crucial in keeping some parts of the system here alive. I wanted to see how well you could defend and take care of yourself as an important member of the SEKAI!"

"...Eh?"

(Miku is really...bizarre.)

(Maybe we'll find out why that is, soon.)