The Puppeteers

Chapter 16: Her Spilling Secrets

They continued asking and interrogating.

"Our SEKAI has overlapped with their SEKAI and caused something called an Overlapped SEKAI. And the reason we can't get out of here is because there's a traitor with different feelings than ours that managed to get in here, right?" Emu inquired, "We need to find this traitor and get rid of them to get out of here, but you never really mentioned how we're actually supposed to find them."

"I guess that's because I don't really know either." Miku answered the question, "Imagine a person that you knew very well and called a friend, suddenly they start acting weird, or it's like your hearts don't align with eachother like they used to."

"Hm. Is that what the traitor is supposed to feel like for us?"

Miku nodded. "But I don't think that everyone will fit this exact description to find the traitor. Feelings are different for everyone, aren't they?"

"Does the traitor themselves know that they are a traitor?" Mizuki put a question to the vocaloid.

"They might. But they also might not." She replied, "If anyone feels the kind of disconnection I explained earlier with themselves, they might figure out that they are the traitor."

"In that case, would it be like your heart doesn't align with who you were before you got into the Overlapped SEKAI?" Rui questioned.

"Most likely, yeah."

The group paused for a bit, before another person came up with another question.

"Uh," Ena uttered, "After the show that Wonderlands x Showtime made was over, Mafuyu said that their acting did nothing but create fake feelings, and those fake feelings created new anomalies, which made more traitors, i think? Is it true that that can happen?"

"Absolutely! But, it doesn't happen as urgently as Mafuyu said. It can only create another traitor if the feeling is really impactful or big." Miku announced, "Other than that, fake feelings that are created after a SEKAI overlaps usually manifest as small glitches here and there, so nothing too big to worry about!"

"I see." Rui crossed his arms, nodding, "And what about the wind that blew my mask off the first time we played Alice in Wonderland on stage?"

"I don't know anything about that. Sorry."

(Seems like Miku isn't in control of things that happen in the outside world, then. She is extremely knowledgable about SEKAI's though, as expected.) Tsukasa thought.

(If Miku was the traitor, which I don't think it's possible but, I don't think she'd be telling us all of this information. But I don't get an off feeling about anyone else here either. I wonder who the traitor really is...)

"If you know so much about everything, why can't you just get us out of here with all of your knowledge?" Ena interrogated.

"Again, I know how SEKAI's work and the laws of how they exist since it's programmed in my database, but since SEKAI Overlaps are extremely rare, I can't find much information about them besides how they are made." Miku stated, "I am here solely so I can provide answers to your questions and get rid of confusion. It has to be you guys who actually find the solution to get out of here, not me."

"2 more questions." Mizuki hopped in the conversation again, "Does this mean you aren't actually in control of the SEKAI's? And, why were you so hesitant to answer questions before this? Oh, and, why did you trick us if your mission here is to provide answers so we can get to the truth?"

"Calm down! I'll explain everything." Miku responded, "As Wonderland Miku, I am partially in control of the SEKAI's, but not fully. The real Miku is the one that is the most powerful, but it's extremely hard to reach her through here."

"I was hesitant to answer questions beforehand because I felt like the traitor could use the things I say to their advantage and get away with it. I still feel like that now, but I'm thinking that all of this information is going to help you all discover the person easier."

"And lastly, I had many reasons for doing that execution to Nene. I already explained two of them, so I don't feel the need to explain myself any further."

"Ah, okay." Mizuki replied shortly.

(I have an idea on what to do, but I don't know if I can tell the others about it while Miku is here...)

(I need some way to distract her, tell the plan to everyone and finally begin our escape.)

"What about the other vocaloids? Do they know about our situation?" Mafuyu asked.

"Probably. But I don't know if their consciousness' still exist. I mean, we haven't been able to find any other Vocaloid since the overlap, right?"

"So...there's a chance that Wonderland SEKAI's Len, Rin, or Empty SEKAI's KAITO, MEIKO et cetera don't exist anymore?" Emu voiced.

"I believe that's the case since we haven't seen them at all." Tsukasa added.

"Rest in peace." Mafuyu said bluntly.

"When we first came here, you said that the Wonderland SEKAI and Empty SEKAI don't exist anymore, but we still see them in the overlapped SEKAI because they're still apart of our feelings." Kanade remarked, "When we escape this place, will those SEKAI's be gone completely and forever? Will we never be able to go here again?"

"That's a good question. But I don't think it'll affect you that much if they really disappear. I mean, there's always alternatives for a good hiding spot, or a quiet place to be with your feelings."

"But...what about you guys? It'll be lonely without Miku and the others..." Emu wallowed.

"You'll find us by your side again through the power of music! Don't you worry."

"What about the deeper levels of the SEKAI? Is there anything we need to search for there? Like, maybe something that could lead us to find the feelings of the traitor?" 

"So far, we've been to the surface level of this place, which is the Wonderland and Empty SEKAI's. We've headed a little underground where there are fragment SEKAI's, and then even deeper, a kind of unknown spot, but I can tell it's based off of real places that exist within your feelings. Like a snowy mountain, or a busy town."

"That's where me and Mafuyu were." Nene exclaimed, "That snowy mountain."

"Then we should explore the deeper levels of the SEKAI's. That'll help us more than just sitting and talking here." Tsukasa pointed out.

"Alright, let's go explore. And then I'll bring everyone back here so we can discuss everything that we've found."

"Yes!"