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There was something new in the SEKAI. A wooden box sat on a desk, collecting dust as if it had always been there. It didn’t stand out all that much amidst the pile of other decorations like the pile of Phenny plushies and the stack of CDS. Instead, it quietly laid there like the classroom and would have been forgotten if not for a certain girl’s keen eye.
Ichika was the first to notice it. The girls were taking a break, just having practised with Miku and Luka a few minutes ago.
“Did anyone bring this box in?” Ichika asked as she looked around the classroom.
Footsteps sounded behind her as her bandmates and dear friends gathered to see the object that Ichika was holding.
“It’s not mine,” Shiho answered curtly.
“I didn’t bring it either,” followed Honami.
Saki turned around to wave over Luka. “Hey Luka, we have a question,” she called.
Luka came over, the usual friendly smile on her face. “Sure, what is it?”
“We were just wondering what this box is,” Ichika said as she held the box for the Vocaloid to see.
“Ohh, that,” Luka replied, having no trace of confusion in her expression as she gazed at the object. “Well it’s-” she stopped. “Actually, I think it would be better if you guys figured it out by yourself.” She winked and left.
There was a silence
“If no one is going to volunteer, I’ll open it.”
The girls sat on the classroom floor, all four of them bristled with anticipation and curiosity as Saki held the box in her lap. Her hand went to the lid of the box and then pulled back. Again, her hand went to the box and immediately pulled back. She did this a couple of times for suspense.
“Saki, if you keep doing that, I’m just going to pull the box away from your hands,” Shiho said.
“Alright, fine fine,” Saki replied and then pouted under her breath. “Shiho is so mean.”
“Huh?”
“Ow ow! I’m sorry! Stop pinching my cheek!”
With one hand rubbing her sore cheek; another went to the box, with the intent to actually open it this time. The entire thing was…rather anticlimactic. Saki reached a hand to pull an item from the box.
“A photo?” Honami asked when she saw the item in Saki’s hand.
“Wait,” Ichika leaned closer. “We’re in that photo!”
Indeed they were. Four girls were posed in front of the photo, mud and dirt were plastered all over their round cheeks. Honami was the one taking the selfie as she was the least muddiest out of the four. Saki was in the middle of pulling a young Ichika and Shiho to her side. Ichika held a peace sign while Shiho simply held her thumb out.
“Awww, we were so small and squishy,” Saki cooed.
“That’s one way to describe our younger selves…” Shiho said. “Anyways, when was this photo taken-?”
“Ah!”
“Huh? Honami, are you ok?” Ichika asked.
“I remember this–this was when–” Honami snapped her fingers as she tried to recall the memory. “We were playing pretend! I was the owner, Saki was a golden retriever, Ichika was a husky and Shiho–she insisted on being a wolf.”
“I did…?” Shiho mumbled, her face suddenly feeling hot.
“I would bring you guys to the ‘dog park’ and you would all crawl on the ground and tackle each other.” Honami recalled as she smiled looking back at the memory.
“Well, that explains the dirt on all of our clothes,” Ichika chuckled.
“Now that I think about it, didn’t Shiho bark at someone?” Saki said.
“I did??”
“I think it was your brother, he came to the backyard asking if we wanted anything to eat and Shiho just started barking aggressively. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the look of fear that appeared on his face.” Honami giggled.
At that moment, Shiho just wanted to cover her steaming face with her hood.
“Aww Shiho, don’t be embarrassed, I tried howling at the moon once.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.”
As Saki moved to hug Shiho, the box in her lap shook and another item fell out. Ichika picked it up and soon found out it was a charm bracelet. A clumsily made one. It had yellow and orange beads with a cheap plastic star charm.
Saki gasped and returned from her hug. The entire box fell to the floor and three more charm bracelets spilled out of the box. “I thought we lost those!”
“We did…Yet they’re right here,” Ichika said.
A long time ago, Saki went out to buy a bag full of beads charms at an arts store. She invited Ichika, Honami and Shiho and the four of them spent hours working on their bracelets. Perhaps “hours” was a bit of an exaggeration. Nonetheless, they proudly wore their creations on their wrists; and lost them the moment they went to play outside. All four bracelets. At the same time. They were all devastated to say the least. They stayed out until sunset searching and would have stayed longer if not for their parents.
“Have any of you ever heard the question: ‘What would you do if you were given a box full of the things you lost?’” Honami suddenly asked.
“I heard about that, and then the question is followed by: ‘what would be the first you’d look for?’” Ichika added.
“Considering how Vocaloids are real and this SEKAI being a production of our true feelings… I guess it wouldn’t be entirely impossible for something like this,” Shiho joined in.
Saki put on her respective bracelet. “Do you think we can bring these over to the real world?”
“I hope so, it was such a shame we lost them in just one day,” Honami smiled as she inspected her own bracelet. It contained red beads and an apple and a planet as its respective charms.
Ichika’s was dark blue and simple with guitar charm while Shiho’s was black and green which contrasted her cute Phenny charm.
“Hey, so since this is a box full of things we’ve lost, what other stuff do you think we’ll find?” Ichika asked, bringing the attention back to the “magical” object.
“Only one way to find out!”
The next item Saki pulled out was none other than the poorly made manga they swore they would finish in grade school. It looks like the characters were trying to do some sort of dynamic pose but Saki couldn't really tell.
“This was after watching that Magical girl movie in the theatres wasn’t it?” Ichika said.
“We even made such extensive lore too…” said Shiho.
Saki pulled the paper up for everyone to see and started to narrate in a fake deep voice. “Four ordinary high schools, or so they thought…But in actuality were from another planet. A girl who controlled the wind, another who shined like a star, the third who could talk to animals and the last one who had the power of music. Brought together by a magical dog named Shibao to save Earth from an evil alien race!
“Oh gosh, I’m starting to cringe.”
“Oh Shiho, I don’t think it’s that bad,” Honami said. “I think the clicheness of it all is what makes the story and the memory so special.”
“I guess you do have a point.”
“Oh wow Hona! Spoken like a true wisewoman, just like my grandma!”
“H-huh? Do I really sound like a grandma?”
Shiho flipped through the “manga” with Ichika. “It even says your hobbies are ‘baking apple pies for your friends’ and ‘knitting’ on your self-insert’s profile.”
“Heh, grandma.”
“Grandma.”
“Grandma.”
“H-hey!” At that moment, Honami’s face was starting to resemble an apple. “Can we move on now?”
The four girls spent the next hour looking through the box until the floor was covered with items. They found all sorts of things: School paintings and projects, paper notes they used to slip each other during class, shoujo mangas and-
“Huh? What’s this? Hatsune Miku x reader-?”
“SAKI WAIT!”
It was Ichika’s turn to become an apple.