During a regular practice session for her beloved music circle, "Wonderlands×Showtime," AIchin HIBIYA feels a strange pang of sadness. She thinks, "Maybe... they'd be better off without me?" It's a tiny, prickly feeling of being left behind while her friends shine brightly.
Noticing her gloom, a quirky upperclassman from her school, Arata JOZAKI, calls out to her. Arata is a brilliant hacker with an obsession for the "Sekai" system. He has a secret—he can access "Minor Sekai," unstable worlds b
In a Corner of Sekai, You Wait for the Stars - Sekai Rock and the Cry That I Need You
Cold.
Dark.
And utterly, profoundly lonely.
Hibiya Aichin stood alone at the center of a Sekai that felt like the pitch-black depths of the ocean. Around her, the emotion of being an "unwanted child" drifted as countless bubbles, flickering into existence before fading away. The sensation of freezing water. Every breath she took felt like her lungs were about to freeze solid.
(This is... the depths of my heart.)
A place that was terrifying, sad, and yet, for some reason, just a little bit calming.
Jozaki Arata squeezed her hand tightly. His silver hair swayed as if underwater. Behind the bangs that concealed his left eye, his deep blue right eye gazed straight at Aichin.
"Hibiya. Don't let go of my hand."
His voice carried its usual low, sleepy tone. But his hand was trembling. No. Arata wasn't the one trembling. This Sekai itself was shaking, rejecting his intrusion.
"Senpai... I'm scared."
"Me too."
Saying that, Arata pulled out his modified tablet with his left hand. The screen was still cracked. But on it, the administrator access code he had stolen from Yukito's system pulsed with an eerie red light.
"Hey, Hibiya. There's something I've never been able to tell you."
Arata began operating the tablet. His fingers slid across the screen at an unnatural speed. Around him, cords of light began to spiral.
"I always thought I liked being alone. Not interfering with anyone, not being interfered with. I thought that was my way of life."
One by one, the cords of light coiled around Arata's arm. They looked like chains, trying to stitch his body into this Sekai.
"...Senpai, what are you doing?"
Aichin's voice trembled faintly. A shade of anxiety spread through her large eyes.
"It's called a Sekai Lock. A forbidden technique I found in that overly serious old man's—Yukito's—database."
Arata's lips twisted into a slight smile. It was a complex expression, both self-deprecating and somehow proud.
"I'm putting up my entire Sekai Dive ability as collateral. If I do that, your Sekai will become a crystal so strong no one can break it. No one... except me."
Aichin's heart leaped in her chest.
It took a few seconds for the meaning to sink into her mind.
Putting up his ability. As collateral.
"That means..."
"I won't be able to enter Sekai anymore. I'll just go back to being a regular high schooler whose hobby is sleeping. Well, I've always been lazy, so it's probably for the best."
—No.
It wasn't something he could brush off so lightly.
Aichin knew just how deeply attached Arata was to Sekai. The observation records plastered on his walls. The nights he spent writing code until dawn. The way his voice only ever came alive when he talked about Sekai.
He was going to throw all of that away?
"Stop... please stop, Senpai!"
Aichin tried to shake off Arata's hand. But his grip wouldn't budge.
"Because of me! Don't lose something so precious to you for someone like me!"
"It has to be you."
His low voice cut through the silence of the deep sea.
Arata stared straight at Aichin. It wasn't his usual sleepy gaze. His eyes burned with a fierce, passionate light.
"I finally found it. Something I truly want to protect."
Arata pressed down hard on the red light at the center of the tablet.
—Code: Sekai Lock, Execute.
A cold electronic chime echoed throughout the Sekai.
The next moment, Arata's body began to glow from within. Countless cords of light overflowed from his entire being, dissolving into the dark water around them.
"Ahh... it's warm."
The light gradually made Arata's body transparent. His silver hair began to vanish, turning into particles of light.
"Senpai! No, don't go!"
Aichin clung to Arata's body. She buried her face in his chest. She could hear his heartbeat, distant. But that sound, too, was growing fainter.
At that moment.
—I can't go on without you.
She heard a voice.
Arata's lips weren't moving. But his voice shook the entire Sekai, flowing directly into Aichin's mind.
—I was the one who was lonely and alone.
This wasn't words. Arata's emotions themselves, riding on the code, came crashing into Aichin's heart.
—I need you.
The true feelings he had always locked away deep inside. The cry of a small boy, hidden beneath the armor of not interfering with anyone.
Large tears spilled from Aichin's eyes.
(Senpai was... the same as me.)
The one who felt left behind more strongly than anyone. The one who thought he wasn't needed. That was Arata himself.
"Me too...!"
Aichin held Arata's fading body even tighter.
"I need you too, Senpai! A world without you is meaningless! I... I want to be by your side!"
Her cry shook the deep sea.
And then.
*Crack.* Something shattered.
A single ray of light shone down from the bottom of the dark ocean. It was different from the light of Arata's code—a soft, rainbow-colored radiance.
Arata's love, his "I need you," had cracked the crystal of Aichin's "unwanted child" feelings.
"...You finally smiled."
Arata murmured in a voice that seemed about to fade away. His face held a gentle smile, so fragile it looked like it might break at any moment.
"It's okay for you to be here. Hibiya."
With those final words, Arata's body completely transformed into light.
"Sen... pai..."
Aichin raised her face, crumpled with tears.
No one was there anymore. In her arms, only a faint warmth remained, refusing to disappear.
— — —
The next moment, the world inverted.
The deep, dark sea transformed into a transparent crystalline garden. In the pitch-black sky, countless stars began to twinkle. Each and every one was a crystallization of Arata's desire to "protect."
The unstable Sekai Gate stabilized completely, becoming an eternal garden that emitted a rainbow light. A beautiful prison for just the two of them, unbreakable by anyone.
And then, Aichin felt warmth at her chest.
Looking down, a small, key-shaped crystal of light rested over her heart.
The remnants of Arata's ability had become a Sekai Key, passed on to her.
"...This is... Senpai's..."
Aichin wrapped both hands around the key. It was warm. It felt as if Arata's body heat still lingered there.
Before she knew it, the two of them were sitting beneath the clock tower in Kamihara Central Park, back in the real world.
— — —
The sky was already dyed with the colors of dawn. A beautiful sky, where orange and purple blended together.
"...Man, I'm seriously exhausted."
Looking beside her, Arata was sprawled lazily on the bench. His usual, unmotivated face. His silver hair was a mess, and the headphones around his neck had slipped askew.
Just a normal high schooler. She couldn't feel even a trace of Sekai from him anymore.
"Senpai... Senpaiii...!"
Her face a jumbled mess of tears and smiles, Aichin squeezed Arata's hand tightly.
"Hey, hey, that hurts. And you're crying too much. Your face is a disaster."
"But... but..."
"...Anyway, I'm fine. Come on, stand up."
Arata slowly sat up. Aichin absolutely refused to let go of his hand.
That was when it happened.
*Clap. Clap. Clap.*
From the shade of the trees in the park came the sound of slow applause.
Turning around, Soga Yukito stood leaning against a wall. Neatly kept black hair. Behind his silver-rimmed glasses, his narrow eyes glinted in the morning light. In his hand, he held a dedicated Vigilnet terminal.
"You exceeded my expectations."
Yukito's voice was as cold and flat as ever. But at the corner of his mouth, a faint hint of surprise flickered.
Aichin immediately stepped in front of Arata. She spread her arms wide, trying to protect him.
"Don't you dare lay a hand on Senpai anymore!"
"...That is no longer necessary."
Yukito operated his terminal. With an electronic *beep*, Arata's smartphone vibrated.
"I have sent the unlock code for the system lock. Your abilities are now completely restored. However—as a consequence, your body will likely no longer be able to withstand Sekai Dives as it once did. This is the result of your choice."
"Yeah, I know."
Arata scratched his head lazily.
"Vigilnet will continue to monitor Hibiya Aichin's Sekai Key. However... we will not interfere."
Yukito paused for a moment, then added, as if it were difficult for him to say.
"...Her Sekai is beautiful."
The words were so emotional, it was hard to believe they had come from his mouth.
Without saying anything more, Yukito turned his back and began to walk away. The same cold, unapproachable aura radiated from his retreating figure.
"Hey, Yukito."
Arata called out. Yukito stopped walking, but didn't turn around.
"Someday, you should be honest and protect the things you want to protect, too."
Yukito said nothing. But for just a moment, his shoulders seemed to tremble slightly. Perhaps he smiled, just a little. But without showing that expression to anyone, he disappeared into the morning mist.
Only the chirping of small birds remained in the park.
— — —
A few hours later.
The two of them had returned to Arata's apartment. With the curtains thrown wide open, morning sunlight streamed into the room for the first time in a long while. On the walls, the now-nostalgic observation records of minor Sekai remained as they were.
Arata flopped down onto his bed with a *thump*.
"Now that I've lost my ability, I guess I need to find a hobby other than sleeping..."
He muttered, staring up at the ceiling.
Then, Aichin sat down on the edge of the bed and showed him a mischievous smile. Her eyes were still red from crying, but that smile was the brightest it had ever been.
"I'll become your new hobby, Senpai!"
Aichin declared this, raising both hands straight up.
"...Huh?"
Arata's voice was dumbfounded.
"After all, Senpai told me he 'needs' me! So take responsibility!"
"H-Hey...! That and this are completely different..."
"They're the same!"
After a moment of silence, the two looked at each other and burst out laughing at the same time.
Aichin laughed so hard tears came out. Arata was clutching his stomach, laughing too. How many years had it been since either of them had laughed from the bottom of their hearts like this?
After they had laughed for a while, Aichin took out her smartphone.
On the screen was the Wonderlands×Showtime group LINE.
Her fingers still trembled a little. But she didn't hesitate anymore.
*'Is it okay if I come watch the Stella Fest tomorrow? Also, I want to come back to the circle after all.'*
Sent.
In less than a second, everyone had read it.
—*Ping!*
It was a reply from Misaki.
*'Of course! We've been waiting for you!'*
A flood of crying-face stamps filled the screen. From the leader, and from the other members, messages of "Welcome back!" began arriving all at once.
"...Uu."
Clutching her smartphone, Aichin let her tears fall freely. This time, they weren't sad tears.
"Tomorrow, I want to see everyone and apologize. I won't think anymore that they're better off without me. Because Senpai... told me he needs me."
Wiping her tears, she looked at Arata with a tearful smile.
Arata turned his face away, looking embarrassed, and scratched his head.
"...But I can only do behind-the-scenes work now. I can't see Sekai anymore."
Aichin gripped the Sekai Key at her chest tightly. The small, key-shaped crystal glowed warmly with her body heat.
"It's okay. As long as I have this key you gave me, I'm not alone anymore."
"...Jeez, you're so dramatic."
Arata reached out from the bed and ruffled Aichin's hair messily.
Hand in hand for the first time, the two of them left the room.
Their destination: tomorrow's Stella Fest. Her other place to belong.
The ability he lost, and the bond they gained.
Arata, who became a normal high schooler, and Aichin, who gained an extraordinary radiance. Their new everyday life was now quietly beginning to move forward.
—The small key at her chest made a soft *clink* with each step they took, a gentle sound.
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