“However, you have all been brought to a safe location. You and your loved ones as well.”
Those words had been sitting in the back of Hibiki Tachibana’s mind for the past week. The world--their world, every world--had torn apart by... something. The fact that she couldn’t recall what bothered her, but what bothered her more was the fact that she hadn’t seen any of her friends yet.
No Miku. No Chris, no Tsubasa. No Kirika, Shirabe, Maria, no one. Thus far, from her perspective, she had been the only one to wake up as of then.
“It will take some time for them to all awaken.”
If that was the case, when would they wake up? Couldn’t they tell her? Couldn’t they give her even a slight hint? Being away from everyone only felt worse when she knew they could end up meeting again at any moment. It put her on edge, and made her mind constantly play tricks--as though at any second one of them would appear right behind her. It really wasn’t funny.
One week had passed before she saw the first of them to arrive.
The words came out in a hushed whisper, almost as if she couldn’t believe it at first. The older girl hadn’t noticed her yet, and she wondered if she was imagining things. But Hibiki watched as the blue-haired idol interacted with a nearby shopkeeper, her body language speaking that same tone of cooled steel. Calm, focused, concise. Always speaking with a purpose, making no wasteful actions. There... was no mistaking it, was there?
She broke out into a run, waving both arms to catch her friend’s attention. She might be tearing up a little. Just a little.
