In Fukuoka, Mio and Meru went to Hakata48 to see if maybe the Chosen one or the Savior was within their group.

“Do you really think they may be here?”

“Miichan said we have to search everywhere, in even the smallest, tightest corners. We have to check.”

They walked into the rehearsal room and saw Sasshi practicing a dance by herself.

“Sasshi!”

The young woman looked back and saw her kouhai, smiling.

“There you girls are,” she said as she stretched. “I heard everything from Miichan. So… how’s the search going? Are we close to any leads?”

“No...”

“Mako-chan and the others are searching in Tokyo, so they told us to come here and see if maybe either of them were in the agency.”

“I see. How are things going with the search?”

“So far, they haven’t found an exact lead yet.”

“What about Yuria?”

“She’s been so busy with her work as an idol, we rarely see her. Her memory’s still slowly progressing, but she hasn’t gotten a major breakthrough yet.”

“And Sakae and Namba?”

Mero and Mio looked at each other.

“Well~”

…..

Apparently, the two were at another war with each other. After the smack talk that was going on yesterday, a certain Yamada Nana said things to Churi that made her cry.

“Airin~~~” she cried as she rushed to her dear lover’s side. “Protect me~…”

“Gotcha.”

Both teams came out in T-shirts and shorts, as if dressed for a sport’s festival.

“We shall show you are Osaka pride!”

“OOOOOOH!!!”

“We aren’t losing to you! We carry the soul of Sakae!”

“OOOOOOOOOH!!!!”

…..

“A what?!”

“A dodgeball tournament…”

“On top of that, it’s *Muchaburi dodgeball.”

“I heard Tani-san had to eat a bug.”

“Ew~”

“Ugh, I feel sorry for her,” Sasshi said. “Tani hates bugs.”

“Poor her…”

Sasshi sighed. “Let’s go somewhere else to talk.”

The two nodded and followed Sasshi into another rehearsal room. Most of the girls were gathered here.

They looked and saw a group of five young girls, all rehearsing something in front of the mirror. It was a dance routine.

“Are they..?”

“New trainee witches. They’re a unit under our agency known as *‘Blueberry Pie’.”

“Blueberry Pie?”

One of the girls, Misaki, saw the pair and smiled.

“Ah, Mio-sempai, Meru-sempai,” she and the others walked over to her. “Ohayou gozaimasu.”

“Ohayou, Mirun.”

“You girls look like you’ve been practicing,” Sasshi said. “Mio, Meru, why don’t you say a few things?”

“Eh? Why?”

“You’re their sempai.”

“Eh?” The two looked at each other, then Mio awkwardly said, “Um… g-ganbatte.”

“You’re really good, so keep it up!”

“Arigatou!”

The two turned to Sasshi as the group continued rehearsals.

“Was that okay?”

“It’s fine. It’s only natural for you guys to act like that; this is the first time you’re somebody’s sempai. I felt the same when it happened to me.”

“Still, it’s strange…”

“Hmm…” Sasshi looked around and noticed a group of girls together, looking at a book. She grinned. “I know.”

The three went up and approached Sakura, Haruppi, Nako, and Rabutan.

“Hey, girls.”

“Sashiko-chan!” Nako hugged the girl, a huge smile on her face. “Hi~”

“Hi, Nako-chan,” Sasshi patted her head, making her ears turn red as she blushed.

“Mio-chan, Meru-chan, hishashiburi.”

“Hisashiburi, Haruppi.”

“Hey, what’s that book?” Meru asked.

The book she was talking about was a large, hardback red book with had a clasp holding it closed. There was also gold on it, making it look very fancy. There was a strange writing on the cover.

“I don’t know. We just found it and we couldn’t open it.”

“I bet Sashiko-chan can open it since she has powerful magic!” Nako suggested.

“Let’s see...”

Sasshi took the book and started using every magic spell she knew to open it.

“Hocus Pocus! Abracadabra! Open Sesame! Uh… pretty please with a cherry on top?”

She then sighed, putting it down.

“No good.”

“Hmm, that drawing on the front looksh familiar,” Haruppi then said.

“Really?”

“Shakura-tan, lemme take a look.”

“Alright,” Sakura extended her arm to hand her friend the book.

When Haruppi touched it, the clasp came undone. A bright light surrounded them as the book suddenly flew open.

“KYAAA!!!”

…..

Sakura opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by darkness. She slowly got up, looking down and seeing her clothes.

“What is this..?”

Her clothes had changed and now she was wearing a blue dress with a black ribbon in her hair.

“I look like...”

Before she could say the name, she then heard a scream. She saw Nako, running past her and heading somewhere. She had a pink and white outfit, and also had bunny ears on her head.

“I’m late, I’m late!”

“Nako-chan?” She got up, running after the girl. Even if she called, Nako ignored her.

“Oh, I’m late! I have to hurry! Hurry, hurry!”

“Nako-chan, where are you going?!”

Then, Sakura saw a light not too far away. She and Nako ran into the light, and when Sakura then realized, she was in a strange room. She looked around and saw several doors, and a small round table at the center of the room.

“Wha..? Nako-chan?!” She looked for the girl, but could not find her.

“Shakura-tan!” she heard a familiar voice and saw her best friend running to her. She saw that Haruppi was also wearing a similar dress as her, but somehow different.

“Haruppi. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. But thish ish weird!”

“I saw Nako come in here, but she…” Sakura scratched her head. “Mou~ what’s going on?”

“Wait… do you have that book?”

Sakura shook her head.

“Hmm… that’sh it then.”

“Eh?”

“We’re inshide the book, right now!”

“Huh?!”

“That’sh the only eckshplanation. When we opened it, we got thucked into thish room.”

“I see…” Sakura looked at her friend’s serious eyes. “Now, how do we get out? There are so many doors here…”

The two then saw the table and noticed a small key.

“Let’sh find the door thish key fits into,” Haruppi said.

“Okay.”

They tried the key on each door, but none of them would open no matter what.

“This isn’t working at all.”

The two then noticed there was one last door; a very, very, VERY tiny door. It seemed to be only a foot tall.

They tried the key and it fit perfectly and opened it, however, they were so big, they couldn’t get out. They couldn’t even fit their whole hand in.

“Now what?”

Sakura looked back at the table and now noticed there was a glass bottle that wasn’t on there before. She walked over and picked it up, reading a small label that was on it.

“Drink me,” it read.

“Drink?”

“Shakura-tan, lemme see,” Haruppi looked at the bottle. “Should we try ith?”

“We won’t know if it’ll help until we do, I guess.”

“I’ll do it, then. Itadakimash~” She then opened the bottle and drank some of the liquid in it. She smacked her lips as she examined the taste in . “Fruity~”

“Fruit?”

“Un! Apple, banana, strawberry… and melon!”

As Haruppi started singing the song *“Melon Juice”, Sakura watched as the girl slowly started to get smaller. As she finished the chorus, Haruppi was now only a little over 12 inches tall.

“Eh? Haruppi..!”

The tiny girl looked up and saw her friend towering over her like a giant.

“Shakura-tan!”

Sakura knelt down and let her shrunken friend walk onto her palm.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah! I jusht got really tiny!”

“So, that potion made you shrink… ah! This means you’re small enough to fit through the door!”

“Uwaa you’re right! Hand me the key!”

Sakura handed her shrunken friend the key, who had to hold it up with all her strength because of the weight. Sakura helped her turn it and open the door.

“Wait, Shakura-tan, you can’t get in. You’re shtill too big.”

“Hmm…” It was then Sakura saw a cake on the table and picked it up. On the top, in red icing, it read, “Eat me.”

She thought that maybe since the potion helped Haruppi, the cake would help as well, so she took a bite out of the cake and chewed it, enjoying the taste, before swallowing.

Then, unexpectedly, instead of shrinking like Haruppi, Sakura grew and grew in size until she was almost bigger than the room.

“Uso!”

Her hand crashed through the window, and she felt the roof being pushed off from her shoulders.

Eventually, she was too big and now, her upper torso was outside the house. She was surprised to see the house was the size of a doll house, while everything else, including her, was normal size.

“Shakura-tan, are you alright?!” Haruppi called out.

Sakura picked her friend up and carried her in her hand.

“I’m fine, but now we have to find a way out. I think Nako went in this direction, so let’s try this way.”

Sakura placed her tiny friend in a pocket on her chest, along with the remaining piece of magic cake which made her grow, and started walking in the direction she saw Nako going.

They then came upon another house that was normal size. In the backyard, they saw Sasshi, Meru, and Mio all gathered at a large table, covered in teapots, cups, and sweets. It seemed like a party.

And not only that, Sasshi was dressed in a strange suit with a large hat on her head and a colorful bowtie, Meru had black bunny ears and was eating tons of the sweets, and Mio had mouse ears and was nodding off.

“What’s going on?” Sakura asked.

“I thought sho! Thish ish Alish in Wonderland!” Haruppi said.

“Eh? Alice… So that’s why.. this dress…”

“Shakura-tan, does thish mean we’re BOTH Alish?”

“I dunno, but—“

“Hey, girl!” Sasshi then called. “Why you just standin’ there? Come join the party!”

She then pulled Sakura and pulled her up a seat.

“Sasshi, thank goodness I found you. We need to find a way—“

“Hm? How do you know my name?” the woman said, her eyes sparkling as she gasped. “Are you psychic?!”

“N-no. You don’t recognize me?”

“Nope~.”

“Uso…”

“Isn’t it obvious, Sasshi?” Meru then said. “That girl is the *Alice of this world.”

“Alice?”

“Shee~” Haruppi grinned.

“Wait, what do you mean by that?” Sakura asked. “I’m not Alice, I’m—“

“Of course you are! You made this world!”

“I did?”

“Yeah, isn’t that right, Mio-chan?” Meru nudged her friend, trying to wake her up. “Mio-chan!”

“Eh..?” Mio sleepily looked up at Sakura, grinning. “Oh, hi, Alice~…”

“See?!”

“Alright, then, Alice, in commemoration of you creating this Wonderland, let’s celebrate!”

Before Sakura knew it, Sasshi pulled out the top of a dish cover and from it, a giant cake emerged, towering the girls.

“I-I can’t possibly eat all that!”

“But I can~” Meru said, her lips.

“Meru! You have to save some cake for everyone! Especially Alice! She’s our guest of honor~”

Sakura looked up as Sasshi cut out some of the cake. She placed a candle on it, lit it, and in icing wrote, “Welcome, Alice” on it.

She smiled. She had never been treated like this, even though something was clearly amiss. Something about this world in the book altered everyone’s memory, expect Haruppi’s and her own.

“Did I really make this world..?” she wondered.

She blew out the candle and started eating, but then a booming noise interrupted the party.

“WHAT’S GOING ON?!?!?!”

“That voice…” Sakura recognized the voice.

“Is that… Rabutan?” Haruppi also recognized.

“The Queen of Hearts!” The three hid behind Sakura’s chair as Rabutan approached. She was wearing a Queen’s outfit, with a tiara and a wand with a red heart of it. There was also a heart painted on her cheek.

“What is the meaning of this?” she asked, annoyed.

Sasshi slowly stood up. “M-my Queen, we were just having a party—“

“A party? Without ME?!”

“Ah!” She squealed and shrunk back.

“How DARE you not invite me! Do you not respect me as your Queen?!”

“N-n-no, I very much DO respect you!”

“Hmm…” Rabutan then stared at Sakura. “And who is that? I’ve never seen her before.”

“She’s Alice, the creator of this world!” Meru said.

“We were having a party because she came,” Mio added.

“Yes, it’s true, so please forgive us!” Sasshi bowed, along with the other two. She then pushed Sakura down and made her bow.

Rabutan then glared. After a few seconds, she had an idea.

With a grin, she said, “Very well.”

“Eh?” They all looked up simultaneously.

“If you want me to forgive you, you must each give a performance that will entertain me.”

“Oh, that will be easy,” Sasshi smiled.

“If not…” Rabutan gave a dark look, before lifting her hand and making a cutting motion with her thumb. “Off with your heads!”

All of them gave a look of shock.

“EEEEH?!?!?!”

…..

There they stood, in front of the Queen of Hearts, Rabutan, in a life-or-death situation; entertain her, or it’s off with their heads.

Sakura gulped in nervousness. She was shivering from the fear and her heart was pounding.

“Okay, who’s first?”

Sasshi stepped forward first and began her performance by bowing. She then pulled out a cup and teapot from her hat, pouring out some tea and giving it to Rabutan.

She then winked and from her sleeve, pulled out a red handkerchief.

“Watch closely,” she said before waving it a few times and during it into a magic wand.

Rabutan became intrigued. Her eyes widened and she became more infatuated with the show. Even Nako, who was by her side and still wearing the white bunny ears and Wonderland-ish attire, was fixated on Sasshi’s performance.

She was on the edge of her seat, when Sasshi pointed the wand at her and a rose popped out, surprising her a bit.

Sasshi grinned and gave the rose to her, very princely like. “My Queen.”

Rabutan smiled as she took the rose and applauded.

“Very well done, Hatter.”

“As always.” Sasshi said, then when she turned around, was grinning like an idiot.

Meru was up next, and she had performed several impressions in front of the queen.

“Inoue Yosui des~. Konnichiwa~. Genki~? Nee, genki~? Genki~? Genki~? Nee, genki, genki~?”

Rabutan gave a bored expression.

“Are?”

“Next…”

Mio stepped up next. She started singing a song…

“Every sha la la la~ Every woah woah~ something~ something~”

Rabutan covered her ears because she was tone deaf.

“Awful~”

However, Mio didn’t stop singing. She kept going until she nodded off again and fell asleep.

“Ugh, next! And make this last one good!”

Sakura then stepped forward and twirled her fingers as she thought.

“Um… er…”

“Come on, hurry and do something! I’m getting bored!”

“Eto…”

“Shakura-tan, ganbare!” Haruppi cheeed on from inside the pocket.

Nako happened to notice this and whispered into the queen’s ear. She squinted her eyes and saw it as well.

“Oi, what’s in your pocket?”

Haruppi quickly hid herself and Sakura covered her pocket.

“Oh, it’s nothing, it’s just some cake and—“ Then she stopped, realizing she still had the cake. She got an idea and looked down at Haruppi. “Haruppi, the cake. Eat the cake, it’ll make you grow.”

“Okay!”

Haruppi took part of the cake and started eating it. Sakura pulled her out of her pocket and placed her on the ground. Seconds later, Haruppi started growing again, until she was back to her normal size.

“Yatta! I’m back to my old shize!” Haruppi giggled, then held her stomach. “And sho ish my tummy. I’m hungry now. Haha.”

“Wha-? Two Alices?!” Rabutan’s eyes widened in shock.

“Sugoi! What kind of magic is that?!” Sasshi applauded the two girls.

“Fine then! Both of you, give me the best performance! If it’s unsatisfying, you WILL be punished!”

Sakura looked at her friend. “What should we do?”

Haruppi pondered the idea for a bit, and then she came up with the perfect idea.

“Let’sh do *‘12-byou’!”

“Good idea!”

“What’s taking so long? I’m starting to get tired of this!” Rabutan said.

“Hai~ time for a song!”

“Eh?”

“HKT48’s ’12-byou’!”

Sasshi’s eyes sparkled. “HKT?! An idol song! I’m sitting front row for this!” she said as she sat in front of the two, beside Rabutan’s throne, and pulled out a bowl of popcorn from her hat.

Sakura took out her iPod and played the song, and the two started the performance.

Sekai-juu de ichiban kirei na
Houseki wo ageru
Dakara chotto me wo tojite nante
Itazurappoku iwareta

TETORAPODDO ni yosete kaesu name oto
Kimi ga chikazuita kehai ga suru
(Natsu no koi ga)
Ima hajimaru

Kuchibiru ni fureta no wa
Yawaraka na DAIYAMONDO
Ima made kimi ga mamotte ita mono

Dou sureba ii no darou?
Boku wa tada ude no naka ni
Kimi wo uketomeru dake da
Ugokenai yo
12-byou

Rabutan’s eyes lit up. She actually did like the song. And by the looks of it, so did everyone else. She grinned.

“Those girls…”

“Shakura-tan, I think she likesh it!”

“Let’s keep going!”

Kuchibiru ni fureta no wa
Yawaraka na DAIYAMONDO
Ima made kimi ga mamotte ita mono

Bokutachi ga te ni ireta
Kono koi wa kagayaiteiru
Marude kioku no houseki
Mabushi sugiru
12-byou

As the song ended, everyone applauded at their performance. Then, everything fell silent as they turned to Rabutan again. The Queen gave a grin.

“I liked it.”

The two smiled.

“But, I’m not done.”

“Eh?”

“There’s one more thing I want you to do, then I’ll forgive you.”

“Alright.”

“We’ll do anything.”

Rabutan pointed at Haruppi with her wand. “You, Alice with the lisp.”

“H-hai.”

She then pointed at Sakura.

“Kiss her.”

“EH?!” They both exclaimed.

“You heard me. I want you two to kiss. Do it; it’s an order from the Queen.”

The two looked at each other, both of them having a nervous expression.

“Shakura-tan…”

Sakura turned to her friend. “I-if we must…”

Haruppi nodded, holding both of Sakura’s shoulders.

“Um, Shakura-tan… ish thish.. your f-firsht?”

“Yeah. You too?”

“Un.”

“Then… let’s make it.. short?”

“12 sheconds… that should be enough, right?”

“Yea…”

“Then.. here I go.”

Sakura closed her eyes. Haruppi gulped, leaning closer. She took a deep breath, mustering her courage before she closed her eyes and gently kissed Sakura’s lips.

After that, time seemed to stop. Even when Haruppi was counting the seconds in her head, she lost count and simply enjoyed the kiss. Her arms simply dropped and her hands held Sakura’s, their fingers intertwining.

They slowly parted, the sweet taste lingering on their lips. Haruppi opened her eyes and met Sakura’s gaze. Her eyes were sparkling, and she could feel her heart pounding against her chest. Even Haruppi was flustered and her body still shaking a bit. She clutched her chest.

“S-su… sugoi,” she uttered in a small voice.

That moment, there was a bright flash. The two screamed and held each other as a white light wrapped around them.

…..

“Uwa!” The two girls fell to the ground, finding themselves back in the rehearsal room.

They looked up and saw the other girls, acting as if nothing happened.

“We’re back.”

“Un.”

The two looked at each other, giggling a bit as they saw each other blush. Even though what happened was embarrassing, they were happy to be back.

“Ugh, what happened?” They saw their friends back to normal.

“I had a really weird dream where I was eating a giant cake.”

“The book. Sakura-tan, Haruppi, where’s the book?”

“Here,” Sakura handed them the book. The lock was snapped back in place once again.

“That was really weird.”

“You guys don’t remember?”

“It was amazing!” Haruppi’s eyes sparkled as she spoke. “Sakura-tan and I were in this doll house, and then Sakura ate a magic cake and got REALLY big, and then—“

“Haruppi!”

“What?” The girl looked and saw everyone’s surprised expressions. “What’s the matter? Did I say something?”

“Haruppi… your lisp.”

“My lisp?”

“It’s gone!”

“Eh?! Wait…” Haruppi listened to her own voice. “Katsuzetsu… katsuzetsu… sa.. sa.. Sakura-tan!”

“It’s really gone!”

“B-but how?!”

“Wait…” Sakura and Haruppi looked at each other. “Could it be… when we..?”

The others looked confused as Haruppi and Sakura both blushed, covering their mouths.

“What’s the matter, you two?”

“Did something happen?”

“Ah! Oh, no, nothing’s wrong!” Sakura then said.

Haruppi simply giggled. Then, she came up from behind and hugged Sakura.

“Yup, everything’s okay. Don’t worry.”

“Well, okay, if you say so.”

“Hey, where did you guys find this book?” Mio then asked.

“Upstairs. There are shelves piled with books,” Rabutan said.

“There was a bunch of stuff that had to do with Eterna!” Nako said.

“Sasshi, let’s look there!”

“Eh? Why?”

“We could find something about the Savior and the Saint!”

“Ah, you’re right! Thanks for this girls, we’ll be going!”

The three then left. Sakura stood there a moment, reflecting what had happened.

“So… was that all a dream, Haruppi?”

“Hm?”

“About Wonderland… Were we sharing a dream? Were we… Alice?”

“Hmm, well… I don’t think it could’ve been an ordinary dream. Because, my lisp is gone, and when we… er, you know. It felt… real.”

Sakura nodded. “You’re right…”

Haruppi then held her shoulders, not facing Sakura as she leaned against her back and placed her head on her shoulder.

“Did you… like it?”

“Eh?”

“The… erm, the kiss. Did you like it?”

Sakura’s heart skipped a beat.

“Um… did you?”

Haruppi’s lips curved into a smile. “Un.”

“Then… well, yes, I did like it,” Sakura then said, making her friend’s heart skip a beat as well. “I’m honestly relieved.”

“Relieved?”

“Un. I’m glad my first kiss was with my best friend.”

“…You’re right. Me too, I’m glad you were my first kiss, Sakura-tan. You really are…” Haruppi clutched onto her shirt slightly, closing her eyes. “My best friend.”

================================

Footnotes

*1. Muchaburi dodgeball/Punishment dodgeball – A dodgeball tournament segment from the variety show, AKBINGO, where the members split into two teams, and whoever is hit out must endure a gross or embarrassing punishment.

*2. Blueberry Pie – A unit consisted of five HKT48 members/kenkyuusei.

*3. Melon Juice – HKT48’s 2^nd major single.

*4. Alice – Alice is the creator of Wonderland; whoever dreams up their own Wonderland inside their minds will become the “Alice” of that Wonderland. This term comes from how the original Alice fell asleep and dreamed of going to her own (the original) Wonderland.

*5. 12-byou – HKT48’s 5^th major single. It means “12 seconds” in English.