Ichimiku

"(I'm always singing and playing her songs too... I've been listening to her songs since I was little, but I think it goes beyond simply liking it... Miku's songs have a special place in my heart. I want to keep making new memories. I want her songs to be there every step of the way.)"

- Ichika in Singing Among the Cherry Blossoms Episode 5 "What We Took Back"

Ichimiku is the femslash ship between Ichika Hoshino and Hatsune Miku from the Project SEKAI fandom.

Canon
Ever since she was young, Ichika has been a big fan of Hatsune Miku, and she would often play Miku's songs with the guitar her father gave her. Her main hobby is listening to Miku's songs, and she mentions in her introduction video that most of the time she listens to them when she's feeling down, free, or needs them for reference. In the School SEKAI, which was formed from the feelings of everyone in Leo/need, she often goes to ask Miku for advice and always takes it to heart.

In the first side story for Ichika's initial 4* "Words Before Dawn", Ichika is feeling doubtful after Saki expresses she's happy that Leo/need can hang out and talk like they used to. She can't sleep and decides to go into the School SEKAI in hopes of getting advice from Miku. Miku welcomes her in there, saying she's always happy to see Ichika. Ichika tells Miku she can't exactly explain what's feeling wrong to her. Miku suggests they have a quick jam session, and they decide to perform a ballad Ichika likes. Miku hands out Ichika's guitar to her, telling her she'll teach her the chords. After the session, Ichika expresses she feels better and realizes she was feeling anxious and worried over imagining their group will falling apart again. Miku tells her it's only natural to worry about losing the important people in your life, and Ichika thanks her before going back to the real world.

Singing Among the Cherry Blossoms
In Chapter 2, Ichika approaches Miku and stays behind at School SEKAI after Leo/need's practice as she's feeling doubtful about her singing abilities. She confides to Miku and mentions she feels like she's still missing something, despite getting better at it, thanks to Nene teaching her. Miku suggests she should try singing in front of an audience, how it'll help her become more confident, and Ichika nods and mentions that Leo/need have been practicing their hearts out yet still haven't performed in front of an audience. Ichika ponders where she should perform before Miku suggests street lives. Ichika decides to start playing and singing on Main Street and thanks Miku for her advice again. Miku smiles and tells her she's rooting for Ichika. In Chapter 4, Ichika finally receives her first applause and she feels extremely happy about it. After Leo/need's practice in School SEKAI, Miku tells Ichika all of her hard work is paying off, and when the others ask what Miku means by that, the two laugh and decide to not share their "secret" with them.

In Chapter 5, after Ichika is done performing on Main Street again, she comes across a cherry-blossom filled park and starts thinking back on her childhood memories. She then ends up thinking about how much Miku has managed to help her after they came across her and Luka in the School SEKAI and starts singing, before deciding that she wants Miku to hear her song as well. In the next Chapter, Ichika enters the School SEKAI to talk with Miku while the latter was expressing her doubts to MEIKO and Luka whether she can be a proper senpai to Ichika and the others. MEIKO and Luka leave them alone and Ichika proceeds to thank Miku for her advice on becoming more confident and how she couldn't have done it without Miku. In order to show how much she's improved, Ichika invites her to come over to her world instead and proceeds to show Miku the cherry blossoms to her.

Quotes
"After we decided to form a band and play Miku songs, I came here to listen to her music and... Her music... It brought us all back together... [...] That was when I met Miku in SEKAI... If Miku didn't ask me to play that one time, we would've stayed estranged from one another. And Miku was the one that made me realize what my true feelings were... She asked me about them and helped figure out what they were... I was able to tell Honami after that and we finally started to come back together. We couldn't have done it without you... Thank you so much..."

- Ichika in Singing Among the Cherry Blossoms Chapter 5 - What We Took Back

Fanon
Ichimiku is one of the more popular VIRTUAL SINGER x OC ships in the fandom. People enjoy how Ichika admires Miku as well as how Miku wants to be seen as a reliable senpai in Ichika and the others' eyes. In the Eastern fandom, aside from Ichika's ship with Saki and Miku's other ships with the other VIRTUAL SINGERS, it is mostly rivaled by KaiIchi. Although some find it weird to ship due to Miku's status. In the fandom, people like calling Ichika a "Miku simp", especially due to the "Singing Among the Cherry Blossoms" where she "took Miku on a date with her" and joking that she will some day marry Miku, just like a Japanese man did back in 2018. Some have gone as far as even joking that Ichika would make Saki dress up as Miku.

Fandom

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Trivia

 * Ichika and Miku currently have covered 8 songs together (Roki, Hibana -Reloaded-, Teo, Aoku Kakero, Dramaturgy, Rokuchounen to Ichiya Monogatari, ray and Ghost Rule).
 * Their Kizuna Rank titles are: "Twin Guitars", "Echoes in the Starry Sky" and "Sing Your Feelings".
 * Miku and Ichika appear in the game's icon and title screen together.
 * At the end of "Live with memories" event, Ichika goes and buys the NT Miku voice bank. At the beginning of the "No Seek, No Find" event, it is shown that she is using it to compose music.
 * In the Sanrio collaboration, Miku represents Hello Kitty while Ichika represents Dear Daniel. In the canon Sanrio lore, Dear Daniel is Hello Kitty's childhood friend and boyfriend.