anchors away (akb48, yokoyama/kawaei)
anchors away
group: akb48
pairing: yokoyama/kawaei
length: ~6500w
“Heal, please!” Yuihan232 screams and she does her best, quickly waddling closer while still paying attention to being out of the boss’ target area and she heals, but it’s not enough and no matter how many times she pursues her skill, all the extra HP she successfully delivered over is sucked out of the warrior within a mere second. There’s a last strike and then Yuihan232 is on the floor, dead, and RinaEi_19 is forced to run if she doesn’t want to get slashed also.
But for some reason, she can’t just leave Yuihan232 there so while the other two members of their party deals with the boss, desperately trying to survive, she knows that it’s her duty to resurrect the warrior, even though it will drown all her mana and then she would be basically pointless, with no potions whatsoever on hand.
Yet she does it and Yuihan232 comes back to life and RinaEi_19 uses the last portions of her mana to bring the other’s health back to full and Yuihan232 thanks her.
“No problem at all,” RinaEi_19 smiles happily before the boss does an AoE attack and everybody around her - including herself - falls to the ground, dead.
*
“I am so ashamed,” RinaEi_19 sighs loudly, sitting next to Yuihan232 after the dungeon run has ended. They managed to strike the final boss but it cost everybody (except her, who only died once) at least 20% of their current experience points and that’s not really a good thing at such a high level. They would have to play for at least one week straight to get that amount back and RinaEi_19 feels horrible about it because, well, it’s her fault. She could argue that she was the only cleric in the squad but to be truthful, it should’ve been enough if she had been good enough.
“Don’t be,” Yuihan232 tries to comfort her, handing over a good amount of mana potions. “You should really get more of these. They are very helpful. Though what I advice is that you level up your Apothecary skill to level 3 and then you’ll be able to make potions that give back 5000 MP each with only gathering a few herbs.”
RinaEi_19 nods, flashing a grateful smile. “I know I should. I’m just so lazy to gather so many things to level up that skill… even though it’s like, the most helpful skill out of all for a cleric.” She sighs, shaking her head. “I’m such a bad cleric.”
“Don’t say that,” Yuihan232 groans and pokes the other in the side. “You just need some practice. I’m a warrior so I can’t really help you but we could pair up and run a few lower level dungeons with different strategies so you could figure out what’s the best. Or maybe you should read the official forum for some advices, there are so many pro gamers on there who I’m sure would be happy to help you out.”
“I know, but I’m too embarrassed to ask,” RinaEi_19 pouts, “like, then they would all know how bad I am.”
“I think one of the greatest human qualities is to admit that we’re imperfect,” Yuihan232 says, running her fingers along the head of her spike slowly, in a somewhat gentle way as RinaEi_19 notices and she thinks of how amazing it is to see blademasters being so attached to their weapons. Just like how archers with their bows or venomancers with their pets.
What about clerics? Based on their main role in this world, they’re mostly attached to other players. At least that’s what the hopeless romantic side of RinaEi_19 tries to believe; she is known for forming a deep attachment to others even though that trait hasn’t really done any good for her lately. Yet still… healers having a special bond with the people they heal sounds quite nice, doesn’t it?
“I see,” RinaEi_19 says, nodding. “How about your imperfections, Yui?”
“Well, I have quite a few,” she laughs, looking up at RinaEi_19. “One of them being unable to tell them to others.”
“Ah…” RinaEi_19 hums, keeping her eyes on her weapon. “So you’re a tough shell?”
“We could say that,” Yuihan232 nods. “But if someone earns my trust, it’s all okay. The problem lies in how that usually takes years when it’s about me.”
“Doesn’t that sound kind of lonely, though?” RinaEi_19 frowns, pulling her weapon onto her lap. “Living the life surrounded by people whom you don’t trust?”
“I do have people I trust, though,” Yuihan232 laughs, sticking out her tongue at the other. “But anyway, I’m perfectly fine having friends whom I don’t trust. It’s not like I’m one to share my problems with anybody but myself. I need my friends to be fun to hang out with and that’s enough. More than enough.”
“You’re a strange person,” RinaEi_19 frowns a bit and Yuihan232 chuckles.
“Has anyone told you before that your elf ears are really cute?”
“You know too damn well how to change topics, don’t you?” RinaEi_19 laughs, shaking her head disapprovingly. “Thank you. Every elf has the same pair of ears.”
“But yours are different,” Yuihan232 says and that causes a short silence. RinaEi_19 doesn’t get it; she doesn’t get why it’s different.
But before she could ask, Yuihan232 stands up. “I need to log off for now. I’ve added you to my friend list, so catch you tomorrow?”
RinaEi_19 nods. “That would be great.”
*
“Hey there. Why are you up so late?”
RinaEi_19 is startled by the sudden interaction but she smiles anyway, finishing off the Ninetailed Firefox before answering.
“It’s only a bit past midnight. It’s not that late,” she says, looking around to find a safe spot to settle down at where the mobs won’t attack her.
“It’s pretty late for a young girl like you, though.”
“Ya!” RinaEi_19 grunts, pouting a little. “You don’t even know how old I am.”
“19 for nineteen years old, isn’t it?”
RinaEi_19 doesn’t reply.
“Aah, so I guessed.”
“What then? Are you like, 232, based on that logic?”
“Duh. I’m actually a vampire in real life, too bad this game doesn’t have this species.”
“Very funny.” RinaEi_19 stands up and drags herself back to the nearest camp to buy some potions and maybe eat something. After taking a look in her inventory though, it doesn’t seem like she’s going to eat anytime soon, unless she decides to chew on some herbs because literally that’s the only edible thing she has.
“You’re not going to tell me your age? It’s only fair if you do.”
“It’s not my problem that you decided to display your age in your username. Next time you make a character, you should learn from it.”
“But it’s not like I would want to hide it…” RinaEi_19 sighs and shakes her head. “Where are you?”
“I’m in Etherblade, doing my spiritual quest. Why? You wanna hang out?”
“I just hit level 84,” RinaEi_19 announces proudly. “So now we’re the same level. I’m guessing we have some quests in common?”
“Actually, I just hit level 85.”
“Oh,” is all RinaEi_19 says, somewhat disappointed.
“But we can hang out anyway. And I’m sure I have quests I haven’t finished yet. Let’s see what we’ve got. Where are you? Ah, you’re in Burning Heart. That’s not too far, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
RinaEi_19 murmurs an “OK” and then sits down next to the fire camp, her dark grey tiger cub pet running and jumping around while she’s resting and she keeps her eyes on the animal, smiling lightly. In times like this, there are occasions where she wishes she was a venomancer and could have pets as comrades instead of being, you know, just pets. Rina has always had an infinite love for animals of all kind and she’s always envied the venos for their unbelievable bond with nature and animals, or also how they can just transform into a beautiful and fast fox whenever they want to. Sure, healing and bringing people back to life is an amazing thing, but sometimes it can get quite lonely, even if half her time here equals being with people.
But being a healer also equals not really being with people but rather, being there for them in need. And that doesn’t really give the same experience. Not to mention that sometimes, the responsibility is just way too overbearing.
Yuihan232 suddenly lands next to her and she is quite startled, but she greets her happily and it doesn’t take her much time to notice that she’s gotten an entire collection of new gear, including armors and a new spike as well.
“You’re looking good,” RinaEi_19 compliments honestly.
“I know, thanks. Took me some time to get everything but I’ve been collecting ever since level 60 or so.”
They then both examine their quests and find two identical and they decide to pursue the one that’s in the closest area. So they stay in the volcanos’ area and start killing burning lava golems and mobs of other kind in silence, with only a few words of asking for potion or heal exchanged between them. For most people, this kind of silence would be unsettling, even uncomfortable but somehow, RinaEi_19 doesn’t mind it, in fact, it comforts her, killing mobs with Yuihan even if they don’t talk while doing so.
She also realizes that this is the third time they’re spending time together which is not a lot; and yet, for some reason, RinaEi_19 feels like it’s been forever since they started gaming together. There’s a strange intimacy between them (or is she the only one feeling it?) that both makes her happy and confused but Yuihan232 never shows a simple sign that it would bother her in any way.
So it’s okay.
“Have you been to the mountains yet?” Yuihan232 suddenly speaks and RinaEi_19 shakes her head.
“No, if you mean the place where everything is covered in deep snow.”
“Yeah, that one,” Yuihan232 nods, giving a last strike for the mob in front of her. “Wanna go and see it?”
There’s at least a seven minutes long silence before RinaEi_19 finally answers.
“Yeah, sorry. I just went out to get some coffee.”
“Ah, coffee, I see… you’re the unhealthy type.”
“Excuse you, coffee is not unhealthy, in fact, it more belongs to the healthy category if drunk with measure.”
For some reason, Yuihan232 seems amused by that.
“Fine, fine. So you go to Starbucks every day like white people?”
“Not every day,” RinaEi_19 snorts. “Too expensive. But I like Starbucks, yes.”
“So I guessed.”
“So, are we going or not?” RinaEi_19 questions, wanting to end this topic because she feels attacked and she knows the other’s just teasing, she feels bad about it somehow. Yuihan232 agrees to go and she summons her flying blade while RinaEi_19 spreads her wings and they fly up into the sky, right next to each other and for some silly reason, RinaEi_19 wishes that she could sit right behind Yuihan232.
“I’m twenty-one,” Yuihan232 suddenly says and RinaEi_19 is genuinely surprised.
“I thought you were like thirty or above, the way you made me look like a fetus.”
“Well, you’re in college, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“For me, who’s already finished college, students are little kids.”
“But there’s only a 2 years difference between our ages.”
“It rarely feels like that, though,” Yuihan232 slows down a little bit. “I always feel so old when around younger girls, or even from my age. I guess I’m just a stuck-up.”
“That would explain why you spend so much time in Perfect World,” RinaEi_19 giggles. “Because you have no life.”
“Just because it’s only 2 years difference, you know you still have to be polite to your seniors, right?”
RinaEi_19 chuckles. “Ah, I wish we knew each other in real life. I would show you all the different ways to have fun at your age.”
“Woah, woah, slow down kid. We’ve only known each other for, how long, three days?”
“Four,” RinaEi_19 laughs. “And don’t call me kid. But anyway, it’s not like I’m telling you to meet up or something… For all I know, you could be an old guy with a beard as long as Santa’s. I don’t even know where you live.”
Yuihan232 doesn’t reply to that and for the leftover minutes, they fly in silence.
RinaEi_19 immediately notices when they arrive in the wished area, not only because the text tells her but because the temperature falls to negative degrees in less than a blink and suddenly the sky is all fogged, white everywhere she looks and the first thought that comes to her mind isn’t “how pretty” but “how annoying” and she feels bad about it so she doesn’t speak to Yuihan232 about it.
But then they get deeper inside the area and lower in the sky and everything turns beautiful, the fog gone, the weather still freezing but hey, what would you expect in the home of forever snow anyway? RinaEi_19 is soon blown away in a rather positive meaning by the amount of snow covering the smaller hills and larger mountains, some of them being so high that they almost collide into them even though they’re flying pretty high up and she watches the frozen golems and other icy mobs strolling below them, lazily dragging their feet. RinaEi_19 doesn’t even dare to check how high level they are, it’s not like she would want to get in touch with any of them, she’s purely here for the purpose of the landscape which appears to be just as satisfying in looks as Yuihan232 promised and soon they both find a camp and they decide to land there.
“Pretty, huh?”
“Yeah,” RinaEi_19 answers truthfully, waddling to the campfire to warm her hands a little bit before they go on, on foot now and the snow is pretty deep, it reaches RinaEi_19’s knees almost but it’s surprisingly easy to walk. There are mobs everywhere but they don’t seem to notice them so it’s safe and sound and she keeps looking around, not even sure what to watch because there’s a crystallized tree on one side and ice statues on the other but in the end they have time to check everything and they arrive by something that looks like a very long river but Yuihan232 tells her that it’s part of the lake, a leg of some sorts; RinaEi_19 is mesmerized by how crystal clear the surface of the water is and that she can see the bottom of it and she wonders why the water hasn’t frozen in a cold weather like this. Yuihan232 explains to her that it’s a special one, something the Gods has created for the people to fish in since there’s always winter here so the possibility to grow plants and food is non-existent.
RinaEi_19’s surprised as Yuihan232 goes on about the history of this place and mentally curses herself out for not having read the story of every quest so far because she’s always been too lazy to do so and now, hearing these stories makes her wonder actually how much there is beyond the obvious gaming in this world.
“You could even take a bath in it and you wouldn’t freeze to death,” Yuihan232 says and RinaEi_19 crouches, putting a finger slowly into the water, ready to pull it out but it’s surprisingly warm (well, compared to the snow) so she ends up dipping her whole hand and then taking off her shoes and sitting by the lake. Yuihan232 joins her and they sit there for a while, keeping an eye out for the water mobs if there would be any to appear, but it’s quiet, no players or people around whatsoever.
“This feels good,” RinaEi_19 suddenly speaks and Yuihan232 turns to look at her.
“What does?”
“Being here, with you,” she says and that’s when Yuihan232 notices that her eyes are closed and her head is rocking to the side and back.
“You should log off and go to bed, RinaEi,” Yuihan232 says in a disapproving voice and puts an arm around the elf, letting the other’s head rest on her shoulder.
“Mhm, call me Ricchan,” she murmurs quietly before her figure disappears and it says “RinaEi_19 is offline.”
*
“Are you sure the headaches aren’t because of the game? Because I’m pretty sure they are,” Sayanee groans and takes another sip of her steaming latte macchiato.
Rina rolls her eyes. “Don’t think you’re a genius now just because you’re learning to be a doctor.”
Sayanee snickers softly, shrugging her shoulders. “Well, I am more of a genius than you are or ever will be, to be honest.”
“Shut up,” Rina smacks the other’s shoulder, almost spilling out her coffee and Sayanee shoots her a look.
“This shit was expensive, okay?”
“Oh come on, I’ll make coffee yummier than this in a blink of an eye,” Rina says, but she’s laughing, because she doesn’t even know how the coffee machine she owns at home works, not to mention using it for what its purpose is. She doesn’t even know why she hasn’t thrown it out already.
“How about stopping to play the game for a week and see if there’s any improvement regarding the headaches?” Anna suddenly suggests, and while it’s a reasonable suggestion, Rina’s blood freezes even just upon the mention of living without the game for a whole week.
Someone would probably call it an addiction, but Rina know it’s not because of the game itself, but someone specifically within the game.
But hell if she admits that to her friends.
“I never understood how you could spend so much time playing a damn game anyway,” Sayanee shakes her head disapprovingly and Rina shoots her a tired look.
“Fine, fine,” she lies and Annin flashes her a small, happy smile. “I dearly hope my headaches won’t stop for once in my life just so I could have my right instead of you, Sayanee.”
Sayanee just giggles.
*
Disappointment comes immediately when, for the first time the past week, Yuihan232 is offline. The bitter feeling grows larger with every minute passing and suddenly she’s not in the mood to play at all but she fears that if she logs out, Yuihan232 will appear and they’ll miss each other.
So she lies down in the bottom of a tree in her starting city and watches the newborn elves for a while, her fingers stroking the soft fur of her pet, sometimes saying a few words to him as if he could understand.
But maybe he does, because when RinaEi_19 complains about feeling alone, the cub crawls onto her lap and snuggles against her tummy.
“Hey, you there?”
It’s the familiar voice that makes her eyes snap open and RinaEi_19 realizes that she had probably fallen asleep, with her cub being close to starving and the girl panicks, quickly feeding him some meat and water before she would answer.
“Hey,” is what she says and regaining her consciousness, she realizes that she’s back. She’s here. And like the past times, it’s her who interacts first.
If only her head wasn’t hurting so much.
“Where were you?” she asks Yuihan232 and gets up from the ground, sending her pet away so she could take out her wings and fly.
“Working. I do have a life, you know?”
“Ah. I didn’t expect that,” RinaEi_19 hums, flying into the center of her city to take a look at what the auction house offers; not really because she needs anything, but more like as a way to pass time before she would suggest hanging out together again.
But she would rather wait for her to suggest first. Perhaps…
“Did you miss me?”
“Yes,” RinaEi_19 answers without thinking and it’s maybe a bit quick, but she doesn’t know whether the other noticed it or not.
Then Yuihan232 asks about her day and she goes on talking about how she and her friends - who are also her roommates in the apartment they share - met up in Starbucks and how Annin was late because she took the wrong bus that didn’t take her to Akihabara but someplace totally else and she stops only for a short second to take a breath when Yuihan232 interrupts.
“Akihabara, huh?”
“Shit,” RinaEi_19 and bites into her lower lip. There goes another piece of information about her while she still doesn’t know barely anything about the other, but she flips the mentality around and thinks that maybe it’s a good thing Yuihan232 knows where she lives (even though just because they went to Akihabara to meet doesn’t equal them living close to the district, but it’s irrelevant, since they do) and maybe she would come for a visit. Even though the possibility of that is around 0.1 percent, not to mention how it’s almost literally impossible that even if she did come, they would meet. It’s not like RinaEi_19 would tell the other her accurate address unless she asked.
Which she probably won’t.
“Is everyone in your crew a white girl wannabe?”
RinaEi_19 can’t help but snort at that question. “What the hell are you talking about, please. Yes, we go there every week but…”
“Every week? Holy moly. When are you guys going to remove a teeth just so you could drink your Starbucks easier?”
“Shut up.”
Yuihan232 chuckles and RinaEi_19 ends up cracking a smile as well.
*
The worst possible thing happens the next day when Rina’s headache is so strong she actually decides not to sit in front of the computer. She skips her classes today and stays home (she would only have two Maths and one English anyway) to rest and Annin takes care of her until she has to go to school.
She suffers through the first part of the day with quite a difficulty but the pain somewhat eases after lunch, still not enough to turn on the laptop and headgear and log into the game. Even though, heck, how happy it would make her just to hear Yuihan232’s soothing voice right now.
They should’ve changed numbers.
Sayanee is the first to come home and after dropping a few comments like “I told you so” or “You should’ve listened to me”, she cooks Rina’s favorite soup for her and makes her tea, taking care of her friend in her own way as she keeps shaking her head and huffing out disappointed sighs up to the point where Rina just tells her to shut up but she knows that Sayanee’s not that serious and is in fact just worried.
But it’s just headaches, so it’s not like there should be anything to be worried about.
But the pain doesn’t seem to stop and when she wakes up next morning with the same headache, Sayanee suggests her to see a doctor. Rina refuses at first because god, she hates doctors (excluding Sayanee, of course, but she’s not even one yet), but Sayanee and then after a while Annin, too, keep nagging her until she finally decides to give in.
While sitting in the waiting room, she realizes that it’s not even her general dislike towards doctors that kept her from coming here today, but the fear that as soon as she mentions that she’s been playing with Perfect World, they are going to say that it’s the reason.
Which could obviously be a reasonable occurring, based on the fact how this MMORPG is the first that works with the help of the headgear that can connect to a human’s nerves, giving them a much fuller experience of gaming than a simple computer-based program could ever have, and although it’s been out of beta version for almost half a year, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s completely harmless. She’s heard about other people who had problems such as headaches because of the game before and although she’s always considered it a possible side-effect, now that the game has been a prominent part of her life, the thought of giving it up is like a knife in her back.
Maybe she shouldn’t mention the game, after all.
But then she remembers that Sayanee is sitting right next to her, and she’s pretty sure that even if she doesn’t tell the doctor, her friend will.
And she can’t really blame her for that.
About ten minutes pass before they call them in and the examination doesn’t even last half as long because after introducing her symptomps, Rina takes a deep breath and tells the doctor who looks quite likeable with her middle-length, chestnut brown hair and squirrel-like appearance that she’s been playing Perfect World and for some reason, the doctor immediately lets out a knowing “Aaah” and Rina doesn’t quite take that as a good sign.
“That explains a lot,” the doctor says and hums for a bit, looking at some files. There’s a few minutes of silence that’s mostly inner shaking and worry for Rina and she dreads the doctor’s diagnosis, and she realizes that she’s been cracking her knuckles only when Sayanee’s hand stops her from doing so.
“I’m afraid, Ms. Kawaei, that you’ll have to stop with the game for at least two months. You can’t equip the headgear whatsoever during this time or else it might cause some permanent damage to your brain and nobody would want that, right?” the doctor smiles sympathetically, but to Rina, it looks more of a snarl.
“Are you sure there’s no other way, Oshima-san?” Sayanee asks, surprising Rina. The girl looks at her friend with wide eyes, but the black-haired pays attention to the doctor, ignoring her questioning look.
“I don’t think so, I’m afraid,” Oshima-san shakes her head. “I’ve always been against this new type of fun. Sure, it’s great how real it makes the gaming feel, but it’s not healthy at all, no matter what the developers say. It’s just simply not right for a device to be connected to a person’s brain nerves for hours and hours of time.”
“Okay,” Rina finally says, sort of interrupting the doctor as she’s had enough and will probably go nuts if she has to hear more of this. “Thanks a lot, Oshima-san. I’ll make sure to take a break and get back to full health.”
“Good. I wish you a fast recovery!”
They leave as quickly as possible and just as expected, Sayanee doesn’t ask a thing even though she clearly notices how discomposed Rina is.
And for once, Rina’s thankful for that.
*
The first argument occurs as soon as they get home because Sayanee insists on throwing out the headgear but at least, removing it from Rina’s room so she wouldn’t be grabbed by the temptation but that the last thing Rina wants and would allow so they fight in the living room until Annin appears and stands between them, asking them to calm down a little bit and then continue the argument reasonably.
Just as always, Rina’s shocked by Annin’s ability to lighten up the mood between her and Sayanee and she wonders if deep down, that was the main reason why they all decided to move in together since Annin’s had the role of the peacemaker ever since these two became friends.
But that’s irrelevant now and Rina takes a deep breath, closing her eyes before trying to reason with Sayanee.
“Please, leave it there. I promise I’m not going to use it,” she says, forcing as much honesty into those words as possible.
“Then why do you care whether it’s in your room or somewhere else?” Sayanee retorts with a good point and Rina chews on her bottom lip.
“Fine,” she finally nods. “But then, please, let me just log in once more. I want to talk to somebody.”
“So there is somebody,” Sayanee grumbles and Rina looks at her confusedly.
“What?”
Sayanee and Annin exchange a quick look but it doesn’t escape Rina’s attention. She crosses her arms.
“We’ve been thinking that you might have found someone and that’s why you spend so much time online,” Annin says in a quiet voice that sounds so innocent Rina just simply can’t be mad at her.
She’s not sure why she shouldbe mad, though.
“It was obvious because your usual 1-2 hours of gameplay turned into 6-7-8 hours and it’s not like you’re a newbie,” Sayanee shrugs. “So care to tell us what it’s about?”
“Why are you talking like I’m having someone? Can’t I just have a game partner I like to hang out with?” Rina snorts, clearly feeling bitter about the way her two friends are confronting her.
Of course the bitterness is because of how repulsively they confront her and surely not because they might have found a weak point.
Surely not.
“Why are you getting so defensive?” Sayanee furrows her eyebrows. “We’re not accusing you of murder, for god’s sake, we’re just being curious!”
“Yes, I like somebody!” Rina finally blurts out, shocking both of her friends with the sudden honesty, but especially herself, because she’s never thought of Yuihan that way before. She’s never thought even once that perhaps her persistence to get to know the other and spend much time with her or the fact that every time she went online was purely because of her would mean something.
And saying it out loud without realizing it beforehand felt rather surprising.
“Okay,” Annin says, supposedly noticing the change in Rina’s behavior, “do you want to talk about this person, Ricchan? Hm?”
“I don’t know,” she says honestly, squeezing her lips together. “Can I just talk to her? Please?”
“Her?” Sayanee asks and Rina almost rolls her eyes at how she successfully pointed out the most important thing.
“I’ll go talk to her now, then,” she excuses herself out and leaves the startled Sayanee there for Annin, slipping into her room and putting the gear on her head, praying that Yuihan would be online.
But she isn’t, and once again she feels the same disappointment as last time. Hesitating what to do now, she decides to leave a message for her with her number in the content field also attaching every single gold she has since she probably won’t need them anymore. She doesn’t write down anything except her number because, as she realizes quickly, she sort of wants Yuihan to contact her first, to see if she even misses her if Rina’s gone. To see if she would try to get in touch if she doesn’t find her online for days.
Her mood drop is probably visible because when she hands the gear over to Sayanee, she bites into her bottom lip and exchanges another knowing look with Annin. She’s bothered by how these two suddenly became secret-sharers but she could care less about things like that. Right now, all she wants to do is settle down and watch Disney movies until she falls asleep and when she suggests the idea, their friends agree.
And that makes her somewhat happy.
*
She spends the next few days casually, doing casual things and thinking about casual things, except for the times she glances at her phone to see if there’s any sign of Yuihan ever trying to get in touch, but there’s nothing, and it would be silly to say that it doesn’t pain her at all. It does, much more than it should, and she wonders how she even got so attached to this girl in the beginning, whose face she doesn’t even know, heck that, she doesn’t even know her real name. She knows almost nothing about her and yet there she is, sitting in class and being on the verge of crying because of how much she misses her.
Is it possible to fall for someone so hard within just a week of time?
It is, Rina thinks after a while. She is the living evidence for it.
Three days pass and it’s not even that bad anymore. Rina’s given up hope, even though it’s just three days; if she really cared, she would’ve already called, wouldn’t she? It’s not like there would be any proof of Yuihan being close to her. Maybe she doesn’t even like her that much, not even as a friend. Maybe, she doesn’t even mean anything to Yuihan.
That thought feels like she was being poked at by huge pieces of broken glass so she shoos it away instead.
On the fourth day, she goes to Starbucks even though the shop brings back some unwanted memories all involving Yuihan. It’s silly, but it reminds her of her talks with the girl and she’s been hesitating to come here ever since she had to give up playing.
But her headaches did disappear, so it’s not like it wasn’t worth it.
The queue is unusually long this time and there’s at least six other people in front of her before it would be her turn. She stands in the row with her arms crossed, one of her legs going up and down impatiently as she waits.
Finally there’s only one girl left and she watches her order a small beverage of caramel frappucchino and she’s only half-listening to what she’s discussing with Juri (the barista, Rina’s known her since high school and she’s always taken umbrage at her for never giving any discount) when she catches a familiar word that warms her heart and her attention is drawn.
She must be hallucinating.
But then Juri writes the customer’s name on the cup as the tradition goes and when she puts it down, there’s “Yuihan” on it.
It’s just a coincidence.
But as she steps aside a little bit to have a better look at the girl’s face, she thinks that this face is definitely one she could relate to Yuihan.
She has middle-length, raven black hair and blunt bags, a pair of glasses sitting on her short, but a bit wide nose which seems to be only for fashion purposes as it doesn’t have any lens. She can’t take out much of her face as she needs to avert her gaze if she doesn’t want to be caught staring and she feels a strong urge to say something, to mention the username Yuihan232 but she’s afraid that it really is a coincidence and the girl would just look at her, completely clueless.
“Ah, hello Ricchan!” Juri suddenly greets as she comes back with the steaming coffee and notices her, and that’s when the girl in front of her turns around, taking a curious look at Rina.
It’s her, something screams inside Rina, I’ve told her my nickname, and the realization hits her so hard that she’s unable to say anything or just move, even.
“Ricchan?” the girl asks and Rina almost faints when she recognizes the voice.
She realizes she actually did faint when the next thing she remembers is being hold in Yuihan’s arms, a collection of worried, random faces gathered around her.
“What happened?” she asks with a voice that sounds like more of a zombie’s and Yuihan lets out a barely audible, but undoubtedly amused chuckle.
“If I knew I was going to have this kind of effect on you I wouldn’t have come to visit.”
“No, no, I’m fine, I’m…” she says before finally processing what Yuihan said and she makes a surprised sound. “Wait, what?”
“Pull yourself together first, Ricchan, then we’ll talk.” She chuckles again, now not even trying to hide it. “You can all go away now, she’s okay,” she turns around to shoo all the annoyingly curious people away and they disperse one by one until there’s no one around her but Yuihan and Juri; her friend soon disappearing, too, after she makes sure Rina’s fine as she needs to get back to work.
Rina sits up, hesitating whether to stand up or not because honestly, she doesn’t really want to leave Yuihan’s arms. But she knows that’s rather silly so ends up standing anyway, with Yuihan still having her hand on her arm as if securing a way to hold her again if she falls again and for a second, Ricchan almost intentionally does.
But only almost.
“Okay, so what is this all about?” she asks once she’s sitting at a table next to Yuihan.
“Well since you disappeared from the game and the phone number you gave me didn’t work…”
“What?” Rina frowns. “It didn’t work? You tried to call me?”
“Of course. But apparently, you probably made a typo in the number because no matter how many times I tried, it always said to be a wrong, non-working number,” Yuihan says and there’s a mocking smile on her face.
Rina stares for a short moment before covering her face with a hand, completely embarrassed. How could she ruin even just that one, but very important thing…
And she thought that Yuihan didn’t even care for her.
What a fool.
“So anyway, I did some investigation and Googling and stuff and I found the college I supposed you go to because there was a student named Kawaei Rina and based on your username, that seemed to be a bulls-eye,” Yuihan continues, propping up her elbow on the table and resting her hand in her palm, looking at Rina with such a penetrating look she has to tear her gaze away. “It was in the same ward as Akihabara, so I checked the district for Starbucks shops and there were only two, but one of them was far from any bus stops and kind of on the other end of the district so I took a wild guess and started here. And when I asked Takahashi, she said that you do come here often and that you two are friends. So I was right!” Yuihan announces with a wide, victorious grin but Rina is still confused.
“Are you like a private investigator or something?”
“I’m a detective assistant,” Yuihan says, her smile growing even wider when Rina’s lips part in shock.
“Wow… and you did all of this only to…” she murmurs but Yuihan cuts her off, nodding.
“To meet you. Well, I couldn’t just let you escape me that easily, right?” she chuckles and Rina’s like so cute, almost fainting again. “Besides, why do you not come online anymore?”
“The gear caused me intense headaches and the doctor said I need to stop if I don’t want to get a permanent damage,” Rina sighs and Yuihan’s amused expression morphs into a worried one.
“Are you okay now? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Rina bites down on her bottom lip. Should she tell her the real reason? It sounds embarrassing and rather silly now that she thinks back of it…
“Well…” she starts, avoiding eye contact. “I kinda wanted to see if you would try to contact me if I disappeared.”
Yuihan blinks for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. “You’re such a kid, Ricchan.”
“Yeah, um, whatever…” Rina lowers her head as an attempt to hide her flushed cheeks. “Anyway, is your real name really Yuihan?”
“It’s my nickname,” she says. “Which reminds me, that we never properly introduced ourselves. I’m Yokoyama Yui, a pleasure to meet you,” Yokoyama Yui extends a hand and when Rina shakes it, it feels surprisingly amazing.
“Kawaei Rina, same goes for you,” she smiles and seeing Yui smile back at her the same, happy way, feels even more amazing.
group: akb48
pairing: yokoyama/kawaei
length: ~6500w
“Heal, please!” Yuihan232 screams and she does her best, quickly waddling closer while still paying attention to being out of the boss’ target area and she heals, but it’s not enough and no matter how many times she pursues her skill, all the extra HP she successfully delivered over is sucked out of the warrior within a mere second. There’s a last strike and then Yuihan232 is on the floor, dead, and RinaEi_19 is forced to run if she doesn’t want to get slashed also.
But for some reason, she can’t just leave Yuihan232 there so while the other two members of their party deals with the boss, desperately trying to survive, she knows that it’s her duty to resurrect the warrior, even though it will drown all her mana and then she would be basically pointless, with no potions whatsoever on hand.
Yet she does it and Yuihan232 comes back to life and RinaEi_19 uses the last portions of her mana to bring the other’s health back to full and Yuihan232 thanks her.
“No problem at all,” RinaEi_19 smiles happily before the boss does an AoE attack and everybody around her - including herself - falls to the ground, dead.
*
“I am so ashamed,” RinaEi_19 sighs loudly, sitting next to Yuihan232 after the dungeon run has ended. They managed to strike the final boss but it cost everybody (except her, who only died once) at least 20% of their current experience points and that’s not really a good thing at such a high level. They would have to play for at least one week straight to get that amount back and RinaEi_19 feels horrible about it because, well, it’s her fault. She could argue that she was the only cleric in the squad but to be truthful, it should’ve been enough if she had been good enough.
“Don’t be,” Yuihan232 tries to comfort her, handing over a good amount of mana potions. “You should really get more of these. They are very helpful. Though what I advice is that you level up your Apothecary skill to level 3 and then you’ll be able to make potions that give back 5000 MP each with only gathering a few herbs.”
RinaEi_19 nods, flashing a grateful smile. “I know I should. I’m just so lazy to gather so many things to level up that skill… even though it’s like, the most helpful skill out of all for a cleric.” She sighs, shaking her head. “I’m such a bad cleric.”
“Don’t say that,” Yuihan232 groans and pokes the other in the side. “You just need some practice. I’m a warrior so I can’t really help you but we could pair up and run a few lower level dungeons with different strategies so you could figure out what’s the best. Or maybe you should read the official forum for some advices, there are so many pro gamers on there who I’m sure would be happy to help you out.”
“I know, but I’m too embarrassed to ask,” RinaEi_19 pouts, “like, then they would all know how bad I am.”
“I think one of the greatest human qualities is to admit that we’re imperfect,” Yuihan232 says, running her fingers along the head of her spike slowly, in a somewhat gentle way as RinaEi_19 notices and she thinks of how amazing it is to see blademasters being so attached to their weapons. Just like how archers with their bows or venomancers with their pets.
What about clerics? Based on their main role in this world, they’re mostly attached to other players. At least that’s what the hopeless romantic side of RinaEi_19 tries to believe; she is known for forming a deep attachment to others even though that trait hasn’t really done any good for her lately. Yet still… healers having a special bond with the people they heal sounds quite nice, doesn’t it?
“I see,” RinaEi_19 says, nodding. “How about your imperfections, Yui?”
“Well, I have quite a few,” she laughs, looking up at RinaEi_19. “One of them being unable to tell them to others.”
“Ah…” RinaEi_19 hums, keeping her eyes on her weapon. “So you’re a tough shell?”
“We could say that,” Yuihan232 nods. “But if someone earns my trust, it’s all okay. The problem lies in how that usually takes years when it’s about me.”
“Doesn’t that sound kind of lonely, though?” RinaEi_19 frowns, pulling her weapon onto her lap. “Living the life surrounded by people whom you don’t trust?”
“I do have people I trust, though,” Yuihan232 laughs, sticking out her tongue at the other. “But anyway, I’m perfectly fine having friends whom I don’t trust. It’s not like I’m one to share my problems with anybody but myself. I need my friends to be fun to hang out with and that’s enough. More than enough.”
“You’re a strange person,” RinaEi_19 frowns a bit and Yuihan232 chuckles.
“Has anyone told you before that your elf ears are really cute?”
“You know too damn well how to change topics, don’t you?” RinaEi_19 laughs, shaking her head disapprovingly. “Thank you. Every elf has the same pair of ears.”
“But yours are different,” Yuihan232 says and that causes a short silence. RinaEi_19 doesn’t get it; she doesn’t get why it’s different.
But before she could ask, Yuihan232 stands up. “I need to log off for now. I’ve added you to my friend list, so catch you tomorrow?”
RinaEi_19 nods. “That would be great.”
*
“Hey there. Why are you up so late?”
RinaEi_19 is startled by the sudden interaction but she smiles anyway, finishing off the Ninetailed Firefox before answering.
“It’s only a bit past midnight. It’s not that late,” she says, looking around to find a safe spot to settle down at where the mobs won’t attack her.
“It’s pretty late for a young girl like you, though.”
“Ya!” RinaEi_19 grunts, pouting a little. “You don’t even know how old I am.”
“19 for nineteen years old, isn’t it?”
RinaEi_19 doesn’t reply.
“Aah, so I guessed.”
“What then? Are you like, 232, based on that logic?”
“Duh. I’m actually a vampire in real life, too bad this game doesn’t have this species.”
“Very funny.” RinaEi_19 stands up and drags herself back to the nearest camp to buy some potions and maybe eat something. After taking a look in her inventory though, it doesn’t seem like she’s going to eat anytime soon, unless she decides to chew on some herbs because literally that’s the only edible thing she has.
“You’re not going to tell me your age? It’s only fair if you do.”
“It’s not my problem that you decided to display your age in your username. Next time you make a character, you should learn from it.”
“But it’s not like I would want to hide it…” RinaEi_19 sighs and shakes her head. “Where are you?”
“I’m in Etherblade, doing my spiritual quest. Why? You wanna hang out?”
“I just hit level 84,” RinaEi_19 announces proudly. “So now we’re the same level. I’m guessing we have some quests in common?”
“Actually, I just hit level 85.”
“Oh,” is all RinaEi_19 says, somewhat disappointed.
“But we can hang out anyway. And I’m sure I have quests I haven’t finished yet. Let’s see what we’ve got. Where are you? Ah, you’re in Burning Heart. That’s not too far, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
RinaEi_19 murmurs an “OK” and then sits down next to the fire camp, her dark grey tiger cub pet running and jumping around while she’s resting and she keeps her eyes on the animal, smiling lightly. In times like this, there are occasions where she wishes she was a venomancer and could have pets as comrades instead of being, you know, just pets. Rina has always had an infinite love for animals of all kind and she’s always envied the venos for their unbelievable bond with nature and animals, or also how they can just transform into a beautiful and fast fox whenever they want to. Sure, healing and bringing people back to life is an amazing thing, but sometimes it can get quite lonely, even if half her time here equals being with people.
But being a healer also equals not really being with people but rather, being there for them in need. And that doesn’t really give the same experience. Not to mention that sometimes, the responsibility is just way too overbearing.
Yuihan232 suddenly lands next to her and she is quite startled, but she greets her happily and it doesn’t take her much time to notice that she’s gotten an entire collection of new gear, including armors and a new spike as well.
“You’re looking good,” RinaEi_19 compliments honestly.
“I know, thanks. Took me some time to get everything but I’ve been collecting ever since level 60 or so.”
They then both examine their quests and find two identical and they decide to pursue the one that’s in the closest area. So they stay in the volcanos’ area and start killing burning lava golems and mobs of other kind in silence, with only a few words of asking for potion or heal exchanged between them. For most people, this kind of silence would be unsettling, even uncomfortable but somehow, RinaEi_19 doesn’t mind it, in fact, it comforts her, killing mobs with Yuihan even if they don’t talk while doing so.
She also realizes that this is the third time they’re spending time together which is not a lot; and yet, for some reason, RinaEi_19 feels like it’s been forever since they started gaming together. There’s a strange intimacy between them (or is she the only one feeling it?) that both makes her happy and confused but Yuihan232 never shows a simple sign that it would bother her in any way.
So it’s okay.
“Have you been to the mountains yet?” Yuihan232 suddenly speaks and RinaEi_19 shakes her head.
“No, if you mean the place where everything is covered in deep snow.”
“Yeah, that one,” Yuihan232 nods, giving a last strike for the mob in front of her. “Wanna go and see it?”
There’s at least a seven minutes long silence before RinaEi_19 finally answers.
“Yeah, sorry. I just went out to get some coffee.”
“Ah, coffee, I see… you’re the unhealthy type.”
“Excuse you, coffee is not unhealthy, in fact, it more belongs to the healthy category if drunk with measure.”
For some reason, Yuihan232 seems amused by that.
“Fine, fine. So you go to Starbucks every day like white people?”
“Not every day,” RinaEi_19 snorts. “Too expensive. But I like Starbucks, yes.”
“So I guessed.”
“So, are we going or not?” RinaEi_19 questions, wanting to end this topic because she feels attacked and she knows the other’s just teasing, she feels bad about it somehow. Yuihan232 agrees to go and she summons her flying blade while RinaEi_19 spreads her wings and they fly up into the sky, right next to each other and for some silly reason, RinaEi_19 wishes that she could sit right behind Yuihan232.
“I’m twenty-one,” Yuihan232 suddenly says and RinaEi_19 is genuinely surprised.
“I thought you were like thirty or above, the way you made me look like a fetus.”
“Well, you’re in college, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“For me, who’s already finished college, students are little kids.”
“But there’s only a 2 years difference between our ages.”
“It rarely feels like that, though,” Yuihan232 slows down a little bit. “I always feel so old when around younger girls, or even from my age. I guess I’m just a stuck-up.”
“That would explain why you spend so much time in Perfect World,” RinaEi_19 giggles. “Because you have no life.”
“Just because it’s only 2 years difference, you know you still have to be polite to your seniors, right?”
RinaEi_19 chuckles. “Ah, I wish we knew each other in real life. I would show you all the different ways to have fun at your age.”
“Woah, woah, slow down kid. We’ve only known each other for, how long, three days?”
“Four,” RinaEi_19 laughs. “And don’t call me kid. But anyway, it’s not like I’m telling you to meet up or something… For all I know, you could be an old guy with a beard as long as Santa’s. I don’t even know where you live.”
Yuihan232 doesn’t reply to that and for the leftover minutes, they fly in silence.
RinaEi_19 immediately notices when they arrive in the wished area, not only because the text tells her but because the temperature falls to negative degrees in less than a blink and suddenly the sky is all fogged, white everywhere she looks and the first thought that comes to her mind isn’t “how pretty” but “how annoying” and she feels bad about it so she doesn’t speak to Yuihan232 about it.
But then they get deeper inside the area and lower in the sky and everything turns beautiful, the fog gone, the weather still freezing but hey, what would you expect in the home of forever snow anyway? RinaEi_19 is soon blown away in a rather positive meaning by the amount of snow covering the smaller hills and larger mountains, some of them being so high that they almost collide into them even though they’re flying pretty high up and she watches the frozen golems and other icy mobs strolling below them, lazily dragging their feet. RinaEi_19 doesn’t even dare to check how high level they are, it’s not like she would want to get in touch with any of them, she’s purely here for the purpose of the landscape which appears to be just as satisfying in looks as Yuihan232 promised and soon they both find a camp and they decide to land there.
“Pretty, huh?”
“Yeah,” RinaEi_19 answers truthfully, waddling to the campfire to warm her hands a little bit before they go on, on foot now and the snow is pretty deep, it reaches RinaEi_19’s knees almost but it’s surprisingly easy to walk. There are mobs everywhere but they don’t seem to notice them so it’s safe and sound and she keeps looking around, not even sure what to watch because there’s a crystallized tree on one side and ice statues on the other but in the end they have time to check everything and they arrive by something that looks like a very long river but Yuihan232 tells her that it’s part of the lake, a leg of some sorts; RinaEi_19 is mesmerized by how crystal clear the surface of the water is and that she can see the bottom of it and she wonders why the water hasn’t frozen in a cold weather like this. Yuihan232 explains to her that it’s a special one, something the Gods has created for the people to fish in since there’s always winter here so the possibility to grow plants and food is non-existent.
RinaEi_19’s surprised as Yuihan232 goes on about the history of this place and mentally curses herself out for not having read the story of every quest so far because she’s always been too lazy to do so and now, hearing these stories makes her wonder actually how much there is beyond the obvious gaming in this world.
“You could even take a bath in it and you wouldn’t freeze to death,” Yuihan232 says and RinaEi_19 crouches, putting a finger slowly into the water, ready to pull it out but it’s surprisingly warm (well, compared to the snow) so she ends up dipping her whole hand and then taking off her shoes and sitting by the lake. Yuihan232 joins her and they sit there for a while, keeping an eye out for the water mobs if there would be any to appear, but it’s quiet, no players or people around whatsoever.
“This feels good,” RinaEi_19 suddenly speaks and Yuihan232 turns to look at her.
“What does?”
“Being here, with you,” she says and that’s when Yuihan232 notices that her eyes are closed and her head is rocking to the side and back.
“You should log off and go to bed, RinaEi,” Yuihan232 says in a disapproving voice and puts an arm around the elf, letting the other’s head rest on her shoulder.
“Mhm, call me Ricchan,” she murmurs quietly before her figure disappears and it says “RinaEi_19 is offline.”
*
“Are you sure the headaches aren’t because of the game? Because I’m pretty sure they are,” Sayanee groans and takes another sip of her steaming latte macchiato.
Rina rolls her eyes. “Don’t think you’re a genius now just because you’re learning to be a doctor.”
Sayanee snickers softly, shrugging her shoulders. “Well, I am more of a genius than you are or ever will be, to be honest.”
“Shut up,” Rina smacks the other’s shoulder, almost spilling out her coffee and Sayanee shoots her a look.
“This shit was expensive, okay?”
“Oh come on, I’ll make coffee yummier than this in a blink of an eye,” Rina says, but she’s laughing, because she doesn’t even know how the coffee machine she owns at home works, not to mention using it for what its purpose is. She doesn’t even know why she hasn’t thrown it out already.
“How about stopping to play the game for a week and see if there’s any improvement regarding the headaches?” Anna suddenly suggests, and while it’s a reasonable suggestion, Rina’s blood freezes even just upon the mention of living without the game for a whole week.
Someone would probably call it an addiction, but Rina know it’s not because of the game itself, but someone specifically within the game.
But hell if she admits that to her friends.
“I never understood how you could spend so much time playing a damn game anyway,” Sayanee shakes her head disapprovingly and Rina shoots her a tired look.
“Fine, fine,” she lies and Annin flashes her a small, happy smile. “I dearly hope my headaches won’t stop for once in my life just so I could have my right instead of you, Sayanee.”
Sayanee just giggles.
*
Disappointment comes immediately when, for the first time the past week, Yuihan232 is offline. The bitter feeling grows larger with every minute passing and suddenly she’s not in the mood to play at all but she fears that if she logs out, Yuihan232 will appear and they’ll miss each other.
So she lies down in the bottom of a tree in her starting city and watches the newborn elves for a while, her fingers stroking the soft fur of her pet, sometimes saying a few words to him as if he could understand.
But maybe he does, because when RinaEi_19 complains about feeling alone, the cub crawls onto her lap and snuggles against her tummy.
“Hey, you there?”
It’s the familiar voice that makes her eyes snap open and RinaEi_19 realizes that she had probably fallen asleep, with her cub being close to starving and the girl panicks, quickly feeding him some meat and water before she would answer.
“Hey,” is what she says and regaining her consciousness, she realizes that she’s back. She’s here. And like the past times, it’s her who interacts first.
If only her head wasn’t hurting so much.
“Where were you?” she asks Yuihan232 and gets up from the ground, sending her pet away so she could take out her wings and fly.
“Working. I do have a life, you know?”
“Ah. I didn’t expect that,” RinaEi_19 hums, flying into the center of her city to take a look at what the auction house offers; not really because she needs anything, but more like as a way to pass time before she would suggest hanging out together again.
But she would rather wait for her to suggest first. Perhaps…
“Did you miss me?”
“Yes,” RinaEi_19 answers without thinking and it’s maybe a bit quick, but she doesn’t know whether the other noticed it or not.
Then Yuihan232 asks about her day and she goes on talking about how she and her friends - who are also her roommates in the apartment they share - met up in Starbucks and how Annin was late because she took the wrong bus that didn’t take her to Akihabara but someplace totally else and she stops only for a short second to take a breath when Yuihan232 interrupts.
“Akihabara, huh?”
“Shit,” RinaEi_19 and bites into her lower lip. There goes another piece of information about her while she still doesn’t know barely anything about the other, but she flips the mentality around and thinks that maybe it’s a good thing Yuihan232 knows where she lives (even though just because they went to Akihabara to meet doesn’t equal them living close to the district, but it’s irrelevant, since they do) and maybe she would come for a visit. Even though the possibility of that is around 0.1 percent, not to mention how it’s almost literally impossible that even if she did come, they would meet. It’s not like RinaEi_19 would tell the other her accurate address unless she asked.
Which she probably won’t.
“Is everyone in your crew a white girl wannabe?”
RinaEi_19 can’t help but snort at that question. “What the hell are you talking about, please. Yes, we go there every week but…”
“Every week? Holy moly. When are you guys going to remove a teeth just so you could drink your Starbucks easier?”
“Shut up.”
Yuihan232 chuckles and RinaEi_19 ends up cracking a smile as well.
*
The worst possible thing happens the next day when Rina’s headache is so strong she actually decides not to sit in front of the computer. She skips her classes today and stays home (she would only have two Maths and one English anyway) to rest and Annin takes care of her until she has to go to school.
She suffers through the first part of the day with quite a difficulty but the pain somewhat eases after lunch, still not enough to turn on the laptop and headgear and log into the game. Even though, heck, how happy it would make her just to hear Yuihan232’s soothing voice right now.
They should’ve changed numbers.
Sayanee is the first to come home and after dropping a few comments like “I told you so” or “You should’ve listened to me”, she cooks Rina’s favorite soup for her and makes her tea, taking care of her friend in her own way as she keeps shaking her head and huffing out disappointed sighs up to the point where Rina just tells her to shut up but she knows that Sayanee’s not that serious and is in fact just worried.
But it’s just headaches, so it’s not like there should be anything to be worried about.
But the pain doesn’t seem to stop and when she wakes up next morning with the same headache, Sayanee suggests her to see a doctor. Rina refuses at first because god, she hates doctors (excluding Sayanee, of course, but she’s not even one yet), but Sayanee and then after a while Annin, too, keep nagging her until she finally decides to give in.
While sitting in the waiting room, she realizes that it’s not even her general dislike towards doctors that kept her from coming here today, but the fear that as soon as she mentions that she’s been playing with Perfect World, they are going to say that it’s the reason.
Which could obviously be a reasonable occurring, based on the fact how this MMORPG is the first that works with the help of the headgear that can connect to a human’s nerves, giving them a much fuller experience of gaming than a simple computer-based program could ever have, and although it’s been out of beta version for almost half a year, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s completely harmless. She’s heard about other people who had problems such as headaches because of the game before and although she’s always considered it a possible side-effect, now that the game has been a prominent part of her life, the thought of giving it up is like a knife in her back.
Maybe she shouldn’t mention the game, after all.
But then she remembers that Sayanee is sitting right next to her, and she’s pretty sure that even if she doesn’t tell the doctor, her friend will.
And she can’t really blame her for that.
About ten minutes pass before they call them in and the examination doesn’t even last half as long because after introducing her symptomps, Rina takes a deep breath and tells the doctor who looks quite likeable with her middle-length, chestnut brown hair and squirrel-like appearance that she’s been playing Perfect World and for some reason, the doctor immediately lets out a knowing “Aaah” and Rina doesn’t quite take that as a good sign.
“That explains a lot,” the doctor says and hums for a bit, looking at some files. There’s a few minutes of silence that’s mostly inner shaking and worry for Rina and she dreads the doctor’s diagnosis, and she realizes that she’s been cracking her knuckles only when Sayanee’s hand stops her from doing so.
“I’m afraid, Ms. Kawaei, that you’ll have to stop with the game for at least two months. You can’t equip the headgear whatsoever during this time or else it might cause some permanent damage to your brain and nobody would want that, right?” the doctor smiles sympathetically, but to Rina, it looks more of a snarl.
“Are you sure there’s no other way, Oshima-san?” Sayanee asks, surprising Rina. The girl looks at her friend with wide eyes, but the black-haired pays attention to the doctor, ignoring her questioning look.
“I don’t think so, I’m afraid,” Oshima-san shakes her head. “I’ve always been against this new type of fun. Sure, it’s great how real it makes the gaming feel, but it’s not healthy at all, no matter what the developers say. It’s just simply not right for a device to be connected to a person’s brain nerves for hours and hours of time.”
“Okay,” Rina finally says, sort of interrupting the doctor as she’s had enough and will probably go nuts if she has to hear more of this. “Thanks a lot, Oshima-san. I’ll make sure to take a break and get back to full health.”
“Good. I wish you a fast recovery!”
They leave as quickly as possible and just as expected, Sayanee doesn’t ask a thing even though she clearly notices how discomposed Rina is.
And for once, Rina’s thankful for that.
*
The first argument occurs as soon as they get home because Sayanee insists on throwing out the headgear but at least, removing it from Rina’s room so she wouldn’t be grabbed by the temptation but that the last thing Rina wants and would allow so they fight in the living room until Annin appears and stands between them, asking them to calm down a little bit and then continue the argument reasonably.
Just as always, Rina’s shocked by Annin’s ability to lighten up the mood between her and Sayanee and she wonders if deep down, that was the main reason why they all decided to move in together since Annin’s had the role of the peacemaker ever since these two became friends.
But that’s irrelevant now and Rina takes a deep breath, closing her eyes before trying to reason with Sayanee.
“Please, leave it there. I promise I’m not going to use it,” she says, forcing as much honesty into those words as possible.
“Then why do you care whether it’s in your room or somewhere else?” Sayanee retorts with a good point and Rina chews on her bottom lip.
“Fine,” she finally nods. “But then, please, let me just log in once more. I want to talk to somebody.”
“So there is somebody,” Sayanee grumbles and Rina looks at her confusedly.
“What?”
Sayanee and Annin exchange a quick look but it doesn’t escape Rina’s attention. She crosses her arms.
“We’ve been thinking that you might have found someone and that’s why you spend so much time online,” Annin says in a quiet voice that sounds so innocent Rina just simply can’t be mad at her.
She’s not sure why she shouldbe mad, though.
“It was obvious because your usual 1-2 hours of gameplay turned into 6-7-8 hours and it’s not like you’re a newbie,” Sayanee shrugs. “So care to tell us what it’s about?”
“Why are you talking like I’m having someone? Can’t I just have a game partner I like to hang out with?” Rina snorts, clearly feeling bitter about the way her two friends are confronting her.
Of course the bitterness is because of how repulsively they confront her and surely not because they might have found a weak point.
Surely not.
“Why are you getting so defensive?” Sayanee furrows her eyebrows. “We’re not accusing you of murder, for god’s sake, we’re just being curious!”
“Yes, I like somebody!” Rina finally blurts out, shocking both of her friends with the sudden honesty, but especially herself, because she’s never thought of Yuihan that way before. She’s never thought even once that perhaps her persistence to get to know the other and spend much time with her or the fact that every time she went online was purely because of her would mean something.
And saying it out loud without realizing it beforehand felt rather surprising.
“Okay,” Annin says, supposedly noticing the change in Rina’s behavior, “do you want to talk about this person, Ricchan? Hm?”
“I don’t know,” she says honestly, squeezing her lips together. “Can I just talk to her? Please?”
“Her?” Sayanee asks and Rina almost rolls her eyes at how she successfully pointed out the most important thing.
“I’ll go talk to her now, then,” she excuses herself out and leaves the startled Sayanee there for Annin, slipping into her room and putting the gear on her head, praying that Yuihan would be online.
But she isn’t, and once again she feels the same disappointment as last time. Hesitating what to do now, she decides to leave a message for her with her number in the content field also attaching every single gold she has since she probably won’t need them anymore. She doesn’t write down anything except her number because, as she realizes quickly, she sort of wants Yuihan to contact her first, to see if she even misses her if Rina’s gone. To see if she would try to get in touch if she doesn’t find her online for days.
Her mood drop is probably visible because when she hands the gear over to Sayanee, she bites into her bottom lip and exchanges another knowing look with Annin. She’s bothered by how these two suddenly became secret-sharers but she could care less about things like that. Right now, all she wants to do is settle down and watch Disney movies until she falls asleep and when she suggests the idea, their friends agree.
And that makes her somewhat happy.
*
She spends the next few days casually, doing casual things and thinking about casual things, except for the times she glances at her phone to see if there’s any sign of Yuihan ever trying to get in touch, but there’s nothing, and it would be silly to say that it doesn’t pain her at all. It does, much more than it should, and she wonders how she even got so attached to this girl in the beginning, whose face she doesn’t even know, heck that, she doesn’t even know her real name. She knows almost nothing about her and yet there she is, sitting in class and being on the verge of crying because of how much she misses her.
Is it possible to fall for someone so hard within just a week of time?
It is, Rina thinks after a while. She is the living evidence for it.
Three days pass and it’s not even that bad anymore. Rina’s given up hope, even though it’s just three days; if she really cared, she would’ve already called, wouldn’t she? It’s not like there would be any proof of Yuihan being close to her. Maybe she doesn’t even like her that much, not even as a friend. Maybe, she doesn’t even mean anything to Yuihan.
That thought feels like she was being poked at by huge pieces of broken glass so she shoos it away instead.
On the fourth day, she goes to Starbucks even though the shop brings back some unwanted memories all involving Yuihan. It’s silly, but it reminds her of her talks with the girl and she’s been hesitating to come here ever since she had to give up playing.
But her headaches did disappear, so it’s not like it wasn’t worth it.
The queue is unusually long this time and there’s at least six other people in front of her before it would be her turn. She stands in the row with her arms crossed, one of her legs going up and down impatiently as she waits.
Finally there’s only one girl left and she watches her order a small beverage of caramel frappucchino and she’s only half-listening to what she’s discussing with Juri (the barista, Rina’s known her since high school and she’s always taken umbrage at her for never giving any discount) when she catches a familiar word that warms her heart and her attention is drawn.
She must be hallucinating.
But then Juri writes the customer’s name on the cup as the tradition goes and when she puts it down, there’s “Yuihan” on it.
It’s just a coincidence.
But as she steps aside a little bit to have a better look at the girl’s face, she thinks that this face is definitely one she could relate to Yuihan.
She has middle-length, raven black hair and blunt bags, a pair of glasses sitting on her short, but a bit wide nose which seems to be only for fashion purposes as it doesn’t have any lens. She can’t take out much of her face as she needs to avert her gaze if she doesn’t want to be caught staring and she feels a strong urge to say something, to mention the username Yuihan232 but she’s afraid that it really is a coincidence and the girl would just look at her, completely clueless.
“Ah, hello Ricchan!” Juri suddenly greets as she comes back with the steaming coffee and notices her, and that’s when the girl in front of her turns around, taking a curious look at Rina.
It’s her, something screams inside Rina, I’ve told her my nickname, and the realization hits her so hard that she’s unable to say anything or just move, even.
“Ricchan?” the girl asks and Rina almost faints when she recognizes the voice.
She realizes she actually did faint when the next thing she remembers is being hold in Yuihan’s arms, a collection of worried, random faces gathered around her.
“What happened?” she asks with a voice that sounds like more of a zombie’s and Yuihan lets out a barely audible, but undoubtedly amused chuckle.
“If I knew I was going to have this kind of effect on you I wouldn’t have come to visit.”
“No, no, I’m fine, I’m…” she says before finally processing what Yuihan said and she makes a surprised sound. “Wait, what?”
“Pull yourself together first, Ricchan, then we’ll talk.” She chuckles again, now not even trying to hide it. “You can all go away now, she’s okay,” she turns around to shoo all the annoyingly curious people away and they disperse one by one until there’s no one around her but Yuihan and Juri; her friend soon disappearing, too, after she makes sure Rina’s fine as she needs to get back to work.
Rina sits up, hesitating whether to stand up or not because honestly, she doesn’t really want to leave Yuihan’s arms. But she knows that’s rather silly so ends up standing anyway, with Yuihan still having her hand on her arm as if securing a way to hold her again if she falls again and for a second, Ricchan almost intentionally does.
But only almost.
“Okay, so what is this all about?” she asks once she’s sitting at a table next to Yuihan.
“Well since you disappeared from the game and the phone number you gave me didn’t work…”
“What?” Rina frowns. “It didn’t work? You tried to call me?”
“Of course. But apparently, you probably made a typo in the number because no matter how many times I tried, it always said to be a wrong, non-working number,” Yuihan says and there’s a mocking smile on her face.
Rina stares for a short moment before covering her face with a hand, completely embarrassed. How could she ruin even just that one, but very important thing…
And she thought that Yuihan didn’t even care for her.
What a fool.
“So anyway, I did some investigation and Googling and stuff and I found the college I supposed you go to because there was a student named Kawaei Rina and based on your username, that seemed to be a bulls-eye,” Yuihan continues, propping up her elbow on the table and resting her hand in her palm, looking at Rina with such a penetrating look she has to tear her gaze away. “It was in the same ward as Akihabara, so I checked the district for Starbucks shops and there were only two, but one of them was far from any bus stops and kind of on the other end of the district so I took a wild guess and started here. And when I asked Takahashi, she said that you do come here often and that you two are friends. So I was right!” Yuihan announces with a wide, victorious grin but Rina is still confused.
“Are you like a private investigator or something?”
“I’m a detective assistant,” Yuihan says, her smile growing even wider when Rina’s lips part in shock.
“Wow… and you did all of this only to…” she murmurs but Yuihan cuts her off, nodding.
“To meet you. Well, I couldn’t just let you escape me that easily, right?” she chuckles and Rina’s like so cute, almost fainting again. “Besides, why do you not come online anymore?”
“The gear caused me intense headaches and the doctor said I need to stop if I don’t want to get a permanent damage,” Rina sighs and Yuihan’s amused expression morphs into a worried one.
“Are you okay now? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Rina bites down on her bottom lip. Should she tell her the real reason? It sounds embarrassing and rather silly now that she thinks back of it…
“Well…” she starts, avoiding eye contact. “I kinda wanted to see if you would try to contact me if I disappeared.”
Yuihan blinks for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. “You’re such a kid, Ricchan.”
“Yeah, um, whatever…” Rina lowers her head as an attempt to hide her flushed cheeks. “Anyway, is your real name really Yuihan?”
“It’s my nickname,” she says. “Which reminds me, that we never properly introduced ourselves. I’m Yokoyama Yui, a pleasure to meet you,” Yokoyama Yui extends a hand and when Rina shakes it, it feels surprisingly amazing.
“Kawaei Rina, same goes for you,” she smiles and seeing Yui smile back at her the same, happy way, feels even more amazing.