⸢ GAME END ⸥

[chims]

[ A message goes out to every Relic at noon, a succinct invitation directly from CCorp. Any replies to the message will bounce back, but there may be a GM around to grill for questions if you're lucky! ]

Good afternoon, Players!

We would like to extend a formal thank you to everyone who has participated in the closed beta for The World. A festival will be prepared down the bridge to the Chaos Gate and you're all encouraged to attend. All information we required was gathered from your testing, and we only hope that you thoroughly enjoyed your sneak peek of The World. We hope that our project will bring a new depth to the world of gaming with our innovative and immersive technology, and again, we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

Closed beta is coming to an end, and you will have 24 hours to say your goodbyes and exit through the Chaos Gate. Simply choose the blank Area Word for all three columns and you will be returned to your homes.

Sincerest regards, and to new adventures!
- CCorp Project Team

[ True to word, there are booths set up all down either side of the bridge with a number of foods, games, drinks, and souvenirs to be taken freely. The Chaos Gate can still be used regularly for a final farewell dungeon dive in The World, or perhaps enjoy the serene landscapes before returning to your own when. Mingle away! ]

Comments

[isolates]

[Ever since he's gotten the message from the GMs, Yuuta's been sitting by the fountain in Mac Anu with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. He doesn't want to believe it. This was his home. Is. It's the one place where he feels he can be normal, where everything that happened in his past doesn't matter.

So yes, he's upset.

Besides, he doesn't even know if he has a home to go to. Briefly, he wonders what will happen if he refuses to leave through the Chaos Gate before the twenty four hours are up.]

[lookslikemomo]

[There's something to be said about being bros in this-- game?--after a few years(???) of being in it together. Kind of. But it's really probably just Takeshi's puppy senses tingling, and it's a good thing he hasn't stepped into the Chaos Gate soon after the message popped up, too, because he knows distress when he sees it.

So he'll just sit down with Yuuta at the fountain and stare at the entrance to the Gate and be quiet until either of them maybe gets tired of the silence and speaks up.

Truthfully? He's scared of going back. There were too many what-ifs swimming in his head to be rational about this.

So. There. He'll just sit next to Yuuta, the person he's known the longest in his stay in The World, and probably the best little brother he'll never have back home.]

.....

[Yeah, no, he's not good at keeping quiet when there's obviously sad things trying to manifest themselves in the air.]

Kind of weird to see this day finally happening, huh?

[isolates]

[Yuuta doesn't look up and keeps staring at the ground. It's rare for him to be like this but he can't help it. Stepping through that gate would mean losing everything he's come to care for here.]

I was hoping it'd never come, actually. It was fun here.

[lookslikemomo]

... Yeah.

[Takeshi sighs and leans back on his hands, careful not to fall into the fountain. He shifts, leaning on one side so he can put a hand on Yuuta's head to console the kid.

Or himself, he couldn't tell.]

Lots of fun memories here...

[His lips quirk up a teensy bit, remembering something. He almost chuckles.]

'member our first dungeon together? The one with the creepy stairs to nowhere?

[isolates]

[Finally Yuuta looks up and glances over at Takeshi.]

You mean when you were trying to hoard all those juice boxes?

[Of course he remembers that since it's also when he first met Takeshi after all.

He reaches up and tries to swat at Takeshi's hand to remove it from its place on his head. Just because he's sad doesn't mean he can't show attitude!]

Have to say, that was a pretty great first impression.

[tank_sniper]

[Shinon's not sure what to think, either. Kirito had come and gone so quickly, and now... she can return not only to him, but also her friends Asuna and Lizbeth? It seems almost too good to be true.

And yet... part of her hesitates to return right away. She may not have enjoyed her time here, but it wasn't exactly the worst place she could have ended up. It... was actually kind of nice, in its own way.

As she slowly made her way through the town, a familiar face made her pause.]

...You're taking your time.

[isolates]

[He looks up.]

I don't want to go.

[He doesn't really see the point in hiding the fact and he's not ashamed in admitting it. It's what he honestly feels. While he knows some might not like being here, he liked it a lot.]

[tank_sniper]

...Are things that bad where you come from?

[Even she's reluctant, and she had something to look forwards to returning to. So... part of her could understand wanting to stay, especially given the right circumstances.]

[isolates]

Yeah. Well, it was.I'm not sure what's it like now actually.

[He's not entirely sure what the state of the world would be after Mitama takes in the heart piece. Would only the Comrades be taken in as well, leaving the rest of the world untouched? And what happens to them? There's just too many things he's unsure of.]

[tank_sniper]

..."Was"?

[That's... ominous.]

[isolates]

[He's never shared what his world was like back home with anyone and even now he's reluctant so he tries to figure how to word it vaguely.]

It was in trouble but hopefully it's saved now.

[As he speaks, he leans back slightly and puts his hands on the fountain's edge as well to steady himself then swings his legs a couple times. Saved but he's not sure there's still a place for him there.]

[tank_sniper]

Do you mind if I ask what kind of trouble?

[Her voice is... tentative. She clearly wouldn't pry any more if he decided not to expand on that topic.]

[isolates]

[He's silent for a bit. Should he tell her? He's always kept what happened in his world a secret because he like the chance he was given to be normal here, where being a power user didn't have a special meaning but... they're all being forced home now so is there still a point in keeping all this to himself?]

Hm, how do I put this... someone with a lot of power wanted to erase all humans. My friends and I fought to try and save the world. It's a lot more complicated than that but-- [He shrugs.]

[tank_sniper]

...

[Her first impulse is to say it sounds like something out of a story, but then again, that's how a lot of things work here. And really, she has no reason to doubt his words.]

Were you brought here in the middle of that fight?

[noisyclockhands]

[ Oz knows, distinctly, clearly, that he should run to Yuuta - run into him, take his arms dragdragdrag him somewhere. He should do that, because he's done that every single time before and everything else would be a telling change but- you know, there are these things called limits.

He'll flop down next to him instead and stare at the sky ]

Seems like our vacation is over, huh [ and look, he's learnt school related words! now, when there is no use for them any more ]

[isolates]

[Even through his mood Yuuta notices that Oz seems a little more subdued than usual. He would have welcomed the energy but he can't blame the other boy; he's feeling listless as well.]

That's actually a pretty accurate comparison.

[He copies Oz and stares up at the sky as well.]

Vacation always seems like it ends too early. This too.

[glassworkgenius]

[ Their last conversation... it was about this, wasn't it? When Taiyou sees Yuuta's figure from his behind, he puts on a small smile, despite how he really feels. He had already decided a while ago he would say his goodbyes. No turning back now...

Step. Step. Step. ]

Hey, Yuuta-kun.

[isolates]

Taiyou-nii...

[There's definite hesitation as he responds. He still remembers their last conversation and what he said about forgetting, about how upset Taiyou had been. Now that the end's here, he can't help but feel even worse for saying all those things. Why couldn't he have kept it all to himself?]

...Sorry.

[He's sorry for mentioning anything about going home and he's sorry for the end coming so soon.]

[glassworkgenius]

Don't be.

[ He kneels down to in front of Yuuta, and his smile widens. But it's hard to tell if he's confident in his words or not. ]

I'm not going to forget. You, The World, everyone else.

[isolates]

[Yuuta stares at him for a moment before he can find his words to reply.]

I don't want to forget either. If only... if only we can stay here despite the game ending.

[glassworkgenius]

[ Taiyou nods, looking up to the sky. ]

I guess we aren't allowed to wish for impossible things.

[isolates]

[He considers that before he lets himself admit what he's thinking.]

You know, I wonder what would happen if I refuse to go through the Chaos Gate before time's up.

[As he says that, he grins as if nothing's wrong even though everything's wrong and it frustrates him to no end.]

1/2

[glassworkgenius]

You might get forced.

[ Still, Taiyou chuckles at the thought. ]

2/2

[glassworkgenius]

But I agree. I want... I want to stay here for as long as I can. These last 24 hours: I have to use them wisely.

[isolates]

They can try!

[What Taiyou says next makes him reconsider. The other boy is right, of course. If he has to leave anyway, why is he wasting time moping? He wants to be selfish and throw a tantrum at how unfair this all is but... maybe surrounding himself with the people who's company he enjoys for as long as possible can count as selfishness too.]

Do you have an idea what you want to do, then?

[noisyclockhands]

[ Here, something that makes no sense; a child who is afraid of losing the people he met, of being lonely, hiding away from them in the last hours they have been granted.

Well, hiding. Oz is sitting on the roof of a building with his legs dangling down, unmoving. He knows that it's the right thing, to leave now, there are things to be done, and promises to uphold. There is pain to ignore (or to deal with, but he's never been any good at that really). He knows that, would know it without the too-big black hat on his head reminding him.

Still, something makes him want to be selfish, today. He isn't used to having friends, and knowing that he's already learning how to let go of them - that seems three steps too fast. It's probably a good thing that he has no choice in the matter ]

[tank_sniper]

[And who should pass by but a certain blue-haired Steam Gunner, slowly winding her way over to the Chaos Gate. It was by chance she decided to look up at the sky, which she has grown so familiar with, only to notice...

feet?]

...Who's up there?

[glassworkgenius]

[ Denial. That was the state Taiyou fervently held onto ever since the message came onto his relic. The World had been his escape from his reality, of medical check-ups and being indebted, a burden to his parents, selfishly asking to do things at his body's expense... Taiyou hadn't had to worry about these in The World. He even wondered, once, if his parents would've missed him at all. There was so much on his mind. That, contradictorily, he became numb, and his mind was blank.

Yuuta had told him, the last time they crossed paths, that he didn't remember anything about The World when he went home, the last time. And it made Taiyou's heart all the heavier.

He doesn't want to go. He doesn't want to forget. He doesn't... want to...

Thinking an early leave would spare him more emotion, he doesn't look for anyone. Taiyou looks up at the Chaos Gate, expression unfocused, and staring into space. He stays like that for a while. Then finally, slowly, he draws out his relic.

Why...? Can't he move? Only his hands were, because they were trembling. For the first and last time--for it was not something he would normally do, Taiyou hurls his relic onto the ground.

And breaks down crying. ]