Chapter Text
“As of today, it has been one year since rock band Roselia’s notorious comeback. It has been one year, but there have been no answers yet from producer Minato Yuuki in regards to the rumors that revolve around the band’s well-known guitarist, who goes by the name of Hisayo. There have been no updates from inside sources, and the mystery that surrounds the famed guitarist remains unsolved. Next on-”
She sighed. Has it really been a year already? She can’t quite remember the last time she had reporters and journalists in her face and asking her about her father’s band, but the thought that exactly one year ago was when there were cameras all around her house has made her reluctant to attend school today. It’s all over the news again, so she couldn’t possible escape at least one question from some curious outsider who wanted to know about what had happened to Hisayo. Though as she has said too many times, she didn’t know. She knew just as much about the mysterious Hisayo as anyone, really. She thinks that the only things most people don’t know is that Hisayo is a third year who is in the independent study program at Hanasakigawa Academy. If it weren’t for her father’s occasional rambling in the past, she wouldn’t even know that, so she knew just as much as anyone about the guitarist. Just as she was debating whether she should attend school today or not, she got a text.
Lisa
Hey~! I figured you weren’t gonna want to come to school today, so I thought I’d come by instead~! Just a heads up so you don’t get too surprised when I show up~☆
Of course, leave it to her best friend to know just about anything and everything about her. She got up to at least get ready for the arrival of her childhood friend, putting herself together just enough to look presentable, as she has yet to change out of her nightgown. As she stroked through her long, silver hair one more time, the doorbell rang, and she hurried down the stairs to let her friend into her home. The moment she turned the knob though, her friend came barreling through. She was nearly knocked to the ground from the force, and must’ve had a very confused face because the brunette turned and immediately apologized to her with a sheepish smile.
“Sorry about that, Yukina! There are reporters outside of your house again, and I didn’t want any of them to push the door open, so I got in as fast as I could.”
Of course there were journalists again. What did she expect? Well, nothing short of this, that’s for sure.
“No worries. At least neither of us got hurt.” the brunette then nodded energetically in agreement and took her hand to lead her up to her own room.
“C’mon! I have something to discuss with you today anyway!” as they made their way to her room, they crossed paths with her father. He looked particularly drained today, and she wasn’t sure if it was the news and reporters, the beer bottles in his hands, or a combination of both.
“Dad, are you okay?” she tried. The weary man looked up at her tiredly before shaking his head and groaning.
“Same old, same old, Yukina.” he said before trudging over to the kitchen.
“Is he getting worse?” Lisa whispered before hurrying them to the privacy of her bedroom, not at all put off by the fact that she wasn’t acknowledged by the older man. He used to at least nod to her. They both forgot when he stopped doing even that.
“I guess? I don’t know. I stopped trying to keep track of how many times he went to the liquor store.” Lisa just nodded gravely, and they both entered her room without another word about her father. He was never a pleasant person to talk about, after all.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
“A what?” was what Yukina said when her best friend asked her to play a video game, of all things, with her. “Why?”
“C’mon, Yukina~! Maybe it’ll do you some good since you barely do anything anyway ☆”
“Well I don’t even have FullDive console, old or new. What am I supposed to do? Just buy one right now?”
“You don’t have to. Ako says that her older sister never uses her LiNK, and is willing to lend it to you so that we can all play together~!”
“What’s so important about me? Why does it have to be me that plays this game with you all?”
“Well, honestly, nothing much. Ako and her friend, Rinko, invited me to play with them since the game that they play is moving from PC to FullDive, and since I already have a console, I figured why not? And I asked them if I could invite you, and they’re willing~. So what do you say?”
If it weren’t for her best friend’s pleading eyes, Yukina would like to think that she would have refused to play a game she has never heard anything about, with people she’s never met, and using a device she has never touched. But if she really thought about it, Yukina knows that even if Lisa hadn’t given her this long of a talk, she would have agreed to join their… party? She doesn’t quite know what that means yet, but she didn’t want to interrupt Lisa when she seemed so excited about explaining everything to her--in very little detail, might she add.
Yukina remembers a time when she was much closer to her father, and if it weren’t for the rumors that spread about the guitarist of his band, she knows that their relationship could have continued to be as healthy as it used to be. Despite living under the same roof as him, Yukina has yet to uncover the mystery behind the guitarist, and why the rumors have caused him to deteriorate in such a manner. She may not be an amazing musician like her father, but Yukina would like to believe that she is quite skilled in the area of music. She has listened to all the music her father has written for his band, and when she listened to the guitar, she didn’t hear any differences.
This is also why the rumors confused her so much. The guitarist was apparently ill during the band’s European tour that happened more than two years ago, and had missed three days in total. When she returned, fans at the venues noted that her playing style and stage presence had changed. Many brushed it off though, assuming that Hisayo just hadn’t recovered from her minor cold and fever just yet. She would be in tip-top shape again when Roselia began their Asia tour, is what everyone agreed to believe.
Except the Asia tour never happened. In fact, Roselia and her father had gone radio-silent for a whole year, and her father has yet to give the press or even her an explanation for the sudden muteness.
After a year since the rumors began, Roselia made their first comeback. It was sudden, and no one expected it, but all were happy. The general public was ecstatic to have their favorite rock band back, and Yukina remembers all the hashtags that topped social media charts during that time, as well as all the news reports and articles made on the band. Their return was considered to be one of legends, and it seemed to receive nothing but positivity from the masses--that was until the critics began analyzing the music.
Yukina doesn’t quite remember how or when it started, but soon, instead of seeing fans happily enjoying the new album that was released, she was reading through forum discussions about the change in style of Hisayo’s guitar. She has watched several videos and read several blog posts from guitar critics examining the difference in sound that was given off by the guitar, and though it all seemed negative at first, many of the critics stated that the change wasn’t necessarily bad, just different.
She remembers some stating that the new sound was brighter now, and more flamboyant. It wasn’t as technically good, she recalls reading once, but the new style made the songs more full than before. The rumors that appeared to be negative at first, turned positive, and seemed to make the band more likeable than it was before. But despite the success of the band, Yukina noticed that her father didn’t seem to take it well at all.
He began drinking a lot more and often skipped meals. He didn’t take care of himself anymore, and Yukina remembers the several times she had to steel herself before entering her father’s bedroom to fix it up because of how much of a mess it was. She has found her father passed out on the dining table with a glass or bottle in his hand too many times to count, and in some ways, she cursed the band for making him like this--cursed this Hisayo for making him like this.
Okay, maybe Hisayo didn’t do anything personally, but she has so much influence on her father that he would rather drink his days away than ever hold a conversation with his daughter, and Yukina didn’t know how to take that. Who was this Hisayo? Why is she so important to him? The situation made no sense to Yukina, and though she wanted to make sense of it, her father wouldn’t let her. She found herself unable to hold any meaningful conversation with her father after the release of that first album after Roselia’s year-long, unexplained hiatus. And though the group continues releasing music that receives positive responses from all over, her father never seems satisfied with any of it, and continues to wallow in… whatever this is, exactly.
If only she could talk to Hisayo, then maybe she could figure out a way to bring her father back from his current state. Though the fact of the matter is that no one knows her real name or has seen her face before, let alone knows anything about her, and Yukina feels too timid to go to Hanasakigawa and either wait to see long, green hair, or ask for the girl herself. Yukina isn’t even sure the girl attends classes since she is part of the school’s independent study program, and if she did go to school, then when? And her father won’t tell her anything about the guitarist, so Yukina was stuck with an alcoholic as a father, and the cameras and microphones always in her face. She hated this, but what was she to do? At least her father wasn’t abusive or anything, otherwise that would just make her even more sad about the relationship she currently has with her father.
Maybe a break from all this would do her some good. Yukina brought herself back to the real world and focused on Lisa, who was still rambling about all the little things about this new game they were going to play. Maybe a step away from reality and into a fantasy world would allow her to break away from the things she’s had to shoulder for the past two years. Yeah, this would be good for her. Maybe one day she would return from the fantasy world and see her father with a bright smile on his face again. Oh, Yukina would so want that.
And with a newfound determination to get away from anything and everything, Yukina took her borrowed FullDive console and slipped it onto her head. As instructed by both Ako and Lisa, she lay back on her bed and got as comfortable as she could get with the unfamiliar object around her head. She stared at her ceiling for a few moments and wondered what she would see when she opened her eyes again. And though the thought frightened her, it also excited her.
“LiNK on.”
The hum of the device switching on made her gasp as she had never done this before. The harsh, red hue that exuded from the machine turned the ceiling a different color in her eyes, and for just a moment, Yukina wondered if she should have her eyes closed right now. She did just that in slight fear of what was to come. Yukina didn't know what the other side would look like, what she would see when she opened her gold-colored eyes.
She returned from voluntary darkness for just a moment to stare at her ceiling one more time. When she opened her eyes, she wouldn't see her ceiling anymore--she wouldn't be in the same world that has caused her and her father so much grief, and Yukina didn't quite know how to take that.
“Why am I making this so difficult? It's not like I'm physically going anywhere.”
She willed her eyes closed again and took a deep breath. The world beyond her own will be different, surely, so maybe she can start something new there. No one there would have to know that she's Minato Yuuki's daughter, and she wouldn't have to be plagued with the afterthought of someone literally following in her footsteps so that she could be cornered and barraged with questions.
In this new world, she would be free from all that. It would just be her, Lisa, and their new friends--a new life, in a video game. Yukina chuckled and imagined her past self scowling if she had told the latter that they would one day create a new life for themselves in a virtual realm. The thought was a bit silly to think about, but Yukina was ready to embrace it with open arms.
"Connect."
And so it began.