[Fic] Access Denied- 08
Title: Access Denied
Chapter: 8/??
Author: evilgeniuskoji
Beta: visualcomplex
Pairing: Reita/Ruki
Genre: Mystery, suspense, scifi
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Summary: AU. Saiko Reality is the hottest new virtual reality simulator. With an in-game experience that questions your reality and theirs, PSC's newest product has establishd a wide branch all over Central Tokyo. Such a large corporation cannot go witout its dark secrets...and as he struggles to remember his past, Ruki finds himself ensnared in the very heart of the problem.
Comments: Thank you so much to my awesome beta.
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“Wait,” Ruki laughed incredulously. “Wait. You think Kai works for PSC? That’s not possible. I’ve lived with that guy for two years and he’s absolutely hopeless with computers.”
“You know, Morita-sensei said something about that,” Reita piped up. “He said that PSC has people like him to code and program, but mods…they prefer to hire them based on mental capacities. People like me, who don’t really run any risks in the game…and people like you, who can affect the game physically. Maybe Kai-san is one of those people…”
“I don’t think so.” Ruki shook his head stubbornly. “This is probably some kind of mistake. Kai can’t really be…I mean, you’re not even sure, right?”
“We’re pretty sure.”
“What, do you want me to think Kai’s some sort of bad guy now?”
“You don’t believe us?” Reita asked quietly.
“It’s hard to,” he admitted. “I know Kai, but I don’t really know you guys.”
A hurt look flashed over Reita’s face and Ruki felt a twinge of guilt, but Aoi spoke up before either of them could. “Forget it, Reita. He’s not the Ruki we knew,” he said coldly. “He doesn’t have a reason to trust us any more.”
Ruki narrowed his eyes at Aoi’s mocking tone. Reita looked stricken, glancing back between Ruki and Aoi. “Aoi, I don’t think-”
“What? It’s not like he cares about any of this. He doesn’t remember,” Aoi spat. He rounded on Ruki, eyes boring into him accusingly. “Do you even want to? Do you even care about what PSC’s doing?”
Ruki’s self-control snapped. “And why should I give a damn? It’s a fucking game-there are more important things than that!”
The room went silent. Then Aoi said, “Get out.”
Reita looked like he didn’t know what to do or say but Ruki pushed himself to his feet and glanced at him once before leaving the room. Aoi wheeled his chair around to face the computer again and began typing furiously.
“Aoi-”
“Drop it, Suzuki. We don’t need him.”
“But it’s Ruki. We finally found him and you just-”
“No. He doesn’t even act like Ruki! Ruki’s gone. He’s been gone for a long, long time.”
The door clicked shut then, cutting off their voices. Ruki sucked in a breath and began to climb the stairs.
He was halfway down the block when he heard a door slam and pounding footsteps on the pavement behind him. “Ruki! Wait!” Reita called, pulling up next to him slightly out of breath. “Um, about your clothes…”
Ruki blinked. “Oh. Right. Well, ah, if it’s convenient for you, let’s meet up later.”
“Yeah, of course!” Reita nodded eagerly. He hesitated before saying, “Don’t worry about Aoi. He’s just, um…he’s really serious about ‘bringing PSC to justice’ and that kind of stuff. His sister was a really hard gamer, and…well, there was a freak accident. She interfaced too deeply with the game and the system malfunctioned…sorta like what happened with you...”
A sudden chill crept into Ruki’s veins. “What happened to her?”
“…She died.”
---
He showed up for work that day ten minutes late with his suit slightly rumpled because the movers had stuffed it in a box after salvaging it from the remains of his apartment. His clothes and some other items he’d requested had been brought to his hotel room; the rest now sat neatly packed away in storage until he could find somewhere else to live. That shouldn’t take long; he’d already spoken with a landlady who seemed eager to increase her number of tenants.
Kawaichi was, needless to say, displeased with his tardiness. The store manager scolded him soundly on the importance of punctuality and responsibilities. It was a conversation in which the majority of Ruki’s contribution had been subdued nods of his head and puncturing Kawaichi’s lecture with the appropriate “Hai” every other sentence.
“Don’t let this happen again. Do you understand, Ruki-san?”
“Yes, Kawaichi-san.”
“Very good. Open up the store, then. I will be in the back with the new shipment.”
Ruki nodded and opened the front stores, spilling sunlight onto the marble floors though the lights were still on. He was just flicking on the ones in the display cases when Kawaichi reemerged from the backroom frowning, a book in hand.
“Ruki-kun, did you place an order for this collector’s book?”
“What? No. Why?”
“It came in with the shipment. Here.” He handed it to Ruki.
The book was slim paperback with a close-up shot of a heavy silver bracelet made of interlinked crosses on the cover. The brand name was printed neatly above the bracelet in plain capital letters. ‘Harugin’.
“I didn’t order this,” Ruki repeated, shaking his head. “It came in with the shipment?”
“Yes. Stacked on top of the new shipment of Kamisori pendants.” The store manager eyed him suspiciously. “You really didn’t order this? I know we talked about Harugin the other day…”
“No, it wasn’t me.” He flipped the book open and thumbed his way through glossy black pages, all of them highlighting some sort of silver accessory. “Harugin only use silver?”
“Yes, it was their specialty.” Kawaichi heaved a sigh. “What are we going to do with it? We no longer carry Harugin products, and besides, the brand’s almost unknown now. I can’t just send it back…I wasn’t even aware they carried this any more…”
A picture of a pendant caught his eye. It was silver, of course, fashioned into a graceful miniature chandelier hanging from a slim chain. A complimentary earring hovered beside it, its dangling drop reflected in the obsidian surface the jewelry was displayed against. The name of the piece was printed against the page in soft silver ripples.
Quiet Beauty
He sat hunched over the table, elbows braced against the table and cheek propped against one hand while the other grasped a pencil loosely and scratched at the page. A scattered pile of discarded sketches was pushed onto the corner of his desk, covered in crude designs and half-finished scribbles..
A flyer was tacked up on the wall. It read: ‘Enter Harugin’s summer contest with your original design! Deadline for submissions is on July 30th. The winning entry will be featured in Harugin’s fall collection!’
His phone suddenly lit up and started ringing. Dropping his pencil with no small amount of relief for the distraction, Ruki leaned back into his chair and clicked open the message, tilting the phone at an angle so he could read it without readjusting his position.
From: Reita
Subject: konbanwa
want to go out for dinner? i’ll buy
Ruki paused and glanced down at the useless doodles on his page and hit reply.
---
“Ruki-kun? Ruki-kun?” Kawaichi shook his shoulder, a concerned look on his face “Ruki-kun, are you alright?”
“Eh…?” Ruki blinked, shaking off the daze he was in. “A-ah...I’m alright, Kawaichi-san.”
“Are you sure?” the older man frowned. “You are very pale.”
“I’m fine,” he said, straightening. “Kawaichi-san, about this book…if the store has no use for it, may I have it?”
“…Well,” Kawaichi said after a moment, “I don’t see why not…”
Ruki smiled. “Thank you very much.”
Before he closed it, he glanced down at the picture of the pendant and earring again. Written on the corner of the page was the designer’s name, right under the name of the product.
Matsumoto Takanori.
---
The café where Reita suggested they meet was in Shimokitazawa, tucked next to a million other jewelry stores and trendy fashion shops. A strange sense of déjà vu washed over Ruki as he entered and was promptly seated at a small, out-of-the-way table in the corner. A waitress brought him a menu before disappearing.
He kept looking around and tried to pinpoint exactly why the place looked so familiar. There were warm stucco walls, wooden shelves advertising different types of tea and creams, the voices of both customers and staff alike, blending together. The pleasant scent of coffee, tea, and baked sweets hung in the air temptingly.
Before he could put his thumb on it, Reita dropped down into the chair across from him heavily, red-faced and slightly out of breath. “Sorry I’m late,” he said. “The traffic…”
“It’s fine, I understand.”
The waitress appeared again and distracted them from small talk. Reita placed his order quickly, not so much glancing at his menu whereas Ruki fumbled with his.
“Do you come here a lot?” he asked when the waitress left.
“Eh? Sometimes,” Reita smiled distractedly. “Not so much for the past few years, but I used to be a regular here.”
“I see.”
The waitress appeared then with their orders, saving them from the silence and setting down a steaming cup of tea before him. A sharp scent invaded his nose as he picked it up and sipped.
“Oh, here are your clothes by the way.” Reita said after a moment, handing Ruki a blue plastic bag. “I washed them and everything.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” Ruki said automatically. “But thank you very much. Here are the clothes I borrowed from you as well.”
Reita looked startled. “Oh…you can keep those. They’re originally yours, after all.”
There was a short, awkward pause.
Ruki cleared his throat and glanced around again. “You know, this place is really familiar…I wonder why.”
“Do you remember something?” Reita leaned forward eagerly.
“I…think so,” Ruki said reluctantly. “I think I remember coming here with you. At least, I think it was you…”
“We met here.”
“We did?” His eyes widened.
“Well…not really. I mean, we met online, but uh…” Reita looked sheepish. “We sorta…met here later on.”
“…Huh.” Ruki considered this, not quite sure what to say. “So you’re some kind of internet stalker?” He burst into laughter at Reita’s comically shocked expression and immediately ducked his head, stifling himself with his knuckle. “I’m joking, Reita-san.” The smile he wore brightened his face.
Reita stared at him for a moment before he gave a small, shaky smile in return. “We agreed to meet here, you know.”
“Yes, yes, I understand.” Ruki laughed, shaking his head. His good mood faded, however, when he spotted Reita’s face, suddenly serious.
“Don’t you want to remember anything, Ruki-san?” he asked in a soft voice.
Ruki fell silent. “It’s not that I don’t,” he finally said. “I guess I’m just…I don’t know. Not sure what to expect.” He lifted his head to meet Reita’s eyes. “But I do want to remember.”
Reita’s face was solemn. “Let me help.”
---
Reita’s apartment was the same as it was last time; slightly messy, but simple and devoid of the clutter that seemed to creep up in Ruki’s home no matter how clean he kept it.
“Make yourself at home,” Reita said as he walked over to a cabinet and dropped down to pull open a drawer. “I’ll just be a sec.”
He noticed the picture frames on the table opposite to the couch just as he was about to sit down. Curious, Ruki walked over and picked up a small wire frame with a photo of an obviously younger Reita with dark black hair and a wide grin in a neatly ironed school uniform. He was holding what seemed to be his diploma, and next to him was a proud, beaming woman with a full, round face and crinkled black eyes.
There were other pictures too: a young woman with Reita’s dark black eyes and rounded nose sitting next to a man with an easygoing expression and a baby bundled in his arms; what seemed to be a high school soccer team sprawled down on a green field, and of a group of rather eccentric friends posed outside a house.
The last picture was framed in simple wire. Ruki’s stomach dropped from beneath him in a manner that was starting to get familiar when he recognized his face behind a pair of oversized sunglasses and a loose beanie that sat lopsided on top of dried, bleached hair. He mentally winced when he spotted dark roots peaking out from under the hat.
It was easy to recognize Reita sprawled next to him on a bench in that picture, looking pretty much the same, face slack with sleep and mouth hanging open in mid-snore. The younger Ruki had his arm thrown casually around him, a smirk on his face as he extended his middle finger towards the photographer in lazy rebellion.
“That was from when we went out and got piss drunk,” Reita’s voice said from behind him. Ruki almost jumped and turned around quickly. The blond man was clutching a large leather-bound book but he was looking at the picture on the table with a nostalgic and slightly forlorn expression on his face. “I kinda passed out.”
“I noticed,” Ruki said dryly. “What’s that?”
“Eh? Oh,” Reita hefted the book with a slight grunt. “Photo album. Thought it might help with…you know. Your memories. Maybe?”
“Yeah, okay.”
They flipped through so many pages of people and places that Ruki lost track after a while. Each time his face appeared, Reita would lean forward excitedly and narrate the story behind it eagerly, his face alive with nostalgia.
“Oh! This is a picture from that time at the festival! You got in a huge argument with the fishing booth vendor that day…”
“I remember this! We, heh, kinda shoved you in the water and you were so pissed.”
“Oh, man, I haven’t looked at this in years. You made us go to that stupid dog carnival…”
At some point, Ruki’s mind drifted away. It wasn’t like they were boring, but if he expected to feel a connection with those pictures, he was disappointed. They had interesting stories, and Ruki enjoyed them in a detached, inattentive way. It was like he was listening to someone else’s stories…to someone else’s life.
“And here’s a picture of you and Kiyoharu-san…he was like, your favorite designer and everything, and you were really happy when you two got to meet.”
Ruki zoned back in at the word “designer” and saw that Reita was pointed at a photograph of the Ruki standing next to an older man with shaded eyes and a bandana wrapped around his head. He snickered a little at the expression on his younger self’s face; he looked like he was about to wet himself with happiness from being so close to his (apparent) idol. Standing side by side, he could see where the younger him had imitated the designer’s-Kiyoharu?-style with the wide-brimmed hat and bug-eyed glasses.
Something tiny and silver dangled from his ear in the picture; upon closer inspection, he determined it to be a miniature chandelier-shaped earring.
“Reita-san.”
“Eh? Yes?” The tall man blinked and stopped talking.
He fished the Harugin photo book out of his bag and searched for the Quiet Beauty page. “I found this the other day at work…did I work for Harugin or something?” he slid the book over to Reita.
Reita leaned over and for a moment Ruki was uncomfortably aware of their thighs pressed closely together. “Yeah, I remember this,” Reita said. “You entered this jewelry design contest and won, and then Harugin hired you…” He looked at Ruki uncertainly. “Didn’t you read that file I gave you? All this stuff is in there…”
The look on Ruki’s face was a comical mix between surprised and chagrined. “I only skimmed,” he muttered. “I’ll read through it again.”
“Okay,” Reita nodded encouragingly. He glanced back down at the album then at Ruki’s expression. “This thing isn’t really working, is it?” he guessed.
Ruki shook his head. “Not really.”
Reita gnawed on his lip. “Then maybe we should try the other plan.”
---
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ruki perched gingerly on the arm of the couch.
He craned his neck and caught sight of Reita’s backside as the lean young man crouched and dug around in a cabinet. Ruki found himself admiring it before he caught himself and cleared his throat.
Reita’s muffled voice was accompanied by grunts and the sound of things being shifted around. “I don’t see why not. Unless you have a better plan?”
“Not really,” Ruki admitted, “but Morita-sensei did warn me against it…you know, before he-”
“I know,” Reita interrupted as his head popped out of the cabinet. “But he was probably trying to keep you from remembering and getting into all this stuff again. I bet it’ll be alright. Oh, here it is.”
Ruki looked, curious. Clutched in Reita’s hand was a small cardboard box stamped with PSC’s logo.
“You never know. I mean,” Reita was saying, “maybe all you need is a little push from Saiko and you’ll remember everything.”
Ruki looked doubtfully at the small white box. “Right.”
A hand clapped on his shoulder reassuringly. “It’ll be fine. I really think going into the game will help.”
He nodded reluctantly. “Don’t we need a…terminal?”
“There are terminals all over the city. Makes it easier for the public to access it since they’re so expensive.” Reita sat down on the couch and flipped open the box. “This came out about a year ago.”
Ruki leaned forward eagerly. Settled into a thin, protective foam layer was something that resembled an elaborate headset. The inside of it was padded with white leather, and embedded along the outer curve were small, clear blue squares. On either end the leather-padded ear pieces were similarly capped with blue squares, and a small mic extended from the left end.
“It's the new headpiece model of the portable terminals PSC has been working on,” Reita explained as he plugged a wire into the router he’d brought out earlier. The other end was connected to the headset. “Okay, we’re on the net now." The headset was pushed into Ruki’s hands. “Here you go.”
“What do I do with it?”
“Put your access card here.” Reita tapped a small slot above the ear-pads. “You brought it, right?”
Ruki nodded slowly, fishing out the access card from his pocket. The light glanced off its iridescent colors as it clicked into the slot. The blue squares along the headpiece immediately lit up and shone softly.
“Yep, that means it’s all ready to go.” Reita popped his own access card in and connected his headpiece to the console. It was slightly different from Ruki’s, with some sort of clear plastic visor looking thing. “Lay back and relax a little, okay?”
“Yeah, because having your nerves attached to a game is so relaxing,” Ruki said dryly. “What’s that?”
Reita looked at him, surprised, then chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he said. “This is just something that helps me see. You won’t need it since your mental capacity is high. Hey, if you’re really not sure about this, you can still back out…”
“No, I want to,” Ruki said quickly.
“Okay.” Reita nodded and slipped his headpiece on. The visor lit up and tinted his face blue. “Ready? When you reach the directory, ask for Server Five, Area, Burial Applicant.”
“Okay.” Ruki exhaled slowly. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
He slid the headpiece on and the ear-pads immediately blocked off all sound. Reita leaned over and pressed a button on the router. A green light turned on and Ruki heard something click and whirr from the sound system.
Then his senses went dead.
---
A sharp sort of shock jolted him back into wakefulness. His nerves tingled as they returned to him. He blinked several times before he realized he was not imagining the white, nebulous-looking room he was in.
At eye-level, his hand looked the same, heavily laden with rings, wristbands, and chains. When he flexed, the fingers before him immediately bunched up, the skin tightening and stretching just as it would if it were a real hand. The supple leather of the wristbands rubbed up against him, and the chains clinked together noisily.
It really was just like a real body.
Of course, it wasn’t exactly like his own body. His legs seemed to be a bit longer, which threw his balance off a little, but after a moment, the alien sense of being in another body wore off and he was confidently walking around the room.
It was just as bland and empty as before. He turned around several times and wondered if he’d somehow gotten something wrong. “Hello? Reita? Where are-”
“Welcome to Saiko Reality, Ruki!” A voice suddenly chirped.
He jerked in surprise and whirled around. What had been a blank wall before was now occupied by a smooth marble counter. It was manned by a woman dressed neatly in a flight attendant’s uniform. A hat was angled jauntily on top of her perfectly styled hair and her smile was bright and lipsticked.
“Where would you like to go?” she continued. Several holographic maps popped up at her words. He saw a city, a floating mountain, a volcano and a desert before he remembered what Reita had said.
“Er…Server…five?” he cleared his throat. “Burial Applicant.”
One of the maps immediately expanded as the others faded into a background. It flickered between images of an icy terrain and a magnificent ice sculpture as the woman spoke, her expression frozen on her face. Ruki stared at her, slightly unnerved. “Server loading…loading… Preparations to transport are ready. Thank you for playing Saiko Reality! Enjoy your Reality here!
“Now gating user Ruki to Server: Five, Area: Burial Applicant.”
Before he could react, a circle flared around his feet and encased him in a pillar of light. The disorienting sensation of his stomach dropping out from under him remained even after the world righted itself.
The white room-the directory-was gone. He was standing in some sort of church-or at least, he thought he was. Large, frameless mirrors hung in niches that might normally house icons and statues. A pair of great wooden doors loomed before him, decorated with carvings of snow-capped mountains and strange, furred creatures. There wasn’t an altar or any kind of religious mark, but the pews and weak sunlight streaming through the dirty skylights created an atmosphere that seemed worthy of prayer.
Ruki thought it unnerving.
A column of light materialized in the center aisle. When it faded, a young man with a blond fauxhawk was standing there. He had an odd black vest shrugged over a blue tank, and a weird strip of cloth tied over his nose. His eyes were a sharp and mysterious grey, hawk-like and heavily made up. There was something strongly familiar about him, but Ruki didn’t recognize him until he spoke.
“Ruki?”
Ruki blinked, then did a double take. “Reita?”
The strange young man smiled. “Yep.” He walked towards him and for the first time, Ruki noticed that his movements were stiff and awkward, less fluid and realistic than one would expect a real person to walk. His steps were somewhat mechanical and his hands hung at his side as if they didn’t know what to do with themselves.
Reita saw him staring, and his face twisted into something that resembled a sheepish expression. “It’s not really easy to control this body, so it’s harder to blend in with the other players.” He shrugged and examined Ruki closely. “Wow, that’s nostalgic…”
“What is? You look…different.”
“Yeah,” Reita laughed, “it’s my character’s design. They take your base features and they let you mess around with it.” His gaze skipped over Ruki’s face again. “Since you haven’t been on this Reality for three years, you look the same. It’s kind of weird, actually”
His voice was slightly off, but Ruki didn’t notice. He hurried over to one of the mirrors and stopped three feet away from one to the left of the pews. His hair, he noticed, was shorter, raggedly cut and black. A single streak of cherry red blazed down his scalp and ended in a thick bang hanging over his left eye. His ear was still heavily laden with silver, but he now wore a sleek black jacket with a flared collar, and his eyes were even more heavily lined than Reita’s. To his rather flabbergasted and somewhat baffled amusement, he also discovered two holsters armed with guns strapped to his belt.
Reita waited for his reaction patiently.
To his surprise, the corner of Ruki’s lips curved into a grin. “You know…” the slight young man said slowly, “I kinda look badass.”
Reita laughed, sputtering a little. “W-well, you did spend a week fixing that character up. And you kinda changed it every few months.”
Ruki spread his arms in a shrug. “Can’t say I’m surprised. What’s with that thing on your nose?”
“Oh, this?” Reita touched the cloth covering his nose gingerly. “It’s sort of an accessory that boosts your defense, but I wear it for fun. Doesn’t it make me look cool?” He winked rakishly.
“Actually, it kind of makes you look like a bank robber.”
“Pfft, whatever. So you got through the directory all right?”
“Yes.” Ruki frowned at the memory. “The woman there was…strange.”
“What, the NPC?” At Ruki’s confused glance, he said, “a Non Player Character. An AI, but a low-level one, so she doesn’t run that smooth. Don’t worry about it.”
“Oh.” Ruki glanced around. “So why’d you bring me here?”
“We sorta met here,” Reita said, “five years ago.”
He walked towards the doors, but Ruki’s vision began gray the same way it had at work.
The air smelled of wood polish and candles. Ruki ducked into a building the informants at the forums had creatively named the “Mirror Church”, glad to be out of the snowstorm that had hit minutes before. Brushing the ice off his jacket, he glanced around the empty church, trying to spot some clue as to how to unlock the new Quest said to be installed in that area.
He was about to examine one of the pews for a hidden catch or some sort of carved direction when the door banged open in front of him. Flinching at the noise, he straightened and stared at the man decked out in beginner’s armor and starter threads. Obviously a newcomer to a game, but there was something strange about him. Despite the wild look in his eyes and the obvious fact that he’d just run into the church, he wasn’t sweating or panting like a beginner. The programming for any beginner should’ve had him at least breathing hard from exertion, but the kid just stood there and stared at him like he’d just seen the Lochness monster.
“Uh, can I help you?” Ruki asked, cocking an eyebrow. “Ran into some trouble?”
“Erk,” the guy said, and it sounded like he choked up his voice box or something or maybe he was just paralyzed with fear. “I’m, uh, I’m Reita. There was this…thing outside.”
“Thing? What kind of thing are we talking about? Is it a bear, a wolf, an ice drake, an animated snowman?”
“It was, uh, some kind of ape,” Reita said, inching further inside the church. “Huge, and it had a lot of hair…”
“An ape?” Ruki’s brow furrowed. “I don’t-”
A two-headed axe suddenly crashed into the door, an inch from where Reita’s head was. The sharp razor curve bit into the wood and embedded itself there, ice glistening along the metal. The two men fell stock still as the owner of the hand attached to the axe gave a grunted and yanked it free before ripping the door clear off its hinges.
Standing before them was a six-foot tall, vaguely human figure with shaggy white fur. It hunched over Reita, whose face was nothing short of terrified as the creature squinted at him blindly.
Ruki yanked him out of the way just as the axe crunched into the floor. “Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t get rid of it?!”
“Sorry!” he heard Reita squeak as they sprinted across the room. Behind them the Yeti was crashing through the pews, reducing them to splinters and letting loose a roar that echoed throughout the church. “I’m really sorry!”
“Save it for when we get back to the safe point!”
Ruki shook his head dizzily as the memory faded and he found himself staring at Reita’s back as the older man pushed the doors open. There was a blizzard identical to the one that they witnessed five years ago, but Reita didn’t look too concerned as he peered his head out pass a pile of snow.
“Reita,” Ruki croaked. “Close the door, there’s something out there!”
Reita glanced over his shoulder at him, confused, but in the next second his face broke into a wide smile. “That’s what happened last time!” he agreed. “Did you finally remember something?”
“Yes, but-close the fucking door, Reita, it’s going to be here any moment now-!”
“What are you talking about? That Yeti was five years ago. There’s no way it’s still hanging around here.”
The sudden roar that suddenly echoed throughout the church seemed to prove otherwise.
Notes: Hey, guys! Check out the absolutely awesome fanart focaccina drew for me here! I am so flattered by this, thank you so much! xD Heheh, my first fanart. <3
Chapter: 8/??
Author: evilgeniuskoji
Beta: visualcomplex
Pairing: Reita/Ruki
Genre: Mystery, suspense, scifi
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Summary: AU. Saiko Reality is the hottest new virtual reality simulator. With an in-game experience that questions your reality and theirs, PSC's newest product has establishd a wide branch all over Central Tokyo. Such a large corporation cannot go witout its dark secrets...and as he struggles to remember his past, Ruki finds himself ensnared in the very heart of the problem.
Comments: Thank you so much to my awesome beta.
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“Wait,” Ruki laughed incredulously. “Wait. You think Kai works for PSC? That’s not possible. I’ve lived with that guy for two years and he’s absolutely hopeless with computers.”
“You know, Morita-sensei said something about that,” Reita piped up. “He said that PSC has people like him to code and program, but mods…they prefer to hire them based on mental capacities. People like me, who don’t really run any risks in the game…and people like you, who can affect the game physically. Maybe Kai-san is one of those people…”
“I don’t think so.” Ruki shook his head stubbornly. “This is probably some kind of mistake. Kai can’t really be…I mean, you’re not even sure, right?”
“We’re pretty sure.”
“What, do you want me to think Kai’s some sort of bad guy now?”
“You don’t believe us?” Reita asked quietly.
“It’s hard to,” he admitted. “I know Kai, but I don’t really know you guys.”
A hurt look flashed over Reita’s face and Ruki felt a twinge of guilt, but Aoi spoke up before either of them could. “Forget it, Reita. He’s not the Ruki we knew,” he said coldly. “He doesn’t have a reason to trust us any more.”
Ruki narrowed his eyes at Aoi’s mocking tone. Reita looked stricken, glancing back between Ruki and Aoi. “Aoi, I don’t think-”
“What? It’s not like he cares about any of this. He doesn’t remember,” Aoi spat. He rounded on Ruki, eyes boring into him accusingly. “Do you even want to? Do you even care about what PSC’s doing?”
Ruki’s self-control snapped. “And why should I give a damn? It’s a fucking game-there are more important things than that!”
The room went silent. Then Aoi said, “Get out.”
Reita looked like he didn’t know what to do or say but Ruki pushed himself to his feet and glanced at him once before leaving the room. Aoi wheeled his chair around to face the computer again and began typing furiously.
“Aoi-”
“Drop it, Suzuki. We don’t need him.”
“But it’s Ruki. We finally found him and you just-”
“No. He doesn’t even act like Ruki! Ruki’s gone. He’s been gone for a long, long time.”
The door clicked shut then, cutting off their voices. Ruki sucked in a breath and began to climb the stairs.
He was halfway down the block when he heard a door slam and pounding footsteps on the pavement behind him. “Ruki! Wait!” Reita called, pulling up next to him slightly out of breath. “Um, about your clothes…”
Ruki blinked. “Oh. Right. Well, ah, if it’s convenient for you, let’s meet up later.”
“Yeah, of course!” Reita nodded eagerly. He hesitated before saying, “Don’t worry about Aoi. He’s just, um…he’s really serious about ‘bringing PSC to justice’ and that kind of stuff. His sister was a really hard gamer, and…well, there was a freak accident. She interfaced too deeply with the game and the system malfunctioned…sorta like what happened with you...”
A sudden chill crept into Ruki’s veins. “What happened to her?”
“…She died.”
---
He showed up for work that day ten minutes late with his suit slightly rumpled because the movers had stuffed it in a box after salvaging it from the remains of his apartment. His clothes and some other items he’d requested had been brought to his hotel room; the rest now sat neatly packed away in storage until he could find somewhere else to live. That shouldn’t take long; he’d already spoken with a landlady who seemed eager to increase her number of tenants.
Kawaichi was, needless to say, displeased with his tardiness. The store manager scolded him soundly on the importance of punctuality and responsibilities. It was a conversation in which the majority of Ruki’s contribution had been subdued nods of his head and puncturing Kawaichi’s lecture with the appropriate “Hai” every other sentence.
“Don’t let this happen again. Do you understand, Ruki-san?”
“Yes, Kawaichi-san.”
“Very good. Open up the store, then. I will be in the back with the new shipment.”
Ruki nodded and opened the front stores, spilling sunlight onto the marble floors though the lights were still on. He was just flicking on the ones in the display cases when Kawaichi reemerged from the backroom frowning, a book in hand.
“Ruki-kun, did you place an order for this collector’s book?”
“What? No. Why?”
“It came in with the shipment. Here.” He handed it to Ruki.
The book was slim paperback with a close-up shot of a heavy silver bracelet made of interlinked crosses on the cover. The brand name was printed neatly above the bracelet in plain capital letters. ‘Harugin’.
“I didn’t order this,” Ruki repeated, shaking his head. “It came in with the shipment?”
“Yes. Stacked on top of the new shipment of Kamisori pendants.” The store manager eyed him suspiciously. “You really didn’t order this? I know we talked about Harugin the other day…”
“No, it wasn’t me.” He flipped the book open and thumbed his way through glossy black pages, all of them highlighting some sort of silver accessory. “Harugin only use silver?”
“Yes, it was their specialty.” Kawaichi heaved a sigh. “What are we going to do with it? We no longer carry Harugin products, and besides, the brand’s almost unknown now. I can’t just send it back…I wasn’t even aware they carried this any more…”
A picture of a pendant caught his eye. It was silver, of course, fashioned into a graceful miniature chandelier hanging from a slim chain. A complimentary earring hovered beside it, its dangling drop reflected in the obsidian surface the jewelry was displayed against. The name of the piece was printed against the page in soft silver ripples.
Quiet Beauty
He sat hunched over the table, elbows braced against the table and cheek propped against one hand while the other grasped a pencil loosely and scratched at the page. A scattered pile of discarded sketches was pushed onto the corner of his desk, covered in crude designs and half-finished scribbles..
A flyer was tacked up on the wall. It read: ‘Enter Harugin’s summer contest with your original design! Deadline for submissions is on July 30th. The winning entry will be featured in Harugin’s fall collection!’
His phone suddenly lit up and started ringing. Dropping his pencil with no small amount of relief for the distraction, Ruki leaned back into his chair and clicked open the message, tilting the phone at an angle so he could read it without readjusting his position.
From: Reita
Subject: konbanwa
want to go out for dinner? i’ll buy
Ruki paused and glanced down at the useless doodles on his page and hit reply.
---
“Ruki-kun? Ruki-kun?” Kawaichi shook his shoulder, a concerned look on his face “Ruki-kun, are you alright?”
“Eh…?” Ruki blinked, shaking off the daze he was in. “A-ah...I’m alright, Kawaichi-san.”
“Are you sure?” the older man frowned. “You are very pale.”
“I’m fine,” he said, straightening. “Kawaichi-san, about this book…if the store has no use for it, may I have it?”
“…Well,” Kawaichi said after a moment, “I don’t see why not…”
Ruki smiled. “Thank you very much.”
Before he closed it, he glanced down at the picture of the pendant and earring again. Written on the corner of the page was the designer’s name, right under the name of the product.
Matsumoto Takanori.
---
The café where Reita suggested they meet was in Shimokitazawa, tucked next to a million other jewelry stores and trendy fashion shops. A strange sense of déjà vu washed over Ruki as he entered and was promptly seated at a small, out-of-the-way table in the corner. A waitress brought him a menu before disappearing.
He kept looking around and tried to pinpoint exactly why the place looked so familiar. There were warm stucco walls, wooden shelves advertising different types of tea and creams, the voices of both customers and staff alike, blending together. The pleasant scent of coffee, tea, and baked sweets hung in the air temptingly.
Before he could put his thumb on it, Reita dropped down into the chair across from him heavily, red-faced and slightly out of breath. “Sorry I’m late,” he said. “The traffic…”
“It’s fine, I understand.”
The waitress appeared again and distracted them from small talk. Reita placed his order quickly, not so much glancing at his menu whereas Ruki fumbled with his.
“Do you come here a lot?” he asked when the waitress left.
“Eh? Sometimes,” Reita smiled distractedly. “Not so much for the past few years, but I used to be a regular here.”
“I see.”
The waitress appeared then with their orders, saving them from the silence and setting down a steaming cup of tea before him. A sharp scent invaded his nose as he picked it up and sipped.
“Oh, here are your clothes by the way.” Reita said after a moment, handing Ruki a blue plastic bag. “I washed them and everything.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” Ruki said automatically. “But thank you very much. Here are the clothes I borrowed from you as well.”
Reita looked startled. “Oh…you can keep those. They’re originally yours, after all.”
There was a short, awkward pause.
Ruki cleared his throat and glanced around again. “You know, this place is really familiar…I wonder why.”
“Do you remember something?” Reita leaned forward eagerly.
“I…think so,” Ruki said reluctantly. “I think I remember coming here with you. At least, I think it was you…”
“We met here.”
“We did?” His eyes widened.
“Well…not really. I mean, we met online, but uh…” Reita looked sheepish. “We sorta…met here later on.”
“…Huh.” Ruki considered this, not quite sure what to say. “So you’re some kind of internet stalker?” He burst into laughter at Reita’s comically shocked expression and immediately ducked his head, stifling himself with his knuckle. “I’m joking, Reita-san.” The smile he wore brightened his face.
Reita stared at him for a moment before he gave a small, shaky smile in return. “We agreed to meet here, you know.”
“Yes, yes, I understand.” Ruki laughed, shaking his head. His good mood faded, however, when he spotted Reita’s face, suddenly serious.
“Don’t you want to remember anything, Ruki-san?” he asked in a soft voice.
Ruki fell silent. “It’s not that I don’t,” he finally said. “I guess I’m just…I don’t know. Not sure what to expect.” He lifted his head to meet Reita’s eyes. “But I do want to remember.”
Reita’s face was solemn. “Let me help.”
---
Reita’s apartment was the same as it was last time; slightly messy, but simple and devoid of the clutter that seemed to creep up in Ruki’s home no matter how clean he kept it.
“Make yourself at home,” Reita said as he walked over to a cabinet and dropped down to pull open a drawer. “I’ll just be a sec.”
He noticed the picture frames on the table opposite to the couch just as he was about to sit down. Curious, Ruki walked over and picked up a small wire frame with a photo of an obviously younger Reita with dark black hair and a wide grin in a neatly ironed school uniform. He was holding what seemed to be his diploma, and next to him was a proud, beaming woman with a full, round face and crinkled black eyes.
There were other pictures too: a young woman with Reita’s dark black eyes and rounded nose sitting next to a man with an easygoing expression and a baby bundled in his arms; what seemed to be a high school soccer team sprawled down on a green field, and of a group of rather eccentric friends posed outside a house.
The last picture was framed in simple wire. Ruki’s stomach dropped from beneath him in a manner that was starting to get familiar when he recognized his face behind a pair of oversized sunglasses and a loose beanie that sat lopsided on top of dried, bleached hair. He mentally winced when he spotted dark roots peaking out from under the hat.
It was easy to recognize Reita sprawled next to him on a bench in that picture, looking pretty much the same, face slack with sleep and mouth hanging open in mid-snore. The younger Ruki had his arm thrown casually around him, a smirk on his face as he extended his middle finger towards the photographer in lazy rebellion.
“That was from when we went out and got piss drunk,” Reita’s voice said from behind him. Ruki almost jumped and turned around quickly. The blond man was clutching a large leather-bound book but he was looking at the picture on the table with a nostalgic and slightly forlorn expression on his face. “I kinda passed out.”
“I noticed,” Ruki said dryly. “What’s that?”
“Eh? Oh,” Reita hefted the book with a slight grunt. “Photo album. Thought it might help with…you know. Your memories. Maybe?”
“Yeah, okay.”
They flipped through so many pages of people and places that Ruki lost track after a while. Each time his face appeared, Reita would lean forward excitedly and narrate the story behind it eagerly, his face alive with nostalgia.
“Oh! This is a picture from that time at the festival! You got in a huge argument with the fishing booth vendor that day…”
“I remember this! We, heh, kinda shoved you in the water and you were so pissed.”
“Oh, man, I haven’t looked at this in years. You made us go to that stupid dog carnival…”
At some point, Ruki’s mind drifted away. It wasn’t like they were boring, but if he expected to feel a connection with those pictures, he was disappointed. They had interesting stories, and Ruki enjoyed them in a detached, inattentive way. It was like he was listening to someone else’s stories…to someone else’s life.
“And here’s a picture of you and Kiyoharu-san…he was like, your favorite designer and everything, and you were really happy when you two got to meet.”
Ruki zoned back in at the word “designer” and saw that Reita was pointed at a photograph of the Ruki standing next to an older man with shaded eyes and a bandana wrapped around his head. He snickered a little at the expression on his younger self’s face; he looked like he was about to wet himself with happiness from being so close to his (apparent) idol. Standing side by side, he could see where the younger him had imitated the designer’s-Kiyoharu?-style with the wide-brimmed hat and bug-eyed glasses.
Something tiny and silver dangled from his ear in the picture; upon closer inspection, he determined it to be a miniature chandelier-shaped earring.
“Reita-san.”
“Eh? Yes?” The tall man blinked and stopped talking.
He fished the Harugin photo book out of his bag and searched for the Quiet Beauty page. “I found this the other day at work…did I work for Harugin or something?” he slid the book over to Reita.
Reita leaned over and for a moment Ruki was uncomfortably aware of their thighs pressed closely together. “Yeah, I remember this,” Reita said. “You entered this jewelry design contest and won, and then Harugin hired you…” He looked at Ruki uncertainly. “Didn’t you read that file I gave you? All this stuff is in there…”
The look on Ruki’s face was a comical mix between surprised and chagrined. “I only skimmed,” he muttered. “I’ll read through it again.”
“Okay,” Reita nodded encouragingly. He glanced back down at the album then at Ruki’s expression. “This thing isn’t really working, is it?” he guessed.
Ruki shook his head. “Not really.”
Reita gnawed on his lip. “Then maybe we should try the other plan.”
---
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ruki perched gingerly on the arm of the couch.
He craned his neck and caught sight of Reita’s backside as the lean young man crouched and dug around in a cabinet. Ruki found himself admiring it before he caught himself and cleared his throat.
Reita’s muffled voice was accompanied by grunts and the sound of things being shifted around. “I don’t see why not. Unless you have a better plan?”
“Not really,” Ruki admitted, “but Morita-sensei did warn me against it…you know, before he-”
“I know,” Reita interrupted as his head popped out of the cabinet. “But he was probably trying to keep you from remembering and getting into all this stuff again. I bet it’ll be alright. Oh, here it is.”
Ruki looked, curious. Clutched in Reita’s hand was a small cardboard box stamped with PSC’s logo.
“You never know. I mean,” Reita was saying, “maybe all you need is a little push from Saiko and you’ll remember everything.”
Ruki looked doubtfully at the small white box. “Right.”
A hand clapped on his shoulder reassuringly. “It’ll be fine. I really think going into the game will help.”
He nodded reluctantly. “Don’t we need a…terminal?”
“There are terminals all over the city. Makes it easier for the public to access it since they’re so expensive.” Reita sat down on the couch and flipped open the box. “This came out about a year ago.”
Ruki leaned forward eagerly. Settled into a thin, protective foam layer was something that resembled an elaborate headset. The inside of it was padded with white leather, and embedded along the outer curve were small, clear blue squares. On either end the leather-padded ear pieces were similarly capped with blue squares, and a small mic extended from the left end.
“It's the new headpiece model of the portable terminals PSC has been working on,” Reita explained as he plugged a wire into the router he’d brought out earlier. The other end was connected to the headset. “Okay, we’re on the net now." The headset was pushed into Ruki’s hands. “Here you go.”
“What do I do with it?”
“Put your access card here.” Reita tapped a small slot above the ear-pads. “You brought it, right?”
Ruki nodded slowly, fishing out the access card from his pocket. The light glanced off its iridescent colors as it clicked into the slot. The blue squares along the headpiece immediately lit up and shone softly.
“Yep, that means it’s all ready to go.” Reita popped his own access card in and connected his headpiece to the console. It was slightly different from Ruki’s, with some sort of clear plastic visor looking thing. “Lay back and relax a little, okay?”
“Yeah, because having your nerves attached to a game is so relaxing,” Ruki said dryly. “What’s that?”
Reita looked at him, surprised, then chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he said. “This is just something that helps me see. You won’t need it since your mental capacity is high. Hey, if you’re really not sure about this, you can still back out…”
“No, I want to,” Ruki said quickly.
“Okay.” Reita nodded and slipped his headpiece on. The visor lit up and tinted his face blue. “Ready? When you reach the directory, ask for Server Five, Area, Burial Applicant.”
“Okay.” Ruki exhaled slowly. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
He slid the headpiece on and the ear-pads immediately blocked off all sound. Reita leaned over and pressed a button on the router. A green light turned on and Ruki heard something click and whirr from the sound system.
Then his senses went dead.
---
A sharp sort of shock jolted him back into wakefulness. His nerves tingled as they returned to him. He blinked several times before he realized he was not imagining the white, nebulous-looking room he was in.
At eye-level, his hand looked the same, heavily laden with rings, wristbands, and chains. When he flexed, the fingers before him immediately bunched up, the skin tightening and stretching just as it would if it were a real hand. The supple leather of the wristbands rubbed up against him, and the chains clinked together noisily.
It really was just like a real body.
Of course, it wasn’t exactly like his own body. His legs seemed to be a bit longer, which threw his balance off a little, but after a moment, the alien sense of being in another body wore off and he was confidently walking around the room.
It was just as bland and empty as before. He turned around several times and wondered if he’d somehow gotten something wrong. “Hello? Reita? Where are-”
“Welcome to Saiko Reality, Ruki!” A voice suddenly chirped.
He jerked in surprise and whirled around. What had been a blank wall before was now occupied by a smooth marble counter. It was manned by a woman dressed neatly in a flight attendant’s uniform. A hat was angled jauntily on top of her perfectly styled hair and her smile was bright and lipsticked.
“Where would you like to go?” she continued. Several holographic maps popped up at her words. He saw a city, a floating mountain, a volcano and a desert before he remembered what Reita had said.
“Er…Server…five?” he cleared his throat. “Burial Applicant.”
One of the maps immediately expanded as the others faded into a background. It flickered between images of an icy terrain and a magnificent ice sculpture as the woman spoke, her expression frozen on her face. Ruki stared at her, slightly unnerved. “Server loading…loading… Preparations to transport are ready. Thank you for playing Saiko Reality! Enjoy your Reality here!
“Now gating user Ruki to Server: Five, Area: Burial Applicant.”
Before he could react, a circle flared around his feet and encased him in a pillar of light. The disorienting sensation of his stomach dropping out from under him remained even after the world righted itself.
The white room-the directory-was gone. He was standing in some sort of church-or at least, he thought he was. Large, frameless mirrors hung in niches that might normally house icons and statues. A pair of great wooden doors loomed before him, decorated with carvings of snow-capped mountains and strange, furred creatures. There wasn’t an altar or any kind of religious mark, but the pews and weak sunlight streaming through the dirty skylights created an atmosphere that seemed worthy of prayer.
Ruki thought it unnerving.
A column of light materialized in the center aisle. When it faded, a young man with a blond fauxhawk was standing there. He had an odd black vest shrugged over a blue tank, and a weird strip of cloth tied over his nose. His eyes were a sharp and mysterious grey, hawk-like and heavily made up. There was something strongly familiar about him, but Ruki didn’t recognize him until he spoke.
“Ruki?”
Ruki blinked, then did a double take. “Reita?”
The strange young man smiled. “Yep.” He walked towards him and for the first time, Ruki noticed that his movements were stiff and awkward, less fluid and realistic than one would expect a real person to walk. His steps were somewhat mechanical and his hands hung at his side as if they didn’t know what to do with themselves.
Reita saw him staring, and his face twisted into something that resembled a sheepish expression. “It’s not really easy to control this body, so it’s harder to blend in with the other players.” He shrugged and examined Ruki closely. “Wow, that’s nostalgic…”
“What is? You look…different.”
“Yeah,” Reita laughed, “it’s my character’s design. They take your base features and they let you mess around with it.” His gaze skipped over Ruki’s face again. “Since you haven’t been on this Reality for three years, you look the same. It’s kind of weird, actually”
His voice was slightly off, but Ruki didn’t notice. He hurried over to one of the mirrors and stopped three feet away from one to the left of the pews. His hair, he noticed, was shorter, raggedly cut and black. A single streak of cherry red blazed down his scalp and ended in a thick bang hanging over his left eye. His ear was still heavily laden with silver, but he now wore a sleek black jacket with a flared collar, and his eyes were even more heavily lined than Reita’s. To his rather flabbergasted and somewhat baffled amusement, he also discovered two holsters armed with guns strapped to his belt.
Reita waited for his reaction patiently.
To his surprise, the corner of Ruki’s lips curved into a grin. “You know…” the slight young man said slowly, “I kinda look badass.”
Reita laughed, sputtering a little. “W-well, you did spend a week fixing that character up. And you kinda changed it every few months.”
Ruki spread his arms in a shrug. “Can’t say I’m surprised. What’s with that thing on your nose?”
“Oh, this?” Reita touched the cloth covering his nose gingerly. “It’s sort of an accessory that boosts your defense, but I wear it for fun. Doesn’t it make me look cool?” He winked rakishly.
“Actually, it kind of makes you look like a bank robber.”
“Pfft, whatever. So you got through the directory all right?”
“Yes.” Ruki frowned at the memory. “The woman there was…strange.”
“What, the NPC?” At Ruki’s confused glance, he said, “a Non Player Character. An AI, but a low-level one, so she doesn’t run that smooth. Don’t worry about it.”
“Oh.” Ruki glanced around. “So why’d you bring me here?”
“We sorta met here,” Reita said, “five years ago.”
He walked towards the doors, but Ruki’s vision began gray the same way it had at work.
The air smelled of wood polish and candles. Ruki ducked into a building the informants at the forums had creatively named the “Mirror Church”, glad to be out of the snowstorm that had hit minutes before. Brushing the ice off his jacket, he glanced around the empty church, trying to spot some clue as to how to unlock the new Quest said to be installed in that area.
He was about to examine one of the pews for a hidden catch or some sort of carved direction when the door banged open in front of him. Flinching at the noise, he straightened and stared at the man decked out in beginner’s armor and starter threads. Obviously a newcomer to a game, but there was something strange about him. Despite the wild look in his eyes and the obvious fact that he’d just run into the church, he wasn’t sweating or panting like a beginner. The programming for any beginner should’ve had him at least breathing hard from exertion, but the kid just stood there and stared at him like he’d just seen the Lochness monster.
“Uh, can I help you?” Ruki asked, cocking an eyebrow. “Ran into some trouble?”
“Erk,” the guy said, and it sounded like he choked up his voice box or something or maybe he was just paralyzed with fear. “I’m, uh, I’m Reita. There was this…thing outside.”
“Thing? What kind of thing are we talking about? Is it a bear, a wolf, an ice drake, an animated snowman?”
“It was, uh, some kind of ape,” Reita said, inching further inside the church. “Huge, and it had a lot of hair…”
“An ape?” Ruki’s brow furrowed. “I don’t-”
A two-headed axe suddenly crashed into the door, an inch from where Reita’s head was. The sharp razor curve bit into the wood and embedded itself there, ice glistening along the metal. The two men fell stock still as the owner of the hand attached to the axe gave a grunted and yanked it free before ripping the door clear off its hinges.
Standing before them was a six-foot tall, vaguely human figure with shaggy white fur. It hunched over Reita, whose face was nothing short of terrified as the creature squinted at him blindly.
Ruki yanked him out of the way just as the axe crunched into the floor. “Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t get rid of it?!”
“Sorry!” he heard Reita squeak as they sprinted across the room. Behind them the Yeti was crashing through the pews, reducing them to splinters and letting loose a roar that echoed throughout the church. “I’m really sorry!”
“Save it for when we get back to the safe point!”
Ruki shook his head dizzily as the memory faded and he found himself staring at Reita’s back as the older man pushed the doors open. There was a blizzard identical to the one that they witnessed five years ago, but Reita didn’t look too concerned as he peered his head out pass a pile of snow.
“Reita,” Ruki croaked. “Close the door, there’s something out there!”
Reita glanced over his shoulder at him, confused, but in the next second his face broke into a wide smile. “That’s what happened last time!” he agreed. “Did you finally remember something?”
“Yes, but-close the fucking door, Reita, it’s going to be here any moment now-!”
“What are you talking about? That Yeti was five years ago. There’s no way it’s still hanging around here.”
The sudden roar that suddenly echoed throughout the church seemed to prove otherwise.
Notes: Hey, guys! Check out the absolutely awesome fanart focaccina drew for me here! I am so flattered by this, thank you so much! xD Heheh, my first fanart. <3