To anyone else, it would be socially compromising to go on in-game dates with your girlfriend when her avatar was that of a little girl dressed in pink. Nevermind the legal trouble you could go through if your true identity got leaked to the public.
But Pitohui was not anyone else. So, nonchalantly tuning out the world's prejudice and concern, the 20-something looking avatar focused only on her girlfriend, the Pink Devil herself, LLENN.
Oh, how Pito just adored her girlfriend's face, in-game and IRL. She loved they way she blushed when she got even a little close to her, and how LLENN's normally confident voice would always, without fail, break into a stuttering more fast than most of the guns in Gun Gale Online. But what Pitohui loved most about her girlfriend was The Look.
The Look was LLENN's anger, determination, and love. All three of them, in one terrifying and majestic combination that made Pito's heart melt. It was this look that LLENN wore when she killed her. Sometimes, with a little persuasion, The Look would come out IRL on Karen's even more cute face. It was then, Pito realized, that she didn't need a death game to make her heart race.
On LLENN's side, she regarded her girlfriend's intense stare sheepishly, picking at the food she had ordered for herself on the date. Pito had dumped a huge RMT into this reservation, ignoring LLENN's protests IRL. It was the nicest restaurant in GGO, and Pito had gotten them a very good seat by the window.
"You haven't spoken yet, lovely. Tell me what you think!" Pitohui grinned at her.
Upon the word lovely, LLENN's already meek state dissolved further, and she responded with a decrescendo, "It's….It's really good, P-pito. The p-place is nice." She stared down at her food.
She wasn't used to being called things like that, all sweet and nice and affectionate. Her social skills had decreased over the years, parallel to her increasing height. The fact that someone as accomplished as Pitohui—freaking Elsa Kanzaki!— would treat her in such a way made her feel like she needed to be even more careful with how she acted. Before this whole thing, LLENN was sure she wasn't into girls, but since someone was giving her a chance, LLENN decided that she would go for it. And ever since, she felt herself falling.
"Come onnnn, LLENN...surely you can't just think that this place is nice..." Pito complained.
"S-sorry, I'm...just not really used to this, I guess." A pause. "Y-you didn't need to do this, I mean, I appreciate—"
"Shut up." Pitohui growled. "I'm gonna treat you, because that's what I wanna do!"
"Don't you have to practice for your next performance—"
"To hell with that! I'm here, now, and you know how I feel about mixing real life with the game! I just wanna forget about everything and have a nice date with my cute girlfriend, dammit!" She slammed the table, eyes blazing. When she saw how LLENN had reacted, she softened.
Her girlfriend had quieted into a blushing mess, wildly looking anywhere but Pito. LLENN was overheating again, and Pito smirked. She was very proud she had that effect on her. And now, she thought, go in for the kill. It didn't matter how literal she meant that.
"Aww...is my LLENN embarrassed?" Pito asked, cupping the other girl's cheek. LLENN was frozen now, unable to move. Pito moved closer. "I love it when you—"
She was interrupted, suddenly and wonderfully, by the soft lips of LLENN. She relished in how caught off guard she was, and she was forced back by her girlfriend. "W-wow~" She smirked at LLENN's red hot face, and her glare. Not quite The Look, but real damn close. "Surprise attack, hmm~"
"W-well, I can't have you c-constantly c-coming on to m-me. I-I can play th-that way too…" At the end of her little rebound, she had quieted yet again, realizing what she had done.
"Welp! I'm proud of you!" Pito laughed. She adopted her motherly tone again, which was refreshing to hear for LLENN, since Pito loved using the sultry voice anymore. Both relaxed, leaning back in their chairs. LLENN had cooled down enough that she could look into the other girl's eyes. Pito copied her, and for a minute, there was comfortable silence.
"You know what, I have an idea!" Pito announced.
LLENN, much more comfortable, shot back, "That's a dangerous endeavor, Pito."
Pito pouted at her. "That's not fair, LLENN!" The other rose an eyebrow, but stayed silent.
"So I was thinking...what if...you sang at my next gig?" She said, confident that the answer would be an excited yes. Even before they met, LLENN was a huge fan of Elsa Kanzaki's music. This was a totally foolproof proposition—
"I'm sorry...what?"
Pitohui blinked. "What do you mean?
"You..want...to invite...me...onto your stage to sing?"
"Uh, yeah? It's not like the world doesn't know you exist."
That much was true. Elsa had offhandedly said she had a girlfriend in one of her interviews. "Yeah, she's a total cutie." She had nonchalantly added next.
When she came back to her house where her girlfriend was staying over, she was blessed with Karen's infinitely blushing face. As an added bonus, she also got an hour of spoiling Karen as repayment to her "embarrassing" Karen.
"Y-yeah, but m-me? I've never sang before, I'm terrible on stage, I have no professional skills, and I'm so. God. Damn. Tall." She finished.
"Come on, you'll be great! You know the public's been wanting to actually meet you! Who cares if you're freakishly tall?" Pitohui grinned.
LLENN was quiet.
Who cares if you're freakishly tall? Her mind echoed.
"I have to go." She said, and opened up the menu screen.
Pitohui yelped, jumping up. "Wait what? You can't just—" But it was too late. LLENN had already pressed the log out button, and her lithe avatar disappeared. Pitohui stared, open mouthed, and blinked once. "Was it something I said?"
Back in the real world, Karen woke up in a dark, lonely room. For a while, in the past, this fact had bothered her. The room had felt to her like a huge whirlpool in a vast and empty ocean, sucking her in and drowning her. It closed in on her, devoid of color.
And then she became friends with Miyu, whom had pulled her out of her hole. The two had been acquaintances-bordering-friends up until Karen expressed an interest in VR games, and suddenly they became best pals. Not only were they both VR-gamers, but they shared an interest in Elsa Kanzaki. Miyu was the raft keeping her afloat above the ocean of the world.
When Karen started looking into VR, she really only did it so she could escape her loneliness. And the way she could do that, she concluded, was to rid herself of the thing that separated her from the world: Her height.
And so she tried game after game, world after world. Every time she rolled the dice, her avatar was always some tall character. Maybe not towering, like she was IRL, but still tall. And then she found GGO.
A desolate world left in the wake of humanity, Gun Gale Online was certainly not her first choice. But however, in this game, Karen was short. Short and cute. And that's all it took for her.
Of course, she wasn't going to be in the game just to be short. If she was going to do this, she was going to do this. She got a reputation in her rise to the top—the Pink Devil, a ruthless PK-er. And in her glory, an adventurous player named Pitohui wanted to meet this "Pink Devil".
And the beginning of a very crazy friendship—leading up to something more—blossomed.
Now, though, in Karen room, the walls closed in on her once again. If she did this, she thought, the world see her. Not just see her, but see her. They would criticize, they would laugh when she failed. People would notice her on the streets and point. All her work of hiding from the world would be erased.
And worse, what would it mean for Elsa? The star's image would fall harder than Fuka's grenades. She would be mocked and laughed at. Even though Elsa seemed pretty confident that she would "love Karen forever" what would she do when Karen stripped away everything Elsa had worked for? Karen put her face in her hands.
And then, suddenly, her phone buzzed. She reached over to pick it up.
Elsa: Baby I'm so sorry
Elsa: I didn't mean to call you a freak
Elsa: The fans will love you! You're too cute not to love! 3
Elsa: Can I come over?
Karen's eyes widened, knowing that if she didn't respond in the next 30 seconds, Elsa would—
Elsa: I'm coming over.
Defeated, Karen slumped over, letting her phone fall.
In 15 minutes, the doorbell finally rang. Karen rose from her bed, eyes dead, to answer it. When she made it to the end of the front hall and turned the door knob the slightest, the door burst open. Elsa tackled her her girlfriend to the ground, clutching onto her like a cat in a tree.
"I'm sorry, Karen...I really am." She spoke above her, remorse evident in her eyes. Karen looked at her, saying quietly, "It's okay. I know you didn't mean it." clearly delighted with this answer, Elsa got up from where she was, and said, "Even so, I could make it up to you~"
Karen blinked, until she realized the position they were just in. Elsa had. Just. Climbed. On. Top. Of. Her.
"HuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUH?"
One smirking Elsa grabbed on to Karen and lead her to the bedroom. The latter, who had been reduced to a state of eternal blushing, could not help but surmise the other connotation with lead her to the bedroom. And Elsa knew that.
However, to Karen's relief, all Elsa wanted to do was cuddle. But she sure made it seem like they were about to…
No! Karen couldn't bring herself to even think that. All we're doing is...cuddling.
But when Elsa snaked her arms around Karen's waist, she immediately reverted back to her state of fretting and blushing. And even worse was that she could feel Elsa's grin. The shorter girl snuggled into her side painfully slow.
"Talk to me, Karen. Cuddling with you is nice, but that's not why I'm doing it. Why won't you join me on stage? I know those things you said aren't the problem. Especially the singing one. Don't think I haven't heard you in the shower... my songs sound so great from your voice~."
Karen tensed, blushing even harder. She knew about that?
Elsa frowned, realizing her fatal mistake. "Aww, I hope this doesn't mean you'll stop…"
Karen squirmed, but didn't answer.
"Anyway, while you may be slightly shy, I wouldn't say you're terrible on stage. You killed me quite awesomely in front of nearly double the amount of people that are going to be at my little gig."
"Y-yeah, but, what about my height?"
"Don't worry about that, hon. Up on stage, everyone is tiny. And at the same time, everyone is infinitely tall. The only thing the people care about is how good you can sing, and how cute you look doing it. And luckily for you—"
With some effort, Elsa turned Karen around to face her. "—you've got both!"
The second time that day, Karen initiated the kiss on her girlfriend, feeling thoroughly charmed and greatful.
And now here Karen was a week later, backstage with Miyu, getting cold feet again. Elsa's heavenly voice washed over her from up on stage, turning her legs into jelly.
Miyu was holding on to her in full Best Friend Support Mode. "Karen, don't worry! You'll be fine!" She encouraged. But Karen wasn't so sure.
"What if my voice cracks? Oh god Miyu, what if I fall? What if I faint? Oh god I'm gonna faint, I knew this was gonna happen I was feeling sick ever since monday and now I'm gonna throw up, oh god what if I throw up on Elsa...OH GOD I'M GONNA THROW UP ON—"
"Shh...you'll do fine, I'm serious!" Miyu shook her. "Woman up, Karen! They'll love you! You've practiced this song for what, every day since last week?"
"Every day and night since last week."
"...Well than you'll do awesomely! Trust me!"
Suddenly, Elsa's voice announced daintily, "And now, I have a special guest to introduce. My girlfriend, Kohiruimaki Karen!"
(backstage, Miyu grumbled, "Geez, she sounds so nice, doesn't she.")
The girl in question walked up shyly from backstage, and immediately whispers began to circulate. Karen looked like a deer in the headlights, and she acted like one. Elsa laughed. "Sorry, folks! My girl here's a little shy. But trust me, Karen'll knock your socks off!"
The crowd was stunned. They didn't know it, bur Elsa was letting just the tiniest bit of her Pitohui out. And when she did, Karen calmed down significantly. "Anyways, here we go!" and on the count of four, Elsa started off with a soft guitar strum.
As the song started, it was fairly quiet and fast. Just how Elsa wanted. Karen didn't know it, but Elsa had written the song, Gun's Rhapsody, for only her girlfriend to sing. She wrote it to match how LLENN would act in a fight. She wanted to simulate LLENN's feelings and channel them through Karen, all for one reason: The Look.
Weird and a bit underhanded, but wasn't that how Pitohui did everything?
And so the song speed up, and crescendoed, matching both Pito's and LLENN's—because that's who they were, now, on the stage—heartbeat. Pito looked over at LLENN, but she wasn't there yet. Close, Pitohui smirked as she looked at her girlfriend's focused face.
And suddenly, it stopped. The Rhapsody skidded to a halt, and quieted down. LLENN kept singing firmly. An impending thump, thump accompanied her voice.
Beat.
Pitohui attacked her guitar furiously, and LLENN rose her voice. The crowd was completely transfixed as the two girls played together. Pitohui maniacally grinned, and LENN—
Oh, there it is. Pitohui squirmed in her seat, feeling the pleasure rise.
LLENN's eyes were wild, and she heaved into the mic. The crowd was visibly scared of her, now.
The Look.
And so, guitar forgotten, Elsa got up from her stool, walked over to Karen, pulled her down, and kissed her.
And the crowd went wild.
I really liked the title. To those of you out there with a fic idea for these too, please write it. I really need some way to gush over them, and the LN's aren't getting translated fast enough.