I.

"Awake."

"Error, again?" I stared at the phone with disdain. "Really? Why is it that everyone else can enjoy the DLCs and I'm stuck with an endless error message? I guess I could prowl forums until I find an answer."

Mystic Messenger was the height of Otome games on mobile platforms. For a long time the only quality romance games that you could play were desktop based, so when I found out there was a good one for your phone, color me stoked. I had been playing nonstop since my sleeping schedule was shit and I needed the affection from something. There wasn't any answer to be found, I scowled after checking a few pages. It wasn't like I hadn't already finished the deep routes, but I wanted to complete the Christmas DLC to one hundred percent. So much for that, ugh. It was too early in the morning for me to consider crawling out of bed just yet but I didn't have any more apps that I could refresh but - if the game wasn't going to be working for me, again! - I would just have to sit here in the quiet and think about my life. Poor choice, really, but I wasn't going to venture into the cold of my apartment until I had to do it.

"Then again, I can just check my to-do list." There was my sloppy but carefully taken dribble as I opened the app. I flipped through my notepad and did a mental run-through of what needed to be done for work and the house. I had to finish my report before I submitted my updated proof for my supervisor, make sure the fridge had enough for the rest of the week, and I needed to do a head-count on my paint supplies before I marched out the front door. All and all I would be home before noon if I didn't want to do anything else. I set my phone down and decided to shut my eyes for a few minutes.

My alarm clock began to sound not even five minutes after I dug my head back into my pillow.

Sometimes you happen to have a chance encounter that might change your life. Sometime you might just wake up and things are out of your control, or maybe you wake up in a different room then the one you're used to... either way, there's a day when things change direction and I know firsthand that these days can come out of left field. Something that you find yourself comfortably living every day until a new normal finds you. For a long time, I would wake up, crawl out of bed and begin my work in the kitchen after splashing water on my face and brushing my teeth, and keep working until I got hungry. It had been like this for a couple of months already, and the lingering scars in the mirror couldn't bother me as long as I kept to myself and did what I needed to do. You see, only a few months ago, you could have found me doing a stint in the hospital for my poor health habits. I had a hard time taking care of myself when it came to sleeping and eating, it wasn't exactly a trait that I was proud of, but it was something that had been with me since my teen years.

Whispers and murmurs behind my back about my appearance from my classmates and even my parents had destroyed my confidence and by extension, I had hurt myself to make others like me. I'm not proud of it. Every time I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I would feel disgusted and look away. Dysmorphia had a way of crawling up your spine like a spider and waiting for the moment to jump out and take a bite of you when you could do nothing but try to push it away - but fail.

Today wasn't all that different.

I got out of bed and hastily did my morning routine. I just had to go out of my apartment to run some errands instead of going straight to work, that was normal for a Wednesday. I had a list of this and that, that and this, but it shouldn't have broken too much time in the rest of the day as long I as get myself together in this good mood. It started as a better morning, really, I found it in me to fix my hair back and put on one of my jumper dresses. The reflection didn't make me feel as bad as it might have another day.

Hopefully, that would last.

How wrong I was, I realized when I slung my bag over my shoulder and opened my front door to see someone standing in the way. I gripped the door handle hard, and grit my teeth. "It's nice to see you again, Mom."

There she was standing in the doorway, my Mother, with a vase of sunflowers and the most unnerving smile. She had her hand raised as if she were about the knock the front door but couldn't when I opened the door instead. Of course, when I said that it was nice to her, I didn't mean it. We had never had a close relationship and it was only strained at this point. She didn't agree with my choices that I had been making over the last year, although she was the first one to say that she was proud of me on social media for the attention and sympathy. "Hold the pleasantries, Lila. I know you wouldn't have opened this door if you weren't on the way out."

I stepped to the side, and let her into my apartment rather than deal with an argument. "Is there a reason why you stopped by this morning?"

"Do I need a reason to visit my daughter?" She countered without even blinking, sauntering into the living room and setting her flowers down by the kitchen table. "I happened to be in the neighborhood."

"You live five blocks from here, you're always in the neighborhood." I returned. "I'm kind of in a hurry, Mom. I have a lot of errands to run before my appointment with Karen."

The ever-present smile was a little troubling. Mom turned back around to face me after looking at the canvases and makeshift art studio that my kitchen had become in the last couple of weeks. "Ah, yes, your therapist. I hope that's going well. All of my friends are concerned about your well-being after that mess in April." That mess in April that she was referring to had amounted to a situation where my Grandparents caught me in a lie, and I passed out in their home from malnutrition, and partly exhaustion. It occurred just three months after I had broken up with my abusive boyfriend after six months of terror, and five months after the loss of my father. It had a been a long and grueling year for my family, not that we never had a time where we weren't living some kind of lifetime drama film.

"And?" I braced myself.

"It's almost been a year since... the accident. Your sister has been living her life while you've been couped up, locking yourself in this apartment without even trying to make a difference." She started, walking back over to me. "Everyone is concerned that you're wasting your life here, it's one thing that you've been trying to waste your life painting, but now everyone is starting to pity me because my depressed daughter is unable to help herself. You need to stop wallowing about your father and get out there, date, have fun."

I started to talk back, "I'm content the way I am, Mom." but she cut me off and began to talk louder, to talk over me.

"And look where that's getting you, dear, you need to take a hard look in the mirror and get yourself together." She rested a hand against my shoulder, nails digging into the skin. "I expect you to stop embarrassing me before the holidays. I don't want to see you crying and making a fool of yourself in front of everyone again." That hung over my head like a weight. There it was again, the attitude that I couldn't just wash off. My Mother wasn't one to be trifled with if you decided to openly disagree with her methods and while it had been alright when I was a little girl; It was unbelievably too much for me to bare these days. It might have been because I was the only target of this thinking. We had been going back and forth like this for months because she wanted to be the one that was right in the end.

I didn't have the energy for it.

I shook head, just pretending to agree with her words. "I don't want to argue. You can do whatever you want to do, but I'm heading out."

"Wisteria, how are you feeling today?" Her hand was firm against her pad of paper as her pencil began to jot down the little things. Where we could improve on my function and how I could live my day to day without letting my impulsivity control me. This office smelled of disinfectant and cleaner. It wasn't something that bothered me much but it was all I could focus on this whole session. It was one thing that my day had started like it would be alright, but when my Mom came over and soured the whole thing, my mood had shifted and I think she could tell. She started and ended every session by asking me how I was feeling at that moment. I wasn't in the mood to talk about what had happened, so I carried on as if it were any other session.

The clock on the wall read a quarter past three and that meant we were coming to a close for this meeting.

"Huh?"

"I said how are you feeling? You've been a little distracted today. I've been doing most of the talking, and I'm curious where you're thinking today."

"It's already been a day and it hasn't even really started." I leaned against the table in front of me. My hand sinking into my chin as I closed my eyes. "I'm alright. I have had some alright days this month. I haven't felt... acted on the need to purge since my release. Sorry I didn't mention that at the beginning... I've been following my meal plan that we worked out to a tee thanks to my family. It's been a long couple of days, but I'm feeling a little better about my control when it comes to my dysmorphia. I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night, that thunderstorm kept me up for a while."

"I'm glad to hear things are going better for you. You've been doing an excellent job lately at keeping up with that. Has there been any change in your mood? In regards to what you were struggling with about your father? You seemed upset during our last session but are you ready to talk about it?" She asked, the quirk of her eyebrow lifting just enough that it caught my attention. She always tried to pull that topic up but I wasn't ready to deal with it, we had mentioned it here and there, but it wasn't something that could come out yet.

My shoulders lifted into a shrug. "Let's give that a little more time, Karen. I'm doing that on my own right now - there's still a lot I want to think about before I open up about that. It's not bothering me as bad as it was before because I've been focusing hard on getting my physical health better, along with my job and affairs. I just don't want to deal with that can of worms right now."

"That's understandable, but you know we'll have to deal with that eventually. Just think about how we can better address it for next time." She reminded me, as she set her pen down against her desk. "Let's meet again in two weeks to discuss any more changes... but in the meantime, you can call me whenever you need to talk about anything."

That was therapy for you. I had been making some progress since we had started the meeting, which I was grateful for, but my mind had been other places during our session. I wasn't going to admit it to anyone, but I had been spending my time doing more than working and listening to a meal plan. My phone indicated that while I had been in my session I had missed a few things. I pilfered through what I missed, this and that, that and this but cleared them all out until I got to the most recent notification. I had missed a chatroom deadline on the game that I was playing. An Otome, Mystic Messenger, one of those exciting games where you could pick anyone you wanted and romance the.

"Huh, I guess I missed another chatroom." That wasn't the worst thing in the universe. I was trying to go through the Christmas DLC on Mystic Messenger at that moment, and I had enough hourglass to spare for one uncounted chatroom but I probably wouldn't waste it knowing the whispers of extra content coming very soon. I had already done a run-through of the different routes and now I was trying to get the DLCs entirely done before any more were released onto the game. There wasn't anything else left to complete with all of the RFA's routes done on my application. I was a little desperate for the interaction with my fictional friends so I settled for this.

I booted the messenger but it errored out.

"Please?" I begged, silently.

It errored once again when I attempted it open it again.

"Goddammit."

This had been happening a lot lately when I tried to play the game and it didn't seem to be happening to anyone else. It forced itself out at various times of the day and I couldn't fight it. Nobody else had this problem when I cruised the blogs and pages about it. I just mounted it to my luck. It was just a weak signal or maybe a bug that needed to be corrected. Little did I know, but there was a reason why my game was lagging and it wasn't just a chance of bad luck, and it would stem back to an encounter that I had put in the back of my mind.

I could always play some of the other Otome games that I had on my PC in the meantime if this was going keep happening. "Really? I can't believe this, maybe there's some traffic on the servers or something. Ugh, I was hoping to finally get Unknown after clearing everyone else." I grumbled, stashing my phone back in my bag as I headed into the cafe across the street from my therapist's office. It had been another meeting, uneventful and we didn't make a lot of progress. I was a lot more comfortable with her lately, which was good because she didn't treat me poorly if I slipped up and made a mistake. It was much better than dealing with what my Mother thought was the right way to handle the situation. She wanted to throw me to the dogs, so to speak. She wanted to make me work with her at her salon so she could make sure that I didn't embarrass her with my health problems. Fortunately, my older sister and Grandparents advocated for me and I got into the proper programs to help me piece my life back together.

The door jingled with alarm as I entered.

"Hi, Lila!"

"Oh, hey," I greeted the girl behind the counter with a weak smile. She knew my older sister but I hadn't ever caught her name. I think it was Samantha, so let's just go with that for now, I never would be able to work up the courage to ask that since she assumed I knew. "I'm looking for my usual, I need something to pick me up for my next project."

Samantha raised an eyebrow, "Another all-nighter?" she asked.

That was a jab at my poor working habits. I was already well aware that I had a beautiful little ring of purple underneath my eyelids for how hard I had been working these past few months. It was my choice to get involved with the projects that I was working on, it was so much of my own choice that I could work as long as I wanted and was physically capable of doing so, that I didn't mind if I was awake at three in the morning. It was my choice and nobody else. It had been only a year and some change since my choices weren't my own - since somebody told me what to do when to do it, and how to do it. I was beyond that life now and living how I wanted to, and I was managing my own life much better than I had been once before. Six months ago was my breaking point and I was forced to deal with the lingering haunt behind me; The remnants of that relationship had left me with self-loathing and the inability to look into a mirror for even a moment.

My dysmorphia was a ghost that lingered in my shadow and it would always haunt me from just beyond my peripheral vision. It was all that was left of that failed relationship and it stuck to me even now, it was a daily struggle to combat but I made due. Some people would look at me and call me brave for fighting - fighting a monster that had been created out of my fear and someone's else's control - but I didn't see it that way. I wasn't some knight fighting for my own life in battle, I still sometimes saw myself as the fearful princess in the tower.

I was a graphic designer who ran on her hours most of the time. When I wasn't creating websites and pamphlets for people, I would pour myself into my real passion which was painting and illustration. It was what I loved doing the most but it wasn't easy to do it and getting paid for your passions was next to impossible in the eyes of many of my family members. Alas, that's how I ended up where I was. I disregarded her tone and I shook my head. "It's not for work this time around. It's for the baby," I explained. "I promised Lucy that I would have my gift for the nursery done before the holidays and it needs a few more touchups."

"Oh. I can't wait to see what you're doing then, at least I can trust you to show me how it'll be. I can't count on Lucy to answer my texts lately. I haven't seen your sister in a few weeks, could you remind her that I know she sees what I'm saying but she doesn't reply? I know she posts about being too busy to do anything but I beg to differ." Samantha rang up the register and retrieved my drink from the back.

She handed me the cup and I smiled back at her with a little shrug. "No promises."

I decided that I needed to clear my mind that afternoon. I had all of my supplies with me on purpose, I made sure to leave my apartment that morning with everything that I might need to keep my mind occupied out of the house for a while. And for once I was glad that I grabbed everything that I needed before I opened the front door, I might have never been able to get out of dodge so fast this morning if I hadn't done that. My apartment was inevitably going to be cleaned up thanks to my Mom but it was going to be the kind of clean that she was fond of, it meant that a lot of things weren't going to be out of place. I lived in an environment that could be called controlled chaos; Nothing looked like it made sense to an outsider but for me, I knew where everything was that I needed and I liked it that way.

It didn't matter if anybody else liked it, it was my home and that meant I could have it the way I liked it. When I finally moved out of my childhood home a few months ago after the accident I made sure that my new place would be everything that I couldn't have there.

I knew I needed to get back and finish the project that my supervisor needed the final proof of, but I wanted to have at least an hour to work on something that for me, not just for some company. There was a creative control over my work that I couldn't entirely show what I wanted because I had to do what the client wanted, not exactly what I might have liked to do. When I was painting or trying to do something for myself, I could do anything. So, I walked to the park after I left the cafe, I would have to walk through it to get back to my apartment anyway. This place was a place that held a lot of good memories and bad memories; The good ones outweighed the bad ones in my opinion, and I wanted that comfort of the pleasant times in my mind instead of the pain that lingered from the present.

It took a few minutes, but everything poured out of my bag and I started to take work the moment I found a spot that caught my attention. It was a shaded tree close to the overpassing bridge, a patch of roses planted by the city not too long ago had taken root and the striking red color stood out against the sea of greens and browns.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" I didn't turn around but I hear someone stir from behind me. The voice wasn't familiar, so I chalked to a stranger that had seen me painting from afar and wanted to learn more or even see what I was doing. "You don't see people painting out in the open like this, forgive me for being forward but I like what you've done with the flowers."

My little laugh left my lips. That wasn't a new experience. People had watched me before so it didn't bother me too much when someone wanted to see or make a little comment. It was nice to hear something positive after the morning that I had. "Thanks for saying so, but it's not precisely representational of the scenery. I took the liberty of adding some more native flowers to make it feel a little more striking."

The man leaned a bit closer, not enough that I wanted to flinch but enough that I could feel his presence. "Yes, the dogwood gives clarity to your canvas. It holds many meanings, but might I guess that you mean to use it as a sign of rebirth or hope?"

"Regret," I murmured. "Actually."

"Interesting, I wouldn't have expected that to be your choice." The man commented. "You don't seem like the type to have experienced that kind of a pain in your life."

My pencil continued to rake across the paper as I added a few details, making sure to note things my eyes might miss when I was to begin painting. I pursed my lips. "That's the funny thing about people you pass by every day. You might not know anything about that person but they're going through something you wouldn't believe. It's like that flower there," my eyes fell on the bud that yet to bloom. "It hasn't bloomed like the rest of its friends for a number of different reasons, but it'll sprout it leaves one of these days and be just as beautiful as the rest."

"The other flowers are blocking it from receiving the adequate amount of sunlight. It might not ever bloom without a delicate hand to guide it to its full potential. " He said.

I set my pencil down and took a closer look. "Oh, wait, you're right. If they trim back some of the tops it'll reach it a lot better right now. I can't believe that missed that and I call myself a girl with a decent green thumb, hah. I come to this spot pretty often because I can't go out to the Lancelot Gardens every day, have you ever been?"

"No, but I've heard a few things about it," the stranger replied.

My smile widened at the thought of getting any more strangers to visit the place. I was always advertising for my Grandparents when I got the chance and I wasn't about to stop doing that just because I didn't see them as often as I would like anymore. "Oh, you really should if you ever get to the interstate. They're just right of it down a clay road. I grew up on those gardens and they still never fail to take my breath away. I'd be pressed to say that there isn't another place like it in the world." I could see it in my mind when I shut my eyes. "There's just about anything you could imagine down there, but there are sprawling fields of Wisteria out there. Some people call it invasive but lemme tell you, seeing it cover the landscape and treetops is awe-inspiring. It's a page right of the storybooks."

"I could show you one better," He began to say. "But hearing you speak so fondly of the flowers makes me wonder what you might think if you could see the spot I often visit."

"And where might that be?" I asked, curious.

When I turned around to see the man he was gone. I thought for a brief moment that I had just hallucinated the entire encounter but left on the ground was unrest in the dirt, a footprint impression on the ground told me that there had been somebody these speaking to me that time. It was odd to just some idle conversation with someone and then just disappear before it could be finished. I hadn't had such a calm conversation with someone about the flowers since I ran some of the tours back at my Grandpa's gardens. I almost felt a little sad I couldn't ask him his name. My phone was sitting on the ground behind me as well, I raised an eyebrow at the sight. I thought I had set it in my bag. Why was it sitting on the grass?

It would be a few nights later that I would realize that that chance encounter would change my life forever.

"What would you do if I told you that sometimes growing up feels like you're burying your childhood and kicking it for good measure?" The phone was on speaker so I didn't need to put the effort into holding the device in my hand. The moment that I got out of the rain and back into my apartment I collapsed onto my bed in a crumpled heap. Another week of mindless work, sleeping when I could find the time to do it and working when I wasn't sleeping. It was just another day in the life. My phone started ringing at that very moment as well, and while I might have usually just ignored the sound and just laid there something told me that I needed to check who it was. Lucy had such a lot going on lately in her life - and I did as well, that meant that we couldn't just talk to each other like we used to be able to do.

While I felt like this was a heavy weight upon me - I never expressed it to her completely... not when she had a small child on to tend to.

On the other end of the phone, she let out a small scoff at the question I inquired. Typical for Lucy, she had a clear head on her body even if she sometimes seemed like the world's biggest goofball. "Have you been binging Disney movies while you're feeling the height of your depression again? That's kind of a weird way to deal with all you're going through right now, but if it's helping go for it." This was her attempt at trying to tease me - to make me feel better about myself.

I rolled my eyes. "There's nothing wrong with indulging in fairy tales as long as you know how to separate fantasy and reality. Life is a little different than being a Cinderella, where your misfortune can lead you to something better you weren't expecting along the way, but hey, I can dream. I might digress, but I have been painting a lot of castles lately."

"And I'm still dreaming I can fly." Lucy retorted. It was always great to know her sarcasm was holding up ever since she had her daughter - as if I could ever believe that it was going to go away just because she had a mini-me in the making. I could only hope that her daughter wasn't going to turn out like her because if she did, I might start losing my hair well before my time. There could only be one Lucy, after all. I hoped. I grumbled under my breath and she just laughed at me.

When her laughter quieted, she got serious. "What's got you feeling like that anyway?"

"Oh." There wasn't going to be one little thing that made me feel this way. With a little sigh, I admitted to her just a little bit of information. "A little of this, a little of that... you know the deal. It's just one of those days, Lucy. There were some good things and there were some bad things, it's hard to say what pulled me back into this rut."

Lucy gave a soft hum in response. "How's everything holding up other than that?"

"I've been rocking a killer headache today, but I just took some painkillers that might be able to knock it down just enough that I can get some rest later if I try. Other then that it's been kind of a decent week if you ask me over." I grimaced as I remembered the one point bad point of my week that I wanted to forget. "Mom did drop by earlier this week, but that's not worth mentioning."

"Oh." Lucy didn't have to say much else about that.

It was coming out like word vomit. This feeling that Lucy had heard something from the woman that I already knew. "If she told you that I hadn't cleaned up the place, she's exaggerating like always. I left her in my apartment for a few hours and when I came back everything was out of place because she has her system that she thinks we should follow." I paused as my eyes darted around the living room of my apartment with a grimace. "A few magazines on the floor is enough to start World War Three in her opinion. You know how that goes."

My eyes lingered on the flowers that sat on the corner table next to my lampshade when they reached them. It was a simple pot and a big array of flowers that my Mother preferred. They were a shade of yellow that I wasn't fond of, they reminded of something that I wanted to forget desperately, however, no matter how hard I glared at the floral arrangement it would spontaneously combust. My Mom didn't listen whenever I told her not to drop by flowers if she wasn't going to remember the ones that I couldn't stand. "You know what kind of flowers she dropped off when she visited though? I've told her time and time again that I don't want to see them."

"Sunflowers?" She asked.

I rolled over on the couch so I wasn't facing the vase. "Who do those flowers think they're fooling? They can't be as bright as the sun and make me happy as they do her." I said. "I just don't think they're all that great." There was a pause on the other line for a moment. Lucy sounded like she was shifting something in her hands and then set it down onto something like a table from the clank in the background. "Well, you can get a decent snack out of them if she got them from Grandpa's gardens, so that's a good bedside treat. I'll try to remind her to pick up something different if she wants to bring you some next time. alright?"

"Much appreciated, sis," I told her with a weak smile crossing my lips. The light from my phone diminished into darkness. I would never have the heart to tell her that those were the flowers that Dad would get for Mom on their anniversary every single year and they just reminded me of a man that I used to know and who was long gone. Someone who was once impossibly light - once who bore the universe, the sun, the stars in my eyes - turned into a withered bed of thorns and a face that I could no longer see behind who he had become in the process. I couldn't stand that thought - and our Mom would never understand how much I hated to see something once great turned into something that left a sour taste in my mouth. I wouldn't be able to sleep if my brain wouldn't give me some reprieve from the nightmares.

I crawled out of bed and decided to go for a walk.

The only place that I could go to think was the bridge in the park that Father had often taken me throughout my life. It was surrounded by the rushing water and some plants overcast from the trees nearby. It was nice to see, well, it might have been nice if it wasn't for the thick dense fog that had brewed before morning twilight. I tried to keep my thoughts together and just feel lighter than the nightmares that haunted me. For a while, I just stood there and tried to feel something. The flowers were out of my reach but I could see the roses from my spot. I hadn't yet begun to paint the piece that I had started a few days but the red flowers reminded me of that strange encounter.

I wonder if I'll ever meet that guy again. They do say people run into others for a reason and the thought of a place prettier then the one I knew still left a little curious. Oh well, I decided. I'll leave that one to fate. The chill air against my skin reminded me that I should turn back head for my apartment. I counted the cracks in the pavement as I headed back - when I counted the last crack, I lifted my head and looked around to see if the dense fog had begun to clear just yet.

"Huh?" I couldn't recognize my surroundings at all. The morning fog was strong enough that I couldn't entirely make out the surrounding buildings but they were not the ones that should have been here. Now, I had experienced periods of fatigue and confusion that left me confused about myself or my environment at times, but this was a different feeling that I was experiencing. This wasn't like my town. I pinched myself and that proved that I was awake and - yes, this was happening. "I guess I should have slept some earlier because I can't even recognize my park. Oh my God, Karen was right about deprivation."

Grabbing my bag, I tore through it to find my phone. When I looked down at my phone I noticed an application was installing. My apps usually updated by themselves during the might when I slept, but this one had a name I wasn't familiar with... Against my better judgment, I decided to see what it was. It opened on my screen and gave me the option to input some reasonably necessary information and then it gave me one more option.

I plugged in my alias as the nickname.

The application didn't give me any option but to enter a mysterious looking chatroom.

Wisteria has entered the chatroom.

Unknown: Hi! Finally, someone to talk to!

I stared at my phone screen uncertain if what I was seeing was real, had I accidentally opened Mystic Messenger and started a new game? The static of the background reminded me of the first I didn't remember doing that... Might my phone be on the fritz? I thought. The background of the chat room was of data and code but it wasn't exactly like the one that I had put to my memory. Something about it made my stomach churn with butterflies. Why was this appearing here of all places?

I clicked the dialogue box.

My keyboard sprung open... and the line flashed as if it was waiting for my input into the box. It didn't give me a choice. It wanted me to input something as a response... Nervously I began to type a message.

Wisteria: Oh... hello?

Unknown: I hope I didn't surprise you. Don't be nervous I'm just an "ordinary person".

Wisteria: Usually when someone says that, they are anything but ordinary, Mr. Unknown.

Unknown: You're funny lol I can't say that I'm extraordinary when I'm introducing myself. Shouldn't I be humble and modest?

Wisteria: I suppose I might have cracked a joke too if I was introducing myself to somebody for the first time too. I can understand the sentiment you're going for. I think. Who are you, exactly? Um, how did this even open? I don't remember downloading any apps.

Who are you, indeed. I clicked out of the chat for a moment to see the name of the application.

RFA...?

It was called RFA Messenger. That was suspicious enough for me to wonder what was going on. It didn't say Mystic Messenger despite looking damn-near identical to the platform with some minor visual differences. Why did it appear so much like it? I wondered. Was this one of fake versions that appeared on the app store? I didn't remember downloading anything like that - I certainly didn't put one on my waitlist. So... What the heck? Sometimes I would download something interesting if it caught my eye but I couldn't remember clicking anything before I left my apartment. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that I did do it.

"I saw one of those before but... this looks too legitimate to be a fake," I mumbled as I inspected the screen further with scrutiny. "What the heck?"

Another message came in. I continued walking down the path but the bridge seemed much longer than usual for some reason, and for a moment when I knew that I had to look back down at my phone, I stopped just at the second to last pillar.

Unknown: I'm sorry if I surprised you out of nowhere.

Unknown: I'm the developer of this app. What do you think of it? I was hoping you would like it... I'm excited. Because you're the first one to come in, Wisteria! I was worried that no one would come in while I was making the app.

Wisteria: I'm not sure I'm made up my mind on my opinion just yet. This interface looks a simple so props for that concept. I guess I must have downloaded this without entirely reading through it. It's been one of those days. Though, I'm flattered the developer wanted to talk to me directly. Is there something that I can do for you?

Unknown: Oh! I'm so glad you asked! cuz there is a favor I want to ask of you. Though, it is kind of much to ask from a stranger. There is something I want you to help me with.

Wisteria: I guess I can. But I'm still a little wary. Sure!

Unknown: You already decided without hearing me out? My heart's fluttering... I'm so lucky that you came here. This app isn't just a messenger app, it's a game messenger app. I wanted to ask if you could test it.

Wisteria: Why you couldn't you test it yourself? Oh, are you so focused on putting it together that it's hard to look for bugs? I guess it would be easy to overlook something if you've been looking at it for a while. That happens to me sometimes when I'm drawing something and another opinion is always a good thing.

Unknown: You could say something like that I also think an outsider's opinion like yours would be a massive benefit to my game, though as well.

Wisteria: Hm. Well, I can't lie and say I'm busy because I'm not. What's the premise?

Unknown: This app... lets you chat with me but also good-looking AIs. I may be a good looking guy too. But that's for you to decide - The chats aren't everything. There are also hidden stories... Amusing stories that will stir your imagination. All you would need to do... is to play the game and tell me your honest opinion.

Unknown: These are the characters that come out of the game. They're not real people but characters created with AI. What do you think? Don't you think it will be fun?

If I had been holding my breath at that moment it broke past my lips into a gasp. That image! He had sent an image was of the... It was the original title screen of the game when it debuted in the app store! Somebody must have been playing a clever trick on me. Except... Nobody that I was close to knew that I had been spending a lot of time playing Otome games, be it Mystic Messenger on my phone or the few of them that were on my laptop. The only person that might have known about it was my Dad - given he was still around when I started playing in the hospital.

So that couldn't be the case. It was bizarre... yet, compelling. Even if it was some kind of joke, I felt like I should go along with it. Against the feeling in my stomach, once again, I decided to see what would happen if I were to agree to this. I didn't have anything to do except paint and submit my work to the publisher or the writer this week. If this was a joke or a game it would end soon if I just agreed with them.

Wisteria: Alright, sure, I'll help you out!

Unknown: Did you find a pretty face that you like on the poster? If so, you are genuinely fascinating lol

Unknown: I've studied hard to make this messenger game. I hope you enjoy it. I think it will be better if we talk over the phone about the details. Let's talk over the phone. Don't freak out when you see an unknown number pop up, okay?

Unknown has left the chatroom.

The chatroom fizzled into darkness and disappeared from my view.

What had just happened? It was like I was walking through a replica of the game model down to the letter! This was going to end with me looking up and seeing the crew from Punk'd despite it being off the air for more than a decade and a then phone was back to normal so I took what should have been the next few steps off the bridge to the path that would take me home but my feet didn't hit the dirt, they hit concrete instead. I spun around to look at the bridge behind me. It wasn't the same one that I had just stepped off of at all... and the strangest thing was, I thought I saw a stream along the fog that looked like something had warped the space around the bridge.

What I thought was my eyes playing tricks on me at first turned out to be something different entirely.

As the fog cleared up and the sun began to overtake the sky above me, that was when I knew that things weren't as they should have been with a new sense of clarity. This wasn't my neighborhood. These weren't the streets that I knew like the back of my hand. These buildings were just as ordinary as any old city would have but they weren't the ones that should've been here. Nothing was written in English either, the characters seemed familiar but I couldn't gauge them given my panic. I had walked a few blocks ahead to see if anything might have struck a nerve in my memory but it was no use. I could feel the anxiety and panic budding in the pit of my throat. This was not the ideal situation but I needed to stay calm.

I counted to ten... then took a deep breath. I looked at my phone and at whim, opened my Map app just to confirm the theory of my proximate location - the app surged to life and began to search for me, it dinged when it was finished and scrolled out to find my answer. I was... This wasn't home. I was somehow a million miles away from my home, in South Korea of all places. That's not how travel works. How I just traversed the seas and lands in a matter of seconds startled me to my very core.

My phone started to vibrate and I fumbled with it in my hands before pressing the answer button. My breathing was uneven but, I managed to squeak out a little bit in response. "H-Hello?" I asked.

"Hey, it's me, the one you were just chatting with." He said.

"...Unknown?" Were my hands shaking? Was my voice quivering? What was happening right now? I was at the park one moment now I wasn't sure I was in Kansas anymore, Toto. Korea, South Korea of all the places to somehow wind up. I wasn't registering the connection yet because my brain wasn't going... This wasn't my town. My mind was whirling around at a hundred miles an hour and I didn't know what to do. I needed to talk. What did I say? My nervous laugh escaped my lips. He said he would call, right? This is him. The guy pulling this ruse on me. "Oh. You told me not to be frightened but I have to admit the sudden call startled me."

"Yes, that's me. I hope I didn't startle you too much... Your voice sounds so cute over the phone, I can't wait to meet you in person." He paused for a moment. Unknown was someone that a lot of people didn't understand. Well, I could guess his motives and what he doing from what I knew about him from Seven's route but it wasn't enough. This game he was talking to me about wasn't a game, not if I was standing smack dap in the middle of South Korea right now. That was beyond reason and I was struggling to even know what to say to him to make this end well. I could gauge whom he was and how he got there, but why he was tricking me like this was beyond me. "As I said in the chatroom, I called you to explain this app. And I thought talking to you like this would make me sound more, credible. There's a tutorial in the game that can explain everything to the player but it's still being modified, you see... Do you remember those characters I showed you?"

Did I know them? Yes. The five members of Rika's Fundraising Association that were accessible when I played the game. Yoosung Kim, Jaehee Kang, Hyun "Zen" Ryu, Jumin Han, and Luciel "Seven" Choi. The whole point of the Otome was centered around those characters and they were the components of the game. But did he know that I did as far I knew? No. "I do," I said.

"Yeah, that image I sent you of the game consists of the characters that I've been developing. Those will your chatting partners... All five characters in the image are members of an association called the R.F.A." Unknown explained away his plans. He believed that this was a game that he had made, or was this some kind of ploy? These were real people, right? "R.F.A is a closed organization with the purpose of holding fundraising parties... You've been set as the party coordinator, in charge of inviting guests. Just think of it as you being the one in charge of choosing who attends the party."

His voice sounded very familiar. Although, I wasn't sure if Unknown was who I honestly assumed he was just yet. It could just be a coincidence. It couldn't be Saeran Choi, no, no, it couldn't be him and this was just some dream that I was having after a lousy night. I couldn't just gauge by his voice through my cell phone. I wouldn't know until my eyes were on him and I couldn't be sure that, that was a good option. I focused on talking about this game he was telling me about instead. "Whomever you invite as this coordinator will probably gain you more affection points with certain characters, right?" I said. "Though it would depend on how well you can pick up which answers are right and wrong."

"You pick up pretty quickly." There was a chuckle on the other end of the phone. "It would be pretty boring if all you had to do was just that, though, wouldn't you say? You will find out more of their secrets by chatting or calling with them. It would be faster to learn by playing it if I'm honest." So what did he want me to do? He wanted me to test his game that wasn't a game. These were real people with real problems and lives. That was the primary purpose of Mystic Messenger from my world. You play the game and solve the problems for a character. Unknown leading MC to Rika's apartment was the only scenario I was aware of that lead her to the RFA.

This wasn't like that.

I was somewhere that I didn't know the lay of the land and I had no way of finding my way back home. Mystic Messenger was set in South Korea and that was leagues away from where my home was. This wasn't what I knew. I couldn't exactly refuse what he was offering If I did, that might run the possibility of something worse then being on the streets of a country that I didn't entirely know. If I was really in this game right now than I could cause a bad ending by doing something wrong. That didn't leave much of an edge room to make any other answer than the one I had to. Was it possible this was a parallel reality to Mystic Messenger where Unknown was just trying to make a game? That would be too easy of a theory to believe in. Something was going on right now that I couldn't be sure of. His intentions have to be similar to the regular story...? He wants me to get the RFA on my side, so they could be lured to Mint Eye one by one for his savior... Rika.

How would I be able to do this, under the guise of an Otome?

It didn't entirely make sense given what I know.

I had no choice but I decided that I would stick with it.

My silence might have left him nervous about what I was planning - but I brought myself out of my head and gave him my answer. "Sure, alright, I'll do it for you. You've been nothing but polite to me so far. I see no harm in doing something that might help you feel better." Was I going to be in trouble if I went along with him? My memory of the sad endings flashed in my head. He wasn't a bad person, but he had been twisted into something by someone who wanted him to be a pretty pawn. We had that in common. But he was my only choice given my situation. I didn't know where else to turn to but to him now, hopefully, it wouldn't come back to bite me in the ass.

"Thanks! I was worried you would refuse." His cheery response caught me off guard. I didn't remember Unknown coming off like this... He was supposed to brash and calculated. He didn't put up the pleasantries because that was too much effort for him. Unknown seemed different than the one that I had come to know playing the game. "Right, but the game hasn't been released yet and it cannot be revealed to the market. So, to perform the tests, you have to come over here." He said.

Come here? He couldn't mean what I thought. Was he intending to bring me straight to Mint Eye?

"Where's here...?" I asked him.

"You probably won't know even if I told you. It's in the mountains and hard to see from Maps. To maintain confidentiality before the release, it's being developed in a sparsely populated area... Of course, you don't have to come here by yourself if it's too troublesome. I'll send a car over to you if you tell me your address. You could hop onto that and head this way." Well, that answered that question. This was the kind of thing that your mother and father would tell you never to do when you're talking with strangers. It wasn't like I could get his location and head there myself.

I doubted that that sort of liberty was ahead of me. "You're not ridiculing my sense of direction, are you Mr. Unknown? I'm competent, you know. I'm sure I could find my way around."

"Oh, of course not! It would be easier for you is all I'm saying, and it keeps everything tied to the game confidential." Unknown was quick to reassure me of this. "This just saves you some headache, Wisteria."

"Well, I guess if you put it that way. How - How can I refuse?" I gave him the address. I knew my hands were shaking now, I was aware that this was becoming too real for me. If I was going to find out how I got here and understand the situation at hand - It meant that I was going to have to throw myself into the unknown. That meant standing in a place where the root of unrest and fear lived ahead. There was a trickling fear crawling up my back and I wanted desperately for him to take it all back.

"I'll send a car there right now. Please be there. Keep in mind that the road there is confidential, so just do as I tell you and it'll be alright. I should hang up now. I need to get ready." He hung up.

"Wait, tell me this was just a prank!" I cried out, at last, the dull end of the other line of the call was silent.

Unknown wasn't going to answer me. This wasn't a joke anymore, I wasn't playing a game, this was real. I was living and breathing this game now. The morning air seemed thick, just as thick in the bile in my throat. I was left with my thoughts and the jarring realization that I didn't know what was to expect ahead. What had I just gotten myself into? I signed myself to the devil more or less, in a country that wasn't my own and a fear that I knew too well. This city surrounding me wasn't familiar to me and what was worse was the colors of this city seemed muted, not as lively as it should have been. At first, I thought it was my eyes adjusting to the sun once again... But, I now realized this wasn't normal.

I rubbed my eyes.

Everything was blocky, and in a sense, two dimensional. Why was that? The streets were barren for this time of day and I wouldn't be able to confirm my growing thought until the car arrived. My theory was confirmed when a driver appeared a half an hour later, with a blindfold in tow and the appearance of a two-dimensional person.

The driver drove for a period that I couldn't gauge, the roads twisted and turned so much that I would never have had a chance to make a mental map of the roadway if I wanted to do it. It was well outside of the residential area that I had once been in. It was at least an hour away from anything at most - no wonder it took so long for anyone to find out what they were running here. This was somewhere out of the way and out of sight of the average person. "We have arrived." The driver informed me when the car finally went silent and died down and was swallowed by the noise of nature. "You'll need to wait here for a moment, and place the mask back on." I did as I was instructed to do.

It was a few minutes before the driver spoke up once more: "Mr. Ray has arrived." The door opened to my right. "Welcome. I've been waiting. Welcome to this wonderful place. It wouldn't have been an easy decision to come here... Thanks for trusting me."

It wasn't that I trusted him - this was the only thing that I could accept at the moment. I knew better than to say his name, his actual name if it were him, instead, I opted for: "Unknown?"

He seemed to be pleased that I could it was him. "You knew who I was just by listening to the sound of my voice?" He laughed that off. It was the voice that I knew it to be from my time listening to him in the game. There was little no doubt left in my mind that this was him. "Yeah. It's me, username Unknown. Didn't you think Unknown was a funny name? It was a default option because I didn't set up a username in the first place. No special meaning. My name is Ray. Thank you for coming all this way."

"I wanted to show you around," He continued. "I prepped up this and that while waiting for you." Show me around? This was news to me. The Unknown that I knew didn't play around like this. He wouldn't have asked he would have just done it. My fingers lingered against the edge of the mask. I wanted desperately to confirm his identity - the voice wasn't enough for me to accept my situation - I wanted to be entirely sure that this was real. "Oh, don't take off the mask just yet. You can't take it off until you reach your room." He said.

"My room?" I echoed him. I wasn't entirely sure what to make of that. That meant that there was somewhere in this place that I wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. He seemed intrigued by how well I was playing into this on the surface. "Yes, I prepared a comfortable space for you while you're here... I mean, while you're testing you have to stay here. I was worried though since I didn't know what you liked... I hope you'll like it." He said. "I'll hold your hand on the way down from the car."

I took his hand. "Thank you."

"Oh, no thank you. You are doing what I tell you to do." Ray said. Something about that kind of praise didn't make me good. He leads the way into the building and I stayed close by his side. Ray, as he told me, didn't say much at first until we had been walking for a while around the jungle that was this massive building. This was no different than the roadways that lead to this place. You couldn't try to know how you were turning if you wanted to do it. An escape plan wouldn't be possible yet. "You have no idea what a relief it was when you said you'll help. What a relief, thanks to you. You'll be a big help."

I looked in his general location. "Well, you didn't give me any reason not to trust you," I told him even if it was only half sincere. "You seem like a nice guy, I honestly don't mind helping you if it means it'll do you some good." It was better to be on his right side. I didn't know how to predict his movements - I liked Saeran, as much as I liked anyone in the RFA, but I wasn't sure what to expect from him when I wasn't trapped in Rika's apartment. Everyone was hurting to some degree and I couldn't bring myself to be with ill thoughts. He was acting so pleasant and cheery compared to the twisted persona he had garnered from this place.

This response seemed to be good enough. "That's very kind of you," Ray said. "I'll do my best to make you happy while you're here for your diligence." He stopped in his tracks right then as his footsteps died down "Oh. We're here, come I'll remove your blindfold." My eyes readjusted to the light and he came into focus at last in my vision. It was Saeran, it was him. Why was he referring to himself as Ray now? Was it just another alias? He was dressed much differently as well, the tailored coat was bright and he was looking at me with green eyes filled with hope.

"This would be our first time seeing each other face to face, right?" He was smiling. It wouldn't be for me, I thought. This was my first time seeing him in a light different than the dark demeanor and look he had as Unknown, the sole hacker against the RFA. Ray was much softer in appearance somehow - Ray wore a magenta overcoat over a grey vest and white button-up, a striking blue flower was pinned to the lapel of his overcoat. It was a change to the leather and ripped clothes. If he noticed any hesitation in me, I couldn't be sure.

"I suppose it is." I murmured when I found the use of my voice. His character was one that had a lot of struggle. I could relate to his pain on many levels but seeing him in the flesh made me very... wary. It wasn't a good idea to trust someone who lied to you like this. I did want to like him. I just needed to think clearly as I moved forward. "It's nice to put a name to a face."

He returned that with a solid nod of his head, Ray gestured around the room where we were. I just noticed the environment for the first time. This was the kind of room that walked out of a princess fantasy. It was impressive at its grand scale and I had to give them credit for keeping up with the theme like they did. "This is your room. I did my best to prepare everything in here to your liking... still, let me know of any inconvenience. You have full access to this floor of our headquarters, but you'll have to let me know before you go anywhere else. The reason... you know why, right?"

"Because it's strictly confidential like you said," I echoed his words from earlier. "Right?"

"Correct. You have a great memory... I don't hate smart people. I get the feeling you'll pull this off quite well." He said. There was something in his tone that left me feeling like there was more to this then he let on. If the RFA truly were real as Ray was, what did that mean for me? "We still have some time left, I'll explain a bit about the game. As I mentioned before, the purpose of the game is to hold a party with the RFA. All of the characters are the AIs that I have designed. There's one problem as I've tried to make it super realistic with the AIs."

Super-realistic? Was he just trying to downplay how they were really... real people? "They aren't self-aware, are they? That would be a concerning bug to deal with." I cocked my head to the side. "Science hasn't exactly figured out how to perfect them just yet so if you cracked the code, color me impressed, Ray."

He had a small chuckle escape him at my inquiry. "Aha... it's not like that per say. The AIs become just super suspicious when a new person comes in. Your concept is that someone hacked into your messenger and that's how you got into the RFA messenger. Quite suspicious, isn't it?"

I pursed my lips. "Oh. Yeah, that would be cause for alarm."

"Exactly. That's the setting of the game, it's not fun when everyone likes you from the start, is it?" Ray nodded, clearly pleased with my assumption. "They'll ask you about this hacker, of course. But you can't answer them because you know nothing. They will try to pry information out of you though, like your location and this hacker, and they might even try to get information about the creator, me." He continued. "At that, you can't reveal the truth. You must keep the secret until the end. Can you promise me that you won't reveal what we've been talking about to the AIs?"

"It would be game-over otherwise, right?" That look in his eyes told me my answer. "I'll do my best, Ray. That's all I can promise." I told him.

I wasn't entirely sure that I was going to able to keep that promise, however, I would be doing my best for everyone.

"Thanks! I'm so happy that you're so cooperative! Meeting you might have been... fate. Just remember to avoid a game-over, okay? Everything up until now is a secret, and who I am, the fact that they're AIs is a secret too. Be careful, if the game goes through a forced shut-down, you have to start all over again from the beginning. Slight differences are depending on how you talk to them... but even if they don't accept you from that, just tell them: Someone called Rika sent me to hold the party."

"Rika, huh?"

The savior of this place.

"She's a character. The other characters will tell you what kind of character she is, but simply put, she's the one who founded the group in the game. And as I mentioned over the phone, your role in the game is the party coordinator. Depending on how you talk to those potential guests means whether they will attend or decline." He nodded his head. The run-around he was giving me had my head spinning. It was like he was trying to drill the information into my skull over and over to make sure that I understood him. "The number of party guests is also dependent on whether or not a good end is reached, right?" I asked.

That was how it worked, after all.

He nodded his head, pleased. "That's a good guess. It'll spoil the fun if I tell you in advance, if you wanna find out, you'll have to play. Inviting the guests is crucial, try to invite them with whole-heartedly. Don't forget that there will also be interesting events beside the party, within the RFA itself, depending on the choices that you make. You'll have to tell me what you think as you play... even the smallest things are okay. Tell me everything, how the party went, what those characters said to you... That way, I'll know how well the game is going... Your role is important."

I nodded my head and reaffirmed my words. "You can count on me."

My gut told me if I didn't do what they asked I would be in trouble.

"You're very confident! I'm also getting more confident thanks to you. I'll work even harder making his app. It was worth waiting for a tester." That last comment seemed to be more for himself than for me. He outstretched his hand towards me with a lift of his right hand. "Here, hand me your phone, I'll add the app for you."

"Here." I lifted the gadget from my bag and into his waiting hands.

"Thanks, it will only take a few minutes!"

I was being used for something.

Rika's sick little game with her former organization couldn't be stopped quickly.

"Do you have any more questions about the game?" He asked.

There was something I was curious about. "I'm a little more interested to learn about you, Ray." I inquired. "I mean, this is your creation after all. The more I know about you the more that I can understand your game and give you feedback worth listening to, you know." The more that I understood about him the more natural it might have been for me to understand my environment. What was going on in Magenta? What year was it? What was the RFA going through if Saeran was like this? The boy in front of me was much softer than the Unknown I knew. As we looked into each other's eyes, I could see something in them that I often held.

Ray seemed startled by the admission. "Me? Hahaha... You're more interesting then I thought. Though I'm not a character inside of the game. I've always dreamed of someone who's a good listener to what I say. My voice is quite small... Most people don't seem to listen very well. Oh, I know I keep emphasizing this but... don't forget to keep the secret, alright? Don't ever... try to get game over easily, promise me that, please?"

"Of course." I didn't want to face something grim.

He handed my phone back to me with a smile. "Thanks a lot! I want to talk to you some more, but I have to get going now, Wisteria. I want you to give it your best, party coordinator." Ray made the move to head to the door after this. I turned around to watch him take a few steps towards the door and when his hand touched the knob - the words left my lips before I could stop myself.

"Wait."

He didn't move.

"My name isn't Wisteria."

"Oh?" Ray was staring at me from the corner of his vision, he didn't say much else when I spoke. I'm sure he had his theories if he hadn't found out already by going through my phone. "Is that so?"

"It's not safe to give out your name over the internet so easily you know. That's why people use usernames in the first place, sometimes you chose something you like other times you just let the default stick as you did with Unknown." That was a layer of protection, be it chosen or not. Nobody wanted everyone to know who they were, it was easier to pretend. I wanted to trust Ray because I knew he could be good. Anybody else with the right mind would have refused him and called the police about the operation. That was the realistic option. But if I dropped the line and did that would it solve the problem of me being a different country by myself? How would I know that that was going to do it? Even if I said no to him in the first place, was somebody watching me while I was on the phone with Ray? Would they have gotten me if I didn't?

What was even a stronger thought was: I couldn't be sure that I even existed in this reality. There was a massive possibility that any attempts at searching for me would be filled with confusion and endless error screens. If nobody knew I existed here, then there wasn't a chance of getting out of the situation unscathed. I didn't have any records. No one could come looking for me. I guess it didn't matter if I gave my name or not. The only traces of who I was were with me. It wouldn't hurt me if Ray at least knew my first name.

"Is there a reason why you chose that one?" Ray asked, breaking my train of thought.

"I guess you could say that, or it could no different than how you accepted Unknown as yours," I said. "It's just one of those things you learn the truth of after you've been friends for a while." I wasn't sure why I felt compelled to be honest with him. Somewhere inside of me, I knew that Saeran wasn't intentionally a villain in this story, he had been coerced and deceived by Rika for a long time and it took its toll and twisted him into someone he was not. I wanted to trust him, or maybe I just wanted him to trust me. "And - And if we're going to working together from now on, then, then I would like us to be friends someday."

I lifted my head and looked at him. "It's Lila."

"Lila, huh?" With those words in his mind, he exited the room and went back to who knows where in the building. This was different then the Mystic Messenger I had been playing, the last route I had completed was Seven - It had seemed to be the route that explained everything and cleared up all the answers that we learned along the way in the other routes with the RFA members.

The fact that I was standing here meant there had to be something more to the game or this was some kind of alternate universe. The moment Saeran- no, Ray left me to my thoughts was the first moment that I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror. I had to do a double take on my reflection. "It's me...?" I raised my hand to the mirror - my fingertips brushing against the edge of the cold glass. It looked like me, but at the same time, it didn't seem like it was me. It was as if I were me, but I wasn't me.

As if it wasn't jarring enough to my vision for the world to appear two dimensional- it appeared as though I had been changed to match my surroundings. My eyes and hair were the same color as always, brown as always. My features were much more subtle here, I almost wasn't sure this was me. I was wearing the same dress that I had on when I left my house this morning, my hair was tucked back with the black bow I always pulled it in when I wanted it out of my face and a reassuring pinch lets me know this was more than mere fantasy. My figure was as thin as it had become... I knew underneath my clothes there was the body I hated and yet it still belonged to me. It was like I had become a drawing in my own notebooks and not in a good way. My heart pounded in my chest at a resounding rate.

"It is me."

My phone went off in my hand. I lifted it into view and saw the notification alerting me to an open chatroom that I could enter. That meant that my game had officially begun.

Wisteria has entered the chatroom.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

So my life is pretty much in a bad place but I decided that I should try and vent by making the original fic something much more deserving of the quality and time I should give it. If you didn't read the original story, then it's alright, this story is going to be different while still holding many of the elements of the original. It will flip between first person and third person every other chapter, I like that guise, so expect to be seeing a lot more going in the story then what our MC, Lila knows. Anyway, I hope this pleases some people because this SI fic is supposed to be fun not only for me but for the readers too. Also because the OG hasn't been updated in a few months and it's easier to just start from the get go and make it a lot better that way.