Rating: SFW (At least this chapter).
Summary: After playing the April's fool DLC and having Zen break the 4th wall, MC (you, reader) makes a wish upon a star.
Tags: Angst, so much angst.
You looked at your phone with tears in your eyes. "This is silly" you thought "this is just a game". An otome game, at that. The characters are basically programmed to love you, the MC. But still, you hadn't had a boyfriend for a while and you hadn't met anyone you were interested in. Work and school kept you busy and a recent move put you away from your friends and family. You hadn't really made friends in your area yet and you were a little ashamed to say this silly game had kept you company. More than kept you company, you had obsessed over it, even setting alarms on your phone to wake up and not miss the chats. You had played all the routes, loved and laughed with all the characters… especially Zen. He had been the first route you naturally fell into and despite disliking his constant narcissism at first… he grew on you. Your answers during his route were as close to your real answers as any of the other routes and you still got his good ending. And it didn't hurt that he showered you with love even when you were doing other routes. But more importantly, it felt as if the love he had for you was deeper than the others. It was silly, really, but he had sneaked his way into your heart.
When the April fools DLC came out, you rushed to purchase it, excited that it would be on Zen's birthday. As expected, the route was full of silliness; but you went into it like previous Zen routes, knowing that picking the answers you wanted would take you to the best ending - it always worked before. But then, the answers… kinda started to ring too close to home. As if you could almost tell him he was out of your reach. An ache in your heart pushed you to pick those answers, even though it felt you would hurt him. "Nah. He's not real" you reminded yourself and pushed through ...come over to this world… You still have a long way to become real… You won't be able to come here anyways…
And then, the ending hit you like a ton of bricks. Zen's epiphany broke your heart into a million tiny pieces. "My feelings for you have gotten so big for me to give up on them… just because we're in two different worlds" "If someone in that dimension gives you a hard time, just think of me. When you're bored and miss me too. I realized that our thoughts and feelings transcend dimensions."
You felt the tears going down your eyes. The deep ache in your heart. You looked down at your phone and saw his hand pressed against the glass of your screen. His eyes conveying the sadness that crushed your spirit.
You laid in bed afterwards and hugged your pillow, holding back the tears. "If only..." Zen's sad smiled looked at you from the background of your phone. His words ringing in your ears "I'm sure you think of me from time to time during your day. When you do, just remember. That's the moment my love's done the impossible to cross dimensions and reach you. " With watery eyes, you fell asleep that night.
The next day you woke up sluggishly. You went to bed too late looking at MM's heartbreaking DLC. You kept thinking of Zen and his sweet, yet painful words. I realized that our thoughts and feelings transcend dimensions. "If only…" You headed to work. Your day passed without any eventuality. You didn't open mystic messenger all day because you knew you'd go straight for Zen's route again and it would just break your heart again. You ached to hear his voice. Why am I so… so nostalgic over a fictional guy. What is wrong with me… You got home that night, made dinner, and sat on the couch to watch TV but nothing could grab your eye. You wondered what Zen would be doing at this hour - he'd be working out. I'd join him. So you did. Shorts and pair of tennis shoes later and you were running down your neighborhood. Running, drowning your sadness with loud music, but Zen was persistently on your mind.
You reached a hill near your house and decided to hike it, despite it being dark out already. It took a solid half hour of hiking to reach the top, but once you were there, the stars looked brighter. You were out of breath at this point but felt invigorated, almost happy. You looked at the stars and thought of Zen again, wrapping your arms around yourself and imagining he held you. "Don't hesitate to come find me." His voice resonated in her ears like buzzing fireflies in a swamp. "I came to find you."
At that moment a shooting star crossed the night sky. "the same dimension…" An impossible wish, quicker than a heartbeat and barely long enough to become a phantom thought. So silly… you thought. But shooting stars were for wishes, weren't they? The shooting star was gone in a blink after that. You smiled sadly, wondering what had gotten into you. You took a deep breath and sat on a rock, looking at the sky. I was April and the breeze at night was barely cold enough to be considered chilly. You'd be sore the next day but the run had helped you clear your head and you felt better for it. The sky looked beautiful that night so without thinking it much you layed down on the floor and just stared at the stars twinkle like diamonds tossed across the pitch black sky.
When you opened your eyes again, the sun was barely coming out. You were stiff as a board and your neck was killing you. Had you fallen asleep on top of that hill? Well, that was reckless, not to mention dangerous. You rubbed your neck and stretched your back. Everything was sore and you even felt dizzy. Probably dehydrated. Luckily you were fine, so you headed back down the hill. You usually weren't up early enough to notice the break of dawn but you looked into the sky and noticed the myriad of colors - you had to admit it was a beautiful sight. Almost as if someone had thrown paint over a light blue canvas. You looked at the floor, noticing the dirt seemed a perfectly brown color. That's was an odd thought. You shrugged it off and continued down, carefully avoiding small rocks that might cause you to lose your balance. Once you reached the street, you noticed everything seemed… pretty. The colors seemed livelier, the few cars on the road this early were driving in perfect unison, not a scratch on them. And then you realized… you didn't know where you were. Did you make a wrong turn going down the hill? You were fairly new to the area and didn't know it all that well. Your phone was dead so you couldn't put the GPS home. You figured you'd walk until you found someone or any store that may be open so you could orient yourself. But… which way to go. You started walking towards your left and nothing seemed familiar. What the hell… You looked around, searching for anything you may recognize but nothing looked like home. Maybe it was because the sun hadn't really come out yet. You stood at a corner and looked around, even squinting your eyes trying to figure out any landmarks, anything, when a car stopped in front of you.
"Are you lost?" came a woman's voice from the rear window of the vehicle.