Guest review replies (this is exciting, doing a guest review reply!):
hanami: Thank you for your review! Honestly I should really be thanking you all for creating AXIUM and your characters because I have had so much fun with exploring the characters and incorporating them into the story. I'm so happy that you like what I did! And I'm especially happy that you liked the Delilah-centric epilogue. I hope you'll like these final two epilogues too!
More general notes for this chapter:
This epilogue was probably one of the most fun and challenging ones to write, considering that it's in the format of an online newspaper/magazine article. Or trying to mirror that format, anyway. It definitely looks a lot more article-like in the word doc I wrote this in but anyway. I've not given a name to the newspaper/magazine in question here but it goes without saying that it's a fictional one though the style and format of the article is based on ones I've read from a variety of places. Additionally, the awards mentioned here are also fictional but based on real awards that I found when googling things such as 'food industry awards'.
Special thanks to Ziggy, who read the first completed draft of this to make sure it 'felt' like an article.
"If one insists on calling this place a memorial, then it's not one for loss but for love": A deeper look into Room 777's poignant origins.
The award-winning bar Room 777 in the Fulbright town of Shoshan is well-known for many reasons, but most of all for the founders' connection to Kawaakari Academy in its final, world-changing year. As the fifteenth anniversary of the school's collapse approaches, some of the founders discuss the impact of those events on their current success and how they expect it will impact the future.
Words by: Celia-Rose Tsukino | Photographs by: Runa Elleschild (with additional photographs courtesy of Mist Sorenko)
Posted: Monday 12th, Dark Moon, Current Era: Taiki 43
[Photograph: Lidia Hanaschild, mixing a drink for the author and photographer at the bar]
"Since I know you'll be asking what we're doing specifically to commemorate the anniversary here, I may as well show you. We've only just put the second thing in, so you'll be the first visitor to see it!"
The interview technically hasn't started yet. Lidia Hanaschild, one of the co-founders of Room 777 I am speaking to today, has only just locked the door behind us but she is clearly eager to share. Tucking a stray lock of her blond hair behind her ear, she almost bounds across the bar despite very obviously being weeks away from giving birth to show me the two things that she has just mentioned. The first thing is an elaborate rose-gold metal ceiling decoration, sculptures of origami cranes suspended from different heights around the bar counter. In the centre of the area, there is a circle of rose-gold cranes, all connected by their tails and beaks. This, Lidia informs me, is the 'circle of friends', just like the paper version that Lunarveil 'Lunar' Hannano had made for them back when Room 777 was not a bar at all, but a secret room at the end of the North Corridor of the West Wing of Kawaakari Academy. Of course, although the room itself no longer exists, it is no secret anymore.
The second commemoration, the one that has only just been put in is a large metal wall plaque that has all the names of the students who died or disappeared over the course of that fateful year. Including not just those from what the media dubbed 'the core group' when everything first came to light but every single student who died in the collapse, this plaque covers an entire section of wall on the right hand side of the bar, directly beneath a window. At the moment it is mid-afternoon and the autumn sun makes the metal shimmer faintly, as the window sill has now been removed. When the sun begins to set, it will no doubt glow, the way everything does here at sunset. Lidia stands quietly before it for a moment before gently pressing her hand against the metal and then turning to me and smiling. She asks if we would like a drink, and after some back and forth I am taken into the kitchen where I am introduced to some of the kitchen staff while Lidia gathers some of the ingredients needed as well as snagging a plate of freshly-baked cookies. Then, back at the bar itself I watch her mix the drinks.
[Left photograph: the origami crane sculpture installation over the bar-'circle of friends' shown in inset. Right photograph: the memorial wall with the names of Will Toshino, Wren Atsuko, Kureha Rhyschild and Mica Lizaschild picked out in deep red.]
Just as she finishes, Mist Sorenko comes out of the office. Smartly dressed for the interview in a sharp-looking tailored jacket which matches the deep green of her hair, she looks mildly exasperated as she scolds Lidia for over-exerting herself before turning to introduce herself as another of the co-founders with whom I am speaking to today and explaining that Starri Sorano, who is the third, is waiting for us in the office. After she hands us our drinks (lemonade with a pineapple-peel syrup for me, peach cocktail with apple garnish for Runa), she takes the plate of cookies and leads us through.
The back office is a medium-sized room with a number of desks set up as well a small round table. Tate Merrynschild, another co-founder whom Lidia affectionately introduces to me as 'our favourite numbers guy' sits quietly at a desk right at the back catching up with some administrative tasks and declines to join the interview officially but states that if he has anything to offer he will speak up. Our interview is to take place around the small round mahogany table right under the window, with a mixed bouquet of flowers in a striped milk mug set in the center. As we all settle down around this table, Tate's typing and occasional scribblings in a notebook provide quiet background noise to the interview as it gets underway.
Having seen the new installations in the bar itself and noted their impressive qualities, my first question has to be if they will be hosting any talks or other events to commemorate what is quite a significant event to the public eye. Although nothing has been listed on their social media, since opening just over eight years ago, they have often hosted particular fundraising events on behalf of Ruby Reiko, fashion designer and philanthropist extraordinaire, while music producer and band manager Cain Karino often brings clients here for drinks whenever he is in the area. Both of these highly successful celebrities are also members of the 'core group' of Kawaakari Academy students who were involved in the events of fifteen years ago, and indeed even the co-founder's connection is well-known and often bought up in publicity.
"That doesn't mean that we're making a particular point of commemoration," Mist points out almost briskly. "We're leaving that aspect to Riverlight."
She is, of course, referring to the Riverlight Museums and Gardens, which the Imperial Government set up once the dust had settled. On the other side of Shoshan, the expansive gardens and museums give the general public an insight into exactly what happened all those years ago and the truths about the world that were revealed. Unlike Room 777, however, the running of the place is mostly left to government officials and staff members with more experience in museum and garden curation, with only two 'core group' members working there-Jun Bright as the Groundskeeper and Head Gardener, and Abel Nathanschild as one of the assistants in the library section. Incidentally, before this Abel worked part-time in Room 777's kitchens and his wife Delilah Ward, another 'core group' member holds the same job. Indeed, there are a few other 'core group' members who work or have worked for Room 777 in various roles both out the front and behind the scenes. It's a surprising number of the former students who are still working in close proximity to where such undoubtedly traumatising events happened. Does this not prove challenging to them, at times?
After a brief pause, Lidia admits that this isn't something that they've ever thought about or even been asked.
"Well," she says after another moment's pause. "When we found the venue, my family did wonder if being in the same town wouldn't just bring up old pains again. But for me…especially in the final few months of those years when the staff placed us on various levels of lockdown, I didn't even think about the town."
"No, I mean, I guess we missed being able to go out after school and all that," Starri adds. "But as more and more things kept happening our worlds basically shrunk down to the grounds of Kawaakari itself. I did think about the world outside but in a foggy kind of way, I guess? Seeing the people coming into rescue us, I remember feeling really confused, wondering where these people were and where they had come from. Remembering there was a world outside the gates was quite disorienting, even though we'd been trying to save that very world."
"So what you're saying is that this town itself doesn't hold any bad associations for you?" I clarify.
Starri shakes her head vehemently. The motion causes some of her hair to tangle in the gold necklace she is wearing and she has to take a moment to untangle it even as she gives her quiet answer.
"I sometimes feel wistful, especially when remembering the good times, but in a way, that's kind of the point."
"How so?"
"It's…well…how to word this?"
"Things like Riverlight, the Elly De Aranka Foundation-they're all about remembering what and who we've lost. How we were damaged. But that's never been the emphasis of Room 777." Mist finishes for Starri. "This place is a celebration of life, not a memorial. And on top of that, they were always going to be opening a Room 777, even if none of this had ever happened."
This, too, is a direct result of their time at Kawaakari Academy. Even before the events of the Kawaakari Era: Taiki 28 occurred, the classroom at the end of the North Corridor of the West Wing had become one of Kawaakari Academy's well-known wonders. It has never been made clear whether this was a room that the staff built themselves, or if it manifested as a result of the high levels of magic channelled into the place, however this was not a straightforward room. Assuming that they were able to even see the door in the first place, in some years, students found a well-stocked bar while others would only see an empty room. In the late Professor Shippa's records there are a few reports of students who stumbled across the room only to see a scene of destruction, with a single chair with a clock sitting on it in the middle of this chaos. This chair and clock are now part of the Riverlight Museum and Garden's many exhibits, but it still only chooses to reveal itself to certain visitors at certain times-not even all the staff are able to see or handle the chair or the clock.
[Photograph: The chair and clock found in the collapsed Kawaakari Academy, as set up in the Riverlight Museum and Gardens. The tables around it contain other items recovered from the scene that were not personal belongings. Interestingly, even if one cannot see the actual objects, there is no issue in viewing photographs of them. Photograph courtesy of Mist Sorenko.]
Lidia, Starri and their specific group of friends were the last ones to find the room as a well-stocked bar but rather than keep it as a simple hangout space for their own uses as previous students had, they decided to start running it as a proper bar and hope that their fellow students would get to experience it too.
"Don't get us wrong," Lidia explains. "The first Room 777 was our sanctuary, especially once things started going south. But we wanted to be able to give that sanctuary to others. So we set up, passed the word around and…well, it wasn't straightforward, considering it only revealed itself at the right point of sunset. But the room also started to reveal itself to people who really needed it, and when we were able to help them by listening to them and giving them drinks then it started to reach out more. And we realised we really liked being able to do that, so it was natural that we'd want to do it 'for real' after graduating."
Indeed, that aim of being able to reach out and help others is what drove most of their own personal actions throughout that fateful year, even as half of them became struck down by a mysterious curse that left them comatose and the rest struggled with potent addiction as they tried to cope with the escalating chaos. Will Toshino was known to have particular issues in this area, even as he attempted to go above and beyond in helping his classmates, ultimately losing his life as a result. Did this not make them reconsider whether starting a 'real' Room 777 was the wisest thing to do?
When I ask this, there is initially a silence. Starri bites her lip and fiddles with a strand of hair that has escaped from her elaborate updo while for a moment Lidia touches the scars on the side of her face, the remains of injuries sustained in the collapse. Mist quietly asks me to give them a moment and I do so, and the two of us take the time to finish our drinks and taste the cookies. The lemonade has the right balance of sweetness and bubble and the pineapple syrup gives it an unexpected punch, while Runa's drink is perfectly enhanced by the choice of garnish. The cookies are chewy, an explosion of chocolatey goodness and varying other flavours. The items are clearly well-crafted, and Mist explains to me how although the menu selections are dictated by the seasons and led by Lily Ettaschild, Angela Beniko and Hiraga Hoshino, all the staff members right down to the most inexperienced part-timer get to contribute ideas and taste-test new recipes.
When she finishes telling me about this, Tate has come over holding a small black spiral-bound notebook. The cover is bent and scuffed, the binding damaged and he handles it carefully as he opens the various pages to show to me. The pages are damaged, and some of the handwriting is illegible –although it is unclear whether the writing was originally like this or if it is a result of the damage-and Lidia and Starri appear to brighten as they interpret it for me, and Starri explains the origins of the notebook:
"Back before, in school, when we first made plans we started to write out some of our plans in this notebook. We also had them typed up but that laptop got damaged in the collapse. We'd thought this notebook had been lost too but in those first few months we didn't think about it. We didn't even think about the plans at all…we were just too busy grieving, trying to get through things. And then our personal effects got sent back to us, and this was in Tate's box and…well…"
"It seemed like the right way to honour them, especially Will, who wanted it the most." Tate speaks up. "And in truth none of us really knew what we were going to do in the immediate aftermath-we were all just trying to get through one day at a time, not really living. So following these plans to create a 'real' Room 777 gave us that purpose. That should answer your question about our ability to cope around potents-if we hadn't had this, we wouldn't have coped at all."
And indeed, they threw themselves into the planning of Room 777 almost immediately after this, many of them going to find part time jobs in bars or restaurants and putting aside the compensation money they received either from the Imperial Government or their own local governments to help save up to buy what they needed. The pages that I am shown display a keen attention to detail, including qualifications and certifications they needed to acquire and any other legal requirements. Later notes re-delegate roles between the survivors of the original Room 777 group and assigning new roles to the four 'core group' members who became co-founders alongside them (all twelve of them have additional job duties alongside those that they have as owners and managers-Mist manages social media and publicity, Lidia provides live music occasionally, Tate deals with finances and general admin while Starri manages special events, and all of them pitch in with mixing drinks or making food from time to time). Considering their relative youth when the plans were first started, these 'adolescent scribblings', as Starri fondly describes them, the plans show the careful strategizing and dedication one would expect from adults with much more experience in the bar industry than any of them had at the time.
[Photographs of some of the pages from Tate Merrynschild's notebook. Left photograph: a list of things liked by their late friends. Right photograph: a page listing the factors to consider in choosing the location of the bar. Inset both sides: some of the sillier notes and doodles.]
However, little scribbles in the margins and corners of the pages betray a sillier side to the planning process, one that revelled in the fun of it as much as possible. Particular highlights pointed out to me 'jazz music, always jazz music' in a particularly elaborate thought-bubble, 'make the bar stools Hiraga-proof :)' accompanied by a drawing of an angry looking stick figure on a barstool wearing a crown, 'are we gonna go secret-bar or nah', and 'how to create a sunset vibe even when it's not sunset?' Incidentally, the answers suggested to this include stain-glass windows and special lighting, both of which are now in actual use throughout Room 777. There are also many poignant reminders of the friends that they were doing this for, with an entire page dedicated to listing flavours, drinks and other things that each of them liked in order to find a way to include them. Indeed, Room 777's distinctive flavour combination of plum and lavender-available as a syrup to add to drinks all year around and as part of different items from season to season- is listed as one of Kureha Rhyschild's top favourites. When I express an interest in trying the flavour, Lidia immediately recommends the lavender, plum and berry non-potent cordial which is currently on their autumn menu and after deciding what garnishes we want, there is a short break in the interview as Starri goes to get these drinks.
[Photograph: The glasses of plum, lavender and berry non-potent cordial. Celia's has the cocktail umbrella while Runa's has floral ice-cubes]
When she returns and both Runa and I have had a taste, Mist goes on to tell us how all the hard work, enthusiasm and love paid off for them all when they were finally able to open Room 777 in Taiki 35 to great acclaim. Ruby Reiko had naturally been promoting them as the day of their grand opening drew closer, but they received a lot of interest just from the fact that right from the beginning they had openly stated their Kawaakari connections.
"We knew that this was what was going to interest most people, especially considering what had happened and well. We needed that interest to get things started. It does come across as a bit mercenary and unfeeling, but we were the ones who were there, after all," Mist says. "We lived through it, and the fact the world is better now-that Storm Moons have not been nearly as devastating since, that magic works better, that the world's energy is balanced out and everything else…well, I think we deserve to make use of that prestige, even though apart from this we don't do that at all."
Indeed, doing this proved to be a successful strategy as on opening night, they ended up having to turn people away. The bar has been popular ever since, and often tourists visiting Riverlight make a point of dropping in for a drink or two. But despite this, as Mist mentioned earlier, they leave the memorialising and the education to Riverlight and to Ruby Reiko. They admit that it is inevitable that there will be customers and visitors who do ask them things or who want to gawp at them. Usually, the staff on-site will direct the questions to Mist, or if she is not working that particular shift the curious customers will be directed to whoever has been designated the backup spokesperson. Sado and his hand-picked security team (including another core group member, Quiet Serenschild, who recently joined after changing careers and has been married to co-founder Hiraga Hoshino for almost ten years) are quick to deal with any customers who become too intrusive or threatening. They also have to take care against thieves-at first, the Imperial Government granted them ownership of some of the cuttings of the World Trees, which they planted in pots to flank the main entrance. But after they kept getting stolen they eventually had to commission replicas to put out there instead. They anticipate having to exercise caution around their new installations too, particularly the origami cranes.
[Photograph: The front entrance of Room 777 with the metal replicas of branches from the World Trees of Professors Shippa, Ceiraii, Void and Arianna. Mist Sorenko stands in the doorway.]
But for the most part, Lidia and Starri are at particular pains to point out, they try to operate much as if they were any ordinary bar. The security team are just as efficient with the standard disruptive customers and visitors, helping to ensure that the bar is a safe and welcoming place for all. Newspaper critics and bar bloggers alike all note the attentiveness of the service, how friendly every staff member who serves them are. Many visitors even recall being able to receive advice if they confided problems-in much the same way that with the 'first' Room 777, the students running it attempted to help classmates with their troubles. The décor-all warm woods; comfortable plush seating in rich golds, reds and oranges; windows that make the best use of the sunlight (including stained-glass windows that give off a sunset-coloured glow even during the day) and carefully framed prints of the bands that their late friends loved have earnt them a National Restaurant and Bar Designs Award in the category of Visual Identity a year after opening and Overall Best Designed Bar in Taiki 40. Similarly, their menus have netted them awards and honourable mentions from across the food industry, including frequently making the Top 10 bar list in the Good Food Guide for the combined regions of Fulbright, Hanayamachi, Ashgrove and Tsukinohara.
"We've managed to set quite a high bar for ourselves," Lidia laughs (in such a way that makes it clear the pun was deliberate) as she talks about this. "So we definitely have our work cut out for us. And this year…that's the thing, the year. You're here because it's the collapse of Kawaakari Academy that everyone remembers has an anniversary, but for us it's the anniversary of the entire year. That particular day was just the end point, the dramatic part. "
In some ways, that has made things more difficult for them from an emotional standpoint as they've all particularly had to grapple with both the memories they hold and the outside world's perceptions of them. Yet at the same time, this way of thinking has enabled them to consider this a sort of background noise and allowed them to focus on the regular demands of the bar across the year. At this time, this currently involves making the arrangements for Winterlight, including finalising this year's Winterlight special menu and events. Particularly in the past few years, Room 777 has seen a lot of demand for their group table bookings for Winterlight drinks tasting sessions and meals so they have their work cut out for them, with an added complication that for them is far more pressing than anything that arises because of the fifteenth anniversary, as Lidia explains:
"It's extra chaotic because a lot of us are either going or gone on parental leave. Like me, obviously. I should have gone a while ago to be honest, but I am definitely going soon. I swear."
When Mist gives her another exasperated look and Starri sighs meaningfully at this, Lidia flashes a cheeky grin at them before continuing:
"But also Hiraga and Quiet have just finalised their second little boy-Struan's-adoption so they've gone, and Rena's still on leave. And Mist's only just come back. It's kinda funny, actually, because a bunch of us, not just here but like the whole core group, we've kinda been having our kids, whether blood or adopted, at similar sorts of times? There are exceptions, obviously, but yeah. It's not as if we intended to coordinate, but that's what's ended up happening."
Despite the logistical issues this presents specifically for Room 777, however, they are all relatively cheerful about this. For all concerned, starting families has been something that they've wanted to do and they're all happy that they are able to support each other with the ups and downs of starting a family, regardless of whether that's through blood, adoption or even medically-assisted creation. To them, it is another shared experience for them to bond over, and a positive one to boot. Even Starri, who has chosen to not have children of her own in any way with her partner of five years, wholeheartedly agrees:
"It's nice to be able to be connected by something that isn't traumatic, and I'm fond of the kids anyway. That, and where the kids themselves are concerned it will be nice for them to grow up with each other, especially since they'll have us in common. This whole…legacy."
"Presumably, then, you'll want your children to know what you were a part of, and how Room 777 came to be?" I ask.
"Oh, definitely," Lidia nods vigorously. "I mean, we've settled on the name Wilfrieda, which is a bit of a mouthful but half of it's a honour name for a member of my partner's family and on my side it's for Will, of course. Though we'll be giving her a nickname, something of her own-maybe Freddie, or Ria. Whatever she goes by though, I'll tell her where her name came from, why we gave it to her, and everything that goes with that. And though the first and foremost thing we want is for them to be happy, like any other parent would, we also want them to know what happened, to understand what it meant and still means and to carry that with them."
It would be easy to assume that they expect that their children will inherit Room 777 once they're old enough and continue running it once their parents' are no longer able to, but when I pose this question they are quick to disabuse me of this notion. It is Tate, who has long since returned to his desk to continue his work, who empathetically informs me that the choice to do that will be down to the children, but it is Mist who elaborates on this:
"Everything that happened to us, it was quite a heavy burden and yes, I want them to appreciate that but I wouldn't want my sons to feel weighed down by any of it either. The painful side of it, that's ours and ours only. Even though I wasn't part of the Room 777 group originally, this still feels very…very fundamental to who I am now, but that doesn't mean it will to my kids or to any of the others. If we pressurised them, that would risk Room 777 becoming one of the painful things and that is the opposite of what this place is meant to be."
"Mind you, Zoe does say she's going to take over," Starri interjects, referring to Abel and Delilah's only daughter. "But she is still only nine so she could change her mind. Though, with that being said, in a way they're still a part of this already anyway."
All four of them laugh at this as I ask what they mean by the children already being a part of Room 777. The answer that Starri gives, however, is wholly unexpected-it turns out that many of the children mentioned here are involved in the taste-testing for the menus, though usually for the cookies and other sweet treats and desserts. They all then go onto describe the children's specific tastes. Mist's two sons (aged 4 and 2) have a fondness for anything strawberry flavoured while Zoe is only interested in anything that has chocolate in it, something she has in common with Tate's six-year-old daughter Seren (who is sometimes known as 'Wren'). On the other hand, four-year-old Orson, Hiraga and Quiet's elder son, has far more adventurous tastes and is willing to try flavours even the other children balk at. Angela's daughter Phaedra, aged five, does not take as much part in the taste-testing as the others due to some health conditions but does enjoy trying the ice-cream when she can. Indeed, a new flavour that Phaedra apparently adored is due to appear on Room 777's Winterlight menu for this year.
[From left to right: Phaedra Asahi Tomiko, Orson Will Hirano, Seren 'Wren' Louschilde, and Zoe Abelschild taste-testing cookies and ice-cream in Room 777's kitchens this summer, with Hiraga Hoshino supervising. Mist and her elder son can be seen in the background. Photograph courtesy of Mist Sorenko.]
Although this is also a process extended to children of other staff members, in the end it has largely been the domain of those of the 'core group' children and has become a special tradition of its own. Indeed, Lidia admits she's excited about her own little girl being able to join in once she's old enough. With that being said, they are determined that although in many ways the running of Room 777 is lot like a family buisness ("a found family buisness, specifically" Lidia emphasises), they know it won't last forever. After all, if there is one thing that they have learnt from what they've experienced in Kawaakari, it is the importance of letting things end when they are supposed to.
"The Lesser Gods of the North," Mist says. "They certainly knew what they were talking about. Up until Kawaakari, even we believed that their tales were sort of an…allegory for the cycle of life, or simply just one of their many tales made to entertain on the coldest of the nights. But in hindsight it's easy to see how it was a heavily-coded reminder that things were supposed to end and in a particular way. And if those endings had come when they were supposed to then perhaps history would have unfolded in a different way. Certainly, there would have been no reason for Kawaakari Academy to have ever existed."
Of course, from this it is logical to assume that none of the four in here should have ever met, let alone any of their late friends. Indeed, Room 777 should not exist in any form. The fact that it does, and their strong belief in the importance of endings should be incompatible with each other. However, to them this isn't so. Lidia and Starri are both adamant that the impossibility of the first Room 777 makes it a gift to them and that despite everything they would not have had things any other way.
"I think that if we could have chosen what world we would have lived in then despite everything, it would have been this one. I mean, yes, we lost so much but also…from that little sunset-soaked room, we gained so much. I can't imagine who I would have been without that or them." Starri says.
Where the real Room 777 is concerned, this means that although it will sadden them to do so, when the time comes for them to close the doors for the final time they will do so. Even as they hope that this day will not come for a very, very long time they are prepared to accept the inevitable end with grace. However, regardless of when that end may come, they will be continuing to put their all into ensuring that not only do they continue to meet the high standards they have set for themselves (and even aim above them) but that they remain true to the 'sunset-soaked sanctuary' that they remember the first Room 777 being for them and so many others from their cohort both in and out of their 'core group'.
"After all," she concludes. "If one insists on calling this place a memorial, then it's not one for loss but for love, and that we were able to have that at all. That, more than anything, is what we're honouring."
[Mist Sorenko, Lidia Hanaschild and Starri Sorano sitting in the office during the interview as they describe the children's involvement in the taste-testing.]
After having been shown around the bar, and listening to them talk, it seems clear to me that they are doing a good job of this and tell them so. This earns me dazzling smiles and effusive thanks, and then as we wrap up, they all insist that we take the cookies that are still left on the saucer they were served on. Mist takes the glasses back into the kitchen and then comes back with a disposable container to pack the cookies in, and then once we're ready it is Starri who escorts us back out through the bar. Just before she opens the door to let us out again, she urges us to come back again one day, as customers this time.
I think we will.
-Room 777's Winterlight menus, as well as details of how to book tables, will be available to view on their website here from Monday 19th, Dark Moon.