"Let's get divorced!? Shannaro!" Sakura nearly yelled, reading the last chat message she received. Her yell made the people around her turn to stare at her disapprovingly, and she turned red with embarrassment when she realized just how loud she was. Rushing to type out a response to her in-game husband, she only managed to get a ? out in whisper chat before she was forcefully logged off.
She stared at the blank screen. What in the world was that all about? It may have just been an in-game marriage, but that was so random! Hadn't it been just yesterday that he'd been asking her to call him "hubby" in clan chat so they would seem more "likable"? Whatever that meant. They'd been married since couples quests came out years ago, and the single people in the fledgling Rolling Jade Seas clan had paired up to get the power boosts that came with doing couples quests. Now he wanted to get divorced?! Losing that power boost in future clan wars was going to suck.
Suddenly, she felt the hairs at the back of her neck stand up. Someone was watching her. Had probably been watching her for a while. She'd been so caught up in her PVP matches, she'd ignored the itching at her well-honed instincts, but now that Sakura was no longer focused on her screen, the sensation grew unbearable. Abruptly, she spun her chair around.
Only to find a slightly chubby guy with a red beard and a fedora glaring at her. She wanted to scowl at him, but he turned away suddenly.
"Can I help you?" She asked as politely as she could to the stranger.
"Er, I have that booth booked now. C-can you please leave so I can disinfect it?" He stuttered.
"Oh, sure," She scooped up her bag and hopped out of the seat. "It's all yours."
Without looking back, she left the warm interior of the internet cafe for the nippy winter evening, pulling her burgundy wool coat closely around her. She smiled up at the soft snowflakes falling around her as they dotted her pink hair and scarf but then panicked when she caught sight of the billboard with the temperature and time.
"Oh No! I was supposed to be back at six! Urgh, they're going to kill me!" Sakura cursed, then started running down the icy sidewalk. She didn't notice the car that pulled away from the sidewalk at nearly the same time she started running.
Luckily, the internet cafe was near the west gate, which was the closest gate to the women's dormitory. It was far enough, though, that by the time Sakura had charged through the campus, through the main door, up the stairs, and into the third door from the end of the hallway, she was more than a little out of breath. Her three roommates all looked up as she crashed through the door.
"You're late!" Temari narrowed green eyes at her errant roommate from where she was standing in front of the mirror, getting dressed.
"Sorry, mother," Sakura responded teasingly, throwing her backpack on her bottom bunk
"Don't give me that lip, young lady," Temari didn't even look up from brushing her blond hair into short tails to take a scolding, maternal tone with her.
"I'll take some lip if it's fried and stewed, thank you very much," Tenten muttered from where she was lounging on her bunk, scrolling through her phone, above Sakura's bunk. She threw a pillow at her late roommate, "Hurry up, I'm starving."
Sakura squealed when it hit her with perfect accuracy. "I'm sorry! It was only supposed to take half an hour, but some idiot pulled the whole girls don't play games well crap on me, so I had to beat him up!"
"Idiot, schmidiot!" Tenten retorted, picking up her other pillow menacingly, "Who cares what the idiots on the internet say? Just cut his throat and there, problem solved!"
"S-Sakura-chan just lost her ph-phone, guys," Her last roommate, Hinata, chided from the tiny bathroom attached to their suite, where she was using the other mirror to comb her long black hair, "B-Be nice to her."
"She's the one who claimed she 'wanted to be free of the fetters of modern technology'," Tenten complained, making sarcastic air quotes with her fingers as she quoted Sakura.
"Alright, alright, I was wrong," Sakura laughed. "Let me just switch my books out, and we can go for dinner. You guys could have just gone without me."
"W-We wouldn't do that, Sakura-chan," Hinata replied. A rare mischievous grin appeared on her face, "I-If it got out that we were starving our department beauty, a-all the boys in the faculty might come after us."
"Hinata-chan!" Sakura picked up the pillow that Tenten had just thrown at her to hurl it at Hinata, but the other girl had already hidden behind the bathroom door. "Don't talk nonsense, that ranking's a load of baloney."
"It's also true," Tenten grinned, "Us second years are the only four girls in the computer science department, and I'm preeeetty sure you've received the most confessions since we started."
"That's just because Temari-chan's already dating Shikamaru-senpai, and the guys in our faculty are blind and don't understand your charms!" Sakura protested, rummaging through the stuff on her desk at the side of the room.
"Speaking of Shika," Temari changed the subject as she saw how the younger girl hated the topic, "The CS guy's intramural basketball team has a game coming up at the end of the week. Can you guys come with me? They're really going to need someone on the cheering squad since Uchiha-senpai's not going to be there."
Sakura stopped rummaging for her books to look up in disappointment, "Aww, not again!"
"You're going to go into withdrawal soon, Sakura-chan," Tenten teased, "After all, you are Uchiha-senpai's number one fangirl."
"Who can blame me? He's a genius, he founded a successful start-up in University, and he's hot as sin to boot," She sighed, thinking of the campus heartthrob, "A single, hot guy is a fantasy for all single people to share. We need something to dream about, right?"
"U-Um," Hinata was lost for words. She never quite understood Sakura when she started talking about Uchiha-senpai.
"If you say so…," Tenten snorted, "I prefer someone more… talkative."
"Psh, the point of fantasies is that you never end up meeting them. They stay fantasies," Sakura lectured, gearing up on a subject they'd all heard many times before. They all groaned.
"Okay, okay!" Tenten cut in before Sakura got onto too much of a roll, "We got it, you fantasize about Uchiha-senpai."
"That's not - Shannaro!" Sakura burst out in embarrassment, but Tenten cut her off before she could continue.
"Anyways! I found an internship position we should apply to. Do you want me to put in your resumes?" She asked the room at large, "It's at ROOT Corp."
Sakura perked up, "ROOT Corp? I wonder if they'll have any spots in the gaming team. They just developed…" She muttered to herself as she started rifling through her desk, books forgotten.
"No thanks. If my little brother doesn't give Kankuro and me a job at the family firm this summer, I'm going to go back to Suna and throttle him myself," Temari muttered darkly. "Freaking kid geniuses graduating university before I even start."
"Saku-chan is a yes, but poor Miss Heiress here is a no," Tenten grinned. Temari stuck out her tongue at her, "What about our other Miss Heiress?" She looked at Hinata.
"Y-yes please, thanks Tenten-chan. Maybe then my father will believe I'm s-serious about not going into politics and becoming a trophy wife," Hinata muttered the last part under her breath from the bathroom, but Sakura was close enough to hear her. She abandoned her search and went over and gave her roommate a quick one armed hug. Hinata leaned her head on her shoulder, accepting the support. Judging from Hinata's rare temper right now, she'd probably had a fraught winter break. The other two girls looked up, but seeing Sakura was comforting her, left her to herself.
"Sakura-chan, hurry up and go change. You can't go to the cafeteria looking like that," Temari scolded, eying her shapeless grey hoodie. "What if you run into Uchiha-senpai and his first impression of you is this?"
"Ah, you're right," Sakura jumped, and went to her closet to grab a change of clothes, "Give me two minutes!
"Wait!" She stuck her head back out, "Have either of you seen my little red notebook?"
"I-I think you left it on my desk," Hinata surreptitiously wiped the corners of her eyes as she hurried to the desk near the back of the room. As she passed by Temari, the older girl reached out to give her a small, reassuring squeeze, which made her smile.
"I-I found it, Sakura-chan. You did l-leave it on my desk."
"Hina-chan, pass me my laptop while you're down there?" Tenten asked, also giving the girl a warm squeeze with one hand.
"Thank you, Hina-chan!" Sakura yelled, her voice muffled by the door. She came out in a nicer pink pullover and dark rinse jeans, carrying her worn clothes to dump in the laundry hamper on the way to collect her notebook from Hinata. "Thank goodness I didn't lose it!"
"Cause then the world would know how obsessive a gamer the department beauty is? Who takes notes while they're gaming?" Temari teased her. Sakura, too, stuck her tongue out at Temari.
"Hey, Tenten also takes notes on her half a million side projects. We do what we can to cement our learnings," she retorted piously
"If you say so," Temari shrugged a bit helplessly.
"Saku-chan, you take better notes about your gaming experience than I do about class, never mind my irrelevant little side projects," Tenten picked up the conversation as she typed. "It's not the same thing at all. True nerds like you have different standards."
"I want to do game design someday," Sakura shrugged, not at all embarrassed or offended by Tenten calling her a nerd, "I'm just being prepared."
"Miss Scholarship student is t-truly an example for us all," Hinata smiled. Sakura mock-glowered at her but didn't continue to argue with them, as she had to get her shoes on.
"And done," Tenten shut her laptop, just as Sakura got the other black boot on.
"Finally!" Temari declared, "Let's go!"
(*^ω^)八(⌒▽⌒)八(-‿‿- )ヽ(・ω・)｡
Sakura spent that evening laughing with her roommates over dinner and the next day getting up to speed with her classes. They were starting their second term in their second year, and it was just her luck that someone ended up stealing her laptop and phone right as they got back to campus. Sakura's scholarship money had just stretched enough to be able to afford a new laptop (a necessity for a computer science student), so she had to make do without a phone for now.
She jogged in carrying her new baby under her arm, excited beyond belief to get it all set up and her life back online again. She'd been okay without a phone since her parents called her on the communal dorm phone instead, but having to go to internet cafes and borrow the lab at school had driven her slightly insane.
Tenten looked up from where she was working at the big table in the center of the room and grinned at the bouncy smile on the other girl's face when she saw the package under her arm. "Excited to get back to your game?" She teased.
"I'm excited to be a model student again and not have to carry my files around on a USB," Sakura retorted primly as she set up the computer, but then grinned when Tenten simply raised an eyebrow at her, "Okay, okay, I want to get back in-game too, but I'm a good scholarship student! I swear! It's just…."
"Just what?" Tenten asked.
"Well, my in-game husband asked for a divorce," she said absentmindedly as she downloaded the client.
"Your what asked for a what now?" Tenten spluttered, taken aback, "Sakura-chan, there's a limit to how seriously you should take a hobby."
"It's not like there's any feelings involved, I just want to know why he wants to give up the power boost. That's a lot of work he's throwing away there!" Sakura protested, then rolled her eyes at the incredulous look Tenten was giving her, "Oh come on, we all have hobbies. Yours are your side projects, mine is gaming."
"If you say so," Tenten shrugged. Sakura let her be as the launcher announced that the game was playable, if not entirely available. In a couple of keystrokes, she was in the world of the Way of the Ninja again.
(⁀ᗢ⁀)
She spawned in the middle of the Central Hidden City, a place she was familiar with but hadn't been back to in a while as a high-level player with an advanced and convenient Clan Hall. It was laid out like a spoke and wheel, which connected an enormous web of paths, merchants, and stations.
The streets were filled with characters, both Non-Player Characters (NPCs) and player avatars alike. Some player characters were even seated off to the side, shouting advertising slogans for their own wares. She smiled with a bit of nostalgia to see them there. Before she'd joined a clan, she'd done the same, selling her elixirs and potions for some gold as an apprentice healer and herbalist. It was one of the few reliable ways to make gold since not many people had the patience for gathering and brewing that Sakura did.
When she checked her map, she realized that because she was still waiting for game assets to download, she was stuck in the Central Hidden city for a bit. Just as she was contemplating what to do, a new whisper chat came up on her screen.
[Whisper] FriesWithThat: SakuraBlossom, can you meet me at the gateway of destiny?
[Whisper to FriesWithThat] SakuraBlossom: sure, BRT
Sakura sighed. Oh yes, the divorce. If this was a real-life marriage, she might be offended at how quickly he seemed to want to get rid of her. Oh well, it was just a game thing. Might as well get it over with. The gateway was in the Central city, so she was safe enough to turn on autopilot. Taking advantage of the time, she asked him
[Whisper to FriesWithThat] SakuraBlossom: Wanna tell me why?
[Whisper] FriesWithThat: I have a girlfriend
[Whisper] FriesWithThat: and she plays this game
[Whisper to FriesWithThat] SakuraBlossom: Congrats~!
[Whisper to FriesWithThat] SakuraBlossom: Ooooh. OK, no problem!
[Whisper] FriesWithThat: Want me to send you a breakup fee?
[Whisper] FriesWithThat: This is going to hurt your DPS
[Whisper to FriesWithThat] SakuraBlossom: Shannaro! No way
[Whisper to FriesWithThat] SakuraBlossom: I wouldn't be happy married to another guy with an irl girlfriend, anyways, even if it's just in a game.
[Whisper to FriesWithThat] SakuraBlossom: Besides, I won my top 4 PVP title w/o you.
[Whisper to FriesWithThat] SakuraBlossom: I'll be fine
[Whisper] FriesWithThat: Haha
[Whisper] FriesWithThat: You're a good person, SakuraBlossom. Friends?
[Whisper to FriesWithThat] SakuraBlossom: And Clanmates!
She finally arrived at the Magpie Bridge, seeing his familiar avatar under a red torii arch. The Gateway of Destiny was located on the little island, the pupil of a lake called the Eye of Heaven. It was where the marriage quest chain in-game started, and apparently where they had to register their divorce as well. Steadily, she crossed the bridge and stood beside him, looking at the two statues of a beautiful celestial maiden with a long wrap and a youth with a young calf.
Two tiny tears dripped from the eyes of the statues and floated in front of them like two crystal pearls. A box popped up in front of her screen.
"Are you sure you want to end your marriage with FriesWithThat? All associated bonuses and couple experience will be lost."
Unwaveringly, she clicked yes.
[Announcement] System: Two hands walking down the Way of the Ninja together have let go, two hearts no longer beat in sync. Should SakuraBlossom and FriesWithThat meet in the future, they are no longer two halves of one whole.
Instantly, her chatbox began to flash with whispers coming in from her game friends and clanmates. Ignoring them all, she simply whispered a farewell to Fries and wandered away
She was too lazy to explain it right now. They meant well, but she didn't want to repeat herself. When CL got on, she'd just explain the situation to her, and CL, being the gossip she was, would spread it much quicker than Sakura would. Plus, she'd have more fun doing it.
Instead, Sakura opened her world map to choose something to do. Unfortunately, most of the explorable maps with interesting quests or objectives that she could do solo hadn't finished downloading yet. Idly clicking through her skill menus and inventory, she realized that she was close to maxing out her medicine making skills and had the materials for it if she borrowed a few from the guild. She found a nearby crafting station and settled down for the industrious monotony of potion crafting.
Sakura could be patient when the reward was worth it. Top-quality medicine was rare because players had to spend time picking ingredients at just the right timing to get the best quality, if they had the herbalist level for it, or spend lots of money. Then they had to take a very precise set of actions, at very precise intervals, with a very precise amount of Chakra, for hours. Sakura had the materials and the timing down pat after countless hours of grinding, and her bloodline limit gave her enough of an advantage that she could even read her textbook and sip her tea while refining the medicine. It still took her two hours and a half hours as she read, until a loud, celebratory noise from the game made her jump in real life.
[Self] System: Congratulations! You have maxed out your medicine making abilities. From now on, you have a chance at making God-Quality Medicine!
Sakura eyed her inventory with an appreciative nod, as it was stuffed to the brim with top-level Legendary, Ascended, and Exotic quality potions and elixirs of all kinds. This would be greatly appreciated by the guild, especially after the clan fight. Now that she'd run out of materials though, the maps she wanted for solo play still hadn't loaded. She frowned. Now what was she going to do?
Walking out of the crafting station again, she wandered aimlessly until she was back at Magpie Bridge and stopped to just admire the beautiful scenery around the Gateway of Destiny. Since no one was getting married or divorced now, it was relatively deserted, allowing her to admire the way the light glinted on the waves and the breeze rustled the eternally blooming cherry blossoms. Ever falling, never staying, the petals dappled the gate and the statues of the two eternal lovers that blessed all unions in this world. A zither picked out a sweet melody that had the barest hint of melancholy, and the hint of chimes that played the harmony sounded almost out earshot. Way of the Ninja's music was famous for a good reason.
Sakura decided that she would just sit down on the side of the bridge and do some meditation to increase her chakra control in-game while she worked on some practice questions in real life. This way, she could still twitch her mouse to be active, but get some work done with good background music.
First, though, she had to deal with her bladder.
(/▽/)
[Announcement] System: Two hands walking down the Way of the Ninja together have joined hands, two hearts beat in sync. Join us today in celebrating the happy union of UWUAmixx and FriesWithThat today, as they become two halves of one whole.
[World] Stormtale11: Congrats to the happy couple!
[World] PuppiesFromtheSky: Congrats! (^_^)
[World] PlasmarBoy: Whooooooo hoo!
[World] DownShoeAbb3y: Those names look familiar…
[World] DownShoeAbb3y: Famous?
[World] EatChaseSleep: Congrats!
[World] Wardex: Wasn't he just getting divorced?
[World] ForeverA10ne: That's right he was!
[World] Beowulf69: Lololol
[World] Sm1leSh1ningK1ss: He da man
[World] CandyStriper: Hang on
[World] DownShoeAbb3y: Wasn't his ex-wife SakuraBlossom?
[World] DownShoeAbb3y: 4th in the PvP match rankings?
[World] UWUKasumixx: I heard she's not actually a girl
[World] ForeverA10ne: Makes sense that he'd divorce her then
[World] CandyStr1per: He's not too shabby himself
[World] CanonFodder69: Isn't he vice-leader of the [Rolling Jade Seas] Clan?
[World] YugePen1s: probably the only reason SakuraBlossom is on the PVP rankings
[World] UWUFukixx: Hey, isn't UWUAmixx the winner of this server's most beautiful player contest?
[World] ForeverA10ne: :O :O :O Goddess!
[World] CandyStr1per: He is!
[World] Wardex: Who's your goddess?
[World] Ratinger: GUYS THEY'RE SHOWERING COINS
[World] Gamermama: Where?
[World] Mediumen: Where?
[World] ReCOGNigtion: Bridge?
[World] UWUKasumixx: Yeah, come to [Magpie Bridge]!
[World] UWUKasumixx: Luck Red Bags for everyone!
[World] UWUFukixx: Come support the Bride and Groom!
[World] UWUFukixx: Unlike SOME shameless people
[World] DownShoeAbb3y: OMG
[World] DownShoeAbb3y: OMG OMG OMG
[World] ForeverA10ne: Isn't that the ex-wife?
[World] CanonFodder69: Yeah it is! SakuraBlossom!
[World] Wardex: What's she doing here?
[World] TugMyStrings: Groom napping?
[World] UWUKasumixx: Who dares?!
[World] CanonFodder69: It's not like UWUAmixx can beat her
[World] ForeverA10ne: Who's going to beat my goddess?!
[World] ForeverA10ne: I'll fight them!
[World] Wardex: Are you ranked on the PVP player boards?
[World] ForeverA10ne: I believe in the power of love!
[World] Beowulf69: Groom napping Groom napping Groom napping
[World] UWUFukixx: Come and try it!
[World] Ratinger: Groom napping
[World] TeaSpiller: Dis gon be gud
[World] Mediumen: Groom napping!
[World] TugMyStrings:Groom napping
[World] CanonFodder69: Groom napping
Sakura stared at the screen in disbelief. What's this about a groom napping? Is he sleeping during his wedding?
Wait... Do they want me to kidnap the groom? Shannaro! I just went to the bathroom!
AN: And we meet our first group of BFFs! One of the strongest things about Love O2O is not just its absolutely freaking adorable main romantic pair, but the friendships they also have. I'm a big fan of friendship fics (and if I tagged them all on AO3, we wouldn't have room for the summary, lol). Anyone guess that Chun_Lee was Tenten? Hehe, it's not her (Please don't guess in the comments, but feel free to DM your guesses here on Tumblr if you want!). If you want to discuss drama to character mappings, I'll go into them in more detail on my Tumblr (also under LScore) under the jump. Come join us over there!
Thank you to everyone who was so enthusiastic about this fic, especially to those of you who have also seen Love O2O and are looking forward to this ride. We're going to have a blast, guys. Finally, thanks to Ax and Thorne for betaing this chapter!