The name of a brand appears on the screen. Shiki's finger easily slides on it, going through a few menus until she finds what she is looking for.
She broke her phone while working on a new piece. It wasn't the first time it had fallen of a table but now it was time for the good soldier to retire. Luckily, it wasn't going to bow out before the young designer had transferred all her data to her new phone.
Once it is done, Shiki checks the result, making sure everything she needs is on her new device.
She sights.
Her home screen is now a complete mess. All her apps icons are on it.
Being a raising star in the fashion worldand a high school student requires a good organization. And it starts with the content of your phone.
Shiki goes through all the icons, deleting the ones she doesn't use anymore, moving others into groups depending on if they are for work, school or private stuff.
Little by little, her home screen gets clearer.
Suddenly she stops. Under her finger is the icon of a beautiful, imaginary man from a game. A game she didn't even know she still had. Looking back, she doesn't recall uninstalling it.
It is a game she started to play with Eri 3 years ago.
When Beat told her Neku got shot by Coco and was probably sent back to the UG, Shiki was quite shaken. Plus she lost her dear Mr. Mew not so long after.
But she couldn't let Eri see her sadness. How could Shiki tell her friend about a parallel "ground"? About her death and how she came back to life?
The existence of the UG is not common knowledge and there has to be a good reason for that.
So Shiki took it on her. She went to school, talked about fashion with Eri, continued to sew… Just like she did before coming to the UG and meeting Neku and the others.
But somehow Eri found out something was wrong. She tried to help, asking what was wrong. And every time Shiki replied with a smile, saying it was nothing.
Of course Eri didn't believe her a second but she didn't press the matter, much to Shiki's surprise.
Then one day, at school, the redheaded showed her a mobile game.
"I heard about this new game. It looks interesting, don't you think? If we play it together, it will be fun to see which routes each of us takes," Eri said.
She had thought about it again and again. Telling Shiki to try to cheer up wouldn't have worked. Then theredhaired girl heard about otome games and how some people said they had helped them overcome what was on their mind. One game in particular was showing up in the discussions.
It was Elegant Strategy.
As people had just started to talk about it, Shiki only knew the name.
At first, the talented seamstress was reluctant to give it a try. She wasn't much into mobile games and this one wasn't her type at all.
But Eri insisted.
Shiki eventually gave up. She doubted it would work. But Eri was trying her best to help.
The brunette didn't want to let her best friend's efforts go to a waste.
And it did help.
Not enough to entirely erase her sadness. But still, it cheered her up a little.
When she was desperate on her way back from Hachiko, she would launch the game.
When a year ended and fireworks were let off to celebrate the new year, she would play the special event in game. It helped her to not lose hope.
It was a good thing to rely on.
A ring tone gets her out of her thoughts.
It's a message from Neku. He is asking when she wants the two of them to meet at Hachiko. He would like to introduce her to the Twisters, the friends he made in the last Game. Apparently, one of them is a big fan of Gatto Nero.
They all decided to meet today.
Shiki quickly texts him back she can be there in an hour.
She returns to her home screen to finish organizing it. She stares at the EleStra icon for a moment.
Then she smiles and uninstalls the game.
She doesn't need it anymore.
Wait, did I really managed to write a story so short?
I have to admit even my notes for this one-shot are… pretty short compared to the others.
Okay, let's talk about the story.
In NeoTWEWY, if you pay attention to the bonuses given by major characters on the social network, it kindsof match them.
Like Fret is Rindo's friend so he gives you the Easy Difficulty.
Minamimoto is powerful so it'sthe Hard Difficulty.
Kariya is known to love going out eating ramens with Uzuki so his bonus is about food.
Nagi is considered the smartest of the group so she lets you strategy after you lose a battle…
Even the shop keepers give you something related to what they sell.
So I wondered why Shiki gives a bonus related to EleStra.
It makes sense for Rhyme to be related to FanGO even if she doesn't play the game as much as Rindo or Shoka. The algorithms behind Pokémon GO must be pretty crazy to let you catch Pokémon based on your surroundings, weaherand so on.
But why does Shiki give you a bonus related to EleStra.
BecauseGatto Nero and EleStra are both very famous? BecauseShiki knows what's trending all the time? If so, a bonus related to trends and brands would have made more sense…
And why give this bonus to herwhenwe encounter other EleStra fans?
So I wrote something about Shiki playing EleStra.
And following how Nagi said it "healed many hearts", and even recommended it to Shoka to help her deal with Ayano's death, I made her play it to cheer up after Neku's death.