Epilogue – End Game

Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture – March 1, 2034

The whole gaming community was buzzing as the announcement was made official. A new game was coming out in 6 months as an open beta. Already 1 and a half years in the making, Earthbound Soldier was a game developed by a small group that had gotten its start by winning a game creation grant from a huge company as part of a contest. The project would be totally funded and marketed by the company, but the creators could take no more than 2 years to release the open beta. But it seemed that they were actually going to make the deadline. One trailer had been released today, and it was said that two more would be released within the next couple of months. A woman with light brown hair smiled as she sat in a café and listened to her headphones relaying her the information from the gaming channel. "What a shock~ My little Akemi has gotten so far in life~" she chuckled.

"I still can't believe she managed to meet the time line of 2 years for the game." A blackette sitting across from the brunette stated.

"Well, she did have help from a genius cousin and a little brother who would do anything to help." The brunette smiled. "And on top of that, her dear Black Knight was also assisting her when he wasn't working."

"Still, 2 years to develop an entire game? That's insane…"

"Oh, dear Hana-chan~ You underestimate my dear Akemi~" she chuckled. "After all, she has always had marvelous good luck~ And she's been so focused on her research for the medical group that I'm sure this was a well warranted break for her~"

"… You praise her like you're her lover." Hana replied to the brunte. "It's scary, Hiwa."

"Aww, but if she wasn't already so committed, I would be her lover~"

"… Please don't say that." Hana shivered a little before going back to her drink.

Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture – September 22, 2034

A woman with plum colored hair sat at a computer desk with her hair done up, tacking away relentlessly at a keyboard. "Akemi." She did not respond. "Oi, Akemi." She jumped a little, removing her earbud from the left ear and turning to see someone standing at the door. "Come on, dinner."

"Oh, right…" she nodded, getting up and walking over to the man with black hair and grey eyes, hugging onto him. "Thanks for picking up something. I forgot to grocery shop today."

"It's fine, you've been working hard. The beta goes online tomorrow, right?" he ruffled her hair and hugged her close. "You just relax tonight."

"Hehe, thanks Kazuto." She walked with him into the main room, and chatted with him about each other's days for a while. Eventually, they moved to sit on the couch as they started eating dinner while they listened to the news, the gaming channel of course.

"Now, our brand new game release for the month!" the announcer stated. "Exactly 10 years after the Ryuuko Incident, a brand new game is being put on open beta! Its name, I'm sure you all know! It's Earthbound Soldier- Revival of the Fallen Blade!"

"I still don't get the name." Kazuto said to her.

"Mm, it was a marketing choice I guess…" she shrugged. "I thought it was cool."

"You think some of the cheesiest stuff is cool." He leaned over and pecked the top of her head, making her smile as the announcement continued.

"The game was originally developed by a small group of survivors from the Ryuuko incident, its main programmer is a man who has asked that we address him only by his screen name, Aya. Their main character developer and researcher have asked they not be mentioned by name here, and their main map developer is none other than Majin, 3 time winner of the BoB from AGSO. The small group who created Earthbound Soldier has chosen to release their game as an open beta starting tomorrow, and the full game is hoped to be released next year in summer!"

"That's a little fast."

"Yeah, that's being super optimistic." Akemi nodded, sighing a little. "But I think we'll do good." She turned to him. "Seeing as you, my dear, have been doing so much to help me out." She chuckled.

"Mm, well I kinda have to help you out." He stated, intertwining their fingers, passing his thumb over a small but fitting silver and diamond ring on her left hand's ring finger. "We did get married. It's kinda in the contract."

"That doesn't mean you have to help me with work. You have other research to do as well." She sipped at her tea. "After all, you just got that research grant right?"

"Yeah but you're one to talk." He replied. "Your new machines are coming out of the test stage right? You get to test them out in a week?"

"Yeah… but I have to do more research to make 100% sure its safe." She stated. "I don't want there to be any credible backlash from the community when we're ready to take the rehab machines to market. Not to mention all that testing we still have to do… and all the paperwork."

"No cool name yet?"

"Not yet." She replied, still smiling. "Wanna help me think of some?"

Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture – September 23, 2034

A pair of twins rushed around as the clock ticked closer and closer to 8am. "Hurry up, we're already late!" one said, rushing over to the door.

"Wait, your lunch is still on the counter!" the pair soon ran out the door, headed for their high school. "Of all days for you to wake up late, Riku!"

"Hey, don't blame me! You stayed up late last night talking to your new girlfriend!"

"Sh-she's not my girlfriend!" the pair continues to go back and forth until they ran past the gate and up to their classroom. "We made it…" Kiku sighed, adjusting his smooth dark brown hair so it lay flat again as his brother grinned from his seat, pretending like nothing was wrong. The day went by and everything was normal. But once their last class let out, Riku and Kiku both hurried to the gate instead of lingering around. They arrived at the gate and saw a familiar head of shaggy black hair.

"Aya-nii!"

"Thanks for coming to get us, Aya-nii." Kiku said with a small smile. "Is Shino-san here today too?"

"She's back at the lab with the others." Ayaori stated, adjusting his glasses. "Come on. Akemi said we can't be late."

"Eeeeh, Aya-nii should've brought Shino-san." Riku grinned, his twin smiling a little more as well before both got a chop to the top of their heads.

"Quit nagging on me and get in the damn car." He told them.

"Okaaaaay~" they both said, climbing into the back seat of their older brother's car.

The group arrived at an office building and got up to the 30th floor. They were greeted by soft music playing and a familiar face. "Ake-nee!" they both exclaimed.

"Hey you two." She ruffled their hair and smiled. "You ready to be my first official sign ups?" she asked, turning to pick up some cups of juice from the table.

"I still can't believe you guys finished developing a game in 2 years." Riku said, accepting a cup of juice from his cousin.

"It's really incredible." Kiku nodded, accepting the cup from his cousin's other hand. "Are you really letting us be the first to register?"

"I don't see why I shouldn't." Akemi said as she sat down next to Kazuto. "But for now we're just gonna have the party to celebrate us getting the game online."

"Can we take a look at the character creator simulator again?" Kiku asked.

"Yeah, we wanna get our look together before we go in!" Riku cheered.

"Alright alright." Akemi got back up and lead them to a computer as the door opened again. There were Makoto and Asuna, carrying some food. "Welcome back you two." She waved before turning back to the screen to open the simulator for the twins.

"Sorry we're late." Makoto said. "Asuna couldn't make up her mind about whether to buy chocolate or strawberry." He added.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault! You were no help either!" she pouted, Makoto shrugging at the girl.

"Makoto." The young man paused, looking up at his sister. "No being mean, okay~?"

"… Yes, Nee-san."

"Good. Sit." She stated. "Kazuto, I think it's about time for the startup campaign to be up." She added, the blackette turning on the tv. Sure enough, there was the commercial trailer for Earthbound Soldier beginning to play. The twins watched with wide eyes from the computer chair before turning back to their task of picking out their final starter outfit, then heading to the tv and staring at the screen from behind the couch as the announcement started back up.

"Alright everybody! I'm sure you're all aware that the open Beta of Earthbound Soldier starts up in just a couple of hours! But this kick off announcement starts the half hour countdown to the servers opening for their final check before the game goes public! A couple of exclusive VIP's have even gotten an early pass into the server to start their character creation and check out the first in-game views of all the level one maps and shops!" the announcer grinned. "The game's producers have not released a single in-game preview, only the 3 trailers for the game have been allowed to leave the safety of the production line so far! We can't wait to see what the first in-game views look like in just a short while!"

"They're so excited." Akemi chuckled. "That's good. I wonder if they'll be as excited once they find out about the special plot we added in."

"I'm sure it'll get some good reviews, at the very least." Makoto stated.

"It was really great that you added in the option for us to still dive in too." Asuna smiled. "And as older, more experienced versions of our old Ryuuko characters, too."

"Well it's more just an excuse to have some fun." Akemi chuckled. "And it takes the pressure off of me to do level grinding, too~"

"Mm, but its kinda boring for me, now…" Kazuto stated.

"Haha, well if you want a challenge you're more than welcome to use that test server to go level grind all you like." Akemi replied, ruffling his hair. "But since we all have other jobs to tend to, I didn't want you feeling bad if we happen to fall behind the times."

"Hey, we're not that old…" he grumbled. The small party went on for a short while until it was time to let the twins log on.

"Alright you two, ready for your first dive?" Akemi asked, both boys nodding. "Then let's get started." She said. They went to the next room and laid down on the beds provided, placing on the headgear that Akemi had procured for them and waited for the signal to begin. "You two remember the words, right?"

"Of course."

"Can we dive yet?"

"Haha, okay okay, calm down." Akemi said, watching as Aya plugged in both of their wires, giving his older cousin a thumbs-up. "Alright boys, go ahead." She stated, seeing both of the twins grin. After a second of pause and a glance to each other, the twins nodded and lay back flat on the beds. They counted down in sync and mentally prepared themselves. Akemi and the others knew the excitement the twins were experiencing. It was nice to see that excitement that had since faded a bit for the rest of them. Those two words that brought about so many experiences, both good and bad; these words still so relevant that they were almost taken for granted by so many.

"3."

"2."

"1."

"Link Start!"

(I-it's finally complete... Nearly 3 years of writing... ; u ;

Thank you all for reading, I really appreciate all the support.

There's a very good chance I'll do a short 4 or 5 chapter inbetween story for the 10 years between the last chapter and t epiogue I've written for this fic, so please look forward to it.

Also, if you like, feel free to check out my other fics too. I'll be picking up some new stories after I finish some of my other fics too.

Again, thank you everyone for all the support, and I hope you all had a good read!

-Winter Cheshire)