As promised, Reiriniverse, this chapter has been titled as per your recommendation. Aside from Rei, I also want to thank LightZephyr for beta reading the chapter and Namitaa776 for the suggestions for this chapter.

I was planning on getting a fifth-anniversary oneshot up, but that did not work out all that well… so have another chapter of Shining Sunlight instead!

Disclaimer: I do not own BanG Dream! Girls Band Party nor do I, in any way, shape or form, intend to pretend that I do.

"All right, let's see what you can do, um… do you have a name yet?" Moca asked nobody in particular when she realized that she had not been prompted to name the avatar. It was then that Moca's eyes landed on the small box hovering in front of her avatar's midsection that depicted two words in big letters. Moca's grin widened when she read what the sign was saying, giving Moca a name to associate with her new avatar.

Black Lotus.

'Lotus… Now what did Ran tell me that flower meant…?' Moca thought to herself as she raked her brain for an answer to the unvoiced question. Admittedly, Moca never paid much attention to the meaning of flowers as much as she possibly could with Mitake Ran as her best friend. Normally she would not be too concerned by this as Ran had never been too into flower language herself, but Moca was kicking herself for being uninformed.

Kuroba had gone to great lengths to give her not only the game but the Black Lotus character on top of that.

"No use worrying about stuff I cannot come out myself, time to see what this game is about!" Moca cheered in an effort to raise her mood. This effort proved to be futile as she saw that her computer needed to download and install updates. Moca postponed her game playing time to the following day with a heavy heart, knowing that she would likely be unable to play that night.

"That's a shame, but nothing Moca-chan can do about that…" Moca sighed, already resigning herself to doing something else for the day. Deciding that she did not need to know the answer right away, Moca headed downstairs to grab herself a drink.

When Moca walked back in her room with a can of juice a few minutes later, she was met with a pleasant surprise.

"Ran?"

Moca never had much difficulty reading Ran's mood when it came down to it, even amongst the other members of Afterglow. The two of them shared a bond that allowed them a near-telepathic level of understanding, so much so that even Tomoe could be heard joking about this from time to time.

This was exactly why Moca was surprised to find out that Ran's face betrayed little to any emotion. No frown, no glint in her eyes, no twitch of her cheek to indicate a smile or even a smirk. At that very moment, Ran was as unreadable to Moca as a sign that says 'pull' was to a certain purple-haired guitarist. And this knowledge terrified Moca, who usually relished in her ability to know Ran better than anyone else she knew to the point of regularly claiming she knew Ran better than Ran knew herself.

"If Tomo-chin or even Hii-chan knew that Ran sneaked out of her house to visit little old Moca-chan in her room at night…" Moca trailed off with a playful smirk in the hopes of receiving a response of some kind. When Ran remained quiet, Moca let out a sigh of annoyance and dropped the facade, "All right all right, Ran doesn't want to play games tonight, Moca-chan gets it. So why is Ran here anyway?"

"On the contrary, Moca…" Ran's composure finally cracked the moment the vocalist turned the other way and avoided Moca's gaze. This action piqued Moca's curiosity, but before Moca could ask Ran about it she had her unvoiced question answered, "Moca is getting herself into something new… without the rest of us?"

It took a few seconds for Moca's brain to properly process not only what Ran had said but also what she did not say, knowing that she had to do both to understand her friend's request. When Moca finally did, she could not help but crack a smile.

"All right all right, but let's get the others here as well. Otherwise, Moca-chan will spend all her time explaining everything to Ran only to have to start from scratch for everybody else," Moca said, explaining her thought process to Ran who had to admit that she had to agree with Moca. Moca was about to say something else but the sound of a rumbling stomach interrupted her, prompting her to stifle a laugh before coming up with something else to say, "If we hurry, mama might still have some food that we can heat up for you."

"Before we do that… there's something else I wanted to ask you."

"And that is pretty much it, Ran visited Moca-chan late at night and convinced Moca-chan to share this with everyone," Moca explained with an exaggerated wave of her hands when the members of Afterglow met up the following afternoon. What Moca left out, however, was that Ran had insisted on getting her copy of the game right away. The vocalist did not need to be part of the circle that Moca's flash drive was moving in because she had already installed her version.

Recalling the events of the previous night, Moca shuddered at the memory of Ran's avatar. Moca's Black Lotus had radiated an aura of power and strength that had left the guitarist in silent awe. Ran's avatar, on the other hand, had a different kind of energy surrounding her.

Red Endymion appeared to be an avatar significantly shorter than Black Lotus would be had they been standing side-by-side but somehow seemed to draw in twice the attention that Black Lotus would have. The body was painted in its namesake's color, with the arms and the back of the avatar a more vibrant red than the rest of its body. Unlike Lotus who was wearing a helmet to hide its face, Endymion relied on a mask of black glass to hide its face from view.

Cascading down the back of the avatar's head was a thin sheet of white-colored metal that neither Moca nor Ran had been able to determine its function. Was it supposed to symbolize the avatar's hair? Did it hide some form of powerful weapon of mass destruction? They might never find out…

Completing the design of Ran's avatar was the intricate pattern on the body's abdomen and legs that was comprised of a checkerboard-like pattern of darker and lighter shades of red. Ran did not know what the purpose or meaning of this had been, but she could not deny that she could appreciate the design.

"So when do we get to make this character of ours?" Tomoe's question shook Moca out of her train of thoughts and brought her back to the present. Moca eyed her friend's laptop screen to see how far the installation process was at only to see that it was close to completion.

"That's the thing… Moca-chan doesn't think Tomo-chin needs to worry her pretty little head about that," Moca said with a smirk, a smirk that only grew wider when she saw the reaction she managed to get out of her friend. Before Tomoe could properly respond, Moca nodded to the computer screen.

"Wait, what?"

"We thought the game came with a pre-built avatar already, but it turns out it makes an avatar on the spot depending on the person who installs it," Ran explained for Moca who had walked over to assist Himari, although not without her fair share of teasing the leader of the band. Ran then saw that Tomoe's avatar had already materialized in front of the drummer and was quick to point it out, "Look, your avatar is already there."

Tomoe turned to look at what Ran was pointing and, sure enough, the avatar named Blue Chaos was staring right back at the redhead. The avatar's armor was of a blue so dark it could easily have been mistaken for black. Around the neck was a teal-colored ring, but Tomoe could not identify if that was supposed to be a choker or even a necklace.

Around the waist, the armor started to jut outwards in what could either be tendrils or even spikes. The intricate pattern and close proximity of the metal to one another gave off the image that the avatar was wearing a skirt to Tomoe. And, unlike the avatars of Moca and Ran, Tomoe's avatar had eyes. Featureless eyes that did not have a visible distinction between its pupil, iris or sclera; it was all just a purple-colored area.

"So that is… me?" Tomoe breathed out as she stared at her avatar in both bewilderment and amazement. Unlike her younger sister who was borderline obsessed with them, Tomoe had never been very interested in playing games whatsoever. Seeing how beautiful the design of her avatar was gave the redhead an inkling of an idea as to how the in-game world would look like.

Tomoe was finally starting to see why Ako was almost inseparable from her precious games.

"Well, yes and no," Ran replied as she pulled up a chair to sit by Tomoe's side. The look on Tomoe's face gave away more than enough for Ran to know she needed to explain it further, "It's like if you were to be driving a car. You control the car and the car will move accordingly, but you are not the car."

"That makes sense, I guess," Tomoe said with a small nod of understanding, following along with Ran's train of thoughts. It was only then that Tomoe realized that she had only been giving half of the answer she requested, "But what makes you say that they are us then?"

At this Ran remained silent for a while, not only unsure how to respond to Tomoe's question but also how to properly phrase it. After all, Ran had already received an explanation when she had asked the same question to Moca… of course, the one who answered Ran was Moca, so Ran had to pull up a mental dictionary to decode the message.

"Moca explained it, but it was a very Moca-like explanation," Ran began her response with a sheepish smile, hoping that Tomoe could read in between the lines there. On that note, Ran was thankful that she was at least explaining it to Tomoe rather than Himari or Tsugumi.

Not that Ran would ever be caught saying that out loud to either of her two friends.

"It had something to do with how the game automatically generates the avatar the moment it is installed or something," Ran began her explanation as she motioned towards Tomoe's avatar, knowing that this little action would not go unnoticed by the drummer, "Moca said something about how the program scans through the computer and generates an image of who we could have been in a different life in a different universe. Or so Moca claims, anyway."

As Ran was trying her best to answer Tomoe's questions, Moca had taken it upon herself to assist Himari and Tsugumi and helping the two girls install the game properly. While Himari's computer was still busy installing the program and downloading additional files, Moca waddled over to see how her favorite brunette was doing.

"Um, Moca-chan? Is this good?" Tsugumi asked the moment she realized that Moca was standing beside her. The keyboardist's voice betrayed the amount of uncertainty she was feeling to the point that Moca did not even need to see the fear in Tsugumi's eyes to understand.

Moca motioned Tsugumi to scoot to the side and make room for Moca, something that Tsugumi was quick to do, and scanned Tsugumi's computer screen to see what was wrong. It took Moca a second or two to realize that nothing was wrong, but before Moca could find the words to reassure her friend she had been directed to look at the middle of the screen by the very same friend she wanted to help.

Standing in the middle of the screen was a yellow-colored avatar who Moca was sure would be even shorter than Ran's avatar. Like the other avatars of this game Moca had seen so far, the avatar's primary color matched its name; in Tsugumi's case, her avatar was predominantly of a golden yellow shade with accents of white here and there.

Moca could see the resemblance that it had with Tomoe's avatar that Moca had seen only seconds ago despite the stark contrast in color. Tsugumi's avatar also had eyes like Tomoe's avatar did, although its eyes were golden in color. It even appeared to have hair that was tied up on the back of its head and reached down below her shoulders, taking the shape that most closely resembled an upside-down fan. The only other discerning feature of Tsugumi's Yellow Peace was the white tiara that rested on top of its head.

Moca almost blurted out her answer to Tsugumi's question but managed to stop herself at the last second. She knew as well as anyone in Afterglow that Tsugumi had been struggling with confidence issues from a young age. Therefore, Moca had to think of something to say on the spot.

"I think that's great, Tsugu," Moca said with a smile before directing her friend's attention to the avatar's name, "And look! Just like the Tsugurific Tsugu, Yellow Peace will brighten everybody's days and shine the light on the path we must take."

"M-Moca-chan!"

"All right all right, but there's nothing wrong with your avatar," Moca reassured Tsugumi with a small sigh at being stopped. When she saw that Tsugumi did not seem at all reassured by this knowledge, Moca took a deep breath and tried again, "Look, Tsugu. There's no 'best' or 'worst' in this game, just whoever fits you. You grow alongside them, like how your pet becomes special because you grow up with them, you know?"

"All right if Moca-chan says so…" Tsugumi finally relented, although she was not sure if she believed her own words. To try and get her to focus on something else, Tsugumi decided to move to Himari's side and ask her the question the bassist knew was coming, "How's Himari-chan's avatar looking like?"

Ran and Tomoe walked over to stand behind Himari as well when they heard Tsugumi's question and Moca had already shifted her attention to the bassist when she saw that Tsugumi had been reassured. This meant that all the spotlight was suddenly on the leader of Afterglow and Himari certainly felt the pressure. In ways more than one.

"Tomoe, stop pushing! Moca, that's my hair you just pulled!" Himari whined as she tried to wriggle her way out of being squished by her so-called friends. After a minute or so of fighting, Himari finally managed to create some space between her and the four girls standing around her, "Come on… I still haven't seen my avatar yet!"

After hearing Himari's plea to catch up to the rest of Afterglow, the other members were all about to react in their unique way. Tsugumi and Tomoe quickly dove in to try and comfort Himari, although both girls made a conscious decision to maintain physical distance with Himari after stepping inside the girl's personal space only moments ago. To reassure Himari that she would not be left behind and that her avatar was probably just still being made.

Ran, on the other hand, had swiftly used her left hand to cover Moca's mouth to prevent Moca from saying something she might regret afterward. Or that the other members of Afterglow would regret Moca have said afterward.

It was of course at that moment that Himari's laptop finished the installation process and revealed Himari's brand new avatar to her and her friends. Tsugumi was the first to point this out after which the other four stopped what they were doing to see how Himari's avatar looked like.

The last avatar of Afterglow to show up was one of a deep and vivid vermillion green color. Although it, like the other avatars the girls had seen so far, was metallic in nature, Himari's appeared to be wearing a hakama and a kosode. Like Tomoe's and Tsugumi's, Himari's avatar also had a pair of visible eyes on its otherwise featureless face with the eyes on Himari's avatar being a muted purple. And, also like Tsugumi's Yellow Peace, Himari's avatar also appeared to have metallic hair; her hairstyle would be tied in high pigtails. The only other notable feature of Himari's avatar was the ribbon tied in a bow where the avatar's right ear would be had it been human.

Both Ran and Tomoe noted that the design of the avatar would be similar to that of a shrine maiden's outfit if it was of the appropriate color. They realized the reasoning behind this when Himari read her avatar's name aloud.

"Green Maiden…" Himari read the nameplate under her avatar aloud for her friends to hear it as well. A momentary pause followed as all five girls stopped to realize what this meant before one of them finally broke it.

"I guess Moca-chan owes Hii-chan five hundred yen because Hii-chan's avatar wasn't some kind of alien witch?"

As the five members of Afterglow were about to begin playing the game now that they had finished installing it, another girl about their age was on the verge of initiating the very same game as well. Shirokane Rinko was alone in her room and had the game open in front of her, but something was still weighing on her mind.

Although this would not be the first time she would start playing a game without someone she knew to play it with, she was still feeling hesitant for two big reasons. The first was that her long-time gaming buddy had already confirmed she would not be able to play this game with her, knowing that she would not have the time to properly invest in the game.

The second issue on her mind was that she would have to play the game without being able to design her character. Rinko had several ideas in mind but they would all have to be thrown out of the window. Instead, Rinko was now staring at the avatar she would probably have to use if she wanted to play this game; an avatar that was staring right back at Rinko with featureless amber-colored eyes.

The avatar in front of Rinko was wearing an outfit that reminded Rinko of a kimono, one that was metallic-silver in color. The avatar had long black hair that was stylized after a hime cut with the bangs covering its forehead parted in two. The final thing that Rinko noticed about her avatar was the black choker around its neck.

'I guess it can't be helped… I will get strong and be ready to support Ako-chan if she ends up playing this game too,' Rinko thought to herself as she tried to motivate herself. She continued this for another half hour before she was ready to start her adventure under her new name.

"I will be… in your care… Silver Kite-san…" Rinko whispered to nobody in particular as she took a moment looking at her avatar's stats and potential skills. Much to Rinko's surprise and mild disappointment, not a lot of information was given about her avatar's skill tree which meant that Rinko needed to find out everything on her own.

Rinko then pressed the big 'start' button located on the bottom-right of her screen and watched as her computer lit up in a bright white light.

So… normally, I would leave out the origins of the characters' avatars to allow readers to figure it all out, but I feel that because some are not as obvious as others, I should at least give readers this much.

I might regret this decision later, but in honor of today being the fifth anniversary of my first published fanfiction here on this site (back in the Pokemon Special fandom), the colors of everybody but Moca is directly referencing five characters of that manga. One could even argue that Moca's color is referencing a character from that manga as well, but I will confirm that her name is completely copy-pasted from her seiyuu's first main role. I will also admit that they are not the characters I would use in a crossover AU (i.e. which Bandori character would be most like which PokeSpe character), but… they're not being used in such a crossover AU so I think it is justifiable to use the five I used.

The second part of their name is referencing a certain character from a different franchise that their seiyuus voice (the original seiyuu in Rinko's case). Color (schemes) had to be updated/adjusted for the sake of this story's continuity in some cases, but hopefully, the overall design and names should give enough away for those who can see the links. As a quick reminder to everyone, the in-game avatars that you know of already are Red Endymion (Mitake Ran), Black Lotus (Aoba Moca), Green Maiden (Uehara Himari), Blue Chaos (Udagawa Tomoe), Yellow Peace (Hazawa Tsugumi), and Silver Kite (Shirokane Rinko). Have fun trying to deduce them all if you want to go down that road~.

And that will be all for today's chapter~ I hope you all enjoyed it, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until next time~ take care~.