All right, straight on to the next chapter we go. I have gotten a little bit of a backlog of chapters going so hopefully I can start speeding up my update schedule again soon. The problem is that May has been a fairly busy month for me in the past, and I don't see this year being any different. Real life is busy and I got a bunch of things going on right now that may or may not be eating up a ton of my time…
Anyways, a special thank you goes to Rider for reading and reviewing the previous chapter. Thank you for your kind words of supports!
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.
"Now where can Moon-san be…" Rinko muttered to herself, moving her mouse to adjust where she was looking at in the hopes of finding the familiar, amber-colored avatar. Rinko knew that the more experienced player had the abilities and skills necessary to make finding them more difficult, but Rinko hadn't expected it to be this difficult.
It had been a busy week for Roselia's keyboardist. Despite Lisa's intervention and insistence on the need for rest for the band's members, neither the frequency nor the intensity of their training sessions had gone down by much. All Rinko could do to endure it was to run to her room as soon as she arrived home to take a nap. This preventative measure of hers stopped her from going out of her mind, but it did little in terms of allowing Rinko to work on other responsibilities.
The only other thing that Rinko had to unwind and relax was her games. NFO was usually enough to get the job done, but Rinko's interest in the game was fading fast. The opportunities to enjoy NFO with Ako were few and far between and playing the game on her own had become increasingly difficult. Not to mention mind-numbingly slow to make much progress due to her high level in NFO. Fortunately for Rinko, there was another game that she could play.
But Lilac Blaze had its own set of problems. Despite having someone to play the game with regularly, Rinko's busy and somewhat erratic schedule made it challenging to make agreements with Amber Moon as to when the two would play together. Rinko had feared that her commitment to her band would be an obstacle for her to play with Moon.
Fortunately for Rinko, Moon was either just as busy as Rinko was or had a much more flexible schedule. Moon never complained about Rinko's schedule, something that Rinko was immensely thankful for.
"You seem distracted, Kite-san."
Rinko was never more thankful that her past self had muted her microphone than she was then. Thanks to her foresight, she would be the only one to hear the high-pitched shriek of surprise. Rinko hurriedly typed a message to her gaming partner that she needed a moment before making a beeline to the washroom.
A few minutes later, Rinko re-entered her room with a glass of warm milk in one hand and a damp towel in the other. She placed her drink beside her computer, searched for a dry patch on her towel, and used her towel to rub off any droplets of water that were still clinging to her face.
"Sorry about that, Moon-san," Rinko muttered an apology the moment she put her headset back on and unmuted her microphone again. No, she would not allow herself to sink back to old habits. Rinko slapped her cheeks a few times before remembering that she had yet to properly respond to the other player's observation, "I was wondering what that new game mode would be like. The one that they announced last week; it should be starting soon, right?"
"It should, we should be hearing more about it right about—now, it seems," Moon said, sounding distracted as she finished her sentence, and Rinko quickly realized the reasoning behind it. Rinko saw the notification that she got a new message in her mailbox, and she could only assume that Moon received the same thing.
Moon remained silent for an extended period of time, and Rinko took this opportunity to open her menu and see what she could learn. It turned out… not too much. The mail was empty aside from a single item that made its way into Rinko's inventory: a small hourglass.
Opening the hourglass resulted in the item materializing in the open palm of Silver Kite, and it was only then that Rinko realized how small the item truly was. The glass of the hourglass was clean and shiny, giving Rinko a great view to stare at the crimson red particles within. As beautiful as it was, however, Rinko could not figure out how this would help them whatsoever.
"What do you think… this new item is for, Moon-san?" Rinko was quick to voice her question to the older player, hoping that by doing so she would figure out the answer faster. Unfortunately for Rinko, it was not meant to be as Moon did not hesitate to admit that she had no clue whatsoever.
"If it is an hourglass and we are given no further instructions…" Moon trailed off, and Rinko could only assume that Moon was trying to find the item's purpose. And then the words that Moon had uttered were finally processed by Rinko's brain. Rinko did not even need Moon's declaration to figure out where Moon was going with this, "You understand, right? Kite-san?"
"I do. No point in dwelling over this when the answer is right in front of us," Rinko nodded with determination. She could almost see her purple-haired friend bopping her head with a satisfied grin plastered on her face in her mind. This was all that Rinko needed.
After a bit of fumbling around, Rinko finally figured out how to use the item. Silver Kite turned the hourglass upside-down in its hand and Rinko watched in dazed amazement how the particles began streaming to the bottom half.
And then a bright flash of white light took over and covered her screen.
Once the light died down and Rinko could stare at her screen again she could not believe what she saw. She was not where she remembered being before the light engulfed her, nor did she seem to be anywhere close to her original location.
'So the hourglass… was a teleporter that brought me here,' Rinko thought to herself as soon as she remembered how she got there in the first place. Rinko's attention immediately darted to Silver Kite's right hand and Rinko let out a sigh of relief when she saw the hourglass still there. She made sure to securely store the item before facing the next issue at hand, 'Now where did it take me?'
Rinko looked around her to try and see where she was. This did not help her very much as all Rinko could see was the large crowd of players in front of her.
Rinko knew that she was in a room, a waiting area of some sort, and the players who were already present were congregated around the center of the room. The bright lighting helped illuminate the area enough for Rinko to maneuver her character around the other players.
And while this made Rinko feel safe knowing that she would not accidentally bump into the other players, the lack of hiding spots for her to withdraw back into was a cause for concern.
'Deep breaths. It will be all right, Kite-san is here with you,' Rinko thought to herself as she tried to regulate her breathing. Rinko succeeded in doing so, but not before a flash of light alerted her to the arrival of Moon beside Kite.
"Interesting. So they wanted us to move here and the hourglass was a faster way to get players to do so," Moon thought out loud, to which Rinko muttered a soft mumble of confirmation. Rinko watched the more experienced player look around them for a bit before turning to Rinko again, "Kite-san, do you know what this place is?"
"I do not, sorry," Rinko admitted, looking down at her clenched-up fists in shame. She arrived in this new area before Moon did, so Rinko should have figured out where they were by now. Knowing that she had failed to do so made Rinko feel an overwhelming amount of shame, but this shame would quickly be replaced for another feeling, "Moon-san? Where are you going?"
"I was going to wait to say this until this event was about to begin, but since we are already here, I might as well inform you. And before you ask: yes, I knew what this event was for the past few days," Moon added the last bit in a hurry, almost as if Moon was expecting Rinko to question them about this. After Rinko voiced her understanding and rushed to catch up to Moon, Moon started talking again.
"This event is a tournament. A two-against-two fight to the death until only two players remain on the very top," Moon explained, and Rinko found herself bobbing her head. This revelation certainly shed some light on why Moon insisted on helping her improve her combat abilities. Rinko was shaken out of her train of thoughts when Moon fastened her pace, "We should hurry and register before the window to do so has closed."
Rinko hurried to catch up to her mentor figure in the game, wordlessly waddling behind Moon. With Moon taking the lead it did not take long for them to reach the center of the room. Once there, Rinko was met with a line of different monitors. She already knew what she had to do before Moon gave a short explanation.
The instructions on the monitor were also very straightforward. The only thing Rinko had to do was input her avatar's name and mark the box that she wanted to enter the competition. Once she finished convincing herself that this was a good idea, Rinko finished registering herself and waited for Moon to finish as well.
Moon signaled for Rinko to step to the side which was something that Rinko was only too happy to do so. Moon then led Rinko to the edge of the room as far away as possible from the monitors. It was only once the two of them had some privacy that one of them spoke up again.
"Moon-san, when does it begin?" Rinko wasted no time to ask the question that had been eating away at her for a while. Now that she was officially a contestant in the tournament Rinko could feel her excitement grow. The last time she took part in a tournament where players fought against each other was with Ako, and it did not end up very well once the two friends learned they were matched against each other.
And while Rinko missed playing games with her best friend, a part of her knew that she was relieved that Ako was not playing Lilac Blaze. If she were then Rinko was sure that she would feel bad when the two of them would eventually be matched against each other again.
"They should begin soon, it seems like we do not have enough participants as of yet," Moon responded, only to be interrupted by a flash of light from the center of the room. Rinko immediately turned to find the source, but when she did not find it, she sheepishly turned back to Moon. Fortunately for Rinko, it seemed that Moon was distracted by this light as well, "That was… weird and out of place. I wonder what that was."
Rinko bopped her head once before remembering that Moon would be unable to see this action. After voicing her earlier action, Rinko decided to take the opportunity to ask the more experienced player more about the tournament.
"Unfortunately, I do not know much other than that it will be a two-versus-two competition," Moon admitted and Rinko, despite her initial wave of disappointment, accepted this. Rinko knew how difficult it must have been for Moon to learn this much already. If anything, Rinko knew that she should be grateful for being informed before most of her fellow competitors.
"What do you think the chances will be that Moon-san and I are paired together?" Rinko asked the moment this question popped up in her mind. Rinko's asocial nature coming back to haunt her; she wasn't sure how well she would do partnering up with a player she had never worked with before, "I guess not too high because that would give us an unfair advantage over our opponents?"
"Zero, based on the tournament tree that is being shown to us right now," Moon's words caused Rinko to look around her. True to Moon's words, a big hologram had appeared in the center of the room that depicted the tournament tree.
What surprised Rinko more than the announcement was how easy it was for her to see her placement in the brackets. She and Moon were standing far away from the hologram, but Rinko managed to spot her name almost immediately and—
See that she wasn't paired up with Moon. Instead, Rinko's partner would appear to be a red-colored avatar based on their name. Rinko's disappointment seemed to be visible to Moon, as Moon chose that moment to comment on the tournament's pairings.
"This was probably for the better; it would be unfair to the other players if a team was formed of players who play together already," Moon noted and Rinko had to admit that Moon was right. Rinko's daze caused her to miss out on Moon's next couple of words, so she was forced to request Moon to repeat what they had said, "We should find our partners in this competition. The announcement mentioned something about those hourglasses, so try and pick it back up."
Rinko, curious what Moon was talking about, did what she was told without questioning Moon's intents. Navigating through her inventory did not take too much time or effort, and without much difficulty, the hourglass that transported her to this room was firmly in Kite's hand again.
And, despite having been trained by Moon since her early days in the game, the gasp of surprise managed to escape Rinko's throat when she saw what was happening. The hourglass lit up in warm orange light, but the light quickly faded by the time Rinko turned around to face Moon.
Rinko frowned in thought as she tried to figure out what just happened. Thankfully for both her and Moon, it would not take too long for Rinko to realize what the hourglass was doing.
"That is so cool!" Rinko exclaimed in a very Ako-like manner. She quickly apologized for her outburst before adding, in a much more subdued and calmer voice this time, "It is directing us to our partner in the competition?"
"That is correct. And it seems that both our partners are in the same direction, so let's go," Moon said, holding out their hourglass to show Rinko what she meant. Moon's hourglass was lighting up in the familiar orange light when it was pointed in the same direction as Rinko was pointing hers, "Perhaps our partners are familiar with each other like you and I are, Kite-san."
"It would definitely be interesting to see what our partners will be like," Rinko mumbled out loud, wondering not only what this red-colored avatar would be like but also how well she would be able to play with the other player.
It was only then that Rinko remembered that she had never played together with another player aside from Moon. Her entire time in Lilac Blaze was spent playing on her own or working together with Moon. Needing to adapt to a new partner might be too much for Rinko.
"Kite-san, please wait a moment. I know that our partners are right there, but I need to say this to you before we meet them," Moon's words shook Rinko out of her worries only to give rise to a new set of worries. What was it that Moon wanted to tell her now of all times? Fortunately for Rinko, Moon did not waste any time to talk again once it was clear that Rinko was listening.
"Kite-san and I were not partnered up in this competition, but we will have to fight each other in this tournament if we both win our first rounds," Moon began, and Rinko gulped. Moon was right; the tournament tree had placed Moon and Rinko in a position where they would have to face each other as early as the second round.
"As the person who helped you come this far, I will not tolerate it if you get knocked out of the tournament before we have a chance to fight each other!" Moon announced, and Rinko had to suppress the shiver running down her spine. But Moon was not done there, "So, whatever you do, make sure you win your first round, and we can have a serious fight in the second round. I will not hold back against you, and I expect you will not go easy against me."
"Of course, Moon-san," Rinko nodded, knowing that she had just accepted her mentor's challenge. Rinko would have said more but she stopped herself before a single noise escaped her mouth. As they were talking, Rinko had followed Moon around a group of players. And that was when her hourglass shifted from emitting an orange light to a bright, almost neon green one.
Before Rinko could comment on this change she noticed a group of four avatars standing in front of her: a blue-colored avatar that was flanked by a black-colored one, while a yellow-colored avatar was standing a bit further away beside a red-colored avatar.
The black-colored avatar caught Rinko's eyes the most and she immediately remembered what Moon had told her about their rarity. To run into one of them in a place like this could only spell certain trouble ahead for her.
Rinko was shaken out of her train of thoughts by Moon's guidance to enable voice chat with other players. After Rinko confirmed that she had done so, Moon walked a few steps forward and Rinko followed suit.
"Black Lotus-san? Red Endymion-san?" Moon asked the group of four players in front of Rinko. A short pause followed, one which Rinko could only guess was spent by the players in front of them to enable voice chat with Moon and Kite.
"Yes?" the black-colored avatar, who Rinko now knew was Black Lotus, asked. The other three avatars turned to look at Moon and Rinko, and Rinko was immensely grateful that she had her computer screen between her and these strangers. The stares that she was receiving were intimidating, and Rinko had to use every bit of her willpower to stand her ground. What would they think of her if Rinko were to run away from her problems screaming?
Rinko shuddered at the thought, not wanting to find out the answer to that question. Instead, Rinko tried to focus on what Moon was saying and realized, much to her horror, that she had almost missed her mentor's introduction.
"I am Amber Moon, and this here is Silver Kite-san. We are your partners in this tournament," Moon announced, taking the lead for Rinko who knew that she would be unable to introduce herself so effortlessly. But Rinko also did not feel like running away and hiding in a closet anymore, so the keyboardist took it as a small victory.
"I don't think we need to really introduce ourselves because our colors are pretty much a dead giveaway. Having said that, I know that I speak for all of us that it's nice to meet you, Moon-san, Kite-san," Lotus joked right before the other three avatars introduced themselves as Red Endymion, Blue Chaos, and Yellow Peace.
Rinko smiled at how close the four of them seemed to be, a twinge of hurt and sadness pulling at her heart. A damp sensation rolled down the side of her face, down her cheek, before vanishing fast enough for Rinko to think it never happened before.
"Kite-san? Hello~? Anybody there?" Lotus' words were barely registered by Rinko. When they finally were, Rinko took a moment to apologize profusely for her moment of distraction. Based on the inflection in Lotus' voice, Rinko could only assume that the other player found this amusing, which only served to add to Rinko's embarrassment, "Shouldn't you start preparing yourself for your first round?"
"Ah, right, you are right," Rinko mumbled hastily once she realized that Lotus was correct. Rinko clapped both her cheeks to get herself to focus on what she was doing. She wasn't just playing for herself, she was also playing to help her partner get through the tournament. Speaking of her partner, Rinko turned to who would be her partner in the tournament and directed her next words to them, "Shall we go, then?"
"Sure," the voice of Red Endymion sounded distant and emotionless to Rinko's ears, but Rinko didn't know if that was the game's voice changer in effect or just an indication of her partner's personality. Endymion took a step or two in Kite's direction but came to an abrupt halt. Instead of closing the distance with Kite, Endymion turned around to face their friends, "Chaos, Peace. Don't hold back on me in the first round because I won't hold back against the two of you. I look forward to finally getting even with you, Chaos."
And that wraps up today's chapter! I hope you all enjoyed today's chapter, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until next time. Take care, everybody!