MagiArtist

You looked at the words written on your wrist. ‘He’s so shy…’ As though they were a label for you specifically. And, to this day, you were still shy, maybe even anxious. Yet, you grew up better because of it. You had no idea why these words appeared on your wrist, but you knew they appeared shortly after you met Sayori, your childhood friend. Throughout your childhood, you and her were practically inseparable and you always heard the sounds of her happy laughter inside your head. There was even a point in your life where, for just one minute, a cute drawing of a bunny rabbit’s head appeared on the palm of your hand before it disappeared. It was a strange thing that only happened a few times throughout your life. Though, as the days went on and you grew into teenagers, your thoughts became clouded. Every night, as you laid in your bed, you could hear her cries buried deep in your thoughts, in your mind, even in your own dreams. The worst part was, you had no idea why

Monika stroked her fingers past your hair, humming gently as you rested on her soft, warm legs. She held your hand. You watched as the stars passed by. You had seen this gorgeous place dozens of times, talked with Monika dozens of times… But you both knew this would be the last time. “Our story is over, it has been for a while now…” Monika frowned. “… I know. But… I don’t want to say goodbye…” “It will be okay.” Monika smiled. You looked into Monika’s eyes, teared up and did the one thing you hesitated on: Deleting Monika’s file.

You weren’t sure where exactly Polka decided to take you out today. You were just fine laying in your bed the whole day. Yet, Polka dragged you out of bed and even carried you out of the house. Eventually, you were able to walk on your own without her assistance, but you still didn’t really have the energy to actually get anywhere. You mindlessly looked around the streets and buildings. While you could see their names and logos, they didn’t really register to you. The only thing that you could actively see and acknowledge was a sign for the county fair, and that was only because Polka pointed your attention to it. “Yo! This is gonna be exciting!” Polka said to you. You followed her into the county fair where the smell of popcorn and cotton candy wafted through the air. It was that odd sense of nostalgia, mixed with the old timey carnival themes, that gave you a small pep in your step. “See? You’re already starting to feel better!” Polka said to you. “I guess…” You muttered. “Ah!”

Shishiro Botan entered your room, though you never noticed until she placed patted your head. “Hey, what’s the matter?” You pulled you head out of your pillow and looked at her. “Polka saw you were in a hurry for something. Mind telling me what you were in a rush for?” Botan asked. “…” You didn’t say anything as Botan noticed two things that were different. A stapled receipt and your headset, of which the pleather was worn out so much, the foam was starting to peek out. Some of the pleather was hastily put together with superglue. Botan took a moment to read the receipt. It was a refund for a $250 headset, one of the more top of the line models. She eyed the two dates. Same day, but the time difference was around three hours and some change. “You tried out a new pair and didn’t like them?” Botan asked. “It was so weird… Everything about it was weird…” You could only speak in sobs. “Tell me everything.” Botan sat on your bed, positioning your head so that you were on her firm lap.

“You’re so good playing the piano, Lillie!” You listened to Lillie’s almost peaceful music. The way she pressed onto the keys and moved to the next set felt almost angelic, not helped with her long, flowing blonde hair and silklike white gown with her signature sun hat. Lillie had been your girlfriend since a few weeks after your move to Alola just one year ago and just recently, you’ve been spending more and more time with her ever since she got into a car accident at Kanto a week ago. Lillie finished her peace, then turned around. She gave a smile and outstretched her arms to you. Immediately, you went over to hug her as she gripped onto you tightly. You were so concerned with Lillie’s well being that you never wanted to leave her side for as long as you lived. “Lillie… I love you… I always will, and always have…” You said to her, though she herself never responded, instead just stroking your back with her hand. It’s always been like this, with you never wanting to leave her side

You stirred awake. Once again, there was the feeling of a soft body pressed up against you. Soothing breaths were the only noise you could hear, with the subtle scent of a humid day and the slight pressure of a tucked in blanket. It took a while to process that you were in Ganyu’s arms. Despite coming out of a long sleep, you still felt like you could rest for a couple more hours at least. But you knew you had to get up and get going. Fortunately, while Ganyu’s body was heavy, lifting her arm and leg that had been draped over you was easy. The fact that you were able to do it without her waking up meant you were either really skilled with sneaking out or Ganyu was a heavy sleeper. You took a moment to look at Ganyu’s sleeping form. Even though she wasn’t conscious, you saw that her arm and leg retracted in response to there being no one to hold, giving a smooth whimper that melted your heart. Then there was her fluffy blue hair and the cute little headpiece she had at all times. She

It turned out there was more to your year-long trip than just learning Japanese to be a translator. The manager for one of the idols called in sick and, in desperate need of a replacement, you were called in. Your job was simple, watch an idol do her thing and prepare to step in to stop if the idol does anything that would be inappropriate for YouTube’s standards, or ‘bonk’ as some of the English-speaking idols put it. You were watching the stream of Lamy Yukihana. It was your first time laying eyes on gameplay for Pokémon Legends: Arceus, so you watched Lamy play through an area with interest. You weren’t allowed to directly interact with the stream, but it didn’t stop you from giving enthusiastic cheers when she would catch a Pokémon (thankfully you were muted). You noticed that she had a bottle of some sort of drink by her side, one that she would regularly pour a glass of. At first, you thought nothing of it. If anything, her being a little buzzed made for some nice amusement.

“There, that should do it.” You heard Botan said as she slapped the plate of your desktop back into place, giving a satisfying snap. You went over as she screwed the bolt back in place. “So, what happened?” You asked her. You weren’t savvy with technology, so when your PC roared like a demon from hell in the middle of playing Halo Infinite, you were given a scare. Not helped by the fact that at some point, it sounded like a small bomb went off and completely shut off your computer with no hopes of rebooting it. “Fans gave out and the computer shut down due to overheating. I should have realized this PC didn’t have a graphics card.” Botan said. “Huh?” You asked. “Your computer relied on the CPU to render the graphics, which put too much stress on it. It got too hot that the fans couldn’t keep up and, well, I had to replace them.” Botan showed you a small cardboard box that contained the burnt-out CPU chip and damaged fan. “The motherboard’s not as damaged, though I’d look into

It had been a few days since you had that day long sleep. You thought you'd be healthy as a horse now, but, unfortunately, you caught yourself a nasty flu. You felt chills all over and it seemed that, no matter how much wool Watame supplied you with, you couldn't keep warm. It didn't help that you sneezed and coughed. Fearing that you might pass the sickness onto the others, you were placed in quarantine, isolated from the others… Save for one. Obviously, the doctor assigned to you. The doctor walked into your room, her lower face covered with a mask. However, there were telltale signs that she was, surprisingly enough, an idol of Hololive. There were very few idols in Hololive that are strictly human. Even the ones that are human have some sort of trait that made them paranormal. In the doctor's case, she had pointed ears, small bat wings and a pair of shiny black horns. However, it didn't detract from her overall beautiful, long blonde hair and green eyes. As soon as