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When Akaashi logged onto his usual adventure game website, excited to play the newest update, he didn’t expect to find himself in the game. Usually, he would take everything in his stride, but this?
“What the fuck.” He glances around familiar streets, wooden sukiya-zukuri houses and bamboo fences he’d walked through thousands of times before in game, market stalls on the sides where he’d trade common items for money to save up for guild expansions.
He even recognised the people, Non-Player characters who managed their stalls. Except now they were real, and this world was real, and his character was real. He knew he was his character, because he certainly hadn’t logged onto his computer wearing white gloves that started around his middle finger and spread up his arms.
Nor did he usually have a lute on his hip, panpipes on a necklace, or a small violin on his back. They were quite heavy, and he somewhat regretted equipping his bard character with as many instruments as possible. There was even a piccolo tucked inside a secret compartment in his knee-high leather boots.
The green cape on his back had a large hood, that he drew up to cover the fox ears he had regretfully chosen when designing his character, and he was glad the cape was long enough to cover the matching fox tail, black as night and tipped in white.
“Akaashi!!” Just in time, too. Not that Bokuto didn’t know what his character looked like, but it was embarrassing to have them move like he’d always had them. Bokuto clunked down the broken cobblestone road, his large armour only just fitting through the space between market stalls. This wasn’t like the game, where layers overlapped. He actually had to shuffle around physical beings.
“Pardon me! ‘Scuse me! Coming through!” When Bokuto reaches Akaashi, his gold eyes sparkle and dance with excitement, his face lit up with glee like a child at Christmas.
“Isn’t this great?! Look where we are!”
“I can see, Bokuto-san~.”
“We get to play for real!”
“Mhm, we do.”
“We’re in Hinoki Monogatari!” That was the Japanese capital of EMPYRE, the online game which Akaashi had joined 5 years ago. It had taken Japan by storm and swept up an entire nation, particularly amongst high schoolers who needed a break from studying.
Based on ancient communities and places around the world, Hinoki Monogatari was the realm of samurai, Japan before westernisation. Of course, that didn’t account for character design and unlockable features, he thinks, fox tail swishing beneath his cloak.
Akaashi glanced around, noting that many people were bumbling about in confusion, or lamenting the fact they couldn’t log out. It could potentially get tense and dangerous.
“... Let’s head towards the Shinden Zukuri.” Bokuto seems to pick up on something in the tone of his voice, nodding his head and calming down.
“Okay.”
“If we’re lucky, the others will head there too.”
“I’m sure they will! When you enter a game, the first place you go to is the guild, right?”
“Mhm, but I’m not sure how well that applies to actually entering the game.” Bokuto laughs as they walk, drowning out the clunk of his oversized armour.
“If we thought of it, I’m sure everyone else will too!” His optimism is infectious, and Akaashi finds himself smiling. He ducks behind Bokuto, moving in the space that the Tank creates with his hulking armour. Maybe he could take it off once they reach the guild room, and hopefully he’ll be wearing clothes.
If not, there’s a wardrobe in the guild room that Bokuo had purchased with his hard earned coins from monster battles. Akaashi had thought it was a bad decision at the time, but now, it may be a miraculous life saver.
Stepping up to the Shinden, Akaashi blinks and his fox ears stand a little taller with delight, smile breaking into a grin, and he and Bokuto jog up to Sarukui. Clad in ninja gear, with monkey ears and tail, Sarukai lifts a hand in greeting.
“Yo!” Bokuto high-fives him, smacking as hard as he can, and Akaashi laughs as Sarukai shakes his hand out with a wince. He waits until the monkey ninja holds out his other hand, knocking their knuckles together.
“It’s good to see someone else we know.”
“You’re tellin’ me. I was worried everyone else would do their homework first.”
“Oh, I did mine on the way home. Knowing Konoha, he’ll have it done in a few minutes flat. Komi, I’m not expecting to even try until after a nap, so we might not see him a while. Suzumeda will do hers, Shirofuku will probably be here after a snack or eight, and Washio was tutoring Onaga tonight. They won’t log on.”
“Wow. Quick thinking.”
“Of course. A setter must know his team inside and out.” Smug, Akaashi pats Sarukui on the shoulder and chases after Bokuto, who stands at the open Shinden doors.
“Well, captain?”
“I thought you called me Guild Master in this world~?” Bokuto’s good natured tease brings laughter bubbling up, both Akaashi and Sarukui breaking into giggles. As Akaashi steps into the Shinden, walking over to the guild registry desk, Sarukui leans in to Bokuto and whispers;
“Leave the kinks for home, Bo.” He trots off as Akaashi holds up a key to their guild room, leaving Bokuto to stumble after him confused as hell.
“... What? Wait, what? Sarukui, I don’t understand, what do you mean? I didn't say anything kinky!” Walking along the open corridors towards the Eastern pavilion, Akaashi notices that the lined up doors are exactly the same as they were in-game, and he hopes earthly physics don’t apply, or they’ll be stepping into the tiniest room ever.
“Bokuto-san, would you like to do the honours?” Nodding, Bokuto takes the key from Akaashi and twists it in the lock, pushing the door open with flair and flourish. Akaashi breathes out in awe.
Earthly physics do not apply. The door opens, and there’s their Guild Room, just as it always has been, with the expansions Akaashi purchased, Bokuto’s furniture choice, Konoha’s decorations, and Shirofuku’s layout choices.
Sarukui strolls in and sits cautiously on the bright green sofa near a window with a flowerpot on it, making a sound of pleasant surprise when the sofa is soft and comfortable. Bokuto chooses to instead race up the bamboo staircase that spirals around the trunk of a cherry blossom tree, then leans against the balcony.
“Akaashi, this is so cool! The second floor you brought was put in during the update!” Glancing upwards, he huffs in amusement.
“I should hope so. It’s still just a balcony though. We’ll have to save up for the next expansion if we want to increase dimensions.”
“Can we still do that, though?” Sarukui’s question opens a whole bag of worms they’re not ready to deal with. Can they still buy extensions? Can they still use medicinal potions? Can they still exit the game and go home?
Can- Can they even go home at all?
Can they die?
“S’up motherfuckers.” In the middle of this lament, Konoha kicks the door open with that eloquent greeting, arm around a bucket of fried chicken with mouth half-full, and strides over to slump casually on the sofa opposite Sarukui, propping his feet up on the table.
Akaashi stares in disbelief, mouth hung open. Konoha has absolutely no idea of how to read the atmosphere, glancing around the room as he takes another bite of fried chicken.
“Did I interrupt something?” As much as the setter wants to scream out a ‘Yes!’, he can’t find it within him to summon words, stunned by the audacity. Bokuto, on the other hand… Leaning over the balcony, he points at the bucket of chicken.
“Can I have some?”
“Sure, I got enough to share.” Bokuto whoops and sprints back down the spiral staircase, jumping to a stop next to Konoha and plucking a deliciously juicy drumstick from the bucket. Konoha offers the bucket to Sarukui, who takes one with a shrug of ‘why not?’
“Where’d you even get these?”
“You not checked your inventory yet? I had a whole bunch of recipes in the crafting slot, so I thought I’d try out the one I had the ingredients for.” He brings up his display screen with a greasy finger, the translucent blue like that of the stat bar they’d have when playing through a computer.
“You just tap it, and… See? There’s the recipe I used.” He points at the bucket of chicken recipe, and it even display the achievement he needed to unlock it - Sequoia sempervirens: Travel to the capital of the American server.
Konoha had completed that quest 2 years back, making a round journey to Redwood Legend whilst completing a secondary quest to deliver the meat of a Japanese-server only monster to a Redwood restaurant. Seems like it came in handy.
“That’s awe’ome!”
“Bokuto-san, please don’t shout with your mouth full.” Akaashi brings up his own list, and his eyes fall greedily on the ohmori tamago double burger. He has just enough ingredients to make one, and he’s rather hungry…
He does it. He taps it, and instantly, the creation falls into his hands, greasy and huge and it smells fantastic. The second his jaws wrap around it, the door opens again.
“DUDES. WE’RE IN HINOKI MONOGATARI.” Shirofuku doesn’t care for volume, moving around the room and gesturing to various items with sounds of amazement. Bokuto follows her around, excitedly nodding at everything he says.
“We’re- This is real!”
“I know, right! Isn’t it amazing~?!”
“Too damn right! Oh, and I’m stealing this.” She takes what remains of Konoha’s chicken bucket, sprinting away before he can steal it back.
“Wha-! Hey, get your own!”
“Can’t. I sold all my food items before the update to buy new stuff today.”
“Buy something from the market stalls then!”
“Too late.” She polishes off the fried chicken with a self-satisfied grin, and Akaashi licks his fingers clean as he thinks about how joyfully noisy it’s gotten. It’s just like practice, except he’s a fox bard instead of a setter.
Bokuto is a Tank, wearing oversized armour that clanks all the time. Sarukui’s a monkey ninja, Konoha is a swashbuckler, dressed like a lower-ranking pirate, and Shirofuku is in a traditional shrine maiden’s outfit. When Komi finally arrives, almost an hour later, the group have settled down.
They managed to find some manga and magazines on the bookshelf, and have taken to relaxing around the room in relative silence as they read. Akaashi raises a hand in greeting as Komi shuffles in, not sure he’s got the right guild room when it’s so quiet.
“Hi guys?”
“Komi!!!” Ah, there’s the noise. Bokuto leaps up to pull him into a tight hug, glad that he’s joined them at last.
“I brought someone with me.” He gestures to the door, and Suzumeda shyly pokes her head round. She relaxes when she spots Shirofuku waving her over, sliding across the magazine she’s reading so they can talk about it together.
“We’re just missing Onaga and Washio, right?”
“Mhm. They won’t be online tonight. In the worst case scenario; it means they won’t get into the game with us. Though I’m hoping that means they can find a way to get us out of here from the outside.”
“Tell me about it. This is cool, but I really hope we can go back.”
“We can’t log off. Bokuto-san and I saw multiple people trying.” Komi scratches the back of his head, nudging the metal band around it. He’s not a Tank like Bokuto, but a Knight, a class he unlocked on a quest to the British Server, Yew Stories.
“Seems we’re stuck here for now.”
“Indeed.” Solemn, they decide to instead look around and see what else they can find, and miraculously, they find futons. Setting them up isn’t hard, and Bokuto tosses off his armour to dive into the first one they finish. Thankfully, he has cropped trouser and a loose shirt on.
“Man, these are comfy!”
“Are they?”
“Mhm!” Noise from outside catches their attention and they scramble to the windows overlooking the streets. In the large clearing, where in-game festivals were held, adventurers had begun arguing, fighting, and the game device that prevented fights within capital cities was teleporting them to the edges of the clearing.
“... It’s probably not safe to venture out today.”
“No shit. Hey, Captain, wanna make a rule?” Bokuto puts his hands on his hips, thinking deeply, and loudly. Finally, he stands upright, puffing his chest out in pride.
“No leaving the Eastern pavilion!”
“That… Bokuto-san, I believe Konoha was thinking more about… Our guild room.”
“Well, yeah, but Nekoma’s guild room is in the Eastern Pavilion too! I know Kenma will definitely be online, and Kuroo will probably follow him!” Akaashi blinks. Bokuto’s really thought about this, and it’s amazing that he can remember where the Nekoma guild room is. Akaashi never really bothered to find out, since his character always met with Kenma (and consequently Kuroo) outside of the guild building, or when they were going on quests.
“Perhaps we should extend an invitation to them into our guild room. It might be safer for us to all stick together.”
“I’m on it!” Once more, Bokuto stuns them as he pulls up his statistics screen, flicks through the tabs to the friends list, and scrolls down to find Kuroo’s username, Kenma’s just beneath, on the list. Since Konoha showed them the recipe trick, Bokuto must have been poking around to see what else he could do.
“They’re online~!” He starts a group call, surprising Akaashi when his own stat screen pops up in front of him with a call invite. He pauses in watching the chaos and melancholy below to answer it.
“Hello…?”
“Kenma!!!” Before Kenma can exit the chat at Bokuto’s enthusiastic shriek, Akaashi throws in his own greeting.
“It’s us, Kenma. Are you in your guild room?” There’s a pause, where he can hear snoring in the background.
“Mhm. Kuro’s napping.” Bokuto laughs, a booming sound that has Akaashi wince as the call screen buzzes with static.
“Bokuto-san. Volume.”
“Whoops, sorry!”
“Anyways, what we’re calling to say is we think it would be better if we all stick together.”
“Agreed. I don’t think you’ll all fit in our guild room though. Even we have to take it in turns.” Akaashi chuckles, hiding it behind his sleeve. His fox tail happily swishes from side to side and he forces it to stop when Suzumeda tilts her head in his direction.
“We have more than enough space. And futons, apparently.”
“Yeah, ‘Kaashi’s been obsessed with guild expansions since the beginning!”
“I like that part of the game.”
“It’s not a game anymore.” An uneasy pause, and in the background of Kenma’s feed, the mumble of Kuroo rousing from sleep, shouting at Lev for something or other.
“True, but that means we get to experience all the fun things like festivals, and exploring, and monster hunting!” Leave it to Bokuto to cheer them up. Even Kenma huffs softly, masking a laugh.
“I’ll send your guild the invite to ally with ours, then you can come and have a sleepover!” The chat closes without warning as Bokuto ends it to send an invite to NekomaVB guild, ensuring that any of their members can enter the Fukurodani guild room.
“... Bokuto-san, they do know where our guild room is, right?”
“Of course! I always get Kuroo to come give a second opinion on the decor I buy.”
“Ah. Makes sense.” It takes a while for Nekoma to arrive, heralding their entire team in through the door. Akaashi and Komi have set out even more futons, just in time, as the sun starts to set. They’ve had a long day, morning practice followed by school, afternoon practice, and now this.
In just two hours, they turn to the futons, lining them up in two rows so that everyone can fit, and they’re all next to someone they know. It’s not coincidence that Akaashi ends up between Bokuto and Kenma - the latter of which insisted having an end spot.
But sleeping is hard. It doesn’t come easy. They’re inside an awesome game, and there’s bound to be good times and tons of fun, but… What if they can’t get home? What if they’re really stuck here? What if they die here?
“Akaashi? Y’okay?” A warm hand wriggles into his futon, holding his hand comfortingly.
“I can’t sleep.”
“Me either.”
“I don’t think anyone is asleep.” They jump at the bitter tone from Konoha, lying on his back staring up at the ceiling with brows creased in annoyance. From the Nekoma side of the futons, Shibayama mumbles out;
“No, Lev definitely is. He keeps kicking me in his sleep.”
“We’re all too homesick, I think.”
“I usually listen to music to fall asleep.”
“Hey, ‘Kaashi, you can play your Bard instruments, right?”
“I can only play one at once. I have a lute, violin, panpipes, and piccolo.” Konoha sits up, rubbing at his eyes tiredly.
“Pass me the violin? I took lessons in middle school. Never won any competitions, but I think I was pretty good.” One either of his sides, Sarukui and Komi grin cheekily, sharing a glance before speaking in unison.
“Jack of all trades~.”
“Oh shut up!” Akaashi snickers as he carefully passes the violin over, and Inuoka eyes up the piccolo.
“I could try that… Can’t be too different from a flute, right?” Kuroo looks like he’s about to shout in surprise when Yaku slaps a hand over his mouth.
“Don’t ask.”
Akaashi tosses the piccolo to Inuoka, who examines it thoroughly before putting it to his lips and testing it out. He plays like an angel, drawing surprise and awe from the group. Konoha takes the violin, resting it on his shoulder and placing his chin against it. He draws the bow across it, a steady, beautiful note floating out.
One eye slightly open, he focuses on listening to the tune Inuoka plays, adding in harmonies whilst also making his own composition, resulting in beautiful music that lifts their spirits. Akaashi prepares his lute, plucking at the strings with deft fingers, just getting a feel for each note he can make with each string.
He moves his fingers along the strings, varying the tone, glad that he has callouses from volleyball to protect his fingers. He plucks them, adding his music to Inuoka and Konoha’s, turning the individual instruments into a song.
Like they’re reading his mind, Shirofuku and Suzumeda glance at each other, and activate the skills from their role-playing subclasses, bringing up a list of the 42 songs in Hinoki Monogatari.
They pick one together, the lyrics displayed on their stat screens, and in harmony, they sing along to the beautiful music, the strings, the woodwind, and the voices all tangling together in a wonderful mix, creating a song that brings peace to their hearts.
They’re still trapped in the game, and they may be missing teammates, but everything is good for now, Akaashi thinks as he plucks the lute strings, watching those who aren’t playing an instrument or singing listening with peaceful expressions.
Everything is good.