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Jun stared into his cup of hot cocoa, lost in thought as the mug’s warmth washed away the exhaustion in his limbs. It was a long day, and he wanted nothing more than to curl up on the couch and relax.
Quietly Jun sipped his drink, letting the rich sweetness blossom over his tongue. Daimon made some amazing hot chocolate – no doubt it was the same that he sold in his cafe downstairs. It was the perfect drink to combat the wintry night air outside.
A series of footsteps drew Jun’s attention. Glancing towards the sound, he saw Tomoru approaching him, mug in hand.
“Hey, Tomoru,” Jun said with a smile. “Are you up working late again?”
“For the first time, no,” Tomoru chuckled as he sat down. “I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d come down here and relax a bit. What about you?”
Jun held up his mug with a nod. “Me too. Especially since it’s so cold outside.”
As if corroborating Jun’s words, a sharp wind whistled outside, loud enough to be audible from the closed windows. Tomoru glanced towards the sound, a shadow of worry crossing his face for a moment before his expression relaxed. “Yeah, the temperature’s dropped a lot lately. Winter’s on the way, after all.”
Jun shuddered at the thought, phantom chills running down his spine despite the heated room. He had never been a fan of winter, and with things the way they were right now, he didn’t see himself looking forward to the next few months at all.
“You’re not a fan of the winter either, aren’t you?” Jun asked.
Tomoru scrunched up his face as if his drink has suddenly turned sour, then sighed. “Never was – especially when it comes to winter mornings. Those are absolutely the worst.”
Jun bit back a grimace as he nodded in agreement. “They definitely are.”
“Not to mention it’ll be raining tomorrow, too.” Tomoru’s expression hesitantly relaxed after a moment. “At least tomorrow’s the weekend, so we don’t have to worry about going anywhere.”
“That is true.”
Jun took a long sip of his cocoa as his gaze flitted around the room. Aside from the wind whistling outside, everything was peaceful. Felix, Koharu, and Daimon were sound asleep in their rooms, oblivious to the chill outside, while Jun and Tomoru were relaxing together on the couch in the living room, surrounded by warmth. It was a serene, perfect night, Jun thought.
“Hey, Jun?”
“Yeah?”
Tomoru paused, as if searching for words. Finally, he smiled sheepishly and shook his head. “Sorry. I had a question, but I don’t know if it’d be too embarrassing to ask or not.”
“A question about what?” Jun tilted his head, curiosity piqued.
A beat hung in the air, Tomoru’s face clouded as if he was in internal conflict. Finally, he relaxed.
“You’re a gamer, aren’t you?” Tomoru pushed his glasses over his nose as he met Jun’s gaze. “Could you tell me more about the games you play?”
Jun couldn’t help a small smile as he replied. “Well, I play a lot of different games, but my favorite one by far is Neo Fantasy Online.”
“Neo Fantasy Online?” Tomoru asked.
“It’s a fantasy massively multiplayer online game – or MMORPG for short.” Jun paused, his cheeks flushing as Tomoru blinked in confusion. “It’s a game where you create a character of your own, and you explore a vast world, coming into contact with other players on your journey. People can join guilds, which are essentially teams, to complete quests and explore together.”
“Teams, huh?” Tomoru paused for a moment. “And they are tasked with exploring an unfamiliar world as well, I imagine.”
“Yeah. It’s a really popular game genre nowadays, especially among younger people,” Jun said.
Tomoru nodded thoughtfully, a small smile crossing his face. “I can imagine. What kind of things do you do in the game besides exploring?”
“Well, you fight bosses, which sometimes drop rare items you need to progress.” Jun’s voice quickened as he gesticulated animatedly. “And you progress by crafting armor and weapons, as well as leveling up your skills. Sometimes you do need to run dungeons a lot to get materials you need, but in the end it’s worth it!”
Jun immediately halted, biting his tongue as he realized just how quickly he was speaking. Silently he berated himself, wondering if he had lost Tomoru somewhere or annoyed him with his harried explanation. To his slight relief, Tomoru instead seemed to have a thoughtful expression on his face, a shadow of a smile lingering.
“You know, the things you’ve described remind me of us.”
“What do you mean?”
“You could say that all of us – Fantôme Iris, I mean – are a team, going on a journey of our own,” Tomoru replied, pausing to sip from his mug. “Through every new place we visit, we progress through every live we do, as well as our shared experiences, whether in or out of the band.” Tomoru glanced out the window for a brief moment as he continued. “I apologize if this seems like a forward question but surely there are times when you’ve failed to defeat a boss at the end of a dungeon, right?”
“Oh, plenty of times.” Jun waved off the question with a chuckle. “More times than I can count. But it’s alright, because if we fail, we just simply level up and upgrade our armor and weapons, then try again until we succeed. Sometimes it does require a shift in strategy, but we always eventually manage to defeat the boss in the end. However, no matter what, every boss fight always requires teamwork between everyone involved. That’s the nature of the game, after all.” Once again Jun found himself embarrassed by his rambling. He really needed to learn to tone it down.
But instead of vexation or even amusement, there was warm acceptance in Tomoru’s gaze. “The more you talk about this Neo Fantasy Online, the more I see similarities between the game and our experiences as a band. Each of the lives can be seen as a boss we need to conquer, each with its own set of challenges. Yet surely if we all work together as a band, we’ll be able to conquer the live and move on to the next one. And if we don’t, we regroup, figure out what went wrong, and practice more so we can do better the next time around.”
For a long moment all Jun could do was stare at Tomoru in awe. For someone like Tomoru, Jun didn’t expect him to be so introspective.
“You know, you seem to know about this kind of thing a lot – did you perhaps play something similar in the past?”
Tomoru shook his head. “Not really, but your descriptions of everything that went on was more than enough to paint a vivid description in my mind.”
“I see.” Jun nodded in understanding, his expression thoughtful. “Still, it’s a really thorough and thought-out explanation. I appreciate that someone else understands the same things that I do.”
“Yeah.”
Silence fell between the two, content and peaceful as unspoken thoughts faded away into oblivion. Jun drained the rest of his cocoa, letting the warmth flood his entire being. Gradually he felt a heaviness press on his eyelids, a yawn rising behind his throat despite his best attempts to stifle it.
“Seems it’s getting late,” Tomoru said as he glanced at the clock on the wall. “We should get to bed soon.”
“I agree.” Placing his empty mug down on the table, Jun stretched out, feeling waves of sleepiness flowing over him. After a moment he stood and took his mug to the sink, washing it before placing it on the drying rack. Tomoru followed suit, stretching out with a lazy yawn as he finished.
“Thanks for taking the time to talk to me tonight.” The words slipped from Jun before he knew it. “I appreciate it.”
“No problem,” Tomoru replied with a smile. “I’m glad too. We got to learn more about each other.”
Jun smiled back, though it soon morphed into another yawn that he hid behind his elbow. “Well, I suppose this is a sign it’s time to head to bed.”
Tomoru chuckled and nodded. “Goodnight, Jun.”
“Goodnight, Tomoru.”
With that they headed to their separate rooms, letting a blanket of peace settle over them.