That Which Blossoms in the Cold of Winter I

---Chapter 13: That Which Blossoms in the Cold of Winter I

It’s been a few weeks since the Arena of Couples PvP event. During that time I, Quartz, had continued playing Myth of Genesis Online the same as I always had. Every evening I’d log in and enjoy spending a few hours of my day in this world. I had several friends in the game that I enjoyed spending time with, but recently I’d grown increasingly close to one in particular: Yui.

I first met her back in September, and ever since then we’d play together basically every day. Recently, I’ve been trying to help her clear a bizarre priority quest that’s locked her out of accepting others. It was an odd situation, but spending time with her trying to figure out a solution has been a lot of fun.

Ever since the arena event, we’ve just kind of been waiting to hear from a moderator we’d made contact with named Chronos. He said he’d contact us around the time of a new area of the game map opening up, and sure enough an official announcement of the update came a few days after that encounter. Right now, the opening of the new area was just a couple of days away.

But…. putting that aside, I’ve recently started thinking hard about something. Sure, I enjoyed this game before, but ever since meeting Yui, it’s felt like my days have gotten that much brighter. You could even say I’ve become a happier person thanks to meeting her. But… what did that mean?

It was during that arena event we took part in recently that I started thinking about it… The idea of what a “couple” is.

Of course, Yui and I took part in that event as a “couple.” The implications of that were not lost on me. But I think we both understood it to be a simple formality just for taking part and making an opportunity to meet with that moderator. That was what we were doing, and what our focus was on, for the most part. But the whole experience did leave me kind of thinking…

What would it be like if Yui and I were actually a couple?

---

“Hello? Earth to Quartz!” Mint called out, waving her hand in front of his face.

“Ah! Sorry, I was spacing out…” Quartz apologized.

“It’s no problem! But did you hear what we were saying?” asked Mint.

“Oh, sorry, what were we talking about?” Quartz felt a bit embarrassed.

“We were trying to decide what we’d go do today.” Rokugo answered.

At the moment, Quartz, Yui, Rokugo, and Mint were all seated at their usual spot in the garden. Because it was now December, the ground around them, as well as any surface all over the capital city, was all covered in white snow. It was fairly common for Myth of Genesis Online to switch to snow-themed variants of the world map around this time of year. Many players felt that the slight change in scenery made for quite a different mood than usual.

“Oh, right!” Quartz had finally regained his focus. “I don’t have any particularly exciting quests at the moment. How about you guys?”

“Well, you know I wouldn’t have any.” Yui replied sheepishly.

“I’ve been sitting on a solo quest for a little bit for the main story, but I do have a few side-quests too. Though they’re all simple item fetching or enemy hunting fare.” Rokugo shrugged.

“They’ve got the Christmas Raid Boss wandering the fields in the northwest, if we want to go give that a shot! I think we should be at a proper enough level.” Mint proposed.

“Without Striker here, that may be tough.” Rokugo noted. “Yui would be our only frontline attacker.”

“Oh yeah, I guess that’s true…” Mint sighed.

“Why isn’t Striker here anyway?” Yui asked, curious.

“School stuff.” Quartz answered, flatly.

“Oh, yeah. It is that time of year, isn’t it?” Mint commented, with an air as though she were feeling nostalgic.

“???” Yui continued to look confused.

“Striker’s in college, remember?” Quartz commented, after noticing Yui’s confusion. “He’s got final exams coming up.”

“Oh yeah! Right, that makes sense.” Yui chuckled.

“Yes, things get quite hectic toward the end of the year…” Rokugo sighed.

“Are you in college, too?” Yui asked.

“Hm? Oh, no, not exactly…” Rokugo laughed. “Oh right, I’ve been meaning to ask you two, have you heard back from that moderator?”

“Chronos? No, not yet.” Quartz answered. “He said he’d contact us when the new area opens, so I’m hoping to hear from him later this week. I could try to message him, but I wouldn’t want to be a bother…”

“Of course.” Rokugo nodded. “I’ve been meaning to ask this, but could I accompany you and Yui to your meeting with him?”

“Oh, well, I guess I could ask him if that’s okay once I hear from him.” Quartz responded. “But why do you want to go?”

“Nothing major, I just have my own questions regarding this situation.”

“Well, it’ll probably be fine. I’ll let you know.” Quartz nodded.

“Speaking of the new area, are we all gonna go check it out together the day it opens?” Mint asked.

“I don’t see why not. It’d be quite efficient to explore the new locations as a group.” Rokugo nodded.

“Sounds like it’ll be fun!” Yui chimed in.

The group continued to make small talk before going off to handle some minor quests like usual. The slow, peaceful day came to an end.

---

A few days later, the grand opening of the new area of the map had arrived. A large stone bridge stemming from the southwestern corner of the continent arose from the depths of the water, connecting the land to a large new island that had appeared off in the distance. This large island with its own series of locations and environments was the new area of the map, titled “Crescent Island.” When players checked the updated world map, they could see that the huge new island was indeed crescent-shaped.

Quartz was approaching the entrance to the bridge, when he spotted Yui nearby.

“Quartz! Over here!” she waved with a smile.

Seeing her smiling face caused Quartz to smile himself as he raced over to her location.

“As usual, you’re the first to arrive.” he said with a small chuckle.

“It’s a whole new area, you know!” Yui was bouncing with excitement. “I’m so excited to see what kind of new places are there!”

“Yeah, I can tell how excited you are!” Quartz smiled.

“Oh! You seem really happy too, Quartz!” Yui peered up at his face.

“Wh-what? Really? I mean, like you said, it’s exciting to go explore new places…” Quartz glanced away, blushing.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed, silly. It’s good to smile!” giggled Yui.

“Haha… Well, let’s just say your smile is infectious, okay?” Quartz said, glancing at Yui with his cheeks still flushed.

In response, Yui’s face also began to turn a bit red, and she began fidgeting.

“A-anyway, I wonder when everyone else will arrive.” Yui asked, changing the subject.

“Good question, haha.” Quartz laughed.

This type of awkward exchange had started to become more and more common between the two of them. The two had started to become more aware of one another, and in a sense, were starting to understand the fondness with which they each viewed the other. However, because the two were hesitant to broach the topic on their own, they’d continued simply trying to behave as usual.

“Hey you two!” shouted Striker, who was running up to the pair from some ways away.

“Ah, hey Striker.” Quartz waved as Striker finally reached them.

“You two flirtin’ over here?” he smirked.

“O-of course not!” Quartz blushed.

Yui also looked away with a red face, saying nothing and fidgeting in place.

“Man, you two are just way too cute.” Mint had appeared from behind Striker. It seems she was right behind him.

“Tell me about it.” Striker chuckled.

“You know, you guys have been teasing us like this since Day 1. Have you really not gotten bored of it?” Quartz asked, feeling exasperated.

“Hey, if you two keep actin’ so cute and awkward around each other, I’m just gonna tell it like it is.” Mint shrugged.

Quartz sighed, before turning back to look at Yui. It seems she’d gone off and started punching a tree. Sure enough, she was ignoring the situation out of embarrassment.

“Ooh, an apple!” Yui picked up the fallen apple and added it to her inventory, looking delighted.

Man, she really can just shift gears whenever she wants, huh…

In a way, Quartz admired Yui’s happy-go-lucky attitude about this stuff.

“Looks like everyone’s here.” Rokugo stated upon arrival. Everyone was finally here.

“Yep! Let’s all head in there, gang!” Striker lifted his sword high into the air, and started crossing the bridge in a march.

“Yui! We’re heading in!” Quartz called out.

“On my way!” Yui returned to the group in a flash, and the five all crossed the bridge to the new area together.

[To be continued…]