That Which Blossoms in the Cold of Winter III

---Chapter 15: That Which Blossoms in the Cold of Winter III

“Let me start from the beginning…” Chronos began. “It all started with the creation of this new item, the ‘Mermaid Tear’…”

Quartz, Yui, and Rokugo had all gathered by the edge of the lake near the center of Crescent Island in order to speak with Chronos about the Mermaid’s Tear. After defeating a monster and revealing a similar item, Chronos began to explain the circumstances behind it.

“As a moderator, my job mostly involves managing community events and publishing information for game adjustments.” he started to explain. “But we moderators tend to assist in all kinds of other matters as well, including contributing to ideas for game updates. The biggest project for the past year or so has been to prepare this area we’re in now, the Crescent Island.”

Chronos raised his arms, as if to show off the surrounding environment.

“Of course, the designers and programmers handle the bulk of the work in creating new locations like this. But moderators are in a unique position: despite the administrative privileges we have, we’re also players within this game.” Chronos explained. “Thus, the development team relies on our input from that perspective. Often times, we’re involved with creative decisions on things that eventually become implemented within the game. And that brings us to the Mermaid Tear.”

Chronos looked at the item Yui held in her hands.

“Let me explain. I and many of my colleagues are relatively new hires at Cyber Moon Enterprises.” he revealed. “But many of us, myself included, did play this game in its early days, and during that time the urban legend of the Mermaid’s Tear made an impression on us. However, we all came to believe it was just a simple rumor. After all, as staff, we now had access to a list of every in-game item. These official lists do not have any record of an item called the Mermaid’s Tear.”

Chronos turned around, facing the lake before continuing.

“During the planning for this area, the concept of the Shriek Mermaid, a water attribute monster that launches sneak attacks on players from nearby bodies of water like this, was approved to be developed.” he stared out into the water, sure that a few more of the aforementioned creatures were likely lurking beneath the surface. “We thought that with a monster like this, it’d be a nice throwback to those old rumors to actually implement a real in-game item called the Mermaid’s Tear, which could be found by defeating these enemies.”

“I see…” Quartz nodded, thinking hard.

The three of them had all been quietly listening to Chronos’s story, and had started to understand where it could be going.

“I have a feeling I know what the next part of this story will entail…” Rokugo commented, adjusting his glasses.

“Of course.” Chronos nodded. “As you might have guessed, the name ‘Mermaid’s Tear’ was flagged as invalid, and couldn’t be used as the name of this new item.”

“Which can only mean…” Rokugo started.

“Yes, one explanation is that there’s already an in-game element with the same title.” Chronos finished his thought for him. “When we came to that realization, we all became quite confused. After all, we’d already thoroughly checked the game’s logs to sate our curiosity over whether that old rumored item actually existed. We naturally concluded it didn’t. So the fact that we couldn’t make a ‘Mermaid’s Tear’ of our own came across as incredibly bizarre.”

“But wait, isn’t this weird?” Quartz spoke up again. “Right now, Yui has a quest to find this Mermaid’s Tear. Clearly it does exist, so how come nobody knows about it?”

“If anyone here were able to answer that, this whole situation would’ve been solved already.” Rokugo shrugged.

“Yes, I’m sorry.” Chronos bowed. “Even now, I have no idea what that quest could be. I’d considered the loose chance it was some kind of glitch tied to the development of the new map and its associated items like the Mermaid Tear, but as expected even obtaining that new item didn’t fulfill the conditions...”

“It’s okay. Thank you for trying to help anyway…” Yui answered with a somewhat sullen expression.

“If you’d like, I could use my administrative privileges to delete the quest.” Chronos offered. “That way, you’d no longer have the lock and could return to accepting quests as usual.”

“Whoa, you can do that?!” Quartz was impressed. “We lucked out, Yui! Now we can resolve the whole issue… huh?”

“Sorry, but no!” Yui appeared a bit distressed for a moment, before regaining her composure and putting on her usual smile. “I mean… I still think there has to be some way to complete the quest normally! I want to explore all my options first! … But still, thank you for the offer, sir!”

“… Well, if you’re sure.” Chronos slowly nodded.

Yui doesn’t want the quest deleted? I thought just getting the thing out of the way was the whole purpose of us trying to figure it out, but I guess she earnestly wants to complete it… But still, even if the game’s code thinks an item called the Mermaid’s Tear exists, is it even possible to find it anywhere…?

Quartz found himself pondering what it is Yui truly wants to do, and whether their quest was even still feasible at this point.

“As a moderator, this situation has left me troubled. It’s been on my mind even more after you two brought that quest to my attention back at the arena.” Chronos confessed. “Since you’ve chosen to hold on to it, I will continue to look into things from my side, and contact you if I come across anything useful.”

“Thank you very much.” Yui bowed politely.

“By the way Ms. YUI-YUI, I did have one question…” Chronos started. “I’ve noticed that your online activity is…”

“Excuse me, Chronos.” Rokugo suddenly interrupted. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’d like to confirm a few more details about the technical side of things.”

For just a moment, Chronos and Rokugo stared at one another meaningfully. Quartz and Yui both blinked in confusion.

“… Of course, I’d be glad to answer whatever you’d like.” Chronos gave in.

“Thank you.” Rokugo bowed. “Quartz, Yui, I’d say we’ve heard everything we can for now. Why not go meet back up with Mint and Striker? I’ll return shortly as well.”

“Uh, well, sure I suppose.” Answered a confused Quartz, who looked to Yui for confirmation.

“… Yeah, we’ll go.” Yui answered, wearing an unusually melancholy smile.

“Alright.” Quartz nodded. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Chronos. Rokugo, try not to take too long!”

“Right!” Rokugo waved goodbye as the two turned to head back through the forest.

When the two were out of sight, Chronos spoke up once more.

“So then, what exactly is this about…?”

---

A few days had passed since the opening of Crescent Island. Quartz and Yui both walked down the snow-covered main street of the capital as the bright lights of the city lit up the night sky. They were on their way to meet up with the party at the usual spot when they ran into one another and decided to walk together. They both stopped for a moment to look up at the large Christmas tree in the center of the square. It was a truly festive atmosphere, a Christmas-themed remix of the game’s main theme song even played from the speakers throughout the city.

“Man, they really go all out for the holidays here, don’t they?” Quartz couldn’t help but smile a bit.

“Yeah, everything’s so pretty, and everyone seems to be having so much fun!” Yui glanced around at her surroundings with a beaming smile.

“Yeah, haha.” Quartz chuckled. “Though really, I see similar stuff out near my part-time jobs anyway, so it feels kind of strange that I can’t escape the Christmas cheer, even in this world. Ah, sorry for bringing up IRL stuff.”

“Oh no, it’s fine.” Yui shook her head. “I don’t mind at all. It’s nice to learn more about you!”

“Oh, you think so?” Quartz blushed and looked away.

I can’t believe I’ll be meeting her in person in just a few days… I’m already starting to let IRL details slip, even though I’m the one that normal hates bringing reality into a game world like this…

After Striker’s out-of-the-blue suggestion for everyone to meet up IRL the other day, the group seriously considered it and started to plan things out. Everyone gave Striker their details, and he booked a private room at a pub in Shibuya for the group to get together in. They were meeting up on Christmas Eve, so it’d probably end up being a rather busy evening with a lot of people around.

As the two continued to stand still and stare up at the shimmering Christmas tree, Quartz began to speak once more.

“You know, it’s kind of a shame…” he said.

“What is?” Yui asked.

“Oh, you know, just the Mermaid’s Tear stuff… It seems looking for information is going to be a lot harder.” Quartz smiled wryly.

After the opening of Crescent Island, many players took notice of the Shriek Mermaid monsters, specifically the Mermaid Tear items they dropped. Gossip spread all over from those who remembered the old rumors, and eventually the consensus became one where the vast majority of people now believed the old rumors were merely rumors, and that this new item was added as a shoutout to the old-time players of the community.

Basically, information on the old stories got drowned out by the new rhetoric, and researching the true ‘Mermaid’s Tear’ had become that much harder.

“Oh, well, it’s fine.” Yui shook her head with a smile. “I’m still going to look for it anyway.”

“That determination of yours sure is something.” Quartz smiled.

Even now, spending time with Yui continued to warm Quartz’s heart.

Yui… once I meet you in person… I think I might finally find the courage to say it…

“We should get going. The others are probably waiting.” Yui smiled.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Quartz then led the way to their usual meetup spot.

I think I can finally say… that I love you.

Quartz had begun to finally come to terms with his feelings. Here in the cold of winter, the small seed in his heart known as love began to blossom.

[To be continued…]