Intro- Returning home

Belle sighed as she got off the bus. It had been a long trip. But the longest trip was yet to come. She still had to walk the quarter of a mile to her house. She breathed a sigh of relief—she was back home. But she still had a long way to go. It was very much the part of the trip that was stressing her out; after all, it was the first time she had returned to her hometown village after the exposure of Justin. She was nervous still because of this fact. What if Yoshi and the others hated her?

“No, no.”, she said. “That’s enough. They are your family after all.” The whole village was probably waiting for her, she reasoned. As she thought this, she saw a bronze statue of someone quite familiar—Belle, her avatar in U, the virtual reality that enabled what was basically Belle’s blossoming. Without it, she wouldn’t be the young woman she is today. As she looked upon it, a villager, perhaps not recognizing her, came up to her.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” he said.

Belle only nodded.

“It’s a new statue they put up in August of Belle. She’s our village’s hero.” continued the villager.

Belle could only nod before turning around, checking tears, and continuing on her way.

“That guy? He could be any of the thousands—no, millions—that attend my concerts. That’s the power of U, I guess.” Belle reminded herself, as she passed over the bridge where her mother had passed saving a young child. That was fifteen years ago, and U had saved her. It gave her an outlet to express her grief. U had claimed to bring out the best in someone. But U, reasoned Belle, then Suzu, would not be able to see her best side. But when she tried it, she was surprised. She had her voice, the one that she had lost, in this unfamiliar universe. As online communities tend to do, they spread videos of this very strong singing voice online. Belle—the avatar—had thusly become a overnight star. But one fateful day, during the start of her first concerts, a mysterious user with the username of Dragon had interrupted her concert, breaking into the spherical concert hall. While she did not know it at the time, the young man behind this mask, a very aggressive and ruthless PvPer, was being abused. That day, however, Belle could only ask one question:

Why? Why are you this way?

After her concert, she tried to find him, the real him. She, with the help of Hiro, her high school friend, and the elder women of the village, had tracked him down. He lived in Tokyo with his abusive father—it turns out that just like Belle, Kei, the Dragon’s real name, had no mother. He had to tolerate his father’s abuse with no way out. That is, until Suzu, Hito and her village found him. Suzu had gone all the way to Tokyo alone, just to protect him.

She shook her head, and went down to the beach where her mother’s grave was. In U, Hito had informed her friend (and artist) that her mother had gotten a proper grave. It was very rare for a common person like her to have gotten a grave, let alone one of bronze, especially given her means of death. As soon as Belle went down the berm on to the beach where her mother had drowned, she could see it. A small (at least in comparison to her own) statue stood where the child had cried out for help that day. Belle had brought some flowers from the supermarket next to Tokyo Station before leaving, and she laid those on her mother’s grave. “How brave you were then, Mother.” she mused. “It’s not fair that you aren’t here to see who I am now. A pop singer!”

She composed herself and returned to the path. She reached the decripit school where she had choir and revealed Justin’s secret and turned and sighed. She paused and continued on. Soon she was at the corner shop where Kamishimi was. He had won the nationals the year after the Justin incident, as her exposé came to be known. It was just about noon on a Wednesday, which meant Kami was available to visit here. “Hello, welcome—“ Kami started, his jaw dropping and speech stopping when he saw who exactly he was visiting. “Suzu?!? Are you here?” He put down what he was doing and came and hugged her. “How have you been, Kami? It’s been two years.” She also told Kami about her name change. Given that she wasn’t marrying, it took a court battle to win to have her village’s town office (staff total: 5) allow a full name change to occur.

“Just fine, I guess. I won nationals! Didn’t quite make it into the Olympics this last year, but one can hope for next time, no?” He smiled.

Despite her anxiety, seeing Kami with his ever-present smile made her relax. It was good to be home—and she hadn’t even been home, home yet.

A bit later, after chatting to Kami, who seemed as… off… as usual, she went towards her house. And there she saw it. The house.

[[Chapter 1— The Voices|Next chapter]]