After a few brief albeit redundant goodbyes, only 2 people remained logged in at the tavern: Sonata and Leo. Sonata sat on a chair, gripping her hands as she waited with some dread while Leo chose to wait with her so she wouldn’t be alone.
"You really don’t have to wait with me. I will be fine Leo"
Leo leaned towards her and bumped his shoulder against hers.
"Well because some certain gremlins voted to make me leader, I have to make sure my members are okay~"
His voice carried a slight hint of mischief. His words elicited a small giggle from her.
"Well Fearless Leader, can you be honest with me for a second?"
"Absolutely. What’s up?"
"I appreciate what you said to Nyx earlier despite what the others might say..."
"Yeah. I could see the appreciation earlier. Felt the love."
Leo rolled his eyes as he remembered everyone laughing at him, including Sonata.
"Ahem...Well the truth is I am scared of what will happen to me.."
"Well I am not sure if you have checked yourself in the mirror but if you grow wings in reality, you are going to look like an Angel. I am pretty sure people will be jealous of you having wings. In fact, If we could, I would offer to switch with you."
"I am an idol. Cat ears probably would make my female fans go wild"
She giggled softly as she thought about it but her smile soon faded.
"But my father would never approve of that."
"What does your dad have to do with any of this?"
"Well my father is also my manager.."
"And? In the end, it is your life Sonata, you need to do what you think is right."
"Do you think I don’t know that?! But without him, I would be nothing. My dream of performing on stage would remain just a dream if my father didn’t step up to help me!"
She gave him a look of frustration and softly growled in an attempt to vent her frustration.
Leo gave her a soft look and smiled.
"I may not know a lot about Idols and the music industry but what I do know is that you have a charisma that others can’t hope to imitate. Your father may have marketed you, but it’s you that draws the crowd, right?"
She blinked, surprised by the sudden sincerity.
"...You really are a pain sometimes, you know that? You make it really hard to stay mad at you"
She complained with a grumble, crossing her arms in a pout.
"Comes with the leadership package,"
he grinned, bumping her shoulder again.
"Besides, I think the wings suit you. Kinda poetic, honestly."
Sonata gave him a small smile, one that trembled a bit as if it were holding back a storm of anxiety.
"Thanks, Leo. I mean it. Just... if I start to freak out tomorrow..."
"You’re not facing this alone."
Her expression softened as she nodded. The system clock ticked down in the corner of her interface.
"Guess I should log out now."
Leo said, standing up beside her.
"See you on the other side."
With a breath, Sonata nodded and logged out—her form vanishing from the tavern in the form of light particles, leaving Leo alone under the soft flicker of lantern light.
He muttered to himself before exhaling slowly.
"No pressure, Fearless Leader."
He took a deep breath to calm himself.
’Things are different now, I’ll be fine.’
The lie he told himself was filled with more hope than conviction. He dreaded the return of his painful reality but even he knew that running away forever was never an option. .
He quietly closed his eyes and braced himself for what was to come.
Leo felt his body lurch as an indescribable sensation washed over him. A moment later, his vision was still dark but the sensation of his surroundings was completely different. The air was heavy with dust yet the scent of chemicals from some sort of cleaning agent lingered in the air.
He slowly pulled his headset off and was surprised to find himself inside of his childhood room. Even more shocking to him though was the sight of his sister in his room. Luna had her back turned to him, a duster in one hand and a cleaning cloth in the other as she flitted around his room like a crazed maid, tidying up the place as if her life depended on it.
’Why is she doing this?’
He pondered as he shot her a quizzical look but was still very happy to see her in the real world.
He called out, his voice steady and even. There was no shortness of breath nor any sort of pain. In fact he felt good. Really good!
"Leo! How are you feeling! I am sorry, I started cleaning cause I thought the dust would be bad for your lungs!"
Luna jumped in surprise, which caused Leo to be startled as she nearly hit her head off the ceiling despite it just being a sudden hop.
"What the hell was that Sis?! You nearly went through the ceiling there!"
"Did I? Honestly I was more worried when I saw the tattoo when I went to the bathroom..."
Luna tried to act nonchalant about it but her soft mutter did not escape Leo’s ears.
"Tattoo? As in your Zodiac Imprint in game?"
Leo asked with concern and trepidation.
"Yeah the one and same. I would show you but I am not taking off my pants. I’ll take a picture and show you later."
She immediately replied while Lily’s annoyed voice rang out from the hallway.
"Or you can just wear a skirt~! Also Leo, come and free me please! A mean rabbit lady tied me up just because I tried to order some food!"
"Food?! You call 5 Tubs of Ice cream, A Family Sized bag of Salt & Vinegar Chips, a Dozen Chocolate Bars and two dozen 2L bottles of Pop Food?!"
Luna growled back, her expression warped into one of cold disdain as she glared at the door.
Leo could only chuckle softly in disbelief.
Even in reality, his friends were clearly crazy.