The smell of cookies wafts through the Sasaki household, the sound of a game title screen on loop in Hanako’s room. Ueno comes in with a tray of fresh-baked cookies, cut and sprinkled to resemble characters from the game. 

Ueno: Oookay! It’s game time! 

Hanako’s eyes land on one particularly shaped cookie, a vaguely— intentionally so— star shape resting roughly in the middle of the tray. This felt intentional, and the sparkle in Hanako’s eyes gave the thought away. The calm piano track playing in the background made the moment feel all the more special.

Of course, special little moments were common over the weeks and months. The cold of mid February couldn’t reach the heart of this place, and the ease with which Hanako went about her day-to-day routine helped temper the underlying maelstrom in Hanako’s mind. It was simply too hard to dwell on things that bothered her with such a bright, vibrant and constant presence under the same roof.

Hanako: I’d like to think I’ve gotten a lot better at this game since I started playing it last year. Finishing the first game helped, I think. Still… (Hanako takes the star-shaped cookie somewhat slowly, yet pointedly with a giddy little smile.) A bit of destiny never hurt, right~?

Ueno: Nop! As long as it doesn’t include beating the snot out of each other with kip-ups a hundred times! 

Hanako: (She giggles, the familiar sound of a save file loading as Hanako breaks the cookie in half, biting into hers while offering the other to Ueno.) Mm! …The Bench Press of Paradise Hall isn’t real anymore, it can’t hurt you, Ueno-chan.

Ueno: The bench press is fine sleepings. It’s the seated row that’s my arch-nemesis. Did you know they shifted François away from the window to make room for that thing? 

Hanako: But François is still alive and well, last I checked!

Ueno: Hmm, I just hope he can still grow big and strong with less sunlight… too bad we don’t have any Puellae around that can make sunlight.

Hanako: Knowing our luck, if such a Puella existed, she would try and burn us up… 

Ueno: N-not necessarily! We have a Puella who can make water who’s not tryin’ to flood us out! And… (She pats her chest) One who makes candy without floodin’ us out with molasses! 

Hanako: I think I read about that, once. That was… 1919, I think? In America? And a bunch of people died, didn’t they?

Ueno: (She hangs her head off to one side, saddened) Yeah… I read about that back when I was looking around for ways candy could be useful in a fight. Drownin’ ‘em in molasses seems a little cruel, though… 

Hanako: …No less cruel than some of the other ways our powers can be used. Besides, if it’s in self-defense, or defending someone important to you, it’s okay, right? Besides, you don’t have to drown them in molasses, after all. Just leave them stuck and run away!

Ueno: Well, you can’t get any EXP if you only ever run away! 

Hanako: B-But it’s so tedious, just running back and forth and fighting the same enemies over and over…

Ueno: Hmm, I don’t get tired of it even when I bake the same thing over and over… I guess it’s just the way I am!

Hanako: But the baking gets us more yummy cookies and such!

Ueno: And leveling up gets us tasty stats! So we should do it! 

With a little squeak of agreement, Hanako starts playing. She is fighting a particularly tough boss, and about twenty minutes pass as Hanako loses again and again. She has particular trouble dodging the boss’s ultimate attack, and though she can consistently get the boss quite low in health, she can’t finish the job. With a sigh, she sets the controller gently down on the corner of her bed.

Hanako: It must be some sort of irony that I cannot beat an enemy that also uses wind attacks…

Ueno: And also summons cool weapons out of the wind! I always thought this fight was way too hard. I don’t think I died on like any fight except this one… 

Hanako: The water guy also gave me some trouble… but this, this is just a step beyond anything else so far. Haah… (She flops back onto her bed, closing her eyes.) It won’t do to get frustrated, of course. It’s just a game. But I’m enjoying it quite a bit….

Ueno: I feel like my gamer skills have prob’ly gone down a bit… I was gone for a while, and then I was terminally offline in that manor house. 

Hanako: Ehe… maybe you should take a turn, then. Start over, perhaps? Ah, we only ever talked about the first game until you got here, though… Did you ever play this one?

Ueno: Yeah, I wasn’t gone that long! Boy it was tough to save up to get this thing, though… 

Hanako: Well, you can use mine any time you like! Seriously, Mother gets onto me sometimes for not playing it more often… 

Ueno: Gotta get your money’s worth! That’s how I’ll pass it off when the Sasaki oven goes bad from too much baking! 

Hanako: I don’t think that’s gonna happen! Mother spent a small fortune on the furnishings of this apartment.

Ueno: Well, it’s a lot better than sleepin’ on the bench press. Or those little cots. 

Hanako: (She pauses, staring up at her ceiling) …I really am lucky, aren’t I?

Ueno: Hum? What do you mean? 

Hanako: Living like this. In a place like this, with all of this… stuff around me.

Ueno: Well, it’s nice! I don’t think you have to feel any kind of weird about it though!

Hanako: (She hesitates, shakes her head and then slowly sits up) I-I mean… so many people I know are worse off. Even more so after the Balancers’ attack. And then there’s those… murders…

Ueno: Hmmm… Koharu wants to look into that stuff, right? At my old school, the newspaper just reported on the founder’s birthday and stuff… 

Hanako: Ehe… Koharu would never let herself run a paper that was that dull and self-serving to staff. She fought with them relentlessly at first, and Mother even had to step in and advocate on her behalf. But yes, she… she is investigating the murders. I am trying to help her, but I am at a loss as to where to even begin…

Ueno: I guess us students can’t go out and start collecting fingerprints, huh. 

Hanako: Oh, that wouldn’t stop Koharu. It’s more that there aren’t any fingerprints or otherwise any leads for us to follow… 

Ueno: Hmm, the perfect criminal… 

Hanako: There’s just… no pattern. No rhyme or reason, or anything that would otherwise give our killer away. And then, on top of all that, there’s the stuff going on with Yui at New Eden…

Ueno: I brought her some cookies the other day! I hope that makes things a li’l better. 

Hanako: Oh? Did that go well?

Ueno: It sure did at least until I left after dropping off the cookies! 

Hanako: Hmm… maybe I should come by next time you drop off cookies. It might dull her disdain for my presence, ehe… 

Ueno: Yes, cookies can solve all problems! 

Hanako: (Her smile slowly fades) …Shinju told me… that Yui and Cecilia got into a fight. A rather serious one. She wants to intervene, but…

Ueno: O-oh. Yui’s always… getting up to her own business, huh? I dunno much about it… 

Hanako: I told Shinju to leave well enough alone, that it wasn’t her fight to get dragged into. …Both Yui and Cecilia survived the fight, at any rate. …Right?

Ueno: I-I dunno! I don’t really see Cecilia around very much… 

Hanako: Mm… maybe I’m overthinking. (She gently places the controller near Ueno) I should take my mind off of all this, I think. At least for a moment.

Ueno: Hm! Is it time for my rusty gamer skills to shine? 

Hanako: Mm! Time for you to de-rust!