“The End.” Those words hang on Hanako’s modest flat-screen television, along with a list of statistics. By all accounts, Hanako’s first playthrough of her beloved video game was nothing stellar. Even her “second” playthrough, continuing where she finished before Ueno had moved in, wasn’t much better. She had, however, defeated her first set of optional secret bosses and gotten the “true” ending, a secret cutscene teasing a future game. A game, of course, which Hanako already owned, and had come out several years prior. But for Hanako this was still a victory. A major hurdle not just in her ability to play video games, but also in overcoming her innate grief. Like it or not, the wish she asked Kyubey for a year prior had, indeed, come true.

Hanako: (She falls backwards onto her bed, staring at the ceiling with a sigh, as if she had been holding her breath for hours) Th… that was rough. And people play this on the harder difficulties?!

Ueno: (She finishes a mini round of applause) Direct Hit Mode is a pretty good time! But Confident Mode is a bit of a slog… I wouldn’t really recommend that. 

Hanako: Eh?! You’re telling me you’ve played those modes?! But it… it took me months just to beat the game on Normal!

Ueno: Ya, I was a pretty big gamer back in the before time! Only Mom grounding me, thinking that static in that one fight was my games breaking the TV, could stop me! 

Hanako: M-Maybe I should let you play on that mode sometime, and I could watch… Th-then again, I want to play that game in the teaser… you said it was a prequel, though? I can’t imagine, it looked so… conclusive.

Hanako sits up, taking the video game controller again. At the main menu, she moves down to another game in the collection, an unnumbered game, compared to the first two.

Hanako: …No time like the present, right, Ueno-chan?

Ueno: Right! Death by Waking, next on the menu! … Honestly, I always figured 3 would be out by the time I got back.

Hanako: Ehe… kinda silly for them to be numbered like this, with how many other games in between there are.

Ueno: Yeah, like, they tried to make them like “side games” or whatever, but then they’re pretty big and important so they’re not really “side” anymore… 

Hanako: Ah, so it seems… ehe, these characters look good too, even if they aren’t the one I’m used to. Hmm, it feels different… 

On the bed beside Hanako, her phone buzzes quietly. She glances down, pointedly ignoring it as she returns to her game. 

Hanako: Ah, but which character to start with…?

Ueno: Hum? You getting a spam call over there? 

Hanako: I make a point to not answer my phone if I don’t recognize the number. They haven’t left a message, but this is the third time they’ve called.

Ueno: Hmm… persistent spam… always askin’ about our car’s extended warranty! I don’t even own a car!! 

Hanako: Me either! Besides, I don’t care about weird stalker spam callers today. How’s art class treating you, Ueno-chan?

Ueno: Still a long way from makin’ my own Empire Souls-inspired manga, I’m afraid. 

Hanako: But you’re closer, right? Your art teacher isn’t making life difficult for you?

Ueno: Anisa… no, she hasn’t been targeting me for being against her Bureau or anything. Although it’s still pretty hard to focus in class with her around. 

Hanako: Mmh… (She pauses, then speaks, as if trying to lighten the mood) …Want me to beat her up and make it easier for you to focus?

Ueno: I-I don’t think that’s gonna improve the class vibe, Lily… 

Hanako: Ehehe… maybe not.

Ueno: (She leans back with a sigh, letting her head loll back) How come my Puella form doesn’t come with a Kagisword…? 

Hanako: … I wonder if I couldn’t make one out of one of my rapiers… or you, out of a candy cane or something.

Ueno: Aw, the candy cane is like the ugliest one… 

Hanako: But if I didn’t use it, I would never have beaten the game… You saw how strong it was!

Ueno: (Seriously) Real-life candy canes don’t have Chain Up. 

Hanako: You can still fight quite well with one! And you can shape it to be less… bendy? Wavy? You could make it look cool!

Ueno: Yeah, but it’d still be a candy cane. Hard candy just shatters if you try to hit something with it.

Hanako: What if you made it really, reeeeally dense, like a ton of sugar or something?

Ueno: I-I don’t think really, reeeeally dense sugar qualifies as a real “dessert,” so I dunno if I can make it… and it might not be that strong anyways. 

Hanako: U-Um… well, I’m not sure how keen on the idea you are, but if you want to figure out how to draw out your potential, there’s always Yui’s Sunday training sessions. N-No bias, since I’m… part of the Conductors now and all.

Ueno: (She abruptly straightens up and salutes) Conductor Lili… osa! What is the deadliest kind of candy that can be concocted!?  

Hanako: Ehe! Well, as we discussed, the candy cane has the best stats…

Hanako continues, even as her phone buzzes again. Hanako pointedly ignores it, and chooses a character out of the three to play as.