Through A Scope (Sinon X Reader)

Chapter 20 - Fimbulwinter

gabiran_ (Twitter)

~ Sunday, July 26th, 2026

It has been a few days since Yuuki moved in with Shino, and, despite your initial plan to go back to your apartment, you were with them. It was a small apartment meaning there wasn't a lot of room to sleep. Yuuki used the bed while you and Shino slept on the floor. 

"Guys!" A loud shout wakes you from your slumber. "Guys, get up!" You lift your head and turn to the source of the shouting. It was Yuuki. She was standing above Shino and shaking her violently. You then see her make her way towards you. "You too, Y/N!" She grabs your shoulders and throws your body around with a surprising amount of force.
"I'm up, I'm up!" You shout. She drops you and walks back to the bed, picking up her phone. "Why did you wake us like that?"
"I have a great reason for waking you like that! ALO just got a new update out of nowhere! We need to check it out!" She turns her phone towards you, the brightness blinding you.
"That's nice and all, but it's still pretty early." Shino looks at the time on the corner of Yuuki's phone screen. "6:30 am? Did you sleep at all?"
"Like a log!" Yuuki replies.

"Even if I did want to play ALO this early, I don't have my AmuSphere with me." You said. "And what about you? Do you even own an AmuSphere?"
"Doctor Kurahashi was nice enough to give me the AmuSphere he used to talk to me back in the hospital. So! Y/N, I demand you to put on some clothes and grab your AmuSphere! We've been exploring the Real World constantly these past few days. So today will be dedicated to ALO's new update!"
"Can I sleep a bit longer first?" You ask.
"Sure! If you can sleep, that is."
"What's that supposed to-" You're cut off by Yuuki grabbing your shoulders once more and shaking you with a lot more force than she had previously. "Okay, fine! I'll grab my AmuSphere!" She's a lot more energetic than in ALO. But I suppose that's not a bad thing. Well, apart from waking me up at ludicrous times.

~

"Link Start!"

I open my eyes to see the familiar scenery around me. Well, kind of familiar. A thin blanket of white has begun to form on the grass outside the inn I was staying at. Curious, you step outside. You can feel the temperature drop immediately and your icy breath leaves your lungs, stinging your throat as it made its way out. You crouch down to inspect the snow. It wasn't too deep — you only had to stick your finger down a few centimeters to reach the surface. The sky above took on a dull grey, some flakes still falling from the clouds. You look towards the nearby forest. The trees had lost their original bright green color and had instead lost their leaves, their branches are covered with snow.

You hear a few crunching footsteps to your right and stand again to greet them. "Hello!" An NPC. "It's quite chilly, isn't it? Would you like to have a look at some of our warmer garments?"
"Uh... sure." You browse through the menu that had appeared in front of you. Nothing caught your eye as most of the items were large woolen sweaters. On the other hand, you didn't want to freeze, so you bought a plain old scarf.
"Thanks for your purchase!" You watched as the NPC continued down the street and spoke to another player inspecting the snow like you were doing prior.

"Snow in Summer? Now that's a surprise..." You hear a voice coming from the inn behind you. Sinon stood staring down at the snow, perplexed by its existence. "Are you- wait what are you wearing?"
"A scarf. An NPC sold it to me." You point in the direction the NPC was heading. Sinon shivers.
"I only now realized just how cold it is. I'll be right back." Sinon leaves towards the NPC. You take this chance to take in the scenery once more. It all seems so familiar. You have seen it before. Read it before. What is this? Just then it clicked. 

"Do you think this is Fimbulwinter?" You ask Sinon who returned from the NPC.
"I was thinking the same thing." She agreed. "It's the only explanation for snow in Summer."
You begin to think out loud, "What does that mean, though? Is this how ALO closes its servers? Is this all a final event for the game? Will the game even shut down?"
"You know about as much as me. For now, we'll just have to see how this plays out."