Shibuya Snapshots

Collection

This one was pretty fun to write, but it also kicked my ass at the same time at parts.

But when the boy in front of her offers her the limited edition pin for free to add to her collection, it's not really her fault when she vows to follow him and the one beside him into hell itself.

-xXx-

Shockingly to everyone who hears the fact, Nagi wasn't hooked on EleStra the first time she played it. She had only played it because a friend, granted a friend she kept at arms distance at the time, but a friend no less, had recommended it due to Nagi's reigning championship over puzzle games at school every since her first year of middle school.

She never really understood the appeal of dating simulators before, never really understood people all too well, either. But it's not fair to shut out those trying to reach out to her, so she gives it a shot.

...and she completely sucks at it.

The character's needs confound her. The answers that she's limited to barely make sense and whenever she picks what seems like the most logical answer to her only rarely provokes a reaction that seems like that seems to be the right thing to say. And that makes her upset for one reason.

She feels like she's being called out.

How dare this game call her out on her social awkwardness and inability to read the room. The forlorn expressions on the pretty two-dimensional figures mock her. She exits out of the game and nearly deletes it immediately, but stops at the last moment.

It isn't fair for her to give the game only one shot. She has chastised her peers for doing the same, and here she is about to do the exact same thing. Nagi is many things. A hypocrite, she is not.

She'll give the game another chance. Not tonight, for her anger towards the hot fictional men and her ability to communicate through limited text options is way too high. Perhaps the following day.

She gives her friend her report on the game and how it has dissatisfied her, but also relays her idea to reluctantly give the game another chance. Her friend practically begs her too, so Nagi sets aside time before she goes to bed to play EleStra and complete the chapter she's on.

Nagi, admittedly, spends far too long trying to complete the first chapter, her stubbornness preventing her from pulling up a wiki to find the answers. The ending is rather satisfying, she finds, and she is pleased with herself for helping guide the poor soul she had been communicating with to become more hopeful with himself.

She glances at her clock. Twenty minutes before she turns out the lights and sleeps. She has an ample amount of time to start the next chapter.

Starting the next chapter turns into telling herself that she'll complete the next segment and go to sleep, a whole hour after she had originally planned on.

She passes out in the middle of the chapter and finds her phone dead the following morning.

At least it autosaves?

Over the following weeks, long after Nagi's caught up on the absurdly long story and a third of the way through the side-content, she begins to notice things about her classmates.

She notes nervous ticks in conversations. Signs that they are uncomfortable with the present topic. The way a classmate's eyes light up at the mention of a topic. The want to talk and talk about something they love but without wanting to be a burden on the conversation.

So she does what she's learning to do. She changes topics, she listens attentively as her conversation partner talks rapidly in a single breath trying to tell her as much as possible in the small time frames they have to talk between classes.

Nagi herself isn't a fan of uncomfortable situations, much less confrontations due to the copious amounts of anxiety it gives her (not as much as, god forbid, phone calls), so she does her utmost to try and keep the peace between people. She mimics excitable energy in a conversation (which isn't hard when the topic is EleStra), uses similar texting styles that others use as a subconscious way of encouraging them to be themselves and not to limit their expression, and doesn't put pressure on a single soul, taking up tasks when no one else volunteers for them.

EleStra is getting easier, too. She's able to determine what type of responses work best with different personalities.

The loud, bold, flirtatious types? Flirt and insinuate right back and watch them get red in the face as they giggle and stutter. The ones who look like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders? Kindness and reassurance lifts the load. The edgy, quiet, mysterious ones that seem ready to bolt from the conversation at the drop of the hat to avoid anything too emotional? Be direct, catch their attention before they run off.

Then one day when she's in high school, EleStra gets an update and Nagi meets one Lord Tomonami.

Not an actual lord, no, but his soft hair and beautiful face and body tell her that Tomonami is her own personal lord. Nevermind the fact that she refers to all characters as lords and ladies, even some people she respects outside of the game, including her dear friend who got her into the game in the first place.

And Lord Tomonami is something else. He's beautiful, his charming yet slightly chaotic nature catches her slightly off-guard. It doesn't take her long to figure out that following his every word and practically worshipping the man are the correct responses when dialogue options and a lack of impulse control battle each other.

So she listens to her impulse and buys as much Tomonami merchandise as she possibly can purchase. She buys about fifty of the same exact pin, earning an alarmed look from the buyer she gets it from. She waits in lines, goes to conventions, getting more and more merchandise to add to her steadily growing collection.

Throughout the rest of her high school days and into her first year of college, she scours Shibuya for more and more.

And thus led to Nagi's no good terrible day. Or, at least, it started as one.

She had woken up late for class, so she had rushed out the door late, without breakfast or a shower, only to find out that the campus was closed that day and all classes were canceled. And then, she realized that today was also the day that they were giving away a free limited edition EleStra pin that featured Lord Tomonami! And the event had started an hour ago! It was gonna take her forever to get to Tipsy Tose Hall!

But then the third problem made itself present. Very present. Absolutely everyone in the city was refusing to acknowledge her presence. Even when she raised her voice in anger, something she rarely does. Not even a glance from passersbys.

And then she started phasing through people!? What in the world was going on today? She couldn't talk to anyone, she couldn't touch anyone, and something felt so extremely off. The only thing out of the ordinary that she had done lately was accept a recently trendy pin someone had handed her. It wasn't from EleStra, so she hadn't been overall interested, but gifts were extremely rare and she couldn't bring herself to throw it away.

Nevermind all of that. If she doesn't hurry, she's gonna miss out on the event!

She tries desperately to ignore the fact that she keeps walking into people's minds. Eyes on the prize, Nagi. Limited edition Lord Tomonami. Eyes on the prize.

And then the horrible happens. No one acknowledges her waiting in line, and she has to lament the fact that she doesn't get the voucher for the event in time. She had been hoping to at least look at the pin.

Just as she's trying not to break down completely about the absolutely horrible no-good day she's been having, a voice speaks from behind her. A light amidst the city full of people ignorant to her plight on this one edgy day. How does this mere light intend to change everything? Was he here simply to mock her? She rues people like him.

But when the boy in front of her offers her the limited edition pin for free to add to her collection, it's not really her fault when she vows to follow him and the one beside him into hell itself.

-xXx-

Nagi slowly descending into EleStra obsession and buying so much merch to have a whole collection of different and handmade pins to add to it was the main idea for this prompt, but it kinda escaped me while writing it.