Osu! Mania

World is Mine

Caitlin stared in disbelief at the black screen. Was the beatmap malfunctioning?

She made the mistake of glancing at Claire. She stared; Claire looked like she was about to cry, which was really strange. Caitlin was about to go and hug her, although Claire probably wouldn't appreciate the gesture, when Kagamine Rin suddenly shimmered into existence in their midst.

It took less than a second for Claire to storm over to her and grab her by the scruff of her neck. "JOY, WHAT THE HELL?!" she screamed. "NEVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN OKAY?!"

Joy blinked, wide-eyed.

"First things first," Miku demanded. She knelt in front of Rin, pushing her long blue pigtails back behind her shoulder irritably. "Did you pass?"

Rin nodded. "Just barely. I got a D. I was going to fail but the song ended just in time."

"Thank God," Caitlin sighed in relief. Helina stopped biting her fingernails and beamed. She seemed to be pretty optimistic for a girl who'd just lost a life in the virtual world, and was one step closer to 'death'.

Rin smiled at Claire, "See? I didn't die."

Claire's happy expression turned into a scowl. "You almost did."

"But I didn't."

"Well done Kagamine Rin. You are free to continue to the fourth round." The creepy osu! voice said once again.

Everyone frowned when they heard that voice.

They were almost there. Only three more levels to go. The thought brought a smile to Caitlin's face. And no one had died.

Yet.

Feeling strangely pumped for a girl who was stuck in a world that wasn't even real, she directed everyone's attention to the newly opened door that led to round four. "C'mon guys!" she called out, "let's go! We got three more levels then we're done! Out of here!"

"Well, she's certainly very happy." she heard Merli mutter bitterly.

The group of vocaloids entered into the next room. Caitlin inspected the beatmap wall. The beatmaps were rated three stars. Only three stars. It wasn't that hard. She could very well score an SS on a five star beatmap back at home...

Caitlin turned around and saw that the others were looking around nervously. "I fail every time I do a three star map." Rin said sheepishly.

"I only passed with a C." Claire admitted, "and Cailyn's still too weak to do another beatmap."

"Hey!" Miku feebly protested.

Caitlin turned to Yukari, but she shook her head.

The green-haired girl coughed. "Well, that only leaves me, right?"

"Gumi, you sure?" Helina asked nervously.

Caitlin responded with a flashing smile. "Of course! I'll be fine. This stuff is easy."

She then inspected the list of beatmaps. "Hmmmm."

The first one that caught her eyes was 'World is Mine' by Hatsune Miku. "Alrighty then, let's do this." Even if Caitlin was the best player out of the group, she still felt a bit nervous.

She tentatively tapped the beatmap and she was gone.

"Woah."

Caitlin scanned her new surroundings. This is just like Osu!

The first notes played, and as if her legs were now the keyboard, she hopped across the beatmap. Luka was right; it was quite similar to parkour.

Before long, Caitlin began to tire. Her muscles ached and she wanted to rest, but she knew that if she did, she would fail and lose one of her lives. She was fine with that (she had four lives left if she died) but everyone expected her to survive. She was the queen of Osu!. If she died, the others wouldn't be so optimistic anymore.

She had to show them that they could make it out of this.

Gritting her teeth, she kept leaping to every hit circle. God, this was hard! She preferred the version of Osu! where she just sat in front of a computer screen.

Although it was tiring, there was something fun about the live beatmap. Caitlin managed to finish the beatmap with a big smile on her face.

They would complete this. It was simple.

After all, Osu! was just a game.