Chapter Text
Xiao stared at the game on his desk as if it was the thing that destroyed his entire life. He hadn’t meant to accept it from Ganyu when his sister came over without messaging him first - very unlike her - and in the middle of one of his stream sessions no less. The game was a new up and rising VR game based off of the concept of love simulators.
(“You have so little social life outside of us,” Ganyu had fussed. “It would be a good refresher for when you finally decide to go outside and socialize again.”)
It’s not like Xiao didn’t play romance based games, but it had never been his favourite genre. His preferred game genre, contrary to popular beliefs, were games with a well thought out story where everything connected and made sense. (If he sometimes gets emotional over the game, that was his problem and no one will ever know of it.) And he knows that Ganyu knew of this, which was why he didn’t really understand why she had given him the game in the first place.
Xiao glanced at the time on his setup. He blinked. He had sat in his chair and had stared at the game for a good half an hour. Sighing, Xiao got up from his chair and picked up the game. In all honesty, there was no harm of him indulging in Ganyu’s suggestion of streaming this VR game for the days to come. He just didn’t want to end up having to do prior research on this love game only to find out that more than half of the people who played only played it for the characters.
Then again, it wasn’t as if he had any other games to stream at the moment either… He had just pretty much wrapped up three of his most popular gameplays back to back like a day or two ago and was taking a break from gaming and streaming for a while. (A while being four days, including the time he puts in to research the games in depth so that he could ensure the most optimal playthrough when he streamed them).
So, with nothing else to do, Xiao threw the game on his bed (not without giving it a final glare) and settled down at his desk again to do more research on Beyond the Windwheel Asters .
—
In hindsight, Xiao probably should’ve informed Ganyu and Zhongli before he decided to shut himself in again. Although, they probably should’ve seen this coming already, what with all of his previous research sessions. (Ganyu had to threaten to get their dad involved if he didn’t at least come down for dinner, and Xiao had relented because he does not want to let Childe ruin his ongoing investigation streak.)
Turns out, Beyond the Windwheel Asters was more thought out than Xiao had originally suspected. The game itself had 4 different main routes to go through, all of which led to different sub-scenarios and 3 different endings depending on the decisions that your character chose. The game is set in a typical high school in the midst of XXX city. Xiao must admit, for a seemingly simple romance based VR game, all of the character’s background and personality resembled how someone in real life would’ve acted.
The one thing that’s been bugging Xiao was how there was supposedly a “Super Secret Ending,” but no amount of digging through playthroughs after playthroughs resulted in Xiao ever finding out about the “Super Secret Ending.” Granted, he’d only found out about it from one of the forums dedicated to this game. However, when he tried to find the post again, the post had disappeared and the user’s account was also terminated. Xiao had also tried to find it through The Wayback Machine, but even that proved unsuccessful.
In the end, he could only trust that his memories had been right and it wasn’t just his sub-conscience messing with him.
Anyways, right now, Xiao was getting his stream set up so he could officially start playing through the VR game today. He didn’t look too much into how each sub-plots had ended because he still wanted to have the fullest experience that he can with such a hobby. He did memorize which decisions he had to pick to reach each ending, but that was never a problem in the past so he just did what he normally did with all of his past playthroughs.
Satisfied with the setup, Xiao started the countdown to his stream and booted up the game in his VR headset so that it could connect with his streaming device. Once the countdown ended, the chat popped up and announced the many fans who came streaming in. When Xiao had done a once through with everything, his viewer count had reached a new high, probably due to the popularity of Beyond the Windwheel Asters in the gaming community lately.
The opening scene for the game was new. In all of the gameplays that Xiao had watched, (which was a lot) none of them started with you in the perspective of a sakura petal drifting through the setting of the game. What was even more interesting was how his chat didn’t seem to react to the sudden change at all. Xiao just chalked it up to them being too absorbed with the fact that he was actually playing something other than intricate action games.
Alatuss’biggestfan
isn’t Beyond the Windwheel Asters a romance based game?? did xiaoxiao finally decide to learn how to woo his special someone??
Xiao scoffed when he read that comment. First of all, just because it was a romance based game, it didn’t mean that Xiao wasn’t going to play it. (It totally did, but that was before his thorough research session) Second, he does not have a “special someone.” He liked his circle of friends purely on a platonic level. Although he wasn’t opposed to finding that “special someone,” he firmly believed that he either didn’t have one, or that person hadn’t appeared in his life yet.
almmns
OOOO BTWWA??? I LOVE THIS GAME SM IM SO EXCITED FOR YOU TO PLAY IT???? ITS HONESLTY SO GOOD JSIOEWNSJXK
xyci (mod)
I hope u pay us double this time cuz of the amount of ppl here smh
also im not going to be modding swear words like theres just no way…
orange (mod)
free swear chat?? LET’S FUCKING GO
orange (mod)
free swear chat?? LET’S FUCKING GO
xyci (mod)
not for u tho we still hv to set an EXAMPLE 🙄
orange (mod)
FUCK YOU
orange (mod)
FUCK YOU
xyci (mod)
there’s still CHILDREN here
Xiao chuckled at his mods’ antics, “With the way you two are acting right now, I’d say that you guys are the children here.”
With that, Xiao clicked on the unnecessarily bright and glittery START button.
The screen faded to black and Xiao was then faced with the very cliché beginning of any high school romance based game/book. A classroom introduction. The scene appeared in front of him and Xiao has to admit, the graphics and sound in this game were all really relaxing. They’re compilation worthy, as one would say. Anyways, the teacher asked him to introduce himself to the class, which then triggered a type bar where Xiao simply put in his real name, Xiao . After that, he was met with the choice of picking one of the 4 empty seats which would then trigger the route for the character that he sat beside.
Or, that was what was supposed to happen.
Just as Xiao was choosing between the 3rd and 4th option for optimal gameplay, a 5th option appeared, although the name was blurred out, and he watched with amazement as a figure that was sitting at the very back of the class manifested as if they had always been there.
The figure sported long, blond hair tied up in a braid, seemingly very detached as they gazed out the window. For some reason, Xiao thought that they looked oddly familiar , but that couldn’t be it. If he ever came across someone as beautiful as them, he surely wouldn’t have forgotten.
Wait. Beautiful? Xiao scrunched up his face. Did he seriously just call pixels beautiful? Xiao scoffed and decided to see what chat had to say instead, choosing to momentarily forget about the strange occurrence that had happened.
npc2isthegoat
??? why is xiao taking so long
caeli#1fan
i want caeli to step on me.
npc4>>others
plsplspls pick vulpes i want to see npc4 again [simp_emote]
kazeda!@
PLS PICK ACER OMG PLSPLS HE’S SO PRETTY INC ANONT
bardboifan3
i will literally send u an 80 paged document of why you should pick barbatoes.
jailbirfs
don’t you mean carmen???
bardboifan3
no. also that’s his nickname. obvi u arnt as dedicated to this game as i am
Vulpes, Caeli, Acer, and Carmen were the names of the 4 different characters in the game that you could pursue. Strangely, no one seemed to be questioning the blond that just appeared out of nowhere.
And as if the VR game could read his mind, the once scribbled text of the 5th option cleared up and on full display was the name Aether Viator. This was strange of itself because not once had Xiao come across the name when he was researching this game. What was even stranger was how this character apparently had a full name instead of a nickname at the start of the game. The way this game worked was that depending on the character route you picked, you had a certain percent chance of raising their affection meter until they trust you enough to disclose their actual name.
If Xiao was confused before, he was definitely confused now. From the way that not even one of his viewers pointed out the glowing 5th option and the blond that appeared (yes, the option was glowing as if begging to be noticed) to the inconsistency of the way he never even heard of Aether Viator until now. His last name does sound familiar though… Xiao felt as if he had heard that name before…
Choosing to stay silent, Xiao picked the 5th option just to see what his chat’s reaction would be like. He also picked it because there was just no way that this could’ve been a bug. Beyond the Windwheel Aster was produced by a company named Celestia. They were quite well known and were also known to never make a mistake. It was even in their pamphlets. Also, Beyond the Windwheel Aster is a finished game with no room for a sequel. Celestia even said it themselves during an interview.
So why did Aether Viator pop up on his screen as a 5th option?
xcyi (mod)
??? you ok there xiao?? how are you clicking the 4th option without even triggering it???
orange (mod)
could it be??? xiao got too absorbed in the beauty of the characters that he blanked out?? LMAOO deserved
xcyi (mod)
shut up u literally have a mf shrine of Acer. I can’t take ONE step in your room without stepping on his merch
orange (mod)
hey that was confidential information!! and it’s not like youre any better you literally have every other limited merch of caeli and
xcyi (mod)
….
I’ll do ur laundry for a week
pls
u dont have to tell that to him…
orange (mod)
two weeks AND you buy me lunch :3
xcyi (mod)
deal.
Well, at least those two were getting along. But what xcyi said did confirm his suspicion that he was the only one who could see this so called character.
Now, Xiao was conflicted. Because on one hand, he was already running out of ideas of how this could’ve happened and wanted to check it out, but on the other hand, he had a whole fanbase waiting for him to play through the game and he didn’t want to disappoint them.
…
Giving in to his curiosity, Xiao quickly made up the excuse that he wasn’t feeling too well (which wasn’t a complete lie) and that he would make it up to everyone by marathoning the VR game once he was better.
Everyone accepted it, well, not everyone, but Xiao would look into that later. He paused the VR game and ended the stream.
Now that it was just himself, Xiao took a deep breath before unpausing the game.
Are you sure you want to proceed with [Aether Viator’s route]?
Xiao clicked YES.
The screen faded to black again before he was seated right next to Aether. He toggled his view towards the other and was surprised to see a surprised look on the other’s face.
“Uhm. Hi.” Aether said awkwardly, giving Xiao a little wave. “I’m Aether, sorry, I zoned out. What was your name again?” Xiao was stunned.
With the other characters, they don’t introduce or even notice your presence until the end of class, always with the excuse of “assessing the player.”
That was not the only weird part about this route. For some reason, a little microphone icon had popped up instead of the usual pre-determined answer options.
“Uhm.” Xiao spoke, testing it out. “I’m Xiao.”
“Xiao? That’s a pretty name.” Aether smiled and held out his hand. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Similarly, there was no option to accept or reject Aether’s handshake. Xiao didn’t know what Aether was seeing as a character but he must have looked bewildered right now if Aether could see him. Reluctantly, Xiao also held out his hand and to his surprise, his hand had connected with Aether’s. Aether grinned and shook it, giving his hand a squeeze before letting go and turning back to the lecture.
To say Xiao was confused was an understatement. First of all, Aether’s route had the mechanic of a microphone to converse, and it even felt like Aether had heard him. Which, through video game logic, couldn’t be possible. Second of all, and he’s not sure if it’s a controller mechanic, but he had physically felt Aether squeezing his hand. Third of all, Aether himself looked like he was nervous about something, constantly fidgeting and glancing at him when he thought Xiao wasn’t looking throughout the whole class. Which, in of itself, wasn't weird. If it was in real life. Xiao had seen plenty of playthroughs and even ranted about it to Ganyu once.
The characters don’t move during class time.
There were the rare occasions where they would be prompted to move by a scenario, but if not, they were just like any other NPC characters.
The bell rang just then, signaling the start of the next class. Now, if Xiao remembered correctly, the game was designed conveniently so that the player’s schedule was coincidently lined up with the selected character. It would seem like it was the same for Aether. However, just as Xiao was about to ask Aether about his classes, Aether had disappeared through the class’s door. And before Xiao could think about following the other, a crowd had formed at his desk.
“Wow, a new student!”
“Careful, don’t get too close to them or else you’ll be sent away!”
“Guys, guy! Let’s give him a bit of space.”
“Wahhh your hair is so cool!! How does it stay that color??”
This was beyond what Xiao had been expecting when he picked Aether’s route. And did that student NPC just complement his hair? He doesn’t remember anything about customizing his default character… and he was pretty sure the default male avatar’s hair was black. But, this scenario did happen. But it only happened in Acer’s route which meant–
“Aren’t you guys late for your next class?”
“Ahh!! So sorry Class President!! We’ll get going right away!”
And with that, the crowd dispersed and Xiao saw Acer herding away the group of students before lingering and telling him to get going as well.
Xiao selected the MAP option in a daze and watched as the screen faded to black as he was transported to his next class: Home Ed.
Xiao toggled his view around the room to see if he could spot Aether.
Aether wasn’t in the class.
Now, Xiao could feel a headache beginning to form in the back of his head. This just wasn’t possible. All characters’ route had the characters either walk with the player or, in Caeli’s case, already be in class.
Luckily, (or unluckily) the teacher also noticed that Aether wasn’t in class and had asked Xiao of all students to go and find him. Now, if this had been an actual scenario in real life, the teacher wouldn’t just send the new student on a wild goose chase in a school that they barely knew. But this wasn’t real life so Xiao had to oblige.
Xiao walked around aimlessly through the school, not really knowing where he was supposed to go. From what he had heard from the teacher, this was unusual for Aether to not be in class. Apparently Aether was the top student in the school and had a pretty good reputation, always helping out everyone from the freshmans to the teachers. This made Xiao a bit concerned. Was Aether hiding because of Xiao? But that doesn’t make sense. In Aether’s perspective, he should’ve just been another freshman who needed help. Or, he should’ve been.
Turning a corner, Xiao had just decided to familiarize himself with the halls of the school before catching sight of a familiar blond braid in the next corner. Scratching his plan, Xiao chose the option to turn the next corner and momentarily forgot that he was playing a VR game and actually reached out to grab Aether. He didn’t expect to succeed, he really didn’t.
So why did Aether react when his hand connected with his wrist?
“You– You weren’t supposed to find me.. I made sure—” Was this some sort of new romance plot?
“Made sure of what?” Xiao replied on instinct, but the way Aether stopped talking gave him confirmation enough that he could actually hear what Xiao had said. Xiao sighed and felt the beginning of a headache forming. He should end this chapter as soon as possible and rest. “Why weren’t you in class?”
Xiao lowered Aether’s wrist, but kept the same force. He sure hoped it wasn’t a controller mechanic thing or else he might have to get new controllers every time this happened.
“That– Uhm, I–” Aether stuttered out, looking down at the ground before looking at Xiao with a determined look. “Let me go.”
“I can’t do that. The teacher–” Xiao started, sub-consciously tightening his hold on Aether’s wrist.
“-Please. I really can’t do this today…” Aether looked down at the ground again and his tone made Xiao feel guilty. Why did he feel guilty? Why didn’t Aether want to go back to class with him? How did this scenario even fit in the romance section? If Aether’s route was playing hard to get, he sure was doing a great job at it. Moreover, Aether’s voice made Xiao want to protect him. He wanted to pull Aether into a hug and never let go. But why? Why did Aether’s voice sound so real? And ‘I really can’t do this today’ ? What did Aether mean by that?
Xiao was conflicted. But eventually honored Aether’s wish. Even Aether looked surprised by this, standing still while rubbing his wrist where Xiao might’ve held on too tightly.
“Sorry…” Xiao muttered and Aether nodded, still with that same expression.
Why did he look surprised? A terrible thought crossed Xiao’s mind just then. Did Aether expect Xiao to do something bad to him? Was he bullied? No… That couldn’t be it. How could anyone have any ill-will towards Aether in this school? From what Xiao had heard, Aether was on good terms with everyone . It was pretty much impossible for anyone to bully Aether without receiving hate from the entire school. With that thought, Xiao felt a bit nauseous and decided to call it a day.
“I’m… I’ll just tell them you’re not feeling well. Go home and get some rest.” Xiao said before walking away, not waiting for Aether’s response. He turned the corner and saved the same before exiting and powering off his VR set.
Now that he had experienced whatever that was, Xiao was sure that there was more to this game than he had originally thought. Or, well, his version of the game. He’s not stupid enough to believe that his version of the game was somehow bugged. (Celestia doesn’t do bugs) He also didn’t know what was going on in-game either. Because for some reason, one of the scenarios which should’ve happened in Acer’s route happened in Aether’s route. And Aether himself wasn’t even present for it.
“What the hell…” Xiao muttered into his hands, mentally drained.
One thing he did know was that it was already too late for him to pretend that nothing had happened. Xiao looked at the discarded case of the game on his bed and mentally made a list of things he should do before going back to the game.
- Tell Ganyu about it, and if worst comes to worst, Zhongli as well. His sister’s computing skills were second to none, but he should gather more evidence before telling his family about the situation. He knows they could handle themselves, but if he could fix - whatever was going on - by himself, that would be ideal.
- Annonce a hiatus from his streams. Just from the initial reaction from his chat, he could tell that they couldn’t actually see anything being displayed when he clicked on Aether’s route. It was a good thing streaming was a side hobby of his and that his fans were on the nicer and more chill side.
- Figure out what the fuck was going on with Aether’s route mechanics. Even with his limited knowledge of coding, even someone who doesn’t know how it worked would’ve figured out that there was just NO WAY for a fictional character to interact with the player through voice chats.
Xiao sighed and rubbed his temples where his headache had spread. What had he gotten himself into?