Holly’s night didn’t go very well. They tried to find Ryuki to no avail. When they contacted her parents, they said that she wasn’t with them and that due to their work schedules they were unable to come tonight as well. Nina tried to comfort Holly as best she could, but she needed to find the others and tell them to meet up the next day at Starlight Cafe. 

     They tried in vain to get some sleep, but they were plagued by nightmares of Ryuki being hurt or worse. When they realized sleep wasn’t an option, they made a bunch of caffeinated coffee and stayed up until it was time to get ready. Afterwards, they ate a quick protein bar for breakfast and met Nina bright and early at the entrance of Cafe Starlight.

     “Oh good! You’re here bright and early- the first one here in fact. That’s wonderful. I’ll open up the cafe and go fetch the others. Can you  make sure everyone is inside and accounted for, for me?” Nina asks as she unlocks the cafe and opens the door.

     “Of course,” Holly replies with a yawn as they step inside. Beanbags and stacks of books on shelves and desks were set around an electric fireplace. There were traditional chairs and tables too, which had been decorated in festive green and red tablecloths. There was a loft on the second floor, hidden behind a garland-covered banister. Once Nina turned on the lights and fireplace, it felt like a very cozy place to lounge in.

     “Please make yourself at home! I’ll round up the others, so make sure they stay put and settle in, alright?” 

     Holly nods. “You got it.”

     With a grateful smile, Nina heads off to look for others. Holly finds a spot to sit and wait. Fortunately they don’t have to wait long as a foxboy arrives looking a bit apprehensive of the whole situation. Soon, others arrive and Holly makes sure they get seats if they wish and makes small talk. Most of them Holly has met on their search for Luna. Even Rahlia has arrived.

     “Oh! Good morning Rahlia.” Holly greets, but is then interrupted with a groan.

      “Don’t be so peppy this early in the morning, I can’t handle it without two cups of coffee.” Rahlia grumbles, looking less than enthused at being out of bed this early. It seems the merfolk are still in pajamas. Not that Holly blames her one bit.

     “Oh, sorry. I was just wondering, have you seen or heard from Ryuki?” 

     “Nope.”

     Holly’s face frowns with worry. “When did you last see them?”

     Rahlia thinks for a bit. “Not since after they left for lunch.” 

     “I see. Well, thank you anyway.” Holly bites their lip and goes back to making sure everyone is alright. Theo arrives with Nina and he waves at Holly who waves back. There is still no sign of Ryuki. Or Morgan and Shauna for that matter. Are they alright?

     “Have Morgan and Shauna arrived? I told them to come yesterday,” Nina asks after doing a quick headcount.

     Holly shakes their head no.

     “Tch. I’ll go find them. Won’t be long. Everyone else seems to already.” Before Holly could respond, Nina seemingly vanished into thin air.

     Theo makes a startled squeak in surprise but quickly calms down. “Morning Holly. How are you doing?”

     “Oh, I’m alright. Sorta. Not really. My friend is missing,” Holly confides after failing to lie about it. “I think the person you talked about yesterday got to her but I don’t know for certain.”

     His ears twitch and his eyes widen in surprise. “Wait, really? I’m so sorry to hear about that! Is there anything I can do to help?” Theo’s earnest nature makes Holly smile. He is such a kind hearted man.  

     “Thanks, Theo. Maybe after this meeting we can figure out how to find her,” Holly replies just as Nina returns with an annoyed huff. 

     “Stupid lesbians sleeping in when we have a meeting. Don’t they know we are on a schedule?!” Her tail swishes angrily. 

     Holly tilts her head in confusion. “Are they dating now? That was sudden.”

     “Well they were sleeping all cuddled up like a couple. So you tell me,” Nina lets out a sigh. “Well, anyway, I’m going to go get ready for the meeting. I guess you all can talk while we wait.” With that, Nina heads up to the second floor to keep an eye out for any possible danger while the others chat and talk about what happened, and what this meeting may be about.

     When the cafe door opens, silence quickly spreads through the place. Morgan and Shauna quickly enter with mumbled apologies. Holly quietly motions for the two to sit by her and Theo, but they are not spared by a glaring Nina greeting them as if chastising late students at a lecture. 

     “There you two are. Thank you for deciding to join our meeting today. Now that everyone is here, we can finally start.” Nina turns her attention to the group. “As I’m sure I’ve mentioned to you all before, my name is Nina. I know it may seem impossible, but the world of SSO is real.” Murmurs of incredulity ripple through the crowd as Nina confirms the existence of another world, but she continues, “I am a shrine maiden of Amaterasu. The other day when you all watched that cutscene, it was an actual battle between my goddess and her brother, the god of the moon known as Tsukiyomi.” Nina pauses for a minute to let her words sink in. 

     “I know it is a hard pill to swallow, but no doubt you’ve all witnessed for yourself as your bodies have changed into various races from my homeland as a result of inexplicable magic.  That is not to mention the sex changes and reality altering side effects of that.” 

     The murmurs die down as they slowly begin to realize the truth of it all. They are stunned into silence. Nina takes the moment to bow deeply. “On behalf of my goddess, we sincerely apologize for getting you involved in our personal affairs, as well as the distress we have caused. As a token of our apology, I will personally administer a remedy that will reverse the changes caused by the magic.” As she says this, she rummages through her sleeves and procures a vial of shimmering gold liquid.

     “This is ‘Liquid Sunlight.’ My goddess gifted me this in order to remove your curse. One drop will cure you of your affliction almost instantaneously.” Nina explains, and the crowd murmurs again before a few of them cheer at the news. It was what most had been hoping for. They could go back to enjoying their winter break in peace - without weird parts or threats of gods and magic around every corner. 

     Nina looks around and continues with more information. “However, it does come at a cost. You will not remember any of this. Ignorant of the truth, you will see what the rest of the public sees this accident as: an earthquake and a gas leak.

     A few of the crowd look relieved, not considering this a cost at all, but others feel disappointed, and a few were more than a little disheartened by the news. Theo and Shauna were such people. In fact, Shauna raises her hand to speak.

     “What if we don’t want our bodies to change back?” There it was. It was a very valid question, especially for those who were trans and were given the body they wished for. 

     It seems Nina had prepared for this question, as they didn’t have to think about the answer. “You will be able to, but you must come with me to the world of SSO. The other shrine maidens have assembled several teachers who will teach you how to cultivate your body and expel the curse on your own, while keeping the changes.” 

    At this, those who were disheartened had a newfound hope and enthusiasm. It warmed Holly’s heart to see them happy. But that does beg the question, does Holly want to change? They… never really thought of it before. It hadn’t been bothering them at all. They are nonbinary… but they reluctantly admit that it has been nice being femme. Was that allowed? 

     Before they could think about it further, their thoughts are interrupted by Nina. “Furthermore, we are looking for volunteers to help us fight.” Huh? Fight?

     “Fight? Why?” Holly asks, a little incredulously. Yesterday Nina said it was too dangerous. And now she's asking for volunteers?

     Nina’s face hardens as her ears fold back. “Tsukiyomi has already taken over the minds of several innocents, and is forcing them to convert other people to his cause. I need people familiar with the college campus to help me find and cleanse these people before it’s too late. I hate to involve you all further, but I must humbly ask for your help in this matter.”

     Her expression softens a little as she continues, “This all being said, I will not force anyone to do something they don’t want to do. And you will be trained so you won’t be walking into the fight unprepared.”

     The silence stretched on for an eternity after Nina finished her call to arms. But finally, mercifully, the foxboy from before stood up to speak. “I’m sorry, I just want to be cured. I have a wife and kids to take care of. I don’t want to risk my life fighting a cult. This is all straight out of a movie and I just don’t want to be involved in it.” 

     The next to stand was an oni. “Same. This body feels wrong. I don’t think I can stay in it any longer than I have to. I just want to be a girl again.”

     Nina’s face showed no betrayal of emotion, but her ears drooped slightly as one by one the others stood up expressing their desire to be cured. She instructs them all to form a line heading up the stairs. The only ones staying seated were everyone at Holly’s table: Morgan, Shauna, Theo, and Holly themself. While Holly personally didn’t want to fight anybody in particular, they wanted to save Ryuki who was almost certainly captured by Tsukiyomi.

     Shauna muttered something under her breath that Holly didn’t catch, before angrily climbing on top of their table. 

     “Are you all kidding me?!” she yelled, causing everyone to look in her direction. “People’s friends and family could be missing or in danger, and you’re all choosing to run away from the problem? Oh, so they’re not your friends and family, so that makes it okay, doesn’t it-”

     “That’s enough, Shauna,” Nina cut her off with an authoritative tone, “I understand how you feel, but this is their choice and we must respect it. Attempting to guilt them into our cause will only lead to needless suffering.”

     Shauna’s ears flattened back in anger and she squeezed her fists tightly. But then she let out a big sigh and slumped back down into her chair, mumbling a “sorry.”

     Holly gently reaches for Shauna’s shoulder and pats it reassuringly. “Don’t worry, Shauna. I am sure we can do it with just the four of us.”

     Theo pipes up as well, having shrank a little during the sudden outburst. “Y-Yeah. We’ll do what we can. Uh.. my name is Theo by the way. S-Sorry if this is an inappropriate time! I’m not the best at this stuff…”

     Morgan offers reassurance as well. “For what it’s worth, I get you. We may not be on the best terms with Seth, but I still don’t want to see him as a crazy slave to a moon god. That’s why we’re gonna help out, right?” 

     Shauna glances towards Morgan and lets out a soft smile. “You are probably right. Thanks.” 

     Holly can’t help but chuckle quietly at that. Shauna has it bad for Morgan. Perhaps Nina was right about them being together after all?

     After that, the conversation lulled to silence as they watched the rest of the people be cured one-by-one. It slowly started to sink in what it was the four of them signed up for. They are survivors of a body-changing curse about to take on crazy fanatics worshiping an in-game god based on Japanese mythology. How did this happen? 

     Nina quickly finishes curing everyone, and makes sure they safely exit the cafe before approaching those that remain. “Thank you again for agreeing to help. You know you can back out any time, if you wish.”

     Holly shakes their head and replies with determination. “It’s no problem. I want to make sure we save those that are under Tsukiyomi’s influence,” Holly blushes lightly and mumbles “...and maybe look at the rare pets and mounts in SSO…”

     Nina smiles at that. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll get to see a pet or two. Come on. Let’s introduce you all to the whole new world of SSO.” With that, she led us to the back of the kitchen. With a dramatic flourish, she pulls up on the handle of a pantry door. It opens to an impossible sight: the inside of a massive hollowed-out tree. Various vials and bottles full of strange ingredients and liquids litter tables and shelves. Old tomes are stacked haphazardly here and there, and it felt to Holly that the slightest touch would have them crashing down. There is a beautiful wooden staircase built into the wall winding up the center trunk into various rooms. All four of them stood looking through the door with mouths agape, including Holly.  

     Nina chuckled and took a hold of Morgan’s hand. “Come on, the magic door isn’t gonna kill you!” Without waiting for a response she pulled Morgan through the door. Almost instantaneously, Morgan shrunk to fit in the palm of Nina’s hand. It looked like Morgan’s clothes also shrank and changed colors but Holly would have to get closer to see how different they were. Holly blinked a few times, processing the drastic change in height. Is everyone else going to get even more bodily changes?

     The group moved closer and Holly was surprised at Morgan looking unfazed in a green dress with white thigh-high socks. They couldn’t help but let out a tiny squeal about how cute that outfit was. “Aw, Morgan looks like a little four-leafed clover!” Wait, would Morgan like being called cute? “Wait, sorry, I mean-”

     Morgan shakes his head. “Nah, don’t worry about it. Actually…” he pauses a little, looking down and blushing slightly. “Could you call me Clover? A-and.. use she/her pronouns? W-while we’re here! T-to lessen the confusion!” Morgan-Clover quickly waves her hands in a panic towards the end. 

     Why do I have the feeling this won’t be temporary? Holly thought, breaking out into a smile, and noticed Shauna doing the same. “Of course, Clover!”

     Nina patted Clover on the head gently with her finger. “The fairy took my advice! What a good girl you are, Clover!” she teased. 

     Clover let out an undignified squeak and nearly fell off the side of Nina’s hand with her panic. Holly tried to reach out to catch her but she fluttered her wings to keep herself afloat. Clover seemed genuinely surprised at herself for a moment before pouting at Nina.

     “Hey! Now’s not the time to be messing around.”

     Nina laughed. “Serves you right. Why don’t you focus on the others? They’ve also changed.” 

     At her suggestion, Holly and the others take a good look at each other. Holly didn’t look that much different, but they were a little taller. Either that, or everyone else got shorter. Shauna’s shawl transformed into a cute adventurer’s cloak but otherwise remained her same, snarky catgirl self. Theo noticeably got shorter, perhaps because he was a mouse beastkin. His jacket didn’t shrink as much with him, looking more like a rogue cloak instead.

     Holly tried their best to cheer up Clover. “You can ride on my head if it’ll make you feel better.”

     Theo squeaked, “I don’t think that’s the problem Holly-”

     “My, my, my! I can’t even remember the last time our home was so lively~” a feminine voice in a teasing tone echoed throughout the tree. It was accompanied by the specific clack of heels. Everyone sharply turned to see a beautiful brown haired woman dressed in a cottagecore style dress descend the oaken staircase with a calico catgirl in an outfit similar to a Japanese shrine maiden, but tied back for ease of mobility.  Holly couldn’t push down the feeling of deja vu, like they had seen these two before. Whereas the woman elegantly glided down the stairs, the catgirl leapt chaotically down the stairs, curious to meet the newcomers. Just as Holly was certain Nina was going to be tackled, the catgirl stopped and sassily put her hands on her hips.

     “You’ve done the impawssible, Ninya. You actually got some people to help out.”

     Holly had to resist the urge to wince. Shauna didn’t have that speech pattern-wait. Would Shauna have it in this world? The catgirl noticed Holly, perhaps being overly perceptive. She let out a cheeky grin. “I’m just messing with you. I don’t normally talk like that, right myaster?”

     The woman chuckled as she caught up and gently patted their apprentice’s head. “Come now, Callie. No need to be so rough.”

     “I’m just teasing!” Callie pouts, leaning into the pets. “And besides, I was being realistic. Who would want to jump into a random world with no information to fight a big bad evil guy? You would have to be very brave… or very stupid to accept a request like that- uh, no offense.”

     Before Holly could get offended, Nina cleared her throat. “Anyways, this is the witch of the Silverbelle Woods, Nora, and her apprentice, Callie. They will instruct Clover and Shauna for today. Holly, Theo, you’re coming with me to the city for your trainers. They’re finishing up a quest right now.”

     Oh. That’s where Holly recognized these two. They’re from SSO. Well, so is Nina apparently, but she isn’t a static NPC, giver of quest lines or class trainer. But these two are. Holly loves alchemy in the game and so would often get alchemical leveling quests from Nora. It hit them harder than they expected, but they managed to let out a “sounds good, see you later!” before Nina dragged them out of the tree trunk house. They barely recognize Theo squeak in a panic before scurrying off after. 

     This is real. It’s actually real. What the hell. 

     As the group quickly walked through the Silverbelle Woods, Holly took in the sight. Just like in SSO, silver trees with pink blossoms shaded blue shrubs and grass, pink herbs, and the wind was accompanied by the faintest of jingles of silverbelle plants. It was breathtaking. Once a good enough distance away from the tree, Nina stopped and turned to the two. 

     “Okay, since the city is a bit of a ways away, I’m going to give you two some mounts so we can get there in like, half an hour compared to two or three on foot,” she explained, swiping her arm and… opening the in-game menu? Yeah, that may as well happen at this point. A screen pops up in front of them and Theo, initiating a trade request. The item looked like a dragon horn, and was called “Kirin’s Horn”. 

     It took a few minutes of Nina chuckling while the two fumble, accepting the trade and then fumbling to open the menu. Holly had a harder time trying to use the horn but eventually they managed to call upon their noble kirin. 

     Kirin are majestic creatures, akin to a Japanese dragon, but shaped more like a deer rather than a long serpent. According to lore, it's a very peaceful and careful creature, and can walk on water without causing ripples and grass without bending the blades. It is a holy and powerful creature in Japanese mythos. Holly didn’t know all of this lore off the top of their head, but they read the flavor text of the horn item.

     Speaking of, Holly couldn’t help their excitement. This was a very rare mount, and Nina handed them over so nonchalantly! They couldn’t resist gently petting theirs, which made the divine beast happy. “Are you sure it’s okay to hand these over? It’s a very rare drop from the ‘Amaterasu’s Challenge’ raid, right?”

     Nina shrugs. “It’s no big deal. You’re helping us after all.” She summons her own and effortlessly hops up on its back. “Let’s go before we lose daylight.”

     The two nod and clumsily get on their mounts. With Nina’s help, they set out for the major city of SSO: Kin no Kaigan. It took closer to an hour because Theo and Holly were inexperienced riding living creatures in comparison to cars and trains, but soon enough the famous city came into view. The iconic shrine that stood on a large hill in the center of the city was the first thing they all saw. Torii gates lined a path up a hill to the shrine itself. At the base of the hill was a bustling city reminiscent of traditional Japan in architecture. 

     Holly and Theo likewise were stunned by the beautiful view. The city was decorated for the in-game Christmas event with holiday-themed quests, items, games, and prizes. A lot of people were wearing green and red clothes along with reindeer headbands or Santa hats. The smell of freshly fried chicken was in the air, but there were plenty of other food stalls lined up. The trees that littered the city were all decorated in festive lights. It was a sight to behold. 

     “Come on! We can have fun after training! You two are on a mission, you hear?” Nina chides with a smile, guiding the group away from the stalls and to what looks like a tavern. They all hop off their Kirin, which disappears,, ready to be called again when needed. Once they head inside, Nina guides them to a table that has a female elf in a holy paladin-esque attire and a female skyfolk cleric. They look like they stand out in this game, but Holly vaguely remembers these armor sets from a collab raid a few months back.  

     The skyfolk cleric hops up and offers a handshake to Holly. “Heya! My name is Airyl. This is my partner, Liri! Nina told us about you two! Holly and Theo, right?” Her bubbly and cheerful personality lit up the tavern. “I’m a ki-weaver, and Liri is a protector! But even so, we know a lot about the other classes so we’ll be able to help train you. Liri will be your opponent and I’ll heal any damage anyone takes and-”

     “Okay! I think they get it, Airyl. No need to overwhelm them.” Liri chuckles, getting up and shaking Theo’s hand. “We’ll take it easy for you two and start with the basics.”

     Holly nods, taking in all the information, while Theo lets out a squeak. “S-so you two know about other classes? Did you played as them before?”

     Airyl nods. “Something like that! There’s no time like the present though. The sooner we train, the sooner we can show you the sights of the city!” 

     Nina chuckled at Airyl’s enthusiasm and left the two poor newbies to train with the veterans. It won’t be that bad. Probably.