Chapter Text
Pling
A notification on Firefly's phone, lighting up the dark room. Stirring Firefly from her half-asleep slumber, she glanced at the lock-screen. She couldn't help but smile a little.
Displayed at the very top of her other notifications, it was a new post from one of the accounts she followed. She had come across this streamer a while back, and fell in love with their streams right away.
It was from Robin.
A Halovian streamer who gained a lot of popularity. She captivated her fans with her skills, and became someone everyone knew.
She opened the notification. It was one of Robin's usual promo posts, about some product that had decided to sponsor her for a time.
Glancing at the clock, Firefly's smile morphed into a dissatisfied frown.
I have to get up early for class tomorrow.
"Ugh," she groaned, plugging her phone into her charger for the night.
With practiced ease, she swiped her thumb across the screen, and opened one of Robin's practice streams. Putting down the phone next to her, she closed her eyes, letting her gentle voice carry her to sleep.
⎯⎯ ⋆∘🌸∘⋆ ⎯⎯
The next morning, Firefly dragged herself through the door to her classroom. She had fought her blaring alarms, rousing her from her peaceful sleep, before she had to give up and get ready for classes.
Trudging through the classroom, she found her desk and sat down, slumping across her desk. She let out a long groan.
An energetic, female voice suddenly spoke to Firefly.
"Good morning, late night?"
"Yeah, you can say that," Firefly rose from her desk, meeting the eye-line of the girl in front of her.
"Were you up all night stalking that streamer again, what was her name?"
"I didn't stalk her!"
Embarrassed by her classmate calling her out, Firefly cleared her throat and looked away, continuing in a quiet voice. "And it's Robin."
"That's right, Robin!" the classmate exclaimed. "You've talked about her nonstop lately," she chuckled.
She wasn't wrong.
When she enrolled in the college a few weeks back, she had heard a group of people talk about their favorite streamers. At the mention of Robin, Firefly had joined the conversation and shared her favorite moments with everyone.
Although embarrassed, she quickly made friends who shared in her own interests.
Interrupted in the middle of her thoughts, the loudspeaker in the classroom announced the beginning of class with a loud bell.
Everyone went quiet, and waited for the teacher to enter. When they finally arrived, they all did roll call, before getting on with their day.
As the day went on, Firefly's focus shifted between her own thoughts and the locked screen on her phone. She longingly looked to her screen, for the next post from Robin.
Minutes turned to hours, and the day continued to move along with a predictable speed. Firefly kept checking her schedule every few moments, as if worried it would suddenly change, and it was all a dream.
Tapping a finger on the desk, she stared intently at the clock hanging on the wall. Squinting her eyes, she tried her best to pressure it into making the time go faster.
Just a little more, she continued to tap her finger on her table. Books and notepads were scattered across the surface, and she had already begun tidying up her pens and smaller notes to get ready.
Ten more minutes, her thoughts began to wander.
Her day wouldn't be over when the class ended, but she was still eager to leave as quickly as her body could carry her. After these classes, she had her selective classes next, which felt more like "club activities" than actual classes.
The college she had enrolled in, focused on a wide variety of sports. Some played chess, while others focused on more physical sports, like baseball or volleyball.
But Firefly had enrolled because of one particular class—eSports.
In her spare time, she was part of a team with her friends, where she took the role of team captain. She'd long dreamed of becoming a professional player, and after a bit of back and forth, they had convinced her to apply for the college.
"You should do it," Silver Wolf had told her. "You'll be able to take your skills to the next level."
Leaving Silver Wolf with a smile, she had turned to Blade with an expecting look.
"Blade?"
"Mm-hmm," he simply nodded, meeting Firefly's eyes with a firm, yet caring expression.
Feeling excited getting the blessings from the rest of the group, she wrote and sent off the application to Planarcadia's very own sports college.
Much to her surprise, the classes she was most looking forward to, would be an equal part of the 'regular' classes as well. A little annoyed at first, she quickly found a groove and proved herself to be in the upper-half of her class.
There's no room for slacking off, she thought to herself, before snapping back to the present. The sound of the school chimes signaled the end of her class, and the start of the classes she was impatiently waiting for.
Quickly organizing her stuff, she threw the stacks of books and notebooks into her bag, rushing out of the room as quickly as her legs could carry her.
At the sound of the chime, people from other classes had flooded the hallways, making it hard for Firefly to squeeze past and get to where she wanted.
"Excuse me!" she nearly shouted, as she tried to press herself between two students in the middle of a lively conversation.
"Oh, sorry, didn't see you there," they said, parting for Firefly to get past. She thanked them for making a path for her, and rushed towards the staircase.
Since her selective class was focusing on eSports and everything surrounding the niche, the school had made sure to supply ample room and machines for this. It being a popular class, meant they had converted one of the old auditoriums, almost into a stage.
Firefly slowed down after she made it down the stairs, to the ground floor. She wasn't great at when it came to being athletic, another reason she had fallen in love with eSports.
The hallways on this floor, were much quieter than the floors above. The quiet hum of muffled voices from outside, or the floors above, was a nice change of pace. Looking out the windows, many of the students were walking towards the appropriate facilities.
Most of this floor was converted into special classrooms for the selective classes. Because of the demand on both indoors and outdoors sports, students found themselves with plenty of room inside.
A few moments later, Firefly found herself standing in front of the entrance to her class. Despite seeming very unimposing and inconspicuous, Firefly still nervously reached out and opened the door in front of her.
With a quiet creaking, the door slowly moved open, revealing a half-empty auditorium. Where the teacher would usually stand, a small, raised stage had been created, circled by the seats in the room in a crescent shape.
On top of the stage, two large desks had been fitted, both facing against each other. Monitors, keyboards and mice were neatly placed on top of the desk, in a row of three.
Clustered around the room, groups of students were chatting with each other in a tangle of muffled voices, indistinguishable from one another.
Adjusting her bag over her shoulder, Firefly stepped into the room and found an empty seat among the seats in the crescent and sat down, pulling out her phone from her bag.
Two new notifications, she thought, smiling when she looked on the screen. She tapped the notifications and opened up the app.
The first post was an image from Robin, showing off what she had for breakfast, the image filled with cutesy emojis and pastel colors. The caption read:
"Woke up late, and whipped up something for breakfast. Will be streaming some matches later today ( ´ ▿ ` )"
The next post was from Robin as well, this time one of her regular schedule posts:
"Getting ready to stream in two hours! I hope to see you there (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧"
Unable to help herself, Firefly's lips curled into a soft smile, before she locked the screen and stuffed it into her bag again.
She's always so cheerful.
Just as she was about to sit back in her chair, the doors swung open and the teacher marched through them with haste.
"Gather around everyone, I have exciting news for us!"
Everyone stopped talking among themselves and quickly did as they were told, and gathered around the teacher who was now standing on top of the small stage.
"I assume everyone here knows about The Phantasmoon Games?"
Everyone looked among each other, nodding affirmingly before returning to the teacher.
"We have just gotten word, across the different branches at this school, we will get the chance to participate this year,"
The room went quiet, like the waters before a tsunami. Everyone was trying to ascertain if it was a joke or not, and a small nod and a smile from the teacher confirmed the validity. He confirmed that this indeed was true, and in a blink the room erupted in cheers.
"Calm down, calm down," the teacher tried to lower everyone's excitement. "We will have an entire year to prepare for this tournament, and there are a few rules—nothing too bad."
He gestured for everyone to take a seat, pulling some papers up from his own bag.
"Most of them are formalities for the school itself, but there is one rule you should know," he paused, messing with a piece of paper in front of him, when he began reading aloud. "All teams are allowed to include one or more team members from outside school, but each team needs at least one member who attends this school."
Everyone went quiet, looking among each other. Excitement filled their eyes when they realized, that they could participate with their friends from outside the school—Firefly was no different.
A moment of panic washed over everyone. Everyone immediately pulled out their phones, messaging their friends or classmates about participating in the games as a team. Firefly was hardly listening to anything that was being said. She was too occupied with thinking about the best way to tell Silver Wolf and Blade as well.
She stuck her hand in her bag and grabbed her phone, quickly tapping away at the screen before the teacher called for attendance to finally get the class started.
The message read:
"Bladie, Wolfie, how do you feel about winning The Phantasmoon Games this year?"
⎯⎯ ⋆∘🌸∘⋆ ⎯⎯
She had barely stepped through the door at home, before Silver Wolf immediately jumped Firefly.
"What do you mean 'winning The Phantasmoon Games?!? Explain yourself!" Silver Wolf grabbed Firefly's collar and shook her wildly for an answer. During class, Firefly had to turn off her phone, because Silver Wolf kept trying to get a hold of her.
Blade walked up behind Silver Wolf and pulled her off Firefly to give her a moment to breath.
"Calm down Silver Wolf, let Firefly catch her breath for a second."
"Hmph fine. Speak," Silver Wolf grunted, releasing Firefly from her grip. Straightening her clothes, Firefly cleared her throat, before she continued.
"We got word today that everyone attending school will be able to participate in the tournament this year. We can make our own teams, the only requirement being for someone from school to be part of that team," she paused. "And since you all let me attend school to learn to become a better player, I figured we should make a team."
"And you're okay with that?" Silver Wolf folded her arms, looking right at Firefly. "Wouldn't you want to make teams with your classmates?"
Firefly shook her head, her lips forming a timid smile.
"No, they don't know me the way you do. We're a good team—no, we're a great team already. There's no reason to change any of that."
Blade looked at Firefly for a few moments, before turning around with a grunt, walking away. Silver Wolf turned around, surprised.
"You're not interested Bladie?"
"I am. I agree with everything Firefly said," his muffled voice barely audible. "I was going to clean up our setups for more practice."
Firefly's shoulder dropped slightly, elated that her usual team members agreed to take on this challenge. She turned to look towards Silver Wolf.
"And you? You in?"
"Yeah yeah, it's not like I've never wanted to be part of the tournament. It's the biggest thing you could be part of! I'm in," she gave a thumbs up, before turning to follow after Blade. "Bladie, wait for me!"
Satisfied, Firefly went towards her room and threw herself onto her plushie-covered bed, letting her body sink into the soft mattress and the covers. A few plushies rolled on top of her, and she grabbed one, hugging it tightly.
That was the easy part, she thought.
Pulling her bag off her shoulder, she carried herself to the front of her room, where she rested her hand on the handle. Lost in thought, she pressed down and opened the door in one silent movement.
We still have a lot to be done, she stepped into her room, placing her bag in its usual place, near the door, and moved to her bed. With a strained stretch, she sat down on the edge and pulled out her phone, and noticed a new notification.
"Robin started streaming an hour ago."
She tapped the message and loaded up Robin's stream. As per the title of her stream, she was doing ranked games to try and increase her rank. Being the seasoned streamer she was, every round she won or lost, she would quickly buy the gear she needed, before reading chat and answering questions.
"To be able to play that well," her lips curled into a sombre smile, muttering under her breath. She rolled on her back, the phone still playing the stream, with the sound of gunshots echoing from the game Robin was playing.
Maybe I'll be as good as her some day.
She spent the rest of the evening on her bed, engrossed in watching Robin play her game and interact with her viewers. She was only briefly interrupted by eating dinner, and when daylight turned to twilight, she soon found herself whisked away, dreaming.
⎯⎯ ⋆∘🌸∘⋆ ⎯⎯
The next morning, Firefly dragged herself through the door to the classroom. She had woken up just shy of her alarms, her body feeling a little lighter than usual. Rubbing the remaining sleep from her eyes, she found her seat, just before the class started.
Quietly tapping her foot, she intently watched the clock, hoping for the time to move faster. She simply waited for her normal classes to end, so she could escape to where she truly cared about being—her selective eSports class.
A few agonizing hours later, the bell would finally ring. Firefly nearly tripped over herself when she sped past everyone on their way out of the classroom. It wasn't until she was standing in the auditorium, she could finally draw a deep breath. It wasn't as if she needed to hurry, but the sooner she could get to the auditorium, the less time she felt like she wasted on other things.
Everyone inside the auditorium was huddled in groups as usual, but everyone was talking with a hushed voice among themselves. Curious, she approached one of the groups to listen in.
"Isn't it a little late for someone to join school?"
"Why would that be the case?"
"I don't know, we've already been here for a couple of weeks, they will be so behind everyone else."
"It's normal for transfers to arrive a little later," one of them said. "Sometimes there are scheduling issues. We should welcome them, and make them feel part of the class."
Transfer? Is it a transfer student? Firefly thought. Her curiosity had truly been piqued now.
"Excuse me, are you talking about a transfer student?" she asked with a quiet voice, matching the others.
"Well, technically it's only a rumour, but I heard someone from Penacony would be joining."
Her heart skipped a beat.
It couldn't be. There's no way she would attend a school so far away. One of the students continued.
"I heard this person is joining our class, because of the tournament. I don't know how good this person is, but if they're willing to travel so far—"
The doors swung open, interrupting the student. The teacher walked in, alone. There was visible disappointment on most of the students' faces—clearly many of them had heard the rumour.
The teacher stepped on the stage, and clapped his hands.
"Alright, listen up. Today, we're going to talk about our training plans for the tournament, and how you as athletes should tackle this training," he said.
Nothing about a transfer student. I guess it really was a rumour, Firefly thought, letting her nerves leave her body with a deep sigh. The teacher continued.
"But first, I have a small announcement. After finalizing the paperwork, I'm happy to announce that a transfer student, all the way from Penacony, will be joining this school from today. More specifically, she will also join this class, as her speciality is competing in eSports games."
Firefly's heart nearly leapt out of her chest. Who could this mystery student be? Before she could process her thoughts, the teacher continued.
"Would you please come inside and introduce yourself?"
The doors slowly opened, the creaking of the hinges overshadowing the silence inside the room. A young woman stepped into the room, long, pastel-blue wavy hair draped behind her, wearing a set of casual clothes. A set of wings wrapped around her body from the back, snugly resting over her hips.
On top of her head, a golden halo, sitting slightly off-centre, and a pair of smaller wings coming out from behind her neck.
Firefly recognised the young woman immediately and froze in place, staring at the person, she herself was looking up to.
"Please give Miss Robin a warm welcome. She's come all the way from Penacony, to become a student at this school," the teacher said, gesturing to Robin, who smiled in response.
"Thank you everyone, I hope we will become good friends."