Author Note : This takes place when Arc 5 of the main story just recently ended
—Aurelion Vireth, Tokyo, Japan
"Ayyyyyyy Virethhhhhh it's been a whileeee" the voice of a rather aged mann could be heard, as he came rushing hugging vireth, skin on the tanner siide, hair on the longer side with a rather big belly one could say.
"Haha, it's nice to see you again Gabe" I said with a smile, it had been a while since we talked after all, especially after The Change. Our group chat 'Akiba (Means Autumn leaf in Japanese)' was still quite active even till now
"You look so masculine now, unlike back then where you looked like a fem-"
Cough
"Ahem"
"Oh~ Vireth? I wonder what their talking about…" My Wife's voice echoed with a cold and menacing glint, one could feel the temperature seemingly freezing up
Sigh
"Si-Hyun, do remember these are his friends back in the day," Gaby muttered with a long sigh
"But but—"
"Alright, why don't we go somewhere else eh?" Nicole acted fast as she dragged my wife away as fast as she could
Step Step Step
"To think you're the famous Aurelion Party now is truly unexpected, and a few decades ago we were just kids and adults I suppose cosplaying." wearing long clothes to hide from the sun, she said with a smile, May is her name.
"If I remember correctly you're party consists of 5 members, but why are there only 4 of you right now?"
"Frieren's asleep, she was 'too lazy' to come here" Gaby said almost instantly, her small form and white hair drawing attention from my friends, they after all never did get 'changed'
"And you are?"
"It's nice to meet you again, it's been a while, please call me Gaby" She said while giving one of those Japanese bow of respect, slightly startling my friends, so I intervened, "You remember the one who cosplayed Kevin kaslana back then? Yeah it's her."
…
Glance
…
Glance
"No way—? YOU TURNED TO A GIRL???"
"PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT—BWAHAHHAHAHAHA NO WAY???" Gabe could not exactly contain his laughter, attracting attention across the entire street, unwanted attention, attention that could accidentally-
"Honey…" Fuck.
"I tried—She was to persistent." Nicole said, getting completely dragged by my wife, panting slightly, what did my wife do to her…
"Uhm—I can explain-"
"Explain?" Maybe you need some 'shock' therapy huh hun." Electrical currents could be seen forming in her finger tips, Ah—I'm dead
Snap
WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING
Countless chains suddenly emerged from the ground completely immobilizing my wife in place, of course, she was wrapped in the form of a ball, at the same time a portal of orange and black appeared in place. Signifying the appearance of a being.
Step
"Si-Hyun." Her voice sounded annoyed, cold and emotionless, her eyes a bright orange, it even looked like it was glowing. Ah—Kiana was mad. Oh Shit.
"MMMMM MMMMM MMMMMGMGMGM" still trying to struggle to no avail, she was in her Void form, a form she uses when she doesn't need ***Finality'***s overwhelming power but still needs to be cold.
"Ah—Please don't punish her too much." I muttered subconsciously, to which Kiana only looked at me for a bit before giving slight nod, then she only dragged her through the portal, to which Nicole followed suit.
…
…
"Man. You're friends are crazy." Gabe was the first one to mutter those words with a sigh, to which my other friends only nodded.
"By the way, that was one of the Pillars no?"
"Conclusion, the other me to be exact. Oh she might be joining us soon though." Gaby said again
"Other me-?"
"It's a bit difficult to explain, but just think of us as the same person,"
"Is that so—Ehhh it doesn't matter—Give me a hug Gaby!" Gabe said as he tried to hug her, and as soon as he got close enough to hug her—He only hugged air.
"Huh-?"
"Ah. Sorry reflex." She said
"Well ever since he turned to a she, physical touch is not something she really enjoys that much anymore, being a vampire too so she is quite hypersensitive."
"Is that so. My bad my bad." Gabe said as he backed away slowly scratching his head "It's fine" Gaby replied as she gave a apologetic looking smile "Ah, though the other me probably wouldn't mind" "The other you?"
WHIIIIIIING
A portal appeared once more, but this time instead of a orange and eery glow, it showed a fiery glow with black on the inside of the circle, and the person who step out of it—was Kiana. The Pillar of Conclusion.
"Yo, it's been a while, pretty sure the last time we met was when I cosplayed Kevin in 2026?" wearing merely a oversized hoodie that covered most of her legs, her eyes now blue she said as she opened her arms as if expecting a hug
"WHAT????????????????" Gabe shouted loudly, surprisingly however no one even spared a glance onto us,
"I made sure no one would notice." his voice sounded gentlemanly as it always have, every meeting with him is always like this, the Pillar of Deviation himself. Klein Moretti
"And you are?" May asked curiously,
"It is a pleasure to meet you Miss May, I am Klein Moretti, better known perhaps as the Pillar of Deviation" he said with a gentleman like bow and at the same time—A third figure appeared from Kiana's portal
"Hi~ Ohhh it's youuu" The Pillar of Recollection herself said with a lovely smile, ethereally glowing as always, perhaps out of the 5 Pillars she always look the most mystical. "That's the Pillar of Recollection by the way, hope you don't mind us tagging along?" Kiana said but—
…
Thud
"MAY???" Oh She fainted—
Later…
"You good now?" Gaby asked voice slightly worried, "I'm fine now." May said in return, on the other hand Kiana gave a glance to me and then to Gabe, then she muttered. "Huh, thought you'd want to hug to be honest"
"Ahahaha. I don't wanna get the police called on me, and besides you are a—"
"Girl? Ah I suppose that's true, the other me doesn't really like touching people for personal reasons, I don't really mind though"
"Really-?"
"Hm, if you're uncomfortable then—"
"NO NO it's fineeee" he said as he opened his arms, to which Kiana only approached him and gave him a big hug, a hug that lasted for 1 whole minute before Gabe only said "Thank you" as he gave a thumbs up, Kiana gave a smirk and gave the same thumbs up
Huh—Well whatever.
"So where shall we go?" Gaby asked
"We could go eat some sushi's I know some famous placed, my treat of course" I said with confidence, I am rich now after all. I can treat them, when I was nothing, I really wanted to repay Kiana but, well she's at a whole new league now
"By the way, I and the Pillar of Recollection need to go somewhere for a bit, apologies is that fine?"
"Sure sure, Oh I might teleport you back here later if we need something?" Kiana said
"Alright then—good bye" said the Pillar of Deviation as an illusory door opened before he entered it followed by the Pillar of Recollection, it was now just the 5 of us "Hm wonder what they're up to…" Kiana muttered before continuing with "Eh, whatever not my businesss, shall we?"
"Well, we are going to meet with some other friends later on so you mind?"
"Sure."
Step Step Step
The streets of Akihabara had changed since the old days.the electric town still blazed with neon and billboards, still thrummed with the bass of arcade speakers and the chatter of tourists—but subtly. The ads featured Remnants now.
Real ones. A holoscreen above the station showed Silver Wolf promoting some new gacha game, her smirk flickering in crystal clarity. A cardboard cutout of a cat-eared girl outside a maid cafe was labeled "GENUINE CAT-BEASTWOMAN STAFF"
"Feels weird, doesn't it?" Gabe said, falling into step beside Aurelion. "Back in the day, all this was fictional. Now I'm looking at that Silver Wolf ad and thinking—is that the real one? Or just a cosplayer?"
"Cosplayer," Gaby said without looking up. "The real 'Silver Wolf' is about twelve centimeters shorter and her left ear twitches when she's annoyed."
"...How do you know that?"
"I work with her sometimes."
Gabe opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. "Right. Of course you do. Why wouldn't you work with Silver Wolf. That's just—that's just a thing that happens now."
Kiana, walking slightly ahead with her hands in her hoodie pockets, snorted. "You get used to it."
"Do you? Do you really?"
"No," she admitted. "But it's fun pretending." her voice laced with a bit of whimsy
The group turned off the main strip, following a narrow street lined with vintage arcades and second-hand figure shops. The crowds thinned. The neon gave way to warm paper lanterns strung between buildings, their glow reflecting off puddles from an earlier rain.
A vending machine hummed beside a shrine gate, offering both green tea and limited-edition collab cans featuring characters I had once only known as drawings on a screen. Even if it's been a long time since then. It still feels like it was yesterday
May had recovered enough to walk on her own, though she kept stealing glances at Kiana and Gaby like they might vanish if she looked away too long. "It's really them," she murmured. "It's actually them."
"You're doing the thing again," Gabe said.
"What thing?"
"The thing where you mutter to yourself. You always did that before a big cosplay shoot. 'It's really them. The wig is perfect. The contacts are in right.' Same energy."
May flushed. "This is different."
"Is it, though?" Kiana asked, glancing back over her shoulder. "Cosplay is cosplay. We're just... a very accurate version."
"Extremely accurate," Gaby added dryly. "One hundred percent source material."
"You're literally the source material."
"Exactly."
The street opened onto a small plaza dominated by a centuries-old gingko tree, its leaves just beginning to turn gold at the edges. Beneath it, a fountain bubbled quietly. The sounds of the city had faded to a distant hum.
It was the kind of place tourists never found—too far from the main streets, too ordinary to photograph—It was exactly where my friends told me to meet them. Three figures were already waiting.
Tanner was the first to notice them. He was sitting on the fountain's edge, phone in hand, thumbs moving at a speed that suggested either a heated gacha pull or a desperate argument about character builds.
A quick glance and I could hear him say "They're here," he said without looking up. "Aurelion's got a tiny grou;."
"I told you he would." Jill stood up from her perch on the tree's low-hanging branch, brushing bark dust from her clothes, her eyes swept the approaching group with the practiced assessment of someone who'd spent years evaluating cosplay accuracy.
"Vireth. Gabe. May. Two people I don't know." She said, analyzing clothes, walking styles, and some stuff you wouldn't understand unless you ever cosplayed before
"And those are??"
"Old friends"
"I know those faces. Gaby from your party and a-??? Cosplayer?"
"Nah, just a Remnant, nice to meet you"
"Remember the Kevin cosplayer back then? Yeah it's them" I said
"??? Wut?" Jill went glancing to Kiana, then to Gaby then to me and repeat. This continued for a while, on the other hand I took a glance of our surroundings, and I spotted him.
Fang, who had been sitting silently beside the fountain, raised a hand in greeting. Chilling at one of the benches, eyes focused on watching something in his phone, And then there was Ben.
Ben was holding a phone in one hand , he's probably searching some Elaina fan arts again…. He had this expression of profound devotion, but as the group approached, his head snapped up. His eyes found Aurelion first—familiar, unchanged—and then swept to the others. Gaby. Kiana.
"Vireth," he said slowly. "Dang you brought some friend here eh?"
"Tagging along." Gaby muttered
"Tagging along, Gaby Mochizuki, second in command of Aurelion's party eh. Nice to meet you" He said as he reached out his hands, the two then gave a handshake with respect, on the other hand… "So Cosplayer? or Remnant?" he said looking at Kiana with confusion.
"Remnant, we've met before though it has been a while after all" The gingko leaves rustled overhead. The fountain burbled. Somewhere in the distance, a train announcement echoed through the streets.
"Alright," he said. "Introductions first. Then sushi. Then—" He glanced at Kiana. "Actually, what happens after sushi?"
Kiana shrugged. "I'm just tagging along, you make the choice, leader" with a smirk