i_like_the_stars: Tails with glasses, holding a paper and scratching his head with a pencil (STH Tails Writing)
i_like_the_stars ([personal profile] i_like_the_stars) wrote in [community profile] gensplosion2026-05-11 11:04 pm

Project Sekai Colorful Stage: your palms, they are not cold to me

FANDOM: Project Sekai Colorful Stage!
FIC LINK: https://archiveofourown.org/works/82737601
AUTHOR LINK: [archiveofourown.org profile] chiropteranOddity
RATING/WARNING(S): G, No Warnings
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Completed, 2,507 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Shiraishi An, Aoyagi Toya

FIC SUMMARY:
The apartment is quiet. Almost eerily so, for the Shiraishis'. Toya makes his way to An’s room and knocks gently on the door. “Shiraishi? Can I come in?”

For a moment, there's just a quiet rustling sound– then An's voice pipes up. “Yeah, all good!”
She sounds… surprisingly upbeat. Toya pushes the door open.

He looks inside to see An sitting on her bed in day clothes, a significant upgrade from some other days he’s visited. A quick scan of the room tells him more; it isn't too messy, and the bed is made. The balled-up tissues beside the bin aren't quite as plentiful as they were last week.

She’s doing better.

---

In the aftermath of their confrontation with Taiga, Toya helps take care of An, as his teammate and best friend.
(written for the Ready Steady zine!)


RECCER'S NOTES: LIGHT UP THE FIRE lives rent free in my head, even after all these years. What a wild, shocking, totally-unrealistic-in-that-way-only-gacha-games-can-be event! What's even worse, the setup was there all along. I could see it coming from a mile away. It still hit me like a freight train.

Anyway, the fic: An's grief is so specific to her circumstances, and so… not. As in, her grief is still relatable and incredibly gripping to the audience. I was starting to taper off of PJSK around this point, so I'm not sure entirely how An's character was handled from this point on, but from what I saw at the time and what I see now, I still think we moved on too quickly from this event. Let that girl GRIEVE, holy moly!