To now and never

Chapter 2

On the other side of the planet, the 25-year-old Elle Novosel is dressed in a complete bluish hooded jacket and blue make-up to support the event in her small studio apartment in Washington. As she joins the countdown into its last two minutes, she turns on her ring lights and sets up her digital camera to have a better angle at her white and blue-themed room with complete sets of mementos, posters, signboards, lightsticks, apparel, and all merchandise of The Wild Flowers.

She even wears expensive makeup to support the event and to conceal a small scar on her right cheek. Even though the trailer will be released via online livestream, Elle intends to capture every moment of it, including her own raw reaction.

She has been described as someone without a personality, but the truth is, she is just quiet. She loves listening to others more than talking about herself. Many are stunned by Elle's striking green, almost emerald eyes and thick black lashes. But that is just about it, no one dares to talk to her because of her awkward gaze, creepy smile, and low-pitched voice.

Ellen hates herself, her mundane existence, and how she looks, to the point that she does not blame others for not liking her. She will surely feel the same way about herself.

The only two things she is grateful for about her life are her dearest twin brother, Michael Novosel, and the fact that they were born in the era of Riku Takayama's The Wild Flowers manga series. Michael has been consistently the number one motivator for Ellen, especially when they moved out of their foster parent's house. He selflessly provides for her emotional needs and their housing. To her, he is her own hero.

Michael Novosel is less enthusiastic about manga or anime, but he appreciates the animation and technology of it. Seeing how the series The Wild Flowers has helped his sister cope with life makes him interested enough to know at least the storyline and its writer. He feels responsible for Elle and she is dependent on him.

They should have been separated in the orphanage, especially when visitors opted to adopt a girl rather than a boy, but Elle devised ways for her to be disliked. There was a time when she purposefully stabbed her right cheek with a pencil to appear mischievous in front of a possible foster parent. Back then, losing his sister might have been a breaking point for him, so sticking together had been their goal. It took a while before a Mexican couple adopted the twins.

He just always likes to be the best brother for his twin sister. He does not want her to ever get hurt again and for them to share many of the same things for the reason that, aside from having the same birthday, they have opposite personalities and physical attributes. Michael is more extroverted and sociable, whereas Elle prefers to be isolated.

Also, Michael gets the best combination of genes from his parents, as he has the perfect build, long pointed nose and lean body type that can be considered attractive. His green almond eyes and thick eyes give the boy next door a look. Elle is considered to have a more homely face, which makes her appear less confident and weak. This is why, despite being smart, Elle stays home to do multiple online non-voice jobs just to get by for her expenses and anime-related spending.

She has been considered a socially awkward person since high school. She likes doing things on her own, so she particularly identifies herself with Vanda, the strong and independent queen of the sea, muse of the arts, and patroness of music in Kingdom Orchis, the setting of the manga.

She adores her elegance and confidence to face challenges despite not having the ability to speak. She is smitten by the fact that vanda orchids are rare and grow only in disturbed habitats. Ellen feels like she is as unique as the endangered vanda orchids. She feels that Vanda is her twin flame.

Her bias towards Queen Vanda does not hinder her from appreciating the other queens of the Kingdom. Queen Cattleya, the deity of the land, caretaker of animals, and harvester of food is considered the most popular. With the recessions and hunger experienced by the world, there is no doubt about her strong following. Queen Phalaenopsis champions the sky, bringing hope, wisdom, and enlightenment to the kingdom. Queen Dendrobium is the most feisty queen, marked by her bravery and boldness as she rules the air and fire.

Her eyes are totally fixated on the live stream, the screen reads an error message in encoding and shifts to a white human figurehead on the screen.

"Konnichiwa! Alexxx desu.

Hello, I am Alexxx at your service. Let me introduce myself. I am a virtual assistant of Riku programmed to carry out my artificial intelligence protocols in the case of errors, delays, or hacker threats with the trailer launching. My system now takes over the rights of Mr. Riku Takoyama for The Wild Flower. As stated in section 120, article 15 line 2, series 2020 AI recovers all lost data and proceeds with the launching in case its owner is unexpectedly incapacitated. The love of Riku for his fans is incomparable, so I am now fulfilling his last will for his trailer release.

Please stay tuned."

The colorful screen turns black and white and morphs into four panels divided by yellow lines of a comic sketch in pencil. The design resembles a murder scene. In each panel is a queen wearing a tiara. Still, the intricate drawings of the queens give that special glow and life to their faces. It is not the usual formula for the trailer of Riku. Oddly, his trailers never feature the queens, only their quests. Riku has mastered balancing the familiarity with the mystery of the characters. This style of Riku is what kept the fans hooked on his manga for 10 years.

Only select fans have had access to him. He conducts his fan meetings and story launching almost always virtually. He is secretive about his personal life because he wants the fans to only focus on the manga and not associate him with it.

Something is definitely different this time and the eager audience can recognize it. There are no sounds, narration, or transitions, but there is no denying that this is really the finale. Ironically, the trailer of a ten-year-old manga series just lasted for 10 seconds. From the projected comic sketch panels, the screen transitioned to a white one, and at its center seemed to be a captcha Japanese text *ぬ that translates to DEATH.

Then Alexxx reappears to say,

"Thank you for joining me in the poster and trailer release of The Wild Flowers. This time around, Riku leaves you without any alternate endings for each character for the reward of all his estate and royalties from the series. Your task is to determine who among the characters will die at the end of the series and how she will die. Try your luck, submit your propositions, and the most accurate response wins this final game. Thank you for your support and love."

The screen of the computer flashes blinding red with the neon bold italic text that reads 12960000 seconds to the launch of The Final Series of The Wild Flowers. Please look forward to it.

It is an understatement to say that Riku's death has been the talk of the town for the next few hours. No one can definitely sleep that night. Even the news, social media, and print circulation centered on the death of Riku. The police are still investigating if there was foul play in what seemed to be a suicide. Online posts and rants are all over the social media. Internet users are not shy to share their diverse opinions online.

Did Riku just call for a mass suicide for his fans?

So who is gonna be the next millionaire?

I cannot believe he played God.

Do not be fooled, he is alive!

My heart is aching.

#SaveCattaleya

Happy 13th of Friday to us, thanks to Riku.