Let us clap our hands for the successful release of this massive and amazing final chapter along with the epilogue! *Everyone clapping their hands inside my mind*
Okay, that’s a wrap-up! For now of course…
Sure, it’s been a long journey back from the first time I planned for what story I should write for fanfic, from searching for a beta reader (and it didn’t work), to this release of the final chapter and epilogue chapter of TO THE SHINING YOU, it’s truly tear-jerking to see how much I’ve come so far.
I can’t stop crying *sniff* *sniff*
Alright, so let’s start from the beginning of how I started my journey for writing this amazing fanfiction series.
The reason I started doing fanfiction.
Well, at first, I wanted to draw for the only character I love… Yes, Saika Amagi.
I want to let out my vision about her, especially for Tokio and the third season project. But well… It doesn’t work that way, and the problem is that I can’t draw and I’m sure training myself to draw would be a hard task.
I wanted to make it look good at drawing like Custat and every other artist there, but life wasn’t simple, well of course I could still train from scratch, but I had no energy or time to make something that I wanted and as I grow up, my responsibility is getting bigger, so the pressure.
So what’s the solution for me then? Well, just writing a fanfic novel… yeah, maybe that’s the best option I had besides I used to love reading fanfic novels, well of course it was made by fans with their vision to tell the story, but from what I see, is a possibility.
Anyway, that is why I started writing my fanfic in my first trial… well at first, I tried finding a beta reader for me, but failed, since no one came to interact with me… of course, there’s one person who was willing to become my beta reader for me since we communicating so well… but she doesn’t know .hack series, so it’s very unfortunate, but I respect her honesty.
Rather than wait, I decided to do this on my own, learn it on my own, and publish it on my own, without any coordination or cooperation, just me…
Well, here we are, THE FEELINGS and TO THE SHINING YOU are my two fanfic series that I’m very satisfied with. Well, aside from that, I had doubts and was unsure, whether this fanfic story would receive well, whether my writing was good or not, and whether it would contradict how the story plot goes, along with the characters I wrote.
To The Shining You and The Feelings wasn’t my first fanfic
The truth is, .hack//Link: TO THE SHINING YOU wasn’t my first fanfic, and not even THE FEELINGS was my first either. The early series fanfic concept is about the “Hard Rebooting Story of Link” and it’s a long-term fanfic series.
Well, I can’t disclose anything that full, but the first concept story I wrote is darker than the .hack//Link series or the opposite of what the original PSP game had presented for a younger audience. My first fanfic back then was called, .hack//RIVES if you can call it, and it’s way opposite than what Link had represented, it’s mature, dark, and gray, also represented by what IMOQ has, suspense and mystery.
The story of RIVES focuses on two twin brothers, Tokio Kuryuu and Akira Kuryuu, who had dreamt of becoming the best player in The WORLD R:3 like the heroes before them (it was a childhood dream for them), until tragedy struck with a massacre and murderer, which responsible by the black armor and I used to call it ENTIES, but now I called it Schwarz, the PKK and hackers who can murdered people that he had targeted, and once they’ve been killed by him, they won’t be about falling into a coma, but they will die, in the real world too.
The story focuses on uncovering the mystery of that black armor that becomes a threat to The World and preventing him from leading another player’s died in the real world, even though they might gonna failed flawlessly.
Hmm… looks like Sword Art Online right, well it’s not like that fanfic will be about MC having a harem just to do some higher fan service.
The story I want to write needs something more meaningful, has a depth, sense of fear, trauma, self-questioning, and while still enjoying The World like it was fun, until it wasn’t, a lot of mystery, suspense, and every secret that has been hidden within the plot will be uncovered.
Hmm… don’t you think it’s more like a copy of Attack on Titan, well, depends on your point of view, however, this is inspired by AOT and I want to make something different but inspired by it.
Well, that’s all folks, can’t tell you all this much further than how deep the story is.
Well, I planned a lot of ideas along the way, about the characters, world-building, stories, background, how the direction of the story goes, how it ended, and more. I am also making a trilogy of fanfic long-term series so after RIVES, there’s going to be the next one, and it’s a continuation, I want to develop Saika there with a different style, but still faithful to who she was in Link…
But I realized, making long-term fanfic series would be risky, and took much time. So much energy, learning, activities, ideas, searching references, describing what outfits they wear, what kind gestures, movements, and what kind of environments I need to write, and more, and it’s taking so much time that I don’t know why the time flies so fast.
Of course, I do want to learn more about how to do it, but there’s a limit to what one person can do, especially when it comes to pressure in real life and soon having a lot of responsibilities to take care of in the future, and I’m very unsure how I can manage that and how I can do multitasking so much of it. So doing that would be impossible.
That’s how I started with short-term fanfic series, and this for example TO THE SHINING YOU Fanfic is the result, satisfying as it should be 😀 and now the Final Chapter (along with the epilogue chapter) being released is the greatest joy I’ve ever experienced.
Hmm…
If you guys ever asked, whether this concept story will be revived, well my answer is nope… but… well… I wrote summarized stories or whatever content I wrote on the game idea wiki and idea wiki, so people could see the concept that has been scrapped from my fanfic series…
Hmm… well no is a no… wait… I do have one more fanfic series in the works… I can’t tell you if this will be connected to the story that I scrapped from my fanfic long-term series idea… but… hmmm
*sigh* you know what, let’s move on to the next topic…
Behind the Scene Story: .hack//Link: TO THE SHINING YOU (Fanfic)
Wanna know how I start making .hack//Link fanfic, TO THE SHINING YOU? Wanna know the reason? There’s one though…
It just popped out of my mind… that’s all…
Well, the full story version it’s from my idea for what CyberConnect 2 should implement when .hack//Link is getting remastered or remade, and I wanted the ending to make a major adjustment. I had an idea of what changes they should make for the ending.
Well, there’s no need for change actually, they just have to expand and remake it to make it more in-depth and serious, also sweet and sour to be precise. Well, yeah, one major change would be the timeline settings.
So, in my idea, the ending story for the .hack//Link remake that took place a year following the event of IMMORTAL DUSK and the reunion between Tokio and Saika will be much the same but extended. Of course, my fanfic story would be too much for the ending of the Link remake, so my fanfic version will be an expansion of my ideas. Especially with the epilogue chapter, is very much beyond the event of that reunion.
The purpose is to expand the story of post-Link between Tokio and Saika, well, it’s like an aftermath, both of them still suffered from loss, but two of them had different circumstances, one person takes the grief and loss, becoming his strength to move forward and remember the journey that he had gone through with no regrets, and one other person take grief and loss, causing to take toll on mental health, dealing with loss, guilt, and regret that she had felt, which becoming source of despair and unable to move forward, as it’s too much for it.
I kinda want to depict Tokio and Saika like that, especially how they handle the loss of AIKA… (but in truth, she’s still alive of course).
Saika’s development character is a major highlight in the story, dealing with the consequences, guilt, grief, loss, regret, and despair, because of course, judging by how she behaves, her personality, and anything in the official materials, Saika had gone through very badly in the past, like loneliness, bullying, hurt, anger, hate, and everything surrounding her, that until she met AIKA.
However, the depths of hate inside her heart remain, although she can’t choose whose to blame from the very beginning, whether CC Corp or Jyotaro himself (so then she thought that CC Corp is right to blame for what happened to Jyotaro, even though she knew that Jyotaro is one at fault for leaving her behind), and that’s how it led to the character she was in .hack//Link, the hate she felt is still there until she met Tokio.
And then post-Link event, she now began to experience the results of that hatred and receive the consequences for the action she made. Well, of course, it was Geist who was manipulating Saika through emails, but that plan wouldn’t have happened without Saika. And so chapters 2 and 3 are how she experienced those.
But I’m glad that the reunion between both of them, had brought back Saika to the light even just a tiny piece that soon got big, and the epilogue chapter is proof of how far she had come, and how she had grown, and it’s truly satisfying.
Her communication with Tokio is different from how she did in the Link, she’s more naturally open, communicating like a normal person without being hostile, or being serious or anything, just enjoying chatting together like a… more than just friend and less than being a lover… kinda…
Just don’t tell Custat about this… but I’m very supportive of TokiSai… But, I had my games to decide what story would end up for them, and the epilogue chapter is the result of my game, so don’t worry Custat, I got you 😀
Well, there’s another thing we should look at other things on the fanfic series, such as some call-back and reference from .hack//Bullet, one of the allies from NAB is of course David Steinberg, and following Thanatos Report (perhaps before December 2025) he’s on the run, but still providing an intel to Tokio and Sogabe. Also, Ryuji Sogabe himself, what rad (greatness) references from .hack//Bullet, seeing Ryuji and Tokio interact with each other for the first time in the real world is very wholesome.
Also another reference from Chapter 11: Tokio Kuryuu from .hack//Bullet, like how he dreamt about AIKA and Saika is also made in the epilogue chapter. Feel connected right don’t you think? I won’t forget how Tokio went doing a part-time job and learning to be a game journalist as a newbie is also the greatest reference from Bullet. What a nice view when every story connected itself. Also, Veronica Bain, gotta go Sogabe-san, you got revenge for your waifu to do.
There’s so much I want to tell you, but this page will be much longer than you think, so I decided to skip to the next topic. But I’m so excited about how the epilogue chapter leads up to the .hack//Versus and one story that would be told… yes… the sequel to .hack//Link, that’s a perfect answer 😀
Oh yeah, one more thing, That “Bodyguard,” who is that? Why did he want to help Saika and create a reset program? would he be scared if he was found out by Veronica? Or perhaps he has his intention of helping her? Well, let’s put that aside and let “One More Fanfic Series” do the work, it’s currently in early development.
The final chapter and epilogue chapter of the .hack//LINK: TO THE SHINING YOU has finally been released at last, you all can rejoice for this long-awaited moment, but that doesn’t mean it’s over yet.
What’s Next
Well… to be honest, I don’t know…
I’ve been busy right now, so I can’t make more fanfic at this pace I’m right now, especially with my current condition.
Unless I’m getting profit from writing it, but the problem is, my fanfic is non-profit, so… nope, I won’t try making a profit from the others with my fanfic. Ko-Fi or Patreon would be a good path for choices, but… as I said before, I don’t draw and I can’t draw…
Yeah, it’s so confusing where am I supposed to go now…
Maybe I am planning to write a behind-the-scenes story of THE FEELINGS if I can…
Also, as I said before, I’m working on “One More Fanfic Series” which is very classified, focusing on “That Bodyguard” who helped Saika and how it connected to him… there’s more story that goes deep and cannot be uncovered right now, at least… for now.
Right now, I’m gonna focus on myself, and my job in real life, but after I release TO THE SHINING YOU -Secret Chapter- I’m going to make sure to announce my classified fanfic project in the making.
Closing
Alright then, that’s a wrap for my author notes.
I’m truly sorry if the Epilogue Chapters and Author notes got this much longer than you guys had anticipated.
I want to thank you to the community, dothacknetwork, rox kinoske, and everyone who I don’t know whether reading my fanfic or not, for supporting me, and I’m truly sorry if it wasn’t .hack//IMOQ and .hack//G.U. Fanfiction you guys hoped for, but hopefully, with this fanfic, could finally fill some plot story gaps that were never even answered in the official materials.
I’m truly sorry for you guys who had waited for this epilogue chapter for so long, and I hope you all can savor every last of it.
Now, I gotta rest…
Thank you so much for all of your support…
And see you guys next time 😀
Sincerely Jikanet, the author of FEELINGS and TO THE SHINING YOU .hack//Link fanfic.
TO BANDAI NAMCO… PLEASE… DON’T BE A D@&! and RELEASE .hack//IMOQ REMAKE!! Also, .hack//LINK REMAKE!!
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