Hana "Cherry" Chen's Arc

Chapter 11 of 14

Hana opens Discord and types a message to Emily before she can second-guess herself. The party announcement goes live on stream ten minutes later. Chat explodes with congratulations and questions about who Emily is, what username she'll use, which team she'll join. Hana builds a small house surrounded by sunflowers and autumn leaves, placing it right between the hero and villain stables where everyone can see it. She decorates the inside with purple and gold streamers, then positions a maid figurine with pastel purple hair at the doorway to represent Emily's arrival. Chat starts voting on whether Emily should join the heroes or villains before Hana even finishes placing the decorations. A donation of fifty dollars demands Emily join the villain team. Another donation of seventy-five dollars counters with a demand for the hero side. Hana stops decorating and stares at the chat. She realizes she never actually asked Emily which team she wanted. The house sits incomplete on her screen, the maid figurine frozen at the threshold. Chat keeps voting and donating, building narratives about Emily's role in their war before Emily even knows there is one. Hana closes the decoration menu without finishing the setup. She tells chat the party is on hold until Emily picks her own team. The donations stop. Chat goes quiet for three seconds, then erupts with complaints about ruining the surprise. Hana doesn't care. She opens Discord again and sends Emily a screenshot of both teams with a simple question: which side looks more fun? Emily responds in under a minute with a laughing emoji and a choice. Hana returns to the game, places a dancer figurine covered in rainbow feathers and beads on Emily's chosen side, and locks it in. The party house stays between both territories, but now it belongs to someone who actually made the decision herself.