Tsubakuro

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Born and raised in the Yamaguchi prefecture in Chuugoku-chihou, Junko had a pretty ordinary childhood alongside her younger brother. The Ishibashi family was a fairly close-knit one, but not a wealthy one, each parent prioritizing a more relaxed lifestyle over getting ahead. That life was forever marred when a fire struck their house one winter when Junko was eleven. She and her parents survived, though Junko was deeply wounded. Not just physically, as the death of her brother, and, of course, the experience itself, took its toll upon her.

The cheerful and upbeat girl disappeared for most of Junko's preteen and early teen years. She entered a near-catatonic state for several months, and, even when she was lucid enough to attend school once more, she struggled. All in all, she missed about a year of schooling, which, combined with a move away from their destroyed home to Tokyo, cut off Junko from her friends as well. It didn't take too long after the move for Junko to find solace in the world of video games, which both provided her an escape, as well as communities where her physical appearance wasn't only irrelevant, but invisible.

Though the temptation is there, she has mostly resisted the urge to give up on the world beyond the internet, despite struggling to relate to and interact with her classmates. Determination not to become a hikikomori aside, Soul Stream Online was too alluring a siren's call. Career choices and preparation for entrance exams could wait until after she had given virtual reality a try. Now trapped, Junko isn't sure whether to be utterly terrified or to feel liberated. On the one hand, it wasn't as though she hated the real world, or had given up on it. But a game world also had lot less drama and other things to deal with, and no reminders of her past or her current strained relationship with her parents.