Game Maker: Starting by Healing the Players Chapter 37: The Whole Truth

The boy who got hit wasn't Johnny—it was his twin brother, Joey.

And Joey wasn't so grandfather's na, either. After the accident, Johnny's mom had a ntal breakdown and started treating Johnny as if he were Joey.

That's also when Johnny was given the beta-blockers.

Everything from before finally made sense.

Why Johnny always slept in a double bed.

Why his mom kept calling him Joey.

Even things like his favorite comics or pickled olives—they weren't actually his favorites. They were Joey's.

After the car accident, his mom, crushed by grief, raised Johnny as if he were Joey.

But there was still one more mystery: what about River?

What does Johnny's wish to go to the moon have to do with River?

As the story moved forward, it reached a ti before Joey's death.

Joey, as the older brother, really cared for Johnny.

Once, the two of them entered a contest at an amusent park.

Joey won a toy train, while Johnny only got a platypus plushie.

Johnny said he wanted the train too, but his mom wouldn't let him have it.

Then Joey said they could play with the toy train together.

From this, it seed like their mom might be a little more fond of Joey.

Feeling a bit down, Johnny walked toward the back hill of the amusent park, holding the platypus he had just won.

At that mont, Eric suddenly beca alert.

Yes, that platypus!

The sa platypus that belonged to River—it turned out Johnny had won it at the amusent park.

Could this an…?

The next scene confird what he was thinking.

Johnny looked up at the starry sky on the back hill. His bad mood seed to lift a bit—he had found a nice spot.

A tree stump, just like a bench, where you could sit and look out at the stars in the distance.

And just then, a little girl appeared on the screen.

It was River as a child!

Eric felt a chill run down his spine. In that mont, sothing clicked in his mind.

This was the first ti Johnny and River t.

Not in high school like they had thought!

When Johnny saw River, he greeted her happily, but River instinctively turned to leave.

Johnny quickly called out to her.

After a short conversation, he asked if she wanted to sit and watch the stars with him.

Soft piano and violin music played in the background.

Under the starry sky, Johnny and River sat on the tree stump, looking into the distance.

The cara cut to a closer view.

The green grass on the lawn swayed gently in the breeze.

"Look over there…"

"Did you know? There are so many lights in the sky!"

Johnny tried to start a conversation.

"Mm."

River replied the sa way she did back in high school.

"Uh… yeah, too." Johnny looked a little awkward but kept trying to talk.

"You said this is your spot, right?"

"I only co here during the carnival."

"You don't like crowded places?... Yeah, I don't like them either." Johnny went on, "You know, you still haven't told your na!"

"I won't tell you. People at school make fun of because of it."

"Why?"

"They say my na makes them want to go to the bathroom."

"Hmm, well… I an, it can't be worse than 'Johnny,' right? Like, there are people called Johnny pretty much everywhere in the world."

"So what?"

"Huh?"

"What's so special about having a na that everyone else has? I just hope… like the stars in the sky, they might all look the sa from here, but that doesn't make them any less beautiful."

"Yeah, I think so too. So, what do you think stars are?"

"My dad says stars are huge balls burning from the inside."

Johnny and River kept chatting. Then River asked, "Have you ever tried making Easter Bunnies out of stars?"

"Like making constellations in the sky?"

"Yeah."

"I've looked for others before, but never for a rabbit."

"Do you want to try?"

"Yeah! I'm sure we can find the best rabbit constellation! Let's see who finds it first!"

As they counted down—three, two, one—River suddenly said, "I found it!"

"Uh, where?" Johnny looked confused.

The scene slowly shifted up toward the sky, focusing on the full moon.

"In the sky!"

"Where in the sky?"

"Think big—everything else is big!"

"I can't see it… wait… wait, I see it!"

"Tell what you see!"

"There, right? That's the ears and the head." Johnny pointed at the moon.

"And?"

"And over there… those are the legs!"

"Exactly! What else?"

"And… and the moon! The moon is its big round belly!"

Simple lines appeared on the screen, outlining the stars in the sky.

It ford a—rabbit.

A rabbit with a yellow belly!

In that mont, scenes from the ga flashed in front of Eric.

Why did River start folding so many paper rabbits after Johnny told her about their first eting?

Why did River ask over and over throughout her life what that yellow-bellied rabbit ant?

Why did none of Johnny's answers ever satisfy her?

Now Eric finally understood!

River had been trying to remind Johnny in her own way.

Reminding him that this—under the stars and the moon—was their true first eting.

While talking with Johnny, River had once said she always thought the stars in the sky were lighthouses.

She believed those lighthouses wanted to talk to others but couldn't.

All they could do was shine their light—that was all they had.

Everything finally made sense.

Why did River care so much about Anya?

Then ca the scene that touched so many people.

As his mom called him ho, Johnny had to leave.

But before he went, he gave his platypus to River.

"This was my prize—I'm giving it to you!"

That's how the platypus that stayed with River all those years ca to be.

"Will… will you co back next year?" River asked Johnny, hugging the platypus.

"Of course! And you?"

"I will."

"Sa ti? Sa place?"

"Yeah!"

Hearing that, Johnny happily got ready to go ho—but just then, River asked sothing.

"But what if you get lost or forget?"

"Then we'll et on the moon, silly."

As Johnny said those words, countless players who were playing the ga at that mont suddenly felt their eyes sting.

The ga screen in front of them started to blur.

All the confusion—

Was finally answered here.

(End of The Chapter)

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