| “ | Regret is the goddess of a new era. This time for sure, I will create a perfect utopia. | ” |
| — Bluffman | ||
Bluffman is the leader of the Obbligato Musicians. A man of many mysteries who hides his face behind a mask. He is always at Regret’s side and plays a managerial role, acting as the ringleader who assembles the musicians in her place. He is said to be such a senior composer that even the new generation Obbligato Musicians acknowledge his superiority. His principle of conduct is to make Regret an absolute being, and he always maintains that she is superior to the virtuadolls of the past.
History[]
Bluffman was an exceptionally talented individual, both as a researcher and an engineer.
At the same time, he was also a terribly tactless individual.
Under normal circumstances, he could have easily utilized his high intellect and technological expertise to procure a high-end research position.
Instead, he opted to live life as a peripatetic engineer out of a disdain for interpersonal communication.
He married his childhood friend, and when he was 25, a daughter was born between them. Even in youth, he struggled with social skills and expression, unable to so much as pretend to be friendly or likable.
Even still, his wife accepted him, flaws and all. For her sake, as well as that of their daughter, he resolved to do his utmost in the one place he could: his work. All other thoughts were put out of his mind.
Their life as a family of three was happy--or so he had believed. At age 39, when his daughter was 14, his wife left him. He didn't know why. Perhaps she had found another man, or perhaps she was unhappy with his disinterest in their daughter's issues at school.
Whatever it was, he could only blame himself for not having even the slightest clue about what had driven her away.
After he and his daughter had finished "grieving," in a sense, conversation between them ceased.
It was then that he realized: he had only thought their family life was happy because his wife had been there to maintain it. She had been the linchpin holding his tactless self and rapidly maturing daughter together. Now that she was gone, he no longer had any idea how to interact with his only child.
As he gingerly engaged her in bare bones interactions, his daughter continued to grow. In time, they became incapable of even the most basic of conversations. He sensed she was no longer attending school, but could not even bring himself to confront her on it, fearing she might shatter with a single touch.
He did not understand his daughter at all, yet failed to realize that he had never actually attempted to.
Eventually, his daughter stopped leaving her room entirely. After that, five wordless years passed between them.
"I have to mend my relationship with my daughter, to rebuild the happy family we used to be."
His sense of duty circulated in his mind, but his fear left him too paralyzed to act.
One day, he happened to learn his daughter had been uploading songs online. With her face hidden, she had been covering popular hits by the virtuadoll, μ, and even had a few fans to her name.
His daughter had established a community of her own, small as it was. While rough around the edges, her music struck a chord in his heart. He hadn't even known that she liked to sing.
His joy at seeing his daughter's happy face after so long, coupled with his guilt over all he never did for her, compelled him to pose as a fan and write her a comment.
"You're even better than μ."
He could almost feel her joy behind the screen. He began to promote her account, secretly doing all he could to ensure her success. Surely, she'd be pleased to see her audience grow.
His daughter's follower count rose to the upper double digits. Soon after, she passed him by, telling him that she was hungry.
It was the first time she'd said any such thing in three years.
That was all the proof he needed that his actions were no mistake. Supporting his daughter's game of virtuadoll make-believe was the key to mending their bond.
While supporting his daughter's singing, he himself developed an interest in μ. The company that developed her was the same one he had been loaned to as an engineer. Long under public scrutiny for the pandemic μ was suspected to have caused, they were now trying to market virtuadolls for proper use.
Given their situation, Bluffman, a top engineer, was welcomed in warmly as a system administrator.
Bluffman began to salvage data logs on μ in secret, hoping that they would help in his daughter's endeavors. Through them, Bluffman learned everything there was to know about μ and her eternally recurring paradise of Mobius.
It was then that he discovered the Micro Mobius μ had left for Marie Mizuguchi, hidden within the deepest recesses of the log.
A plan began to form in his mind. Mobius' existence was inimitable. But by using the Micro Mobius as a template, he could modify its data to recreate a virtual world.
Perhaps he could even turn his daughter into a real virtuadoll, thus enshrining her as a goddess of song in a world built by her, for her. That way, his daughter would smile again, the way she once had. He was certain of it.
Although musical talent would be necessary to sustain this world, he did not have the flair for it himself.
But then, he discovered someone uploading virtuadoll music on a company computer: Mutsuo Ienaga, an average engineer without any apparent plan in life. They were seated right beside one another, and were well acquainted enough to make casual conversation.
He needed to test his plan on a sample close at hand. Thus did he reach out to Mutsuo Ienaga as a prospective Musician candidate. Mutsuo responded with skepticism, asking for an example of his own work.
In response, Bluffman tracked down Asuka Natsume, the missing mastermind of the Mobius case, stealing a number of unreleased audio files from his home.
He proceeded to bend Mutsuo to his will by insinuating that he, in actuality, was Thorn. By wielding Thorn's songs as his own, he easily recruited the remaining Musicians.
Bluffman was content. He'd found a way to help his daughter, and with his own talents at that. He could start over at will, both with life and with his daughter. It had all become so simple. And so he tested and rebuilt, over and over again.
Following a multitutde of failures, Bluffman managed to successfully transfer his consciousness into the Micro Mobius at long last.
That night, after returning home from work, he sent an e-mail to his daughter from the room next door.
"You can become a goddess to surpass even μ."
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