There are a few strings tying me to Japan. The strongest are my friends and my memories, but there are also, somewhat incongruously, games. One of them was Aerial Legends, a game created by the company that I used to work for.

I remember when it first came out. The management was so excited and we were all encouraged to download it and give it a go. I remember being ridiculously happy to see familiar things like:

The park palace

And our park mascots

But, adventure games aren’t really my thing, and I gave up after a while.

That changed when I got back to Singapore. I switched phones and for reasons I still don’t quite understand, downloaded Aerial Legends and started playing. This time, the references to my ex-workplace felt like links to what was once part of my life and I was hooked. I still wasn’t a fan of the challenges, but I liked battling monsters and earning new characters.

I could have continued happily like this, but one update, I opened the app and saw an announcement that the game was closing on 19th November. It’s not surprising – I could tell that the game wasn’t popular and I know that my workplace is quick to try something new and quick to pull the plug on something that isn’t working. It was only a matter of time before they stopped the game.

I was just hoping for a bit more time.

Even though I still have my friends and the LINE app and Tsum Tsum, I wanted to keep every connection I had to Japan, no matter how tenuous it was.

So for the last month, I’ve been playing the game, trying to make my characters as strong as they could be. I don’t know for what – perhaps for wherever game characters go when their game has died.

After the 19th, the last day of the game, I refused to touch the app, thinking that if I didn’t open it, it might still work. I might still have one more link to my life in Japan. But yesterday, I accidentally tapped on the app and saw the following screen.

I guess it’s goodbye for real.