Cherry Blossom Viewing

"Hmm, cherry blossoms and sake, a perfect combination."

- Balmung

Cherry Blossom Viewing (お花見) was an event designed by System Administrator Balmung in The World

Event
After warping into the field, players were able to enjoy a beautiful park filled with sakura trees in full bloom. Various booths were set up inside of the area, all selling special items like sake. However to more adventurous players rare event monsters could be summoned by digging around certain trees. These powerful creatures dropped treasure chests containing rare items when defeated.

.hack//Legend of the Twilight (Manga)
After hearing about the event Mireille invited Shugo and Rena to come with her. Though Mireille immediately went off in search of rare items, Shugo and Rena decided to just wander around the park looking at the cherry blossoms. While walking around the pair came across a stray dog. A dog lover, Shugo decided to adopt it since he was unable to own a dog in real life. After giving the dog a collar (a gift from Mireille) Shugo and Rena started playing with it, and quickly grew attached to the friendly animal. Meanwhile Mireille continued her search for items, eventually summoning a powerful event monster. Unable to defeat it herself, she ran away and accidentally got Shugo and Rena involved in the fight. Facing certain doom Shugo and Rena were surprised when the dog told them to run away. Suddenly the dog transformed, revealing Mireille's friend Ouka a powerful Werewolf. Ouka easily defeated the monster and gave the treasure chest to Mireille. Introducing herself to Shugo she reminded him that she'd found it impossible to resist acting like his pet. To make up for not being a real dog she gave him her Member Address instead.

.hack//Legend of the Twilight (Anime)
Seeing an event notice about the Cherry Blossom event, Mireille dragged Shugo and Rena to the event field at Δ Voluptuous Cherry Maze. But instead of finding blossoming trees, they found a bleak field filled with blossom-less trees. Mireille realized that the purpose of the event was the make the flowers bloom, but became irritated when her initial attempts to make them bloom failed. Wandering off on her own she looked for another way to solve the event, leaving Shugo and Rena to their own devices. Wandering around the field Shugo encountered a stray dog, since he was unable to own a dog in real life he decided to adopt it as an online pet. Very affectionate, both Shugo and Rena soon grew attached to it. Meanwhile Mireille continued her search, searching under a tree she uncovered a skeleton, which crawled out of the ground and attacked her. A Data Bug the monster was resistant to all forms of attack. Balmung who had been watching the event from a distance intervened, and fought with the monster while the other players warped out. Wanting to help Shugo used his Twilight Bracelet to data drain the monster, but the Bracelet malfunctioned and hit all the nearby players as well. Balmung found himself unable to use physical attacks, and was soon overwhelmed by the monster. Suddenly the dog transformed into a player, who introduced herself as Mireille's friend Ouka. Ouka easily defeated the monster, saving the field. However several sakura trees had been destroyed in the fight, leaving nothing but ashes. Remembering an old legend about ashes rejuvenating plants, Shugo threw the ashes into the air, causing the trees to burst into bloom. His reward for completing the event was a dog collar, which he gave to Ouka in exchange for her Member Address.

Trivia

 * The sake Balmung drinks during the event was created by him exclusively for this event.
 * Silabus mentions this event in one of his e-mail chains in .hack//G.U., saying that The World R:2 should have events like it as well.