Did the Sun Come Out or Did You Just Smile at Me?

Risa literally slept the rest of the school day, the whole gang walked home together and said their goodbyes before any of them had gotten home yet. Today was a special day. Risa was officially off of her VR gaming restrictions which meant only one thing, she would return to her normal routine. In preparation for the next gaming contest her agent had signed her up for, she needed to go hard on the apocalypse survival gameplay and strategy. Most of the competitions were either who can survive the longest challenges or who can kill the most or score the most points.

Risa informed everyone that she would not be eating dinner tonight and instead would be in her room. She grabbed herself some water, an energy drink, and her gamer snack basket which had things like protein bars, popcorn, and chips in it. She hurriedly took a shower, then sat down and prepared for her all nighter. Risa plugged her phone in and set an alarm for 0600 then she dove into the game. Laying on her bed facing the ceiling all of the sudden, she was transported into the world of the game. It felt really weird after not being able to do this for a week so she closely inspected her hands and used selfie mode to take a look at her outfit and gear. She had on a white t-shirt with tan cargo pants, a pair of mma gloves on, an army green kevlar vest and army green boots. The finishing touch to her outfit was a dark green beanie. This simple gear did not have the best attack resistance, but it was light weight and allowed Risa to move faster than most could. Risa poked herself with the tip of her blade to ensure that 80% pain was working, and when she felt the sting of the blade she knew it was active. 

For weapons she had a massive hunting knife, a fully modified M16 splattered with pink and blue glow-in-the dark paint, a few grenades, two healing kits, and plenty of ammunition. Risa felt like she was ready to go and start exploring and memorizing maps and chest locations. 

Risa clicked on the exit lobby icon and  allowed the game to randomly select which map she would start on. The system chose a map called dead island which was essentially an island crawling with infected and home to the underground lab where the zombie virus was first discovered. Impulsively, Risa decided that she would try and make this a speedrun if at all possible. There weren’t very many other players on the board so a collab to explore was out of the question for this round. After what seemed like forever loading, Risa was dropped into the map. The island looked massive and was overgrown with tropical trees and plants. There was one obvious road where the foliage had been cleared that led to a small town and eventually the entrance to the underground lab. Traveling on the road seemed a bit too obvious so Risa began walking through the bush, which lit up with green and white light as you walked through it.

Her arms itched as they rubbed against the plants,and could  she hear some rustling around. Something had definitely just run behind her legs. Risa crouched, and aimed her knife towards the floor. She listened to the subtle crunching of leaves then counted a few seconds and slashed backwards. She struck the little thing right in between the eyes. There was usually a creature identifier on corpses but nothing showed up for this one.

It appeared to be some kind of small animal that made an effort to disguise itself as a small human. The creatures disguised themselves to make it easier to get close to humans, Risa assumed. If someone thought this was a child they would open up their guard and allow for damage to be dealt. 

If there were a lot more of them Risa was going to have to be more careful. Hitting the vital spots where they aimed would be bad for everyone. The presence of enemies as fast and strong as the little guy just lurking around signaled to Risa that the rumors about another entrance to the underground may actually have some truth to it.

 Now was as good a time as any to figure out what was hiding in the tall grass. The itching and burning was a poison status effect from the plants themselves. If there were poisonous plants and tricky creatures around, Risa was definitely in the right area. As she continued, the attacks from the little critters got more aggressive and frequent. Until Risa was surrounded by several dozen of the little guys. It was time to activate Risa's special character skill. Risa said out loud, “Activating max dex level 1.” 

Her legs developed a green glow and instantly, she appeared in front of a group of the little guys cutting several down in a single strike. Some of the others attacked all at once, but Risa was moving so fast that she was able to deflect the attacks and counter them in the blink of an eye. After just a few seconds, Risa had mowed down all the enemies. A small square of grass was a different color than the rest. She stepped on it and a prompt came up asking if she wished to enter. Before Risa could say yes, she got a DM from someone she was sure she didn’t know. The icon had a generic loli on it, she clicked into the message, “Risa is this you? Let me join your party, I wanna play with you.”

Her character froze as she answered the messages, “Who is this exactly?”

“You don’t recognize? I’m sad. Didn’t think this would happen again so soon.”

Risa was puzzled, but felt like she knew who it was, “Mei-sanpai is that you?”

“yup yup. No add me so we can play.”

“Ok, but if I add you as soon as you get in my way I’m kicking you from the party.”

Risa added Mei and her character popped up next to hers. It was a tall character with bulging muscles, a red beret, and full camo uniform and tan military boots. 

Risa did a double take. No fucking way this was Mei senpai. If it was that would mean she was a member of the top 4 ranking members of the gaming server. The red berets. She had to be dreaming. 

Over voice chat, “Mei senpai? You have got to be kidding me. Is that really you? No fucking way!”

Mei laughed, “Why are you so surprised, didn’t Reika tell you that I game semi-professionally as well?”

“No, she conveniently left out that detail. But I can’t believe it. I know a Red Beret in real life.”

“You mean you are dating one in real life silly. But on a more serious note, you have caught the eye of our team. We are looking for a fifth for the upcoming competition. Consider this your interview. Now tell me Risa, what exactly are we looking for in this grass?”

“I think I found the hidden entrance to the underground that people have been talking about on reddit. Step on that different colored patch of grass.” The request to enter popped up so both could see it. 

“You all ready to go exploring?”

“Is that even a question? Let’s go.” 

The two entered the new dungeon and were immediately greeted by a horde of zombies. The two quickly dispatched them. This new level looked like an abandoned research lab with lots of papers scattered across the floor, and toppled over file cabinets and lab equipment scattered about. The place had the stench of decaying flesh.

The two scoured the area, defeated monsters and eventually worked they way to the dungeon exit where the area boss was waiting for them. It was so much easier to do this as a competent team than to solo it like Risa often did. The two had been chatting the entire time, exchanging playful banter, mixed in with some outright flirting. Risa could not stop smiling, and she was sure that Mei was doing the same. She could feel a sense of longing in her chest that she wasn’t familiar with, but she didn’t have time to unpack that right now. 

The two had to take down the boss and then gtfo. With Mei and Risa working as a team they were able to take him down in less than 1 minute earning them both trophies. When they exited the dungeon, both girls were laughing. Mei got serious and pulled out an official invite to the Red Berets for Risa. 

“You are giving me this?”

“You earned it. Look at your name on the leaderboard.” 

Risa pulled up the screen, she was at number 5. She couldn't believe it. That dungeon must have had a double points bonus. 

“I look forward to working with you senpai.”

“Please just call me Mei.”

“I look forward to working with you, Mei. Also you should come over to my house. I could use a good cuddle.”

Mei instantly disconnected.