Unwanted Surprise

July 15th 2018

It had been a while since Sun, Steve, and Ryuuji had been able to play Starfight together, though Sun and Steve would still talk at least once a week. Wanting to catch up, Ryuuji ended up telling him what happened in the time since their last meeting; the rest of their confrontation with Seiji and his new unwanted friendship, fighting in that new dungeon, and all the great rewards.

Steve can’t help feeling jealous of their fun adventures since he’s been too busy helping his dad with things related to work ever since school ended for him last month.

“Sorry I haven’t been able to meet you in the game that much recently, Sun.”

“It’s okay, I forgive you.” Sun says as if it didn’t bother her at all.

“Ouch, it sounds like you weren’t missed.” Ryuuji teases.

“It is surprising to hear her say that, but I’m glad! Just another reason to thank you. Any time I would take a leave of absence from Starfight, even just for a week, I would get yelled at! Now that she has more friends I won’t get in trouble.”

Steve finishes the last sentence with a laugh, however, telling another embarrassing side to Sun, she yells at him to watch what he says. Steve quickly apologizes per usual, saying it slipped out. Ryuuji can only laugh despite witnessing plenty of these situations in their short encounters.

“Anyway, your new friend, what’s his username?”

“Did I not mention that yet?” Ryuuji ponders before telling him, “It’s Hargrave.”

Hearing that name, Steve is shocked and starts shouting in an almost ear-piercing tone.

“NO WAAYY!! He’s the hero Hargrave? You? Friends with him??”

“Is there a problem with that?”

“I’m insanely jealous! The legendary players are so cool, but I’ve never met any. How could you forget to mention he’s one of them?”

“I guess I’m used to it? Besides I’d rather not think of that brat when I don’t have to.”

“You have to introduce me one day!!” Steve whines.

Unfortunately for him, Seiji and Hanabi are on a family trip this weekend, otherwise he may have been able to meet them today, only adding to his disappointment.

“Well, let’s just put that aside. I have great news! Thanks to my dad’s business deal, I should be moving to Japan by next month!” Steve says.

“You mean we can finally be together again?”

Overjoyed, this is the best news Sun has heard in a long time. Although she doesn’t say it often, she misses seeing him in person as much, if not more, than he does.

“Oh yeah baby!” Steve shouts in English, then switches back to Japanese. “I might be able to attend your school too. I’m just not sure if we will still be in the same grade.”

“So what, is your dad the head of a big company or something?” Ryuuji asks.

“My dad owns a company that helps produce and distribute gaming software. I wasn’t allowed to mention anything even though the news was already released, but my dad bought Komi Co! You know, the creators of this game!”

“Huh?” Stunned by Steve’s words, Ryuuji pauses to try and comprehend what he just heard.

“My dad said he finalized the rest of the paperwork this week for us to move over! I was told many other companies tried to purchase Komi before, but never succeeded. I guess my dad’s deal was too good to pass up. He said I may be able to join the company after I graduate. That’s why I’ve been so busy recently, I want to be involved as much as possible from the start--”

As Steve continued to talk, Ryuuji stopped listening after hearing ‘my dad bought Komi Co.’ That one sentence just keeps repeating in his head, over and over again. The rage that Ryuuji has been able to suppress after losing his home, his money, his life, and to him, even his own father, is slowly coming back. As it builds up, Ryuuji can’t contain it any longer and shouts as loud as he can.

“YOU RUINED MY LIFE!!”

Sun is the only one here who knows what Ryuuji has been going through, and now realizes he hasn’t even hinted at what happened with his family to Steve since they started talking a few months ago. It’s all coming out right at this moment.

Steve is only confused by the sudden shouting. “What are you talking about?”

“That was my father’s company!! You…your father...he stole it!” Ryuuji continues to shout, unable to say much beyond a few words.

“We stole it? But I was told--” Steve tries to understand what he means, but is cut off.

“I can’t believe I thought we were friends, you’re no different from everyone else! Sun! I can’t believe you hid this from me!”

“No, I had no idea!” Sun says.

With no current way to confront him in real life, Ryuuji requests friendly fire in the game against Steve’s character HeroHiro. Although Steve would rather not, he’s sure denying the request would upset Ryuuji more, so he hits accept in the hopes of conversing during battle.

However, Ryuuji attacks immediately, not holding anything back. Surprised at first, Steve is still able to defend himself against the attacks that follow. Sun can only watch as AkaNinja initiates one swift attack after another, with HeroHiro only defending.

“Just defending over and over, why don’t you actually fight?”

“Why should I?! I don’t even understand any of this, explain it to me!!”

Despite feeling upset by the sudden turn of events, Steve is still level-headed in the game so HeroHiro is able to push AkaNinja back. Though this just gives him the chance to leap forward with his skill ‘God Speed’, injuring him in the process.

“Damn he’s too fast!” Steve complains and turns his character to face AkaNinja once more, but only to defend against the barrage of attacks.

Meanwhile, wanting to do something, Sun opens her spell list. Although Ryuuji didn’t directly send her a request for friendly fire, she is still a party member. Since she doesn’t know how to access the game’s settings, she’s convinced that option is turned on so she can still take part.

Sun considers using the barrier she just learned, but is sure it won’t make Ryuuji talk. Then there’s the spell, ‘Single Cell’, which she was finally able to use thanks to Hana’s advice. Hesitant at first, she clicks to use it and then starts charging, aiming at AkaNinja. Since he keeps moving, she has to wait for the perfect opportunity. Fortunately, it doesn’t take long.

Frustrated, Ryuuji takes a break from attacking and raises his voice once more, “This is going nowhere!”

“I agree.”

Those two words draw their attention and they both look towards Sunshine to see her aiming a glowing arrow at AkaNinja. Caught off guard, Ryuuji immediately recognizes what spell she is using and knows he’s in danger. Sun whispers “I’m sorry” before releasing the arrow, hitting AkaNinja and completely draining his health. He disappears right after, not giving Ryuuji the chance to say another word.

Ryuuji is left staring at the original login screen, stating; ‘You are dead. Revive now? Yes or No’. He slams his fists on his desk.

“Out of all people, why does he have to be involved? And Sun...”

Ryuuji thinks back to when Sun apologized before attacking. Although she whispered, he still heard it. To release all the pent up rage, Ryuuji shoves his keyboard off his desk, resulting in the keys scattering across the floor.

********************

Now that things have settled down, Steve tries speaking with Sun, treading carefully since he’s sure she’s upset as well.

“Sun, everything he just said...is it true?”

“Yes.” Sun tries to think of the best way to explain his situation, without giving away too much because it’s not her place. “A little before Ryuuji transferred to my school, his father’s company was sold and he somehow lost all rights to it. Since his father was left jobless, Ryuuji was forced to move, change schools, and even get a job himself. For him, everything completely changed.”

Pausing for a moment to take it all in, Steve can’t help asking, “Why was none of this mentioned to me before?”

“I’m not sure…maybe he didn’t want to talk about it?” Feeling a swell of emotions, Sun then apologizes. “Sorry, I’m going to log off for today.”

Steve has no reason to stop her, but tries to put her at ease “I’ll talk to my father as soon as I can and try to do something about this. Ryuuji is my friend too, you know I never meant for this to happen.”

Although he can’t see it, Sun is able to crack a smile as she thanks him before logging off, with Steve doing the same shortly after.

July 16th 2018

In her classroom, Sun spots Ryuuji at his desk, clearly still upset. Nervous after how everything suddenly ended last night, she slowly approaches him in an attempt to talk.

“Ryuuji, I’m sor-”

“I already heard your apology last night. Nice job killing me by the way.” Ryuuji speaks in a sharp tone, staring her straight in the eyes.

“I was just trying to help you calm down. I didn’t think it would work.”

“And I didn’t think I’d be killed by my best friend. Now is there something you want?”

Struck by his remark, Sun takes a step back with her lip quivering. She tries to hold herself together, then shouts back at Ryuuji.

“Fine. I only want to help, but...I can see you’re still that selfish idiot who transferred here months ago!”

Sun rushes to her desk and takes a seat, holding back tears and trying to calm herself. After watching her walk away, Ryuuji turns to the front of the classroom, not feeling the need to say any more.

All day, Sun and Ryuuji did not say a word to one another. When the closing bell rings, she simply watches as he rushes out of the room. Whether it was to avoid her or because he has work, she has no idea. It doesn’t matter right now anyway.

Still sitting at her desk, Sun notices her two ‘former friends’ leave as well. They’ve always been in the same class ever since starting high school and wound up talking as a result. However, after yelling at them for their advice to ignore Ryuuji, they haven’t spoken since. She started to wonder if that wasn’t such a good idea, but also believes they should be the ones to apologize rather than herself, so she hasn’t tried reaching out.

Sun finds it difficult to get up off her chair. Waiting for time to pass, it feels like it takes forever. Sun then realizes she feels some familiarity in this situation.

“This is similar to how it was back then…”

Sun moved to Japan from California 10 years ago after her father suddenly passed away. Her mother didn’t want to live in the US anymore and so they moved in with her grandmother until they could find a new home.

Sun found the adjustment to be very difficult. She spoke Japanese just fine, having done so with her parents on a regular basis, but couldn’t help mixing in more English words than one normally would at her age, creating awkward situations. This resulted in her struggling to make friends.

Steve and her would talk to each other, but all conversations were erratic due to the time difference, only adding to her despair.

By the time summer vacation ended, Sun was deep in depression. She skipped school at least once a week and her grades were slipping, resulting in her barely passing class. No matter what her mother said, it had no effect. Sun’s mind continued to deteriorate. That is until Steve brought up the game Starfight during a phone call.

“Starfight?” Sun asks, this being the first time she heard the title.

“Yeah! It’s an online game that was released a few months ago. I figured we could have fun playing the game and talk together through our headsets. A two in one special!”

Sun is skeptical, but also points out, “I don’t have a headset.”

“Ah- that’s right, I guess you wouldn’t.” Steve now realizes. “W-well we can use the chat box until you buy one!”

Without Steve’s optimism and positivity, Sun is sure she would be in a darker place. They aren’t able to talk as much as they’d like, but he still ended up helping her whenever she needed it most as if he sensed it.

“It’s okay, we can play now and I’ll try to buy one this week.”

“Awesome! My character is a swordsman, but pick whatever you want and I’ll help you get started. Though I think a hunter might suit you best.”

Sun purchases the game and installs it within the next hour. Following Steve’s advice, she picks a hunter character and goes with her favorite colors, orange and yellow, for the outfit. She’s now stuck with picking a username.

“Are you finished?” Steve asks.

“What should I do for a name? I can’t think of one.”

“Hmm…how about Sunshine? It’s perfect!”

“That sounds too simple, but I’ll use it anyway.” Sun says with a laugh.

Once finished, she arrives in the town of Rayna and meets with Steve, or HeroHiro, to start leveling up. This was the only play session where they utilized the chat box. Sun purchased a headset the next day and, just like Steve said, she found it much more fun to play in a different setting while talking. Their meetings were still random due to the differing times, but it helped tide her over better than anything they tried before, shattering her depression.

After life began to improve, Sun wanted to go somewhere completely different for high school to basically start over in a new area. Her mother tried to talk her out of it, but Sun still applied and was accepted to a school that was an hour’s train ride away. The ride took some getting used to and she was sure to complain about it to Steve whenever they talked.

The change still resulted in success. She made two friends in her first year, and later had someone to ride the train together with, and even met two more people who enjoyed playing Starfight.

Considering all of that, Sun is reminded she isn’t alone anymore. There’s this issue with Ryuuji, but she’s confident they’ll be able to move past this and things will be like they were before. She just needs to be patient for now. There’s no point in forcing a solution right away. With that thought in mind, Sun checks the time to see it’s 3:30 pm and decides to push herself to leave.

Outside, she notices Seiji and Hanabi and runs over to them, immediately asking about their trip. They both had a lot of fun, with Hanabi telling her they got her and Ryuuji souvenirs.

“Seiji is the one who insisted we bring something back.” Hanabi points out with a mischievous smile.

“Uh, yeah, where is Ryuuji anyway?” Seiji asks, wanting to hide his embarrassment.

“He has work and left in a hurry.”

Bringing up the one thing she doesn’t want to talk about, Sun tries to think of a simple reason that doesn’t arouse suspicion. However, they both know Ryuuji works in the area where Sun lives which is why they take the same train.

Sensing that something is wrong, Seiji bluntly asks, “What happened while we were gone?”

That one question causes Sun to look away and start tearing up. Hanabi rushes to her side to comfort her.

“Seiji! Don’t make her cry!”

“What? It must have been Ryuuji, not me.” Seiji still feels bad, not intending to trigger that reaction.

Naturally Sun doesn’t blame him. “He is being a jerk, but he’s not fully in the wrong either.”

“Let’s just go somewhere so we can talk. It seems like you could use it.” Seiji suggests.

They go to a shopping area close by. Sun and Hanabi take a seat on a bench while Seiji gets them some drinks at a vending machine across the way. He hands a can of juice to each of them, and takes a seat, leaning back with his arms up on the bench, waiting until Sun is ready.

After a few minutes, she proceeds to explain what happened, crying in the process. Starting with her, Steve, Ryuuji talking in Starfight last night, the sudden news about Komi Company, Ryuuji lashing out and attacking Steve, and Sun taking out his character. She then brings up how she tried to talk to Ryuuji this morning, but he was just as upset as last night. After settling down, she wipes away the tears that remain.

Seiji is the first to speak up. “We were gone for one weekend and it got this bad?”

“I’m sorry we couldn’t be there to help.” Hanabi places her hand on Sun’s shoulder for comfort.

“Don’t worry about it. You have nothing to do with this anyway. Ryuuji simply blames Steve and even thinks I was hiding this from him.”

“Sounds like this is becoming more complicated than he expected. Want me to try talking to him?” Seiji asks, leaning around Hanabi to get a better look at Sun.

“No, I don’t think that will do much. You know how stubborn he is.”

“Alright but-”

Seiji tries to respond, but Hanabi pops up in front of him and beats him to it.

“But we’ll be here to support you whenever you need it!”

“C’mon Hana, don’t steal my line like that.”

Hanabi pats Seiji on the back as condolence, but they still manage to make Sun laugh.

“Thanks for listening, and sorry you had to see this weak side.” Sun says.

“There’s no need to apologize. We all have that, some just don’t show it as much.” Seiji says.

“See, you still got to say something cool.” Hanabi can’t help poking fun at his comment.

Hanabi gives the bag of souvenirs to Sun. It contains a few sweets from the area they visited, suggesting she share it with Ryuuji when they can talk again. Seiji considers it best to give them some space in the game as well, just asking that she keeps them updated. Sun promises to tell them if anything else happens, thanking them once more for everything they’ve done. Sun goes to the station to wait for the next train while Seiji walks Hanabi home.

Over the next few days, their conflict remains unresolved. Despite Ryuuji working every night, Sun doesn’t hesitate to take the same train. Even with summer vacation only a week away, she would rather it not take longer to get home each day. She just makes sure to avoid running into him for now.

Through that time, Ryuuji doesn’t talk to any of his friends nor does he log into Starfight. No one knew the exact reason. Then, the day before school ends for summer vacation, Seiji spots Ryuuji in the hallway and reaches out.

“Hey Ryuuji!”

Ryuuji turns around and grins. “Oh hey, you’re still talking to me? I thought for sure you’d be on Sun’s side.”

“What the hell are you talking about ‘sides’ for? There’s no need for that, we’re all friends aren’t we?”

Ryuuji then sighs as his smile fades. “You’re right, that was too far for a joke. Sorry.”

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to. Tomorrow is the last day of school until break begins. Are you really okay with things ending this way?”

“I know, I know! Can’t believe I’m being lectured by a brat.” Ryuuji rolls his eyes. “I have a plan to fix this. I just needed some extra time to cool off. This whole situation with my dad’s company won’t stop blowing up in my face.” Ryuuji leans against the wall beside them. “I’m sending a message out tonight in Starfight, to you and Hinami as well. I was working extra days this past week because they needed help so I haven’t been able to fix my keyboard.”

“What, did you throw it?”

“Yeah, basically. When I wasn’t at my best.”

“That side of you seems to come out more than it should, but anyway, why didn’t you just say so? I have a spare at home.”

“That would actually help a lot. Mind if I stop by after school?”

“Stop…over?”

Seiji moves his lips in an attempt to speak, but is suddenly stricken with fear and unable to. The very idea of having someone come over to where he lives consumes him with fear, leaving him frozen. This lasts for a few seconds until he hears Ryuuji’s voice, with him shouting after he failed to get his attention the first time.

“Can you hear me?”

Seiji glances up to see a concerned Ryuuji now standing right in front of him. To show he’s alright, Seiji smiles and pushes himself to speak up.

“Y-yeah. Come to think of it, I can’t remember where I put it.”

As Seiji was talking, he avoided looking at Ryuuji. His eyes were instead fixated on the windows to his right. Ryuuji could tell something was wrong, but decided to save it for another day, not knowing how to handle it since this is the first time he’s seen him act this way.

“Don’t worry about it, I should be able to fix mine tonight. I don’t want a brat hounding me to return it anyway.”

“As if I would do that.”

Ryuuji observes Seiji once more. He seems to be a little nervous still, but calm enough so he says his goodbye and walks away.

Now left alone, Seiji takes a deep breath and lets it all out, then punches the wall.

“That was pathetic! I consider Ryuuji a friend yet still panicked when it came to him coming to my place. What is there to be worried about?”

Later at home, Ryuuji is checking his keys after putting them all back in place. One by one, making sure they still work and are in the correct spot. Once complete, he opens Starfight and logs in.

“I haven’t been on in almost a week, this is probably a new record for me.”

He checks his party list to see that none of his friends are online. Not that it affects his plans.

Ryuuji opens a new private message and types; ‘July 30th 11am (my time) Duel of a lifetime. The amazing AkaNinja vs the clever HeroHiro! You don’t want to miss it!’

He sends that to everyone and then a Colosseum challenge to Steve for the same date and time. Normally Ryuuji avoids the Colosseum ever since the hacker incident from over a year ago. Players would get hacked and after the battle, their accounts were erased from the game.

At least 3 players were affected, leading them to believe it may have been done by one individual. Komi Company was unable to recover any lost data or track down the hacker, so they discontinued Colosseum challenges until they could create a more secure system. It took 6 months to do so and there hasn’t been an incident since then.

Not even 5 minutes after sending the challenge, Ryuuji hears a notification that Steve responded already. He laughs, knowing it’s probably really late where he is, wondering why he’s still up. The message reads; ‘Don’t expect an easy win, ninja boy.’

Meanwhile, Seiji, Hanabi, and Sun also read the messages, with each of them relieved knowing Ryuuji is willing to resolve this in a more peaceful manner. At least for him.

Ryuuji notices everyone has now logged in and assumes they read the messages. With all the pieces set, that leaves just a few days to wait.

********************

Far away in another country, a young Asian woman is sitting at her desk, tapping her finger, visibly upset.

“I can’t believe Hei has to get another surgery in a few weeks. Having 3 surgeries in the span of 7 months...he’s still only 10 years old. I wish there was a way I could cheer him up.”

On her computer, she logs into Starfight. Instead of the usual method, she attempts to hack into the Colosseum, just as she did over a year ago before they improved their security. Since the update, she hasn’t been able to work around it to get in, but to her surprise, it works. Letting out a big laugh and clapping her hands with joy, she immediately celebrates.

“Amazing! They were able to lock me out before, but I guess they got lazy. Let’s~ see~ what~ we~ have~ here~!”

Humming to herself, she opens the list of upcoming battles and is able to see the character name, class, country, date, and time. Seemingly uninterested in most of the scheduled matches as she scrolls through them, she stops at a good one. ‘AkaNinja, Ninja, Japan vs HeroHiro, Swordsman, USA’

“A ninja? If I remember right there’s only one in the game. And the date is...in a few days! I know he will love this. See you there Mr Ninja~”

She sets up a reminder on her digital calendar and laughs once more, excited to use a class she has never been able to before.

********************

Starfight Tips;;

Even when not logged in, players have the option to receive notifications for messages and challenges through their computer or phone.

In order for a Colosseum challenge to be scheduled, it must first be accepted by the challenger. They can hold a date and time for 24 hours. If no one accepts it within that time then the challenge is null. Players have the option to accept any challenges or not accept any. There only isn’t an option to automatically deny them when sent from those who you regularly form a party with.