Game Start

My room looked as messy as my life, but I’d have to manage. Again, just like with my life. …Alright, enough stupid jokes.

Anyway, I probably should tidy it up just a little bit. After all, an actual girl was coming here. What would my parents think? Luckily, they were out of the house today. It was better for me that way, so I wasn’t about to complain.

A few minutes of shuffling some items around and a little cleaning later, it looked decent. Good enough. At least I didn’t have to hide my porn mags or anything—those were safely tucked away in hidden files on my computer. This was the digital age after all.

Now that this task was done, I prepared some refreshments, loaded up the game in the background and made sure I had three VR helmets. One was an older model, but it should still fall within the specifications.

All that remained was waiting.

I was pretty sure Kai would come as promised… but what about Saga? She left me on read upon sending her my address. What if this was just a joke for her? Maybe a bet with her friends to see how much I was going to embarrass myself.

No, wait. Pretty sure she had no friends; I even heard some of the girls badmouthing her before.

Time passed slowly but surely and I found myself growing nervous. While pondering how this day was going to unfold, two things happened with barely a second between them, making me jump.

The first was my computer screen suddenly flashing red. Almost as if it was bleeding.

I’ve had my fair share of so-called “blue screens of death”, but a red one? Was this some sort of bug?

However, a moment later I heard the doorbell and found myself rising to my legs, heart pounding.

Was this Kai? Or was this Saga? I was still worried about that red screen, but I didn’t want to keep my guests waiting. I took one last look around the room—still quite a bit messy, just like my current state of mind, haha—and went to get the door.

There were two people outside—a boy and a girl.

“Oh, you’re here. …Together.”

“Yeah,” said Kai, going past me and inside immediately. He was dressed in a short-sleeved shirt that showed off his biceps. “We just happened to meet up on the way, so we came here together.”

Saga, meanwhile, gave me a gaze that was even colder than the AC I had on, said nothing and all and entered as well. Kinda rude, but not unexpected from her. Her glasses and braided hair were the usual, but she wore casual clothing that, although not revealing at all, still showed off her figure well.

I briefly wondered while closing the door… was it really a coincidence they met like that, or were they hiding something from me?

Inviting a cute girl to my house and then finding out she was actually Kai’s girlfriend would be soul-crushing, to say the least. Even if I had no chances with her in a million years.

I shook my head; there was no need to think about that. They were here to see my game. My goal for today was to have Saga’s pretty face finally show some shred of emotion by aweing her with my game, or something.

Which reminded me—was the game even fine? I hurried back to my room.

“How can you live like this, C?” grumbled Kai, who got there before me.

“It’s not that bad,” I argued. I even sprayed something so it wouldn’t smell.

Saga, meanwhile, remained as dispassionate as ever. “Hah, are those your consoles?” She pointed toward the three helmets resting on the bed.

“Yes,” I said, “but…”

My eyes went to my computer. Huh, it came back to the usual wallpaper image. No trace of any redness whatsoever.

Hmm. Was I imagining things? I did see it for just a split second. Glancing at the desktop, everything seemed to be in order.

“Well?” asked a voice from behind. “Are we doing it or not?”

Kai chose my spare chair, but Saga went ahead and sat down on my actual bed, putting one leg on top of another. My heart skipped a beat. Seeing a girl in my room and on my bed did terrible things to my teenage mind.

Focus, I chided myself. Game now.

“Yes. You can put on the helmets. I already set up everything, but the bootup will take a few moments. Make sure you’re comfortable, because—”

“I’m not new to this,” Saga cut me off, removed her glasses and placed the helmet on her head. “Oh, and don’t even think of trying anything funny while I’m logged in.” Or I’ll kill you, I imagined her adding, although her voice sounded as detached as ever.

Kai for some reason looked amused at this exchange, but said nothing as he put on the headset as well.

Well, it was finally showtime. I made sure the program was running smoothly, put on my own helmet—the older model—and pressed the button on its side.

Excruciating pain struck me the moment I did this.

It was even worse than stubbing my toe or that time I got my finger caught in a hamster’s mouth (don’t ask). It felt as if my head was pierced by millions of small needles. I could barely think in my agony.

Was something wrong with the helmet? With the program? And why did it feel like I already—

When I came to, I found myself standing on soft grass, feeling a slight vertigo. The blue sky above me had very few clouds and a soft wind was blowing.

I blinked once and looked around me. There were some trees and bushes.

Looking down, I noticed I was currently clad in simple clothes of a dull color.

I was inside my game.

There was no doubt about that; I’d seen this exact area thousands of times during playtesting. Moving my body, it felt the same as always. Eerily so.

I could hear birds chirping. I put those sounds in for the ambience. It meant everything was working as intended.

“No… something’s definitely wrong,” I mumbled. The voice was my own and it, too, sounded the same as always and just like it was supposed to be.

If this was the game, however, I was supposed to have been taken to the character creation process first of all. I made sure to reset all settings for today. While it was a bit basic since this game was little more than a demo right now, I did put in some options for changing one’s appearance, as well as selecting your starting class, skills et cetera.

That was unnatural. My head also felt entirely clear, without a trace of pain or anything else. Did I just imagine those final moments… Or did something go horribly wrong in the process?

I moved my hands a certain way, but no menu came up.

That was all kinds of problematic. For one, it meant that I… couldn’t log out.

Oh, no.

So it was one of those things.

I was stuck in my own game, wasn’t I?

No sooner had I finished that thought than I noticed a shape emerge from between the trees. It was colored a greenish turquoise, and I immediately recognized it. After all, I was the one who programmed it into the game, graphics and behavior included.

The mob known as a slime.

Not original, but who cares? This was just a demo anyway.

I still had no idea what happened, or, for that matter, what happened to Kai and Saga—but I could worry about all of that later.

It was time for my first battle.