Chapter 0:
Chapter 1: As Always
My Life
In a world full of destiny, dreams, and fantasies, not everyone is meant to reach their desires. A flower can bloom brightly, another cannot. You had dreamed, but you haven't achieve it. The elders yearn to do things they never managed in their whole life. And there are things I want to do and avoid before I grow old. I'm suppose to be at school learning, but I am here in my apartment cooking for lunch. Peeling the potatoes, chopping the cabbages and carrots. The rice cooker started boiling, I switched it to warm. My phone started ringing after I put the ingredients on the boiling hot pot. It was a classmate, her name is Yuki Hajimi. "Where the hell are you Kiyoshi Sora!? Why the hell are you absent again!?" That high pitch voice again, the voice I have heard since elementary. "Woah, no need to shout my whole name. Why do you even care about me?" "Teacher Hana is literally asking me about you which I shouldn't be involve with. And am I hearing cooking?" "Just shut up about it, she won't remember it later and next week, and yeah, I am cooking for lunch" "Gaaah, I wonder what happened to you. You were such a good boy when we were in elementary, perfect attendance, good attitude, no vices-" "Stop talking like a mom. People change ooookaaay" "I am so totally telling Teacher Hana next week" "No, please! This is such a basic task and you can't do i-!" She suddently hanged up. I hammered my table and sighed. No friends, no bitches, no balls, no motivation to go to school. People avoid me because I looked like an Otaku. Eyeglasses, the hair, the way I style,NO! I don't even watch manga and anime. I prefer to read western comics and western animations. Watching them hits something inside me. But, she was right, I wonder what had... Happened to me. My sudden change, I hate smoking when I was a kid. And last month, my addiction started kicking in. Well, I probably hope also she won't remember it next week. Friday today, Saturday and Sunday, three days to forget about Kiyoshi Sora absent at school last week. The time is 12:05, smoking time. I set a timer in my phone and went out of my apartment. By the time I got out, I met Shiva Yamato outside her door, lighting up her ciggarete. The rays of the warm sun lighting her up. It's like... A masterpiece. I kinda like have this hobby when I look something mostly nature and it looks beautiful to photoshoot, I just stare. Shiva and I are just nearby each other. She noticed me, eyes full of boredom. Shiva is 21 years old, 4 years older than me. I am lazy like her, but my level of laziness can't be compared to her. She even sometimes come to my door and ask favor to buy her something from the store. There was that one time we were dismissed from school, I met her resting on a pole so drunk and sober I have to carry her to her apartment without getting seen by my classmates. By the time I went in, her room was a full mess, clothes, underwears, and thrash just scattered around. I hope that mess was cleaned up till today. "Oh hello Kiyoshi, I see you are not at school" I went beside her to lean on the balustrade and lit up my cigarette, watching the people walk below. "Yeah, just having a day off. Why can't just school let students have a normal day-off, we do not look like a machine or something" "Teachers are going to slap the hell out of you if you say that to them. But yeah, I agree with you" She puff a smoke on my face teasingly, the smell stung my nose. I flinched and fan the air with my hand. "Can you stop that" "So, how's life" I puffed out a smoke and watched 2 strangers having a conversation infront of a grocery across the street. "Nothing much, it's just life doing it's work. It keep getting worse and worse" "You sure those bullies aren't getting out of your way?" "That's why I am working out in the mean time to soon beat the shit out of them" "Oh yeah? Show me what you got then" Shiva raised both of her fists up and started hopping going for the boxing stance. She started punching my ahoulder, kicking my leg. I am unfazed, no hurt at all, continuing to smoke. She landed the final blow on my chest then stopped. "Wow, I didn't know you have a tough body even with that thin body" A vein bulged on my head. I raised a fist in a threatening pose. "Maybe you also want a taste of my fist?" "N-no thanks" She put her ciggarete butt on the ashholder between us, I also put mine after a final puff. My phone started buzzing. Great timing. "I'm hungry, I'm going now Shiva" I wave a goodbye and started heading to my door. Before I twist the knob, a hand landed on my shoulder, stopping me. "Got any food in there darlin?" "Huh?" I turned around, it was Shiva stopping me giving me a city pitiful face. A sweat rolled over my neck. She raised her eyebrows twice giving me her eyebrow flash with a nonchalant wide grin. "I'ma guess that you hadn't cook for lunch?" "Please! I overslept a while ago and forgot about it until you mentioned about lunch. Just for today, I would really appreciate it" "You are really helpless, okay, come in" "Thank you thank you thank you" And I will guess that her room wasn't cleaned.
***
I placed my hot pancake with melting cheese on top and my coffee on my table infront of my PC. "Okay, let's check if I finally got a job" I muttered to myself I opened my mail and started looking and scrolling. "Rejected, rejected... Rejected as I expected" I scrolled down even more, hoping to find an accepted one. "Wait I minute, we have one here" I clicked on the mail, I took a sip of my warm coffee and started reading. "Congratulations, you have been accepted to work under GameIsLife(GIL) Company! Our job is to keep games safe and enjoyable for people. You will be paid highly depending on your performance." Huh, GIL Company, a popular company about reviewing game and does a great job about it. I can't believe I got accepted by them. Since now, games realesed nowadays are getting ridiculous and gamers are enraged and want the game publisher companies to do something about. So, GIL stepped in and did a collab with some of the popular game publishers to fix this issue. Not only that, they also gave jobs to people by hiring them to fix the issue. Such a great company. "We have partnered with game publishers like GameForEveryone(GFA), CogShopStore, DigiTG, PixlypixGames, IM, and porn site like FGames. Before we continue, you are required to take a test by clicking this link." Huh, seems pretty easy. I rechecked the website where I found it. They have the same mail account. Okay, not a scam. I clicked on the link, it brought me to a site that looked friendly with gray bland background. It shows some images, informations, and descriptions. It is a game titled Fantasy Sim. "Let's test you critical thinking skills. This is just a test and made up by us. See what is wrong in here. On the bottom, you see three icons. A checkmark, an X mark, and a capital P. Click checkmark if the game is safe, playable, and goos to go. Click X if the game is unplayable, glitchy, buggy, virused, and misleading. Finally, click 18+ button if the game is for adults like horror games, games involves blood, or has a sexual content. You can click this button to try and test the game, fully or just a while. Click this hazard button to check for any virus. Our engine is still in beta and lacking features, it will soon be updated in the future" That was a lot, but still seems pretty easy. I satrted checking, the icon, epic images of gameplay and trailer, description about the game. "Wait a second-" The images of the gameplay looks like it is a big game, but it's size is small around 80 megabytes. I ran the game, it dropped me to the main menu screen, it looked so badly made and doesn't even fit the theme of the images, I don't even need to play it. This is misleading. I clicked X. "Great job, but before we continue, what was wrong with the game?" "The game was misleading. It's images don't match the game at all" "That is correct, now for the second game"
***
"I kinda... Found this easy job online" "What is it?" "Just test a game, that's all. Pays well" "Wow, such a nice job you have" Shiva and I got suddenly distracted by a sound of door opening from the far end hall. It was James coming out of his apartment. Chubby guy, like those guys that looked like a maniac or a staller. But I am not judgemental, I am basing on other people's opinion who doesn't even knew him. From my perspective, he is just a normal guy like me who gets bullied, hates school, and likes video games, but we are total strangers. James noticed us and looked down and passed by us awkwardly. "Who is he again?" "James, classmate of mine. Poor guy, getting picked off by thugs at school" "Wow, I mean like the way he looks" I looked down, I saw James heading to the convience store. Probably buy snacks and play some video games in his room. As I watch James entering the store, I could feel Shiva staring at me. She had never did this before. "Wait, how old are you again?" "I am 15, turning 17 next 3 months. Why are you asking?" She touch the upper of my lip and giggled. "Woah, you are 16 and you are already growing a moustache. You are an old bitch" "Wait, am I?" I touched above my upper lip. I could feel tiny spikes of hair. I took out my phone to look at my reflection, but I can't see well through the darkness. "It's fine, you can look at yourself on the mirror later" I am 16, my classmates are 17. I am the youngest, my mother assigned me to school early that's why. But my classmates don't have any beard growing while me, the youngest, is growing. "Where did I put my ciggarete and lighter again?" Shiva patted and searched all over her pockets. She took out a stick and a lighter. I also took out mine too. Shiva and I light our lighter, her's started blazing fire, but mine's didn't. I started attempting to lit up my lighter while she lit her ciggarete. "Uh-oh, looks like someone's lighter got ran out of gas" I threw the lighter onto a nearby garbage bin. I accidentally shot it in. "Looks like I am going to buy a new one tommorow. Can I have yours?" "Here" I took the lighter from her hand tried to lit it up. ... It-it also doesn't work. I tried to lit it up in multiple attempts. I heard Shiva snickerd, hiding her laugh. "Even my lighter doesn't like you. Give it to me" I handed back the lighter, Shiva tried to lit it up. ... No fire came out. "Huh?" She started aggressively try to make it work. She shook the lighter aggressively. "It ran out of gas!" Shiva threw it to the garbage bin same where I threw mine. It hit the side and littered on the floor. "Looks like I am also going to buy tomorrow" "Now how the hell do I lit up mine" Shiva looked at me, her bored eyes still haunting me. "Sigh, let's try the old way. Come here" I walk close up to her, then I realize what the technique is. "Put the tip of your cigarette to mine, let's both suck at the same time so that it will effectively burn your cigarette" We both move to the light to see well. I hold the cigarette with my mouth and went closer to Shiva's face. The tip met, we both suck simultaneously. "E-eh?" We heard a sound, Shiva and I looked. It was James, standing, flabbergasted to what he saw, mouth wide open, I can't see his eyes through his bright white eyeglasses. On his hands are a bag of chips and a soda. Suddenly, behind him, a girl emerged from the stairs. It was Yumi Hajimi, stomping and somewhat muttering. She suddenly stopped with a gasped when she saw our scene. Mouth dropped wide open, eyes widened, standing side by side with James who had the same identical expression as her. I pulled my head away from Shiva's face and puffed out a smoke awkwardly. "What are you two lovey doveys staring for?" James awkwardly passed by us. Yumi is just staring quietly. "You smoke!?" Yumi threw her bag on my chest, I caught it by the strap before it falls to the ground "B-be present next week! Don't be absent again" She ran back down the stairs, her face full of blush. "Who was that?" Shiva asked I sighed "Just classmate of mine. I'm not sure what was her problem"
***
I placed my hot pancake with melting cheese on top and my coffee on my table infront of my PC. "Okay, let's check if I finally got a job" I muttered to myself I opened my mail and started looking and scrolling. "Rejected, rejected... Rejected as I expected" I scrolled down even more, hoping to find an accepted one. "Wait I minute, we have one here" I clicked on the mail, I took a sip of my warm coffee and started reading. "Congratulations, you have been accepted to work under GameIsLife(GIL) Company! Our job is to keep games safe and enjoyable for people. You will be paid highly depending on your performance." Huh, GIL Company, a popular company about reviewing game and does a great job about it. I can't believe I got accepted by them. Since now, games realesed nowadays are getting ridiculous and gamers are enraged and want the game publisher companies to do something about. So, GIL stepped in and did a collab with some of the popular game publishers to fix this issue. Not only that, they also gave jobs to people by hiring them to fix the issue. Such a great company. "We have partnered with game publishers like GameForEveryone(GFA), CogShopStore, DigiTG, PixlypixGames, IM, and porn site like FGames. Before we continue, you are required to take a test by clicking this link." Huh, seems pretty easy. I rechecked the website where I found it. They have the same mail account. Okay, not a scam. I clicked on the link, it brought me to a site that looked friendly with gray bland background. It shows some images, informations, and descriptions. It is a game titled Fantasy Sim. "Let's test you critical thinking skills. This is just a test and made up by us. See what is wrong in here. On the bottom, you see three icons. A checkmark, an X mark, and a capital P. Click checkmark if the game is safe, playable, and goos to go. Click X if the game is unplayable, glitchy, buggy, virused, and misleading. Finally, click 18+ button if the game is for adults like horror games, games involves blood, or has a sexual content. You can click this button to try and test the game, fully or just a while. Click this hazard button to check for any virus. Our engine is still in beta and lacking features, it will soon be updated in the future" That was a lot, but still seems pretty easy. I satrted checking, the icon, epic images of gameplay and trailer, description about the game. "Wait a second-" The images of the gameplay looks like it is a big game, but it's size is small around 80 megabytes. I ran the game, it dropped me to the main menu screen, it looked so badly made and doesn't even fit the theme of the images, I don't even need to play it. This is misleading. I clicked X. "Great job, but before we continue, what was wrong with the game?" "The game was misleading. It's images don't match the game at all" "That is correct, now for the second game"
***
"I kinda... Found this easy job online" "What is it?" "Just test a game, that's all. Pays well" "Wow, such a nice job you have" Shiva and I got suddenly distracted by a sound of door opening from the far end hall. It was James coming out of his apartment. Chubby guy, like those guys that looked like a maniac or a staller. But I am not judgemental, I am basing on other people's opinion who doesn't even knew him. From my perspective, he is just a normal guy like me who gets bullied, hates school, and likes video games, but we are total strangers. James noticed us and looked down and passed by us awkwardly. "Who is he again?" "James, classmate of mine. Poor guy, getting picked off by thugs at school" "Wow, I mean like the way he looks" I looked down, I saw James heading to the convience store. Probably buy snacks and play some video games in his room. As I watch James entering the store, I could feel Shiva staring at me. She had never did this before. "Wait, how old are you again?" "I am 15, turning 17 next 3 months. Why are you asking?" She touch the upper of my lip and giggled. "Woah, you are 16 and you are already growing a moustache. You are an old bitch" "Wait, am I?" I touched above my upper lip. I could feel tiny spikes of hair. I took out my phone to look at my reflection, but I can't see well through the darkness. "It's fine, you can look at yourself on the mirror later" I am 16, my classmates are 17. I am the youngest, my mother assigned me to school early that's why. But my classmates don't have any beard growing while me, the youngest, is growing. "Where did I put my ciggarete and lighter again?" Shiva patted and searched all over her pockets. She took out a stick and a lighter. I also took out mine too. Shiva and I light our lighter, her's started blazing fire, but mine's didn't. I started attempting to lit up my lighter while she lit her ciggarete. "Uh-oh, looks like someone's lighter got ran out of gas" I threw the lighter onto a nearby garbage bin. I accidentally shot it in. "Looks like I am going to buy a new one tommorow. Can I have yours?" "Here" I took the lighter from her hand tried to lit it up. ... It-it also doesn't work. I tried to lit it up in multiple attempts. I heard Shiva snickerd, hiding her laugh. "Even my lighter doesn't like you. Give it to me" I handed back the lighter, Shiva tried to lit it up. ... No fire came out. "Huh?" She started aggressively try to make it work. She shook the lighter aggressively. "It ran out of gas!" Shiva threw it to the garbage bin same where I threw mine. It hit the side and littered on the floor. "Looks like I am also going to buy tomorrow" "Now how the hell do I lit up mine" Shiva looked at me, her bored eyes still haunting me. "Sigh, let's try the old way. Come here" I walk close up to her, then I realize what the technique is. "Put the tip of your cigarette to mine, let's both suck at the same time so that it will effectively burn your cigarette" We both move to the light to see well. I hold the cigarette with my mouth and went closer to Shiva's face. The tip met, we both suck simultaneously. "E-eh?" We heard a sound, Shiva and I looked. It was James, standing, flabbergasted to what he saw, mouth wide open, I can't see his eyes through his bright white eyeglasses. On his hands are a bag of chips and a soda. Suddenly, behind him, a girl emerged from the stairs. It was Yumi Hajimi, stomping and somewhat muttering. She suddenly stopped with a gasped when she saw our scene. Mouth dropped wide open, eyes widened, standing side by side with James who had the same identical expression as her. I pulled my head away from Shiva's face and puffed out a smoke awkwardly. "What are you two lovey doveys staring for?" James awkwardly passed by us. Yumi is just staring quietly. "You smoke!?" Yumi threw her bag on my chest, I caught it by the strap before it falls to the ground "B-be present next week! Don't be absent again" She ran back down the stairs, her face full of blush. "Who was that?" Shiva asked I sighed "Just classmate of mine. I'm not sure what was her problem"
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