Night of the Virtual Dead: Introduction

Today’s UN Training --- Create a world where your students can thrive

If your goal as a leader is to create a world that will serve the growth of society as a whole, what better way to train for that brilliant future than use your current world as a case study? Of course, the sample size of Akihiro Tani’s world can’t be considered an entirely accurate representation, but he can confidently say that changing even one person’s life is an improvement on an already established norm. If he can change five lives, it would be considered a major success.

How will he, or how can he change those five people? And to what ends will this change be?

For now, Tani’s goal is to teach his students a new language. He must do that by any means necessary if he even wants to sniff a chance at affecting the wider world in the future. How he will do that is by taking advantage of the resources available to him, which is currently the darkened hallways and classrooms of Kokusai high school.

His Languages Club members are ripe for growth, so long as he can mold the world around them into one where they can thrive. 

The question is, what is that world going look like..?

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Akihiro Tani sits in a dark room illuminated by LED screens; the 5 desktops surrounding his gaming chair brightens his frame in fluorescent light. With outstretched hands typing away on individual keyboards underneath each screen, he lets out a devilish cackle.

“Kukuku.”

A pop up moniker on each screen flashes in front of him, the text within it asking: Ready to start the game?

“Ha! Oh I'm damn ready. But it's not about me...” he says, his thin smile stretching deeper into his cheeks.

He presses a button on the headset he is wearing, and a green light over his right ear begins to flash. He then presses the Enter button on each of the 5 keyboards in front of him.

The pop up moniker displayed on the LED screens are replaced by images of different spots in the school. The images move with the fluidity of life, which is just what Tani was hoping for. Each individual screen is connected to the VR of his club members.

In separate spots throughout the school, Tani knows their exact positions with the help of little maps at the bottom right side of each monitor. He can see what they can see through their goggles and has essentially become an omniscient observer.

“Languages club members!” he proclaims in an all powerful tone, “Are you ready to learn??”

“I’m ready!” replies Kimura Ume, her excitement bubbling at the prospect of playing this game. Stationed on the first floor in the auditorium, Tani can see the outline of the stage through her VR goggles.

Standing on that stage in front of the hanging red curtains is Emilia, what she sees through her goggles is the almost transparent frame of Ume, and the chairs lined in rows stretching all the way to the back of the room.

“I am on the stage like you want me to…” Emilia says. Although befuddled as to why he has had her standing in this particular spot, her tone doesn't reveal it. “The problem is that I can’t see much without the lights on.”

Tani ignores her, and looks to the two screens on his right.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Charl answers. Leaning casually against the basketball hoop inside the gym, he scours the glossed wood of the court being kissed by city lights of the outside world invited in by the large windows above them. The volleyball nets still in place from the club’s practice earlier in the evening are casting long shadows over the school's logo at the center of the court.

“I don’t know dude, it’s pretty dark in here. Why can’t we turn on the lights??” Mariko asks wishfully while standing close to Charl for comfort.

“Worry not about the lights!” Tani says, leaning back in his gamer chair and spinning in place. “This project will not work with the lights on, so I’ve taken the liberty of shutting down all indoor electricity. I will be the one to guide you through your objectives tonight, and at the end I’m confident you will all be better people for it.”

“Copy that!” Ume greets that declaration with vigor.

The rest greet his declaration with a dejected silence.

Tani looks to his far left screen and can see exactly what Anita is currently gazing upon through her goggles. Her station is inside the teacher’s faculty room on the third floor, and she’s leaning up against a desk in the large dark space cluttered with paperwork and filing cabinets.

If she isn't careful, she could very easily be turned around in this maze of cordoned off desks and cabinets. Without lights, the outline of stacks of paper a mere couple feet in front of her are difficult to ascertain and could be confused for something else.

Anita seems unbothered by this dark forest of Japanese public education, and plays with the ribbons in her hair to pass time before Tani's voice reaches her ears through her VR.

“Anita.” 

“Yes?”

“You are my partner in this game. If we do it right, we'll be learning from each other better than we have so far."

Nodding her head as she rummages through what little bit of knowledge she's attained thus far, what she ends up understanding is enough to bring about a lovely shape to her lips.  “That sounds nice. Let’s do our best.”

Tani can't see her, but her clear and concise response, in a strange way, feels physical enough to touch. He lets a gentle puff escape his nose and types words onto the keyboard. Clicking his final button sharply as though emphasizing a job well done, he leans back in his chair comfortably.

“Alright everyone, I’m now going to explain to you why I’ve chosen this method to help with your language training. So listen up.”

Tani’s resolute voice travels straight into the club members’ ears through the headphones on the VR helmets. In fact, any noise from outside of their helmets is canceled out. Most reviews on the web laud the new design feature for how well it allows the user to be immersed in their virtual world.

Everyone’s attention is drawn towards his instructive tone.

“Have any of you heard of the phenomena called, the Suspension Bridge Effect? You see, the Suspen----”

“Ah, I most certainly have.” Charl interrupts.

Tani clicks his tongue. “I had a feeling you would be happy to point that out.”

“What does that have to do with our language training?” Emilia asks.

“I’m trying to tell you just that! No more interruptions!”

Tani clears his throat, expelling his agitation.

“The Suspension Bridge Effect is a psychological response to a stressful situation. It's accuracy is debated of course, but it has been proven to be real for some and is a shortcut to a buildup of many months worth of affection. What I’m doing for you today is something similar, but using language as the emotional replacement.”

“So we’ll be VR’d onto a bridge?” Ume asks excitedly.

Her enthusiasm isn’t lost on the rest of the club, and they wonder why she seems to be so amped up and eager despite the unknown aspects of the situation they’ve found themselves in.

“No, but you’ll be put through a similar stress.”

“I hate the sound of that!” Mariko protests.

“But you’ll love the rewards! All you need to do is work with your partner to immediately alleviate the stress you’re put under. Using teamwork and accessing a part of your brain that takes in the most information while under duress, you’ll be implanted with the memory of the language you’ve just learned.”

“Uuughh.”

“For tonight, you’ll be confronted by questions that will need to be answered to eliminate virtual threats.  With your senses overwhelmed it may seem difficult at first, but I assure you that the info you take in won’t be forgotten. Come tomorrow I will quiz you on what you learned, and we’ll be one step closer to completing our goal as a club!”

“I would like to opt out!”

“Kukukuku It’s too late, my cowardly student! The doors will remain locked until you complete the mission, Operation Haunted Mansion will now commence! Muahahahaaha!!”

Tani’s villainous laugh is cut off by an abrupt disconnection of the audio, and is quickly replaced with a bassy wind that screeches into their ears as though whispering through the leafless branches of dead trees. Creaking noises and the pitter pattering of squealing rats scurrying off encases them into a dark world.

Visually, they can see where they are in the school, but what was already the darkened walls are now replaced by charred looking wooden beams covered in cobwebs and broken glass.

They have been virtually thrust into a horror film.

Akihiro Tani has created a world where the Language's club can thrive. 

Today's UN Lesson --- To Be Continued!