Regular Day

.."...ky", "..Ikky",..."Hey Ikky, wake up!"

Ikky slowly opened his eyes, disoriented from his surroundings. Standing in front of him was a classmate Josh, one of his friends.

"W-What's going on?" he asked.

"What do you mean, what's going on?! A math teacher is coming, class is about to start." right after Josh finished speaking, the doors blew up.

"Everybody be quiet! Class is starting" yelled the math teacher.

"Hey Ikky, did you sleep the whole Lunch break again?" asked teach.

"No Sir, I definitely didn't."

"Then explain to me the imprints on your face, I can read from your face better than from the book." the whole class started to laugh, while Ikky felt a bit embarrassed.

"Alright, quiet down kids. Class is starting." said the teacher and began his lesson.

At first, Ikky tried to pay attention but soon lost all interest, instead looking out the window as usual.

'Math… how I hate math,' he thought.

Ikky was barely able to go through school years. All because of the damn math. Even though he was quite good with his grades and his IQ was somewhere above average, math was a different story.

He understood and remembered all the formulas, but applying numbers to them and making them into valid results was out of reach, simply an impossible task.

---

Time flew by and school ended.

"Hey Ikky, let's stop by the gaming center before we go home!" Josh asked.

"I'll skip, I didn't bring enough money with me today," Ikky said as an excuse.

'I would rather run and move my body than spend hours in a gaming chair.' thought Ikky.

Although Ikky had decent grades, apart from math, he was also quite good at sports, and playing some games was just a waste of time.

"Tsk, you never bring any money with you," complained his friend.

"Let me see if I have enough for the two of us." Josh brought out his wallet, pretending to scan inside of it, knowing it was mostly empty, as always.

Ignoring his friend's action, Ikky turned his head forward and watched the girl packing her things in the first row of tables.

"Still in love with Rina?" said Josh with a frown after following his gaze.

"You have no chance, I heard her parents are already looking for a rich fellow to be her Fiance. Ensuring the company's future is more important for them," continued his friend while shaking his head.

"I was never in love with her, just feeling some admiration, that's all.," opposed Ikky.

Josh always thought that Ikky was in love with Rina, but he never knew the truth. Ikky was never looking at the tall beautiful girl with smooth skin and long blackish blue hair, but instead at the indistinct short girl with black hair in a ponytail style. Her name was Yuri and she was Rina's childhood friend, so they always stuck together.

"Yes, admiration or attractiveness?" Josh teased his friend, not believing a single word he said.

Ikky shook his head.

"Never mind, see you tomorrow," Josh said his farewell to Ikky and ran straight to the game center.

'Sigh.' Ikky closed his eyes for a few seconds and also left the classroom.

***

"I'm home," said Ikky upon arriving at his house.

"Hey!" came somewhere from the living room.

Ikky went there and saw his little sister lying on the sofa with her head upside down and eating some snacks.

"How was your day big bro?" she asked.

"You will get fat if you eat too many snacks," Ikky teased her.

"No, I won't! Mom, brother is calling me fat!"

"Yes, yes,.." said mother from the kitchen with a smile on her face. Her kids always brought her happiness.

"I will go jogging, I will be back before dinner," said Ikky.

"Again? You should play with me!" complained his little sister, but made no effort to move even an inch while lying on the sofa.

Ikky smiled at his little sister who continued to eat her snacks and completely ignored him even though she was just demanding attention a few moments ago. Then he went upstairs to his room to change and went for a few kilometers of jogging.

Later that evening they all met at the table during family dinner.

"Grades still going smoothly?" Asked Ikkys father.

"Yes dad, still having problems with math although," admitted Ikky.

"Then you should study more and run less," said his father with a strict face.

"How would our family look to neighbors if you would need to repeat a year?" he continued.

"Don't worry dad, I will do my best" Ikky promised.

No longer interested in the previous talk, his father turned to his wife and spoke of his work issues as he needed somebody to listen to his complaints.

Shortly after dinner, Ikky helped his little sister with the dishes and then went upstairs to his room. After finishing his homework for tomorrow, he was finally able to relax and lay on his bed thinking about today's event and plans for tomorrow. Carefree of any worries, his eyelids got heavier and heavier until they closed briefly and he fell asleep.

***

The next morning, Ikky arrived at his class as usual. However, the atmosphere around the class felt out of place today.

'What's going on, why is everybody so loud and excited, don't tell me I forgot about some test.' Ikky was worried when he walked to his desk, but the answer didn't take long to arrive.

"Hey, Ikky! Did you hear the news?! I can't believe it's finally here, out of nowhere, can you believe it? On top of that, only in 2 days! That's too soon, how am I even going to make it," his Josh friend kept talking without a sign of stopping.

"Hold on! Slow down a bit, I have no idea what you are talking about," said Ikky confused.

"The Ancient Era is releasing! On top of that this Sunday!" Josh answered, still unable to calm down completely.

"Ancient Era? What's that?"

Josh looked at Ikky as if he was talking to somebody from a different planet.

"The Ancient Era, the VR game from Crystal company!"

"Oh,.." Ikky answered disappointingly. 'So it's just another game.'

"Oh?, OH?! I bet you just thought of it's (just a game), didn't you?" Josh asked annoyed by Ikky's reaction.

"Sorry, sorry..but you know me, I'm not really into playing games, I prefer when I can move my body." Ikky apologized to his friend.

"Ts, ts.. that is where you are wrong my dear friend" after hearing Ikky's apology, Josh turned his mood by 180°.

"Listen up, do you see everybody being so excited? That is because Crystal company came up with revolutionary technology," Josh was explaining as if he was a true expert in that field.

"Ancient Era is a completely different game, it can not be compared to any other games,.." Josh said but got interrupted.

"But there are many VR games, how is this one even different?" Ikky asked to stop his friend, but it didn't help.

"Don't interrupt me and you will know," frowned Josh.

"The new VR technology from Crystal company is able to transfer between 90% to 99% of personal information to the game. You will need to get tested at special centers, both physically and mentally, and your character stats will reflect your real-life condition,"

'That's crazy, why would somebody do something so complex for the game' prepared to ask and interrupt his friend once again, but Josh continued without stopping.

"Developers also managed to create an environment connected to our brain waves, so everything in the game will feel extremely real! They were able to combine in-game senses and real-life senses to an unbelievable perception! They even mentioned that the game will improve as more players join the game because the system will have more data to gather from, It's a true technological breakthrough, some people call it a second life," Josh said running out of breath.

"But still, it's only a game, isn't it? Even if your senses are realistic, there are many obstacles to overcome, calling it like real life seems a bit too much.., I know, that game graphics went really realistic in recent years, but still, and what about NPC? You will feel like talking to a recording or maybe even a wall." said Ikky not really sharing his friend's excitement.

*Ring, Ring, Ring*

"Damn, class is starting," Josh complained, "watch Crystal's company introduction video on next break!" he ran back to his desk.

Ikky saw the English teacher enter the classroom. Remembering his English grades, he knew that missing one lecture won't do any difference, so he took out one earbud and put it into one of his ears while starting Crystal's introductory video on their website on his phone.

***