5 The Expose

Drafts of sweet-smelling perfume whiffed into Suzuki's nose, rousing him from his dreamless sleep. He opened his eyes slowly and saw the painting of swords with the setting sun as a backdrop on the ceiling above him; his beloved painting he drew on his ceiling a while back. His bed felt more comfortable than he remembered though and he could not shake the feeling something was off.

He turned his head to take in his environment and for a second thought he was in his own room. The walls of the room he was in were painted dirty blue just like his; the desk and chair were the same as his. There was even a library of books and from where he lay, they all seemed to be the same books he had. The single difference (and a very large one at that) was the full-body virtual-drive in the corner.

That's weird, he thought. He did not remember getting that. In fact, he did not remember falling asleep. Last thing he remembered was him being called to the Principals office...

"Shit!" Sukki cursed loudly as he recalled the short fight and the stun gun. He jumped off the bed and as he took a closer look, noticed the room was much larger than his. He realized with dread that someone had recreated a close replica of his room and stuck him in it.

Sukki noticed a door and ran to it. It took its sweet time sliding open so he impatiently squeezed through once there was enough room and stopped. He was in a hallway stretching both left and right with exits at both ends.

"This way I go, this way I die, So I will go this other way," he chanted, while alternating between left and right. He ended at left, so he ran towards the right, hoping he did not choose the wrong way.

As he ran, he noticed several doors with name tags on them. 'Nera Gray.' 'Yuto Daichi', 'Akira Riku'. There seemed to be no real order to the names, but he stopped and backtracked to his own door, and sure enough his name was displayed on a tag next to his door.

"What the?" he wondered, but getting out was his priority so he resumed his dash for the exit. He opened the door slowly, so as not to alarm anyone who might be on the other side. When no alarms went off, he peered into the next room and saw it was a small hall with two elevators, a door directly opposite his, and another door led to a sort of common room, visible through the glass walls.

He walked into the hall and saw a door with stairs marked on it. It had been on the same wall as the hall he had just come from, which was why he did not see it.

The emergency exit. This was good. The elevator posed too much risk, so he opted to go for the staircase where he would have better visibility and hearing of anyone close-by.

And people say video-games don't teach you anything, He snorted as he opened the door cautiously. No one appeared to be taking the stairs, so he ran down, noting at the back of his mind that the sign by the door said he was on the seventh floor.

Suzuki continued unmarked until the ground floor where he paused to catch his breath and think. The stairs went on one floor less, but the ground floor should lead him out.

He decided to test his luck with the ground floor, and opened the door. Luckily there was no one else and the hall had the same layout as the one on the seventh, save for a transparent door through which sunlight flooded in with promises of freedom.

Suzuki looked around one more time, made a beeline for the door, then paused to put his adrenaline in check. When his heart had calmed down some, and he no longer felt the desire to burst through the door like a crazy action movie star, he opened the door, and walked out.

Shock froze him as he gaped at his surroundings. He was not sure what he had expected - abandoned wildlife or desert or something- but he was somewhere totally different.

It was too normal.

There was a building similar to his opposite him with a tarred road and small park separating them. There were also several buildings different buildings littered around like the architect had added them in as an afterthought. From his position, he could not see any fences or walls, so it was impossible to tell which way led out.

"Damn, Suzuki cursed. He paced back and forth, trying to decide which way to go when the sound of approaching sirens caught his attention.

A small black car skidded around the corner to his right at a speed that should have been impossible for it. Instinct warned Suzuki and he sprinted in the other direction, taking a look over his shoulder to see if he was being followed.

The car had increased his and bore down on him like a predator on its prey. Suzuki turned around a corner where the roads switched into two. He was prepared to go right but the sound of a car engine coming from that side chose his path.

Suzuki ran off the road when another car drifted out of a corner on the path he had chosen. He ran through the middle of two small buildings and came across a overhead bridge that ran over a railway line.

How big was this place?

The space between the houses were too small even for that car and the drivers got out to chase him on foot. Suzuki noticed they dressed the same as the people who had kidnapped him.

Suzuki's body shook with fear and that evoked anger in him. He considered stealing their cars, but he could not drive and stealing cars was not as easy as it once was. Just as he was about to get to the end of the bridge, two men ran up the stairs, blocking his exit. He decided to turn back but the others that were in the black car had caught up and he was without a doubt trapped.

"Suzuki Mato-kun," one of the men in front of him called. "There is nowhere to run. Why don't you stop and calm down so we can talk about this?"

Suzuki glared at him in response and charged towards him with the intention of passing through with force.

"Damn kid!" the suit muttered as he drew his stun gun and fired at Suzuki.

Suzuki saw him draw the gun and panicked when he squeezed the trigger. However, at that instant, his world suddenly slowed down close to a halt. He could see the dart needles coming straight at him in slow motion. Though he did not understand what was going on, he took advantage of the situation to duck under the needles.

He noticed somewhere at the back of his mind that even his body had slowed down too.

When he was clear of the projectile, time suddenly returned to normal, and he careened right into the suit and his partner.

"Ow, ow, ow ,ow ow!" Suzuki muttered in pain, massaging his temple.

"Stop!" he heard someone shout and just then noticed he had made it past the suits. Before the suits he had knocked over regained their senses, he ran down the stairs on the other side of the bridge and continued running, attempting to open doors on buildings around him on his way, but all the buildings were locked.

To make matters worse, the suits had called in reinforcements and they seemed to pop up everywhere he ran.

Suzuki noticed that for every path blocked, there was one open and he could not shake the feeling he was being led somewhere. However, he had no choice in the matter and so followed the paths left to him.

As he rounded a corner, he heard sounds coming from what looked like an auditorium.

"No choice," Suzuki said as the sounds of running feet closed in around him.

He ran to the auditorium doors and burst through using his shoulder to shield his body. The doors crashed open under his weight and he fell down a flight of stairs, groaning in pain as he hit the stairs un-forgivingly with each roll. His roll came to an abrupt halt when he hit something solid.

"Damn it!" Suzuki cried out in pain as he tried to get himself back on his feet. His right arm hurt badly and fell limp at his side, which meant it was either broken or dislocated. Cradling his right arm with his left he got to his feet weakly. The shouts and footsteps seemed to be coming from just outside the door. He had to get out of their fast.

Suzuki raised his head to inspect his surroundings and froze instantly. Just as he had guessed, it was an auditorium. What he did not expect were the numerous people sitting around him as if they had been listening to a lecture. They were all staring slack-jawed at him like he was some rare animal, which made him feel uneasy.

"Ahem," someone coughed. The owner of the cough was a Japanese man. He wore a very nice brown suit which looked like it had been ironed for days on end. His jet-black hair was neatly parted at the side and he sported a well trimmed moustache. His degree of elegance crept Suzuki out.

"Welcome, Suzuki Mato-kun," the man greeted with a polite bow.

"Who are you?! Where am I?!" Suzuki questioned with a frown. The pain in his arm was only getting worse, but he chose not to show it.

"Forgive my rudeness. I am Akari Seki," he introduced. "I am glad to see you awake."

"Where am I?" Suzuki asked. The edge in his voice had gone, drowned out by the pain he struggled to keep in check.

"I was in the middle of explaining that," Akari said as he motioned to an empty seat. "If you would be so kind as to take a seat...!" Akari caught the pained expression on Suzuki's face and re-iterated. "Why don't you go to the clinic first? I don't think it is wise to keep on with that wound," he offered.

"I'll be fine," Suzuki said stubbornly as he sat on the closest empty seat. "Go on."

Akari seemed to ponder on the issue for a moment, but then shrugged it off. His rapid change and complete disinterest in Suzuki after the fact, caused him to trust the man even less.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," he began with a bow, "I apologize for the interruption. Now that we are all here, I'll answer the question that's on most of your minds. Where are you and what are you doing here."

A chorus of murmurs rose in the crowd and Suzuki realized he was not the only one who was brought there against their will.

"You should get that looked at," the girl sitting next to him said. Her dark make-up and pale skin gave her a ghastly, almost ethereal look. Her jet-black hair was cut low, with long bangs shielding her left eye from the world. A single brown eye gazed at him with mild concern.

"I'll be fine," Suzuki said rudely and returned his attention to Akari.

"Suit yourself," she said with a shrug.

"Some of you may know of the condition called 'Parallel'," Akari said, silencing the crowd. "For those who do not know, this phenomena occurs when someone can no longer differentiate between reality and virtual, resulting in a collapse of psyche."

Murmurs rippled through the audience at his words. Very few people had not head of Parallel, but to those who knew it was more like an urban myth; like Area 51 or aliens.

"To prevent widespread panic, the governments of your several countries decided to keep the few cases reported secret from the public." Akari paused to let the information sink in. "The virtual engines are an integral part of daily life, and this information can threaten the very fabric of the industry that has finally brought peace worldwide. This is where you come in."

Suzuki who till then had not heard anything he did not already know perked up at the last line.

"Among the millions that use the virtual engines, you are the ones with the greatest NS. For the non bio-engineers, NS stands for Neuro-sync, which is a measure of how well you integrate into the virtual world. We noticed that those with very high NS have a higher chance of contracting NS."

"Who's we?" Suzuki asked through gritted teeth. Sweat dripped down his face betraying his false bravado. He tightened his grip on his arm as it throbbed in pained protest.

"Forgive my rudeness. 'We' are Genaco Research."

"Genaco!" the auditorium shouted in surprise.

Their surprise was justified. Genaco was one of the world's largest enterprises. They had their hands in everything from entertainment to charity organizations. It was shocking to think such a large company would be kidnapping people.

Then again...

"Rest assured, you are all in safe hands, and will be well compensated for your trouble. As to how exactly you will be helping..." Akari said, motioning to the wall behind him where an image was projected.

The full body virtual drive Suzuki had seen earlier in the room he had woken up in earlier was displayed on the screen.

"Every one of you here have displayed excellent sync rates, but some of you have shown early symptoms of Parallel," Akari said calmly. Something about the way he said it prevented the people listening from panicking. He regarded them with a confident and reassuring smile as he continued. "You will all participate in the new game being released tomorrow morning titled Live No Evil."

"A game huh? They could have just asked for volunteers for that," the dark girl next to Suzuki said. She was not the only one confused by Akari's words. The auditorium was once again filled with murmurs as people tried to make sense of his words.

"Their real purpose is not the game," Suzuki said barely above a whisper. His breath had become ragged, and he spoke between wheezes.

"He talks," she said, amused. Her nonchalance about his pain almost made him laugh. He deserved it.

"I-" he started but Akari's voice interrupted him.

"This is a game created by our own entertainment sector. Early tests show it will push the limits of reality in the virtual world past its own limits. For the sake of the millions that will log on to this game and the billions that will use virtual drives in the future, we have been forced to resort to this. I humbly apologize," Akari said, getting on his knees and bowing before the entire hall.

"He's a good actor," Suzuki said. "I can see why he was chosen to speak to us."

"How's that?" the dark girl asked.

"His speech, ending with that bow was perfect," he observed. "It will cause the mass to feel scared, then safe. Give them a purpose for their abduction, and a sense of justice towards helping others. And if there are reservations, he peels away the last layers with a 'dogeza', giving the audience a false sense of power."

"...or he could be genuinely sorry," she commented, stunned by his cynicism.

"The world isn't that kind...er?" he mumbled, realizing he did not know her name yet.

"Jade Yūhi," she introduced. "A-"

"Now that you have been informed of the reason you are here, I will infer you to the next step," Akari said, as a woman walked into the hall from a door from a door at the side of the stage. "This is Asagi Yukino-san" he introduced. She will handle any questions you may have and will be in charge of your overall stay here.

Yukino was a blond young lady: Too young in fact. She looked to be just barely out of her teens, dressed in a trendy low-cut blouse that showed off her ample bosom and skinny jeans. She possessed a figure that would make Hera jealous coupled with hazel-brown eyes that were warm and inviting behind her glasses. If one listened closely, he/she could hear the drool trickling down the mouths of several men and women in the hall.

However, she reminded Suzuki of a spider: inviting her prey in before devouring him entirely.

"Hi!" she shouted excitedly, waving to the crowd. She had a sweet light voice and a smile that summoned cupids into the hall to smite down several on-lookers.

"Asagi-san," Akari called wearily.

"Yuki-chan!" Yukino scolded with a cute pout. "Seki-tan, I told you to stop calling me by my surname."

"Sure sure," Akari conceded.

Suzuki had to admit it was fun seeing the man taken down a notch or two.

"As... Yuki-chan here is one of the brightest minds on this campus. Direct any questions you have towards her and she will take care of them," Akari said. He left the stage to Yukino and walked out of the hall through the hall she had just walked in through.

"Hello!" Yukino greeted enthusiastically.

"Hi!" the love-struck mass responded in kind, infected by her positive energy.

"Before we get started," she said, clapping her hand together. "Look under your chairs and pull out your communicators."

Suzuki did as she said, painful as it was. The communicator was a tablet the size of a large phone. He turned it on and it asked for his thumbprint. He placed his thumb on it and it scanned his fingerprint. The screen changed to his high school photo with a number of tabs and hyperlinks scattered around.

"These are your tickets around the campus," Yukino explained. "They will open any doors and give you info on anything as long as it is not above your level. Which brings us to our next topic," she said as a pyramid was projected on the screen. Everyone starts at level 10, but everyone's level increases depending on your input. At level one, you will be paid just as much as our highest ranking employees, and will be privy to any information you wish."

"Oooh," the crowd whistled. Money was always a good way to motivate humans.

"Now if you will all follow me, I'd like to take you around the campus," she said with a seductive smile and scampered outside.

Shouts of "wait for me", "she's mine", "I saw her first", and several other redundant shouts could be heard as more than half the audience chased after her like bees to honey.

"Let me see that," Jade said to Suzuki who had gotten up to follow. His mask of bravado had fallen off, replaced a twist of pain and defiance.

"I'm fine," he lied and made to walk towards the door. Angered by his attitude she punched his shoulder lightly to prove a point. It worked too well. Suzuki cried out in pain as he fell to his kneed clutching his shoulder.

"Step back," a voice said, and he looked up to see Yukino standing over him. Her 'cute' look as gone replace by a piercing gaze that seemed to bore right through him. Jade stepped back, stunned by how fast Yukino had come up to meet them. They had not even seen her coming.

Yukino grabbed Suzuki's arm and when he tried to push her off, threatened him with a look that ceased all thoughts of protests. She examined his arm, massaging it places to see where it hurt the most.

"You're lucky," Yukino said, "It's a simple dislocation. If left further the swelling would have made it much worse." She pondered on something for a bit, as she examined the arm further. Decided, she grabbed his head and pulled it into her bosom.

"Mmm!" he panicked.

"This is going to hurt a lot. Feel free to shout as much as you want," she said she grabbed his right shoulder. She used the flat of her right hand to cushion the back of his shoulder, then popped the arm back in place with her left.

"Mmmm!" Suzuki yelled in her bosom in pain.

"You'll be fine," she said a few seconds later when the pain had subsided, and he had stopped screaming.

"T-thank you," he thanked her gratefully.

"No need to thank me," she said with a childish grin. "It's my job."

"Ah... Um?"

"Yes?"

"Can you move?" Suzuki asked. His cheeks turned beet-red as he tried to avert his eyes. "You're too close."

"Ara?" she pondered, cocking her head to one side. She looked down and noticed her arms were still around Suzuki, and her breasts were just inches away from his face. "Ho-ho, virgin eh?" she teased.

"!"

With a laugh, she released him and motioned for the crowd (who were giving Suzuki death glares, some even wishing he broke his leg) to follow.

In a level one restricted facility somewhere in the campus, a craggy skinny scientist with gray hair, looked to the door when Akari walked in.

"What did you think of the subjects?" Akari asked, "You think any of them can handle the project?"

"Two hundred and thirty four attempts. Two-hundred and thirty-two failures. One of the successes now has a severe case of Parallel, while the other is... Dysfunctional," the scientist replied. "To be honest, I don't see how anyone could complete this project."

"To think our hopes would rest on gamers," Akari sighed.

"Their synch-rates improve because of the complexity of online gaming. If anyone could complete this project, it would be them."

"Well, we only need a handful to succeed."

"... And the rest?"

"Expendable," Akari flatly replied.