Chapter 11: Kindness Leads

Opening the door to his apartment, he whispered under his breath, "what a hassle. I'm exhausted." He took off his shoes and positioned them facing the door. Finally, he stood up and said. "I'm home."

Brushing his teeth, he thought of the project that was at hand. Wondering how to tackle it, he got confused and decided to sleep on it for now. "Oh well, it's due in a week." Then, spitting out the water, he wondered. "Would she be online right now?" His curiosity grew, so he headed to his computer.

Again, he was on and, this time, actually allowed it to boot up and process.

"I need a new pc!" He kept after wanting a new one. He sat in his chair. "I wonder which company has the better components." He placed his hands on top of his head. "I know that Zxnt offers a great starter pc for a good price, but I already own a rival to them." He sighed after taking his arms down.

"Do I even have the money for one right now?" He questioned himself as he moved his cursor to the game icon and clicked it.

Booting up, it took a while. Finally, getting up from the chair, Suzuki decided to grab a drink. Heading back, he instead had a hot cup of ramen in his hand. Munching through and slurping crazy, he finally noticed that the girl was on.

"Oh, she's on?" He shakingly moved his cursor over to her name tag. "Do I click it?" He gulped down the broth. "I wonder if she'll accept it?" He said to himself as he put aside the empty cup of ramen.

"Whatever." He moved his cursor over to the log-out button. "I guess not today." He disappointingly said to himself.

Ding!

Came a loud notification through this computer. A button with two options appeared.

[Accept? Or Decline?]

Two different buttons, with two different colors, with two different meanings. "What do I do?" He asked himself as he knocked over the cup of ramen. "I've done it." He kept his hand on the mouse, hovering over the accept button.

Then, leaning down and towards the cup of ramen, he tried to grab it. Fortunately, he held the empty cup and also accidentally accepted the invite. "Oh shit." He said to himself with an embarrassed face.

"Hello?" Came a voice from his headset. "Jeez, fine, I'm going to leave." Nagisa gave up until she heard him speak.

"Sorry, hi." Said Suzuki with a low tone.

"Oh, hi!" Replied the so ever-enthusiastic Nagisa. "Wanna go on an adventure with me?" She asked him.

He was nodding slowly with his natural body. Suzuki nervously accepted her invention with a hum, "hmm," tears were shimmering in his eyes. His character finally loaded to the game server.

"Let's go!" She screamed.

After an hour of gameplay, Suzuki stood up and stretched. "Oh, what a mission." He said into his microphone.

"Right!" Said Nagisa with excitement. "You're getting pretty good at this." She eagerly told him. Her dark figure in a room laid back in a chair and said. "Anyways, want to run it back?" she asked him, but unfortunately. Suzuki denied her request formally.

"Sorry, not today. I have some important things to take care of." He uttered his apology and unknowingly told her something he had never said, "goodnight."

This small remark made Nagisa happy. Nagisa huffing under her breath, replied with contentment. "Goodnight."

In his bed, he laid back. He spoke to himself softly with his forearm placed on top of his head. "What a kind girl. She has opened up another side of me." He rolled over to his side and uttered slowly. "Kindness leads the heart." As his heart pounded into his chest, he questioned himself. "Is this a feeling of not being alone?"

On the morning of Friday, he woke up happily. Looking over at the clock, he noticed it was too late for school. And that he again missed another day, and now he has to deal with a full day of nothingness. "I'm getting sloppy with the school, aren't I?" He said to himself, dissatisfied.