Chapter 4: Yuki/Yuta

"Hey Yuki!" Takashi called out as he runs to catch up to me. "I saw that you've put in few hours into the game since the last time we played. How are you liking it?" He asks now walking beside me.

"It's fun." I responded as I adjusted my bag on my shoulders.

"Come on. Don't just say it's fun and leave it at that. You've put in more hours than I have, which is saying something."

I let out a sigh as we walk towards our last class of the day. Since regardless of whether or not I want to acknowledge it, I'm still a university student.

"I don't know. I guess I just like to spend time with Grottle. He feels a little too alive for me to ignore." I said expanding on my 'It's fun' response.

"No yeah, I've seen a lot of people talking about how real the Pokémon feel. There's plenty of people who are confidently saying that they've built a relationship with their Pokémon."

I understand that they used the same AI model for the NPC's on the Pokémon. But it just gives me this weird feeling like they are all too alive. Like if you could give them the ability to talk they would and in the same way that I'm talking to Takashi now.

"What about you?" I ask Takashi. "The game's been out for two weeks now and you've already made yourself a celebrity."

"I guess me looking so much like an Idol does bring some attention." He responds actually blushing.

"That's definitely what brought the attention. Not the putting on Idol Concerts during Pokémon Contests. I've been even hearing some players say they only go to contests hoping they'll see you perform." I say as we walk into class.

I look around and seems that the two of us are a few of the only ones left to show up for class.

"Ok yeah, when you say it like that you make it sound obvious."

"Because it is obvious." I say in response as we sit in the back.

"Whatever. I'm just having fun, plus a lot of other people are having fun apparently when I put on a show."

I definitely can't argue with that logic nor do I want to. If we wants to put on concerts and be an Idol online why not let him. Especially if it means he'll be too busy to spam me with invites every time I log on.

"Alright class, since we are swiftly approaching our exams I want to loop back and cover some topics you might have forgotten by now. So let's start with-" The professor started as a student got out of his seat and left.

 Takashi taps my arm with his pencil. "Did you hear about the new update that was supposed to be releasing today?" He whispers to me.

"No, what are they adding?"

"No clue." He says as another two students walk out. "They haven't announced any changes just the date."

*BZZZT*

I slowly take out my phone to see who's texting me while I'm in class.

It's my sister. "Did you see the news?" Reads her text.

"Is something going on?" I ask Takashi as another student leaves. "Apparently somethings on the news that we should be seeing."

"Ok, what in the world is going on!" The professor bursts as another group of students get up. Stunned by his out burst.

"A game that everyone has been playing recently just announced they added a feature where they can convert the in-game currency to real money. So everyone's leaving to go play right now." A student responds as they walk towards the door.

What was once a full classroom has turned into a room with only six people inside. Including the professor. All in shock as to what is going on.

"Are you talking about the money converting thing." I ask responding to her text.

"Yeah. Might just download it myself." She responds almost instantly.

"What are we doing here then?" Takashi asks tapping my shoulder as he stands up. "Let's run home so we can play." He says with the biggest smile on his face.

It takes about an hour to get home this time. A whole lot more people were up and about today, some I even overheard talking about the Trainer's Escape update. Which would make sense why it's so busy everywhere.

"I'm home." I call out as I walk in.

"In the kitchen." Mom calls out as I take off my shoes.

"Where's Harumi?" I ask as I walk over to her.

I can smell the stench of cigarettes off of her. She promised us she'd quit.

"In her room playing those stupid games. She should be focused on her grades not on those things. Talk to her would you, she only listens to you." She says not even sparing me a glance as she finishes whatever she was making in the kitchen.

"I will. Are you going to stay and have dinner with us?" I ask not taking my eyes off her. As if she'd vanish if I did.

"Not today. If I don't leave the house in the next five minutes I'll be late for work." She says double checking her purse making sure everything is in there. "Please make sure you and Harumi eat. I left some money on the counter if you two wanted to buy some dessert."

The second I glanced over at the table where she sat the money down she was out of the door. Leaving me alone in the living room with her usual pork hamburger with bean sprouts and chives. It's the only thing she ever makes when she's home.

I take the money from the table and head upstairs. Entering Harumi's room where she sat on her desk chair hugging her knees.

"She left?" She asked, her eyes poking through the mess of her hair.

"I thought you had school today." It's better for her if we don't talk about mom.

"Teacher never showed up. Probably because of the announcement of Trainer's Escape new update." She responds resting her chin on her knees.

"Everyone has been going crazy about that update." I say as I sit on the edge of her bed. "I don't think it's going to be worth all of the hype."

"Probably... Do you think I can join you today? On the game."

"Yeah." I smile. "We can play."