Chapter 68

AN: Enjoy it while it lasts.

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"Man, all the new ones right now suck a*s~," Yuki said as he looks at his phone with a deadpan expression.

He's currently inside his bedroom, on his bed, lying down, while searching for a good "Anime" to watch. He's been scrolling on his phone, searching for a good amount of time now. But for some reason, all the "Anime" he had seen up to the current moment, didn't appeal to him at all.

Like, while looking at the cover, he didn't get that familiar 'Tingle'.

"Aah~ f*ck this."

So, thinking that he had no luck in finding a good Anime today, he decided to close the site and hop onto another 'site'...

"Wait-"

But when he was about to press the button to close the site, like a diamond amongst rocks, a certain 'Anime' caught his attention.

"... holy~"

Yuki's eyes sparkled as he saw that particular "Anime". For him, it somehow shouts nothing but perfection. From the art, the proportions, the animation, the description, and the fact that he hasn't seen it yet, everything is perfect indeed.

"Hehe, finally." Yuki muttered with a mischievous smile on his face as he pressed the play button of the Anime while simultaneously, reaching into a nearby cabinet, probably to take something out.

-TUTUTUTUTU-

But unfortunately, just before he could start what he was planning to do... his phone rang.

"..."

Someone called him.

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"Yo! Right here!"

Yuki, upon entering a certain restaurant, a loud voice rang. A voice that upon hearing it, immediately catches his attention. Now it doesn't need some kind of genius to deduce that this voice belongs to someone he knows. That's why he didn't think much of it when he was prompted to come closer. 

As Yuki walked towards the source of the voice, the image of a man who seemed to be in his late 20s, wearing your typical salary man uniform, became more clearer.

"Jesus, you're still the same since I last saw you, Mishima," Yuki said in a teasing manner as he took the vacant seat in front of the man. "... It's like you didn't age at all."

"Come on now. You're making me blush."

"???" 

"Haha."

Now this uptight-looking man in front of Yuki is known as Mishima, or at least that's his real name that not many of his friends know about... it's due to the fact that he met most of his friends Online, and other than his close ones, Yuki being one of them, he is only known by them as... Blue Planet, his IGN.

That's right, the same Blue Planet that Yuki used to play with back then in YGGDRASIL. Well, as unfortunate as it is, Mishima already quit Playing YGGDRASIL a long time ago. He's one of the first batches of Players to stop playing the game due to various reasons. 

But even though he stopped playing YGGDRASIL, or probably just Playing games in general, his connection with some of the friends he made there didn't stop. Every now and then, he would still talk to them, and catch up with some new happenings in each other's lives. Yes, he probably cannot meet most of them due to the difficulties of the situation, whatever it may be, but they all remain close up to this day. 

Even Yuki and him, due to the said difficulties, did not manage to hang out and catch up with each other personally for a very long time.

But since today is a special day, even though there is still tons of unfinished work back in his office, both of them, or probably just Mishima, decided to take a break in the meantime and make this very meeting possible.

No matter how short this meeting may be. 

Regarding the topic of how today is a special day for them...

"I guess it's really happening huh?" Mishima said with a pretty solemn voice as he took a sip of the water he ordered before speaking again.

"... Exactly seven hours from now, our beloved YGGDRASIL will no longer exist huh."

"You don't say." Yuki replied with a huge sigh as he stared at the ceiling, looking a little bit down as well. 

After that, both of them paused for a second...

That's right. The reason why today is a special day is because YGGDRASIL servers, will officially shut down later this evening. It's a special day indeed, but unlike most days that are branded as special, this isn't a happy one, especially for avid Players who hold on to the game until the very end.

Well, many Players were already aware of it even weeks before the announcement happened, but since there wasn't any official announcement at that point yet, many still hoped that it was nothing but fake news. 

Until earlier this morning that is, when YGGDRASIL Official released that news themselves. Well, obviously, even though the official announcement has yet to be released, Yuki already knows that this event will actually happen... How could he not? It's basically the moment he's most waiting for. 

Though as excited as he is, he can't help but still be sad about it. It's like getting what you want after kicking a lost innocent puppy, it's justified depending on the scenario, but it won't feel right nonetheless.

So, to make up for it, Yuki, a couple of days ago, decided to call all his friends, asking for them to have a meet-up party during YGGDRASIL's 'rumored' last day. His reason? Well, nothing big really.

He just wants to simply hang out and see everyone together again... for one last time at least. That's pretty much it. 

Unfortunately, even though everyone seems to like that idea, not all will be available for that day. Most of them seem to have an excuse and simply cannot go. Some said they could go BUT, that's the thing, everything is riddled with BUTS.

SO... Given these impossible and annoying situations, Yuki decided to cancel that idea and just go for the next best thing. Meeting everyone individually whenever they are actually FREE, whenever that is.

And fortunately, to Yuki's surprise, this worked somehow. His friends would then give him their time of availability and based on that, he would organize a place and time for each of them. That's why during these past days, he's mostly doing nothing but going places, meeting and hanging out with all of his Friends irl, wherever they might be.

And the meeting he's having right now with Mishima is one of those. 

"Our boss is abusing us during these past weeks, making us go overtime again and again without rest." Mishima said, frowning, as he chugged down his glass of beer in one go.

"Geez. What an asshole." Yuki comforted his friend as he too chugged his own drink.

"That he is! That guy is the worst I tell you that..." Mishima replied exaggeratedly, but midspeech, he suddenly paused for a second and then sighed heavily before continuing to speak. "... that's also why I want to apologize to you."

"Huh?" Yuki, after hearing Mishima apologize to him out of nowhere, was greatly confused.

"Look. I want to join you guys with that meet-up, trust me I do... it's just that. I really don't have time. It's a lame excuse I know but..." Mishima keeps on talking and talking after that. 

He keeps saying his excuses, about how he was constantly getting pressured by his family, work, boss, colleagues, and many others. He keeps rambling on lots of stuff and as he goes on, his tone and voice keep getting more... intense. With that uptight face, no one probably expected him to speak in that manner. And yet he did.

So, what Yuki did do as a response while this was happening? Well, nothing. He just listened. That's the least thing he could do in this situation really. People like this needed nothing more than an outlet to vent their frustration in life. You don't stop things like that, you let it flow instead. Yuki is very aware of that. 

How? It's because all his friends who he met these past days are also like this. Almost all of them vented out their frustrations about lots of things on him. After dealing with this scenario over and over again, somehow, Yuki became an expert already with this sort of stuff.

Apart from that, this also made Yuki remember, how cruel this world really is. A fact that as shameful as it is, he has almost forgotten due to the luxurious life he had throughout all these past years. 

A luxury that was only given to him by nothing but pure chance. 

"CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? HE EVEN SAID THAT..." Like a great dam that keeps releasing, Mishima keeps going on and on for almost a minute without any sign of stopping. But surprisingly, as he reaches that certain point, he suddenly realizes what he's doing and quickly stops himself. 

"s- sorry." He then apologized to Yuki with an embarrassed tone. Covering his face cause he can't seem to believe what he had just done.

Yuki on the other hand, gestured to him and said that it didn't bother him at all. But after seeing that it didn't console the now red-faced (due to extreme embarrassment) Mishima, Yuki sighed and quickly took an ice cube from his drink and in one swift motion, put it inside Mishima's clothes.

"... KYAK!" Making him squeak and jump out of his seat in surprise. 

"What the hell are you do-" After removing the Ice Cube inside his clothes, Mishima immediately gave Yuki a glare. He was about to lash out at him but his realization of why Yuki did what he did made him stop once again.

"Finally got you back on track huh?" Yuki said with a smile as he gestured for Mishima to sit once again cause the people nearby were starting to give them the 'look' already for being too noisy.

Which Mishima did after apologizing to the other customers.

"Isn't it tiring?" Mishima then threw a question to Yuki while sighing heavily

"What do you mean?" Yuki replied, looking confused.

"Well, you've been doing nothing but meeting most of us these past days, and surely... things like this happened there as well. No, I am pretty sure it happened actually." Mishima said laughingly as he chugged down another glass of beer.

"Well, I won't deny that. But believe it or not, I really don't mind." Yuki, seeing both of their drinks were emptied already, paused for a second to order a new one before he continued what he was saying. 

"I mean, it's probably the last thing I could do for you guys anyway."

"Right... Is it the thing about you going abroad?"

"... Well, yeah... yeah it is."

"Remind me where are you going again?"

"To... somewhere really far."

"Too far you can't go back here anymore??"

"... It's a lot more complicated but yeah, something like that."

"I see."

"..."

After that, the two of them paused. They don't know why but after that, both of them seem lost for words. But upon realizing the worsening mood, Yuki sighed loudly and then pat Mishima's back repeatedly.

"So that's why, just like what I said to the others, just take all of this as my parting gift. Think nothing more of it."

"... Think nothing more?"

"Hmm? Yeah."

Mishima who understood what Yuki's trying to do, with a huge sigh, decided to not ruin the mood any further and just agreed to do what he said. Just think nothing more of it...

" *sigh* Alright I guess. But... are you sure?" Mishima said with a challenging tone as a huge smile appeared on his face. "You might regret saying that you know?"

Seeing that his friend started to finally let go of his restraints, a huge smile appeared on Yuki's face as well.

"Hoh~ go on then. Try me."

"... Gladly."

After that, as per Mishima's request, the two of them would continue ordering glasses of beer again and again and again. These would go on for another hour or two until one of them... Can't take any more beer and finally give up.

(To be continued)

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