A World Where You Can Have Fun

"Nakamura," a familiar voice called out from over his shoulder as he entered the classroom. Though the halls were empty, Akio couldn't help but feel shy to reply. He turned his head slowly, meeting once more those piercing blue eyes. She smiled and bumped into his shoulder as she passed him.

"Are you coming?" she asked, already walking into class.

As she passed, Akio caught the sweetest scent. He reminded himself to not act weirder than usual; people would notice. Taking a deep breath, he followed her in.

While Akio wasn't the smartest person in the classroom, when he found interest in the subjects, he excelled. The day before, he hadn't paid much attention, but today would be different. He put on a serious face as he sat down and began listening to the lecture. He was determined to not be distracted and challenged himself to focus solely on school, not because he cared about school but because he was worried he was losing his grip. Bored, lonely, shut-in, antisocial, and rebellious, Akio was slowly shedding each of those titles that had defined him for so long. In other words, Akio was scared of change. Change meant talking to the prettiest girl and having an actual hobby that his father wanted him to pursue.

"Yes, I must resist temptation," Akio thought to himself.

He turned his head slightly at the sudden movement in the corner of his eye.

"Nakamura, do you want to go to a cafe after? We can plan how we'll meet up in TRO!" the words were written in a notebook, and the person who carried it was Miyuki.

Akio nodded slowly, trying his best not to show his emotions. Deep inside, his heart sank, and his feet felt stiff.

"Get it together, noob. This isn't you! It's going to be a long day…" he yelled within his head.

"I'll take a coffee!" Miyuki exclaimed.

"Oh... I'll get the same too, please," Akio followed.

Both Akio and Miyuki sat in the corner of the cafe shop by the window.

"Okay, let's get down to business!" Miyuki said with excitement, slamming both hands on the table, drawing the attention of other people as well.

"O... okay," Akio said, surprised by Miyuki's sudden seriousness.

"Where did you summon?" Miyuki asked.

"For some reason, I was summoned in a forest... but after I made it out, I stumbled upon a town called Northern Red Windmill."

"Oh, I think I saw that place on the map in the city. I summoned in a busy city, but I think the horse carriage shouldn't take too long to get there."

"Well, actually, I think I'll come to you because that little town can't even buy the items I gathered in the forest."

"Got it, sounds like a plan. You said you were summoned in a forest? As far as I've heard, everyone is summoned in a town or city."

"Yeah, not only that, but I was also at a disadvantage because I didn't take the tutorial."

"It wasn't long or anything, but I guess if you didn't learn how to open up the menu, it would've been hard to guess. How did you make it out?"

"After being stuck in there for 15 or so hours, I finally walked to the edge and followed a road into the town. It was pure luck because I was already at very low HP."

"Wait, so you didn't die in there?"

Akio thought about the correct reply without embarrassing himself.

"Um... an NPC killed me over a misunderstanding."

"You got killed by an NPC! That's the first I've heard of someone getting killed by an NPC!"

"Yeah, it's not a big deal. He got lucky with his swing. Caught me off guard. What about you? How did you die?"

Miyuki looked nervous and tapped her two index fingers together.

"You see, I accidentally stumbled upon a cave and thought it would be fine to explore it, and a level 8 Red Claw Bear killed me."

"Level 8?"

"Yeah, almost 2 days in-game, and I didn't even level up. That's probably why I was so easy to kill." Miyuki frowned.

"Really? I leveled up to 2, and I'm close to reaching 3."

"WHAT!! Impossible! No one I've seen in-game is level 2 yet!" Miyuki once more slammed the table.

"Well, that's why I'm going to help you in-game! We'll level up like I did," Akio said with a smile.

"What's your name in-game?" Miyuki asked.

Akio hesitated because his name was embarrassing to share.

"Draphious Shimu, but I didn't choose it. I pressed generate random."

"What kind of name is that!" She said, laughing.

Akio liked her laugh and the way she was always joyous.

"I know, but what about yours?"

She stopped her laugh and stared at Akio with her bright blue eyes, giving him a smirk.

"Once you get to the city of Huntington, walk towards the center of the city, and you'll find a big garden. I will be there waiting. Of course, I won't wait forever, but maybe it should be... 4 hours after we log in. Then I'll find you. It'll be a surprise!" Miyuki said, holding her hands together with an excited expression.

—

"I'm home—" Akio shouted once entering his house, before removing his shoes.

"Oh, Akio, where were you?" His father asked.

"None of your business," Akio remarked with attitude.

"What did you think of the game? It's been 2 days already."

"I said it's garbage, and I'll stand by that," he crossed his arms.

"Oh, come on, I saw you with the biggest smile yesterday. My guess is you fell in love with the game based on that smile."

"Love..." Akio muttered back, turning red-faced. He quickly composed himself and took slow breaths.

"No, your game gave me a 48-hour penalty because I was accidentally summoned in a forest. Oh, and did you know that players have been killing NPCs? What kind of world is that?"

His father stayed silent and looked down at the ground, contemplating what Akio said. Akio didn't take his silence well, so he ignored his father and walked away.

"How'd it go?" His mother whispered to his father.

His father sighed and turned to face her, shrugging.

Upon entering his room, Akio readied the cube on his bed and took some deep breaths. He couldn't keep his feelings hidden from his family, and this was something he didn't like because they would start asking questions. His best bet would be to ignore them and walk up to his room.

Akio heard a knock on the door.

"Come in."

"Hello, Akio, it's me. I brought you your dinner."

"Mom," Akio replied.

The only person he truly was never rebellious to was his mother. His weakness was his mother, and he loved that, but he knew it would be something his father used as an intermediary for their problems.

"Thank you, Mom, but please, I don't want to talk about the game."

"Are you sure? I won't tell you what your father asked me to tell you if that helps, but I also have something I would like to share with you."

"Oh? What is it?"

"It's a story of how I met your father," she smiled.

"A story?"

"Yes, would you like to hear it?"

"I, uh, I guess... yes."

She walked in further setting his dinner upon his desk then sitting on his bed.

"Well, it was 20 years ago, in the fall time. Your father was the smartest person around, and most people knew him by name. I never came face to face with him, but your father and I shared a hobby. And on one particular day, we both got to know each other through that hobby."

"What hobby is that?"

"VR games."

"Mom, you played VR games!"

"Hehe, yes, although they were still rather new and nothing like the games produced today. Anyways, I remember it being a colder day outside. I was on the verge of quitting the VR games, but on that cold day, I decided to play my last game. Once I logged in, I did a usual playthrough of raiding dungeons and just having fun. Ten minutes before I was going to log off, a certain new player to that game was struggling to get the hang of the game's mechanics. You should've seen him. I went over to help him get the hang of the game, even promising to come back at the same time the next day. Ever since that day, I logged on just to spend time with him. Eventually, one day we met outside the game, and to my surprise, it was the famous science guy everyone knew. After some years, we had you, the cutest baby, and on that day that you were born, we both had an idea to give you the most amazing experience like we had. The VR game Three Realms Online was my idea. Your father pitched his silly science project, and we combined everything to make this world for you!"

"What... but why?"

"A world where you can have fun! And maybe meet a pretty girl!" She said with a sparkle in her eyes.

"...that's embarrassing..." he turned red.

"I'm also, the head of development, and the company is mine," she stated casually.

"MOM, YOU ARE?!"

"Mhm, I've never told you what I did for work... I'm sorry, but I wanted to keep it a secret. Maybe you'd think the game wouldn't be worth trying if your mom was involved."

"I... I love it more because you made it, mom! That's crazy, so you're the brains of...!"

Outside of the door, Akio's father heard everything and laughed with slight pain. His whole chest felt like it had been stabbed.

"That little brat. Hehe, so he didn't like it because of me? Ouch, mean as ever."

"...well, for most of the science-related work, your father led the development of."

"Also, why? Why make it so that NPCs can die?"

"I'm guessing you've noticed that they are very much intelligent like me and you. You can thank your father for that. The reason the NPCs are mortal is that's the cycle of life. They can give birth and even take lives. Could you imagine if they had a tyrant ruler? How would they rebel? There's a lot of problems with making the NPCs immortal, at least I think that's how your father put it..."

"WHAT?! Me? I didn't make that decision! This is just cruel!" His father yelled within his head.

"...anyways, I'll let you eat. Besides, it's almost 19:00, and I'm guessing you're going to play."

"Um, yes... mom, thank you."

"You should also thank your father. He put a lot of work into it too."

Akio watched as his mom exited the room, and he stared at the cube on his bed. If his mom had something to do with the game, that changed everything. It meant more than just his father's silly project. By now, he also figured that they probably withheld much of the information on the game on purpose. That meant that this game was a surprise not only to the world but to him.

He finished his food quickly and timed the cube to log in at exactly 19:00 so Miyuki and he had as much time together as possible. The cube closed the entry as he situated his head, and the cube once again readjusted to the maximum neck comfort. In that instant, as he closed his eyes, he once more felt that marvelous floating sensation. He looked down as he left the planet Earth then stared back into space.

The 4-hour in-game countdown begins now.