Chapter 2 - Switch

Kaito was bullied throughout his childhood and adolescence, but he learned to deal with it the best way he could. He respected the bullies as they wished and would accept every single one of their requests, even the weird ones. He was just too afraid to be beaten up and come home with bruises that would just make trouble and worry his father.

Even if it was hard for Kaito's already low ego, when the bullies asked him to kneel down and clean their shoes, he would do it. When they asked him to give them his lunch, claiming that he didn't need to eat because he was too fat, Kaito didn't even respond, even though his stomach was begging for food.

But Kaito learned too late that if he didn't fight his situation, it would only get worse.

One day, while Kaito was changing out of his uniform into his gym clothes in the locker room, his normal clothes were stolen by the bullies and thrown into the mud. Without the option of leaving with the gym clothes, he had to go dirty while all the students laughed and yelled at his face.

After this and countless other stories, when Kaito woke up and saw his new self in the bathroom mirror, he felt his heart pounding like never before. Still dumbfounded by everything that's happening, he stared at himself for several minutes without taking his eyes off his own face. He was so focused on his new look that he couldn't even realize the several notification windows appearing over his weblink as pop-ups in the side of his eyes. The sound would just blink every second and then disappear from the low battery.

Kaito was not just looking different, with just a blink of his eyes, he became completely different, to the point that it was hard for him to recognize himself. He had grown at least thirty centimeters in height, and almost the entire look of his face has changed. His red hair is shinier than ever, and he had lost much, much weight, giving him a slimmer, more elegant appearance that blends with his new stature. His eyes, once green, now glow with intensity in a red hue, as if trying to reflect an inner fire not yet perceived.

As much as Kaito doesn't understand anything about what's happening to him now, as the reason for his look to be exactly like his old avatar. He automatically smiled at his reflection in the mirror, with a happy feeling that he never experienced before.

After a couple of minutes of this self-esteem pump, Kaito got out of the bathroom, still confused, but walking fast and with rhythmic steps, as if a song is playing in his head. He felt completely different, he was feeling more willing than ever.

After leaving the bathroom, a strange problem appeared in front of him. Cockroaches all the way throught the walls and ceiling and even other insects eating the rest of food. Everything was out of place and looked off, as if his old room aged within a second.

"Is that a fucking rat?!" he said, after hearing a squeak and fast-running paws in the darkness of the room. As he walked, the strong smell of rotten flesh floating upon his nose made him almost throw up.

"Urgh! What happened while I was asleep? Did I forget to put my work clothes in the washing machine?" Kaito wonders, trying to turn on the light by pressing the switch next to him.

*Tlec*

Even after turning the switch onn, nothing happened. Everything was still as dark as before. Nevertheless, he tried again.

*Tlac*

And at the second try, the room remained dark.

"Tsk! Did the power go out again? Damn, I have to talk to Mr. Fujimya about the wires last week..."

Kaito sighed, and looking at the mass of his place, he tried to take walk taking care to not step on the creatures crawling upon the floor. With success, he reached the window.

Opening it up, it was way stiffer than usual, and closing his eyes burning from the touch of the brightness of the sun on his face, he felt like it was the first time he was looking to the daylight.

Outside the apartment, everything seemed normal as far as it can be. The sky is covered with clouds all the way to the horizon, as it is on most days of the year. His focus was far from the outside world, as he had a bigger issue in front of him, in his apartment.

With the help of the sunlight, he realized that everything is a real mess. The mouse heard was chewing one of the cockroaches while trying to hunt some of the remaining that walked all over the floor. At the door, hundreds of papers clog the mailbox to the point of overflowing, and a thick layer of dust covers every inch of the floor and furniture.

Confused and without understanding everything, Kaito was startled. He couldn't understand why his apartment is so messy, as he remembers everything being in perfect order before he began his gaming the night before.

Running out of options, Kaito stretches his head and starts to think about how to clean up the apartment before he checks to see what the problem was with the electricity.

"Probably that damn rat tore the garbage bags and that attracted the cockroaches," Kaito said, approaching the rodents in front of him. In his mind, maybe the apartment was already very dusty the whole time and he just didn't notice it.

As soon as the red-haired boy's shadow covers the rat, the rat stops trying to eat the cockroaches. The rats look at Kaito with a frightened face and immediately start to run towards a cupboard in the small kitchen where there was a hole through which it could escape, but Kaito moves surprisingly fast and catches it by the tail.

Holding the rat on his hands, Kaito smiled and at the same, got confused as he realized that he was much faster and smoother than usual. In fact, this time, he didn't even have to strain to get down, nor did his back hurt.

'What was that?' he asks himself mentally, a little skeptical. 'Was that just because I lost a few pounds?'

Looking to the creature in his hands, he felt a strong pain in his stomach and his vision blurs. In an instant, Kaito was on his knees on the ground, stunned. He felt like something was away from him, he was not understanding this deep feeling of hunger, but while he is on the ground holding the mouse, a new message from his web link appears before his eyes, this time he can see it clearly.

[Do you want to sell the creature 'Urban Mouse' to the merchant?]