Minako sat at her computer staring at pesterchum, her chumhandle, wildCard was the only one online, she sat impatiently. Her and her friends had all arranged to play a game together on that day. Her copy of the SBURB beta had come the day before but many of them hadn't got their games on the day it was meant to come.

She looked around the room at her variety of interests, cooking books lined a bookshelf and a large poster for a game called "Innocent Sin Online" which was a gift from her friend Junpei. A trophy for the netball championship that she had entered last year sat on her desk next to her. A sewing machine and a pile of things she had made with it sat in the corner of the room and next to it was a wide variety of merchandise she had bought from "Tanakas amazing commodities". Her TV sat on her desk next to her.

Minako had never known her parents, as they had died when she was very young and had instead been raised by her uncle. Her uncle had been her mother's brother and had looked after her for many years. he had always been mysterious and distant. However the house, which he had decorated himself, suggested that he loved detectives. Various posters and photos of famous detectives lined the walls and a cardboard cutout of Benedict Cumberbatch's sherlock dominated the living room. Minako wasn't a big fan of detectives but she could live with the bizarre obsession of her Uncle.

With her uncles work (Minako never had any idea what he did) she never saw him that much, so Minako had learnt to love cooking, her favorite food to cook were the chocolate truffles which she had a constant bowl of to her left. It was due mainly to her self control that she hadn't gotten fat off of the truffles. She often left bowls out for her uncle at night and would frequently return in the morning to see them gone. It was often her only sign that her uncle had been there at all. She often only had her friends on the internet to keep her company. Ah, here comes one now...

proteinAddict started pestering wildCard at [08:37]

pA: Hey Minako

wC: Hey, did you manage to get your SBURB beta disk yet?

pA: I just got it out of my mailbox, I was up all night training again, sorry

wC: Don't worry, I'm sure you enjoy it :)

pA: Yeah well, I just wanna keep getting stronger, it just feels important, you know?

wC: I get that, you ready to play?

pA: Nah, I''m gonna sleep first, I just thought I'd tell you that I've got the game now.

wC: Okay, try to be up before too long, I'm going to try to get everyone to start playing soon, assuming they all have their beta disks

pA: don't worry, it'll just be a power nap, I'll be up in an hour or so

wC: okay, see you soon :)

pA: bye

proteinAddict stopped pestering wildCard at [08:42]


John Egbert stared out of the window of the train car, he was on the way to a new city and a new life. Ever since his parents had died when he was very young he had been shunted around from place to place. He hoped that his latest destination would be his last. However, he was always hoping this at every new place he was placed. If he was lucky he would last a year here, then the family he was staying with would realise just how much trouble raising a kid is and he would be sent somewhere else. This was life for him.

He flicked through the file that he had been given on the city he would be living in. A place called "Iwatodai." His latest school was called Gekkoukan and it was owned by a private company called the Maryam group. John thought this was weird, after all didn't companies want to make profits? He couldn't see how the company would manage to turn a profit off of running a school. SUre the government must give them some money, but... John decided to focus on something else.

He turned on his iPod and grabbed the headphones hanging around his shoulders, soon he was being drowned in the sound of Morgan Page's traces remain. He looked down a cabin and for a moment he could swear he saw a young boy in black and white striped pyjamas, then he was gone.

To pass the rest of the time in this excruciatingly long train journey, John located the videos app on his iPod and started playing his favourite film, "con air." He sat back and prepared to watch the show...


wildCard started pestering mitsuruKirijo at [8:51]

wC: Mitsuru, you really need to get a better chumhandle...

mK: Why? It allows you to identify me with far greater ease than anyone else in our friendship group, take Akihiko's chumhandle for example, if you had to find him, you would be unable to, due to his name not being his own.

wC: You mean proteinAddict? have you met him? all he ever eats is protein!

mK: Still, it is far more difficult than simply entering someone's name into the search function and having it pop up

wC: That's it, it's official, you're boring

mK: No i'm not, I'm just practical is all.

wC: Anywaaaay, have you got your copy of the SBURB beta yet?

mK: I've had it for weeks, my fathers company owns the group that made the game... But I haven't played it so far...

wC: Good, because it looks like we'll all be playing it today... you are free right?

mK: Not just yet, I will be soon. I think Yukari might be ready to play though :)

wC: You know, I think that's the first time I've ever seen you use an emoticon :P

mK: Well, I don't really like them however I believed that I needed to use one to make my response not seem as harsh as it looked without it...

WC: well alright then, I'll try Yukari... however I'm gonna need to ask you to make yourself free to play this before too long :)

mK: Okay then...

wildCard stopped pestering mitsuruKirijo at [9:01]

mK: a new chumhandle huh...?