Chapter 1: New Game

"I'm Heading out now!" I called into the empty house, as I left for school. My parents always seem to be gone by the time I wake up, my friends usually ask if I feel lonely but by now I was totally used to it. I looked at my watch and gasped, I was totally running late.
"Oh…That's right" I quickly took my phone out of my bag and checked the screen. I sighed, he still hadn't written me back.
"Ahh! Morning, Katsumi." I looked up from my phone to see my friend Yuki waving at me.
"Morning." I waved back and smiled as she ran up to me.
"Gotta get a move on, or you'll be late. What are you doing? Texting?" She tilted her head then smiled. "Ah, I know. Your brother right?"
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"Well, you're always texting him." She was right, we always texted one another. As soon as my brother Shiki got accepted into college, he moved out into a studio apartment. He claimed that his course load would be heavy, but he's never ignored my messages before. "You two are really close, aren't you? Didn't you say he's not blood-related?"
"Hmm? Oh!" I was in a daze. "Yeah. My mom got remarried to his dad when I was a baby."
"Oh, I see. But don't you two ever fight?"
"Hmm...Come to think of it, no." Her face went to otter shock and I laughed.
"Man, I'm so jealous. I can't wait for my giant of a brother to hurry up, get accepted into college, and move out." She was always so blunt, but that's what made her a blast.
"Anyways, If you miss him so much, why don't you go visit him? Is he far?" I shook my head; he was only a 30 minute train ride. "You should go tomorrow once we're out. The university will be closed, too."
"You're right…That's a good idea." I was a good idea, and I bet he would be super surprised.
"Cheer up now…Ah, That's right! Check this out!" As we walked she ruffled through her bag and pulled out a magazine. "Prince Rei has a spread in this issue! Isn't he super cool?!" She was nearly giddy and flipped through the pages till she reached a man. He was young, longer blond hair and bright blue eyes.
"Rei Aijou…Ah, I see why you call him Prince Rei. You're right. He is cool." I wasn't a huge fan of celebrities but I had to humor her to a degree or she'd never let it go. She sighed and put the magazine back into her bag.

We talked the whole way to school like always and even made it right on time, but as we drew closer to the school I saw an all too familiar face waiting by the school gates. His name is Hiroya, we used to be very close friends when we were kids but slowly grew apart. From what I've been told by my parents he still talks to Shiki all the time. At first it hurt my feelings but at least he kept close with someone. He was looking at his phone but as we got closer he looked up and walked towards us.
"Hey Katsumi." He gave a quick wave.
"Morning Hiroya."
"I need to talk to you for a minute." He seemed so rushed.
"Huh? Yeah, sure. What is it?" He looked at Yuki and didn't say anything. Before I could say anything Yuki patted me on the shoulder.
"Well, I'll be going then." She smiled and gave me a quick wink before walking away.
"Is that all right?" I turned my head back to him and nodded. Besides, it's been so long since we talked I was curious about what he wanted to talk about. Ever since high school started he seemed to always be too busy. Even the way he spoke my name earlier…it sounded so distant, like we were never as close as we were when we were kids. We always played together all three of us, I still couldn't figure out what had happened to make it change so much. I looked at him and he seemed to be on edge, like people were listening.
"What's the matter?" As if I had broken a spell he looked up and spoke.
"How's Shiki doing lately?" Of all things to bring up it was my brother. "Is he well?"
"My brother? Um why?" I was confused, didn't he have a phone or was it like me?
"I was just wondering about something." Before I could ask him again what was going on the bell rung and we both looked at the school. "There's not enough time now…Do you think we could talk after school?" I nodded my head and he sighed. "Let's meet in front of the station."

And with that he ran into the school leaving me on my own as other ran past to make it to the classroom. It was hard to concentrate all day, all I could think about was what was so important about my brother that Hiroya broke his code of silence on me. When the last bell rang I stood up and got ready to leave as fast as possible, sadly I had missed my first train and panicked. As soon as I got the next train I ran out to the front of the station and sighed in relief, he wasn't there yet. Just as I was about to look at my phone to text him I realized I never had his number.
"…There you are!" I jumped and saw him in the distance looking at me.
"Oh! Hiroya, over here!" I waved and he ran over to me panting.
"Sorry…I forgot I had clean-up duty."
"Don't worry, I just got here myself." I smiled and he seemed to sigh in relief.
"Well, that's good." He straightened himself up and looked away. "And hey, don't shout my name so loud, it's embarrassing." I was taken back, was he really yelling at me?
"I-I'm sorry?" It was all I could say, I couldn't believe I had done something wrong so quickly. For a good minute neither of us said anything, I didn't like this at all. As I was about to say I had to go he spoke up.
"So, um…About what I was saying." He looked at me then looked around. "Hang on, this way." He turned away from me and walked off, as if he knew I would follow. Curious, I did follow him until we reached a nearby bench. When we stopped, he pointed at it. "Here, sit down. This'll take a while. You might get tired." I sat and tried not to laugh, he was being thoughtful just like he was back then. "Why are you smiling!?" He still sounded so angry.
"Nothing, nothing." I couldn't help it, he was still acting like the Hiroya I knew.
"So, about earlier…It's about Shiki. What's he been up to lately?"
"Did something happen between you guys?"
"No…I can't get a hold of him." I stopped smiling, it was happening to him as well? "That's kind of got me worried. It's odd." I nodded, it was really odd if he was ignoring both of us. "Have you heard of the game, Arcadia?"
"No, I haven't." What's with the change of topic?
"It's an online game Shiki and I play. I stared playing it two years ago because he invited me. But I haven't been playing much lately. I feel kind of awkward contacting him."
"Well, it seems like he's busy with college, so I'm sure he doesn't mind." He seemed to feel slightly better.
"College, huh. He's studying medicine right?" I nodded "Well…Knowing Shiki, I'm sure even if he played games all day, his grades would still be the best in his class."
"So do you not play because of school?"
"Basically, but I logged on recently, I heard another patch came out and the level cap was removed."
"Patch? Level cap?" I wasn't a gamer, I had no idea what he was talking about.
"Never mind, that part's not important. Anyway, I logged in and saw that there was a message from Shiki. It said, 'Don't go near World V.'"
"World V?"
"I think it's the name of a server. Supposedly there's this weird rumor…"
"Server?" He sighed and shook his head.
"You can ignore that part, too. Anyways, it's been on my mind, so I wanted to talk to him in person." He looked at his phone. "Since then, I've been logging on every day, but he hasn't logged in at all. I tried calling, but he won't pick up." I looked down at my hands, so even Hiroya wasn't getting anything from Shiki… "What's the matter? Do you have a hunch at all?"

I told him I couldn't get a hold of him, either, and that I was just about to go by his apartment to check up on him tomorrow. As I was talking I could see the confused and angry look building on his face. Was he really this worried about my brother? They must have been closer then I had thought. I was so happy and sad that they had at least stayed close to one another.
"Okay, that's really weird." I looked up at him confused.
"But then again, he could just be busy with school like I said earlier."
"Dummy, It's not enough of a reason for him to not respond. No matter what happens, Shiki always put you first." He wasn't lying Shiki was always there for me even if he was busy. "And besides, he doesn't need to study much. He'd still get perfect grades regardless."
"I wonder if something really happened then…Maybe I should go today instead…"
"If you're going to visit Shiki's place, I'm going too."
"What? You'd really come with me?" He looked away quickly but kept talking.
"Yeah. I wanted to ask him something. Let me tag along." I couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah, definitely. That'd be nice…It be nice to go with someone then all by myself."

Before we knew it we had got on the train and headed to the apartment where my brother lived. Hiroya's been quiet this whole time…I racked my brain to try and think about what to talk about. We used to be together every day, but now I can't remember. Come on Think…THINK!
"You know…" I was thinking so hard I had forgotten he was there I jumped.
"Hmm? Yeah?"
"Uh, how have you been feeling lately?" He wasn't looking at me still but at least he was talking.
"I'm fine…Why do you ask?"
"Oh…Well, I have this one classmate. She's been absent for a long time now. Have you heard of the Idiopathic Coma?"
"No, I haven't. What is that? Sounds horrible."
"Supposedly you just collapse and lose consciousness. No one knows why." Was he worried about me because of what happened before? When I was in elementary school, I got into a car accident. After I woke up I had some fainting spells and had to be in the hospital for testing. Hard to believe he still remembered that, I hardly did.
"I'm doing really well. I haven't gotten sick so far since we got into highschool."
"I see…That's good to hear." After that we went silent again but this time I had a topic.
"You said you were playing that game with my brother, right?"
"Yeah, for a little while. We formed parties with some powerful friends and raided dungeons."
"Partied with friends and raided dungeons?"
"You really aren't into games are you?"
"I'm not really sure. Shiki wouldn't let me play them to tell you the truth."
"Wow, that's surprising. I thought he would let you do anything you wanted."
"You make it sounds like I was pushing him…but come to think of it he's never denied me any other thing."

Still…Shiki said no to me, but he played with Hiroya? Why would he do that when the three of us used to play together…And now I've been excluded? Was it because I was a girl? I was running things through my mind when I heard someone shout. Before I looked up I was grabbed and pulled to my left. Then a car sped past my right honking his horn, my body froze and I looked at Hiroya who held me to the farthest side of the side walk.
"What the hell?!" Hiroya yelled and slowly pushed me away from him. I must have started to walk towards the road without realizing it.
"S-sorry, I was thinking about stuff…" He looked so angry.
"You idiot. Watch your surroundings." I could feel my heart beating like crazy. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little surprised is all."
"Do you want go rest somewhere? I mean, we don't have to go to Shiki's today."
"No, I want to go. We're already pretty much to his apartment and well…I'm worried about him."
"Geez…Then you walk here, on the inside." He pulled me over once again and then took my place.

Hiroya looked away once again and let go of my wrist, which he had been holding on to since the car. He was stronger than he looked, and wasn't till then I noticed how much taller he had gotten, was almost more than a head taller than me now, was hard to believe we used to be the same height. His hair was the same messy brown which matched his golden brown eyes. We walked the rest of the way in silence once again but it wasn't long till we stood at Shiki's door. I knocked first but nothing, Hiroya rang the doorbell. We could hear it ring through the apartment but no one answered. I knocked once more before I took out the key he had given to me for his place. I slowly unlocked the door and opened it to darkness.
"Hello?" I called in before peaking my head inside. No one was inside and it wasn't till I stepped in that Hiroya spoke up.
"Hey, look his mailbox is stuffed." I took a look and he wasn't kidding, the thing was nearly bursting at the seams. "Don't you think this is odd? It's not like him." Hiroya was right, Shiki would never allow anything to get bad he was a complete neat freak and everything had to be in order. We both walked in and I closed the door behind us. Maybe he was busy and pulling all-nighters at the school?
"One sec, where's the light." Quickly I found the light and the whole apartment lit up.
"Hey Look! Over there!" Hiroya pointed at a monitor in the far left corner of the room. The monitor was on with some kind of weird symbol. "That's the logo for Arcadia!"
"The game you and my brother played right?"
"Yeah, do you mind if I take a look at it?" I shook my head and he ran over to it. "…Don't go near World V." He was whispering to himself as he looked at the screen.

A logo bearing a sword with thorns glowing ominously on a blue screen. Right below it was a message…[Accessing World V]. My throat went dry and Hiroya stood there frozen as well as we both looked at the screen together. I stammered to get my words out but finally I was able to talk.
"Hiroya, you don't think…" I went to touch the mouse be Hiroya pushed it away.
"Let's leave." His voice was cold almost distant once again.
"But…"
"Let's go now!" He snapped and pulled me out of the apartment, I was just able to touch the lights to turn them off as I was being dragged out. He didn't stop pulling till we had reached a nearby connivance store. He let me go once he had stepped inside. I stood by the door not moving, I was so confused and scared, to many things were dancing through my mind. I ignored everything around me till Hiroya walked up beside me with a small bag in his hands. "Sorry for the wait."
"Don't worry about it…" I sounded so cold I didn't mean to but I was lost. Hiroya opened a drink he had just bought and drank half the bottle before letting out a huge sigh. I couldn't get over how weird he was acting since we had left.
"Let's go home for now. I wanna look into something." His words surprised me, go home? Why?
"Look into what?" he looked away from me and started to walk. I asked again but he didn't respond. I had no chose but to follow him back to the station, even when we got back he walked me to my house in silence but this silence was different it was almost scary. Once we had reached my house I reached for the door when Hiroya spoke up.
"World V…There's a disturbing rumor." He took a breath and looked right at me. "We both saw the screen was pointed to World V server right?" I nodded "You know how in online games, a lot of players are connected through the internet?" I nodded again. "Well, if too many people access it at once, the program doesn't run as smoothly."
"Ok, and what does that mean?"
"So when you first start a game, the player selects a server and logs in. Once you pick it, you usually can't change it. So if you want to play with a friend, you select the same server."
"You and my brother were on the same server before right?"
"Yeah, Shiki and I are in World A. Arcadia has Twenty-Five servers, titled from A to Z. For some reason, V doesn't exist. So there was this weird Rumor…If you access the nonexistent World V, you'll get trapped in the game world."
"…That sounds like an urban legend."
"I thought it was just one of those too…but…" The screen flashed in my mind. "Maybe, just maybe, it might have some connection to Shiki's disappearance…"
"I can understand where you're going but, to be trapped in a world inside a game…" It was hard to believe, I mean it's only a game.
"Well…He could just stroll into his apartment one day and say he was at school the whole time or he could say he was at the lab, or at a friend's place…"
"And we both know that he has the tendency to be a free spirit…There are a lot of times he disappeared without telling us, and when I'd ask where he went, he'd avoid me." Even as I talked I could tell Hiroya wasn't convinced. "Oh! I know. I'll visit the university tomorrow, since we have a few days off starting from then." Hiroya nodded.
"Got it. I'll looke more into World V. I mean, I could just be over thinking it all. If you find Shiki, let me know. Do you…have a smartphone?
"Of course." Hiroya then took out his phone.
"Give me your number." For some reason I was stunned and embarrassed, a guy asked for my number but I shook it off, it's only Hiroya. I looked through my bag and pulled out my phone, I for some reasons couldn't remember my number and I had to search for it. "Forget it. I'll do it. Give it to me." He quickly took the phone out of my hand and started pressing things. "There that should be it. By the way, your phone sure is old."
"Thanks, and it's a hand-me-down from my brother."
"I see…" He passed me back my phone and rubbed the back of his head.

After that we said our good-byes and I walked into my house. My parents were home and greeted me as always. We had a quick dinner and I left to take a bath to try and relax, I knew I should tell them about Shiki but I didn't want to till I knew there was really something to bother them about. It was then that all the day's fatigue rushed over me and I laid back in the bath. I sighed and looked up at the ceiling, I hadn't talked to Hiroya in a while, it was a little awkward and now I even had his phone number. I shook my head and though about where Shiki could be hiding, however thinking made me even more tired.
"We're just overthinking it, right?" I was asking myself out loud and sighed again, and with that I got out and called it a night, tomorrow I'd find out what's going on and everything will be cleared up. I fell asleep pretty quickly but it seemed my mind wouldn't let me rest. I knew I was dreaming but I had no control of myself at all. Walls of bookshelves ran alongside me down what looked like a never ending hallway. I saw myself walking down the hall but I was a child, crying calling for my brother. I've had dreams like this before being lots and alone but not in a place like this. The dream felt like forever before I opened my eyes to see my bedroom. I quickly looked at my phone next to my pillow and as I expected nothing. I sighed and got up to get ready, today I was going to my brother's school. As always my parents were gone for work and I made myself breakfast before heading out. The weather looked great and I was right on time for leaving to catch the train. As I locked the house to leave my phone started to ring. Quickly I took it out of my bag and saw the name Hiroya on the screen.
"Hello?" I answered as I finished locking up and started walking to the station.
"I still haven't seen Shiki in the game. And still no response from him. I also couldn't find out more information on World V." He sounded tired, wonder if he was up late looking for information.
"If you're not able to I wouldn't push yourself."
"But we have today off…so I'm going to ask all the people who are sighed on." He totally was ignoring me. "You said you're going to his school, so let me know if you see him." Soon the thought crossed my mind…what happens if he's not at school…I shook the thought out, no reason to worry till it happens. I agreed to let him know and he hung up.

The train to the school took longer than I thought but I had made it in good time, this was my first time at his school, it was huge…Trying to find him here wasn't going to be easy. How should I go about doing this? Just as I walked forward I ran into someone.
"Oh! Sorry!" I'd been too busy looking around, and didn't see the person walking in front of me. I bumped into him by accident. "I'm really sorry. That was my fault!" He was tall, wore glasses and has headphones hanging around his neck. He looked older maybe he was a student here. "I'm actually looking for someone. Where can I…" before I could finish asking the guy walked past me ignoring me all together.
"Hey, there! What's wrong?" I turned to see two other people walking out from the school to the gates. They seemed nice and asked if I needed help looking around before I could even ask them. As they said they showed me the whole school and my brother was nowhere to be found, the two said that he had missed school for the past few days without any notice. It was hard not to have heavy thoughts weighing on my heart as I thanked them and made my way back to Shiki's apartment. I'd try his place once more then talk to my parents. I got there pretty quickly and opened the door to how it was when we had left it, no sign of him at all. New paper was shoved in his mail box and the game still appeared on his screen. I closed the door behind me and sat on the chair by his desk. Just as I was thinking about going home my cell rang again, I answered without checking who it was.
"Hey, it's me" It was Hiroya, he sounded upset and tired.
"Hiroya" All I could say was his name before tears started to fall from my cheeks
"What's the matter?" He must have been able to tell. "You sound different."
"I'm sorry." I wasn't ever good at hiding things.
"What's the matter? I can't tell with just'sorry.'" He was really worried from the sounds of it
"I cound't find him…and no one at school and seen him in a while." I was nearly in full panic. "What should I do, Hiroya…"
"Calm down. It doesn't mean something happened to him." He sounded so calm and almost close. "He might be at a friend's, right? Where are you right now?" I brushed off the tears with my sleeve, Hiroya could be right.
"I'm at his apartment, thought he might've been home by now."
"How about his monitor?"
"Same as yesterday…still on."
"What happens when you use the controller?"
"I'll give it a try one sec." I leaned over the desk and picked up the black controller on the desk and clicked a button. "Nothing happens…"
"How about the START button?" I looked at the controller to find it and clicked. The screen finally changed.
"Oh! Something changed!"
"Does it say 'Start Game.'"
"It's greyed out. I can't pick it. In white, thought it says 'New Game'…and 'Config'…"
"So even while it's accessing, you can still start a new game…Why is that." I clicked new game.
"I pressed 'New Game' and a whole lot popped up on the screen."
"Maybe the character creation screen?"
"Hey if I create a character, can I play the game? Can I make one?"
"You're planning on logging in?!" He sounded shocked but if I was going to wait for a bit why not try it.
"You're playing now, right?"
"Well, Kinda. I'm just asking around about Shiki."
"Then I want to help, too." He didn't speak. "I mean if you're asking around for info, the more the better, right?" I could hear him sigh.
"I get it…Guess it can't be helped. Not like you'd listen if I said no. I'll help you make a character."
"Thank you!" I was for once excited and I sat up in the chair.
"But promise me, only until the evening. If you haven't found him by then, I think you'll need to tell your parents."
"Yeah…" I nodded even though I knew he couldn't see me.
"All right hang on." He went quiet and then my phone went off. He had sent me a text saying invitation.
"Put that number into the character creation screen. Then we can be on the same server." I did as he told me and put the number into the screen. "I'm under the name Hiroya."
"I'll be Kumi then…" I entered the text and clicked for the next step
"Now then, make sure to choose Demon. Aside from that, you can pick any race. Just as a side note. I'm a Therian. If you don't know what to pick, just pick the same one as me."
"Oh…hold on. What's this?" The descriptions at the top showed a power column, and a choice between Angel and Demon. "I can't pick Angel? It looks so pretty with its wings." I heard him sigh again.
"No. In Arcadia, you choose between Angels and Demons, and they battle. The two have separate base camps. If I'm a demon and you're an Angel, it's gonna be hard to find each other."

There was already so many rules and I hadn't even started the game yet. As I hovered my cursor over the text more descriptions appeared on-screen. There was so many classes, too and it was starting to seem like too much. But as if he could read my mind Hiroya spoke up.
"You're only going to go around asking about things, so just choose whatever."
"Well, I mean I'm doing all this anyway. I kinda want to try playing a bit." For the first time I heard him laugh.
"What are you laughing for!"
"Just a few minutes ago, you were on the verge of tears and now you want to play." He laughed again. "You're still so happy-go-lucky." If Hiroya and Shiki are playing together, I want to play too. I didn't say it out loud since I knew it sounded king of childish…and this is when my brother might be missing even. "What's the matter? You got quiet."
"Oh, nothing. Uh, let's see…Which one do you think I should pick?"
"I don't think you're fit for combat…You're pretty slow."
"You know that's irritating to hear, but at the same time, I have to agree with you."
"Healers are pretty popular among girls. But you'd need a lot of skill…Oh, how about a Minstrel?" I could hear him clicking on his computer as we talked. "You support your party through singing, and you can use a knife or arrows."
"Nice. Minstrel, it is…And, done!" I hit the next button and made sure everything was as we talked about. "Finished making my character. Next…" Next thing I knew as I clicked the button to start the screen went full white and soon everything else around me did as well. I heard Hiroya yelling something over the phone but soon that was gone as well and all disappeared.