-Welcome, New User.
A teenage boy stood there in a marketplace-like area filled with a crowd of people, new ones appearing every few minutes or so. He had two large spikes that come off as a bang from his blonde hair. A rubber band was tied around the back of it, making it similar to a ponytail. However, because of its shortness, it was pushed forward and had a small puff at the mouth of the band. His eyes were teal and full of curiosity. A long, slightly torn maroon scarf hung from his neck and stretched to the ground. He wore a red sleeveless shirt and a faded black vest. Black cargo jeans were secured with a belt that was tilted forward with a few pouches of various sizes. He had black fingerless gloves and scuffed black boots that reached just beyond his ankles.
"Welcome! Learn the basics here!" the blonde heard from somewhere in the crowd. He rolled his eyes and started walking in the other direction.
"Tutorials are for noobs," he said under his breath as he left the marketplace-like area. While passing several unique-looking characters and a few that looked exactly the same, he eventually made it to an inn. He reached to open the front door, but stopped as he felt someone looking at him. He turned to his left slowly and saw just a regular crowd of people. The blonde sighed and proceeded to opening the door, but upon opening, he bumped into another person, knocking them to the floor.
"Hey! Sorry!" He said, looking at the figure's shape. She wore a tie-die T-shirt, a brown vest, ripped blue jeans, and had green, purple, and blue in her hair, green being its primary color. She looked up at the boy.
"What the hell, man?!" she exclaimed, getting up off the floor and brushing herself off.
"It was an accident!"
"Whatever," she said as she pushed him aside and continued through the door. The boy watched her as she walked away. He finally proceeded into the inn and stepped over to the counter. The inn had wooden walls, wooden tables, and a wooden counter with several doors behind the counter in two separate hallways. The innkeeper looked up at the boy.
"Welcome! Care to stay for the night?" she asked, not making eye contact, but maintaining a smile.
"Yeah, I guess."
"Okay; for how long?"
"Just for the night," he said reaching into his pocket. After pulling out his money, he had realized that he moved over a little to the left of the counter, but the girl had been looking in the same position.
"Okay, please sign your name below," she asked, pointing at a paper on the right of the counter. He walked over to the counter and wrote the name 'Kiriko' into the next box that hadn't been filled in.
"There." He said, looking back up at her. As she heard his voice, she turned to face him holding a keycard, that read 'F43'.
"Okay, your room is F43; enjoy your stay." Kiriko had just stood there realizing he hadn't paid her anything.
"How much will it cost?" Kiriko asked her, and in response, her face lit up.
"Oh! That'd be four dollars," she asked, holding out her hand. Kiriko counted out four dollars, handed it to her, and took his keycard. He walked into the hallway on the right side and looked at the various titles on the doors.
"F39, F41, F43." He stopped and stood in front of the door and slid the keycard into the designated area on the door. It made a very low beep noise and opened. The room was a bit small but had everything that was needed; it had two lamps, one near the bed and one on the table near the door. The bed was near the window with a small dresser on each side. The floor had been made of wood along with the walls. Kiriko closed his door and laid his keycard on the dresser near his bed. He walked over to the window. "I guess this is a good spot to come back to." Kiriko walked over to his bed and lied down staring at the ceiling as he slowly began to close his eyes.
The boy closed the window where Kiriko was sleeping. He began to get drowsy and walked over to his bed then went to sleep. The next day, the boy woke up at the sound of his alarm clock.
"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" He pushed a button on the top of the clock, making it snooze. He sighed, looking at the clock; it read '6:45 am'. The boy quickly rushed into the bathroom and returned minutes later to his room. It was kind of small, similar to the size of Kiriko's, but it had a table with his laptop, a lamp, and an old sandwich on it to the left. To the right, there was a small armoire and a mirror above it. On the top of the armoire were different figurines and sketches. To the back of the room was his bed; it was a mess because he had forgotten to fix it. The walls were a simple beige color with several different red lines that traveled like waves at the top and bottom of the wallpaper. He walked over to the mirror, hearing his black dress shoes knock on the hardwood floor, and tilted his head up to look at himself in the mirror. The boy had straight black hair and light blue eyes. He wore a white shirt with a blue collar, he reached into the armoire and pulled out a red tie and began tying it around his neck, under his collar. He adjusted his blue pants and pulled the bottom of his shirt over while grabbing his watch. He began putting it on as he walked from his room into the kitchen. He quickly grabbed a box of pocky and stepped outside.
"Bye!" He said briefly before closing the door. He opened the box while walking towards the city. He looked around at the neighborhood he had lived in; it'd been his second year in federal japan. The homes near his looked similar to the shape and design of his own, they all had triangular shaped roofs, and had a simple build, a square for the majority, a small rectangle either on the left or right, and another in the back part. The exterior of all the homes had wooden fences, yet the boy's home didn't. He glanced ahead looking for something or someone and his a smile had taken his face as he saw people who had looked familiar to him.
"Hey, Guys!" He said waving to them.
"Yo, Zack!" A boy with dark red hair said to him, he was wearing the exact same thing as Zack, the boy.
"Hey Zack." a girl with long brown hair that was put into a French braid said. She wore a blue collared shirt, a red tie, a blue mini skirt, long socks and black dress shoes.
"What took you so long? You're like... late." The boy said.
"I overslept." Zack said looking down.
"Hah! Yeah right... We all know you were up all night gaming, that's why you never replied to us last night." The girl said.
"Well, actually yeah I was... I just recently started a new MMO that got released last night."
"What's it called?" She asked.
"I think it was like "Runner" or something?"
"What's it like?"
"Um, it's detailed?"
"Guys enough dallying, we've gotta get to second district in like the next five minutes, The only way we could probably do that is if we take the train." The boy turns to face Zack holding out his hand wanting something. Zack reached into his pocket and counted out a few Zen then gave it to his friends.
"Is that enough, Dez?" Zack asked.
"Looks like it, C'mon Rayne." Dez said as he walked off in the direction of the city.
"Okay!" She said following him, with Zack not very far behind.
The three rode the train as if it had no stops whatsoever. Zack was sitting directly across from Rayne, and Dez was standing up holding on to a pole.
"Hey Zack..." Rayne said looking up to her friend.
"Yeah?"
"What's Runner like? You, like, never got into detail when you spoke of it."
"It's fable timed, from the same creators of CODEX+." He said getting Dez's attention.
"CODEX+? Isn't that the game that had multiple accounts of its users falling into comas?" Dez said.
"What?"
"Yeah." Rayne said joining in. The train began to slow down and eventually came to a stop.
"C'mon we can't be late to Professor Brakosconkiviwich's class!" Rayne said, standing in front of the door, waiting for it to open. The other two moved from their posts as well and waited for the doors to open. Just as they opened, Zack and Rayne darted off towards this massive building in width. Dez just walked normally behind the two.
"DING, DONG!" The bell rung as Zack reached the doorway of his classroom; he stopped and put a hand on the doorway only to be pushed over by Rayne. The professor walked over to the two with his white eyebrows raised.
"I-I'm not late right?" Zack asked anxiously under Rayne. The professor simply smiled and turned away.
"To your seats." He said as his white lab coat swayed to and fro. Two black dress shoes and long socks eventually stepped in front of Zack. He avoided not looking up because he figured it was a girl.
"What are you still doing on him?" The girl said reaching out for Rayne's hand. Rayne took it and was helped up, as Zack slowly got up.
"Oh sorry, Yuna. I didn't realize he meant that much to you." Rayne said teasing. Yuna blushed and quickly went over to her seat. Zack had finally gotten up on to his feet, just to be pushed aside by Dez.
"You're in the way." Dez said, not even making eye contact with Zack. As Zack tried to regain his stance, he was pushed aside yet again by a muscular boy with shaggy brown hair. Zack turned around and looked behind himself, making sure nobody else was coming.
"To your seat, Zach." The professor said, once more, this time mistakenly pronouncing his name wrong. Zack quickly moved over to his seat; he sat near a window in the second row behind the boy with shaggy hair and in front of Rayne. Zack hadn't recognized anyone who looked like the boy in front of him from last year. He leaned forward and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hey, what's your name?" Zack asked.
"Riddle-E." The boy said.
"Ridley? Where are you from?"
"I are from New Jershey," the boy said. Zack leaned back into his seat and thought to himself as the professor approached the front desk to begin teaching.
"DING, DONG!" The bell rang once again waking up the sleeping Zack. He looked around for his friend but they had already left. Zack quickly ran through the hallway to his next class.
"DING, DONG!" The bell rang. Zack entered the classroom a few seconds after it had rung.
"My, you look tired Zack." A woman said to him. She had short pink hair and wore a teal shirt with a white lab coat. She also wore black pants and black shoes.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Blossom. I didn't get much sleep last night."
"You were playing games again?" She asked, Zack looked up at her with a sly smile.
"Yeah... This new game was released last night. I just had to!" Zack exclaimed. She giggled and said,
"Okay, Okay, go to your seat so we can begin. We don't want to ruin your first day of your sophomore year, right?" she said turning away and going to her desk. Zack walked over towards his seat not aware of the boy in the back of the class examining him closely.
"Zack... eh?" He said under his breath as Mrs. Blossom began her lesson.
"DING, DONG!" The final bell rang, and Zack could hear the cheering of his classmates.
"Don't forget your homework," Mrs. Blossom said as the students rushed of the classroom. Zack grabbed the textbook he had received during his lesson and headed for the door. He felt as if someone had been watching him so he looked towards the back of the classroom and saw nothing but bookshelves. "Hey, you okay?" Mrs. Blossom asked him.
"Huh? Yeah, just taking sudden interests in bookshelves, Haha." Zack said humorously, making her laugh. He then exited the school through the front doors. He saw Dez and Rayne waiting for him.
"What took you so long?" Dez asked.
"Me? Um, nothing." Zack said, "Come on, let's go." The trio walked over to the train station and waited for the train, talking about what had happened during the day. The train finally came and they boarded it; it seemed like another endless ride until it eventually stopped and they exited at the station. The three waved to each other and headed in different directions to go home. Zack reached his front door and opened it. "Mom, I'm back!" He said closing the door and locking it then rushing into his room. He placed his textbook down beside his laptop and quickly booted it up. He typed in the web address ' '. A sign up screen appeared, with a simple question: What is your username? Zack typed "Kiriko" into the box and checked the box to the terms and agreements. The screen was shifted into a blank one with a small vertical box on the right side that showed the users and a big box on the left that said "Kiriko has entered the chat." Under the big box was a smaller box the extended horizontally to the user box. It read "Type something here". As he waited he opened a file on his desktop titled " ". As it loaded he went back to the 'chatty' and opened a new tab and searched CODEX+. The results read, "Coma Pandemic! Reporter Lisa Lee on the scene here with breaking news about...; CODEX+ The Reality Hacker! Remember when you were younger and had this thing for gaming?..."
"BEEP!" Zack switched back over to the chatty to see a new user had joined under the name of "Rayne".
Rayne: Who's this Kiriko?
Kiriko: It's me, Zack.
Rayne: Why name it Kiriko?
Kiriko: Why not?
Rayne: Because I like Zack better.
Kiriko: Brb
Dez has entered the chat.
Rayne: Dez!
Dez: What is it?
Rayne: What? All I said was Hi.
Dez: No you said, "Dez!"
Rayne: Fine, Hi Dez. :/
Dez: What is it?
Kiriko: Back.
Dez: Who are you?
Rayne: Zack
Kiriko: Zack
Dez: WTH is Kiriko?
Kiriko: My Runner character. Guys download it.
Rayne: Okay.
Dez: Fine, I'll do it just to beat you in it.
Kiriko: If you insist.
Rayne has left the chat.
Dez has left the chat.
Zack closed the window titled 'chatty' and switched back to Runner.