The last bell rung and I left the room in a hurry. I was ready to go home after a long day and just take the biggest nap ever. I was extremely tired after that last math lesson. Upon leaving the school, I made sure not to connect to the global network, just like Kuroyukihime told me to do. Before leaving, I heard someone calling my name. It was Kuroyukihime, walking briskly towards me.

"I'm sorry about what happened at lunch today," she said.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," I said.

"That's good. Let's walk home together," she said. It wasn't a question.

Students saw us walking out together and had bewildered faces on. My face felt hot as I walked with Kuroyukihime.

"Hey, Lan-kun?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"We don't know each other very well, yet you don't add a 'senpai' to my name. Why is that?"

"Does it bother you?" I asked, worried.

"No, not at all. I'm just a little curious."

"I think of every student as an equal. Older people might have a problem with it, but younger ones tend not to care whether or not I add formality," I explained.

"I see."

We arrived at my house and I said farewell to Kuroyukihime. It was a small house, but it was big enough for me. I was usually alone, since my parents worked during this time. I hardly ever spend time with them anymore, but it wasn't a big deal to me. I preferred being alone. I entered my room and jumped into bed. I was very tired. But I didn't fall asleep instantly. I thought about what happened today. Would I be hated for supposedly trying to 'get with' Kuroyukihime? As I thought this, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

I had a horrific dream. There were people everywhere. They were all getting killed by who knows what. Some of them were faceless, others had faces. They were the faces of my old friends. One face remained and it was Kuroyukihime. I'll protect you. I want our bond to stay alive. Don't go!

Protecting bonds. That's what I wanted, of all things. I wanted my friends to remain friends. I also wanted their bonds to stay safe, because if you didn't have any friends to go to, you would suffer all alone. I want to protect everyone that I love.

A hero, huh? What's in a hero?

And with that, Kuroyukihime was killed with a flash of light.

I woke up with a start, panting heavily. I looked at the time and saw that it was 5:57 AM. I woke up early today. What a horrible dream... I did my usual thing and left the house, not finding a note once again. Kuroyukihime said I could connect to the global network today, so I did. Right as I stepped out of my house, the world turned blue. What just happened?

The world around me disappeared and reconfigured itself. My body was being transformed into a different being as well. The only thing I noticed was that there was red. I reappeared in a grassy field, extending for miles, it seemed. Kuroyukihime appeared in front of me as her school avatar. A large 'FIGHT' logo appeared on my HUD. On the top left of my HUD, I saw what seemed to be my HP gauge and the right, was Kuroyukihime's HP gauge. Below our HP gauges were our new names, I guess. Me being 'Red Hero' and Kuroyukihime being 'Black Lotus'. In the middle, there was a timer going down. Was I in the Accelerated World? Was it some sort of game?

"Oh, it's the Twilight stage. How rare." Kuroyukihime said, "Anyway, hello Lan-kun. It seems you didn't heed my warning. No worries, I'm not here to duel you. I'm here to teach you the basics."

"Uhh... Okay," I said, confused.

Kuroyukihime was about to say something, but got distracted by something in my direction. Maybe it was me?

"Your avatar is very interesting," Kuroyukihime said.

"My avatar?" I asked.

"Yes. It looks almost human. Every other avatar looks like a machine, but yours... Is very human. Yours has a face. I assume that your vision hasn't changed at all?"

"No, it hasn't. Was it supposed to?"

"In an average avatar, you're supposed to be in an enclosed helmet. I've seen avatars with faces on them, but yours looks the most realistic. Interesting."

I glanced at my hands and saw them as black with white fingertips. I had red armlets with gold wrist guards. The rest of my arms were black and I had a red vest on. It looked like a vest, but felt very much like armor. My legs were also black, but my "boots" were red with gold, just like my armlets. I also noticed my... long gold hair?! Why did I have long hair?

"What exactly am I?" I asked.

"I'm not sure myself. Your name indicates that you are the 'Red Hero'. You're very colorful, though. Mostly red, but black and gold as well. And you have a bright blue triangular gem on your head. Your 'helmet' looks very intricate. I've never seen anything like it," Kuroyukihime observed. She walked towards me with interest in her eyes.

She quietly observed me with her large brown eyes, looking at every detail. She touched the gem on my forehead and then went to my hair.

"Your hair feels very realistic."

"Thanks, I guess... Are you done touching me?" I asked with a chuckle.

"Sorry, I was distracted!" she said apologetically.

Kuroyukihime started teaching me the lessons of the fighting game, Brain Burst. The goal was to dwindle the enemy's HP down to zero, or to be less than yours at the end of the time limit. Our duel avatars were assigned colors to indicate our strengths and weaknesses. Since I was red, I specialized in long range attacks. However, I did not find any long range weapons on me. We also had certain moves and special moves we could execute. With me being level 1, I had little moves to use. It was just a simple punch and kick... and slash.

"I can slash," I said.

"Interesting. Can you try to find a weapon on yourself?" Kuroyukihime asked.

I looked around my body for something to use and found a small white sheath-like object on my left hip and touched it with my hand. Something popped out and I grabbed it. It looked like a sword handle. I gripped it firmly and a beam of green, solid light was emitted from the handle. I had a laser sword as a weapon. I waved it around and slashed the grass. It made a zwung zwung sound as it moved through the air.

"I like it," I said.

"Strange how you don't have a gun of some sorts. It's fine if you're more comfortable with a blade..." she murmured.

Kuroyukihime trained me for a bit, until I got the hang of controlling my duel avatar and executing basic maneuvers. I felt like I could start fighting now!

"You think we can duel for real?" I asked.

"You're already becoming a Burst Linker!" she laughed.

"You think so?" I chuckled along.

"Of course. Now, when you exit, there is a chance that you might be challenged to another duel that's not from me. If you do, I want you to fight your hardest. Got that?"

"Yes, senpai!" I jokingly said.

She smiled in amusement as a reply. Soon, the time limit was reached and then I was forced back to the real world. Before I could move another step forward, my world turned blue again. I wished it wasn't so soon...

(Yes, Red Hero is practically Zero from the MMZ series.)