I: Nervegear


Hanako had never really been interested in Nervegear, or at least that's what she told herself during the odd occasions that the subject came up. To her, when Nervegear was concerned, it was a large waste of money and made people fall for an illusion. It was a false world that people liked more than the real one, fake and unsafe. Of course it was, but that didn't stop Daichi from fawning over the new gear like it was the golden fleece itself. Her brother had always been a gamer, she had thought this was just another phase of his hobby that she would never get involved in. Despite this Hanako knew there was a deep curiousity rooted beneath this distrust in the technology. Perhaps it was the fact that she knew very little about it except that it had been invented by some guy with way too much time on his hands. As far Hanako knew the helmet her brother put on had some type of technology in it that messed with a person's senses, allowing them to enter a virtual world. She eventually had Daichi explain things to her.

According to him, Nervegear -known as NRV Gear by the technical junkies- was the first generation of FullDive technology made by Kayaba Akihiro released with the Beta Game by Argus. The mechanics were simple enough to understand as well. It basically worked as a computer you slipped over your head so that it could trick your brain and use your mind as the screen. It had the ability to redirect signals in the brain and control your five sense, which was why using it was actually like stepping into a virtual world. Equipped with a back-up battery and internal memory, the helmet that Hanako always saw Daichi wearing was the real deal. The most impressive part was the high density microwave transceivers that her brother described to her though. They were powerful enough to determine a user's face structure, in other words it could tell what a person looked like just by pulling it on.

What Daichi seemed the most excited about though was the game he was a Beta Tester of along with 1000 others; Sword Art Online. It was some game that he referred to as a VRMMORPG, some gamer code that meant along the lines of Virtual Reality Multi-something-online Role play. Hanako didn't know the specifics except for the game used the NRV. He said the place was amazing, a whole world compacted into 100 floors of dangerous monsters and sword fighting. Amused and intrigued, Hanako had allowed herself the pleasure of listening to his rambling stories about himself and the other players. It wasn't until the second week that the topic of the Dual Prince appeared. A player with the unique ability to wield two swords, Daichi had never seen anyone like him. It was obsession that he couldn't stop talking about for the rest of the month. By the time it was over Hanako almost felt sad the stories would stop, not that she would admit it.

"Well, it's a good thing it's over." She stated, lounging on Daichi's bed as he hammered away at this computer keyboard. "You can get back to reality now. I'm pretty sure mom's pissed you ditched college for a month straight." She saw him glance over at her quickly before turning his eyes back to the screen in front of him, choosing to remain silent. Daichi was older then her by two years, the youngest son in their family of six. Tall with a mess of sloppy blonde hair and blue eyes, he was seemingly attractive on the outside. In truth he was actually a nerd that hid from daylight and kept a collection of 2D girlfriends hanging on his wall. It was a waste of good-looks if you asked Hanako but it wasn't her problem. If he wanted to spend his time with a poster then who was she to judge? Hanako had some strange habit of her own after all, ones that her friends at school would never believe she had. "What are you going to do with all your free time?" She questioned, "Now that your game is done."

"Dunno." He replied lazily over his shoulder. "But I preordered the actually game so it shouldn't be that hard to wait until November for the launch." Hanako let out a shocked noise, sitting up abruptly.

"You preorder the actual game?" She asked, gapping at him. "Where are you going to get the time to play that? Don't you dare become a stinky hermit, I won't be able to invite friends over!" He didn't reply, just gave a soft laugh and continued playing his game as if nothing had happened. She couldn't believe him, already he had neglected everything he was supposed to do for a month and he planned to continue the trend in November? He was so obsessed with games that he was going to slowly deteriorate into nothing, even now he was playing a game as if it was more important than the conversation they were having. To Daichi, neglecting a game was worse than neglecting life. He'd easily hang up anything he had planned so that he could get his hands on new software or beat the next level of some adventure game he was playing. It was so immature of him that Hanako - and the rest of the family - scolded him for it all the time. At the rate he was going he would be living off of their parents until he was forty. Still, Hanako couldn't fully make herself hate the fact that he was irresponsible, because with the game came the stories.

"You think the Dual Prince preordered it also?" She questioned meekly, swinging her legs around so they danged off the side of his bed. "I mean... He was one of the best, it only makes sense that he would." Her statement finally got the attention it deserved, Daichi turning in his swivel chair to stare seriously into her eyes. An unnerving silence filled the room, the screen of his computer flashing a few times as he died before a menu popped up. Still their eyes held each other - large grey ones against slanted blue ones - Hanako not daring to look away even a second as her brother looked her over. Finally a smile crept across his face; one that gave Hanako shivers. It was clear evil thoughts had crossed through his mind, Daichi was planning something.

When he spoke it was almost deadly, "You want to do it..." Hanako's eyes widened as a single hand lifted and her brother pointed at the Nervegear waiting on his desk. "Want to try a fulldive of your own?" Hanako felt her heart jump, her body suddenly becoming very hard to hold still as she shifted her weight around on the bed. He hadn't offered anything like that before and though the offer was appealing Hanako didn't think she could handle something like that. To go into a virtual world was not something she wanted to do, afraid that she might like the game world better then the real one. She shook her head, peeking around at the helmet her brother was still pointing to.

"No. Way." She stated in an attempt to be firm, "I don't want to play some... stupid... ga..." Her voice trailed away as Daichi forcefully stood from his chair, causing it to shoot backwards and clatter against the wall behind him. He then walked - more like stomped - his way to his closet and threw open it's door so that he could rummage around in the back; withdrawing a large box as he turned to face her once more. It didn't look like much, just a plain cardboard box with nothing printed on the outside, but when he placed it in front of her and lifted the lid Hanako almost felt like her stomach was about to explode.

"I had hoped you'd take part in the actual game with me." He said looking down at the Nervegear within the box. "That's why I went out and bought this and preordered two copies of Sword Art Online." The slick blue helmet seemed to call to her, the NRV print in black holding her eyes in some sort of trance. Daichi dropped the lib back onto the box before she could so much as blink, shrugging as he began to put it away. "Since you don't want it, I guess I'll have to sell it or something."

Hanako clicked her tongue hatefully and snatched the box from him. "Only because you went through the effort to get one for me." She snapped, secretly overjoyed with having her own Nervegear. "I'll only do it once, if I don't like it then you can't bug me about it later on. Got it?" Daichi gave her a bright smile, head tilted to the side like an overly happy puppy. She could practically see his tail wagging.

"I know you'll like it." He replied almost skipping over to his computer, "I'm one step closer to my dream now!" Shifting the box so that it was propped o her hip, she looked over her brother's delighted face. She knew encouraging him was bad but she was suddenly rather curious about what he was talking about.

"Dream?" She asked figuring that if he said something stupid she would put him in his place. She couldn't have his head in the clouds too often, he was already in a virtual world enough to be deemed stupid.

"For you, the Dual Prince, and I to conquer the 100 floors of Aincrad!" He stated, pride written all over his face. "Or to learn how to wield two blades... either one would be enough for me." Hanako held back the urge to rub her face tiredly and shook her head.

"Idiot. Who would want to play a full game with you?" She snapped, the impact of the words causing Daichi's head to droop. "Still, it seems like it might be possible so I guess I can help you out." With that Hanako stood, ignoring the sparkle in her brother's eyes as she exited his bedroom and cross the hall to her own. After placing the gear in the corner she flopped down on her bed, staring up at the white ceiling as she took in the silence of her room. She wasn't sure if following her brother into a game like that would be smart and she was frightened but she seemed drawn to it as well.

"A Virtual Reality, huh?" She mumbled letting her eyes drift closed. "Might be nice."