Author's Note: Wow, it's been a while. O.O; Sorry I haven't been able to update in so long – I just haven't had the chance, and wound up stalling as this chapter rather confounded me.
This chapter goes out to all my readers and reviewers who've waited for this update, as well as TheAnadalua, whose PM prompted me to continue this chapter. Thank you so much!
Chapter 4: A Chance Encounter
King Kazma's avatar greeted him with a smart salute, the same as he always did. Without waiting another moment longer, Kazuma quickly entered the command to view the OZ Martial Arts Championship battle logs, fingers flying across the keys at lightning speed.
In mere seconds his request was granted, and statistics and outcomes flooded the page, very nearly nudging King Kazma out of the view. The rabbit avatar gave the floating screen a small glare before scrolling down the time logs to the night before. As the list went on, Kazuma wasn't certain how to react – according to battle logs, it looked like there were some people who were even more fanatic about the challenges than he was!
After a moment of sifting through the numerous entries of losses and wins, Kazuma finally found what he was looking for:
EVENING ROUND 937: NIGHT-FIGHTER MATCH-UP 90. CHAMPION FENGHUANG LEI VS. CHALLENGER AKANE.
He felt his breath hitch as he doubled-click the icon, and involuntarily leaned forward to find the outcome.
TIE.
"It… was a draw?" he let out his breath in a hefty sigh. While a part of him was sorely disappointed to find that Akane had not in fact won the match, the other part was relieved that she hadn't allowed Fenghuang Lei to win. With all the dirty tricks the Chinese fighter had pulled against that faerie-like avatar, he didn't deserve to win. Even when he was desperate, Kazuma never resorted to cheap shots.
He snorted at the memory of Fenghuang Lei trying to pull Akane down by yanking on her coat. It was a good thing the avatar had been so flexible, or else he might have succeeded in incapacitating her.
Still, she'd tied against the seventh-ranking fighter in the OZ Championship – that was an impressive accomplishment. As far as anyone could remember, nobody with Akane's neophyte ranking lasted past a minute against the high-level players. If she kept it up, he'd be facing her in a competition sooner or later.
He liked the idea of that, funnily enough. It would be interesting to see how she'd fare against King Kazma.
His inbox messaging system blipped in front of him, revealing several new messages. With a rather disgruntled sigh, he clicked the icon, leading to the long list of friend request, invites, and various other private messages left over by his fans.
There was only one that he clicked on, after scanning the multitude of subject lines in mild disinterest. The space next to the subject line had been marked with the Jinnouchi clan's flag, just under the avatar for the person who'd sent the message. The avatar itself looked to be a masked ninja squid of sorts. That interesting little guy belonged to none other than Kazuma's sensei and grandfather: Mansuke Jinnouchi.
Smiling broadly, Kazuma clicked on the message's title, which said loud and clear "READ ME!"
Heya, kid! The message read. How are things in Nagoya? Your mom called about coming over early, which excited just about everyone over here. Mariko's ecstatic about seeing her little niece and the rest of the girls are going insane over going out to buy Hikari new clothes – women!
Kazuma snorted with laughter. Women were pretty crazy about babies and things related to "the little darlings". He could still remember the day Hikari was born: the hospital orderlies and attendant had all been ogling at the number of people crowding the waiting area connected to the delivery room. Not all of the Jinnouchi family members had shown up, but there had been enough of them to raise a good number of eyebrows. And the entire time, all the women of the family had been speculating what the baby would look like, what colors she'd look good in – Kazuma had opted to remain with his grandfather, who'd made sure to throw several witty comments before Kazuma's father came out of the delivery room with the pink bundle, giving way to squeals of delight and Kazuma and his rather shaky father receiving congratulatory thumps on the back.
Well, anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing you all again! Mariko and I (and Mansaku – can't forget about him!) found a few places for you guys to take a look at after you get settled in. Everyone's pretty sure your dad's going to get the transfer, so we're all pitching in to look for a house.
I caught sight of your battle entry for last night against that one guy – sorry I missed it. Keep up the great work, kid! See you soon! And don't forget about your summer homework!
Kazuma laughed softly as he exited the message and proceeded to his ritualistic en masse deletion of fan-submitted messages. Mansuke might have been seventy-one years old, but he was dynamite on OZ and reality. After all that hell Kazuma went through in school growing up, he had grown quite attached to his grandfather and loved him dearly. He couldn't wait to see the old man again.
Unwanted proclamations of unshakable devotion now cleared, Kazuma checked his friends and family list to see if anyone was on, and was rather disappointed to see that no one was logged into the system. It oughtn't to have surprised him much, given everyone's circumstances. His family's preparations for their summer gathering notwithstanding, there were other things to consider. His cousin Natsuki Shinohara and her boyfriend, that math nerd Kenji Koiso, were both currently attending cram school in preparation for their college entrance exams. Even though both had finished high school earlier in the year, they'd chosen to withhold going into college in favor of extra studying. Despite the bespectacled teen's vehement protests to the contrary, Takashi Sakuma had followed them in the effort while also maintaining his status as an OZ moderator alongside Kenji. The two had received promotions following the Love Machine incident, which meant not only an increase in pay but an increase in the amount of time they spent being consumed in their work. Their jobs atop of intense studying left minimal time for extracurricular activities. Kazuma probably wouldn't be hearing from any of them until after he got to Ueda, and even then it would probably be a quick PM before hitting the books again. Sakuma hardly sent anything past emoticons from his cell phone these days, and Kenji just barely slipped him messages in-between running system checks.
The fourteen-year-old sighed. It would be another week or two before he would see Natsuki and Kenji again, and it was a bit irritating to think on. Kazuma understood perfectly well that this was what happened when a person went on the college track and held a job, but it still left him feeling a bit lonely. He hardly got along with anyone at his school, and generally ignored his classmates as a result. As King Kazma he was online gamer's dream, but in reality he was a social klutz; Kenji and Sakuma were the only friends he had outside the Jinnouchi family.
Shrugging aside the issue of his perpetual lack of a social life outside the virtual world, Kazuma exited the personal messaging system and pulled up the Games and Challenges index. After competing in the Championship the previous evening, he opted this time for the usual endurance games he tended to stick to. It pleased him to see that his Exposition Games – far and wide the best-loved timed challenge game for OZ gamers, according to reviews – was still at the top of the list. After uploading several new challenge levels to create a 150 Match Survival Challenge, hits and views had skyrocketed.
Now that he thought about it, Kazuma hadn't given his Survival Challenge a run-through in a while. Deciding now was as good a time as any, he clicked on the game's icon and watched as the world surrounding King Kazma melded out of focus before shifting and regaining the bright coloration of OZ.
…
The environment around the rabbit king waned a bit before sharpening into focus, his red eyes adjusting the change in scenery. The entrance into the Exposition Games had hardly changed a bit since his updating and additions. The gates were still the same illuminated digital screen, the brightly lighted display heralding the title of the game space like one of those retro arcades he'd seen in Shibuya, Tokyo. King Kazma strolled casually through the torii-style gateway, feeling rather nostalgic at his surroundings.
Not a thing had truly changed here since Love Machine, and for that the champion fighter was proud. Denizens of OZ still flocked here to hone their skills, let off steam, or simply kill some time. Even as the rest of OZ's virtual gaming establishments experimented in their appearances, King Kazma stubbornly kept his the same. In time, perhaps he would do something a little different to alter the Exposition Games' outwards appearance, but for now, he was content with what he had.
The rabbit king was lost only momentarily in his thoughts before a loud yell snapped him from his reverie.
Looking in the direction of the shout, King Kazma was surprised to find a full-scale battle being waged on the 77th level of the 150 Match Survival Challenge. As the owner and administrator of the game, entitled to know all the goings-on of his gaming arena, the furred fighter waved a hand to summon what was popularly referred to as the Eye in the Sky by those of the OZ realm.
The Eye in the Sky had been released several months following Love Machine's demise, after the media hype died down and court dates disappeared into the woodwork. One of the OZ administrators' latest developments in security, it allowed proprietor's of stores, business owners, technicians for utilities, and even amateur game developers such as Kazuma the ability to home in on essentially every aspect of their OZ properties. The idea behind the Eye in the Sky was to reduce the chance of hacking, as well as ensure a safe haven for OZ account holders.
The OZ administrators had their own version of the program; a far more powerful and omnipotent form of the Eye in the Sky, which had been released to the public under the name of the Eye of Harmony.
Accessing into his own Eye in the Sky, King Kazma adjusted the settings of the free-floating screen to zoom in on the 77th level. Out of the virtual dust and debris being kicked up in the battle, he could make out two figures: one of them appeared to be distinctly female, while the other was a large and writhing, snake-like object. Their opponent was a currently indiscernible mecha, one of many in the Survival Challenge. The one thing about this boss, however, was that Kazuma had given it the ability to target multiple opponents while holding the defensive. Many complained it was almost impossible to get past the monstrosity, but that was mostly because they lacked the patience to study their opponent before really attacking.
Judging from the pair's movements, however, King Kazma could tell that they were strategizing.
"Left flank!" one shrill female voice screeched, and the girlish figure on the screen veered off to the side, allowing the twisting serpentine form to charge, talons flashing briefly before being engulfed in virtual dust. "He's all yours, Allen!"
"Got it!" yelled another, this one belonging to what sounded like an adolescent boy around Kazuma's age. The serpentine form charged, but then snapped back abruptly before being engulfed in the smoke of the battle. "Crap! I don't got it!"
"Watch out!" cried another feminine voice, catching King Kazuma's interest immediately. Where had that third voice come from?
The screen cleared a little, the sounded of screeching metal in motion causing the rabbit king to cringe. The two figures panted heavily, but remained on guard. King Kazma watched the pair in slight bemusement, having never seen them before at any point on OZ. That was hardly surprising, given the sheer number of people with access to the social networking website, but for him to have missed an avatar dressed in grey-and-black attire sporting vivid violet hair tied into a messy ponytail and a set of chartreuse eyes seemed a bit unlikely. The dragon crouched next to her – sleek, muscular, and with an astoundingly long red mane and feral gold eyes – was equally as odd and even less likely to miss in a sea of avatars.
There was a brief silence, followed by a bone-rattling metallic CRASH that shook the arena. The strange duo backed up quickly before a large metal arm fell before them.
"Timber~!" the violet-haired girl trilled with a giggle. "Talk about your perfect timing! I thought we'd be out for certain!"
"What the heck took you so long?" the dragon demanded, looking over in the direction of the fallen mecha's main body.
"Sorry, I was bit preoccupied." The third voice from before, soft and gentle, apologized. King Kazma gave a jolt – he'd heard that voice before!
The owner of the voice jumped out from the cloud of dust surrounding the downed opponent, brown boots touching lightly onto the arena's floor and the avatar kneeling gracefully upon landing.
From his place in the world of reality, Kazuma Ikezawa fought the urge to either fall off his bed or drop his laptop as the newly arrived female avatar lifted her head and grinned broadly to her comrades, long violet-tipped cinnamon-colored ears twitching slightly in response to the dust particles still drifting about lazily in the air.
It was Akane.