Episode 11: Memories of the Past

Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA

September 2024 – The Real World

I don't want anyone to hate me.

I gulped as I entered the classroom after being called by the teacher. My Japanese was still rusty since I was just six years old but I understood the basics enough to speak properly. My first thought after moving here from America was something along the lines of 'I'm going to have so much fun in this new place!' However, that attitude only lasted until I stepped foot in that classroom.

"Why don't you introduce yourself?" The teacher said, gesturing me to move forward. I didn't remember much of her face other than the fact that she had glasses. I could still recall her thick Japanese accent when trying to speak English. "Oh, can you speak Japanese? Maybe you're more comfortable with English?"

"I-" I was usually talkative so it was a surprise to me that my tongue was tied. Sweating, I struggled to find the words to say to the rest of the people watching. That was until some person with glasses broke the silence.

"HERRO! AI AM SHIMPEI MATSUO! NAISU TOO MEETCHU!" This idiot stood up and bowed right in the middle of the classroom as the rest of the students started laughing. Suddenly, the pressure in the room that I had felt lifted at once.

"I… I can speak Japanese just fine." I replied, trying my best not to butcher my sentence with a chuckle.

"Eeeeeeh?!" The boy's face turned red as he sat back down, embarrassed. It was at that point that I couldn't help but join the others in laughter. Somehow, this random boy gave me the courage to speak, so I did.

"My name is Hiroyuki Takamura. I am from America. I look forward to working with you all!" I introduced myself properly in Japanese to the best of my ability. I would always go back to that moment every time I found myself losing my confidence. I would always remember that if some idiot could speak up his mind even at the cost of being laughed at, then I could too.

That was how I met the first person I trusted completely.

November 2026 – The Real World

I just didn't want anyone to hate me…

"Get away from him!" Shimpei stood in between a crying boy who was on the ground and a pair of bullies. I didn't exactly remember their faces as well, just that they were taller than us at the time. I was intimidated by that fact in particular so I just stood on the side-lines and did nothing. It still remained as one of my first regrets.

"This little rat told on us!" One of them pointed on the kid on the ground with a furious face.

"Well, that's what you get for cheating!" Shimpei received a punch in the face for that, knocking him onto the ground along with his glasses. His hands shriveled in pain as he stayed down to avoid any further attacks.

"Don't tell me you hang around these losers, Takamura. You can do so much better." The bullies laughed as they walked off, leaving us to sulk in defeat. I picked up Shimpei's glasses and handed it back to him.

"I… I'm sorry." I apologized. I was too afraid to back him up… I wondered if they still would have punched him if I managed to stand by his side.

"It's okay. You were scared, that's all." Taking the glasses and putting them on, he turned around and held his hand out to the boy on the ground, all the while smiling as brightly as ever. "More importantly, are you alright?"

"I…" The poor boy wiped the tears from his eyes. It was clear that there was a bruise forming on his cheek as well. He had indeed told the teacher that the two of them were passing notes during a test. At the time, I didn't understand why he went through all that trouble just to get them a zero for cheating.

"What's your name anyway?" Shimpei asked as the boy hesitantly replied.

"G-genji… Genji Sotomura." I recognized him as the top student of his class. His name was always visible when our class standings would come out on the bulletin board.

"Well, Sotomura-kun, why don't we head to the nurse's office?" He laughed as if he didn't just get smacked on the face. I never understood how he could laugh like that all the time, it started to annoy me little by little as time went by. Sotomura nodded and accepted Shimpei's hand as he pulled him up.

That was how I met the second person I trusted completely.

April 2031 – The Real World

My first year of junior high school started well. Crowds were forming and I was already talking to a lot of people. Overall, I had built up a lot more confidence than what I had when I first entered this school.

"No way! You're half American?" One of the girls asked me. I brushed my hair and nodded like a blushing idiot. A bunch of them made me say some English words and were surprised about how well I could pronounce them. My foreign blood helped grow my popularity almost instantaneously. Of course, I still had my old friends with me.

"You seem to be getting along quite well with them." Shimpei pushed up his glasses as we sat cross legged in a circular formation. We always hung out behind the staircase on the ground floor during breaks. It was our secret little base. Right now, it was our lunch break so we had our lunchboxes full of food out in the open.

"Does that mean I'm doing better than you?" I scoffed at his face as he showed signs of frustration.

"Hey! Just you watch, I'll be friends with everyone in class no problem!" He pointed his finger directly at me as he made his grand statement.

"I don't think popularity should be a contest…" Genji was silently eating his lunch which was comprised of different types of store bought rolls.

"I'm just having fun that's all." I took a bite out of my ham and cheese sandwich. Mom was still learning to adapt Japanese dishes in her cooking, after all. "I'm just glad I'm not the new kid anymore."

"Speaking of the new kid…" Shimpei glanced over my shoulder and into the hallway. Our eyes followed a scrawny boy with a bowl cut and a pair of bright red glasses. He was sitting alone, eating his lunch when four mischievous looking boys approached him.

"That doesn't look good." Genji was spot on. They started pointing and laughing at him. One of them even grabbed the brightly colored glasses sitting on his face. As the new kid reached out in vain to try to get his specs back, Shimpei stood up, ready to intervene when they turned around and noticed us.

"Hey, Takamura-san! Check out this guy's glasses. It's weird, isn't it?!" He wasn't wrong. I had never seen spectacles as red as these ones. I chuckled a little bit as he threw it in my direction. "Here, catch!"

I…

"I got it!" I laughed before catching the glasses and waving them in the air. "You're right, they are weird!"

"Hey! Give those back!" The owner of said glassed rushed towards me as I stepped back from his grasp.

…DON'T...

"You're going to have to get 'em then!" I took advantage of the growth spurt I had during the summer and stood on my toes. The new kid reached as high as he could but he couldn't reach his glasses which were firmly grasped by my extended right hand.

"Hiro…" Genji put his lunch down and stood up, only to be stopped by Shimpei. With a determined look in his eyes, he stepped forward and called my name.

"Hiro! That's enough!" He shouted at me as I looked back and forth between him and the four boys who had started this. Shimpei had the wrong idea in my mind. Sometimes you had to prey on the weak in order to survive among the strong. At least that was what I used as an excuse at the time.

…WANT…

I ignored him as I passed the glasses to the others who had fun playing monkey in the middle with the new student. Having no choice, Shimpei grabbed me by the shoulders in an attempt to restrain me as soon as the glasses were passed to me. Because of that, I ended up head-butting him in the face to get away. Blood trickled down his nose as I turned around slowly, realizing what I had done.

…HATE…

"Sensei! There's a fight!" I heard a voice in the distance call out. I noticed that the new student was throwing some punches to the other boys as well. Of course, he got some in return which made him collapse on the ground as they started screaming at each other.

"Matsuo-san, you're bleeding!" A girl followed by two of her friends came up to him and offered him a handkerchief which he accepted with a thanks. He wasn't even looking at me anymore; Genji wasn't either. The two of them ignored my attempts to apologize as they brushed past me and headed towards the nurse's office.

…ME!

I didn't know why that experience didn't faze me. Thinking back, I hated the fact that I just moved on like it was nothing. Nothing had changed, nothing at all. Save for the fact that Shimpei and Genji had stopped talking to me. As a result, I hung around my other peers for a while.

'Why do I need them anyway? I got new friends now. I'm one of them now. Why should I be around losers like them?' That's what I kept telling myself over and over to justify the choice I made. To me, if they weren't strong enough to make the decisions like this, then they would always be weak.

"Hey, Chikamoto!" I swiped the new guy's glasses from behind yet again. He was always daydreaming so it was easy to pull off swipes like this. It had only been a few weeks since the fight yet the people around me still found it funny. We were always trying to see who could steal it the most within a day. I was always the champion swiper. "You gotta stop making this easy for me!"

"Give them back Takamura!" I loved it when he struggled helplessly. I was far taller than him so keeping his extra pair of eyes away was fun. I didn't remember how many times I did this. Throughout the year, everyone liked picking on him and his bright red glasses so I did too. If they did it then it was okay for me to join in. After all, I had learned a long time ago that you couldn't please everyone so my goal was to get the majority to like me so that I wouldn't have to worry about the rest.

I just didn't want them to hate me.

October 2031 – The Real World

My vision had been fading for a while now. Despite all my efforts insisting I didn't want to get them, my mom had gotten me a pair of glasses. To add to my frustration, they were a bright blue since she didn't even consult me when she bought them.

"Hey, Takamura's got blue ones!" One of the students pointed and laughed at me as I kept my head down.

"They look even worse than Chikamoto's!" They laughed at me. They made a fool out of me. They did all the things I had been doing to Chikamoto for a year. That experience taught me that anyone could turn against you. That everyone just wanted something out of everyone else. But I also learned that not everyone was like that…

I stood on the top floor with my glasses in my hands, staring out at the view framed by the window in front of me. Tears were falling even if I tried my best to hold them back. Angrily, I chucked the pair out of the window. I didn't care if I wouldn't be able to see for the rest of the day. I was quite high so I hoped the specs didn't survive the fall. My back against the wall, I slid down with even more tears trailing down my face and into my hands which curled into painful fists.

"Hey." To my right was the last person I expected to see. Shimpei stood there with his stupid face smiling down on me while Genji was right behind him with a gentler smile. I wondered how the hell they were able to smile at me again. "You know glasses are expensive, right?"

"Why are you talking to me?" I asked with my head back to the ground, sniffing a little. They had no reason to talk to me again. After all that I had done, I felt like they were just trying to mock me for my failures. However, that was not the answer I received from Shimpei.

"Aren't we best friends?"

Present Day – Aura Kingdom Online

"That's basically why they hate me. The guy I bullied moved away recently for unknown reasons. However, everyone knows it's my fault. I was the one who picked on him the most, after all." I finished my story with a sigh, not daring to look our Sorcerer in the eyes. I didn't tell Megumi the specific real life details obviously but I gave her just enough to feed her curiosity.

"That sounds horrible…" Her voice undoubtedly softened as she realized how much of I terrible person I was.

"I am. I guess that's one of the reasons why I started playing this game… to escape from a world that hated me." I sat up and gazed at my hand as it curled into a fist. I had never felt more ashamed or angrier at myself than now. "But look where that's gotten me. Nothing's changed."

"I don't believe that." She said to my surprise. What did she know about me, anyway? "The person you were back then wouldn't have invited a complete stranger back into this game."

It took me a few seconds to realize that she was talking about herself. I thought back and wondered why I was still unsure about the reason behind that decision in the first place. The details were there already. We were in need of a healer and the only person I trusted that much to fill that role was her since she was tricked just like we were.

Now that I thought about it, it just sounded like I made her come back just so we could complete a party role. "How do you know I'm not just using you?"

She responded without hesitation. "I don't. That's where my trust in you comes in."

"H-huh?" I stuttered a bit as I turned to see her smiling. It was a familiar smile for some reason. Noticing that this had gone on for long enough, I needed to get out of that situation. Attempting to regain my composure, I cleared my throat. "Anyways, are we done now?"

"You really hate expressing your feelings, don't you?" Megumi asked me as I nodded in response.

"I really hate that, yeah." Although I had to admit, there was something about her that made her so calming.

"Welcome back, you two!" Daize had another stupid grin on his face which told me he was going to start teasing us once more. I firmly chopped his head and interrupted him before he could speak another word. "Hey! That was uncalled for!"

"Where's M and Orha?" I asked, ignoring his question. Glancing around our usual round table, I noticed their seats were empty.

"They logged out. It's getting pretty late." Soran explained with a small smile before yawning. I honestly didn't think he would smile again so soon after all that had happened. "I just wanted to wait for you two to finish before I said goodbye."

"Oh they finished alright…" Daize let out a small laugh before attempting to hold it in to no avail so I chopped his head again. This time, he knew what he did wrong and stayed silent.

"Anyways, thank you, Megumi. You're a great friend!" Soran managed to blurt out to the Sorcerer.

"Really?!" Her face flushed red before she got to smile back. "You're very much welcome, Soran!"

The Guardian waved goodbye before disappearing from the game in a blue flash. Yawning, I realized I was also tired. The fight in addition to all the heavy stuff I just dropped onto our adorable Sorcerer must have drained me completely.

"I guess I'm going to split as well. You two logging off?" I asked as I reached for the log out button.

"I'm probably sticking around for a bit." Daize said as he held up what remained of his drink with his right hand.

"Me too." Megumi added, firmly holding the mug she still had as well.

"Okay, suit yourselves. Try not to pester her too much, Daize." Honestly, I didn't want to leave those two alone just because Daize tended to be a bit overbearing to the inexperienced but at that point, I was too tired to care.

"Hey!" The Archer pouted as the rest of us laughed.

"Take care, Wairuzu." The Sorcerer told me with a caring voice. For some reason, this made me smile unconsciously.

"You too."

"Soooo… you're not logging out yet either?" I turned to the girl who was standing beside me as our Ronin disappeared with a blue flash. I had planned to enjoy the feeling of VR for a little while longer but I had not expected her to stay as well.

"I have a question." She said before taking a little sip out her mug.

"Of course you do." I sat myself down once more and propped my feet up on the table. "Don't you think you're being a little too nosy, Megumi?"

"I-I… ugh, you're probably right. I just don't like seeing you guys like this." She lowered herself onto her seat as her face looked down. "It makes me want to help but if I'm going to do that, I need to know you."

Exhaling, I put my feet back on the ground and leaned on the table. I could never refuse such a cute face, after all. Plus, she was actually a girl in real life so I had to be a gentleman. "Alright, what do you want to know? Whether I'll answer or not will depend on the question."

She composed herself and inhaled before she spoke up. She was definitely taking this seriously. "Why did you go back to him after everything he did? I also noticed that you're always on his side no matter how badly he treats you."

I laughed, realizing that Wairuzu must have told her our whole life story. "You think I suck up to him, don't you?"

"Kind of… yeah." Megumi admitted honestly.

"M thinks like that too. It might seem like I'm just his lackey but it's nothing like that. A lot happened these past few years. I just felt like if I don't take his side, then who will, you know?" I usually kept this information to myself so it was a miracle that I was spouting out all this nonsense right now. I felt like it was okay since we probably wouldn't get to see her in real life anyway. "He keeps me grounded and I guess the only reason I forgave him was because it didn't feel right to leave him alone. God knows he'd go crazy without us."

"I see…" The Sorcerer trailed off with all the information I gave her.

Feeling like I needed it, I drank down the rest of my beverage with a single gulp. "You know, this isn't fair. We've told you all kinds of things about us in real life yet we know nothing about you, besides your gender of course."

"Huh?" Megumi popped up in her seat at the realization. "Oh, I guess you're right. What do you want to know then?"

"Your phone number." I held nothing back.

"I don't think I'll go that far!" She immediately replied to my amusement.

Chuckling, I slapped the surface of the table. "I'm just joking."

"So… what question DO you want to ask that doesn't involve me calling the police?" She raised her brow, keeping her guard up after my strange request.

Scratching my head, I groaned while trying to think of a question. Alas, I could not think of one as my eyes were getting heavier by the second. "You know, I think you should let Wairuzu do the asking. You two seem to get along splendidly."

"I get along with everyone." She pouted, clearly affected by my statement. "Anyways, what time do you plan on sleeping?"

"Don't know. Maybe I'll just sleep here." I rested my legs back on the table and leaned into my chair. I had to admit, it was already getting comfortable enough for me.

"I'll be off then." She yawned as she reached for her menu.

Before she could log out, however, I interrupted her. "Hey, Megumi."

"Yeah?" She glanced at me immediately.

"Thanks for being friends with us. Wairuzu especially, you're what he really needs right now." I told her honestly. I didn't know why but I felt like I needed to give her the credit she deserved.

"Since when did you get all cheesy?" She smirked as I realized how much heart I put in that thanks.

"Since everyone left. I have to keep up with my image, after all." I gave her a cheeky wink as she chuckled again.

"Right. Good night, Daize." With a single flash, she left, leaving me to my thoughts.

'Keeping up with my image… it's an exhausting job for sure.'

I still remember what he looked like. The image of him was still fresh in my mind. 'Uncle RJ' I'd call him in English. I still remembered his scruffy hair and the rough patch of the barely-growing beard he had. My mom always said he was trying to grow it out so he could become Santa Claus for Christmas but it had never gotten longer than that.

"A desert!" I always bugged him every time he would come to visit. I knew he was working a game at the moment so I could never resist asking him about it. After all, it was his fault in the first place that I was addicted to these things.

"Why would you want to visit a desert?" I still remembered his deep voice. I always got super excited whenever I heard it echo through my house.

"Deserts are so cool! They're like beaches but without the water. If I could go to a desert, I would build the biggest sand castle in the world!" I jumped around, waving my arms like I was building the castle already. My imagination used to let me do all sorts of crazy things.

"Sure. I could work with that…" He always wrote down his game development notes on a black notebook I gave him for Christmas after saving a month's worth of allowance. I was so happy when he opened it with a smile.

"Ooh! When it comes out, I better be the first one to play it!" I was so excited about VR gaming. A virtual world where anything I imagined could come to life was surely going to be paradise for me. He always laughed and ruffled my hair whenever I said that.

"Sure thing, my Hero." He would always call me that stupid nickname just because my name sounded similar to the English word for hero. I remembered feeling honored to have such a cool name after learning that he had insisted on it before I was born.

You know, I had always wanted to be like him. He was always smiling like nothing was wrong. Just like Shimpei, I never knew why. The answer was probably because of the fact that he barely had any problems in his life. He was smart, graduating the top of his class every time without fail. He did what he loved which was making games and tinkering with technology. His life was my dream; his goals were mine too. I was so proud to be related to him, the man who would change the world.

The moment I was born, he was there. The moment I first rode a bike, he was there. So why couldn't he be there for all the other times? He was working on his game. He was working on Aura Kingdom Online. He chose that game over his family.

He chose that game over me.

The Real World

I groggily rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I tried to get them open. 'Another dream...'

Checking the clock on the drawer beside my bed, I found that it was almost lunch time. I must have overslept again. What even happened last night? I stopped myself from thinking about it too much as I heard a voice come from across the room.

"Big brother?" I glanced at the slightly open doorway and found my sister staring at me wearing a pink blouse. "Mommy said she needed you downstairs."

"Who said you can enter my room?" I asked with an annoyed tone. I really didn't want to deal with her right now.

"But I'm not in your room." Damn it. She was right, standing at the tip of the door frame.

'Smartass…' She was getting more and more clever as she got older.

"Look, I'll be right down. And stop calling me that. I told you to call me Wai- I mean Hiro." I jolted myself awake as I realized that I had gotten used to using my username instead of my real name. That was definitely the result of spending more time in the virtual world.

"Nope!" She annoyingly skipped away, shutting my door closed. Exhaling loudly, I laid back down and stared at the ceiling. However, I needed to get up if I was going to get any food in my belly. Without any more delays, I picked up my black glasses and headed downstairs.

"Mom? Is there any food left? I'm star-" I stopped in my tracks at the sight of a woman with short hair and thin glasses. She was wearing a business uniform with the fancy tie and all that. Compared to my shorts and shirt combo, she was definitely dressed for a formal occasion.

"Hiro, this is Nami Sakiyama." My mother introduced her to me as she bowed down with respect.

"I'm a lawyer representing Ymir Inc. I'm here to discuss the matter regarding your uncle." Her statement sent shivers down my spine.

'Him? Why…?' I cleared my throat before I spoke in order to prevent myself from stuttering. "Sure, but why do I need to be involved?"

"Because I think you'll want to hear what she has to say." My mom replied with a serious look on her face.

We gathered around our dining table as she set her suit case down on top of it and began talking. "Years ago, RECT Progress Inc. was a division of the company owned by Shouzou Yuuki. It shut down in 2025 due to lawsuits regarding a certain incident. As Ymir Inc. took over the operations that the company handled such as the AmuSphere, your uncle, Langston-san, assisted us in producing the AuraSphere. It was an honor to work with him."

'Just get to the point.' I still got annoyed whenever I heard his name followed by a flurry of praises.

"As a result, he is a big stakeholder within the company. As such, we want to respect his wishes before we sever our ties with him." Her face sternly stared me down as the words left her mouth.

"What?" I felt something tick off inside me after hearing that. "Sever?"

She continued her explanation. "There were casualties during the explosion at our main Tokyo branch. The police have connected the cause of the blast to the server rooms where the last ID that was registered was your uncle's. They had to assume that-"

"You can't assume anything! I'm sure he didn't do it!" Standing up, I raised my voice for no reason at all.

"Hiro!" My mom sat me back down with an angry look. I didn't know why I said that. I didn't know why I was still defending him. After all, I wasn't actually sure that he wouldn't cause an explosion that would kill people, was I? I didn't know who he was after he left me.

"I understand your distress, Takamura-kun. But seeing that he has been connected to that incident, Ymir cannot afford to align with him. This involves treating him as an outside entity and commencing the closure of the Aura Kingdom Online servers." That last part was the worst news of them all.

"What…?" My eyes widened out of shock. That meant that the world Uncle RJ had been working on for years would be gone in a flash. His last project would be forever forgotten. The world where my friends and I experienced VR for the first time… gone.

"However, since the legal contract stated that he is the sole owner of the servers. We cannot shut them off without his consent. I'm sure you can see the problem here." Her eyes shifted as I detected a sigh escape her lips.

'No Uncle, no permission. Tough luck.'

"The only options we have are to either keep the servers running until his ownership dissolves in two years or get the permission from the person he co-signed the server documents with." She glanced at in my direction as I realized that she was talking about me. For some reason, Uncle RJ had given me ownership over the game, after all.

"So that's what you want me to do?" There was no way in hell that I would allow them to shut down the servers. Not after all that I had been through.

"Oh you are not why I am here. We cannot allow that since you are still underage. You would have to be 20 years old to sign the contract. As such, your mother will be the one to decide since she is the only other biological relative living within Japan." Opening the suitcase, she revealed a dozen sheets of papers which were probably the contracts she had mentioned. One of them had my uncle's signature along with my name which stated that I also had ownership over the game. This was like looking at his last will and testament.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Hiro." My mom's face was uneasy as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

"No… you are not shutting the game down!" I yelled in retaliation. Why the hell did she think this was something to be discussed?! "All of Uncle RJ's years of work will be gone!"

"But Hiro…" Mom pleaded with me.

I couldn't take it anymore. I stood up as I tried to defend the game to the best of my ability. "You'll be singlehandedly destroying everything he's dedicated his life for! Why would yo-"

"Do you think I don't know that?!" Tears started forming in her eyes which made me waver a bit. It had been a long time since she had shouted at me. "If I refuse to sign these contracts, we will be the ones to pay for the server costs. You know we can't afford that."

Couldn't afford? I wasn't aware of how much running the servers would cost. "Why…? If I could find a part-time job, maybe we could-"

"No Hiro, I don't want us worrying over something that isn't ours. Your uncle loved making that game, yes, but he's gone. It's been weeks and we still haven't found him. I don't know if he's alive or dead but I don't want to feel like this anymore! I want to move on!" She closed her eyes, awaiting my response. She was clearly distressed over everything that had happened.

"But…" I didn't want AKO to go down the drain. Despite its flaws, it was still a game I enjoyed. It was still a game that we enjoyed.

"Actually, you have a grace period of a month until the decision will be made. Until then, the company has decided to wait and see if the game can be salvaged." I immediately turned my attention to the lawyer who explained the details more clearly. "Currently, the player base is dwindling. The board knows that keeping the servers up is wasting resources and money. If, somehow, they are convinced that this game is profitable before the end of that period, they might just keep the servers running indefinitely."

"I see. So all we have to do is increase the player base?" That was easier said than done. With all the new games coming out soon and AKO not really being in the best shape, it was going to be a challenge to draw in more players.

Sakiyama cleared her throat and got me out of my thoughts. "I don't know if I am in a position to divulge this information but the company is planning on having an event before summer ends. Take it as a final push to see if the game could still sell."

"An event? Like what?" I was surprised to hear that they were actually doing something about the game for once.

"I'm sorry, I cannot say anymore but the announcement should be soon though." She assured me as she pushed forward a document that my mom had to sign to shut down the game along with a pen.

"Hiro…" My mom stood up and held onto my shoulders one more time. I knew she had to make a decision right now no matter what it was.

"Takamura-san." The lawyer turned to my mom with an impatient look on her face. "I will need your answer."

"Please, mom… just for a month. I don't want to stop playing this game." I begged her as she glanced at the paper. If she signed it, I wouldn't get to quest in the world my uncle had built for me anymore. His vision would crumble into nothingness.

As I held my breath, my mom let out a sigh before pushing both the paper and the pen back to the lawyer. "One month. If Ymir isn't taking responsibility for the servers, I will sign that contract without issue."

"Very well." Sakiyama stood up and closed her suitcase. Surprisingly, her face showed no signs of disappointment. Before she walked off, however, she turned to faced me. "A piece of advice, Takamura-kun, if I were you…"

"Huh?" I was confused but I was about to be more confused by what she was about to say.

"…I would join a guild."

That night, I called everyone to the teleport crystal in Navea. It was our first time going to the Grand City together so even M was there despite the fact that he was probably still mad at me for yesterday. He was a lot more calmed down, however, we still avoided eye contact with each other. Once everyone had arrived, we gathered around the main square which had a few other players loitering around it.

"…that's pretty much it." I explained the situation to my friends. Everything that the lawyer from Ymir told me, I told them. It was safe to say I gave them a reason to be worried.

"That's bad…" Daize scratched his head in frustration. "If this game goes belly-up, we'll be forced to buy another game. We'll lose way more money."

"That's what you're worried about?" Megumi rolled her eyes at the Archer's sense of priority. "I don't want this game to go down too. I've had so much fun here, after all. How can we help?"

"She said we couldn't do anything yet… but there should be an event at the end of the summer which requires us to join a guild or something. It's supposed to entice new players to dive in." I recalled the advice Sakiyama had given me. In order to do that, we needed to go to Navea to join a guild.

"So that's why you brought us here." Soran realized as he stared at the square we were in. Navea was the hotspot for guilds, after all. "So which guild are we joining?"

"Oh! Right! I forgot to tell you guys yesterday." Megumi proceeded to inform us about the Cobalt Rangers guild, the one run by Jayce, Arryn, and Kage. She mentioned some pretty interesting stuff regarding the economy of the guild and the benefits they had for their members.

"That sounds like an interesting offer." Soran said, nodding his head in agreement. "We'd have special ranks right?"

"Arryn's taken…?" Daize frowned as that was all he took from the story our Sorcerer told us.

"It's the best guild we can enlist in. I wanted to join right away, of course, but I also wanted to get your opinions on it first." She firmly set her eyes on us, hoping for our responses. "So, if you're willing, please join me!"

"Well, I'm in." Daize accepted.

"Yup." M followed.

"I have no problems with that." Orhaxum stated.

The three guys immediately agreed to the Sorcerer's request without hesitation. I seemed to be the only one who had second thoughts about the offer as Soran gave his answer.

"I think I'm in too… are you cool, Wairuzu?" The Guardian turned to me as the rest of them followed suit.

"No." I said firmly as the expression on their faces changed.

"Come one, dude. You said it yourself. We need a guild for the event." Daize pointed out my statement from earlier. "I know you don't like Jayce and the others but they're our best bet if we're going to help this game."

"I know, but…" I exhaled and firmly glared at the rest of my friends. I did want to help the game but I wanted to do it in a way that didn't involve relying on people I didn't trust. The only way to do that was to rely on the people in front of me. The ones I had spent my time with ever since I started playing AKO. "…I want to make our own guild!"

Ending: Yume Sekai by Tomatsu Haruka

Next Episode: The Ghost Mission