"Heat Death"
Sword Art Online Launch Day
Okada Tsugumi's death was criminally unfair.
Not long after a highest high of new experiences, he declined in a manner that was in stark contrast to the advertised promise of a grand adventure made of epic heroes and thrilling challenges.
He managed a feat of extreme fortune after waiting months in anticipation for the Sword Art Online launch date and snagged one of the game's rare first-run copies along with the sought after NerveGear gaming helmet. Tsugumi put a lot on the line for it too. He coaxed his sister into keeping quiet about his skipping school. He and his friends took turns waiting through long lines and a bitter cold night. He used what little programming and social engineering skills he had to concoct a convincing ruse of pretend-sickness.
Tsugumi managed to keep his parents and adult figures convinced enough that it cleared way for his day-one participation in the newest gaming revolution. The words "Link Start" passed from his lips and the boy became the unassuming but blue-clad spearman «Cu Dragoon».
With no prior experience in full-dive virtual reality and only his real-world wit, Cu chose to partake in the SAO tutorial and went about the «City of Beginnings». His first hours in the game were commendable. He developed respectable spear fundamentals, mapped out the starting city interior, and finished the tutorial.
Cu didn't seek out his friends, not quite yet. A passing, friendly level designer pointed him in the direction of a little-known vendor with a better early-level spear. Two blocks from his destination though, his unassuming, pranking sister pulled off his NerveGear from outside the game. She didn't mean any harm.
Other players and nearby NPCs watched the spear-armed Cu vanish into a spray of blue crystalline shards. The game characters didn't react, the players assumed Cu simply ran into connectivity issues. His friends were none the wiser.
Akihiko Kayaba's death game started as soon as Sword Art Online went online.
Okada Tsugumi died never experiencing SAO as intended. Scorching microwave signals zapped his brain, ceasing life over eight spasm-ridden seconds.
The way Tsugumi passed didn't involve true pain. While plugged into the NerveGear, the machine put his nerves to sleep and instead his mind commandeered an intuitive digital avatar that felt simulated sensations. While mostly indistinguishable, the sensations allowed the phantoms of emotion and feeling.
Upon his in-game death, the individual called both Cu and Tsugumi suffered an immense sensory overload as microwaves blasted his brain. All at once he felt great euphoria, ecstasy, suffering, rage, and depression. The boy felt as if he were dying and yet being born too. But most of all, he experienced pressure equal to Atlas's sentence. He felt an indescribable, endless heat of flame.
Tsugumi boiled in a moment that felt like an eternity, only to leave his brain a desert husk.
The «Black Iron Fortress» memorial wall censored the name of «Cu Dragoon» a second later.
It would be two more years before anyone inside Sword Art Online registered the true, meager tale of Okada Tsugumi.
A/N: Not As Intended surprised me in how many people enjoyed it. I don't receive much for most my stories so I was pleasingly surprised with the responses I got. For that, I decided I would go through with writing a follow up to the mini story with another entry. This one was a little wordier but I hope it communicates as well as the last. Thanks again for reading!