Title: Too Much Immersion

Prompt: Food

Summary: Video games are for escaping reality, not recreating it. Unfortunately, Sword Art Online's beta is a little obsessed with realism. Kirito and Argo soon find that out.

"Did Kayaba really have to implement real hunger mechanics?"

A pair of hood-and-cloaked youngsters rested behind a brick-and-mortar bakery in Sword Art Online's first floor «Town of Beginnings». The short maiden tugged her brown hood down the ridge of her nose against sunlight even as golden locks slipped past her eyes and around her puffed cheeks. The somewhat taller young man, clad in all black, suffered in the beta game climate's «Eternal Summer» setting as his cloak defiantly descended only to his forehead.

"All part of the immersion," the black-clad male explained in mock placation – sarcasm dripping from his voice. The sweat percolating at his chin and down his neck dripped with the very intensity of his frustration.

Now was one of those times that a full-dive, massive-multiplayer online game revealed its worst aspects. In pursuit of reality, you also got all the creeping problems that come with reality.

Heat. Humidity. Tiredness. Hunger. Boredom.

The girl stretched her arms as she expelled a shout. "Fuck immersion. I didn't sign up to eat eight meals a day!"

Kirito flinched at the potty-mouth on his blonde friend. She was always on the confident and obnoxious side, online or offline. Her outbursts could range from blunt to sly, but Argo never exaggerated feelings. She didn't need to. She was already of the outspoken side.

"Which ones are you counting here?"

Argo made to stand in the alleyway, possibly tired past her tolerance of the uncomfortable and makeshift bench they assembled from an assorted pile of chopped firewood. Kirito's patience was only so much better, his back screaming out at him. Just not yet as much as his tired legs from standing and running, or his stomach calling equally as Argo's for sustenance.

"Well, I only eat two meals a day by skipping breakfast. And then time runs faster in SAO so if we spend our summer vacation online all the time, we're at least getting two in-game days to pass accompanied with the «Hunger» element…"

"So, you're pretty much eating six meals a day from artificial hunger?"

"Yes!" Argo almost screamed. A sheepish look sprouted on her face when a trio of players stuck their heads out from down the alleyway in concerned confusion. She waved them off before turning back to Kirito.

Argo continued at a normal declaration, "Ridwan is a dick. How long did he say this preparation would take?"

"All day in-game," Kirito sighed in defeat. "But it's free. A small Col reward too. The non-players get more out of it than us per lore so it's supposed to reflect a real-life process. He says it beats first and second floor shop consumables by a long shot."

"Well, I'm hungry right now. And I feel betrayed by my stomach because I took a break for lunch thirty minutes ago. Do you know how that feels?"

Kirito kept his mouth shut. Yes, he did know. He went to get lunch offline thirty minutes ago too. It seemed like today was out to get them with the timing of artificial mealtimes.

"Well, this is the beta… Maybe they will patch it out on launch day?"

Argo's virtual stomach gave a loud growl in well-timed protest.

"Forget that. I'm hungry now…"

Kirito frowned, nodding along in agreement. "Getting off to go fill your stomach again IRL won't help it unfortunately. You'll just come out of here suddenly full or something. We could go buy some food like we originally intended."

Argo groaned out, "I've had one too many stone loaves already. The bread on the starting floors is like cement, dude. And don't you start about going to the second floor."

Kirito lowered his outstretched finger and closed it mouth. She caught his suggestion before he could offer it.

"We're not wasting half of an in-game day just grinding for more limited uses on that damn cream. This buttering shop side quest is more efficient based on the player feedback I've gathered. And I'm not missing the moment that its ready."

"But what if you're not hungry by then?"

The blonde-haired woman crossed her arms. "You assume I'm going to eat something in between."

"We are hungry," Kirito pointed out.

Argo turned around to face the opposite side of the alleyway. What a stubborn girl.

Kirito put his hands to his face and attempted to think in the darkness. So much of Sword Art Online was like a dream come true. This virtual dreamworld felt like hyperreality down to the smallest detail. The developers and engineers at the Argus Corporation really outdid themselves with the game design and the assortment of experiences and sensory inputs, but through the polished venire – Kazuto could see the obsessive compulsions underneath.

There was a thing about Sword Art Online that wanted reality to seem indistinguishable from the simulation. Taking the good with the bad. Players were still human in-game. They still hurt, heat up, and even sweat. But they also didn't need to use the bathroom for the most part despite there being bathrooms in the game.

Outside the experiences of using the most perfect bathroom in all of existence, both virtual and real, having bathrooms in Sword Art Online both seemed like shallow window dressing and an attempt to reflect the real world. Like a dissonance.

Maybe it was a fault of creative differences. Or an inconsistent vision. Porcelain toilets and proper bath tubs didn't fit a medieval universe at least. And Kirito had yet to enter a bathroom on accident and spot a non-player character taking care of business.

On less disturbing matters, he was still melting in the summer heat. Honestly, he wished they would turn down the humidity and sunlight – he and many other players of Sword Art Online were nerds who didn't step out of their homes during the Japanese summer months. Why would they want to play a game that recreated the climate their fanbase tried to avoid like a plague?

"Hey Argo, I got an idea to pass the time. It's right out of your playbook."

The girl turned from her fiddling with ants on the cobbled alley floor to face her seated friend.

"Oh, do tell! What is your genius plan, Kirito-sama?"

The boy twitched at her joke as she mock bowed as if he were an emperor or something. Argo's jokes didn't always land but they had a manner of putting him on the spot.

"Uh… Right. You want to write a bad review to the developers while we wait for the butter barrels to complete?"

Argo didn't give it much thought, simply nodding in agreement. "Sure. At this rate, I'm probably going to stay hungry for a long time. Either I can live with it or deal with it. Let's eat some stale food, at least that will motivate us."

Kirito nodded along at her idea. Synergetic, the two of them.

"Sounds good to me. You really want my help with that though? I'm fine just watching you complain your way out of it."

Argo slipped back to her spot next to Kirito, pressing close into him. Uncomfortably close this time around. Kirito wanted to retreat but he was already at the edge of the firewood throne.

"You're a little close Argo…"

"Chill, dude. We're going to be partners-in-crime," Argo explained as she raised the visibility of her player menu so Kirito could see her virtual screen. "We're both going to eat shitty food and write this review. Evil things are best done in groups."

Kirito hesitated even more as a cheek-wide grin split Argo's face.

"Uh… Sure, sure. We should probably start by recalling all the complaints we got. We just talking about the food or the wait time?"

"Let's just talk about everything bad right now. The weather. The wait time. The food. All this goddamn sweat."

Kirito sweat dripped just a little faster. It wasn't all coming from him, right? He was certain girls sweat too but you could never be too sure. Especially in fantasy games like these where girls are supposed to be the pinnacle human form or whatever.

"Sounds good to me," The boy responded.

"Get the food out, I used my last loaf this morning."

Looked like Kirito was the breadwinner this time around. No, wait, bad joke.

Kirito summoned a disposable waterskin and loaf of bread, passing it to Argo who took it gingerly as she began typing on her holographic keyboard. He summoned another set for himself. A glance down at the unappetizing bread said a lot as Kirito's stomach stopped growling at the moon-like surface. Even the virtual stomach hated the taste of a days-old loaf it seemed. He wished he forced Argo to go to the second floor now.

"Bon appetite, Kirito." Argo cheered, tapping her bread against Kirito's own with a distinct crackle.

The duo bit into their rock-hard bread simultaneous and twitched at the blandness. Adding that word to the list of things to complain about.

"Too much immersion…" Argo grumbled.

"Just be glad they didn't make in-game days the same length as real days." Kirito mumbled back through a bread piece.

Their essay took the better part of a real-life afternoon.

A/N: Continuing with the second KiriArgo Week 2021 prompt, "Food," I didn't spend as much time targeting the romantic or loving angle but rather focused on some familiar concepts to my own writing with exploring worldbuilding and science fiction concepts. If Sword Art Online wants to be its own Matrix, there is an unfortunate point where obsession becomes clear and realism stops being fun. Everything takes moderation. Consider that this prompt's overarching message if you like. Also there's a reference to Agent 94's Aincrad Retold for those familiar with the said author's work.

Next time, "Secrets."