I ran through the marketplace and saw a bunch of other players socializing. I quickly turned every corner and then slowed down when I saw a group of four people. I was pretty sure these were my friends.
"Hey, you guys!" I waved. The people looked towards and me and looked at me funny.
"Um…. Who are you?" One of them asked. I'm sure it was Jun.
"What a minute…." The only girl in the group, so it was obviously Rumina. "Are you Noa?" She asked. Oh wait, I forgot I was in a guy form.
"Haha... sorry forgot that I was a guy!" I laughed.
"What!? Why are you a guy!?" Leo asked.
"Well, from my experience I learned that the guys default power skill was higher than a girls so, ya know, wanted to try something new!" I said. "Oh, maybe I should try saying 'Boku' instead of 'atashi'?"
They all sighed at me laughing though from the corner of my eye I could see Souta's disappointed face.
"Wait, wait. We should stop calling each other by our real name." Leo said. We all agreed and added each other as a friend and formed a party.
"So lets get this straight so we don't get messed up." Souta said. "Just introduce yourself."
"The beginning and end of my full name, I'm Kain." Jun said.
"Leon…." Leo said. "I accidently added an 'N' at the end."
"I'm Lumina! It's the same but I just changed the beginning letter." Rumina explained.
"I added the beginning of both my names so, I'm Souya." Souta said. When everyone looked at my name Leo- I mean- Leon looked confused.
"No-er?" Leon tried to pronounce.
"No you pronounce it No-a-ru…. Right?" Souya asked.
"Yea, I sounds like my name and it's a unisex name!" I laughed out loud.
"I'm guessing its you guys, but am I right, Souta?" Two boys and one girl came up to us.
"Are you guys the student council?" Lumina asked.
"I knew it was you guys! But where's Noa and who's this guy?" Tsukimura-senpai asked.
"This is Noa, she wanted to be a guy in the game." Souya explained.
"I told you she was a like a guy…." Tsukimura-senpai whispered to Amamiya-senpai who just sighed.
"Hey, it's great we met! Let's form a party!" Souma-kaichou exclaimed. Souya took out his menu and added all three of them into our party.
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We started walking randomly around the marketplace as we were chatting. We would see a bunch of people we seen at school and a few of our friends as we walked and it did feel like the whole school was on this game.
"Hey, did you guys come up with a party name?" Souma-kaiichou or should I say Daisuke (player name) said.
"Not really, do we really need one?" Kain asked.
"I don't think so but it would be pretty cool!" Daisuke said.
"What about….. Shiro Kurosu (White Cross)?" Lumina suggested.
"Why that?" Hinata (Amamiya Hina) asked.
"Because our school is usually seen with a white cross on our uniforms and from other schools, its like a symbol." She explained.
"Yeah, I like that…. Shiro Kurosu… " Daiichi murmured. (Apparently he was one of the lazy ones to think of a cool player name….)
"then we can invite people from our school into our party." I said.
We reached a small hill that overlooked the whole 1st floor. We watched the sunset as we sat down and discussed our day. I taught them a few tricks I learned as a beta tester.
"Well, I should head home. My mom might get mad at me." Leon said getting up and stretching.
"Ok, see ya tomorrow at school!" I waved him goodbye. He waved back and opened his menu. We all watched him, waiting for him to disappear but that never happened.
"What's wrong, Leon?" Souya asked.
"You guys, there's no Log Out button…" He said with a little fear in his voice.
"What!? How's that possible!?" I checked my menu quickly and he was right. There was no button.
"What's this supposed to mean?" Lumina panicked a little.
"Don't worry it could be some kind of bug. They'll fix it in a few minutes" Daisuke yawned. Suddenly I saw Hinata slowly disappear in front of me.
"W-What's going on!?" She panicked. Then I realized everyone started disappearing.
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When I opened my eyes again I stood among a thousand people all confused or scared. Around me were my friends and the student council all confused as I was. I could see a few people I knew from school who were standing all around us. Come to think of it, I knew, even if it was only a little, all these people.
"What's going on?..." Suddenly the whole sky turned red which reflected on each and every one of our faces. A large cloaked figure appeared before us and spoke in a low voice. It explained the whole situation and I saw some people break down and cry and some scream in fear. Then it happened.
"Oi, Akira!" Akira…. my classmate from my 1st year middle school class was disappearing. He laid emotionless in his friend's arms. Then he shattered into a million pieces. His friend sat there, wide eyed reaching out to the pieces.
"If anyone in the real world tries to remove the helmet, that will also fry your brain and you will die." The figure spoke. I widened my eyes. He… he died? That can't be! It can't be true.
"AKIRA!" The boy cried out, tears pouring out of his eyes.
"Don't worry, he might not be dead." Daisuke went up to the boy and tried to comfort him.
"No! He's gone! He-he told me that he was secretly playing the game even if his mom said no! His mom probably took the helmet off!" He yelled.
No, No, NO! This isn't true! Th-this is just a game!
"I have sent a present to your inventory."
"A present?" I opened my menu and clicked on the said present. A hand mirror appeared in my hand.
"A mirror?" I looked at it confused then I heard Leon screaming.
"Leon!?" Then a blue light surrounded me. I closed my eyes from the blinding light. When the light went away I looked at myself in the mirror.
"What the-" I was looking at my real form. I had my original shoulder length, dark brown hair in a short ponytail and my bright red eyes. I also was back to my 5 feet 4 inches height and had my original girl form except the same clothes. All my friends all was back to their original form, so was the student council, and so was all the people I know.
I tried to organize my thoughts but this was all too overwhelming!
"The only way to escape is to clear the game…." The figure said. "I wish you good luck, Players…" and with that the figure disappeared and the red sky turned blue again.
I fell to my knees but before I could Souya grabbed me so I wouldn't fall. I was at my breaking point. My friends are trapped in this game. And it's all my fault. If I didn't say anything they would still be in the real world. If I didn't say anything, they wouldn't be feeling this fear. If it wasn't for me… I grabbed Souya and hugged him as tight as I could.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry…. This is all my fault… I'm sorry." I tried really hard not to cry. He hugged me back tightly. His arms felt so warm and safe….
"It's not your fault Noa. Don't blame yourself…." He said. I know he's just being nice. It IS my fault.
"Noir, help us grab as many people to join our party!" Lumina told me.
"What? Why?" I asked.
"The bigger our party, the safer it is, right?" She smiled.
I smiled and did as she told. I need to focus and the situation at hand. I already explained to them how to level up fast, they probably remember that.
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I made as about 20 friends, which was pretty easy since they were my actually friends in real life. I ran around looking for people I trusted. I reached the balcony area and saw the most horrifying scene. People were jumping down, falling down all the way to their death, committing suicide…. This was not healthy for me. I held down my tears and ran along the balcony trying hard not to look at the edge. However, when I took one glance I saw my close friend from my class crying and trying hard to step up the railing.
"Arisu!" I cried out and reached towards her. But it was too late. When I reached the railing she fell forward. I reached my arm over the railing in hopes of catching her but it was no use. The next thing I knew she shattered into a million pieces and disappeared from my sight. I can't take this anymore! But I-I need to find people! I promised to find players for our party!
Right then, next to me someone else was climbing the railing. She was smiling while tears were falling down her face. She stood up, balanced and leaned forward.
"NO!" I reached out and this time I was able to catch her by the waist and pull her back. I breathed out as she landed on me. She turned towards me still crying.
"Noa..?"
"Are you stupid, Karina! Are you just giving up on even trying to get out of this game alive!?" I scolded her. But all she did was smile as she cried more.
"He's gone, Noa. He disappeared…." She then lost her smile and dived into my chest grabbing my shirt and her crying volume increased. "He's dead, Noa! Even If I go back, he won't be there anymore, telling me he loves me, or to comfort me when I'm sad! If he's not there, there's no meaning to li-" Before she could finish I interrupted her.
"there is meaning Karina! You need to live for him! You need to stay alive to live the life he wasn't able to! Do you think he wants you to give up on life!?" I asked shaking her. I stopped shaking her and I smiled towards her. She smiled back and wiped her tears.
"Sorry, I overreacted a little." She giggled.
"Hey, let's get away from here. Do you wanna join our party? Or should I say guild, now?" I asked. She sniffled and wiped away more of her tears then smiled.
"I'd love to."
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Daisuke breathed out as we reached the Beginning Town and me and my friends followed him. Luckily our guild reached the town safely and the members were just having free time exploring the place.
"Well…. That was…." Daisuke started but then sighed.
"No words to describe it right?" I said as I stood next to him.
"Yeah, I felt so…" He took his sword in his hand. "So free…" he murmured.
"Noir! Come on, let's head to that restaurant over there! I'm starving!" Lumina pulled my arm.
"Coming, coming!" I said as I let Lumina pull me down the path. I walked down as I saw three other boys waving towards us, yelling at us to hurry.
I wondered in my mind, how can they be smiling even when we're prisoners of this game that I convinced them to play? Aren't they mad at me? Hate me? Want to kill me? I didn't understand anything….
"It's not your fault, Noa…."
Yes, that's right. These were my friends. The very same friends that I put in a life or death position. If something goes wrong they could die and disappear right in front of me. I cried silently in my mind. No! Noa! Don't think that! I sighed then clenched my fists. This IS my fault and I need to take responsibility. I looked up and smiled then ran towards my friends.
I will protect them, no matter what. Even if it costs my life….