Chapter 1: Where We Are Now

"JUUICHI!" A loud, young mother's voice yelled out through the Tokyo apartment complex, warning him that there was trouble if he didn't listen. A 10-year old boy with spiky, ruffled brown hair and tannish skin held a soccer ball in his arms, hiding behind the stairwell one flight down from his apartment. He was wearing a short-sleeved green hoodie and brown baggy shorts, a style that suited him well.

"I don't care WHAT mom says, I'm gonna go out to play soccer today…!" He whispered, almost to the stairwell, when…

"Game over, Juuichi." A man's voice called his name. Faster than he could think, two strong arms picked him up and threw him over a shoulder.

"D-Dad!" His young father sighed and smiled. "L-Let me down!"

"Didn't you hear what your mother told you? No soccer today. It's going to rain today, and we don't want you getting muddy, slipping into a river, or struck by lightning."

"As if! Come on, dad! Just let me off today!" Juuichi pleaded, still being hauled back to their apartment.

"Well…" His father heard footsteps going as fast as a hummingbird's wings, pounding the pavement.

"Juuichi!" The young mother wearing jeans and a white tight t-shirt with a blue apron around her moved her legs as quickly as she could, switching from the cheetah dash down the hallway to the apartment stairs. "Ah-! Haruto!" She looked surprised. He smiled back at his slightly tan-skinned, brown-long-fluffy-haired pony tailed wife.

"I got him, Akira." Haruto Kanezawa put their kid on the ground and let him fidget in front of his angry mother.

"Stupid!" She conked him on the head to scold him. "I'm not saying you can't play soccer EVER AGAIN. Just stay in today. I'll pack you some lunch for tomorrow,too. How 'bout it?."

"…OK…" He gave up, but was happy to be receiving a lunch from his mom.

"Our guests are supposed to be here soon! Head back to the apartment and-" Suddenly, her cellphone began to ring inside of her pants pocket. She turned her head to see the location of the pocket and then flipped it open. "Ah, Kite? Oh, no, I mean Takuya." She listened to him on the phone. "…Huh? Natsume's having pregnancy sickness, so you can't come?" Another moment of listening. "I got it. We'll watch the TV show here, just the two of us… OK… Tell Natsume I hope everything's going well and 'hi'… Yeah… See ya." She snapped the phone shut.

"Just the two of us? Does that mean…?" Juuichi came back to life, excited to go for soccer. However, Akira took the soccer ball from him and began to spin it on her finger while making another call on her cellphone.

"Ah, Rei-chan? Mm, it's me. Could you take in Juuichi for the day? Well, I was thinking since you have that nice playroom for kids… Huh? It's fine? All the other .hackers asked you too? …Well, yeah, it's just for two hours, but wow, are you going to be OK? That's 5 kids… Oh, Meiyu-chan is coming to watch them? Yeah, they don't act out when she plays with them. OK, I'll send him over now." Once again, she snapped the phone closed, and tossed the ball to her husband, Haruto.

"I'm going to go hang out with Daichi?" Juuichi said excitedly. Daichi was Rei and Kenta's child… Known in the online game, The World, as Rachel and Nuke Usagimaru. 15 years had passed, and they now had two children of their own.

"His little sister Saki's there too. Be nice." She handed him his card for the train. "I'll see you back at dinner time."

"OK! See ya!" He didn't seem worried about soccer anymore. After all, his parent's friend's children were some of the best friends he'd ever had. Daichi, Saki, Mitsuki, Senritsu. They were all great friends of his.

"Come on, Haruto, it's starting soon!" She urged him in through the doorway, when she tripped on the step. "Ah-!"

"Akira!" He grabbed her arm to catch her, but instead they both fell onto the floor.

"Clumsy." He looked at her, as she lay across his firm chest.

"You're the one who couldn't pull me back up." She made a pouty face.

"Pft-" She couldn't stop herself from laughing. Neither could he. "Ahahahaha!" They laughed together.

"Oh right, gotta turn on the TV!" She snuggled up to him after she used the remote to turn on the TV in their apartment.

"Welcome to 'Digital Romance', the special on couples that met in the game "The World", and then married in the real one! Our first story is of the main leader of the dot hackers' right-hand woman, BlackRose, and the man she fell in love with. It was very unexpected, but after fighting together all that time and meeting each other in the real world by chance, sparks began to fly between the young lady and the great legendary warrior of The World… Balmung.

The Story of BlackRose and Balmung