Ozaki Renjiro, a third-year at Takasu Academy, entered his home quietly, hoping not to alert his mother. He carefully shut the door and slipped his shoes off, before climbing the stairs. He left a small trail of snow, as it occasionally fell off his head and onto the floor. Hokkaido was freezing in November, and snow was the price you paid for living in such a frigid place. His mother seemed not to notice, as Renjiro wasn't shouted at immediately, so he was safe for now. Probably.
Renjiro slinked into his bedroom and sat at the foot of his bed. He sighed slightly, and looked around his room. It was, honestly, pretty uninspiring. A few posters of films or his favourite boxers, like Tyson and Foreman, a couple of books. A desk sat in the corner, although his room was small enough that he could almost reach it from where he was sat. Renjiro tried to remember the last time he sat and actually used the desk, but he couldn't. Renjiro never liked being stuck indoors, or sitting down to study. He had been a shitty student since he started school. Oh he enjoyed school when he was younger, without question, but it never seemed to like him. One too many teachers who got on his back for the smallest things, who told him his work wasn't good enough. If they even bothered to read it, his handwriting was so bad he sometimes didn't even get his papers marked. At 8 he discovered boxing, and it changed his life. It became his life. While his sister read and wrote and studied and worked, he watched boxing, went to classes, tried other martial arts and sports, and fell in love.
His parents hated it.
"We don't want a useless son who gets punched in the head for a living!"
"Why can't you be more like your sister?!"
He loved them. They loved him. He knew that. But did they have to be like…that?
Just as Renjiro reflected on the state of things, he noticed two large brown eyes peeking through the crack in his door.
"Hey Hideko, whatcha doing?" Renjiro asked, smiling slightly. His parents resented him for not being his sister, but the two siblings had always been close. Hideko always asked for help from her brother even when she knew the answer, just to make him feel better. He knew this of course, but he played along. Not many people would have pinned them as siblings, Hideko was short and very slender where Renjiro was much taller and heavier-built, most of it muscle. When she was younger, Hideko would hang off of her brother's arms, and he would swing her around.
"Wanna see something cool? Look what Mom and Dad got me and Nanako!"
Hideko held out three large boxes, VR headsets, and two copies of the incredibly anticipated game Sword Art Online. Hideko and her best friend Nanako had always loved games and fantasy, they would play RPGs in Hideko's room all night when they got the chance. They were loud as a car crash, but no one minded. Renjiro was happy his sister was having a good time, and their parents allowed Hideko a lot of freedom.
"Hey cool, what's this one about?"
"It's like a fully immersive RPG set in a fantasy world. There's dungeons, bosses, swords, and it's like I actually get to be there!" She was beaming with excitement, bringing a bigger smile to Renjiro's face.
"So are you gonna be like a wizard or something?"
"There's no magic! It's all very cool swords and spears and armour! None of that Gandalf and Harry crap." Hideko scowled. She loved fantasy, but weirdly hated wizards and magic? Renjiro never really understood it. Where he went starry-eyed for boxers, She fangirled for swords and armour.
"Right, sorry. Wizards are losers, I forgot. Wait, why are there three of them?"
"I thought, maybe, you'd wanna try it with us some time. There's gonna be boxing games too, there's one scheduled for release in just a few months!"
"Mom and Dad got me a headset for boxing…?" Renjiro asked, puzzled.
"Well…they just got one for me and two friends…I never said who, so…" Hideko looked slightly sadly at the floor for a moment, knowing her parents never rewarded her brother the way they rewarded her. They never really rewarded him at all, anymore.
Renjiro wanted to change the topic back to something more light-hearted. "Are you gonna test it out now? She's still got swimming practice, right?"
"Well, I really should wait…do you think she'd mind?"
"Nahhhhhh give it a go! Just go have a look around, don't do any quests or whatever".
"She won't mind, I'll just go have a quick test! The servers are up now anyway. Okay, come get me when Nanako is here! I'll see you for dinner, love you!" With that, Hideko gleefully wandered back to her room, and Renjiro could hear the excited giggling through the wall that separated the two of them. Renjiro's smile dropped almost as soon as she left. He never made friends easily, and the few friends he did have basically left him after he had to change schools. Now all he had, really, was Nanako, boxing, and the few snowflakes still on his hair.
Around an hour later, and Renjiro was reading the box of his gifted VR headset, when he heard the door open downstairs. He took off his headphones and could hear his mother talking to someone, who sounded like Nanako.
"Hello Mrs Ozaki! I'm sorry for bringing the cold in with me".
"Oh that's alright my dear! Hanako is just upstairs. You didn't happen to see my errant son outside did you? Maybe he got frozen solid walking back from his silly boxing game".
'Really Mom? What have I done today to annoy you?! There's no need to involve Nanako'. Renjiro thought to himself as he listened in on the conversation downstairs.
"Oh, Renjiro is alright really! I know he doesn't always act how you want, but he's still a good person! He always takes Hanako and I to conventions when we ask, he even dressed up last year!"
"Well, it's all fine being a good person. But does being good pay for a house? Or support a family? I know you kids think all that happens without trying, but it doesn't." Renjiro clenched his fist, standing just above the stairs out of sight. His mother continued, "That stupid boy got himself kicked out of the school we were paying for him to go to, and had the nerve to think we would keep paying for his foolish classes. Sometimes I hope he gets injured at those crappy classes he pays for so he quits for good and can finally live a good life!"
Renjiro practically leapt half-way down the stairs. "A good life? This is a good life to you?!" He shouted, to the surprise of Nanako and his mother. "I don't want to live your life, I don't want to be anything like you! Stop putting your hopes on me and let me live my fucking life!"
The three of them stood in silence for what seemed like hours. Nanako carried a sadness in her eyes that she always had when she saw Renjiro upset. The two had known each other for almost as long as Hideko and Nanako had been friends, and cared for each other a lot. Renjiro and Nanako liked to annoy Hideko by praising wizards in front of her sometimes, saying how much cooler wands and staffs were to axes and pikes. He looked away when their eyes met, embarrassed and ashamed at what both he and his mother had said.
Suddenly, the news began a special broadcast, which it only did during an emergency.
"This is a special news broadcast. The VR game Sword Art Online has seemingly malfunctioned. Those playing the game are trapped within it, and several have died already from having their headsets removed by force". The three people stood in the doorway walked slowly into the living room to watch the broadcast, all of them knowing what Hideko was doing upstairs.
"Do not, under any circumstances, remove a VR headset from a person wearing one currently. Do not wear or begin wearing a VR headset. Please dial this number for assistance if anyone you know is unresponsive while wearing a VR headset".
The three of them ran upstairs and burst through Hideko's bedroom door. Hideko was lying, completely still, on her bed, with her VR headset on, and a little green light on the front.
"Hideko! Wake up! Can you hear me?! Hideko, please! My baby girl, come back to me!" Mrs Ozaki wailed, tears streaming down her face as she realised the horrible truth. Her daughter, her only daughter, was stuck somewhere that she couldn't be protected. Mrs Ozaki fell to her knees and put her head on Hideko's chest, crying in fear and sadness.
Renjiro could not believe it. She could die. His sister could die. He checked his phone, and saw people who had watched livestreams of people playing the game. Everyone was saying that not only would you die if someone took the headset off of you, but you would die in reality if you died in the game.
Renjiro felt helpless, and slumped against the wall, breathing rapidly. He felt lightheaded and his mouth felt dry. "Hideko…" He mumbled.
And then he remembered.
He had a headset too.
He gasped, and suddenly ran to his room. Nanako, who held tears in her eyes, followed him. Renjiro grabbed the box, ripped it open, and plugged the headset into the wall. Nanako quickly realised what he planned, and shouted at him, "What are you doing?! You'll be in danger like she is!" Renjiro continued to frantically press buttons on the headset to set it up. Nanako tried to grab his hands, and finally did. "Just stop!" The two of them looked at each other, tears in their eyes, before Renjiro spoke.
"She'd go in for me".
Renjiro laid back on the bed and, after a short pause where he collected his thoughts, spoke.
"Link, start".