When Ren's eyes opened, he was not greeted with the scene he expected. He had expected to remove his AmuSphere and find his room steeped in darkness but instead, a warm light was filtering through the window next to his bed. "You've got to be kidding me," he groaned, realising he must've fallen asleep right after logging out of ALO, not even removing his AmuSphere.

He sat up and stretched his stiff body, rubbing his neck slightly to try and loosen it. His tired eyes flickered over to the clock on his desk, it was 6:26. He still had over half an hour before he'd need to start getting ready for school but he knew if he went back to sleep he'd probably wake up late.

He swung his legs over the edge of his bed and got up. He regretted the decision immediately, swaying on the spot and almost falling, having to grab his desk to stay upright. He quickly showered and got himself some breakfast, sitting down on the porch to eat it, the warm morning air whipping around him.

"So, what level did you get to last night?" a deep voice asked from behind Ren as he ate. The young man turned with his spoon sticking from his mouth to see his father coming through the sliding door.

"Oh hey Dad. I hit level thirty-two before I stopped grinding," Ren replied, turning back to the yard. His father, Shinji, sat down next to him, resting his briefcase on his lap.

"Only thirty-two? I thought you would've gotten higher pulling an all-nighter like that," Shinji Hikari said, rubbing his stubble.

"I wasn't playing all night. I just fell asleep with my AmuSphere on."

"Well that was intelligent wasn't it?"

"I'm your son remember."

"That you are, except in my day I fell asleep with a controller in my hand, not some sci-fi visor on my head." The two laughed at the comment. Shinji looked down at his watch, sighed and rose to his feet. "Well I'm off to work now kiddo, make sure you get to school on time," he said as he stepped off the porch and left the house.

Ren groaned and took his empty cereal bowl inside. He really didn't want to go to school. He was half tempted to accept the offer Arcadia had made the day before and spend the whole day at home playing ALO but he knew he couldn't. Unfortunately being a second year high school student meant having to attend regularly.

He grabbed his bag and left the house, locking the door behind him. He got on his bicycle and made his fifteen minute trip to school.

Ren slumped into his seat for homeroom, all but phasing out the chatter around him. His mind wandered like it always did, thinking of the adventures he would have in Aincrad that afternoon. His thoughts were interrupted by a tap on the shoulder.

"Yo, Ren, morning," a male voice said, causing Ren's head to turn.

"Oh Tatsuya, morning," Ren said in a rather bland tone. Tatsuya was one of Ren's close friends from school. He was a taller and rather well built young man, being on the school soccer team. Tatsuya sat down in the chair next to Ren and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows.

"You playing ALO this afternoon?" Tatsuya asked, taking his notebooks from his bag. Ren nodded in response. "Awesome, I don't have practice today so I can play too. You and Arcadia are probably way higher than me now huh?"

"Well I'm level thirty-two now, I think Arcadia is on thirty."

"That's not too bad I guess, I'm still on twenty-eight."

"Good morning class," a rather droll female voice called out from the classroom door. Tatsuya and Ren watched as a woman entered the room with a yawn and walked to the front of the class.

"Um, Miss Hidenori, are you okay?" one of the female students called out.

"Me? Oh I'm fine. I was just up late… working on lessons for the week" the teacher said, averting her eyes from the class. Ren put his face in his palm and a huge grin spread across Tatsuya's face.

"That's our Arcadia," Tatsuya said quietly. "Did you two play till late?"

"We played till about lunch then she left so she must've gone back on after I went to bed."

"So, everyone just open up your notebooks and go over your notes from last week, you'll have a test at the end of this week," Miss Takiko Hidenori instructed, sitting down at her desk and resting her head on her arms. Ren shook his head with a small smile, opening up his notebook.

The day went by relatively fast and before Ren knew it, the bell signalling the end of school was ringing out through the buildings. Ren packed his things into his bag and stood up, waiting for Tatsuya to do the same. Miss Hidenori approached the two boys as they packed everything away, glancing around to make sure most of the class had left before speaking to them.

"Hey, you two are going to be on today right?" she asked in a hushed tone.

"Yeah, how come?" Ren asked, leaning back on his desk slightly.

"I heard rumours that a super rare mob has spawned down on floor nine. Apparently it's only around for two days and it'll only spawn for a player or party once."

"Which means it probably has an awesome drop," Tatsuya said, his eyes lighting up a little as he rubbed his chin. "You up for taking it on Ren?" he asked, looking at his friend. Ren nodded in response and Miss Hidenori grinned.

"Awesome! Meet in Lindas as usual?" she asked.

"Yeah. I have a house there now so we can meet there," Ren said. Tatsuya and Takiko nodded and the three went their separate ways.

As Ren returned home he grabbed a quick snack, a drink of water and then headed into his room. He closed the door behind him and booted up his computer. Once it was all loaded he laid down on his bed with his AmuSphere on.

"It's been a while since Tatsuya had gone anywhere with us, but he should be ok. He could just hang back and then switch in when the enemies had been weakened a bit," Ren muttered to himself. "Link start!" he said and his surroundings vanished.