I may get some shit for writing this (-_-) but enjoy regardless.
A complete rewrite of "Sword Art Online: Black". Fanfic is inspired by an MV by suisoh titled "Suicide" or preferably "Hurry to the Night" thus, the title. Fair warning, this is a pretty dark fanfic.
The room was dark, only the screen of a computer dimly lit semblances of the room. Sat in a chair was a 21 year old man clicking and typing the keyboard. What shown on the screen was a game, an MMORPG. His eyes dead and bags were apparent below. Skin was pale, and his lips dried.
Iwasaki Hitori, a hikikomori.
Not particularly an MMORPG fan, but it is a type of game that occupies his time a lot. This was the Nth MMORPG he played, and one of the few ones of which he became the top player. Not surprising of course, he had no life outside of this room.
'A cursed child.'
A vile scent climb his throat as he began to gag. He immediately ran to the bathroom and let it all out. A sickly look covered his expression, saliva dripped from the corner of his lips.
An unpleasant memory.
One he couldn't agree more with.
"I-I need to...stop..." Hitori said with ragged breath.
Wobbly, he walked towards his monitor and quitted the game. He opens up his browser and was surprised to see he got an email notification. One that did not came from anything he knew of.
"Sword...Art Online?"
NerveGear, quite an advanced piece of technology.
It might be for my reputation in playing MMORPGs but I got this sent to me by a company; Argus. I never really liked playing VR games because I usually get motion sickness from it but this is the second generation of FullDive device which was said to have better graphical fidelity and better prevention of motion sickness.
Considering I don't have money left, I am thankful for them sending this to me free of charge.
Along with a copy of Sword Art Online beta.
I read a lot of Reddit posts about it, and even the guys in Discord talked about it but I was never really interested in VRMMO. Mostly because of the motion sickness but now that I got NerveGear, I am a bit interested.
"No magic system? Quite bold for an MMORPG." I read the box cover and turned around. "Seems like there's a lot of setups I need to configure...damn." I sighed and place the box down. "I need to calibrate myself too...what a pain."
Guess I'll just do it then since I have it and all.
After setting up, I put on the NerveGear and lay myself on my bed.
"Link start."
Two months passed.
I am very much obsessed with Sword Art Online or SAO for short.
The absent of motion sickness helped a lot, but the game was engaging enough for me to sink my teeth in. I don't know how many hours I poured into the game, but I played it nonstop for days stopping only to eat and drink.
One thing that surprised me the most when I entered SAO was the five sense working really well.
So well I forgot I was in a game.
The graphics are insane as well, it felt so real. The combat is pretty basic but the fact that I feel like I really swing the sword is insane, I became obsessed in trying out many thing with it.
But the beta is nearly at its end.
There were so many glitches I exploited which resulted in any game-breaking mechanics I abused somewhat. Like how certain NPCs can cause collision break, or how certain walls can be noclipped through. It was fun, and of course, due to my obsession with it, I became the top player of the game. At the moment at least.
"It's as fun as it is to...take my mind off things."
Things still looms behind my head, but I try to take my mind off of it by playing this game.
"Hey, up for duel today?" My thoughts were shortly cut by a player I know in the game.
"Keikonox." I sighed. "How many times has it already?"
"I don't bother counting." He shrugged his shoulders, his avatar is as tall as ever. "But this time, I'll win for sure." He swiped the screen to request a duel against me as he finishes.
I sighed again. "Alright, give it your best."
As it turns out, he won.
Because I gave him the win.
"If you die in the game, you will die in real life."
It was a statement I've come to accept as he said it.
Of course, despite that, it didn't feel like anything drastic had happened. The only difference I see is that I'm stuck in this game indefinitely without ever waking into real life. To me, nothing much had changed. It just...feels familiar to me.
Maybe now, I can...
"I still can't bring myself to do it..."
Even now, sitting on the edge of Aincrad, this supposedly magnum opus by Kayaba Akihiko, overwatching the sunset, my heart still holds on.
I look at my wrists, gently caressing it as I imagine a stinging pain.
A virtual reality that feels real.
What am I going to do?