Genaco Compound.
7:45 am, Monday, 13 th April 2043.
Suzuki exited the virtual drive and walked into the bathroom to relieve himself. A few minutes later, he stepped out of the bathroom and began his daily workout routine. It was a strenuous, high-intense regint that consisted of several pushups, chin-ups, sit-ups, stretches, and aerobics. On so days, he mixed it up with pull-ups and other forms of exercise. Usually, the exercise would last for fifteen to twenty minutes, but Suzuki extended this session to a whole hour to make up for the ti spent laying down. By the ti he was done, he was sweating like Thanksgiving turkey.
Suzuki exhaled as he examined his sore muscles. He was by no ans the toughest guy in the world, but he had an excellent physique comprised of powerful, well-toned muscles without any useless fat, a lithe fra that allowed high agility if he needed to run, and rock hard abs that protected his abdon. The young man sighed as he recalled the countless amount of work that had gone into crafting this body.
At the age of ten, Suzuki’s father enrolled him in a junior martial arts school to ‘toughen him up.’ In reality, they both knew that the real reason Suzuki was enrolled in that school was to give him an out for the aggressive emotions built up in his heart due to his abusive mother.
Suzuki’s father, due to the nature of his work, was rarely ever ho, and for reasons the child never understood, his mother blad him for his father’s loss of interest in her. Suzuki’s father’s intentions worked as the thrill and chaos of a match often took his mind off the abuse that awaited him at ho. Suzuki also found that when he pushed his body to the limit during training, he was too exhausted to harbor any negative emotions. As a result, he often remained in the dojo long past the allotted ti.
Suzuki’s hard work paid off, and two years later, the young man he qualified for the finals of the junior MMA championship. Unfortunately, Suzuki’s family encountered an accident on the way to the finals that claid his parents' lives. Naturally, the injuries he sustained from the accident disqualified him from the competition.
Worse yet, Suzuki’s brain was affected by accident, resulting in the loss of almost all his emotions, leaving only rage and anger behind. As a result, he often got into fights with other children at the orphanage he was temporarily placed in by the governnt. Suzuki was only able to relatively calm down when he resud his training, and at this point, it had turned into sothing therapeutic. The pain endured during training served to cover the anger and rage in his heart.
Suzuki’s improved temperant awarded him with a new ho, and parents. Unfortunately, the new family was no better than his birth parents. If anything, they were much more abusive. Suzuki almost acted on his rage multiple tis but managed to keep his emotions in check through diligent training. He eventually joined the kendo club in middle school.
Suzuki was naturally gifted in combat and often picked up skills much faster than his peers and seniors. It, therefore, ca as no surprise to him when he surpassed both his mates and seniors in training after only a couple of months. Unfortunately, the seniors were not as open-minded as those in manga.
Jealousy clouded their thoughts, and they began taking any opportunity they had to pick on and bully Suzuki. No matter how much Suzuki trained, the rage in him still remained. One day, he could no longer bear the bullying and lashed out in anger. His world turned red, and by the ti he returned to his senses, the dojo floor was littered with the unconscious, severely beaten bodies of his seniors and their friends who tried to stop the fight.
Suffice to say, Suzuki was kicked out of the kendo club. He might have even spent ti in juvie if it weren’t for the fact that the seniors were afraid the truth about the bullying would co up in the news. Suzuki realized simple training would not be enough to fix his anger issues. At the behest of a psychiatrist, Suzuki’s foster parents reluctantly helped the child to get a virtual gear, and bought the ga, King’s Journey.
Suzuki, or rather his alter-ego, Razznik began a strict training regint in the ga. Both Razznik and Suzuki lost themselves in the new things they learned in the ga world. Suzuki practiced the skills Razznik learned from Zytra in the real world and applied them in street fights to hone his skills. Razznik, in the anti, sought out powerful opponents to either train him or sharpen his skills in combat.
Of all the skills in Zytra, the hardest for Razznik to learn was the Archery skill, because it was the skill with the most assistance from the ga system. The ground-up training thod other classes had, was incredibly difficult to find in-ga. To redy this, Suzuki joined the archery club in high school. As fate would have it, this was where Suzuki first encountered the girl who would later lead the army against Razznik: Adachi Ayumi A.K.A Aileera.
The re thought of the 'Archery Princess' jolted Suzuki out of his reverie. Suzuki shook his head as he recalled the young woman’s pride-filled gaze. Ah, he did not want to think about her right now, but he also could not help but wonder if she missed him or not.
Suzuki sighed and walked into the bathroom. He filled the bathtub with water, poured the bubble bath solution, stripped then relaxed in the spa-like, warm water and rejuvenating foam. This was a luxury he could have only once in several months (if he was lucky) back at ho.
A while later, Suzuki erged from the bathroom and picked out a white T-shirt and black jeans from the closet. He picked up his Genaco issued phone from the dresser beside the bed and slipped it into his pocket. Suzuki made a ntal note to find out if it was possible to download music into the device and buy so headphones.
Suzuki confird the date on the phone as 13 th of April, a week after he was kidnapped. He realized he had really spent an entire week indoors without any human contact. Now that he thought about it, Kashi spent three in-ga weeks without speaking to a single Summoned.
'People like
are the reason online gars are ostracized.'
Suzuki shook his head, slipped into a pair of casual slippers by the door and left the room. The hallway was empty, and Kashi guessed the residents were probably tied up in-ga. The opening weeks of any Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) ga were trendously important as players sought to assert dominance with their guilds.
As a primarily single player kind of person, Suzuki did not care about the early rush. The young man had decided to take a break from gaming, consequences be damned. He took the elevator to the ground floor and stepped out into the warm April sun. He took in a deep breath, then proceeded to take a stroll in no particular direction.
After an hour of aimlessly wandering about the facility, Suzuki ca to a conclusion: he needed an alternate ans of transport - like a bicycle or sothing. The facility grounds were just too large, and he would have gotten lost several tis were it not for the phone.
“Hey tough guy!" a familiar interrupted Kashi’s thoughts.
'She better not be talking to .' Suzuki looked over his shoulder and recognized the girl who introduced herself as ‘Jade Yuhi’ riding up to him on the very thing he had just been thinking about. It was like she was created just to aggravate him.
"It is good to see you again Yuhi-san," Suzuki greeted politely when she stopped next to him. It turned out Jade was quite short, just about reaching his chest.
In reply, Jade made a face like she had eaten a bad oyster. "Blergh . No formal speech, please. Just call
Jade."
"Is that so. Then I won't hold back... Jade." Suzuki sohow made her na sound like it was being dragged across a concrete floor, then crushed in a grinder.
"Still as unfriendly as ever... eh... what was it again?" Jade asked, cocking her head to the side with a blank expression.
"So you’re the forgetful type?” Suzuki challenged, exasperated by her attitude.
"Ah, sorry. I only rember important nas so-"
A vein popped on the young man’s forehead, but he managed to hold in his irritation. "Sorry for being unimportant!"
"Ah, my bad. Sorry." Jade apologized and actually looked embarrassed by the whole fiasco.
Suzuki suddenly felt uncomfortable and mumbled out of the corner of his mouth, “…Suzuki.”
"Um... I didn't get that."
"Su-Zu-Ki!" Suzuki yelled into her ear.
"Haha. Nice to et you Suzuki-kun," Jade laughed and greeted, holding out her hand.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not ant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"It's embarrassing if you use honorifics now. Suzuki is fine." Suzuki said as he shook her hand.
Jade chuckled as she dismounted from her bike. "So, what brings you here Suzuki?"
"Just taking a walk. Been a while since I was top-side."
"Mind if I join you?"
"Not really. It's fine."
The pair walked side by side in silence, the sole sound between them the slight squeaking of the bicycle's tires. Suzuki took the ti to study the girl. If one word were to be used to describe Jade, it would surely be ‘goth. Her pale, porcelain white skin contrasted sharply against a pair of ripped black jeans and leather jacket. Dark, smoky make-up on her eyebrows and lips made her beautiful dark gray eyes pop. Finally, a pair of star-shaped earrings peeked out from behind a thick glossy curtain of night-black hair that reached down to her lower back.
“Like what you see?” Jade teased.
“Don’t know. You tell .” Suzuki looked into her eyes. “Should I?”
“Huh?” Jade was stunned into silence but then broke out in laughter the very next second. It seed she had not had a good laugh in a while and had to balance on the handlebars of her bike to keep herself from falling.
By her side, Suzuki let out a sigh of relief. Indeed, when in doubt rely on ani. That line had co straight out of an ani he watched recently. It was a good thing the response seed appropriate. After all, he did not have too much experience dealing with people in general.
"Mmm... That felt good." Jade stretched her arms wide, a lazy smile on her face. "This place has been too weird."
Suzuki’s brows rose. "Were you abducted too?"
“Abducted? What are you talking about?” Jade questioned. “According to my pops, my grandfather works here, so I ca to look for him.” She seed to be hiding sothing, but even he knew better than to press the issue. "Wait. You said too? You, were you abducted?"
"Yeah... On the first day of school, no less,” Suzuki revealed. He related the entire experience to her. “At least I got to flip one over before they got
with the taser."
"Pfft." Jade had to cover her mouth to smother the laughter that bubbled up her throat.
"What's so funny?" Suzuki questioned and closed in on her until the only thing separating them was the bicycle.
"Nothing. I swear it's not- pfft!"
Suzuki’s left eyebrow rose. "Suspicious." Luckily for Jade, the young man’s stomach chose that mont to let out a cry of protest. It had been fed bare nutrients and wanted real food to eat.
"You seem hungry." Glad for the change in topic, Jude quickly backed away. "Where do you want to eat?"
"Eh... I don't know anywhere good. What do you recomnd?" Suzuki scratched the back of his head, bracing for the inevitable question.
Jade suddenly felt sothing was off. "Wait. Just how long have you been in your room?"
"... A week?"
"!"
Half an hour later, Jade was bent over in laughter at a restaurant she recomnded. It was a buffet style eatery, and the teenager seed intent of taking full advantage of that. She was on her third plate, causing Suzuki, who looked at her small fra, to wonder where all the food went.
Suzuki spent the last thirty minutes narrating his story to her, finding it relaxing to talk to soone as open and free-spirited as she was. He purposely left out so important details, like his avatars' na, the na of the town Kashi started in, and the skills he got. In L.N.E, every Summoned was an enemy until proven otherwise. It would do Kashi no good to divulge too much information. Jade's particular source of humor stemd from the story of how Kashi 'sweet-talked' the storekeeper into giving him bread.
"Seriously. You were so excited to get free bread?" Jade asked in between laughs.
"Oh, co on. It's not that funny. It was an important test. What did you expect him to do?"
"Sorry, my bad. It's just the way you speak in the ga is so funny."
"It's not '.' Its Kashi," Suzuki corrected. He realized his blunder a mont later, but it was too late to take back what was already said.
“Kashi, huh?” Jade murmured. “Cool na. So, what’s with the ‘ It’s not , it’s Kashi? ”
"As a rule, I consider my avatars a separate entity from . I would appreciate if you did the sa." Suzuki gazed downwards at his plate, playing with his noodles.
Suzuki's tone might have been light, but Jade could sense a heavy undercurrent just below the surface. This was a really big deal to him, and she made a ntal note not to refer to Kashi as him again.
"So, what about you?” Suzuki asked. “What's your avatar's story."
Jade grinned Cheshire style. "That's a se-c-ret." She poked his head and chuckled at his expression. "Pass
your phone." Stunned by the fact he had been one-upped by her, Suzuki obediently handed her the device. She placed hers next to his, pressed a button on hers, then handed his back to him.
A ssage asking to confirm adding her as a contact popped up on the screen and Suzuki readily accepted. Jade was now the third person in his life aside from his parents to ever have their numbers in his phone. The first being Jas Shouyou, who had also given him his first cellphone since his parent's death, and the second was the Archery Princess.
Banzai* for little things huh...
Suzuki was sowhat shocked at his hasty acceptance; it almost seed like he had been desperate for attention. No, that was not possible. After all, he had mastered the art of isolation. There was no reason for him to be relieved that he had soone to talk to. Then again, it might just have been a quality she possessed. One he could not ignore.
The pair finished their al and spent the afternoon chatting non-stop through the entire day. Along the line, Jade taught Suzuki how to check his balance. It turned out he had approximately 40,000 yen left in his account. Jade then led him to a bicycle shop where he bought a decent one for 12,000 yen, leaving him with 28,000. He also bought a pair of high-end headphones for 10000 yen. By the end of the day, he was left with 18000 yen. Suzuki did not regret the purchase in any way.
Priorities were important in life.
Jade also taught him how to get download music free into his phone. As expected of a company leading the entertainnt sector; they had already paid for all possible downloads. Hence there was nothing illegal about them downloading from the hub.
Once again, Suzuki was shocked and impressed by just how much money must have been spent on the project. There was no way a company like Genaco would sink this much resources into sothing pro-bono like finding a cure for Parallel. Harsh as it may seem, that would just be 'Bad Business,' as his birth father often said.
The duo toured the grounds together and shared a al when the sun began to set. After dinner, they said their goodbyes and parted ways. As Suzuki opened the door to his building, the sunset in the horizon, bidding him good-night.
anwhile, in a control room filled with computer screens and multiple analysts scrunching and analyzing various numbers, Akari glanced at Yukino and asked. “How’s it going so far?”
“Only ten people refused to start the ga,” Yukino reported as she observed the programrs and analysts scurry around like worker ants on an overdose of energy drinks.
“And?”
“They were dealt with as you instructed.”
“Good,” Akari coldly replied. “And those who stayed?”
“A few have begun to show early symptoms of Parallel, though it’s too early to say for sure. It may just be an initial backlash from the ga.”
“Anything else?”
“There was a report of a child spending the entire week indoors. He only ca out today.”
“Na?” Akari asked, interest genuinely piqued.
“Suzuki Mato.”
“The child from the opening day huh. His level?”
“Seven. We assu he spent most of the ti exploring the world.”
Although highly illegal, Genaco could follow the players’ progress in the virtual world to a certain degree, but a user’s brain unconsciously protected itself from outside interference, which was why the company could only pull information bits at a ti while the player was still in-ga. However, imdiately the user logged out, they could draw the data from the save file. The longer a user spent in the world, the longer it took to download the information.
By staying in the ga world for so long with very short breaks in between, Suzuki had unknowingly prevented them from gleaming too much information. And since he had already logged back into the ga, the most the company could obtain was data leading up to his escape, and his current level. The rest were still nicely tucked away in the save file.
But Suzuki did not know any of this...
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