9 A.M...
Sunday...
Kazuya's mother was busy cooking and keeping the kitchen in order when she heard steps approaching from the staircase.
Little Kanako was occupied, playing with jelly, laughing as the little pieces shook funnily.
"Is that you, Neji?" she asked as the person kept coming downstairs.
"Yes, it's me," Neji replied.
"Of course it is; Kazuya just hates waking up early," she complained as Neji came into view.
"Good morning, Miss Kaori," greeted Neji.
"Good morning, how was your night?"
"Blissful," he replied, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. It was obvious that he didn't get enough sleep, even though he had been asleep for at least seven hours.
"Will you be going now, or would you like to join us for breakfast?" she asked.
"No, thank you. "I'll be heading home now; my aunt is expecting me," he replied.
"I hope you told her that you crashed here last night?" she responded.
"Yes, Miss Kaori. "I told her the moment I was about to go to sleep," he replied.
"Lovely, say hi to Manma for me, alright?" she responded.
"I will," assured Neji.
"Take care," she bid him, but he didn't move but stood where he was, waiting. It was clear at this point that she had forgotten something.
She noticed he was still standing there, now staring at her. "Is anything the matter, Neji?" she asked.
"The console," she frankly reminded her.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" she said. "Sorry."
Then she bent down, bringing out one of them for him. "There you go," she said to him.
"Alright, Miss Kaori," he replied.
"Are you sure you wouldn't stay for breakfast?" "I can make one on the go for you if you want," she offered.
"I appreciate that, Miss Kaori, but I have to get going," Neji said as he went out of the house after giving a slight hand wave.
After Neji left, Kaori yelled out Kazuya's name but got no answer.
"Kanako, go wake up Big Brother, will you?" she told her little daughter, who playfully got up and ran upstairs.
"Don't hurt yourself!" Kaori yelled out, worried by the way the little girl ran up the stairs.
She got to her big brother's door and, as usual, began banging the door continuously. This happened almost every day throughout the summer, and it was annoying for Kazuya. He didn't like the disturbance, but the last thing he wanted to do was make her cry by opening the door and yelling at her to stop.
Sometimes his mother would take advantage of this by telling her to wake him up whenever she wanted him awake early, as she knew he would have to get out of bed due to his little sister's cute yet persistent nature.
Meanwhile, as Kanako kept banging the door with her little hands, calling out for her brother with her sweet, yet annoying voice at a time like this, Kazuya tried blocking both ears with his pillow, but to no avail.
He almost put on a headset, but that wouldn't help with his sleep. As usual, he had no choice but to get up and do as his mother wanted him to—get up and execute his chores.
Kazuya opened the door and found his little sister jumping on him as if it were the first time she had seen him in a year. He gently put her down and knelt before her, messing her hair with his hand. "Did you sleep well?" he asked.
She nodded with a bright smile.
"I see. "Let me guess, Mom told you to come to wake me up, right?"
She gave another positive nod.
"That figures. "Now get on down there; I'll be with you lot in a few minutes," he said to her, and she nodded, running back downstairs in a way that made Kazuya say the same words his mother said just a few minutes ago to her.
"Don't hurt yourself!" he said out loud.
Then he got back into his room and brushed his teeth, after which he went out to get on with his chores. He got downstairs, and there he met his mother, who was preparing breakfast.
"Good morning, mom," he said as he went outside.
"I hope you are not going anywhere!" she said to him.
"I'm just mowing the lawn," Kazuya said as he got outside to do as he said.
After mowing the lawn, he went back inside to help put the house in order while his mother was busy in the kitchen, then he helped her watch over the laundry while he directed Kanako on how to clean her room. He went on to his room to put it in order as well, then he put out everyone's clothes to dry. Carrying out all the chores took about two hours to execute, and by the time he was done, the whole house was organized and breakfast was ready.
Kazuya took his bath before heading downstairs, and he was taken aback when he saw the food that was served at his seat. It was his favorite food: rice with brown curry, and it was served with all the garnishes he preferred and filtered away from the vegetables he hated.
"That is for helping me with all the chores while I was busy." "But don't get used to it; it's only for this one time," she told him.
"Yes, yes, I know, mom," he replied as he chowed down his meal.
When he had almost finished his meal, his mother and Kanako had already finished theirs and were ready to leave the table.
"Your console is in the kitchen, at the lower section of the food store." "Play with it as much as you can but at reasonable doses, and don't give me a reason to take it away from you, am I clear?" she asked sternly.
"Yes, yes, I hear you, mom," he replied.
"Lovely, I will go upstairs to have some rest while Kanako will stay here to watch TV." "She will notify one of us in case of anything," she said to Kazuya before turning to Kanako, "Do not open the door for anybody, and let one of us know if a stranger is knocking on the door, alright?"
Kanako nodded as Kaori took all their plates to the kitchen.
Kazuya walked into the kitchen and took them from her, saying, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it." "You just get to bed, alright?" he said.
She smiled as she reached out and kissed his forehead before heading upstairs to get more rest. She had been up all night worrying about him before he arrived with Neji, and he wasn't sure how long she was able to rest after that.
When Kaori went back upstairs, Kazuya looked at his little sister. "So, Kanako, what do you want to watch?" he asked.
...
Now that his mother was resting and his little sister was occupied with anime, he had the time he needed to do what he had been wanting to do for a long time.
He went to the kitchen store and got the machine, then went to his bedroom to set it all up. Since it was a modern VR machine, he wouldn't need a TV—just a socket and a good place to keep the main console.
He got into the room and began to unpack the items. He opened the carton and found a whole bunch of paperwork. At the back of the carton, he found a whole lot of warnings listed on it and wondered what they could be all about. The more he perused through the warnings, the more he became increasingly sceptical, as the warnings and pieces of advice he had gotten from Goichi and Erika flooded back to the surface of his mind.
He shook it off and tossed aside the carton. Then he took out one of the manuals, and on the first few pages were disclaimers labeled with over 50 sections. To control his skepticism, he threw that aside as well. Then he brought out the VR headset from the bubble wrap, and he almost gasped because of how gorgeous it looked. Even though he had seen the model during TechCon, seeing it in person was a whole different experience for him.
He carefully placed the VR headset on his bed while he opened the second bubble wrap, and in it, he found the console, which was also breathtaking by design, even though he had seen the model back at TechCon.
In another bubble wrap bag were controllers and other accessories he felt he wouldn't need at the moment. So he only took out one controller, which he would use for the game he intended to play, and left the rest of the accessories in the bubble wrap.
He then took apart the last piece of bubble wrap, and in it, he found a Blu-ray copy of the flagship game, Scarlett Online.
The cover art looked spectacular, and it seemed to complement the name of the game beautifully.
Then he plugged in the console and connected it to the VR headset before turning on the machine. As he did so, he almost gasped as a bright graphical show glazed before his eyes, with a beautiful surround sound that seemed to have taken him into another world.
Before him, in holographic fashion, he saw a recommendation that encouraged him to play the game while lying on a bed to minimize injuries. So he did, without hesitation, willing to do whatever it takes to enjoy the game he had been craving for so long.
Then he saw a brief warning before him.
This game is about to give you an experience that reflects reality, an experience that might make you question what could be real and what couldn't be.
Are you sure you want to proceed? ...
"DO SO AT YOUR PERIL!"
Two options were presented to him...
"Proceed" and "Play Safe."
Taking the warning either as an ordinary gimmick of the game to show off its potential graphical fidelity or as a minor setting for difficulty adjustment presented with frightening words, he casually selected "Proceed" without knowing what he was getting himself into.
And that was the last thing he remembered.