"Begin!"
I executed a quick one-step upward slash attack, which he blocked with ease. I persisted, relentlessly pushing my wooden sword until it slid down his and I thrust it towards his solar plexus. He lost his footing and fell to the side.
"That's it!"
I quickly removed my protective gear and placed it on the nearest table.
"That's a quick one, Igara."
"A bit faster than the usual, good job."
"Thanks," I replied, bowing a bit to both of them.
After a while of small talk with the seniors in the dojo, I left the room and headed home. It was already evening, and the sky was painted with hues of orange and purple. I hopped on my bicycle and rode through the quiet streets, lost in thought.
The evening sun setting in the distance only added to my melancholy state.
Upon arriving at my home, I carefully placed my bicycle in its designated spot and turned the door handle with a soft click. The door opened effortlessly as I pushed it before gently closing it. As I walked towards the staircase, I could hear my mother's voice from the living room.
"Youta, welcome back," she said, her voice sounding tired.
I murmured an affirmation as I quickly made my way up the stairs and into my room.
"This time, I really SHOULD play the game that I just bought a month ago," I muttered to myself as I closed the door behind me.
My room was dark, so I walked over to my bed and flicked the light switch on. The lights flickered briefly before fully illuminating my room. I booted up my computer and began playing some online games before playing the game that I bought before, but I soon found myself getting bored and frustrated with the repetitive gameplay.
The same characters, the same combos.
It was all just so monotonous and dull.
After about thirty minutes, I felt my eyelids getting heavy and decided to take a quick nap. I laid down on my bed, feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over me. I always feel like I was living the same dull and unfulfilling day over and over again.
Sometimes, I even wished for death, but the thought of the pain scared me too much.
"Hhg..."
I groggily opened my eyes to find something crystal-like obstructing my vision. I rubbed my eyes and sat up in bed, wiping away a strand of drool that had formed at the corner of my mouth. I glanced at the clock on my bedside table and was shocked to see that it was already 10:00 AM.
"Really…?"
As I got out of bed, I realized that my room was oddly dark.
Hadn't I turned on the lights earlier?
The only source of light in my room was my computer screen, and I felt an overwhelming sense of fatigue and lethargy wash over me. Even though I had been sleeping for several hours, I still didn't feel well-rested.
I walked over to my computer chair and sat down, glancing at the screen. I was taken aback to see that it was displaying a strange website that I didn't recall visiting before, although it did look somewhat familiar.
"What is this?" I muttered to myself as I scrolled down the page.
Apparently, the website claimed to offer a fully immersive gaming experience, allowing players to feel every sensation. It all seemed ridiculous to me, but I noticed that the site was inexplicably popular, despite the fact that no one had been able to access it yet.
There had been a few leak images in the internet, but it doesn't look exactly similar to the real one, I guess?
As I continued scrolling, my eyes landed on a section labeled,
'Your Avatar.'
Intrigued, I clicked on the link to learn more.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[ Name : Igara Youta
Gender : Male
Age : 17 Y/O
Date of Birth : 7/20/2001
Address : 1 Chome-1-1 Shibakoen, Minato City, Tokyo-to 105-0011, Japan
Counts : 068
Speciality : Kendo/Swordplay
Weakness : Life
Nationality : Japan ]
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"T-This is some creepy stuff.."
I closed the malicious page and returned to the main website with a furrowed brow, perplexed by what I had just encountered.
"Could someone really be so mad that they would dox me for winning a silly match?" I mused, my voice trailing off into the silence of my empty room. "How stupid.."
I traced my cursor up the page, studying the large red block letters that read 'Start' before scanning the description of the game once more. It was a player-versus-player game, a fact that seemed rather bizarre for an online website.
"Multiplayer in a website game...absurd."
I murmured to myself a bit before tentatively clicking the 'Start' button.
Instantly, the webpage closed, leaving my computer screen blank, save for my wallpaper. I shook my head.
"As expected, just another fucking troll website."
However, something strange was happening to me. Nausea and a throbbing headache began to set in, causing me to clutch at my head and kneel on the ground.
I struggled to keep my eyelids open, but they slowly and inevitably drooped, shrouding my vision before finally plunging me into unconsciousness.
***
All I can see now is the color black, darkness.
It's a complete absence of light, a void of any visual stimulus.
It's as if the world has been erased, and all that's left is this empty space.
I blink my eyes several times, hoping that it's just a momentary lapse of vision. But no, the darkness remains.
I tried to move, but my body feels heavy, sluggish. It's like I'm stuck in molasses, trying to fight against the thick, syrupy liquid.
The darkness was suffocating, like a thick, impenetrable fog.
But then, the sound of crackling fire pierced through the silence, followed by the warmth of its heat that radiated on my skin. Slowly, I opened my eyes, squinting as I tried to adjust to the brightness. Everything was blurry at first, but then the room came into focus.
I found myself lying on the cold, hard ground, and I rose slowly, carefully balancing myself before taking in my surroundings. It was a small, cramped room with only a few torches to illuminate it.
"Agh.."
The flames flickered wildly, casting strange shadows on the walls. As I turned to look around, I noticed a large table in the corner of the room, filled with a variety of weapons.
My mind raced as I tried to understand what was happening.
How did I get here? Where was I?
The realization slowly dawned on me that this was no ordinary situation. This was the game. The very same game that I had clicked before, the one that closed the moment I clicked on its start button…
"But...well," I paused, considering my words carefully. "I think I've seen some manga where the protagonist enters the game they were playing, but that's just a manga and this is reality. So, there's no possible way that this is possible just from a click..."
I walked over to the table, my eyes scanning over the weapons. There were swords of all kinds - cutlasses, daos, estocs, rapiers, and more. On the other side, there were axes, spears, hammers, and other deadly weapons. I hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to choose.
But then, my eyes locked onto a katana. It was a beautiful weapon, with a sleek, curved blade and an ornate hilt. Holding it in my hands felt like a dream come true - it was something that I had always wanted to do ever since I was a child.
Unlike the wooden swords in my kendo classes, this one was real, made of heavy metal.
As I held the katana, a strange sensation coursed through my body. I couldn't ignore it - this was no mere video game. It was real, somehow. But how was that even possible?
A door caught my attention, and I walked towards it. It was covered in a sticky, red substance, which I prayed was just paint.
"Wait a minute," I murmured, pausing to inspect the katana in my hand.
I lifted it up, before rotating it multiple times to examine it more closely.
"It doesn't rust even though it's bare open without the sheath," I commented on the blade of the katana. "I guess this is really a game after all."
So of course, like other humans, I'm totally down to have some fun with this
game.