"wait, why is your name the only one censored like this?" kiyoshi asked me. i was clearly clueless. It felt like the system was messing with me. "maybe it could be backing up?" kiyoshi spoke in thought. I shaked my head, "it's not possible, we're the only ones operating this, i think."
"you think?! is someone else there besides us?" kiyoshi exclaimed. i shaked my head again, this time looking at him in a dumb manner.
"nah, i just assumed, how would i know?" we stopped and looked at our own panels. i got nothing, while kiyoshi seemed he got something. he clicked it, and he was given out a item. as he held it, his expression turned in a mixture of surprise and happiness. "finally." he spoke out. "it's an escape key, we can get out of here." i heard this, and my expression changed to one of a relief.
kiyoshi operated it, and our sight went blank. it was dark again, i was tired of this. we opened our eyes, and we were back into my dorm. i saw allen by the door, as he spoke up, "good afternoon, i hope you have a wonderful day."
How was he looking so calm while we came out of nowhere inside the room?! i stayed in silence, until kiyoshi broke it, "u-uh good afternoon?" i nudged him in feign annoyance, "who even told you to reply back?"
"hey, it's basic manners" he added. feeling slightly dumb, i shrugged it off, and went outside. I walked towards the door, looking at allen lowering his head down, with an unnatural smile that feels somewhat off. i decided not to get bothered, and walked out of the room. My clothes seemed intact, but i felt a sting in my left eye, which was quite painful. i touched it for a moment and removed my hand. i never felt any pain before, but it was somewhat strange. i looked at kiyoshi next, glancing at every detail in him. while i averted my gaze to his face, something caught my attention. There was a small crack in his jawline stopping just at the corner of the cheek. another one was at his hand as well. I was desperate in notifying him, but i kept it to myself.
i blinked back to reality, and looked in front of me. It was a panel, the same one we saw inside the realm. i refused to believe it at this point; this is the real world. i stopped on my tracks and raised my hand towards it. before i was able to attempt an action, kiyoshi turned to me and looked at me in a confused state.
"hide, what are you doing?" he asked. i immediately withdrew my hand, and chuckled awkwardly, "oh, nothing." i answered back. kiyoshi looked like he wouldn't buy it, and responded, "are you sure? you're acting like you're touching that screen panel we saw back then."
i turned to him, and shaked my head, "i swear, it's nothing. i need time to adjust back after what we've been through." i replied in a solid manner.
"if you say so," he responded unconvinced, and continued walking. A sigh escaped from my lips, out of bare relief and tiredness. i scratched the back of my head, still looking at the screen like in spacing out. i turned to kiyoshi and spoke up, "i'll be right back, just go on without me." and fled to somewhere reserved. kiyoshi was about to question me but i wasn't able to hear it. The words cut off and kiyoshi went on just as i instructed.
I went back to the dorm, and then looked at allen. "i request you to wait until i call back in." i asked him. Allen replied with a nod and left the room. I locked the doors and looked at the screen. A slight tension washed over me, although i was the only one present in the room. My left eye started twitching, i removed the eyepatch above it and made it rest.
i brushed my hair off and began accessing the screen panel right in front of my eyes. i clicked on different panels, yet i find almost many things useless to me now. i saw something called "power tabs" and clicked on it.
There were a set of five basic elements like earth, water, fire, air, and light. I was obviously asked to choose one out of it. Like every people, i chose something exotic, that is light. I clicked on it, and did something out of my expectations; or so i thought. I just saw another panel, displaying the levels of the power i got now.
I raised my hand and kept in a position like i was grabbing something. Somehow, I was able to form a source of light, but it was slightly faint. I didn't like expecting much more, since i knew something out of ordinary would happen. I trusted my instincts and lowered my hand down. I got up from the bed and went to a nearby table beside me, which had some edible items. i felt slightly hungry, and took a snack bar from the basket.
Then i went back into looking at the panel while eating. i scrolled through different tabs and sub-panels. i even went through my profile, which has my name still in censored text. I wanted to find a way for this, but decided to keep it aside. i closed the panel and got up again, throwing the wrapper away. i went to unlock the door and got out of the room, later bumping into another person: a girl again. she blinked a few times, and adjusted her hair before speaking, "s-sorry, i apologise for bumping into you."
"no, i should, i did it first." i replied. The girl nodded, but she didn't leave. she scruntized and examined me for quite a while. Now that i looked at her as well, she was kind of attractive like most of them i have seen. But snap out now, i was in thought of why she did that. The realization dawned me with slight fear, i widened my eyes and hid my left eye, and went back into the room, closing the door behind me and crouched down. i panicked a little, i wasn't used to exposing this out to anyone.
Then, a voice came from behind the door, a voice i was quite familiar that i heard in a long time, "...hide?"