Game Over

STAGE THREE >> R U Ready?

As soon as he was inside the apartment, he started texting his friends reminding them of the date and what time they should arrive. Since the game was set to be played in the subconscious, which means while they were sleeping, it was only natural for his friends to have a sleepover.

September 14. Doomsday.

Yuki wanted to laugh at the way this new generation described this game with ostentatious words to make it worth the wait. What's with the hashtags trending? Geez, he really hopes this game lived up to their expectations.

Just in time when he was done preparing their dinner, the intercom buzzed indicating the arrival of his first visitor. And he was correct. Hikaru was standing outside with a huge scowl marred on his face.

"I fucking hate you, do you know that? I really, fucking hate you!"

Oh, he's starting...

"Good evening to you too, Hikaru," he teased. "Have you decided on your race?"

"I don't care! I don't care about this stupid game—"

"Wait, someone's buzzing the door again. It might be..."

"—fucking door!"

Yuki ignored Hikaru's whining and went to open the door and saw Masami and Aoi this time.

"Hikaru's there already?" Masami cocked his head and Yuki nodded in exasperation.

There was still plenty of time before they enter the game. Yuki decided to browse the internet looking for any information that might provide vital clues about what the game was all about.

The game was developed by an indie software developer named Gryphon. Until now, no one could tell whether Gryphon was a person or a group of programmers. Only two things were certain—they defined the game as one of the major breakthroughs of modern technology, and it was an MMORPG.

"What is an MMORPG?" Aoi, who rarely played games (aside from the ones that Yuki taught him) was left clueless as Yuki mentioned these facts.

"MMORPG means massively multiplayer online role-playing games," said Yuki. They were seated on the tatami mat with his laptop computer on top of the katsu table. "It combines elements of role-playing games with the gameplay of multiplayer online gaming worlds."

"Fuck. English, please!" Hikaru exclaimed.

"It means it's a story-driven online video game in which, we, the players, taking on the persona of a character in a virtual or fantasy world, interacts with a large number of other players."

Masami, "You mentioned that there are four races within the game world, right? We need to choose which one will do which?"

Aoi raised a hand, "I don't mind whatever character, but, you have to be patient with me. This is my first time playing a game like this."

"This is all our first time," Yuki assured him.

"But you have experience since you've played games like this before?"

"This is different. I don't know whether it is the same as any other games I've played. Except for those four races and the introduction of the name of the world, nothing much is provided."

"Alright, fine!" Hikaru snapped and read the part about the races again leaning towards Yuki's laptop. "So, there are four races. The human, the elf, the beast, and the pixie. I'm definitely going to be the elf!"

Masami frowned as he saw an example of the characters drawn in CGI on the website, "For someone who doesn't like the game, you sure sound excited choosing the most aesthetically pleasing character."