Chapter 41 “Tales of the past: Amanda Rinder. Simple day.”

“””

‘Pipipipi… pipipipi.’

The sound of an alarm clock rang inside the room and signaled that the night has ended and it was time to wake up. Few seconds later, responding to that sound, a small hand came out from under the blanked to press the bottom on the alarm clock to turn it off. Still, after doing so, the hand returned to its earlier position and ‘the person’ under that blanked had absolutely no intention to get out from the bed.

Ten minutes have passed in an instant but after that.

‘Pipipipi… pipipipi.’

Another alarm clock rang. This time thought turning it off was not that easy as the second alarm clock was placed two meters away from the bed at the desk near the window.

The position of the second alarm clock was to force the ‘sleeping person’ out from the bed to turn it off. Still the first reaction of the ‘sleeping person’ was only a movement under the blanked, but then after endless ringing of the alarm clock anyone would finally give up.

“I am waking up, I am waking up.”

The ‘sleeping person’ finally decided to stop being sleeping person and finally get out from under the blanked.

-aaaaaa!

Amanda Rinder was her name. Currently 17 years old with birthday coming in one month. She was a simple second year high school student whose main occupation right now was as one suspects going to school. She had short, for girl, chestnut hairs of color much closer to color of red rather than brown. She was quite short in height given her age and most of her peers were taller than her. Currently she was wearing a nighttime white sleeping dress. Her blue eyes were also still half closed as she just woke up. It was always like that as Amanda was simply bad in mornings and when allowed she could sleep for the whole day but unfortunately high school student’s cruel life required from her to wake up at 6 a.m.

Because there was no time to waste, after turning off the alarm clock Amanda walked out from her room and went to the bathroom, to wash her face and take care of basic needs. Afterwards she went down the stairs to the ground floor of her house and went to the kitchen. She had the custom of eating the breakfast first before cleaning herself properly.

-good morning mom.

Still with half asleep voice Amanda said good morning to her mum and sat down near the table.

-good morning sweetheart.

Her mom answered as she while finishing making the breakfast for her daughter. In comparison to Amanda, her mother was completely awake and already dressed up properly. She was also wearing a white apron on her clothes right now. She had the same colored hair as Amanda although hers were much longer. Despite already being in late thirties, Amanda’s mom still looked quite young to the point where if someone joked that she was Amanda’s older sister, it wouldn’t have been a poor joke. It actually happened quite often. In truth however Amanda did not have any siblings as it turned out that her mom could not have more children after giving birth to Amanda for certain reasons. Still Amanda wouldn’t say that she never had any siblings as she did have a cousin that for her was just like an older sister. There was even a time when that cousin lived together with her family and it was at that time that a sister-like bond was formed. Currently, Amanda couldn’t wait till the moment when she will be able to go to the collage as at that time she will move to live with ‘her sister’ again as normally there weren’t that many chances to meet up with her. Although today Amanda was going to meet her after school in late afternoon in a ‘certain way’. Apart from the fact that it was great that Amanda will be able to live with her, it was also very convenient as even if her family wasn’t poor, going to a collage and living on your own wasn’t that cheap.

-mom, I probably going to come back home quite late today so don’t prepare the dinner for me.

-you have a long training today?

-no, after yesterday’s fight I finally cleared the condition for going to the holiday’s mountain training so today I have a day off from. Well I still have to go there to talk with the master about the manner to officially get that permission.

-sweetheart maybe you should reconsider it for the last time, you do remember what happened last time, right?

-mom, don’t return to this conversation again, especially when we finally finished it two days ago. I will be fine. I even completed that impossible condition that master set for me and you also agreed that you won’t say a word after I do so.

-I did but... is it wrong for me to be worried about my only child? Shouldn’t a normal training be enough for you?

-everyone else is going so I am going as well, anyway once again, we already talked about it many times and I completed both yours and masters conditions so I am allowed to go.

-… .

Amanda’s mother ended up sighting and brought the breakfast for Amanda. One might think that she was overprotective but her worry was 100% justified. Since about five years now, Amanda was taking a classes from ‘material arts and not only’ specialist. Truth to be told, someone like Amanda who ever since birth was bad in health and had to take regular checkouts in hospital, shouldn’t really do extreme sports like that. Unfortunately though there wasn’t a single person in the world that could convince Amanda to stop doing that as in this matter she was extremely stubborn to the point where she was ready to run away from house just to continue the training and she actually did that once to prove that she wasn’t joking. During her training she learned many things that normal person wouldn’t even come close to on regular basis. Despite the fact that the first year was especially rough, with time Amanda’s body got used to the extreme training and thanks to that her health greatly improved. Well at least in general as she still had to take checkups in the hospital every month. Still while Amanda did get used to everyday training that she was doing afterschool, the ‘Holiday Mountain training’ was a different thing. That training was extreme even for an experienced practitioner although there weren’t really anyone who could be experienced in that practice as it focus was not ‘fighting arts’ but rather ‘survival’. Actually Amanda already had a chance to experience it once and not only did she fail it but also, after it ended she was hospitalized for three months. So yes, her mom’s worries were 100% justified. Still, that training was two years ago and now Rin was much stronger than before, well at least in technique as her physical strength was never that great to begin with and it would probably increase that much in the future either. Amanda didn’t have any hopes for that as even after five years of heavy training she did not grow much muscle and her body was as small as it always was.

After finishing off the breakfast Amanda went back to the bathroom and did the ‘major morning cleaning’. After that she went back to her room and dressed up for the upcoming day.

Currently Amanda was following a simple fashion although in the first place she was not really interested in fashion at all. On the top she was wearing a simple cream colored sweeter as even though it was already middle spring it was still cold in this regions. As for the bottom she was wearing black jeans. Those were perfectly normal clothes that she usually went to school with. Lastly she also took the black shoulder bag where she had the books and notebooks. After dressing up she went out form the room.

On the way, she also said good morning to her parents’ room, although her dad to whom she spoke those greeting was probably still asleep as his work usually started at 10 and right now it still was still 20 minutes before 7 a.m.

Lastly before leaving the home she took the school lunch that her mother prepared for her and started wearing her shoes.

-I am going out!

-have a nice day!

After saying goodbye to her mom, Amanda went out.

Amanda had to use the bus every day to get to school as her house was located quite far from the city. Calling it a city might actually be an overstatement as it was a small city that had only one school in it, so one would wonder if it really should be called a city and not a village. Despite the fact that it was wasn’t that large the city itself was quite modern and it had most of the facilities that one could ask for.

Amanda reached the bus stop few minutes before the bus arrived. When it did she entered inside and sat down on the third sit on the left from the entrance. Even by bus, it was going to take her thirty minutes to reach the city where her school was. This route was something that Amanda was really used to as for her whole life of going to school she was taking it. Because she was spending an hour in a bus every day, Amanda developed the hobby of reading books. The time in the bus was perfect for it so every day, at least that one hour would be used for that hobby, although usually it was much more if she had the time which usually was not the case.

The location of her house may not be the most comfortable one but the deciding factor for this choice was the clean air in the atmosphere that one could not find in large cities of this age anymore. The air like that was simply necessary for Amanda, so an environment like that was needed. In general, the whole city as well as small villages around it had the great environment. There weren’t any heavy industry anywhere near so the air was mostly clean. Also the whole area was surrounded by mountains range that blocked away the fumes that would come from some other places. The only downside of those mountains was that because of them the area was slightly colder than normally although it was still something that people got used to.

After 30 minutes of ride, Amanda reached the city and get off the bus.

-hi, Amy.

-hi, Sara.

At the station she met up with friend with whom she afterwards went to school with. Sara was Amanda’s friend ever since kindergarten. Naturally, because the city wasn’t big there always was only one school and there was always one class so ever since then they were classmates forever. It was the same with every other classmate that Amanda had. That naturally lead to good relations with each other inside the group which was quite unusual for the whole class to get along so well. As for Sara, she was Amanda’s best friend in school with whom she was sharing the school bench. Apart from knowing each other for so long Amanda and Sara also had many things in common such as sharing the love for reading book. In the current age most people preferred games or television or other form of entertainment but that was not the case for them. Sure, Amanda watched television from time to time with her family but when it came to games, if she actually played anything once a month it would be big for her. It was not that she had anything in particular against them but it was simply that she had other things to do and if she already had some free time she would spend it differently.

From the bus station it wasn’t that far to school but it was still 10 minutes long walk and that time was perfect for a morning conversation. Every day Sara would wait for Amanda at the bus station and then together they would walk to school. The morning talks were usually about everything and nothing in particular. It could be about yesterday’s events or about homework or about the recent book that both of them read although they tried to avoid talking about those in the morning as it was really hard to stop once they started. Talking with a friend about a hobby that you both share is something that anyone loves to do.

-Amy, problems, problems!

As the girls were getting closer to the school and were nearly there, one of other Amy’s friends Rebecca ran up to her informing about some problems.

-what happened?

-there are appeared some gangsters that are blocking the entrance to the school. The teachers are afraid to come close to them, other students as well so no one managed to enter inside.

-wait, what do you mean by gangsters Reb?

-well, they are wearing black leather clothes and have motorbikes so who else could it be. They are not from our city or anywhere near that’s for sure. Anyway, they said that they hate the school and that’s why they are doing it, to help us. When Marcus tried tell them to leave, he ended up being beaten up so everyone else is scared of coming close to them now.

-in this case we should probably wait for a police, it’s not like we can do anything about it ourselves.

-wait a minute Amy. Reb, how many of them there are?

Amy’s friend Sara asked.

-there are four of them.

-then in that case Amy you can take care of them right?

-hey, it’s a different case then bulling. What if they have some dangerous weapon like guns? This is not a laughable topic.

-right, sorry.

-still, we shouldn’t do nothing either. We can’t let others got hurt so it’s probably better if we convince everyone to go home for today or at least stop them from doing anything.

-ah, you can keep your cool even in a situation like this, as suspected of our class rep. Amy you really should candidate for school president next year.

-I wouldn’t have enough time for that, anyway let’s go.

The conversation ended as they arrived at the scene. There Rin saw that just as Rebecca informed her there were four black leather wearing thugs near the gate to the school and their motorbikes were blocking the entrance. Then around them, gathered in a half circle, were the students of the school. The school campus involved both middle school and high school students so despite the fact that there was only one class for year, there were many students going through this gate. Still, it seemed like Amanda didn’t have to do anything in particular as there was no one who was going to try to step in there.

-hahaha, look at their faces, there are so many of them and no one even try to come at us.

-that’s what I told you bro, a village like this doesn’t have anyone who would have any guts.

-so in the end we only ended up doing those guys a favor of not going to school, such good people we are.

-hahaha you got it right and you know what, good people deserve a reward. So what do we do this time, gather the money or should we take one or two girls from here and let them thank us personally.

-hmm… this time I have to say money because just look at them! I never knew that village girls were that ugly.

-hahaha, you got it right, how could they even look themselves in the mirror.

The thugs were exchanging a conversation like from a third rate gangster movie but naturally no one was stupid enough to get into their provocation. The half circle around the gate was kept for few minutes but then appeared one person who completely ignored the situation and walked forward.

-hey you wait! Don’t do anything stupid, it’s not worth it.

Someone ended up shouting to ‘the guy’ that started walking towards the gate like nothing. It was a person with short black hair and with headphones in ears. Because there was no reaction at first, it was possible that he couldn’t hear but after two more steps ‘the guy’ answered.

-stupid? But I am not doing anything stupid? I am simply going to the school like a student should. The bell will ring in five minutes, right? I will pass on arriving.

The guy simply answered like that and continued forward and even though someone else called to him, he didn’t listen just as he really didn’t hear anymore.

-hey Amy, we should stop him, it’s our classmate after all.

Sara ended up calling her right away. Still after hearing the word ‘classmate’, despite the fact that Amanda could not see through the crowd of people she did know about who Sara was talking about. In this city nearly the whole class was each other’s friends and normally everyone would use a name to refer to a person rather than using the word ‘classmate’, still there was one classmate that did not try to get along with other and it was actually even more than that. When someone would try to talk with him, he would immediately make that person realize that he doesn’t want to have anything to do with them and that they are simply bothering him. In the current situation though, because Amanda was probably one of the few that actually knew something about him, she knew that she doesn’t have to do anything in particular to stop him right now.

-you just said that you don’t want to be late, didn’t you?

Naturally the ‘thugs’ also did hear what the guy with the short black hair said. Still even though one of them asked this question him, he did not answer and simply continued forward. Still, that naturally pissed off the ‘thugs’ and one of them ended up walking towards the guy. He stand in his way as if asking for the fight but ‘the guy’ just walked pass him by turning a little to the right.

-hey wait a minute you…aaa… kaa!

The thug ended up stopping ‘the guy’ and caught him from behind by the shoulder but the second he did that, ‘the guy’ caught his hand and he threw it to the ground over the shoulder. The thug crushed into the ground hard. After that he was probably already in ‘no longer moving state’ despite that though, ‘the guy’ was still holding his arm and before leaving it, he twisted it in a way that led to breaking that arm in few parts. There was even a clear sound of bones being broken.

-you, how dare you!

After seeing what happen, the ‘boss thug’ ended up rushing towards ‘the guy’ in anger with his fists raised. After few steps he already reached him and the moment he did he threw a punch but in that moment ‘the guy’ ended up making the fast movement and completely avoided the blow. At the same time he moved forward and it was him who managed to land the punch first right into the nose of the ‘boss thug’. After that hit ‘the boss thug’ was quickly brought to the ground and the blood scattered from his nose all over his face and not only. He did get knocked out in that single blow though so he was already unconscious at that point.

‘The guy’ ended up stopping after the hit and looked at his hand which was now slightly covered in blood. Because of that, ‘the guy’ ended up crouching near the ‘boss thug’ body and he wiped away the blood with the ‘boss thug’s shirt. Afterwards, ‘the guy’ continued like nothing but then he once again encountered the gate that was blocked by the motorbikes.

-hey, the parking place is over there so don’t park those in the middle of the gate. I will be fine as I can simply jump over them but there are some middle school students who are using this gate as well.

‘The guy’ said it to the remaining two thugs who didn’t look that scary anymore if they ever did. Now however they actually looked terrified. After hearing what ‘the guy’ said they immediately took the action and moved the motorbikes out of the way. There were only two motorcycles so it was probably that each bike was used by two ‘thugs’. The two remaining thugs also picked up their friends and put them on the motorbikes and afterwards they ran away. By the time they did, ‘the guy’ already disappeared and walked to school.

The silence was kept in the air for some time after everything happened but then the one thing that interrupted it was the school bell that signaled the beginning of the classes. After hearing it everyone who was still standing before the gate ended up rushing inside the school and another day of completely normal school life began.

Naturally after what happened, all breaks between the classes were filled with the topic of the morning event. Practically everyone were talking about it as their memories were quite fresh, well maybe with the exception of ‘one person’ who was actually directly involved in the case.

Despite the fact that ‘he’ did not interact with others and others already knew that he doesn’t want to interact with them, after what happened there were some people who wanted to try to talk with him yet again. Still, because of that the man in the question somewhat disappeared every break. Amanda’s guess was that he probably didn’t want to bother with the people that came to look for him. Still that created the problem for Amanda as she was one of very few people that had interaction with ‘the guy’ so the people that came would ask about him, her. By Amanda’s count there were way too many girls that came and they ended up asking the questions to which she naturally had no answer. Sure she was one of the few that interacted with ‘the guy’ but it was still on the level of handing him the printouts as the class rep or passing the message when teacher asked her for it. Nothing apart from that. At least, in school that is. Apart from school though they also knew each other from the training place where Amanda was training the ‘fighting arts’. Still even there their interaction was little.

In the end though, because it was somewhat troublesome to answer people’s questions especially when she couldn’t answer them, Amanda decided to find ‘the guy’ and tell him to deal with them himself. Luckily it was not that hard as she did saw how he was ‘disappearing’ every break, namely by the use of the window. Still it was a third floor so it would be hard for him to jump down and even harder to come back the same route later on so Amanda did know the only place to which he could go.

“If he can do it then I also can.”

There was one problem in reaching ‘him’ though as the place where he went, the rooftop was currently closed off so if she wanted to follow him there, she had to use the same route that he did.

-Sara, if someone asks I went to the toilet.

-you are going there? Then I will come with you.

-no I am not going there right now, it’s just an excuse. I will come back in max five minutes.

Amanda said to her friend and then quickly moved to the window. Luckily the classroom was nearly empty so there weren’t that many people that would see what she was going to do. Before anyone tried to stop her, she went towards the window and disappeared second after by climbing upward right away. Truth to be told it was not the first time she was climbing the rooftop like that although the last time was to help someone who got stuck there.

After few moments Amanda reached the top and easily located ‘the guy’ who was simply laying there on the ground and was looking at the clouds. She walked up towards ‘him’ thinking what to say but it turned out that it was ‘he’ who started.

-what is it class rep? I didn’t forget to turn in some paper, did I?

“Ah, I hate dealing with him.”

Her thoughts immediately went in this direction. If there was one thing that Amanda did not like about being class representative it was that she had to deal with ‘this guy’, at least more than all others. Honestly she had enough just by the fact that she was training in the same place as him. The thing that she couldn’t stand the most about him was that he looked down on her, namely whenever they fought he would usually go easy on her which most of the times resulted in his crushing defeat but ‘this guy’ did not care about winning or losing, he actually didn’t care about anything, nothing at all. Amanda had a lot of respect for all other students that trained with her under ‘master Rain’ as they were doing it with exact purpose in mind, mostly sport competition. Still ‘this guy’ didn’t have a purpose and rarely gave his best and then even after giving his best he would not feel anything be it his victory or defeat.

That’s why even if Rin was generally nice to everyone when it came to someone like this she could not do it.

-I will keep it short. After what you have done this morning there are some people that want to talk with you but because you are hiding here all day they come to me to ask about you.

-isn’t it great then, you love to help other people, don’t you?

“Ah, I really can’t stand him.”

Talking with ‘this guy’ was always like this. He always would try to push anyone away the second they talk to him. What was more, he actually was quite skillful in getting on people’s nerves.

-I do, and because of that I am bringing you to them so you can answer their questions as naturally I can’t do that.

-for all I care you can just answer them with lies, it makes no difference for me.

“Why did I ever start like that, it’s not like he would do anything that would make my day easier.”

-… fine in that case you can just sit here but do know that I will definitely mention to the master that you beaten some people in the city today. I am seeing him today so you will hear about it soon from him.

-hey! You can’t lie like that! You did see the situation!

‘The guy’ finally reacted but it was only possible because Amanda mentioned his grandfather. For all she knew, only by mentioning him she would get any reaction from ‘this guy’.

-lie? Me? But didn’t you beaten up two people on everyone’s eyes. There are many witnesses but if I cared enough I could even get the evidence by asking the school for the video that was made by security camera near the gate. So, don’t say that it’s a lie, you should know that I hate liars and becoming one is not something that I am planning to do. I will just not mention the other part, simple as that but if you don’t want it to happen get down to the classroom and deal with those people yourself. You shouldn’t worry though, none of them will ever come back to you after talking with you just once, I graduate it.

With those words Amanda left the rooftop and returned to the classroom, naturally through the same way, meaning the window. Two minutes later the ‘the guy’ ended up coming to the classroom as well and thankfully Amanda was no longer bothered by anyone regardless him.

The school day continued as always and today there were seven lessons together as well as P.E so before Amanda finished school, a lot of time already passed. For some people, sitting in school for so long might be extremely boring but Amanda did like studding so it was not the case for her. Naturally there were few subjects, which she did not like, partly because she was not doing good in them but if asked in general she did enjoy the classes. The same went for breaks as it was the occasion to speak with her friends and she had many of them. In general everyone in her school knew each other and in classes one year above and one year below Amanda did knew everyone and was friend with them. Naturally with few exceptions like ‘the guy’ but then there were also ‘best friends’ with whom Amanda especially spent a lot of time like Sara. The friendship that connected people in the school was something that was built over the years of going to the same school. All school events, in school sport competitions, clubs, it was always done with the same people. It was really rare occurrence to not know the name of the person who was one year above or one year below for those who were already in high school. Some people might think that because there are less people around the chances to make a new friend would decrease. Those thoughts couldn’t be any more wrong though as it was exactly the opposite, because there was not that many people, everyone were often brought together. In schools from big cities, if only one class has a good relationship it was already great, still the occurrence where the whole school has a good relation is nearly impossible for big cities.

In general, in this city it wasn’t hard to get friendly people, at least you age. One wouldn’t actually need to do anything in particular as there were people that would approach them anyway. Amanda never had problem approaching people and she was actually one of those that would approach others as she thought of it as a beautiful thing as being with friends was the best thing in the world for her. Still, it was exactly because of that, that Amanda couldn’t stand the people like ‘the guy’ who ended up transferring to the school few years ago and despite the fact that many tried to approach him, he always pushed them away on purpose. In the first year of his transfer, just like others she did try to approach him, especially because he transferred to her class and ignoring everything else, as a class representative she should be friendly and easy to talk to with everyone. It wasn’t only because she should be like that but Amanda was always like that and that was also why others chosen her for that position, still ‘the guy’ was too much even for her. At the current moment she simply gave up on him, as anything she tried, or anything that others tried always resulted in the same thing, which was nothing. In one of their first conversations there was one time in which ‘the guy’ ended up laughing at the way this school is and that conversation was the end line for Amanda. She simply could not bear to stand someone like that, even though she knew his circumstances from her master who was the guy’s grandfather, she could no longer think of him as someone who could be her friend, rather she started to think of him as someone she hated and it was the first time that it actually happened. When Amanda once thought about it, there was actually no one else that she really hated, no one that she really didn’t want to spend time with no one that she simply didn’t want to see with her eyes. Luckily though avoiding someone was not that hard so her interaction with ‘the guy’ was kept to the minimum and in trainings she where she would be paired up with him, she could release her irritation on him. There was nothing better that forcing him to go serious and later on defeat him, although the fact that he still didn’t show any reaction to it was yet again irritating.

In the end though there was one thing that Amanda did not like about this situation and that was the fact that even in a school like this, there could be a person like ‘him’. Also the fact that ‘he’ was in her class made her sometimes think that it was partly her fault and she failed as class representative, still whenever thoughts like that appeared in her, just like in any time that she would worry about something, Amanda had a lot of people that would cheer her up and in this case tell her that it’s not her fault as it was indeed absolutely no her fault and she already did more that one could ask for and she wasn’t planning to do anything else at this point.

-okay, so I will see you in an hour Linda and once again thank you very much.

-no problem Amy, but who would have thought that you wanted to try out ‘that game’.

-no it’s not like I will play it afterwards. It was just my friend’s idea to meet up this way. It’s just one time thing, I don’t really have time to play games.

-ah, that’s more like you Amy. But anyway if you ever want to use that method to meet up with your friend again then you can always ask me to lead you my capsule, although next time I would suggest choosing a different game as this one might prove problematic in meeting someone. As long as it’s starting area it will be fine but later on it might be quite hard to meet up again, especially in scenario where your friend would keep on playing and you would not.

-well, I don’t know much about the games and if there will be the need we can always use a different game later.

-in the first place why aren’t you two using normal communication device. You don’t need a game to meet up with someone after all.

-I don’t know it was her idea. Anyway, I should be ready in an hour so until then, bye Linda.

When the last lesson ended Amanda found her one year older friend Linda with whom she had an arrangement today. Amanda was going to her house today to borrow a virtual reality capsule, namely she will be using it in her house. Amanda did not have this technology herself and both buying it and also buying the game would have been an way too much just to use it once to meet up with a friend. Even though it was the person that was like an older sister to her, there was still no reason to spend so much money, if Amanda were already to ask her parents for some extra money she definitely wouldn’t do so for some stupid game. Also Amanda could simply ask a friend for help so it was even more unreasonable. Linda had both VRC and the copy of the game ‘eye of Adventure’ so that way Amanda did not have to spend even a single dollar on it.

Still before going to Linda’s house, Amanda still had one place she had to visit, namely the ‘place of her training’ to meet up with her master. Today she was not going there for the training though but for a short conversation. Amanda was planning for it to be really short conversation as she already decided to ignore everything her master will try to say. Why would she do that, well it was because she was tired to hear the same things all over again.

The ‘training place’ was huge building with many faculties inside it but also outside it. Still today Amanda was not interested in any of those and she went straight to the reception. After finding out where her master was, she went to that place right away.

It turned out that her master was currently ‘warming up’ so he was in his private training room.

‘puk, puk’

After reaching it, Amanda knocked on the door. She did that only out of politeness as her master did not care if someone entered without knocking and actually preferred if people did it that way. Still entering like that would meant disrespect so actually no one ended up following that instruction and unusually ended up knocking.

-enter.

The voice came right away which should mean that her master was ‘ready for visitors’. Actually Amanda’s today’s visit was not arranged but it was also because her master never arranged meetings with anyone as he didn’t like to be bound by anything. Something like ‘talk with ‘person A’ on 15:00 Wednesday’ did not go well with him. For Amanda it was nothing bad as she was visiting this place three to seven times a week but for others this behavior was really troublesome, especially when her master could someday disappear and return two months later without notice.

Still after entering the room, Amanda understood that her master was not ready for visitors by any means.

-…

Amanda respected her master from the bottom of her heart but sometimes his behavior was unreasonable. Like for example now. Someone came to visit him and knocked on the door and he said ‘enter’ right away, still what he currently was doing pushups with only his little finger of the left hand. Well for him, it was nothing impressive and he could easily talk with people while doing those pushups so no problems here. Still the fact that he was currently only wearing white briefs was the problem.

-is this the getup that is appropriate for welcoming anyone, master Rain! What about my heart of innocent girl!

Rather than saying anything else, the first thing Amanda did after entering the room was Lamenting like this.

-oh, Amy that’s a surprise, I thought that today is your day off.

The old but muscular man who was doing pushups on a single finger while wearing white briefs answered like nothing. His body was nothing to be embarrassed about and despite few scars on it was a work of art. Still it was not the reason to show it to pure high school girl like Amanda.

-get dressed!

She ended up yelling at him and left the room and closed the door with a bang.

-enter.

Five minutes later Amanda once again heard the same words and entered once again. Her master was still doing the pushups but this time he did wear grey shirt and black shorts. Also it seemed like he changed the finger and now he was doing pushups on his thumb.

-so my dear Amy, is there something you wanted from me today?

-I see that you are busy master Rain, so I will get to the point. Yesterday I cleared the last condition and won against Jorgen in free style battle. With all others conditions that I meet during two last months, I am officially allowed to go for holidays mountain training right? I came here today to hear it from you officially.

-well you know me Amy, after all that I can’t say no to you anymore so yes you are allowed to go. However being allowed to go does not mean that you definitely have to go…

“Ah I don’t want to hear this again.”

Amanda thought like this hearing her master words, however she did listen him to those words once again in the end.

-as you know that training is not an official part of the course, only those that really want to improve should go there.

-well naturally I do want to improve.

-I know still one can improve in many ways and I think that this improvement is not necessary for you. You were there once already, weren’t you? That training is nothing but a shortcut which sure can bring great results but at the same time it’s risky. Also the only thing that you can learn there is the will to survive and how to strengthen you spirit. In the world of fighters those two qualities are really important and they can’t be achieved by normal means, still your goal is different from others, isn’t it? That training is not for people who simply wanted to learn self-defense or improve their health. I already made the training for you that is the most suited for your needs and you followed it for all those years and now you can rival nearly everyone who is currently training here. I can’t even count how many times by now you have beaten up my stupid grandson despite the fact that has both my blood and my talent for fighting. So Amy shouldn’t it be enough for you? There is absolutely no reason for you to risk it.

Her master gave her a long speech. It was similar to few others that he did anytime she spoke with him about this subject. Still even though it was true that at first Amanda started training only because she wanted to improve her health and it was still her main goal, by training together with others the other goal in her appeared as well and that was to not lose to anyone only because of her circumstances. To prove that even someone like her can be strong. That’s why even though her master had her best interest in mind while he tried to convince her not to go, she would still insist on going.

-I will be fine. I am much stronger than I was two years ago it won’t end up the same. Even if it does I am fine with that.

-you already know that there are some people that ended up dying on that training, are you fine with that as well?

Amanda tried to reassure her master once again but to that he told her those words, still those were words that anyone would heard if he wanted to go for that training as it was a training for those who were ready to sacrifice everything to get stronger. That training was not forced on anyone and was something that people participated out of free will although only those sure of their abilities were ready to take that risk.

-no, I am not fine. I still want to do a lot of things and I have my own dreams…

Amanda answered with the truth as naturally she wasn’t fine with that and there wasn’t time for lying

-that’s why I will not die and return safely.

-… .

To that answer her master only smiled as it was actually the correct answer to his question and if she said otherwise he might have consider not letting her go despite everything.

-I will return tomorrow as usual. Thank you for your time…

With those words Amanda left the room and closed the door but second later she returned and added.

-next time, be sure to be properly dressed when someone is entering this room!

-I will keep that in mind.

-don’t just keep that in mind but follow it!

With that comment she closed the door for the last time. With her business done here, her next destination was Linda’s house. She actually managed to get there on arranged time even though an hour after the school was somewhat more of the earliest possible time, and Amanda did mention that it will be probably sometime later, still she did not expect her talk to go that fast.

-oh, you are here already Amy. It’s a little early but don’t worry everything is ready for you. Well there weren’t many preparations on my side as nothing in particular had to be changed. I cleaned the room a little though.

-just a little?

-tehehe…

It was not the first time that Amanda was coming to this house and Linda’s room which usually was not really cleaned and ‘little cleaning’ would definitely not be enough to clean it.

-mom! Amy is here.

Suddenly Linda called out.

-oh is that so, then I will bring you the dinner in a second, wait in the dining room.

And Linda’s mom voice came back from somewhere soon after.

-hey what is this about?

-you didn’t eat anything apart from the school lunch did you? That’s why when I told my mom that you are coming she insisted on making you eat dinner with us. Anyway you know her, so you also know that you can’t say anything that would change her mind at this point.

-okay fine, I was hungry anyway. Although my mom will later on complain that I don’t eat enough.

-well you just have to explain to her that you ate in my house.

-unfortunately she won’t listen to this explanation. You know how moms are.

-I do, remember how it went when I once wanted to start a diet.

-hahaha.

In the end Amanda ended up eating together with them but only half a portion so by the time she return home she have enough space for 3/4 of her mom’s dinner. The rest however will be a hard fight. In the first place Amanda could not eat that much as her body did not accept a large portion of food. It was also not only that, the meat for example was also out of the question as after eating that one she would usually end up vomiting. Even if she didn’t, she would still feel bad afterwards. Because of that she didn’t have a custom of eating in friend’s houses like this. Still Linda’s mom was really persistent in this topic so Amanda ended up explaining why she had to decline all propositions. To that though, Linda’s mom simply started preparing food that would be eatable by Amanda so she did no longer have a valid excuse, rather it became the reason why Amanda can’t refuse since the dinner menu was changed especially because of her visit.

The dinner took extra 20 minutes although it was not a problem as it was still 40 minutes before the promised time of the meeting inside the game.

After the dinner Amanda went to Linda’s room which as suspected had some clothes lying in random places as well some other ‘objects’ laying everywhere. Still, Amanda focused on an unfamiliar furniture that stood in one of the rooms corner that wasn’t there when she last arrived in this room which was three weeks ago.

-so, in which way did you exactly clean this room?

Amanda ended up asking sarcastically.

-what are you saying, the last time this room was as clean as today was actually during the Christmas.

-so this room was never clean to begin with. Anyway can you tell me what that thing over there? Is this some kind of massage bed?

Amanda ended up asking as the only thing she could relate that thing to, was massage devices that she saw in her training place, although Linda’s one was somewhat strange.

-ah, you are so behind times Amanda, didn’t you check it out already. Naturally it’s the VR capsule.

-what do you mean by that, shouldn’t VR be some kind of goggles?

-haha, you are really behind times. Nowadays no one uses those anymore. Anyway this is the newest model from space electronics and it’s the best VR on the market right now. I bought it two weeks ago and replaced the old one.

-you mean that the closet that stood there before was also VR capsule?

-yes it was. I did tell you that didn’t I?

-you did but I thought that it was simply a place where you store your VR goggles. Well anyway how do you control that thing? Where is the joystick?

-ah, I guess we won’t go anywhere before I explain some things to you. Anyway Amy listen…

In the next 20 minutes, Linda went over the most basic things concerning VR capsule as well as game that Amanda was going to use to meet up with her friend. While listening to it Amanda thought that her friend started to talk about some SF book, because she could swear that she did once read something similar. Still because she did read it, she could somewhat image how it will work, at least based on Linda’s description as Amanda was sure that it was simply Linda getting overexcited over her new gaming machine and that she overstated practically everything there.

-and I guess that the last thing that you need to remember is that by crossing your fingers in game, you will be able to summon up the menu which works somewhat like a touch screen. At the bottom of that menu there is a log out button so use it when you finish. If you forget about it then ask your friend or any other player for help. In the worst case scenario I will disconnect you directly from here so if you spent too much time in-game I will assume that you don’t know what to log out.

-well I should be okay. By the way, you mentioned something about character creation but I do want to look the same way as I do in real as otherwise I won’t be able to find my friend. Although is there a chance to make myself taller?

Amanda ended up asking as even though it was going to be only for maximum an hour, she would like to see how the world would look like from few inches higher than usual. Not to mention that since practically always, Amanda had ‘slight’ complex over her height, especially when there was a time that someone mistook her for sixth grade student and even one year didn’t pass since then.

-well, this game doesn’t give you much choice although if you really want to try to be taller then chose the real life look and but after you answer all question think that you want to be taller.

-but if I chose the real life look won’t I simply be the same?

-well the hypothesis of controlling the character creation like that is just something that I stumbled upon while looking through the internet although it did not work for me. Still the thesis did not limit itself to random option only so if you image yourself being taller then there are chances like this. Focus on one word like tall, big or long, that’s what I suggest as the perfect image of yourself isn’t that easy to keep if you didn’t practice it before. Still if you want you can try it on random option but that might backfire on you. You just want to meet with your friend right? If your look’s change it might be problematic, if that will be the case though I suggest logging out and calling your friend.

-well my friend chosen the same look and she already went through character creation so I should find her somehow. Anyway one last time, I am supposed to enter this coffin, close my eyes and press one button and it will work right?

-don’t call it coffin, but yes you got it all right. Get started when you are ready. I will stay in the room so don’t worry about this side.

“Well let’s see how much truth there is in Linda’s story.”

Amanda entered the capsule although before turning it on, she send one SMS to her friend as she was to let her know the moment she will be entering. With this last thing done, Amanda made her first full immersion into the world of ‘eye of Adventure’.

After closing her eyes and then opening them again, Amanda found herself flying in the sky, although to her the first thought that appeared in her mind was falling down without a parachute.

-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!...

Naturally given the circumstances, even though she did not know how did it happen right now, she was right in the sky and underneath her, thousands meters below there was the ground to which as she suspected, she will crush into soon after.

-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!...

[Welcome to the eye of adventure]

Suddenly, while Amanda was still in the state of panic and was screaming as loud as she could a big sign appeared a meter away from her face in the sky and those words were written on it. Still right now Amanda was not in the state in which she could focus on reading it. Still after the first message others appeared as well, although those weren’t on a big sign anymore.

[New player detected]

[Initialization of beginner stage]

[Teleporting now]

After those three messages the world before Amanda once again changed in the blink of the eye. Second before she was ‘falling to her death’ as she thought but now she was in some small office room and she was sitting in some chair although she did not remember sitting down.

“Ah, I see, I am dreaming right now. There is no other way to explain this phantom. Wow, is this the liquid dream that I heard about so much?”

Currently Amanda still did not know what was really happening. She assumed though that because everything around her was completely real but the strange things that she experienced just now were definitely not real, meaning it could only be the dream. Then the liquid dream was the dream in which the person who was dreaming was aware that he was dreaming, meaning the current Amanda’s situation well at least that was her only explanation.

“Hmm, I shouldn’t think too much now as otherwise it will end my dream.”

Amanda did have some knowledge about liquid dreams and because she wanted to preserve this dream she decided to follow this old instruction that she had at the back of her head.

“Now then, let’s see what this dream will be about.”

Amanda was still sitting in the chair from which as it turned out she could not move from. Still because it was a dream she did not panic again but rather looked around. The room did look like an old office room and within it the brown color dominated. Before long Amanda located a large old fashioned television that was right before her. It picked her interest because that television turned on, on its own and some program started. On the screen a figure of old man with gray hair and gray beard appeared. He was also wearing brown suit so if he were to enter this office room, he would fit perfectly. After seeing him Amanda had a feeling that she did saw him somewhere before but she could not recall his name, still that was not needed as the man began his speech right away and that speech started with an introduction.

-hello there, my name is Kristopher Horvitz. You may already know me as a genius who created VR and this game ‘eye of Adventure’…

“Aaa…”

After hearing the first sentence after the introduction Amanda’s mind connected everything together right away.

“Linda, you should have told me it beforehand! Ah, it’s a good thing that no one saw that.”

Well, Amanda didn’t have anything to be embarrassed about as someone who didn’t play games that much and was for the first time diving into the VR without general knowledge of how it worked was doomed to have reactions like she did. Also EOA was an evil game so the moment the unprepared person tries to play it, EOA will right away scare them to death just for a good start. After all the game could simply began in this office and give a heavy explanation for a newcomer like Amanda but this game was simply evil.

Amanda continued to watch the program with the Christopher Horvitz at the screen, whose name she also now recalled and knew who he was.

-you may also know me as person who likes to sleep and slack off at work. Well, find me a person who says that he doesn’t like to slack off at work and sleep. What you found him? Sorry to disappoint you but he is lying. Right now, you must probably be thinking, where is the ‘skip button’ option? Hahaha, you don’t have to rush yourself, it won’t take long. You may think that I just wasted a minute of your life but that’s not true it was only 12 seconds. Strange, isn’t it?

“Why 12 seconds? But anyway Linda said that it’s better to not interrupt and simply wait.”

-anyway the reason you are watching this video is that you just for the first time ‘full immersed’ yourself into EOA. If you are not familiar with the term, it is from “eye of Adventure” the name of this very game, and no, the thing that letter “e” is in small letter is not a mistake. But EOA is all in caps lock yeee! You also may think that this is just some old video that is released because I want to be more famous…

“I don’t really care, I simply want to meet up with my friend, that’s all.”

-all my money and my fame, it doesn’t matter to me, the thing that I always wanted didn’t exist. I couldn’t find it. I couldn’t buy it, and that’s why I decided to create it. This world, this world of swords, might and magic. The world of adventure. The world which I always seen in my dreams, but I couldn’t see it with my eyes and yet I knew that it was waiting all this time to be discovered.

“Well, reaching having a dream is a great thing so I can understand him. I guess his dream was something like entering the book as books are the true worlds of adventure.”

-many people share my dream and I am happy that I could help them fulfill it, well that’s what I was saying on TV and interviews, but in truth the most important thing was that I could fulfill my own dream. Some says that you should find a meaning in life and do something so the world becomes a better place, but I could not do this, my wish was always high in the skies, but I took my childhood dream and make it alive, that is the effect of all my creations, everything was leading to this. Right now, I plan to spend the rest of my time to live in this new world that was my dream for so long, hope that you will like it as well…

“Spending the rest of your life in this game is a little too big isn’t it? I mean I do understand people who like playing games as I have many friends who do so but this sounds like addiction. Still, I guess if he is retired and doesn’t have anything to do then maybe he can spend some time on this game. But only some time!”

-now then, to end my speech I just wanted to add. Although you may think that soon you will become best player in this world I will only say this…

“Hmm?”

-good luck with that, but I will pown you, muahahahahaha. Evil laugh is the best way to end this, oh yea you won’t know that it’s me but I will kill you so many times that you will come to hate this world, muahahahahaha.

The clip on the old fashioned TV ended and although Amanda was not really focused on hearing it the last sentence somehow irritated her.

“Is he some psycho? Still, now I understand why this game start like it did. Well it doesn’t matter to me if the person who made this game was crazy old man as I won’t be playing it anyway.”

[Initialization of character creation process]

[Teleporting now]

Amanda was once again teleported to yet other room. This time it was a simple white room with no chair to sit on so this time she was standing although she still could not move which was quite unnatural to her. There was once again a big screen floating in the air of this room.

[Welcome to the character creation process. Please enjoy our highly developed character creation system. The number of choices that you can make is 2 or 3 depending on your first choice, congratulations! After you finish, there is a small quiz awaiting you. Please answer every question carefully and truly.]

The letters appeared on the screen but at the same time they were voiced out by an artificial sounding voice.

“Now that’s all there was to it.”

[Gender detected: Female]

[Please choose one of the races. Note that there are 3 races unlocked, Human, Dwarf, Elf. Number of still locked races right now is 18, in next year 7 more races will be available to unlock, further development is still unknown.]

-how do I choose race?

Amanda ended up asking.

[The character creation process is completely controlled by voice. To choose anything, say it out loudly.]

-then I select Human race.

[Are you sure that you want to choose that race?]

-yes.

“Well I need to get to the same city as Mary so I don’t really have choice. Not that I really care as I won’t be playing this game, although I wonder if I chose the elf I would get higher more easily? In books elves are rarely short, right? On the other hand if I were to choose dwarf then… nothing would change!”

The height complex hit Amanda once again although she would be slightly higher than an average dwarf female.

[Many players chose humans as their race, it is fairly common, they think standard will be the best, well it is a safe choice, but I have to say that those who chose human are… boring, they don’t have the vision.]

“I just want to meet a friend that’s all. Are all those things really necessary?”

[The looks in your life are very important. The same goes for EOA, so you want to create the most awesome looking avatar ever. Know this, that as a human you have one additional option in character creation making it one option available.]

“Right now is the time that Linda mentioned.”

[Do you want to choose your real life look as a look in EOA?]

-can I change my real look just slightly?

[Is the term ‘real life look’ not understandable to you?]

Amanda simply wanted to ask a question but the message she received was really offending.

“Well, Linda said that there is that trick and it works on real look as well so I will try it.”

-fine, in that case real look please.

[Those that didn’t choose their real look are surely ugly, but you do not belong to that category and believe in your own beauty. However at the same time you are one of those conservatizes that are afraid of changes.]

-I really just want to meet my friend so can you hurry up?

Even though usually Amanda could hide her displeasure and annoyance and she would not voice the bad thoughts this time she ended up being ignited by the messages of the system to the point where she spoke her mind.

[Many people have many different purposes in entering this world but to favorite any of them would be unfair so everyone must follow the same process.]

[Are you ready to proceed?]

-how long will it still take?

[The time process is unknown as it depends on each individual person… Although if you stop asking annoying questions and move on you will finish faster than without asking those questions which won’t be answered anyway. You are at fault here!]

“Ah, now I understand what Linda meant by not interrupting and not asking questions. Still the only one that is annoying here is you.”

[Again, are you ready to proceed?]

-yes!

Amanda didn’t plan to prolong it any longer and would hurry up with the process as her friend was probably waiting for her. They arranged their meeting time ‘ten minutes’ after Amanda sends her the message but right now Amanda was sure that she was already late.

[Your look will be set according to the scan of your body. You may still experience small differences though that will help you immerse in the game. Now please choose your nickname.]

-Rin.

Amanda didn’t thought about it much as even though she did not play games that much having a nickname to use on many websites was obvious. As for her nickname, it was first part of her last name so it was quite obvious from where it came from although it wasn’t Amanda who thought it up at first but rather her friend Mary and before starting this game, Rin decided to use it to make her friend happy.

[Name of new adventurer ‘Rin”. The name is incredibly short to the point where it sounds like three random letters put up together. Congratulation on your creativity!]

“How dare they insult Mary’s idea! No, no calm down, it should be nearly over.”

[Now before you enter the new world answer following questions.

Note that they are important and weren’t made so that character creation was longer, they may have impact on the start of game so answer them truly. If you try to lie you will be struck by lightning. Muahahahahaha.]

“I am in the game anyway so nothing will happen to me, what’s the point of making a treat like that.”

[First question: how did you come up with your nickname?]

-my friend gave me the idea when I was trying to create a nickname.

[Congratulation you have answered truly without a lie, although you left out some facts so please don’t do that in later question. Question two: what is your experience in VR, VRMMO or MMO genre in general?]

-emm… I understand that VR states for virtual reality but what is MMO?

Amanda wanted to answer truly but to do that she needed to understand the question so she asked and the moment she did that.

[Congratulation no more questions are needed for you.]

“Hmm… oh well if this is the end then I don’t want to ask any more questions.

[Conclusion]

[You are someone who is probably here by mistake or because your friend asked you for it although you yourself are not interested in this world…]

“Oh, they managed to arrive at something like this… well I did say that I am here to meet up with Mary so I guess the other questions were really not needed.”

[Congratulation nothing is locked for you, you are free to take up any route that destiny has in offer for you. Seek it out.]

“The only person that I will be seeking out is Mary so no, thank you.”

[With this character creation is over, no more programed interaction like that will happen again, also there won’t be any evil laughs or poor jokes of creator so rest assured. Once again welcome to the eye of Adventure]

“Right, now is the time for that change!… ah what was it again… a word, a word… ah yes, it was… long, long, long, long, long.”

[The game starting in 5…4…3…2…1…]

While the countdown was slowly reaching zero, Amanda’s focus was on a single word ‘long’ and she repeated it in her mind. Then when the countdown did reach zero, the light flashed before her eyes and this time, Amanda really felt that she had fallen unconscious.

Rin opened her eyes for the first time and once again unfamiliar scenery appeared before her. She was standing on some plaza and there were people around her but strangely enough everyone was wearing the exact same designed clothes. The only difference in those clothes was the color. Then around her was a city, although its buildings were surprisingly small and there were no skyscrapers in sight. The biggest building in height was some kind of church with a strange cross but even that cross wasn’t close to skyscrapers that were built in the current times. Also when Rin looked more closely on the buildings they turned out to be in quite old design, old to the point in which one could say medieval.

“Ah, so this is true virtual reality. Linda was not lying.”

Before coming her, Rin was skeptical about what her friend told her about playing this game but it turned out that she was telling the truth.

“Everything really looks realistic. Still I can easily distinguish this place from real world just by the feeling alone. I can’t say in which aspect exactly but my body feels completely different than normal.”

Even though everything around her was real looking and life=like, Rin could not full immerse herself into it and think of it as real world. It was partly because of an unfamiliar to her scenery as there were no cities like that where she lived. Also because at first she thought of her current situation as a dream, she now always had at the back of her head that this is not real world but a game. Then lastly, her body felt somehow different than normal. Ignoring the unusual weight on her head, her body was not reacting normally and just by standing Rin somehow felt the difference. But then Rin made her first step and an incredible feeling entered her brain.

“Hey! What is this feeling!?”

Without knowing what was happening, Rin made yet another step.

“No, really what is this!?

This feeling did not go away and then Rin made another step and another and another and in the end she broke into the run and she continued to do so for some time.

“Hahaha, so that’s why people are so excited about this game. Everyone would want to move around in a body like this.”

Rin was running around without any destination but just that run brought her a lot of pleasure. That was because her body felt incredibly light, ‘lighter than ever’ but at the same time it was incredibly strong, ‘stronger than ever’. In the end, Rin just simply felt good, ‘better than ever’. In her run she soon reached her maximum speed which she usually could not pass but this time she felt if she just tried harder she will be able to do so. She felt that with this body she could do so much more than normal.

“Hahaha, if my real body was like this, I would be able to beat even Radin and Seker.”

Rin thought to herself. Her thoughts were concerning the fighting sparing that she had in her fighting training. In those nearly everyone was overwhelming her in strength as Rin’s body even though she was training for five years was on average person level. Although being on average person level was actually her success, still naturally the others who were training were much stronger. To defeat them, Rin relied on techniques that used opponent’s strength or didn’t need that much strength to begin with. Rin made it her own style and with it she could rival many other Master’s students. Radin and Seker, were one of the oldest current students and both of them already had many medals on their account still right now Rin thought that she could defeat them if she could stand against them with the current feeling she had.

At some point, Rin stopped only running but she also started to jump upwards. She wanted to test how far she can jump up with her current body. With just her first jump she reached her record but after it she immediately felt that she can jump higher and the second jump ended up at the height of two meters.

“Hahaha, this is so incredible.”

Rin thought when she was in the sky. Still because she made this jump with fast speed at the same time when she was in the air her body somehow turned.

-aaa!

‘boom’

She ended up falling on her legs but in a position where she right away fall on the back right after. Still while normally one would worry about what happened, Rin’s mind was completely different.

“Hahaha, it did not hurt at all.”

Because of EOA’s pain reduce system even something like that didn’t hurt Rin that much.

But then, right after the fall Rin’s face ended up being covered by ‘something’ right away.

“Hair?”

Naturally Rin touched it right away but it turned out that what fall on her was someone’s hair. Hair that was incredibly long to the point where it not only covered her face but also large part of the body. Rin moved that hair right away and when she did she could not believe what happened. She then right away stood up and the hair ended up moving with her.

“What, it’s my hairs!!!!???”

Rin grabbed it before her eyes and indeed it was the same chestnut dark red color of her hair.

“Why are they so long!?”

She could not believe it as after all not that long ago her hair was of the same length as always. Ever since starting the training, Rin never grew her hair long because it was simply getting in a way. Many people recommended her to grow them a little longer saying it’s a waste but for Rin there were more important things. Still right now her hair ended up being longer than even those of her mom who had them quite long. Rin’s current hair was simply unreasonably long and when she stood up and looked down they were easily reaching her thighs, the longest one reached even her knees.

Rin started to pull those hairs as if she tried to get rid of a wig that someone put on her but when she did she felt that those were indeed her real hair. They were sticking to her hair that strong that it was impossible for it to be otherwise.

“So that’s what that weight coming from.”

In comparison to her whole body that felt great right now, Rin felt some unfamiliar weight on her head. Because there were so many changes in her body in general, she thought that it was nothing special and before falling she did not realize that her hair was so long, as before it was simply floating in the air as she ran with incredible speed.

“Ah what I am supposed to do with them now?”

Rin started thinking how to take care of the problem that appeared but it turned out that she won’t have any more time for that.

-AMY!!!!

“Huh?”

Rin heard someone’s calling ‘her name’ and turned around and there she saw a girl with long brown curly hair, although her hair was nowhere long as current’s Rin ones. Still, Rin right away recognized the person that was running towards her and she also started to run to her right away as well.

-MARY!

She also shouted her friend’s ‘name’ and second later then ended up in the hug. That was how they also welcomed themselves after a long paring which currently was about three months long.

Mary was Rin’s cousin from father’s side. Still, Rin did not think of her as anyone other as an older sister and she also often looked up to her as a younger sibling would normally do. Mary was three years older than her but they never had any problems with communication, not that any of them had any problems with communications with anyone either. Currently Mary was a college student and she was living on her own but Rin was planning to move to her right after she finishes high school which would be one year from now. Naturally a decision like that was big and for Rin it would mean leaving her parent’s house and the city in which she always lived in. She would also be unable to continue to train under her master’s eye. Still, it was nothing unusual to move out for the period of collage and many people were doing so. Also Rin would eventually return to her city anyway and be with her parents once again. On the other hand the time in which she could live with Mary was really limited so even though decision was not easy, it was made with best end outcome.

-ah, Amy I already thought that you had some problems with logging in.

‘Mary’ ended up commenting after their five minutes long hug ended.

-well, I did but as you can see now I am here now.

-yes you are. Anyway there are so many things that we have to catch up on so let’s not waste any time. I already planned everything so just leave everything to me.

-well, we don’t need to do anything special… still Mary can I ask you something?

-yes?

-what are you doing with my hair?

Currently Yume was holding Rin’s long hair and it also seemed like she started making braids with them.

-ah nothing, I just thought it will look way better this way. You know Amy, growing them long is not enough you also have to take care of them. Still I am really surprised that you managed to grow them this long in only few months. Did you use some kind of hair growing gel, if so it did incredible thing.

-no it’s… .

-anyway, now that you grew them this long don’t you even think of cutting them short. Remember I always told you that you will be much cutter this way ah I want to hug you again.

Before Rin had a chance to explain ‘Mary’ once again ended up hugging her. This time however she did it as if Rin were a stuffed toy or a doll. Afterwards Mary started touching her around the head but also in other parts of Rin’s body.

-Mary stop!

-but I didn’t get my daily dose of Amy for so long.

-Mary!

-just a little…

As always Mary didn’t listened to Rin’s request and in few moments, Rin’s resistance fell down as well as no matter what she did, it would have been futile, or rather if she tried to get away for real she would at the same time have to hurt her friends and even if it would have been only a little, Rin would never have done so. Luckily this time Mary didn’t go over the board, probably because today she was playing around with Rin’s head too much.

-ah your hair is really beautiful Amy.

-just so you know, they ended up like this only in this game, I didn’t grew them long. I would tell you if I did.

-what!?...

‘Mary’ shouted with clear disappointment.

-well I knew it was somehow strange that they grew this long, still Amy, now we have the proof, you look much more beautiful with your hair being long so from today’s onward the only thing that barber can cut from you is the hair tips!

-no I can’t have them grow long, they will… .

-hair tips Amy! No discussion! I will be visiting you in two months, if by that time you won’t look like you do here, I will get angry.

-but it’s impossible to grew them this long in two months.

Rin answered but this answer was a mistake.

-fine in that case we go on compromise. You have to grow them this long without ever shorting them before you reach this length. Now it won’t be impossible so don’t complain any longer.

-but… .

-it’s my duty to lead you to the right path so you can stun with your beauty people in the future.

-but… .

-ah, it’s no use to discuss what we already decided on right Amy, so rather than that, let’s move on to other topics.

“We never decided on anything.”

Still Amy couldn’t say anything else anymore as it would have no effect. Her friend was always like this, when she decided on something there was no way convincing her anymore. Naturally Rin could simply ignore that decision, still she would not do that as if she really did grew her hair, Mary have be happy later on when she sees her next time.

“Well I guess tying them up in training should somehow work. Although, I won’t grow them this long.”

There was also the fact that Rin already though about growing her hair a little longer for some time now anyway. She hoped that with longer hair no one would mistake her for a six grade kid anymore, although what hair length had to do with it is completely different matter. Still with short hair there were limits on how she could position her hair, while if they were longer, she could put them in some mature way. That way she would look like “little girl who thinks that she is an adult”. Yes, Rin had complex with her height which despite her tried did not change even in this world.

In the end Rin and Yume which was the name of her friend in this world, ended up going to some restaurant. Yume was already playing this game for 28 days. She also said that she already did anything she could think of. Then again, before she started to say what she was doing in details in this game, Rin stopped her as she simply was completely not interested in it. In comparison she wanted to talk about many things concerning the real world. Sure those matters also weren’t all that important but by speaking about it with Yume, they become important topics right away.

-I was looking for a good place to celebrate your arrival and with incredible luck I found it.

Yume started talking as they walked through the streets of this strange city whose name Rin did not know.

-what do you mean by arrival? It’s not like I going to start playing this game with you.

-I know, I know, you don’t have time for that. Also I am not sure if I going to play it later on as it is quite hard but anyway, I just said arrival because if fitted the moment. So back to the topic, the place that I found is some new open restaurant which actually today has its opening and there is a huge promotion namely you pay once and eat as much as you want.

-there is no need for something like that though. Mary you know that I can barely fit one normal sized dinner also I already eaten today before starting this game so there is really no need for something like that.

-hmm… but Amy we are in the game, right?

-well obviously.

-so, it’s not like I am huge expert either but I learned that eating in this game is not exactly the same as in real world. Well the way you eat is the same naturally but here you are not limited by any means on how much can you eat. Even someone like you can eat day and night and still ask for more.

-I see but are you sure that something like that is healthy?

-well, nothing will happen to your real body at least, we are in game after all. Anyway Amy, you might have probably wondered why I chose this game as our meeting platform rather than some communicator that was specifically made for ‘VR calls’?

-well I did, especially when there were so many troublesome steps that I had to go through. Still I think I know why you did that though.

-oh you already figured it out?

-of course I did. I mean all it took me to realize was a single step in this game.

-emm… step?

Yume not exactly understood what Rin wanted to say and that was because what she thought about and what Rin was talking about were two different things.

-yes a single step. I mean the bodies that we are given in this game are incredible. I never felt as good as today and I think I could even jump onto that two-storey building. I think that I could easily destroy a wall right now with a single punch or kick, anyway Mary, I am really grateful for the opportunity to feel like that.

Rin was still excited about the feeling her body had and she shared this excitement with Yume to which Yume only answered awkwardly.

-you welcome… I guess?...

That was because she did not know what Rin was talking about.

-still Amy what are you talking about? I didn’t felt any change in my body compared to the real one. Sure I took real look but here I feel exact the same.

-hmm…? But it is obviously not the same. It is completely different.

-no, it is, I don’t remember hearing anyone else saying anything similar like you and I already talked with many people who are playing this game. Both in real and here on the streets. Even those with random look still don’t feel that much different.

Yume explained.

-but Mary just look at this…

Because Yume was giving her solid explanation Rin decided to showcase the true evidence. She made a step away from Yume and second later she made a fast step back to her again and after that step she made a jump. It was a 360 degree flip over Yume’s head during which Rin’s hair ended up falling on her for a second but in the end Rin landed at the other side of her.

-see, for a note I can say for sure that without a good warm up and at least five meters of distance to speed up. I wouldn’t be able to do something like this normally.

-wow! That was incredible Amy! But after this I think I understand what happened. I guess this game created your body as if your disease did not exist so I think this is the way you your body would be if it weren’t for that cursed thing.

-I see so it’s like this…

Normally people would try to avoid that topic but when it came to Rin and Yume they could speak about everything freely without any reserve.

“Well, I am already long pass asking question, why it happened to me?”

Rin was not down by what Yume said either. She was living with ‘her situation’ for her whole life and she was completely used to it.

-so what is that other reason that you chose this game as a meeting place?

Rin returned to the topic and got rid of the bad atmosphere right away.

-well, as I was mentioning already, we are meeting here so you can eat anything you want without worrying about anything. I will order for you a piece of meat that will be twice as large as you so eat it without concern. I already tested it and it’s the real thing, or rather it’s better than most of what you can find normally with your budget.

-okay! If it’s like this then, I will take on that challenge.

Rin couldn’t say that she wasn’t excited on the thought of eating meat especially when normally she couldn’t eat more than few bites of it.

Rin and Yume soon reached the place. It was a restaurant located in two-storied building. The walls on the partner partly did not exist and only wooden pillars were supporting the weight of second floor.

The whole first floor was dedicated to the restaurant. Naturally there were many tables around. There were also few doors that would probably lead to kitchen and other rooms. There also was a staircase to the second floor behind the main desk.

Following Yume, Rin reached one of the tables that were far inside the restaurant. There were many tables occupied with clients as after all today was special discount.

Few minutes after sitting down a waiter came to take the order.

-so for me keep it simple but for her, tell the chief to make the best meat meal ever that will be both gigantic and delicious as if it is made for someone who never eaten meat in their life.

Yume ended up ordering like this.

-I understand although are you sure that you want a gigantic one. I must tell you that the main chief and the owner of this restaurant just two weeks ago was still a travelling cook. For him the word ‘gigantic meal’ means something that won’t fit on this table.

The waiter answered although Rin could not image a food that could not fit on three meters in diameter round table.

-I see that’s really might have been a little bit too much…

Yume answered to the waiter.

“Well, Mary was joking earlier after all, there is no way that I can eat that much.”

-in that case tell him that it should be a meal of a human size.

“Aaa…”

Well, at least it was not twice her size.

-I understand, please enjoy the drinks while you wait.

The waiter ended up walking away with an awkward face but it wasn’t his place to comment on anything.

“Well, it’s not like I really have to eat everything.”

There was after all an option of leaving the food on the plate although it wasn’t that easy to do it, especially when her ‘older sister’ was treating her.

Rin and Yume enjoyed the conversation while waiting for the food that arrived around 15 minutes later. The person that brought though was not the waiter from before but rather some large muscular man in a cook outfit with the characteristic white cook hat and white apron. That change was made probably because the waiter would not be able to stand the weight of the meal. What man brought was one incredibly large roasted pig with many vegetables around it.

-hey Rookie! Are you sure that it was this table!?...

The man put the roasted pig on the table and then looked at two ‘hungry’ customers that ordered it. Still after realizing that it were two slim girls he ended up shouting probably to his waiter.

-hey are you listening!...

Still the man didn’t get the answer right away and it didn’t seem like he was patient enough to wait for it any longer so rather than waiting he decided to ask.

-greetings and welcome to my new founded restaurant. My name is Marco the owner and the main chief here. I have question, were you two young ladies ordering meat meal in human-like size?

-yes, we were.

Yume answered right away.

-is that so? Truth to be told, I can’t image you two eating all of this on your own.

-no, it will only be her eating it alone, I already ordered something else.

“Mary!”

Rin did not believe what her friend just said but she didn’t say anything else when the man looked at her.

-hooo… do you like to eat meat this much little girl?

He said to her. Rin didn’t like being called little girl but she wouldn’t voice it out or do anything to the ones that said that, after all there was no reason to blame people for things that they say, especially when those things were the truth. Also if she said anything about being called small, it would signal that she had a complex about her height, which she did have although she didn’t want others to know about it. That’s why she ignored that comment completely.

-actually, normally I am not allowed to eat meat so I can’t even say if I like it or not.

Instead she answered truly.

-it’s no wonder you have so little meat on yourself then. Tell you what. If you don’t eat meat you won’t grow either.

-… .

-but I think you do know have so are there some other circumstances.

Suddenly the conversation went in this direction and the chief asked this question which was actually very observant of him.

-you may say that.

-I see, still today is different right and you came to my restaurant to eat all this… I see, I see. Well, I don’t know what is happening on your side but if you are okay to eat meat here right now, eat away as much as you can. Well for someone of your kind it won’t help you grow but at least you will get to know the taste. I hope that one day you will be able to eat something like this in your world as well.

“Hmm… even if it’s a game people are still people. I am surprised that he could understand this much in such short amount of time.”

-thank you, for the good words.

-it’s only natural to be good to your customers… anyway I have to get going now as there is still much left to do. Enjoy your meal and be sure that you don’t leave anything on the plate.

With those words the man left back to the kitchen. Today was the restaurant’s grand opening so he probably didn’t have much time to chat with the guests.

-hey Mary, that was quite a nice person don’t you think?

-well I wouldn’t have thought so after first seeing how he looks but you are right. Still, say Amy, do you think that he was some other person that is playing this game or a character that exist only in this game?

-well of course it was a normal person, right? Anyway it’s better if I start eating right away so let’s skip obvious questions like this. Tell me how it’s been lately Mary?

Rin asked and started eating the meal while listening to Yume’s stories. After all even though the meal was incredibly good and being able to eat so much was something that Rin never even thought about before, in the end it was the conversation with Yume that was the most important activity for Rin and the sole reason that she decided to log in into this game.

In the end they ended up talking for 6 hours. Naturally at some point Rin said that she already has to go because her parents will worry about her if she were to come back so late at night. She logged in to the game at around 16:00 at her friend’s house so she couldn’t stay for more than three hours max. Still at that time Yume explained her that the time flows differently in the game and that they still have a lot of time. Also originally Rin was going to stay there for about two hours so thanks to the extended time in the game there were still 3 hours left before settled time.

-so Amy, we still have some time left, would you like to try something in this game before leaving?

Currently Rin and Yume were walking the streets while talking and they were doing so for about 30 minutes already as it would be a shame to spend all the time in some restaurant when there were so many unique things to see. At some point Yume asked this question though.

-hmm, I don’t really know what one can do in the game though. Still, in games like this one, people should be fighting something right? After all, why else would the game provide such strong body for the people who come here?

-well, you got it right although as I already mentioned usually people don’t feel any change in their bodies.

-I see. In this case Mary, even though it is a fake strength I would like to play around with it a little if we have the time.

-okay but unfortunately in this game it is hard to find anything to fight in the first month of play.

-why is that?

-well it’s because… ah, you don’t really need to know anyway right? Still even if it’s hard to find anything to fight, there is still one place in which players can fight against each other so I will take you there, it’s actually is not that far from where we are right now.

Yume ended up leading her towards the northern part of the city where they reached arena-like building. Before that building there were many people gathered but Rin did not pay them mind and simply followed Yume who leaded her all the way towards a building that was next to the arena. It seemed like that building served as a training ground and before that building a man of an age that lead his hair to color gray stood who seemed like this place trainer.

-oho, that’s unusual for two such young ladies to visit a wrecked place like this.

Upon their arrival the man welcomed them like this.

-excuse me. Is this the place in which people can fight?

Yume ended up asking him right away.

-fight? Oh, no, no, I am sorry but I can’t allow you to fight here, you would have to be trained first but from what I see in you, you no longer have enough time for that training, also your path is already chosen so you can’t step back from it anymore.

The man answered in strange manner.

-well it’s not like I would be one to be fighting though. I was asking on her behave.

Yume answered and pointed towards Rin.

-I see, I see. Well with here it’s a completely different matter. Tell me girl, how long have you been studying the sword?

“Oh, it’s seems that he does know a little bit about fighting.”

After hearing a question like that Rin immediately recognized the man as someone who had vast experience in fighting. That was because only someone like that could tell someone’s strength just by looking. Especially in Rin’s case, someone needed to be extremely experienced to not get deceived by her look. Because of that anytime someone would recognize her potential, she would right away respect that person.

-well I have been studying fighting arts for more than five years but when it comes to sword in particular then it should be slightly more than three.

Rin answered without hiding anything. It was the truth as indeed her training in the first few years mainly involved physical exercises rather than any fighting techniques to begin with. In the first place those physical exercises were the main reason that Rin sign up for that training.

-I see, well I guess that it will be a disappointment for you to fight here then. Unfortunately the people that are fighting here are mainly novices. You probably won’t find here anyone worth your time.

-I see.

“I guess it makes sense as the people who are playing this game are people like Linda or Mary. They didn’t have an occasion to learn anything and I don’t know how much the game system affects the fighting but fighting is always about fighting.”

-still I would suggest you to take part in tournament at least once to showcase what you can do. Also, I love to watch the people who are skilled and I often reward them for letting me see them fight.

[ You have been asked to do a job.

“Arena’s Black Horse”

Instructor in training center proposed that you should take part in tournament because he believes that you capable of incredible things. You have revealed to him that you are experienced in fighting and now he wants to see what you really can do. He naturally expects you to win, so if you won’t manage to do it, his high opinion of you will decrease.

Minimum: Not available.

Reward: Instructor’s promised unknown reward.

]

“Hmm, even though it will probably be easy, I still want to try fighting in this body.”

-well, I don’t really need any reward but if I can showcase my master’s techniques to some audience then I will gladly do so…

[You have accepted the job.]

-in the end though, I would prefer to fight someone who can actually fight so how about you being my opponent?

Even though Rin did agree to take part in the tournament, in the end the only thing she wanted to do was to fight someone good and currently the only one that could be called good at fighting was the fighting instructor before her.

-hohoho, it’s rare for someone to challenge me. Hmm… I would gladly accept your challenge but sadly I can’t do so anymore, I can no longer return to the world of fighting.

-why is that so? You still look able to me.

-I did not leave that world because of a choice. Sure I have my years but it’s not because of that, that I no longer fight. The tournament will be starting soon so I can’t take much of your time right now, but to make my story short, after a certain battle in which I should die, my opponent spared my life. He did so because he was one of my friends despite the fact that we stood on the opposite sides. At that time he told me that he was ordered to take life of the man known as ‘lighting speed’, so as long as that man stops existing his task will be completed. Naturally I honored that agreement so I abandoned my title and the world of fighting and afterwards I returned to my family and my city. Currently I am the fighting instructor as I still need to earn some coins after all but unless someone becomes my student, I have no right to cross blades with anyone. Even against my students it can only be for the sake of training.

-I see, sorry for asking then.

Rin ended up apologizing as the instructor probably didn’t consider those memories pleasant so recalling them could be painful for him.

-ah, don’t be, this fate is what everyone expect at some point if they follow the way of the sword. Also in my case I was still able to return alive to my wife and kids. It’s rather that the thought of abandoning them was what was horrifying. In the end you could say that I was lucky that it was my friend who was my last opponent.

“The fact that he still calls him his friend tells me that he really have no regrets.”

In the end people would always try to accept their fate and live on with it. For the instructor, he was probably telling the story about the events that happened many years ago so he probably already had a lot of time to accept what happened.

-well being able to live with your family and friends is the most important thing in the world after all.

Rin commented on his story.

-that’s what I think so as well. I see that you already discovered the secret of life. I am glad that I was able to meet a youth like you as in the current times people forget about the most important things. Anyway come with me and I will show you where you sing up for the tournament, and be sure to come back to me once you finish.

And so Rin took part in that in-game tournament. Unfortunately though it went according to what the instructor said. The people that took part in the tournament didn’t present any difficulty to Rin. ‘Fighting’ against them reminded Rin of training with new recruits that wanted would sign up for her master’s training. The training place that she was going to so often wasn’t only restricted to sport champions but normal people would sometimes come there as well. Naturally their training would be something completely different and it would usually be something like one lesson a week. For those people it was more of a hobby and for the institution it was a way to earn some extra money. Also it would be quite obvious but it wasn’t Rin’s master who was directing the training of those people but other staff members to which Rin actually belonged as well. To be precise, for her it was more of a part time job and her main occupation was the groups with the children of the age under 10. That was simply because Rin was definitely much more suitable to train children rather than some muscular mans that would only scare them away. Rin did enjoy playing the role of the teacher for them and it did make her sure that her dream of becoming an actual teacher in the future was not misplaced. That dream was actually something that came out from nowhere. It was actually something that she thought up when she was still in the kindergarten. When teacher asked her what she wanted to do in the future, Rin started thinking about the job that would involve as much interacting with others as possible but because she still did not have that great knowledge of the world the teacher’s job was the first thing that came to her mind and so she answered like that. So far Rin was still a high school student so it was still something far in the future, but whenever she would think about it, becoming a teacher wasn’t that bad path for her in the end. If she were to become a teacher in a school like she was going to right now, there would be nothing to complain about. Although if possible she preferred to be teacher in elementary or middle school so at least the people that she would teach wouldn’t be higher in height than her, because even if she hoped to still grow up, she didn’t count on miracles.

In the end Rin ended up winning the tournament without much problem, although she did still enjoy the fights, mainly to the fact of how her body in this game could move. In the fights she was playing around with her opponents, she was dodging their strikes, jumping over them and also she wasn’t using every opportunity to strike to prolong the fight a little as otherwise they would end way to fast. “Dancing” around her opponents like that could be considered bad manners but if she were to attack all out from the start, she would not be able to showcase the style that her master thought her to the old instructor.

After the victory, Rin returned to the instructor as promised and at that time he gave her two swords as a reward as well as he thought her some strange technique which he called ‘lighting speed’. Well at least he said that he thought her it as Rin had no idea on how to use that technique afterwards. Also she didn’t bother to even try to find out how to use it as there wasn’t a reason to do so. After all, it was the last minutes of her visit in this world and despite everything that happened, or maybe rather because everything did happened, Rin decided to never return here again.

-well Mary, I think that I stayed for too long already.

-in real time it’s still only about two hours you know.

-but here, it was much longer and I already know that I will have some regrets after going back from this world.

-regrets? In that case you can always come back here if you want. No one is stopping you from it.

-no, I am not talking about the regrets of leaving but rather regrets of coming here in the first place. That is because the moment I leave this feeling will disappear and I will once again start thinking about how great it would be if my disease could be cured or how great it would be if I never had it in the first place.

-I see… sorry Amy I never thought that it will turn out like this.

-don’t worry Mary, despite everything I did enjoy myself today. I could eat that whole large delicious pig after all which normally would be impossible and of course I could meet you again. So if for a second I start having regrets I will think of those good things that happened today. In the end though I think if I were to come here more often I probably wouldn’t be able to get away from those thoughts that easily so this was the first and only time here. Anyway the next time we physically meet will be in three months right? So until then bye, bye Mary.

-yes I will definitely be coming to celebrate you success in that training. Bye, bye Amy.

In the end they hugged each other and said good byes and afterwards Rin disappeared out from that world…

“…”

Or rather she was going to do that but the moment she finished the hug and walked away a little she stopped with her mind blank.

-Mary, wait! Tell me how to log out!

In slightly panicked voice Rin called out to her friend who already started some strange movement with her hand.

-ah, about time you asked this question. I was going to log out myself just now. I actually already pressed the button if I stop holding it I will disappear.

Luckily Rin managed to stop her in the last second and Yume explained how to log out as Rin already forgotten Linda’s explanation with which she came to this world. Still the explanation on how to log out was really simple so after half a minute, this time Rin really disappeared for that world.

Amanda’s consciousness returned to her body and she woke up in VR capsule in her friend’s house. It was little over two hours since she first entered it although to her it felt like at least 10 hours have passed. After waking up Amanda’s worries were made true right away and the feeling that her body had right now was completely different than the one she had just a moment ago. Still she already accepted this fact and so she started to think about what just happen was a mare dream. Nothing good would come out from thinking about the whole thing anyway.

Before entering the world, Linda said that Amanda will have problems of distinguishing between the two worlds. In the end though it turned out to be false as to her, it was completely different and even with her eyes closed she could tell the difference.

-so how was it Amy, did you meet your friend?

After Amanda left the capsule, her friend Linda was already waiting for her.

-yes, I did. Once again thank you for letting me use it.

-it was nothing, you can ask me for it anytime you want. So tell me how you feel after testing it, because if you feel that you now want to play it a little more then I would suggest you to play as much as you can in the following six days. It’s an important period for anyone who wants to play this game as otherwise your profession will turn out bad.

-profession what’s…? Well anyway, you don’t have to answer as I am not going to play that game again anyway.

-I see, ah it’s a shame as I wanted to play together with you as well but I guess the games were never really your interest.

-it’s mostly because of you that I played most of them in the first place. Anyway L1inda, I still have a promise to meet up with Sara today so I should get going before I get late.

-ah right, she was going to look for the birthday’s present for her boyfriend, wasn’t she?

-not boyfriend but a simple friend, don’t start spreading the rumor.

-but that rumor will become the truth at some point anyway so.

-… .

-fine, fine. Ah right, while we are at this topic, how about you Amy do you have a boyfriend? Someone as popular as you should have someone, right?

-ha… once again I am telling you that I don’t, so stop asking. Also no, I don’t have anyone in my mind either and as you well know I don’t look for anyone either… .

-and the reason for that is because when you are going to move in two years you don’t want to be bound by more things than necessary yes, yes I remember…

“If you remember why do you keep asking in the first place?”

-still Amy you should know that the high school is the best time to fall in love with someone.

-yes and also best time to break up with someone after that high school is finished.

-ah, you are saying it as if you experienced it yourself.

-well my friend did and her story was said to me over million times so I actually know how it goes even better than someone who experienced it. Anyway, I guess that at some point everyone have to start their own family and I don’t think that I am an exception, still when I start thinking about it, I am not going to look for something that will break a month later.

-ah, so those poor souls from our school will cry.

-what poor souls?

-naturally the students that are in secret in love with you but are afraid to confess. I know about at least three people like this but who knows how many there are. After all you are liked by everyone. Even that rude guy from your class reacts to what you said and interacts with you despite ignoring nearly everyone else.

-ah, don’t remind me of him, do you know what he did today?

-well I was before that gate at that time so I saw the matter myself and even if I didn’t it was a hot topic today. Also our school is small and the news travels fast, although this time the reaction to what he has done was rather positive so his bad reputation improved a little.

-don’t worry he himself did not change at all. He is as troublesome to deal with as he always was. Anyway Sara is waiting so I will be going. Bye Linda.

-bye… hmm now that the homework is done I can finally start playing again, this time I will defeat that boar on my own!

While Amanda was leaving, Linda ended up hoping into her capsule and she ventured to another world in the search of her own adventure.

Afterwards Amanda met up with her other friend Sara and they went shopping together. Normally they would do it much earlier after school but because Amanda’s day was packed today with so many things and Sara was quite late in asking her for help it turned out that they started shopping at 18:30.

It took them one and half an hour to find anything appropriate for birthday for Sara’s friend. It was an important friend for Sara so the right present had to be chosen.

After they finished with that Sara walked Amanda towards the bus station from which Amanda was traveling between her house and the city.

-see you tomorrow then.

-bye.

The bus came ten minutes after arriving at the bus station and Amanda said goodbyes to her friend and rode inside the bus back home. Normally on the way Amanda would read her book but right now she was too tired for that and there was still homework waiting for her to do so she decided to rest a little which actually turned into her taking a nap. That nap could actually turn out to be dangerous as Amanda did not wake up on her own after thirty minutes have passed. Thankfully the driver that knew her well did wake her up after seeing that she was not getting outside at her usual station. It was a small city after all and most of the people knew each other, not to mention that Amanda was meeting this bus driver nearly every day.

After returning home, Amanda’s parents were waiting for her with the dinner ready but the moment her mom said something about the food Amanda immediately answered.

-mom, dad, I was never as not hungry as I am right now so if possible I really don’t want to force into myself anything today, also I don’t really have time as my homework is waiting, so can I skip the dinner today?

-but sweetheart you should… .

-let her go, we can’t hold her here after hearing what she just said right. She probably ate too much at her friend’s house, right Amy?

-yes, thanks dad.

Luckily Amanda’s dad was much more understanding so now that she received his permission she right away went up the stairs to her room before her mom stops her. Today was really the day in which Amanda would not be able to eat anything anymore. Even if it was only in game, she did eat a whole roasted pig by herself and it seemed that her mind was deceived by that fact and absolutely rejected any thoughts of eating anymore. Amanda also simply did not image herself eating anything else today.

After changing her clothes and finally starting the homework it was already 21:00. It was already quite late and given the fact that Amanda would have to wake up tomorrow once again at about the same hour, apart from the homework there was no time for anything else. Luckily for her, there wasn’t that much of it left and it was only the homework from the subjects that she had today during the weekend she already done with everything else.

Doing the homework while being really sleepy was not recommended and usually Amanda tried to avoid it but unfortunately today it was unavoidable. Because of that the homework that should have took her 20 minutes took her an hour although given her condition that made her oversleep in the train it was still not that bad. Immediately after finishing the homework she packed up the notes and books for tomorrow and went a sleep.

Playing the game which had some strange time system in it did tire her out quite a lot. The next day probably because of that, Amanda nearly overslept and she would have if it weren’t for her parents. Still the next day she still spent mostly in ‘zombie state’.

“””

Rin woke up after a long sleep and when she did, she immediately felt that the place where she was sleeping was constantly moving. Although it was simple swinging movement of the boat in which she was. After opening her eyes and getting in the sitting position she saw ‘the person’ that was sitting before her in the same boat with a strange paddle.

She then realized that he was strangely looking at her face and because of that she decided to ask.

-what!?

-nothing but did you perhaps had some bad dream? You have tears in your eyes you know.

‘He’ answered like that, to which Rin immediately touched her cheeks and indeed there were tears. After finding out about the though, she simply wipe them away with her red cloak as those tears was not something that strange, or rather this occurrence was keep on happening nearly anytime she went asleep. Still when normally she would pretend to not hear the question about those tears this time she decided to answer.

-no, it was not a bad dream but simply good memories.