Prologue: The Fate that Separates

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“Haaah, guess it’s time for class huh?”

I look out the window and see the sun’s already up. Looking at my cellphone I see it’s 15 minutes to 10 o’clock. Wait a minute.... class starts at 9:30.

“Crap! I’m late. Man, the professor’s gonna nag at me after class again...”

I quickly get dressed and ran out my room. Walking past the dining room I see some toast and eggs ready with a note near them.

Nii-san, I’m busy at the archery club today so I’ll be home late. Eat your breakfast before going to class okay?

I guess my sister already left for school. Well, I’ll just eat this real fast. Munching on the toast and eggs I put on my shoes and dash out and lock the door behind me. I look at the house I just left and started thinking to myself.

It’s already been ten years huh? Time sure flies without you knowing it. Ten years. It’s been ten years since my parents died in an earthquake leaving me an orphan. Seeing flashbacks I started to remember the details on that day.

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“Haruki, are you alright?” my teacher asks me

“Yes, sensei. I think so...”

“Good, the other kids were already picked up by their parents after the earthquake so lets wait for your mom and dad okay?” teacher says with a smile

“Okay!”

I waited 30 more minutes but they didn’t show up yet. I could see my teacher getting worried but I didn’t think much about at that time. 5 minutes after this I see a man in a suit come over and he started talking to my teacher. After that he came up to me and suddenly asked me

“Are you Haruki Satomi? Son of Takato Satomi and Reina Satomi?”

“Yes...” I answered quietly

“Son I have some bad news......”

At that time when he said my parents died after the office they were in collapsed my mind went blank. I cried silently while the man who turned out to be my parents lawyer said that I would be adopted by my uncles family whom I’ve never even met. Being the helpless child I was I just nodded along and found myself leaving my hometown and leaving for Tokyo to meet my new family.

When I got there I saw a big house with a huge yard in front of it. It was a traditional house with wooden floors a lot of rooms and all of them looked really old. My parents lawyer guided me to a large room where I saw a man with short black hair and a woman in kimono with her hair tied up. When I walked in they smiled at me and asked me to sit in front of them.

“Hello, Haruki. My name is Tarou Chitose and this is my wife Sayaka” the man said while smiling at me

“We’re your uncle and aunt dear. Ah, I guess it’s step parents now?” Aunt Sayaka said while patting my head

“....” I just stayed silent while looking at them. Even though I was rather rude they didn’t mind and kept smiling.

“Starting today you’ll be a new member of our family Haruki. Also your going to have a new sister, you’re nine this year right? That makes you the big brother” My aunt keeps talking to me

“Do you want to meet her?” Uncle Tarou asked

I just nodded and he went outside the room for a while. When he came back he was holding a girl with long black hair and white skin by the hand and pointed to me.

“There he is, Hime. Your Cousin and now older brother,” uncle said while pushing her to me

We both looked at each other for a while, then suddenly she hugged me. Not knowing what was happening I just stood there frozen like a statue. Looking up to me she said “Haruki.....nii-san?” Seeing this tears formed in my eyes as I hugged her back.

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Waking up from my day daydream I realized I was still standing in front of my house. Damn, already late and I still haven’t even gone yet. I ran towards campus with lightning speed. This year I’m already in my second semester and at 19 years old was older than most of my classmates that were on average 1. Running up to my class I immediately opened the door and bowed.

“Professor, I’m sorry for being late!” I shouted

Not hearing an answer I looked up and saw Professor Miyamoto, a middle aged man with some gray hair here and there. He looked at me, sighed, and put his hand on his forehead.

“Haruki, this is the second time this semester....”

I flinch and repeated my apology. Again without answering he just waved his hand signaling me to take a seat. I walked to the middle row and saw that someone had saved me a seat.

“Hey Haru, were you busy sleeping” Yoichi grinned and asked me

“Shut up, Yoichi..”

“I bet you’re busy daydreaming about “Tales of a New Land” huh?” he said

“Tales of a New Land” a new game set to release in 2 days. It already gained the mass medias attention with its promise of groundbreaking technology being the first VRMMORPG ever developed. I admit it was something a lot of people were waiting for but I sure am not one of them.

“Nope, I’m not a gaming addict like you Yoichi” I said

“Come on, even your sisters going to play right? Just order one for your self too.”

“I won’t, it’ll be a waste for me.”

“Tsk, you’re no fun” Yoichi said while punching my side lightly

I admit it’s really tempting to buy one for myself but I can’t. I have to focus on studying and graduate so Ican work for a living. After all, my step parents died 2 years ago when I was 17 leaving me and Hime alone without anyone else. Being the big brother I picked myself up and made it my purpose to take care of Hime. Leaving me really busy.

With the inheritance from both my parents and step parents we have no problems for now but it was only a matter of time before it ran out. I can’t just use my time playing games without a care anymore now with my responsibility for Hime.

After class was over I flew out the class room and went to the grocery to buy some ingredients for dinner. I don’t cook so errands become my job and Hime the one who cooks. Looking at my watch it’s nearly 5 o’clock. I guess I should pick Hime from school then.

Waiting for my sister in front of the school gates I noticed some students, mostly girls, looking at me. Hmm, that's odd. Do I look weird I thought as I looked down at my clothes. Some girls were whispering to each other while looking at me so I tried to listen to what they were saying to know what was weird about me.

“......No way, you do it!”

“Come on, just ask him to come talk a bit with us!”

“Nooo, I’m gonna embarrass myself talking to him.”

I got a bit depressed there. Is it so embarrassing to be seen talking to me? While pitying myself I heard someone call my name.

“Ah, Haru-nii-san!”

Looking up I saw a girl with long black hair almost reaching her hips wearing a blue blazer and a black short skirt running towards me.

“Hey Hime, is your club over?”

“Yup, I was just about to go home. What are you doing here Nii-san?”

“I was nearby, thought we might go back together?”

“Oh okay! Let’s go Nii-san!” she said while linking my arm with hers

Because of this everyone nearby was looking at us. Well, isn’t this embarrassing....

“Ummm, Hime?”

“What is it?” She asked while smiling at me

“Ah, Nothing...”

Damn, I can’t say no to that smile. I guess I failed at being the cool brother huh?

“Nii-san, you haven’t trained at the dojo for a while huh?”

“Yeah, been busy studying I guess...”

“If you keep skipping on training your sword skills are gonna rusty you know!”

“Yeah,yeah, I’ll do it tomorrow.”

“By the way my VR gear arrives tomorrow. You sure you don’t want to play with me?” Hime asked me

“I’m not interested in games anymore...”

Hime looked at me while looking a bit sad. I guess she realizes how I’m holding myself back from living a fun life.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m sure you’ll have fun. Maybe I’ll play with you when I’m not too busy, kay?” I smiled and stroked her cheek making her blush a little.

“jeez, Nii-san. I’m not a kid anymore! I’m in my last year of high school now!”

“Yeah, yeah” I smiled while continuing to stroke her cheek.

“Hmph, Nii-san you idiot.” She pouted a little at me

Haaah when did the little Hime become so big. I guess she isn’t a child anymore. Well neither am I huh? We chatted while laughing on the way back. I guess our daily life isn’t going to change anytime soon. At that time neither I nor Hime knew that fate would tear us apart.

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2 weeks after the launch of “Tales of a New Land” I was at the campus library when I hear a shout from outside. Hearing this I got up and dashed to see what the problem was and found dozens of students in front of the library hall outside. They were gathering in front of the television there while whispering to each other.

Walking up to the TV I saw the words “Breaking News” on the screen and listened in the reporters voice.

“.....Hacking effected the all units that were in operating making users unable to log out” Log out? What does that mean?

“Users that were online during this hacking has been confirmed to reach more than 2 million people. The Family of the users which cannot log out are distressed and demanding FutureTech to solve this issue.”

At this moment the screen switched to a press conference with Gilbert Wellington the CEO of FutureTech.

“At this moments there are no details regarding the situation but I assure you this our company will do everything in its power to mange this matter.”

“Regarding the questions of users that have somehow become diagnosed as braindead we have come to a conclusion that this is because they died while in the game while the log out feature is currently unavailable.”

“We urge family and friends of users to also not remove the VR headgear as this may interrupt the connection between the the users brainwaves and the game itself which may lead to similar conditions of the former examples.”

Hearing this my face instantly went pale. I reached for my phone and tried dialing Hime’s number. Trying many times I look at my watch and see that it’s already 5:30. She should be home by now.

I immediately ran towards our house while praying that she wasn’t playing that game. My legs felt like they were burning while I kept sprinting. On the way I bumped into a lot of people who all cursed at me but I didn’t stop for them. I didn’t care about anything knowing my sister could be in danger.

“HIME!” I burst into the house shouting

“Hey are you here, Hime!?”

I ran into Hime’s room and saw her on the bed. For an instant I felt relieved seeing her but that soon turned to fear as I saw what she was wearing on her head. It was a gadget with a shape like goggles and helmet with wiring. It was her VR gear.

Seeing this I fell on my knees. All I could do was look at her body and called out to her with a soft voice. No matter how much I called her she didn’t have any reaction signaling she knew I was here.

“No....”

“No, damn it.....”

Seeing the sight of my sister motionless while I was unable to do anything made tears flow from my eyes blurring my vision. That’s it. I’ve lost the only person I have left in this world.......

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