Crunch, munch, munch munch...

In a room dimly lit by the setting sun was a slightly chubby girl in purple pyjamas scoffing down the last slice of pizza from a nearly depleted pizza box. She finished the slice in around thirty seconds, before swiping the now empty box aside to reveal another pizza box under it.

Practically drooling, the girl reached for the box... only to be interrupted by the door swinging open abruptly.

"Mei! I knew it!" a plump middle-aged woman in work uniform stomped into the room. It was the girl's mother who had just returned from work.

The girl froze, her expression much like that of a caught pickpocket. Her hands reaching for the second box quickly darted behind her back, almost as if to feint innocence.

"You are so greedy, just like pig! Everyday eat eat eat none stop like got no self control!" shouted the woman as she walked toward the table.

There it was. The familiar sound of her mom's broken English. Mei could only watch as the cold hands of her guardian clamped viciously onto the sides of the box, lifting her 'treasure' away.

"I confiscate your pizza! Now you so young, eat so much won't make you fat but later grow older bad habit then how? Your metabolism will drop like plane crash! You will become fat fat like your mami!" berated her mother.

"Noooooo! I saved up a whole week for that!" whined the teary-eyed Mei.

"Hmph!" was the only reply she got from her mother.

With the pizza now gone, all that was left in the kitchen was a motionless girl with a vacant look in her eyes and furniture. It was a good ten seconds before the girl got over it. She thought about secretly eating in her room instead of the kitchen in the future but decided against it. What if ants invaded her room? She shuddered at the thought.

At least earlier today, her dad bought her the newest VR gear! Mei reassumed herself. Her hunger for pizza might not be satiated, but she could go enjoy the newest and most popular game, Limitless! It had been out and been the talk of the town for a month, but her father refused to get the required VR gear for her until she could get 'A's on her latest exams. Typical asian dad.

She got out of the kitchen and headed to her room. Inside, on her table was the brand new shiny box. Hype began to overwhelm her. Despite not being able to play the game itself previously, she had seen many famous Yuutubers stream the gameplay. Brilliant graphics that looked perfectly real, somehow no lag, great gameplay and very advanced Ai NPCs that seemed to be as smart as real humans. That made Mei slightly worried that the day of Ai takeovers might come soon but she ignored the voice of the screaming heralder of doom in her head for now.

She peeled the tape off the sides of the box as gently as she could, then opened it carefully as one might handle a baby. Inside was a plastic helmet with a power symbol atop it and a book labelled 'Instructions and safety'. Definitely not reading that. Mei took the helmet out of the box and fitted it on her head. The insides were padded comfortably. She hit the power symbol which she assumed to be the ON button.

Immediately, she lost control of her body. It at this moment she knew... she screwed up. She should not have hit the button while standing up. The last thing she felt as her vision faded was gravity pulling her body downwards and the floor rapidly approaching her face.

Thud!