“Hnng"

A groan escaped Jay’s lips as his eyes began to flicker open and adjust to the darkness.

Wha...What happened?

A familiar yet unfamiliar ceiling entered his view. Jay shot upright in bed and looked around.

This is ...my college dorm room!?

Trying his best to hold back his panic, Jay got up and began to look over his surroundings. He spoke to himself.

“Ok, hold on. The last thing I remember was falling back and hitting my head-”

His train of thought was cut off by the sound of the door opening. A younger looking chubby man with long brown hair entered the room. He was a full head taller than Jay and was currently sporting a T-shirt from a famous FPS game and some jeans.

“Oh you’re up? I figured you’d be out much longer considering how much you drank last night heheh”

A smirk came across his face as he spoke to Jay and headed across the room to where his desktop was set up.

“Adam….”

“Hmm?”

Adam stopped and looked at him

“You alright man? If you’re gonna throw up please keep it on your side of the room.”

He continued over to his seat as Jay stared at him like a deer in headlights. His thoughts raced through his head at lightning speed as he tried to take in his situation. Eventually he came back to his senses as he felt a soft buzz and the ding of a notification to his left.

Scrambling to pick up the older model phone, he unlocked it and saw a message from his mother

We got home safely, how was the orientation last night?

Jay stared at his phone, his eyes widened in shock as he noticed the date.

Ten years!?

The date was actually showing ten years in the past! As he realized the situation, Jay felt his chest tighten and his breathing quickened. He hastily jumped out of bed and ran out of the room as Adam’s voice trailed behind him.

“I hope you make it in time!~”

Jay rushed out of the building and In a dazed state he walked around the campus trying to process his current situation. Eventually he sat down as his vision blacked out and closed in around him. His hearing became muffled and everything became numb.

Unsure of how long he was in such a state, he eventually could hear a faint noise. There was a pressure on his right shoulder as he felt his vision slowly come back to him and his senses started to come back to him.

“...ey”

The noise slowly formed muffled voices

“H….can…..er…?”

As his eyes gained focus he was met with a beautiful pair of blue eyes. A young woman who looked to be about 19-20 was looking back at him. She had long brown hair that extended to the middle of her backs and was wearing a white tank top with blue Capris. She had a concerned look on her face as she turned her head around to look at someone behind her.

Behind her was a shorter woman with black hair in a bob cut wearing an orange t shirt and black shorts. She was in the process of pulling out her phone and was the first one to speak a sentence that Jay could pick up

“Hey I really think we should call an ambulance... he’s not responding at all.”

The girl in front of him answered her friend

“You’re right, he’s having a pretty bad panic attack.”

Jay snapped back to his senses when he heard what she said

“huh..?”

They both turned to look at him after he spoke and the long haired girl tightened her grip on his shoulder.

“Hey! are you OK? Can you hear me? Cassie start making that call.”

Jay took stock of his surroundings and a bustling college campus entered his view, with students walking around talking and laughing with their newfound friends. He was sitting on a secluded bench in a shaded area of the central campus. The scene seemed vaguely familiar, but his thoughts were still unclear and he didn't have time to put them together.

Jay looked at the women in front of him and tried to respond as calmly as possible, the last thing he needed was someone to start asking why he was in such a state when he himself wasn’t even sure what was going on. He looked at the short haired girl and spoke.

“I’m sorry to trouble you, but i’m ok now so you don’t have to call.”

Cassie looked at him with surprise and then a troubled expression. She turned to the long haired girl.

“Arden…..what do you think? I don’t want to make a call if we don’t have to.”

Arden remained silent for a moment while she analyzed Jay. she scrunched her brow in thought.

“Are you sure you’re ok? I’ve had panic attacks myself and i know how bad they can be...you look pretty bad…”

Jay gripped his trembling hands to calm himself. If he was being honest with himself he definitely wasn’t OK, but he really couldn’t afford to have people find out about his situation right now while he still didn’t understand it fully himself.

“I’m sorry to have troubled you but I'm really OK now, you helped me calm down, I just need to rest a bit.”

Arden continued to look worried

“You’re definitely better than you were a minute ago, But I still don’t feel comfortable leaving you on your own…”

Arden looked reluctant but suddenly had a determined look on her face as she spoke

“Ok, why don’t you come with us then? I'm pretty sure we have a couch in the lounge.”

Jay paused for a moment before taking them up on their offer. He got the feeling that if he refused them right now it would only raise their suspicion and they would contact someone regardless of what he wanted.

Jay walked with the two beautiful girls through the walkways of the campus. As he walked along lost in his own thoughts, he heard the voice from one of the girls beside him. He turned to the long haired beauty that was speaking to him.

“We haven't quite introduced ourselves have we? My name is Arden and the grouchy one over there is Cassidy, but everyone calls her Cassie”

She gestured at the two of them.

“Hey, who said i’m grouchy!” Cassie rebuked

Arden ignored her with a smile on her face and turned to Jay again

“What's your name?”

“My name is Jay, I’m sorry to have troubled you…”

Jay reached out his hand and shook Arden’s and then looked over at Cassie as she smiled back at him and spoke.

“Nice to meet you!”

Arden seemed to chuckle under her breath and said

“Don’t worry about her-”

“So why were you freaking out?”

Before Arden could finish her thought, she was interrupted by Cassie. Arden seemed a little flustered as she responded.

“Hey Cassie! You have no tact! ...Look you don't have to tell us if you don't want to, don’t worry about it.”

Jay gave a little chuckle and responded.

“Thank you. I’d rather not share it as it's a bit personal….”

Arden seemed even more flustered

“It's fine, it's fine!”

They began chatting as Jay followed them through the school campus until eventually they came upon a set of buildings he was very familiar with.

“Hey isn’t this the VR buildings on campus?”

As Jay's voice trailed off, he saw a look of surprise flash across the two girls faces before Arden smiled and said.

“ And here I thought you were a clueless freshman! That's right, me and Cassie are the leaders of the women’s gaming group here on campus!”

As she said that she walked towards one of the entrances of the buildings and swiped her student ID to open the door.

Cassie looked at him mischievously and said

“Aren’t you lucky~, you get to be the first guy to step foot inside this building~”

Jay, not sure how to respond, Just laughed nervously. Arden laughed herself and said

“Oh shut it you..”

Jay followed them into the building and was surprised how luxurious the accommodations were

I dont remember these buildings being this nice…

Sure enough, there was a very nice lounge complete with some vending machines and what looked like a small kitchen. There was also a small coffee table with a couch. Arden moved in that direction and pointed at the couch.

“You can lie down here to rest for a bit, me and Cassie have some things to attend to. We should be back out in 20 or 30 minutes at most”

Jay sat down on the couch and watched as the two girls entered through a set of double doors directly opposite of the entrance.

Finally some time to collect my thoughts

Jay sat in silence and began contemplating his current circumstances. If he was being honest he was still holding back his panic as best he could.

For now I can’t do anything about my situation, so let's just stop thinking about it

The real question he had was, what should he do now? Although he may have complained a lot about his previous life, he was actually pretty reluctant to give up everything he had built upon. He had a comfortable lifestyle with a good occupation and didn’t really lack anything.

My only major regrets were mainly to do with Listonia-

Suddenly Jay shot to his feet. He felt around in his pockets until he could find his phone and check the date again. Trying to suppress the excitement in his chest he frantically tried to remember the start date for Listonia online.

It’s...tomorrow…

Sure enough, the start date for the public release of Listonia Online was tomorrow!

This is my chance!

However as soon as the excitement was ready to burst out of his chest, a splash of ice water was poured over him. The reason being was that he remembered one of the biggest regrets of his life.

Why...did I sell it?

What did he sell you ask? Of course it was his personal VR capsule for Listonia Online! He had begged his parents for it during his highschool years and played religiously for the nearly 8 months that the Beta testing was going for. In the end he had sold it before getting to college, as his parents were worried he wouldn’t focus on his studies.

At the time he had believed that he had gotten all the enjoyment out of the game he could. It was also true that he had wanted to focus on his studies so as not to worry his parents. But it became his biggest regret when the game exploded in popularity 2 years later.

I need to find a way to get a Capsule I can use

He knew that there were public capsules in the buildings surrounding him, but in order to play the game the way he intended, he would need to use a capsule for long periods of time. Obviously he would not be guaranteed access with a public Capsule, nor could he monopolize one for himself. There were sure to be problems if he did that.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of laughter behind the double doors. He looked up and saw the sign hanging above the door that read “women’s gaming club”.

Wait don't I have a good chance right now? Obviously a gaming club has access to private capsules and there is no way they wouldn’t be playing the newest VRMMO game that's going to hit the market.

The excitement began to build in his chest again as the doors swung open and a group of girls began to exit.