If you came and go from a place in frequency, eventually, you will learn about it like the back of your hand.

When you needed a bathroom, you knew exactly where to go.

When you needed another way because the usual one was packed by others, you knew the other path to go.

When you wanted to chill and enjoy, you knew the exact spot where to be in peace.

Sometimes, you could not even look to where you were walking and yet you wouldn’t bump into anything.

That was the results of your days spent going to that place often.

And none of them applied to Chris right now.

He still wasn’t familiar with the school grounds like the rest of his classmates. The school had only started for about three weeks before the snowstorm came.

At that time, they knew where some of the most important places were but others were a mystery. Then they were put on a hold for about two weeks before school started once again.

But Chris took yet another week because of his broken shoulder, so most of his memories of how the high-school looked like weren’t solid on his mind.

However, there were some things he knew. One of them was this:

Through the school entrance, walking into the main hallway of the first floor, taking the first corridor to the left, continuing until you reached the second corridor from the right, exiting through the doors, you could enter the sports area of the campus, outside the main building.

It was a fairly big area, allowing for the most popular sports such as football and baseball to have their own fields with a good amount of space between them.

There were also two tennis courts with a cage around it, one volleyball, one basketball court and, a bit far away from them, a track-and-field cinder track where the most of the student suffered from the exercises the chubby P.E. teacher gave them.

But if you continue going left, following the main building walls, you could see the place of where most of the P.E. classes take place: the gymnasium.

The building was tall enough to almost reach the third floor where Chris’s classroom was. Inside there was an open area used for indoor sports and doors to storage rooms, where most of the club members would pick up their respective equipment for their activities.

And that was all of his school had of physical actives and the places they took place. This was something his class learned in a tour their teacher gave to them during their first P.E. class.

However, there was yet another facility there. Behind the gymnasium, covered by a structure similar to a greenhouse, Chris had found a huge amount of water filling a giant hole in the ground.

-Are you…serious…?

When he heard about it, he thought something was weird and couldn’t believe it, but he couldn’t lie to himself after seen it with his own eyes.

-It’s really…a pool.

The water was clear, not having any sighing of impurity in it. Two lines of floats connected by a string divided the area in three, reminding him of the pools he saw for competitions. The only difference was that this one had about half the length.

(But…how…?)

During the tour they had, there was no mention or sight of a pool inside the school campus. All the facilities and sport-fields they had were the ones you could easily found in any usual school.

And yet, there was a pool now. It’s true that he was away for about three weeks, however, nobody would work in construction under a snowstorm and there was no announcement from the school about building a pool. Also, he doubted they managed to build such a big facility in just a week.

And yet, his two friends didn’t find it a bit weird. Probably anyone in the school would have the same reaction, seeing that nobody talked nor warned.

Seeing it with his own eyes was as if the pool just appeared out of nowhere like magic and everyone just accept it.

But none of those were the reason his body was shivering.

It was because he knew exactly where the pool was.

[][][][][]

-I want to…finish this.

The sole desire he had.

-I want to know what happened, just what caused all of this.

The fear he poured over him like water drops from a cold rain, but even among the darkness that was taking over his surroundings, there was still that one light inside him telling him to go forward.

-I want to return everything like it used to be!

The far way finishing line, the highest peak of a mountain, the beginning of all this weirdness.

He wanted to stand in such a place.

He wanted to go and see it with his own eyes.

And then, find a way to fix it.

(Oh man…so that was why…)

Even if he knew the cause of this feeling inside him, Chris couldn’t lie about yearning deep in his heart, however, it’s also the reason why he was feeling so deplorable.

And the one whom he told was smiling happily without understanding his emotions.

-I knew you would choose that.

Not wanting to lose any more time, she got up from the ground.

-I think it’s time for us to go, right?

Midna extended her hand towards him. Chris was about to grab it but was a little hesitant of whatever or not he would.

Still, his hand reached her hand, grasping it with force to show his determination and then he got pulled up, standing up on his two feet, right in front of the girl.

-Yeah…let’s go check this.

[][][][][]

(Even though I said that…even though I said that!)

He wanted to deny it but that wouldn’t change anything.

There was a faint superstition on his mind but it was so out of bounds he could only think of it like a conspiracy theory, and one of the craziest ones on top of it, that none would believe.

However, as he gazed at the crystal, blue water, he could confirm it.

-It’s just like in the game…

With a voice so slow only he could hear it, Chris said.

If he told someone this, the only responses he would hear would be laughs of how ridicule this sounded, still, he was sure about it.

Due to the game give the player an open-world to explore in some areas with a first-person perspective, the school was one of the places where they could have the most freedom to move around.

Be it in the campus, inside the halls, alongside the many small areas the player could enter, the number of places they could move around was so large that many used the teleport system in the map to go from each of the key points.

Within that same area-map, with the school entrance facing the bottom of the page, in the upper left side of it, surrounded by nothing but an empty field, one of the point-labels said “pool”.

And, with how much time he had invested in the game and how many times he was in the school zone there, Chris could confirm it.

The location of both this pool and the game's one was the same.

If that wasn’t enough, even the design of it was exactly the same as the picture he saw when he entered it, and that also applied to the changing rooms and a sole storage on the other side of the water.

(So…that is it…!)

And this knowledge made him feel both scared of the unknown and bit of happiness.

(Everything is clear now!)

With how much weirdness entered his life in the past days, only a crazy theory could make him see how the things became this way.

(This is just like the game!)

Assuming this as the truth, Chris managed to get an explanation to most of the questions that were flooding in his mind.

(The other students…)

In the game, the player could get out of class if he wanted to and walk in the hallways like the periods were happening.

If they looked around inside other classrooms, all they could see were simplified versions of a person behind the window’s glass.

On top of that, no matter where you would walk inside the school, the player would not see another student outside the classroom when the class was happening except for the heroines due to some events.

(Why the classrooms couldn’t be open…)

In the game, the player wasn’t allowed to enter any other classroom besides his. There was no content what-so-ever in them, so it wouldn’t be relevant if they add it.

(The canteen…)

The canteen could only be entered during the lunch break and after the school had ended, being closed outside those two times.

(And also that night!)

Due to the curfew because of the loose serial killer know as Midnight Pumpkin, the player couldn’t find anybody outside past 6 PM.

In the night when he had first met Midna, he didn’t see a single person out in the streets, even though many of them would normally pass through there.

All of it, with no exception, matched the game setting he knew so well over the two weeks of absence.

Like pieces of a puzzle, they matched together creating a clear picture in his mind.

(…This is so crazy…)

Chris knew that for sure. Even now he was trying to think of a way other than this to set his theories.

(But…with this, how can I not think of that?!)

There was no rational explanation for this pool to exist. One can’t simply dig a hole and throw water into it to call it a “pool”.

He looked carefully around it and he could see exactly the same scenario he was shown in the game. Everything was in the exact place where it should be.

(A, Amazing…)

Once, he had thought he was in the game and discarded it like a joke, but now it didn’t sound so out of norms like he used to think.

A game character came to the real world.

The school started to be weird.

There wasn’t any sort of suspicion about a sudden pool in the campus.

(It’s like the game came to the real life!)

There was too much similarity for him to ignore it.

Without realizing, a grin appeared on his face as Chris finally managed to get useful information about the circumstances surrounding him.

At least, one step he could stand.

-Midna, do you know what this means?!

Overcome with emotions, the boy turned around and asked. It was such a rhetorical question for him that he wasn’t expecting an answer.

However, because of the happiness, he felt, his brain at the moment wasn’t working properly and he just someone to share his happiness.

--Instead, Chris was pushed off the pool’s edge.

-…Huh?

It was too late for him to react. The boy went all in the cold water, making his spine to freeze and his body to shiver.

Pushing his head above the water, Chris saw the girl showing him a teasing smile as she looked down at him.

-What was that for?! – He asked her furiously as if he was demanding.

It was his moment of revelation, where all the dots would be connected, but the girl threw a bucket of cold water over him. Rather, she threw him into the cold water.

And his anger only grew seeing Midna laughing while holding her stomach.

-I, I’m sorry but…your face was so serious that I…I, PFF!

-Oh, you!

She did for her own amusement. Realizing this made his face looks like a tomato from the shame he was feeling.

-H, here! Grab on.

Ending her unnecessary laugher, the girl extended her hand towards him to help him get up.

He slowly swam to the edge and grabbed her hand, but before she could pull him upward, his next words took her by surprise.

-Let’s see how you like it!

Placing both of his feet against the pool’s wall, Chris pulled Midna inside the pool before she had a chance to fight back, resulting in her falling in a spot near him.

When her head reached above water, it was immediately hit with water.

-Here! How do you feel now, huh?!

Using his palms, Chris was pushing water forward to where Midna was. It was only something to annoy her, but for him, it had a greater meaning.

-Who is laughing now?!

With a forced laugh, the boy was mimicking how she was treating him earlier.

And due to his action, something that recalled a huge wave of a beach was going in his direction.

-Huh?

All he could do was be in shock before he got hit by it. The impact was so powerful that the water reached all the way to the other side of the pool.

And the water returned to its normal stage, Chris was floating on it in awe, having an idea who caused that unnatural phenomenon.

(…Don’t forget she is from a video-game...don't forget she is from a video…)

Turning his head slightly to the side, he could see the girl with her arms ready to launch yet another one of those waves.

-No! No! No! Stop that!

As if his life was on it, Chris swam up to her and grabbed her wrists, interrupting her from continuing her reckless.

Being restrained by him, the girl pouted.

-…You were the one who started it.

-That is clearly not on the same level as I, right?!

It was like he was using a toy gun while she had brought a rocket-launcher. The difference between them was that wide.

Chris didn’t even want to think of the next one she would make.

Contrary to his stress, the girl in front of him smiled.

-But…I’m glad.

-Hmm?

-You are having fun now, right?

-…

He knew what her words meant, so he couldn’t say anything anymore.

Had she not come up to him, even if he found out about the pool later, he wouldn’t have the courage or the will to investigate more about it.

-You are right…I am having fun. - With a crumbed smile, he answered her.

The path he had thought it was blocked is now opened for him to walk on. He couldn’t see where it would end but the journey ahead was far greater than whatever he would or will think.

There was no way of knowing how the things became like this without even trying to find out those answers by themselves.

And now, the chance to go where they lay was in his front and the first step was already made today.

It was small and probably will be forgotten in the future, but all that it matters was that it had been done.

And all of it was because of the girl he was looking at right now.

--And then he turned his face to the side as it became red like a tomato.

(S, shit…I got careless!)

-Is something wrong? - Not understanding his reaction, Midna innocently asked.

-Y, yeah, it’s nothing.

-But your face is-

-L, let’s go out now, ok?!

Not wanting to be there anymore, the boy started to climb up the edge, leaving the confused girl behind him.

-But why is it that-

-The next period is about to start! We need to leave now, ok?!

The girl couldn’t get why he was so agitated but still follow him.

She just couldn’t understand that, up till now, both of them were in the water

In normal clothes.

That sticks to the body once wet like glue.

Emphasizing the wearer's lines.

And sometimes became transparent like a thin layer of paper.

If it was just the boy, it wouldn’t be much of a difference, but when it’s about a girl, this matter was a whole new level. Instinctively, his eyes were brought down to where her head was.

Recalling the place he was trying so hard to not look yesterday, Chris barely could maintain his face without losing it to the mix of emotions inside of him.

(H, huge…)

That image was now burned inside his mind.