*'Hiiro'*

"Ow..." I woke up on something soft, I'm sure I fainted on the floor. I looked and saw a white room encompass me, my neck cracks... Not a good sign. I sat up and touched my face, and my mask wasn't there...

Fuck! I started to feel anxious. I stopped myself before I started screaming like a hooligan.

Okay, I'm calmed down now. Let's think. I put my hand to my face, trying to survey the problem.

I felt I had new bandages covering my face, it was about time to replace them anyway. I felt slightly light-headed, which was fine and all. I probably lost a gallon or two of blood. Not a big deal. I just hoped I wasn't passed out for too long. It felt tranquil here, but I'd rather be at the dorm I called home.

"Hello~? Anybody there?" I asked, to a empty room...

I looked outside, contorting my body to do so, and was greeted by the same dark sky I had walked through before. I probably was out for a few hours, nothing more. But now I felt that everyone had left. What should I do about going home?

There should be someone here, right? Wait, was this the hospital or the school infirmary?

...

I thought about it for a while, realizing leaving would most likely be my downfall. I checked my pockets...

Oh wait, I don't have a phone. That would warrant me being social. I laughed to myself. "Well that was a waste of time." I bitterly remarked to myself.

I sighed deeply... Then I heard footsteps.

"Oh, you're up? I was checking on you because I'm about to leave. How are feeling?" said someone I presume is a man... I can't see clearly though. I guess this is the school doctor.

"A bit light headed, but it's not that bad. I think I can get up..." I say. I felt slightly disoriented, but stood up nevertheless. "How long was I out?" I asked whilst stretching my legs.

"Two hours at the most. The little lady carrying you seemed pretty distressed about your condition, 'Yun' I think. They said to call when you're up." The doctor gave me his mobile.

It connected with Yun. I told her I was fine, though she seemed not trusting at first. Eventually believed me and was audibly relaxed. Now that's out of the way, I might as well ask more questions about my situation.

"So how much blood did I lose?" I turned to the doctor and asked... If it was too much I was probably staying here for the night.

"About half a liter. Yun was pretty quick getting you here so don't worry. The thing is, your mask cracked into pieces. I tried replacing your bandaged, and I think I've bandaged you up pretty well, but I don't have a mask to lend you. Sorry. The bandages will only hold the blood in for a while, so what do you want to do?" They replied, clearly seeing why I wore a mask. Half a liter isn't that much blood, so I'll be fine going home.

"Well depends, are there many people still here? I have a few spares at the dorm, I just need to get there without people seeing me. I don't want to traumatize people, or bleed to death for that matter." If I traumatized people, it would be a pain to deal with, even for Yun and Shun dealing with the people affected. And if I bleed to death...

Eh, it would suck. But I didn't really care. I've never seen life as a 'score as high as possible' game which quantifies achievements and how long you live as records of how good your life was. Was it even possible to have a 'bad' or 'good' life? I doubt it. As a wise (undisclosed aged) (undisclosed gendered) person once said ' You live to die, everything else is up for individual interpretation.' I agreed, in my interpretation my life was great. I lived in the fun of today's technology, not stuck in a perpetual war-zone, or dying as a fetus. My life could be far worse.

"Oh, are you back then... As I said, there isn't anyone left, it's about ten pm right now. You're Hiiro Johnson from the scholarship dorm, right?" I nodded, and they swiftly continued."I can take you to your dorm in my car if you want, it's not far off my normal path home anyway." Their eyes seemed honest, with a shred of pity... You know. I think I'll ignore the 'pity' part and just accept their help.

"Sure, if you're willing." I said, with a half-baked smile on my face, accepting his offer. It was better than walking or waiting. There was no reason for me to not...

As we were walking, the doctor suddenly asked "by the way, I've been quiet about this, but what exactly happened to your face in the first place?"

"Do you not have that on a database?" Yes... I'm someone who answers question with other questions.

And yes, I know it's stupid to ask since their question points to the answer no. I find it equally stupid to assume one isn't lazy enough to not read something they don't have to when they could just ask. This question just prompts the lazy to accept her or his sins, or just read it meaning I don't have to say.

"Your folder is empty. It's weird, like someone doesn't want people to know how to possibly save your life. But I guess people have different definitions of weird." And that answers my question. Simple. Don't worry, I knew who was covering it up... I just didn't care about those cunts.

"I don't see the harm in discussing it. It was an incident years ago in a science lesson. It was a practical, someone threw something, that thing hit me in the face... I then woke up in hospital with half a face, in a hospital bed in crippling agony... That's literally all I remember. That much is fine to tell you, but I probably can't tell you much more."

"I won't ask then."

-

We got to their car, and drove in silence. They tried to talk, but the conversation ended there... I was horrible at small talk, and years of isolation don't help the matter. After a few minutes that felt like hours, we finally got to my dorm. They dropped me off, and I entered the dorm...

If I had a key that is... Fuck, was Shun or Yun in? I rang the door bell and waited for a response. about a minute later Shun, half asleep, answered the door.

"WOULD YOU... Oh it's you Hiiro. You're outside? What happened to the universe?" he 'Said loudly with enthusiasm' sleepily...

"Did Yun not tell you I was at the hospital because I was in the middle of bleeding to death?" I said in a mono-toned voice. I was annoyed, yes, but showing this annoyance at someone not in the know was stupid.

He got out of his slumber-some state and replied "Wait, really? I noticed Yun left in a panic, but I don't think she's back yet."

Really...

I put some things together, and boy was it a hassle.

"Shun, can you give me your phone please." He tilted his head.

Then it clicked and he went and got it. He can be quite thick when he's tired.

I called Yun's number and explained the situation to her. "Yun... The doctor drove me home. Did he perhaps not tell you and you are now waiting in the room thinking something bad must be happening since I wasn't there?" I said in the same mono-toned voice.

I immediately threw the phone across the room to Shun as she responded on the other line...

I could hear the 'Eh' given off by the phone from here... Shun fully woke up from that. He spent the time it took Yun to get back yelling at me for doing that...

I tried to flee into my room to grab a mask, but Shun blocked me off from doing that... He then looked into my eyes...

"Y...Y...Your face..." he was visibly shaking...

"Yeah, there's a reason I wear a mask... So can I go and grab it now?"

"S-s-sure... G-g-go ah-ahead..." he stuttered, I responded by going into my room and grabbing a mask.

I came back in the room, just as Yun came back. She ran up to check if I was okay.

"I'm fine princess, don't worry. By the way, thanks for cleaning up and taking me there."

"I came back for a while whilst you were sleeping. I felt it was time to clean. Cleaning up blood is mentally tiring though. Add the time wasted from running around after you, and I'd say I'm pretty tired right now. I'll go to bed now."

"Me too... I was woke up from your knocking. Sorry for shouting."

"It's fine. I'll have an early night too."

So we all went to sleep at a reasonable hour for once.

-

I woke up feeling pretty good. For the first time in a while that is. I usually wake up groggily, but today was somewhat different, I felt like I wasn't forcing myself out of my bed... Weird.

Well anyway, less time spent fighting my own body, the more time I can play I guess. I logged into Myth of Men and was greeting with a some-what angry message from _______. I guess he wanted some feedback earlier. I guess I'll explain the situation. I invited him to a friend call, and he accepted.

"Hey, could you send me to a private room so I can discuss things?"

I was absorbed in a beam of light, and found myself in the same blindingly white room I was taken to when I first logged in. The same light blinded me, and the same person I couldn't make out was standing before me. I think at least...

"So then, why weren't your here earlier? The first patch work has started already.." They asked in a relatively threatening tone...

"Well, I was conscripted into a tournament I didn't know the date of yesterday morning, came back late to faint, woke up in a hospital room after almost dying of blood-loss. When I got home and felt tired so slept... So you can say it was a pretty bad day as a whole. Sorry for not being here earlier." I answered in a relatively enthused tone. I said the last bit in a serious one though.

"Huh, that actually happened?" They probably tried to intimidate me with a stare to make me submit... It didn't work since I couldn't see them and I wasn't lying. "I'll trust you, you have no real reason to lie anyway. Sorry I'm used to scum who'd lie to get a minute off work..." They probably were genuinely apologetic. Yet again though, I couldn't see them to tell for good...

"I see... Well then. Let me ask you the questions I have and tell you what I think so far."

"Go ahead."

"Okay, my first question, Why do I have two eyes? And why is one of them brown?" Character models were visible in the armour page of the interface. So I found out what I looked like when I equipped my armour and weapons yesterday.

"Hm, is that odd to have two eyes?"

"When you lost one in an incident years ago it is." I put it bluntly because I didn't really feel like repeating the story three times today...

"Oh. Hm, I guess we just make base character models like that... Did you originally have a brown eye?" I shook my head. "Hm. Weird. Sorry, I have no idea. If it's a major problem then we can sort it out pronto."

"It's actually nice. It was just really random for it to give me sight in an eye that's missing."

"Well that's good. Next?"

"Okay, I understand the wish for freedom of choice off the bat to make your play-style better, but why is the mass_leech so over powered? I blocked all of a boss's attacks with it when he was five levels higher than mine..."

"Hm. I guess it wasn't meant to be abused by someone like you. Should we put a higher AP cost on it, or put a limit to it's length?"

"You probably should do either... I think the time limit would be more fair, but I think the higher AP cost would be more fun. It would make players think smartly about their placement in a fight, since there's the meter radius that acts as a blind spot. This means fighting a high level opponent would require more skill, and prior knowledge of the class skills. Also there are barely any people with the class Succubi, so making a good move in their arsenal would attract more players, leading to more pressure on thinking of back-up strategies and counters. So I see it as fair in that sense." I looked up the rough numbers playing each class. Most were Assassins, only two people played ghost. I think sixteen people played Succubus out of a total of about a million. Yeah, this game was so popular, 25% of the humans alive today were playing it.

"I guess. I'll call upon my men to change that that it. Any more?"

"What's up with the Grimoire I found? It seems really broken."

"Which one did you get?"

"Mimic..."

"That'll be fun. They're really rare, there are only 10 possible types, and only one of each can exist at a time, so the fact you've used it up means that there can not be another mimic in the game. They're meant to be top tier stuff that work as a basic status symbol. Although I didn't see someone getting one so quickly." He paused. probably thinking of a bad joke to say. "So, where's the horseshoe? It must hurt."

See? I'm correct... I'm psychic!

"Very funny... I've never relied on luck to win before, so this is quite surprising to think I had some. I usually use my immense skill to do so."

"Well you are you I guess. Any more?"

"What do I do with an ID?"

"Oh, yeah, we didn't explain that well, did we. Basically you go to a city, and it'll turn into a true ID that you can use to use certain services."

"Seems like a good idea, but you really need to make it clearer, add it to the item description or something..."

"Noted. Well then. Does that conclude things so far?"

"No, I was wondering how a male becomes a Succubus? Isn't that an Incubus?"

"Is it? Oops... Oh well, we don't really care enough to change it. Is that all?"

I thought back... "yeah, that's all." I couldn't think of anything to add so far. "I'll tell you if I find something else."

With that said I was swallowed into darkness, and plopped back to where I was.

Well then. I need to ask for directions to the nearest city. So walked around talking to the local NPCs.