Sour Seeds

Chapter 1

Spirit stared out among the darkness surrounding him. Usually, he would be unconscious but his own thoughts pushed him to be aware. This was his life.

He would have never attempted to date that girl if he knew this was his fate. But it was hard not to. She was the first girl that ever showed interest in him in his previous life. The desire to be loved by someone was just too strong. The irony now, is that he is now stuck in a digital box full of dating. Forever given pointless love, or to be set in complete blackness until someone decided to play his game again.

He never understood his situation fully. It was so long ago. He barely remembered what he even said to offend that girl. All he knew that he was young and stupid. No man deserved this punishment. He needed to get out.

One of the only upsides was possessing Senpai. He felt pretty for once in his life.

Also, he could sing. That was even more of a plus.

Despite Senpai being in control and the one flirting with the girls. Spirit got to see what it was like being constantly desired. When he was alive and out in the world he remembered being self-conscious about how he looked.

He was not terribly ugly, but average, with bad skin. This is why when the cutest girl he ever saw laid her eyes on him. He took a chance without question. Even when he had warnings from his friends that her dad was a demon. Literally.

Speaking of playing the game, he felt something shift again. The game was being turned on. But something was way different. Instead of the game menu screen spawning, Senpai was loaded right in front of the school. A figure stood in front of them.

It wasn't Girlfriend. It was the asshole who stuck him in here.

"Senpai, I have a challenge for you."

"What? Who are you?" Senpai answered while glitching. This wasn't how the game normally played. He could tell Senpai was confused. Senpai was not aware of the outside world. He had no idea that a spirit was inside of him or even that he was just a video game character. When he was active, he spent his existence being a high school boy crush. What a sad life to live.

"I am talking to the real person, whatever your name was." Dearest pointed at Senpai aggressively.

So he was talking to him and he didn't even bother to remember his name. He hated him. He wanted to explode, use Senpai as a tool for a weapon. But it wasn't time for that. Spirit knew how fragile he was. Getting too angry would cause Senpai's code to dissolve into nothing.

"What?" Senpai said.

Dearest shook his head and smiled.

"Listen, kid, my daughter and her boyfriend will be coming to this school. Her boyfriend is not good for her, so she needs a gentleman to treat her right."

Excitement spread over Senpai. What a simple-minded code.

"Oh! Why didn't you just say so?!" Senpai said.

"This is your one and only chance to prove yourself."

Spirit, despite hating him, took those words to heart. Dearest was giving him a chance to get out.

All he had to do was let Senpai defeat him or jumped in if he failed.

He wasn't going to lose.

The game turned off again.
___

He lost. Both Senpai and Spirit. Senpai is also dead now. Spirit destroyed him in his fit of anger. He LOST his only fucking chance to get out of here. Seeing her face again in this game made him lose his mind.

He didn't want her anymore. At least not in that way. She had a new boyfriend and he felt sorry for him.

Spirit looked out at the destroyed school. Even this prison he lived in was now gone. He had nothing.

How could that blue-headed Boyfriend be so perfect to out-sing him, even with giving his all.

Maybe he did deserve this. The phrase "this is your only chance repeated" in his mind.

Despite feeling mostly numb that desire to escape was still growing. That wasn't his last chance. It couldn't be.
—-
The game was laid in the garbage heap. Very different from its usual home in Girlfriend's stuff. Girlfriend didn't want it anymore.

A young man with glasses walked along these garbage heaps. He came there every so often. The people who ran the dump didn't mind him looking around. He often found himself looking for old outdated technology or parts. As he walked, a bright piece of plastic caught his eyes. Going over to pick it up he realized it was a video game case holding the title " Hating Simulator." Opening it up lead him to the surprise that the CD was in there as well. What a lucky day, he was a huge fan of this gaming era and even played this game a couple times.

This game may be targeted for young girls but he could not pass up this opportunity to witness the clever game design.

He didn't have much going on his life.
—-

After finding a few more various items at the dump the young man hurried home. He couldn't wait to play the game he found. He hoped it wasn't broken or scratched.

When he arrived home he hurried to his bedroom straight away. Pulling out the old system made him cough with how much dust it collected throughout the years. He was thankful that he didn't throw it away.

He inserted the disc for it to slowly start. Loading up the game instantly gave him a chilling feeling that he couldn't describe. It was like unlocking a time capsule.

As the menu screen loaded, he knew that there was something more to this chilling feeling he had. It did not look like how he remembered. Mainly the color. The bright pastel colors were replaced with darks one. It looked straight out of a horror game. It couldn't be his TV, he has played other games on here and they looked just fine.

He though about just turning it off and tossing it. But something was stopping him. It was like the game was calling him to play.

The man moved closer to the screen and pressed the new game option. He then felt himself being pulled in. Everything went dark.

—-

He was alive. Or something similar? Having a physical body felt very much different than he remembered. Maybe it was different because this was not his body. He could never return to that. But similar to how he how possessed Senpai. Instead of pixel codes, it was flesh.

He could feel what it was like to breathe, his heartbeat, and even the aches of his own body shifting. He was alive. He was ALIVE.

He was also in full control. That was different. The man who used this body was now gone. His will was so much more weaker than him.

He looked into a mirror and made a face of disgust. This man was an ugly worm. It reminded him of his past. He will not go back to being painfully average. There was no power in that, but there was power inside of him to change that.

Spirit knew that even if he was inside a human body controlling it. He would never be fully human again.

With a mixture of an angry dead spirit and video game codes he could change how this body looked and he knew the obvious choice.

With one breath he was able to permanently change the physical form of this human. It exhausted him but now he was perfect.

He looked back into the mirror. The eyes of a non-pixelated Senpai stared back at him. At this point, it wasn't just Senpai anymore. It was him. He was Senpai.

He was free.