Parallel Vol.2 [Legacy Edition]

Chapter 36: Time-Out

The full body Virtual Drive released a long sigh as its hatch yawned open. Its helmet retracted off the head of its occupant as he opened his eyes.

Suzuki gazed silently at the ceiling above, mind occupied by the meeting between Kashi and Razznik. The dark elf had been booted out of the game without warning because of the shock from Rider's drain, which meant Suzuki could not return for six hours. But there was no need to panic. He knew Rider would protect Kashi's body until he returned, and nothing could beat that monster.

Suzuki breathed deeply as he sat up, drawing his right knee to his chest. He rested his forehead against his knee, eyes closed. "You're really alive. I wonder, do you hate me, Razz." As expected, he received no answer to his question. "Not that you have a right to be." He said as hopped off the Virtual Drive. "You did get to live a thousand years longer than I ever will."

He glanced around his room – scratch that. This place could be compared to an apartment. It was large enough to house a kingsized bed, a bathroom and not one, but two 3-D holo-projectors. A fact he was happy with, since they really assisted with his work. The only source of natural light and air was the balcony – which was shut and curtains drawn, as he had not stepped onto it once.

He flexed his shoulders as he walked across cold, tiled floors – white, with black cloudy stains – to the white-washed wall by his bed. He placed his palm on it, then watched as a section of the wall slid open. The bed was raised, then promptly swallowed by the hole. He never slept on the thing anyway.

Struck by the sudden vastness of the room, Suzuki marvelled at how the loss of a single bed revealed just how stark the space actually was. Not surprising too, as the only things in the room were the virtual drive, his workstation, and the holo-projectors which added no substance as they were little more than metallic circles on the floor.

Kashi's busy schedule had left Suzuki with no time to furnish the place. Well, he really was not sure he wanted to in the first place. The pristine walls and ceilings were a welcome canvas to try something new, but beyond that, he had everything he needed already.

"Turn on TV, Channel 23," Suzuki called as he did a few stretches.

The voice recognition software complied. The wall opposite his bed slid open, revealing a ridiculously large television. He could have also used the holo-tv, but there was something about the old TV's that holograms just couldn't replicate.

Channel 23 was a news channel. He had a lot of anime and manga to catch up on, but he figured six hours would only whet his appetite, rather than sate it. So, he chose to check if anything interesting was happening in the world itself.

He listened to the reporter drone on about nothing as he rapidly jumped in place to restore blood flow, and check his current stamina. Twenty minutes later, his breathing laboured, and he promptly stopped. Prolonged stay in the Virtual Drive had weakened him as expected. But it was within projected parameters. Absolutely no need to reduce Kashi's sessions.

Satisfied, he walked over to his workstation where his PDA sat next to an all-in-one desktop computer (no external CPUs), flanked by holo-screens on both sides. He plopped down on the wheeled chair, put on a pair of synth-gloves (devices that were used to operate holograms), then turned on the desktop by double-tapping a command on the PDA. The young man was not sure what to do with this extra time. He had a timetable of his own to follow. In it, he was not supposed to have returned for another couple of days.

"Thirty hours wasted," Suzuki muttered as the screen displayed L.N.E's home site. "Well, I can gather some information if nothing else." A prompt on his PDA notified him of an increase in rank to level 6, allowing him to comment on sites and contact the outside world using a secured channel from his PDA.