Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 25: A Plan to Survive

After a few minutes, I was back at the table and handed out drinks to everyone as we waited for our orders to arrive. While we waited, all of us began to discuss what we were going on with us in school for the past couple of days. It was a bit of the same old story for me and my friends: we got surprised pop quizzes, tried to study hard for the upcoming exams, same old, same old. As for Kazuki, his story was more of a complaint due to his struggles with his physical education and math exams. As much as I was amused by his tales, I just couldn't help but feel sorry about his problems with his exams.

Eventually, the waiter came to our table and delivered our meals. For me, I ordered a fruit sandwich with a mocha muffin on the side to go along with my lemon tea. For Zac, he ordered a beef burger and french fries with his usual soda, a typical set-up that you could see in any fast food restaurant chain. However, for Damon, he had a simple bran muffin and croissant along with his decaf cappuccino. As for Kazuki, he just ordered a red velvet cake to go along with his chocolate milkshake. To be honest, I'm not very surprised at my brother's dessert choice. Whenever we were in a cafe or restaurant, he'd do anything just to get his hands on anything sweet or chocolaty.

As we enjoyed our meals (basically just Zac and Kazuki with their own), Damon and I continued our conversation regarding school. However, just as we continued to go about our day, I heard a familiar voice and phrase nearby.

[Dream no more!] / [Transport yourself to another world!] / [Live in a fantasy world just like your favorite anime!]

Those lines again. I remembered that they were said in a promotional trailer of <Isekai Online>. But where was it coming from?

"Hey look at this! They're playing an ad to that game again!"

"What are you talking about?"

As I heard those voices, I turned around to see two girls are chatting in a table right next to us. They looked to be the same age as us, yet I couldn't tell if they attended the same school as me and my friends. However, from what I'd just heard, it seemed that they were watching the same promo that Zac had shown us a few weeks ago.

"That VRMMO game that launched last month, it was featured in the New York Times and everyone in the school is talking about it. They say it's a virtual reality fantasy MMORPG, which means you can play like you're really in a fantasy world like in those fantasy shows and animes you were raving about."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Heck, they even name the game <Isekai> after all of those anime and light novels with the name "Isekai" on it."

"Now I'm interested! But is it a free-to-play game? I don't know if I can afford the game, let alone one of those <ADVR> consoles."

"I'm afraid not. Though I think you can buy a used console for cheap at one of those secondhand shops around here. As for the game, I think you can buy it around $50, but don't worry. The devs already announced they will be lowering the prices a bit, as well as releasing a bundle so you can buy both <Isekai> and <ADVR> console at the same time"

"Really! That's awesome!"

A console bundle, huh? I never expected that <Isekai Online> would become so popular (especially since it hadn't even been a month since it's release) to the point that it had already had its video game console bundle. Just thinking about it made me wonder how many copies were sold in the past few weeks.

"Hayate?"

I quickly shift my attention away from the girls and to Kazuki, which his mouth is stained with chocolate icing. "Didn't you say that we're not allowed to stare at other people?"