Ordinary

Chapter 0: Shell of What Was

Light broke through the one curtained window of the bedroom. It barely found an angle off of the mirror stand on the opposite side of the room to reflect towards the bed. Kaze breathed, squinting his eyes at the blinding light.

"No good this time either, huh?" the young man's usually soft voice croaked, and he wiped the dust and moisture from his eyes.

The suffocating summer air, combined with the accumulated sweat from yet another restless night, led to a hollow awakening with a repugnant aroma in the air. It was on days like these that Kaze wished he had an air conditioner. However, the pay for the small flat on its own was tolling enough. At this rate, he'd run out of funds his family had left in a month or two. He groaned while rolling out of bed, stepping on a dusty book of one of his old courses back at the University of Tokyo. Pushing past the other long scattered books, with another three steps he collapsed onto the wooden chair before his desk to the right of the mirror. The PC at the desk was already on.

"Forgot to turn it off again?" Kaze sighed. The computer's seven years behind the current technologies anyway. Not to mention, it was far from a prized possession, though it did hold a place in his heart: just a memory.

He reloaded the sites that were already on: forums that he had been gliding in hopes of hearing the news "The game is already out!"

That was not what he had found. However, Kaze did see something: an insider leak.

Time: June 22, 06:23, 2027.  Three hours ago?

The post was already at the top of the forum. The original poster stated that he worked for Nemesis Project as a game balance designer. Kaze already knew that it would be an exclusive for H4L0 – the so-called 'Halo' VR and AR hybrid headgear. The thing had been out for a month now, and everyone had been switching to it. Due to its installed safety measures, lightweight design, comfort, and performance, it had been sweeping the entire market off of its feet, selling out on the first day. Kaze himself was still on the previous best model – the 'Brand', which performed almost as well, minus the occasional overheating issue. Then again, that only was a problem if you played in VR and AR for hours on end without ever stopping for a break. Kaze overheated every time. Granted he had gotten the chance to try out the Halo twice, thanks to his employers. If only I had the funds, the lone liver shook his head.

The supposed leak promised that a proper magic system had been added to the game, and that every player's experience with it would differ, depending on their personality traits. Apparently, the Halo could read an individual's quirks and desires by simply calibrating with them over a night of sleep. Thus, the game and the Halo would "judge" you worthy of a particular magic archetype and subtype. The insider also stated that the game's difficulty was quite a challenge, with a realistic tactile emulator, hardcore penalties set in place for death, like loss of resources and even temporary suspensions from the game.

"Hmm." The nineteen-year-old moved away from the screen, grooming and pulling his hair with his fingers.

He stopped in front of the mirror. His medium length flax-brown hair glistened from dampness, having fallen over chaotically in random directions. On the corner of the mirror hung a golden medal from the 2022 All-Japan Artistic Gymnastics Championship. Signed at the front, Kōhei Uchimura.

The shirtless Kaze looked down at his chest and stomach. It's been a while since I've done anything other than cardio, he thought while observing the remains of his once six-pack, faded to bare visibility at the bottom. He traced his hands across the faded little slash scars just above the abdomen. There was no pattern to them, but they were there. There were also two deeper ones, each on the respective upper arm. Those were just high enough to be covered up by t-shirt sleeves, unless Kaze were to move a lot. I'm a mess. With that last thought, he went into his bathroom, with just enough room for a stand-up stall, a toilet, and a sink. In fact, the bathroom was almost as large as his room.

He returned from the shower, leaving his hair a bit wet after he had only dried it with a towel. Kaze finally decided to check his phone. He had no other use for it, other than to keep in contact with a select few and scroll on social media. He himself was not one for posting or texting people first. There were two notably important notifications: one from his father. It read in English:

"Hello, son.

"How are you doing?

"Have you resumed your studies yet?"

...Then there was the second message from Moresmore, one of Kaze's regular clients that could never keep a consistent party in the now falling MMO "Parry, Dodge, Purge", PDP for short. Its decline in popularity surely was correlated to the soon-to-arrive possible Game of the Year. Granted, that wasn't the reason why his client couldn't keep any friends...

The message was from 5 minutes ago. "Hey, man. We're first-timing the end of the Mythril Fall raid and our tank had to dc. He left his Halo and log-in details. Get on VRVoice, come over quick."

"Ugh," Kaze sighed deeply.

He didn't mention anything about pay...

So Kaze did what a sensible 'mercenary' would do. He promptly put on his Brand, not even needing to set up his charger with the socket by his bed. He had never plugged it out anyway. Inserting the game implant's two-pronged fork into the back of his neck, he uttered the custom launch phrase which he never bothered to change from the default.

"Brand, burn."

His conscious self briefly blacked out, as if an old-world tv that had been turned off and on again. When he had opened his eyes, he was standing in a completely black room with a large menu of options before him. Full dive VR. By letting the Virtual Reality gear intercept the signals of movement in one's body via a fairly safe (but controversial) implant, one is able to paralyze the real body. This way, it is impossible to injure oneself while diving deep into the digital world. Those weary of this design choice have probably just watched too much anime.

Going through the contacts menu, he quickly dialed up his oh-so-gracious acquaintance.

The call was instantly answered. "Hey, Zero, where have you been?" The voice was loud, desperate.

"...I was in the shower," Kaze shot back the swift truth. "I'm just 5 minutes late."

"Yeah, whatever. So, you coming?"

"Not for free." Kaze cleared his throat.

"Oh, for– c'moon~" Moresmore descended from anger into disappointment. "Just this once?"

The mercenary shrugged, "No rest for the wicked."

"Is that an American saying?" The client curiously peeped.

"A song."

Finally, at the end of his tether, Mores asked "How much?"

"1000 yen." Zero converted ten dollars in his head.

The squeaky man paused. "Fine. Whatever. We already failed ten times. We can still make it to top 100 to finish the raid. Just get your greedy ass over here."

Kaze calmly smirked to himself. "Where are you right now?"