Chapter 1: Ascension: Online

"Fantasy is not an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it."

*****

It was a bright, sunny day.

Just kidding, it wasn't.

No, no. It was actually raining. Hard. Even though it was 7:30 in the morning, the sun was nowhere to be seen, blocked by the dark, gloomy clouds that lurked over the horizon. Despite this harsh weather, however, I was happy. After all, today was the day I would finally be able to leave my past behind, and be rebirthed. Today, was the day I would begin my new life - my high school life.

But perhaps this is all a bit confusing. Let's backtrack a bit.

My name is Kaze - pronounced Ka-zeh. Igarashi Kaze. Kaze meant 'wind', and Igarashi meant 'fifty storms'. With a name combination like that, no wonder I was perfectly fine, walking in this howling rain. My parents sure were clever people.

Ah... yes. My parents. They're both dead now. Actually, they've been dead ever since I was born. Car accident before I even hit the age of one... or so I was told, anyway. Ever since then, I had been raised in the house of a family friend. But honestly, I'm more attached to this family than I ever will be to my biological parents. Of course, I was grateful to them for giving birth to me and granting me life. But the ones to nourish that life were not them - the Sakura family was.

Still, it would be a lie if I said I didn't want to meet my real parents. A part of my heart still longed for them, despite all this time of them being gone. Even if my bond with the Sakura family was stronger, it could not replace the blood relationship I have with my biological parents.

For the past fourteen years, I have been living in the Sakura household, and will continue to do so for four more, until I hit eighteen. By then, I would be a legal adult and therefore move out of the house as any grown man should. I was looking forward to the day I could do that - I didn't want to trouble my auntie and uncle in the Sakura family anymore, after all.

But at the same time... I was somewhat reluctant.

The reason for this was a girl named Hina. Sakura Hina. She was the daughter of my auntie and uncle - my 'elder sister'. Of course, we weren't actually siblings, but we were extremely close, almost like a real brother-sister pair. She was also one year older than me, so that made her my elder sister.

From the moment I stepped foot into this house, she has shown me nothing but care. I felt more indebted to her than I did for even auntie and uncle. From washing my clothes to helping me with school, she has done so much for me I don't know if I'll ever be able to repay her back in this lifetime.

Of course, whenever I told her that, she would just laugh and smack me on the back of my neck.

"Mou~what are you even talking about, Kaze-kun? How many times have I told you this already? We're family - there's no such thing as 'repayment' or 'debt'," she would say.

Even so, I still felt greatly indebted to her. It just didn't feel right, taking everything she did for me for granted.

But that's enough about the past. My focus now is the present, and the future.

As I walked through the rain on the sidewalk, various cars drove by. Some were uncivil enough to splash water on me as they sped by, but I didn't really mind. I've always been an optimistic person, even after my parents died in the car accident - I was able to do this because I had something to look forward to. And that was today.

Uncle was driving Hina-nee to her high school, and they had been planning on taking me to mine as well after dropping Hina off. However, I refused, since doing that may cause uncle to be late to work. And besides, I wanted to step through the gates of high school using my own two feet, even though it was pouring outside.

Soon enough, I arrived at the high school I had enrolled in - Tokyo Metropolitan Fujimura High School, Fujimura High for short. It was quite the elite school. In fact, I probably wouldn't have made it in had Hina not tutored me for weeks prior to the exam. I just managed to pass the entrance exam and enroll. I could've chosen a different high school - a better one, actually. The one Hina-nee was going to, Tokyo Metropolitan Kawasaki High School: Kawasaki High.

But there was just one reason I didn't choose to go there, and it had something to do with my past.

Throughout middle school, I had been viciously bullied by a group of students led by a boy named Mazami Ichigo. All of these students looked down on me for being an orphan, and since my grades and physical abilities weren't exactly good either, that only made me more isolated. They would stick dead insects in my desk, splash water on me when I was in the bathroom, and spill my food over on purpose. I had never been good at talking with others, so I didn't try to fight back against the bullying either - after all, even if I did, they would just physically beat me with their numbers advantage.

On the contrary, however, when Hina-nee was still at the school, she stood up for me every time other people tried to bully me. Since she had been the student council president, and the commonly acknowledged most beautiful girl in the school with her long black hair and perfect figure, the bullies all backed down when she was there.

However... deep down, that only led them to resent me even more.

They were jealous. Jealous of Hina-nee protecting me all the time. Jealous of her valuing me more than anyone else in the world. And so, once Hina-nee graduated to go to high school, that one year had been the harshest of all. No one was left to protect me, and going to the teachers was useless. Of course, I just bit my lip and endured it all. When Hina-nee asked me if they were still bullying me, I answered 'no', even though the reality was the exact opposite.

But all that was in the past. The past I would break free from today.

The students of the middle school Hina-nee and I had gone to would all be going to Kawasaki High. That had been standard procedure every year, hence why Hina-nee herself also went there. It was also why I chose a different high school. This time, I swore to not show any weakness anymore. I will first form friends so that I won't become an isolated target for bullying, then slowly work my way up the social ladder in the school. It was a flawless plan. Yes, I realize that this may all be easier said than done, but I was determined to do it. I believed I could do it.

I reached the entrance of Fujimura High and entered the school with a smile on my face. I was excited. I saw on a bulletin board on the wall that my homeroom teacher was Mr. Miyake, and my room number was 203.

But then, my gaze fell upon one other name on the list, right below mine:

Mazami Ichigo.

At first, I thought this was just another person who happened to share the same exact name as the ringleader who had bullied me so viciously during middle school. But right below his name, there was another.

Yamato Horiya.

I recognized this name. He was one of Ichigo's lackeys.

As my eyes swept through the rest of the name list, my emotions began to break. I quickly scanned the other class lists as well, and my mind shattered as I realized.

The students who had bullied me in middle school, along with the rest of my schoolmates...had all enrolled in Fujimura High.

Why... why?!

Why must they be here as well?! Aren't they supposed to be in Kawasaki High?

No... no! There must be a mistake somewhere... there's gotta be!

I spun around in an attempt to escape the school, wanting to deny the reality. I was terrified. Terrified that this would just become another repeat of middle school.

But then, I looked up, and our gazes met.

Standing before me was none other than the sadistic bastard himself, Mazami Ichigo.

He seemed to be surprised to see me as well, but his expression quickly turned into a sneer.

"Oi, oi... look who it is! Igarashi! I never thought I'd see your ugly face again, haha!" he laughed. "Oi, Horiya, come take a look at this!"

Yamato Horiya. Ichigo's right-hand man.

"No way... is that who I think it is?" he said, widening his eyes in surprise as he saw me.

"The very same!" Ichigo replied. "Can you believe it? Looks like he still hasn't had enough from middle school, huh?"

"Haha! Looks like our three years of high school will be fun, with him keeping us company!" Horiya chuckled.

The two of them laughed together as if thoroughly enjoying this.

No... I don't want to... not again... this is going to be just a repeat of middle school... I clenched my fists.

I wanted to run. To escape this accursed situation. But I couldn't. My feet wouldn't move. I was completely frozen in place, simply out of fear.

"Well, we can mess with him later," Ichigo said. "Let's get to class first...wouldn't want to get marked late on the first day because of this loser."

"Yeah... we have three whole years, after all," Horiya agreed with a sinister smirk, and the two of them walked off. But just before they went out of earshot, I managed to overhear something from their conversation.

"Oh yeah, by the way, have you tried out that new ARMMORPG yet?"

"What, Ascension Online? Yeah. It's goddamn awesome!"

"Right? Hey, what's your ID? I'll add you once we get to Level 50 and unlock the social function..."

As the two of them left, I finally relaxed. But what they said still hung on my mind.

... ARMMORPG? Ascension Online?

I've heard of the first term, but not the second. ARMMORPGs were a new genre of video games that came out fairly recently, around last year or so. Unlike normal video games, ARMMORPGs allowed the player to fully dive into a virtual reality - no, an alternate reality. AR (alternate reality) technology was based on VR (virtual reality), but VR was a thing of the past. Unlike VR which was extremely limited and clearly virtual, you would be able to move freely within AR - alternate reality - and whatever you did inside the game could affect real life as well - for example, if you ate within the game, it would also satiate hunger in the real world. Drinking water worked in a similar fashion.

The five senses of the human body are perfectly recreated within the game as well. To sum it up, alternate reality felt just like real life. Of course, dying inside the alternate reality wouldn't kill you in real life, but pain could still be felt to make it as realistic as possible. Because of all these reasons, this technology quickly rose in popularity, and according to statistics, 98% of the world's population had an AR set as of current.

To be honest, I've always wanted an AR set. However, the Sakura household simply didn't have one, mainly because Hina-nee had never been interested in such things, and the AR games out right now just aren't really suitable for older audiences like auntie and uncle. They were all revolved around things like gunfights and space battles - mainly focused on fast-paced combat and quick reaction times. For people age 30 and above, this just wasn't that appealing.

That being said, this new Ascension: Online AR game...

... I would have to check it out myself to be sure. If it was what I hoped it to be... perhaps there was a way out of my situation after all.

Perhaps... the launch of this game will mark the beginning of a new world - a new reality.

A reality filled with endless possibilities.