Why did it happen? It was impossible to say. It just happened. Two days ago a small group of people found their world mysteriously changed. It wasn't the world around them that changed though. No, instead it was something else. They themselves had changed. Upon waking up on that fateful day these people would discover the names of people floating over the heads of those around them and, if they looked in the mirror, themselves. Next to these names also were the letters LV and a number next to that. Most people would have 1, but some may have had 2 or 3 for some mysterious reason.

Still though nothing else in Neo Tokyo or even in all of Japerica didn't change. Everyone still went and lived their ordinary lives despite how much this small group of people changed. Did their lives change though or did they just change? You would have to ask them their take on that. On the surface though no. Nothing would have changed for them other than being affected by this mysterious phenomenon. In fact, despite having it affect them their lives would continue to function as normal unless they strove to make it otherwise. Still, if everything else around them was normal then there really would be no reason to.

---

Those two days came and went rather quickly. Whether they investigated and found out more about what they may or may not discover to be a strange power would be besides the point. As this group lived out their lives around noon suddenly in front of each of them appeared another alert window with a small ding Anyone else around these people would be unable to see the window or hear the sound that the window made as it appeared. Bright blue in hue, flat like paper with an exclamation mark on it. On the window in black text said the following, "The Quest 'Others like Me?' has been created".

Two buttons were below the text. One read 'Accept (Y)' and the other read 'Ignore (N)'. If they really decided to hit the 'Ignore' button they would be able to go about their days as normal. For the more adventurous or curious sort that hit 'Accept' button would see another window appear. It seemed to tell the details of the 'Quest' that had been created. It was also a bigger square than the smaller rectangular window that showed this 'Quest' being created. This larger window read the following.



Where would one start though? It was hard to say. The city was large and even though <The Gamer> would be above the heads of others like them it would still be incredibly hard to find people like each other. There were a few good places to start like the large mega mall Septemberes or maybe other larger places of people gathering like Neo Tokyo U where alot of students attended. Of course, there was a chance of finding people in the streets around the Entertainment District of Neo Tokyo where alot of shops and clubs as well, Septemberes being the centerpiece of the district.

There was also the Port Island District, which could only be accessed from the main part of Neo Tokyo by train or a bridge since it was an island near Neo Tokyo and considered to be a part of Neo Tokyo. This was the more residential and school district of Neo Tokyo as it was were Neo Tokyo U was located as well as a large number of residences. Of course, there were other areas not on the Port Island District that were residential as well, but the Port Island held some of the more larger residential areas. Neo Tokyo was one of the largest cities in not only Japerica, but the entire world. It would be hard to find other people with <The Gamer> above their head even if it was floating above their head.

Still though, no sense in not accepting the Quest and not looking. After all, whatever was going on certainly was something completely out of the 'Normal', if such a thing even truly existed in the world.

'Hey Yoshida.' A large woman is a black leather jacket turned toward the voice, sighing deeply. 'We've got another drunk in the 2F toilet... She's already given the cleaner a black eye.' A young man was one of the many bar staff here at the Parthenon, a run-down dive of a club hidden away in the back alleys of Neo Tokyo. It attracted all the dumbest clientèle, from wannabe drug dealers to high school kids getting drunk off their pitiful allowance. The woman noted a small blue window appear in front of her, another one of those ridiculous quest notifications... it said Remove the Drunk this time. She ignored it, safe in the assumption that it was all in her head. 'Alright, alright... I'll chuck her out back.' Yoshida Yuuko headed back inside the club and found herself rather looking forward to the task... Being a bouncer was a boring job, but being able to deck idiots was one of the little perks.

While Yuuko was calm, even apathetic about it now, this whole Gamer thing had scared the hell out of her when it first popped up. It prompted a bit of panic on her part as she tried to Google and Wiki the bizarre phenomenon; naturally there was no evidence online bar a few delusional forums posts probably made by druggies. So in the end (and after a bottle of whiskey) she decided to just stop caring and let it go. In a way it was kind of useful; Yuuko was terrible at remembering names, so tags made life a damn sight easier. And so she had gotten on with her life as per usual, heading back to work for the next few nights. Her thoughts drifted as she dragged the comatose woman downstairs and she found herself questioning the very nature of her new 'ability'. Could it be psychological, like synaesthesia? That didn't explain how she could see everyone's names, regardless of whether or not she knew them. It could be something more serious, like some messed up government implant or something... Come to think of it, she did have an operation a few months back. Suppressing a shudder, Yuuko discarded both the thought and the drunk idiot out the back door and sparked up a cigarette. Shift's nearly over, she thought languidly. Need to get back to that UniIV Francio playthrough... Just need to work out a way to invade eastwards. And so she spent the rest of her shift out the back door, keeping one lazy eye on the drunk and devising tactics for her precious games. Let's be honest, it's not as though she had anything better to do.

She slept like a log the next day, only crawling out of bed at two o'clock... She tottered over to the bathroom and was appalled by the spectre in the mirror. '... and I feel like shit. Marvellous...' In hindsight, perhaps drunk gaming for six hours after an eight hour shift wasn't a great idea. At least it was a day off... Or perhaps not. She finally noticed the new quest window floating before her and on a hungover whim, gave it a good read for once. Others like me... Other freaks who think they're in a game? Yuuko paused uncertainly, weighing up the idea... Might not be so bad actually. It's not as though she had any gamer friends IRL; might be a good excuse. Of course, finding people who knew what the hell was going on would be nice too, but Yuuko had to get her priorities in order. And so an hour later (after a comprehensive detox) she headed out, taking a bus to the inner city shopping centre; by logic, more people would mean a higher chance of finding a... Gamer, right? Better start in Game then.

Naturally, within ten minutes she had forgotten all about Gamers and was completely focused on the new Absolute War release...

Spooky Hat was, honestly, very psyched about The Gamer. But without any overall objective, what was he to do? He had played games before- he was a social outcast, after all. Most of the time they start with a cohesive plot line, but sometimes you have to piddle around for a while before getting to the main quest. Presumably he had been in the "piddle around" stage since he was given The Gamer, and so he knew to wait patiently until something happened.

Something was "Others like me."

Of course, Spooky knew that he worked in the most populous area in the city, and as such should keep a watchful eye out for people with the <The Gamer> tag. Every few seconds at work he would look up, check his surroundings, become disappointed, and look back down. He did this until he was finally surprised by a name with <The Gamer>. He rushed to the front of Septembers to greet the Gamer.

There were two days before it happened. His first quest. But the two day prior were still important.
The First Day
It started off quite late. It was already the afternoon when Timothy woke up that day, but he got up and opened the blinds to let in sunlight. He turned around to walk to the bathroom but he paused, turned to face the window again, and looked straight down. Down on the street, where along with the bustle of people, were their supposed names. Not only that, but a phrase at the end of their names, "LVL" and a number one or two. There was another one with three, though it semmed like those people were rare. Jus from that, Tim just knew that it would be that kind of day, one full of adventure and exploration. Although, no matter how hard he tried, he never found anything out about this phenomenon. Not even when he googled it, or consulted his books. All hope seemed to be lost when he even went outdoors to try to ask people if they had a clue to what was going on. As the sun sank, so did Tim's hopes and excitement. He just concluded that he was daydreaming it all, probably due to all the MMORPGs he was playing recently. Right before he gave all hope and went to bed, he hopped on the computer, and a reminder appeared "Midnight release of Absolute War! Get it!!!!!!!!!!". Timothy had no desire to spend the night outdoors getting the new game, he would just get his pre-order tomorrow, he paid extra for the store to keep a copy for him.
The Second Day
The second day flew by. Tim tried to ignore all that had happened yesterday, including the game's release. He concluded that it was just a very expansive dream, and he'd eventually wake up. Except he didn't. The only thing out of the ordinary from yesterday, was a shining 500 yen coin on the ground. It was not a bad find, Timothy thought, I must be lucky or something... At the end of the day he went to bed, sure, that something would happen tomorrow. Possibly, that he would wake up.

---

On the day of the first quest, Tim passed through the day, like he rode the bleak train. It was slow but nothing important happened, until of course, the quest.
Timothy was already on the way to pick up his game, when it appeared. He was taking a walk, and the notification sounded. He looked around him to see if anyone else noticed the quest, but they trudged along as if they were NPC's of a game. After accepting the quest, the hurried his way to Septemberes, where he would get the game, and wait around the game store for an hour. If no one came, he would then walk to the cyber-café a few blocks away, where he would normally see some MMORPG players play and eat snacks.
He trudged towards the entrance of all the game stores, but there was not a gamer to be found, so he headed into one of the biggest ones, picked up his game and bought it. Howerever, dispite his wishful thinking, there was no gamer by the time he turned around.
It didn't stop him from waiting in the store, pretending to browse the selection of already owned games, waiting for someone to show up.

It was 5am in the morning. Sasha's room was dark, illuminated only by the unearthly light of the PC monitor, the only sounds were her occasional grunts and the furious clacking of her fingers against the keyboard. Through the small opening in the curtains the sky was beginning to light up. It was a strangely serene scene, as opposed to the intense battle raging on within the screen.

Sasha's online avatar weaved through an epileptic barrage of energy bolts to deliver the final blow to the raid boss. The dragon screamed and collapsed like a falling tree. She slumped back into her chair as the victory theme played from her headset. Her shirt was damp with perspiration.

"They're really trying hard to kill us. That boss was way too difficult!" she said seemingly to herself, but at least a dozen other people heard her voice over the internet.

"Yeah, but we made it anyway didn't we?" a disembodied male voice whispered through her headset.

"Wouldn't be possible without you, seresu," commended another. Seresu was short for 'selestial', her online handle. In the world of Dungeon Busters, it was a name that garnered awe.

"Everyone did well too! I'm totally exhausted. Gonna hit the sack, g'night guys," Sasha announced before logging off. Her desktop returned to the screen. She climbed out of her seat and stretched languidly. A shower, then bed, she decided.

When she came out of the bathroom later, clean and fresh, there was someone standing in the corridor. It was her father, getting ready for work. The man saw her daughter and smiled. He was however hesitant about approaching her. Ever since she had stopped being a little girl, Mr. Matsu had not known how to connect with Sasha. Sasha, like most teenagers, didn't really know what to say either.

"G-good morning, father," Sasha said, feeling guilty about the fact that she stayed up the entire night playing Dungeon Busters. She tried to shimmy into her room but her father began to speak.

"Good morning, sweetie. You're up early today."

"Uh yeaaah-" her eyes caught something strange, and she looked up. Above her father's head, was a floating white text that said "LV 1- Matsu Nakamura". Sasha's jaw dropped. What on earth was that?

"Have a good day then. I've got to run. Big meeting first thing in the morning today," her father said, his tone almost apologetic. As he walked down the corridor the floating text followed him like a neon sign glued to his head. Only when he disappeared from sight did the text disappear.

Sasha knew she wasn't hallucinating. All thoughts of sleeping disappeared. She quickly dressed, pulling on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. In the kitchen, her mother was preparing breakfast. Her eyes widened, surprised that Sasha had made it for breakfast. Sure enough, her name and level was displayed above her head. Crazy. She must be going crazy. This must be what I get for gaming too much.

"Uh, you aren't seeing floating words above our heads, are you?" she asked out loud. Mr. Matsu gave her a blank stare.

"I'm sorry, what do you mean?"

"Nevermind, it was a joke."

She slowly chewed her rice, lost in thought. As a gamer, she automatically recognized it as name displays used in many MMORPGs and online games. That did not tell her anything at all.

After finishing her breakfast, she surprised her parents a second time by heading out. Sure enough, everyone she came across had a level and name displayed on their heads. Not everyone was the same level- the highest she saw was a large man whose attire literally spelled yakuza. He was level five.

"Hahah, so, do I have stats and stuff?" There was obviously no buttons to press in her "HUD", so maybe there was another method. Voice activation? "…system? Stats? Status? Status… window?"

A blue screen popped up. On it was her basic information and a list of statistics ripped straight out of a game. Sasha stared wide eyed at it, but by now she was getting quite used to all these unbelievable things. After trying a slew of other keywords she managed to find that there was an Inventory, Skills, Quest, and a Talent window. Nothing else worked, but there could be keywords she missed.

Curiosity satisfied, she returned home. As hard as she tried, she couldn't figure out how to gain exp points or receive quests. As an experiment, she asked her mother for errands. It didn't work. Puzzled, she went back to playing Dungeon Busters. Sasha did not manage to find anything out in the next day either.

In the following afternoon, she stirred from sleep to a blue panel. It read, "The Quest 'Others like Me?' has been created," followed by two buttons, "accept", or "ignore". Sleepy eyed, Sasha pushed in "accept" without further thought.

"Uh… should I have done that, I wonder."

She called up her quest window. There it was, a single ongoing quest. And it was a very peculiar quest at that. It urged her to search for other "Gamers", presumably other people like her.

"That means, I'm not the only person with this insanity?" she thought out loud. Like any good netizen she looked to the internet for information. However, nothing substantial turned up from her searches. Finally she decided to post on 2ch, hoping that someone on the forum might know something. With that done, she moved her cursor and double-clicked on the Dungeon Busters icon.

Normally Ryutaro wouldn’t have spared more than a few moments to fix his appearance at the mirror, but today was slightly different. As he stared at the mirror, it wasn’t his appearance that held his attention, but rather the bright blue texts above his head. His first instinct was to bob his head around, as if the action would dislodge the strange text, but nope, they stuck to him regardless of what he did. Trying to touch them yielded no results, as his hands passed clean through, and all first-year could mutter was, “Huh…” as he stared into the mirror.

As much as he would have liked to dwell on the strangeness of the situation, the world kept on spinning, and as such he still had school to attend. “Ah…” he grumbled to himself in annoyance as he slipped his arm through a strap of his bag, before hopping down the stairs. He paused only briefly to take in the text above his mother’s head; it was slightly different from his. She didn’t have a special title like his <The Gamer> or ‘Jack of Few Trades’, but she was a level higher than him, at two instead of one. The moment was broken when she turned around and smiled at him, waving him over as she set a plate down on the table in the dining room. “Come on, Ryuchi. You’ve still got time.”

She was right, he had managed to come down earlier than usual despite taking a while to try and figure things out, rather unsuccessfully by the way. So despite the fact that the situation was still a bit strange to him and put him on edge, Ryutaro decided to take advantage of the moment of normality. “Thanks,” he murmured as he placed his bag on the floor and took a seat across from his mother, digging in. He almost regretted it, and had to fight the urge to sigh and facepalm, lest he worry her.

System said Health regeneration increased by 10%.

Instead, he just raised his finger to close the notification, acting as if he had just recalled something to cover for the otherwise strange motion. He pushed the plate away, having finished quickly before he asked, “I did tell you I was coming home late today right?”

“Mhmm,” she murmured with a nod as she took the plate away and dropped it into the sink, making a small splash. “Gymnastic team practice right?”

“Yeah. I’ll be back at around 6 or 7 then. See ya,” he called out as he grabbed his bag and bounded down another flight of stairs towards the front door. He was slipping on his shoes when a call of “Have fun,” came down from above. “I will,” he called back again before he finally slipped out of the house, the door pulled closed behind him.

---

He had gotten used to seeing people with their levels and names displayed above their heads after the first dozen. Now Ryutaro wished there was a way to toggle whatever this was off. Sure, it could be useful in a bunch of situations, but it was really distracting to get dozens of name every time he bothered to look up. With a sigh, he turned his gaze back downwards and focused on the task at hand.

The best explanation he could come up with was somehow, one way or another, he was viewing reality through the lens of a game. It was absolutely ludicrous, but he didn’t bother with such an assumption without proof. That came in the fact that he could call forth windows, Status, Inventory, Talents, Skills, and hell even a Quest. They were set out in a manner not too unlike the many MMORPGs he had played, and frankly the Skills window had the most damning proof yet.

Skill Window said The Gamer (MAX LV) (Passive): You possess the Mind of a Gamer. +1 INT, +1 DEX. Immune to all Psychological Affects. Able to analyze things in the same way a gamer could.

Game Character's Body (MAX LV) (Passive): You possess a body that lets you live like a Game Character in the real world.

So yes, Ryutaro was fairly set in his belief that somehow the world or, at the least, his personal reality had been game-ified. With that much established, he sighed to release some tension before finally looking up at where he was going. Despite his mutterings, no further windows had been opened, so he could only assume he was either missing the key phrases, or the so-called UI was extremely limited. Anyways, just a short distance away was Neo Tokyo U, his destination for the day and well frankly, many days to come.

---

It was a relatively uneventful day for the most part, after the shock of having his life game-ified of course. Classes at the university had been boring as usual, with him struggling to stay awake and pay attention. Honestly, he had been more interested in his professors at times than what they were actually saying. They held titles like, ‘Head of Psychology Department’, or, ‘5th Dan Kendoka’, and levels ranging from three to nine; it was pretty damn cool.

Practice at the gymnastics club had gone as usual, albeit his performance was far from ideal. Probably had something to do with the fact that the club’s leader was a level four, while Ryutaro himself was only one. He knew his upperclassman didn’t know of his ‘level’, but the first-year couldn’t help but get pumped up with such an easily accessible goal. ‘Become level five by the end of this month and surpass my captain.’ It was as good as any.

---

It was almost frightening how easily he had brushed aside the strangeness of this “ability” he had gained, and it took an entirely new occurrence to remind Ryutaro of how things had changed. He didn’t know how he had noticed it, but as he was walking to school the next day, his head jerked to the side as if compelled and his eyes spotted a yellow purse laying near a lamppost. He looked around, but people seemed to be passing it by without so much as a spare glance. A bit odd in his opinion, but with a shrug, he crouched down and picked the lost object up, giving it a small dust off.

He just as quickly nearly dropped it when a window sprung from it, although he managed to just tighten his grip instead.

System: Quest said Return the Lost Purse

You’ve discovered a lost purse. Do the right thing and try to return it to its rightful owner.
Completion Reward: 3 EXP, Reward from Owner?
Failure: Possibly Guilt, The Purse’s Contents

A quick glance told Ryutaro all he needed to know, and a small grin formed on his expression. He didn’t hesitate to hit the [Accept] button, causing the window to close itself. After all he wasn’t lacking in money, and to him, a beginner in this “game”, experience was far more valuable. Not to mention, it was the right thing to do.

Ryutaro did feel slightly bad for rummaging through the girl’s purse, but how else was he going to get a clue who it belonged to? He took note of the University ID inside along with the cellphone, before a plan formed in his mind. The library’s printers would be seeing some use today… and some of his money as well.

---

It was halfway through practice with the gymnastics club when Ryutaro’s cell phone finally rang. Excusing himself, but not without some teasing from the other members, he was just glad that this quest wasn’t going to drag itself out for days and weeks on end.

---

It was a quick meeting between the two of them. Ryutaro compared her to the student ID, and asked for a bit of information of the phone to confirm she was the owner, before handing her possessions over. A few formalities were exchanged between the two of them, a reward was offered, a reward was turned down, and both walked away with a smile. She because her possessions had been returned, and he because a bright blue window had appeared.

System: Quest Complete said Reward: 3 Exp

---

In the lecture halls with hundreds of others, Ryutaro was fighting the urge to simply slump on the desk and nap. His professor droned on about this and that, but the noise simply flitted in through one year and out the other. His eyes moved to the screen of his laptop, and he tapped the touch screen lazily, flicking his finger vertically to scroll through the web page. So unfocused, that when a window appeared, Ryutaro nearly fell from his chair. He didn’t quite do that, but as his face smacked into the table, he did catch his classmates’ attentions.

“Ow…” he muttered under his breath as he rubbed his forehead, before he looked up at the cause of all this.

System Quest said Others Like Me
Issued By: A Passing Thought

Sometimes in the world there exist multiples of the same thing. There could possibly be more of those with <The Gamer> above their heads, or in this case more of those who are <The Gamer>. Whether this is true or not is uncertain, but perhaps going to investigate could be very beneficial. Its not like there is much else to do at this point anyway.

Reward: 4 EXP, Possibly more information on <The Gamer>

Failure: Not finding out more about <The Gamer>

Just like last time, Ryutaro cracked a grin and didn’t hesitate to hit the [Accept] button. The window snapped closed and he was left to think, all the noises around tuned out. He was sure he hadn’t seen another <Gamer> in the two days, he would have definitely noticed something like that above an individual’s head. There had to be at least hundreds, if not thousands of people attending the university he had glanced at over the past two days. It was alm-

Before he could get too lost in his contemplations though, the refresh of the webpage he was on caught his attention. He blinked for a moment, unsure of what he was seeing, and even went so far as to refresh the page manually again, but nope it was still there. A thread on 2chan asking about <Gamers>, what were the chances? Actually pretty damn high if Ryutaro bothered to think about it. Nevertheless, he didn’t question his good fortune and quickly replied to the thread, including a throw-away email account with his post.

‘<Gamer>? Blue text above your head? Levels? [Game Character’s Body]? Email me if you want to discuss.’

The previous Absolute War games weren't terrible, but the trend towards rock-paper-scissors combat wasn't one that Yuuko particularly liked... However she had always from brand loyalty, so went with it anyway. She was about to head off to the checkout when a voice jolted her out of her reverie. It was a young man, a teenager by the looks of him; just the sort you would expect in a gaming shop. 'Uh, yeah... Mainly empire builders or grand strater... gy...' Yuuko trailed off as her gaze fixed just above the boys head; the words <The Gamer> hung just over his name... a foreign one at that. 'Oh shit, you mean a <Gamer>. I didn't really think it was real...'

Timafee ep, eff... Epffnet? How the hell do I pronounce that..? One eyebrow slowly raised skyward as she looked the guy over, unsure of what to think of him. The quest told her to meet more <Gamers>, but when she really thought about it, did she want to get involved..? Yuuko stood silent for a moment, trying to get a gauge on the kid; she half suspected that it was all some elaborate prank... 'Hm... so. You see name tags, levels and all that crap too?'

Out of the corner of her eye, Yuuko spotted yet another familiar tag. Christ, it don't rain it pours... '... That guy's got a <Gamer> tag too. Oi, freaky hat guy! Over here.' She looked from one guy to the other in confusion, wondering if perhaps this <Gamer> lark wasn't so rare after all...

Spooky Hat wasn't the best man to initiate conversation, so he was glad to be called out as he approached the duo of a large woman and a skinny teen. He tried to formulate a measly greeting, but couldn't figure out anything to say. "Umm... Hi. Weird thing. Head." He blurted out hurriedly, looking down at his shoes. Damn, I shouldn't have come over here... I should... Introduce myself? "I'm, uh... Hisoka Inoue... Of course, you can tell that..." He smiled awkwardly and rubbed his neck, sighing. "Haven't seen many others, thought I was crazy." This was the first time he had spoken to another person besides his boss or the girl behind the deli counter in... a year or so. He didn't have much to talk about, or at least not after just meeting someone. Well, TWO someones. Things really were crazy these days.

"Yeah, I see the names." Timothy responded to her question, even though her focus shifted to another person.

Yuko said
'... That guy's got a <Gamer> tag too. Oi, freaky hat guy! Over here.'

And in fact, there was another person with the tag as well. He approached them and said...

Spooky Hat said
I'm, uh... Hisoka Inoue... Of course, you can tell that...

He paused, then added

Spooky Hat said Haven't seen many others, thought I was crazy.

"Well, I thought I was going crazy, too, until I got this quest- the thing is, if we've met each other, how come we haven't been awarded our experience? Do you think there are others to- ... Hold on." A unique game caught the eye of Tim, and he wandered over. I have got to get this... Just this and Absolute War. There's a mystery that I have to get to bottom of. He walked over to the counter and purchased the game, then walked back to his new acquaintances and asked, "Hey, uh, if you want to come to my place to talk, I'm more than happy to..."

It was after the sun had set that Sasha pried herself away from Dungeon Busters and remembered to check her post on 2ch. The thread had garnered a modest amount of attention. However, most of the replies just thought she was trolling or trying to start a forum game. She was almost going to give up when one of the last replies caught her attention. Despite her rather rudimentary question it managed to describe her situation fairly accurately. Chances of it being genuine was pretty high. Sasha fired up her email account and quickly typed out a message.

Sender: selestial
Subject: < gamer >

Ur a gamer too? Wut is it about? Happened to me 3 days ago... rly confused. U got the quest too?

If the person really was experiencing the same condition they would know what she was referring to. She hasn't expected the quest to be so easy, but it wasn't so surprising if you took into account the number of people who went on 2ch. Could this gamer thing be a next gen gaming system? It seemed impossibly advanced, but Sasha couldn't think of any other logical explanation.

Again, it wasn’t until later into the day that Ryutaro had any progress with the first lead he had for the quest. Over the course of university classes and life, the quick post had simply just been forgotten. It wasn’t until after dinner that he opened his laptop again, and found a new message waiting for him. He gave it a quick glance over and winced involuntary, but quickly shook his head at the insignificant detail. Leaning back against his seat, he wondered what his reply should be and before long he had typed out a message.

Ryuchi said Subject: Gamer
Don’t know much myself, just got the quest [Others like me] today. Haven’t seen anyone else with <The Gamer> over their heads, and frankly I’m in one of the largest universities in this country, Neo Tokyo U.

If you’re in Neo Tokyo and want to meet up, go there. I’m sure it’ll be easy enough to pick one another out from the crowd.

Satisfied that the message didn’t do anything more than put the ball onto the other individual’s court, he sent the message before turning his attention elsewhere. His bag was on the floor to his right, filled with a few text and notebooks. With a sigh, he took a glance at his laptop before pushing it away to make space for his books. If he was allowed to, he would have gone back and punched his high school teachers in the faces. No homework. Oh sure it was technically true, but the readings and notes one had to take were infinitely worse than any homework he received before.

While normally Ryutaro would have split his attention between reading, taking notes, using his laptop, and loafing around, today he had a different plan. Namely one that involved making use of the skill he had apparently gained from all this oddness - [Attention Focuser]. A bit of an odd name really, but its effect seemed useful at the least. With his eyes closed Ryutaro thought of studying and murmured, “Attention Focuser. Task: Studying.” He wasn’t sure if that would activate the skill, nor did he feel any noticeable change, but nevertheless he turned his attention to the books at hand.

At first there was no change, indeed there wasn't. Suddenly though the moment he turned his attention to studying after saying his skill he would feel a change. He would find as though he had tunnel vision on the task at hand. Everything else would seem to fade away except for studying. He would find himself able to do better at the task at hand, in this case it was studying. Ryutaro would find himself able to study easier, but everything else around him would be lost from his attention as his focus was somehow directed towards the one task he was working at.

Task: Studying (INT Roll): 99 (Fumble)

Perhaps Ryutaro wasn't used to this new power yet. After all, the sudden enhancing of one's abilities and focus would startle anyone. Despite how hard Ryutaro would work at studying for some reason he would find he couldn't get anything done. In fact, the harder Ryutaro studied it would just give him a big headache, and after an hour the ability would end. Suddenly a window appeared in front of him, bright blue like all of the others. This one read:



If Ryutaro also checked his Status Window he would discover that his MP was also now at 0, meaning that the Attention Focuser Skill used up MP. He would also see the Status Affects part at the bottom of it. This was usually blank, but now showed a small little picture of a head that had hands held to both sides of it tightly, as if the picture was symbolizing his current Status affect. If he looked at the Skill though in the Skill Window, he would also discover that the Attention Focuser ability, when used outside of battle, lasted for an hour and used half of his MP, but somehow all of his MP was drained. It was probably due to the large amount of mental duress he put on himself due to the negative reaction to this new Skill, which wouldn't be surprising since it was his first time using it.

Ryutaro could either wait it out, sleep it out, or hope to find something like an Item that could cure this Status Affect.

Despite herself, Yuuko couldn't help a tinge of regret for calling out. The hat guy, this Hisoka, was clearly a few sheep short of a herd... But then again, maybe she was too; the whole <Gamer> thing was pretty mad when you thought about it. 'Uh... Hi. Hisoka, right? And Timof... fee... and Tim.' Inwardly, she was sighing... was it really worth it? Four measly XP to deal with... well, at least one potential nutjob. At least Tim looked like he had his head on straight, but he was young; didn't that make her the most logical one to take the lead here? Too much hassle... Yuuko was verging on giving up when the lad invited them to his place. A few years ago she might have taken that the wrong way and accepted without thought, but now realism and distrust forbade such foolishness. Besides, she needed her weekly bask in moe... 'Not just yet. Let's just find somewhere quiet and talk things over...' Her eyes gleamed suddenly. 'I'm thinking... maid cafe.'

Tim stood there for a few moments while the two weighed their decisions. Then Yuko spoke up...

Yuko said
Not just yet. Let's just find somewhere quiet and talk things over... I'm thinking... maid cafe.

"Alright," Timothy responded. The maid cafés were a nice place to sit around and chat, but Timothy never had the kind of relationship with anyone where that was a legitimate place to hang out with someone. "What about you, Hisoka?"

Hisoka looked surprised to be invited to anything of a social nature. And, from what he had seen of maid cafes in high school, they were not the best place for bi-gender conversations.

Timo... Teemofee... Tim said
"What about you, Hisoka?"

"My boss'll be mad, but... I guess this is important. Sure." Spooky adjusted his hat and spoke confidently.

Hisoka said
My boss'll be mad, but... I guess this is important. Sure.

"Are you late for work?" Timothy responded with sincerity in his voice. "I mean, I can always re-schedule for later." Tim suggested. There were many ways in which he could spend some time. He would probably browse the cyber-cafés and forums for some other gamers.

It didn't take very long before a reply came. Sasha read the mail carefully. The person named the quest correctly, so there was no doubt it wasn't just a con. The email also suggested they meet up.

Sasha leaned back in her comfy chair. It was quite risky to meet a complete stranger from 2ch. The circumstances however made it the most logical step. If the other party had become a "gamer" like she did, they would be equally curious about it. She pulled out her keyboard and started typing.

Sender: selestial
Subject: re: < gamer >

Ok. MsDonald's in Septemberes? 12pm.

Even if they knew about the quest, she wasn't stupid. The person could have a hidden agenda, or in the worst case be a serial killer. A public restaurant with lots of people was the safest place she could think of. Just in case, she would bring along a pepper spray for self defence.

Ryutaro didn’t know why, but trying to study was like trying to walk through a Lego-filled floor. It was unpleasant, painful, and not something he wanted to be doing, despite normally having no trouble with it. Finally, after an hour of absolutely no progress, he closed his books, sighed in frustration, and slumped onto the desk. A window popped up as he glanced sideways, surprising him enough that he bolted up, though his head disagreed with the sudden movement and rang in pain.

“Ah!” he groaned quietly as he palmed his forehead, waiting for the ringing to subside. When it finally did so, he looked up again at the notification, and after a quick cursory glance, groaned. “Oh what the hell…” he muttered, exasperated at this new development. Now he couldn’t even do things that weren’t an issue without a chance of failure? This <Gamer> thing was quickly losing its shine. Nevertheless, if he had been afflicted with a headache, than the logical thing to do would be grab some aspirin or ibuprofen.

It wasn’t hard to find some appropriate medicine in the cabinet downstairs, and though he felt an urge to plunder it a bit for his [Inventory], he thought it would be inappropriate. With a sigh, he climbed back up the stairs after taking the pill. He had enough sense to check the laptop, catching the message, and sending out a quick reply before he slumped onto the bed. It wasn’t too late, he could take a quick nap and hope the medicine did its work.

Ryuchi said Subject: re: <Gamer>
Sounds fine to me, but I’ve got class at 1:30, so I can’t stay for too long.

In games, immediate affects are a given. You take a potion, your wounds vanish instantly as your HP recovers. Poison is cured instantly with antidotes. Status enhancing items take affect the moment consumed. Thanks to the <Game Character's Body> right when Ryutaro swallowed the aspirin, before he could get into bed even, he found his headache gone instantly. All traces of it seemed to completely vanish as the Item seemed to cure the Status Affect, something that commonly happened in games. It happened in real life too, only in games the affects were immediate.

Another email soon followed that agreed with her suggestion. With that, the meeting was set. Sasha started up Dungeon Busters again after a quick shower, ready to do another boss raid. As the game loaded she called up her talent window and scrolled through it. The way the panel just floated in thin air, made of seemingly nothing, was just perplexing. The distribution of points on the talents were something she could agree on : high points in device manipulation and sleigh of hand made a lot of sense. However, there were several talents she didn't know she had. Acrobatics? Stealth? She ought to give these things a try.

That gave her a sudden idea. Could these statistics be improved just by doing everyday activities? Dungeon Busters's main theme started playing as the starting screen appeared. Sasha logged into her character. Just as the name might suggest, Dungeon Busters was an action RPG that focused on clearing various dungeons. The game also had a heavy emphasis on quick reflexes and timing. It was famous for its outrageous difficulty level.

Sasha was a seasoned veteran, standing in the highest echelons of player rankings. There were still some dungeons that were practically impossible even for players of her skill to complete alone. However, the beauty of this game's design was that such a great was theoretically possible. The player just required inhuman levels of concentration, reflexes and perseverance.

Sasha moved her cursor and selected the Black Knight dungeon, one of the hardest dungeons in the game. She had completed it before, but in a party of six. This time, she entered alone. Maybe when placed under stress something would happen.

~~~~

Sasha had not slept a wink when the meeting time was drawing close. She had been so focused on her video game that all thoughts of sleeping had disappeared. Her watch showed that it was already 10:24 am. With a sigh she dragged herself away from the computer to get dressed.

She called up her inventory window. On one side of the panel was the shape of a human with boxes at various points. What she was wearing appeared in those boxes. On the other side was a series of empty boxes. Anyone who played RPGs would be able to instantly recognize it for what it was. Sasha grabbed her can of pepper spray from the cabinet and held it to the panel. She half expected nothing to happen. To her surprise the item actually pushed through and entered the panel. An empty slot became filled with the picture of the pepper spray.

"Whoa. Now that's proof it's not just some elaborate prank."

No technology could have produced such an effect. Not for a hundred years, anyway. She changed out of her shorts and tank top using the inventory interface as well. The jeans simply appeared on her legs the moment she dragged it onto her leg slot. That was actually a pretty handy trick. She put on a clean shirt and a grey sweater. Pulling up the hood hid much of her blonde hair, making her much more inconspicuous than she would have been otherwise.

Sasha left her house and walked to Septemberes. Her apartment was very near to the entertainment disrict. Ten minutes later, the giant neon signs of the largest mall of Neo Tokyo was already in sight. Sasha headed straight to MsDonald's. Sasha's foreign features and blonde hair would usually stick out like a sore thumb in the crowd of black haired Japericans, but today the hood saved her. However, she looked slightly suspicious instead. She got to the store early, and decided to order a happy meal while waiting for her fellow "Gamer".