24 Hours

3:34 A.M

Tsukishima:

Tsukishima in fact had never been sky-diving. And he never wanted to- or even thought about trying it. He didn't like heights, no, he hated them. It didn't even help when Yamaguchi said they would only be doing the Simulation.

The Simulation was a new game at the famous Tokyo arcade. It was like a VR, except hyper-realistic and could take you anywhere you wanted and anything you wanted to do.

Still, his love for their friendship overrided his fear, and Tsukishima went along with it. To be honest, he never really told Yamaguchi about this fear. He always thought it was silly and sort of embarrassing.

"This is the last thing I thought you would want to do," muttered Tsukishima as he and Yamaguchi looked up at the large arcade they had just arrived at.

The building was giant with flash japanese letters and colored circles on the walls. A big gaming symbol was plastered on the middle of the silver wall, and neon lights fluttered around it. A sign repetitively blinked OPEN 24 HOURS, and even though it was way past midnight, there was still a good amount of people in the arcade.

"I'm going to die," replied Yamaguchi matter-of-factually. "I wanna do the most exhilarating things... even if it's just a simulation." He then pulled out his phone and inhaled sharply. "Hinata called again."

"He's just worried. The other two are too." Tsukishima tightened his jaw. "Do you think leaving them was the right thing to do?"

"Yes," said Yamaguchi firmly. "I have to." He pressed a few buttons on his phone. "They're all blocked."

Tsukishima didn't say anything. He just nodded. Today was Yamaguchi's last day- he deserved to make every single choice. Instead, he fished in his backpack for some money and held some out to Yamaguchi.

"C'mon, let's go skydiving then," he said, his mouth quirking up in a half smile.

Yamaguchi beamed and nodded excitedly. The two boys entered the arcade where immediately music blasted all around them along with people shouting and chattering. There was the sound of beeping and ringing, along with all other sorts of gaming noises.

They step up to the counter where a middle-aged man with only a tuff of black hair stands, wearing a black and white collared shirt. He's packing coins for the arcade and sorting little prizes into buckets. When Tsukishima and Yamaguchi approached him, he hardly looked up. Without a word, he pointed up to the sign above his head. Tsukishima glanced up and saw the cost of the Simulation. $100 per person for 10 minutes.

"Oh, that's kinda expensive," said Yamaguchi bashfully.

"It's fine," replied Tsukishima. "It's your day, remember?"

"What is it? Your anniversary or his birthday, or something," grumped the man finally.

The two boys looked at him stunned.

"We're not together," said Tsukishima, feeling the back of his neck burn.

"It's not my birthday," added Yamaguchi randomly.

Tsukishima slid the money across the counter and rushed the two of them away before anything else embarrassing could happen. They walked through people dancing on rainbow tiles and some groaning and cheering at the game they were playing.

The two walked into a side room, pushing through the dark- red curtains. They arrived in an empty, dark room where the only light was a spotlight shining down onto the equipment of the VR sitting on a pedastal. A lady, who looked to be only a simple teenager, was fast alseep against the pedestal, her dyed-red hair falling in her face. She was slumped forward, a tablet in her hand.