SAO FB: Scars

Another Job

Although Kaito wasn't a big fan of monotonous jobs, he did enjoy meeting with Epsilon representatives every now and then. He did his best to make them feel welcome in the office. They were chill in Kaito's opinion and always talked about a game they'd recently published on the Seed called Cross Edge.

"It's a cool game made by some kid in Japan. You should try it out," the representative told Kaito.

"I've heard of Cross Edge before," Kato said while drinking a cup of tea. "You guys had a soft release recently in Japan."

"That's correct, but we're planning on making it international. Multiple servers and outreach so large that everyone will hear about it."

"But this is just a test in Japan right?"

"We're testing to see if it'll work as an actual game."

As the night ceased, Kaito had to drive the person back to their hotel room. Since he got home late, Takamine had fallen asleep in her room. Kaito tiptoed around the house and did everything he needed to do. As he retired to his bed, he thought about the game. The last time he heard of a possible triple-A title coming from Japan was a decade ago. After the release of the seed, many international brands overtook Japan's dominance in the VRMMO world. Gun Gale Online, an American VRMMO, beat all of the records that Alfheim Online, a Japanese VRMMO, had set including best player satisfaction and most concurrent online players in half of the time. After the overtake, many had doubts that Japan could produce a game that can compete with the likes of Gun Gale or similar titles.

Kaito was working in his small, private office when he heard a knock at the door. He turned his attention to the door as he listened to the metal hinges creak. His boss was standing in the doorframe with a manila folder in hand. Kaito stood up and took the manila folder from him. The contents of the folder included a single piece of paper with multiple survey-like questions.

"I have a proposition for you Kaito," Kaito's boss said.

Kaito asked, "What kind of proposition?"

"The company we've been working with, Epsilon, has been taking a great deal of liking to you. Their Japanese branch, Erikawa, wants you to test out a game they've released recently. It's called Cross Edge."

"I've heard of it. It was developed by some kid genius right?"

"Yes. He must have been very smart if he created something like this. I mean, I've heard the spokesperson over the phone. He was going on and on about this project."

"All right. What's the pitch?"

"Epsilon needs someone to look inside the world and give them any impressions and look for anything that seems broken or wrong. This is to just improve relations between our two companies. Nothing too serious. Just enjoy yourself."

"Sir, Epsilon and Erikawa are running a server in a whole other country. How do you want me to play in Japan without being in Japan?"

"Don't worry, we thought of everything. We have an external server that'll allow you to connect to the servers in Japan. I suggest that you get to playing the game. Think of this as a paid vacation."

He left the room as quickly as he arrived. Kaito reached behind him and grabbed the Amusphere from its stand. He connected the power cord to the wall and placed the silver ring over his head. Kaito grabbed a remote from a desk drawer and frosted all of the office windows. He pointed the remote at the AC control unit and set it to a comfortable level. Finally, he reclined the back of his chair to a comfortable angle. Kaito heard the dull humming of power coursing through the headset.

"Link Start," Kaito muttered.

A black void filled Kato's vision and a small screen showed Kato's login. The system quickly calibrated Kato's senses before placing him in a virtual room that Kato had designed. Along the wall was a desk with a computer and a large shelf. The shelf contained physical copies of all of the games that Kato had owned. Kato inspected the many games until he found the case for Cross Edge. He took the case and opened it to reveal an SD card. He brought the card to the desk and inserted it into the computer. On the opposite wall was a camera. As Kato plugged in the necessary information, a small prompt appeared on the screen. It read, 'Continue to game?'. As soon as Kato clicked yes, a beam of light appeared from the camera from behind him and impacted his torso. The world around him became distorted for a moment before blue lights started to spiral around him. After waiting a few seconds, he saw the words "Welcome to Cross Edge" flash across the screen.