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STAGE TWO >> Race to Four

This is a work of fiction. All of the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this story are all products of the author's imagination used in fictitious manner. Any resemblance to an actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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- sama (様, さま) is a more respectful version for individuals of a higher rank than oneself.

- san （～さん） is polite, but not excessively formal. It can be broadly used to: refer to anyone you don't know, regardless of status or age. Address equals of the same age.

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"Guys, it's here. Frigging finally!"

The sudden entrance of Kawashima Hiroyuki made Akihiro and Ryoto freeze for a moment, the three of them shared a huge office within the company with private quarters for them to sleep in case they needed to meet the deadline for the work.

It was still scalding hot outside and the temperature felt like boiling water to the skin that even inside the office, everyone could feel it.

"Aki, catch!" said Ryoto when he finally recovered from the abrupt arrival of Hiroyuki. He throw a cold beverage in the can toward Akihiro's direction and the latter caught it in one hand.

"Thanks." Akihiro simply open the can of sprite and chugged it straight before putting it down on his wide table and giving Hiroyuki a look. "What is that?"

Akihiro was never the type to beat around the bush and just went straight to the point as he and Ryoto watched Hiroyuki place a huge rectangular box on top of his office table.

It appears to be a fragile package since there were warning tapes all over it, and even the color of the box seems glossy. Akihiro narrowed his gaze to the familiar emblem in front, the creature itself and what it was called—Gryphon.

"What is that?" Akihiro repeated, seemingly annoyed that Hiroyuki was ignoring him. He seemed lost in his own bubble, eyes wide with delight as he continued tearing the tapes and opening the box.

"Hand me a box cutter, will you?"

Akihiro frowned but handed him one anyway and watched as Hiroyuki proceeded in opening his package, excitement written all over his face.

Both Akihiro and Ryoto were curious about the reaction on Hiroyuki's face and were unable to contain their interest. They approached their friend and stood on both sides of Hiroyuki taking a peek at what was inside the box.

What was inside the box were four VR headsets and not just an ordinary one. It was black as night with white ink engraved on the helm that says: "Incarnate".

Akihiro's eyes went wide. I know this game...he thought.

"I pre-ordered it the moment they announced it on the steam page," Hiroyuki explained. "It finally arrived just in time for the start of the game this 14th of September!"

Ryoto noticed how intense Akihiro's gaze was. "You've heard of this, Aki?" Even Hiroyuki looked to his left just to see Akihiro gawking.

No wonder Gryphon was familiar, Akihiro thought to himself. "It was one of those ambitious virtual reality games that boast 99% realism." He said, taking one of the headsets to inspect it closely. "I thought it was a joke, I even commented on how gamers would be excited over nothing. Remember that simulation game developed by Zion? It aims to beat the one from StarCo but it suddenly disappeared without a warning. I mean, how realistic is this one compared to others? Compare to Ultron?"