Stepping Beyond the Pixels: Loves Intricate Game

Chapter Three: Familiar Faces

Original Copy is on Quotev and is also published on Tumblr. For a better viewing experience and chapter by chapter reading head on over to my Quotev (at BobbyWolf3769) or you can also read it on my Tumblr (baileyjane3769) page.

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It would be more correct to say that Yuki Kobayashi was her default name. The name you gave her was Yui, a name you would give to characters when you couldn't think of an original one. To describe her plainly, she was warm. With big, silver doe eyes that were filled with kindness and a gentle smile that could welcome anyone. Lean and tall, she had long black hair that cascaded down her shoulders, a radiant beauty, who still had her hand on your shoulder.

You flinched back after coming to your senses, causing Yuki to also quickly retract her hand. "Sorry about that," she started with an apologetic smile. "You just seemed so lost in thought, I wanted to make sure you were okay." Her eyes did a quick once over on your face before stopping at the bandage on your forehead. Eyes widening, she asked, "Oh, no! How did that happen?"

Unconsciously, you reached up and touched the bandage. "Oh, that. I sort of fell from my bed and hit my head on my nightstand. It doesn't hurt that much anymore, but uhm, do you know where Kibou High School is?" You stammered out the question, using this opportunity to figure out your location. "I go there, but since my fall I have been having a hard time remembering things."

She gleamed with excitement saying, "I go there too!" She paused, giving her own outfit a once over before bashfully continuing. "Which you might have guessed from my uniform, heh," clearing her throat, she bowed her head respectfully before saying. "I'm Kobayashi Yuki, nice to meet you!"

Not used to the formal customs in Japan, you also rushed to bow slightly and introduced yourself as well. "L/n Y/n, nice to meet you too, Kobayashi-san." You did your best to smile politely, but you suspected that you were still a bit dazed from both culture shock and the shock of meeting the main character of this game. "So you said you go to the same school, right?" you asked. This was your way of trying to make normal conversation, if you were to save everyone then you figure getting close, but not too close, to Yuki was the best way to go about it. "It could be my lack of memory right now, but I don't remember seeing you around before. Are you new?"

"Yeah! Oh, well sort of. I actually used to live here but my family moved a few years ago. As you can guess, we moved back just recently and today is my first day of school." Yuki cheerfully said, starting to walk in the direction you presumed to be school. "It has been so fun catching up with old friends and seeing what has changed around the town. Oh, do you mind if we pick up a friend of mine? He goes to the same school as us and has been my best friend for ages now. We used to walk to school all the time, do you know him? Akui Minato?"

Of course you know him. He is the man behind the string of murders that you will have to put a stop to in the near future. He is the reason why you think it is a bad idea to get overly close to Yuki, which is a shame because she seems like such a nice person. "Hm? I think the name sounds familiar. I'm sorry, I haven't really been myself since the fall." You were just glad that the head injury gave you an excuse to why you won't be remembering people, you weren't too sure how the you of this world might have interacted with the people here. "But, uhm, no. I don't mind picking him up along the way."

Yuki's face seemed to light up at the notion. "Great! I just know you two will get along splendidly." She said, making an effort to speed up her walking pace. "Come along then, his house is just up ahead."

You could feel your heart in your throat at the notion of meeting Akui already, to you this whole situation felt like it was moving so fast. Just this morning you thought that everything was normal, but now you feel like your brain is doing backflips trying to comprehend it all. Although your head injury wasn't hurting before, a slight throbbing pain began to develop. The day just started and already you want to go back to sleep and pretend that this was all a dream. A beautiful dream, if the scenery around you had any part of it.