EVERWONDER

The Grand Release of a New World

Toshio and his uncle Yasu stood observantly, onlooking the mosh pit that was stood before the massive shopping centre. Hundreds of teenagers and adults alike from all over Japan pitching tents, devising plans to navigate the area and socialising with the other groups to kill time. Few times, they had seen the massive structures within Tokyo, but due to their fairly rural lives in Okinawa, it had struck them with the same awe every time, and now, that awe was amped up to the maximum. The fluorescent glow of the streetlights, the billboards which were now teasing the release of what they had came to see, all of it created an atmosphere that was jarring in comparison to living in a traditional home by the sea.

Toshio was dressed in a turtrustle branded t-shirt, something that he had bought during last year's release of 'Maple Mash 3: 2023 Remaster' where he and his uncle had stocked up on Turtrustle shirts in case the gaming company decided to hold more public events. He wore it under a floral overshirt and a pair of cropped pants. He had long curly hair, some of it beginning to bundle as if it was about to dread, with tanned skin covered in freckles, a pair of round white glasses and a slightly tall, skinny frame.

Yasu, however, was wearing a trench coat over his turtrustle merchandise. The coat was covered in all sorts of pins, most of which being souvenirs from previous video game conventions. The man was fairly tall and quite chubby with a freshly cut moustache and a baseball cap where his greasy man bun poked through the back. In his hands he held a classic 'Maple Mash' themed wallet and a phone that had been due an upgrade for about a decade, but one he kept for old time's sake. He wasn't exactly well groomed, but calling him scruffy would be an overstatement.

Yasu turned to Toshio.
"To be honest, it's a lot quieter than I thought it would be." He observed whilst scrolling through social media. "Turtrustle products usually sell really well these times of the year, and that would be fine, but don't other fans know how game changing this'll be? I haven't seen a drop as big as this since the 2000's, and there's absolutely no way the rest of the word has..."

Toshio pulled out his phone too, checking social media and noticed that his feed was flooded with photos of what seemed to be a crowd, maybe 500 strong, on their ways to the store. He showed his screen to Yasu.
"Woah! I didn't even think you could get that many people to go to one place! If we want any chance of staying together in the ruckus this year, I suggest I give you a piggyback. Plus, I need your head to get me an idea of whats round there."

Toshio climbed onto Yasu's back, peering over the heads in the crowd to get a visual on the store. "I think the whole place has been made more spacious since our last visit. So with a crowd this size we should be able to dodge through the crowd and snag the-" He paused, realising that the console that he'd been waiting for ever since it's announcement 7 years ago was here, in the flesh. The console was in a fairly large, glossy cardboard box. He couldn't tell what was on it, but he could feel it calling to him. A distant dream of a magical gaming experience was now right before him, and it was calling his name.

His mouth was gaping, barely catching the tears that were flooding down his face. "Alright alright, I get that this is a dream of yours, but don't be such a nerd about it, you hear?" Yasu chuckled to himself. "I'm kidding of course, we're both nerds for coming all the way out here for a game. But seriously, stay calm, you're gonna need it, especially right now."

What seemed to be a violent thunder crept up into everyone's ears. Toshio turned his head to the sky, and then turned his head to the streets, where the rampage which was that crowd of 500 was emerging from the distance. He realised, however, that this wasn't a crowd of 500... It was growing every moment that they came closer. The misty night made it seem as if they had just spawned into existence only to reach that mall, and they were certainly acting like it. Members of the crowd tustling with one another, throwing punches, cyclists at the front throwing anything they could at one another and rioters causing chaos from within the crowd. After what seemed to be seconds, the crowd, now at what Toshio estimated to be a whopping 2500 people, had mashed itself into the original groups that had waited patiently, and they weren't being gentle about it. Despite his efforts to cling to his uncle, Toshio's body was easily flung to the hard concrete ground beneath him. He managed to get up but he was immediately tossed around by the chaos of the crowd, his feet barely having the chance to touch the ground.