The Impossible Game (Sword Art Online SI)

The Impossible Game

Game

Thoughts

"Talking"

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"I gotta log off, man. It's opening in an hour!" A Japanese-accented voice resounded through Ken's headphones, causing him to wince as his friend's microphone failed to accurately convey the shout, turning part of it into an ear-blasting static.

"You got a whole hour." Ken said with a twinge of annoyance in his American voice, "And stop yelling until you get a new mic, dickhead."

"Oh yeah, sorry. I keep forgetting that my old one broke." The older boy said, "But I really gotta go! You should too! We need to log in right when it opens, or we're gonna fall behind!"

"I just said to stop shouting, Ryoutarou, you asshole," Ken said, more annoyance dripping into his voice. He idly flicked his hand, his mouse scrolling the Steam page for Sword Art Online, "We'll be fine. It doesn't take an hour to turn on my nerve gear."

"Just make sure you're there, okay? This is our chance to get rich!" Ken's longtime friend said, shouting and peaking his mic again despite Ken's insistence that he stop.

"This is your chance to get rich. If you played a bit more aim trainer, you'd already be rich, like me." Ken said, smirking at his screen as his eyes idly read through the Sword Art Online summary. Despite his uncaring attitude, Ken had already read everything on the Steam page at least 20 times.

"Yeah, yeah. We can't all be naturally good at everything like you are. Not that I'm complaining, your skill is gonna make our guild rich!" Ryoutarou giggled as he spoke.

"I still can't believe they named the game 'Sword Art Online.' There's gotta be some copyright issue with that, right?" Ken asked Ryoutarou.

"Copyright? From what?"

"The anime, jackass. This whole 'I've never heard of SAO' bit is getting old." Ken groaned.

"I'm serious! I've never heard of it!" Ryoutarou shot back.

"Suuuuure you haven't. You're a Japanese guy who would've been a teenager when it aired, but you've never seen Sword Art Online. It was, like, the biggest anime ever for a good year. I think there's literally a guy named Ryoutarou in the damn show!"

"I still think you're fucking with me. I've watched tons of anime, and every video I could find about this game. I think I'd have seen if there was an anime with the same name." Ryoutarou said, "Anyway, I'm gonna go make sure the rest of my friends don't need help setting up their nerve gear."

"'Friends?' Is it more than just Dale this time?" Ken asked curiously.

"Yeah, I've got a few more buddies joining this time. Most of them also like games, but Dale's the only one who speaks English." Ryoutarou explained.

"Eh? Are any of them any good, or am I gonna have to carry all of your asses?" Ken teased.

"Don't act like you need to carry me, bitch. Dale's decent, and I used to be a pro too, y'know?"

"Not a very good one." Ken hummed in reply.

"Hey! I was pretty good, everyone's just shit compared to you. Everyone looks humble next to you too." Ryoutarou said, a slight edge of annoyance in his voice.

"Yeah, yeah. You know I'm kidding. I'll be on by 12, so just stay in the starting zone if you load in before me. I'll come find you." Ken said, "What's your IGN gonna be anyway?"