This is Just a Game...Right?

Prologue + Chapter 1

Prologue
"Are you sure you want to do this? If you get caught...who knows what they're going to do to you..." A voice asks the girl, who's hunched over a computer. She nods gravely, clicks the "Yes" option, and in a flash, the game starts.

Chapter 1: First Day!
"Wait up, I swear I'll kill you if you keep walking this fast!" I groan, racing to keep up with my brother, who looks back at me with an apologetic grin.

"Ah, sorry. I'll slow down." And he does, allowing me to walk by his side. I hum to myself as we walk down the road to our school, and I'm excited. It's my first day in high school.

"Hey, what's it like anyways? Do we really get lockers and that stuff?" I ask my brother, Kei, excitedly. He nods, seeming amused at my behaviour.

"I can't believe you're fifteen already, Rica. It seems just like yesterday that you were five and still making crowns with Rei." He reminisces, and I laugh. 

"Yeah, cause obviously ten years passes in a second." I reply, rolling my eyes, and we finally reach the school. My eyes widen as I look up at the massive building, which is many times larger than my middle school. I walk inside, only to be jumped by my best friend, Rei, and I fall over in surprise.

"Ha! I got you again. I do this every year and you still get caught? Shame, Lyrica, shame." He taunts. I stand up and then push him over. Surprised, he falls over and it's my turn to laugh.
"And you fall for that every year as well, Rei." I shoot back, and after saying goodbye to my brother, we head to our first class, mathematics. Ugh. I hate math. I walk into the large classroom, seeing many people already gathered in the room, and I sit down in the back, with Rei plopping down next to me. Soon enough, we hear the bell. The teacher walks in, introduces himself and we start class. I somehow manage to bear through it, or so I thought, until I hear the teacher call out my name. I snap up, fully alert.

"Ms. Aoki, could you answer this question for us?" My teacher asks, pointing at the board. I stare at the problem for a while, and then take a guess.

"Um, angle OTP is a right angle because... the other two angles are 30 degrees and 60 degrees, and according to the triangle angle sum theorem, the three angles must equal 180 degrees."
"Correct, but please stop drawing in my class, thank you." He replies coldly, and I sigh in relief, before turning a critical eye to my drawing. It's a good sketch, but I decide to discard it anyways. I bear through the next forty minutes, and finally, class is over. The next few classes are a breeze, seeing that I like language arts, science, and P.E., and also, I was blessed with extreme luck to have been in all of the same classes as Rei. Until the electives.

"Hey, Rei. What elective did you choose?" I turn to him, and he glances at his schedule before replying.

"Um...I guess I chose cooking...so yeah, I'm headed that way." He points to the opposite direction.

"Ah, okay! I'll see you at lunch! If you make something good, save some for me, okay?" I grin, and turn, heading the other way. I find the classroom, a smaller room labeled "ART ROOM" in colorful, swirly letters. I walk inside, and see a few others gathered in the room, drawing and painting. The teacher, a young woman who introduces herself as the teacher, Mrs. Rika. She smiles and tells me to do my own thing, but there's a competition every week for the best art. I return the smile and sit down, sketching a simple outline of a person, adding in details as I go, and end up with a cute girl with long flowing hair, big eyes, and a beautiful sundress. I was so focused, I didn't realize someone was was watching me. 

"Excuse me, uh, could I talk to you?" I turn, and see a cute girl in all black ask me shyly. 

"Of course, isn't that what you're doing right now? I'm Lyrica Aoki, by the way." I introduce myself.