Paying To Win In A VRMMO

Vol. 1 Ch. 3

3 - Noble Son, Participate

      Asuha Tsuwabuki was a 14-year-old girl attending a middle school in Nagoya.

      She didn’t yet know what she wanted to be when she grew up. But she had a particular memory.

      It took place during spring of the year she was to advance from her fourth year to her fifth in elementary school. She was the outdoorsy type, but she was also quite sensitive to the trends around school, and the big fad at the time was the new game where you caught monsters in balls and had them battle. Asuha enjoyed that game quite a lot.

      But there are some less-than-mature adults in the world, and one day, when Asuha went to her friend’s house to play, her friend’s big brother challenged her to a battle. It was partly her own fault for bragging (half exaggerating) about how strong and great her monsters were, but that immature older man employed cheap tricks to render her helpless, and crushed all of Asuha’s precious monsters.

      Her friend had apologized fervently, and she’d laughed it off, but on the way home her cheer turned to quiet seething. One of her core beliefs was that when you were frustrated, you should do something about it that same day. And she loved stuffed animals, so on the way home, she decided to stop by a 500 yen shop to buy one to calm down. When it turned out they were sold out, she sank further into depression.

      Shortly after, she had happened to pass by an arcade, and noticed that one of the claw machines was full of stuffed monsters from the game she liked. Asuha found a stuffed animal of the monster the older boy had beaten, the one she’d chosen to be her starter partner. To say that she wanted it would not be quite accurate. It was more that she felt she had to save it.

      It was a sad little bit of projection, but Asuha felt it sincerely. She had convinced herself that to rescue the stuffed animal from the claw machine would be saving her beaten partner in her 3DS.

      She had 500 yen on her. The game cost 100 yen to play, but would give you six plays for 500 yen. She’d just have to try.

      Asuha was just in the process of screwing up her courage when she heard a voice from behind her.

      “Better not,” the voice said. She turned, wondering who it might be.

      It was a child she’d never seen before, dressed in a neat shirt and shorts combo that was well-suited to a lanky frame, a wad of what was probably bubble gum in one cheek.

      “It’s in a place you can’t get to with only six tries. You’d be wasting your money.”

      “That’s an awful thing to say!” Asuha protested fiercely. She knew that he — or she, now that she thought about it — was clearly right, but her heart could not accept it.

      The child looked back at Asuha with a gaze that screamed, “You’re a real handful, you know?” but seemed curious as to the tragedy that had led to such a ridiculous protest.

      “You like it?” the child asked, meaning the game.

      Asuha nodded.

      She liked it. She loved it. That was why she was so frustrated.

      “Give it here,” the child said.

      She didn’t understand, at first, what the child meant.

      “The 500 yen. I’ll get it for you.”

      “Can you do that?” she asked in a trembling voice.