Paying To Win In A VRMMO

Vol. 1 Ch. 4

4 - Noble Son, Descend

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.

Turning 14 meant that she was an adult (at least, that was how she felt about it), and adults needed to solve their own problems. To throw a tantrum because nobody would help her was something a child did.

Asuha couldn't understand what was going through Ichiro Tsuwabuki's mind. In the 14 years she had known him, she had never been able to. Itchy was nice, and cool, and he often did whatever she asked, but she had never seen him compromise on the things he wanted to do. That he usually did whatever she asked didn't mean that he always acted in her best interest.

Asuha was wandering around a residential block in Nagoya, having gotten Sera Kiryu's address from her homeroom teacher. Apparently the teachers knew that the two of them had been friends since elementary school and, concerned about Sera's non-attendance, they had given Asuha the address on the condition of secrecy.

They were friends, supposedly. But this would be Asuha's first time visiting this house.

It was neither large nor small, just an ordinary residential home. Still, to someone like Asuha, who lived in an apartment, having a real house still conveyed a certain degree of wealth. She felt a little discouraged.

"Yes, who's there?" a clear, feminine voice responded to Asuha's press of the intercom button. It was Sera's mother.

"Oh. Hello... Um, well, my name is Asuha Tsuwabuki, and, um..."

"Oh, Sera's friend?"

Was she going to be allowed in as easily as that?

The door opened to reveal the familiar figure of Sera's mother. She was a beautiful woman, completely unchanged from the day they had first met years ago at the arcade. It occurred to Asuha, for the first time, that Sera strongly took after her.

"Hello, Asuha dear. Come in, come in," Sera's mother said.

Asuha was vaguely startled. Was she actually being welcomed?

"There is another method by which you could talk to Sera Kiryu," Ichiro had told Asuha yesterday in the game.

She had always known that if she couldn't find King Kirihito in the game - and really, even if she could - that visiting his player at home would be a lot faster. Yet she had balked at the idea. She felt guilty over not having noticed that Sera was being bullied, like she had let her friend down somehow. In truth, it was Asuha who was most afraid of the face-to-face meeting.

But, Asuha decided, that wasn't an excuse, so she steeled up her nerve to pay the call.

She knew that Ichiro would be using whatever methods he had at his disposal to meet King Kirihito in the game. She didn't know what exactly he wanted, but Ichiro had said he would do what he wanted to do.

While he had always respected Asuha's desires, he never compromised his own. And when they had met Sera in the game world, he had shown no deference at all to Asuha's desires before adopting his own approach.

Besides, she wanted to make amends.

"It's a bit of a mess. I'm sorry," Sera's mother said as they passed through the living room.

Asuha looked around, stunned.

It was game systems as far as the eye could see. Game systems from all companies and eras were hooked up to the TVs. There were multiple PCs, too. And not just that. In one corner of the room, collecting dust, covered in books and game software... was that a cabinet for a popular arcade fighting game?