Kaiju Busters Online

Tutorial

I never played video games as a kid. The Xbox 720 and Playstation 5 seemed boring to me. All my fellow male classmates called me a loser, causing me to only have female friends, worsening the treatment.

"Hey girly! Why not just become gay!?"

I would go home and put on a mask to hide my burning soul. When dinner ended and my chores were completed, I would go to my room to cry. Cry because of how I was treated by my classmates.

The girls at school would tell me to ignore them but its hard when they beat me after school.

After my first year of junior high, I met a young girl named Tomiko Shirosama. She knew about my past because the girls from elementary school told her. She wanted to console me and care for me like a mother to her child.

And I accepted.

During summer vacation, she came to my house and we talked in my bedroom.

"We should tell your parents," she said one day. "They would file complaints to the school."

"I can't." I looked at my arms. "I wear long sleeved shirts for a reason."

Slowly, she rolled my sleeves up to reveal endless cuts up my arms. She gasped and tears began to form in her eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tomiko, I'm old enough now to know that this world is cruel. If I'm going to fix my life, its on my own."

She wiped her eyes. "Please don't hurt yourself anymore."

"I'll... I'll try."

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In the year 2022, the Nerve Gear system was released with its first title, Sword Art Online. It was a death trap for gamers. According to the news, over 14,000 people were reported dead by 2024.

I went to school after the gamers were released to find mourning friends.

But the games continued, and the survivors returned to the Nerve Gear for ALO. After that, millions of games were released.

I never understood why they returned.