[SP-F01] Lost in Routine

[SuzuNa 0]

[Official Launch Date of Sword Art Online]

Natsume closed her eyes.

Her feverish head pounded. The helmet was stuffy, far too tight on her. Made sense. It had been fitted for a kid after all. She hadn't wanted to adjust it too much, or it'd be hard to get back to the right settings when everyone came home in a few hours. Not that she planned to play for that long. Just a quick glimpse, in and out. See what the big fuss was about. Nothing wrong with that, right?

But as light and color bloomed all around her, the pressure around her temple disappeared, as if her senses were being overwritten. She was no longer in a too-small chair with a too-small helmet, curled over Akihiko's desk. Now she was floating, unbeholden to gravity. The colors melded together into a reflection of herself, along with several boxes prompting her to… change something? Natsume frowned, scanning her surroundings until she found a box labeled 'continue'. Great! She didn't want to waste time here. She pressed it.

'Character registration. Input character name.'

She frowned. She knew enough about internet safety to not use her full name… but what else could she go by? Suzuki was a common enough last name, right? She typed it in.

'Character name Suzuki already taken.'

Weren't there only 10,000 copies? And somebody had already taken that name?! She sighed. Apparently, it was too common a last name. "Well... Alright then." She erased the last character, replacing it with the first from her first name.

'Creating character SuzuNa.'

[SuzuNa 0]

She noticed the roads first, paved with large stone. As she looked around the grand, circular plaza, she found her gaze never strayed too far from the impressive domed structure. She took a few steps towards it before her path was blocked by several colorful squares, which soon transformed into a person. "Ah—" The person darted past her, his shoulder crashing into hers, waving and shouting at a group of friends across the plaza.

She rubbed her shoulder, staring at it curiously. It hadn't hurt, but she'd definitely felt that contact. She reached out to one of the many stone pillars encircling the plaza. Smooth, a bit cold to the touch.

She didn't meant to stay too long, but she couldn't help the curiosity urging her onwards. She followed the stone road through more of the grand city, admiring the unique buildings. Every noise had her head turning this way and that, and every time she brushed against one of the many players milling around, she shivered. It was amazing how real everything felt - to the point of bordering creepy.

Men and women called out, waving people over to their stalls. The merchant she approached wore a bandana over their head and presented an assortment of vials. "These potions will save your life!" he shouted at each passerby. As SuzuNa approached, he grinned, waving at his collection. "Like what you see?"

She smiled awkwardly. "What's a potion?" she crouched to look closer at the vial. This thing was it, right?

The man ignored her. "That'll be 20 col!"

She frowned. "Col…? Anyways, I don't buy nothin' I don't know about. What's a—"

He'd already turned away, shouting at another passerby and beckoning them over. "These potions will save your life!"

She grit her teeth and sighed. Fine. Guess he didn't care too much about customer service. Then he could just not have a customer. "Take care, then." She wasn't too surprised to find her parting words ignored too… though the abrupt giggles behind her threw her off.

"Did you hear that? She's saying bye to an NPC. Cute."

She looked around for the source, but there were too many people. She grimaced. That was about her, right? The timing was too precise to be anything else. 'But… what's an NPC?' She took a deep breath and looked around. Not too far from her was a younger looking girl, hair pulled into buns. Their attire looked much like her own, though with different colors. "Excuse me!" She sped-walk over, waving as the girl turned. "Hi. Do you know what an NPC is?"

The young girl scoffed. "What? You don't even know that? How'd a fucking idiot like you even get a game like this?"

She gaped. "I—sorry, what?! What kind of… w-what's a kid like you doing, talking like that? Where are your manners?!"

The girl narrowed her eyes. "Kid? Fuck you! I bet I'm older than you!" She laughed as SuzuNa's brows scrunched together. "Anyways. Get outta here. Why the heck would you take one of them if you don't even know this sorta stuff? Go give your copy to someone that'll actually enjoy it." Before SuzuNa could get another word in, the little girl was leaving, jogging towards a person in the distance.

She stared, flushed and flabbergasted. It took someone shoving past her, chiding her for standing in the middle of the street, to snap out of things and scurry into one of the shadowed alleys. "The girl's right. This sorta thing isn't for me." She sighed.

She reached for the helmet to remove it, but only felt her hair. "Uhhh." She frowned at the wall in front of her. How exactly was she supposed to leave again?

[SuzuNa 0]

It had taken her ages to figure out how to open the menu for logging out.

An embarrassingly long time had been spent whispering various commands. "Logout! Exit! Abort! Leave!!" She'd lost track of how many variations she'd come up with. When that proved to be a futile exercise, she moved further away from the large mass of people and trying to shout it a bit louder, as if maybe the system couldn't hear her and would obey her if she was just loud enough.

By the end of it all, she'd been standing in the middle of a large, open field. Grass stretched as far as the eye could see. There was, thankfully, not a single person in sight (though there were plenty of boars who apparently weren't bothered by the screaming lunatic). If this had been the real world, her throat would be hurting from all her screaming… but it felt fine. The only thing hurting was her pride. She grunted, "This isn't working."

She focused on the clock in the corner of her vision. 14:58. She didn't have much time to spare. Akihiko would be home by 15:45 if he's rushing; and she was almost certain he would be rushing, given how excited he had been the last few days. If she wasn't able to get out by then… She could only imagine the scolding she'd get.

She grit her teeth. It was time to swallow her pride. So what if others reacted like that little girl? She'd just have to ask another person. She could still see the city, its grand silhouette stark against the blue sky.

With a heavy heart and even heavier feet, she stomped back to civilization.

Edited June 28, 2021 by SuzuNa

[SuzuNa 0]

She'd lucked out on this person. He looked fit to play the role of Prince Charming, and acted like one too. "Logging out? That's easy. Just pull up your menu, it's the button at the bottom."

She stared at him, hesitant. "And… where's the menu?"

He chuckled, then held up his hand. "Like this." With his pointer finger and middle finger together, he reached out and dragged through the air. A series of translucent boxes and circles appeared in front of him.

She nodded and mimicked him, reaching out with scrunched brows, and flicking her fingers. Sure enough, the 'menu' bubbled into existence, staring back at her. Just as instructed, she pressed the bottom-most button… but she was still in the game. Instead, another menu opened, showing an odd graphic. "This is the one, right?" She frowned at it, pressing it again. The odd graphic disappeared. "It's not working."

Prince Charming had been looking elsewhere as she puzzled things out, about ready to leave now that his good deed was done. There was a tinge of irritation in his voice as he repeated, "It's the button at the bottom." He re-opened his menu with a flick of his wrist and dragged his finger to the lowest button. His finger jerked to a stop just over the icon. His brow furrowed. "That's… it was here earlier?"

She glared at the menu, willing the logout button to appear. It did not. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Well, they can't just… not let us logout, right?" Right?

He scanned through the menus, distracted. "Of course not. Just… one second. I'm trying to reach a GM." His brows were knitted together and his lips pressed into a tight grimace.

A GM? She figured it was best not to bother him with even more questions. He'd been kind enough, but the gentle facade he'd been wearing had quickly dissolved in the face of this oddity.

After a stretch of silence between them, his frown deepened. "I can't reach them."

She didn't have to ask what that meant. His tone said it all. It meant nothing good, at the least. "But… I really have to go…" Her eyes darted to the digital clock in the corner. It was long past 15:45 now. She was, quite frankly, surprised she hadn't been abruptly torn away from the experience.

The man helping her smiled apologetically. "I'll keep trying to contact one, but…" He shrugged. "If you want, you can join me until we hear back. I wanted to test the combat system."

She grimaced, shaking her head. "I've bothered you enough as is. It's fine. I'll just wait, I think." She scratched the back of her head and offered an awkward smile. "Have fun, though."

He grinned. "Thanks. I will. And take care! I'll see you around!"

She waved until he was gone, knowing that he wouldn't be seeing her ever again once that logout button came back.