Parallel Vol. 1

Suzuki stared at the strange message on his PDA: it was an email ordering him to be present for some function on Friday at 8 pm. Stranger still, he was required to arrive in formal clothing. This would have been all well and good if it was not for one slight problem. He walked over to his closet and sure enough, he did not have a single formal clothing to his name; not even a corporate shirt, and he sure as hell had never considered buying formal pants.

Who needed all those when they could wear a simple T-shirt and jeans, which worked in every walk of life. Sighing, he closed his closet, realizing he would have to go buy something to wear.

Suzuki had not gone outside in over two weeks because of Kashi’s desire to raise his crafting skills as high as possible. While that was all well and good for the elf, it had cost Suzuki a lot of time.

He left his room and was surprised to see the number of people in the corridor. Ever since the first day, he had not seen anyone else except Jade and the weird guy with silver hair. He guessed he was not the only one who had gotten the strange message.

Pulling his hood over his head, he made himself as small as possible and weaved through the chatting crowd, careful not to bump into anybody. Safely through, he rushed to the elevator and exited the building.

The midday sun shone down warmly on the facility as a gentle breeze caressed its inhabitants, the sweet smell of spring in the air. At least, that was how the couples in the streets, walking hand in hand, chatting amicably and losing themselves in passionate kisses felt.

Suzuki, on the other hand, saw something entirely different. ‘I guess if you’re going to be trapped in a place you don’t know, you might as well suck face with the other prisoners.’

He cycled along the streets, ignoring the irritatingly many couples around. What the hell happened to everybody in the last two weeks? His quest to find a shop took him to the entertainment sector which was even far worse than the residential sector. There seemed to far more people than he had seen in the auditorium; then again, no one had said the auditorium was the only place the orientation was held.

His ride took him past the amusement park, where he paused in shock. The rides were not only fully functioning, they were also fully staffed, complete with a freaking clown. Wait, this was the same facility, right? Had they not transferred him in his sleep to some alternate place right? How was it the heavy air of misery and dejection had been replaced with this happy couple madness.

He shivered at the sight and continued his ride to search for somewhere he could buy some formal clothes. He stopped at a promising store called ‘Suave’. Subtle.

After securing his bike, he entered the store. It was quite large, serving as a shop for both guys and girls. He had never been to a clothing store this large, having bought all his clothes from local department stores. After an embarrassing spell in the female section, he was directed to the male formal wear by an attendant.

What in the five hells?!

The clothes were alien, suffocating and horribly expensive. He could not figure out why anyone would want to wear these, much less spend the exorbitant prices for them. But that was all secondary. First, he had to figure out what to even get. This proved to be quite a daunting task. It was impossible for a T-shirter like him to know what was stylish and what was not.

Thirty minutes of browsing later, he grabbed the cheapest suit he saw: a slightly large brown double-breasted coat, and similarly large pants. He went to the cashier to pay for the coat, hoping he had enough money left over.

He placed the suit on the counter, but a small petite hand yanked it off. He whirled around to see who it was and stopped. It belonged to a beautiful blue-eyed girl, who was most likely a foreigner. Her blonde long hair was well groomed into two curling ponytails. She was dressed in a green one-piece gown that showed off her ample bosom.

“Can I have that back?” He asked, holding out his hand.

“My apologies, but I absolutely cannot give this back.” She tossed the suit onto a rack with a smug look. She had a rich voice and carried herself like royalty.

“Huh? What do you mean you can’t?”

“It is positively hideous.” She turned to the cashier. “No offense.”

The cashier nodded in reply.

“And why do you care?” Suzuki attempted to grab the suit, but she quickly snatched it.

“Usually I could not care less what a plebeian wears. But, you looked so helpless, I could not help myself.” She turned around and marched towards the male section. “Come!”

‘I’m going to regret this.’ He followed her, wondering once again what had gotten into everyone.

“Take that off.” She pointed to his hoody. He obeyed meekly, wondering for the umpteenth time as he hung his hoody what exactly he was doing. “The shirt too.”

“W-what?!” He panicked and stepped back, but his new benefactor was having none of it. She attacked and wrestled the shirt off of him. He noticed her hair smelled like lavender, and mentally kicked himself for even noticing such a thing. Red with embarrassment, he futilely tried to cover his chest with his arms.

The strange girl whistled. “You have quite the exquisite body. Why would you hide this under that dreadful hood.” She ran a finger down his chest, a strange look in her eyes.

“My eyes never deceive me.”

Is that drool dripping down the side of her mouth?!

“U-um, can you step back, please. Y-you’re too close.” Suzuki jerked backward creating some space between them.

“Hmm...” She looked up at his terrified face and grinned. “Okay. Here, try this on.” She handed him a fitted white shirt and a black suit jacket.

He accepted the clothes if only so he could get away from her leering eyes and put something on. A few minutes later, he stepped out of the changing room.

The girl smiled brightly, hands on her hips as if proud of her creation. “You look absolutely splendid. Now, if only we need to do something about that hair of yours.” She reached up to touch his rather long bangs.

Suzuki freaked out and retreated right into a rack of clothes. He fell over and would have hit his head on the floor were it not for the clothes that broke his fall. “Ow ow ow ow.” He rubbed his sore elbows as he sat up, hoping he did not damage any of the clothing.

“You are rather clumsy.”

Her mocking eyes was the last straw. “Will you cut it out!” he yelled, and immediately covered his mouth with his hand. He had never yelled at anyone in reality before.

She was unfazed by his sudden burst of anger. “You do have some spirit in you,” She said as she helped him to his feet.

“Why are you doing this... um?”

“Ah, forgive my terrible manners. My name is Saeko Minako. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” She curtsied politely. “In response to your question. I am doing this because you are irresistibly cute.”

“Geh! S-Suzuki Mato.” Suzuki unconsciously stepped back.

“Now, now, you do not need to be so guarded.” She inched closer, and he retreated until he hit the wall.

With nowhere left to go, sweat poured down his face in droves as the seductress placed her hands on the wall on both sides of him. “That jacket really does look good on you.” Her voice was hoarse with unrestrained desire. Licking her lips, she raised her lips to meet his...

A loud cough interrupted them and he turned to see Jade looking at him, brow raised.

“Two weeks you don’t answer my calls. So this is what you were up to?”

“N-no!” He noticed Saeko’s attention was on Jade and used the chance to wriggle away.

“I just came to get a suit, then she... shirt... took off... um...”

“Ho? She took your shirt off? Just how far did you two go in a public shop?” Jade teased. She was thoroughly enjoying Suzuki’s distress. Then again, it might just be petty revenge for him ignoring her.

“N-n-n-n-n-nowhere!” Suzuki cried, waving his hands like a madman.

Saeko sighed. “Ah, the mood is completely gone. Mato-kun, would you kindly introduce me to your friend?”

“Y-yes. Um, Minako-san, this is Jade Yuhi. Jade, Saeko Minako-san.” He introduced them and quietly grabbed his T-shirt while they gauged each other. He retreated to the changing room, wanting to dodge the aura coming from the girls.

“Yuhi-san was it? You two seem to be rather close; calling each other by your first names.” Saeko had a warrior’s smile on, and a challenging glint in her eyes.

“Nowhere near as close as you two. Sucking each other’s faces ten minutes after you met.” Jade smiled sweetly, though there seemed to be a raging inferno below the surface.

“Ah, about that. Sadly, you interrupted us before we got to the good part.”

’How tragic.”

Sparks flew between the two women as they glared at each other. Suzuki chose to come out then, dressed in his comfortable T-shirt and a white hoody. He carried the clothes Saeko had handed him in his hands.

He noticed the glaring contest and decided to take a long way round across some other aisles. Give him a bully or a giant monster and he would face them head-on. Women, on the other hand, were creatures he could not understand.

As he walked to the counter, fate played one more major trick on him. He ran into the strange silver-haired man he had met in the park.

“Yo, Sukki-chan!” Taiga greeted when he saw Suzuki who was in the middle of turning away. “What brings you here?”

His cover blown, Suzuki turned around. “I could ask you the same. You did not peg me as the corporate wear type.”

“I’m not. Some hotshot came a week ago and turned this place upside down. Said I have to go for some weird thing on Friday.”

“You too huh.” Suzuki sighed. “See you around. I need to check these out before they remember me.”

“... By any chance, are the people you’re talking about a blondie and a dark makeup girl?”

“Yeah. How did... oh.” He turned around and saw the very people he had been trying to give the slip. “...Hi?”

Jade spun around and delivered a devastating roundhouse kick to his face. “That’s for ignoring me.”

“Woah.” Taiga blinked, stepping out of the way as Suzuki flew past him. “Name’s Taiga, and you guys are?”

“Leaving.”

Saeko bent over Suzuki and put her number into his PDA. “See you later, Mato-kun.” The female duo left him sprawled on the floor, clutching his chin and exited the shop.

“I like your friends.” Taiga held out his hand to help Suzuki up.

“Yeah, well, I could do with less drama.” Suzuki stood up effortlessly. He had blocked the kick with his palm at the last second, then pretended to be hurt badly. Anything to get the girls off his back.

“You are the type of guy girls end up hating.” Taiga handed him the suit he had dropped.

“Well, they can get in line then.” He went to pay for the suit, finishing the rest of his allowance on the exorbitant clothing.

‘This had better be worth it.’

Inside the amusement park, Akari stood uncomfortably in a polo shirt and jeans. His odd attire was a result of the happy-go-lucky blond strolling towards him with two ice cream cones in his hand.

“Here you go. Double-decker vanilla and chocolate, with sprinkles and caramel coating.” James handed him one of the cones.

“Who would eat that?” Akari regarded the sugary poison with disdain but took it nonetheless.

“You need to loosen up Seki. You’re always so uptight; I hear it’s not good for the heart.” James said as they walked towards one of the rides.

“This is not good for my health either. But that did not stop you from handing it to me.” Akari countered, irritated by the overall mood of the compound.

Ever since Shouyou arrived roughly two weeks ago, he had proceeded to completely change the atmosphere in the compound, claiming it would produce better results for their NS ratios. His first order of business was to fully staff all the entertainment spots, starting with the amusement park, then all the way to the cinemas.

He then hired some people to play sports like basketball and soccer, until the residents themselves started playing. It did not take long for more and more people to stop spending the entire day cooped up in their drives and start coming out more.

“I don’t get your reasoning.” Akari scolded. “I would have thought you would want them spending more time in the virtual world to increase their NS.”

“Say, why do people play games?”

Akari drew a blank. He had never been the type to divulge in gaming, having spent his time either buried in books or onthe baseball field. “If I had to guess, I would say to escape reality?”

James chuckled. “That’s one way of looking at it. What sets a good game apart from another is how immersed a player can get in it while playing.”

“What does that have to do with encouraging less playing?”

“As you said, gamers love games because it’s the best way for us to escape the dregs of reality. Movies and books are good an’ all, but nothing can beat questing for the perfect sword to slay that unbeatable beast and emerging victorious, a hero of the land.” James' eyes looked past his surroundings into an unknown vision, a dreamy smile on his face.

“Still does not exp-”

“What do you think happens when that very game turns into a prison? If someone is forced to play a game he once loved just so he can live?”

Realization dawned on Akari. “... they begin to hate the game.”

“Yes. No matter how long they stay in the game, if they do not truly enjoy it, then it is pointless. They will never strive to become any better, and as a result never unlock their true potentials.”

“So, you are effectively removing the last bit of hesitation from them.”

“You make it sound bad.”

“You are a truly dangerous man.”

“Someone has to be.” He patted Akari on the shoulder. “Now, let’s ride that one.” He pointed at the largest roller-coaster ride in the park.

The signboard boasted in shining neon lights ”Cheating Death!"

“...”