The King's Mandate: Anomalous System

Chapter 20: Friends

After that, I fell asleep thinking about some memories which I barely remembered and woke up the next day at 10 AM.

It's Saturday, so there was no school, but my mom always wakes me up early in the morning, even on the weekends. But today, she didn't.

I did tell her yesterday not to wake me up, but I was just saying that to hide my embarrassment. I didn't say she shouldn't wake me up.

I sighed as I said, "It's not like I hate it."

I got up from the bed and grabbed my tablet as I went downstairs.

I could hear some sound from the stairs.

Is mom watching television?

"Hey, mom, good morning."

"Oh! You are awake. Take a bath. I will prepare breakfast for you."

"Got it."

I grabbed my clothes, which I had recently washed because I was too lazy to go upstairs again.

I tried calling Elena, but she didn't answer the call.

I played some news after I took a quick shower, like always.

When I went to the kitchen, my mom had already served breakfast on the table.

"You slept well?"

"Yeah."

"Were you playing the game till late at night?"

"Something like that."

"So that's why."

"Huh?"

What does she mean?

"I tried to wake you up in the morning, but you weren't waking up."

"You did?"

So she tried to wake me up. I was worried about nothing--

"I did the usual thing too."

"..."

She never ceases to amaze me.

Moms are dangerous.

"Oh right!" she clapped and said, "Elena is coming tomorrow, right?"

"She did say that."

But I am not sure now.

I will ask her today. 

Come to think of it; weusually play at night but today, but what about today?

She didn't tell me the time for today.

I quickly ate my breakfast and rushed over to my room.

I tried to message Elena, but she didn't reply. 

I tried calling her, but she didn't answer the call. Usually, she would answer it in seconds.

"Maybe she is playing a game?"

Yeah. That must be it.

Elena would never ignore me.

I patched myself with the VR gear and logged into LWO.

I glanced around to make myself comfortable with the visuals.

[Adas, you are early today.]

"Lily!"

[Yes, I am Lily. Your Lily.]

She doesn't sound like Lily.

Lily never talks this sweetly, and why does her voice keep getting cuter and cuter?

"We don't have school today, so I am here to find Elena."

[Reina?]

"Yeah!"

[She isn't here.]

"How do you know that?!"

[I checked your friend-list.]

"...!"

[Don't look at me like that.]

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"Don't do anything without my permission again, got it?"

[You can check your friend list to see if they are online or not.]

I opened my menu and checked my friend list. 

There are three people on my list.

Elena, Rikka, and Ricky. And all of them are offline right now.

"She is not here."

Then where is she?

Is she actually ignoring me?

But Elena would never do that.

[Did something happen?]

"Nothing. It doesn't"

It doesn't matter.

I waited for an hour, but Elena never came. 

Thinking she might have replied to my messages or calls, I logged out.

I checked my phone, but there were no replies or calls.

"Maybe she is in a bath or something?"

She sometimes sleeps in her bath.

I tried calling her again, but she didn't answer.

I kept trying to call her, but none of my calls reached her.

I had started to get paranoid.

Is she ignoring me?

I logged in again at noon, but Elena wasn't there. 

This time, I waited for more than an hour, but she never logged in.

[Adas, what's wrong?]

Lily kept hovering around my head and playing with my hair.

"It's nothing." I opened my menu as I said, "I will be back at night."

As I was logging out, I heard the words, [Okay, I will wait for you]

I was feeling suffocated. Not because of lack of oxygen, but because of my worry.

Dammit!

I tried calling her a couple of times, but she didn't answer.

"She must be busy with something."

Yeah. That's right.

Elena would never ignore me.

She will be there when I log in at night.

I ate dinner, but I couldn't taste anything.

"She will be there. She will be there. She will be there." I chanted to myself.

Don't overthink, Das.

She will be there. She has to be there.

I logged in again, hoping to see her, but she wasn't there.

What a liar.

"Didn't we promise we would level up today?"

Dammit.

Now I have no other choice.

"I will go to her house and see what's going on."

[What are you talking about? You are logging out already?]

"Yeah, I am sorry."

I opened my menu and was going to log out--

"Hey, Adas. What's up?"

It's Ricky and Rikka!

They might know...why would they know?

"Miss Girlfriend is not with you?" asked Ricky.

"Well..."

I told them everything.

I don't know why, but I told them everything.

"We knew she was scared of the sea." commented Rikka.

"What?!"

"We tried to take her there a couple of times, but she always kept her distance with the sea."

Was she scared of the sea?

Why the hell don't you know it?!

Why I don't know it, and they know about it?

I thought I knew everything about her, but I was wrong.

She is scared of the sea and because of me...she went into the ocean...because I teased her.

"There is a secret SS level quest in the sea." said Rikka.

"We tried to convince Reina a couple of times, but she never agreed." added Ricky.

"..."

"Well," Ricky patted my back and said, "Let's chat while eating something."

"There is a caf around here, right, Rikka?"

"Yeah, it should be around here."

They dragged me to the caf. 

How are we supposed to eat in a game?

"Do you have any money, Adas?"

I opened my menu and showed them my coins.

"Only 400 Ders!" they both exclaimed.

"I am new, remember?"

Even this 400 Ders, I got it from monster hunting yesterday.

"It's on us." stated Ricky.

"No, it's okay. I don't want to eat anything."

Like I will let myself owe an adult anything.

"Come on now, don't fret too much."

They ordered coffee and cakes. 

I still don't know how I am going to eat it.

"Come on now, dig in."

I grabbed a piece of cake and ate it thinking; it's not like I will be able to taste it...huh?

"It's delicious."

It tastes the same as the real one, but how?

"Interesting, isn't it?"

"How does this work?"

"I had the same reaction when I ate for the first time." said Ricky.

It's a game, so something like being able to taste is...hmm, it's possible if it's stimulated well.

"When you eat something, your brain recreates the same taste in your mouth in the real world or something like that."

Oh! I was right.

Our real body is connected to VR gear. Not only that, the dive gear is deeply connected with our brain, so the sensation of everything in the VR world is just our brain creating it.

This cake here is nothing but a program, and the data is saved in it. When we eat it, the information is transferred to the dive gear, and sends signals to the brain. The brain recreates the taste based on the ingredients used. And it stimulates our taste buds.

It was easy to guess.

"Thanks."

I can't believe I am thanking an adult.

"No need to thank me."

"But you paid for my share."

"No need to thank us, take it as thanks from us." said Rikka.

"Why are you thanking me?" I asked, confused.

"We aren't thanking you. We are doing this because you are Reina's boyfriend."

"Huh?"

"We would never say this in front of her, but she is a good girl."

I know that.

"You see, we are playing this game just because it was a VR game. They are pretty popular, and you can have a real-life experience with them. But after we met Reina, we started enjoying this game."

They usually badmouth her, but they are praising her right now.

"She is an awesome girl. After we formed a party, every time we went on monster hunting or quests, she always made sure we were okay. She even died many times protecting us." added Rikka.

"Say, we are strangers, right?" Ricky asked.

"Well yeah."

"She never cared about it. She treated us like she had known us for a long time. No wonder you fell for her. Anyone will fall for a girl like her."

No one will fall for her. She is mine.

"Umm," I glanced at Rikka and said, "Are you sure you should say this in front of your wife?"

"Huh? Oh! I was just saying it hypothetically. I wouldn't fall for her; besides she has an arrogant personality."

Tch!

I thought they would fight, but they are too cool with each other.

"You see, she always yelled at us when we were even 5 minutes late."

"Seriously, she is too annoying." They both said in unison.

They are badmouthing her again.

"So you should make up with her soon."

Why are they worried about us?

They are just strangers.

Just because we added each other as friends in the game, doesn't mean we are friends.

And what do they mean by 'Makeup with her'? 

It's not like we are fighting, but she is angry, right? She is avoiding me, right?

"How about you two? Have you never fought before?"

"No, we have." They looked at each other and said, "Plenty of times."

"But we love each other. And besides, we are married, so that doesn't matter."

They are not like other adults.

"Hey, tell me honestly." Ricky jumped closer and said, "What did you think when Rikka told you we were married?"

What did I think?

"You guys are crazy."

"Hey, you are too honest."

"You asked me to be honest."

"Well," Rikka glanced at Ricky and said, "Everyone said that to us."

"Oh?"

"You see, we have lost many friends because we got married after graduating from high school."

"..."

"We got comments like, 'You guys are crazy,' 'Are you out of your mind?' and many other comments."

They are not called friends.

They are nothing but pieces of shit.

"We also had a hard time convincing our parents."

If they got married at 18, then their parents must have opposed it.

'How did you convince your parents?' I wanted to ask that, but I couldn't bring myself to ask.

"My parents were okay with it. But with Rikka's father, it took a while convincing him."

"We were ready to elope anyway." Rikka commented.

"So what I want to say is, the things you get, the things you have, be grateful for it. Never take it for granted because not everyone has it, and it's hard to get something you want when you need it. I." He looked at Rikka and said, "We have personal experience."

"I know that."

I know that very well.

"You will learn it; this is how the world works."

"Yeah."

"Well then," They got up and asked, "You want to level up? We can help you."

Elena told me that we would level up today, but she is not here.

"Nah, I will pass. I want to level up when she is here."

"You love her, huh, Mister Boyfriend?"

They seem like good people.

Maybe I can trust them, or perhaps not.

"Should we log out?" he asked Rikka.

"Yeah"

"Are you guys not going to play?"

"We already played enough."

"See you tomorrow." Rikka added.

"Yeah, I am logging out too."

They opened their menu and logged out.

I opened my menu and logged out--

I glanced around and said, "Just kidding."

I can't log out.

I won't log out.

"There is something I have to do first."

I checked my friend-list, and I made sure that those two have logged out. 

Now then, no one here knows me--

[You are not going to log out?]

Dammit!

I forgot about her.