Reese

It was a Sunday so I did my Sunday routine. Woke up, washed my face, drank my coffee. Then I sat on my couch, went through a hundred holoshows while the early morning passed. It was a Sunday. That means I was free to be lazy. It's usually the only time my room's not set up as an office, and the only I'm not hounded by virtual meetings every hour.

After I tire of waving at the sensors, I settled on an episode of Fantasy Quest. I had seen the virtual knights fight orcs and make love to bar elves for probably a hundred times now.

To be honest, I just wanted to fill the wide empty spaces of my apartment with noise. I'm not the kind of guy who can find comfort in solitude. It's not relaxing for me. At least the holoshows made the lonely white walls surrounding me bearable.

I increased the sound and let the knights argue, "You killed her," one of them brooded. "You left her to die in that dungeon, didn't you?"

"She was doomed to die the day she loved you, brother. Don't blame me for your mistake."

"Don't call me brother!"

The two knights fought, trying to kill each other. My living room was a field of grass they clashed their swords on. But did I care for any of it? No. My eyes and ears followed the action infront of me, but my mind quickly numbed to static.

"Sir," MAU alerted me suddenly. "Mr. Tan Ranesh has sent you a message." His friendly, butler-like tone echoing through the room.

I stirred on my couch. Tan? Tan in highschool? Last I heard of the guy he got married. Never got an invitation to his wedding. But, we've been estranged for years that it hadn't really bothered me.

"What's it about?" I asked MAU, pausing the holoshow.

"I think it's best if you watch the message yourself, " the A.I. said.

"Play it, then," I told him.

Tan's projection appeared in front of me. "Hey, what's up, Reese?" he waved. The beard he'd tried so hard to grow in high school was now a thick black bush under his jaw. He'd grown fatter as well. "Heard you're some big shot corporate guy now. Why don't we catch up tonight? I know you and I haven't been close for years. But, I've met Jared and Eve a week ago. The siblings decided its best if we all reconnect. Get the gang back all together..."

Eve. My stomach fluttered. The feeling subsided away after a moment.

"I hope you still got that old VR rig of yours. Last month, I bought myself a pod worth a thousand credits, don't tell the wife," Tan's recording winked. "If you still got that machine. Then get inside it tonight, cause we're gaming. It'll be like the good old days. Remember that time on Dark Fates Online when Jared and An—" He stopped, trying to hide the obvious awkwardness in his expression. "Anyways, we'd all be meeting at eight. I'll send your MAU the link to the private room. I hope you can come."

Tan's projection vanished.

"End of Message," MAU said, stating the obvious.

I thought about it. I have a meeting tomorrow with LunaTech investors. And based on Tan's message, we were going to play a VR-MMORPG. I remembered gaming in high school, we usually took until midnight to get really sucked in and enjoy a game like that.

I guess I could sleep late. I told myself. I sent a brief message to Ann, my secretary, had her reschedule the meeting just in case I overslept.

I went down to the basement and fetched my old VR rig. I brought it up in the living room. Then assembled the 3D printed parts and reconnected the nanite wires.

I haven't used this since college, you know. I'm not really the kind of guy who spends much of his time in virtual worlds. The holoshows were enough entertainment for me.

It hummed as it turned on.

As I sat on the chair, nostalgic feelings came, along with bittersweet memories, one where a teenager and his friends ate chips and drank softdrinks in between immersion.

LunaTech could provide me with a much sleeker, nextgen, virtual device. The ones where you'd just need the glasses and a small neuroconnector the size of a button to attach to your head.

But as I snuggled in the pillow-like material, I realized I can't simply forget all the things that happened here. Inside those virtual worlds, hid the past, and bitter or not...it happened in this old VR rig.

"MAU, save me a seat on that netroom Tan was talking about." I stood up and looked at my window. "Then remind me one hour before seven to immerse myself."

"Will do, sir. I'm guessing you'll be meeting with old friends?"

Friends? I contemplated for a minute. "Some of them are, I guess."

Andrei

"Next time, Iet's visit Paris." Sakura said under her sweetly drawn smile. She held my hand and ran towards a pile of pink leaves, pulling me with her. The things scattered as she kicked them away.

"Hey, why not?" I said in a bored tone. Cartoon leaves falling near my shoes. "I'm sure Paris will be romantic."

"Thank you so much," Natalie said, giving me a soft peck on the cheek. "I love you."

"Same."

I let myself get pulled towards the park, just to make her happy. For the whole afternoon, we had ridden on carousels, eaten at sushi restaurants, toured the mall, and watched a romantic movie, practically topping up the date meter. If she's not happy before this day ends, then she won't ever be.

I glanced at my watch. 6:40 pm.

Sakura and I stopped at a part of the park where a thick canopy of leaves covered the sky. The perfect orange glow from the sunset bathed our skin, while the leaves fall slowly at the top of our heads. A romantic song played in the background, making me feel like I'm in one of those romantic asian holonovellas.

Sakura stared at me with her big blue animated eyes. She hugged her dress while the wind blew her hair perfectly. There were drawn lines on her cheeks, a shade of red over it. She was blushing. "Andrei-Kun..."

I sighed. Here comes the kiss. Then went for her mouth. For a minute, our lips and tongue locked with each other.

After a comfortable but brief hug, I unlatched myself from her, knowing her happiness bar was now full, "Why don't we continue this at a hotel?"

Sakura nodded her head.

We fast traveled quickly to one, bought a room for the night, and entered. Surrounded by brightly colored walls and furniture, we jumped on the bed and began kissing each other.

I ran down my hands on her perfectly animated body while she moaned in an over the top way. Then I pulled her dress up...

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...everything was blurred.

A text floated in my vision.

Your Silver membership with DATE AN ANIME GIRL has expired. Please top up 100 credits to continue your immersion.

"Alright, fuck it." I desynced. Forgot to pay the freaking thing.

I removed the VR helmet from my head and got up. On the bed, my real girlfriend lay naked, still immersed somewhere. She's probably on the net cheating with some guy.

But, hey, I got no problems with that. I mean, I was in bed with an A.I generated anime girl moments ago...

I picked up a stick of relaxant beside the empty bottles and algae crackers. Then smoked, filling the confined space with minty air.

I checked the time. 7:00 pm. One hour before the meet. The guys would probably be there now. Early as ever. Tan, Jared, Eve. As well as Reese...that asshole.

After all these years, my old high school friends decided to meet up...and play a VR-MMORPG?

I snickered. Tan was the only one who stayed friends. And now suddenly, some of them got the urge to reconnect...it got me curious. Was Jared lonely? Did Eve want to talk?

Or maybe Reese finally decided to kill me?

I finished my relaxant and removed Alice from immersion.

"Babe, desync," I told my girlfriend. She took off her helmet as she heard. "I forgot to tell you, I'll be meeting with some old high school friends. Just order yourself some pizza, alright. I might be gone for a few hours."

"And you're gonna do what?"

"We're going to play a game."

"A game," she scowled. "You'll probably just be sleeping with some anime girls inside that helmet of yours."

"No, babe." I tried to put on a serious look. "Why would I ever do that?"

She slapped me, seeing through the obvious lie. "Desync before midnight, and not a minute more."

"Sure," I said, giving her a kiss.

I slipped my helmet on and immersed myself, searching for the private netroom.

Enter Tan Ranesh's room? A blue popped up asked when I found the right one.

Yes, I confirmed.

Everything morphed, becoming a dark chamber in quantum. Then light and images formed around my vision.

I suddenly found myself standing in front of a snow-covered tavern. A cozy building in the middle of a white landscape. Shadows from its bright windows laughed. They were here.

I knocked on the wooden door.

It opened, "Hey," Reese greeted me with a warm smile, which was surprising.

"Hey yourself."

He had the same clean-cut boring hair, "Been too long, right?" Reese said, offering me a hand.

I shook it. "Well, you've gotten uglier." Then I patted his back and slipped behind him, continuing inside the tavern before any hint of awkwardness heightened between us, "You've seen Tan's belly and beard?"

"Yeah," Reese said with a slight chuckle. "Guy grew a dad bod too fast."

I shrugged away his friendly tone and went to the man sitting on the couch. Eve's brother was nursing a beer. "Well, well, well..." Jared said when he saw me.

"Well, well, well," I replied. "If it isn't our little man, lost your virginity yet?"

"Nice to meet you as well, Andrei."

We both laughed. Then Jared threw me a beer. I caught the can.

Tan came out of the room suddenly, carrying a roasted chicken on a platter.

I sighed, "Don't tell me you just cooked that freaking thing?" He could have just popped it out of existence, fully cooked. But by the looks of the soot and sauce on his clothes, he still went into the trouble of cooking in the virtual space.

"Hey," Tan shrugged, placing the chicken at the table. "You know I can't cook. In the real world, this would have been toasted. Let a guy feel like a chef for once."

I gave the man a hug. The chicken did smell good. And I was hungry. Real or not. I wanted a taste. I settled and got myself a plate.

"How's the wife?" I asked Tan.

"Well, I told her you weren't coming, so she allowed me to come."

"Oh, come on. She's still bitter about that time I got you drunk. Hey, we're in virtual, if you still find yourself drunk here, that's your fault."

I sat where Jared was sitting. Reese stood by awkwardly.

"By the way," I asked. "Where the hell's Eve?"

Reese glanced at me briefly. I caught his stare. After all these years, you're still jealous, aren't you?

"Probably still immersed in VerseWars," Jared said. "My sister's gone professional now. Have a manager and all that. Her fans even call her The Commander."

"Fits her," Tan commented as he sliced the chicken in parts.

"Well," I said, after taking a sip of my virtual beer. "She was kind of bossy in high school, right?"

That made the others laughed.

Then the tavern door opened suddenly.

"Who's bossy?" asked a woman who had an eyebrow raised. It was Eve.

Reese

"There she is!" Tan shouted.

"About time," Jared said to his sister.

Andrei hurried to the door and gave Eve a quick hug. I just stood there, waiting for them to untangle. What would I say, anyway?

"Andrei, you look...well?" Eve studied Andrei's scraggly face. "Dude, are you okay?"

Despite our differences, I felt bad for the guy. Andrei did look like he hasn't eaten anything in a month, thin and tired-looking. The guy was probably living in poverty or was on some addicting relaxant.

Andrei chuckled. "I got no job and I live off on government credits. My breakfast, lunch, and dinner are algae crackers. I smoke too many relaxants, spend most of my time in immersion. And I have a girlfriend that does the same. That's how I am."

"Hey," Tan said. "Don't believe the guy, Eve. His girlfriend is one of our city councilor's daughter. Living off on government credits, my ass. He just bought a nextgen VR helmet last month."

"Oh, you pig." Eve punched Andrei in the shoulder. "I see that you're still tricking women out of your league into supporting your sorry ass."

"Hey, what can I say?" Andrei shrugged. "It's my classic charm."

They hugged each other again.

When Eve saw me, she sighed. And I didn't know if it was relief or disappointment in her expression. She untangled from Andrei and walked to where I was, "I see that you've cut some time in your schedule for us, Mr. Reese." she said with a smirk.

"Anything for the Commander." My eyes couldn't get enough of her. I thought that if I blinked she might vanish.

Eve chuckled, "Just hug me, stupid."

And I did. My arms surrounded her, and I rested in her warmth. Even in immersion, her sweet familiar scent still remained. This was the Eve I knew back then, this was the Eve that visited my dreams.

We settled on the couch, ate chicken, and drank beer, relieving some good memories of the past, and skirting away from the bad ones...

"Alright, enough talk of our high school high jinks." Tan faced me. "Reese, tell us more about what it is you do. I heard you work at LunaTech, am I correct?"

"Yes," I nodded. "I work as a sort of middle man between company investors and potential creators. LunaTech's always searching for new technologies and innovations that can improve our lives. The virtual pod you mentioned in your message, Tan. We're the ones that patented it."

"Dang, that's cool," Tan said, burping.

"That pod got an emergency upload function, right," Jared said. "In case you get a heart attack when you're in virtual, it automatically uploads your consciousness in it."

"That's right," I replied.

"LunaTech..." Eve contemplated. "I remember now, two years ago, my team got sponsored by your company. Had us in an expensive Asian hotel and funded our whole stay abroad. I could only imagine the benefits you're getting."

"It's enough," I replied, humbly.

Andrei sighed. "Why are we talking about work?" he rubbed his hands excitedly. "What's this game you're so intent on having us play, Eve?"

Eve smiled, "Well, I thought it'll be boring to just meet in virtual without getting fully immersed in something. Now that all of my friends are here, why not spend a few hours in an OpenWorld. Spend our reunion gaming in a VR-MMORPG."

"What's the game?" I asked, curiously.

"Oh, you boys, are going to love it," she said with a gleam in her eyes. "It's called BattleBlonde Online."