Carter Jones, – a thin disgruntled looking youth – lay asleep on the couch of his small run-down living room.

The light from his old dilapidated television flickers on and off of his silhouette while a beautiful blonde blue-eyed reporter gives the daily weather report.

“Temperatures are set to reach a record low, as such citizens are advised to avoid being outside for an extended period of time and are recommended to stay home. Via Corp workers may also stay home, but will not receive paid leave during th—”

An alarm blares loudly cutting the reporter off mid speech. Carter grunts and swats at the watch on his wrist... the alarm goes quiet.

“Ugh… what time is it?”

A quick glance at his watch tells Carter that It’s 7 a.m, Friday morning.

He fumbles off the couch with a groan and sluggishly makes his way to the bathroom.

The bathroom is small and mostly clean but the white paint chipping off the walls makes it painfully obvious that it could use some renovation. Furthermore, there’s an unholy stench about the place that makes carter scrunch his nose.

He immediately looks towards the toilet...

The toilet is backed up... and the sight is enough to make most grown men gag, but Carter seems accustomed to it.

He sighs.

“Another day, another problem.”

Carter makes his way towards the plunger by the bathroom door then closes the door as he gets ready to fix the toilet.

Suction cup noises abound for a good 15 minutes.

Flush

After the toilets been handled a few knobs can be heard squeaking and then Carter hops into the shower.

**

After using the plunger to unclog the toilet and taking a quick bath Carter pops out of the bathroom. He’s equipped with a towel and a toothbrush. He pours himself a glass of water from the kitchen sink, gurgles, and then spits (Ptui!).

Another alarm goes off and Carter panics, nearly dropping his towel in the process.

He grabs a piece of toast out of the fridge, jams it into the toaster, and the scrambles to his room.

The alarm continues.

By the time Carter remembers to turn off the alarm he’s already in a full sprint. His hair is uncombed (evidenced by the comb still in it), his socks are mismatched, and his uniform is untucked, but he’s halfway out the door. Suddenly Carter turns around.

He smells something burning in the air.

“Shit!”

He grabs the half burnt toast out of the toaster and proceeds to rush back out the door. He slams the door on his way back out and a loud,

“Fuck, that’s hot!”

can be heard in the distance as he leaves the area.

**

Some time later Carter’s foot makes its way past the doorway of Yorora High classroom 120B— and the rest of him follows as he slides into class just as the automated doors are about to shut.

It takes his classmates a moment to register his arrival but soon several of them are applauding him.

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A kid in the back row stands up and yells, “safe!” Prompting smiles and laughter from almost everyone.

Carter’s teacher, Ms. Harris, looks on unamused. Fortunately this is something Carter has grown accustomed to.

Ms. Harris glances at the ticking clock above the chalkboard then back at Carter sternly, but after quite some time passes Ms. Harris’s gaze softens and she sighs.

“... take a seat Mr. Jones.”

Carter smiles, “Thank you Ms. Harris.”

Carter makes his way to his seat— a little embarrassed, but he shrugs it off quickly and promptly proceeds to slump onto the surface of his desk.

**

Many years ago on Carter’s first day of class with Ms. Harris he’d been late by over 20 minutes. In his defense he was only about 12 at the time, his home was far away, and he had to walk the distance without any guidance or assistance from his parents. Regardless, Ms. Harris had been so annoyed at a new student arriving 20 minutes late into class that she smacked him upside the head with a ruler before even finding out why he was late… That was the start of their relationship.

Carter’s been late many more times since then, but eventually the rulers stopped flying.

Maybe Ms. Harris eventually realized Carter built an immunity to rulers...

**

Contrary to her strict exterior, Ms. Harris has managed to become one of Carter’s most beloved teachers. She shares a similar background to Carter. Both her parents were Via Corp workers —as most low income citizens are... and she too was alone during her high school years due to Via Corp demanding the majority of her parents' time. That’s why despite Carter’s constant tardiness she’s always been fairly forgiving, and she’s always had an eye out for his well being.

“Alright class, today we’ll be discussing neural networking.”

Ms. Harris writes on the classroom chalk board, one of the few eccentricities of Yorora High —the only high school left in the world that’ll still teach a topic like neural networking on a chalk-board instead of a VR unit.

**

As Ms. Harris’s lecture drones on, Carter begins to lean his head on his palm, soon after his eyes close and he falls asleep.

In his dreams Carter is an adventurer exploring never before seen dungeons and gathering incredible loot. Mountains of gold are piled at his feet, and the whole world knows his name. The only oddity is that his, "name," is a username that floats above his head.

It seems that Carter is dreaming about a VR game.

The game is Nifmose, and in his dream Carter is exceptionally powerful. As if to showcase his power, Carter’s stat window has his level listed as, “Level: Max,” —despite the game not having a max level.

Attractive women flock to him from all over the world.

**

Meanwhile in the real world Carter sits at his desk chuckling like an idiot with drool running down his arm, and Ms. Harris stands severely irritated next to him.

Snap!

Ms. Harris smacks Carter upside his head with such force that her old and fragile wooden ruler breaks. Carter barely reacts as he wakes up slightly startled. His reaction leaves Ms. Harris clearly unsatisfied as she stares at him somewhat flabbergasted.

“What the hell… is his head made of metal?”  She mutters.

“What?” Carter asks.

“Uh… I said class is over Carter.”

“What, really?”

Carter gets up and looks around the room and most students are gone. The  few stragglers left are packing they're their bags and getting ready to leave.

“Oops, I must’ve fallen asleep. Thanks for the wakeup call Ms. Harris.”

Ms. Harris stares, and sounds out a dissatisfied grunt.

“Carter.”

“What?”

“You owe me a new ruler.”

Carter stares confused, then he realizes that half a broken ruler lay on his desk. He looks at Ms. Harris with some embarrassment clearly on his face.

“Well, I guess I do. Haha.”

He gets ready to head out the door, but as he’s about to leave Ms. Harris stops him.

“Carter.”

Carter stops and turns around.

“Yeah?”

Ms. Harris watches him for a second.

“Ms. Harris?”

“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking that you’ve really grown up…”

Carter, tilts his head a bit suprised and retorts,

“Haha, only a little bit.”

This brings a smile to Ms. Harris's face.

“Anyways, don’t forget that the school installed Nifmose on the VR units today. If you don’t hurry you won’t get a spot.”

Carter’s eyes open wide, and his jaw drops as close to the floor as it is able.

“I totally forgot!”

He immediately turns around and dashes out the door. His smiling face briefly pops back into the classroom for a second to say,

“Thanks Ms. Harris!”

Before he rushes off again. Ms. Harris looks on and chuckles.

“Silly kid.”