*'???'*

I opened my eyes... And was treated to the scruffy cluster-fuck I call home. Litter being scattered over scrumpled paper engulfing half of the room, my games of every console scattered randomly on three bookshelves and thick cobwebs coated the corners.

The reason my room's such a pig-sty? I'm just lazy. I mean, I spent the last 9 days being fully awake for 7 of them playing a game, then sleeping in a comatose state for the next two. Just in time for a package to arrive. And, I'm in University right now, the honor dorm to be specific...

Anyway, after waking up and unpacking, I signed up for a game, creating my character and username. It was supposed to be a revolutionary game that uses an engine to completely immerse the user in the game world. This was Myth of Men. I watched the alpha and beta builds for the game. For some reason, I made lots of money playing other games, so I bought this game thinking it could be a good time sink if nothing else.

'Well, now the question is what I should do as the game processes my neuron waves, or whatever the hell it's actually called. Let's see, I'm on campus, so... I guess I could get something to eat.'

*Knock* "Hiiro? Are you there?" A female voice came from the other side of the door.

To cut a long story short: I'm on the scholarship of Henchang University, which I use to skip lectures altogether. In this dorm are only three people: me, Yun, the president of the student's club association of Henchang University, and Shun, Yun's twin brother, and the vice president of the same group. The name of the association is way too long, so I just call it the student council.

The girl behind my door right now was Yun... And, oh boy was this going to be 'fun'.

"Hiiro?"

"I'm here... And what does the princess require this time?" I said, subtly insulting her as she probably deserved.

During the time it takes her to work out my insult, let me explain. Yun is obsessed with me for whatever reason. Here, I'll list a few things she's done in the week since we've met: She tried making me re-sit my entrance exams on seven different occasions, I got full marks on all of them and added to her rage. She's also tried to force me to take up the role of vice president, and she gave out a petition to get me to attend one lecture. Thankfully everyone hates me, so it fell way short.

Even I'm starting to get that she has a thing for me, and I'm the antisocial hermit who spends way too much time playing games. Should I try telling her the truth, that I'm an asexual and the only thing we share is an address so it'll never work?

Yun huffed, finally reacting, "Don't call me princess. I just don't like the idea of one of the best three students the rest of the school should look up to being an anti-social hermit."

"And your problem is?"

"Just because you've got a famous name, doesn't mean you can let it crumble to dust..."

"I'm not letting it crumble away, I'm just trying to play games since that's what this 'famous name' is famous for. I'm only a scholarship student because I'm smart, and because of this, I don't have to attend any lectures, just tests. This means that my way of life is acceptable to the school and my own interests. Nothing is forcing me to go to school and be social, so I don't. There's no point in trying to change the god-like being called me anyway, so just don't try..."

"Yun, if Hiiro doesn't want to go out, don't force him. Or it'll backfire like the last time." A male said, interrupting the conversation.

Oh, Shun was still up. He seemed more level headed, and since he wanted a place near his sister, he didn't mind filling in for me at times like this. Actually, he might hate me due to jealousy at this point.

"You know what? I could do with something to waste my time princess. Care to at least explain what's going on now?" I unlocked the door, escaping my own hand-crafted tomb as I finished that thought. I realized the self-deprecating nature of doing this, but I needed to fill eleven hours anyway...

"Oh, I conscripted you into an inter-school tournament. It's SolarCraft 2, and since you're you, this should be a breeze to get through," she replied.

"And when does this tournament start?" I asked, devoid of any emotion.

Let me explain, SolarCraft 2 is a viral game around here. It's a real-time strategy game which has enough balance to make it E-sport material. Hangou, where I am right now, has it as their national sport for crying out loud, so to say it's 'popular' is a bit of an understatement.

The reason I'm here, and the reason I'm shrugging off this tournament, is because I'm the ABCsOfDatingSims, the winner of last year's world championships. To say I'm 'perfect' at the game isn't far off the truth. I played every race, and only lost about ten units a game, compared to my opponent's three hundred plus losses. I'm also the world champion of Brash, PoP and hold the world record for having the most world record speedrun times.

"It starts next week. I've got transportation already prepared, so we wanted to have a team meeting. It's the first inter-school competition this year, do well or I'll hassle you even more." Really? This girl does as she likes.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

I sighed, before replying with, "I'll go to the tournament, but I don't care about the practice sessions or 'team meetings'. I don't need them considering who I am..."

"And don't conscript me again for noob-tier tournaments like this. Promise me!" I quickly added. I started recording her response as I said this, knowing she'd go back on her word later.

"Sure. But what counts as 'noob-tier' to you, though?'" She pledged... Knowing her for the week I've known her, though, it's anyone's guess of how quickly she breaks it.

In answer to her question, I bluntly stated "All of them." and sighed again.

"By the way, what was that package yesterday for?" she pondered whilst I was grabbing some food.

Since I'm lazy, I reheated the lunch I didn't eat a couple days ago and waited for it to finish.

"It was the headset and console stuff for The Myth Of Men," I answered. "I spent the last hour setting up my character. But the game is only playable at seven. Hence I have a lot of free time."

"Eh? You're playing a VRMMORPG!? why? I thought you hated socializing." Shun repeated in spite.

He was pretty into gaming, especially in MMORPGs, so he understood the concept pretty well from Run Escape. But since he could tell I'm anti-social with his impressive telepathy skills, no wonder he was confused.

"They're paying me as a play tester. It's about 100k won (about £67) per hour. The stuff sent yesterday was given to me for free. Also, I'm going to mainly be a rouge, since the game apparently allows for such a play-style. I'll just pk if other people get annoying." I said as I thought back to the deal I made.

Underscore_Gaming originally scouted me a year ago during a tournament, and since then, asked me to play test the game. I mean, I still had to pay for adapters for my computer since it's slightly different to others. But the pay is good for the little work I 'need' to do, plus the console I got free. Apparently, they'd be actively updating, so I could ask them to make things challenging for me if I got bored anyway.

"Oh, so you'll play the VRMMORPG as a single player game then... I mean, it kind of defeats the purpose if you ask me." retorted Shun. I understand that playing it alone is like being a T-total person going to rehab for some since they'd argue the games about the social and economic interactions of the players as a collective. But I don't really see myself breaking this, I wouldn't be completely self-sufficient crafting wise considering my build anyway. I'd just be adventuring by myself, or with anyone who wanted to go with me for whatever reason. I just wouldn't actively create or join a clan.

"Hm, how about you? Are you going to try the game out, or not?" At this point my meal was finished, so I picked it up out of the microwave, and sat down at the table to eat it. It was just rice with a selection of seafood, but it was enough for me.

"Maybe, but aren't I too late?" Hm. It's true that the game had already sold all of its original batch because Underscore_Gaming was completely unattached to its eastern audience, but I heard they'd just make another batch. Solved. Plus they sent me an extra one...

I pictured the devs thinking of me as social. I laughed to myself, almost choking on a shrimp.

"They sent me two headsets and gloves... Although I only have one set of adapters." I said, still slightly wheezing from the laughter.

"Bu... Oh wait, you're you. But still. Can I really have it? You could just sell it for a ridiculous amount online," he asked, seriously thinking that a multi-millionaire would care. I didn't by the way.

"It's fine, I'm still setting fire to money for warmth," I replied, attempting to convey it comedically.

It went over his head as he asked, "You are? Isn't that treason?"

"Yes. When it actually happens and isn't a joke that is..." I said succinctly. In reply there was but silence, so I stated the truth bluntly, "Anyway. It's fine, but you're paying for your own adapters."

"Oh really? Well, I'll give it a try then, thanks for this. By the way, what's going to be your in-game name? I might want to pester you if I can."

"DokiDoki19. I could have gone with my usual ABCsOfDatingSims, but I chose this so I wouldn't get hassled... Don't go yelling it. It'll destroy the purpose."

"I won't so don't worry. I'll order the wires soon, but I have to prepare for a meeting now." he said, ending the conversation as he walked off.

With that, I'd finished my food and Shun just left the room. Yun left ages ago since she just didn't play games, so didn't care about it. She was also probably busy, not like I cared. So I washed up my plate and went back to my tomb.

-

I wasted like nine hours playing games like Radiation Scepter, Bunni-Bunni, and to my surprise, a new volume of KittyDice was released on Ice. So I immediately bought it and completed it. I'm not the ABC'sOfDatingSims for nothing you know.

It was relatively fun I guess, keeping to the pattern that you can only sleep with two of your sisters, who they can't call sisters for taboo reasons, each volume. Oh yeah, incest is a taboo subject for whatever reason, and looking at the forums, you could tell how many people shallowly disagreed with the topic in general. Truthfully I couldn't care less about such topics in general. They're all shallow, vindictive and stupid, and anyone who disagrees is just as stupid. But I guess for the whole zero people who want me to, I'll use up some time, giving my opinion in a rant and post it in the forums...

'Everyone is blood-related to everyone else to some degree anyway, who the fuck are you to claim blood relationships are bad, to still have the same with someone you have blood relationships with. Yes, I'm pointing to you random person on the internet, with your head up your arse because you believe in 'equality' between race and gender, just to disregard people's opinions, emotions and thoughts as two closely related people have the fucking tenacity to dare to fall in love with each other and even think about wanting to consummate such a relationship for your own equally shallow reasons as those who disregard genders or races, hypocrite. I mean, how many incestuous relationships happened after the nuclear war to get the population back up to 3.4 million again? Lots, that's the answer whether you like it or not. I get the increased risk, but isn't there a risk of such things anyway? I think it's better than abusive, smoking or other types of bad parents.'

Getting that rant out of the way wasted more time, only about a minute or two, meaning I still have two or three hours left.

I'd better get to social media. Hm, seems like it's full of duel requests from noobs who want to prove themselves to be less nooby again... Deleted. Now then, any problems on personal fronts?

Oh yeah, I might as well inform the dev who contacted me about my username. With a response of 'acknowledged', I explored further on the internet.

...

After finishing my emails, NovelPunch and Bratter, I realized it was almost time. I got on my headset and gloves, and lied in my bed, waiting to join the world of Myth of Men.