Brad felt a bit nervous waiting for Alice so he showed up a bit early. They promised to meet up in instance 34 of the metaverse crossing, a virtual reality construction of the Shibuya Scramble Crossing in Tokyo, Japan. One of the most crowded places in real life and a common meeting point, it was lovingly recreated in virtual reality. Even if there aren’t a large number of real people online it was programmed to dynamically generate npcs so that it always felt full and recreated the feeling of vastness and insignificance when visiting in real life. In the real location a dog statue of a famous akita, Hachiko, sits watchful over all the people. In the virtual crossing the Hachiko statue is replaced by an actual, live Hachiko that lets you pet and hug him. He continues to be a common meeting point and a good boy.
Standing there awkwardly next to Hachiko who was now sniffing his shoulder Brad felt...awkward. He wasn’t a big animal person in real life, but didn’t mind it so much in VR. He tried ignoring the dog who now booped his wet nose on his cheek. Brad quickly turned his head in surprise. He looked at the dog who gave big, “pet me” eyes as it started to lower its head.
“It’s asking you to pet it, Brad.” Sonder chimed into his ear.
Brad awkwardly reached out slowly to pet the dog. When Brad’s hand was close enough Hachiko reacted by moving his head to accept the shape of his hand. The dog closed its eyes in comfort as Brad slowly stroked the virtual fur that felt real in his hand. In the metaverse crossing Hachiko is specially programmed with extra functions that Brad wasn’t expecting.
“Who may I find for you?” Hachiko spoke to Brad in a deep, husky voice.
Brad was shocked, he remembered that the virtual Hachiko could speak, but he had never heard it before and wasn’t expecting the voice to be so...deep.
“Uhmm… I’m looking for a girl named Alice?”
Hachiko looked up at him and turned his head to the side inquisitively.
“There are currently 323 registered Alices in all of the instances of the metaverse crossing, can you please show me her digital id number?”
Brad reached for his phone and pulled up the QR code representing Alice’s digital avatar id. He knelt down and showed the phone screen to the dog. Hachiko went up to the phone and started to sniff the QR code on the phone screen. After finishing, he started to sniff the surrounding area. The designer who created the metaverse crossing wanted Hachiko to be useful and have the ability to find anyone in the metaverse crossing. Hachiko walked around the area sniffing the ground and at one point started to sniff random passerbys.
Suddenly his head jetted up, his ears perked up, he lightly barked, and he circled three times quickly and ran back to Brad.
“I have found the person you are looking for, she is not in this instance, she is in instance number 39.”
“39, maybe she read it wrong. Thank you for helping me.”
The dog barked in joy, panted, and ran back up to his post to assist more people. In reality there was a search functionality that could’ve easily found Alice, but Brad didn’t know about it. Plus this interface was much more fun. Brad pulled out his phone and opened the metaverse crossing app and switched to instance 39. All of the people in his view began to fade away into the air as a new set of faces began to form around him; and there she was.
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Alice was wearing the blue, plaid sundress she bought the night before and stood there timidly fiddling with her nails. She had on a deep red lipstick that had purple tinges in it, but could only be seen up close at certain angles. She had chosen a slightly done up hairdo and leaned on the side of the wall. She looked stunning in Brad’s eyes and looked like how spring sunshine feels after long rain. She looked up and a jolt of excitement and nervousness ran up Brad’s leg.
Remember your simulator training, remember your simulator training, rem…
“Brad!” Alice started running toward him with arms wide open.
“She’s going in for a hug, prepare yourself” Sonder quickly whispered in his ear.
Brad began to turn to the side and had one arm out.
“NOT A SIDE HUG, FRONTAL HUG,” Sonder corrected him.
Brad quickly turned to the front and received the hug. She smelled like a combination of fresh citrus and roses.
“I was wondering where you were, I was about to ask Hachiko,” Alice said.
“Oh, I was at instance 34, I guess I might’ve typed out the text or read something wrong.”
“34? Oh I’m sorry I probably read it wrong, depending on the font sometimes I see 4 as 9.”
Brad remembered he had a gift for her. He quickly pulled out his phone and checked his virtual inventory. He clicked on the bouquet of daisies he ordered and they appeared in his hands. Alice’s eyes lit up as she gratefully received them and began to smell them.
“Thank you for these, you’re very thoughtful. I don’t know where to put them though.”
“Oh, that’s ok they have an option to change.”
“Change?”
At the recommendation of his mom Brad bought special flowers that were programmed to be able to change into accessories. Brad took the flowers back and began to shake them to Alice’s surprise. Suddenly a screen appeared that had a list of accessories the flowers could change into.
“Wow, I didn’t know you could do that,” Alice marveled looking over the list, “can I get the headband?”
Brad clicked on the headband option and the flowers began to hover slightly out of Brad’s hands in space and the stems faded away leaving only the flowers. The daisies began to form a chain and began to spin around until a flurry of petals created a slight whirlwind. The wind generated from the petals scented the air with a pleasant aroma. The cyclone of petals began to get smaller and smaller until they merged together and a small flash of light electrified the air. The daisies finished transforming into a stylish black headband with a daisy pattern and gently floated back down into Brad’s hands.
“Here you go,” Brad said, handing the band to Alice.
Alice still struck, “Brad? That was so cool, aren’t you impressed?” she said in disbelief as Brad looked nonchalant during the whole transformation.
“Oh, yea I am, it’s just…nevermind.”
“Just what?”
“It’s ok to tell her,” Sonder said in his ear.
“Well...when I bought the flowers, um, I spent last night trying it out and practicing it a lot.”
“Practicing?”
“Yea...for our date.”
Alice giggled and gave him another hug and looked up at him, “so where are we going?”
“I know it’s probably cliche, but...Disneyland. I actually have a special pass that allows a guest to come.”
Alice looked up at him and smiled widely without showing her teeth; and that was when Brad noticed the purple sheen in her lipstick tint.