[Please wait.]

'This notification... is from my favorite video game'

I was looking terrified and fascinated at this message.

The panel in the game. Floating in mid-air in front of me.

'Can't this be a dream? How could it be one?'

I look at my hands, they look skinnier and the veins on my hands are more pronounced and when I look at my body I see I have six-pack.

I run to the bathroom where I look in the mirror and when I see...

'Have I magically lost weight?'

I touch my abdomen and yes..the way my abdomen is shaped now is like that of a guy going to the gym.

[ Hi Sikoro, welcome back. ]

'Sikoro is my username in the game.'

I was looking at this window that was following me, every direction I looked there was that window.

'If I'm to take it logically, I now have access to my entire in-game arsenal'

Saying out loud the word 'Inventory' another window opens and I have my entire arsenal there, from my swords to my regeneration potions.

'So I'm..a player?'

---

The Fat Player, Shinichiro Kazuka.

Yes, that's his nickname. Whether he ignores them or not, the nickname will be and remain forever.

He is a fat guy and yet he does nothing about it but just eats and plays VR games instead of losing weight.

In his childhood he was quite skinny but once he started discovering video games and especially when VRMMORPG games became popular he started changing completely.

In just one year he had gained 15 kilograms more and has continued to do so until now and now at the age of 17 he weighs 122 kilograms.

To facilitate this issue, he's also 168 cm tall so giving this fact he's super fat and this thing is super noticeable.

The games he plays are mostly MMORPG adventure games and one of his favourites is 'Rise from the Dust'.

He was fascinated by the story of this game and subsequently becoming quite a good player of this game.

- Lv. 40

"Looks like I've leveled up"

After a long session of playing Kazuka decides to take the virtual reality headset off his head and get into bed.

And because of his weight the bed creaks as if it still has some left and breaks in two under Kazuka's weight.

He looks up at the ceiling a little uncomfortably and then at his computer which he has left on and the light it emits hits him in the eye causing him to forcibly close his eyes and turn to face the wall.

He is lazy, you can see this from his daily routine, this being 'eat, go to school, sleep, play' and this routine has been repeated every day for 6 years now.

He finally falls asleep and he has a dream, a strange dream about a door, one quite similar to the one in a video game.

He looks at his hands and sees that he has an old key in his right hand and the only light coming from the door in front of him.

He walks slowly towards the door, each step he takes making a sharp noise on the wooden floor he walks on and yet his feet are cold being barefoot.

He continues to walk but it seems as if the door is moving away from him with each step he takes.

Realising this he starts to walk more hastily towards the door but to no avail, the only thing he succeeds in doing is breaking the floor with his weight.

Looking into the gap where the floor should be he sees only complete darkness, one like a void, much like the errors in games when you fall off the map and into the void.

Lifting his head up from there he looks at the door which moves away without him moving out of place.

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath and then exhales it calmly. He gets into a running position with his head towards the door.

"Whatever's behind that door, it should be something good."

He runs towards the door and the creaking sound gets louder and at the same time the floor disappears behind him, making Kazuka run even faster towards the door to avoid ending up in the void.

The floor behind him disappearing instantly with each step Kazuka takes, he begins to tire but because of his fear he continues to run.

He gasps and his gasping along with his running footsteps becoming super loud in sound.

Despite his excessive trying the door keeps moving away and the only thing Kazuka does is move the door away from him.

His footsteps become heavy on the cold wooden floor and the creaking sound doesn't go away for a second but this dream seems infinite.

Through his painful fear and the fact that the floor still disappears behind him he unlocks some memories.

"Are you saying he's a stupid guy?"

"Hah, yeah, he's a fat dumb guy who doesn't know anything and just plays video games."

"I don't know what to--"

The memory bluffs him realizing the void is just an inch away from him and he runs even faster almost falling to the ground.

"Even if I get near the door...do I have time to open it?"

The creaking sound gets even louder but because of his fear, Kazuka doesn't stop running for even a second despite his fatigue and the feeling like his lungs have a little left and are exploding.

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And as if that wasn't enough, a terrible headache accompanied by some sort of hallucination hits him even deeper.

The hallucination itself consists of...many green lines appearing in Kazuka's face and he tries to shake them off, shaking his head left and right but to no avail.

They become even more pronounced but at some point he notices that the door has stopped in place but the floor keeps disappearing so his adrenaline continues to be pumping to get to the door as quickly as possible.

Running on almost falling three times he lifts his hand with the key in it and when he finally reaches near it all the sounds stop in place and he hurriedly and scared inserts the key into the door.

Rolling the key in the door lock the door makes a clicking sound and he pulls on the wooden door handle.

"Something..was well worth it?"

He wakes up in the morning from his dream and gasps for air, his heart pounding in his chest.

The sound of the sparrows outside engulfing his ears in a soothing way and realizing he had escaped the dream.

Yet he looks down at his hands, seeing that they are more veiny and no longer swollen at all.

He doesn't notice the foreground until he scratches his abdomen and instead of a fat belly he feels a sensation like squares.

He lifts up his shirt which now looks three times his size and sees he has a six-pack and is shocked for a moment.

And because he can't believe it he runs to the bathroom, his footsteps are sharp but the floor doesn't creak like it used to.

Reaching the bathroom door he stumbles and falls to the floor and the sound as he falls to the floor is softer but quite audible.

He gets up from the floor and enters the bathroom, seeing his face which is now no longer swollen he flinches and falls off his feet.

He even notices that the clothes on him are 3 sizes too big when before those were really tiny for him.

Through his astonishment and increased excitement something that makes him even more amazed is a notice floating in mid-air in front of him.

"What's this?"

Realizing it is a video game panel he freaks out and backs up falling into the bathtub and when he looks again the panel is even closer to his face.

[ Hi Sikoro, welcome back. ]

Reading this message from this game system he is shocked to see something like this and thinking it is a dream he slaps his face twice.

But as is obvious, this is not a dream, this is reality.

Stepping out of the bathtub he looks at the notification and tilts his head slightly to the left and then to the right and it seems that the panel is following him in whatever direction he looks.

He excitedly and startled says the word 'Inventory' and another panel appears in front of him with everything he has in inventory.

"This is my inventory from...Rise from the Dust."

He looks through his inventory and grabs what appears to be two swords the size of his hand and super sharp.

It too expected to fall to the ground because of the weight of the swords but nothing happens and it tries to pick up the swords and move them through the air, which it did.

"How do I get access to this inventory?"

He only wonders that there is no concrete answer to this question and just looks at his swords and then he hears the clock in his room.

That making him wince to run to get dressed for school or he'll be late. But out of inattention he runs with his swords and penetrates the corridor wall.

"Oops."

He puts his swords back in his inventory and runs to the closet but as he expected, all the clothes there are too big, including his school uniform.

"What should I wear now?"

He thinks but when he glances at the clock again he is already late so he grabs a t-shirt and puts on his school uniform despite it being too baggy for him now.

He grabs his phone and runs to stand up and even his sneakers are bigger than before.

And because he's in a hurry he runs to the kitchen where he grabs some rags and stuffs them into his sneakers so he can put them on.

He remembers that he forgot his school bag so he goes back to his room where he grabs his school bag and runs to the door tripping again.

Getting up he grabs the key from the key rack and unlocks the door then exiting and slamming the door behind him. He quickly turns and closes the door and then runs back to the school.

And to his surprise he doesn't tire at all, every running step he takes feels easy and his body is no longer heavy at all.

Some of the girls catch his eye and start talking amongst themselves. He notices but continues to run faster so as not to be completely late.

Finally he sees the school in the distance and the sakura trees being wonderfully placed on the street.

Other students see him running but don't understand who this new guy is. The guy who used to be their bad joke.

Entering the school he unlocks his locker from where he grabs his school slippers and again they are too big for him so he pulls the rags out of his sneakers and puts them in those slippers.

He runs after to his classroom and pulls open the door startled only to see his classmates talking amongst themselves.

However because they have no idea who's sitting in front of them, they tell him to get out of the classroom and Kazuka smiles a little stressed and rubs his head.

"Well I'm Kazuka."

All of his classmates are shocked and there is complete silence in the classroom with the only noise being in the school hallway.

One of them approaches Kazuka and inspects him, every bit of him.

"There's no way you're Kazuka, that fatso can't lose weight that fast in such a short time."

Kazuka is a little embarrassed but walks past his colleague and sits down on the bench where the agency moves in on him, and all the girls walk over to talk to him.

And it seems they fight over which one to talk to him first and Kazuka not knowing what to do just says "It's ok, I can talk to all of you at once" despite the fact that he is red in the face.

Once the girls hear this they start talking to him but as was obvious, he doesn't understand anything they say at all.

And the previously frustrated colleague pushes the girls aside and slams his fists against Kazuka's bench, causing Kazuka to wince from the bench.

"Looks like you're pretty popular, shitface."

Kazuka hearing what his classmate said doesn't react either, getting used to being offended in all sorts of ways by his classmates.

His classmate grabs him by his uniform and headbutts him in the mouth saying "If you're so popular, you should be good at fighting too" spitting in Kazuka's face.

Kazuka gets up from his bench and looks into his classmate's eyes and all the other classmates back away scared of what could happen at any moment.

But as no one expected Kazuka just smiles calmly at his classmate saying "Daiki, you know I don't like fighting" and sits back down in his bench.

The irritated colleague even more asks Kazuka how he knows his name and in response Kazuka says "I told you I'm Kazuka so I obviously know your name" and then takes out his notebook for the class.

His colleague almost punches Kazuka in the face but Kazuka dodges the punch and looks at him calmly.

"Like I told you Daiki, I don't like violence in any form."

All the classmates are amazed that the new classmate or rather Kazuka in his new form managed to dodge the punch of Daiki who is a long time boxer managing to win the gold medal.

"How can you dodge my punches?"

The even more nervous classmate wants to grab Kazuka's hand and then punch him with his other fist but Kazuka grabs his hand and pushes him to the ground.

All his classmates stand back even more amazed that he managed to knock Daiki to the ground.

One of the girls even says to Kazuka, "You're going to win, new boy!" making a heart-shaped gesture towards Kazuka.

Daiki being really angry gets up from the ground and wants to punch Kazuka in the face but he dodges Daiki's punch and he falls to the ground.

All the classmates laugh at Daiki being made a snot by a new classmate who doesn't even try to fight him.

The laughter of the classmates being super pronounced but the teacher entered the classroom and all the commotion is gone and all the classmates sit in their benches including Daiki.

"What happened here?" The teacher asks looking especially at Kazuka.

One of the other classmates saying that the new classmate didn't even fight with Daiki but humiliated him in the last way.

The teacher looks strangely at that classmate and then looks at Kazuka again asking "Who are you and why are you in this class?" putting her hand on the phone.

"Mrs. Nishimura, I'm Shinichiro Kazuka, your student."

She is shocked to hear this and puts the phone down on the desk. "How can you be Kazuka? I mean you're not as fluffy as you used to be" she says in wonder.

Kazuka a little embarrassed replies with "I understand, I'm surprised too but I've had a radical transformation recently and that's how I am now, but I assure you I'm the same Kazuka you know".

The teacher takes out a sheet of paper from her bag and writes something on it and then approaches Kazuka and hands him the paper saying in his ear "See you after class if you want" and then goes back to her seat.

Hearing this Kazuka blushes completely and looking at the sheet he sees a phone number written on it. "Did I get Mrs. Nishimura's phone number?" He says this in thought and the little he inside him slaps his face.

All his classmates look at him and especially the girls who seem to be bothered that Nishimura whispered something in Kazuka's ear and they didn't.

"Finally students, class has started so take out your notebooks to write the new lesson" says Mrs. Nishimura and writes with chalk on the blackboard the title of the lesson.

Everyone is a little frustrated but there is nothing to do but write.

And after an hour of writing the class is over and when Mrs Nishimura leaves the classroom all the girls run back to Kazuka to talk whatever they are talking to him about.

One of his classmates who was always nice to him even when he was fat puts his hand on Kazuka's shoulder and when he turns to him his classmate smiles at him.

"Yuto-kun" Kazuka says getting up from his seat.

He squeezes Yuto's hand and when Yuto feels the pain he pulls his hand from Kazuka's grip.

"Man you're strong."

"Yeah, sorry" Kazuka says scratching his head.

In his excitement, Yuto slaps Kazuka on the back and says "It's nothing man! Do you want to go private and talk? I couldn't really talk to you about anything" and he especially looks at the girls saying that.

He cheerfully and with a smile on his face rubs his back to get rid of the pain of Yuto's hand and says "Sure, let's go somewhere else" and he follows Yuto out of the classroom.

But when he turns to close the door he sees all the girls standing at his bench and looking at him from there and startled he pulls the door shut and it closes noisily.

Anyway they go to the school hallway where the other students stare at Kazuka amazed at how the 'new guy' looks and some girls 'swoon' seeing Kazuka.

"Dude, how did you suddenly get so skinny?" Yuto asks and turns his gaze to Kazuka who seems to have a blushing face.

"I really have no idea how I got like this."

Scared and at the same time excited he looks around and all the students look at him and even the teachers.

"Oh yeah sorry, we haven't gotten where we were supposed to go yet so don't feel too followed" Yuto says continuing to walk finally reaching the bathroom.

Stopping in place Yuto turns his gaze back to Kazuka and looks at him, obviously noticing that his clothes are triple what he is now.

"Dude how did you manage to dress in those clothes so large?" Yuto asks with a laugh.

He rubs his head and looks at Yuto laughing somewhat forcibly and says "Well I somehow got my coat caught in my pants and my pants I tied with their drawstring" then approaches a mirror.

Looking in the mirror he touches his face and once again is amazed at his sudden transformation from an obese to a skinny guy.

Yuto laughs looking at Kazuka who touches his face in despair. "Man nothing surprises me about you anymore" he says and approaches Kazuka putting his hand on his shoulder.

The strange sensation Kazuka feels makes him somehow jump up and the little guy inside him speaks to himself. "Damn, how different I am, I can't believe it! Could it be that dream?".

Whether it's the dream or not, the fact remains that this change has brought him a pulse of popularity, and this time not in a negative way.

And yet that's not the end of it, the game board appearing in front of Kazuka makes him flinch and back away which scares Yuto too.

"Are you okay man?" Yuto asks looking at Kazuka who is a little startled and looks in a place where he himself doesn't see anything but Kazuka does.

[You have a quest to complete]

[Once you decide, you'll be able to move on to the game world and after you finish the quest you'll be able to return to the real world]

[Accept now] [Remind me later]

"What's this? Quest? Then I'll appear in the real world again I mean back here?" Kazuka wonders in his mind but there is no concrete answer to this question.

[You have a new item]

[One-Time Key]

Startled he clicks on the specs of this new item and another panel opens in front of him.

[One-Time Key is an item used to enter the game world (REMEMBER: YOU CANNOT GET THE KEY TO GET OUT OF THE GAME BUT ONLY TO GET IN) these keys you will receive with each successfully completed quest]

"What are you looking at man?" Yuto asks curious and scared Kazuka.

Realizing he is being watched by Yuto he presses the button to be reminded of the quest later and all the panels disappear so Kazuka turns to face Yuto.

Scared and yet excited about having a strange quest he tells Yuto "Sorry, I had a little breakdown for some reason" and rubs his head smiling forcedly but calmly.

"Oh, alright man, watch the hell out you scare me sometimes" Yuto says and smiles at Kazuka but suddenly the sound of the bell rings so Yuto runs towards the bathroom door and he comes out of.

But Kazuka stays there for a good moment despite all the students entering the classrooms and it gets quiet in the hall.

"I wonder...how do I even have access to something like this" 

/Chaper 1/ Finished.