"I can explain!" Kazuka says getting up from the floor.

Yuto is completely shocked and surprised at the same time, he examines Kazuka from head to toe, seeing that he has a strange bandage on his hand but remains silent and drops his phone on the floor.

"I'm a player" Kazuka says with a forced laugh and rubs his head.

Out of his shock Yuto wakes up and says "What! Player??? Where the hell have you been???" in a still shocked but somehow funny tone.

He rubs his head in fright that Yuto learned his secret so quickly and he doesn't know what to expect next from him.

He forcefully swallows his saliva and says "Yeah, well that's why I got so slim too, see..Um I got access to a game system!" and then closes his eyes expecting anything from Yuto.

But to Kazuka's surprise, Yuto approaches him and puts his hands on his shoulders "Tell me more!" says Yuto excited that Kazuka can cross from world to world

Wondering to the core Kazuka lifts his head from the ground only to see him with stars in his eyes and knowing he's super curious and excited.

After a long moment of silence Kazuka begins to explain every detail that made him who he is now.

After exactly an hour of explaining, Yuto is stuck and excited to the max and he says "Dude!!! That's so cool! But you still didn't explain one thing".

He looks at Kazuka waiting for an answer from him and it comes pretty quickly, this one being the obvious "What do you mean?".

"You explained to me that you had that dream where you had to run for your life and you managed to escape and that's how you ended up the way you are now, but you didn't explain to me how you get through these portals" Yuto says waiting for a response from Kazuka quickly.

Kazuka looks at Yuto strangely and doesn't really know what to say and his hands start to shake a little, having a sort of panic attack.

In any case, Kazuka explains to him how this aspect of his adventure works as well and says that he's been on a single mission so far and doesn't know much about the situation he's in, only that he knows the game he was playing.

He looks at Kazuka understanding the super tense situation better so he doesn't ask any more questions but just looks at him waiting for him to say something.

Which Kazuka did by saying "Now that you know that, I hope you don't tell anyone, ever" in a serious tone and his facial expression shows the same serious tone.

He swallows his saliva looking at Kazuka but finally says "Alright bro! Put your trust in me and I swear solemnly that I won't tell anyone, ever!" in a serious tone just like Kazuka's.

They give each other a friendly high five and they both smile at each other and after this Yuto looks out the window behind Kazuka and says "Bro, it's kind of late, I'm going home and here's the key I used to get in the house" and then hands the key to Kazuka.

"Oh, thanks bro" says Kazuka surprised and leads Yuto out of the house then they knock and Kazuka closes the door behind him.

Kazuka sticks to the door and lies on his butt looking at his hands, he sucks in a breath and exhales quickly then looks up.

"Looks like I've become a player" he says and fire comes out of his hands which he stops and then gets up to his feet.

He steps into his room where he lays down on his bed and goes into his inventory looking through it.

However he notices that that gold necklace is still in his inventory so he takes it out and looks at it, he feels strange holding something like that in his hand.

"It feels strange to hold something like this in my hand, considering it's now not just an in-game item but I'm holding it in my real life hand" he says in his mind and squeezes the chain in his palm.

"But now, my power must be kept hidden and under control, I don't want people to raise suspicions about me" he continues and puts the item back in his inventory and then lies down in bed looking at the ceiling.

He turns his head to his computer then hears his phone ring, which makes him wince and rush to his desk where he grabs his phone and answers it without checking who exactly is calling.

"Hello?" He says this and sits down in his desk chair.

On the other line is actually Yuto and he says "Bro, I was thinking tomorrow after school we could go for a walk around town, how does that sound?" then the silence at the other end of the thread being noticeable.

Continuing Yuto with "Alright bro, good night and see you tomorrow, a and don't forget the teacher is waiting for you" then hangs up on Kazuka.

However hearing this Kazuka's face turns red and he's clearly scared of what the teacher will say about him the next day, because despite always playing on the computer he hardly ever missed school.

"D*mn, I hope my teacher isn't trying to go on a date with me" he says in his mind to which the little him inside him slaps himself but even he is blushing red in the face.

But he puts his phone on his desk and gets up from his chair, going to the bathroom to wash his face and teeth.

He reaches the bathroom door and takes a deep breath and goes into the bathroom, turning on the bathroom light he looks in his mirror and turns on the water.

However after a few moments the humidity rises and the steam from the boiling water emitted from the water fogs up the mirror and Kazuka waves to see himself in the mirror.

He then tilts his head and takes a quantity of water in his hands, his hands turning red from the boiling water but he splashes the water on his face, which he does twice more.

He then moves the tap to the right side and the water slowly turns cold only to then take his toothbrush out of the drawer and pour toothpaste on it.

And finally he finishes brushing his teeth and as he spits the water out of his mouth he hears the sound of the panel opening.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Looking up he looks at the panel on the side of the system and feels a shiver down his spine reading this.

[For 2 days you won't be able to go on any missions, this won't affect you in any way but there will be some problems in the future]

"Why?" is the only thing that comes out of Kazuka's mouth and he washes his toothbrush and puts it back, turning off the water as well.

He comes out of the bathroom still staring at the panel in front of him and not understanding why he can't for two more days.

He turns off the bathroom light and closes the door then steps towards his room, his footsteps a little heavy on the floor of his house but he still settles into bed.

"Inventory" he says and looks through his inventory seeing that one important thing is missing from the inventory.

He feels a shiver down his spine tighten "I didn't get the key to enter the game world" he says in his mind and closes the panels.

"I take it I didn't get the key because of this cooldown and I have to wait two days to get the key" he says and looks at his left hand which still has the bandage on it.

"It's not really a cooldown, but rather it's an obligation not to do any more missions during this time, but I don't want to end up spider food anyway" he says in his mind remembering the spider in the dungeon.

However, he remains quiet and stares at the ceiling until he feels his pupils close so he turns on his side and finally falls asleep.

Only he wakes up in a white room, he looks at his hands which are swollen again and then a screen appears in front of him.

[Don't give up]

It says so but with red text dripping onto the white floor of the room, that's blood, only..what the hell?

Kazuka shifts his gaze to a corner of the room and sees a black dot from there, and in the next few moments that dot becomes large, almost absorbing everything.

Out of fear he starts to run but stumbles over something invisible and when he looks it's his sword that cut his leg and he's bleeding, the pain is so deep that Kazuka crawls away but the darkness absorbs him.

The whole room is pitch black and Kazuka's blood becomes a burning flame that slowly expands.

But he hears voices in front of him and when he lifts his head from the ground there are tears in his eyes and he sees some human figures but drawn with white lines so they can be seen.

"Oh he's the guy, right?" Says one of these unknown and terrifying figures.

Following up the second with the reply "Yeah, he's the biggest loser I've ever seen, no wonder why no one hangs out with him" and then turns his gaze to Kazuka, looking at him with a wide smile straight in his eyes.

Kazuka's heart is pounding and he wants to get up off the ground, which he does after struggling hard to stop the fire coming out of his leg and spreading.

At that moment another window appears in front of him with simple text.

[Kill them]

And his swords appear in his hands, his body suddenly going back skinny, and he looks down in confusion at those figures who have changed their expression from one of laughter to one of fright.

Kazuka feels an impluse in his chest which makes him put his hand to his chest and the room goes white again.

[ Overcome the fear of other people's word, no one cares about you ]

He tries to swallow his saliva but his mouth is completely dry and his attempt only gave him a sore throat.

The white-lined figures are now black but their expression has remained the same, one terrified of Kazuka's abilities.

[You can give up at any time, that is if you want your attention to become back to its usual, the fat player]

Kazuka watches this message, his heart constantly in an extremely loud beat as the room begins to echo, an echo that makes the sound of his heart grow louder.

[You can choose to have good attention and not bad, but that's up to you].

He's already on the verge of falling off his feet but he holds on tight and manages not to fall but shifts his gaze to those figures

"I..will kill my fear!" Kazuka shouts and the panel on the system disappears leaving Kazuka's vision clear and stark

He approaches the figures that don't move out of place, his footsteps echo loudly and the figures become more restless.

Kazuka's breathing becomes heavier and he looks once more at his swords and says "I will protect the people who deserve to be protected and those who don't will see the dark side of the world" and runs towards the figures who close their eyes waiting to be killed.

Yet running towards the figures, a trail of fire remains behind him, as if someone had poured gasoline on it and set it on fire in a perfect line.

Arriving near the figures without expressing facial emotion he slashes at the figures with his swords, and they make no sound but disappear slowly into the air.

The sound of the fire behind him is loud despite the fact that it does not expand.

Yet another panel appears in front of Kazuka and he calmly looks at it.

[You have managed to overcome your main fear, you still have many fears but with perseverance you will succeed on killing them, I am proud of you]

And the message disappears once Kazuka wakes up, he opens his eyes and looks at the ceiling then raises his hands in the air and sees that they are the same, skinny and not swollen.

He gets out of bed and gets ready for school so he gets dressed in the pants he bought and a simple school uniform with a white t-shirt underneath.

So he grabs his phone and school bag and goes to the door to put on his shoes but remembers he still has to use rags to keep his shoes on his feet.

He goes to the bathroom, grabs some rags and inserts them into his sneakers followed by his feet and after he ties a tight knot he picks up his school bag from the floor and opens the door to leave.

So he closes the door and leaves, walking out of the house he looks at the phone clock and sees it's 7:10 so he's in no hurry.

"I don't even know why I was in such a hurry," Kazuka says in his mind and continues walking watching the sun rise in the sky.

He after about 5 minutes of walking said to go buy a coffee, to see what a coffee tastes like.

Don't judge him, he just never drank coffee.

Anyway, he goes into the coffee shop where he buys a latte and pays for it then walks out the door and sips a bit of his coffee.

"It's really good" Kazuka says and takes another sip then walks out of the cafe with a smile on his lips, apparently the coffee is working on him quickly.

He starts walking back to the school and eventually arrives, all the students looking at him and the girls quickly approach him starting to talk all over each other.

However out of all the commotion Kazuka is in Yuto appears and takes him away and the girls look at Yuto angry and upset but he doesn't care.

"Man, have these girls gone crazy on you" Yuto says laughing and turns his gaze to Kazuka.

Kazuka looks at him and rubs his head not knowing what to say so he whispers something in Yuto's ear.

"Haha, yeah, sorry about you bro" Yuto says and slaps Kazuka on his back.

"Ah by the way, do you drink coffee?" Yuto continues with his question looking at the coffee in Kazuka's hand.

Kazuka rubs his head and says "No, it's not usual for me to drink coffee but I said I'll try, you can't know until you try" and rubs his head again and then sips his coffee again.

"Kazuka" hears Kazuka from behind him and when he almost turns around he is hit in the face by Daichi who came to beat him.

However Kazuka dodges the attack but he spills coffee on himself and wipes off the coffee but a large stain remains on his uniform and white shirt.

"Looking for a fight?" Yuto says and stands guard to defend Kazuka from Daichi but Kazuka calmly tells Yuto "You don't have to get into this" and pushes Yuto aside.

Now Daichi and Kazuka are face to face and several students set out to watch the fight between the two of them and see a final winner.

Daichi raises his fist and tries to punch Kazuka yet Kazuka stands his ground, taking the full punch to the face but he doesn't react either.

"Your attitude disgusts me" Kazuka says and lifts his head from the ground looking directly into Daichi's eyes.

"But you're weak" Kazuka continues and in a split second knocks Daichi to the ground and gives him a bobble.

Daichi looks around nervously, all the students laugh and Kazuka smiles calmly in his face, which makes him even angrier but he doesn't do anything, he just sits with a nervous expression and grits his teeth.

Still, despite being hit by Daichi, Kazuka reaches out to pick him up off the ground.

Which Daichi refuses and slaps his hand away and picks himself up off the ground saying "The fight between you and I is not over" then looks Kazuka straight in the eye.

"Sure, I'll wait with great pleasure" Kazuka says to him and smiles calmly at him but disgusted Daichi spits at his feet and walks away.

Kazuka bends down and picks up the cup where the coffee was supposed to be and steps over to a trash can where he throws the cup away.

Sitting back, Yuto looks at Kazuka and then approaches him.

"Dude" Yuto says as he slaps Kazuka on the back and smiles calmly.

He smiles back at Yuto then walks to the entrance of the school, entering he puts his school bag next to him and opens his locker.

He grabs his shoes and does the same with them, putting the cloths in them so his feet can fit properly in them.

He shifts his gaze to the small mirror in the locker and looks at himself. But after Yuto approaches him and asks, "What are you doing in there so much?" he puts on the sneakers he has become inside and closes the cabinet.

"Nothing, I was just looking through the locker, I thought I forgot something here" Kazuka says approaching Yuto.

Finally, they walk to their classroom and go inside taking their seats, Yuto looking at his phone and Kazuka at his phone.

Yet Kazuka takes his phone off his face and looks out the window, staring at the sakura trees in the schoolyard, the feeling he gets is a relaxing one so he sits more comfortably in his chair and closes his eyes.

However his relaxation suddenly disappears as he hears sounds and when he opens his eyes he sees a girl staring at him so he flinches and falls to the floor with the chair.

Which amuses her in a nice way and she apologizes offering to help Kazuka up.

Kazuka gets off the floor and apologizes for his weird reaction "Sorry Harukawa-san, I didn't mean to scare you or anything" then picks up his chair from the floor as well.

"No need to apologize, it was my fault for staring at you" she says and walks to her seat.

And when Kazuka looks away from her she sees that everyone is in class except the teacher so she looks at the clock, the time showing 8:27.

"Three more minutes and the teacher will have to come through the door" Kazuka says in his mind but then remembers again that he has her number.

Which makes his face turn red then the little him inside him is also red but he tries to calm down but fails and shakes in his head.

"Calm down, it's impossible for a teacher to be in love with you" Kazuka says in his mind and recovers from his blushing state.

However after exactly 3 minutes the teacher appears in the doorway and the students greet her, at which point she sees Kazuka so she asks "Where were you yesterday, Kazuka?" in a calm tone.

Kazuka's heart freezes in place for a moment not knowing what to say but a light bulb goes off in his head and he says "I went shopping and came home late so I overslept" and rubs his head.

The teacher realizing that Kazuka is lying doesn't notice and just smiles at him then says "Okay, but don't miss any more" and after a few moments of silence starts writing the new lesson on the blackboard.

Kazuka wipes his forehead with his hand calming himself but notices that he still has the bandage on his hand so he takes it off.

And to his surprise, the wound is gone so he simply puts the bandage in his school bag and then takes out his notebook and a pen to write the lesson on the blackboard.

"I hope I didn't give myself away with my lie," Kazuka says in his mind and starts writing.

/Chapter 4/ Finished.