- Messenger Chat -

Shirou: I'm logging in soon.

Akira: How'd you set up your VR headset?!!

Shirou: Idk I just plugged all the wires in ig

Cass: There's a manual that comes with the helmet, Aki.

Akira: I lost it a while ago :3

Cass: Oh

Akira: Whatever, I'm plugging it all in.

Akira: Where's Izayoi?

Cass: He said he's about to log in and level up early. I'm about to do the same as well.

Akira: Alright, I'm logging in.

Ryuu: Wait for meeeee! T^T

Akira: Currently setting up my bed.

Akira: Shirou, Ryuu, Cass?

Akira: You still there?

Akira: I guess not.

Akira: Is anyone else online?

Akira: No?

Akira: Alright.

Shiko: Wait what

Shiko: WAIT FOR ME

- In Game -

World Chat:

Aki: IZAAAAAAAAYOOOOOOIIIII

Aki: CAAAAAASSSYYYYYYYYYYYY

Aki: RYUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Aki: WHERE ARE YOU GUYSSSSS

Izayoi, who was grinding for EXP and mats in the nearest forest, noticed the message and sent her a friend request and then his location. Ryuu, on the other hand, who was scanning his skills and settings, noticed his name being mentioned in the world chat and immediately knew who it was.

"Aki. Send me your location." Ryuu told her, also in World Chat. (Because he wasn't so sure how to send her a message privately.)

"I'm going to where Izayoi is slaughtering the fluffy bunnies. Come with me." Aki replied and sent Ryuu her location. Ryuu followed.

"IIIIIZAAAAAAAYOOOOIII" she shouted in the forest.

"Stop shouting!" Izayoi replied, holding a huge rock. He looked at the girl and placed his palm on her head. "Why did you have to make your character short?"

"I just thought I would trick people with it. More importantly, do you happen to know where Cass, Shirou, and the others are?" she asked.

"No, not a clue. Have to ask them their IGN once I log out." Izayoi replied and started searching for another monster.

"Wait, what level are you?" Aki asked.

"Almost at level 9..." Izayoi replied.

Aki kept staring at whatever he was doing and got puzzled on why he was using a rock to kill monsters instead of the huge sword on his back. "Uhhh... If I may ask-"

"I don't wanna use it just yet. It's too tiring to use it all the time." Izayoi replied before Aki could finish.

"Hello." a voice said coming from behind. It was Ryuu, carrying a bow and some arrows.

"WHY ARE YOU ALSO TALL?!! I WANT A SHORT FRIEND IN THE GROUP!!!" Aki continued raging out as Ryuu tried to calm her down but is failing. Izayoi scanned the menu and invited the two to join his party.

"Err... Calm down now! I don't wanna attract bosses!" Ryuu said, starting to panic.

Aki went to the menu and searched for the party invitations. She accepted it but instead of accepting Izayoi's invitation, she found the name "Zora" in the squad members list. She suddenly gasped. "It's Shirou!"

"Welcome to Ferona's Orbs Online!" a loud voice echoed from Eris City (the biggest city in the game). "Oh- It's starting! Come on, let's go!" Aki said and dragged Ryuu back to the city. Izayoi followed.

When they arrrived at the opening ceremony, some of the players looked extremely terrified as they all looked up at the huge screen in front of them. Aki couldn't see very well, for she was lacking in height and was at the back of the crowd of thousands of players. She could hear sounds of reporters but couldn't see what's playing on the screen.Aki looked up at her friend.

"Ryuu, what's-"

But Ryuu's face went pale. Aki got worried and tried to find something to stand on. She stepped on the sword's handle on Izayoi's back and saw a series of reports from all over the globe.

"Fantasy OG traps 10 thousand players in the game!"

"10 thousand unconscious FOG players all sent to the hospital"

"Fantasy OG: the next Sword Art Online?"

The reports and headlines just kept coming, others with different language. Aki's face went from '-') to '∇') and later on cheered happily at the back of the crowd. Some players looked at her noisily cheering at the back.

"Don't get too excited now. What if they say we'll die in real life if we die in the game?" Izayoi said to Aki.

"That'll be great then!" Aki's smile then turned to a frown. "But... my pupper..." she added as a tear fell from her eye.

Just then, someone lightly tapped on her shoulder. She turned around and saw a boy smiling at her.

"Uhh... Hello..." the boy said and nervously waved at her.

Akira didn't know who it was but when she looked above his head, she saw the name "Zora" and immediately knew who it was.

"Hello, Shirou..." she said with a crooked smile. It was one of their friends, Shirou!

"... Why are you crying?" Zora couldn't help but ask.

Aki's eyes welled up with tears that soon rolled on her cheeks but still trying her best to crack a smile.

"A-kun!!!" she said crying and hugged Ryuu.

Zora got even more confused.

"WHAT-

"Shh... There, there... Don't mind Shirou-nii-chab. He's such a bully." Ryuu said and comforted Aki.

Zora started to worry. "WHAT DID I EVEN DO?!!"

"Did you happen to know Cass' IGN, Shirou?" Izayoi asked.

"No clue. Though, I met someone named Akiyama but it wasn't Cass." Zora replied.

Aki and Zora then invited both Ryuu and Izayoi to their party and as soon as they finished accepting the PT requests, a female voice came shouting, "Hello, FOG players!"

The voice echoed through the whole city and out came a female hologram on the stage.

"Welcome to Fantasy OG! I am Alice Kazehaya, the developer of FOG- the real-life Sword Art Online-"

"NO KIDDING!" Izayoi shouted as loud as he can behind the huge crowd of 10 thousand people.

"BE QUIET, PLAYER!" Alice replied.

"Wow, their megaphones are actually pretty good." Izayoi said, holding the megaphone he just used from his inventory. It then slowly disappeared from his hand.

"So blah, blah, blah, all of you are trapped; if you die in the game, you die in real life; you can only survive in real life if you defeat the boss on the 100th floor of the Eris Tower and only one guild at a time can enter the tower. If you have questions, you can ask for help in the menu. Good luck. Dang random player shouting all of a sudden..." she murmured and soon disappeared.

"Well, shit." Zora said.

The four of them went to the forest right after Alice disappeared.

They leveled up quite quickly, for they share the same amount of EXP for every monster they kill. After days of leveling, Aki reached lvl 14, Ryuu reached lvl 15, Izayoi reached lvl 22, and Shirou reached lvl 21.

"You know... We can already defeat the first floor boss with these levels. Heck, we can defeat the bosses up to floor 15 or 16. Shouldn't we go there first?" Aki suggested as she read the floor bosses' descriptions.

"Sounds good. But she said only one GUILD at a time can go in the tower. Shouldn't we create a guild first?" Ryuu suggested.

"I think I can help you guys with that." a girl said, standing behind Ryuu.

They all looked at her at once.

"Oh, uhh... Thanks..." Aki looked up to read her username. "... Xera.

The girl softly giggled. "It's me. Cass." She then smiled at them.

Aki's eyes sparkled. "CAAAAAASSSSYYYYYYYY!" She shouted as she hugged and shook Cass from side to side.

"Who else is playing?" Shirou asked.

"I heard Kero and Sukai are playing." Cass replied, still dizzy.

A week has passed and they already formed a guild. They managed to buy a guild bar in the middle of Eris City where it's very crowded. Luckily, their guild bar was located on a wide alley a little less crowded than the main streets. There were a few

For a change, Aki went through the crowded areas and bought a few things she found useful in her new house. She often just stays in their guild bar since she feels a little uneasy without some company but she got used to the game after some time. Lucky enough, she saw a wallet right on the foot of someone buying groceries. (Wow, some players still buy wallets in this game?) She picked it up and asked the person in front of her but he was honest enough to tell her that it didn't belong to him so she just continued looking for some other apartments. She was too small to even properly see the faces of the homes and apartments she was planning to look at.

All of a sudden, she heard a few ladies' voices in a distance. It somehow caught her attention and made her decide to listen for a bit more.

"Don't be such a meanie to him! You're the one who should be sorry, you evil freak!" one of the ladies said. Akira had very good hearing in the game. She listened to the voices a little longer and heard a very familiar name. She ran straight to where she heard the voices, bumping almost every person on her way. She saw the ladies gathering around two men with brightly-colored hair. One with blue hair and one with purple hair.

"Hey, bud. Just take your leave, okay? I didn't do anything and yet you blamed me for your own doing. For the last time, I didn't steal anything!" the boy with blue hair said."How would I know for sure if you're lying or not?" the boy with purple hair said as he glared at the other boy with his scary red eyes.

Aki shoved the other girls away and saw the boy with blue hair's name- "Keroki".

It was Kero, no doubt about it.

Aki studied more of the situation. The girls that gathered there were Kero's fangirls in the game and Kero suspected the boy with purple hair that he stole somthing from him.

"Gayro!" she shouted at Kero.

Kero and the other boy looked at the girl and immediately knew who it was."OHH, IT'S YOU!" Kero shouted and pointed at Aki .

"Aki!" the boy with purple hair shouted as well.

Aki was about to read his username only to find out his username was nowhere to be found above him. "Wh-Who are you?"

"It's me! Shiko!" the boy with purple hair replied.

Aki's jaw dropped.