Ne minna, Kendo here!

Once again, I am delving into the deep depths of the imagination. Part of this fic is imagination, part was inspired by a book ;D. This is gonna be my savior fic. After doing my English exam, I lost my love for writing, but I will find it again!

Dedications: Um this is dedicated to. .rice pudding, cos that's what I was eating when I was writing this chapter on paper XD

Any whoo. ., on with the story!

BTW: AU!

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Chapter 1- It's only a Game

Rpg- More commanly know as a Role-playing game,

a common genre of gameplay for videogame players. . .

Takuya sighed inwardly. This day was turning out to be great. He'd gone to school hyper after being woken up with a chorus of " Happy Birthday " sung by his brother (who by the way, couldn't sing). He'd opened presents, gotten cards etc. After continous begging of being allowed to stay home and play his new games (to the point where he had latched on their legs in an act of sincere begging) , his parents had sent him upstairs, where he'dunwillingly gotten changed for school. He'd met up with his friend Akira and after being given birthday beats, he had made his way to the class, where the students had been informed that the whole day was dedicated to recreational purposes. Takuya was starting to believe that his day could not get any better.

Until she smiled at him.

That's right. the cutest, most popular (by far) girl in their year, the one and only Izumi had smiled at him.

It was lunch time. Takuya and Akira were sitting on their usual table with their usual friends. Takuya was right in the middle of attacking the poor, defensless species that was the sandwich, when he chose that exact moment to turn round. Any other time, and Takuya would have been ok. Before that very moment, he was wondering who was crazy enough to name a sandwich after themselves when they had such a stupid last name to begin with. Imagine all the cool things a sandwich COULD have been called, when instead some Duke with a weird last name had slapped two pieces of bread together and decided to name it after himself. Takuya wondered what it would be like if he'd have discovered the sandwich.

"Hey, do you want a Kanbara? "

Takuya smiled inwardly. Kanbara was definatly a better name than Sandwich.

" Uh Takuya, Izumi's looking at you "

Takuya turned quickly, his thoughts on the " Kanbara " quickly diminishing. He met blue eyes. Quickly, he scanned the area to check if there was another brown haired boy right next to him that she could be staring so intensily at.

There was no mistaking it. She was focused on him and she smiled

It was at that very moment that the sandwich decided to claim revenge in it's last moments of life.

!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!

It took a lot of slapping on the back before Takuya finally stopped choking. Takuya suspected that his so called friend had also slipped a punch in there somewhere. Like usual loud people, Takuya was ignored by the other cafeteria students, acting like it was usual for Takuya to start randomly choking.

Which in fact , it was.

Akira stared at him incrediblously.

" Dude, a few more minutes and you would've been just like that Shakespeare dude " he commented. Takuya lifted an eyebrow at this comment.

" What the hell are you talking about? " Takuya asked, shifting slightly away from the " Learner ". He had lied dammit! Akira had told him that he never paid attention in class!

" Don't you know? it was said that Shakespeare died on his birthday too " Takuya was trying to cover up his ears before the knowledge reached them. He failed.

" Hey, what do you mean too! I'm not dead yet! " Takuya's voice rose, which if monitored, was too high for a boy who's voice had apparantly broken. This caused Akira to laugh uncontrollably. The other three boys however, who up until now, had been watching Takuya's show of choking with interest, had begun to eye him in a way that was seriously freaky.

" Sooo. . Takky's got his birthday today. .I wonder why he didn't tell us " one of the boys said, scratching his chin, apparantly in very deep thought. Takuya squirmed uncomfortably, aware that the little hairs at the back of his neck were beginning to stand up. He decided to play this cool, just in case they hadn't thought of " THAT " yet. . .

" Well guys, you know how it is, the truama of a teens life is never ending, easy mistake to make " Takuya answered, his grin overly fake. He had flattened himself against the back of his chair, which wasn't a good idea after his brain reminded him that the leftover casserole that he'd forced himself to remember was on the chair was currently acquainting itself with Takuya's boys looked at each other knowingly.

" Guys, you know what this means don't you? "

"Sure do "

The boy opposite Takuya leaned towards him.

" What happened to our birthday beats, Takky-chan? " he said softly. Takuya had enough. He jumped out of his chair and sprinted towards the boys bathroom. He silently cursed the demon that was his hair, which REFUSED to move the hell out of his face. As he was pulled back by his collar, he muttered unintelligible comments about the hair from hell which had betrayed him yet again. yet, as this was being said, a slight grin had appeared on his face, making the whole event seem a lot more tame than originally percieved.

" Aww c'mon guys, gimme a break! " Takuya pleaded his case. His pleads however,fell on deaf ears. He took a round of beats, although giving as much as he got. After the "Ritual" was complete, the laughing boys pulled Takuya to his feet, patted him on the back (to which he winced), and walked off. Akira laughed at Takuya's expression.

" Ahhh don't worry about itTakky, happens to the best of us " Takuya glared at him, which only provoked the other teen into farther humor.

" Why did I get birthday beats from you twice? " Takuya grumbled, inspecting himself for wounds of war. Akira shrugged.

" It's just one of those things " he said solomnly, as if Takuya had just asked why the world was constantly at war. Takuya's brain was currently deciding on whether to label Akira under " Crazier than a kangaroo with a pogo stick " or " Stupid dumb ass who's gonna get tackled ".

" Well Takky, I know something that's gonna cheer you up " Akira said slyly. Upon grasping Takuya's attention, he took that as the signal to continue, or die a very painful death.

" I just heard from an " Outside source " that they've released a new RPG. Apparantly, it's so realistic, they've only released ten copies"

Takuya's interest suddenly sparked at the word RPG. Takuya, to put it very lightly, ADORED RPG's. You name it, he's played it.

" So, where's this game being released? " Takuya asked hopefully, Akira grinned widely, realizing that he now had Takuya's upmost attention. He gave a dramaticlly fake sigh.

" Well, I'm afraid that all five copies have already been distributed, and they're not distributing anymore" he sighed again, to emphasize his point. Takuya's face fell, and he looked oddly out of character as he adopted a depressed expression.

" However. . . .I might have been able to get hold of a copy. .and seeing as it's someone's birthday today. . " Takuya blinked, absorbing the information he had just taken in.

" Aww Akira you rock! " Takuya tackled Akira, not noticing or caring that his body was screaming in pain. Akira smirked. He was used to the teen's Genki ways.

" Meet me in the park tonight at 6.30and I'll give it to you " Akira said. Takuya nodded. He would have to make sure that NOTHING got in the way of him meeting with Akira. . .

He planned all the different things that could get in the way, and how he could repell them. His thoughts however, were cut short as someone tapped him on the shoulder.

" Hey. .um. Kanbara-San, can I walk home with you? "

Moments beforehand, when Takuya had still been breathing, he had turned round to face Izumi.

" Uh. . " Takuya paniced, what was the word that meant he agreed?. While he contemplated on this, Izumi stood there, smiling, not aware that Takuya had realized something.

Oh no. . .

He had to meet Akira tonight.

He bit his lip nervously, glancing at her. She smiled again and Takuya knew what he would have to do. He sighed and took a deep breath. . . . .

!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!

Moments later, he was banging his head against the locker for his decision. He picked a game over a girl. He growled as he desisted in banging his head and made his way to the exit. This damn game better be good, were the only thoughts that were running through Takuya's head. He began to drag his bag along the floor, imagining all the different ways the game could be fantastic. By the time he got home, he was writhing with excitment.

Knowing he had a couple of hours, he indulged himself in his newest birthday present, Final Fantasy XIII, before getting changed (yes, he got changed after playing a game) and making his way over to the park.

The park, as everyone called it (it didn't seem to have a proper name) was still filled with people. People playing football, people walking, children running.

Takuya at this point, was far gone. He wasthroughly convinced in his mind that it would be the coolest game ever. He looked over and spied his friend, easily noticed by his red hair. He raised a hand in greeting as he reached Akira.

" You got it? " Takuya asked. Akira nodded, then took a closer look at Takuya.

" Hey dude, I'm positive that we never hit you on the head, so why have you got bruises? "

Takuya then proceeded to explain his current encounter with the lockers, which left Akira laughing uncontrollably.

" Man Takuya, you chose a game over a GIRL, that's got to be the craziest thing that I have ever heard. And it was Izumi too! "

Takuya shrugged. He'd already beaten himself up over it, he wasn't going to continue regreting something that he had already been punished over. Akira pulled a box out from his bag and handed it to Takuya/

" Well, at least you get the game. You never know, might find a replacement for Izumi on the game "

Takuya scoffed. Yeah, there were sometimes cute characters on games, but no one worth obsessing over. Akira however, had a strange look in his eye.

"Listen Takuya, before you play, I want you to be careful. When I got home,I did some research on this game. The game is an online playing game, meaning that yeah, you could meet the otherfour peole playing the copies. The funny thing is, in this game, most people who tested it chose to play offline, just because there are fictional characters that seem so real. Now, why make it an online game if it plays better offline? The answer to that is, the developers went too far. The characters are too real. I've heard top warnings about this game. Apparantly, the testers became hooked and could NOT stop playing it. They literally had to be dragged away from the screen. The game distribution was cancelled before it could get too far but thefive copies were distributed. The developers are now paying big money to get the copies back. Just be really careful, that's all I'm saying. If it gets too much, call me. "

Takuya had remained silent while Akira spoke, but spoke up now.

" Akira, you worry to much, it's a game, as long as I'm outside, and the characters are inside, what could happen? "Takuya tried to reassure his friend. Akira nodded, but didn't seem to agree. Takuya threw an arm round Akira's shoulders.

" Don't worry, it's just a game "

" I hope you're right"

" I always am "

"No you're not! "

" With games I am "

" True. ."

Ja ne!

Kendo