40. S: A Sage Enter The Game

Clearing my head and paying attention to my feet, I attempt to resume my walking, but then suddenly...

Ding.

A weird ringing sound was heard, and accompanying that sound was...

-Congratulation-

Was it a congratulatory speech?

“N-no, seriously? What’s is this?”

Ignoring my confusion and saying so, I am suddenly... Calm?.... Weird..... it feels like suddenly all my nervousness is just gone...

Thinking so, and feeling the sudden calmness washing over me, I freeze in place a little getting used to it, before then moving my attention to the possible source of that calmness.....

A white text written in a red interface, hovering directly in front of my face...

Glancing at it and finally registering its existence in my suddenly calm mind, I then take a deep breath and...

Read it.

“But....”

..........

-Congratulation, Oh Unlucky One-

-For your Participation Request has been approved-

-And so, Welcome, Oh Unlucky One-

-To Lost Solace Online-

-The Hell where Despair and Hope are Intertwined-

-The Heaven where Reality and Illusion are Interchanged-

-And more than anything, the Game you have been Chosen for-

-Now, with congratulatory words said, a grandiose speech is supposed to follow-

-Nevertheless, due to time constraints, it will temporarily be skipped this time-

-And so, have fun choosing an Avatar-

-And once again, Congratulation and Welcome, Unlucky One-

-And may your Unlucky path lead to a New Ending-

.....

.............

.....................

“But.... what do you mean participation request? I have neve-”

“No, wait a second...”

Lost Solace Online? Where have I heard that name again? Hmmm...

“Aah, right. Of course, it was....”

Face suddenly losing Color.

“It was the project Asuka-san spoke of.....”

Weakly saying so, and feeling blood drain from my face in real-time, I suddenly and for the first time in my life...

Have the urge to kill my aunt......

Thinking so, and angrily remembering the time I just said ‘yes’ to her without hearing what exactly she said, I...

“....”

Coldly look down at the water below me, thinking if it’s too late to kill my idiotic self...

“Sigh.... but jokes aside...”

“let’s say for a second that this is indeed something Asuka-san got me involved in, but even so....”

“is not dimensional travel something a little too overboard for a game developer?”

Saying so, I then grew silent, while also feeling the weird change in my mood as my nervousness is once again dissipating quickly just to then get replaced by that foreign calmness, but that aside...

“Let’s just get done with this....”

Saying so, and swearing revenge in my heart, I then embrace the foreign calmness taking over my feeling before then, looking at the weird interface in front of me and clicking at the newly appearing ‘Next’ button, but...

“The hell is this?”

Saying so, I look in front of me and what I saw then was a third-year highschool male student with an average height, a hatefully good-looking face, and dark brown hair.... simply put, I saw a small hologram of myself floating there, but...

“that’s not the weird part, no....”

“Instead, the weird part is the many, many customization options available here...”

“and here, and here too.... seriously?”

“just how many hours of work were uselessly spent on this?”

Glancing at the shocking amount of customizable details and saying so, I also glance at the endless amount of options to choose from below, before then gulping loudly as I hesitate on what to do, just to then suddenly...

-Player Name: Chris Bright-

Spot my name.... but I didn’t enter it, so ho-..... yeah, not that surprising...

Thinking so, and not even bothering to ponder about it, I calmly close my eyes for a moment, only to then...

“I can see it....”

Open them again, with excitement, childishness, and some embarrassment visible in them as I start making my own avatar...

First, starting with my height and increasing it a little, while being careful to not overdo it. Second, with adjusting my body proportions to suit my new height. Third, by adding more points to my already good-looking face. Fourth, is changing my hair and eye color to blue. And sixth is changing my clothes to a suitable white coat.

“Alright, now all that’s left is the name....”

Saying so, I look at the small hologram floating in front of me, and as expected, it’s embarrassing, but...

“Alright, let’s just do it....”

Sheepishly muttering so, I glance at the player name box, and then I write it.... the name I want it..... just to then delete it INSTANTLY while feeling my face getting a new shade of Embarrassed Red as never seen before.....

Only to then feel the weird calmness washing over me again, and urging me to write the name again.... though as expected, it’s not a second and I have once AGAIN deleted it, ‘cause it’s just...

“Embarrassing.... dammit.....”

“Just why is coming up with names this embarrassing? just why?”

Sigh.

Well, yeah, maybe I should just write my real nam-... No, that feels boring... Ah, but writing that still feels embarrassing even if it’s a player name... No, maybe because it’s a player name that people may see that it is this embarrassing?

“Aaah, seriously.... what to do?...”

“Sigh, okay, yeah, let’s just do this...”

Saying so, and feeling my embarrassment clash once again with the foreign calmness, I quickly use the chance as I...

-Player Name: Sage-

Quickly enter a normal-looking word and then press next, but...

“Damn.... maybe I s-should not have written it? Ah, but it’s not like the word ‘Sage’ will sound weird, so maybe it’s alright?”

“Aaaa, I don’t know, really I don’t know....”

Sigh.

Let’s just forget this for now. Thinking so, and for once feeling thankful for the weird feeling of calmness, I quickly glance in front of me trying to forget the Chuunibyou Title, but what is this?....

Questioning like that, I look confused at the interface in front of me, concerning the layout...

“Of my Safe Room?”

Well, whatever. Thinking so, and spending a few moments on that, I quickly finish it, and then again press next, but.... this time no new interface appeared, instead it was a sudden white light that appeared surrounding me as I squint my eyes...

Only to then open them again a few seconds later, while feeling the temporary blindness disappearing...

Nevertheless, this is.....

“Surprising.....”

Dazedly saying such, I glance at my reflection in water, showing my new avatar and clothes, only to then lose interest instantly as I instead get swept by the fantastical view in front of me...

And what filled that view was...

A Sky-Towering Water Vortex.