The school bell rang as students walked through the school yard, moving to their classes.

Kiyomi was gazing out the window with dull eyes, apparently bored. Her long, black hair hung loosely behind her.

Sako went to Kiyomi’s desk by the window and slammed her hands on the desk. “Hey, hey, heeeeey!”

Kiyomi winced at the sudden noise as she turned her head to Sako. “So loud. Ugh,” she mumbled.

“Ready for the teeeest?”

“The what? Oh, that. Meh.” Kiyomi shrugged her shoulders.

“You didn’t study? Again?!”

“It’s whatever.”

“But you’ll fail the class!”

“Nah, I’ll be fine.”

“I’m not sure—”

“Take your seats, everyone,” the teacher at the front of the classroom spoke.

The students found their seats and settled down.

~~~

Everyone walked out the door, one by one, chatting to one another.

“So, how was it?” Sako asked, walking beside Kiyomi.

“IT WAS FUCKING HARD.”

“Really. I wonder why,” Sako deadpanned.

“Well, how was it for you?!”

“Easy peasy!” She raised her thumb. “I didn’t even study.”

“Tch. Fuck you. Like really, how are you always in the top 5 in class?”

“Ahahaha!”

“Whatever. I’m going home to start the new game today.”

“’Kay! I’ll call you later about it!” Sako waved as Kiyomi walked ahead.

~~~

Sako yawned as she walked out of the bathroom, moving to the living room. She sat down cross-legged in front of the large, glowing flatscreen TV and glanced to the digital clock beside it.

11:59 pm.

12:00 am.

The lights were off.

She dialed Kiyomi’s number on her smartphone, set it on the carpeted floor beside her, and put an earpiece into her ear that was connected to the phone via Bluetooth.

Kiyomi’s phone rang once. “What.”

“It’s officially summer break! You ready to plaaaay, bestie~?”

“Play what?”

“Qurecynthia. You said you’d play with me.” It had come out last week and Sako was curious about it. Kiyomi was always the one to play these types of games, and Sako typically wasn’t interested, but this one had caught her eye. She wanted something new for a change. Change was good! Change was great!

“Ugh. Don’t make it sound weird.”

Sako giggled. “My bad. So, yeah?”

“Yeah, gimme a sec. Gotta piss.”

“Oki!” She stayed on the line.

After a short while, Kiyomi answered. “Alright, I’m at the main menu.”

Sako was at the main menu too. “Um… What do I pick?” She went through the list of classes with her handheld controller. Too many to decide on. This was harder than an end-of-year exam.

“Pick something you think you’ll like.”

“Something I would like? Um… Maybe not Warrior… not Priest … Paladin …  Archer… Assassin… Wizard?”

“Yeah, Wizard should be good. They’re versatile and flexible, especially Light and Dark ones. Since we’ll play together, we could go with two classes, or sub-classes, that have great synergy.”

“What’re you going with?”

“Dark Wizard,” Kiyomi replied.

“What’s a good class to pair with that?”

“Light Wizard. It’s somewhat related to Dark.”

“I’ll go with that then.” Sako selected Light Wizard.

A bright, white light flashed from the screen, too bright for her to look at it, so she shut her eyes. “Ack!”

Some kind of mysterious force pulled her closer to the screen then sucked her in. “WHAAAAAAAA!”