Sako woke up, sprawled out in a vast, green meadow.

Kiyomi was standing not too far away, looking at her… game menu in front of her face? A little, digital interface box with words and symbols that she couldn’t read unless she got closer.

She groaned, holding her head. It ached. “Kiyomi, are we…?”

“Yep, seems like we’re in-game.”

“…Huh…?” Sako had to think on that. “How…? WHAT?! How do we get out?!”

“Fuck if I know.”

Sako tapped the logout button on her holoscreen. It didn’t work. She sprang to her feet. “WHY ARE YOU SO CALM ABOUT THIS?”

“I don’t mind it to be honest. I hate IRL. So many exams and responsibilities, then there’s work. I’m sick of it. Sick of all of it. I didn’t even know what I wanted to do after I graduate.”

She pointed at Kiyomi. “Yeah? Well, unlike you, I have a life that I need to get back to! I have PLANS.” She began pulling on her own hair, frantically looking around and seeing nothing but grass and trees. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! MOM’S GOING TO MURDER ME!” Once she got back anyway. Then she realized something. “Wait. Hold on…” She took a mirror out of her pocket and looked at herself. Same high school uniform. Same short, white hair. Same high knee socks.

Kiyomi had on her uniform too. Long, black, and loose hair down her back. Neatly trimmed bangs covering one of her bored but aggressive eyes. Light build and about Sako’s height.

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!” How was it possible for their avatars to reflect what they looked like IRL? She mumbled. “This is crazy. Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy…”

“Hey, calm down. Don’t wet your panties. Start by reading the starter guide in your inventory.” Kiyomi lifted hers—a small book—to show Sako her own. “It’s not a bad read. It’ll probably take around 6 hours to read the whole thing.”

“6…? 6?! I DON’T WANT TO SPEND 6 FUCKING HOURS READING A FUCKING BOOK ON THIS STUPID GAME!”

Kiyomi froze in disbelief. Sako rarely swore.

Sako whispered to herself, looking away. “I almost had a boyfriend… almost… almost.” She shot Kiyomi another glare. “ALMOST. WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GO ON OUR FIRST DATE NEXT WEEK.” A relationship wasn’t official until after the first successful date.

Kiyomi shrugged. “Who needs boys anyway—or girls.”

7 hours later

They sat under a tree reading their guides, and they had changed into a wizard robe and hat they found in their inventories.

Sako looked up and closed the book. “Done.” It would take some time getting used to all this though, especially the fact that in her visual field, there were a few small icons as if she was looking at a screen, like her name, HP, and MP bars in the upper left corner and some icons at the bottom left, including inventory and menus. But she could hide all the buttons if she wanted. Kiyomi had taught her how to set up her user interface too.

She looked to Kiyomi who was still reading. “How are you not done?”

“I’m trying to memorize some stuff.”

She blinked at her. “You? Memorize?” If only Kiyomi had applied that effort to her studies IRL.

5 minutes later

Kiyomi closed the book and stood up. “Make a party then invite me.”

Sako did just that and sent her the invitation after pressing some buttons on her UI.

Kiyomi pressed the accept button on her UI.

“Are you sure I should be leader? You’re better at this stuff.”

“You’ll be fine. You’re a natural-born leader. You got this. If anything, I’ll give you advice.” Kiyomi wasn’t the type to lead but watch from the shadows instead. Literally.

Sako on the other hand had been the class rep, so she had a pretty good idea how to lead others… except this wasn’t class.

Kiyomi opened a map she had gotten from her inventory and looked at it. “It’s best we go to the nearest town and get some info.” She pointed straight ahead. “That way.”

Maybe they would learn of a way to get home. They would need money and higher levels too to survive until then.

~~~

They reached the Adventurers’ Guild. As they walked in, lads and lasses sat around tables, having conversations and laughing. Some played pranks. One was running around, chasing another man for pranking him. A few eyes went to Sako and Kiyomi as they reached the front desk.

A charming, young woman stood behind it with a smile. Bright blonde hair with bright golden eyes. “Welcome to the Adventurers’ Guild! What can I do for you?”

Sako wasn’t sure.

But Kiyomi spoke up. “Do you have a quest board or something?”

The woman pointed to the far side of the room at a board with papers tacked onto it. “We sure do! But you’ll need to register first.”

“Oh, right. Yeah, that.”

She reached down behind the desk for something then stood up again to hand two forms to them.

They filled out the forms and handed them to her.

She glanced at the forms then looked back up at them. “Good!” After reaching under the desk again, she handed them two name pins marked with “Rank F”. “You girls will start at F, so look for F-tier quests.”

They nodded and made their way to the board, passing groups of people at round tables.

“Goblins?” Sako looked to Kiyomi after eyeing the board. There were quests all the way up to triple S-tier. They had a long way to go.

“Yeah, that’s the only thing we can do as level 1s.”

Sako took down the post and carried it to the desk before handing it to the receptionist. Kiyomi followed. “We’ll take this.”

“Wonderful!”

“Hey, girls!” a man called from a table. “You wanna join our party?” At the table sat two men and one girl who all smiled cordially.

Sako looked above their heads at their levels. Level 3, Level 3, Level 2. Before she could give a yes, Kiyomi beat her.

“No.”

“Aw, why not?” One man asked, frowning.

“You sure?” Sako whispered to her.

Kiyomi leaned to her and whispered back. “Don’t trust anyone.”

“But…” Sako started.

Kiyomi grabbed her wrist and led her out the door.