Loud ringing blared down the hallways of the Junior High School, signalling to every student that school was over. Silent cheers floated around as everyone packed their bags, ready to leave the building. A medium built brunette whose glasses reflected the light pooling in through the large windows that lined the schools' walls jumped up. He stuffed his bag, swung it onto his shoulder and ran out the door before anyone else. He pushed past the groups of students that walked through the hallways, headed down the flight of stairs and towards the lockers. He skidded to a halt by his and ripped open his locker, grabbing his game system that sat beside a stray letter. Before anyone could step foot on the ground floor, the brunette was out the door.

He trudged down the cobble street pathway, eyes fixated on his GameBoy Advanced, thumbs mashing the buttons as he reached a new high score. He stuck close to the houses, shops and company buildings that lined the streets. The sound of the whistling wind, engines of cars and trucks thundering by, chatter from clusters of people talking all became white noise to the boy as he walked by. He soon came to a halt out the front of the local arcade, hitting pause on his game and turning it off. He placed the GameBoy in his pants pocket before turning and entering the arcade. He walked to the front desk and peered over, greeting the two staff members that stood attentive, watching the people playing on all the different machines.

"Hey there Rei. How's it going?" A tall brunette clad in black work clothes tilted his head down to greet the younger boy.

"It's going fine thanks. I heard that you're releasing that new game for the 3DS? I've been waiting for so long to buy it!" Rei's exclaimed, eyes shining behind his glasses as he bounced on the balls of his feet. "Do you have it Hendrix?"

"I knew you'd be excited, so I saved a copy for you," Hendrix reached under the counter and grabbed a game cade, bringing it up and resting it on the counter. Rei's eyes shone as they landed on the game. "Here you are. Hope you enjoy it."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" The words tumbled out of Rei's mouth as he carefully lifted the game card. He pulled out a plastic sleeve from his pocket and placed the card inside, admiring it. "I can't wait to play this! Thank you so much!" He placed the sleeve back in his pocket before he swung his bag down to the ground. He searched through and grabbed a wallet, fishing out a twenty and ten, placing the money on the counter.

"It's not a problem. Now you go and have fun with that," Hendrix smiled at the happy-go-lucky kid, cashing the money and giving him the change. "I'll see you later then."

Rei said his goodbyes before running out of the arcade, waving to the workers as he left. He trudged down the pathway once more, stopping by the park and entering the forest that surrounded the public space. The brunette wandered through the trees and bushes, gazing up through the branches and leaves that sheltered him and the flora from the harsh sunlight. Rei skipped along till he came across an old oak tree that's been transformed into a treehouse. He walked over to a ladder that hung off the side, climbing up to the top. He slipped his bag off his shoulders and sat it by the treehouse entrance before strolling in. He collapsed down onto a mint green bean bag, grabbing his GameBoy from his pocket. He tried to turn it on, but the screen stayed black.

Confused, Rei tried again and again, but it wouldn't turn on. Frustrated, he took out his phone to look up ways for fixing GameBoy's, but, his phone wouldn't turn on either, no matter how many times he pressed the power on button. Rei was about the give up when a blue screen appeared in front of him. He outstretched a hand to touch it, but, it just fazed through. Another screen appeared behind it, and another above that. More and more blue screens continued to appear till they surrounded the brunette. He jumped to his feet, about to run until a box and robotic sounding voice stopped him.

[Hello and welcome to the game]

'W-Welcome to the game? What game? Is this someone's idea of a prank?' Rei thought, his tense shoulders dropping as he stared at the text. The words jumbled together and changed into a new sentence.

[Please select a name]

A transparent text box appeared in front of Rei. He touched the screen, making a keyboard show up. 'A name huh? Well, I do have a go-to name if I don't know what to choose.' He typed in his name before pressing done. The text box flickered away.

[Your name is Gēmā?]

A yes or no option appeared. Rei chose yes, though still confused about this whole ordeal. The options flickered away as the words jumbled up again.

[Would you like to start the tutorial?]

Another yes or no option flickered up. 'A tutorial? Is this meant to be an actual game? Like the game of life or something similar?' Rei pondered as his finger pressed yes. Another option labeled 'Start' showed up.

[Press start to play]

As soon as Rei's finger landed on the button, his vision was flooded in green letters and numbers, overlaying blue screens. He brought his arms up to his face, covering his eyes as they shut tightly, bracing for anything. He felt as if he were crossing into another realm as static filled his ears.

[Welcome, Gēmā, to your game]