Suddenly my vision goes black. A red warning message keeps blinking in my field of vision.

"The gizmo has overheated. Please shut it down immediately."

I turn it off and remove it, glaring at the ceiling of my room. My only memory before starting the tournament was me laying on bed the previous night. Now, I'm back to the same bed and the same world, except now it's morning.

Frustration claws at my brain over the fact I was a step away from claiming victory. "Damn it all! why did they even include this safety system in the device? I was so close to winning the tournament!"

Still staring at the ceiling, I start to mope. I've trained so hard for this day yet my efforts went down the drain.

My mind suddenly stalls, realising this shouldn't have happened. I've played countless number of games over a longer period of time before but such overheating had never occured! There has to be some other reason behind it.

My eyes snap up to the area I wore my pod.

There sits a freshly grilled sandwich on the bed, resting next to where my gizmo was.

My eyes narrowing, my laugh is doused in sarcasm as I give a battle cry.

"Shu!"

I spring up from my bed and dash towards the aforementioned's room. It was definitely him who positioned the sandwich on my bed. I already told him that he can't disturb me!

I slam the door of his room open, eyes blazing. It is a small room, slightly larger than an attic. There are basically three bedrooms in the entire house. The biggest which is my parent's on the ground floor and two other bedrooms in the second floor. Shu's room was a bit smaller than mine though.

I go to the only window in his room and look outside. The room's window displayed the area in front of the house so I could see the street that lay in front of it.

I see the front door being pushed opened, and a brown-haired, five and a half feet tall male wearing a school uniform sneaks out the door. "School!" But ignoring that thought for a moment, my eyes spy him laughing his head off at what had happened. I give a yell from the window, "Shu I'm coming for you!"

But first, to prepare for school.

I sprint to my room, change my clothes, putting the sandwich in my mouth. After that, my memories are vague. All I can remember is me running out of my house, chasing Shu like I was going to kill him and try to get revenge for what he did to me during my match.

Suddenly, my vision melts into the the scene when I was fighting Audrey. I start to feel as though the real world never existed and it was just another parallel dimension.

I start to imagine Audrey, right in front of me, and with just a flick of a finger I can defeat her and win the tournament. My conciousness starts to fade from the real world. Feeling my Gizmo starting up once more, the image of Audrey fighting against me on the rooftop appears.

I shut my eyes and outstretch my hand, trying to grab Audrey. Suddenly, a heavy impact collides with my left, rendering my body useless. Then, I could feel my legs leaving the ground with my arms flailing in the air numbly. My senses were dragged back to the reality, feeling the cold, rough asphalt scraping harshly against my skin. My mind was numb. "Is it my day to die?"

My head stays still on uneven, uncomfortable ground as my vision is directed up at the sky. Feeling blood drip from my head and other various parts of my body, I try to move my limbs but they wouldn't budge. My vision blurs even more and finally I could see nothing except never-ending darkness.

The darkness still enveloping me, I hear faint sounds of crying and sirens.

Time passes as I keep trying to escape this eternal darkness, attempting to kick and push, to no avail. Suddenly, someone embraces me from behind. I could feel the warm flowing through my body as they embrace me tight. By the feeling of their chest and her naked half, it had to be a woman. Suddenly, a stabbing pain in my chest emits a shriek of pain for me.

I immediately open my eyes, able to see the world once again. Lying on a bed, with my body swathed in bandages, my eyes spies an oxygen mask with IV fluid pipes passing into my arms. Firstly, I stare at my chest, where the feeling of being stabbed had come from.

Nothing.

No fresh blood.

Trying to twist and turn, my efforts are in vain as my body refuses to budge. My body is numb all over. Why?

Now I observe my surroundings closer. Judging by the the state my body was in and the apparatus around me, the fact that I was in a hospital was crystal clear. There was a woman resting nearby with Shu.

But what am I doing in a hospital? Right now, I should be at school half-listening to classes and hanging out with my friends. My head starts to hurt as my brain tries to remember what could have happened. My attempt to move again goes down the drain, as my body still remains as stiff as a rock. Only my head could be moved. My eyebrows furrow at this discovery.

My gaze returning to my left, seeing a middle-aged, dark brown-haired woman sitting on a couch. My mom. Shu was sitting beside her, his head lying against her left shoulder. The both of them look absolutely exhausted and are sleeping. The corners of my mouth lift up slightly to form the ghost of a smile looking at them, and then my mind begins to wonder through my thoughts once more.

I try to picture what exactly could have happened to cause the accident. Pondering over it for half an hour, I still remain clueless. Everything that had happened after the view in front of me changed while running was baffling. My mind continues to whir as my mom eventually stirs.

I gaze at her as though nothing had actually happened. She smiles a weary smile. My gaze trained on her, a twinge if regret stings my heart. She's trying to keep a strong facade. I vaguely know what the cause of her pain is and want nothing more than to comfort her.

Before my mind can actually register the words, my mouth begins to spew them out, "Mom, I'm fine. I'm not sure what happened to me, but whatever it is, I'll recover from it soon, I promise."

My speech was cut short, my mom engulfing me in a hug, but my body couldn't feel the contact between us. I attempt to lift my hand to return the gesture, but my hand still refuses to move an inch. I already begin to speculate the events that led to my hospitalisation when my mom didn't allow me to finish my sentence.

"Mom, don't cry."

She wipes off her tears and starts to leave the room. Right before she exits, she mutters loud enough for me to hear, "The doctor said he would like to ask you some things later."

I supposed it made sense. They'd want to know what happened before my hospitalisation, though I don't recall anything.

"But mom, can you tell what happened? Why I became like this?"

My mom replies in a low tone, "Nuke, you crashed into a vehicle at the traffic light in front of our house. The doctor said that he would like to personally tell you about the state of your body."

With that, she leaves the room.

I glance at Shu, who had probably woken up from our conversation.

"I guess you've already figured out what happened. The doctor doesn't need to tell you anything, does he...?" Shu's voice is barely above a whisper, his eyes shining with unshed tears.

I nod and reply, my voice trembling ever so slightly, though my brother didn't notice a thing.

"I feel like my body is going through some sort of full-body paralysis though it's not confirmed if it is. And there's something else I have to ask the doctor too."

A short pause follows, and taking a deep breath, I let my voice out once more, "Before this happened, while running, the view in front of me changed. I was still playing the tournament, though it was already over, even chasing someone. The real world wasn't in sight even though my physical body was in it. I want to know what exactly happened to me back then."

Regret and guilt painted all over his weary features, he sobs, "M-maybe this wouldn't have happened if I didn't have spoil your device..."

Tears roll down his cheeks in rivulets as he speaks. I gaze at him worriedly, "Well, it isn't your fault. If I hadn't run like an idiot, this wouldn't have happened." plastering a fake smile onto my face, Shu doesn't notice and returns the gesture.

My eyes snap up towards the clock. I left the house at 8am and it's almost 9pm right now. "So I've been unconscious for around ten hours huh?"

He scoffs at my words, "Haha, I wish. Check the date, Nuke."

I look up and see the date which is at the bottom corner of the clock. My eyes nearly pop out of its sockets.

It's been a month since that day!

My mouth gaped as I shout, flabbergasted, "Wait, I've been unconscious for an entire month?!"

Shu answers lightly, a slight tremor in his voice that didn't go unnoticed.

"Y-Yeah."

Still amazed, that amazement slowly turns into amusement as I recall, "Shu do you remember that time when I used to cry when I had to go to school and always said that I want to sleep forever?"

"Yep, and you used to say that you wanted to be a pillow because pillows lie all the time on the bed and never go to school!" he barks out a laugh. We both laugh and recollect our childhood memories.

Mom comes in and looks at us quizzically . She smiles and says, "Now what are you kids laughing about? You are so loud that the doctors are thinking that one of their patients have gone insane!" we stare at mom for a moment before all of us break out into peals of laughter.

The door suddenly slams open as my dad bursts through the door. Gasping for air, he looks as though he had just won a marathon. He is a tall man with broad shoulders, black hair and dark brown eyes with black framed glasses. He appears to be strict, but in reality, he's actually a very humorous person. And given his appearance and behaviour people named him the "Man in Black"

He grins at me and gives a hearty laugh, "I haven't seen you this lively in a long time, young man."

An easy grin climbs onto my face as I retort,"Oh really dad? I do remember I was always this lively at home too."

Shu rebutted my claims, "No you weren't, the only thing I remember is you sticking to your Gizmo all the time! It's as though you and your Gizmo were the only things in the entire universe!"

I roll my eyes as scoff in response, "Maybe, but don't exaggerate it that much!"

My mom cut in all of a sudden, "Well, you were a bit too addicted to your games."

"Not you too!" I yell exasperatedly at my mom.

I loved how everything seemed okay, like nothing happened.

Yet, I know somewhere deep within my heart that the good and ordinary times would never return and last with the state I was in.

After all, all good things come to an end..