Prologue

Every time I play Lux-pain again, there would at least be one sleepless night waiting for me. I've played it around two-three times already, finishing the whole game and all...and no matter how long it would be, at some point, I would love to play it again. For memories sake. So once more, I pick up my DS and press the button. Though at that time, I had no idea that the plot will be different.

I have always wondered why I was a 'night' person instead of a 'morning' person. Every time, when I lie down on my bed, and all the lights are off, I would still drift on to dreamland...while my eyes would be wide open. Ideas would spring up; stories plots would continue to consume me till my mind was swimming with dialogues and backgrounds. And then, at some point, I would have to tell myself it's late and I start counting sheep for me to finally sleep.

It was my dad that told me to count sheep, even though I knew about it when I was little, it was only this summer that I took the idea seriously. My record I think was 249, but I never got to beat Pete's record of 389...or so my memory serves..."One sheep jumped over the fence...two sheep jumped over the fence...three sheep jumped over the fence..." and I would go on and on until I find the yellow-orange light streaming from my window. I never got how I fell asleep, and that always puzzled me.

Lying lazily on my bed for around ten minutes, I finally urged myself to sit up and stand from my red colored sofa-bed. Everyone else in my family would probably be awake already, though there was this one time I got myself to sit up at 7am, with my little sister and my parents still sleeping.

I walked out of the medium-sized bedroom and staggered out to the living room, where the only computer in the entire house sits. (Unless my dad brings home his 'work' laptop, which we mostly get to use at night.) I saw my dad getting ready to work and my mom sitting on a chair, typing something on her Facebook. My little sis wasn't inside the room, so she must be at the other room playing on her DS. If I were to guess it would either be Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time or Dragon Quest Rocket Slime...and in front me was circular glass dining table, with breakfast served, and only my plate was there. This scene was way too common, but I was thankfully awake enough to ask my dad before he went out of the door.

"Papa?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I change my games?"

"Sure." it was that simple. Well, you see, around two years ago, I accidentally broke something inside the game card of my DS. And now I can't get the games to work unless my dad's there to fix it. It would take around a minute really, but I can't do it, so I'm dependent on him to help me.

I was able to convince my mom to let me have the computer so that I could change it, at that point I already removed the game card and inserted it inside this USB-like thing and inserted it to the computer. A window appeared after that, showing the eighteen games in it. Deleting a few, I opened another window to display the other bunch of games I downloaded. Hey, before I continue with what I was saying, swear to not mention this to those police people out there okay? I know it's illegal or something to download games but...okay, I got them from...never mind. So, just continue like this is normal, alright? Thank you.

Scrolling down the big list of games I got, I was able to find the one I was looking for, Lux-Pain. I dragged it to the other one with no effort, after all I have done this before, and doing this was a cinch. I'm just glad that my parents are the ones that allow me to choose my games instead of cramming my DS with 'educational' games and those stupid 'girly' games that they think I might like. They've known me long enough that I enjoy Pokémon, Digimon and other RPG games. So it is good to let your parents know your likes and dislikes often.

Quickly, I removed the stick with no trouble and handed it to my dad, and after standing for a few seconds, he was done. He kissed me then and went out of the door. I replied back with a 'goodbye', and he was off.

Returning the card back to my trusty DS, I scooted to an empty room and closed the door, locking it in case. I always liked playing alone, especially if it was a new game. But since I have finished Lux-Pain before, I wasn't as excited. But it didn't matter; I just enjoyed listening and reading it as much as I please, without any disruptions.

Opening my game console, I turned it on, and the white screen popped out, like the usual. Then after one second, it would change to a light blue background, with the Elric brothers as kids eating watermelon on it. I always thought of it as cute, but now, I was more focused on playing the game I just got. I pressed the 'A' button again so that the screen would change to a list, showing that games presently on the card. I held down on the 'down' button of the D-pad until it reached the title I wanted,

'Lux-Pain'

I pressed the 'A' button once more, and the loading bar showed, and in a matter of two to three seconds, the DS faded into black, then white. It began to show a bunch of logos I didn't really care much about, and then that's when I heard it, the theme song. I missed hearing it, for it has been so long since I last played with Atsuki Saijo. I think I have opened the game enough times to memorize the song, well, for me anyway.

"Ikutsu kokoro...suteta naraba..." the song started and the anime began to flow out. I mentally squealed when I saw Atsuki again, ah...the good times. The video went on, and I saw Natsuki, Nola, and Liu Yee too. Soon Yayoi appeared, and then Mika, Nami, Rui, Shinji, Akira, Ryo, and the last, Yui. All the characters I now recognized compared to last year, when I had no clue who those people were and all I thought of them were random people in the story. Yes...I really thought that.

The song finally ended with Atsuki in the night...I sighed. At that point, I always wondered about why Lux-Pain was always given bad reviews. I was honestly shocked when the reviews mostly contained negative things...and the ratings were really low. Sure the game play isn't the best and the translation confuses me sometimes, but the confusion at the start is just the thing of the plot. If they don't understand the game, then let them just play it again. I understood it, so why couldn't they?

I pushed all the thoughts away and turned my attention to the menu screen once more. And then I flinched in surprise, a dialogue box was staring at me, at the menu screen, which never happened before...

'Unlocked New Game+'

"H-huh? But I was sure I deleted the save file before I took it off all together..." I mumbled. Curiosity got the better of me though, and besides, it was a game. What's the worst that can happen?

I pressed on the D-Pad again until it hovered over the new option that appeared on the screen. Pressing 'A', the whole DS turned black, and I was left here for around ten seconds, wondering how long I had to wait until something would happen.

"Huh...maybe it hanged." I was about to reach the 'Off' switch when the DS screen shone bright white, and for a moment, I was blinded. The whole thing startled me, because I didn't know my DS could be that bright, and before I knew it, I passed out.

A/N: Okay, if you're wondering about the title, it will be explained on the next chapter. Anyway, I just made it, because...I like Lux-Pain. And yes, this is really a 'Self-insert' story. So...I tried to make sure that I didn't make it too personal...so I tried to thin down the dialogues with my family as much as possible. But...if you read this, then you've already gotten a good picture of my typical morning in the summer. :3

Oh yes, if you're wondering what the next chapter will be like, the clue is actually somewhere in the prologue. Yeah, just try to guess. *smirk*