"Hey, Hikaru! Have you heard of that computer game that's just been put in the store?" Natsume asked her friend, swinging her long, blonde hair over her shoulder. Her blue eyes glanced at Hikaru curiously.

Hikaru rolled her own bright green eyes. "You mean that one called 'The World'? Yeah, I've heard of it." She brushed her hair out of her eyes. She was 16 years old, and a sophomore. She was 5'5" and had layered, shoulder length, brown hair with black streaks.

"What, you don't think you're gonna play it?" Natsume asked. She was the same age and grade as Hikaru, but was shorter by 2 inches. Her skirt was short, as usual. Hikaru's on the other hand, was long, reaching to her ankles.

"No, I don't think so." Hikaru said in a bored tone. "Kenji told me about it." Kenji was Hikaru's older brother.

"And it didn't sound interesting to you?"

"Nope."

Natsume shook her head. They were on the train headed home. When the train stopped at their station, they got off and headed for the game shop where Kenji worked.

Kenji looked up when the two girls entered the store. "Oh, it's you guys." He sighed. "What d'you want?" Kenji was 18 and 6'7". He had brown hair in a wolf-cut. His eyes were a dark green.

"Actually, I wanted to get the game that just came in." Natsume told him, walking up to the counter.

"I figured as much." Kenji reached under the counter and handed Natsume a package. Then he looked at Hikaru. "You want it too? It'll cost you all of your allowance."

"No thanks. I don't find it interesting." Hikaru told him. Kenji raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. Natsume purchased the game and together the two friends left.

They stopped at the corner where they usually part ways. Natsume turned to Hikaru and offered her the game.

"I wanna make a bet." Natsume told her. "You play this and if you like it, then you agree to help me go out with Yukito and you can keep it. If you get bored of it before an hour is over, then I'll help you win Yukito."

Hikaru thought for a moment. Yukito was the boy at school that they both had a crush on. They were certain that he had a crush on one of them, but they weren't sure who. It was a very tempting offer. So tempting in fact, she had to take it.

"Fine. I'll call you in an hour." Hikaru told her.

"We'll see…" Natsume said, smiling mischievously. They parted ways, Hikaru carrying the bag with the game in it. When she got home, she kissed her mother on the cheek and raced up the stairs to her room. She went straight to her computer after closing the door behind her and dropping her school bag on her bed. She booted up her computer and inserted the CD. It took a few minutes to install it, but once it was finished, she put on her M2D.

"Welcome…to The World." An electronic voice told her. Hikaru clicked on 'new character'. It asked her to make a username, so she did. Her character's name was Karumi and she was a Twin Blade character. She had waist length red hair, bright green eyes (which were the same as Hikaru's). She had cat ears and a tail, and wore a bell around her neck. She wore a teal, ankle length skirt with slits in both sides, starting in the middle of her thigh. Around her waist was a belt that hung a little loosely. Her shirt was white and was cut a little above her bellybutton and the sleeves ended at the elbow.

Once she had created her character, she entered the first city, Mac-Anu. There, she looked around. Other players were walking around and talking. Karumi didn't know how to move or talk yet, but she could look around. Unfortunately, she was in the way of other people getting to the portal.

A party of three approached her. The leader walked up to her, then stopped when she didn't move. He looked like a Twin Blade, with black armor/clothing and silver hair. His eyes were red.

"Hey, noob! Get out of my way!" He yelled at her.

"I'd love too…" Karumi muttered under her breath, glaring at the character in front of her.

"What'd you say?!" He yelled again. Karumi blinked.

"You can hear me?" She asked, surprised. The player leaned forward and inspected her closely.

"You really are a noob, aren't you?" He asked. "Didn't you know that your M2D has a microphone that allows you to talk to other players without typing…?"

Hikaru felt ashamed of herself. Her brother had told her that before, but she hadn't been playing close attention.

One of the character's party members stepped forward. He had a long, blue ponytail and wore tan clothing/armor that looked a little bit like a dress. "Aren't you being a little rude, Haseo?" He asked.

"Shut up! She's in our way!" Haseo said, glaring at the blue haired character.

"Let me guess. You don't know how to move yet." He said, ignoring Haseo.

"Yeah, unfortunately." Karumi told him sheepishly.

"KUHN!!! DON'T IGNORE ME!!!" Haseo yelled. Kuhn continued to ignore him as he showed Karumi how to move her character.

She finally got her character out of the way. "Thank you!" She told Kuhn with relief.

"No problem!" He told her. "Oh, here. Take my member address. Call me if you need me!"

"Ah! Okay! Here's mine!" Karumi said, sending him her username. Kuhn smiled at her as he and his party members teleported out. Karumi sighed in relief. That Haseo was scary!

She shook her head, and turned to the teleport. Choosing the lowest possible field, she went to train her character.

As she trained, she found that she liked the game. It was interesting and fun. Of course, it might be more fun if you had a friend who could level up with you.

Karumi reached level 10 before she decided to head back to town. Once there, she sold some items and bought new armor and weapons. Another cool thing about the game was that the character's appearance changed when you put on new items.

Karumi was about to go to another field to train when she received an email. She logged out and checked it.

Sender: Kuhn

Subject: How're you doing?

Hey, Karumi! How do you like this game so far? I'm sorry about Haseo's attitude. He gets like that every once in a while. He's actually a nice guy!

Oh, by the way, would you like to meet some of my other friends? We're meeting in a low level field.

Karumi smiled happily. She responded:

I'd love to! Just tell me when and where!

In a few minutes, Kuhn responded, giving her the coordinates. She logged back in and went there. Once there, she looked around. There wasn't a sign of anyone.

"Huh." Karumi said. She shrugged and decided to search the entire dungeon.

She was about to give up hope when she found a group of people at the end of the dungeon. Among them was Kuhn. Spotting her, he grinned and walked over.

"Hey Karumi! Glad you could make it!" He told her, patting her on the shoulder.

"I almost couldn't find you!" Karumi accused him. "Next time give me an exact place, please?"

"Oh, sorry! I usually meet my friends at the end of the dungeon." Kuhn told her.

Karumi glanced behind him at all the characters gathered together. "Well, now I know why there wasn't a lot of monsters…"

Kuhn laughed and guided her to the other players. One of them turned around.

"Oh, is this the girl you met earlier?" She asked. She was a Harvest Cleric with short blonde hair and a green dress. Her hat was white, as were her boots, which reached up past her knees.

"Yeah, the one Haseo gave a hard time." Kuhn said, laughing. "Karumi, this is Atoli." Karumi smiled at the other girl shyly.

"Oh, it's wonderful to meet you! Let's be friends!" Atoli said, grabbing Karumi's hand.

"Ah, okay!" Karumi said, startled.

"Come on, I want you to meet some people!" Atoli told her, dragging her away from Kuhn. She introduced Karumi to a few people. Karumi was a bit confused, but she was sure that their names were Pi, Silabus, and Gaspard.

Then, another character joined them. Karumi recognized him instantly as Haseo. Atoli was still chatting with someone, so she didn't notice him. Haseo glanced around and saw Karumi. He walked over.

"What are you doing here?" Haseo asked Karumi. She was about to respond when Atoli turned around.

"Oh! Haseo! Have you met Karumi?" She asked him enthusiastically. Karumi stifled her laugh.

"Yeah I've met her." Haseo said, glaring at Karumi. Karumi, knowing that Haseo was about to start yelling again, sighed. Then another player joined them.

"Oh, you're that girl from earlier…The one who reminds me of Mia…" He said. He was a Blade Brandier and his armor was purple and tight fitting and had a cap with roses on it. His long blue hair was braided.

"Anything cat-like reminds you of Mia…" Haseo muttered. The player ignored him.

"Um." Karumi said, confused.

"Oh, Karumi, this is Endrance." Atoli told her helpfully. Karumi smiled at Endrance, but he just continued to stare at her.

"Anyways, why are you here?" Haseo asked again, changing the subject.

"Kuhn invited me." Karumi told him.

"So?" Haseo asked rudely. Karumi glared at him.

"SO, if you want to yell at someone for my being here, then yell at him. I'm leaving." Karumi told him angrily. She stalked out of the dungeon and teleported to another area. Once there, she cooled off her anger by taking it out on the monsters.

"Hey, Hikaru, I thought you said you weren't interested in that game!" Kenji's voice interrupted her. She jumped and took of her M2D guiltily. She turned towards her door and saw her brother leaning against the door frame.

"I made a bet with Natsume…"She started, looking down at her watch. Three hours had already passed. "And…It looks like I lost it 2 hours ago."

"Oh?" Her brother said, raising his eyebrow. Rolling her eyes, Hikaru told him about the bet.

"Heh. So let me guess…You like the game." Kenji said in his big-brother tone. Hikaru stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well, in that case, you can help me." Kenji said. He held up a parcel in his hand. "I bought the game."

"Oh really? Are you asking me for help?" Hikaru asked him, raising an eyebrow. Kenji blushed slightly and looked away. "Okay. I'll help."

Kenji started to say something, then stopped, staring at her. "Your not going to tease me?"

"No, not right now. Maybe later. I'm just a little pissed off right now."

"Oh? What happened?"

"I'll tell you later."

Kenji shrugged and left to get his laptop. Hikaru turned back to her game. She finished the battle she was in and 'ported back to town. Then she removed her M2D again.

Kenji came back with his laptop and set it on Hikaru's desk. He went through the installation and character creation. Then Hikaru told him how to move, and she put her M2D back on.

Kenji's character's name was Braizer and he was a Edge Punisher. He had long, spiky red hair. His eyes were smoky grey. He wore a black, sleeveless, open vest with out a shirt underneath and had a lot of belts wrapped around his pants ad wrists.

Karumi grinned at him. "You ready to train?"

"Yes, senpai." He responded glumly. He grinned. They teleported to a low level area.

After a while, they moved to a different area. It seemed familiar to Karumi.

"Oh no…" She said, recognizing it.

"What's wrong?" Braizer asked.

"Can we go to a different area?"

"Why? There's monsters here!" Braizer ran ahead of her and started a battle. Karumi sighed and went to help him. They battled a few other monsters before Braizer spotted some other players headed towards them.

"Oh great." Karumi said, resigned. One of the players waved and ran up to them.

"Hey Karumi! So this is where you went! We've been looking for you!"

"Hello Kuhn." Karumi said. Braizer glanced at her.

"What's wrong? Atoli told me you yelled at Haseo and left. Have you been here the whole time?" Kuhn asked her, curious.

"No. I went to other fields, then helped my brother create his character." Karumi said, pointing at Braizer. At that point, the other players had caught up with them. Karumi recognized them as Atoli, Endrance, and Haseo. She glanced at Haseo, then away. She was still mad at him.

"This is your brother?" Kuhn asked, surprised. Then he offered his hand to Braizer. "It's nice to meet you! My name is Kuhn."

Braizer accepted the hand. "I'm Braizer, Hi- I mean, Karumi's older brother." Karumi rolled her eyes. Atoli introduced herself and the others excitedly. Endrance was still staring at Karumi. She sighed and took off her M2D.

"I'm gonna log off. I should probably call Natsume and tell her she won the bet." Hikaru told her brother. He lifted his M2D and glanced at her.

"Hikaru, are you going to tell me what happened?"

"Later."

Kenji shrugged and put his M2D back down. Hikaru put hers back on also and said good bye to the other players. Then she logged off.