A/N: What is this, an update? Yes it is. Even if it isn't very long, it counts as an update. ;)

Enjoy~

"Ouch! Hot, too hot!" Xing yelped, quickly reaching over to his nightstand and grabbing the glass of water. He hurriedly chugged it down, trying to soothe his burning tongue and mouth.

The water was quickly gone, leaving Xing gasping for air.

"Always...check how hot the soup is." he stated, looking at the bowl of chicken noodle soup on his lap. It was scorching hot, sending white tendrils of steam into the air. It smelt delicious, but Xing wasn't in a hurry to try it again...

He sighed, carefully lifting the bowl of soup off his lap and onto the nightstand, planning on leaving it to cool.

His mother made it for him, well not really made, since it came from a can. She did warm it up, though. That gives her some points, right?

Boredly running his gaze around his room, he noticed it was clean for once. His mom must have cleaned it, which he appreciated. She's just been cleaning and helping him whenever she wasn't at work. Xing guessed it was because of him being hurt and her maternal instincts kicked in full blast, constantly worrying about him and such.

He didn't mind it, he liked being taken care of. It was nice.

Xing was still sore, but Tylenol could do wonders for pain. But, despite the medicine, whenever he moved around too much, his ribs would start feeling like someone beat him there with a baseball bat. Not very pleasant at all, mind you.

"I wonder if I should play again..." Xing murmured absentmindedly, tugging on the bandage of his hand.

He was referring to Second Life.

He sighed, quickly shaking his head. She would be there, probably.

"But...I shouldn't let her stop me from playing, right?" he said, uncertain.

Where would he log in at, anyway? Right where he started in Algar Village, or Algar Hotel where Julia and Lance were? He didn't know, because his mom threw the manual away in her haste to clean his room, which was kind of dirty before.

Xing wasn't eager to take a chance and log in, but he desperately wanted to play. Sitting in bed all day was no fun whatsoever.

Deciding to take the chance of seeing Julia, he reached his hand over to the ground, where his game helmet was laying, nestled in some blankets.

Apparently, from what he read in the manual before his mom threw it away, it was the brand new helmet for Second Life gaming. It was bulky and large, kind of shaped like a football helmet, and was dark blue with a few buttons on it. It didn't look like it could work, let alone transport him to a world of gaming, but looks could be deceiving. Right when you put the game helmet on, it would alert you if you had missed messages, what your level was and such, and important news from Second Life. It was extremely expensive, so Xing was shocked that Mr. Gui would have it, and planning to give it to a student no less! His professor must be oblivious or very kind.

Gulping nervously, Xing got in a comfortable position and put on the helmet, darkness instantly washing over him.

Spring (In-Game)

Xing groaned, fluttering her eyes open. She was in the same room, or so she thought, where she created her character. She was lying down on the cold floor, so she clumsily stood up.

The floor beneath her feet were shiny white square tiles. Everything else was just a void of vast white space, like she was caught in a extremely thick snowstorm. Since everything was white and it was pretty bright, everything kind of pained her eyes.

Looking down, Xing noticed she was her character, Spring. She was wearing the same outfit as before, but not wrinkled anymore and they looked cleaner.

Suddenly, a message popped up before her, making her jump in surprise. There were several options: Log-In, Messages, Character Stats, and News.

Since she hadn't checked what her stats were when she changed her class to Summoner, she decided on that one.

"C-character stats." Spring stated hesitantly, not knowing if she was doing it right.

A new screen appeared on the left, showing her picture, which made her stare at it for a couple of seconds, and her stats and such.

Strength was 16, Stamina 17, Agility 17, Intelligence 20, Spirit 15, Wisdom 20, and Charisma was 19. Her experience bar was currently empty.

Spring couldn't help but feel a little proud at them. She worked hard, hugging those slimes to death...

She glanced at the Messages button. Surely, she wouldn't have messages already, since she just started playing?

Curious, she stated, "Messages."

Another screen popped up. This time, there was a letter of sorts.

Hi, Spring! This is Julia. The one from yesterday, you know? I hope 'ya remember me, because you'll be seeing me a lot in Second Life. ;)

Kaida and me want to say sorry that we hurt your feelings, so we're sorry. I hope you accept our apology, because I, I mean us, want to get to know you more. Even if you don't, I'll find you and make you talk to us. It wouldn't be really hard, since you log-in where you log-off, just to let you know. :)

So, see you later~ :D

'So, the thing about logging-in was right...' she thought absentmindedly, before panic struck her.

"W-what am I going to do?" she exclaimed, flailing her arms around. She knew she was being dramatic, but she couldn't help it!

What if Julia would stalk her whenever she'd log-in? What if she tried to k-kiss her? That thought instantly made her face turn red as a tomato.

'What if she already did?' a thought nagged her. 'She could have stolen your first kiss while you were unconscious, and you don't even know it.'

That thought just made her freak out even more.

"I don't want to log-in!" she yelled loudly, not realizing the words she said.

Log-In Process Initializing...

Spring's mouth dropped open. "What? No, no... I take it back!"

It was too late, because everything, one again, was turning black. She felt dizzy and gave in to the darkness.