Revelation

At the soft ding of the elevator that commenced the opening of the doors, Zhou quickly shuffled out before Toshiro. He came to a stop, however, when he realized he didn't know which direction he was supposed to go in. Toshiro chuckled, and taking the lead, completed the short distance down the hallway to his residence. He directed his attention to the built-in cameras, and, within a few seconds, the doors glided open.

"How— It just automatically—"

"Facial recognition system," Toshiro explained simply. "Come on, let's go in."

Upon registering his entrance, the thermostat had adjusted to the default comfortable 68 degrees. Toshiro shrugged off his coat and draped it on a cloth chair in the entrance room, watching as Zhou stared, eyes wide with awe at the large yet sparsely organized expanse of the penthouse.

"Your house is so big."

"Empty, though," Toshiro responded, a little wistfully. He turned to the digital thermostat, adjusting the temperature a few degrees higher to account for Zhou's simple attire, before stepping lightly toward the room that housed his headset. "This way," he motioned after him.

He was lucky that the Oasis maintenance team had been able to resolve the glitch remotely, without needing him to drop it off at a store. The headset sat at his pristine table the way he had left it, the only item on the glass surface.

"You can do the honors." Toshiro smiled at Zhou's excitement, as he almost nervously made his way to the device. He slowed as he approached it, lightly touching the surface and observing it.

"Wow," Zhou breathed with reverence. "Even the design... Can I...?" He looked hesitantly at Toshiro, who nodded.

"Go ahead, give it a try."

Now holding his breath, Zhou lifted it up to slide it on. Toshiro observed silently; he didn't often watch people in the real world while they were in the Oasis. It must be powering on, calibrating now, he thought.

Barely a minute had passed when Zhou jerked suddenly, as if he'd experienced an electric shock. In a swift motion, he pulled off the headset, visibly shaken.

"What? Did something happen? Are you alright? Is it not fixed?" Toshiro asked, alarmed at the reaction.

"No, it's... I'm fine." Then he looked up, and facing Toshiro, asked, "You're... You're Daito?"

Oh. Since he had never logged out, the account must have displayed for Zhou when it was first activated. He'd forgotten about it, and had also forgotten how people usually reacted when they found out he was one of the top twenty Oasis players worldwide. But even so, Zhou's shock seemed a bit over the top.

"Yeah," he admitted. "But it's not that big of a deal, really; it just—"

"No, you don't understand."

Toshiro started at the interruption, looking for an explanation. Him being a leaderboard player wasn't what Zhou was alarmed about? Then: "What?"

"No, it's— you don't understand," Zhou repeated. "That's not the point."

"Then what do you mean?"

"I mean... I... I'm Sho."