Gray

ANOTHER YAWN escapes my lips as I continued to listen to the boring English lecture of a very boring Tuesday. My eyes darted from the white board in front of the room, towards the ticking clock held up above it as it presents the time I need to wait until this session is over.

Thirty more minutes. Great.

I began to make my eyes wander even more, this time it was around my classroom. Students of different faces, both with eyeglasses and not, makeup and not, all seemed to be preoccupied with something else to listen to the class as well. At least I'm not alone here.

The teacher in front of us today was not our usual English teacher. Mr Giovanni was absent from the class today because he was sick, something we didn't expect to happen because that old man was oftentimes stronger than a cow. Even so, I'd take his usual stories about his life that changes every week or so if compared to his substitute for today who looks like he lack the horns to make him look like the son of a devil.

I yawned once more.

"Psst! Steven!" Upon closing my mouth to conceal the boredom I felt about this class, I heard a voice call out to me in barely a whisper. Turning my head lazily towards the source, I found a fellow classmate looking at me with a grin on his face. His name is Tristan Gunther, a student from another course who is apparently my classmate in this subject. He insisted in our friendship back when the school year began, and as time willed it, we've become best pals.

I found a weird glint of something in his baby blue eyes, and wondered what he was trying to convey, so I nodded my head to him as a silent gesture of acknowledgement, and he did the same. "I heard from Ashley that you work in a tech store. Do you guys have a copy of the game yet? It's sold out in every places I go to." Tristan said, his eyebrows melting downwards to form what looks like a sad expression on his face. However, I shot him with a look of confusion, and he grumbled in response to what I did. For a twenty year old guy, he behaves like a boy will in his highschool years.

"You know, THE game. Fantasy Burst Online? The VRMMORPG?" He quickly responded, making my eyebrow twitch in recognition of what he said.

Fantasy Burst Online.

The first Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Game to ever exist. Apparently, it was made by a well known technology oriented company in the face of the Beta Solutions. Axel Foster, its youngest CEO was the one who reportedly pitched the idea ten years ago, but no one took him seriously because of how impossible it looked. Well, that excludes me. I've always been fascinated by his work in Beta Solutions that I found myself daydreaming about working alongside him, something that Tristan says will be more impossible than the project itself.

Now, it seems that his idea worked afterall. Just yesterday, the company launched its newest project named Fantasy Burst Online. It is a video game that can only be played with a special tool they called the Neuron Detectron System that looks exactly like a helmet you wear around your head to read the signals circulating around your neurons in order to simulate bodily movements in a virtual space.

Many teenagers and alike swarmed tech stores across the world to look for this game and experience it on their own. I want to do the same, just to liven up my lackluster college life, but I can barely afford a PlayStation 5, how will I hope to get something so luxurious like that?

"Yeah. We do." I responded in a low tone, afraid that our substitute teacher may hear our chatter amidst the class. "Most of it were sold yesterday, and the Manager said that we'll try to hold on to the last of our stocks while we wait for the new batch to come."

Tristan smiled wider than before. Purchasing a machine worth $16,000 probably mean nothing to him, especially since he's from a family of great wealth. It is something I sometimes envy of him, but it's not like I can tell him about that blatantly. My dignity will become lower than dirt if so.

Tristan shows a look of satisfaction and relief in his face just before he stands up from seat, his hands fisted as he implored something that he has in his mind. It catches everyone's attention in the room, especially the teacher who lowered his pair of eyeglasses afterwards. "Great!" My friend then exclaims.

The entire class looks towards our seats. That is sixty pair of eyes from students giving us all a look of scrutiny, making me lower my head in embarrassment. I don't know what else Tristan did after that, but whatever it was, it sure didn't help make our situation better as the teacher's voice erupted from himself with a certain boom, I just had to know we were already in deep trouble. "GUNTHER! ASHFORD! I'M NOT WASTING MY TIME TEACHING HERE SO YOU CAN GOSSIP ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE. MEET ME TO THE GUIDANCE'S OFFICE AFTER THIS."

Great. Yes. This is brilliant.

Later that day, Tristan and I found ourselves seated on the sofa in front of the Guidance Councilor. Ms Richardson looked very distressed after seeing the two of us, as if she wasn't expecting any of us to be here today. Following us both is our substitute teacher for the day, his matured features wrinkled in possible annoyance after what Tristan did.

He told the Guidance Councilor about what happened, and threatened that he would tell Mr Giovanni about what we did today, something that won't really hold any meaning against us because our English teacher don't really care about things like that. He might be strict about his absences, but Mr Giovanni is known to the school for his oddly casual behavior in class, unlike most of his peers. It came to the point that the faculty nearly fired him, saying he was unprofessional, or so he told us one time in class.

In the end, it was decided that Tristan and I will be serving two weeks of civic duty here in school. Every after our classes, we are to stay behind and help clean the corridors, something that my friend complained about. I couldn't care less about it, as long as I don't have to stay up too late to miss my shift in my part-time job.

Now, the two of us found ourselves by the school's front gate. Tristan insisted he accompany me to my job, and I was too shy to tell him no, even though I felt even more envious of the car that waited him outside of campus. The ride was smooth and fast. I normally take twenty to thirty minutes to get to my workplace on foot, but I was a little early today, thanks to Tristan.

"Hey, thanks bro." I told him, giving him a hint of a smile on my face. He grinned back at me and locked the door to his car. Then, he walked towards the front of the tech store I work for, and the glass doors automatically slid open.

"Nah. I did tell you I want to buy that game here." He replied in a very casual tone, smiling still. He stood there unmoving, and I found myself walking towards him to join him inside the store, my smile widening without my full knowledge.

Even though I envy him and the life that he leads, I'm still thankful to be Tristan's friend.

•◦⚜◦•

"Thank you, come again!" I said in the most pleasant tone I can muster after folding the paper bag and giving it to my customer. Another copy of Fantasy Burst Online has been sold.

I sighed for the nth time today as I walked out of the cashier's booth and picked up a broom and a dustpan from the corner of the room. Seeing as there were currently no customers coming, I began to sweep the floor like I usually would to pass the time and stop myself from falling asleep on my shift. My day will only end later at 2am, and it will again start at 9am, giving me plenty of time to do my homeworks and rest.

About two hours ago at 5pm, Tristan and I arrived at my workplace together because he wanted a copy of the game as well. We chatted for a bit while I was preparing the item he was purchasing, but he left shortly after, saying that he couldn't wait to play the game with his little sister. Come to think of it, we have been friends for a while now but I still haven't seen his sister. In fact, today was the first time he talked about having a younger sibling.

I acquitted the cleaning tools I have as soon as I finished sweeping the floor, and then moved to check the shelves and restock where needed, or rearrange the ones that were muddled earlier when the customers came in to browse the shop. The tech store I work for is complete with supplies for gaming and other similar purposes, although our main stock must be the video games that we sell here. Ranging from the Final Fancy, Resident Devil, Evil will Cry games, and more, the tech store never fail to amaze with its collection of things that are retro or not.

Arranging the shelves must be one of my favorite activities here at work. It allows me to touch and admire the kind of games that I can only afford if I try my hardest to eat the same cheap food at school everyday, or to walk from home to the campus instead of hailing a cab to do so. I remember that the latest addition to my small collection of games is the seventh entry to the Final Fancy games. Old but gold.

My sister Ashley would always look at me whenever I play and ask me tons of question about what I'm playing, such as when I had the time to do so last weekend, when I played through Final Fancy 7 and finally got out of the starting city. Cloud is my hero, I've always looked up to his character and always wanted to be like him. To wield a sword and protect my friends; though being really cool in it is a special addition to that.

A smile once again crept onto my lips, stretching my cheeks sideways as I proceeded to do my work. Lifting my eye from the shelf I'm arranging, I found a giant poster of a game featured on a corner of the shop. It was Fantasy Burst Online, the image of which is a tall young man in a fancy armor and a big sword. Black hair, big, fancy boots, and a tall tower behind him. The name of the game is written in a fancy font along with a catchphrase.

A world of new beginnings where fantasy becomes a reality.

Fantasy becomes a reality? I tilted my head in confusion. The technology that Beta Solutions used for this game is indeed very special. It allows people to see, feel, smell, and taste the world of Fantasy Burst Online through the head gear it requires to be used in conjunction with a console which the game will be plugged into. Surely, that's the kind of 'fantasy becomes a reality' that they meant to say, right?

I paused just as I heard the door slide open at the wake of a new customer. I faced the doorway immediately to greet the newcomer, only to find that it was an old man in his forties, wearing a plain white shirt and a pair of eyeglasses hanging to his nose for dear life. It was not a customer, it was the Manager, Mr Brian Owens himself.

"Working hard, kiddo?" he says in his groggy voice. I enthusiastically nodded in response.

"You weren't here when I came in, sir, so I decided to take the initiative and logged in for the day." I say in response to him. "Welcome back. There are a few customers that came in, looking for Fantasy Burst Online too."

Mr Owens chuckled, then walked towards the cashier's booth.

"Back in the day, Coffin Raider is all we have, and every other kid in town will talk about it like it's the best game ever made. Pixels and all that." He said jokingly. I suddenly remembered the game fondly, as it was the first one that I ever had when I was in highschool. Mr Owens lent it to me once, but when I came to give it back to him a week later, he said that I can keep it, and that he is becoming too old to be playing games.

"Yes, the game is amazing, sir." I said in kind. "It's kind of old for this generation, but the passion and the amazing level design is there. I can never get tired of parkour."

He laughed once more.

"And how's your studies? Surely you won't exchange being a future game developer to play some old games, right?" Mr Owens asked once again. The Manager has a habit of asking me questions about college. He likes to offer me advice and help me financially where needed, although I always feel embarrassed to accept the money he usually offer to me.

He is like the father I never had.

Finishing up my activity, I walked back to the cashier's booth to join Mr Owens who was still awaiting my response. I will then proceed to tell him of everything that happened today, and how boring everything about school was. He chuckled and teased me about the two weeks punishment me and my friend got for Tristan's behavior in class earlier, and the night went on smoothly as intended.