Chapter 7

Woosh!

 The light disappeared as I looked at Emi, seeing her bright blue eyes and her shoulder length black hair. I was shocked to see that she looks exactly like herself now, down to the last detail as players were screaming in horror.

"Emi...Y-You look-"

"What?!?"

Emi looked at the mirror and saw her reflection, seeing her face as her eyes widened. She dropped the mirror as it crashed onto the ground, cracking upon impact as it materialized and disappeared. Emi covered her mouth as she was swelling up tears, pulling her wrist out of my grasp as she looked down at her body, staring at her hands as her hands were trembling.

Emi began to hyperventilate, breathing faster and faster as I hugged Emi, trying to calm her down. Emi was in shock, she began sobbing as she silently embraced my hug, wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Emi! Emi...take deep breaths, calm down..."

"Th-This...This isn't real...right...? Please...tell me it's not real..."

"I'm not sure anymore Emi...right now focus on calming yourself down..." I told her patting her head.

"Okay...Okay..."

Emi took deep breaths, closing her eyes as she did. Emi was just a foot shorter than me as she took deeper breaths than normal, breathing into my shoulder. I kept patting her head as a comforting habit, making sure my closest friend was going to be okay.

"The nerve gear has copied your physical appearances and overhauled your customized avatars; these will be your new avatars from now on. This concludes your tutorial, oh and one more thing, I have disabled the censorship. farewell players."

Kayaba's avatar then vanished along the hexagons dissipating. The bright blue sky and the sun shined down upon the Town of Beginnings. The air was filled with horror, silence, commotion and regrets. I comforted a distraught Emi as people were rushing to head out to the fields.

I looked up as I felt the world slow down, this was my new life from now on, fighting for my freedom and locked away until we beat this god forsaken game. Just as I saw the blurry crowd all around me run around, I caught a glimpse of a certain individual, seeing their brown hair as they followed a brown-haired lady towards the fields.

Is...that can't be the...

I heard low muffled sounds as I had subconsciously toned out every sound, looking down as the muffled sound came from Emi.

"Squeezing...too hard..."

"Sorry Emi!"

I lessened up my grip as she seemingly collected herself, Emi wiped away her tear as she was saddened by this predicament. I grabbed her hand with a confident smile, walking towards the fields as Emi looked forward, seeing where we were going.

Emi slipped her hand away, taking a couple steps back as I stopped to turn around, looking at Emi. I had a confused look as Emi lowered her head slightly, turning her head away from me.

"Emi? What's wrong?"

"..."

"Emi?"

"I...I'm not...going out there..."

"What do you mean?"

"Kanao...I...I don't want to die early..."

"..."

"I-I'm sorry...I'm not going out there..."

"Emi, we have to, otherwise we're not-"

"Look at me!!" Emi shouted.

"How am I supposed to be nimble when I'm like this! I can't go out knowing people will know how I look!!!"

"Emi-"

"NO! I'M NOT-"

Visible frustration was becoming apparent as I stormed over to her, slapping her across the face and gripping her tightly onto her shoulders.

"EMI LISTEN TO ME!"

"..." Emi looked on with fear in her eyes, her mouth trembling.

Realizing what I just did, I let go of her shoulders, taking a couple steps back as I looked at my hands. I just smacked my best friend and shouted at her as well, something I never thought I saw myself do. I looked up from my hands as Emi rubbed her right arm.

"Emi I-"

"...No...Just...Just go Toru..."

"I..."

I was in disbelief, our friendship seemed to have been torn from it as I lowered my hand, realizing that I couldn't make up for it.

"I understand..."

I muttered, backing up a bit before turning around as Emi did the same, the both of us walking our separate ways for the first time. I felt a rush of guilt run over me as tears rolled down my face.

"Huh...?"

I wiped my cheek and looked at my hand, seeing a small glint coming from the wiped tears. I let out a small sigh, wiping my hand on my shirt as I headed towards the boar forest. While walking throughout the forest, I walked on a small dirt path, diverging from the main path.

I...I shouldn't have done that to Emi...

I reflected, looking at my gloves as I clenched my hands into a fist, taking a deep breath and looking ahead. But I also can't sit around and wait for others to stuff for me... I then stumbled upon a boar on the dirt road, it turned its head and then its body as it looked furious.

I raised up my fists as the boar rushed at me, dropping down to my knees I clamped my hands onto its snout, being pushed back by the force of the boar but coming to a halt.

HAAH!

I swung its snout to the right as I used my left hand, letting go of the snout and punched it right in the eye. I heard it squeal in pain as I gritted my teeth, punching it more as it shook its head. I grabbed onto its left front leg and lifted it up throwing left underside punches as each punch sent a ripple.

A broken bone and blood drop icon appeared underneath it's health bar as I continued punching it, relentlessly letting my anger out on the boar as I continued punching harder and harder.

As it tried to get out of my grasp I switched hands, holding its front leg with my left hand and punching with my right hand, eventually punching a hole straight through it. The boar cried out as it turned cyan and burst into polygons, seeing a text box telling how much exp, col and if I got anything from it.

I huffed as I used a lot of energy to defeat one boar, I clenched my fists as I got up onto my feet, taking deep breaths and began walking down the dirt path again. I need to get stronger...for Emi and my sake...