Morning arrived gently, washing the world in a warm, golden glow. Light spilled across rooftops and treetops, brushing the earth awake with soft warmth. Birds darted between branches, singing their bright little songs as a cool breeze glided through the open windows of the Sato household. It was the kind of morning that made the world feel new again as if anything could happen, as if life itself was taking a hopeful breath.
"Aha! I knew you could do it, son! Come here, boy!"
The shout rang through the house like a burst of fireworks. Kazuo Sato, broad-shouldered, heavy-laughing, eternally proud rushed forward, enveloping his eldest son in a bear hug that nearly crushed the air out of him. His laughter trembled with pride.
"Of course I did, Pa," the young man grinned. Tall, with black hair still messy from sleep, Sora looked every bit the hopeful university student he had dreamed of becoming.
"Ma! Get down here! Come congratulate our son, he just got accepted into Himura University!"
Footsteps hurried down the stairs. Their mother, Aiko, appeared with a plate of freshly baked cookies still steaming from the oven. She beamed at Sora, her cheeks lifting in soft, glowing arcs.
"Congratulations, sweetheart!" She set the tray down and pulled him into her arms, pressing a kiss to his cheek as though he were still five years old and bringing home his first gold star. "I'm so proud of you."
Sora laughed, embarrassed but glowing. "Thanks, Ma."
"I even baked your favorite. Chocolate almond," she said, ruffling his hair the way she always did. "Come on, have some, oh, Rina is going to scream when she hears the news!"
Their laughter filled the house, bright, warm, and alive.
From upstairs, someone watched.
A shadow lingered at the top of the staircase. Rynn stood there, half-hidden, his hand resting loosely against the railing as he peered down at the scene below. The sound of their voices drifted up to him, joy, pride, love, all bundled together into something almost too bright to look at.
For a second, it felt perfect.
A proud father.
A doting mother.
A successful son.
A complete family.
Rynn's throat tightened. He turned away before someone saw him.
His room was dim, lit only by the pale blue glow of his monitor and the soft pulse of LED strips lining his desk. It was messy, a few empty cans, a controller on the floor, a sweater tossed over the chair he hadn't folded in weeks. The air smelled faintly of last night's ramen.
He pulled on his headphones, more out of habit than desire. As he adjusted them, something on his bedside table caught his eye.
A small wooden photo frame.
He hesitated, then reached for it carefully.
In the photograph, three figures smiled brightly at the camera. A younger Rynn stood in the middle holding a fish almost as big as his torso. His father's hand rested proudly on his shoulder. And next to him, smiling even wider than the two of them, was his mother his mother.
Not Aiko.
Not the woman downstairs laughing with Sora.
The woman who'd raised him.
The woman who used to hum while cooking breakfast.
The woman whose hands always smelled faintly of lavender.
He remembered the day the photo was taken the ridiculous three-hour detour his father insisted on during their family vacation. They had driven out to some empty lakeside dock just so they could fish "properly, the old-fashioned way." He caught nothing for the first hour and whined about the heat until his mother threatened to throw him into the water to cool him off.
Then, somehow, miraculously, he caught that huge fish.
He remembered how he'd run circles around the boat, holding the fish out like a trophy, shouting at every seagull like they were his audience. His mother laughed until she cried. His father pretended to be annoyed but took ten photos from every angle.
None of them knew.
Not then.
No one knew that her body was already losing a battle she hadn't told them about. No one knew that three months later—
She would be gone.
His fingers trembled around the photo. He swallowed hard.
"Brother?"
The voice made him jolt. Deep, confident, unmistakably Sora's.
Rynn shoved the photo away on instinct too fast. It slipped from his hand and hit the trash can with a dull clatter.
"Yeah?" he said, hoping his voice didn't crack.
Sora stepped into the doorway, leaning casually against the frame. He was smiling that same effortless smile that always seemed to come so naturally to him.
"What's wrong?" Sora asked, though his tone was gentle rather than prying. "Mom made breakfast… and she also made desserts to celebrate my admission. I was hoping you'd come down and hang out with us."
Rynn forced a nod. "Uh… yeah. I'll be there. In a minute."
"Alright," Sora said, still smiling. He turned as their mother called again from downstairs.
"SORA! COME HELP OUT YOUR MOTHER!"
"Okay, Mom!" he called back. Before leaving, he ruffled Rynn's hair with a warm laugh the way an older brother should, the way one would if everything was normal.
If everything was fine.
Rynn didn't move until he was sure Sora was gone.
Then he looked toward the hallway, where his brother had stood bathed in soft sunlight. Downstairs, their laughter echoed again bright and careless. It felt like a world Rynn could see but not enter, meanwhile he's sitting down alone on this cold dark room playing the same stupid game making the same mistakes.
He lowered his head.
Slowly, he reached into the trash and picked up the photo. The frame had cracked slightly along the edge. He ran his thumb over it, trying to open it, trying to pry out the picture so he could hide it, keep it safe, do something
But the moment his hand neared the thin glass, he froze.
He hated how his fingers shook.
He hated how stupidly afraid he was of something so small.
He hated how powerless he felt in a house full of warmth that somehow never reached him.
With a frustrated exhale, he threw the frame back into the trash.
"…haah…"
The sigh came out heavier than he expected almost like the air refused to leave his chest. He rubbed his trembling hands together, trying to calm them, but the shaking only worsened.
Pathetic.
That was the only word echoing in his mind.
He turned back to his computer, the monitor lighting his face in cold blue. Outside his room, the world was warm and bright and full of life.
Inside, he put on his headphones.
And the door stayed closed.
Rynn turned his head back towards the monitor only to see his character got ganked by a random level 200.
"What the f#ck"
He could only hopelessly sigh gritting his teeth he opened the server chat seeing the guy ruthlessly spamming an emote, he wanted to scream at that moment, wanted to punch the monitor out of Spite, his family could very well paid it off but.. would he have to courage then?.
He sighed while scrolling down his inventory his face hardened at the sight of his missing Primordial grade ego sword.
In short, the highest grade weapon, and the rarest there is, that sword alone could be worth an entire house in the suburbs, and now? He lost it while wallowing about his sad life.
'great, just soo f#cking great'
Then a notification popped up on the corner of his monitor, a private chat from the guy who ganked him while he was afk, of course Rynn accepted the chat request.
—
—
—
—
At that point, he was unimaginably tired, spending days and night grinding for that sword, even using his money to grind for that.
Although his family is rich Rynn's not sure if he has the face to ask his parents for more money, especially after his last month spending spree.
—
—
—
'what the hell is this guy's deal?'
First he ganked him while he was afk, then he had the audacity to request a 1v1 instead of hopping servers or transferring the items this dude had the audacity to request a fight.
'maybe.. he's just enjoying this'
Rynn silently pondered, maybe he was the one who hasn't enjoyed this game, while he has been running his ass off for the past few months grinding to level 1000 this guy is simply enjoying himself, sure ganking an afk guy is a dick behavior but let's be honest here who wouldn't?
'this game is made for pvp anyway, maybe.. I should just enjoy my time'
At that moment Rynn simply nodded to himself, whatever happens after this, he'll enjoy himself on the game
Accepting the request both of their avatar teleported to the pvp arena, both wearing default clothing and no boost, due to the restriction their stats reset for the pvp.
Then the arena count down from 10 to 1.
For some reason the stress that's been piling up earlier disappeared because of the game.
'That's right, this is why I played this game'
For the past few months or so he has forgotten why he even plays.
To enjoy his life.
He is a loser.
He is pathetic.
But at the very least, he should at least enjoy his worthless life no?.
Then the countdown ends.
Both avatar rushed in attacking eachother, Rynn eyes at this moment was glued to the monitor of his screen completely absorbed.
'yes, this is how i should've enjoyed wasting my time'
In real time, he smiled for a moment, despite the cold feelings every night and day, waking up to the same monotonous cycle, for some reason getting hit with a misfortune like this feels.. pumping?
As the battle grew on Rynn noticed something, this guy somehow was able to pop potion, at first discreetly then blatantly, from popping boost and potion, equipping gear and fighting styles even using busted weapons.
But, Rynn Only grew more exhilarated.
'this is it! This is how I enjoyed my time'
He's not scared, there are dozens of times he recklessly charged in to fight a boss stronger than him, in fact that's why he was able to grind so fast, but he didn't grind for items or Ranking or reputation.
'i was doing it because it was fun'
With each move he make is unnaturally perfect countering the other guy, even if it takes minutes to damage him, the other guy never manages to touch Rynn a single time.
It was fun, so fun Rynn didn't notice his brother watching him at the door frame, Sora could only hopelessly smile at his brother appearance. 'at least he's Happy'
With that sora moved away, and as minutes turned to hours, Rynn barely scratched the guy's healthbar. 'haah, it's impossible to kill him, he's using my own armor and ego sword, I can barely scratch his health but it only regenerated.'
At that point Rynn sighed deciding to give up, he stopped moving turning the chat on instead.
—
Rynn looked at the chat one last time before turning the computer off, he decided to sleep and make a new account tomorrow, and he's not exactly enjoying an opponent who could barely keep up with him.
Turning off the led lights he quickly threw his body onto his bed unaware of a new reply from
—
—
The monitor flickered endlessly as surge of electricity exploded inside of the room Black lightning enveloped the sleeping Rynn, space itself distorting as a black hole appeared on the roof sucking a blue fluorescent orb from Rynn's body.
Until a few seconds after the black hole disappeared leaving Rynn's body dead without a soul in it