"UWAAA!"

The pigtailed blonde sat up from the crumpled heap she had fallen in, rubbing the bump on her head and sniffling. Her eyes searched the front stoop, wondering what had tripped her up. (Although it wouldn't have been too unusual to find the culprit was merely her own feet...) Ah-ha, there it was! A large brown parcel. Usagi sniffled again, blinking back tears. Falling over that stupid thing really hurt!

She peered at the label and her blue eyes widened. The box was addressed to her little brother... but he was just an elementary school kid! Why was he getting mail? Glancing around, even though she knew she would be unobserved, she confirmed that no one could see her. Then she grabbed the package and rushed inside the house.

Shingo wouldn't be home for hours; Juuban Elementary School had their cultural festival in just two days. She was just going to check to make sure it wasn't something bad, she told herself as she snuck the box up to her room. It was her duty as an older sister, right?

Safely stowed away, she flopped onto the floor beside her low table and tore the tape away. Usagi felt a surge of jealousy when she uncovered the contents: Nerve Gear! How did Shingo manage to afford Nerve Gear? He was just a little kid! It was so expensive that she hadn't been able to save up for one, even though Sailor Art Online was all people seemed to be talking about lately at the Crown Game Center. (Of course, maybe her inability to save had less to do with the price of the equipment and more to do with poor budgeting. Not that she would ever admit to such a thing.) She lifted the decorated product box, marveling at how heavy it was. Something underneath caught her eye: a copy of Sailor Art Online.

Usagi pouted. Shingo was going to have so much fun playing this brand new, super awesome, everyone-is-talking-about-it-everywhere, newest-technology video game while she, Usagi, self-appointed Queen of the arcade, would not. That hardly seemed fair. Her eyes glinted with the budding glimmer of a bad idea.

Maybe... maybe she could just give it a try. She just wouldn't save, right? She just wanted to see what it looked like. There wasn't any harm in that... how could there be?

Ami perused the instructions on how to activate the NerveGear carefully. She read it front to back, at least three times, making sure she knew the gear inside and out in case of emergencies. She needed to know what it could do and what it could not just like with every other new thing she got her hands on. After she was done… she turned her attention to the game itself.

Sailor Art Online.

A game that, together with the NerveGear, promised to open a gateway into another world. Where she could become someone else and leave this life behind. If not for anything else, you should check out how the virtual world works. For science.

Today was the release day of the game, and Ami couldn’t believe she had been among the few users lucky enough to get her hands on this first Massive Multiplayer Online Virtual Role Playing Game. It was the first full-dive game in history, and a part of her hadn’t wanted to miss this breakthrough in gaming development. Games weren’t usually her thing, but this… this was something else. This was a step beyond all previously available games known to man.

Ami checked her watch. It was still sometime in the afternoon, and her mother already said she was going to be coming home late as usual. That was one perk of having an absentee parent, she supposed. She could do irresponsible things without getting caught every once in a while. She should be able to play for a few hours before she needed to worry about her mother coming home.

Climbing onto her bed, Ami carefully attached the NerveGear around her head and face like the instructions showed her, and lay down.

She took a deep breath, every part of her excited at the thought of opening a door to a new world.

She called out the command with a strong, certain voice. “LINK START!”

Stephanie raced home after work hoping that her package was there and when she got home and to her room...there is was in its full glory: Sailor Art Online. She walked over and opened the package and took everything out setting it nicely on her bed. She read the instructions over a couple times just so not to miss anything important. She stared at the NerveGear for a moment in awe and then put it on carefully so it was not too tight. 'Man this is going to be so cool' She thought as she got comfortable on her bed. Before she turned it on she remembered speaking with her mom about not playing for too long since she had a work and school schedule. It was time...to venture out to a new world.. She turned it on and called out, "Link Start!"

Kirigaya had been sitting in his room in the dark for most of the day, watching news coverage of Sailor Art Online and reading any article he could find about the game's contents. He had been preparing for this day ever since the production of Sailor Art Online was announced, and now the day was finally here.

The time was now.

Trying to calm his racing pulse, Kirigaya set his Nerve Gear on his head and laid flat on his bed. He could feel the machinery humming, ready to start and take him into a different world. Hands relaxed on his stomach, Kirigaya closed his eyes and shouted, "Link Start!"

The Nerve Gear whirred to life, and Kirigaya's mind was filled with the images the machine was sending into his brain. Swirling colors loading the game, the game's magnificent title screen, the music. It was all so breathtaking, Kirigaya could barely keep up.

He knew immediately what class and element he would choose - Dark Swordsman. Black was his favorite color, and swordplay was something he was good at both in and out of the virtual world. After setting his username - Kirito - the game went to a white screen as the time until launch counted down in the bottom left.

Just one minute to go.

Daeka came home from classes and found the game ready for download.  She studied the nerve gear some more as she waited for the game to finish.  She found the technology fascinating, and she couldn't wait to use it for her research.  She had to admit that the game sounded interesting as well.  The ding on her computer told her that it was time.  Daeka laid down on her bed and slipped the nerve gear on her head.  "Link start!" She said firmly, a little excitement in her voice.  She proceeded through the instructions as guided, picking mage as her class.  Time to choose her name, she thought for a minute before remembering a moon she had read about earlier that week.  It would most likely still be free and so she decided on Achelois.

She marveled as the world came to life before her.  She looked around at the beautiful scenery, felt the grass on her feet and the breeze in her hair.  For a moment she just stood there, taking it all in.  It felt so real...

It wasn’t hers. Asuna knew this as she stared at the NerveGear and the Sailor Art Online game in her hands, still pristinely packed in their respective boxes.

It was her brother’s, but he had to go out of town for his work on the exact day the game was released. He’d been so unhappy about it, which made Asuna felt guiltier doing this. Trying it out first when he hadn’t even gotten the chance, even though he was the one who bought it.

But she just couldn’t resist. This was the game everyone had been talking about for ages. She had to check it out. Just for a few minutes, she promised. She’d make a profile, explore the world a little bit, and then log out. Her brother would not be angry, surely?

Without giving herself a chance to change her mind, Asuna quickly climbed onto her bed, unwrapping the boxes and attaching all the cables. A minute later the NerveGear was on, and her heart beat loudly in her chest as she closed her eyes and called out the command. “Link Start!”

The world exploded behind her eyelids. Suddenly she was transported to another dimension entirely, where everything was so colorful. She had to squint her eyes—her virtual eyes—against the bright sun. Everything was artificial, and yet felt more intense than the real thing.

She was greeted by a set up menu that walked her through the character creation process. Asuna didn’t bother picking an avatar name—she figured this would only be a temporary profile for today while she checked things out since mostly it would be her brother playing this anyway—but she did take her time choosing her class. Liking the image of a swordswoman, she settled for that and picked Air for her element. She wanted to be as fast as the wind, someone who was quick rather than strong.

When the menu finally faded from view and the game welcomed her officially to its world, she took a deep breath, feeling truly amazed by what she saw. How could this all be just in her head?

And yet, it was not any less real.

She hadn't played a game like this. Most of the time, Usagi used consoles in the arcade, spending tokens on rounds that didn't need too much information from her. This game contained a myriad of menus, with so many different options to choose. She couldn't resist the opportunity to tweak the avatar so that it looked almost just like her.

Choosing an element and a class was the most confusing part for the teenager. There were all sorts of descriptions and details, lots of reading. Ugh, reading. This was too much like... school. She could feel her brain starting to turn off with every additional note.

Well... She finally decided. This one has the prettiest costume. And these colours are nice!

Finally, her profile was complete! She clicked the button, giddy with excitement, and waited for the game to finish loading.

Woooooah, the detail! Usagi looked around her, amazed. She really, truly felt like she was in the game! The grass... She knelt down and touched it, feeling the individual blades soft and cool between her fingers. She inhaled, and she could even smell it. Her new outfit—she examined that, too. It looked even better when she was wearing it, instead of seeing the picture of it on the example during her avatar creation. What was the rest of this game going to be like? No wonder there had been so much hype!

Banner by Princess Moon

Mai Kuju had gone through a lot in the past year to save the world from the Wisdom Alliance.  And her selfless bravery had not gone unnoticed; in fact, she had been richly rewarded for this.  She had been overwhelmed by how many gifts she got for this, from heads of state of various countries around the world all the way down to apparent school classmates that she barely even knew of.  In fact, in the end, she personally thought she had been too richly rewarded, especially because all she had ever wanted to be was a typical teenage girl.

But there had been one gift that had pretty much exceeded her wildest expectations.  Her own rare, advance copy of the about-to-be-released MMORPG Sailor Art Online.  Because, like the typical Japanese teenager, Mai had never really desired to be virtually rained on with gifts.  But also, what Japanese teenager wouldn’t want to get into the latest and hottest MMORPG around?

So on the date that had been announced for the official launch of Sailor Art Online, Mai had rushed home from school, done a couple quick chores for her father (who was still at work), then started up the MMORPG as hurriedly as she could.  For how to classify her character, Mai had read some of the material but not all of it, because like most teenagers, Mai wasn’t especially fond of reading a lot.  She soon chose the class Ranger and the element Energy (the latter because it seemed most similar to her primary attack with her psychic powers that she had honed in the past year in her real life).

[placeholder for RP header xD]

Curiously Melantha eyed the shining bunch of metal lying on her rather small desk, the brow furrowed, the eyes skeptical, the corners of the mouth obviously pulled downwards. What the heck was she even doing at the moment? Cumbersome, heavy, cheaply produced – honestly, in what way was this bunch supposed to profit her, let alone to work to her advantage? Why was this thing in her room, yes, why was it even occupying half of her desk?
 
‘Here, I brought you something fun from the game store today’, she remembered her mother saying with a broad grin. ‘After you – well…you know – complained about your work pretty often lately, I thought, I could bring a small distraction for you with me today…so that you can zone off for a while. This one seemed to be pretty popular – it was practically sold out, only a handful of these were still available. So maybe…’
 
Melantha sighed, the teeth gritted and the newly manicured hand tensely squeezing the nasal bone together. Why on earth did her mother always, every single time, interfere in her problems?
 
Yes, maybe she did suffer from stress lately, maybe she did have a few problems with the customers at the library for a few weeks now – so what? The last time she played video games was more than ten years ago and just because she had the one or the other problem at work, didn’t mean her mother had the right to butt in at every and any time.
 
With irritation she took the helmet from the desk and put it in the wardrobe, the wardrobe door faster closed than it had been opened, the young woman faster out of the room than she had actually entered it.
 
“Where are you going?” She suddenly heard the well-known voice calling from the kitchen, Melantha, in the meantime, just about to open the door and to leave the house another time. Just why couldn’t she do what she wanted to do? Why couldn’t she just leave whenever she felt like doing so?
 
“Out,” she only said with determination and a certain amount of reserve, the shoes put on and the door already opened. Melantha reached for the jacket and threw it slowly, in front of the mirror, over her shoulders, a last check of make-up and hair enough before eventually disappearing behind the door entirely.
 
“What’s wrong, Melantha?” She then, however, was held back by her mother and felt the urge of getting back into the house and giving her mother account.
 
“Listen, Mom, as much as I’d love to thank you for going downtown for me just because of that, just to bring joy to me: I’m fine, my problems at work are none of your business and I haven’t played video games for more than one decade, okay?”
 
Her mother looked sorry at the dishes she was cleaning, disappointment written all over her face and frustration shining through to the outside due to her more than gruff movements.
“You…didn’t even play it yet, did you?” Her voice sounded depressed, the grief about the missing appreciation getting clearer and clearer with every second she kept on talking. “I know you’re living your own life, I know I mustn’t interfere in your life all the time – I’m not stupid. But nonetheless it was very pricey and it would be nice of you if you could once – just once, one single time – just appreciate my efforts and try it out.”
 
“I know you aren’t interested in these kinds of things and I know you’d prefer being alone right now. But it doesn’t hurt giving new things a trial.”
 
With bowed head Melantha’s mother then left the kitchen and walked towards the balcony, a single cigarette placed on her ear and the red lighter firmly gripped by her left hand.
 
Oh, dammit.
 
With a guilty conscience, Melantha closed the front door of the house once more and walked back to the room, not sure whether she should be mad at her or at her mother for actually giving the game a shot now.
She retrieved the helmet from the wardrobe with skepticism and placed it on her head, brought it into a good position and eventually lay down on the bed.
 
It was pretty heavy on the head, yes, it partially even pulled her down, and the handling as such didn’t seem to be all that easy either. If she hadn’t seen the commercials on TV the days before, she certainly wouldn’t have known how to even activate the machine itself.
 
Well, yeah…if.
 
With a loud sigh and a deep breath Melantha closed her eyes and fixed the helmet’s position another time. The hands were neatly folded on her stomach, the neck, a last time, stretched to the left and right again. There was no escape now, was there?
 
“Link start!”

“...Anya hasn't been the same since we left the research facility in Moscow. In fact, she's been awfully quiet this entire week...”

In the corner of a well-lit Tokyo cafe, a group of Russian men in matching black business suits sat at a large round table with a blue-haired woman, whom they referred to as Anya. Although Anya's attire was far from formal with a half-buttoned lab coat—and of all things—a pair of white headphones resting snugly against her ears, she was in fact as much a part of the meeting as anybody else sitting at the table. Her thoughts however, seemed to stray from group's academic discussion toward the large black shopping bag next to her feet as she sat there quietly sipping on her tea.

I still can't believe I managed to obtain a copy of that game on such short notice...

Anya's silence did not go unnoticed by her colleagues Yuriy, Yakov, Ilya, and Timur, who immediately shifted focus from the group's proposed research topic to their female colleague's lack of interest in the meeting.

“...I don't even think she's paying attention to the research proposal. Look at her sitting there lost in her own thoughts. I'm worried for her health.” Timur sighed.

“Well, we don't normally invite her to these kinds of outings. They're a bit too noisy for her. She likes quieter places, remember?” Yuriy pointed out.

“You would think a sound physicist would like all of the noise,” Ilya mused in between bites of cake.

Timur shook his head. “No, not in the background. Nobody likes removing background noise from their data,” he stated.

“—Except Anya!” Yakov butted in with a smirk on his face. This sudden remark brought the group into a roaring fit of laughter, laughter which quickly died down when the men realized that there would be no reaction from their blue-haired colleague. Yakov furrowed his brow and briefly glanced at the unresponsive Anya before addressing the others. “Do you—Do you ever wonder...” he began in attempt to break the silence as he fought back another laughing fit. “What is she even listening to?”

Anya's deep blue eyes rolled upward. She yanked the cord of the headphones from her pocket to reveal that they were not plugged into any devices. “I'm listening to your voice, dear,” she replied nonchalantly as she twirled the end of the white cord around her slender fingers. Their gaping mouths brought a satisfied smirk to the woman's lavender-painted lips. “You know, it's rather cute that you all think I'm constantly trying to ignore you during these business lunches.” She took another sip from her tea and then brought her hand to the shoulder of Timur, the man sitting nearest to her. “But I am not. Timur seems to be the only one aware of this.” She smiled at him.

“...So the headphones are a fashion thing?” Yuriy asked.

“I guess that is an appropriate way to put it, Yuriy hun,” Anya replied indifferently.

“Miss Katayeva, you sure are in an unusual mood today. What happened?”

“Well, dear, I—” Outside of the cafe a group of teenage boys passed by carrying in their arms what appeared to be their laptop bags and advanced helmets for some sort of virtual reality video game. Anya's eyes followed them with piqued interest. They must have been scouting out a cafe to play a MMORPG, maybe even the new Sailor Art Online one that every human in this city seemed so excited about.

That's right! If I don't leave soon, I'm going to miss the official launch of SAO.

Anya abruptly pushed herself away from the table and threw down a wad of cash twice the value of her cake and tea. “—Sorry, but I must return to the laboratory immediately—Oh, and Yakov dear,” Anya began, her eyes narrowing, “You better watch that mouth of yours. It might get you in trouble.” With that she snatched her shopping bag off the floor and was out the door waving at them. “Do svidaniya!”  

“Do...svidaniya...?” The group of Russian scientists glanced between each other with the same look of puzzlement. Yuriy was the first one to speak. “What drives a woman to take off so abruptly?” he pondered out loud.

“Well you obviously offended her by asking her an inappropriate question.” Timur sighed.

“What was so inappropriate about that?”

“You did nothing wrong, Yuriy. Nothing,” Ilya remarked, “It's all Anya. She's been acting so rude since we got here.”

“I'm sure she is just homesick. We all are,” Timur reminded them.

.....................................................................................................

“Now that I am finally away from those fools, I can actually get some real work done.”

Anya burst through the doors of the vacant laboratory, ripping off her lab coat to reveal a purple open-backed dress. She then slammed the black shopping bag onto her personal desk next to her computer and eagerly pulled out the Nerve Gear helmet which she then placed onto her head.

“Kyan, you cunning witch,” she complemented herself as she brought her slender fingers to her mouth and laughed, “This will be the perfect way to test the limits of human interactions without any fatal consequences!...Link Start!”

Banner by Princess Moon

After Mai Kuju had made all of her choices in preparation to play Sailor Art Online, including deciding to go with the obvious character name of Sailor Psychic, she finally entered the virtual reality world of the game.  She then looked around and noticed that everything looked so much like real life.  And she was not one to test out how good they had made the game (by seeing if she could find any details that didn’t look real).  So she went exploring, soon leaving the city where she had started the game and entering a nice, peaceful-looking countryside.

Then Mai realized she should familiarize herself with the options available to her before she ran into any monsters.  After she had figured out how to access (and set up for shooting) her bow & arrows (her only weapon), she noticed that there was no obvious way to log out.  Thinking this strange, she then thoroughly examined her playing environment for some way to log out (figuring that once she did find it, she could then just log back in again if need be).  But in all her searching, she could not find any.  She then got somewhat frustrated at the creators/makers of this game for releasing it with such a clear defect.