It was a small dream.
　Wield a sword and slay a monster. Using magic to do justice.

　A dream where someone laughs at me for being trivial.

　A dream where I cursed them for being delusional.

　It's the kind of dream a child influenced by anime or video games would have.

　At some point in time, such dreams became reality for Toru Aikawa.
　I want to say, "Well, isn't that so?

　He wakes up in the morning, goes to school, studies hard, works a part-time job, and goes home. All these months have been just an investment to find the ideal in my dream.

The Real World Online.

　That was Toru's reality.

　Aikawa Toru loved it, which was called a "lovable d*mn game".
　No, I guess he was one of the people who loved it, just like its reputation.

　The game was never called a good game or a god game, but a game that was supported by core players who paid a heavy price for the game, which was even lower than the mid-tier games, and there were many players who despised the high difficulty and the huge amount of work and immediately stopped playing it, but once they got into it, they were able to play it. There were many people who were immersed in it like a bottomless swamp that they could never get out of again.
　Fortunately or unfortunately, the number of people who played, at least, the amount of money they charged was certainly high.

　During his high school years, and even now that he had advanced to college, Toru had worked part-time jobs just for this game, cutting back on his food expenses, destroying his youth, and repeatedly paying the bills. Sometimes it was tens of thousands of dollars a month, and at times it was in the double digits when it was high.
　Fighting boredom and loneliness with a game that repeatedly charged bills at the expense of reality, that was Toru's entire life.

　The Real World.
　That's what the title says, and just like the inscribed words - it was like another reality on display.

　It is a beauty and a drawback at the same time.
　There's one element that best exemplifies this - Real World Online is famous for its lack of any resurrection or resurrection elements in the game, for better or worse.
　It's an element that makes the game both great and problematic at the same time.
　It's a fatal flaw that can only be described as a fatal flaw because it's too close to reality. If you die, you lose your character immediately, there are no revival items that should exist, and if your body (your character) dies from a single careless move, neglect, accident, or boss fight, you're guaranteed to lose it (lost).
　This is not a game.
　It's a game that is very much out of the realm of play.
　In fact, many of the reviewers were scathing in their criticism: it's not a game, it's not a game, it's a waste of time.

　But this game, which doesn't pay any attention to such common sense as "you can start over even if you die," or "this is a game, so just try and error", was more than enough to attract Toru, who was fed up with the real world.
　Toru thinks.
　I'm sure it's the same, he thinks.
　That many of the people who were drawn to this game were just someone who wanted to escape the same unchanging, boring reality as he did.

　There are many other elements that represent a more realistic world.
　Initially, the time it takes to move from village to village, city to city, and even country to country is so long that it takes days to move, the map is so large that even the player can't keep track of it, the NPCs in the city randomly change over a period of time to represent the migration of people, and so on and so forth. There are so many of them that you can talk about it as much as you want.

　But this alone is just a crappy game.
　It doesn't include the 'loveable' that accompanies the pilloried review of Real World Online.
　The reason why this game, with its many flaws, has been able to run for such a long time, albeit in a crooked way, is quite simple: the depth of build-up that makes up for the flaws is apparent everywhere.

　What attracted Toru was the high degree of freedom. Race and profession, the two major elements that make up a character in Real World Online, but Toru has no idea how many tens of thousands of different combinations exist. Toru's primary (main) character is a warrior-derived, half demon (half-ivira) race, and his secondary job is a stubborn character who took a special derivative, the twin swordsman, and eventually acquired a legendary profession (Legendary Job).

　Demon-type characters are quite powerful at the end of the game, but they are difficult to develop early on. There was even a time when the game was over after the villagers killed me because I was discovered to be a demon and the village chased me out of the village when I was completing a request (a quest), which was a ridiculous flag. The NPCs you were just chatting with were suddenly turning on each other and killing each other.

　It is extremely difficult to learn all the normal and special derivatives of the warrior profession. Moreover, since you combine races, the creation of a character is even infinitely possible.
　The character's appearance is also infinitely adjustable. Not to mention the hair color, eyebrow color, and even the hair color underneath that you can't actually see. Well, you have to pay for it, but I think the beauty of this game is that you can create another you.

　The other major factor in expanding the freedom of the game is the amount of information (data). It's even recommended to use a low spec PC because it's so hard to even start up the game. It's ridiculous to imagine how much data the servers are holding. Some core players have been saying that the operation (Argast) is a monster or something.

　For Toru, a PC game that had both virtues and flaws that were inextricably linked to each other, it was a world that could be described as another reality. Or rather, perhaps that was the true reality. The reason for studying and earning money for the future was to increase the amount of money he could charge, and the reason why he was working part-time at a convenience store like this now was probably to throw money at that game.


(Boring...)

　I couldn't even feel that I was spinning as a cog in the world, and this time I was spending pointlessly was impossibly boring.

''Welcome.....
　He responded in a hushed voice.
　I wonder how many times I've said those words today, in a cliché formula.

　Do you have a card?

　That will be seven hundred and fifteen yen.

　Thank you very much.

　What is the value of such meaningless words? I didn't know, but I did my job.

Thank you for your hard work.
　Toru's expression was even brighter than usual as he said those words.
　Yes, today was the day that a new patch would be applied in the Real World Online.
　Because of that, he started his shift earlier than usual and worked while waiting for the time to return home now and then.
　When he was finally freed, Toru bought a drink and dinner at his part-time job and was ready to head home in a flash.

　The sun had already gone down when he stepped outside through the clerk's door.
　Streetlights lit the sparsely populated streets and buildings a light green, intersecting with the light of the moon, and I could see the faintest of shades. As he walked closer to the side of the roadway, the exhaust fumes of passing cars carried a stagnant warmth that caressed his skin uncomfortably.

　Walking faster than usual, Toru crossed the crosswalk he was used to walking through. He accelerated his steps further, thinking that if he crossed one or two more intersections, he would reach the apartment complex where he lived alone. When Toru was crossing the first intersection in front of a karaoke shop, it appeared out of nowhere.

　It appeared out of the blue--.

　A bus with its side mirrors missing, clearly exceeding the speed limit. There are scratches on the body of the bus that seem to have been scraped off, as if it had hit a wall or car lightly several times to get to this point.

Huh!　Wait--wait--shit!

　The driver of the bus, which was barreling forward without slowing down, was sleeping soundly.
　Otherwise, he wouldn't have rammed into this place where there was a red light, or even a human being crossing the crosswalk with impunity.

'Seriously, dammit!　You're kidding me--

　Despite spilling curses, Toru was running as fast as he could.
　Fortunately, there's a distance, if he runs through it calmly, he'll be able to avoid it well enough.

　So - he thought.
　Until it was reflected in his eyes.

''Hey idiot!　Run, run!
　The one girl who was running away late, she must be a high school student from the fact that she is wearing a school uniform.
　Toru clicks his tongue at the girl, who has stopped dead in her tracks, tears in her eyes, and is trembling.

(Help?)　Huh?　No, wait. Why--why would I risk it all for--

　That's what my head was thinking, but my body was already after it had moved.

''Tch!''

　He took off at a brisk pace and grabbed the girl's hand in a messy manner as he accelerated.

(d*mn, d*mn, d*mn!　(What are you doing, why--I--)

　The lights of the vehicle illuminating the darkness of the night were too bright.
　It was already a good indication that the distance was so close and the time was so short.

(d*mn it, we won't make it in time!)

　The body was moving again, though Toru didn't intend for it to.
　Quickly, he turned away and stopped in his tracks. As it was, I grabbed the girl's arm, changing from one hand to two, and threw myself off the axis.
　The girl accelerated in front of me, applying force in a semi-circle, and leapt while tumbling.
　A moment later--

"Oh--

　An unbelievable shock came as my body was crushed.
　Fortunately, I didn't have time to feel the hurt.
　Half of his body crumpled and flew through the air in those few moments.

(Yeah ... the patch ... I was looking forward to it ...)

　And so - the end of the dream came.