Strings Wrapped Around A Bone

“Please, Shiori-san I just need a little hand,” Her work senpai placed her hand on her shoulder, “Only just a minute-” Always, why does she always ask me? Minutes always turn into hours, she can’t miss this. Momonga sent her an email a few days ago about Yaggasil shutting down, and she just had to miss it. The game where her little brother saved up since 9 to buy the DMMO-RPG game ‘Yggdrasill’ to play, and where she met the only people who were her friends. No, now’s not the time to be a pushover.

“Sorry Senpai, but I have really important stuff to take care of. Bye,” Rushing out the staff door, Shiori almost trips but thankfully catches herself in time, she hears the worried gasps of her colleagues reach her, but she runs back home. Please, please, please. Just a little more. Her apartment wasn’t so far away from work that she needed a bus but nobody goes outside for long, and for a good reason. The sky is filled to the brim with smog, you can’t even see the sky, and no one in their right mind would come outside without a heavy-duty gas mask. Her block was in view and her legs were sore, There. She’s almost there. Just take the key in the doorknob and with a twist. Shiori nearly tumbling in, she unbuttons her polluted clothes off, while her other hand rips the gas mask off.

She manages to free one of her feet yet at the cost of almost falling headfirst into the cramped apartment floor. “SHIT!” She exclaimed. Her right arm which was previously shielding her face, now pushing off the creaking wooden floor. Closing the door she forgot to lock, she swings herself to the Neural Nano-Interface setup, landing on the seat with familiarity, disinfecting the usual area on her arm haphazardly then injecting the correct dosage to power the nano-machines. Plugging the headset port to her neck, she starts the game.

Yaggasil, please don't let her be too late again.

Adjusting her eyes to the contrasting bright-lit room that she was given by the guild members on the 9th floor as an honorary guild member. She couldn't join since she was a human.

Thinking back to the early days when she bought the game Yaggasil and logged in for the first time, she had trouble choosing what class she was going to be. And don’t even get her started on the races. Since it was already late into the night, and wanted to at least experience the game with the little time she had. She chose to be human as it was the most simple race to play in the game and as the Puppeteer class, the minions sounded cool in the description so why not?

In the avatar creation, she made her hair longer until it reached past a bit of her shoulders, she had to keep hers short to not waste shampoo. And changing something else she couldn't in the real world. Being taller than most girls her age always made her look older than she was, so any time the other kids got in trouble the adults would blame her for not looking after them. It didn't help either that the boys didn't like being shorter than girls, she wouldn't say she got bullied but it definitely felt like it. Luckily or unluckily, her parents were only able to afford elementary school, so she didn't have to see them anymore.
Lastly, her username, she chose it to be…

“Bijou Lauda.”

Never experienced what it's like to play a game before, the moment she opened her eyes, she was met with the most beautiful night sky. Since she never saw what the real sky looked like, neither day nor night.

Just as Shiori was satisfied taking in the sight and was proceeding to log out an arrow from behind a set of bushes knocked her health bar down by more than half of what it was, they mistook her for a Mephit because of her hooded veil that cast dark shadows all over her face. She only found out later that there were players who killed other players simply because some played as races that were not humanoid. That was when he saved her.

But that’s enough reminiscing! She has to find Momonga.

Shiori bursts out of her residence and takes a sharp turn at a corner to the grand stairs leading down to the 10th floor where the meeting room is located. Rushing down the familiar corridors feels her with a bit of sadness, the once bustling guild now turned into a silent palace.
She looks over to the time at the top right corner of her display.