There is Something Wrong with This Game

C003 – Daily Life of Shirayama Family

[Kyoto - Shirayama Residence]

The next day at another place, Shirayama Kazuya, aka Kazu, got up from his bed at 6am with a yawn.

After opening the window curtain, he went to the bathroom to wash his face. His dull face was revealed in the mirror in front of him, clearly showing that he was still affected by his exhaustion.

"There are three classes at morning, and three at night today. I still have about 6 hours in between to play..."

Since he was a Point-Seeker student at the academy, his study schedule was rather hectic. He had to go to class every day with no day off except Sunday, and on top of that, he also had to maintain his game account.

Sometimes, he envied the Efficiencists like Rena and Ruri.

"I envy those two, they really have it easy... Haah~"

Kazu could only sigh.

But after a few moments of self-loathing, he slapped his own cheek and straighten himself.

"Stay cool, Kazuya! Stop thinking about useless things! Don't show such depressing face in front of the girls!"

Thinking about it, it was very unbecoming for him to have such negative thoughts. Having a lot of courses to learn wasn't really so bad. There are some interesting one from among the courses he took, like Music and Drama.

And also, he felt it was lucky to be able to encounter a certain person more often.

"Thankfully Emily is with me..."

Emily, or Nayaka Emi, his childhood friend and crush. She also the person behind Emilia, the Elf Ranger in the game.

Because of the proximity of their residences, Kazu's relationship with Emi and Rena was inseparable from childhood. Naturally, they attended the same academy. Although, due to their individual circumstances, they took different paths in the High School division.

Emi was just one of the Regular students.

Rena wanted to become a doctor so she took the Efficiencists path.

Meanwhile, Kazu himself...

The academic system in Kyoto Academy is basically like this...

During the Elementary and Middle School division, each student equally takes compulsory curriculum courses.

Compulsory subjects are Japanese language & literature, maths, social studies, science, arts, and physical education. Later on in the Middle School division, a foreign language elective (which almost always English) were added.

Only when they advanced to the High School division they can freely take any course they want. They attend classes based on those picked courses. Later, in each exam of their respective courses, they will be given Academic Points (AP), depending on the scores they get.

Academic Points, is an indicator used by the academy to measure the value of a student.

The more AP a student had, the more valuable their existence was in the eyes of the academy. This AP is nontransferable and only the related student themselves could use it. Students could spend their AP to use some of the academy's facilities, reduce tuition fees, or access information from the academy's archive servers.

Then, about the type of students in the High School division, there are some local terms circulating in the academy.

1. Regulars, refers to students who choose to continue their previous curriculum courses.

   Either they don't find any extraordinary talent within themselves or they don't yet have a career goal in mind. So, they just take mainly the same route that they have to learn before.

   About ~60% of the students in the academy are this type.

2. Efficiencists, refers to students who focusing their efforts on only a few courses related to their talents.

   Other unrelated courses are discarded. Because of that, naturally their schedule is a bit loose. However in exchange, their academic requirements are quite harsh.

   Usually they don't take too many courses, but when they do take one, they must get a B or above. 

3. Point-Seekers, refers to students who took a lot of easy courses as many as possible to earn AP.

   Students of this kind are more focused on collecting as many AP as possible, rather than learning knowledge from their courses.

4. Then, the last type of the students, Slackers.

   As the name suggests, Slackers refers to students who just play around and don't take their classes seriously. To them, the academy was not a place to study, but just another place to gather and have fun.

      

From those types, Kazu belonged to the third type.

Due to his family's economic circumstances, Kazu had to collect AP to keep his tuition fees as low as possible. He was currently borrowing student loans to study at the academy, and the amount was not low.

In the Student Guidebook it was written that student loan payments can be made by spending a certain amount of AP.

And that was what Kazu was aiming for.

Kazu went to the dining room after he washed his face and got rid of his sleepiness.

In there, his family was already present, with lots of dishes in the dining table. There are tempura, sushi, pasta, and many more. It doesn't seem to be their usual menu.

Looking at those luxurious dishes, Kazu couldn't help but frown.

"Good morning, Kazu-nii."

"Morning, Shizu..."

His younger sister greeted him as she noticed Kazu entered the dining room.

Shirayama Shizuku, 14 years old, about 4 years younger than Kazu.

She is just an average 2nd grade middle school girl, only with a troublesome disease. She may look healthy now, but she has a radiation allergy that occurs when she goes out. This can be seen from her skin which has many blister scars. Even though her skins already healed, but the scars remained, ruining her appearance.

In the current era, there are so many radiation that causes various negative effects on the human body. Although there are Purifier Towers that reduces air pollution and radiation, but there are also people who have very sensitive health.

Due to her health condition, Shizuku could only be safe in a room that had air conditioning installed. But, if she had to go out, she would have to stay near the Purifier Towers. Not only that, she had to take medication regularly to suppress allergies that can occur at any time.

For her education, she attended the school from home with virtual classes over the internet (Not VR).

"What's with these dishes? Is there a celebration?"

Kazu took a seat and pointed at the dining table.

Their dining table usually only contains a simple vegetable soup with a main course of printed bacons, made from special flour purchased at the supermarket. But, he could clearly see at a glance that all the food on the table didn't seem to be printed.

The tempura, sushi and the rest were real, not some fake meat made of flour with artificial seasoning.

He always pays attention to the health of his family, so the ingredients he chooses are always the most nutritious product (claimed) in the supermarket. Of course, sometimes they would order food from outside if there was a celebration. But even so, he couldn't be so prodigal by ordering so many dishes.

With their economic circumstances, where did they have a room to be extravagant?

"Oh, this is from Ken-nii. He said he got an easy job with high payment." (Shizuku)

"Hmm? Is that true, Kenji?" (Kazu)

Kazu couldn't help but astonished when hearing Shizuku's words.

His gaze then turned to his younger brother, Kenji, and demanding his confirmation.

"Eh, uhm... Yeah..." (Kenji)

"My little Ken-chan is already grown up now! Kazu-chan, can you guess how much money Ken-chan's got from his job? It's 50000 per hour! And just yesterday, he made over 200000! Can you imagine it?"

"Wow, that's quite a lot! What kind of job is that?" (Kazu)

His mother, Shirayama Akiko, praised his younger brother very much, which Kazu agreed.

Then, his father, Shirayama Teruzaka, also joined the conversation as he turned off the electronic newspaper from his T-Glasses.

"It's a job similar to what you did... What's that it called? Pro-Gamer? Anyway, Kenji played the same game as you have played and he got his job there." (Teruzaka)

"Eh, really? Kenji also played Ascension?" (Kazu)

Shirayama Kenjirou, aka Kenji, 16 years old, about 2 years younger than Kazu.

A 3rd year of middle school student at Kyoto Academy. Unlike Kazu, this younger brother is popular and has a good academic record. With his cheerful personality, he can easily make friends with anyone.

Originally, this year he was supposed to advance to the high school division. It's just too bad because of a certain reason he missed an important exam and had to be held back a grade. However, he certainly meets the minimum age required to do a virtual dive. So, it was not that strange if Kenji started playing Ascension.

What surprises Kazu was that Kenji seems to have a better talent than him when it comes to making money.

Fifty thousand yen was basically about 10% of Kazu's base monthly salary at the Genesis Guild, but Kenji only need one hour to obtain it. Of course, this was just Kazu's base salary, not counting his other profits such as selling rare loot and equipment. But still, the money that  Kenji gained from his job was pretty impressive.

"Yeah, that...! So, that game is called Ascension? Maybe I should try playing it too..." (Teruzaka)

"Yes you should, dear! That game is really a gold mine! We already have two people getting money from there. If we can add one more, then we don't have to worry about money! Shizu-chan's illness can also be treated well!" (Akiko)

"Then dad, when you play, you have to chose Brynhild Fort as your start point. I will help you to level up later." (Kazu)

"Aaah, I'm a bit envious... I also want to play but I'm not old enough..." (Shizuku)

The atmosphere in the dining room was bright.

His parents keep talking about Kenji's accomplishments to find a high paying job. It was true with this, the family's economic burden could be lessened. But somehow, Kazu noticed that the protagonist of the conversation, Kenji's expression doesn't seem right.

Kenji's sitting posture is also somewhat wrong.

"What's wrong, Kenji? Is there anything on your mind?" (Kazu)

"No, I'm just a little unwell. I will be fine after resting for a few hours." (Kenji)

Though, Kenji quickly smiled as if nothing happened. It's just that, the smile in his face was not a happy smile, but a tragic one.

It was as if he had lost something important.

"I see... Just call me later in the game, I'll be happy to help." (Kazu)

"Thank you, Kazu-nii. But, I'm fine for now." (Kenji)

Since Kenji didn't seem to want to say it, Kazu didn't ask any further.

Maybe Kenji is having some problems with his work, but he has his pride and wants to solve it himself. Giving him help right now might damage his pride. In that case, it would be better to just wait.

Having nothing to talk about, Kazu turned on his T-Bracelet, looking at the news in the guild. Then, his attention suddenly fell on one of the trending topics.

Kazu couldn't help but notice about the reward that Leon and Astrid gave to Hecate.

A total of 15 m GCP, which also means

15 m. If converted to yen by the current exchange rate, it's about 7.5 m. And then, Reset Stones that costs

300 or 15000 each, and it takes ten to reset at their current level. Which means, 150000 for one time reset. 

The money that Kenji earned today was nothing if compared to that!

'As expected of those rich people.'

The matter of Hecate went out for a while was something Kazu already knew. But he didn't expect that she was also gathering information about Black Phantom.

'Come to think of it, Hecate-chan seems to have a sense of rivalry with Black Phantom.'

Maybe because Hecate and Black Phantom were the same spellcaster type-class, so her desire to compete with him(?) is the strongest. Either way, the information that she gave is very important.

It can be assumed that the Genesis Guild's skill research department will be busy for a while. However, players can only purchase a Reset Stone from the cash shop once per day, which means that the price of the Reset Stone will increase.

This would be a good chance for Kazu, and his family to earn more money.

"I have to thank Hecate-chan for this opportunity."

Thinking about it, Kazu couldn't help but smile.