Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 80

Prologue

January.

It was a difficult time period for the students preparing for entrance exam.

The inside of the bus was warm unlike the outside. To the degree that the feet felt hot from the heater.

It was dark outside. The snowy scenery must be great for tourist, but for the girl it was just ordinary.

She was studying while the bus was moving. It was something that she  wasn’t used to do. Then her friend who was sitting beside her talked to  her.

Her friend was also holding a reference book.

「Hey, you already sent application for scholarship right? Won’t it be fine even if you don’t study?」

There was a system to search for high school that would accept student with scholarship in sport.

It was a slightly peculiar system.

「That’s because it will be hard with my level. But perhaps my  application will get accepted quicker if my grade is a bit better.」

In this world each person’s talent had been gauged clearly in numerical value.

The girl――[Ikari Kanaho] had achieved excellent result in sports.

But, her talent didn’t stand out that much that a bright future was promised to her.

She had a boyish way of talking and gave the impression as a lively  girl. Her hair that reached until her back was tied into a short  ponytail.

She had curly brown hair and yellow eyes.

Her body was slender from all the training she did in her club activities. Her breasts were neither small nor big.

But, she had bright atmosphere and a lot of friends.

The friend turned her gaze from her reference book to Kanaho.

「Your family is……I see. I guess it’ll be better if the school pick you.」

She had a family circumstance.

Kanaho’s family was a single mother household.

If possible, she wanted to go to a local high school with good sports  program and got exempted from the school expenses. However, the quota  in the local school had gotten filled.

It was unfortunate but, she had no choice but to enroll into public high school.

Her club activity would end when she enrolled to such school. Then a life of part-time job would be waiting for her.

「It’s not like we’re extremely poor but, we have no leeway to enroll  to a private high school. Well, I’ll work part-time while living on my  own.」

Her talent and financial situation were insufficient to allow her to enjoy sports in club activity.

「I also want to live on my own but, my parents told me that I’m no good. They really don’t believe me at all.」

Kanaho felt jealous of her friend even while returning her gaze to her vocabulary notebook and flipped the page.

It wasn’t like she was an athlete who was at a level that could  participate in national competition and compete for the first place,  even so she wanted to keep at it. But, the school at this era wouldn’t  allow student to do club activities with such light feeling.

Only the few students with high talents could enter into club.

Those with no talent could only enter into club team.

Kanaho recalled the words of her club teacher.

『You would be accepted as scholarship student if only this year is  like usual. But this year there are a lot of excellent children. If only  your result in the competition is just a bit better Kanaho. Well,  but……perhaps this is a good place for you to stop. Because, things will  be even harder from here on, so it’ll be better if you put your effort  for something else more fruitful.』

Having a person’s talent became measurable in numerical value was  good in the sense that they wouldn’t need to waste time doing something  that they weren’t good at.

There was no need to persist in something if they didn’t have the  talent for it. They just needed to do things that were possible for  them.

Fortunately, there was no field where Kanaho was especially bad at.

She was generally capable in all respects.

She also had nothing that she was particularly outstanding at.

Her friend talked to her.

「That’s right, Kanaho. Won’t you play Pandora?」

「Pandora? You mean the VR game? That’s impossible for me.」

She knew that her family had no financial leeway to pay for the monthly fee and also buying the device.

They would be able to buy it if they forced themselves, but she didn’t want to put additional burden on her parent.

「It’s fine even if you do it after entering high school so play it.  It’ll also serve as a good way to have a change of pace, and you’re the  only one in the class not playing it.」

Right now Pandora that had secured an astounding number of player was becoming the synonym of VR game.

It was said that Pandora had everything that couldn’t be experienced in other games.

「I’ll need to buy the game device and also pay 10,000 yen per month in addition right? As expected that’ll be hard for me.」

「It’ll be fine. There are various payment plans, so you’ll be able to  play for cheap. You actually want to play if you can right?」

「True I want to try it.」

The friend pushed the button to stop the bus while they were talking.

The friend would go off the bus at the next stop. Then Kanaho continued studying quietly.

(……As I thought, there are a lot I’m forgetting. Studying was secondary for me until now after all.)

Even if the knowledge had been drilled into her brain before the  enrollment, the brain would forget it if it never got used. Students  still needed to review lesson at school because it would be useless just  to insert knowledge into their heads.

Kanaho got off from the bus after two more stops. Her body shivered slightly from the cold.

There was a wide difference of temperature between outside and inside the bus.

「Haa……guess I’ll study again today after arriving home.」

Kanaho missed the days where she would go home after her club  activities, had dinner, and studied moderately before going to sleep.

.

.

.

At her home.

The atmosphere was different than usual when she entered into the apartment’s entrance.

「Eh, Kaa-san, what is this cardboard?」

She held up the cardboard that was placed at the entrance. It was quite heavy.

The sender’s column was filled with various details like a company name, address, and stamp.

Furthermore it was addressed to her.

「Wasn’t it you that applied for it?」

The mother who looked similar to Kanaho came out from inside the apartment.

She was shivering from the temperature at the entrance.

「Come in already. The bath is also being heated up. You’ll be able to enter it after a bit.」

Kanaho replied back while looking at the cardboard.

「Yes, alright. What’s the dinner today?」

「It’s stew.」

Kanaho imagined her mother’s stew while entering her room. Then she put the cardboard on the floor and started changing.

Her mother had considerately turned on the heating in her room from some time ago.

She finished stripping her uniform and put on a jersey over her underwear.

She then took out a cutter and opened the cardboard. What was inside it was――.

「……No way」

The newest type of VR machine.

There was also document inside the box.

「I’m chosen as a tester for the newest VR machine? Even though I never applied for something like this」

Inside the cardboard was also a point card that would allow her to play Pandora for free for half a year.

Furthermore, it was her name that was written on the addressee’s column.

「I-I want this but……this is wrong.」

She wanted to make use of this chance.

After all, she was the only one in her class who wasn’t playing Pandora.

She was worrying whether to go to VR café to at least experience it once but, she wanted to obtain the machine if possible.

But, Kanaho was a honest person.

She called the number of the support center that was written on the document. There she explained the situation.

「Umm, because of that I opened the box.」

As expected she didn’t think that she would get scolded for that but,  the customer service person’s reaction was a bit strange. His attitude  was a bit haughty for a support staff.

『You should check for something like that first before opening it.  Then, please mail the box back to the address that I’m going to list  after this.』

「Err, it’ll be with payment on delivery right?」

『Ha? Of course not. Naturally the burden fall to――eh? U-umm……p-please wait for a second.』

Music suddenly played. Kanaho was slightly irritated by the  operator’s behavior, even so she reached toward the pillow on her bed  and hugged it while waiting.

After a while, a different operator’s voice came from the phone.

『Please excuse the rudeness from just now. We deeply apologize.』

This was the voice of a man who sounded slightly older than the young man from before. He apologized with a polite tone.

「I-it’s fine.」

The man explained politely.

『The staff just now mentioned about asking the box to be sent back  but, the mistake lie at our side so we don’t mind even if you keep the  game device for yourself.』

「……Eh? B-but, the price of just one of this is more than ten thousand isn’t it?」

The set that was in the cardboard was the newest type.

It included a headset, exclusive pillow, a mat……there were various things in there that were sent as a set with the game device.

『I hope you can consider them as our apology. But, there is just one thing that we wish to ask from you.』

「Y-yes!」

Kanaho never imagined that the game device would be given to her. She kneeled on the bed with a formal posture.

Just when she was wondering what she was going to be told…….

『I believe that the software of our humble company’s game is actually  also included in that cardboard. Can I ask you to please play that  game? We’re not going to ask you to do anything particular when playing  it. But that game device has a small modification to it, so we wish to  use this chance to also check whether there will be any problem when the  device is activated, not at the player’s end, but at our end.』

Kanaho didn’t really understand the meaning of the operator’s explanation.

She only got that it seemed that even though it was the newest type, it was apparently a bit different from the older versions.

The company was also doing their own testing, but they also wanted to  test whether there would be any problem if it was used by the average  household.

(Is that really necessary?)

『Well, you can just think of it as our wish to obtain new player  using test as the reason. You know, sometimes there are also campaigns  where you can get smartphone for free right? This is similar to that.』

Kanaho reached an understanding from that explanation.

「Now that you mention it. There’s that campaign where you can get smartphone for free if you buy something.」

『And it was also our blunder that caused this matter. It’ll be a lot  of trouble to process this as a mistake. My deepest apologies for  involving you in this but, can you think of it as helping us instead?』

Kanaho accepted the explanation, thinking that there must be some adult circumstance around this.

But, at the inside she was dancing in joy.

「E-err, will your company constantly check the usage of this device or something――」

『This is not that kind of test, and as expected it will be a crime to go that far. There won’t be anything like that.』

Kanaho felt relieved from the polite explanation. She thanked the man and cut the call.

Then she made a guts pose and rushed out of her room to report it to her mother.

「Kaa-san! They said that they sent the box to here by mistake! But, they also said that we don’t need to return it!」

「Eh!? Are you really fine with that?」

Kanaho told her mother in the kitchen about her conversation with the  support center just now. Then her mother also got convinced after  Kanaho told her about the man’s example of free smartphone.

Her mother had also heard about that kind of campaign before and didn’t suspect.

「So they’re aiming for the monthly fee after this. I see now. But, we  don’t have much leeway financially, so if you’re going to work  part-time you’ll need to pay it with your own pay.」

「It’s fine. I’ll work hard.」

The mother put on a slightly sad smile seeing Kanaho so happy.

「……I’m sorry. Even though you must wish to continue with your club」

Kanaho scratched her head.

She thought that she mustn’t make a sad expression in front of her mother.

「I-I’m fine with it you know? I already know from before that I ‘ll  have to stop at some point anyway. Besides, I’m going to enjoy my high  school life. I’m saying farewell to my sweat-soaked days. Now I’m going  to enjoy my springtime of youth.」

Her mother smiled.

「Be careful so you don’t get tricked by any strange man out there.」

「I won’t!」

The two joked with each other to relax the atmosphere. Then they went to cook dinner at the kitchen.

◇

Capital of Hope.

Kanaho――[Inaho] was looking around while her long rabbit ears twitched. Under her waist there was a round and fluffy tail.

Her race was called [Rabbit Girl]. It had higher than average stats, but nothing that particularly stood out.

However, few players used it.

It had high performance on the whole, but that kind of avatar had no  outstanding parameter. It was an avatar that was intended for beginner.  But conversely speaking it was also an avatar that wasn’t suited to  experienced player.

In fact, it was an avatar that many wouldn’t even give any consideration at all.

It was obscure in a different meaning than orc.

「Why are there these many people even though it’s 5 o’clock in the  morning? Eh, because there are few people in this time period? What does  it mean?」

Inaho wasn’t familiar with VR game. She chose rabbit girl based on  the official website’s recommendation and because she thought this  avatar’s balanced parameters resembled herself.

But, her hair color and body data were mostly like her real body. In  other words, she was exposing her true looks inside the game.

The players around her began to move. There were groups among them who were having fun talking with each other.

There was an elf that was walking to somewhere, there was also a  group where everyone was wearing a hooded cloak and ran off to somewhere  without even exchanging any words.

「……I should phone my friend beforehand.」

She tried to login by herself in order to familiarize herself with the game, but it made her felt lonely now.

Kanaho started walking aimlessly after that. She walked while looking at the Capital of Hope with deep interest.

She didn’t go to the adventurer guild at the city center. When she  realized it, she had arrived at the sightseeing area where there weren’t  many people around.

This place had a unique atmosphere, unlike the plaza of the Capital of Hope.

「That person, I saw him before in drama……wait, there is another one there!」

Even though she understood that this was something that happened in game, it surprised her to see it for real.

She was surprised because she saw it not from behind a screen but seeing it with her own eyes.

「But, looking closer, their avatars have strange balance.」

She looked around and found several men and women walking toward her.

She thought about calling out to them, but their atmosphere was clearly strange.

「You, are you perhaps a beginner?」

Kanaho responded with a smile.

「Yes. I just logged in today――」

But, the other players kept putting displeased expression on their faces.

Everyone had the look of actor or idol.

「Enough with that kind of greeting. This place isn’t a place for  gaming people like you guys. This is a place for people who want to  enjoy vacation.」

The idol face was made to resemble the actual idol perfectly, but the  balance with the body below was strange. It looked like the head was  slightly bigger compared to the smaller body.

(……I remember seeing this face from drama or live video. The face is bigger than I thought.)

This phenomenon must be something troublesome for the actual idol.

But, as expected from detailed creation, the face looked exactly like the actual person.

「T-then, I’ll leave right away. Err……can you show me where the exit is?」

Inaho was troubled because she was unfamiliar with the area. The group lost patience with her and pushed her away.

She fell on her butt and felt pain.

The texture of the stone floor and the impact she felt were the same like when she fell in real life.

「You’re an eyesore. Just logout already. Looking at your kind is really irritating.」

The group left. The other players at the surrounding also looked like they didn’t want to get involved with Inaho.

Inaho stood up and dusted off herself.

「Ahaha……t-this place might be more horrible than I imagined.」

Inaho felt like her heart was going to break even though she had just started.

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