Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 40

Summer Break   Part 1

The small supermarket at the residential area was named [Mild].

Unlike the outside where the sunlight was strong, the inside of the shop had the air conditioner running at full blast.

Inside the shop there were products like vegetable and fruit that  couldn’t be placed in convenience store and other things that were  fitting for supermarket.

Conversely things like boxed lunch or dessert were few here.

A lot of customers for this supermarket came here because they had  things that they forgot to buy or they found it troublesome to drive a  car to further place.

Akito was working part-time in there. He was wearing a green apron while sorting the shelves.

「The shift get longer from morning until evening when summer break came huh.」

Yakumo was operating a device at the side to check the products. She replied while moving her hand.

「The other part-timers are helping out at the main store or the other  big stores after all. Besides, it will be hard to pay the loan unless  we work.」

It was natural for the cost of acquiring qualification to be shouldered by the student too.

Under the name of social education, it was the education policy to make the students work part-time during their school days.

Apparently it wouldn’t be good education if students only earned money in order to play around.

「I’m also going to hospital in two days. I need to take my driving license.」

Going to hospital for obtaining driving license?

This wasn’t Akito turning crazy, but because learning traffic rule  and driving car fundamentally could be done in short time through VR.

The time needed for exam and practical lesson could be reduced by making the brain experienced the lesson like that.

Yakumo’s face turned slightly serious.

「Aim to pass the test in one go. We’re going to get busy at August when the middle-schooler come.」

Akito lifted his face.

「Middle-schooler? Aa, I think I’ve heard about it. They’re coming to  get workplace experience or something aren’t they? Our place will also  get some of them?」

It was workplace experience for middle-schooler, but the content was deep.

The students would have to work for two weeks.

They would also get paid. This program was popular among middle-schoolers.

They also had no duty to pay tax, so they were treated as trainee and  their pay was also cheap. But, the amount of money was still a lot for  middle-schooler.

Yakumo recalled last year with a displeased expression.

「There were two girls who came before. They talked a lot while  working slowly. It was pointless no matter how many times I scolded  them.」

Yakumo was troubled at that time, but apparently the company employee  who was in charge of giving guidance only watched while grinning.

Akito thought.

(Come to think of it, at internet there’s story of superior teaching  their subordinate by intentionally making them go through hardship. Is  that true?)

Yakumo sighed.

「That’s why, come back to work quickly.」

Akito nodded with a wry smile.

(As I thought, it’s just for work. I already know though……)

「By the way, you aren’t going to get any qualification or license during the summer break senpai?」

Yakumo looked up to the ceiling.

「I’ll take several but, it won’t take that long. They’re the type  that give you test, but they won’t be at the same day of my shift so you  don’t need to worry. Ah, a customer.」

A sweaty customer entered the store while they were talking like that.

The customer’s face relaxed from the cool air inside the store. He  took a shopping basket and headed toward the shelves where vegetables  were sold. He took a look at the cucumbers.

The two energetically said welcome to the customer. Then Yakumo handed her device to Akito and headed to the cash register.

Akito started doing his work alone.

They were a really good pair.

.

.

.

For elite like Maya, her busy days were still continuing even during summer break.

Her driver drove her from cram school to music class…….

Since the morning she had gone to four places. She was scheduled to be back home at night.

She reviewed the lesson inside the car, and then she thought.

(Haa, boring. I can’t login to Pandora for a while because of the  large scale update, and I can’t meet with Ponsuke and others. ……I don’t  care about Mariela though.)

She thought that Mariela didn’t matter, but she was feeling slightly lonely that she didn’t have her argument partner.

She took out her smartphone and checked a site that she had bookmarked.

It was Pandora’s Box Garden’s official site. A cute character  politely nodded its head with the words ‘Please wait’ written above it.

There was no announcement of when the game’s service would resume.

(I’m begging you please start again quickly! It’s hard going through every day drily like this)

Her stress was especially piling up――while she was thinking that, Maya’s acquaintance, her father’s friend sent her a message.

『Maya-chan, when will Pandora restart?』

The attractive uncle who she looked up to had started playing game  due to some kind of impetus. The game was Pandora. He was a player who  knew about Maya’s real identity.

Inside the game they kept moderate distance from each other while messaging each other sometimes.

(Uncle has been infected too. Or rather, I also don’t know.)

She replied to the message and put back the smartphone into her pocket. Then Maya took a deep breath.

The car’s interior had been diligently cleaned by the driver. It was also quite comfortable.

But she felt like she would get a headache when thinking that she would have to spend her summer break like this.

(It won’t be long before I have to go to hospital for compressed  learning. Come to think of it, I wonder how is Nanako-chan doing?)

Maya recalled Nanako――a friend from Pandora who said that she would go through a major surgery.

.

.

.

Several days later.

Akito visited a large hospital that was slightly far away from his apartment.

His regular hospital was fully booked because around this time many students came to hospital.

「……Can’t believe that the nearby hospital got full.」

Because of that he was searching for a less crowded hospital.

He told the receptionist his name and his reservation number. A nurse  came and led him to another room in order to give him a simple physical  examination.

The inside of the hospital was spacious and felt like it cost a lot of money to build.

He finished the examination and waited for his interview with the doctor.

The male doctor was wearing glasses and treated Akito smilingly.

「You’re the very picture of health, Naruse-san. But, your sudden  increase in weight is curious. I checked your data before but, your  weight have increased by seven kilo.」

Akito looked at his own body after hearing that.

「Eh, umm……」

He didn’t look like he had gotten fatter. The doctor also smiled.

「No, there’s also no problem with your body fat percentage. You’re  healthy, after all you’re in your growing period. But, have you done  some kind of special training?」

The doctor asked while looking at the patient’s chart. Akito  explained how he found it easier to work longer at his part-time work  and how he could lift heavier object now.

However the doctor still didn’t look convinced.

「……I see. Other than the car license, you’re planning to go to sports  gym too aren’t you? You will go through compressed education for that  too, will there be a problem?」

Akito was thinking to join a fitness club.

When he applied there, he was asked to go through compressed education for it first.

「Is there any problem with that?」

Akito became curious and tried asking, but the doctor only shook his head.

「The checkup for this kind of thing is also strict so please don’t  worry. But, I think it’ll be better if you wait for a bit first. Perhaps  it’ll be better that you go through a thorough checkup regarding this  sudden change with your body.」

Akito was looking uneasy, so the doctor said 「This is just to be in the safe side」 with a smile.

.

.

.

Akito changed his clothes into patient outfit. Then he lied down and folded his arms.

「……This is the hardest time.」

When human couldn’t move for several days, they would let out excretion no matter what they did.

It couldn’t help because that was physiological phenomenon. Even so the hospital had taken countermeasure for that.

They took various countermeasures like colonic irrigation and the patient not eating anything for one day.

When a student was doing this procedure for compulsory education or  before enrolling into school, they might even need to lie down for  several weeks because the knowledge and experience that had to be  stuffed into them were a lot.

During that time it was necessary for the hospital to manage the student’s body.

Akito got up from his bed. He decided to stroll around for a bit and walked inside the hospital.

But, he got a bit lost because it was a big hospital.

「Eh? Where is this? Is this a different ward?」

He was wandering restlessly inside the unfamiliar hospital while  searching for a nurse. Then he found someone pushing a wheelchair.

「Excuse me, actually I’m lost……」

And then he saw the girl who was on the wheelchair.

She had an IV drip attached to her hand and bandage wrapped on her body. Her eyes were also covered by something like a band.

「E-err」

The nurse smiled slightly.

「You must be a student if you’re here during this time. Please go that way and ride the elevator at the end.」

Akito thanked the nurse. Then the girl slightly lifted her face,

「Umm……have we met somewhere before?」

The adorable girl was wearing a woolen hat. Akito guessed that her hair had surely been shaved completely.

「No, I don’t think so.」

The girl made a slightly lonely smile when she heard that.

「I see. Pardon me.」

For some reason Akito felt guilty and also relieved at the same time.

(What? Have I met her somewhere before?)

Akito kept thinking about the girl even after leaving that place.

.

.

.

The end of July.

Yakumo had finished her three days of hospitalization. Right now she  was talking with a girl who would work part-time temporarily in the  supermarket.

The girl’s hair was dyed. She was also wearing accessories on her arms and fingers.

The two were in the break room at the back of the store.

The company employee was at the front, so the two of them were relaxing after they finished their lunch.

「Say, Yakumo-chan.」

「Don’t call me Yakumo-chan. I’m the senior here.」

The girl was still a first year of high school. She was only working here temporarily and would quit immediately after that.

Because of that she was lax with the human relationship here.

「Don’t be that stiff. Even so, I thought that this place would have  fewer work than convenience store, but there’re quite a lot of people  that come here. They should just go to the large supermarket instead of  here.」

She was feeling irritated because the work here was more than she expected.

(The store will be closed rather than hiring more part-time worker if nobody comes here. Still, what magazine is……eh?)

Yakumo peered on the magazine that the girl was reading. It turned out that it was a game magazine.

(This girl, even though she doesn’t look like a gamer at all)

Yakumo was exasperated with this girl who only talked about fashion  or man when they were working together. But, such girl was reading game  magazine.

Furthermore the page that she was reading was featuring Pandora’s Box Garden.

The girl continued to complain.

「Also, Kurita was it? That employee too you know――」

But Yakumo only gave her a noncommittal reply while her gaze was fixed on the magazine.

「H-hee, is that so」

「That’s right. I know because despite my look, I have worked part-time in various places.」

Yakumo thought that was problematic for a first year high school  student to have changed workplace that many times but, her gaze saw the  magazine’s title.

(I never checked game magazine at all. I usually looked up for walkthrough at internet. There’s also Ponsuke……)

Yakumo tried asking.

「More importantly, are you also playing game?」

The girl lifted up her face and shook her head.

「Nope. I only do Pandora.」

No, Pandora is also a game! Yakumo wanted to say that, but she pushed down the urge and continued talking.

「Isn’t it better to look for walkthrough at internet rather than magazine?」

The girl looked at Yakumo and laughed.

「Could it be, you’re playing game Yakumo-chan? There are a lot of better things to do you know?」

Yakumo listened to her even while feeling irritated.

「Look, the boys are going around defeating monster or whatever, and  there’re other more important things. Like……creating your ideal self  while doing fashion or having fun with the facilities. I’m not  interested with the game itself.」

The girl said that and showed the magazine page to Yakumo. It contained information about fashion for female avatar.

It also contained information about what kind of shop there was in the Capital of Hope.

(Hee, the article is detailed. But, this girl is the type that only  plays around at the tourist area huh. It got nothing to do with me.)

Yakumo wondered if perhaps this girl was Alfie, but her instinct told her that was absolutely impossible.

(Well, I’m not interested with this kind of information so forget it.)

Yakumo lost interest because it wasn’t a necessary information for  them who were currently at the Capital of Temperance, but the girl  continued to talk smugly.

「As expected appearance is important. My boy friends are happily  giving me presents, and they also often invite me to date. Like before  this, we met offline and then had dinner――」

Yakumo stood up at that point.

Yakumo looked at the girl’s surprised face and asked her with a serious face.

「That story……tell me more!」

.

.

.

Night.

Maya left the convenience store in a hurry.

She was hugging her plastic bag that was filled with things like chewing gum and candy in addition of pen.

But, Maya’s true objective among them was the game magazine.

She was doing such covert thing not because she was merely  embarrassed of buying game magazine, but because she was very interested  with an article in there.

She walked back to her house with a quick pace and returned to her room stealthily so her family and servants wouldn’t notice.

She took out the magazine from the plastic bag as soon as she entered  her room. She placed the plastic bag on her table without taking out  any other thing and lied down on the bed.

「……I bought it.」

“Best Fashion For Female Avatar” was written with large letters on the magazine’s cover.

She opened the corresponding page and found various things written there.

「Don’t be half-baked when pretending to be a girl? The way to erase  the unnaturalness in avatar’s body type so other won’t notice that  you’re a GIRL (Guy in Real Life)……irrelevant.」

Maya said that and flipped the page.

That page was filled with important points to note when creating  female avatar, but Maya used her own data for her avatar so there was no  unnaturalness in it.

She continued flipping the page like that before she finally found the information that she wanted.

「This is it!」

The page showed fashion equipments for female avatar. Sexy or adorable avatars were making pose in the page.

And then Maya remembered.

「I’ve seen Ponsuke shyly eyeing other female avatar before. He must be interested with this kind of thing.」

Maya was looking with a serious expression at a female avatar that  was wearing equipment that boldly showed her cleavage. It made her  thought.

「This is still barely within the line of the dev’s regulation isn’t  it? But, thinking carefully I heard that a lot will change after the  large scale update……」

Maya thoroughly read the page that caught her attention before she sat in front of her PC and started browsing internet.

「Err~, information about fashion……this is it!」

But, she regretted browsing the information.

There she found a lot of comments that disparaged players who wore paid equipments.

「Why! There’s nothing wrong with it! There wasn’t other equipment that struck my fancy!」

She was checking the information with teary eyes, then she searched  for equipments that could be made with materials from the Capital of  Temperance.

She found that many of the equipments there were mainly colored green.

「It’s not my taste.」

She was checking various information while searching for equipment  that fitted her preference. The day ended with her learning how  difficult it was to find a style that suited her taste.

Prev Table of Content Next