BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.....
The phone vibrated against my thigh like a dying hornet, buzzing its way out of
my pocket and onto the floor. I flinched, nearly knocking over the half-empty cup of instant noodles balanced on my lap. The noodles sloshed, sending a greasy wave of broth over the edge and onto my already-stained shitpants.
"FAHHH—!"
I lunged for the phone, fingers slipping on the screen as I fumbled to answer.
The caller ID flashed a name I hadn't seen in months: KAI "GHOST" TAKAHASHI. The
corniest name in the ages. The guy who once hacked into Crispyroll anime and ran porn 24x7 on it, just because it filed a case on him pirating a harem anime that was not even theirs. The same guy who I still owed twenty bucks from last year's Dragon Quest bet. The guy you'd get from breeding a discord mod and a shut-in weeb (unlike me).
I swiped to answer, pressing the phone to my ear.
"I swear I don't have her number and She just an online friend"
"Brochacho!." Kai's voice was a static-laced whisper, like he was calling from inside a gas chamber. His audio was cracking so hard my cheap phone speaker rattled.
"fuck, fuck, fuck. You seeing this shi-?"
"Seeing what? I can't see your tits from a voice call. Hang up. I'm in the mid of—"
I glanced down at the cup. The noodles had
gone limp, it's basically the legendary "NoodleCake" of my mother's time. "—a
very mouth-touching culinary experience."
"Bro, GAT 6 just dropped."
Deafening Silence.
Outside my window, a lonely night-cricket chirped. In my dark, cramped room, the
only sound was the low hum of my struggling PC fans.
"And You can swallow a black hole What's new in that?"
A grin from the end of Kai that's visible through the call.
Not the kind of silence where you're processing information. The kind where your
brain short-circuits, your soul leaves your body, and for a second, you forget how to breathe.
"…SPIT IT!!"
"GAT 6 PC-Edition, man! It's out! Early access! Leaked on the dark web!"
Kai's voice, man it was like he was either about to cry or goon mid sentence. or even
better.
"Dude, I'm already in Vice town. Like, right now. The graphics? The physics? The way the cops move? It's like—it's like God himself reached down and said, 'Y0!!, this da real art.'"
A tear ran down through my left eye.
"Finally?"
I sat up so fast the noodle cup tipped over completely. The broth seeped into the cracks of my dusty "Gaming" chair made of fricking WOOD, Most comfortable chair in big '35. Can you believe it? Either way its not even mine, heh.
"You're lying!"
"I'm not lying! I'm in the game, Shawn! I'm driving a fucking Maserati down Ocean Drive right now!"
Through the tinny phone speaker, I could hear the loud, high-octane roar of a virtual engine, tire screeches, and police sirens echoing ridiculously in my dead-silent apartment.
"The details, man! The way the water splashes when you hit a hydrant! They mastered the engine, The pedestrians! The scream in Spanish when you run them over!"
My fingers twitched. My pulse hammered in my throat.
"Kai," I said slowly
"if this is a pun, I will touch you."
"No pun, broski. I'm sending you the Cleeen LEEENK right now. But you gotta move fast—servers are gonna get whooped once the Betas catch wind."
My budget laptop—which was currently hosting my highly fragile prototype server—groaned as a notification popped up: Downloading: GAT6_EARLY_ACCESS.rar.
"How the fuck did you hack into my PC??!"
"Use Kali bruh, it's safer than your Dindows"
My thumb hovered my trackpad and I dragged the cursor to check the size... OF THE ZIP, DUH!
"Dude, WHOOOHOHOHOH" Kai screamed, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
"I just stole a tank."
I exhaled through my nose, my breath shaky.
"…Does it have the new drift mechanics?"
"Shawn." Kai's voice was deadly serious.
"It has everything."
"Strips?"
"8K Ultra HD"
"Kya baat kar raha hai"
I tapped the trackpad.
"HOLY 250 GB, I'm Crine!"
My heart stopped. 250 gigabytes? On our shared internet? The same internet Remila had to pay for? If she saw the usage, she wouldn't just kick me out of the study-table laboratory; she would genuinely skin and spin me alive.
"Listen beech, I was generous enough to compress it to the ULTRA MAX. If not
you'd have burnt your 3 months of Internet and dig your internet grave, you can't even affor-- Gimme my 20 bucks... or Imma post your browser history, goon-stash and your IP on my Y handle"
"Hi, Lol"
"This will not work, you stupi-ass beech"
The download bar appeared.
1%[. ]
My belly, DANCED. This was it. This was the moment. The moment for which I carefully waited eons to take birth.
3%[.. ]
I could already feel it—the weight of the controller in my hands, the hum of the
engine, the way the city would breathe around me. Vice Town. A place where the
rules didn't apply. Where you could be anyone, do anything but be poor. Why am I poor?
7%[... ]
"Kai," I said, voice tight.
"If this is a virus that Moos the fuck outta my
screen and fries my ram and CPU, I swear your IP will be on every porn site and the description will be, 'single mother of two, is home alone.' "
"Chillax! It's clean! I scanned it myself! Omigod, can't you just believe me?"
12%[... ]
The screen flickered. My Wi-Fi signal dipped, then surged, like my poor laptop's
motherboard was physically sweating under the weight of what was coming.
20%[... ]
I stood up, pacing the tiny, silent confines of my apartment. The walls felt like they were closing in. The noodle stain on my wooden chair mocked me. This is what your life has come to.
35%[..... ]
"How's the gunplay?" I asked, tryna sound casual.
"Bro, the recoil? The sound? It's like—" Kai made a noise that was half-gasp, half-whimper.
"It's like they recorded a real gunfight and then made it a million times better."
50%[..... ]
My palms were sweating. I wiped them on my shirt, leaving a greasy smear. This was stupid. This was irresponsible. I had rent to worry about. Bills. The threat of Remila discovering my massive digital crime.
75%[..... ]
But then again— When was the last time I did something just for me?
90%[... ]
The download bar turned green.
COMPLETED[....]
My stomach dropped out of sheer excitement.
I stared at the glowing screen. The hum of the laptop fan was the only noise left in the quiet room.
"Is it done?," Kai said, his voice trembling over the line.
"You in?"
I swallowed.
Then I grinned.
"Fuck yeah, I'm in."
I tapped the file.
The screen flickered white and then went pitch-black.
Then the BGM blessed my ears-
MOOOOOOOO!
MOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
"ARGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
*Evaporates in frustration*