Chapter 52: Beyond VR
Hikari approaches the booth, completely thrown off by the existence of it. Mil-Sim Story is a popular game, but to see something official with her own eyes is staggering. There’s a couple of employees, larping in military fatigues working around the booth which is selling authentic military surplus clothing and gear. It’s no wonder Hikari has seen so many guests walking around in fatigues. Unless they are from the nearby Airforce base but that can’t be right. They have a couple of banners mounted on racks, some with firearm logos like Beretta, H&K, Sig Sauer USA, and Hi Point of all companies to advertise. Right next to the banners are some plushies of some generic soldiers, assumingly faceless soldiers covered up in a balaclava to vaguely represent the players in the game but there’s also a special edition plushie of the star Mil-Sim player and champion from last season’s tournament, Seth Tactical, conveyed as a chibi plush with his gray tactical BDU top, plate carrier, and his iconic skinny blue jeans. Hikari notices there’s quite a lot of Seth Tactical branding but she also spots some merchandise from other squads including their former rivals Vampire Squad. There’s a long sleeve black sweater with the logo of the squad with the caption “Nothing Escapes The Night.”
“I doubt it.” Hikari rolls her eyes. “Seems like they are discounted too. Sucks to be responsible for that.”
A woman in military fatigue working with some customers processing a payment with a tablet notices Hikari and introduces herself. “Welcome! Have a look around. If you have any questions or are interested in anything, ask the staff or call on Flint.”
“Flint? Excuse me?” Hearing that name in the real world puzzles Hikari but her confusion is abruptly answered as a familiar figure is synthesized in front of her in a grainy and translucent form within the empty spaces between the merchandise in the booth. He stands about a foot taller than Hikari, wearing his 80s jeans, plaid shirt, and wool jacket. True to scale in more ways than one.
“Well, I’ll be….it’s none other than Miss Nakamura herself!” The hologram calls out cheerfully with a slightly digitalized voice as if speaking through a phone. “I almost didn’t recognize you from your costume you’re wearing if it weren’t for my biometrics scan.”
“Flint! Is that really you?” Hikari gleams with joy, approaches the hologram and tries to shake his hand but her hand goes right through. “Wait. Huh? How?”
“Easy there princess. I’m just a projection coming through within the confines of this booth. I’m just an artificial representative coming in directly from the Mil-Sim Story cloud.”
“Impressive.” Hikari claps her hands together. “So...you can communicate with the real world like this.”
“Right on, Miss Nakamura.” Flint crosses his arms and nods. “Heh. As long as I’m within range of the hologram sensors. Obviously I can interact with the physical world but I see as clearly as you do.”
“So you exist within the confines of the game.”
“Yep. I can even be contacted via the Mil-Sim Story App. You do have a cell phone right? You can order resupplies for your favorite ammo brands, set reminders for matches, and check in on who’s online from your squad all without going into VR. In your case, since you have your own team with recruits from what I heard, you can check in on team finances, look at team stats, logistics, and even check in on your team base if you have some security systems installed."
“Gosh. I had no idea.” Hikari rubs the back of her head in shame. “Since when?”
“Since the game launched on release!” Flint laughs and shakes his head. “But no biggie right? Your team has gone pretty far in the tournament. I always knew you girls had it in you.”
Hikari feels a warmth in her chest at the compliment, but she pushes it aside, gesturing at the merchandise tables around them. “Thanks Flint. Hey quick question. Why don’t we have any of this?”
“How do you mean?”
“Where’s our merch? I see a bunch of no-names here including the ones we defeated.” Hikari takes the discounted Vampire Squad sweater from the clothing line.
Flint’s hologram smirks at Hikari’s question. “Real funny. No offense but merchandise just doesn’t come out from thin air like I do, Miss Nakamura.” Flint explains further while pointing out to all the stuff being sold around the booth. “Merchandise is something you have to arrange with your team manager and has to be endorsed by your squad leaders. For a product to exist, there has to be a demand for it. Basic business 101. Think about it like running your own gun shop.”
“Do you think our team...is marketable, Flint?” Hikari asks, holding up the Seth Tactical plushie. It kind of seems like something she could buy as a little gag gift for herself in her mind.
“Hm...I’ll tell you what. I think you left quite the impression from the last match.” Flint answers with complete certainty. You might be one of the underdog teams, but somebody ought to be looking forward to what your team does next.”
“I suppose that makes sense….oh hang on!” Hikari’s attention shifts to the airsoft rack she hasn’t noticed yet with replicas of different firearms like M4s, HK416s, AKMs, but she spots what appears to be a real to life replica of her AN-94 Assault Rifle. The muzzle device, the bulky hand guard, and the offset magazine all call to her as if the replica was her destiny. “That’s...that’s my rifle! Is that real?” Hikari asks not even aware of the orange flash hider painted on these guns.
A booth employee in military fatigues with a neatly trimmed beard, steps forward and unhooks the replica to show Hikari. “This is a Tokyo Marui replica of the Russian AN-94 Abakan.” He releases the magazine from the airsoft gun to show the feeding mechanism which is completely different. “These airsoft guns fire a 6mm plastic bb using a battery operated gearbox mechanism. People usually buy these to have firefight matches but most airsoft guns are bought for display pieces these days. Mil-Sim Story has got a lot of licenses for these weapons and this is one of them. Have a look.”
Hikari takes the rifle into her hands. It’s quite hefty but doesn’t feel as heavy as the one she uses in VR. The construction clearly has some economic constraints such as the polymer furniture but in terms of controls and details, it’s on par with the one she uses in-game. She takes the magazine and loads it at an angle exactly as she would in VR, racks the charging handle and takes aim at the plush soldiers on the rack. She lowers the weapon at the low ready position, as if it were all natural to her.
“Now look at you!” The booth employee whistles, genuinely impressed. “You handle that airsoft gun like a Spetnaz. You don’t happen to be a Russian spy?”
“Of course not, I’m Japanese.” Hikari's voice comes out more defensive than she intended.
“I’m just messing with you. Most of the customers who try out that gun always fumble around with inserting the magazine. You’re the first one in this convention to do it right.”
“It's not that different from the real thing in-game.” Hikari blushes from the compliment but hands over the replica back to the employee with regret in her eyes. “I’d love to take it with me. The price isn’t too bad either. But campus security will give me trouble if I bring it to my dorm room.”
“Sorry to hear that.” The employee's expression softens with understanding. “Perhaps you’d be interested in our key-chains instead?”
“Key-chains? I can work with that!” Hikari watches as the employee pulls out a tray lined with black velvet and dividers with all sorts of die-cast key-chains, each one a miniature replica of a different firearm. “Do you have an AN-94?”
“We don’t have every single firearm but we do have a couple of AN-94s.” He pulls out a couple of AN-94 key-chains from the tray and hands one over to Hikari. She looks down upon it sitting in the palm of her hands. While nowhere near as detailed as the airsoft gun, the profile is recognizable down to the offset magazine and stock which does fold like the real deal. “These were released as part of series 1. They are $15 each.
“I’ll take one but…” Hikari makes some considerations before making her purchase. “I’d like to buy some other models too. Do you have an M4A1, a MP5SD6, and a Type 56 SKS?”
“Well I go those but…” The man pulls out another tray with some other key-chains, pulling out the ones Hikari requested and laying them on the counter. “The Type 56 SKS model is a limited release and I just so happen to have the last one in stock.” Separate from the other key-chains, the velvet box with a logo licensed from Norinco. Open the box, you’d get the impression it was some kind of jewelry box but inside a neatly plush insert is a die cast replica of Mai’s favorite rifle, with even more detailed elements compared to the other firearms. The stock is textured and appears to be made of real wood. Certainly not high quality wood but a step up above everything shown to Hikari.
“Goodness, what’s with the exquisite presentation? It’s just a crappy SKS.” Hikari scoffs down at the replica inside a glorified jewelry case. It was beautiful. Far too beautiful for a rifle that would usually cleaned with an old rag and some motor oil. Hikari figured it would have been appropriate to put such a weapon in a cheap cardboard box which is probably how Mai’s father acquired his when he was alive.
“It’s part of the legacy series.” The man explained to Hikari. “There’s a few old rifles featured in our game and this is a tribute to those who embrace these old weapons even in 21st century warfare.” He brings out a magnifying glass and hovers it over the key chain where the serial number would be located. “This one in particular is number 7 out of 20. You can only buy them at official Mil-Sim Story booths or from scalpers if you have deep pockets. As a bonus…” The man takes out a little cardboard card with a serial code covered by a security strip. “Each legacy series key chain comes with a code to obtain the weapon in Mil-Sim Story. For $150, you’re getting the gun for the same in-game equivalent price factory new with the key-chain as a bonus.”
“One hundred and fifty dollars?” Hikari’s voice broke in disbelief. “I could buy a new scarf for that price.”
The employee didn't budge, leaning over the counter. “A scarf won’t do you any good around these parts.” He smirked. “But a fine weapon like this in Mil-Sim Story makes for a great collector piece in game and this rare key chain is a highly sought after piece of merchandise. I can’t promise you I’ll still have it by the end of the convention.”
“I’ll take it… and the Vampire Squad shirt in small, and the Seth Tactical Plushie.” Hikari is dipping her hand into her pocket, getting her phone so she can do a transaction from her Mizuho Bank account and instantly convert the transaction from Yen to USD, a more convenient way of doing transactions compared to using her travel debit card. She placed the phone over the NFC scanner which approved the purchase with some additional taxes thrown in.
“Thank you. I’m assuming you’re buying these for some friends?” The man questions while he places the key-chains into a Mil-Sim Story brand shopping bag. These are all the weapons used by Armadillo Squad from Team Lonestar. Are you a fan of them?”
“Hm...something like that.” Hikari said nonchalantly, playing along with the idea that the merchant does not recognize her as one of the members. “They have a lot of promise but I have a lot of doubts about them too.”
The merchant chuckled, finally putting the Seth Tactical plushie into the bag. “They’re an underdog team for sure. Representing this region no less. But they are a dime a dozen compared to the last tournament. The ones that are really winning everyone’s heart right now is Emerald Squad from the Pacific North West.”
“Emerald Squad?” Her voice peaked. “I keep up with the brackets, and I’ve never heard of Emerald Squad before.”
“They are a bunch of college students from Seattle. They had their ups and downs which Mil-Sim players have been watching closely. They are going up against Raptor Squad in the third bracket. Kind of amazing considering they started from nothing.”
“I’m sure they are.” Hikari notes to herself. “I wonder if we’ll ever come across them. Not likely if they are going up against the best team in the tournament.” Hikari walks over to Flint, a grin on her face. “It’s been nice seeing you out here. Do you think perhaps I can stop by in Mil-Sim Story and trade in my P320 for something else?”
“Sure can, Miss Nakamura but…” Flint clears his throat, his visual representation glitches out of focus for a moment. “Not sure if you’re aware of this but the tournament is on hiatus until the start of next year. There’s going to be a major update, new weapons, and gameplay features. I can’t tell you all the specifics but I’d suggest y’all hold off from buying new weapons for the time being.”
“You’re probably right, Flint.” Hikari nods, rubbing her chin. “Maybe I can get something better than Fio’s pistol if I wait...crap...then why did I agree to come here with her in the first place?!” Hikari’s realization gives Flint a reason to laugh once more.
“Hah. Well put it this way. You didn’t walk out empty handed today. You’d even learn a thing or two from stopping by. Besides, y’all are welcome to stop by and stock up on ammo while things are settling down.”
“Thanks, Flint. It’s been nice seeing you again.” Hikari bows her head in respect. “Until next time, Flint?”
“You bet! Enjoy your time here at the convention, or perhaps go sight seeing around town. You’re not going to be bored today, I can tell you that!”
“Will do.” And with that, Hikari walks off back to the shop Fio was at before, now with a rejuvenated feeling in her heart. “The girls are going to love these.” She thought to herself as she carefully navigated through the crowds. To her surprise, Fio was still browsing through the manga books at the booth she stayed at. Did she even notice her leave? “Ahem…” Hikari clears her throat, standing behind Fio. “Find what you were looking for?”
“Oh my goodness, Hikari!” Fio jolts a little from being startled. “How long was I here?”
“Hm...well…” Hikari looks through her shopping bags. “I bought Emi and the others a few gifts, got to check out a few booths, saw Flint at the Mil-Sim Story Booth, and that was that.”
“You shouldn’t have left me like that, Hikari!” Fio scolds her with a pout on her face. “But hey, it’s cool that you found some stuff while you were here. See? I said it would be awesome.”
Fio pays for her manga at the counter with Hikari standing by her side. Once the transaction is done, Fio turns over to her and makes a suggestion. “Well I think it’s time we go out and explore downtown.”
“About time.” Hikari smirks. “I’m always down to do some shopping. Can we take these off?” Hikari tugs on her cosplay uniform.
“Of course not. We’re going to take some pics in our cosplay around the city”
“Hmph...I should have figured.” Hikari grumbled to herself.
Hikari and Fio had a long day going through Downtown after the convention. They are now back in the back seat of Fio’s father’s car. They barely have enough room with all the shopping bags they brought back with them.
“Did you girls have a good time?” Her father asks from the front seat, relaxing as his car automatically drives for him. He’s sipping a cup from Whataburger as he bought everyone some food for the trip back. Hikari takes a bit from her burger and purrs in bliss. It’s not bad for fast food.
“It was awesome, Pa.” Fio exclaims, pulling out her phone and sending a text to Hikari and her father. “Check out my drone photo we took in front of the Alamo. We both look really cute!” Hikari’s phone notification, a cat meowing, goes off and she fetches her phone from her uniform’s jacket pocket to see the message. There she is, smiling with Fio in their cosplay outfits, in front of a historical monument. She’s not sure if it’s even respectful to take such a photo but after seeing other tourists and even cosplayers from the nearby convention stopping by to take their own photos, it made no difference how she felt. But one thing was undeniable. She was having fun and it showed.
“No kidding!” Her father laughs from the front seat. “Seems like you had a lot of fun too, Miss Nakamura.”
“I sure did, Mr. Waters.” Hikari answers back with enthusiasm. “It was nice to get out of my dorm at last. I never got to see an American city up close like this.”
“You should check out the other parts when you get a chance. There’s theme parks, the hill country, and even a couple of museums and zoos if you’re into that. Just give me a call if you and Fio ever want to do something on the weekend.”
“Thanks for the offer, Mr. Waters.”
“You’re Fio’s friend. It’s the least I can do.”
“Fio’s friend, huh.” Hikari ponders to herself. She looked over at Fio and smiled. “Good friends, I might add.”
“Thanks for hanging out, Hikari. I’ll make sure to stay true to my end of the bargain. Oh and you can keep the costume. I think it suits you.”
“Really? Can I keep it?” Hikari asks, surprised she’d let her have something with so much work put into it.
“Totally. You can wear it again if you ever decide to go to another convention.”
“That’s true...well...thanks. I think you did a good job putting it together, Fio.”
“Don’t mention it. Of course I did.” Fio admits proudly.
“Oh crap… I need to text Mai that I’m almost there. She’s going to have to help me with my bags.” Hikari sends a quick text on her phone to Mai. Unaware of what Mai has been up to while she was out.
“Heh...She’s been sleeping all day.” Hikari smirks as she continues to text her.
“Why didn’t she come along?” Fio asks curiously.
“Well...she wanted to get her homework assignments out of the way the night before.” Hikari shrugged as she put her phone away. She can see her University gates coming into view. “Mai’s pretty lazy sometimes but when she has to get something done, she doesn’t fuss around.” Hikari rests her hand on her cheek as the car comes up to her dormitory building. She can already see Mai standing outside in her bunny onesie, her blonde hair completely unkept as always. She doesn’t look amused. “I like that about her. She’s useful for me.” Hikari opens the passenger door of the car and steps out. Mai walks over with a fatigue shuffle over to the vehicle. She brought a broom from their dorm room.
“Were you trying to spring clean in the middle of fall or what, Mai?”
“It’s not for cleaning...you…” Mai grumbles with exhaustion in her voice. “I was having the most wonderful dream in a while and you woke up from it when it was getting really good. Now I’m back to this nightmare of an existence doing all of these errads!” She points to the bags with her broom stick. “Come on, get them on here so I don’t have to break my back carrying them.”
“Hah. What a clever little Easter Bunny!” Hikari comments as she loads her shopping bags through the handle of the broom one by one.
“God, I don’t even want to know how much you spent today. As if your closet wasn’t full enough. What’s with the private school uniform?”
“Don’t worry about it, Mai. I promise it’ll be worth it when we get back to the dorm.” Hikari looks over to Fio and her dad. “It’s been fun hanging out with you, Fio! I’ll see you soon! Thanks Mr. Waters!”
“Bye, Hikari!”
“Take care, Miss Nakamura!” They wave goodbye and drive off. Mai doesn’t even have the energy to wave back and holds onto one end of the broomstick.
“Well...at least you had fun...come on...let’s hurry back.” Mai insisted.
The two were able to get up the flight of stairs using their improvised method to carry all the shopping bags back to their dorm room. Mai sets the broomstick down and doesn’t even bother putting it back where she got it. She immediately plumps down onto her bed, face down on her pillow. “Ugh...never again. Alright...well you go ahead and have fun with your clothes or whatever, I’m going to die on my bed, alright.” She flops her hand dismissively at Hikari from the bed.
“Ugh...you’re so dramatic, Mai. You’re not going to die under my watch. Here...I got you something.” Hikari reaches over to the Mil-Sim Story shopping bag.
Mai groaned into her pillow, one eye peeking out with skeptical curiosity. "You did? I’ll see it in the morning, I’m going back to sleep."
“Just come look, you lazy rabbit.” Hikari sets the box on the edge of Mai’s mattress. “Please.”
Mai turns head and reaches over to the velvet jewelry box. “What’s this? Jewelry? She opens the case and her tired eyes grow wide awake. Her little hands carefully lift the little SKS key-chain out of the case. She dangles it in front of her, admiring all the little details. “Hikari...I….I don’t believe it...this is…”
“Yeah. It was the last one sold at the convention. It wasn’t cheap, but I knew it was going to be worth it. I got the other girls one too for their weapons but yours is extra special. That’s not all. Look at the code.”
“Mai takes the little cardboard card out and reads it. “A factory new, Type 56 SKS from the legacy series…oh my god...Hikari ... .you didn’t have to.”
“Of course I did, Mai.” Hikari crosses her arms as she sits on the floor, still wearing her cosplay outfit. “I thought about you and your father. I know how much that rifle means to you. It saddened me to see your rifle ruined a few weeks ago. So hopefully now you’ll have two in Mil-Sim Story. One to remind you of your father, and one you can use and abuse in our matches.”
Mai is silent for a long moment, her thumb tracing the tiny, textured wooden stock of the key chain. Her snark and annoyance is gone, replaced with genuine appreciation. She rolls over off her bed and crawls over to Hikari and pulls her in for a hug. “I love it, Hikari. Thanks for being a true friend.”
“Hey, I owe you for introducing me to Mil-Sim Story...and helping me with my pre-calculus crap.” She pats Mai on the back with her hands and gently lets her go. “Just promise me you don’t put that key-chain in your dorm keys. I don’t want you to lose it knowing how irresponsible you are with your keys.”
“No way.” Mai puts the keychain back into the box securely. “There’s no way I’d let something this sentimental be latched onto something I’m going to lose. I think I’ll keep it and baby it...thank you, Hikari.”
“Of course, Mai. Sorry for waking you up but you still have all night to catch up on some sleep.” Hikari gets up and starts pulling stuff out of her other shopping bags. “I’ll show you the other things I bought tomorrow.”
Her eyes open towards the ceiling of her dorm room. Other than the night light across on her desk, it’s nearly pitch dark. Her headache and pain had subsided. But she feels a grumble in her stomach. It takes her a moment to realize she hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday. She almost rubs her eyes as she gets up but realizes her face is sweaty. “Oh right...I was running yesterday afternoon.”
She looks around her room. Ashley’s gone, but Tomio is over on the floor next to her bed, sleeping in his own blanket and pillow on top of one of her blankets. He hears her shuffling out of bed and sits up on the floor. “Hey, you’re finally awake.” He smiles. “You’re looking better, Emi.”
“I don’t know about that.” Emi notes, considering she probably reeks. “But I do feel a lot better...thanks to you and Ashley.”
“Just trying to look out for you. Nothing to it.” Tomio rubs the back of his head, almost blushing. “Ashley had to head out. She wanted to get some training in Mil-Sim Story so I stuck around until you started to feel better.” He gets up from the floor and heads over to Emi’s desk. He brought a lunch box with a bowl of salad he ordered out from his family restaurant. “I figured you were going to be pretty hungry once you got better. I brought you some food from my place and a few light snacks from the dorm vending machine. I hope it's enough.”
“Aw...Tomio...you’re so considerate.” Emi tiredly gushes. “I’m so lucky to have a guy like you.”
“Nah...I’m the one who should be lucky. I love being with you, Emi. It’s been a blessing knowing you for so long.”
“No. I’m the lucky one.” Emi snarks back.
“No way. I am.”
“Nah ah…” Emi gently punches Tomio in the arm.
“Uh huh…” The two snark back and forth teasingly, almost as if it were natural to them both.
“Hey, what time is it anyway?”
“It’s almost midnight.” Tomio looks over at his digital watch. “Crap...I must have slept all afternoon too.”
“Shit...so...Saturday is almost over? Damn.” Emi gets off from her bed. “Well...I guess we have no choice...we’re going to have an all-nighter.”
“Seems that way to me, Emi. So now what?”
“Now, I gotta take a shower so we can both hang out tonight. Say, how about right after I shower and have my meal, you and I can hop onto Mil-Sim story and have a one on one duel. Pistols only.”
“Oh, you want a rematch?” Tomio grins. “Still can’t handle the fact your team lost to us. He does a little finger gun point towards Emi.” I’m a pretty good shot with my single action army. I always aim for hotties like you.”
“Oh. I bet you do, Tomio. But I’ve been training since the last match.” She pokes Tomio in the nose. “I’m about to show you how a jaguar fights!” She gives a playful swipe of her hand on his shoulder.”
“Hah! We’ll see about that, Emi.” Tomio chuckles, throwing the a towel over to Emi. “Challenge accepted. By the way, the loser has to do whatever the winner asks. Deal?”
“You bet it, Tomio! Just you wait and see what I can do with my Beretta! You'll be at my mercy!”