.Hack//G.U Renew

“UUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH”, yawned Ryou Misaki as he walked down the sidewalk heading towards his part-time job. He was lucky that it wasn’t that far away from his apartment complex, so he didn’t have to miss out on his nap in-between school and work. If not a nap, at least he could get some online time in with The World. Maybe not enough time to run a dungeon, but check his mail, his card game, the art forums, stuff like that. He had a growing collection of fan art of himself, cute female characters, Chim-Chims…even some done of his friends, in fact, he was the second most drawn character on the forums…the first being Endrance. He scrunched up his nose, not getting why everyone favored him. He even had his fanart draw by a professional!…bah.

He reached down to his belt loop, changing his IPOD to a some better suiting his mood, then shoved his hand back into his loose-fitting black jeans. On top, he wore a sliver hoodie with a red screen-print of a bloody scythe on his back, a black messenger bag with a multitude of different iconic buttons and pins on the flap. His hood was on since the weather was gray and sprinkling with rain. He walked in the crowd of umbrellas and overcoats, a few school girls in skirts thrown into the mix. It was nothing out of normal, until he saw the line of people in front of him begin to ruffle and sway as something was ruffling up the herd. Ryou cocked an eyebrow, wondering what asshole would be running the wrong way on the sidewalk when the guilty ran past him, making brief eye contact.

Wearing a hoodie like him, a thin, frail looking man ran past. Ryou ducked out of the way, about to scream obscenities, but he was different now. He just sighed, watching the man run down the street move before turning his eyes away and looked forward again. “Weirdo..” he mumbled, heading toward his job again. As light-voiced techno filled his ears, he thought about the man’s face. He was pretty sure he was glared at, but it was more of a pout. The thin face, the wispy, bleached hair around the glasses of narrow eyes…the creep. It bothered him as he opened the door to his shop, pulling off his hood. “Stupid asshole…” he said, promptly being slapped on the back of the head afterwards. “OW!”
“I told you about using bad language in my store!” scolded a middle-aged, round woman in a green apron. Ryou hissed, rubbing the back of his head. “My…my bad…”
“You’re damn right it’s your bad! And you’re late! Stop playing those games so much!” How the hell his boss knew that he played games…He just started about a year ago… “I know, I know. My fault, okay?” but that only got him slapped again.

Ryou sighed, pulling off his hoodie as he went to the back to put his things in his locker and slipped on his green apron with nametag pinned on around his neck and simple, gray t-shirt. As he came out of the room, he had a broom thrust into his hands. Without protest, he started his 5 hour shift. When his shift ended, the rain had gotten heavier. He thought it would be best to put a quickness into his step, clutching his bag as he ran through the rain down to his complex. It wasn’t as crowded as it was during the rush hour, and with the rain, it was about barren outside. He panted as he got into his building, shaking off some of the water at the door and took the elevator up. When he arrived as his floor and stepped out, the first thing he noticed was a hooded figure sitting on the floor in the hallway near his door. He raised an eyebrow, but shrugged it off. It wasn’t the first time he saw someone locked out or thrown out of one of his neighboring tenants. He went up to his door, looking down at the figure, but didn’t say anything. Up close, he noticed they were playing a portable eyepiece anyways.

Ryou knew it was best not to mess with gamers that played outside, so he just opened his door, about to step in when he felt a grab at his ankle. He jumped back, looking down at the gamer that dropped his controller on the floor to touch him. “What the hell do you want?!” Ryou yelled as the figure put his thin, pale figure up to remove the eyepiece. Behind the technology was a simple pair of wire-framed glasses and bleached, wispy hair. He stood up slowly, removing his hood to reveal his height and face better, a gentle smile on his lips. “Haseo…?” Ryou’s jaw about dropped, looking confused. “Haw?” he asked, cocking his head. “How the hell…Who wants to know?!” What surprised him more was when the figure giggled, using his hand to cover his mouth. “That’s Haseo. I can recognize your voice anywhere…It’s me…”, he said, expecting Ryou to know who -he- was. Ryou was terribly bad at guessing, and proved it. “…Ovan?”

“O…Ovan?” the myserious man asked, blinking. “What? No…”, he giggle a bit again, but decided to play along…even though Ryou wasn’t playing. “Ok Ok…how’s this…”, he said, leaning forward to whisper in Haseo’s ear. “Haseo…I love you.” That’s all it took for Ryou to pull away, grabbing his ear as he blushed brightly. “EN…ENDRANCE!”