Hazard watched everything unfold with a shocked look in his face. _'This can't be real'_, he thought, _'This is only a trick! Yeah, they are tricking us! A joke! It has to be!'_. As soon as he started seeing the news of people who had died, Hazard left the safety of his mind and started saying what came to it. **"C-C'mon! It's impossible! Plain impossible! How... How can you program something like that! Dammit, Kayaba! I trusted you! I thought that a fellow programmer would understand me! Why would you do this!?"** He was reminded of the fact that Kayaba wasn't a simple programmer like him. Of course, if you are a genius with everything at reach, why wouldn't you do something like this? It's a way to throw away boredome. Designing the game and then putting in a few pawns to entertain you. Not hard, right? Right!? He was the god of the game, why wouldn't he do as he pleased? 

But what was the cherry on top was when he said that this pirated game was fairly more difficult than the original one. Hazard effective immediately regretted having purchased it. It was foolish to think that everything would be all right if he purchased a pirated copy of the most famous game ever, though he was grateful of the fact that he told his mother about it, and that his dad read everything about the Nervegear, so his chances of being disconnected and killed by his own family were low. Hazard barely managed to open his inventory and fetch the mirror inside of it. He looked into it. His avatar had green hair, yellow eyes and a though face, unlike his own. Then, when he was engulfed by the blue light, his despair reached its peak. He was about to shout out and drop to his knees, but he waited for the blue light to disappear, for one reason or the other. Afterwards, he looked again at the mirror and he saw his real self, just with green hair and yellow eyes. To call it a shock wouldn't be enough. 

The mirror fell from his hand and he dropped to his knees. **"NOOOOO!! GODDAMMIT! LET ME OUT! I WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE! I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS! I DON'T WANT THIS!! LET ME THE HELL OUT DAMMIT!!"** He started shouting. It was too illogical, Hazard couldn't understand it, maybe, he didn't want to. He was so deep in his despair that he didn't know what to do. He continued shouting unintelligibly until he felt his lungs giving out on him. He dropped to the floor and stood like that for a bit. He searched through his brain, what would a hero do in this kind of situation? A hero from those games he loved so much... He would probably fight back, but Hazard couldn't do that, he was too much of a coward. Wait, coward? What kind of character is a coward and yet manages to make his way through things? **"A villain."** He whispered under his breath. 

He stood up again, his body swinging around as if he had no life. A smirk came across his face. He knew what he had to do, he had his objective. He would put it on his mental notebook for quests. Clear Floor 99 and get the hell out. That was what he was going to do, and there was no way anyone would stop him. His legs were still shaking, and, to be honest, Hazard himself didn't knew how far he could get on his own, but it was better than sitting there and waiting for his death to come. A lot better, actually. He started laughing like a crazy man and brought his hand to his face. **"Kyahahaha! Yeah... That's what I'm going to do.. Yes... Just you wait, Kayaba Akihiko."** Not only his legs were shaking, but all of him actually. He was scared shitless all right, but that was the only way he would survive, or so he thought. Many looked at him like if he was crazy, either those on their way out or those who lingered in the town square. He felt himself blushing a bit, but that's why he had his hand over his face. **"Now then... Where to start?"** He turned around, his hand still over his face and his eyes barely peeking through in-between his fingers. He was now facing the exit of the town square, but he was still unsure of whether or not should he proceed on to the hunting grounds. Zero HP here means death in both worlds. Risking it like that and only with a pitiful dagger like his... 

---

Rather than enjoying the game as she should, Ann was merely searching for her friend. When she tried to contact her through the menu, she would get a message saying that such a player did not exist. It was worrying, since she knew just how excited she was about the game. Still, Hikaru did buy a pirated copy instead of the original one with her friend, she wondered if that had anything to do with it. Ann wondered is she should just, grab some sword and go to the fields and see what she could do. Until she was forcibly transported to the town square, that is. Dumbfounded and scared, Ann was looking around and saw how more people were transported there, and then there was the blood falling from the ceiling, and the faceless monster now in the sky. 

She squated down and covered her head. _'I thought this was a sword game, not a horror game!'_ She thought as she tried to ignore the big monster that was now in the sky. It started saying things, things that seemed to be nonsense and yet, somewhere in her heart, Hikaru was afraid of them. There was no way to prove that dying in the game would also result in dead in real life, or that taking the Nervegear off would fry your brain. There were too many unknowns, and Ann didn't want to unravel them. She was fine just like that and, if worst came to worst, she could just hide in the safety of the town. 

Still squating down, she opened her inventory out of sheer curiosity, and hope. Maybe it was some kind of thing that would return the log out button. Maybe that guy was giving them a way out. **"A... mirror? What..?"** She gazed at herself. She made a character with long hair in the game with black hair, but she dropped the mirror as soon as the blue light surrounded her. She felt like screaming, but she didn't. Too many people were already doing that, and it was annoying to just hear them, but tears still rolled down her cheeks. When the blue light left her, she picked up the mirror and looked at herself. Yep, that was her all right. She touched her face, still unable to believe it. This time, she really was about to scream and leave the place running, but when she looked at her side, she saw a kid. A kid that was crying for her mom and shouting between sobs. 'I don't want to die!' He shouted. Ann suddenly couldn't believe herself. She was the adult and yet she was as unreliable as a kid. She quickly wiped away her tears and stood up. 

**"Hey, kid, you alone?"** She said after walking to where he was. The kid stopped crying for a while and nodded a bit. Ann smiled kindly at him. **"Then, why are you crying? Aren't you a man? Men are supposed to protect women in these kind of situations, aren't they? Take up their swords and be like 'You won't get away with it, evil man!'"** She posed exaggeratedly to go in accord with what she was saying. The kid was confused, regardless, but Ann held up her smile. **"If you don't do it, who will?"** The kid wiped away his tears quickly and then nodded at Ann. **"That's a good boy. Now, why don't we go search for anyone in need of a hero? I'm sure someone could use your help right now. Who knows, we might find your mom in the way."** She said and took the boy's hand. Now, just how the hell would she manage to keep this boy from doing anything stupid, now that she encouraged him?