[img]https://i.imgur.com/10yVdb7.png?1[/img]

[color=fff2bb]"Khh..! So close!"[/color] Toshinari said through clenched teeth.

It was an ordinary day, and for Toshinari, ordinary days often meant staying at home and playing video games in the sanctuary that was his own room. Of course, even if it felt like one, Toshinari's room hardly resembled a sanctuary of any kind: clothes he had worn days prior hung lazily on his desk chair and bed, game cases were haphazardly strewn across the wooden floor, and Toshinari had planted himself right in the centre of the chaos that was his room, gripping a controller with an expression of pure focus plastered upon his face.

The blonde haired boy had recently become enamored with a game called [i]Light Spirits[/i], an infamously famous game both praised and reviled for its difficulty. Toshinari had heard good things about the game from his decidedly small friend group, and opted to take the plunge and give it a try. In spite of the difficulty of the game, Toshinari had—up until this point and one before—taken to the game like a duck to water; it embraced and encouraged his cautious decision-making while simultaneously rewarding his patience. Hell, the game even let him run a warrior class like he always did when playing RPGs. He was already several hours into his first session, slaying creature after creature with slightly-less-than-reckless abandon—and he had even managed to clear a couple of bosses already, too.

Of course, the universe didn't want him to see too much success in the game, and as Toshinari had finished killing a particularly tough enemy, the dreaded string of words appeared at the bottom of the screen.

[b][i]Shadow spirit xXDark_SlayerXx has intruded![/i][/b]

[color=fff2bb]"Shit...! It's him again!"[/color] Toshinari began to sweat bullets. It was his reckoning.

In no time at all, the half-naked, shadow-clad enemy player descended upon the greenhorn Toshinari for a second time, arms raised in a taunting manner as Toshinari's corpse faded to dust. 

[color=fff2bb]"Damn it! I was carrying so many spirits!"[/color] 

The blonde-haired boy set his controller aside and buried his head in his arms to contemplate his ruinous demise.

[color=fff2bb]"That was the same taunt as last time, too..."[/color]

His sad ruminations went on for a grand total of five minutes, before he decided it was time to pick himself up and do something else. He pressed his hands to the ground to lift himself up, but where he should have felt hard wooden flooring, he instead felt the subtle give and coarse texture of...

[color=fff2bb][i]...Grass?[/i][/color] 

Toshinari lifted his head, and his gaze wasn't met by a TV screen, nor did he see his console—or even his room. Instead, the boy was face to face with a large rock comfortably nestled in the ground. He jumped to his feet and scanned his surroundings in surprise and confusion.

[color=fff2bb]"Eh? This isn't my house."[/color] An astute observation, if he said so himself. Had he been ruminating for longer than he thought? No, that still wouldn't explain how he got outside—in the middle of nowhere, no less. His contemplation was cut short by the sounds of voices on the other side of the rock. Toshinari peered from behind it, spotting several strangers only a few feet away. 

Did they have something to do with this? He had to find out.

[color=fff2bb]"Hey, who are you people?"[/color]