Virtual Reality : Dystopian Tales Online

012.1 | Discrepancy

Leon woke up with a start.

It is a good day. The sun must be up already since visible specks of light can be seen sneaking in between the creases of the sable curtains. A distinct line of light streaks across the peaceful room, hitting the basal part of the bed. A person sitting on the top of the bed stared at this line of light for a while, examining the small dots of dust rising very slowly.

Leon had undoubtedly fallen into a daze. His gentle eyes remained on that specific section of the bed. It is relatively unusual since Leon wakes up with an active mind. He had never stayed in the bed and stared in midair, not even on times when he was lacking sleep. This unfamiliar state will undoubtedly make his family worry.

A knock roused Leon up. He subtly shifted his attention towards the door where another set of knocks came again when he didn't answer the first knock. The elderly butler is just calling Leon since the youth that often wakes up at five in the morning overslept today.

"Young master? Are you alright?" The butler asked.

Leon did not answer as he slips gently to the side of the bed and wore his slippers. He made sure to make his movements obvious, so the person on the other side of the door will hear. The butler tacitly understood the message and ceased knocking. He promptly checked his pocket watch and faithfully recorded the time.

Fortunately, today is a weekend, so Leon doesn't need to attend school. The butler reminded his young master that the kitchen had already prepared food. After hearing that Leon would be coming down, the butler left after a customary greeting. Leon stared wistfully at the door as he stood in the middle of the room.

He closed his eyes.

He can't see them. The numbers are gone.

The low-pitched beeping sound of his terminal bore him back. He walked towards his desk to recover his terminal when he inadvertently hit the swivel chair and almost stumbled forward. Fortunately, he held himself against the desk, or else he would have knocked his head to the edge of the table.

A sudden feeling of dread rose in his heart.

It must be only now that he realized that he had depended on the numbers in his whole life. He had thought that was annoying before. He could not see the world in its bare state; always seeing the numbers, calculating the values that he never wished to know.

As a person who instantly fell in love with mother nature, such rare sight wasn't impressive. Though, as he grew up, he got used to it. Leon came to appreciate the beauty in numbers that can scarcely be seen under the guise of nature. The chaotic rising and falling of numbers, as if dancing a solemn dance, will always make his heart feel calm and satisfied.

Yet, that ability seems not only limited to that specific aspect.

He must have averted many accidents and caught a couple of opportunities by just calculating the numbers. Even the straightforward way of not hitting the adjacent chair can be adjusted if he knows the possible chances of touching it. Without this ability, will he still be fine?

Leon slowed down his movement, afraid he would put himself in more danger. He sat passively on the chair carefully, then moved it towards the desk. He pressed the power button of the desktop computer that immediately started up. While waiting up for the booting process, Leon expanded the terminal and found Shin's contact number flashing on the screen.

Shin called once again, to which Leon immediately answered. A holographic screen amply showing Shin's face appeared. The other person already had their clothes, and appearance fixed that caused Leon to raise a brow.

"Good morning," Leon greeted him in a lax attitude."You woke up early today."

"Early?" Shin promptly checked the time on his clock. "What do you mean, early? It's already almost noon!"

"Noon?" Leon exclaimed in surprise.

He looked at the corner of the terminal and found the numbers that were closing to noon. Leon abruptly stood up and was planning to open the curtains to regard the state of the sun but stopped himself. He had been focusing on the numbers that seeing the bareness of his room made him feel strange.

Somehow, his room is relatively wide.

"Leon?" Shin called out. He noticed the abnormality of the person. "Is there a problem?"

Leon bobbed his head. He didn't want to describe anyone about outpacing abilities yet. He wisely rejected the idea of opening the curtains and faced Shin once again. He tried to act as normal as possible. His constitution is not visible from the start, so nobody will notice unless he states it.

Or if someone is keen enough to notice his uncertainty.

"There's none. I just overslept, that's all."Leon massaged his temples."I've seen the missed calls. I'm sorry I wasn't able to answer it. Why are you calling me?"

"Well..." Shin looked a bit hesitant. He gently scratched his chin while looking somewhere, then asked, "It might be embarrassing to ask this but..."

It is the first time Leon witnessed Shin like this, so he changed his posture to a solemn one to convincingly show that he was listening. However, Shin became fidgety instead. His eyes keep looking elsewhere as if the least interesting thing around him is his terminal. It made Leon more intrigued.

"If you don't want to say it, then it's oka-"

"Can you remember the month, day, and year when I confessed that I liked you?"

"..."

Leon instantly froze. He can see Shin blushing hard. This situation can't be retrieved if both of them will remain silent, so he adjusted his posture once more and gave Shin a reassuring look. He got candidly confessed by his best friend. Of course, he would recognize it.

"Yes, I remembered it very clearly," Leon affirmed.

"Then how about the hour, the minute, and the second?" Shin followed up.

"..."

Is that even necessary?

"You even recorded that?" Leon felt amused. How much did this guy like him?

"Of course, why would I not? After all, it is something to be remembered," Shin muttered.

Leon secretly thought that Shin was such a masochist. He rejected Shin's confession. Well, they are still both sixteen years old. They had only known each other for a year and are still very young to engage in such an intimate relationship. Even though their parents are both enthusiastic, it isn't enough to sufficiently convince Leon to fall into such a severe situation.

He carefully explained to Shin about this conjecture and the person accepted his steadfast refusal. Shin never opened the topic again, but he is certain that Shin will make another confession in the future. On what was Leon's answer at that time, well, it would be for his promising future self to decide.

So, why is Shin asking him these questions?

"So, what's up?" That is what Leon could only say.

Shin saw Leon wasn't against him talking about it. He avoided this topic since he was anxious that it would make Leon uncomfortable. Since he is alright, then there's no problem admitting his wrongdoings.

"Will you get mad at me if I see I forgot the day I said it?" he finally asked.

"Why should I get mad at it-" Leon stopped talking. His eyes widened with realization. He commanded Shin to reply to him honestly. "What else did you forget?"

"Will you believe me if I say that the only things I remember are anything about you?"

Isn't that completely forgetting about his whole life? Leon thought it was ridiculous. Well, if he forgot everything, then how could he accurately recall the key events that happened long ago? Leon knows that this is selective amnesia. At least Shin remembered something or it would become a problem.

Shin, a memory storage guy, forgetting about things is almost equal to a light bulb losing electricity. They don't know what the effect of this memory loss is on the entirety of his mental health. Leon is also worried about his state. This never happened in the past.

"Where are you now? Did anyone in your house notice any abnormality?"

Shin bobbed his head. "It seems that I always sleep in late, so nobody disturbed me in my room. I didn't head out and told the butler that I was playing games."

Leon felt amused. "I never thought that you had a bad morning mood helped you escape from suspicions this time."

Shin: ...

Is he not a morning person? Shin indeed felt a bit irritated when he woke up in the morning. However, it barely lasted for a few seconds before a feeling of nausea came over him. It is at that time that he realized he could not remember anything. His mind is blank, and everything around him feels foreign.

He woke up with amnesia.

Any average person would panic. It is part of human nature, and it will be normal for Shin to have that reaction. Though all he performed was walk around the room and examine everything around him. He found the drawer where he assumed he always stores things and discovered some useful information.

In one of his notes, he found Leon's name. Then, all the events about Leon flooded into his head. It is all jumbled out with sceneries playing in different timelines. He felt a very painful sting in his head, as if someone is drilling holes in it. Only after recovering almost everything with Leon did the pain lighten up.

Something must have blocked Shin's memory lane that caused him to overlook things. But since Shin's brain is constantly filled with unforgettable scenarios, the blockage wasn't enough that is then quickly pushed to the brim. Shin only needed to see the things that reminded him of someone to let the blockage be removed.

He can now merely remember Leon since it is the folder that possesses the most number of memory that easily overcame the blockage.

Leon thought of what should they do when he received a call. It is from the twins. Leon explained to Shin about the twins and what is their relationship. Shin nodded for a while before the person fell into a daze. He saw Shin's lips getting pale.

"Hey, what is wrong?" Leon inquired.

"No, it's just that I am recalling something." Shin held his head in his hand with his eyes closed.

Images of two children came into view. All the associated events where he met Marcus and Marlene flowed out endlessly from the void. The stinging pain is there that caused him to hiss. When he thought that his brain would finish recalling memories, suddenly a dull pain pushed the entirety of his head.

It is like someone stabbed a knife in his head.

Leon opened the call and found the twins looking at him. Both children are still wearing their sleeping clothes. Marlene, the extroverted of the two, greeted Leon with enthusiasm while Marcus is just lying sleepily behind her. It is unusual for the twins to call without reason.

"Is there anything you want from this big brother?" Leon asked.

"We're doing fine," Marlene swayed her head. "Brother Frass said that we call you to see if you're doing fine. We tried calling Brother Shin, but he is not answering our calls, so we directly went to you."

"Frass said?" Leon checked the other messages on his terminal and indeed found Frass trying to contact him. It has been covered by Shin's calls, so he wasn't able to notice. He replied an affirmation that is then quickly replied with an OK gesture from Frass.

"Anyway, brother Leon, I hope you could help us contact Brother Shin. He rarely missed any calls from us before, so I get concerned," Marlene said.

"Don't worry, we are actually chatting now. Shin, say something so the twins will believe it."

Leon moved the tab holding the video call of the twins to the side, so he could see Shin. However, instead of seeing a person, he perceives nothing but the ceiling. An awful premonition crawled into his heart that made him forcibly end the call with the twins.

He pressed something on his terminal that connected him to Shin's terminal. He activated the emergency body monitor, checking to see the condition of Shin's body. The analysis only lasted for five seconds and the result came out. The analysis showed that Shin had passed out.

Leon instantly changed his clothes and went out to see Shin. Throughout the process, Leon went from a noble and composed character to a clumsy and accident-prone character. He almost fell from the stairs for misjudging the length of each step and stumbled for missing the pebbles on the ground. The people watching him thought he was such a clumsy boy.

Fortunately, Shin lives in the similar neighborhood, so it didn't take Leon to arrive at Melville's family estate. The guards were already familiar with Leon, so he allowed them to enter easily. The butler also enthusiastically served Leon with all the drinks and tea. Leon rejected the formalities since he is only there to see Shin and lied that they will be going to the arcade.

The butler apologized on behalf of Shin and had Leon. The butler heaved a sigh as he watched Leon go up the stairs. No wonder Shin got rejected. He shouldn't let the person he likes to go over like that! He should be the one to take the first step!

The person in question did not know that his butler had tagged him as a poor young master with zero luck in love. Shin is busy being unconscious.

Leon opened the door of Shin's room using a spare key. He closed the door then immediately rushed towards the person lying on the floor. Shin is curled with his hands clenching on his hair while gritting his door,. Large beads of sweat formed on his forehead that dampened his bangs.

He must be in the process of recovering his memories now.

Leon stepped forward to help Shin lie in a comfortable position when suddenly a dizzy spell hit him. He took hold of the nearby bed and leaned on it. His eyes suddenly became spicy, then a skin-deep pain assaulted his eyes as if someone was scooping out his eyes.

This brought out the reflex tears that somehow lightened the pain. Leon blinked his eyes to ease the spiciness when he discerned something. With tears flowing unceasingly, Leon looked at his surroundings with opened eyes.

Familiar figures danced his eyes that started with a blurry image until it becomes clear. The numbers are in a very low negative number that is rapidly growing. Upon merely reaching the origin zero, the complex numbers became clear and started to slow down. It didn't take long for everything to settle down.

Leon felt extreme sleepiness and eventually lost consciousness.