That Time I Played A VRMMORPG.

Gram (Guramu) Kitamura lives at Kitamura Dojo, their family-owned business, or for short an inheritance from their great grandfather.

The Kitamura's didn't have any clan of some sort, just that they just own a training facility itself.

His father is a Japanese while his mother is a foreigner from a certain country, although his hair is still black, his defining characteristic is that his amber-colored eyes, also his name is different from the usual Japanese is that his given name is unique.

Although his look had mostly resembled his father at least he didn't inherit those muscles from his father. Luckily, his father gave him the genes, of a sharp-looking boy while looking like an 'ikemen' himself.

Usually, his father is busy training students, his brother is also helping with the much-needed work at the house. His mother was the same.

"You didn't leave much during the weekends, did you play games the whole day again?" His father glanced at him with a serious tone but he didn't sound angry.

Gram rubbed his chin and said. "Well- there's a new game but I have finished all my school work and assignments so you don't have to worry that I'm slacking."

Gram sincerely said, which made his father nod and look beyond, continuing reading the newspaper.

It was honestly a good time to take a break, although, trying out the VR game might get him addicted in the future but honestly, he wasn't that irresponsible to forget everything in the real world just because of the game. There was always a time for everything.

Menial tasks, just your everyday banter. Before he realized half an hour had already passed.

"Here's your lunchbox, I brought two parts so don't slack off at school." His mother winked and brought the homemade lunch, he prepared his shoes and dusted it off.

He did a light bow before he headed out. "Well… I'm going!"

"Take care~" With a loving and somewhat strict father, he has grown up more m.a.t.u.r.e than most, and even though he's quirky, he always uses his head when it comes to difficult situations. Like most boys, he hasn't become deviant, it might be because of his two sweethearts childhood friends that turn him away from that.

These days, the sunlight has already risen, it isn't hot nor any warm air is present. It signifies that spring has just come, making the environment temperature just enough to make you feel cool and somewhat pleasant.

"Nice weather to take a school walk~ I just wish it's always this breezy and chill." Gram thought to himself remembering how cold it was when just walking during the winter.

He walked for some minutes and quickly reached the school without trouble, it's probably one of the most normal days he had. It's usually like this, occasionally he would spot Kaede or Risa who take the opposite direction towards the school and meet up at the front gate.

It's just a ten-minute walk towards the school which didn't take a long time to traverse.

Passing through the school gates, he went towards the classroom not bothering other students walking by as he quickly arrived at his seat. His seat is by the last window seat a little away from Kaede and Risa who were also two seat apart from each other.

After this, he would start reading books because there was still time before the class started, he's early enough that he's the first one to arrive at the classroom.

Although, due to experiencing the VR game this weekend, he couldn't help thinking about it.

The new skills to gain and abilities he should prioritize first. After all, the game was so vivid and realistic that he would want to wield more skills and abilities like in a seeming fantasy world.

"Good morning Gram~" Risa who had appeared on the side took the initiative and gave heads up with a high five.

"Yo, good morning Risa, I assume you're finished with the assignment stuff?" Gram put down the book and looked at the cute ash brown-haired girl. Her hair reached her shoulders while a cute ribbon held upmost part of the back to make her much cuter and at the same time a little more serious.

Risa raised a fist and said, "Yeah, and with that done! I can finally play the game! Hey~ What level are you now?"

He grinned at her playfully, "Higher than you think~" Risa rolled her eyes and waved her hand.

The two who were talking immediately spotted a short-haired girl that entered the room and couldn't help but felt a little trance and stared at the unbothered girl.

Kaede showed up in the minute, she who had been daydreaming as she walked towards her seat like an automated robot. She then started grinning while resting her chin on the table. Kaede has fair skin and short black hair that extends beneath her chin, a ribbon held on of her hair as it could mystically bring itself in the game.

The most cutest thing that made her whole is the short ahoge that dangled on the top of her hair.

"Hmm~ hmm~"

Risa felt tsukkomi on her usual airhead friend as she approached and hand-chopped her head to wake her up.

"I wonder what you're grinning at〜!" Kaede lightly rubbed her head and gave a pout as she looked at her friend, but she realized that Gram's also here making her fluttery and red.

"I-It's nothing at all! H-Hey, g-good morning! Risa... G-Gram!" Kaede turned more ruddy, being a little timid while looking down a little, although, she kept glancing at both of them.

He looked at her lovely appearance, as he couldn't help chuckling at her display, he couldn't rub her head affectionately while in the classroom, so holding himself back, "Good morning Kaede~ did you bring your lunch today?"

Kaede's brain worked immediately before realizing she had made a big error, she rubbed her head with a wry expression, "Ahh! Iya~ I forgot… He~he."

He smiled and said, "I predicted this would happen so I brought another one, you are lucky mother made me two parts."

"Ehe~he... Thank's again~!" Kaede lightly rubbed her shyly while feeling shy, she didn't deny his offering.

She really liked the food his mother made, it's because it was full of cute, loved delectable homemade treats.

Risa showed a slightly irritated face and said with a light cough, "Ehem~ fufu… by the way, Kaede-kun, Gram-kun, I have a very important announcement today!"

Saying that, Riza bent her waist and swiftly approached. Clearing her throat, and going on her way of saying it. The two immediately did their part in the act, Kaede had returned to her usual bubbly self but every time he looked at her, she couldn't help but feel her heartbeat faster than usual.

"Humu!…What is it, Risa-kun. Your tension is high today." Kaede said in a manly comical voice.

"Hmm! Yeah~ It looks like you're in a good mood! I wonder what happened today?" Gram said, smiling.

"Right! That's right, you guys won't believe it! I had been allowed to play the game, today is that day! Hehe~he!" With a proud akimbo, she raised her head high.

The two clapped and said great words to the freedom of their friend, it seems the three of them were going to play now. Risa probably did her best to finish it on time, they knew how happy she was. And seeing her expression, Kaede and Gram did get affected by her vibrancy and congratulated a lot more than needed.

"As the person to ask the two of you to play, Ha~h at least I can now finally play the game."

"We can create a party~ Hehe~ looks like our DPS would shoot up again, don't worry I will protect you!" Kaede said happily while waving her hand in the air.

"Yeah~ to that, Kaede's becoming much more like the berserker you said she would be." Gram lightly added with a chuckle.

"What's with that! Didn't I tell you to not call me a berserker?!" Kaede looked at him with a cute pout.

Risa facepalmed, "So Kaede's learning game terms now.. You know, you're very reluctant when you start playing and now it seems you're already addicted."

"Well~ You two asked me, after all, ~ How could I decline… in the end, the game was so fun! He~hee." Kaede sheepishly said while taking a seat on one of the tables.

And then, Risa continued the talk making herself comfortable on one of the seats.

"My question before, what level are you two now?" Risa casually asked Kaede to smile and grin.

"E〜to〜…umm…t-to level 28. Gram is level 27. He helped me level up, he~he."

Risa got astonished but quickly looked at him with an understanding. But she looked at her and explained their adventures for a bit.

"Ohhhh〜… as expected, it seems she had awakened her gaming instinct, did you just give an explanation of level boosting?" She couldn't help but think about how fast they leveled up.

She had been looking at the website, informing her about the basics and rankings and getting to know that they were already half the level of the top player that had taken one month to reach the level.

"Noo~ I was the one who asked him!"

"Even if I wasn't present, she could easily take dungeons on her own. No one can damage her after all." Kaede was glaring at Gram while lightly blushing.

"As expected, who knew a newbie gamer could be so overpowered! Looks like Kaede's really addicted." Risa felt wowed and amused. She laughed merrily and at her joke, Gram also laughed.

Kaede cutely pouted, "Muhh~!" but afterward, giggled and didn't seem offended, already used to their jokes.

"If you had leveled it that much, then your character build has been decided right? You originally told me what build you will do, so did you continue with that?" Risa looked curiously as she rested her head on one of her hands.

"Un! I'm a full defense build, large shield user. Gram is a full-mage build while using a unique weapon gauntlet~" Kaede talked everything about her skills and status to Risa, she also told her about what he had been doing in her perspective.

"What's with that monster status build! As expected of Kaede, the direction of playing is too different~!" Risa, who didn't see any denial from the smiling male in the side, concluded that it's really true.

"Then what about your build, I assume it's also like hers?" Risa looked at him and asked.

He grinned and playfully said. "Me? Well~ There are many things but I don't mind sharing you~"

Gram found Risa quickly taking a serious look. It seems she's still a little competitive and wanted to take measures against him. She didn't mind being brazen towards this male since they had known each other since childhood.

He told him the details that made her eyes widen. "Wah~ That's too OP! How come you're allowed to create your spells so willy-nilly?!" Risa said out loud that made her cover her mouth but she quickly recovered and looked at him with a hint of fiery spirit.

"It just happens… I'll be supporting the two of you, so take a different build, and see what happens." Risa's competitiveness takes a dump, she really wanted to compete on DPS with this guy when she started but he seems to really want to become a supporter. She currently didn't know that he could cast many overpowered skills.

"His skills are really~ really good~, just using one give me another skill and it's also really awesome~!"

"Un, I mean, what you two did is something the developers didn't take in mind. Ah〜…it would be hard to catch up with this huh…" Risa crossed her arms and took a serious thinking expression.

"You could do the same thing if you want… Gram did also." Kaede recommended with a hearty smile.

When Kaede said that, Risa tightened her crossed arms but afterward made a cross sign on her hand and grinned while she shook her head.

"You two are different, the paths you did are similar but. I don't mean to brush off the skills that you told me! Well…I'll uses it as a hint on getting strong skills though. Let's keep that as is.."

Gram asked, "So you won't specialize in one status point?"

Kaede looked at her curiously, "Yeah~ Then what will Risa do?"

"I'm going to choose what I said before. Since you two specialized in tank defense and magician support with firepower, then~ The only I could think of is a high-speed based attacker!"

"Great! We need someone to be hasty in the battlefield, take on those long-range attackers and nonsense!" Gram said feeling elated, he hated those fast and speedy characters, that's why he even made a skill that had homing abilities, it's to deal with those long-range builds.

"I thought you're the one who would be better in that kind of build? In the first place, why did you go for the mage build?" Risa looked at him a little confused.

Gram made a pose of 'tehepero', "Well, I didn't like moving too much.. Ehe~"

"You wasted your martial training, how lazy you are!" Risa looked at him with a leer.

Gram waved his hand lazily as if in a casual denial. Kaede rushed and asked her friend.

"Nee~ Risa, what equipment would you pick?"

"That's simple! I just picked a shield and dagger! It'll make the enemy's attack focus on me, and I'll nullify their attacks by dodging when worst comes to worst I'll be able to use my shield."

Kaede made a questioning look, "Ohhhh!! So cool!...but, if it's a shield, I think I'm better suited for that?"

"Why not focus on both short daggers? It'll increase your firepower. I'm going to support you after all." He said.

Risa thought about it and agreed. Right, it cannot be helped if shield classes gather, Kaede had shields, Gram might have shields like magic stuff while she also thought of having one.

"Because I want to experience the most difficult~est, build!" Risa tends to prefer selecting achievement requirements that are truly difficult. And that made her become that competitive when it comes to the lax Gram, and although always relaxing and cool, is usually talented in games even comparable to professional players.

The cause might be because of his early training, increasing reflexes and reaction speed.

Gram looked at her in shock, although he was just joking, "Are you an M? Even in a VR game~"

Risa with a head chop on his head, although he was taller than them, she could easily do so when he's seated, while he rubbed his head, he heard her speaking.

"What 'M'?! The highest level is always what I decided to challenge. Don't worry, I won't lose out in terms of firepower and it's much cooler than just standing open at the back."

He didn't take it in mind, "Haha! Then agree to become a dagger specialist only.. Focus on evasion and increasing AGI, I'll give barriers and at some point what shield you use doesn't matter much since you'll be focusing on evading and might be taking aggro on the backlines of the enemy, surely that will make your blood boil!"

"Kuh! A party like that, whatever fight it is, no damage! I'll be taking all damage, Gram at the back supporting and attacking while Risa's going to be zigzagging in the back-lines! And always unscathed! How is that? Isn't that cool?" Kaede imagined that scene and swung her head cutely.

She was so excited even her arms were swinging, accompanied by her cutely dancing ahoge. He really wanted to pet her head but he couldn't do so with the emerging students coming to the room.

"Ahh! I'll think about it but I'm still going to take a shield as one of my default weapons when the time comes, I'll change to what you said." Even if she did change, it's still the most difficult~est.

After all, reaction time and attack speed are purely based on the ability of a person in real life.

It's something she always finds when playing different games and instantly selecting the hardest difficulty.

"Do your best! I'll just have to increase my defense powers right!?" Kaede asked, which made the two smile and agree with a nod.

And after that, they promised to play tonight, the conversation ended as the teacher emerged in front, they went back to their respective seats with happy smiles.

Risa thought to herself, "Dodging… kuh~ it's really exhilarating when you think about gliding on the air. I also like the difficulty of it, alas he picked the mage because of Kaede.."

Risa always would want to challenge Gram on different games, that's how their friendship became much closer to the point of having accidental embarrassing mishaps that reddened her ears. Though she has an outgoing personality she's really bad when it comes to personal relationship on different s.e.x.

Though she removed the embarrassing scenes in her head, she started getting excited about their adventure later. She couldn't help but pray for today's class to end very quickly.

Dodging in a very small margin and defeating the enemy, just imagining doing that.

An example of her build would be that magic is shot tens of times in high accuracy. High-speed combinational attack while dodging and trying the utmost 100% ability to evade.

"It gives me shivers in my spine…! Hurry up class studies!" Risa trembled in excitement, as she thought of the things she could do in-game.

In the meantime, classes quickly passed by and the trio ate their lunch at the rooftop. There were other students that ate at the rooftop and they were the same.

Risa stood up, radiantly smiling at the sunshine, "At last it's nearly half the day before I can play the game! Ku~hh! I'm so excited that I can't help thinking about it during the lessons."

Kaede giggled, "Looks like someones going to get addicted to the game as well~"

Gram added, "You might be the only one addicted here! I'll guess, we'll have to limit ourselves when playing the games, or you'll become a neet in the future!"

"Ehh~ why?"

He lovingly patted her head, not even embarrassed being seen by their friend, "Let me get that Kaedetium first!"

"Wah~"

Gram rubbed her head affectionately, "Things are different from reality, you must not forget that it's just a game even if it's realistic, it's still a video game in the end."

Kaed who was beside him nodded while looking a little timid, "Un… But we still have to play many times in the future right?"

"Hmm… don't worry!"

"Ehem~"

Gram looked and beckoned to their friend, "You want me to gain some of that Risatium as well?"

Risa immediately looked at the side and twirled her hair, "That's… noo~ I don't need it!"

"Risa's so cute ehe~he, quickly pat her head!"

"Here~"

At their usual small talk and teasing, the classes passed quickly. They said goodbye and returned to their respective homes, more excited than usual.