Hataki

Hataki couldn’t deny what Shira said. There isn’t much they could do with what they have. They need more mats or some Col before they can think of buying some gear. However, he wasn’t sure if going further into the grasslands was a good idea. They are still level 1 after all. His gaming instinct urged him to go further, to test the limits. However, the stakes were too high. Especially because he has Shira with him. He might not show it, but if something happened to her, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.

With a heavy sigh, he shook his head. “No! I don’t recommend that. We should probably go to the border on the other side and look for more mats there. Let’s play safe; our life is on the line here.” He then started walking back towards the entrance of Town of Beginnings.

Another ten minutes of scanning, and Hataki found nothing but grass, some rocks, and more grass. At least they haven’t run into any monsters yet. Finally, he just gave up and lay on the grass, looking up at the shining sun. The view was beautiful. This game could have been the biggest revolution ever in the history of gaming and many other fields. But it is now highly unlikely that anyone would attempt to use this without prejudice; at least not for the next decade, not until this mishap is eventually forgotten.

The word ‘forgotten’ reminded him that he was forgetting something. Of course… He quickly stood on his feet and began his search for more materials; he had completely forgotten about the challenge. She probably has a million metal in her inventory by now. Cursing his poor memory, he circled the area around him for anything that shined; he had finally given up on tossing rocks ꟷ good for him.

When few more minutes of careful scanning gave him nothing, he just gave up. “Alright! I’m done with this. I can’t find anything.”

“Aha! Yes. A little competition should make this boring task more tolerab-.” Before even he could finish his sentence, Shira had found another piece of metal. Hataki was awestruck. This girl is not only prodigal, but is also extremely lucky, he thought to himself. According to the guidebook, finding these metal pieces isn’t as easy as Shira is making it out to be; most of them are found only near groups of mobs, hence forcing the players to actually fight them before collecting the mats. Why does she make everything seem so easy?

Determined to find more mats than her, Hataki went deeper into the grasslands. Maybe this competition wasn’t a great idea, considering he is someone who gets carried away very easily. Hopefully, they won’t run into any trouble; dying on the very first day of the game wouldn’t be very great, not that dying any day is.

Desperate to find something before Shira gets her hands on another one of those metals, Hataki literally flipped every stone he saw. But no! Lady luck was reluctant to look his way this time. He found nothing but grass and insects hidden between them.

“Yes… It is a drag. But unfortunately, we do not have an option,” Hataki responded absent-mindedly as his thoughts wandered to his family. He was sure they would have been informed by now. His mother’s ‘I-told-you-so’ voice echoed loudly in his head; she never really liked games much. It’s not like it’s his fault. Apart from him, nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine people have been trapped in this death game. And some of them are no more. Suddenly, the reality struck him. This is a disaster; a man-made disaster. These people did not have the slightest clue… Akihiko Kayaba is truly a madman.

Hataki was brought back to his senses by Shira’s question. “Oh… Crafting mats mostly. We’ll need a better weapon and some armour before we can start fighting mobs. Now, don’t ask me who is going to forge our weapons and armours. That, I have no clue about. One step at a time…”

The brunet man chose his path very carefully; he had no plans of engaging any mob right now. Hence, they were limited to the close border region around the town. After a couple of minutes, he heard Shira call out to him, saying she found something. Hoping it was something worthwhile, he quickly walked up to her and looked at what she was pointing at. “Ah… Great! You found some metal. We can use this for your weapon. Go on! Take it. Finders keepers."

Leaving Shira to take up her metal, Hataki went a little ahead to see if there is something more they could take. And voila! He was lucky. He did find more metal further behind the rock. He gave a holler towards Shira and went on to take the metal he found. "I got lucky too!" he grinned.

For a moment, Hataki couldn’t figure out Shira’s reaction. It went from fear to admiration and then back to fear. He couldn’t understand what part of this situation was admirable, but he chose not to question that.

Hataki grinned widely and shook his head in disbelief when she brought up fighting the boar two minutes after hearing that they could die for real if they died in game. He wasn’t sure if he should be happy that he found someone as crazy as him or if he should be worried about her; after all, technically, she is in this mess because of him. If nothing, he should stick with her and ensure she gets of this alive.

“Unfortunately, no! While I would love the adrenaline of fighting a digital monster that could potentially kill me, I don’t want to die yet. And more importantly, I don’t want you to die.” Somehow, he felt responsible for her. Taking a deep breath, he looked into the still chaotic crowd at the plaza. “Well… Firstly, we need to level up. Maybe we can do some minor quests that don’t involve combat. I’ll check the guidebook if there are any quests like that. Secondly, we need to gather better equipment. We should ensure there is a good level margin between us and the mobs we fight. That way, the probability of our survival is high. Of course, all this if we are truly stuck in this place for long. My guess is, the officials will find the server soon and log us all out in a couple of days, max.” He was sincerely hoping that will be the case.

“Anyway… Let’s get out of here. We’ll check the outer rims of the town to see if we can salvage something of value. Maybe we’ll get lucky. Meanwhile, I’ll also stay on the lookout for the type of quests I mentioned.” With that said, he would begin walking towards the town exit and then carefully outwards, in search of materials.

Hataki laughed hard at the words ‘we’re going to win every fight.’ This is exactly what he meant by lack of experience. Games aren’t designed to be that way. Players will fail and try again; that’s how they learn, that’s how they grow as gamers. But he didn’t want to say anything now and pop her bubble. Instead, he just smiled and nodded. “As you say, my lady,” he would say, bowing down to her like she is a queen; clearly, mocking her for humour’s sake.

“Sure, I understand. You have me on your friends list; so, ping me whenever you get online if you wanna party up with me,” he would say, in response to her wish to log out after an encounter with a boar.

As they began walking towards the exit of the Starting City, Hataki heard a deafening noise and the ambience of the surrounding changed rapidly to a blood red. Looking around, he finally spotted the source of the noise; it was up on the clouds. Something red, like blood, seeped out of an invisible wall and finally took the form of a gigantic cloak. Like everybody else in the place, he too thought this was an event planned for the inauguration of the game. But… what followed was rather horrifying.

At first, Hataki just wanted to laugh at the Game Master’s words. “Haha! Did someone hack the server or something? This is hilarious.” He swiftly accessed the menu to check if the logout button is active. And… it wasn’t. The smile on his face faded. It then turned into horror as the GM showed them news articles about how people ignored the warning and ended up dying. At this moment, Hataki began to wish he was in a dream. No no no! This can’t be happening. Further, to top it all off, the players’ appearance was changed to that of their real world’s. And that confirmed what he feared; this isn’t an event, it is real. These ten thousand people are now stuck in this world. Madman! He just wanted to play God for the world he created and we are tricked into being his subjects now. All the admiration he had for the creator of the game vanished instantly.

Realizing the kind of panic this is going to induce among the crowd, he quickly pulled Shira away from the centre and into a quiet alley. And just as he suspected, loud cries, wails and chaos took over the plaza with thousands of horrified gamers. “Hey… Are you okay? Listen… Don’t be scared. I doubt it is real; but even if it is, the cops will do something about it soon IRL."

Haru… No! Hataki wasn’t offended at all when Shira laughed at his hair. This was exactly what he was going for: different, exotic, memorable. Where is the fun otherwise? When she mentioned she liked his real-life look better, he took it as a compliment and laughed it off.

Noticing Shira accessing the menu and equipping her weapon, he followed suit. His two-handed sword was nothing fancy, but he hadn’t hoped for anything better; it is starter gear after all. However, he was rather disappointed with the starter clothing they were given. He knew this thin layer would save him from nothing and the item description confirmed his suspicion.

Hataki grinned widely when he heard the excitement in Shira’s voice. “Soon! Very soon. I can’t wait to start playing either. But before that, I suggest we read this tiny little Guidebook provided to us for free by the Beta Testers so that we are well-informed about the mobs we might fight.” Saying that, he accessed the Guidebook from his inventory and flipped it open. “Let’s see… Umm… There! The weakest mob we can fight is a Frenzied Boar. Woah! And it has higher damage than a starting level player? That is crazy,” he said, with clear disbelief in his voice. “This game is not going to be a walk in the park. That is for sure!”

“Well… We have to start somewhere. So what if we take a risk and die. We’ll respawn back here and then we can try again. What say you? Let’s go kill ourselves a boar?” he would ask with a wink, gripping onto his two-handed sword.

The response to his friend request was almost immediate. This made him wonder if he had kept her waiting for long. With a quick flick of his hand, he opened the map, tracked her location, and began walking towards her. From what he noticed during the tournament he held, he knew that Shira had quite the aptitude for gaming; she was a natural, but she lacked experience. Hence, he took it upon himself to guide her through this game, and make her a formidable gamer. Why he put himself to such a task is beyond anybody. But hey! Who wouldn’t like to have such great talent as a partner? It is an MMO after all.

When in vicinity, he noticed that Shira is a red-haired, beautiful girl. No surprise there. She is beautiful even in real life, a voice in his head echoed. Shaking it off, he put on a smile and waved at her. “Hi there! Sorry if I kept you waiting for too long. Got caught up in character creation,” he said. “And… Congratulations on winning the tournament. Never got to say it back IRL; those guys kinda pushed us into the game immediately after."

Haru couldn’t control his excitement as the words ‘Link Start’ initiated a colourful sequence, which eventually landed him in the character creation interface of Sword Art Online. He had waited for this for way too long. The RPG genre always held a special place in his heart; he took his own sweet time, carefully sculpting a lanky avatar with lean muscles and a handsome face. While the physique of his avatar was not much different from him, he went completely crazy with the eye colour and hairstyle. Figuring there is no point in having realistic features in a virtual world with diverse options, he chose bright purple eyes and unkempt light green hair.

Once he was satisfied with the appearance of his avatar, the next step was to choose a username. This was a simple task for him; he had always played all online games with the same username: Hataki. It was a simple mix-up of his real name and was quite famous among many gamers from other MMOs. He sure would like to keep up the reputation if possible.

Taking control of his avatar felt amazing. He tried moving his limbs, jumping, running, crouching; everything felt very natural. He couldn’t help but be amazed at the technology. Furthermore, to top it off, the graphics was perfect; it felt as though he had been transported to another world. He was snapped out of his admiration as more and more players started appearing. And that reminded him that he promised to find Akira once he logged onto the game. Quickly opening the menu, he sent a friend request to the player ‘Shira’, which Akira said will be using as her username.

Profile

Username: Hataki

Real name: Hatsuharu Akimoto

Age: 23 Years

Gender: Male

Height: 5’ 10”

About: When posed with the choice of being an over-achiever or an average guy, Haru chose to be the average guy with glee. Haru’s parents saw so much potential in him; he was great at anything he tried. Hence, they encouraged him to develop his skills, hoping that one day he might become a significant figure in the human history. But, Haru had no such plans. He loved videogames. While he had a great aptitude for many things, he craved a simple, average life, where he could earn for his living and play games as much as he wanted. His well-wishers didn’t understand this and he grew tired of disappointing everybody around him.

Eventually, Haru’s parents understood that he does not want to work hard; while this didn’t make them very happy, they did not love him any less. Haru continued to enjoy his carefree, simple days from then on. He finished schooling with decent grades and dabbled on many things for almost a year before deciding to start a videogame-themed bar in the nearby beach, called “The Gaming Shack”. He was both the owner and the bartender in this place. Eventually, he expanded the shack and built a gaming club on the first floor. This little building pretty much became his own small world.

Every weekend, he held huge gaming parties and tournaments; his events got very popular and almost all gamers in the region knew of the place. The release of Sword Art Online was a huge news to him and his friends. And like before the release of every other huge game, he had his own party planned. He secured two copies of SAO along with two sets of Nervegear. One was for his personal use. The other was going to be given as a prize for the pre-release tournament he was going to hold.

Since there were only 10,000 copies of SAO, and it was sold-out almost instantly, on the day of the tournament, his shack was filled with eager gamers who couldn’t get their hands on one. He had to hold several knockout rounds with the most difficult games he had ever played to find that one skilled and lucky winner. And what do you know? The winner was a girl, who wasn’t even a serious gamer. This is where he met Akira Nakashima, a prodigal gamer, and unknowingly ushered her into the world of SAO along with himself.

The countdown began, and both Akira and Haru put on their Nervegear while the crowd cheered them on. …3 …2 …1 Link Start!

Virtues:

» Philanthropic: Haru greatly believed in possessing just enough. He would go out of his way to help those in need and wouldn’t think twice even if it puts him at a disadvantage. His philanthropic ideals have earned him a great respect among his peers and the society. In SAO, especially because it is a death game, he would be more than happy to share his resources with everyone to ensure maximum survival rate.

» Calm: There are very few things that would make him mad. Even in the direst of situations, he somehow finds the strength to remain calm and quickly think about the next course of action instead of panicking. He always encourages his fellow gamers to not rage and take it easy. When the truth about SAO was revealed, he was among the first to recover from the shock and help those who couldn’t cope with the fact yet.

» Idealistic: Haru is mostly focused on how the world should be than how it actually is. One can find him constantly bickering about how unfair the world is and how nobody is batting an eyelid about it. He strives to make his surroundings as ideal as possible and encourages everyone around him to do so too. While there is hardly anything ideal about the situation he is currently in, he still does what he can to make it as ideal as possible.

Flaws:

» Stubborn: Haru can sometimes be so stubborn that it could be called obsessive. Once he sets his mind on something, it is usually impossible to stop him from finishing it. Luckily, he hasn’t faced any challenges due to his stubbornness that could be a potential threat in his real life. But, now that he is in SAO, things are different. His stubbornness usually manifests when his idealistic principles are wronged, thereby making him an easy target for those trying to rile him up.

» Reckless: The most he enjoyed about gaming was the fact that he could do anything he wanted, and if he failed, he could try again. This meant he could be reckless and get away with it. Unfortunately, this attitude reflects in his personality too. Even though he knows he is in a situation where virtual death equals death in real life, the line is still too blurred for him to be on guard and he gets carried away easily. He is often found on the verge of impossible tasks; coupled with his stubbornness, this could be a really huge problem in SAO.

» Unambitious: There really is nothing that Haru wants to achieve in his life. He is happy with his simple life and doesn’t look beyond that. He lacks motivation, or rather, doesn’t find motivation in anything. Most of his actions are solely based on his desires and are not usually goal-oriented. Even in the game, while most people are looking for a way to get out of SAO by somehow defeating the game, he simply plays the game for fun and hopes that the officials in the real world will do something about it.

Profession: Professional Tailor (Rank III)

Skills

Used SP: 10 | Unused SP: 1

Utility & Mobility:

»

Combat:

» First Aid [Rank 1]

Weapon:

» Two-handed Great Swords [Rank 1]

Armor:

»

Inventory:

COL: 800

Weapons/Tools:

» 1 x Nebula Cleaver [Equipped]

Armor:

» 1 x Event Horizon [Equipped]

» 1 x Dragon Bone Cuirass [Equipped]

Accessories:

»

Consumables:

» 8 x Bread

» 14 x Water

Roleplays:

» [PP-F1] The Rite of Passage (Shira) [Complete]

» [PP-F1] I Can Make My Own Damn Sword (Hataki) [Complete]

» [PP-F1] Gotto Cover Oneself Up! <<Earning a Living>> (Shira) [Completed]

» [PP-F3] <<Worn Out Welcome>> Done Holding Back (Shira) [Complete]

Relationships (optional):

» Shira [Acquaintance]

Story Thus Far (optional):