1.Name of character- Kuroi Ai
2.Real world player- Yui Aihara
3.Age- 16
4.Class- Twin Blade
5.Clothing- She wears a rather tight black tanktop, which has a wide collar that starts at the middle of her neck and can be pulled up to cover her mouth, and extends to about three inches above her navel. Two belts the width of a ruler, with golden buckles, extend from over her each one of her shoulders and cross over her chest, then continue on her back. She has a small black belt around each arm, halfway between her shoulder and her elbow, that holds a long, skintight sleeve that stops at her wrist. Where the sleeves stop, she has a small black belt with a golden buckle holding black gloves that look at least three sizes too big. She wears baggy black pants, also appearing three or more sizes too big. They're held up by a single, large orange belt with a golden buckle that's fastened in the back, part of it sticking out from the buckle. Two smaller orange belts - one on the far left and one on the far right - are held to the large one by smaller triangular buckles and hang down, then continue to the back of the belt, where they're fastened by identical buckles at the same places as in the front. Her pants are tucked into her boots, which come halfway up her shin, and are black with red soles, fastened by three red straps at the top. She has identical red marks under her eyes that stretch from the corner of her eye near her nose to the corner of her eye near her ears. At the corner near her eyes, a line comes straight down, and at the corner near her ears, a line curves to meet the bottom of the first line; they resemble triangles with one curved side. She also has identical red marks on her shoulders, which is a line that comes down two inches, then curves outward and then back in, forming a swirl. On her stomach, she has a red circle just above her navel, then three lines that extend from the bottom of her top, and three that extend from the top of her belt, that go toward the circle, then curve around it and stop halfway before going all the way around. There are a few more strange markings on her stomach, which continue onto her back, where there are more markings than on here stomach.
6.Eye color- Golden yellow
7.Height- 5'7"
8Hair color- She has raven black hair that reaches to the middle of her neck in the back and bangs that come just under an inch below her eyes. Her hair is split in the middle, and her bangs cover half of her eyes.
9.Personality- Both in and outside of "The World," Yui is a recluse and a loner. She’s very cynical of others’ words, believing actions speak louder than words. Outside of "The World," she has few friends, and she values them more than her own life, though she still acts rather apathetic and aloof toward them. She puts a constant barrier around herself for fear of being hurt. As a result, she comes off to most as a cruel, heartless girl who cares about nothing and no one other than herself and her own gain. She’s been known to use people and then toss them aside like garbage. Yui has a quick tongue, and she’s easily angered, mostly because she has a problem with being told what to do, even if it’s for her own gain. Though she’s quick to anger, she never assumes and always takes her time in assessing the situation. Because of her distant attitude and the fact that she rarely speaks unless spoken to or she’s insulting somebody, most people assume that she’s stuck up, when actually, she’s quite shy. Even after getting to know her, Yui changes very little, and she opens up only as much as she has to. There are times when Yui can be extremely kind, which normally surprises those that know her, however, she only claims that she ‘only did what anybody else would have done.’ Yui’s not very feminine and seems to hate all things normally associated with the female sex, though she has a secret love of flowers. In real life, not many people know or speak to Yui. Contrary to her real life self, in "The World," Yui has a desire to be known by everyone. Her only goal is to level and become strong so people will recognize her.
10.Weapon/Armor-
Weapon – Steel Blades (Tiger Claws)
Head – Bandanna (Repth)
Arm – Wristbands (Juk Rom)
Body – Leather Coat (Gan Zot)
Feet – Sandals
11.Skills-
Tiger Claws
Repth
Juk Rom
Gan Zot
12. Black Love
“Tales of Symphonia, Radiata Stories . . . Oh! Tales of the Abyss? Hm... They even have Shining Tears? Lunar 2?” The boy stood up and turned around with a sigh, placing his hands on his hips. All these games were so old that it should be illegal to carry them. Still, they were interesting. “Oi! Yui-san! A little help here? We’re shopping for video games!” He’d been surveying over the bottom shelves for over ten minutes, and his back was starting to hurt from all the leaning. His legs were strong enough to hold him squatting for longer than that, but he moved around too much.

“I’m broke,” the girl replied flatly. It wasn’t as if she ever had money to begin with. She rarely bought things with her own money, since she rarely had any money to spend. She’d considered getting a job at one of the various video game stores she’d found, but no one would hire her. She was far too impatient to deal with those customers who knew absolutely nothing about video games. Not to mention that the money would go straight back to the stores. The few things she did buy with her own money were all video games.

“Yeah, well, you could help me choose one!” The boy turned around fully and crossed his arms. Of all of the racks, and shelves, and cases of video games, this girl didn’t seem interested in a single one. It was strange, actually. All Yui was interested in was playing video games - RPG games to be exact. She spent most of her time doing that, and when she was in school, she daydreamed about playing RPGs. Now that she seemed so uninterested in them, he wondered if something was wrong.

“I’ve beaten them all. If you really want them, I could just lend them to you,” she replied as unenthusiastically as ever. Without another word, she turned on her heel and left the shop. She didn’t really have anything to contribute to her friend’s shopping. Her opinion of the games meant nothing. The only thing that mattered was what the buyer thought. In the end, they’d form their own opinion, regardless of what anybody else thought. Often, Yui had gone against game reviews and ended up enjoying the game.

The boy sighed, slapping his forehead. “Mendokuse na...” Putting his hands in his pockets, he followed his friend out and trailed behind her. The feeling that something was bothering Yui grew stronger in the pit of his stomach, and now it bothered him. Yui wasn’t usually so generous to lend out her games, even old ones she’d beaten. Each one held a different part of her, a different memory, so she never really lent her video games out.

Yui could have cared less about the video games in the store. They were all old, retro, which she usually liked but had recently lost interest in. At the time, her sole interest was the hand-held in front of her. Her eyes were glued to the screen; so much so, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d blinked. She didn’t see the need to look up unless it was something important.

“Oi, Yui-san...” The boy scratched his head, a little unsure of how to approach such a subject. There was a moment of silence before he continued. “Are you okay?” Yui wasn’t the type to open up to others about her feelings. If she was sad, she’d never show it. The only emotion she ever openly exhibited was anger. If something was bothering her, she’d lie, and that’s how he’d know something was wrong.

“I’m fine,” she snapped, almost in a scary way. The inflection in her voice was that of a woman who obviously did not want to be bothered. Yui was easily angered when she was in a good mood. In a bad mood, she was a ticking time bomb just waiting to blow. The girl brushed back her silky black hair without looking up from her game and returned her voice to its original, emotionless tone. “And I told you to stop addressing me so formally.”

The boy sighed and shrugged. He could tell she was lying. It was confirmed now that something was definitely wrong. He ran his hand through the front of his hair, which was streaked blonde and faded as it went back. After scratching his head, he put his hand back in his pocket.“Yeah, I know, but it’s hard not to with an attitude like yours.”

Yui turned her head sharply, glaring at the boy behind her with a look of almost murderous intent. She looked like the embodiment of evil with her bangs covering one of her eyes. She looked like something from a horror movie on, except her clothes were normal. The two were still wearing their school uniforms, but it didn’t lessen the fear Yui struck into her companion with that look in her eye.“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing at all,” Sora replied quickly, laughing nervously. He tried to play it off as if it were nothing, as if it were a simple joke, but he knew something like that wouldn’t work on this girl. “Gomen ne. I’ll be quiet now,” he squeaked out, waving his hands at her. Yui pulled her hair out of her face again and turned back to her game.

The two continued their journey silently through the Akihabara for as long as they could before neither of them wanted to walk any further. Yui, of course, kept her complaints to herself, while Sora whined like a newborn. The pair decided to sit outside of a cosplay shop and rest. Sora leaned against the front window with a sigh and slid down to a sitting position like he was going to die. He’d taken off his jacket, and it was now tied around his waist, leaving the black T-shirt he had on underneath it. Yui kept her sweater on for the sole reason that she was too lazy to take it off. It wasn’t like it was hot outside. “Hey, Sora,” Yui began, “can I ask you a question?”

“Nani?” Sora turned to Yui, a sort of childish look on his face. It was rather surprising to him that she’d want to talk to him at all. He’d considered the possibility that it was a trap, and that she was trying to trick him into saying something he shouldn’t so she could take her anger out on him. Regardless, he was curious as to what she wanted to ask him. If he could be the one person she opened up to, he wanted to be.

“Have you played any good RPGs lately?” Yui sat with her legs to her chest and her hand-held on top of her knees. It was paused, though she really didn’t care if she died or not. She wasn’t as interested in the game as she seemed. The truth was that she was just bored. She had no job, no new games, and her parents were always away at work. She didn’t have the kind of dysfunctional family where her mother and father missed her birthday or things like that, but they were never around, and they’d never shown her the kind of true love most other children received. They seemed to think that video games could take the place of their love.

“A good RPG?” Sora stared at Yui for a moment before finally the light he’d been searching for in his brain went off. “Have you ever heard of “The World”? It’s an online game for the computer - an MMORPG.” Admittedly, Sora had never played The World himself, but he’d heard of it from a classmate a while back. Unfortunately, Sora didn’t have a computer, and he didn’t bother asking his parents for one, knowing full well they’d tell him that he should stop playing games so much and get a job to earn the money himself.

“'The World'?” She looked at the boy as stoic as ever, but she still managed to pull off a look of curiosity. Yui had a computer, but she never used it for gaming. She could never understand playing games on a PC. For that reason, she only ever used it for research, even though she most often preferred the computers in the library.

“You mean to tell me you’re an RPG gamer whose never heard of "The World"?” The thought made Sora crack a smile, though he was far too afraid to laugh. Even if he didn’t play "The World," at least he’d heard of it. It made him feel...special to know something about RPGs that Yui didn’t. Her father worked for a gaming company, so usually she knew everything and had all the newest games.

“Urusai.” Yui stood up, letting her game drop to the floor. “I’m going home. I’ll see you tomorrow,” was all she said before she started walking. She didn’t bother to go get her game. After learning at least that much about The World, she figured she didn’t need it anymore. If The World was indeed a ‘good RPG,’ then she wouldn’t need any of her old games.

"H-Hey! Yui! Wait up!" Sora reached out to the girl, but he figured it was best if he didn't follow her. He sighed. 'What a stubborn woman,' he thought. He picked up his friend's game and started playing it. "Well...at least she knows what she wants."

Entering through the front door of her house a few hours later, Yui kicked off her shoes and took off her sweater, leaving a white uniform shirt on underneath, along with her plaid skirt. She immediately headed for the ‘Cave of Wonders’ and began her search. The Cave of Wonders was actually just a closet that Yui has found a way to cram as much junk into as she possibly could. It was both a wonder how so many items could fit in such a small space and what she found inside. And, oh, what she found inside.

Yui took out a box and set it on the kitchen counter, located next to the closet. It said “The World”. It was a present Yui had received from her mother just a few days ago. She didn’t know what it was, so she tossed it in the Cave and forgot about it. There was a hole inside of Yui. It was one of those metaphoric holes that you don’t know what belongs in there until you actually find it. Yui hoped that she had found it.

After the four-hour process of setting up "The World," filled with taking breaks because she was too frustrated to continue and random ‘I don’t feel like doing this now’ moments, Yui was finally ready to begin The World. The question was: Was "The World" ready for Yui? The registration process was by far the easiest one. Yui had signed up for a few forums before, which she never went on, and she used the same name for each one.

Username: Ai Kuroi
Password: ******

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