"Sounds like you're stuck here for the next hour or so." Cyprian snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Well, that was my last class of the day," Arashi informed. "So I should probably go back to my dorm and link up to my actual TGS. I'm in the computer lab right now."

"Tch!" Cyprian laughed. "An obsessive player, huh?"

"Not at all," Arashi laughed. "I'll be back in 30 minutes, tops. Think you can wait that long?"

"What makes you think I'd wait for you?" Cy asked.

"I don't," Arashi admitted. "But I'm hoping."

With that said, he logged off.

--SCENE BREAK--

The dorms were packed, but Haru was lucky enough to have one to himself and with a bathroom even.

He made sure to lock the door - if someone came in, he couldn't defend himself fast enough while linked in - and dropped his bag onto the bed, falling back onto it himself.

"I really hope he waited," He admitted to himself, before reaching over and grabbing the TGS that was wired in to his laptop.

He hooked one over his right ear and the other over his left, before taking the third cord and connecting it around his throat. It dug into the back of his neck, stinging a little but making all the difference as he was logged in to town and could actually smell the NPCs cooking and the sea air.

What exactly was the code for saltwater? How could a computer really translate and synthesis such a scent? The technology that went into the making of The Game was just phenomenal.

Then again, he knew part of it - it wasn't too hard to understand, really... the code was wired into his brain, telling him that he was smelling salt water. It was a common enough sent that he knew it... he was relatively sure if he'd never been to a beach, he wouldn't be able to smell it at all.

But he really didn't know... it was just a guess.

He spotted two forms he recognized and began to approach, before he realized that Ukeru and Cy were fighting and hung back, frowning.

Haru wasn't the only one to notice, they were drawing in a little bit of the crowd, but a lot of people were just hanging back or moving on. It didn't pay to get into the squabbles of high-level characters like those two.

Most players couldn't hear what they were saying because they were filtered into guild chat - their shouting just looking like empty movements of their mouths - but seeing as he was in their guild, Haru heard every word.

"I don't care!" Ukeru was shrieking, sounding a bit heart broken. "I still like seeing him!"

"You know this is just like you, I don't know HOW you keep surprising me with crap like this!" Cy shot back.

"Why are you surprised!?" Ukeru snapped. "I love him, stupid, of course I want to be around him!"

"I'm not wasting anymore of time." Cy shook his head and started to walk away.

"What is your problem!?" Ukeru shouted at his retreating back. "What is so wrong with me hanging around Pin, Ben!?"