introduction log.

[falsitates]

JUNE 1, 2021

The first day of summer - it’s unbearably hot. Temperatures are high and relentless, and without a single cloud in the sky, the sun blazes down heavily on the unlucky few stuck outside.

Weather predictions warn of an intense heatwave that’ll last all week long. The young and elderly are advised to stay indoors and hydrated, and anyone with the symptoms of a heat stroke is urged to head straight to the city hospital. Schools are temporarily closed until new air conditioners can be installed, and businesses come to a slow grind as many call out sick from heat exhaustion.

The city warns that it’s going to be a long seven days.

  NEWCOMERS

You wake up.

You’re left to your own devices. You have a vague memory of the last few moments of your time back in your world, in familiar surroundings, but you’re now somewhere new. Whether you’ve awoken on an unknown rooftop, in a stranger’s bedroom, behind cell bars, or under six feet of water - you know that you’re no longer at home.

You’re on your own for the time being. You must escape whatever predicament that you’ve found yourself in and find answers to your own questions. What brings you here? How did you arrive? What happened to your friends and family? You have an hour to explore and speak with the people of this world before your time runs out.

Something then vibrates in your pocket.

  RESIDENTS & NEWCOMERS

Your phone vibrates.

It buzzes incessantly until you pick it up, but when you look at the screen, it’s blank. It will not turn on, no matter how hard you press the buttons. It’s possible that it overheated and shut down, but it’s unusually cold to the touch, almost as if you’re touching a brick of ice. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, white text appears on a black background.

Decryption confirmed.

Condition green.

Booting program.

The screen goes dark once more. Seconds later, new words are typed.

WELCOME TO [ AVA ]

→ MISSION 001
HEAD TO THE CITY CROSSWALK BY 1500. FIND THE [ OTHERS ]. YOUR REWARD WILL BE ANNOUNCED THEN. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.

  WELCOME TO [ AVA ]

You can't avoid the mission; you don't have any choice. Any attempt to ignore or avoid it is futile, as convenient coincidences occur all around you as a motivator to go.

Did you have work? For some inexplicable reason, your shift has been cancelled. Were you trying to get some rest? The fire alarm went off and you were evacuated from your home. Did you attempt to travel to another part of the city? The sidewalks and roads have been closed due to a sudden blackout.

No matter what you do, you are compelled to head to the city crosswalk.

For the middle of the afternoon, it's unusually quiet and empty. Despite the heat warning, there should still be more than just a handful of you and a few others, but you won't have the time to ponder about it. Your phone finally reboots and appears to be back to normal - or so it seems. You've got a new app.

[ AVA ]

It's an icon with a white eye. It stares at you, and the screen remains frozen until you press it. It then starts the initialization process.

WELCOME TO [ AVA ]

PEACEFUL DAYS ARE OVER

ALEA IACTA EST

The text vanishes, revealing the app's interface. It's an online social media network with public forums and private messaging, but it's completely devoid of content. It currently only contains the user profiles of those who have signed up for the app, and you are one of them. Your full name, date of birth, personal address, height, weight, and a mugshot that you don't recall taking are all listed on your profile.

You quickly discover that you have no way of deleting or even editing your information. You can't even get rid of the app. The option simply does not exist.

Minutes after opening [ AVA ], you receive a notification. There have been two new forum posts. MISSION 002 and MISSION 003 are the names of the new threads. You open them to read.

→ MISSION 002
NEWCOMERS, WELCOME TO VITAE. YOUR GOAL FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS IS TO SURVIVE. IF YOU ARE ALIVE TO SEE THE MIDDLE OF THE MONTH, YOU WILL BE GREATLY REWARDED.

→ MISSION 003
RESIDENTS, BE AWARE OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE THIS CITY. ONLY TRUST THE PEOPLE YOU KNOW. YOUR COMPENSATION WILL BE PROVIDED IN TWO WEEKS' TIME.

These threads allow you to leave comments. What do you do now?

Comments

[whiteshroud]

Good thinking, it's too hot out there.

[He rather Noah not actually faint!]

Allergies? No, I don't think so. What about you?

[morient]

I'm allergic to peaches. But if you're not allergic to anything, I think there's no need for other special arrangements. [ taps his chin. He seems to have most of the basics down. It's not like Jun doesn't know daily living.

The two of them talk for a while until the sun finally goes down and the outside temperature ceases being dangerous. Noah goes out with a parasol - they can have a short walk to the mall and then get what Jun would ordinarily wear. It's pretty obvious that Noah is headed for the more frequented stores, like Uniqlo. He doesn't want Jun to stand out too much. ]

Is there anything in particular you like?

[whiteshroud]

Peaches. I'll try to remember that.

[He's not sure if it'll ever become relevant, but he rather not accidentally poison a guy who's being kind to him.

The time passes rather easily. Jun keeps his conversation topics to things a normal teenager would talk about. There's something strange about this city, but he didn't want to drag Noah into it anymore than he already was.

As for the question about style...boy, yeah, that's a complicated question]

Haha, I'm not sure. This place is so different from where I'm from, so I wouldn't mind seeing what's considered stylish here!

[Yeah, that's a safe answer]

[morient]

Alright~

[ There's definitely stores catering to wilder crowds, but this store focuses on the clean and practical. The store advertises its special brand of cotton that makes their clothes breatheable in high heat - certainly something useful in this weather. ]

I'm not sure if they have any anime stuff... I think they collaborated with Animal Crossing last season.

[whiteshroud]

[He looks around the store at all the button ups collared shirts. Wow, this looks like half his closet back home. Or, at least the half of the closet that was purchased by the Orden for him to wear while acting as a civilian. Which hey...yeah it's hard to know if that is a good or bad thing.

Either way, it means it's clothes Jun's used to- so he won't object in the slightest. As fun as it is experimenting with new things, practical is probably best.]

"Animal Crossing"?

[WHATS THAT]

[morient]

It's a game where you live on an island with sentient animals. It's pretty cute and relaxing, but you kind of needed to play it daily, so I had to put it down for schoolwork.

[ Maybe he could show Jun his Poppy plushie? Does he like that kind of stuff? ]

[whiteshroud]

Oh, that does sound cute. [He could see Shiori loving that for sure.] Is it a gacha? Where you need to log in daily for rewards?

[He'd love the Poppy plushie.]

[morient]

Not really. [ Thank god it's not a gacha. Noah doesn't like them. ] But stuff on the island progresses with real time, so you gotta go in daily to water your flowers and stuff.

[ He walks closer to one of the displays where many tees in different plain colours are being displayed. ]

Which do you like?

[whiteshroud]

Oh wow, really? Well, I guess it's good for people who like a routine.

[Jun's indifferent to routine. Seal Knight work was always unpredictable and he's long adapted to that.]

Hm... [Looking at them] Well, the blue and whites are nice. They seem like they'd be cool for summer.

[morient]

[ Noah seems pleased by Jun's choices. ]

Hehe, that's my favourite colours too. Do you know your size?

[ The fact that this store doesn't sell their clothes with logos or tacky patterns definitely makes it Noah's favourite. He wouldn't need to look through everything while trying to meet his mom's picky standards. ]

[whiteshroud]

[he scratches his jaw]

Well, my size in japanese clothing sure, but not my american size...

I'll just take a few that seem close in the dressing room and see what fits best.

[morient]

Yeah, that sounds good.

[ While Jun heads off to the changing room, he'll wander around outside looking at the new catalogue. The heat outside made it almost impossible to wear things that weren't light fabric, though. ]