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

[ehero]

Blade? Vantage Masters? What kind of card games are those?

[ Are those some kind of American card games??? ]

[whiteshroud]

Well Vantage Masters is one of those collectible card games, where you build a deck with different kinds of monster cards and battle other players. So kinda like your "Dueling Monster" game.

Blade is more straightforward. It's the same deck for everyone and you're trying to outscore your opponent based on what cards you draw. I don't have my physical deck with me, but I have the mobile version of it if you wanna try it!

[ehero]

Yeah, let's go!

[ He's not really interested in other card games, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to try. Maybe he'll be super good at them too?! ]

Show me your Vantage Masters deck sometime as well! I haven't heard about it before, but if it's anything like Duel Monsters then it's gotta be a good game!

[whiteshroud]

Haha, sure! It's back in Japan, so it might take awhile...but I'd be happy to show you if I find a way!

[IS THIS HOW YOU MAKE FRIENDS??? But he'll take out his phone and and open up the blade app. A game like loads up and he holds it out for him]

I can't connect to the servers I usually play on, but you can play against the computer! The goal is to make sure your number total is always higher than your opponents.

[ehero]

[ After putting away his deck, Judai takes the phone, but he looks at it in confusion. ]

Huh? What's this? I thought you said that you had a mobile version.

[ mobile = portable and small so he was thinking about tiny cards ]

[whiteshroud]

Uh....yeah, this is the mobile version?

As in, it's on a mobile phone.

[ehero]

You can play card games on your phone?!

[ SHOCK AND AWE ]

[whiteshroud]

[Huh, he must not be used to smartphones. Jun actually isn't judgemental, he was pretty similar not long ago]

Yep! Lots of other kinds of games too!

[ehero]

[ Okay, everything kind of sucked because no one knew about Duel Monsters, but things are now going uphill. While still holding onto Jun's phone, Judai reaches into his pocket to pull out his own. It's an old sliding phone. Touching the screen does nothing and you have to press the buttons a million times to do anything. ]

Teach me how to add them onto my phone as well! All I have is Minesweeper.

[whiteshroud]

[Jun looks surprised when he pulls out that phone. He's seen phones like that before, but they usually only used by the old priests with the Orden that refused to upgrade to anything new.]

Whoa. That's an old phone. Is that yours?

[ehero]

Yeah, but what do you mean "old"? It's one of the newer models.

[ GX apparently takes place in, like, 2003?? 2004?? ]

[whiteshroud]

Newer?

[.... 💡 ]

What year is it?

[ehero]

2007. Why?

[ whoops forgot that it's been ~four years since the start of the series ]

[whiteshroud]

Hmm...it's as I thought.

It was 2015 when I was in Japan, but when I came here and my phone started working again- it listed the year as 2021.

So we were brought here from a great distance and from different times.

[ehero]

Time travel again, huh?

[ He says this very nonchalantly since, well, this ain't his first rodeo. ]

Hmm, I can't think of a reason why we were brought here. It doesn't look like there are any duel spirits responsible for this.

[whiteshroud]

Wait--

Did you say time travel again?!

[JUN RIGHT NOW]

[ehero]

Huh? Oh, yeah, I've travelled through time before! Though that involved a motorcycle and a dragon duel spirit. I don't know how it works for this case.

[ ygo is a fucking mess ]

[whiteshroud]

[He's just staring...completely baffled]

...Magic is much more powerful than I was lead to believe...

[what the fuck.]

Are you part of the Underground then?

[ehero]

What's the Underground?

[ Sounds like a field card. ]

[whiteshroud]

Uh...

The people who use magic and engage with other paranormal things...?

[you know, like TIME TRAVEL]

[ehero]

Is there an entire organization for things like that? I've been travelling by myself.

[ His bag begins to rustle before a chubby cat pokes their head out with a nya. Don't forget about him!! ]

And with Pharaoh.

[whiteshroud]

Oh, a cat! Hi-

[....

This guy is an engima. Somehow managed time traveling with a bike, and yet just is completely clueless to anything else. Truly amazing]

Haha, don't worry about! It's not important.

[ehero]

[ Pharaoh lets out a lazy nya to say hello back. ]

Yeah, show me how to play card games on a phone! If I can play Duel Monsters with people across the country, that'd be cool!

[ let's COMPLETELY AVOID TALKING ABOUT SERIOUS THINGS because duel monsters is way more important. ]

[whiteshroud]

[This guy really has a one track mind...oh well, he can roll with it]

Haha, sure! Your phone is probably too old for it, but we can use mine for now...!

[LETS GO]

[ehero]

Thanks!

[ Judai will take back his shitty old phone because he can't play card games on it :( ]

What's your name, by the way? I'm Judai Yuki!