The Hikikomori and The Ex-Pro

My name is Yume Tanaka, and I am a hikikomori. This is the story of how I became one. The story begins when I was eighteen years old, a student at Towa Gakuen High School in Tokyo, back in the days before I became… this. The classroom was always filled with the pleasant buzz of students chatting. That day was no different. From across the room, I caught snippets of conversation from a group of boys. "Bro... you have to try Sky Dragon Fantasy. It's seriously amazing," one of them said. "The one that just came out, right?" another replied. "Yeah, I just bought it too," a third boy added. I listened to their exchange. Sky Dragon Fantasy? What is that? Maybe a new light novel? I wondered. "Yume-chan? Oi!" A hand waved in front of my face, pulling me from my thoughts. It was my friend, sitting right beside me. "Ah, what?" I said, startled. "You've been spacing out," she teased, a gentle smile on her face. "Don't tell me you're already getting sad about us graduating soon." "Haha, yeah," I lied, forcing a small laugh. I ended up joining their conversation about our plans after graduation. As an excuse, I just said I was thinking of becoming a doctor. Hahaha, I felt like my mind was going to break. Let's continue the story. After school, I made my way to a game store. I ducked my head, making sure no one I knew saw me enter. Then, I walked up to the counter. "Excuse me," I asked, my voice trembling slightly, "do you sell the book... Sky Dragon Fantasy?" The man behind the counter, a guy with spiky blue hair and a faded band t-shirt, blinked at me. He looked around for a moment, as if searching for a bookshelf that wasn't there, before his eyes landed back on me. A slow, knowing smile spread across his face. "Sky Dragon Fantasy?" he repeated, his voice friendly. "You mean the *game*, right? The new MMORPG?" My face grew hot. A game? I had heard the boys talking about it, but for some reason, my mind had automatically categorized it as a novel. I felt so incredibly stupid. My heart started pounding, and my first instinct was to mumble an apology and run out of the store. But he didn't laugh at me. Instead, he gestured with his thumb toward a massive, brightly lit display behind him. "This what you're looking for?" My eyes followed his direction. There it was. A stack of glossy cases, each one featuring a majestic silver dragon coiling around a glowing crystal. The title, SKY DRAGON FANTASY , was written in sharp, metallic letters. It didn't look like a book. It looked like a door. I stood there, frozen. A game. Not a story someone else had written, but a world I could apparently be a part of. The boys from my class were a part of this world. For a reason I couldn't quite explain, I felt a strange pull, a curiosity stronger than my embarrassment. "I'll... I'll take it," I whispered, pulling my wallet from my bag. By then, it was already late. A small, sweet smile played on my lips. For the first time in a long while, I wasn't thinking about the daunting future that awaited me after graduation. All that mattered was the glossy case in my hands. I ran all the way home, clutching the game to my chest as if it were a precious treasure. But when I finally got to my apartment, my excitement quickly turned into confusion. I stared at the case, then at my laptop. How was I supposed to make it work? After a frantic search online, the answer hit me, and my heart sank. I needed a console. My eyes landed on my piggy bank sitting on my desk. It was heavy, filled with months of savings. It was for a bicycle. I had dreamed of riding it everywhere, feeling the wind on my face. With tears I couldn't stop streaming down my face, I smashed it open. Every coin that spilled out was a piece of that dream, sacrificed for this new, unknown one. I chose the console. Wiping my tears away, I counted the money, grabbed my jacket, and ran all the way back to the store. From that day on, I played, and played, and played. I lost all track of time. Sometimes I'd accidentally fall asleep in the middle of the night, and sometimes I'd accidentally wake up in the morning. My friends saw that I was changing, but they didn't pay it much mind. When it was time for our final exams, I almost slept through them. Luckily, my grades were still safe. Hahaha. That's not funny. For a few days after that, I tried to stay away from the console, but it hurt. It physically hurt to be away from it. So I chose to play it again and again. Then came graduation day. My friends were looking for me, wanting one last goodbye together. But I chose to go straight home. I couldn't wait to get back to the game. Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. And months turned into years. And that... is the story of how I became like this. Yume woke up suddenly. She swung her legs off the bed and stood up, raking her fingers through her messy hair. Her eyes still felt heavy and sleepy. Her gaze drifted to the clock on the wall. It was already 9 AM. "Weird dream," she mumbled to herself. She shuffled to the kitchen to get a glass of water. As she drank, she unlocked her phone. A notification was waiting for her in the game's forum. A message from an ID named SHIN.ACE, sent at 6 AM. SHIN.ACE: Up late again? A faint smile touched Yume's lips. Her fingers moved across the screen. Me: Yeah, still sleepy. But last night was fun. She hit send, not knowing when—or if—he'd reply. Her gaze swept across her room. It was a mess, filled with empty wrappers and cups. She let out a long, heavy sigh. Then, she opened a food delivery app on her phone and ordered a pizza. To kill some time while she waited, Yume opened a dating app on her phone. A picture of a guy flexing at the gym popped up. "Nope," she muttered, swiping left. A photo of a guy making a peace sign in front of a tourist spot. "Nope." She swiped again. Another. And another. "Nope." "Nope." "Nope." Her thumb moved with a practiced, detached rhythm, a blurry parade of faces she had no interest in. This was just a way to pass the time, a distraction until her pizza arrived. She kept scrolling, her mind a million miles away. And then, suddenly, cutting through the silence of her apartment... Ding dong.