196 Vol. 3 pt. 66 Patch 11.0: A New Home (1/2)
”Here,” Ryouta says, handing Alice's phone over to her while holding a glass of water in his other hand to drink from.
”Thank you, my hero, but you should be more careful of where you drink!” Alice says.
”I thought you said you'd look the other way for me?”
”True, I did say that, but there are electronics in here! You could easily start a fire if you were to spill that water on them.”
”Are you forgetting what year this is? There are electronics in pretty much every room everywhere. You can't just not drink water because there are electronics nearby.”
”Hmph. You should still be careful! You do not want us to all burn alive, do you?”
”Are you sure that's not something you'd be into?”
”I enjoy erotic fantasies, my hero, not ones that involve dying in brutal ways.”
”Yeah, that's fair. So, you gonna call your dad now?”
Alice nods her head and is already in the process of pulling up her father's number in her phone.
”I'll wait to see what's going on then, I guess, before I text my landlord back,” Ryouta says, walking over to his computer to check on what's happening in the world while waiting for Alice.
Unfortunately, since Cassiel is in his desk's chair, he has to just sort of roll her away from the desk and then hunch over to use his computer.
It's been a while since he last browsed the internet and caught up on news. With how depressing news usually is, he has been avoiding it for the most part lately, but he doesn't want to be totally left in the dark regarding what's happening in the world.
Of course, as soon as he brings up a news aggregator, he is met with article after article of just how depressing the world's affairs are.
Another coastal city was officially evacuated because of rising waters. Air quality is decreasing and the oceans are growing more toxic as more permafrost thaws out and releases methane into the atmosphere. Record high temperatures have been recorded across the world again. Hurricanes are growing stronger and larger thanks to increased ocean temperatures. Another cleanup crew in Earth's orbit trying to remove debris has been lost and added even more debris orbiting around Earth.
Yep. It's all just as depressing as Ryouta remembers it being.
”Only good thing about all this shit is everybody's too busy taking care of themselves to fight each other,” Ryouta says with a sigh. It's hard to look at the bright side of things at times.
Fortunately, there are also aggregator websites specializing in pictures of cute animals and funny memes. One should always have a wholesome source of media to counteract the more depressing sources of media on the internet.
While Alice talks on the phone to her dad, Ryouta giggles at a video compilation of dogs bitch slapping cats.
It is nice to see the tables turned.
Dogs are so much better than cats.
However, he makes a mistake.
He scrolls down and looks at the comments of the video.
No matter what the year may be, no matter how technologically advanced humanity may become, no matter how enlighted the human race may grow, there will always be idiotic comments on the internet.
”The hell are you talking about? Filming a dog playfully slapping a cat isn't animal abuse. I bet you wouldn't be complaining if the cat was slapping the dog out of being a little asshole instead of just wanting to play like the dog wants to,” Ryouta grumbles as his fingers hover over the keyboard.
Don't give in.
Don't reply to that comment.
The world is shitty enough without giving a random shit on the internet a reason to reply to him.
With a sigh, Ryouta goes back a page to look for—
Wait, he noticed something interesting right before the page went back!
He goes forward a page hoping that the video is still there in the recommended section.
Fortunately, it is.
Ryouta opens up the video and listens to the commentary over Fantasy Tales Online gameplay.
Two of the game's biggest video creators, who go around interviewing important players and reporting on news related to the game, are discussing rumors that Ryouta is only just now hearing about.