After logging off Logan first went to finish his business in the toilet. Then he placed a call to his mother through the altor.

"Hi mom, are you busy?" enquired logan in a curious tone.

"Yes Logan but there is always time for you. We are monitoring the systems and so far everything seems fine!" replied lucy.

She was one of the head programmers of the game and was monitoring the working of the systems so that there were not any problems on thr release day itself.

"Forget about me tell me about your expreience in the game!" asked lucy excitedly.

"It was awesome mom! I cant believe the quality of graphics in-game. It was simply mind blowing. And the mechanics for fighting are totally realistic" replied logan equally excited.

"You already had a fight? Against what? and what race did u choose? Let me guess, mutated human with the wolf and hawk right?" said lucy implying that she totally knew what her son would do.

"Yes, yes you know me too well mom, i did choose mutated human with wolf but insted of hawk i chose humming bird" agreed Logan.

"Humming bird? are you serious? That is a very rare mutation that can be upgraded. How did you get your hands on it so quickly??" asked lucy in a shocked voice.

"I was the first person to log in to the game so i got a reward to choose between 3 rare races. I went for the humming bird.

And what's this about upgrading the mutation? That wasnt mentioned anywhere" enquired logan in a suspicious voice.

"Umm that's nothing, you didn't hear anything from me. And congratulations on getting a rare mutation right off the bat! What's your level son?" Lucy tried changing the topic.

Logan felt that his mother blurted out something that he was not supposed to hear. So not wanting her to get in to trouble he kept the topic in the back of his mind and let her change the topic.

"I know what you are trying to do mom. You owe me one OK. I'm currently level ten"

"Can you say that again?" asked lucy in a very serious voice"

"I'm currently level 10. What's wrong mom, you sound very serious"

"Reaching level 10 in such a short time is practically not possible. Are you sure that you are level 10?" Lucy continued asking in a very serious tone.

"Yes mom i double checked my status table. It said level 10 and i also got the stat points from the level ups" answered Logan.

"Okay Logan, i think there must be some bug that caused this. Can you recount what ever happened after you logged in?"

"Ok mom i'll tell you." After that Logan continued to tell his mom everything that happened in game. He didn't leave out anything realizing that something was wrong.

"Ok Logan i think i know what the bug is. You see a person who is level 1 has very limited stamina so he can only last for 15 maybe 20 minutes in a prolonged fight.

But you kept fighting for hours altogether. So there must be a bug in the stamina mechanics. I'll have someone check it out.

And i'm sorry Logan but they will have to cut down your levels and skills."

"What! But mom that's unfair! I fought that long and got the levels!"

"I understand that it's unfair but you have to be reasonable. You couldn't fight that long as a level 1!

Usually people who report a bug a given some kind of compensation. I'll try to get them to keep your skills ok?" Lucy tried reasoning with him.

"uhh. I understand but that doesn't mean i'm not upset ok? I'll not play the game for today. I don't want to see the loss" said logan sounding upset.

"Hey cheer up boy. Think of it like this, you get to go against the robots again! and train more too !" Lucy made an attempt to cheer him up.

"Stop making lousy attempts to cheer me up ok? i'm not a kid!" said Logan indignantly.

"Fine, fine, i'll stop. So if you are not going to play what are your plans?" Lucy changed the topic again.

"Maybe i'll go for a run now. After that i don't know. My friends are all playing the game so i doubt they will come to hang out" said Logan sounding thoughtful.

"Do what you want then. I have a job to do. Love you!"

"Love you too mom. Cya" said logan and dropped the call.

He was still a bit upset and decided that a run was just what he needed to take his mind off the game. He noted the time. It was just past 6 in the evening.

There was still some daylight outside. Logan decided to go to his parkour circuit for his run.

It was near his apartment and he usually went there for his morning run. He went there and proceeded to run the highest difficulty course a few times.

By the time he was drenched in sweat, an hour had already passed and darkness was almost completely set.

Logan decided that he had enough and returned home. He was showering when he got a call from his mother.

"Did you cool down yet?" she asked concerned.

"Yes mom it was nothing." said logan nonchalantly.

"Well what do you say to the idea of returning home?" she asked.

"Why now mom?"

"What do you mean why now! i am your mother and i always want to see you! You didn't come home this term even once! We miss you here.

Anyway it's holidays and your friends will all be busy with the game, so why not come here?" she tried to persuade him.

Logan's uncle had gone missing from the start of his term. He missed his uncle and going home would remind him of his uncle.

That is why he was reluctant to return home even though he missed his parents too.

"Mom, i don't know" he tried hedging the answer.

"Well then this ought to convince you, Claire is back. Came by today to meet me. Looking good by the way" said lucy bemusedly.

"I'M ON MY WAY! AND NEXT TIME YOU BETTER OPEN YOUR ARGUMENT WITH THAT STATEMENT!" shouted Logan as he hurriedly finished his shower and proceeded to throw some basic necessities into a bag.

"Ha ha ha! It's such fun teasing you! No worries i knew you would come home when you hear this so i already booked a ticket for you.

The flight is in 30 minutes. Now chop chop!" said lucy, clearly amused.

"You are the best mother ever! I'll see you in 2 hours then" replied Logan in a hurry and dropped the call.

He locked his apartment, and took the duffel bag with him which contained some clothes and souvenirs for his parents and friends that he had purchased during the term.

He hailed a taxi and quickly got to an airport. The airport was a truly modern piece of work.

Check-ins were instantaneous and there were no ques to wait in. Tickets were all purchased before hand or in a case of emergency can be purchased on spot too.

There were no delays in the flight timings at all. And the most different things about airports of this time as compared to the old ones was the lack of runways.

There were only landing pads for the various planes as all planes had the capacity to vertically take-off and land.

The passenger planes looked like stealth jet fighters, all sleek and aerodynamic. Logan boarded one of such planes and sat in his seat comfortably.

The planes could fly at mach 2 speeds and thus he would reach California in 2 hours.

Logan was very very excited and looking forward to meeting his friend. Claire had been his first friend.

Claire and logan were inseparable since their childhood and even now they were the best of friends. Logan even favored claire between his group of best friends.

The others knew this and didn't object to it. They were practically siblings from different mothers.

It had been almost four years since he had seen claire. In their 11th grade,there had been an incident that caused claire to leave town and move elsewhere.

They had been talking on the altor but it was nowhere near the experience of spending time in each other's company.

Logan dozed off to happy memories and was woken up by the announcement of imminent landing.

Logan got off the plane and boarded a taxi to get home. His mother was doing some work on her work station. She saw him enter the home and gave him a hug. This clearly embarrassed Logan but he didn't really mind, he missed her.

"I know that you are anxious to meet claire but at least freshen up! You look like you just got up from sleep!" she reprimanded him

"I dozed off on the flight thats all. But i still better wash my face and go" Logan relented after he saw his mother's stern expression.

Logan washed his face and said "Don't wait up for me!" and ran off.

There was no need for them to talk and decide upon a meeting place. They had not seen each other for a long time so he knew that claire would be in their favorite place.

He ran to the park that was nearby and saw the silhouette of a person standing against the tree in the middle.

Logan approached the person and now could see clearly the figure of a......lean and.....handsome boy standing there. Hints of muscle were visible under the T-shirt worn by the person.

"Claire, you are looking good!" That's right, the boy standing under the tree was claire.

"Hey i go by Harry now, you know that"replied claire.

"I know but it's us here so it's ok. I'll call you harry in public ok?" replied Logan with a pleading face.

"Heh sure, i can only agree after you show me that face" snickered claire.

Logan just smiled.

You see claire was a girl before. But she always hung out with Logan and his other guy friends.

Soon she also started acting like a guy, almost like Logan himself. It was then that they found out that claire actually had the mind of a boy in the body of a girl.

It was also proved with a psychological test. Upon claire's request she underwent a sex change operation to be converted into a male.

This was during their 11th grade. When claire returned as harry, even though his gender was officially male, the hormone therapy has not started acting yet and his body didn't possess the strength of a male.

That's why harry was severely bullied and so he was forced to tranfer schools to a different city altogether so that nobosy knew of his situation.

That was what everyone knew. But the actual truth was known only to claire and logan.

When they were 8th grade, claire had overheard her parents arguing about their family situations. They were the primary heads of the family right now and the owners of a large sales corporation.

But they had several uncles and cousins that were vying for the position. The position of the head only remained with them as long as they had a heir.

But claire's mother had damaged her uterus during childbirth due to 'unforeseen circumstances'. It was suspected that a member of the family had paid off the nurse to create the circumstance.

So claire was the only child. But claire couldn't be the heir because she was not male. It seems that the other family members were pressurizing them to give up the position of the head and they would lose the company.

Claire was smart and knew that for her family's safety there was only one thing that could be done. Get a male son to their parents.

But an adopted child was not considered a heir, so the only choice was claire to become a male.

Claire shared her thoughts with her only best friend logan. He was against it and pleaded with her to not do it. But she was stubborn and said that of her sacrifice would help her family she would do it.

That was when they became sworn 'brothers'.

Logan taught her all about being a boy. How to act, what to think, what to wear, what to play, how to speak etc.

That was why they were inseparable and claire acted very similar to Logan. She learned being a man from Logan for 3 years.

Both of them held each other close and cried the whole night before telling her family that something was wrong.

She said that her thoughts were all that of a male but she was clearly female. She acted confused and scared. The scared part was real though.

Her family brought her to a psychologist and he confirmed through some tests that claire's mind was male.

Claire and logan had studied up on what the tests would be so that she could pass of as a male. It was made easier with 3 years of 'being male' training by Logan.

After that she requested her parents for a sex change operation. They were shocked and ecstatic at the same time!

Shocked that their only daughter was a son and happy that they finally can have a heir. With the technology of present times, the operation was no hassle and claire officially changed her name to Harry Walker.

When Harry was claire she was a beauty with an attractive face and athletic, curvy body. Since she spent time doing 'male' things with Logan she had gained a toned body that warranted a second look wherever she went.

But that all changed in 11th grade when claire became harry. All her fans became her enemies. She disgusted them and they started jeering and booing ay her when the school announced the change.

Even though her sex had changed he still looked feminine because the hormone therapy required a couple of weeks to fully take effect.

Harry was by no means strong before and the operation had left him weak. This gave a great opportunity for the bullies.

But Harry was successfully beaten up only once, when Logan had left him to get some food. The next day the bullies didn't come to school due to broken bones.

After that Logan stuck with Harry wherever he went. Then the bullies switched to psychological bullying. There was nothing Logan could do about it and soon it became too much to bear.

So harry had to change schools and transfer to a city far away where no one was aware of the situation. This was when Logan became harry's anchor and sole confidante.

Logan knew harry inside out and knew that inside harry claire was still alive. So when it was only the two of them Logan called harry as claire and allowed her to act like a girl.

Harry was very smart and so he had finished his business college a year earlier by skipping a grade and hurried to his hometown to meet his brother Logan.

Both loved each other more than anyone else, not even their family. But this love cannot be defined as a romantic love, neither as a brotherly love. It was somewhere in between and they really didn't care.

They had finally met after a gap of 4 long years, and they jumped into each others arms and hugged each other as they had hugged on that fateful day when claire became harry.