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“Huh..? What was I doing?”

Kou’s consciousness returned after the sudden blackout. But that usually only happened when diving into the virtual world, and Kou was very much used to that technology so blacking out mid-dive felt strange.

“That’s so strange. I don’t think I’ve been this long here…”

He recalled logging into the software at 1pm, but the clock showed it was already 6pm. Somehow he had been unconscious for 5 hours.

“What just happened… Wait, the hell is going on?!”

The first thing he noticed was his own voice. His voice had already changed in real life, but as he spoke to himself it sounded clearly higher pitched. Almost like it was a girl’s.

Looking down he saw a petite body with many curves and long hair, and his new voice also kept bugging him. There were no mirrors nearby so he could not see anything else… but he was certain he had turned into a small girl.

“Let’s just logout and see what’s going on…”

He decided it was best to consult with Sora. So he flicked his finger and… froze. Which was followed by a strained and terrified shriek.

The button to logout was grayed out, and nothing would happen no matter how many times he tried pressing it.

No logout.

That was a common trope in many games and novels in the past, which only fuelled the paranoia invading Kou’s mind as he thought about it.

“No… Dad! Are you there, Dad?!”

As panic settled in, he started desperately shouting to get his father’s attention, who had put Kou in that situation. And unexpectedly enough… the response was nearly instant.

“Don’t worry, I’m monitoring everything. Also Kou… your voice sounds pretty cute, don’t you think?”
“Is that really the first thing you say when your son has been turned into a girl..?”

Sora’s nonchalant and unconcerned response made Kou feel a little thrown off, but that also helped him calm down.

“Sigh… Anyway, for some reason I can’t logout, can you do something about that?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Kou, I can explain everything that’s happening to your body, can you try to calm down and listen to me?”

Sora’s voice quickly took a more serious tone, which made Kou gulp loudly as he paid attention.

“But before we start… say, do you feel like a lot of time went by really fast?”
“Ah, yeah. That didn’t feel like five hours at all.”
“Yes, that’s because we were transporting you… The Cradle with your body is in the university hospital now. We can’t move you out of the Cradle for now.”
“Wha- huh?!”
“But ah, this is all part of the plan. I’m also at the university hospital, and I’ll be constantly on the watch for your condition, so try to feel at ease, alright?”

After that Sora went silent for a bit, looking at Kou with a stern look. It was rare for him to clam up like that while he was talking about something.

“Don’t worry. I promise I’ll keep you safe, I’m your father… so… please trust me on this.”

His voice rang so earnestly that it was almost scary, so Kou replied…

“…Okay, I just have to trust you then, right? But at least finish the paperwork for school properly then!”

Kou did not even want to imagine failing to enroll just when he had been accepted into the high-school he wanted. Not to mention that his childhood friends Subaru and Hijiri were breaking their backs studying so they could also get admitted into the same school as him now.

“I know. I’ve already submitted a request for you to attend online for a while and don’t miss any classes.”
“So you’re saying I won’t make it to the entrance ceremony…”

Online attendance was an emergency relief service for students who were in the hospital or otherwise too sick to leave home.

That benefit was only seldom given out though, and Kou had never imagined he would require it one day… But that also cemented his current fate, and he had no choice but to surrender to it.

“So…anyway, what should I do now?”
“Well, there’s still a month before school starts, so why not just play the game to your heart’s content? And don’t worry, if you die there you won’t die in real life, or anything like that.”

That would help with Sora’s personal goals, but he was also quite proud of the game he had made, so he sounded quite enthusiastic about that. The call screen also showed how he puffed his chest with pride.

“I can trust you… right?”
“Of course. No parent would put so much passion and effort into a game to kill their child. And I would never let something like that happen to my beloved child either.”
“Mm… okay, you’re right.”

Hearing such words spoken so directly at him made Kou feel a bit embarrassed, but Sora sounded serious about it, so Kou decided it was safe to believe him. At the very least Kou’s biggest fear, that this was some sort of death game, had been dispelled, letting him exhale with relief.

“You should be able to read the manual and things like that directly through your NLD. If you get bored of the game it should be safe to hop on different virtual worlds too. And if anything happens, feel free to ring up support, that should be a direct line to me.”
“Okay, got it.”
“Anyway, I know it’s a bit awkward to play a game with your parents watching, so I’ll end the call here and work on something else until it’s my turn to monitor the game. Have fun.”

After that last sentence, Sora hung up and went offline.

Kou had received permission from his father to play as much as he wanted. So he decided to use that time as best as he could, focusing on finishing the creation of his character, since he had blacked out halfway through.