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“Well…we probably should be going soon too, right?”
“Yeahh… I can’t believe golden week is about to end already.”
“Hahah, good thing we finished our homework beforehand.”

Crim was in full agreement with Frey’s comment. They all were too exhausted to even consider having to do homework now.

“Crim…I mean, Kou, you’ll be busy at the hospital tomorrow morning I think?”
“After lunch, actually. But either way, the school already knows I’ll be absent for the day.”
“I see… Then we can go visit you after school!”
“How long has it been, three months since we last met in real life? Don’t get nervous about seeing my sister again now, alright?”
“Hey, Frey?!”

Frey chuckled as he teased Crim, who glared at him in protest. Meanwhile Freya just watched the two with a smile.

After joking around for a while longer, the twins logged out as well, marking the end of their long day.

◇◇◇

The next day, at just around 11 am…

Kou logged out from Destiny Unchain Online, following the indications of Sora, Kou’s father. After waking up, everything was dark, and Kou felt so disoriented it was hard to tell up from down.

“…Kou, can you hear me? If you can, answer by lightly tapping your hand, can you do that?”

As Kou’s consciousness slowly regained its bearings, a nearby speaker emitted Sora’s voice.

…Move my hand..? How do I do that again?

Kou’s body felt strangely numb.

But after a few failed attempts, Kou’s hand finally managed to rise a little, and then fell back down, pushed by gravity, making a splashing sound as it hit what lay beneath.

“…Good, it seems your consciousness has safely returned to your body.”

But…dad, it’s so dark here.

Even with eyes open, Kou’s vision was pitch black. Kou tried to relay that information, but no voice came from Kou’s throat, no matter what. But somehow…

“Don’t worry, we’re monitoring your vocal cords’ movements, so I can hear you. The lights are all turned off, that’s why you can’t see anything. Your eyes and optic nerves might go into shock if they’re exposed to a bright light after three months without any stimulation after all.”

Then Sora said he would slowly turn the lights on, and the contours of the room began to become visible.

Eventually everything seemed a bit too bright, though Sora said the lights were still dimmed to the same level as a night light.

“Hmm…maybe that’s because of the diminished melanin too… Let’s move slowly so you can adapt properly to everything. I’ll leave the lights at this level and… Umm, Akane, I’ll leave what’s next to you.”
“Alrighty, no worries about that. It’s a pretty delicate manner after all.”

Sora’s voice became a bit more shy and awkward, like he was unsure of what to say, and then the voice of Akane, the mother of Hijiri and Subaru, who was also Sora’s assistant, was heard. Soon after, someone entered the room where Kou was.

“Kou, I’ll get your body up, okay?”

That was the same voice that just came from the speaker, Akane’s.

She gently passed her arm under Kou’s back, who was laying in the device known as the Cradle, and carefully and slowly helped Kou sit.

Something stringy, like long wet hair, slipped down along Kou’s cheek.

“…?”

Kou’s body was dripping with large amounts of some liquid, which also clung to Kou’s hair, though something felt a bit off. Was Kou’s hair really that long? Kou had been in the game for three months, but that did not feel like enough time to grow so much hair.

While Kou wondered about that, Akane moved her arms under Kou’s back and knees, easily lifting up Kou’s body.

The sudden terror of being let go and falling helplessly assaulted Kou’s mind, but no voice would come out from Kou’s throat… That anxiety was needless though, as Akane carried Kou without struggling at all.

Akane was just the assistant of a VR technology researcher, so she was not exactly in the best of shapes, but somehow she was carrying Kou without issue, who had just started high school.

Not to mention that Akane felt taller than Kou remembered.

But more importantly, being seen naked by the mother of Kou’s childhood friends was starting to get embarrassing.

As those thoughts ran rampant in Kou’s mind, and just when they were about to trigger a panic attack, something happened.

“The regenerative treatment gel must feel so gross on your skin, let’s wash it off. It might be a bit embarrassing, but just bear with it, alright?” As Akane spoke softly, she carried Kou into what looked like a bathroom for the hospital’s nursing staff.

There was a mirror on the wall there, and Kou was able to see the person being carried by Akane, basically Kou’s own body, the sight of which was extremely uncanny.

A pair of crimson eyes were wide open, staring right back at Kou through the mirror.

All of the figure’s limbs were delicate and thin, with clear white skin that stood out amongst the dimmed room.

Then the hair, it was pure white glistening in the dark as well, even brighter than the skin, and only the tips were a brown color, like a reminder of all that was left of who Mitsuki Kou used to be.

While completely covered in a thick slimy gel, it was a figure completely different from the body Kou identified with…and was almost like a copy of the Crim avatar from the game, that of a young girl. Seeing that brought all of Kou’s thoughts to a halting stop.