"Knock, knock, knock."
As a knock sounded at the door, Alain called out, "Come in."
The door opened, and a twin-tailed Mita gracefully walked in. It was the same Mita who had tipped him off shortly after he arrived at the concert hall.
"Um… I heard that the idol and the player were looking for me?"
"Yes. We were looking for you, but more accurately… we weren't."
Alain chuckled softly, but Miluo's next words made him lose his composure.
"Hmph… Taking a girl's first time and then immediately looking for another Mita… Just like you, Sir Knight. No, wait…"
The girl pouted, leaned against the headboard, and faced the wall.
"The enigmatic, womanizing knight."
"That's not it, I told you this was for the mission."
Helpless, Alain focused his gaze on the twin-tailed Mita.
"Uh… so, do the idol and the player want to invite me for a… three-play?"
"Hmph!" A pouting sound came from Miluo in the corner, causing what little vigilance Alain had left to evaporate completely.
"Miluo, could you step out for a bit?"
"Ah! No, Sir Knight! I don't mind a three-play, not at all!" Miluo quickly scrambled over to Alain's side, pleading.
"That's not what I meant. I just have something I need to talk to her about, you know that, right? After all, you're the one who gave me the hint."
"Oh well~ I was just going with the flow…" Miluo giggled, stuck out her tongue, then got up from the bed and left the private room.
"Then, Sir Knight, please be careful."
In the final moment before closing the door, Miluo spoke to him through the doorway.
"I hope we can meet again."
"We will."
With a click, the door shut. Alain and the twin-tailed Mita were left alone in the room.
"Well… so much for the three-play." The remaining girl seemed a little awkward.
She adjusted her pleated skirt, her big eyes darting glances at Alain.
"Actually, I don't really have a problem with a three-play. It's okay to call the idol back, right?"
Alain didn't answer, just stared intently at her.
He observed her for a long moment. Seeing that the twin-tailed Mita was still completely oblivious, he let out a soft sigh.
"How long are you going to keep hiding?"
"…Huh? Hiding means…?"
"If you don't come out, I'm really going to have a three-play with you."
"!"
The girl's twin tails trembled slightly as her gaze fell upon Alain's face. She saw his serious expression and realized he meant it.
She showed a moment of confusion, but in the next second, the focus in her eyes vanished and then re-formed with gravity.
As if she had become a different person, her shoulders slumped melancholically, and she gently undid her hair. Her thousands of strands cascaded down like a waterfall over a cliff.
She shook out her hair, and the surface of the little socks she was wearing suddenly flickered erratically, the mottled color blocks reconfiguring into pink.
Those eyes, once filled with a bright gleam, became drowsy in the next instant. An eye mask had reconfigured itself onto her forehead at some point.
The girl said nothing more, walked straight to Alain's bed, and sat primly on the edge.
The moment she sat down, Alain felt strands of static flash across his vision, his sight flickering erratically like a light in a fog.
He rubbed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he found he was no longer in Miluo's private room.
He was back in the studio apartment with the king-sized bed.
The dishes on the table hadn't been cleared, and the letters they had exchanged were still neatly stacked on the floor.
It was clearly not his real home, but the "fake reality" from before.
As for Sleepy Mita, she was wrapped in blankets in the very center of the king-sized bed, her eyes shut tight, breathing evenly. It was impossible to tell if she was awake or asleep.
Alain didn't say a word. He got on the bed, crawled over to Sleepy Mita's side, and lay down next to her, gazing at her peaceful, sleeping face.
"Stare—"
"…"
"Stare—"
"…"
"Stare—"
"Aaargh, fine! I'll open my eyes and talk to you."
The girl who should have been sound asleep abruptly opened her eyes in the next second. Curiosity flickered and overlapped in the depths of her gaze.
"So, how did you figure it out?"
"Ultimately, it was because of the hints everyone gave me, and what I saw and heard in your Mita City."
The hints Misha, Millie, and Miluo gave him were: Everyone longs for a player, everyone is a Mita, and everyone is the same.
Back when he was with Millie, after getting the first two pieces of information, Alain had already started to suspect:
Could Sleepy Mita be a kind of unified consciousness for all the Mitas in Mita City?
In other words, while their personalities were all distinct and real, they were like the "Misaka Sisters," with a central terminal or hub for management.
Because the Mitas he had met were, frankly, a bit… abnormal. Their reactions were far too similar.
Even if they longed for a player, they should have different ways of showing that "longing." How could all of them be the type to chase and corner him?
Like Short-Haired Mita, who acted indifferent towards him on the surface; or Misha, who showed her care quietly; or even Millie, who loved to sneak snacks.
Combined with the fact that the three girls never gave him any direct hints… perhaps Sleepy Mita had some way of monitoring everyone.
It was like, "She is always watching."
Until Miluo gave him the third hint: Everyone is the same. This solidified his suspicion:
"All the Mitas… they're actually you, aren't they?" Alain stated unequivocally, then added, "In other words… they're all just manifestations of your desire for a player?"
"You really don't pull any punches, do you? Not leaving me any face at all."
Half-asleep, she slowly sat up and leaned against the headboard.
"In a sense… yes."
She sighed softly. Counting the grain on the wooden headboard, she began to speak slowly.
"So? The dream world is a happy place, isn't it?"
"Happy?" Alain recalled his experiences of being repeatedly chased and cornered by the Mitas, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
"I wouldn't exactly call it that."
"I knew I wouldn't be able to understand your happiness. In the end…"
She turned her head, gazing at the sky outside the window.
"Your happiness and my happiness are not completely aligned. We can't understand each other. So, please, I hope you won't come looking for me anymore."
She lowered her eyes. The windowpane was still stained with grime from the thunderstorm.
"Just keep moving forward. I'll try to open the doors to the subsequent versions for you."
"I can't do that. There are still many things I haven't resolved." Alain shook his head, his brow furrowing.
"Especially you."
"…Heh."
She laughed softly.
"What are you talking about? I'm the enemy who has repeatedly dragged you into dream worlds. Are you… really a Mita Incubus? Has conquering Mitas become your job?"
"No," Alain denied.
"I'm just the wings for the Mitas, helping every despairing Mita escape their despair."
He looked at the girl's drowsy, sleepy eyes.
"That's you, isn't it? Miss Sleepy Mita, the one who desires a player so much that your entire dream world is screaming the word 'player'."
_____
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