Creak—
Alain opened the kitchen door. Looking into the room, his gaze drifted behind him.
A shimmering white particle penetrated the door and floated right into the center of his brow. Then, it passed right through and vanished without a trace.
"I feel... a sense of palpitations," Alain touched his heart, which was still beating powerfully—thump, thump.
He shook his head, tossing away the distracting thoughts, and focused his attention on the matter at hand.
Alain trusted Mina's way of doing things. Although she was love-brained to a ridiculous degree, if there were traces of Core Mita in the bedroom or bathroom she was responsible for, Alain believed she would tell him.
And on his end, he couldn't be the one dragging them down.
That being said.
Alain surveyed the entire kitchen, his eyes first landing on the dining table.
The tabletop was clean and tidy; there weren't even any plates or cutlery.
Then his gaze moved to the stove and sink not far away. Inside the sink, there wasn't even a single drop of water.
It seemed that Mina didn't come back to Version 0.98 very often. Or rather, is Version 1.9—this new version—more comfortable to live in?
Tap, tap, tap...
He began to pace around the kitchen, walking towards the dining table to check underneath it.
"Heh, how silly."
Alain clasped his hands behind his head. How could Core Mita possibly be hiding under there?
Currently, the kitchen and living room were completely bare, with no sign of Core Mita. Presumably, she must be over with Mina.
"Going back empty-handed. I'll go call Mina."
After saying this, Alain intended to walk out the door.
His door was half-open, but he spotted something in his peripheral vision—
The kitchen and dining table in Mita's room had a semi-partitioned design, so one couldn't see the full panorama of the kitchen from the dining area.
The kitchen space appeared relatively narrow, and Alain hadn't originally thought much of it.
That was until he saw something that completely clashed with the brown wooden floor protruding from the kitchen's blind spot.
"?"
While confused, he squatted down and waved his hand in front of Core Mita.
Zzt—
He seemed to hear the sound of a machine starting up.
Subsequently, the brightness of Core Mita's eyes, which had been merely glimmering, increased significantly.
She seemed to lift her gaze with great effort, looking at him with that face as calm as an ancient well.
"Hel... lo?"
Alain didn't know what he should say, so he offered a stiff greeting.
He could feel Core Mita seemingly scanning his body. Here, Alain successfully saw the full appearance of the Core.
Although he hadn't seen Core Mita herself before, Alain had seen her throne: standing high in the center of the ceiling, proud and lonely.
But the Core Mita before his eyes was indescribably... bedraggled.
Even though no scratches could be seen on the surface of her body, Alain could just tell the severity of her injuries.
"Okay, speak," he agreed without hesitation.
Core Mita was the life-saving straw of the Dream World and also an important channel for Alain to understand the Game World.
But her next sentence made Alain think he had misheard—
"Send me... to the hospital."
"?"
Hospital? What hospital?
Alain pondered whether he had encountered a girl with a "Doctor Mita" identity in the Mita World...
But no matter how much he brainstormed, not a single relevant figure appeared.
"Just tell me where the hospital is. I'll send you there right now."
If he didn't know, he could just ask Core Mita directly. Alain thought.
"Hospital... anywhere will do." She lifted her head with difficulty, looking at Alain's confused face, and then added,
"A hospital... in reality."
"...Huh?" Alain looked completely bewildered.
Core Mita seemed to be in great pain. She leaned against the refrigerator door and asked inadvertently,
"What is your Portal progress at?"
"Eh? Um... let me check."
He immediately opened the Security Assistant to check the situation.
The amount of information in Core Mita's sentence was massive, including "She knows of the System's existence" and "She knows one can teleport between reality and the game."
But Alain also knew that now was not the time to care about that.
"35%."
This was a progress bar just right for the Game World, capable of summoning the greatsword of accelerated cleaning.
However, in front of the 100% required to open a Portal, it was woefully insufficient.
Hearing this number, Core Mita fell silent for a moment, then raised her hand toward Alain.
"The ring... give it to me."
"Okay." He didn't hesitate, handing over the ring and placing it into Core Mita's palm.
She took the ring, opened the control panel, and began making adjustments.
Alain had intended to ask something, but he saw the orange-yellow light in her eyes flickering dimly as she operated the panel.
"How about letting me do it?" Alain spoke up. "In your current condition, can you still use your permissions?"
Core Mita was silent for a moment, then frankly handed the ring and the console together to Alain.
"Thank you."
"It's nothing." He took a deep breath, looking at the control panel filled with densely packed code he couldn't understand.
"You say the code, I'll write it. I have quite a few permissions here too."
"...Mn. Sorry to trouble you?"
He felt dumbfounded by Core Mita's stiff social pleasantries. "No need to be so polite with me. I'll need your help later too."
Thanks to his long-term immersion among the Mitas, Alain, a liberal arts student, had also mastered some knowledge of computer code.
As she recited the code, Alain typed it in at full speed.
Before long, the light on the ring's surface shifted from dark green to navy blue.
"Is this enough?"
"Mn..." She wanted to stand up but suddenly slumped to the floor.
Alain turned his back to her.
Core Mita hesitated for a moment but slowly supported herself onto his back.
Her weight was by no means as heavy as she appeared. On the contrary, she was very light.
"Our target is a hospital in reality?" Alain turned his head to ask.
"Yes..." Her voice echoing in Alain's mind became increasingly weak, seemingly entering the boundary between dream and wakefulness.
Alain didn't speak again, turning instead to open the door.
Head-on, he met the figure of Mina waiting in the living room.
"?"
Looking closely, her face still bore an unnatural gloom.
She saw Alain and Core Mita on his back, showing slight surprise.
"This is...?"
"Core Mita. Also, I'm leaving now." Alain walked quickly to the door at the entryway. After his hand climbed onto the handle, the navy blue ring shone with brilliant radiance—
In an instant, the door, opened only a centimeter, burst forth with strings of code Alain couldn't understand.
The code was wrapped in light, making him close his eyes from the glare.
When he opened them again, Alain saw the layout of his small home in reality through the crack in the door.
"Eh? Darling?" Misha's surprise appeared in front of the door.
The girl trotted over quickly, checking on Alain and the nearly unconscious Core Mita on his back.
Her expression calmed down quickly.
"...It actually really works?" Alain was astonished.
Half-asleep, Core Mita answered, "It can only be used once in a short time... this can be considered utilizing a loopho—"
"Alright, you should just sleep first."
He comforted her, then looked back at Mina again. "So, are you coming along too?"
Since Core Mita could directly open a Portal to reality, surely Mina could also exploit a bug to go to reality again?
"Mn... then I will—"
Hearing Alain's invitation, Mina's expression relaxed considerably.
Just as she was about to answer, a piercing voice stabbed out from the direction of the bedroom door,
"Help me—!!!"
At the moment the sound rang out, he could clearly see Mina's expression turn green, then white.
The timbre was a Mita's voice.
"Sorry, my dear. Can you take Core Mita to the hospital? If there's any news from her, tell me immediately." He left his back to Misha.
"Okay. Alain, you go deal with the matters over there first." Misha agreed, taking Core Mita from Alain's back.
Alain's gaze looked towards the bedroom door that had emitted the cry for help.
____
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