Not knowing what was happening outside, Utaha kept thinking about the notebook's contents as she waited for that isolation-like maintenance room to appear.
According to Asuna, after the connection started, a guest account login prompt would pop up. Then her consciousness would move through a white channel like a data stream, and her vision would brighten.
Once her feet touched the ground and she could see her surroundings, it would mean she had arrived in the game's virtual world.
But even though the situation had changed, what awaited her ahead was no longer the virtual reality game called Sword Art Online—it was a so-called "pitch-black dark room" that could make someone with claustrophobia faint on the spot.
But that didn't matter to Utaha—after all, she'd be logging out in thirty seconds. A short, quick experience like that would basically go unnoticed if she just closed her eyes.
And for her right now, the only thing that mattered was how to continue the series of missions given by the notebook.
"We went through all that trouble to find the key, but it seems we're not allowed to enter..."
Furrowing her brow as she thought about the problem they'd faced before logging in, Utaha paused for a moment in the data stream of light. Suddenly, a flash of insight crossed her mind. She couldn't help but widen her eyes slightly and murmur with sudden clarity: "Or... maybe we already found the gateway—we just didn't use the right key to open it, so we got rejected?"
It was very possible!
The idea of using full-dive devices as a gateway to cross the line between reality was highly credible. Besides, they couldn't think of any other options to try. So why not see this through to the end—first, confirm that this is the Gateway for the trial intervention, then figure out if their way of opening it was wrong, overlooking other more important details.
The more she thought about it, the more she felt she was on the right track. The corner of Utaha's mouth lifted. She held back her excitement after this realization and waited eagerly for her consciousness to stop in the channel, entering that empty maintenance room.
Then she'd be trapped there for thirty seconds. After being kicked back to reality, she'd immediately tell them her discovery!
"Hmph, in the end, I'm the reliable one..."
She shook her head helplessly, talking to herself in the virtual space where no one else existed—just to pass the time.
As the notebook's keeper, Utaha was naturally more concerned about this matter than the others, and more than anyone else, she wanted to wake Yuu up soon.
The longer this problem dragged on, the stronger the bad feeling in her heart grew—it was like thinking she'd finally stepped onto the stairs to heaven, and a happy life would greet her ahead. But when she turned around, she found heaven was on the left, hell on the right, and she'd long since fallen into the swamp on the right, drifting further and further from heaven.
She wouldn't let something like that happen! She had to avoid such a future by any means necessary!
"Tch... If this keeps up, will even I have my memories erased by some god or other?"
Even though she was in the virtual space where she couldn't feel her body, Utaha mimed biting her thumb, thinking with a hint of annoyance.
"Then I'll be charmed by a guy like a light novel protagonist without realizing it. Just when I've truly fallen in love with him, my current memories will return. But my body and mind will already be completely captivated by him, and in the end, I'll just be like those two—fighting and jealous over one man, showing my worst self..."
A novelist's imagination was no joke.
With just a small starting point, she could already envision the plot for the next several volumes—and all of it would be heart-wrenching. Even though the details were a bit different, she'd read enough cliché romance stories about falling in love and then realizing the other person was an enemy since she was little, so she had no interest in it at all.
Thinking that she might become the heroine in such a story, Utaha couldn't help but shiver, rejecting and hating the idea from the bottom of her heart.
"Thank goodness this mission isn't a dead end... Making this much progress in less than an hour should be fast enough, right?"
She was grateful, and thought optimistically: "Once I log out and give them this clue, with their smart heads, they'll definitely find a way to solve the problem right away. Then we'll wrap this up smoothly... Maybe we can finish before dinner!"
Being optimistic was just like that. As for being pessimistic... forget it—Utaha had no interest in ruining her own mood.
But—
"It's been more than thirty seconds, hasn't it? Why haven't I reached that maintenance room yet?"
Asuna had clearly said the login time wouldn't be too long. Could there be network latency?
Frowning slightly, Utaha set aside her other thoughts for a moment and carefully observed her current location.
It wasn't the pitch-black maintenance room, nor was it the beautiful virtual game world. It was a white stream of light that seemed to keep flowing forward, carrying her digitized body toward an invisible distance.
Was she still in the login state? Then what was this? Don't tell her there's another accident...
The anxiety in her heart grew little by little. Utaha instinctively lowered her head and lifted her hands. Not only could she not see her body—even the sensation of moving felt like an illusion, like in a dream. She was just floating in the air like a ghost, and only her vision worked.
Time felt like it was passing slowly. The current situation continued without a hitch—as if, like the stream of light beneath her feet, there was no end to it, forever.
Never mind thirty seconds—Utaha felt like thirty minutes had passed, but she was still floating here, like a pig being taken to the slaughterhouse.
No matter how she reassured herself, no matter how she tried to calm down, to stay composed and analyze the current situation rationally...
In such a desperate situation, where she was isolated and couldn't save herself, she finally started to panic.
"Don't joke with me—am I going to be trapped here forever?!"
Where was the force log-out button?
Where was her safety protection?
How long has it been since thirty seconds passed—why haven't the people outside realized something's wrong?!
...Uh, wait.
Thinking of this key point, Utaha couldn't help but purse her lips in frustration. Her eyes were filled with despair—if she could have a mirror right now and see her face, she'd bet her expression was worse than when she missed a deadline but hadn't finished her manuscript yet.
If you can't return, please wait where you are and wait for the others to get new login devices before making a plan.
Asuna had said something like that before leaving.
Which meant that even if she was trapped here and hadn't woken up after thirty seconds, the people outside wouldn't think she was in danger. Instead, they'd rekindle their hope of finding the gateway.
Forget forcing the machine off to save her—the best-case scenario was that after they got new login devices, they'd join her in floating like ghosts. At least there'd be someone by her side, so she wouldn't go crazy from loneliness.
The worst-case scenario was that only she was experiencing this. They'd mistakenly think Utaha had entered Yuu's trial, and carefully send her body to the hospital for maintenance infusions, hoping she'd wake up with Yuu...
In short, until Yuu woke up and they realized something was wrong, Utaha would have to keep floating in this empty, terrifying space!
But if there was no one to complete the notebook's mission, and Yuu stayed asleep...
"Falling, falling into an abyss... Will the future never again refer to the present?!"
"What is this?!"
"I've finished all the previous missions—why does this have to happen to me? I protest!"
Utaha wanted to shout, but of course she couldn't hear her own voice.
As if sensing her panic and despair, the white stream of light beneath her feet suddenly surged. A bright light suddenly lit up from the end.
Then, as if everything started to accelerate and synchronize, her surroundings suddenly blurred. The wide channel shrank into a straight line. The next moment, that distant-looking light at the end crashed into her at a shocking speed!
"Wa—!"
Before she could recover from the sudden change, Utaha only had time to close her eyes. Then, surrounded by bright light, she completely lost consciousness.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
For Yuu.
This trial world, which had initially been unfamiliar, had gradually transformed into a world he knew.
It wasn't like playing Earth Online, nor was it a real-life version of a romance game—it was another real world. The people living here weren't data-controlled NPCs, but ordinary humans he had to treat carefully, just like himself.
Living joys and sorrows, sometimes illogical funny dialogues, intertwined and complex emotions, and the warmth of skin that seemed to reach the heart...
Even though he knew in his heart that after the trial ended, all of this would return to the starting point, he still unconsciously poured his emotions into the things around him, cherishing every moment he experienced in this third life.
Thankfully, the Sora in this world wasn't the younger sister he'd sworn to protect until the end of the world—for whom he'd be willing to do anything. Even though Yuu loved her very much too, the line between reality and fiction could never be erased in the end.
Yuu knew he would leave this place sooner or later.
To go back and see his real younger sister, he wouldn't mix this world with reality. When the time came to leave, he wouldn't have any regrets at all.
As long as there was someone waiting for him outside, he wouldn't stop moving forward.
"But is it really only Sora waiting for me to wake up in the real world...?"
For some reason, Yuu had been thinking about questions like this more and more lately.
DING-DONG!
Inside Angel Coffee.
The air conditioner hummed quietly. Stable, peaceful cool air seeped into every corner of the café. A soothing coffee aroma floated everywhere. Elegant classical music seemed to slow down the passage of time.
Yuu pushed open the door. The clear bell sound caught the attention of several customers—like small fish in a pond startled by raindrops—but they soon turned back to their own business.
A greeting from a waiter followed.
"Welcome—ah, it's you."
A blonde girl leaning on a mop and idly swishing it across the floor lifted her eyes slightly. After confirming the person entering was a friend, not a customer, she lazily shook her head again and continued to wander around like a sleepwalker—under the pretense of mopping the floor.
"Close the door quickly. All the AC is leaking out."
Yuu rolled his eyes helplessly. After closing the glass door, he complained to this junior coworker: "Are you here to work, or to enjoy free AC, Gabriel?"
"Shut up. The two aren't mutually exclusive." The small, cute blonde girl—who exuded a lazy aura—replied weakly, "I want to enjoy free AC and get paid while standing. Is that not allowed?"
"It is, but are you actually earning money this way?" Yuu pointed to himself, then to a table, gesturing, "One customer. Hurry up and show me to a seat."
"You? A customer?"
Spinning around while holding the mop handle, Gabriel narrowed her eyes and gave a very annoying sneering smile: "Hiahiahia~ Don't make me laugh to death. If you want me, this young lady, to treat you—this demon senior—like a customer, first bring a paid item worth 100,000 yen as an offering~"
Yuu was too lazy to care. He called out to the mustached man behind the counter: "Manager! Even though I've resigned, I still have the right to suggest salary adjustments for certain employees, right?"
"Shut upppp!"
Before Yuu could finish speaking, the blonde girl in the waiter's uniform charged at him like a hungry tiger. Her pretty face was now twisted into a terrifying, demonic expression. She waved her hand threateningly, and the mop handle in her hand—intentionally or not—tried to stuff itself into his mouth.
"That's my monthly gacha budget... Wait, how dare you threaten this sad, pure, kind-hearted pretty girl with money! Aren't you scared of being cast into hell by an angel?!"
"Where's your self-respect? It's a miracle you can say things like that without blushing."
Yuu tilted his head to dodge, and at the same time patted her head, mocking from above: "Also, this isn't how a junior should act toward a senior. Don't think you can ignore workplace rules just because you're an international student. Even if I've resigned, it's still the same. If you're brave enough, find another job?"
"Gurununu... Damned human..." Having failed to attack, Gabriel quickly deflated like a completely burnt-out log, rolling her eyes and letting herself be held back.
"Fine, forget it. Circumstances force me. I'm too lazy to argue with you... One customer? Please follow me~"
Her voice was flat and emotionless as Gabriel White Tenma—her full name—turned around and walked toward a table. At the same time, her small hand spun the mop, and she muttered in annoyance: "Damned workplace rules, damned Japanese national customs... If this happens again, watch me blow my trumpet and turn everything back to the start..."
"Don't just keep blaming fate and other people. If you act nicely and work seriously, I wouldn't be this harsh on you." Yuu sighed, found the nearest seat, and ordered without looking at the menu: "The usual."
"Okay." It seemed she didn't listen at all. Gabriel prepared to leave with no expression on her face.
Yuu suddenly said: "Call me Onii-chan, and I'll treat you to a full afternoon tea set."
The girl immediately turned around, smiled brightly, and said in a sweet voice: "Onii-chan, is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Hah, this is the right attitude!" Yuu nodded in satisfaction, then waved his hand to shoo her away: "Put it on my bill. If it costs more than one yen, I'll cut your salary twice over."
Gabriel sniffed in disgust, gave him a cold, contemptuous look, and said emotionlessly: "Siscon, pedophile, epic-level pervert."
Then she pouted, turned around, and walked toward the mustached boss behind the counter.
"Truly rude..."
Yuu shook his head, too lazy to pay attention to this junior coworker with such a unique personality.
Since Iroha had quit her job at the café to focus on student council work, the shop had once again faced a staff shortage crisis.
Gabriel had come to apply at that time. Even though she had no motivation, was not very bright, moved slowly, and wasn't smart, the Manager still hired her as a waiter—because she was a young international student trying to support herself in a foreign country.
Back then, Yuu had come as a friend to help the Manager, and had taught her various things.