One person breathed calmly, while another breathed with difficulty and rapidly.
In the spacious girl's room, the air felt as if it were being tightly gripped by dark palms, making even breathing extremely difficult.
Although the AC wasn't turned on, the temperature inside the room was so low that it made her entire body feel cold, like walking bare-chested through an ice warehouse in winter. The coldness penetrated to the bone.
Unlike Sora who acted as if nothing had happened, if it weren't for being wrapped in a blanket, Utaha probably wouldn't be able to stop her teeth from chattering right now.
Not only because of the cold, but also because after being attacked by that white light, in just the blink of an eye, she found herself lying on an unfamiliar bed, surrounded by darkness.
Let alone an ordinary woman, anyone would unconsciously feel afraid.
Afraid she had fallen into a demon's den, with dozens of burly men dressed in black standing beside the bed, eyeing her and ready to attack.
"W-Who are you? And where is this?"
Ignoring Sora's question, Utaha asked with a slightly trembling voice.
Although her heart was panicking, her pride and dignity made her maintain basic composure. Her palms under the blanket secretly groped around, searching for anything that could protect her.
"Going straight to the classic questions... never mind, I was too hasty."
Scratching her cheek slightly, Sora sighed, extended her hand, and snapped her fingers.
*SNAP!*
The lights turned on. Utaha reflexively raised her hand to shield against the light. She squinted with slight discomfort, but didn't dare close her eyes completely. She could only endure the pain in her eyes and quickly adapted to the transition from dark to light.
After she could almost see the surrounding scenery, the anxiety receded like the tide along with the darkness.
She took a deep breath. Before the other party continued with aggressive questions, she quickly looked around at where she currently was and recalled what had happened not long ago.
To test whether the virtual dive device could become a gateway to the dream realm, she had worn that eye-mask-like machine like the others, and successfully converted her consciousness into a data stream, preparing to enter the virtual world.
However, the subsequent development was completely different from what she had expected.
Not only did she not enter the maintenance space those people mentioned, even the account login prompt didn't appear. She just floated in the endless white channel like an electronic ghost for a while, was swallowed by inexplicable white light, and her consciousness disappeared momentarily.
Then, she woke up and found herself lying on an unfamiliar bed. The sci-fi themed virtual channel was gone, replaced by...
A girl's room?
Utaha was shocked. Before she could react, her gaze swept over the person standing beside the bed, who had just thrown out a strange question in a cold tone.
Silver hair reaching down to her calves, pale skin, slender body, an appearance as plain and cute as a fairy, yet radiating a cold and mature aura.
Most importantly, although she looked much older, she recognized this face, and had even seen it not long ago...
"Kasugano Sora?! How are you..."
Utaha exclaimed in surprise. Sora only sneered coldly without expression.
"How am I here? Don't ask that question. Anyway, I won't answer you."
Sora pulled a chair from in front of the desk, sat beside the bed, then crossed her long, straight legs. Her gaze, which was very impolite, observed this beautiful long-haired girl wearing black stockings and casual clothes.
With fingers supporting her chin, Sora furrowed her brow while pondering, and muttered: "In the real world timeline, you shouldn't have a good relationship with him yet, and it's even impossible for a light orb to be on you... So, why did you appear in this trial?"
Although she didn't understand what she was saying, while remembering it, Utaha sneered and retorted: "Answering other people's questions is basic courtesy before asking your own questions, isn't it?"
Looking at the familiar room decoration and layout, she should still be at the Tenkuji house, only she didn't know why she woke up in Sora's room; moreover, why had this fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl now looked so mature, as if she had changed her ID and become an adult overnight.
Even so, facing a familiar place and person, Utaha regained much of her courage. She could straighten her back and demand she answer her questions in a firm tone.
"Can you explain what you just said? And tell me what the situation is now."
Quickly entering negotiation mode, seeing the opponent's surprised expression, Utaha pondered for a moment and lowered her attitude, adding: "This is information exchange. You and I must have things we want to know, right? Although I don't understand why you suddenly have prejudice against me, the situation is urgent now. For your brother's sake, we should make the information we have transparent so problems can be solved better and faster."
Not liking to communicate with social language didn't mean she didn't know how to speak—because it was urgent, Utaha wasn't foolish enough to maintain a cold attitude and argue with the other party at a time like this.
That previous sentence was only because she was annoyed with Sora's attitude and gaze. As long as Sora's heart wasn't too small, they could still negotiate.
"Information exchange, huh..."
Fortunately, this persuasion seemed to work. Sora lowered her head while pinching her chin and sank back into thought.
"Indeed, there are many things I want to ask you... For example, I've already blocked others outside the gate, from what crack did you sneak in?"
"For example, you're clearly not Yuu's girlfriend, why can you interfere with the system's power and be in this trial..."
"For example, your purpose for entering the trial... This I think I can guess, same as Yukino and the others, you want to wake up the sleeping Yuu, right?"
Sora sighed helplessly.
"Damn, there are so many things I want to ask, I don't know where to start."
"In that case..."
"But, I refuse."
Even before Sora finished speaking, Utaha, whose face had just shown hope, was stopped by the next sentence, and her face stiffened.
"You, why..."
Sora withdrew her expression, folded her arms across her chest, and stared at her indifferently: "The thing I like most is saying no to people who think they're clever... Kasumigaoka Utaha, what kind of confidence makes you think your information is important enough that I'd be willing to share my secrets?"
The corner of Utaha's mouth twitched slightly. She took a deep breath and stared back at her without yielding.
"Isn't it? Let me remind you, I came to save your brother! Although I don't know why you look like you've grown ten years overnight, please understand that right now only I can help him!"
Toward the end, her tone became much sharper: "Or, are you planning to just stand still and watch your brother in danger in that trial?"
"Pfft!"
Sora suddenly laughed. She covered her mouth slightly as if unable to hold back laughter and shook her head.
"You still don't understand... Or rather, you haven't found any clues at all from the information I deliberately mentioned."
"What do you mean?" Utaha furrowed her brow.
Sora kindly explained to her: "I mean, Yuu won't face any danger in this trial, and I won't let him get hurt in the slightest. How about it, are you reassured now?"
"On what basis are you so confident..."
As soon as that question came out, Utaha suddenly remembered the words she had muttered to herself not long ago.
[I've already blocked others outside the gate, from what crack did you sneak in—Why can she prevent others from entering the dream realm?]
[You're clearly not Yuu's girlfriend, why can you interfere with the system's power and be in this trial—What is this system? Why does she seem to know everything?]
[This I think I can guess, same as Yukino and the others, you want to wake up the sleeping Yuu, right—Because she used a guessing tone, could she not be Sora from the real world?]
All doubts flooded her mind and simultaneously pointed to the only answer that seemed strange but had the highest possibility.
After all, Sherlock Holmes once said... the rest is abbreviated.
"So-ra, don't tell me you—"
Utaha's fingers trembled unconsciously. She slowly widened her eyes, staring in disbelief at the silver-haired woman before her who was dressed like some kind of scientific researcher, casually enjoying her shocked expression.
No one ran to stop her, so that cry successfully echoed in the room.
"—You're the mastermind behind the scenes who made everything turn out like this!?"
As those words fell, Sora raised the corner of her mouth, showing a very strange smile.
Perhaps only at this moment could she laugh genuinely at someone besides her brother.
"Hello, no."
And mischievously said:
"There's someone else who's the real culprit. I'm just a manager. Too bad you guessed the wrong direction~"
Sora clapped her hands, smiling broadly. It was more like mockery than admiration.
"...I guessed wrong?"
Utaha was shocked for a moment, but she accepted reality faster than she expected. She also didn't feel struck by the truth.
"Meaning, your brother's sleep wasn't caused by you, and you're even protecting him in this trial?"
"Broadly speaking, that's right. But I won't say unnecessary things, because with your IQ, you probably wouldn't understand."
After lightly belittling the number one honor student senior in that class, Sora waved her hand: "Alright, if you don't quickly explain your origins and purpose, I'll start dealing with you. Don't think I'm just bluffing. As long as you're in this room, I can even kill a god for you to see."
"So exaggerated? Who's really the novel protagonist here..." Utaha complained wordlessly. She still struggled, "If I were you, would you really not want to exchange information?"
Sora said flatly: "I don't want to. After all, there's no use for me to know. In the end, nothing will remain... Right now, I just need to do my own business."
"Tch, really stubborn..." Utaha couldn't help but click her tongue.
Now there were two choices before her.
The first choice was leniency for confession, handing over the information she had—her only ace card—to the other party. That way, she should be safe for the time being and might be able to obtain more interesting information.
The second choice was severity for resistance, continuing to face this woman with mysterious powers, and looking for an opportunity to escape and ask Yuu for help.
...Well, what should she do?