When Shirayuki opened her eyes, she found herself inside Tracen.
She looked around, but could not find any difference between this place and the real Tracen. Very quickly, however, she noticed something strange about herself.
It was gone.
The other half inside her head had disappeared.
At this moment, she existed in this world as a virtual character.
So did I actually enter or not?
And what happened to Chiya's side?
Just as Shirayuki was wondering, Agnes Tachyon's voice sounded beside her ear.
"Shirayuki, can you hear me?"
"I can hear you, Tachyon. What happened to my body?"
"An interesting situation has occurred. Right now, you and Guinea Pig-kun are in a separated state, independent from the virtual world. It reminds me of a science fiction story. A scientist digitized his own brain and uploaded it to a computer. Then the digitized scientist fell into the question of 'Who am I?' and eventually chose to end himself. His data was completely destroyed. You won't do something that foolish, will you, Shirayuki?"
"I probably won't…"
"That's good. Then let me explain my hypothesis. Although you and Chiya share consciousness, in the end, you have two brains. This device only allows the data from one brain to be uploaded. In other words, right now, the two of you are in a completely separated state. How delightful. The soul that Cafe spoke of has actually been defeated by technology. I might laugh in my sleep tonight."
"Now isn't the time to be happy, is it? Let me log out first."
"Swipe your finger to the right. There should be a logout button. Press it and you'll come out."
Shirayuki swiped, and a menu appeared before her eyes.
"Tachyon! There's no logout option!"
"Ah?"
"Just kidding."
"I'm about to die laughing," Agnes Tachyon said dryly.
When Shirayuki pressed the logout button, Fujiwara Chiya felt a sharp pain in his head. In an instant, a huge number of memories flooded into him, including everything Shirayuki had said to Agnes Tachyon inside the virtual world. All of it surged out at once.
Fujiwara Chiya clutched his head and gasped a few times. A few seconds later, the pain faded.
"Do you remember what happened inside, Guinea Pig-kun?" Agnes Tachyon asked.
"Of course. But only after she came out."
"I see. It seems this thing can only temporarily block the connection between the two of you. Once you come out, the memories still synchronize. However…"
Agnes Tachyon looked at Fujiwara Chiya's uncomfortable expression.
"The synchronization does not feel easy. Is it placing a burden on the brain?"
"Are you done yet? Why did you shut me outside?"
Air Shakur's voice came from beyond the door. After something abnormal happened on Fujiwara Chiya's side, Agnes Tachyon had driven her out without explanation.
"Wait a moment," Agnes Tachyon called.
"Maybe. But the time inside was very short."
"Because the time you spent inside was very short."
Agnes Tachyon thought for a while.
"It seems you cannot stay inside for too long. Otherwise, the sudden surge of large amounts of memory will be too much for your body to handle. Wait, if there are two devices connected together, would the two people inside remain mutually independent, or would they be connected inside as well…"
Agnes Tachyon's curiosity had been stirred.
Unfortunately, for now, she could only imagine it. Even if she was an ojou-sama, her family's money did not grow on trees. Buying this one device had already hurt quite a bit, so she would not be able to buy anything else for the time being.
"I'm leaving! If you don't open the door, I'm leaving!"
Air Shakur finally lost patience and shouted from outside. Agnes Tachyon had no choice but to open the door.
"Jingu-kun, sorry. There was a small issue just now."
"If there was an issue, you should've called me even more, right? Is there anyone here who understands computers better than me?"
Agnes Tachyon casually agreed with her a few times.
"In any case, we'll run a ten-minute test first. If her condition is good, we'll extend the time and see where the limit is."
"What limit? What exactly are you people doing?"
"Jingu-kun just needs to handle the device calibration. No problem, right?"
"At least explain it to me!"
"All right, let's begin."
When the device was activated again, Shirayuki appeared inside the virtual Tracen.
She examined the surrounding environment. It was almost identical to the real Tracen, completely familiar to Shirayuki. She looked at her own body and found no sense of discomfort. It felt exactly the same as outside.
"Can you hear me? This is Chiya."
Chiya's voice reached Shirayuki's ear.
A strange feeling welled up inside her.
It was like calling herself on the phone and hearing her own voice through the receiver.
"I-I can hear you…"
Shirayuki answered haltingly.
"In any case, go to the training grounds first…"
"Guinea Pig-kun, what are you getting nervous about?"
Agnes Tachyon revealed an amused smile.
"I don't see you getting this nervous when talking to other girls."
"Shut up. Don't disturb me. I'm thinking."
"Jingu-kun, I suddenly feel like uploading my own consciousness into a computer and talking to myself all day would be rather interesting."
"It's rare for the two of us to agree. With equipment like this, it's technically possible. From the research report I read, the essence of this thing is uploading thought into a computer, putting the brain into a sleep state, then transmitting the signal back to the brain when the process ends. But why are you suddenly thinking about that?"
"Just a passing thought."
After Shirayuki arrived at the training grounds, she asked, "Then what?"
Shirayuki's figure appeared on the computer screen.
"Then leave it to me."
Air Shakur began operating the system. Very quickly, several passerby uma musume appeared one after another on the training grounds.
"They're generated AI. I'll set up a race."
Agnes Tachyon looked at the time and urged Air Shakur to hurry.
"I know. What's the rush?"
She pressed the Enter key, and fourteen uma musume suddenly appeared on the training grounds before Shirayuki. They stood inside the gates.
There was no need to guess who the empty space in the middle was for.
Shirayuki stepped into the gate.
The instant the gates opened, Shirayuki ran out.
The sensation of the ground was the same as in a real race. Her body felt the same too. If not for the voices in her ear and the menu she could swipe out at any time, Shirayuki might even have suspected this was the real world.
Meanwhile, outside, Chiya suddenly felt something strange.
Although he could not see or hear anything through Shirayuki, he could clearly feel her body sweating and heating up. Fatigue appeared in her legs. This condition was the same as during a race.
By the time Shirayuki crossed the finish line, the fatigue on that side had also reached its peak.
Agnes Tachyon looked at the time on the clock and said, "All right. Come out now."
The instant Shirayuki pressed the logout button, Chiya felt a burst of severe pain in his head. Immediately afterward, all kinds of scenes flashed through his mind.
In only a few short seconds, he experienced Shirayuki's entire ten minutes.
"Hey… are you okay? Tachyon, what's going on here?"
Air Shakur was completely confused.
Agnes Tachyon held her chin and announced,
"The research into the Domain of uma musume has achieved a breakthrough."