"Well then, Darling, you've set your next goal!" Misha said from outside the screen, an admiring smile on her face as she looked at the young man's determined gaze.
"Yeah. But the goal itself hasn't really changed," Alain said.
What he had to do was simple: move forward, unite all the Mita forces he could, and launch a counter-attack on the core to reclaim the peace and tranquility of the game world.
As he always said, the only one who could do whatever they wanted in "Mita" was him, not some random virus.
But before that…
Alain glanced at the door of the tiny room, then his gaze returned to 2D Mita, who was now in a physical state.
"I'm planning to go back to the real world for a bit. Can you come with me?"
The 2D Version was their only path to the world occupied by the Corrosive Entity—the "Corrosive World," for short—but it was now falling apart due to the virus's self-destruct mechanism.
Fortunately, ownership was now in Alain's hands. It would only take a short time to repair, and the 2D Version could be restored to its unharmed state.
When that time came, they would press forward.
"As long as the Safety Assistant is there, I can go too." 2D Mita patted his shoulder and said with a mischievous grin, "So, Player. You're stuck with me for life!"
"I couldn't ask for more. As long as you don't get tired of me."
"Eh? Get tired of you? I was hoping you wouldn't get tired of me..." The girl fretted, tapping her fingertips together.
Seeing her shy demeanor, Alain laughed lightly.
He knew that now... it was time to return to reality.
It wasn't just about the rest he needed after a long mission. It was also... desire.
He and Misha had already made a promise: this time, when he returned to reality... they were going to, in the most literal sense, go all out.
They were going to make up for the time before her period, and the time after, all at once!
It wasn't just for him, but for her too.
Alain's gaze flickered toward the long-haired girl. Their eyes met in mid-air.
She seemed to understand something. Her gaze drifted past Alain's, and she lowered her head slightly, giving a gentle nod.
"...Why did the atmosphere suddenly get so steamy?" Short-Haired Mita's mind was sharp, too. She could practically smell the change in the air.
"Ahem, ahem!" Misha coughed loudly, stiffly changing the subject.
"So, Alain. I guess that's a wrap for the game world, for now?" she said, looking at 2D Mita. "Not only did you save a Mita from the virus's clutches, but you also figured out the path forward."
"Yeah, it's over for now." Having learned all this, Alain's tense body finally relaxed.
This trip into the game world had been his most exhausting one yet. Not only was it long, but the difficulty had also increased significantly.
The fusion of Mita and virus—the Consciousness Entity. The big-boss-like virus—the Corrosive Entity. And learning that at least three other Mitas were trapped inside the "Corrosive World," waiting for him to rescue them as he saved their versions.
But the results were also the most fruitful. The Safety Guard was gone, replaced by a new Safety Assistant, and its functions had received a major upgrade.
"Phew... I can finally rest a little, then."
Misha also felt a long-overdue sense of relief. The prolonged mental strain had long since left a thin layer of nervous sweat on her forehead.
She sat back in the computer chair, about to give a lazy stretch—
"Ah!"
A second later, Alain heard a yelp, followed by the sound of something soft and heavy hitting the floor.
"???"
He looked toward the sound and saw that Misha had actually... fallen off the computer chair. Parts of the chair clattered to the ground.
"...I have to ask, is this supposed to be some kind of comedy routine?" Short-Haired Mita's snarky voice rang out, causing Misha, who was still on the floor, to cry out in humiliation.
"Ugh... I don't know why that happened!" she said, rubbing her butt as she stood up. "Oh... sorry, Alain, your chair..."
"As long as you're not hurt, it's fine," Alain said with a smile.
He could always buy another chair, but if Misha got hurt, he'd be upset for a long time.
"Well then, you can stay in the real world and recover." Alain looked toward the exit of the Tiny Version. "This time, I'm going to add a new Mita to our real-world home."
Short-Haired Mita already knew. "It's Sleepy Mita, isn't it?"
"Yes. That girl loves to sleep. She's probably still roaming in her dreams right now, huh?"
Alain chuckled, then looked thoughtfully at Misha.
"?" The long-haired girl was puzzled by Alain's teasing gaze, unable to figure out what was going on.
"Um... is something wrong with me?"
"Nothing." He remembered very clearly what "Misha" had done to him in the dream world.
—When Sleepy Mita came out of the dream world, she used his real-world body as a conduit to transfer the memories of the three "Dream Mitas" to the three "Real-World Mitas."
All Misha had to do was have a dream tonight, and she would see everything that her counterpart, Mayor Misha, had done in Mita City...
A pale white particle happened to float before his eyes, blurring his vision. Through it, he seemed to see Misha's face, flushed and on the verge of tears.
The particle gradually drifted away, a translucent, pale pink light carrying the "shh" sound of a turning page. It landed on the book, gently touching the text. With a soft "pop," the particle turned to dust, dissolving into the sound of her recitation.
"Let's fly away, it's time,"
She had a dark blue bob, with the bangs on one side held back by a hairclip.
Her black, round-framed glasses didn't hide her lively dark blue eyes, which reflected the glowing text of the book.
"We were once free birds, let's fly away—"
This Mita wasn't dressed to go out. She wore an orange-red, cable-knit cardigan over a crisp white shirt, accented with a dark blue tie.
Below, she wore a straight, pleated skirt, and her sheer black stockings revealed just a hint of her youthful skin.
"Fly to the bright mountains behind the dark clouds, fly there, to that blue cape,"
She casually dangled the slippers on her stockinged feet, completely absorbed as she savored the poem.
"Only the wind is dancing... with me for company!"
She gently placed the book on her lap and let out a relaxed breath, the aftertaste of the poem still lingering in her heart.
"Free birds..."
The girl looked thoughtfully out the window.
Never mind birds; the glass revealed no scenery at all, only a dull, pure white light that dazzled her eyes.
She stared blankly for over a minute before finally looking away.
Gazing at the title, "The Prisoner," on the book's cover, Mila sighed softly.
"Birds... when will they come?"
___
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