Determined to understand the changes to his mind, Kamiyā Yuu wasted no time. After taking another shower, he returned to his bedroom to sleep.
Kamiyā Sora was lying on the bed using her laptop. She glanced at him and immediately sensed something was wrong. Quickly setting the computer aside, she climbed over to him and placed a small hand against his forehead to check his temperature.
"Yuu, what's wrong?"
Although he had rested for a while in the bathroom, the aftereffects of forcing his mind into that abnormal state were still obvious.
The most noticeable symptom was the exhaustion in his eyes, as though he hadn't slept for several days.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Kamiyā Yuu forced a smile.
"I'm just a little tired. A good night's sleep should fix it."
Kamiyā Sora looked at his pale face and shook her head.
"We're going to the hospital."
"No need to go that far. I know what's causing this."
He gently rubbed her soft hair in reassurance.
"Yuu. Hospital."
She grasped his wrist and stared directly into his eyes.
There wasn't the slightest room for compromise in her serious gaze.
Her calm voice carried an unmistakably firm resolve, along with a hint of anxiety.
Kamiyā Yuu immediately understood she was completely serious.
He could only smile bitterly.
Even though he knew exactly what was wrong with him, there was no persuading Kamiyā Sora otherwise.
Since he was still able to move around, the two changed clothes and took a taxi to a nearby hospital.
By the time they finished the full series of examinations, it was already past one in the morning.
The doctor's conclusion was straightforward.
Sleep deprivation had caused his physical weakness.
He needed to regulate his sleep schedule and avoid prolonged periods of intense work for quite some time.
······
"Yuu, from now on I'll help with the housework. And when we get home, you're not allowed to keep working for the company."
On the ride back, Kamiyā Sora hugged his arm tightly as she spoke softly.
Kamiyā Yuu couldn't help laughing inwardly.
At the same time, a warm feeling welled up inside him.
"The doctor said I just need some rest. It doesn't have to be that serious."
Kamiyā Sora frowned unhappily.
"In any case, you're forbidden from going into your study after we get home."
In the end, Kamiyā Yuu had no choice but to accept her decision.
For at least the next month, he wasn't allowed to enter the study where he worked.
From now on, he was also forbidden from staying there past midnight.
Because of the hospital visit, Kamiyā Sora even insisted that he take another day off tomorrow and rest properly.
······
After dawdling around the apartment for quite a while, Kamiyā Yuu finally entered the consciousness space and began investigating the changes in his mind.
Within the consciousness space, those changes were astonishingly clear.
After reproducing the situation once, he quickly understood what had happened.
First...
The emptiness his consciousness had entered was essentially the same state he always experienced just before entering the consciousness space through sleep.
It was the transitional stage immediately before entering the consciousness space.
Normally, however, that moment of nothingness lasted only an instant, so brief that he never consciously noticed it.
When he attempted to force himself into a similar state while remaining awake, that fleeting instant of emptiness stretched into an infinite distance.
No matter what he did, his consciousness simply couldn't cross that boundary.
Second...
His intuition toward digital data truly existed.
Even when using the consciousness space to connect with the internet of his previous world, the same phenomenon occurred.
Only...
Within the consciousness space, that perception was magnified infinitely, allowing him to sense things he had never been capable of perceiving before.
A simple analogy would be this:
Human beings are so accustomed to the existence of air that breathing is handled unconsciously by the body.
Trying to manipulate data through his mind in the real world, however, was like suddenly becoming someone who had forgotten every instinct necessary to keep the body functioning.
Not only would he forget how to breathe...
He might even forget how his heart was supposed to beat.
To solve the problem, Kamiyā Yuu would have to gradually rediscover those forgotten "instincts."
Fortunately, with the existence of the consciousness space, rebuilding those instincts wasn't particularly difficult.
Otherwise, his body would probably collapse long before he ever mastered the ability to perceive data.
"So you're saying that, just now, for a brief moment, you were able to sense what I was doing in the other world through the consciousness space?"
Inside the consciousness space, Kamiyā Yuu looked at Weiss in surprise.
What she had just told him was completely unexpected.
Dressed in an elegant snow-white gown, her silver hair flowing behind her, Weiss folded her arms and pondered.
"Yes... Though it's hard to explain."
"We really did sense it."
"It was similar to how we perceive this world from here."
"But your world felt incredibly vague and unstable."
"Yuu, did you do something?"
Blake looked at him calmly with her golden feline eyes.
Today she wore a mature black women's business suit that gave her a sophistication uncommon for girls her age.
Still dressed in her familiar red-and-black Gothic skirt, Ruby grinned excitedly.
"Ooh! Does that mean we'll be able to visit Yuu's world someday too?"
Yang yawned lazily.
"Well... it only lasted for an instant."
Kamiyā Yuu contemplated the matter for a long while before speaking.
"Let's go back to the Matrix."
"I want to figure something out."
As soon as he finished speaking, the consciousness space opened a green passage.
The emerald corridor was composed entirely of the binary digits 0 and 1, streams of data flowing through it faster than the human eye could ever perceive.
The Matrix.
The internet company Kamiyā Yuu was founded in his previous world.
After several more years of development, it had already become an unrivaled titan of the online world.
Its achievements in biology and network technology stood at the very forefront of the age.
According to Time magazine's rankings, Kamiyā Yuu—the company's famously mysterious chairman—had long since become the richest person on Earth.
Through reverse engineering based on her own existence, Blake had opened the door to the Third Technological Revolution—
A revolution centered on information technology.
Once those technologies fully mature, humanity will officially enter the era of true artificial intelligence and fully immersive virtual worlds.
The Matrix's core personnel all knew that the technologies publicly released by the company represented only the tip of the iceberg.
No one could touch the company's true core.
Every major superpower in the world watched The Matrix with covetous eyes.
Yet not a single nation dared act rashly.
Even the United States, where the company itself was headquartered, was no exception.
If anything, America's intelligence agencies understood more clearly than anyone just how terrifying the Matrix truly was.
Hidden beneath the company's immense corporate empire lay something even more frightening.
Over the years, various American political factions and financial conglomerates had repeatedly attempted to halt the Matrix's growth—or destroy the company monopolizing so much advanced technology.
Without exception...
Every operation had been warned off or stopped.
The warnings originated from the very heart of America's true power structure.
Only those at the highest levels understood that the Matrix's actual influence extended far beyond that of an ordinary corporation.
It was more accurate to regard it as an invisible superpower.
And the "military force" that superpower could command was enough to cleanse the surface of the Earth in a single minute.
Kamiyā Yuu himself, however, had never really felt that way.
His original idea had simply been to use the consciousness space to steadily advance technology in that world.
The technologies released to the public merely served two purposes—
Funding further research...
And benefiting humanity.
If things truly came down to it, he had never entertained the idea of conquering the world through overwhelming force.
At most, he would simply hide his laboratories somewhere and continue his research.
Although possessing the consciousness space did give him a slight sense of superiority, his mindset remained that of an ordinary person.
He had no adolescent fantasies about becoming a great demon king and ruling the world after gaining power.
Nor did he possess the lofty ambition of devoting himself selflessly to all mankind.
As far as this world was concerned, Kamiyā Yuu intended to let history unfold naturally while simply living his own life.
Of course...
If the matter concerned the family he had once had in this world—or his homeland—that was another story entirely.
After his transmigration, his own existence had effectively been "erased."
Nevertheless, he had still managed to locate the family he once belonged to.
Using his abilities, he had quietly ensured they lived safe and ordinary lives.
Comfortable enough to own a home and a car in a major city...
But nowhere near wealthy.
In any case...
The thing he cared about most right now was still finishing 'Fate/Zero' in this world first.