"Dad?" Yuuta called. There was command in his voice, implying that he was a bit irked by what his dad did. Regardless, he maintained his composure so there won't be chaos in the infirmary. Furthermore, it's not like Yuuta was angry at his dad, it was his actions that annoyed him.
The person behind his dad flinched as she saw Yuuta's glare. Her face flushed red and her lips parted into a forced smile as she nervously waved her hand towards him. But after a split second, she hesitantly withdrew her hand when Yuuta didn't reciprocate her greetings.
For a moment, the girl forgot that Yuuta was blind. That's because he was staring intently towards her eyes as if he could see her.
"Are you okay? What happened?" Rin worriedly asked as he approached Yuuta. He ignored everything that Yuuta was showing through his body language.
"I'm fine. Moreover, why is she here?" Yuuta whispered, pointing at Miki.
"I don't know. I met her on the way here and she wanted to tell you something. I asked her what it was but she wouldn't tell me." Rin whispered back, and then, he returned to his normal voice. "Well, looks like you're okay. I'll leave her in your care. Something came up at work so I was on my way there."
Yuuta nodded as he inwardly sighed. There was nothing he could do about the situation so he just left it at that. After his dad left the infirmary, Miki approached Yuuta and sat on the adjacent bed.
"What is it? If you want something then just say it. And by the way, don't you have afternoon classes? Did you skip school just to see me?" Yuuta asked at once. His body was too tired to deal with her that he just wanted her to go away.
"No, school ended early for today. Your sister is right outside. We came here together with your dad." Miki called out. "That aside, I have something to ask you."
There was urgency in her voice that Yuuta didn't want to refuse her request. With another sigh, Yuuta waved his hand. "Right. Just ask away and let me get some rest."
"By any chance... do you hear something strange from time to time? Like... the Lucid Dream Server log-in greeting?"
.....
It wasn't a coincidence.
In fact, there were no coincidences.
All those murders, all those deaths. They might all be connected to the Lucid Dream Server. As to how they were connected, Yuuta has no idea but his guts told him otherwise.
The report about the gruesome death of one of their classmates was reported later that evening in the night news. Yuuta just got home after briefly checking out the underground. A moment ago, his sister came to the hospital with Miki.
But now, they were both at the Sakurai household, watching the news while his dad prepared dinner. Yuuta had no idea what Miki told his sister but right now, they were both best buds. They were even sitting so close to each other on the couch while sharing a bag of potato chips.
There was a different aura coming out from them though. Instead of a gleeful evening together, the people in the house all had a heavy atmosphere. It's as if a tragedy just happened and they had nothing they could do about it.
It didn't take long before Yuuta realized what happened. Because right there, on the night news, was an exclusive report about his classmate, Eguchi Amaya.
'She was killed at approximately ten am near the convenience store by Third Street. It was an inconspicuous location and only a few people passed by there. Her body was only found three hours later when a grandma living near the area happened to pass by on her way home from buying groceries. Because of the complications of the matter, we cannot disclose the identity of the grandma. The police, however, have done their job in investigating the grandma and she was ruled out from the list of suspects—'
"Do they even have a list of suspects?" Miki asked.
"I doubt it. I guess they're just saying that to avoid a nationwide panic." Yui asked. "Oh, big brother, welcome back!" Yui greeted when her eyes met Yuuta's figure.
"I'm home. And why are you here, Miki?" I asked.
"She said she's worried about you. And also, you told her to accompany me to go home since it's not safe. We couldn't just send her away after all that."
'Right, I did say that.' Yuuta said to himself, approaching the two and grabbing a few chips from them.
"And did you hear, apparently, Miki is also a beta tester of the game! She said she will help you clear the Second Level! You've been stuck there for days, right?"
Eh?! Yuuta exclaimed in his mind. However, after thinking twice about it, he could tell that Miki had more knowledge about the game than him. Back at the infirmary, she told him something that has been bugging his mind for quite some time now and as such, he assumed that Miki held the answers he was looking for.
"Sure, let's play after dinner." Yuuta shrugged. "Also, I've already preordered a VR Headgear for you, Yui. You should try the game out too."
"Wait, you did?!" Yui jumped up and down the couch as soon as she heard it. Yuuta didn't expect her to react so positively at something so simple. "But, where did you get the money?"
Yuuta shrugged once again and pretended he didn't hear anything. This led Yui to assume that Yuuta spent his savings for her when in fact, it was a small portion of the prize money he won from his unofficial fight against Nakamura Ryota.
After greeting his dad, Yuuta headed towards his room to ponder on the recent events. First, a chain of murder happened and every time it did, he would receive a notification from the Lucid Dream Server as if he was logging in the game when in fact he wasn't. A lot of mystery revolved around the game but he still doesn't know anything about it.
"This is like when you play a video game for the first time, assuming that this is how it works. And then, it turns out that the game is a different game altogether." Yuuta heaved a sigh. No matter how he thought about it, nothing makes any sense. There were also times when he thought that he was hallucinating after playing for so long in real life but he knew that such wasn't the case.
'Lucid Dream Server, what exactly is this game?' Yuuta said to himself as he remembered the words of Miki back at the infirmary.
— You have to finish the tests as soon as possible. Otherwise, it will all be too late!