The thing that had suddenly appeared in front of my eyes drew me in,
as if it had a gravitational pull.
As I reached for the necklace that had fallen from my chest, I felt a
terrible headache. The pain felt as if the me who was trying to pick up
the necklace and the me who was trying to stop myself was colliding in
my head.
Rather, in the first place, what is this necklace? I don't have any idea
when or where I got it… or even how long I've been wearing it.
[Kuhh!? Uuuuuu… Guhhh…]
As I picked up the necklace, my hands were shaking and my body was
profusely sweating. Therepon, the headache became worse.
It was a strange sensation, as if something was trying to jump out from
within my body. However, even with this headache that would normally
knock me unconscious, my eyes were still glued to the necklace.
What is this? What's going on? What am I…
[…Ku… ro—— Agghhh!?]
The moment that word unconsciously came out of my mouth… It was as
if a dam burst, and a large amount of information…"memories that I had
forgotten until now" started flowing in like a gushing river.
[…I was? That's right! I was with Shiro-san and… Where in the world is
this…]
——Kaito-kun! Please, answer me!!!
[ ! ? Is that Kuro!?]
——Kaito-kun! I'm glad… My voice finally reached you.
As I remembered everything, I heard an echo in my head… That voice
unmistakably belongs to Kuro. Hearing me respond, Kuro replied with a
voice that contained a mixture of impatience and relief.
——Kaito-kun. Listen carefully… Right now, Kaito-kun is in a virtual
world that Shiro created. You have a deadline of 30 days.
[30 days!?]
Hearing her explanation, I hurriedly turned my attention to the
calendar on the wall. I see, so this calendar was actually showing the
time limit… which means that there's only 24 hours left for the
deadline!?
——If you don't get out of there by that time limit, Kaito-kun will lose
all your memories of the year you spent in this world!
[Wha…]
My memory? The year I spent in this world… Which means, all the
memories I experienced since I was caught up in the Hero Summoning
will disappear.
That was… the penalty that I have to pay when I lose? There was
something regarding that matter that I'm bothered with, but let's put
that matter off for later. First and foremost, I need to escape from this
virtual world.
——Earth God told me that for Kaito-kun to escape from that world…
You need to go to a place where you can clearly see that the world
you're in is fake.
[…Clearly seeing that this world… is a fake?]
——It's just a guess… but I'm sure that it would be a place that has
something to do with Kaito-kun's parents.
[ ! ? ]
…So that's how it is. I can understand now. This world… is "my ideal
world". A world where my deceased Mom and Dad are alive, and where
Kuro, Isis-san, Alice, Lilia-san, Sieg-san and Fate-san… more accurately
speaking, they were different people, but it still feels like a world where
the people I love are here.
And perhaps, just as Kuro guessed… This world is the result of me
thinking "if Mom and Dad were still alive"… No, perhaps, this world is
composed of my innermost desires.
[…I understand! For the time being, I'm going to that place that I can
think of.]
——Unnn… Please, Kaito-kun. Make sure to come… back…
[Kuro? Kuro!?]
——Shi… noti… huh… Kaito… un… Do… best…
After that, I didn't hear Kuro's voice anymore. From what I could hear, I
guess Shiro-san noticed and cut off the communication between Kurosan and I.
Anyway, there's no time left! I need to move now!
After wearing the necklace back to my neck, I hurriedly grabbed the
bare necessities and ran down the stairs.
On the way, I looked into the living room… and noticed that Mom and
Dad, who were supposed to be home for the holidays, weren't here.
Feeling a little uncomfortable about it, I ran out of the house… but soon
after, I had a bad feeling, so I turned my gaze to the sky.
[…What… is that? The sky… is so dark.]
The sky up in the sky wasn't blue, but it's dark… no, black. As if the sky
had been painted over, the sky was pitch-black. However, it still isn't
night. The surrounding area was still as bright as day, but only the sky
was black.
Not only that, as even though I'm in a residential area at the end of the
year… There wasn't a sign of human presence anywhere.
[...…]
It's just a guess, a hunch per se… but I understood. That up to this point,
this virtual world had been "a world that was keeping me from noticing
its true identity". However, now that I'm aware of it… no, now that I've
remembered, the world's aspect changed.
Yes, perhaps… it has changed to "a world that's keeping me from
escaping".
The world had transitioned to the second stage huh… Bring it on! I'm
definitely gonna go out of here… I won't lose my precious memories of
Kuro and the others!!!
Right after I strengthened my resolve with my fists clenched… The
doors of several houses in the residential area opened almost
simultaneously.
[Eh?… Huh?]
And then, from all those houses, "humanoid beings with all-black
body"… This might be weird to say and too spicy to people's
imagination, but they looked like people walking around wearing black
full-body tights. These humanoid beings that were clearly not human,
appeared in a line, approaching me with slow steps.
[Wait!? Whoaaaaa!?]
No matter how I look at it, there's no way that the strange monsters
that appeared in this situation were friendly. Immediately turning
around, I started running down the street in a mad dash.
What the heck are those things!? What the heck is happening!? They
were moving slowly, but there's an unusual number of them… Zombies?
Are those freaking zombies!? It obviously wouldn't be a good idea if I
get caught by them, right!? Wait, they started coming out in every
houseeeees!?
Is this the second ordeal?… When the heck did I become the
protagonist of a zombie moviiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeee!??