Fragments of the room flew like snowflakes, reflecting the images of the two.
At this moment, they were in a hazy darkness. Within the deep black, the shadow of a city, like a mirage, was faintly visible.
She lifted her head slightly, peeking at Alain through the lingering light in her disheveled hair.
Alain met her gaze.
A cluster of fragments drifted past his eyes, filling his vision and reflecting his determined gaze.
But after the fragments passed, Sleepy Mita was no longer there, having disappeared to who knows where.
"I want to sleep," huh?"
He wasn't in a hurry, just carefully murmuring the last words the girl had said to him.
When Alain looked up again, the fragments and the darkness were gone. He now stood inside a dark alley.
"Meow~"
A large, fat orange cat arrogantly sauntered past his feet, rubbing its fur against his pant leg.
"Did she get away?"
Alain knelt, stroking the fat cat's fur. The sudden change in environment didn't cause the slightest emotional fluctuation in him.
He observed his surroundings. This should be the same dark alley where Millie had fought off the Failed Creations before.
From a geographical standpoint, it seemed to be the city he lived in, in reality.
At least, that's how it appeared on the surface. He was back in the real world.
Alain opened the Safety Guard panel, and at the sight of something, the corner of his mouth lifted into a slight smile.
"Just as I thought. It's not that easy."
On the Safety Guard panel, the [Intranet Firewall] icon was flashing so brightly it could almost blind him.
This made it clear: he was still in a dream.
In other words, after the dream of the room shattered, he had arrived here.
A dream within a dream.
"Next time, I'll need to control my intensity a bit better."
I accidentally broke her defenses with my words and made her run away. That won't do...
Alain gave the cat another stroke, then stood up and turned to look at the alley's entrance.
Since he had been placed here, Sleepy Mita was most likely waiting for him somewhere.
Or at least watching him from somewhere.
Assuming this, perhaps this place was the residence of her consciousness while she slept.
So, is it possible that the virus—the Consciousness Entity—is here?
Alain considered whether he should just use the Intranet Firewall to shatter this dream.
But the thought of a dream within a dream made him give up the idea.
If the other party could trap him in a dream within a dream, why not a 'dream within a dream within a dream within a dream'?
The Intranet Firewall had one use, and with the charge from Memory Optimization, he had a total of two uses.
It was best to use them sparingly.
Secondly...
Alain was surprised to find that a progress bar he hadn't checked in a while had risen significantly, from 25% to 50%.
From this, the possibility that Sleepy Mita was the virus, or was possessed by it, became even higher.
As for why she would be connected to the virus—the Consciousness Entity...
Perhaps she had some connection to that Uniformed Girl whose skirt Alain had torn. He needed to find her and ask about that.
Finally, there was the matter of finding Sleepy Mita.
He really had no idea how.
If Sleepy Mita wanted to hide from him, Alain would never be able to find her.
"It's like looking for a needle in a haystack in this vast city."
Alain said helplessly, just as he was about to step out of the alley—
But in the next instant, seeing the pedestrians passing by the alley entrance, Alain's steps froze.
"...What is this?"
He shook his head, thinking he had seen wrong. He closed his eyes to clear his thoughts, then opened them again and looked out at the street.
It was true. Pedestrians came and went, full of laughter and cheerful chatter.
It looked like a scene from a slice-of-life anime.
If only he could ignore the fact that all the pedestrians were Mitas.
Alain pressed a hand to his forehead, his face pale.
"How could I possibly ignore this?"
First, I should go out and check the situation.
Having made up his mind, Alain walked toward the alley entrance.
And in a dark corner he hadn't noticed, a peering eye quietly emerged.
The cat slowly walked to her feet and received an affectionate caress.
Shortly after, watching Alain's departing back from the shadows, her lips curved into a sly, treacherous smile.
"This is really..."
Alain stood by the roadside, watching in astonishment at the scene unfolding on the sunlit avenue, composed entirely of pedestrians:
Mita and Mita walked together, arm in arm as if going shopping.
A Mita waited at the bus stop; a Mita drove the bus, letting other Mitas board.
In every street and alley, there were Mitas; the people coming and going were also Mitas.
"[Please vote for me! If elected, I will reduce everyone's taxes... ]"
"[Hey miss, don't litter.]"
"[Clearance sale! Everything 90% off or more!~]"
"[Eh... can you make it a little cheaper?]"
The ones cleaning, selling, buying, working, governing—all of them were Mitas.
"Oops—thud!"
Just as Alain was spacing out, a sharp cry came from above his head, followed by the sound of something falling at his feet.
"Ah, sorry! Could you help me pick that up... please?"
Alain looked up to see a Mita in a work uniform, who looked like she was cleaning windows, standing on a high platform, empty-handed, pointing at something by his feet.
Her voice trailed off at the end, seemingly because she had seen his face, and her expression went slack.
Alain picked up the roller with the handle and stood on his tiptoes to hand it to the Work Uniform Mita.
"Here. Be safe. Good luck with your work."
With that, he walked toward the other side of the street.
Leaving the Work Uniform Mita in shock.
"Th-that, that was..."
She looked at the cleaning roller in her hand, as if his warmth still lingered on it.
"A player...?"
Meanwhile, Alain was observing the surrounding streets.
Every Mita that passed by looked at him with surprise or astonishment, as if staring at a panda in a zoo.
No... in a way, Alain figured he was even rarer than a panda right now.
Are all these Mitas products of the dream? Their emotions seem very real...
"Tap."
Just then, someone tapped him on the shoulder.
Still pondering, Alain turned around in confusion to find it was the same Work Uniform Mita from before.
Her work hadn't diminished the girl's fresh scent.
If anything, the sweat on her forehead, body, and underarms only made her natural fragrance bloom even more.
The Work Uniform Mita had short hair—the same type as Big Sister and Prankster Mita.
"Um... excuse me, are you a player?"
"Yes."
Alain looked at her strangely. He could feel an inexplicable fervor in the girl's eyes.
"Hey, did you hear that? He really is a player!"
"Whoa, a player!"
"Hey, should we..."
The surrounding pedestrians began to gather unnaturally around him, vaguely forming an enclosing circle.
If they were ordinary pedestrians, Alain would have felt a strange sense of awkwardness.
But since they were all Mitas, it instead gave him a sense of unease and... a faint, lurking apprehension.
"Excuse me!"
Just then, the Work Uniform Mita's words caught his attention.
"Can you be my player?"
"Sure."
"Huh?! So readily?"
The Work Uniform Mita was taken aback for a moment, then joyfully threw herself into Alain's arms.
"Yay! I have a player!"
The girl's cute and cheerful demeanor made Alain affectionately pat her on the head.
"Whoa! Look, that Mita got a head start!"
"I want the player to pat my head too!"
"How about..."
Alain felt the surrounding gazes become especially feverish and glanced around.
He discovered that all the Mitas were looking at him with gazes like a blazing fire, hot enough to burn him.
______
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