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There are white walls, white beds, and
white clothes.\nNo matter where I look, my vision is
filled with flawless white, and even the holographic projection is a light
color.\nI’m in a hospital room.\nI’ve visited this place many times
since I was a child, but I still didn’t like the smell of disinfectant in my nose.\nI, Kitou Miko, am sitting in a
visitor’s chair, making eye contact with my mother laying on the bed.\n“… Hey
Miko” \n“What? Mom”\n“I want to see your boyfriend.”\n“There isn’t one…”\nThis is what I thought when I suddenly
opened my mouth.\n She wondered if there was anyone I was dating,
who I liked, or if my mother would be so eager to interfere in their daughter’s
love lives.\nI’ve told her many times that I’ve
never been in a relationship with anyone, but she still asks me frequently, and
I have a feeling she’s just messing with me.\nNo, there are people I like.\nBut I didn’t bother to report it, so I
just brushed it off as usual.\n“It’s such a waste to have such a cute
face. Don’t you ever be confessed?”\n“It’s none of your business, mom.”\n“You’re such a pretty girl. There is
no way you can’t get a boyfriend, no matter how pretty your face is..”\n“It’s a big help”\nI was annoyed, but I couldn’t think of
anything to say back, so I just expressed my dissatisfaction.\nPerhaps seeing my situation, my mother
opened her mouth in amazement\n“Mou. Why don’t you at least bring
them here before I die? I’m not asking you to show me your grandchildren’s
face, you know.”\nThe words were light-hearted and did
not imply any deep meaning, but the word “death” lingered in my ears.\n“… Stop. Don’t do that”\nThe joke wasn’t funny, and I could
feel my tone becoming harsher.\n“Oh… Don’t get mad, Miko. I’m not
serious.\n“… I’m not angry.”\nI’m not angry. That is true.\nI’m not angry.\n“But… Stop it.”\nIt’s just that, deep down, I don’t
want to hear those words.\n“…”\nMy mother was sickly.\nShe was hospitalized for the first
time before I started elementary school, and ever since then, she has been in
and out of the hospital, only to collapse again and go back to the hospital.\nI had never seen her in pain, but her
white hospital gown, which had become more familiar to me than any of her
clothes, gave me a more fragile impression of her.\nAlthough she had much longer to live,
the doctor’s diagnosis was that she could die at any time.\n余命の宣告はされていないけれど、いつ死んだっておかしくない、というのが医師から受けた診断だ。\nThe name of the disease is unknown.\nCause unknown.\nThere was no cure.\nTo think that I have been living in
such a state for so many years makes me feel rather strange.\nI thought that he would stay by my
side forever.\n“Miko.”\n“Hm?”\n“Aside from your boyfriend, take good
care of your friends.”\n“……Yup”\n“―――― Inori-chan? … Inori-chan?”\n“……Eh?”\nBecause of Kanae-chan’s voice, I
regained consciousness.\nWhen I noticed, Kanae-chan was waving
her hand in front of me, and she was anxiously staring at my face.\n“Are you okay? It seems like you’ve
been absent-minded all day.”\n“Ah… Don’t worry about me.”\nYes, I am. I was in the middle of a
stream.\nI just remembered the conversation I
had with my mother this morning, and it seems I broke my concentration.\nI regretted my actions and rushed to
find the ball of light.\nBut I couldn’t find it anywhere.\n“… What about that Kanae-san?”\nI asked Kanae-chan with a dull eye.\nHearing my words, Kanae-chan returns
her answer to my question, increasing her anxiety.\n“The stream is over… Are okay? Did you
feel sick?”\n“… I’m fine.”\nIt seems that I was in a daze for
longer than I imagined. I’ve never experienced anything like this before during
a stream.\n“…”\nBut I knew the reason.\nI knew exactly why I was distracted,
why I couldn’t see what was going on around me, and why I was bothering Kanae.\n I stared into the void and only directed my
voice at Kanae-chan.\n“… Kanae-san”\n“Yup?”\nThe cause of my condition.\n That is.\n“Let’s say goodbye to us today ….
Today is the last time we play together.”\nThis word I had to say had dominated
my head all the time.\n☆ 彡 ☆ 彡 ☆ 彡 ☆ 彡\n“Let’s say goodbye to us today ….
Today is the last time we play together.”\nThe voice was cold, with no visible
emotion.\n“Eh?”\nI could feel my body tense up at the
sudden words that hit me.\nIt’s not that I can’t think calmly
about why my brain can’t even read what was said.\n“… What do you mean? Are you saying
goodbye for today?”\n“Wrong.”\n“Let’s meet again tomorrow, right?”\n“Wrong.”\n“No, it’s not. I’m tired, Inori. I
don’t know what you’re talking about.”\n“……Wrong.”\nInori-chan just stubbornly repeated
that it was different.\nShe won’t look me in the eye.\n“… Did I do something to upset you?”\n“…………”\n“Is there a reason?”\n“…………”\n“… I’m sorry Inori-chan. I’m an idiot,
so I don’t understand unless you tell me.”\nI felt so sorry that I wanted to lower
my eyes.\nBut when I took my eyes off Inori-chan
now, I felt like I would never be able to meet again, and I was desperately
enduring with a strong tie.\nThere was no light in Inori-chan’s
eyes, and I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.\nShe kept a mask-like blank expression
on her face.\n“I don’t want to. I don’t want to go.
Unless you can at least tell me why.”\nAt least, I thought Inori and I were
friends.\nI don’t want to think that it was a
one-way thought.\n“… Reasons?”\nIn response to my words, Inori opens
her mouth.\nAnd she forced her to raise her mouth,
apparently with a fake smile, and what she said to me.\n“It’s a strange thing for us to be
distributing together,” she said. The number of your subscribers is way out of
proportion. What do you think? Since you started spending time with me, the
number of subscribers has increased dramatically, hasn’t it? “\n“Eh??”\n“To be honest, I was uncomfortable
because I felt like they used me. I’ve worked so hard to get this far on my
own. Kanae, did you ever have any difficulties? No, I haven’t, have I? Thanks
to me, you’ve become a celebrity in no time at all.”\n“I didn’t mean that...”\nI could feel my eyelids burning as I
listened to the first thing she revealed to me.\nI felt like crying, which was out of
character for me.\nMy heart is in pain.\n“That’s enough, isn’t it?”\nInori-chan muttered and opened the
menu screen.\n I touched the hologram a few times, and
finally, it showed me my friend’s list.\n“…Eh, no, wait.”\nI knew in an instant what she was
going to do.\nShe was pointing at Kanae’s name.\nThe words “delete” lined up.\n“Please, wait.\nMy voice didn’t reach her.\nShe didn’t even care.\nWhy is this happening?\n“…Goodbye…”\n“Wait!!!!”\nA small sound effect echoed back to
me.\nIt was a noisy sound as if something
was being scraped off.\nUnable to believe this fact, I
hurriedly opened my friend’s list.\nIt was gone.\nThe name at the top had disappeared.\n“Lie, why is that?”\nFor me who meet her only in the VR
world. That is the only connection.\nThere was no other way to contact her.\nIf Inori-chan logs out now, that’s the
end of our relationship.\nI will never see you again.\n“Please wait. No, I’m not. I’m
really...”\nInori-chan turned her back on me.\n“Inori-chan! Inori-chan!”\nPlease don’t ignore me.\nThis is not the way to say goodbye.\n“―――― Ah.”The figure turned into a
light and disappeared from in front of me.\n BACK NEXT\n