＜Infinite Dendrogram＞

□ ■ Earth, N City, N Prefecture, Japan

Immediately after hearing announcements she had heard several times before and Hikaru's body was shattered, her consciousness was pulled back to reality.

She wakes up in her home bedroom, on the bed, with the curtains closed.

"....."

There was sweat on the forehead and neck that wasn't caused by the heat.

Despenalties during battle.

Hikaru's thoughts occupy the safety of his friends.

What happened to my friends after that?

Whatever they were underground, Large and Vito were on the ground....

An unspeakable anxiety creates a neck in her.

"Login is...!

The display on the side of the hardware only shows how long it takes to log back in, even if you get the hardware with a straw grip.

Because it is authenticated by electroencephalography, there is no point in changing the hardware.

Hikaru will be able to find out about the safety of friends he cannot meet in real life tomorrow.

"............"

But by then, there might be no one left.

You may never be able to talk again.

The fear that she continued to have until she started < Infinite Dendrogram > was irritating her again.

……

Suddenly, a flashing light came into my eyes.

It's not the Infinite Dendrogram hardware, it's her phone.

Because it was an important battle for them in the future, the function of linking to incoming notifications was off.

When I unlocked the screen on my mobile device, there were many incoming calls in a short time.

The first call was about 10 minutes ago.

But that time... means something different in Infinite Dendrogram, which is accelerating 30 times.

In other words, it was just after the battle in the Gravemark Labyrinth... when Melo died.

The call came from the hospital.

My friends are asleep all the time... in the hospital.

…………

She was afraid to see which (...) phone it was.

But in the meantime, there was another call from the hospital, and her finger was pushing the call.

Soon she jumped out of the house.

◇

Hikaru drove himself to the hospital in the prefecture.

Walk to an unusual room in a hospital you've been to many times.

Your heart is pulsating and your face is more tense than the battle you had before.

Then she opened the door of one of the wards....

"Oh, I see..."

That's how she listened to her friends.

She was a skinny woman.

Your muscles are weakening, thinning, and you can't lift yourself out of bed.

Your body is weakened by being asleep for over a decade.

My throat has not been used for a long time, so it is strong, and my voice trembles, and there are parts that are hard to hear.

But when Hikaru saw her rushing to the ward, she smiled.

I miss that smile so much... but I thought I'd never see it again.

"Melo....."

Her... melon smile was the same as when she was a child.

Hikaru arrived from the hospital while logged in, reporting that she had woken up.

She's not the only one.

After logging out, Large was told... that he was awake too.

A friend who had been asleep for a long time stood still.

She can't afford to think about it in conjunction with Infinite Dendrogram.

Now she kept crying at the miracle... from her eyes.

I can't tell what emotions are right now.

The joy of awakening.

Is it comforting to be able to talk again?

A hesitation to talk about lost time?

Or... anxiety about seeing herself transformed from a child to an adult while she sleeps.

"Ah...."

Melons noticed her as Hikaru just stood there weeping.

Then Hikaru tears and melon smiles face each other.

"...... nh......"

Hikaru walks without knowing what to say.

Hikaru took the thin melon's hand with his trembling hand.

So....

"... good...!

One word finally came out of Hikaru's mouth.

Now it really only came out of the bottom of my heart.

Looking up at her taking her hand, Hikaru... smiles.

"Nh, aRigatou, Hikaru"

Melon worked with a mild smile on her, who had been twice as old since the last time she met her.

Melons knew hikaru from the beginning.

She knew her friends who had been working hard for them.

And so Hikaru kept crying... laughing.

◇

Large eyes were seen from the back of the same room.

He thinks.

They said they were fine.

The three men, including my sister, are still awake.

If you remain unconscious, it is still unclear whether you will be able to log back in after the penalty.

Alternatively, greater difficulties may hinder them.

Still, he believed that his friends would get over it and one day everyone would laugh at each other (real).

His tear-seeping miracle... was enough to convince him of the future.

To be continued