“Merida, Yuuki. I’ve been thinking lately.”

“…About what, Ran?”

“You see, I want to start a guild with the three of us. And then, I want us to make more comrades… more friends, bit by bit, and expand this small circle of ours.”

Saying so, Ran held Yuuki’s right hand with her left. Following that, she turned to Merida who stood a distance away and extended her right hand straight out.

Unconsciously, Yuuki also offered her left hand towards Merida.

Looking down at the two hands, Merida replied with slight hesitance on her face.

“But, Ran… we…”

Yes. That was Yuuki’s concern as well.

The trio who met at a VR hospice shared the common trait of fighting against severe illness. Even if they created a guild in Asuka Empire and new members joined, they could not possibly keep their sickness under wraps forever. They would have to explain it someday. Or perhaps, before that—they could be torn apart by force.

The closer they become as guild members, the more painful it would be on both sides. It would be perfectly plausible for the guild to split based on that. Ran, too, should understand that.

“……It would be nice if this circle could expand out without limit someday, overcoming our illnesses… I do think that, but……”

Ran’s voice started at almost a whisper, but then continued on with strength.

“I was thinking of first inviting those in situations similar to us. I believe there are still many more like us in Serene Garden who want to see the worlds outside, to go farther. I want to invite them into the guild and together, we will go as far as the virtual world reaches. Like what you did, Merida, when you held Yuu and my hands, and pulled us along.”

Still her right hand still stretched out without the slightest quiver, Ran finished her words.

Merida widened her eyes from slight surprise and silently stared at Ran.

A wind blew and the countless leaves on the giant cedar rustled. No trace remained of the duel on the grass. Scattered, wispy cloud quietly flowed through the sky of a slightly different shade of blue from Serene Garden. A falcon smoothly circled somewhere far above.

It seemed Asuka Empire’s world map, centered on the Kinki region, currently ended at Mount Fuji in the east and the Kanmon Straits in the west—though their in-game names were naturally different. However, there were rumors that the next update would add the Kanto and Kyushu regions. This world would continue expanding, and so would other VRMMOs such as ALfheim Online.

—We will find it for sure, Merida.

—The places we should go. The people we should meet. And, a fate worthy to burn your life out on.

Stretching out her left hand to its full length, Yuuki spoke earnestly in her heart.

Eventually—

Merida’s emerald eyes quivered like on water. Pristine light turned into drops and streamed down her cheeks.

Her tears, which alone had the exact same hue as its counterpart in Serene Garden, silently spilled and Merida replied hoarsely.

“……I give up, already…… if you were to tell me all that…… how could I possibly leave you two behind……”

Her right foot, covered in a tabi, stomped on the ground numerous times before she stepped forward with her mind apparently made up.

One step, two, three… Merida reached the pair with slow but resolved steps and lifted her hands before holding Ran’s right hand and Yuuki’s left hand. Strongly and firmly.

“…This really is a small circle, isn’t it?”

Yuuki put as much strength as she could into the hand holding Merida’s in return after she said so with a face on the boundary between shedding tears and smiling.

“But it’s much, much larger than one made by nee-chan and me alone.”

Tears flowed from Yuuki’s eyes the moment she showed a smile. She could not use either hand even if she wanted to wipe them away, so she could only let her tears fall in drops like some child; even in her vision, warped iridescent, she could recognize the smile on Merida growing larger.

“Aha… Yuuki, that’s one amazing face. If you cry that much, you’ll end up crying in the real world too.”

“Who cares. I’m just that happy.”

She desperately tried to shake off the virtual tears by blinking alone and Ran let go of Yuuki’s hand for a moment and wiped her face with the sleeve of her miko outfit.

“You’re the same old crybaby even after growing so strong, aren’t you, Yuu?”

Something glistened on her elder sister’s cheeks, too, while she spoke. Upon grasping Ran’s hand once more, Yuuki looked up towards the skies.

The falcon earlier had already flown off elsewhere, but the sky was as beautiful as ever. It seemed connected to both Serene Garden and the real world too.

They would go. Hand-in-hand, no matter how far. For the worlds they would someday arrive at, for those they would someday meet.

Yuuki felt the door, closed ever since she was forced to transfer school in her fourth year of elementary school against her will, gradually open.

She did not know how much time she had left. But if her life was to be shorter than others, she would only need to run on accordingly, at a faster rate, with a larger stride. She could only lie down on a bed in the real world, but the virtual world stretched out without boundaries.