[Yuigahama Residence, Chiba Prefecture ]
Encouraged by her mother's words, Yui Yuigahama shot up from the couch as if someone had jabbed a syringe full of caffeine directly into her veins.
"Mom, I understand! I'm going to ask him out right now—I absolutely won't miss my chance!"
Her phone was already in her hand, thumb hovering over the contact list, cheeks flushed a shade somewhere between excitement and mild panic.
Asuna's expression darkened immediately, one elegant eyebrow arching upward. She set her teacup down on the coffee table with a deliberate *clink*.
"Wait a moment. Why are you in such a hurry?" She crossed her arms beneath her chest, the fabric of her cream-colored cardigan pulling taut. "An unprepared date invitation will only lead to utter defeat. You'll trip over your own words and come home crying into ice cream."
This girl... she's already forgotten she was supposedly asking about a 'friend.'
"Besides," Asuna continued, her amber eyes narrowing with maternal suspicion, "didn't you say this was about your friend's situation?"
"Uh... this..." Yui's momentum stalled. She clutched her phone to her chest like a shield, her round face cycling through several unconvincing expressions before settling on wide-eyed innocence. "I just want to tell my friend my thoughts as soon as possible! Yeah! So she doesn't waste any time!"
Nailed it. Totally believable.
Asuna rolled her eyes so hard it was a miracle they didn't get stuck.
This silly daughter of hers had exposed herself the moment she'd started blushing three sentences into the conversation. The way she'd said "Nozomi-kun" with that particular breathiness—a mother noticed these things.
Catching her mother's patented 'I-don't-believe-a-single-word-coming-out-of-your-mouth' expression, Yui couldn't help but reach up and rub the back of her head, mussing her salmon-pink hair. A nervous laugh bubbled up from her throat.
"Hehehe... Mom, don't look at me like that. Don't worry! Your daughter won't fight an unprepared battle!"
She bounced on the balls of her feet, energy barely contained, her house slippers scuffing against the hardwood floor.
"Valentine's Day is coming soon! I'll make sure my—my friend prepares properly! Chocolate! Strategy! The whole works!"
Before Asuna could get another word in, Yui Yuigahama had already spun on her heel and bounded toward her bedroom, her footsteps thundering up the stairs with all the grace of an excited puppy.
The door slammed.
Asuna shook her head, releasing a long, helpless sigh that fogged slightly in the cool air drifting from the window. She picked up her teacup again, the ceramic warm against her palms, and stared at the rippling surface of her green tea.
This silly daughter.
Yui had already admitted the boy had girlfriends—plural. More than one. On Valentine's Day of all days, when every girl in a ten-kilometer radius would be shoving homemade chocolate at him...
Would it even be Yui's turn?
Then again...
Asuna's lips curved into a small, complicated smile.
When has love ever been logical? If it were, I wouldn't have—
The thought died in her throat.
Her hand.
Asuna's eyes widened, teacup nearly slipping from her fingers. Her right hand—the one wrapped around the ceramic—had become translucent. She could see the green-and-white pattern of the cup through her skin, through the fine bones of her fingers, as if she were made of nothing more than colored glass.
The effect lasted only a few seconds before her hand solidified again, flesh and warmth returning as if nothing had happened.
But something had happened.
"What... what's going on?"
Her voice came out as a whisper, swallowed by the quiet hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen. The rain outside seemed louder now, each droplet striking the window like a tiny accusation.
Not now. Please, not now.
Asuna set the teacup down with trembling hands and rose from the couch. Her stockinged feet were silent on the floor as she moved quickly down the hallway toward her bedroom, her chestnut hair swaying against her back with each hurried step.
She barely made it through the doorway before it happened again.
Her hand—both hands now—flickered transparent. This time, it crept up her wrists, past her forearms, as if her entire being was slowly being erased from this world like a pencil sketch rubbed away by an invisible eraser.
No. No, no, no—
Gritting her teeth until her jaw ached, Asuna lunged for the cabinet beside her bed. Her fingers—flickering, unstable—fumbled with the handle before wrenching it open. Inside, half-buried beneath folded sweaters and old photo albums, sat a device she hadn't touched in years.
The NerveGear.
Its smooth black surface caught the light from her bedside lamp, the indicator on the side blinking an ominous red—a color it should not have been showing.
It's calling me back.
She had no choice.
Whatever was happening to her body in this world, the answer lay in that other place. The place she'd thought she'd left behind. The place that refused to let her go.
Asuna pulled the helmet from the cabinet, its weight familiar in her hands—heavier than a normal gaming device, loaded with technology that could interface directly with the human brain. She'd worn this same helmet years ago, back when everything had changed. Back when "game over" meant actual death.
She sat on the edge of her bed, the springs creaking softly beneath her weight. The sheets smelled of lavender fabric softener—Yui had done the laundry yesterday.
Yui.
Asuna's heart clenched.
She hadn't seen her daughter grow up. Hadn't watched her graduate, get married, have children of her own. Hadn't found that special person who could save her world from whatever was causing this instability.
But there was nothing she could do except face the crisis head-on.
Taking a deep breath, Asuna lowered the NerveGear over her head. The interior padding pressed against her temples, cool and clinical. The visor sealed her vision in darkness.
She lay back against the pillows, her body sinking into the mattress.
Please let this work. Please let me come back.
"Link start."
---
[Alfheim Online — The World Tree, Oberon's Domain — Unknown Time]
Drip.
A soft electronic chime echoed through her consciousness, and then—
Light.
Brilliant, golden light flooded her vision as Asuna opened her eyes.
Above her stretched an impossible sky, painted in shades of amber and rose, as if perpetually frozen in the moment before sunset. Massive branches thick as highways crisscrossed the heavens, their leaves shimmering with bioluminescent green. The air smelled of honeysuckle and something older, something that reminded her of dusty library books and forgotten temples.
This was Aincrad's successor—Alfheim Online, the World Tree.
But not the public servers. Not the friendly fairy races and quest-giving NPCs.
This was Oberon's private domain.
And she was exactly where he wanted her.
Asuna pushed herself upright, her movements sluggish, and immediately became aware of two things:
First, the cage.
She was inside a massive birdcage—ornate golden bars rising around her in a perfect dome, the metalwork twisted into shapes of thorned roses and weeping willows. The floor beneath her was cushioned with silk pillows in shades of cream and pale blue, and at the center sat a canopy bed draped in gossamer curtains that did nothing to provide actual privacy.
Second, her clothing.
Or rather, the lack thereof.
Asuna looked down at herself and felt heat flood her cheeks. She was wearing what could only generously be called a gown—sheer white fabric that clung to every curve of her body, the material so thin she could see the pink of her own skin beneath it. A ribbon of crimson silk cinched beneath her breasts, the bow positioned precisely to draw the eye. If someone were to pull that ribbon loose...
That bastard.
Her ears twitched.
She reached up instinctively and found them—long, tapering points extending several inches past where human ears should end. Elf ears. Her fingers traced the delicate cartilage, feeling the strange sensitivity of the digitized nerve endings.
Asuna wrapped her arms around her chest, the gossamer sleeves doing absolutely nothing to preserve her modesty, and surveyed her prison.
The cage hung suspended in the hollow of an enormous tree trunk, golden chains extending upward into shadow. Far below—perhaps a hundred meters down—she could see the faint glow of fairy lights and hear the distant echo of music, as if a grand festival were taking place somewhere in the depths of the World Tree.
How long have I been here? How long was I—
Footsteps.
The sound echoed through the chamber, deliberate and measured, each step accompanied by the soft clink of metal accessories.
Asuna's blood turned to ice.
A figure emerged from the shadows at the far end of the chamber, ascending a spiral staircase that wound around the interior of the great tree. He was tall, slender, draped in robes of emerald and gold that matched the coloring of his environment perfectly. His hair fell in waves of pale green past his shoulders, and his ears—like hers—tapered to elegant elven points.
But his face.
That face she recognized.
The narrow eyes. The thin-lipped smile. The expression of a man who believed he owned everything he surveyed.
Oberon, King of the Fairies.
Or, as he was known in the real world: Sugō Nobuyuki.
He approached the cage with the casual confidence of a collector admiring his favorite acquisition, his golden eyes roaming over Asuna's barely-clothed form with undisguised appreciation.
Look at her. Even more beautiful than I remembered. The adjustments to her avatar parameters were worth every hour of coding.
"Titania," he breathed, his voice silk wrapped around poison. "You've finally returned."
Asuna's face twisted in open disgust.
"Oberon. No—I should call you Sugō Nobuyuki." She spat the name like a curse. "I have no desire to see a mad executioner like you."
Facing her venomous glare, the Elf King merely smiled, showing teeth that seemed slightly too sharp for his elegant features. His eyes dropped from her face, tracing the line of her throat, the swell of her breasts beneath the translucent fabric, the curve of her waist where the gown clung to her hips.
His gaze lingered on her feet.
Asuna followed his stare and felt her stomach turn. Her ankles were bound together with thin red threads—not rope, but something that resembled ceremonial ribbon, the kind used in traditional wedding rites.
His design. Everything here is his design.
"My Titania," Oberon crooned, stepping closer to the cage. The golden bars cast striped shadows across his face. "Still so stubborn. Still so spirited. That's what I've always loved about you."
"There is nothing about you I could ever love," Asuna hissed. "Everything about you disgusts me."
She forced herself to meet his eyes, refusing to cower despite the vulnerability of her position.
"Sugō Nobuyuki. You use players for brain experiments—living people, trapped in their own minds while you cut into them. Aren't you afraid of retribution?"
Oberon laughed, a soft, cultured sound that echoed off the cage's bars.
"Oh, Titania. Your attitude towards me is... problematic." He tilted his head, green hair spilling over one shoulder. "But not unfixable."
She'll understand eventually. They always do, once I adjust the right parameters.
He reached out and touched one of the golden bars, his fingertip leaving a faint trail of light on the metal.
"Although I do want to hold our wedding now, I have more pressing matters to attend to. Research waits for no one, after all." His smile widened. "So let's postpone the ceremony. You must wait here for me obediently, my queen. Dream of the life we'll share."
He began to turn away, then paused, casting one final look over his shoulder.
"I hope next time we meet, you'll be more... cooperative. Otherwise..."
His voice dropped to something almost gentle.
"I don't mind changing your mind for you. Making you fall desperately in love with me, body and soul. You know I have that ability, Titania. I wrote this world. I can rewrite you."
With that, Oberon laughed—a sound like breaking crystal—and departed down the spiral staircase, his robes billowing behind him.
Asuna's body trembled.
She stared at the canopy bed in the center of her gilded prison, the silk sheets pristine and waiting, and felt the blood drain from her face.
Had she ever logged out?
Was Yui's arrival in the other world just a dream?
Or was everything—her daughter, that apartment in Chiba, the life she thought she'd been living—nothing more than a simulation? A fantasy Sugō had created to keep her docile while he prepared for...
For what?
She sank onto the edge of the bed, arms wrapped around herself, and stared at the distant lights of the fairy festival far below.
She had never felt more alone.
---
"Oh, Yui's mom, you look quite beautiful in that outfit."
The voice came from above—teasing, warm, utterly out of place in this nightmare.
Asuna's head snapped up.
A young man descended from somewhere in the upper branches of the great tree, landing silently on the narrow platform that ringed her cage. He was tall, lean, dressed in what looked like leather adventuring gear in shades of black and deep blue. His hair was dark and slightly tousled, and his eyes—
Those eyes were sharp. Intelligent. And currently sparkling with barely suppressed amusement.
He also had long elf ears, she noticed. The game had auto-generated his avatar upon entry.
"You... you are?"
Asuna's voice cracked. Her body trembled despite herself.
She knew this face. She'd seen it in Yui's phone album, in the photos her daughter thought she'd hidden so cleverly. The boy her daughter smiled at in candid shots. The one Yui talked about when she thought her mother wasn't listening.
Hozuki Nozomi.
"It's me, Asuna-san." He stepped closer to the cage, his boots silent on the platform. "I've come to rescue you."
Nozomi grinned, the expression easy and natural.
"Yui called us in a panic—said you were lying on your bed with the game helmet on and wouldn't wake up no matter what she tried. We contacted the game operators, but they couldn't find any record of your login. So..."
He spread his hands.
"Here I am."
Without hesitation, Nozomi reached out and touched the cage's golden bars.
CRACK.
Lightning exploded from the metal, a thunderous column of white-hot electricity that engulfed his entire body. The air filled with the stench of ozone and scorched fabric, the sound of the blast echoing through the hollow tree like a cannon shot.
When the light faded, Nozomi stood exactly where he'd been—completely unharmed, but looking considerably worse for wear. His hair stood straight up in every direction, defying gravity. His face was smudged with black soot. His clothes smoked faintly at the edges.
And his teeth, when he grinned, gleamed white against the darkness of his singed skin.
"Okay," he said, his voice slightly hoarse. "Noted. Don't touch the cage."
Asuna stared at him for a long moment.
Then she burst out laughing.
"Pfft—! You look—!"
"Uh, please." Nozomi held up one hand, his dignity visibly crumbling. "For the love of all that is holy, forget how I look right now, madam. Just erase this image from your memory. I'm begging you."
She couldn't stop giggling, the tension of the past hour cracking like ice in sunlight.
He's real. He's actually real. He's here.
Still snickering, Asuna managed to compose herself enough to speak coherently.
"This cage—it can only be opened by Oberon. Anyone else who approaches will be attacked by a forbidden-level spell. The system treats interference as a hostile action."
"Yeah, I figured that out the hard way." Nozomi ran a hand through his electrified hair, somehow making it even worse. "Good thing I've got backup."
He tapped something on his wrist—a menu interface that Asuna couldn't quite see—and spoke into empty air.
"Yui. Begin the decryption."