After dinner, Rosalind went into her bedroom and rummaged through the drawers for a while. When she came back, she was holding a smartwatch with a thin black strap.
Without saying anything, she set the watch down on the coffee table in front of Sora.
Before Sora could ask, Rosalind explained.
"It's my watch," Rosalind said, crossing her arms over her chest. "You'll wear it tonight."
Elena had already strapped her own watch onto her wrist, and once she tapped the button that appeared in front of her, the setup was done.
From now on, as long as she was asleep, her consciousness would be transferred to the Dream Realm.
Sora picked up the watch and put it on his wrist.
These watches the government handed out to Awakeners actually didn't have a very complicated structure. They had no identity verification feature, and no system that recognized their owner. Even the checks on who was wearing one, or who entered the Dream Realm and when, were pretty loose. The watch's only function was to make it easier to pull people's consciousness into the Dream Realm.
That was why most experienced players didn't even need a watch. Once they fell asleep, they could get to the Dream Realm on their own, no problem. The watch was mostly for new Awakeners and people who weren't used to the Dream Realm yet.
Like Elena and Sora.
...
Rosalind led Sora to the guest room at the end of the hallway.
When she opened the door, a sharp smell of turpentine and dried paint spread out from inside.
All four walls of the room were covered in drawings.
Sheets of paper, sketches, half-finished charcoal portraits, stuck to the walls with tape, with thumbtacks, and sometimes just wedged on top of each other. On the floor, dozens of canvases leaned against the walls. Some were blank, some were covered with cloths, and some were filled with half-painted landscapes and flowers. In the corner stood an easel, and next to the easel was a wooden stool covered in dried paint stains. On the stool sat a jar full of brushes.
This guest room was apparently also Rosalind's drawing room.
In the middle of the room, squeezed in among all this clutter, was a narrow bed. The sheet on it was clean, since Rosalind had only just put it on, but even at the foot of the bed, a few canvases were piled on top of each other.
"It's a little messy," Rosalind said. There was no apology in her voice at all, because she still thought that what Sora had done to the mayor's son was going to destroy her family's peace, and that made her angry.
Sora went in and looked over the drawings on the walls.
A hill. A single tree on top of the hill. A setting sun behind the tree. The same landscape, drawn over and over again from different angles, in different light.
Some looked extraordinarily realistic, while others looked like a cartoon scene drawn with nothing but pastels.
Sora looked at one of those drawings for a while.
In none of his past lives had he ever been this moved by a simple painting.
It seemed the Life classes were full of people who deserved more than to be looked down on.
Then he sat down on the bed.
...
Elena was lying on her back on the bed in her own room, staring at the ceiling.
Her heart was beating so fast she didn't think she'd ever be able to sleep. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
She was about to enter the Dream Realm for the first time. And with the Hero of Seven Tales by her side, no less.
She tapped the watch on her wrist once more. The screen glowed with a blue light, then went dark.
Just as she was about to close her eyes, a notification appeared in front of her.
[Your first entry into the Dream Realm has been detected.]
[For your summoned hero to be connected to the Dream Realm as a summon, proximity must be established between the summoner and the hero.]
[You must sleep in close proximity to your hero while entering the Dream Realm.]
Elena blinked.
She read it one more time.
Sleep in close proximity.
She slowly sat up in bed. Her cheeks warmed up first, then started to burn.
"C-close proximity..." she whispered. "How close? The same room? The same bed? Or..."
Images started appearing in her head one after another.
Elena immediately shook her head.
"No, no, no. Calm down first, Elena. Make a plan first."
What was she going to do? Go to Sora's room and say what to him? "The system says I have to sleep with you"? Her mother was sleeping at the other end of the hallway. What if she heard? What if Sora got the wrong idea? Or worse, what if Sora thought she was offering something and said yes?
Elena got out of bed, paced two laps around her room, reached for the door handle, then pulled her hand back.
One more lap.
Finally, she took a deep breath, slowly opened the door, and stepped out into the hallway.
The hallway was dark. Only the faint light of the little night lamp in the kitchen seeped in from the living room. Elena started walking on her tiptoes so her slippers wouldn't drag.
She was only halfway to the guest room door when another notification appeared in front of her.
[Warning! Your hero has fallen asleep.]
Elena froze where she stood.
[Warning! The distance between you and your hero is insufficient.]
[Warning! If the required proximity is not established shortly, your hero will be registered in the Dream Realm as an independent player instead of a summon.]
Elena's eyes went wide.
An independent player.
If Sora got registered in the Dream Realm as a player of his own... You are reading on g.com, the official source.
She didn't know what would happen after that. But the one thing she thought she knew was that it wouldn't be good at all.
She forgot about walking on her tiptoes.
She started running.
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
The notifications flashed red at the edges of her vision. Elena ran all the way to the end of the hallway, flung the guest room door open so hard she nearly tore the handle off, and burst inside.
The room was dark.
Sora was lying on his back on the bed.
His long white hair was spread across the pillow. His arms were at his sides, and the screen of the watch on his wrist blinked with a faint blue light in the dark. His face was as expressionless as ever, but his eyes were closed, and his chest rose and fell in a slow, steady rhythm.
He had really fallen asleep.
How could someone who had walked into the room just a few minutes ago fall into such a deep sleep so quickly?
"Sora!" Elena tried to shout in a whisper. "Sora, wake up! You have to wake up!"
She lunged toward the bed. Her foot caught on one of the canvases on the floor, and the canvas clattered over, but Elena didn't stop. She reached out to shake Sora's shoulder.
The moment she reached the edge of the bed, a new notification appeared in front of her.
[Required proximity established.]
[Establishing connection...]
Elena's outstretched hand froze in midair.
For a moment, it was as if time had stopped.
Then her knees gave out.
Darkness began to spread inward from the edges of her vision. Her body suddenly became very heavy, as if someone had pulled all her strength out of her at once. She tried to hold her head up, but her neck wouldn't listen to her.
Elena collapsed on top of Sora.
Her face fell onto Sora's chest, and her hair spilled over both of them. Beneath her ear, she heard Sora's slow heartbeat.
One.
Two.
Then her consciousness shut off.