The two stood at the sink, their shoulders brushing, occasionally leaning into each other as they washed dishes.
"Can you tell me about it?" Alain asked. "Your original plan. I intend to follow it, step by step."
"Mm!" Misha affirmed.
"My original plan," she began, handing him a cleaned bowl, "was to follow the ring's guidance and find a friend."
He took the bowl and placed it beside the sink with the others. "Another Misha?"
"Yes."
Misha paused, her hand stilling in the soapy water, as if picturing the friend in her mind. "She usually wears a very cool hat, and she likes gloves. She's a very cool Misha." A bittersweet smile touched her lips. "A bit noisy, perhaps, but surprisingly smart."
"How can you tell? Is she smarter than you?"
Alain considered Misha's initial awkwardness in the real world understandable. Many people spent years, even decades, struggling to adapt to this ridiculous world. Misha, on the other hand, had integrated remarkably quickly. In just over a day, she'd mastered the stove well enough to create delicious meals.
"…Honestly, darling," Misha's voice took on a teasing lilt, "what do you really think of me?" She took the next set of dirty dishes from him, their fingers brushing – whether intentionally or not, he couldn't be sure.
He glanced at her, his gaze deepening. Was she trying to flirt? It seemed the roles had reversed.
"I'm not very smart either," Misha continued, adding dish soap to the water. "I need your help to integrate into reality. But she's different. She has the ability to assemble a teleportation machine."
"That…" Alain admitted, slightly surprised. "But that's just a different kind of expertise. In my opinion, you're also good at many things." He reached into the soapy water, his fingertips deliberately grazing the back of her hand as he reached for an unwashed bowl.
"Ah…" Misha let out a small gasp, surprised by the tickle, then shot him a defiant look. "For example? Could darling give me an example? I'd like to hear your praise."
"Excellent organizational planning skills," Alain began, speaking smoothly, listing the observations he'd made the previous day. "Very strong learning ability, kind-hearted and enthusiastic, impeccable housekeeping skills. And most importantly – incredibly cute. Your behavior and demeanor are also flawless."
Misha looked at him sideways, her deep, starry eyes flashing with a competitive spark. But the shyness burning on her cheeks seemed to outshine that competitive flame.
"Humph, humph… Darling, aren't you the same?" she countered, her face flushed. "You have strong adaptability, you always come up with ideas to help me. You're also very gentle. And, and…" She hesitated, then whispered, "…and very handsome…"
Alain, hearing the almost inaudible compliment, glanced at his reflection in the water. Outsiders usually considered him average-looking, maybe "not bad" at best. He certainly wouldn't have classified himself as handsome.
But none of that mattered right now.
Because Alain's gaze had shifted from the sink to his wrist – specifically, to where Misha's hand now rested. Her index finger and thumb formed a delicate circle around his wrist, sliding up and down twice. A brief, tantalizing touch, then she pulled away, taking a stack of bowls from him.
Alain thought his heart was made of reinforced concrete, but under that subtle, playful assault, it definitely sped up.
He cleared his throat, steering the conversation back. "Weren't we talking about that other Misha? We got a little sidetracked."
"That's right. Ahem…" Misha straightened, instantly serious when the conversation turned to business. "Getting back to the point. With her help, we can use the teleportation machine to travel directly to the periphery of the core." She turned her head, looking at his profile. "And at that time, I'll wait for you outside. Darling, you'll enter the core and reset Crazy Mita's program, returning her to normal. Of course, the premise of all this…"
Her gaze moved to Alain's hand, to the ring she had given him, the one he seemingly hadn't removed since. "…is that we need to go to her room first and find her. And the process of that will rely on this ring."
"Okay." Alain understood the next objective. Coincidentally, they had just finished washing the dishes.
He turned on the faucet, rinsing the soap from his hands. He planned to make a few preparations, then open the portal. This ring, as Misha had said, could pinpoint the correct, shortest, and fastest route to their destination. It was also the ring that symbolized his bond with Misha.
Misha's gaze drifted over, and Alain caught a faint glimmer of victory in her eyes.
"Darling, are you done washing?" she asked, a teasing note in her voice, a subtle challenge only he could hear.
"Yes."
And as he left the sink, passing by Misha, Alain leaned in, a swift movement, and embraced her, their noses touching. A fleeting touch, and then he was gone, leaving without a backward glance.
Misha stood there, momentarily stunned.
"…"
The girl's eyes were wide, watching Alain's retreating back as he headed towards the room. The reality of what had just happened finally sunk in.
"Ah, ah, ah…" A puff of steam, almost visible, rose from Misha's head. "Too… too sly… That's clearly the final move… You used it as a normal attack."
"A move isn't afraid of being old," Alain called back, his voice echoing slightly, "as long as it's effective."
"…Bad."
After confirming the ring and the security guard panel, Alain walked to the living room and found Misha, who had been preparing for some time.
"Darling, I'm ready." Her solemn gaze made it seem as if she were about to face a smoke-filled battlefield.
And Alain thought… indeed.
Crazy Mita – that is, his Honey – after experiencing the strange reason of "being abandoned" last time, would certainly not let it go easily. They would inevitably face a fierce retaliation. Of course, Alain felt that the last words he'd left for her were still incredibly irresponsible. Thinking from Honey's perspective… it was like a scumbag abandoning her, and then having the audacity to praise her for being cute…
A shiver ran down Alain's spine, but he didn't put down the items in his hand. After setting up his own console on the game world side, Alain opened the security guard panel.
A portal shimmered into existence on the floor, a glow of intricate code illuminating the room.
"Let's go, darling." He reached out to Misha.
"Let's go, darling!" She took his hand, and together they stepped onto the portal. The light flashed, blurring their vision, and consciousness faded.
Alain's small home fell silent, the temporary vitality gone, leaving only the hum of the computer and the bright Mita game window on the screen.
The miniature Mita, with her short ponytail, still stood in the center of the game cabin, hands clasped, a slight smile on her face. Her gaze, seemingly piercing through the screen, appeared to fall on the two unconscious figures in the living room.
As if taking a short break, she stretched, then bounced up and down a few times, like a warm-up exercise. Afterward, she crouched down, her small hands reaching under the bed, her face contorted with effort.
Finally, with a grunt, she pulled out a pink rubber hammer.
From the God's-eye view of the screen, the miniature Mita took light, bouncy steps towards the kitchen.
And on the kitchen table, there was a "worm." It was completely black, with white, code-like stripes running down its body. It was gnawing on the kitchen utensils and furniture, leaving the room in disarray.
In the midst of its gluttonous feast, before it could continue its destruction, it was suddenly swatted away by a large hammer.
The culprit – the miniature Mita, holding the hammer – wore a smiling face tinged with a complaining gloom. A pink dialogue box popped up on the screen:
[Stupid big guy. You opened the game but you don't play, and you don't help clean the house]
She closed the dialogue box herself, returned to the bedroom, hid the rubber hammer, and stood in the center of the screen. Quietly, she ceased all movement.
As for that worm…
It crashed through the wall of the small cabin and landed on the desktop wallpaper.
The worm shook its head a couple of times, then sluggishly crawled towards the nearest folder.
[Study Materials]
It found its target and burrowed into the file's shortcut.
A moment later, the "Study Materials" shortcut vanished. The worm returned to the desktop, searching for its next victim.
But as if sensing something, its head turned towards the outside.
The outside of the screen.
In the living room of the real world, a man and a woman were sleeping soundly.
The worm crawled towards the center of the screen, seemingly intending to use it as an exit.
But at the very moment it passed a certain spherical shortcut, the entire screen abruptly changed – entering a blue screen of death state.
The next second, it returned to normal. The worm was gone.
And in the lower right corner of the screen, a window popped up:
[720 Security Guard, always by your side. Anytime, anywhere]
____
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