Real World Part 1

For the next few days, the vibe felt completely off. Even though she has a hard time reading the atmosphere, for once, she can feel how heavy it is especially with the way Haruto had been avoiding her, and Rem was telling her to go back where she came from for her "benefit" he said.

She replayed the scene over and over again, trying to find what she can do to get Haruto back to her. Her core was starting to get more and more painful, and she needed to get him to fix it... but how can she do that?

"He looked so sad that day." She sighed as she swung her legs around. No matter what she did, she couldn't stop thinking about him. What can she do? What can she do? A light bulb flew up her head.

"I know just the way! Why didn't I think of it sooner." Her legs rapidly tapped down on the ground. "I'm a genius!"

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Haruto quirked a brow as he followed Yui, looking at the surroundings. "You begged me to come with you because you wanted to show me something... But where are we even going? You know there is nothing here."

The place was becoming emptier and emptier.

"I want to show you something." Yui pushed the fake silicon tree branches out of the way as she reached the spot. Haruto's eyes widened. "What's the meaning of this?"

"You said you wanted to see the world, right?" Yui smiled proudly at the domain's entrance. "So, let's go out! Let's experience the world togeth-!"

"NO!" Haruto yelled for the first time in his life. Sweat beads seeped down his forehead, lips pressed together.

"Isn't that what you wanted? I wanted you to have your dream come true." Yui trailed off when she saw the anxiety on his face.

"Do you not know those who leave the domain... Never come back?" He took a step backward. "We are breaking the rule. We should get back quickly."

"No, who cares about the rules!" Yui frowned. That's not the reaction she expected.

"Why would you want to go there anyway? We don't even know what's there..." Haruto shook his head aggressively. "You are going to get us killed..."

"That's not what I wanted to do. I just wanted to-"

"It doesn't seem like you think before you do anything."

Yui clenched her fist, and she looked at the domain. She will show him. Her legs stepped outside of the red line marking on the ground, going out of the city domain.

"Look. I'm fine."

Haruto didn't move a muscle. Yui looked back at the empty clearing. "Come Haruto. Nothing will happen to us. Didn't you say you wanted to feel the warm weather? A wet rain?"

He merely stared at her before shaking his head aggressively, backing away. "Haruto... Haruto?"

"Get back Yui," he warned.

Yui felt challenged. "I'll go out there and show you! I'll show you I am right!"

Yui turned around and started walking much further away.

Haruto was calling her out. "Yui! Yui!"

When she didn't respond Haruto pivoted and angrily walked away, muttering under his breath. "She is not going to do anything anyway."

He walked a few spots, waiting for her to follow him but when he turned back, she wasn't following him. "Yui? Yui?"

He ran back, looking around. Did she really go in there? "Yui! Yui!"

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yui looked at the clearing. Her head rose up to see the beauty. After a while of walking, she reached a whole surface covered in snow. She looked around as she took steps forwards. She spread her palms apart watching as a small dot fell on her hand. "Oh... It's... Cold."

Even her feet were starting to get cold fast despite wearing shoes. "This is snow... Real snow!"

She giggled as she ran around, her feet sinking in and crushing with each step. Her leg slipped down to the pavement, but the snow cushioned her fall. She gleefully giggled as she felt the cold sink into her skin. Everything felt cold! It was so cold; her breath was making a fog. When she gathered enough balls, it clumped up together into a small ball, something which she couldn't do with salt. Even though the tips of her skin were becoming redder, it wasn't making her skin itchy like the last time. And suddenly... She knew exactly what Haruto wished to experience. "Oh... This is real snow..."

She placed the snowball on the ground. Even though this snow didn't change colours like the previous one, this one felt so much nicer and softer. She looked up and saw the trees. Dead trees but they were different, and she wouldn't be able to find anything like it in Cyber. "Oh... Ohh… oh. Haruto..."

An overwhelming feeling of sadness overloaded, and she then knew why he was never happy.

"What did he say he wanted to see again? Rain.... Summer... Snow... What else?" Her fingers reduced in number one by one as she started to list. "-Flowers and what else?"

She looked around the place. She can't see any flowers. She closed her eyes and went to check the very outdated data she had in her and check for accurate information. "I wonder why they don't teach this."

Based on data she had in her from 2050, flowers don't grow in winter and winter lasts a long time so that means it will be hard to see summer... How was she supposed to show him all of that then? She closed her eyes as she searched for some ways, she could make that happen. The old data inside of her finally brought up something and she knew exactly where to get summer!

She grinned as she stood. "Let's go get summer!"

Yui started running, arms spread apart as she passed the "keep out" sign.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

The weather became a little foggier, but she was passing multiple trees. She checked the old map in her database. It was very hard to find the correct route with such outdated database, but she was always excelling. She will find the hot weather Haruto is looking forward to seeing and feeling.

As she stepped closer, she heard a crack from the edge of her ear. Her head whipped towards the sound. A loud resonance echoed from behind her. Above a tree, was a strange animal. With her database analysis, it's called an owl. "What an odd-looking creature."

She wanted to go grab it and maybe share it when she heard another snap. She looked behind her and there were multiple creatures that came out from behind the dead trees. "These are wolves?"

There were dozens of them. Furry and inching closer step by step. "Maybe I should take this one for Haruto?"

She got closer to them, smiling as their piercing gaze glowered, almost glowing and their teeth drooled. As she got closer, one pounced on her from the back. A piercing scream came out of her mouth as it bit her. “Ahhhh- what!”

She swung her arms around as more pounced on her. Blood splattered all over the ground as she fell, struggling to get out of the overwhelming pit of animals tearing her apart. She crawled into knees, throwing a punch. It gave her the small opening she needed to get up. Lump of skin hung off her body as she shakily guarded herself.

She kept a trained eye on them. From the corner of her eyes, she caught the sudden movement, she kicked it and ducked, throwing a kick to the other, jumping backwards. The wolves started backing but they didn't leave. They circled around her as she took a few steps backwards. She didn't notice the steep hill. With one more step backwards, her legs slipped, and she toppled down the hill, rolling down rapidly, her ribs crashed with a tree stump, her legs scrapped. All she could hear was her scream of terror as she slammed right into a large rock, passing out.

Time was lost when Yui opened her eyes slowly, wondering where she was. The night looked much darker here than in Cyber. Her hand patted the ground as she held the spot that hurt her the most, which was her entire body. It took a couple of hours before she got off, holding herself. Her skin peeled off from multiple spots of blisters and scrap. She looked at the big chunk on her thighs, showing the electric wiring in her legs. She won't be able to get a replacement now but more than that, why did human pain hurt like hell. She bit her lips as she dragged her leg. She should get back to Cyber and get fixed if possible but...

“I want to see and feel real rain. I want to see and feel the warm weather. I want to see and smell flowers. I want to see and feel cold. I want to feel human.”

She frowned as she dragged her feet to the location she was heading towards. She needed to get Haruto summer! She was so wrapped up in finding the mountain that hours vanished in the air like smoke. The mountain she wanted was here! She climbed up the slope, supporting herself with a large tree branch. She dug it through some weak points and pulled herself higher and higher. She looked down at the edge, inside the hole of the mountain. There it was. It was her summer.

She ran to the edge and looked for a spot to go down. As she peered, she wondered how she was supposed to go down. She took a big breath and looked at her leg... It was already injured so maybe if she jumped on it, it would hurt less. She took a deep breath and jumped on the injured leg. She cried at the piercing pain. She clamped her mouth, sitting down until the pain numbed. Her leg was truly broken now but it didn't matter. She crawled towards the magma as she tried to think positively.

"I found you." It was so hot, she was sweating. She puffed in and out, this was the exact opposite than the weather before. Because she was in winter it was comforting at first but now, every breath she took, it was burning.

"I'm going to take this magma to Haruto and-" If she took this, Haruto would be able to experience summer. She dipped her hand in... And even though she screamed like no tomorrow, she found summer.