I haven't been reactivated for long. Just a few days, I think (time gets a bit funny when you don't need to sleep). But I've been out of the computer long enough to have met Kazuraba and learn a little bit about what's happened since I and the Busters took down Enter. The Professor and Kazuraba have been nothing but kind to me, in their own ways, and I'm grateful that they both treat me like an actual person.

It's a little startling each time Kazuraba comes into the lab via the Cracks, a great zipper opening up and him stepping through. There's a few seconds where, if I'm looking that way, I can see Kazuraba as he appears in the forest, shining in silver and white and radiating an otherworldly brilliance. It doesn't last more than a moment once he steps through, and then he's black haired and street clothed and kind human warmth.

I'm engaged with the Professor this time, discussing the finer points of the mobile marker system he developed for me, and so I miss those few moments. When I do manage to look up Kazuraba is already inside. I open my mouth to greet him, but I can't manage a sound once I see the people he's brought with him.

Sakurada Hiromu. And a young man who's face I would know anywhere, even if it has aged a few years since it was a body sleeping in stasis beside my own.

I wasn't prepared for this yet. I don't know how to react. And so I just sit there, perched on the edge of a table, and stare.