When Alain first entered this area, he was delighted. The scene before him was as if human technology had advanced by several decades.
After exploring the area for a while, he came to a few conclusions. There were things like hovercars in the sky, looking a bit like an advanced version of a public bus. The ground, meanwhile, was paved with an unknown purplish-black metal, with occasional streams of light flashing by.
As he stood there, truly feeling surrounded by science fiction, he couldn't help to marvel: The world of 'Mita' really has everything.
This place should be some kind of transit station in the Mita world. Judging by the high-tech buses floating in the sky, the Mitas had clearly developed a world of their own, hidden from the player's view.
Everyone's so amazing, Alain thought with a sense of pride.
And what delighted Alain even more was that here, he met an old friend. Someone he longed for day and night, someone he wanted to hold in the palm of his hand, someone he wanted to mercilessly tease— a certain little cutie.
Alain looked down at the purplish-black floor not far away, estimating her actual height. She probably didn't even reach his knee.
And upon their reunion, the little one's face was also clearly one of "delight."
"Long time no see," Alain chuckled. Seeing her trembling slightly made him even more amused.
"Lollipop."
"......" Upon hearing Alain's word, [Tiny Mita]'s chibi frame visibly trembled for a moment, and Alain saw it clearly.
She seemed to be observing Alain, her steps subtly moving backward. But upon seeing his gentle and refined face, she seemed to let her guard down a little.
"Long time no see, play—"
But the next second, before she could finish her words, a large hand instantly snatched her up.
Alain pressed her puffy cheek against his own, rubbing it.
"So—"
He reached out, ruffling her hair with the speed of a lightning bolt.
"Missed—"
He held her in his palm and gave her cheek a grand "mwah."
"You—!"
Then he gave her a dozen or so lifts into the air. Tiny Mita's position rose and fell, as if she were bungee jumping. Spirals spun in her eyes, and little rotating stars appeared figuratively above her head.
The next moment, her eyes turned into two inverted triangles, and two fangs appeared at the corners of her mouth—
"Grrr—!"
Tiny Mita had no verbal ability, so she conveyed information through floating characters.
But none of that mattered to him now. Alain held her in his arms, playing with her mercilessly, teasing her relentlessly.
"I—" She bit down on Alain's hand. Feeling only a slight pain, he finally stopped.
"Ahem... sorry, I got a little excited." Actually, Alain was still being quite reserved.
After all, he had "promised" Tiny Mita that he would lick her mercilessly when they met again. But this was their first time meeting in the game world; doing that wouldn't be right. Even Alain couldn't bring himself to do it.
Alain thought this as he observed Tiny Mita, who was now crouched on all fours, covered in spittle, and "hissing" defensively.
I'll do that after her guard is down.
Alain nodded, then slowly walked forward to begin the necessary process of calming Tiny Mita down.
And behind the two of them, in the corner of a pile of debris, a pair of eyes was staring at them.
A short while later, after Tiny Mita had calmed down, Alain was finally able to get close to her.
Amidst Tiny Mita's complaints, he placed the little one in his pocket, then continued forward, searching for the version's exit.
"It's a good thing you didn't 'start licking the moment you arrived' like you said you would in the real world."
"Why did you suddenly disappear back then?" Alain poked her little head with his finger, almost getting bitten again. "I'm still not used to the Mita window being without you."
"...That is a truly unspeakable past."
A lipstick mark from Alain was still on Tiny Mita's smiling cheek.
From Tiny Mita's explanation, Alain gradually understood.
In short, the starting point of the incident was still that Failed Work that came to the real world. It arrived in Tiny Mita's room, threw the little one outside the door, and after that, Tiny Mita found herself in another version.
She moved her two short legs, trying to walk back to her own room.
On the way, she happened to be taking a break in Cool Mita's version, and then, as expected—the unexpected happened.
Cool Mita's version was completely corroded. And Tiny Mita was caught in the crossfire, ending up in this Virus World.
Thus, she journeyed over mountains and through waters again, and finally, in this sci-fi version, she met Alain. And was violated.
"I wasn't violating you." Alain tried to persuade her earnestly. "That was just a greeting."
"Want to try it?"
"Get lost."
So this is what a tsundere is like, right? Alain grumbled inwardly. He found Tiny Mita cuter and cuter the more he looked at her.
Of course, he had a mission to accomplish; he wasn't just carrying around this light bit of extra weight for nothing.
"Are there viruses in this version?"
Alain temporarily wiped the playful expression from his face, turning to survey the surrounding scene. Streams of light still flashed by; the buses in the sky were still running. But he couldn't see the slightest trace of a virus.
He remembered very clearly that his purpose for coming here was not only to save Mita. It was also to find the two Mitas who had lost their versions— Cool Mita and Cute Mita.
Although he said "find," Alain's real purpose was to confirm whether the two were still alive.
The danger for a Mita who had lost her version was self-evident.
"There are. And, a lot of them." When this topic came up, the constant smile on the little one's face faded considerably.
"There aren't many around here, but as you move forward, you'll definitely run into them. But player, more importantly."
Tiny Mita gripped his collar, refusing to say more, and extended a pea-sized finger, pointing behind him.
"Behind you, there's a human-headed spider."
"Oh... is that so." Alain thought Tiny Mita was talking about the person who was tailing him.
He smiled faintly and silently tapped his headset twice. In the headset, Misha faithfully reported on his surroundings.
"Honey, the stalker hasn't made a move yet. Should we have the human-headed spider move further away to check?"
Alain shook his head almost imperceptibly, his gaze shifting to one side. There, a pale human head peeked out, then quickly hid itself again.
He hadn't entered this place alone; he had brought the human-headed spiders with him. By distributing the spiders in various hidden spots to observe his surroundings from different angles, he could obtain... 360° intelligence with no blind spots.
Five human-headed spiders, if counted as combat power, probably wouldn't even match a single slash from his greatsword.
But, when used for vision— They were five mobile and combat-capable [True Wards].
"So, what exactly do you want to do?" He glanced nonchalantly behind him, chuckling softly.
"Alain, what's wrong?" the little one asked.
Alain shrugged and said, "Nothing."