*Yawn*… I slept great.

[Fade in/out.]

Good morning, Ayumu. Nice weather, huh?

Morning.

*Giggle* That's quite the bed head you've got again.

I guess my hair's feeling as energetic as I am.

Haha, listen to you!

You visited the hospital with Ai and Misato yesterday, right? How did it go?

I had fun. Ai gave a mini live performance.

What?! Weren't they mad?

No, she got permission to do it. The patients and even the nurses all enjoyed it.

I feel so lucky that I got to see Ai perform live!

That's great. You'll have to bring me along next time.

Sure! Apparently the patients watch videos of our live shows, so I bet they'd be happy to see you!

…Oh geez, we'd better get ready! Let's talk about this later, Ayumu!

Okay!

[Fade in/out.]

Good morning!

Good morning!

Ah, good morning, you two!

What're you all talking about together?

We're asking about the mini live performance Misato gave at the hospital.

Oh, this again!

*Giggle* I've been having such a good time telling everyone about it.

It sounds like it was really exciting. I wish I could've been there.

I wanted to do a live show too!

Me too! Bring me along next time, Ai! I want to meet all those friends of yours!

Ahaha, okay, okay! Let's put on an even more colorful live show next time!

Oh, that's right. Now that the Prez and Ayumu are here, could ask you all something?

Of course. You can ask us anything. What is it?

So I've been thinking about something.

I was wishing there was a world where people who're in hospital and can't move around freely could go wherever they please like we do.

Isn't there some way we can use technology to help them experience all the fun things in the world?

Maybe if I study really hard, I can come up with something like that one day.

That's all I wanted to ask. I guess it was more of a statement.

It's a nice statement.

Technology keeps advancing. I think you could make what you want to create a reality.

I think so too!

Although it might take a long time…

For sure…

You won't give up though, will you Ai?

That's right. Knowing Ai, she'll make it a reality faster than any of us expect.

She's got a knack for creating fun things.

Ahaha! Thank you! I'll do my best!

You know, Ai…

Hm? What is it, Rinari?

There's already something similar to what you want to create. Have you ever heard of the metaverse?

The metaverse? Yeah, I've heard of it, but I don't really know what it is.

I've seen it on a lot of game streams lately. It seems really popular.

Huh? It's popular?! Now I'm curious!

What's the metaverse? Explain it so that I can understand, Rinako!

The metaverse is virtual spaces and services built on a network.

Huh?

Um… It's a system where you can live like you do in the real world inside a virtual world made on a computer, I guess?

Sounds fun!

How much like in the real world?

Well, like time, for example. Time moves in the virtual world in the same way as in real life. And things you buy in there are delivered you to in real life and stuff.

Sounds amazing.

It's probably easier to understand if you experience it through a game.

Like MMORPGs. I'm always playing them with Rina. Right? Yesterday we played for three hours.

I got so fired up yesterday! Rina-chan Board says, “Sparkle!”

Why don't we all play together sometime?

Sure, I'd love to!