Chapter 59: The Infinite Suburb

Alice breathed in weak, shallow gasps. She looked at me with glazed-over eyes. Her businesslike clothes were torn, her skin streaked with blood. I stood there in pajamas and slippers, silent as the tension between us grew taut as a bowstring. And though she said not a word, I knew that things would never be the same. Not as they once were in Silvercreek.

「My memories. You saw them, didn't you?」

I kept my eyes on her, not knowing what to expect. At this point I knew nothing. Not what had happened, nor what would happen, nor whether she was friend or foe.

She leaned back into the seat of the couch, her frame completely limp.「It's fine. 」

I looked around. Were my parents home? Was anyone else here?

「Sophia. You must have a lot of questions. About the game. Or your situation. Or your friends.」

She paused to catch her breath. She seemed on the verge of passing out from her injuries.

「But let me ask you something instead. What do you wish to be the truth?」

I couldn't decipher her intent. If I told her my wishes, would she make them real? Did she even have that kind of power? The burden of the unknown weighed upon me. I wondered how much my next words would alter fate.

「Well?」

I had clenched my fists so tight, my nails were digging into my palms.

"Everyone is back home," I said. "I'm back home. Hei is back home and, and, he's alive. And everyone else too. My team, all the teams." I looked down to the flower-patterned carpet. My mother had picked it out when we moved in, when I was only a child. To think I'd see the familiar prints again. And to fear that, despite being inside my own house, I hadn't yet truly made it back…

"Please, I just want it all to be over," I murmured. "I've been through so much."

Alice took a drawn-out exhale. She shakily eased herself up from the blood-stained couch. Despite her injuries, she managed a shaky but dignified walk over to the front door.

"So?" I asked as she was about to head out. She already had her hand on the doorknob.

Alice glanced at me. She gave her head a single, gentle shake.

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「Sophia, welcome to Gold.」

She swung the door open. At once I saw the dense fog outside. Other houses showed their colors and silhouettes within the fog, but I instantly knew this wasn't my neighborhood. I recognized none of these houses. And even if this house was truly mine, I knew I wasn't yet home.

After everything, after all my struggles, all my mistakes, all the things that had been sacrificed in the name of going back to our world...

I was still only in Gold?

This was absurd. I couldn't help but let out a broken laugh.

"You're kidding me."

Alice stepped out into the fog.

「Be brave. I have high hopes for you. And…play around with your final spell, once you get it again. I designed it just for you.」

She departed, leaving me at the doorstep. Her uneven footsteps grew quieter as she receded farther and farther away, still hobbling.

Nothing she said helped at all.

No. I wouldn't let her go just like this.

Not when she was the one responsible.

Not when she had taken everything from me.

I ran out into the thick mist, chasing after her. My steps pounded against the cement pavement that seemed to continue on and on. I passed numberless houses, on this side of the asphalt street and on the other, each emerging from the fog, then staying for a moment inside my range of vision before vanishing once more behind me. One house with a twisted metal fence. Another house that was run-down and small and covered with vines, and another painted a pale blue with small windows. All foreign to my memories, all without any signs of residents. Minutes passed as I ran. The whole time, I never came across a single person or animal. Nor were there any sounds except my own panting and footfall.

But as I raced forward, her figure continued to fade away, ever more distant, ever harder to see even as I squinted into the nondescript, silver fog. And before I knew it, she was gone.

I stumbled to a stop, bent over with exhaustion.

I was alone. More alone than I had ever been.

Should I shout for help?

I turned back and beheld the path I ran here on. If I backtracked, would I make it back to my own house?

What if I couldn't find it?

Beating back my fears, I began my lone journey down the road, back in the direction from where I came.

Not before long, I finally saw the familiar shape of my house, in the distance in the fog: a two-story building with slanted maroon roofs and a small tree in the front yard. It was little solace, but solace nonetheless. I quickened my pace as I neared.

But then I saw it.

A humanoid shape, standing barely visible in the thick fog. Right beside my open door.

It seemed to turn its face toward me. And then it came running.

Straight at me.

Fear gripped me so hard, I neither thought to fight or run. My heart thumped against my chest, threatening to burst. I thought I'd die right then and there.

And that would be the end of it all. I…honestly wouldn't mind. Or rather, I no longer cared.

If my time had come, so be it. I had already given it my all for so long.

But then, as the humanoid shape came closer, I recognized who it was.

I saw Saber running towards me.

She practically crashed into me, and she seized me in an embrace. Tears ran down her face, even as she tried to silently choke back her sobs. I hugged her back, as tightly as I could.

At that moment, nothing could’ve made me let her go.