Why did this happen? Why did she have to die?
Darkness. She couldn't see her hand in front of her face. Did she have a hand? Did she have a body at all? Why was it so cold?
Her memories were already fading. Her friends…What were their names again? She couldn't remember. Their faces were hazy. A brown-haired boy smiled at her.
She didn't hurt anymore. Why had she been afraid of dying? She was sleepy.
She was blinded by a flash of light. She covered her eyes with her hands. She did have a body. It took her several seconds of blinking to finally force her eyes open.
"Chiaki?" a concerned voice asked. "What just happened? M-my systems just went haywire."
Chiaki looked around for the source of the voice. She was standing on a beach. No one else was in sight. "Who's there?" she asked. "Where are the others?"
"Others? W-what do you mean, C-Chiaki?" The voice was confused.
Chiaki spun around. The voice sounded like it was coming from right next to her. "My classmates!" she exclaimed. "Ibuki! Teruteru! Mahiru! Akane!" she paused. "Hajime!"
The voice was silent for a long moment. "Chiaki…How do you know those n-names? I h-haven't uploaded t-that information to the server y-yet."
"What do you mean server? Where am I? Who are you?"
The voice spoke slowly, as if carefully picking its words. "Chiaki, you are in a v-virtual world t-that I d-developed. Y-you're an artificial intelligence. I m-made you."