It was a Sunday at the American hospital in Hawaii, 2025. The white curtains peeled back from the gentle breeze, pushing back Yorito's hair off his face. In the single hospital room, there was a single girl sitting up in bed, switching between a laptop on her lap, and paper on the nightstand. This girl was Sarah Nellaki. She was- no, is- a player of The World, a mass-multi-player online video game. She is Ayame, leader of Water Mirror, a PKK guild. However, unlike her PC Avatar, her hair is blonde, not black, and she doesn't have highlights of any color. You could never tell from her avatar, but in real life, she was a major techie. Drawn in by living in a fantasy world away from the cruel realities of real life, Sarah was trapped in a coma, and believed she lived inside The World due to Dark Aura's influence. Thanks to the help of her guild-mates, she had put Dark Aura to rest, bringing her back to consciousness. Now, she lay in a hospital room, getting a regular checkup, to make sure there were still no abnormalities with her health.

"Ayame." Yorito waved his hand slightly. She looked at him and pulled off her large headphones, smiling at his entrance.

"Sarah, right?" She corrected him, a slight laugh in her voice.

"Sorry." He scratched his head. "Shouldn't you get new headphones? Those ones are so lunky."

"Earbuds don't fit. When they do, they're uncomfortable." She shuffled back on her headphones, resuming her music to focus. However, she left one ear open, the ear at Yorito's side. She was a master of multi-tasking. Interested in what she was doing so one-mindedly, he took a look at her note papers.

.hackers and others that married in real life

Kite & Natsume (Takuya Yamamoto & Natsume Ogoro) – Ages 29 & 30 (Pregnant with first child)

Balmung & Blackrose (Haruto Kanezawa & Akira Hayami) – Ages 33 & 31 (1 son, Juuichi Kanezawa (Age 10))

Nuke Usagimaru & Rachel (Kenta Usagizaka & Rei Kobayashi) – Ages 33 & 33 (1 son, Daichi Usagizaka (Age 11), 1 daughter, Saki Usagizaka)

Moonstone & Gardenia (Masaru Naogawa & Yae Nakamura) – Ages 33 & 38 (2 daughters, Mitsuki Naogawa (Age 9), Senritsu Naogawa)

Haseo & Shino (Ryou Misaki & Shino Nanao) – Ages 25 & 28 (1 daughter, Kaori Misaki (Age 6), 1 son, Sora Misaki (Age 5))

Kuhn/Sieg & Mai Minase (Tomonari Kasumi & Mai Minase) – Ages 31 & 31(1 daughter, Seira Kasumi (Age 3)

Yowkow (Alkaid) & Sirius (Chika Kuramoto & Seung Yeung Kim) – Ages 25 & 32

"Is this more notes for your novel?" He questioned. "But isn't it coming out next week?" She nodded to him.

"A television program saw my book before publishing and immediately decided they wanted to do a special on it. The couples have already agreed." She continued to type up notes and narration for the show. Being cooped up for a month in the hospital, Sarah was bored. To ease that boredom, she started having phone chats with the original dot hackers and learning about how they met their husbands. She was far too shy to ask the men. Soon, she realized that more than her should learn about these amazing stories, stories that connected the digital world and the real one. She wrote a novel of short stories, and it became a hit with a publishing firm.

"Oh, before I forget… Here." She rustled a book out of her messenger sack near her hospital bed. "A signed copy. Don't' sell it." Sarah warned him with serious eyes.

"Right." Yorito sat down on the bed and softly turned his neck to kiss her on the lips. "…You ready to get out of here? The doctor said you can get dressed and leave."

"…Yeah." This was her final check-up. Without giving a care, she put on her clothes over her hospital robe, and then removed it from inside her clothes.

"Let's go." She smiled as the sun came from behind the automatic, glass hospital doors.

"Yeah." He gripped her hand, and they walked out into the warm, summer sunshine, walking a new path. This time, together.