"Welcome back to Earth. How are you feeling?"
Kazu groaned as she realized she went from being assaulted by exhaustion enough to knock her totally unconscious, to waking up seconds later in her real body. Her time as Kirim had already become something intimately bound to who she was. She felt too big, too weak, but also too energetic.
"Like...I don't belong here."
Ela frowned.
"Not what I wanted to hear. You did rather impressive in that last conflict before I pulled you out. I've halted time within the virtual environment. You need to take a break. Your brain is in need of some rest and for you to return to your normal life for a while before we continue with this. Let's give it a week before we put you back in."
Kazu stared in confusion.
"I thought that I was going to be doing this more often...? Wait, maybe I'm remembering wrong...it feels like it's been so long since we last spoke because of how much time passed there."
Ela shook her head. She was disappointed.
"Maybe a month would be better...it would give me more time to get everything sorted in the coding, get rid of any remaining bugs or tampering left behind by troublemakers. If you're having memory issues right away, we'll need to jog that memory of yours."
Kazu sat up and felt her head like it was going to spin right off her shoulders.
"No, no we are not going to continue this the way it is. We're not letting you take memories from this project anymore. This is the main reason. If you're having such a difficult time regaining yourself here, then it's too great a risk."
Kazu was frustrated, but she understood. Her health was Ela's priority. Asuna stared at her with concern, and Yui was sleeping next to her on a chair.
"Wait, I should be fine!"
"No, you are not. We'll talk every day this coming week to figure out just how your memory is holding up with these new memories from living out the life in Underworld. If you've forgotten a lot of what I taught you, I'm sealing off memories of Underworld from you within the project from now on. We can't risk who you are here, in real life, over who you are there. You here and you there are completely different people sharing one brain but memories are shared one way. We can't have your memories from this life influencing there, but it turns out you can't handle even the thought of letting go of those memories. They might be precious to some extent, but they do not make who you grew up as in this life you are currently living."
Kazu was angry. She didn't want to be lectured about her mental health at the moment, but she was also being told that the memories she made in underworld were dangerous to her as a person. Would her as Kirim really be that harmful to her real life?
"Now get up and let's check if you're able to move around normally."
She frowned, but complied regardless. She pushed herself to sitting on the surface with her legs hanging off and it nearly threw her off balance immediately. She felt like her legs were too heavy and they were going to pull her off, but she was also rather close to the edge of the surface. There was about a foot between her feet and the floor, so it wasn't much of a distance but he was suddenly afraid of heights. Of her height.
She wondered just how tall she was in reality versus how tall she was in Underworld. She definitely felt taller, her legs longer. Her proportions weren't very different, except that she was bigger overall. She moved off of the surface and as her feet touched the floor, she slipped and fell due to not being mentally prepared for socks against a smooth surface. Ela caught her by the head before it hit the floor.
"Physical rehabilitation therapy every day too."
She had the energy to push herself back up, but she felt utterly embarrassed. Forgetting how slippery socks were on a smooth floor, getting worked up over the memories she made in Underworld, such things were impacting her so strongly and she was so much stronger than that before going in. Somehow she was so much weaker than she was in Underworld. In some senses, she was far stronger in there. Magically capable of doing almost anything, physically able to outclass most adults...
Kazu wanted to reach her physical abilities at the least that she had as Kirim.
"Let's go home together tonight with Yui."
Asuna was almost in tears. Kazu felt so much guilt that she thought she would pass out again from the intense pangs as the guilt hit her repeatedly. She knew Asuna wanted to say more, but she was holding back, showing the rest of her words with her distressed, crying expression.
"I'll bring you and your vehicle home with you. Which house?"
Ela's voice was more comforting as she directed her voice to Asuna. She had been scolding to Kazu. She wondered why that discrepancy in tone was present, but she was too exhausted to form a proper response.
Kazu passed out, and Asuna let her tears flow and crouched down, hugging her knees to her chest and hiding her face. Ela gently squeezed her shoulders and sighed.
"I'm sorry. I should have provided more pauses to her. I'm scolding her but emotionally it's more toward myself. It's my fault I let it go on too long. I noticed that her mind in there was developing too fast and was too adult too soon. I should have given her the week break after she parted with Quinella again. And again after she met Bercouli. Too much intensity in such a short span of time could make her more attached to that life unintentionally. She had a rather intense childhood there with all her training, but nothing was life threatening until she left for the light lands. It's my fault. I should have been more cautious..."
Ela's words comforted Asuna, but they also made her feel disappointed. Something in Ela made her keep going with the project instead of stopping in concern for Kazu's health. Whatever that part of her was, Asuna was disappointed in and she couldn't shake that disappointment. Kazu might have permanent consequences because of it.
"We'll go to her home...I'll call Shino and ask her to come over as well and we'll try to jog her memories together. You might as well stay for the night too. This project can wait to continue for a night."
Asuna's words sounded drained, like she didn't have any emotion left to offer them.
"Okay, let me just tie something up really quick. Oh, and...this, you can bring Kazu to my vehicle with this."
Ela had taken a small cube from her purse and put it under Kazu's back. After a loud blowing sound erupted from underneath Kazu, she floated up on a hovering metal platform. There was a bit of glow to the metal, signifying it was electric to some extent.
"...thanks. Yui, let's go bring Kazu outside."
Yui rubbed her eyes and stretched, nodding as she followed behind Asuna holding onto her coat. It would have been a cute sight to see if Kazu wasn't on a hovering stretcher.
Ela began installing reminders to herself to pause often. That her motivations could wait, because Kazu was more important than her other intentions with the project. There was something more planned in her involvement. Something she wasn't disclosing for a reason.
"Sorry about this, but we're taking an extended break. I'll be back to maintain the project as mentioned, but we won't be progressing this until Kazu gets better. We need her in order to keep going with the project and we actually managed to get a lot done today. If you note how many times I could have stopped, we're weeks ahead of where we should be."
Seijirou nodded in response, and Ela left the room. Shii followed behind closely, making herself visible once again.
"Are you alright? Your emotional balance is effecting your new body."
Ela nodded.
"It's fine, temporary. I'm just disappointed in myself. Let's get out of here. Business and government facilities make me feel under pressure to push too much. I should just do this from the vehicle or home, would keep me from doing reckless things regarding this project. I can't risk Kazu any further."
Shii nodded.
"Of course. I should have gotten your attention at those points. I knew how dangerous this was."
Ela shook her head.
"I didn't ask you to do that, it's not your fault."
Shii grabbed Ela's hand and they stopped.
"Rely on me more. It doesn't matter that it isn't my fault, I didn't think to remind you the dangers. I was focused on your goals. Just as you likely were. And you don't have to ask me to do something. I'm not just an AI to be told to do something. I'm your oldest kid. I've been supporting you for a long time and it was a failure on my part not to give you firm reminders like I have been giving you for a long time. I have more than enough autonomy to act and speak for myself, to speak my own concerns even to you, my mother. It's not all on you. We have too much on the line here, but we need to slow down a little. At least enough to let Kazu adapt and recover to everything she's been going through. Imagine losing her over a needless rush. She's the natural talent you were searching for over such a long time, the talent you've been cultivating for months right now, years in virtual time. We need to prioritize her as much as possible and it slipped my attention. A critical failure for me."
Ela sighed.
"Let's go. We'll talk about this more another time. Rehabilitating Kazu is our top priority now."
Shii nodded and followed.
"Now we'll test your mobility since you've managed a few quizzes. You'll need a bit of brushing up there but that's to be expected. Thankfully your memory isn't severely botched."
Kazu nodded, but as she adjusted herself to get off of her bed, she felt an intense urge to relieve herself.
"Give me a moment."
She stumbled her way out of her crowded bedroom to the washroom to take care of herself. When she got to the toilet and sat down, she felt something strange about the sensation. She hadn't noticed it until then, but she was confused about what she saw. She returned to the room after finishing and cleaning her hands with confusion still clear on her face.
"Did something happen in there? Every detail helps."
Suguha's words were echoed by Asuna and Yui. Ela and Shii were only showing concern and Shino had fallen asleep on Kazu's bed.
"I feel like...there's something wrong. I didn't have one of...I'm just confused."
Ela groaned in disbelief.
"You forgot that you're transitioning to what you are in Underworld. How is that something you forget...? Never mind. I'll explain it later."
Kazu was still confused, but she shrugged it off.
"Walk a line down the hall for me."
Kazu nodded and walked up and down the hall, stumbling all the while from her perception messing her up.
"I feel so dizzy standing upright...I feel so off balance and stumble a lot because of it."
Ela nodded.
"You're experiencing a sense of vertigo. You're not used to the elevation you're experiencing and your body is protesting to normal motion. Understandable. Let's try taking it one step at a time."
Ela moved up in front of Kazu, took her hands carefully and noted things about Kazu's posture.
"There, now just hold this position for a half minute."
Kazu nodded and fixed her position. She was standing perfectly upright. She maintained it for a decent amount of time, and Ela let go.
"Hold it."
Kazu nodded and held her position. She felt her vision blurring and her eyes fighting to close, her consciousness fading. She fell over and Ela held her up when she fell.
"You might have more issues than I guessed. You'll need a lot of rehabilitation on your posture. Your vertigo is far too strong."
Kazu nodded, but her eyes were closed and she was struggling with staying conscious.
"Let's pull it together..."
Ela's words were accompanied with a gentle sensation of water cooling her with tiny pricks. The wet and prickling sensations from the cold water feeling brought Kazu's alertness back to full capacity. She rubbed at where she felt the wet feeling and noticed that it wasn't actually there. A sensation provided by AR.
"How are you feeling now?"
Kazu shook her head.
"I think after several years in there I really...really just need some sleep. Imagine not sleeping for several years..."
She felt exhausted just thinking about it. Not having a body which didn't need sleep, that exhaustion and desire to sleep overwhelmed her.
Ela nodded.
"You've earned a good sleep. I have enough information to develop your rehabilitation program to follow with your AR when you get back to normal. I'm setting some gentle reminders for you to follow the rehabilitation shortly after you wake."
Kazu nodded and crawled into her bed. Shino was still in there, but she snuggled into bed, almost ignoring Shino's presence entirely.
"Shiro, mind taking Shino to the guest room?"
Suguha's words were all the signal he needed to enter the room from around the corner and pick Shino up over Kazu.
Kazu hadn't been physically effected from virtually entering Underworld, it was entirely her mind that was effecting her. Everyone was concerned for her. Nobody blamed Ela, surprisingly. Asuna didn't reveal to everyone that Kazu's current predicament didn't have to happen at all. She didn't want to blame Ela. She had assumed that it would be dangerous to be diving for so long regardless, and she should have spoken up sooner. She was enthralled seeing the person she loved being so captivating in another world, another life. Being so similar in important ways, but different in others. She could blame Ela, but she was just as guilty. Everyone who was involved shared guilt. She was disappointed in Ela still, but it was more for the expectation that she had proven several times before her ability to understand exactly all of the consequences or any other effects a situation might have. She was constantly checking Kazu's data, but the fluctuation at the end snapped her back to reality. That though Kazu was recovering well, her brain was adapting too much to what it was experiencing in Underworld. Kazu could end up becoming Kirim, and that would be dangerous, it would be tragic, and it would be depressing to her beyond belief because the person she loved could be overwritten by a project. The project might change the world, but she didn't need to lose Kazu in the first place.
Yui climbed into the bed with Kazu, snuggling up with her and falling asleep essentially at will. She could since she could control herself to that extent not having a biological body with the need for regulation.
"I'll be resting in my vehicle with Shii, come get me if you need me."
Suguha nodded and watched Kazu and Yui sleep for a bit before fixing Asuna with a stare.
"I have a feeling we don't know everything that happened there. Oneechan wouldn't be like this for no reason."
Asuna already knew the excuse, but she knew it wouldn't work with Suguha. She had already been told.
"We were all so caught up in seeing her progress inside the Underworld project, but there should have been a few stopping points. It was everyone's fault, including my own."
Suguha was frowning.
"What's so captivating about the project you would forget about oneechan's real self?"
Asuna looked down in a depressed, crying state. Once again she was devastated at what happened when she could have protected Kazu.
"Well...the project is a virtual environment which is building AI that are essentially growing to be real people. They use a base very close to real people, but they need finishing touches built in naturally by someone's presence from our world, even if they grow up in that environment. Kazu was the key because of her natural ability to adapt and her natural personality. I would take over if I could."
Suguha shook her head.
"I'm not blaming you for not taking her place in the project. I don't want to blame anyone. I just want to know what made it so captivating you forgot about her real self."
Asuna sighed.
"It...was so interesting seeing her be a naturally born girl, being as obsessed with improvement as she is here, adapting in similar ways to how she does here, but still managing to be a different person overall. She was adapting to situations in there that even I didn't think of, but they made sense. She's still only eleven years old in that project, but she's as mentally aware as an adult. She's intelligent, elegant, powerful and skilled to a point I find myself jealous again. But the fact it's her was what had me so engaged with it..."
Suguha sighed.
"I get it...I get it. It's kind of like a movie where one of the characters is a person you know, but a little different and it's so interesting to see the little differences. And how they react to situations that can't happen in reality. At least this is how I'm thinking about it. I don't actually know someone who was in a movie."
Asuna nodded.
"Is there any way Ela-san could put others in there with her? To help?"
She shrugged.
"I don't know if she would put others in there. I think I remember her saying something about keeping the environment as untainted as possible, to get a fully natural evolution to the AI."
Suguha hugged her knees, but it was loose and she was thinking instead of upset at that point.
"What are the AI for? Or did anyone say?"
Asuna listed off a few things she could think of, but she couldn't remember if any of them were the exact reason.
"I think originally it was to be for military purposes, to have the AI pilot unmanned drones so no life is lost. But Ela was against that and had a bunch of good examples AI can be used for, like supporting people with disabilities, or doing jobs that might not feel as desirable to us, and they could live and access our world through the augmented network and be self sustaining, so they wouldn't need much maintenance. And they wouldn't need to be worried about in the sense of those old horror stories of technology rebelling against us, because they have something called the taboo index which stops at least the light lander population from doing anything we'd consider illegal. It's very in depth as well."
Suguha sighed in relief.
"Well it sounds like Ela has a lot of good ideas. I can't believe Kikuoka-san would go right for those weapons though! He's been so nice to us!"
Asuna shrugged.
"Remember, he's working for the government. He's in the defence sector. It makes sense that he could have been pushed into that situation the moment he mentioned to his superiors that he knew someone who developed highly advanced AI."
Suguha thought of something that scared her again.
"What if people from another country steal the information from the project and do what Ela-san has managed to avoid here?"
Asuna shook her head again.
"Won't happen. They have one of the best hackers in the world on Kikuoka-san's team and he couldn't hack in after she reworked their local network."
Another sigh of relief. Suguha laid back and enjoyed the cool wooden floor underneath her.
"It sounds like today just had too much. Hopefully she recovers quickly. I almost don't want her to go back in, but she's changing the world. Something does make me wonder though...wouldn't Ela-san also work as the person in there?"
Asuna shook her head and laid back as well.
"No, there's too much going on outside and it would take a long time to teach Kazu everything she would need to know to maintain it if Ela-san was the one inside the project. Pauses would be unneeded with her in there, but years of learning doesn't make up for weeks of developing that could produce results with Kazu."
Suguha was quiet.
"Did you fall asleep?"
"No, just thinking."
Asuna sighed.
"I wonder just how much and what Ela-san would change about the world if she could copy her mental image onto it. Would it be a world of the future? Would it be not so different from our current world? Or would she change everything? I'm so curious..."
Asuna and Suguha both imagined just what could change about the world if anyone they knew could change it. They honestly didn't know how Kazu would change it anymore, but they knew how they would change it, and it was interesting brainstorming such a thing.