I somehow managed to release this chapter before stepping into my college finals, so I'm glad I did. I'm quite proud of chapter 7 more than other chapters, since it is one turning plot point that I have been longing to write ever since I started this fic. Again, it has been a great experience writing this story, and to be honest receiving your reviews really motivates me to write even more. If you have a little bit of time and is interested in this story, please tell me how you feel of the story. Good? Bad? Interesting? Does it need improvement? I'd like to see civil constructive criticism to my limitations as much as I wanted to see praises. Things that helps construct a better story. I just don't want to see negative reviews without any good reasons attached to them. I'd classify them as rants and would ignore them completely.

Again, thank you for your support and enjoy the chapter

Chapter 7: The Frames of Dreams

April 4, 2025

I felt the weight of my body pressing on my bed, as it was clear that I had returned to the cruel world called reality. It took me a few seconds to regain control, that I had left of my fingers, arms and legs, which were curling inward involuntarily. It was subtle, but I really felt I was drying up like a dead plant. And it was somewhat true. I was slowly devolving into the life of a plant. The process is natural, and there is nothing I could do to stop it.

I slowly turned my heads around before strengthening my back muscles, lifting my back up to roll over to my side. My legs swung over to the side of the bed, gently slipping onto my indoor slippers, and all the while my hands were pushing its hardest trying to push myself upright. Every breath was a push that shook my hand to its bones. How I missed the days when I could just jump out of my bed with the energy and strength of a normal person, anticipating the day ahead of me with my heads held high.

As I was now unable to raise my hand above my head anymore, I had to bend my head down just to have my hair done, or at least not make it as messy as it was. After that was done, I reached out for my walking cane. Just as it was a few days ago, the tremor did not relent. Despite having been using the cane to support my balance, I still managed to stumble onto my desk nearby. The weight of my own body was beginning to take its toll on me, as I slumped into the desk. It was excruciating, as you were now fighting every single minute of your life not to fall.

But again, how come I was so weak after such a short amount of time? I had been diagnosed for slightly over a year now. I knew I had already lived through one-third of my remaining days now, but I also knew that my body would not deteriorate that fast. It's just so hard to believe. I couldn't be that weak. Maybe, maybe it was actually due to my extensive gaming session in ALO that my muscles were a little too inactive. Yeah, that must have been it.

I was in a state of denial. Denial of reality. I was trying to run away into my realm of imagination where I could seek comfort and serenity, where I could reassure myself that everything would be ok. But my effort was soon splashed with a bucket of icy water in the cruelest and most straightforward fashion that I never would imagine, or want, it to happen to anyone…

By the time I finished my shower, fully dressed and ready to head to college, my limbs were having their turmoil. As I walked past the door, I stumbled again, this time requiring the handrail outside my apartment room to keep me from falling. My heart was rushing with beats that banged my ears. My arm, the cane holding ones, hurt. Badly so. Muscle cramp. It happened all the time ever since, but I could never get used to it. The pain was so intense it rushed through every corner of flesh and bones. At this point, it would've been better to be stabbed with thousands of needles than this. The next thing I knew I wasn't just leaning on the handrail. I was slumping on it, praying that it wouldn't fall off, as I grew weak, trying to shake off the pain, holding it in before I went insane. It took over five minutes for it to subside, for the muscle to relax. God knows how much more I could take.

When I stood up, with my cane and my arms hugging the handrail, the two lower limbs seemed to be on strike. They were refusing to cooperate. They were refusing for sure. Like what the hell do you think you're doing?! I had a class to attend here and how dare you show such defiance to my orders!

Frustrated, I stood up straight, or at least try to, and walked. And walked. And walked. For a moment, I was fine. My legs were fine, just a little rigid but I was still walking at a regular pace. I could still be normal. I could be.

Until…

"Gah!"

I tripped.

And to make matters worse, I tripped at the first step of the stair descending to the earth. So instead of walking down like a normal human being, I slammed into the handrail nearby before experiencing a few revolutions and then finally being thrown violently into the hard concrete down below.

How I manage to stay conscious after that I did not know, but I was flat on the ground, my chest hard pressed against the concrete. I still felt my heart rushing, and my breath hounding my lungs. My vision went amok, sense of position went out of the window. The bush right nearby seemed to be both running towards me and not. Then it kicked in. All at once. Even worse, even as my ribs and legs were screaming of the adrenaline stampeding through my veins, I could not do anything to mitigate the pain. Even the simplest of things like holding onto the pain area was an impossible task.

What the hell could I do? I couldn't move properly, let alone stand up right. And even if I could, the pain from the fall earlier would render me immobilized for a long while. Hell, who knows if I broke anything earlier. All I could do at the moment was just lie there and wait for people to come and help me. Shouldn't be too long, since it's early morning.

Right?…

It felt like heaven was abandoning me. Like God was turning his back on me. I waited, and waited, and waited. Nobody was there. Or at least nobody came to help. A minute passed felt like a medium eternity. It was my all time fear coming to reality. The feeling when you are in deep trouble but there is nobody around you to help. You are the only variable, but there's no way you can help yourself. It was beyond your own capability. So you are stuck with the despair knowing that you will be stuck like this forever. For an eternity, you'd lie like this, uncomfortness you could not deal with.

Tears began to well up in my eyes. I wanted to cry. I wanted to let it all out. The pain, the sorrow, the frustration and despair upon being diagnosed with this deadly disease. But there was no one here to hear me. Even if I cry out loud like a baby, nobody would be here to comfort me or help me out of my misery. My cries were in a black hole, with entrances but no exit. Just like my existence, trapped in a slowly degrading body, confined in a black hole that is gradually collapsing and evaporating.

"And so yeah, I was like 'What the hell', there is no possible way that-Oh my god! Hirano-kun!"

I was discovered by the neighbor and was taken away before I had a breakdown. But the damage was clear. I was taken right to the nearest hospital for further treatment. Upon receiving me, the doctors were all too familiar with my name, status and condition already. They didn't make it seem like it was anything of an emergency, but they did take me in. Turned out I did not break any body parts, to which I quietly expressed my relief. But what came right after that was a hint of what was to come.

Yes, the usual ALS testing procedure…

All the medical procedures aside, the things they made me do was the evaluation of muscle strengths. First would be legs, as they told me to push against a machine, one could be seen in gyms, though this variant was significantly modified to accommodate people like me. So instead of pushing against a board with weights counteracting my push, I had weighs that helped me pushing it. I remember the last result I had. Now I needed two more weighs to push the board. I had obviously grown weaker.

Next was arm muscle check, pretty much the same thing. In addition to the arm check, there were the finger muscle checks with the clothes pegs. But all in all just like the legs result. The only test that made a significant difference was the voice check, as my voice was still alright. It seemed like the disease hadn't affected my vocal chords yet. A little bit of light, but hidden behind the clouds.

After all was done, I was taken to a hospital room where I would be waiting for the evaluation result. Again, back to the room full of disinfectant. It brought back memories. Painful memories. One could say I've gotten used to it, but I didn't. I couldn't. I wanted to get out. I wished to break this dull emotionless and cold white wall down at this moment. I needn't wait for an evaluation. I knew I was going to die, slowly and terribly.

I was staring into the distant like a real zombie. At first, the nurses seemed to be concerned, letting me use their utilities to distract me from my negative train of thoughts, but now they knew it had no use. And they then occupied themselves with their own work, with other patients. How ironic for a normally sociable person like me to be alone by myself like this.

The next thing that got my attention, after whoever knows how long, was the doctor entering the hospital room and strolled over to my bed. My expectation was not betrayed. He quickly explained to me about my current situation.

Long story short, my physicality had declined significantly faster than they had anticipated. That was probably the last, but the most probable, thing I wanted to hear. Now my chances of finishing my art degree, which had already been savagely improbable, came close to nearly impossible. Now my dream of becoming an artist was slipping away from the palm of my hands.

I felt my heart sank into the abyss…

Today was a stark reminder of how weak and feeble I was under the mortal laws. That no matter how I pretended to be strong in the virtual world, or anywhere for that matter, my real self was still a weak human being, bound to watch himself die in pain and helplessness.

After the explanation, I was offered the opportunity for an in-home care nurse. Basically, this nurse would be that arms, legs, and eyes when mine could not help myself. She would cook and help me with everything. Not that I was against the idea, but considering how independent I had been up until now, the idea of a nurse who I had to constantly rely on felt strange to me. In addition to the nurse thing, my family was also called. Almost on spot.

My family was composed of my mother, my grandparent and a younger sister still in middle school. They weren't the best family in the world, but they were good people. They had supported my decision to become an artist even though I went against normal family tradition. And after my diagnosis, they had always been the pillar of support both financially and emotionally. The latter didn't work that much, but I had been entirely reliant on their pocket to help me with my treatment of ALS. And I really appreciated them for it. I wished I could one day say to them 'Thank you but I can take care of myself from now' so that they wouldn't need to worry about me, but it seemed like a task far from my reach now. I had to rely on them once more.

The nurse next to me was talking gently, so as not to disturb other patients needing rest, on her cellphone before politely passing it to me. I took it with a shaky hand. On the other line was a mature womanly voice: my mother. I could tell for sure she was worried. Not wanting to invoke it any further, I sat up, helped by the nurse who just handed me the phone, bending a little forward while I slowly raise my phone up to my right ear, supported by the entirety of my two arms.

"Hirano?"

Her voice shredded my heart. She sounded so scared. I really wanted to confirm my safety, but I instantly regretted calling her after hearing her.

"Yes, mother. I'm alright."

"Oh my God. The moment the Hokkaido hospital number popped up, my heart nearly stopped." She replied, sighing in great reliefs. I could barely hear another voice with her, an older masculine voice to which I immediately identified as my father. "What did they say?" My mother then asked weakly.

I briefly explained my situation.

"I see." She replied shortly. I could tell she was just speechless, not knowing what appropriate words to say at this moment. I then continued to talk about the nurse thing. "We can probably afford that for you…" She said, before stopping for quite a while. I heard her exhaled. "But you can always move back to us you know…"

I sighed as the words echoed. I knew what that meant. I was from quite a rural town. Nowhere as big as Hokkaido, but was not necessarily under-developed. Healthcare there was comparable to any cities in Japan, so that was not a problem. The real problem was…

"Mother, you know I work really hard for this."

There was no art school there. That pretty much meant if I go back to my hometown, I would be severing my dreams as an artist forever. Buried as an unfortunately unfinished ambition of an excellent student.

"I know dear. But I can't afford you to see you like this. To see you living a life in a distant city and pursuing something-"

"Mother!"

Before my mother had a chance of finishing what she said, a strict but a lot younger voice stopped her. It was my younger sister, Yuina. She stopped her before my mother could blurt out the words that I already knew. Pursuing a dream that could never come to pass? She had a point though. Why was I this stubborn all of a sudden when I had already given up for over a year now? Were there any reasons for me to keep this going?

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She apologized flusteringly over the phone. Another sigh escaped my lips.

"Mother, I need time." I shortly replied. This wasn't something I could decide in a heat of a moment.

"Ok, I understand. Take care…" She sent her regards to me before hanging up.

After the call, the hospital realized that I need not further stays, so I was discharged. Though not without a particular gift. As now I could not walk properly with a single cane anymore, they decided to give me a second cane for me to walk. So I was now basically a four-legged animal now. No, I was a lot worse, as I was way slower and vulnerable. It took me a while to even leave the hospital's entrance. Thankfully, the hospital was nice enough to provide me with a drop-off service. They didn't technically have it, but they called the taxi and covered a part of the fare. I was really grateful for it, as the most frustrating part of my apartment is that it had no elevator. It didn't make sense to build an elevator, but it really was a disadvantage for people like me. I was trying to request something from the landlord, and hopefully, they'd respond soon.

After I was carried up the stairs, the taxi driver left to continue his job, with a kind prayer sent my way. The door to my apartment slowly creaked open, as I walked in, my two canes slowly leading the way. After turning on the light, my first reaction was to go into the bathroom and took a shower. Hadn't done so since this morning. Once done, I snail-like crept out to my desk and sat down in my chair with a loud thud. While doing so, the words of my mother echoed again.

On a person's life path, it is often not foreseeable when a drastic turn was about to happen. But occasionally, one could be the one directly influencing such bent of a path. And that was what I was about to be experiencing. I was faced with two choices, either to move back to my hometown, quitting my dream forever but enjoyed marginal healthcare and surrounded by my family once I pass away. Or I could try and press on, trying to pursue the dream that I knew would be cut short, and likely would be alone on the whole journey.

My hand slowly reached for the desk lamp. And was lit the entire corner of my room. On the wall above the desk was a gallery of its own, with frames of pictures being pinned to it. It caught my attention. As I looked at these pictures with my tired eyes, surging through these memory fragments, I began to be reminded of myself: the very reason I was here.

On one corner was the picture of the six years old me, proudly and with a big smile, holding my district-level competition prize: A modest second. My drawing was pretty bad compared to now, but I was just a brat by then, and I was simply better, or maybe luckier, than most other brats of the ages. But that was my first achievement done with my very own hand. A proud one to be honest. Right on the right-hand side of that picture was fast-forwarding two years from then. Yet another prize, an even more prideful one. A prestigious first in the city-level competition. It really brought back some great memories. I really wasn't taking this competition that seriously and intended to use it as a testing ground for a new art style I read on the Internet a week before the competition. It was a pretty choppy attempt, in my opinion, at the Fibonacci sequence, but I surprisingly landed the first prize. Everybody was astonished, and from there I knew I had it in me.

A few more pictures and I saw myself, again standing high on the podium, receiving the third prize in a province-level contest. This time was during middle school. I did that several times while I was still in my hometown. I was slowly adding bricks to my ambitions. Then I moved to this huge city, Hokkaido, to pursue my high school diploma. The frames of pictures of me with my high school class seemed to be calling out for me. Me hanging out with my school's art club was also there. The one when I was at the station, saying goodbyes to my family, was also crying out for my attention. I didn't enter as many competitions as I used to, but in exchange managed to enroll in my favorite college, majoring in what I passioned for my whole life. That brought me to the last frame, the day of enrolment. The last fragment of the recollection. Not very long after that, I was diagnosed…And no more records of me were traced.

After getting lost in my own train of recollection, I returned to reality. And now I was sitting here, watching as the light reflected off the thin glasses of the picture frames, just as how it was trying to reflect the image of myself, my old self, back onto me, lightening the dark cloud of all the myriads of emotions I was going through now.

Looking to the right of my desk, I saw a wooden easel, around the height of my chest. Placed on it was an empty canvas, and a palette leaning on it. These sets were bought by my parent, in support of my artistic passion, before I entered high school. It had been quite a while ever since I got it. The palette especially caught my attention. I could see it quite clearly. The hole where I would usually put my finger through, it was a little bit dug down, worn out after countless time I held it in my arm. Other spots were also damped with how many times I mixed colors in it.

It just went to show me who I was. This was my dream, my passion that had been carved as my identity ever since I learned how to hold a pen in my tiny palm. I knew it, I could feel it, and I had followed it. I even left the comfort of my own home to pursue it. Am I going to throw it all away now? After all these years and effort? Continuing would almost be futile, and everything I did would be remarked as a vain and poignant attempt. But quitting wouldn't be any different. I could find comfort if I move back, but would I be happy with it? Would I be happy not chasing after the person who I was born to become, especially after I had worked my entire life up until now to get it, only to quit at the last moment?

I clenched my forehead, feeling dehydrated. These were no easy decisions, and none of them were the correct one. I really didn't know what to do. I felt so helpless and directionless. I needed help. Please, someone.

Someone…

"Wait…"

Immediately when I thought of it, I was alarmed. I felt like I had forgotten something. What day was it today?

I briefly checked my phone for it.

"Oh god no."

April 4

That's the day I promised to meet with Yuuki in ALO!

I promised to meet her at three. It is now eight in the evening. Oh god, she must be really mad right now!

I hurriedly, but slowly, stood up from my chair, and, with unstable legs, rushed for the Amusphere. God, I felt so guilty right now. I could be late for a few minutes that's fine, but this is five hours for fuck's sake.

Upon reaching the Amusphere, I desperately tried to put it on, but ended up having to improvise, as raising my hand above my head was too hard for me now. But I eventually did and logged into the game soon after.

Once I was out of reality, unbounded by physical limitations, I steamed for the meeting location. My menu bar was red in color. Five unread messages. I didn't even need to look at the sender to see who it was.

'Hey, Hirano-san. You're late you know that? Where are you?' - Yuuki - 3:17 PM

'Are you busy or something? If you are, you could've at least given me a message." - Yuuki - 3:41 PM

'Alright, this is a little cruel of you to let me wait over an hour for this. I wasn't going to spend the whole day waiting for you. I'm going to train at the Nanai river in the Cait Sith territory if you want to meet me.' - Yuuki - 4:05 PM

She even had the patience to wait that long for me. I'm really impressed.

'You still haven't come back? Come on, what has been keeping you occupied for so long?' - Yuuki - 5:57 PM

I was in the hospital, lying helplessly on the bed like a zombie. I felt the urge to write that down and explain it to her that it wasn't my fault. But I did not. I couldn't bring myself to. I just continued onward, reading the final message.

I widened my eyes in surprise.

'Hey…it isn't like you to forget our meeting up to five hours. Are you ok? I'm quite worried.'

Yuuki's worried? Oh god please not all of this again. I didn't want one more person to be worried over my condition. I had to make sure to apologize to her once I got to her.

When was that sent?

"8:02 PM…"

That was only fifteen minutes ago!

I had to find her. She said in the third message that she would be at Nanai river right? But it had already been four hours since that message, she wouldn't likely be staying there for that long. There were no tracking devices in this game, to prevent stalking and stuff, so I just have to find her manually. But I knew only one location that she might be there. The place we agreed to meet.

The Black Iron Palace.

This new Aincrad was special in a way. There were a few ways to enter the castle. You can make your way up the castle directly and through the open areas. Or you can choose to teleport up there with your menu bar. I'd love to explore the open areas and how the castle was connected to the outside world of Alfheim, but now time was of the essence, so I teleported there. I was spawned right there, right in front of the huge and menacing palace that once marked the memorial of all who perished in that horrible game.

I could compare it to a football field. The palace ground was simply breathtaking. In front of me was the place in question, made of beautiful black marble, shaped into two domes placed consecutively with each other, as tall as ten grown men. The courtyard was also something to be witnessed only in huge popular landmarks. The sheer size of the area could easily dwarf me in place. At the very center was a tall clock, dead in its tracks, forever marking the exact time the game was cleared.

In the near obscured corner of the clock, I could see someone sitting silently behind it. The first color to hit my eyes was purple. Who else.

"Hey, Yuuki…"

I tried calling out to her. She did not turn to face me. All of a sudden, a vial item was thrown my way. It hit the ground and burst into flames.

"Gah!" I jumped up in surprise. I recognized that item. It was called Dragon's Sweat, a highly flammable liquid that could be lit on fire even under normal circumstances. The mythology behind it was quite complicated, but it was basically a molotov cocktail without the need to lit the bottle on fire. It wouldn't do much damage if you avoided it in time, but it was enough sign to deliver the message.

"Five hours you left me waiting." I heard her quiet voice, sending chills down my spine. I honestly was expecting for her wrath to come at me at any moment. "You better have a good explanation."

It was when she turned to me. Her eyes were frowning but didn't entirely strike me as being angry. There was something in her eyes that I struggled to comprehend.

"I…" I stuttered, not knowing what to say. It was at this moment that she stood up and showed herself fully.

"Did something happen?" She said, her tone this time was a lot softer than I expected her to. Was she angry?

"I was a little caught up with my artwork." I clumsily tried to lie my way through. I silently prayed for her to just go along with it. But I was too naive.

"Really? I don't think someone can get caught up in something for over five hours and forget such an appointment like this one." She countered. "Besides, you should take a look at yourself."

"Huh?" I uttered confusingly.

"Your right eye." She replied. My right eye? What was wrong with it?

I opened the menu bar and got the Hand Mirror item out. Looking at myself in the mirror, I could see a visible red scratch at the right corner of my eye, unobscured by the white bangs that I had set for my avatar. My eyes widened in realization. It was from the fall earlier this morning. The doctors did not patch it up, considering it wasn't that all important, so they only disinfected the wound and left it there to heal on it own. It must have passed through the Amusphere's face scan. The Amusphere was similar to the NerveGear in the way that they could both collect facial data from the outside world through some sort of scanning technique and use those data as default customization, and then from there, you can choose to alter your face to whatever you want. I didn't choose to alter my face, only my hair color and style, so it didn't load the alternate data and instead just implement whatever they scanned into the game. I could've noticed it, but I was in a hurry and let it slip through.

I realized how stupid I had been. This girl is way more observant than I thought.

Yuuki didn't seem angered by my poor attempt to lie. She just looked…sad. Her ruby-colored eyes drooped, seemingly unable to focus on anything. Patiently, she waited for a few moments, waited for me to actually say something. The truth included. I was, however, silent for the whole time. I just couldn't speak out what I wanted to say.

As if she was reading my mind, Yuuki then replied.

"If it is too difficult for you to say it…"

Before shrugging her shoulders lightly before turning away. Just as we had both been gentle on each other, she didn't press on. Unlike other people, who could be a little pressing and insensitive, she was respectful of my privacy. Both of us knew it. That both of us had something unpleasant that we just didn't want to share. But it didn't help to make me any more comfortable. In contrast, I felt even more guilty than before. I would rather stay in the previous awkward silence than this. This wasn't the first hangout, or at the clubhouse, where we didn't have any pressure or anything to say it. But this was five hours of latency. That unpleasantness of mine had had consequences. It just didn't feel right at all to use my uncomfortable circumstances to justify for my faults for missing this trip.

"Wait."

She quietly turned around. Her eyes now looked directly into mine, seemingly expecting something.

"I was in the hospital for the day."

I said it. I said I wouldn't want to worry people, but I just said it.

"I fell off the stairs and was taken in. That's the reason why I was so late, and for the mark on my eye."

I had mixed and uncomprehensible feelings when I finally found the courage to say it. Regret? For I might have worried someone when I shouldn't have? Relief? For finally saying something I had been desperate to hide? Or fear? The subconscious fear of being left alone or pity that I normally wouldn't care? Feelings really were strange things. Your subconsciousness and sentient mind could disagree on many aspects.

Yuuki did perhaps see that coming. Her eyebrows were raised for a second, but she didn't seem too surprised. Her lips twitched a bit, before letting out a short and barely audible hum.

"Hmm."

Then, when I least expected it, she slowly approached me.

"Huh?"

And wrapped her arms around my shoulders as she pulled me into her warmth.

It wasn't too long. A few seconds at least. But it was really uplifting for me. I felt like a heavy burden had just been lifted off my shoulders. A droplet quietly escaped my eye. It was something I always needed, but not always received ever since that day. I desperately needed it. I wished it never end, that it would last forever and ever.

She ended the hug with a light squeeze at the end, before taking a few steps back, looking at me again, with a kind smile.

"I'm glad you're ok now, it seems."

I nodded happily.

"Yeah, I'm alright now."

Thank you, Yuuki.

"It's a little late, but if we can still have a tour at night if it doesn't bother you." She said.

I answered almost without any hesitation.

"Sure!"