It has been a month since I lost you. This object must have come to me for a reason... This console is the only thing that lets the past you and the present me meet.

On the screen, you were moving around and chatting as if nothing happened, acting just like usual...

My heart truly sank in that moment. My hands trembled as my eyes remained glued to the screen. I wanted to ask if you were alive, why you did what you did, but I didn't.

And so the game proceeded, very peacefully. You fought and used skills as if you were truly alive. Until then, I thought you had come back to see me.

But you died every single time just before reaching the ending. Falling off cliffs, killed by monsters, drowning. Whenever the Game Over screen appeared, I kept hitting replay. I wanted to save you, at least inside the game.

Attempt number 987.

His fingernails scratch the surface of the controller as he buries his face near the screen. Despite the 986 previous deaths, your avatar moves around as if it knows nothing.

..Guest.

He calls out your name aimlessly. He feels like you'll disappear again if he doesn't. He knows that if he gets lost in his emotions, you'll just die again.