-397- Papa....?

"Yui-MHCP001...?"

Upon seeing the name displayed at the top of the main menu, Asuna uttered these words with a puzzled expression.

"What kind of strange name is that?" What Asuna said was precisely what Rozen was pondering.

"Yui... huh?" Rozen muttered.

"In other words, this child's name is 'Yui,' right?" That part made sense.

But what about the rest of it?

"Could it be randomly entered?" Asuna speculated. "After all, she's just a child, and she might have made a mistake when entering her character name."

That was a reasonable explanation. Children might not follow the logic of character naming and could have simply typed random alphabets.

"But then, how do you explain the 'Yui' at the beginning?" Rozen asked.

The 'Yui' part was a reasonably accurate representation, or Rozen wouldn't have immediately suggested 'Yui' as the name.

"It could have just been a coincidence," Asuna guessed. "Maybe she randomly got the pronunciation right."

"Perhaps," Rozen replied after a moment of silence, nodding.

However, deep down, Rozen didn't think that way. It was hard to believe that this was just a coincidence, and the combination of letters and numbers that followed made him doubt it even more.

(Instead of thinking it's a randomly entered character name, it looks more like some kind of code.)

Rozen stared at the name on the main menu and then glanced at the "Items" and "Settings" options in the lower right half. He operated the hand of the girl named Yui and began to click.

"Don't just do something like this casually!" Asuna cautioned, half-annoyed and half-helpless.

But Rozen paid no attention, proceeding to explore.

First, Rozen checked the "Items" section, as the name implied, to open the item list. However, Yui's item list was entirely empty. There was nothing, not even a single game currency, making it look highly unnatural.

Even if she was a child who had always stayed in the Starting Town, there should have been something in her item list. Even if it was just picking up some stones on the side of the road, many children would put them in there. At the very least, some clothes should have been there. The fact that it was completely empty was very unusual.

(This is becoming more and more suspicious...)

Rozen thought to himself, and then he was about to operate Yui's hand to select the "Settings" option.

However, at this moment, Rozen's action came to a halt. Or rather, the owner of the hand stopped him. Originally, there was no force applied, but the hand that Rozen was controlling suddenly exerted resistance, preventing him from continuing.

Rozen was stunned. Then...

"Gu!"

"Gu!"

The voices of Saichou and Hanachou suddenly sounded, filled with surprise. Even Asuna made a sound.

"Ro-Rozen...!"

Asuna's voice sounded surprised and relieved. She tugged Rozen forcefully, making him see it too.

He saw the girl named Yui, staring at him with open eyes.

"You're awake?" Rozen asked in astonishment.

Clearly, Rozen did not expect Yui to wake up at this moment. However, the girl named Yui didn't respond to Rozen's question. She simply stared at Rozen with her big, round, dark eyes, like a newly hatched bird fixated on its mother, as if she intended to etch Rozen's appearance deep into her memory, remaining very quiet.

Being looked at this way, even Rozen found it somewhat strange. He quickly let go of Yui's hand and stood up.

Asuna, on the other hand, seemed to replace Rozen, sitting in front of Yui.

"Are you awake? That's wonderful!" Asuna expressed genuine joy and extended her hand to help Yui sit up.

Yui didn't speak; she simply obediently followed Asuna's movements and sat up in bed.

The moment Yui sat up, Saichou and Hanachou immediately took off from the head of the bed, spinning in front of Yui as if they were greeting the little girl.

They sprinkled shimmering phosphorescent powder, and this caught Yui's attention, making her look at them. Her big, round eyes filled with curiosity and delight.

"Ah... Um..."

Yui reached out towards Saichou and Hanachou, as if preparing to hug them, making mumbled sounds. She appeared incredibly cute.

However, seeing Yui's behavior, Rozen and Asuna couldn't shake the bad feeling they had.

"Um... Can I call you Yui?" Asuna couldn't help but be the first to speak.

Upon hearing Asuna's words, Yui turned her head and looked at Asuna.

"Y..ui?"

Yui tilted her head, enunciating her name unclearly, murmuring to herself.

"Yui...?"

Her demeanor was as if she didn't know that her name was Yui.

This intensified the ominous feeling in Rozen's and Asuna's hearts.

This raised suspicions in both Rozen and Asuna's minds.

"Could it be that you've lost your memory?" Asuna found it hard to believe.

Watching Yui struggle with pronunciation, Rozen and Asuna began to suspect that the girl might not be able to speak at all. But it seemed the situation was even more severe than they had imagined.

"Yui...? My name..." After a while, Yui stammered, trying to say her name.

It appeared that the child was slowly recalling that Yui was indeed her name.

"Yes, Yui, that's your name," Asuna quickly affirmed. "Can you remember anything else?"

Upon hearing Asuna's question, Yui lowered her head, contemplated for a moment, and then shook her head, indicating that she couldn't.

Asuna's face turned serious, and even Rozen had to acknowledge it.

"It seems this child has indeed lost almost all of her memories," Rozen stated.

This left Asuna no choice but to voice her concerns. "How did this happen?"

In fact, Asuna had already speculated.

After all...

"...Didn't we guess that this child collapsed in the forest either due to lack of sleep or suffering a severe mental shock?" Rozen sighed, "Looking at the current situation, it seems to be the latter."

Only this explanation could account for why Yui had lost all her memories and collapsed in the forest. It must have been an intense mental shock.

Asuna thought about it but didn't want to believe it. "For such a young child... what could have happened to her..."

Her voice trembled slightly.

Rozen, on the other hand, looked at Yui thoughtfully. Whether by coincidence or not, Yui happened to look in his direction, and their eyes met. Both sides clearly understood each other's expressions.

Rozen's eyes were filled with contemplation, while Yui's eyes were filled with curiosity and... affection.

In the next moment...

"Pa... Papa..."

Yui extended her hands towards Rozen and, with this astonishing address, called out to him.

"Pa... Papa..."

That's how Yui referred to Rozen.

Now and in the future.