Recognized

The next day felt like a blur for everyone, including the Sakurai Family. Just last night, Yuuta was taking his time trying to figure out how to accomplish the second test and he was having a good time. But now, he was a bit confused as to what was happening in the town.

Although there were your regular crimes and criminals in the city, Yuuta didn't expect a serial killer to be on the loose. That's why, when all the neighborhood heard of the third murder that happened in the middle of a certain highway, they became a little bit skeptical. It was unusual for policemen and the like to hide a murder case, especially when it was a challenging one. And yet, they went as far as to hide two murder cases and only publicly releasing the third murder just because they didn't have any choice but to give out information so there won't be unrest in the midst of the people.

Unlike the first and second murder, the third murder was by far the cruelest. A man was severely mangled to death and none can explain what the murderer used to mutilate him.

"Yuuta, Yui, tomorrow, we'll have a day off at work. Due to the panic surrounding the city right now, our company decided to take a break like all the other major companies around the city." Rin called out to his son and daughter. "I would like the two of you to be careful every time you go to school. Yuuta, if possible, can you take your sister to school and pick her up in school?"

"Daad~ " Yui groaned. Deep inside, she badly wanted her big brother to pick her up from school because that's what they usually do before. However, she was already a teenager and as such, she didn't want to be treated like a little kid.

"Sure dad. Yui, you have to listen. You may be all grown up now but you're never too old nor too young to die." Yuuta said, reading Yui's exact thoughts.

Yui nodded.

"Now, the two of you, go to sleep. I'll be sending you to school early tomorrow." Rin requested as he wore a smile on his face. There were still dishes to be washed and clothes to be taken care of, but he didn't want to make his children do all the chores after everything they heard from the television and from him. "Honestly, this world is such a scary place, and it just keeps getting worse."

Meanwhile, Yuuta climbed up on his bed and heaved a sigh. Something in his mind bothered him but he didn't tell anyone about it. He wasn't sure if it was just coincidence but something in his guts told him that such wasn't the case. If it weren't, then the time of both events wouldn't have correlated so much with each other.

Yuuta extended his hands towards the ceiling, clenching and relaxing his fists. 'Yeah, something is definitely out of order here. This is suspicious.' Yuuta thought. 'I mean, how could the time of death be the same time as that one?'

Recalling what happened during his fight against the famous boxer Nakamura Ryota, Yuuta vaguely estimated the time when his sight returned to him. He was sure that it was seven pm when that happened. And for some unknown reason, the time of death of the murdered person was also seven pm, exactly 7:29 pm.

Tossing and turning on his bed, Yuuta thought about the previous event. Although the two events seem to be unrelated, somehow, Yuuta wanted to believe that they were. Because if that was the case, then there might be a time when his sight would miraculously return.

"What am I thinking? I don't want someone to get killed just so I can prove my theory. I guess there's nothing I could do but wait."

But waiting proved to be hard for Yuuta. That night, he wasn't able to sleep because there were a lot of things in his mind. The two events bothered him to the point that he eventually grabbed the VR Headgear from his desk and put it on. Since he couldn't sleep anyway, he decided to just log into the game and finish the tests as fast as he can.

<Logging in... >

...

"Yuuta,"

"Yuuta, wake up. You'll be late for school." Rin called out as he lightly slapped Yuuta's face.

But no matter how hard they tried, Yuuta wouldn't wake up. He was in a deep sleep. Figures, since he had been playing Lucid Dream Server until an hour ago.

"Dad, leave it to me." Yui flashed a thumbs up towards his dad as he positioned himself on the bottom end of the bed.

There, she stood up and did a t-pose while wearing the most mischievous smile on her face. "If this can't wake big bro up, then nothing else. Don't worry dad! I've done it a lot before so I won't injure myself."

"What are you do— "

Before Rin could continue what he was about to say, Yui started falling flat towards Yuuta while doing a t-pose. As soon as she hit her big brother, a gasp of air escaped both their mouths but it was obvious Yuuta had it worse. In a flash, Yuuta got up and started coughing as all the air escaped from his lungs.

"Good morning big brother!" Yui called out as she gave a hug towards her brother. "You'll be late for school! Get up! Get up!"

Yuuta pretended to rub his eyes, still a little bit out of sorts. Before he knew it, he was dragged downstairs towards the dining table where he was served bacon and eggs for breakfast. It wasn't their typical egg and toast breakfast and yet, Yuuta didn't lose his appetite. He ate with such gusto that he finished his food before Yui did. And after that, he even went as far as to grab a few pieces of bacon from his sister's plate; to which she got slightly angry.

"Consider it my revenge for doing that unorthodox wake-up call." Yuuta smiled, patting his sister's head once again.

"Right, you're all ready to go, right? Oh, Yuuta, you're still in your pajamas. You should go get changed to your uniform."

After a few minutes, the Sakurai family were already heading towards Glorious Rainbow High School, the school where Yui goes to. Since this was one of the nearest schools from their place, Yui chose it as her high school. Well, she wanted to go to Fujikawa High School where her big brother goes to but she didn't pass the entrance exam so she chose the second-best and nearest school from where they live.

"Take care, Yui," Rin said before driving off to Fujikawa school where Yuuta studies.

"See you later, dad! Big brother!" Yui returned, and before Rin and Yuuta knew it, she was already blending in the crowd of high school girls who were probably her classmates.

"Excuse me!"

Before Rin could roll up the window and start the car, a girl from afar ran straight towards the car, waving her hands as wildly as she could.

"Excuse me!" She repeated.

"Yes, young lady? How may I help you?" Rin asked, unsure why a high school girl would come running at someone's car.

"H-him! A-are you by any chance... Sakurai Yuuta?" The girl called out.

Because someone called his name out of nowhere, Yuuta's head suddenly turned towards the direction of the voice. Judging from her flustered voice and quickened heart rate, Yuuta knew that the girl had something important to tell either him or his dad.

"Yes, that's me. Do you, by any chance, know me because of my sister?"

"N-no, but I know your sister. She's in the classroom adjacent to ours." The girl continued. "In any case, I'm Taniguchi Miki, junior high school student here in Glorious Rainbow High School. May I please ask for your contact information?"

Yuuta was taken aback and before he knew it, he extended his hands and gave it to her. This was the first time someone asked him of his contact number and his body impulsively reacted before he could even think things through. "Here, I'm not sure why you want it, though. It's not like I'm sure to respond to your calls and messages if you ever send some my way." Yuuta calmly reasoned out. The damage has been done and there was no way he could recover from it. That's why he said those things— out of spite to himself.

"Ah no, I wouldn't want to disturb you that much. My parents are huge fans. We've seen the live stream on youtube from Lucid Dream Corporation's official channel. They wanted to invite most of the Japanese Lucid Dream Server players for a game-opening celebration. My parents are also part of the beta testers, you might have heard of them."

"Wait... you're parents, are they perhaps the top Japanese actor and actress? Taniguchi Akiko and Daisuke? I briefly saw them in the news before." Rin interrupted. "Yuuta, you should go to their party or whatever, this might help you with socializing with other players."

"Thanks for the invitation, I will consider them." Yuuta smiled. "I'm guessing you'll be sending details about the party?"

"Y-yes, and no." Miki softly answered. "I'm also a huge fan, and also, you're the unbeatable undergrou— "

Before Miki could say something, Yuuta reached out his left hand and grabbed Miki by her mouth. It took him great effort to do so, of course, since Miki was standing outside the car. "I get it, I get it. Do you have time later? Let's talk about it next time. I have to go now, you know, I'm running late for school."

Rin didn't know what was going on but he managed to dodge Yuuta's hand before it passed through the driver's seat (Yuuta was seating on the front seat). Glancing back and forth towards the girl and then back to his son, Rin couldn't come to a conclusion. Had he not dodged Yuuta's hands in time, he would've known what Yuuta was up to every single day after school.

Meanwhile, Yuuta was paralyzed. 'How did she know?' was the question he repeatedly asked himself in his mind.

"Y-yes," Miki bashfully backed away as she nodded. Her face reddened akin to a beet. "Does that mean I can call you later?"

'How did she even come to that conclusion?' Yuuta asked himself. "Sure, call me later." Yuuta smiled.

Rin finally got the chance to roll up the windows as they roared off. It was the most awkward car ride the two of them have ever experienced.