“Excuse me, this Erika from your class.”

Erika knocked on the door.

“Mina? Are you there?”

Erika raised her volume, but it didn’t help. She sighed and pushed down the door’s handle as a last resort. Naturally, the door was-

“... open?”

She blinked a few times at the unlocked door.

It can’t be that something happened, right...?

She tried to reassure herself by smiling, but unpleasant shivers ran across her skin. She cautiously moved her head through the opening and peeked inside.

“Mina...? Are you there...?”

Only static silence answered her. Erika carefully entered the apartment and closed the door. She walked through the hallway and examined her surroundings. Luckily, there were no signs of theft or struggle.

Erika continued further into the apartment, until she reached the only room with a living creature inside. A small girl lied on a bed. The petite figure, hardly bigger than a grade student’s, unmistakably belonged to Mina Park.

Erika frowned at the VR headgear on Mina’s head. It was a white helmet with light blue patterns. Erika recognized it as the “Virtual Ocean” brand, dubbed “Vocean” by consumers.

“Mina, can you hear me? ...Mina!”

Erika shook the girl’s arm, but there was no response. The sleeping hypnosis of the Vocean helmet completely detached Mina from reality. Erika took out her phone and googled “How to safely remove Vocean ”.

The instructions were fairly straightforward. Erika flipped off the “Virtual Dive” switch, waited for a green light and then carefully removed the headgear.

However, even with the helmet removed - Mina showed no signs of moving. Her slumber was deeper than the gear’s sleeping hypnosis. Mina must have fallen asleep while playing the game, a conclusion which made Erika facepalm in disbelief.

“Hey, Mina...”

Erika poked the little girl’s cheek to no avail. This called for the ultimate wake-up skill. There were many water bottles scattered by Mina’s bed. Many of them were empty, but a few still had water in them. Erika grabbed a bottle opened it above Mina’s face.

Erika hesitated for a moment, then delivered the decisive strike.

“BAH!?”

Mina jumped with a rising uppercut. Right into Erika’s chest.

“Gah!?”

Erika grieved in pain and collapsed on the floor. She held her aching chest, which had its bust reduced by half.

“Ah...? Huuuh...?”

Mina looked around in daze with half-closed eyes.

“Who... who the heck are ya?!”

Mina glared at the distressed Erika in suspicion.

“Ah... I’m Erika... the class president...”

Erika slowly stood up, still shaken by the sudden assault.

“Oh! You’re that Titan girl!”

Mina exclaimed and pointed a finger at the excessively tall girl in front of her.

“T-titan...!?”

Erika received a mental blow and almost collapsed again.

“My, aren’t you a little rude?”

Erika plastered a friendly smile and intended to let the insult slide. As the class president, she had to conduct herself with maturity and dignity.

“But ya taller than the 100 floors of Aincrad!”

“I’d REALLY appreciate it if you didn’t compare me to a floating castle.”

Erika’s smile twitched.

“Ah...!”

Erika suddenly gasped. She naturally responded to an otaku reference without noticing.

T-this was a close one...

Apparently, Mina didn’t catch the slip. Erika almost triggered a death flag just now.

“A-anyway, Mina. It’s rude to say such things, regardless of what you really think. In the first place, I only look big to you because you’re so small-”

“Huuuh!? Who’s small!?”

Mina reflexively barked and waved her dangerous fist.

“I only look small to ya because you’re taller than the Everest, you dumb Titan!”

“Wha...!?”

Erika was drawn to her wit’s end. She took a few gulps from the water bottle in her hand and relaxed herself with a deep breath.

“I understand. If you want to call me Titan so badly, then I’ll call you... Mini. How about that?”

Erika tilted her head with a playful smile.

“M-mini!? You sure have balls, you walking tower! Are ya trying to pick a fight!?”

Mina leapt forward like a furious tiger, but she immediately collapsed on the bed.

“Ugh... no mana...”

Mina stretched her right arm toward the collection of water bottles.

“Guh... just a little... more...”

She weakly swung her short arm, like a lazy kitten trying to reach catnip. Putting aside differences for now, Erika stretched her long arm toward the bottles.

“Here you go.”

“Don’t think that’ll make me forgive ya!”

Mina grabbed the offered bottle.

“Grrr!”

She removed the cap with her teeths and shot it out of her mouth

“Wait right there! I’ll kick yo big ass real quick! Gulp gulp gulp gulp!”

Mina emptied the bottle in one go.

“Here I come! Prepare yourself!”

Mina tossed the empty bottle out of the window. Somebody outside wailed in pain after being pummeled by a meteor, but Mina ignored it.

“Haaaa!”

Mina successfully leapt... into the floor.

“Gkuh...”

Hanging upside down from her bed, Mina tried to crawl forward with her right arm.

“Ugh... gah...”

Mina’s body was abnormally heavy and numb. The reason for that shortly revealed itself.

GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWL

A demonic roar from the bottomless pits of hell. The whole room shook from the overwhelming growl coming out of Mina’s stomach.

“Shit... this sucks...”

Mina dropped her head and continued to hang upside down from her bed.

“When was the last time you ate anything?”

“... what time is it? Or rather, what day...? What year...?”

“Really, now....”

Erika could only sigh in response.

“Do you have anything to eat?”

Erika gently raised the little animal and put her back on the bed. Mina tried to claw Erika’s face in the process, but her short arms couldn’t reach high enough.

“Guh... there should be instant noodles, lots of them.”

Mina gave up on and answered obediently.

“Didn’t your parents leave anything else for you? They went abroad, right?”

“They left plenty... of instant noodle.”

“I see...”

Erika couldn’t help but question the environment in which this wild animal was raised.

“I understand. I’ll get you a bowl. Are they in the kitchen?”

“I don’t need help from some dumb Titan honor student-”

GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWL

“... yeah, they are in the kitchen. Uuu...”

Mina turned away from Erika, embarrassed to ask for help in her own house.

“Alright. I’ll bring it right away.”

“Then, I’ll play a little more...”

Mina mumbled and crawled to grab her VR headgear-

“W-wha!?”

Two long snakes covered the headgear.

“This is forbidden for now.”

Erika carried away the Vocean helmet. She placed the Vocean on top of a tall closet and walked toward the door.

“I’ll be right back.”

“Sure...”

Mina’s eyes were glued to the Vocean resting on top of the closet.

“I’ll need some Anti-Gravity abilities to reach that high... gufu...”

Mina gave up and dropped her face on the bed.