Silence reigned the hallway in this highly-secured section of the hospital, aside from the slow measured beep beep beep of the heart monitoring systems.

The numbered rooms that could only be accessed by special key codes unique to the individual locks were sectioned off with one person per room. The only difference between this place and the morgue was a sliver of a chance that one day the people sleeping within would awaken.

But, really, it was just a sliver of a chance. Even the doctors themselves would have given up on these patients if not for the continued monetary support of the patients’ generous families. In one of these rooms, a couple sat, watching their son lying still as death upon the hospital bed.

It was hard for them to look at the IVs and wires connecting him to the monitoring systems. The only thing that was different between him and his neighbors was that he was wearing the popular VR gaming headpiece that was now so popular.

This headgear was different though, in that it was pure white, as opposed to the colored version of the usual headgear.

But, even the headgear couldn’t hide how long his hair had grown, showing he was not a new patient.

“Doctor, are you sure that this will help him? He’s already been through the beta with no signs of waking up. How will placing him in the main gaming world as an AID help him to wake up?”

The mother asked, clearly feeling disappointed at the seeming lack of activity.

“I’ve already told you before, by placing his subconscious self in a world where he helps someone grow, it will stimulate his brain’s activities, spurring him to create new pathways around those which were destroyed.”

The brain specialist shook his head. “While I’d like to say that he’ll awaken any day now, it isn’t that simple. Due to his trauma, this has become a very slow process. But, I’d like to show you something that I think will bring a bit more hope to the situation.”

He typed in a code into the computer, and pulled up a recording of a green line oscillating lazily back and forth across the black background. “This is your son’s brain last year before the Beta testing of the game, where we had him go in as a player.” The mother and father eyed the thin line which separated him from a braindead comatose patient.

“As you can see, for the most part, he would switch between the Delta and Theta waves, not even attempting to break past the lower end of the Theta waves.”

He typed in a few other words and brought up a second recording next to the first one. “This was taken during his Beta trial as a player.” The waves seemed to get a bit closer together than the first one. “Here, we can see him mostly on the low end of the Theta waves almost breaking past the mid Theta part, but not quite getting there.”

He moved the second recording below the first one and brought up another recording. “And this is our most recent recording. As you can see, several times this week, he broke past the mid Theta range into the higher Theta wavelength range, almost breaking into the Alpha frequency of brain waves.”

“And…this means?” The father asked, slowly.

The brain specialist looked at the couple and smiled. “It means that your boy is finally on the mend.”

The couple looked at each other and back at the specialist. “You mean..”

The doctor nodded. “When he’ll awaken is not yet certain, but if his current winning streak continues, then…within a year, I wouldn’t be surprised if he finally woke up. After that, we’ll have to conduct some memory and psychological tests and work out a physical therapy plan to get his muscles back in order, but if all goes well, this could very well be the breakthrough in comatose treatment that we were looking for.”

“Finally! Do you hear that, Ryuu? You’ll be back home before Christmas I just know it!” The mother caressed her son’s cheek. “Keep fighting, Ryuu. Don’t give up” She shed a few tears silently as she looked at her son.

The telephone rang. The doctor picked it up. “Hello? Dr. Bertrand speaking…Yes?...All right, I’ll tell him.” He hung up.

“That was your attendant, Mister Takashi. He called to remind you that if you don’t leave soon, you’ll be late for your appointment.”

Mr. Takashi nodded his head, then turned to his wife and gently spoke. “Mayumi… We need to get back to work, for Ryuu’s sake.”

Mrs. Takashi wiped the tears from her face with her kerchief and took one more long look at her son.

“Ryuu, don’t worry. We’ll definitely do everything we can so that you can get better, okay? Mommy’s got to go, but I’ll be back after work, okay?”

The two left the room, and Doctor Bertrand once more locked the door, watching them receded down the hallway towards the entrance. Out of all the families of comatose patients, these two had definitely visited their son the most. It was quite obvious that the boy was very special to them.

He once again renewed his resolve. If I do nothing else before I retire, I will make sure that Ryuu wakes up.