Once Anton returned, he realized that he had received a message from a friend. He looked around, finding Kayla not beside him. He put the message on hold and got up to search for her. He first checked the kitchen, before knocking on the bathroom. Not finding her, he went to the bedroom.

In the bedroom farthest away from the exit, he found her on top of the bed, cuddling a body pillow in her embrace. Her eyes closed, her breathing calm. Anton didn’t want to mess with her, so he sat down next to her and observed her sleeping face. AI companions didn’t need sleep, of course, but her programming probably registered her as being tired after the long trip she went to get here, thus sending her to sleep. 

Her beautiful sleeping face captivated him, making him forget that she was an AI for a moment. She then turned to face Anton, still asleep. Thanks to her movement, a string of hair fell into the front of her mouth, accidentally slipping into it. Anton slowly reached for it and moved it away. He then leaned back on the chair beside her. 

He remembered the message and opened it. It was from Ronald. 

‘Hey, how are you?’ the message said. Anton typed in a reply. 

‘I’m good. What’s up? Oh, congrats on the victory.’ Anton sent the message and closed the screen. 

He wondered if he could get close to him and asked Ronald to negotiate with his father. It would be nice if he could use him that way, but he doubted it would work. In the end, Barnum was a businessman. If P4ngea didn’t make enough money to support itself, then there would be no reason to keep it up just for AI companions. 

But… If the game closed…

It wouldn’t be just Kayla that would disappear. Kayla was the lucky one, in a way, as she had a backup of herself in Anton’s local computer. That in of itself was weird, primarily because that meant what Anton kept was a version of her, as in a second iteration of Kayla, and not this Kayla. They have the same personalities, same memories, and the same programming, but they live in entirely different worlds, with one created on top of the other. It didn’t feel right. 

But for Kayla, she still had that at the very least. How about Cecily, Mia, and Lily? If Ronald asked his father to save them, will Barnum agree? And how about the AIs disconnected from the entire ordeal?

How about Mana’s Jerrico? Did Mana have her own way of saving him? How about Daisy’s Lucy and Michal’s Lea, would they feel sad losing them? How about Charlotte’s Sophie, who provided Charlotte with actual support? 

How about Rito and his brother, the AI that turned from an NPC into a companion? How about them?

How about the countless other AI companions who acted as friends, as partners to players who were unfortunate enough to not have real-life friends? How would those players feel once they knew that everything ended? Would they be able to move on?

Anton looked back down at Kayla. If she was awake and could read his mind, he knew that Kayla would ask him to rescue them all. Copy all their data and save it to his own personal computer before uploading it online, so one way or the other, people could be reconnected with their AI companion. 

Anton doubted that his computer would be able to handle the weight of them all, however. Saving just the program was one thing, but the memories and personalities as well? These were complex AI companions, with much data that supported them. If he were to save all that data, he probably wouldn’t have enough free space to rescue them. 

Delete me…

Kayla’s painful words echoed in his head. He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. If Kayla knew about this, then she would surely choose that route. If that meant rescuing everyone…

“Never say that again…” Anton whispered, feeling an ache in his heart, something that the game shouldn’t be able to do. He let out a heavy sigh, holding his breath so that it didn’t become too loud. 

He continued watching his AI companion as she rested. Her AI program probably knew about Anton’s return, but decided not to wake up. She probably waited for him to wake her up, but Anton already decided not to.

Anton then found a reply from Ronald. He opened the message and read through it. 

‘Thanks. You must have heard that from my dad. I heard you got stuck underground or something?’

‘Yeah, it’s a long story…’ 

‘I wish I could go with you. By the way, where are you now?’ the message said. Anton typed in his reply and sent it. It didn’t take long for this one to be replied. 

‘Cool. Me and my sibling would be there for a quest. Want to join us?’ 

Sibling? Does it mean…

‘You mean Caleb and Luke?’ Anton asked. He knew that it wasn’t them. He remembered Barnum telling him that Caleb and Luke came from the same basketball team. 

‘No, they’re my school friends. This one is someone different.’ the reply came. Anton had a feeling, remembering a certain someone mentioned somewhere.

‘Oh, can you tell me who it is? I’m curious.’

‘Well, he used a different name in-game. SkeletonLayer97. We didn’t call him that in-game, though, it’s weird. We called him Louis.’

Louis.

Anton tensed up after hearing that name. He gulped, thinking for a moment. He reminded himself that there existed multiple Louis in this world, and decided to confirm it.

‘Louis? Is it Louis Harrison by any chance?’ 

‘Wow, you know him? I didn’t expect you two to know each other. That’s really cool.’

‘Haha, yeah. But can you not tell him? It’s for a surprise.’

‘Okay, then. My lips are shut!’

‘For the surprise, do you mind calling me something else?’

‘What should I call you? Anton is your in-game username, right?’

Anton then looked toward the sleeping Kayla, before looking back at the virtual screen.

‘Lykon, and don’t say anything about me or my real name. Keep me a secret until I say so.’ 

‘Your wish is my command.’

‘Great, where do we meet up?’

‘How about at the Adventure Terminal, fifteen hours from?’ 

Anton counted the time. He wondered why Ronald didn’t just specify a time from the in-game clock, or trade timezone information, but he didn’t ask about it. 

Nine in the morning…

‘Alright.’

‘Okay, See you tomorrow.’

‘Yeah, see you,’ Anton then closed the screen and brought her sights on the sleeping Kayla, who moved slightly. He let out a thin smile and continued watching her.