February 03, 2027, 20:05 JST - The Tokyo University Hospital

Senses came flooding into Dupolia, first smell; the smells around him reminded of a hospital. The next thing that started coming back to him were both his sound and his sense of touch. He heard an absurd amount of commotion going on all around him, for reasons he was currently not sure why of, and he felt heavy, as if he was buried under a truck; especially his head, which felt like it was literally a sack of bricks.

He laid in the bed for at least five minutes, pondering what was going on; why his body felt so heavy, why it hurt to move a finger, and why he had an absurd amount of troubles even opening his eyes.

A few moments later, a sensation filled his pelvis, a sensation that felt somewhat familiar to him, but at the same time, completely alien. He silently pondered his thoughts, before finally coming to a conclusion. I gotta take a piss.

He silently agreed with his body, and again, tried moving. Again, any attempts at moving were met with pain, and he couldn't understand why. Even moaning out in pain took an amazing amount of effort, and was met with even more pain.

What the hell is going on? It's not like I suddenly just stopped moving or talking for an extended... period of... time... He train of thought stopped. He had an epiphany that hit him like an airplane.

Is... is this the real life? He thought to himself, finally forcing his eyes open, to reveal a hospital room. He slowly brought his hands up to undo the NerveGear from his head, and even more slowly took it off, almost as if intentionally adding a dramatic effect to himself. ... Is this just fantasy?

Not having heard the song in years, he began croaking the words out. "Caught in... a lan..landslide, no escape from.. reality." He lightly chuckled to himself.

Dupolia suddenly felt something grab ahold of his hand, which caused him to jump what little he could with the pain he was currently going through. The now stunned Dupolia looked over to his right, and was even more stunned at how he missed something so important.

"...Kaz?"