~Prepare for Beta~

[Ryra] "How are your eyes today? Any change?"

[Ana] "No change. Still completely black. There's no healing from this damage. Stop asking."

[Ryra] "I have a reason for asking this time. Ana, what do you think of the virtual reality projects I've been mentioning for the last month?"

[Ana] "They're...interesting, I guess. Not like I'll be able to do anything with it."

[Ryra] "But you will. We've confirmed with another blind patient that they were able to enter the basic empty virtual environment today, and they were able to clearly see the picture of you. We want you to go in, to see if it will work with a nerve damage patient as well as it did for him. I want to do this so you can finally see again, Ana. Please. Give me this chance to help you and other people who lost their vision."

[Ana] "...Ryra, don't you remember that not even the best neurosurgeon was able to do the mock surgery to fix my nerve connection issue? I'm fine blind. Sure, it sucks not being able to see things and appreciate them, but what the heck is a virtual simulation thing going to do when the nerve connection simply doesn't exist any more. I don't need to see, and teasing me all the time with the next project is only hurting me more."

[Ryra] "You know I'm not trying to hurt you! I'm trying desperately to get you back your eyes! I've spent seven years of my life in medical school and studying this to try and get you back your vision! Not just you, but everyone who lost their vision, because I care! I want you to be able to see my face instead of know me from your assisting device, or from the touch of your fingers. I want you to be able to see me!"

[Ana] "I love you too, but I've been telling you since high school, I don't need to have my eyes to appreciate the life I have. Remember what I always tell you? Sometimes not having eyes lets me see the world better than anyone with their eyes. I see with my mind what I appreciate most, and I appreciate all of this. I appreciate you and how much you've saved my life, but this has to stop. You need to take better care of yourself and come home more often. Last time you came home was only because of being sick from pushing yourself too hard. I want you to come home and be okay for once. Like two years ago when you came back into my life."

[Ryra] "Ana...I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I made you lose even your voice."

[Ryra] "Because of that one unfinished surgery..."

[Ana] "Stop."

[Ana] "I miss being able to sing, sometimes to be able to speak, but you hearing my voice is all I need. Come home and finish your unfinished project. We don't need any fancy virtual realities. We don't need anything to give me my eyes. We don't need my voice back. We do need something to keep you returning home more often though. Finish your surgery in making me pregnant with our first child."

Ryra cried from behind the other end of the conversation. Ana knew how to press every button just right to make her heart ache. Often, she made her own heart ache from the memories she regretted. She had put Ana through numerous scenarios and simulations, to see if her vision could be returned. Not once in the twenty years the two had known each other, had Ana been able to see Ryra. To Ryra, Ana was the most beautiful person in the world. To Ana, Ryra was the most precious person in the world, no matter how much pain Ryra put her through. It hurt Ryra to see Ana suffer through her attempts at healing her.

[Ryra] "I'll...be home soon. Sorry, I have two copies of a test for the virtual device with me anyway, so let's just try it since I'll have it anyway. No strings attached. Thing is, this is also a beta test for a game. We can have a little fun with it if it works. What do you think?"

Ryra looked to the cardboard box where two of those helmet devices were packaged, and sighed. She was beyond nervous. She was at her desk, and had just put in the message to her secretary that she would be taking the rest of the night off, while conversing with Ana. A reply telling her that her schedule was cleared, and to take care of Ana, nearly had her running with the box down and out of the hospital, but the final message from Ana had popped up, truly finalizing the conversation for the time being.

[Ana] "I'll be waiting. Be careful on your drive home."

Ryra did hurry, and with the reminder, she was careful. She took the elevator, she wore her seat belt, and she fastened the box so it wouldn't move around or distract her from the shifting around while driving. Normally, the drive would be done in the morning when there would be plenty of people about and clogging the roads, but at night after the busy atmosphere of the day went to bed, she was able to easily glide along the roads flawlessly. She returned home in half the time of normal, and the lights were off as usual. The only source of light, would be in their bedroom where Ana would be on the computer. She would either be working on her next writing project, or she would be attempting a game. She liked to test her hearing and her mind, and she had become possibly one of the most incredible minds in the world for noticing the smallest details.

Ana was currently putting in line after line within seconds for her newest writing project. Ryra had read about it earlier in their conversation. The story was about a woman she could relate to, unable to see, and whose body had been changed. This person was in the future, but it was a less than fortunate future. Where the world was realistically receding to drought and famine, while humans retreated to their cities, but the focus of the story, was the genius main character, who like Ana, operated at blinding speeds, doing her best to make the most of the world around her. A person who creates a virtual environment. For Ana, a virtual reality was simply a dream, or a stretch of the imagination. She had spent her seven years after high school, learning and applying all of those tiniest details into learning how to create a virtual reality device which was truly safe and helpful for the user with her advanced programming knowledge, but nothing would work, even working with the nerve specialists Ryra had introduced to her. After everything, nothing. It was strange to Ryra, that someone other than Ana had been able to create the virtual reality device. It hurt her, so she couldn't imagine how Ana felt about someone else making it real.

Ana started whispering against the pain in her throat, a song in Japanese that the both of them loved. They lived in Japan together, mostly for the medical reaches and for Ryra's work, but they were both admittedly nerds of the culture. Ana still had some of her tunics from living in Canada together, but most of her side of the wardrobe now was filled with yukata or other clothing which were more common in Japan. Ana looked natural and beautiful in the Japanese clothing. It somehow suited her rich golden hair which glowed ginger like fire in the light of the sun, and was like a flickering dark spotted candle in the dark. Her milky white eyes still cast a little of the blue which had once been there.

Ana, had once been in a very rough situation. She started taking medicine to stop her growth before high school, which triggered her growth to end with her at only five feet and two inches tall. Ryra ended up a few inches taller than her, even though Ana would have been taller like the rest of her family was. At first, Ryra didn't understand at all, but with time and being careful about prying at it, Ryra got Ana to talk about it. Ana was terrified of her body. She couldn't see it. She hated how a lot of it felt, and would rather harm it than accept the fate she was born with.

Before graduating from high school, she had a month away in which she was gone for a surgery, which she returned happy from, for the first time. The happiness didn't last long, unfortunately. One selfish and terrible boy they went to school with abused her and scarred her belly with a knife. She had once liked him, because he had a kind energy. His energy apparently completely changed after she returned from her surgery. Because of what he did, she was unable to have children, ruining the work of the surgery. Even after she was scarred, Ryra still saw her as beautiful, and confessed her feelings of love to her. She promised she would follow up with her confession when she would find a cure for Ana's eyes. She still hadn't cured Ana's eyes, but Ana had accepted her anyway. Even though Ryra couldn't by normal means make Ana a mother. Even though Ryra made her suffer in ways she often thought herself worse than their old classmate Ana had liked before. Even though...

Ana turned toward her and smiled as if she truly did have her vision. It often surprised Ryra, that Ana could hear wherever she was in the house even with her noise cancelling headphones on. She must have developed some sort of super hearing to be able to hear all that. Sometimes there was a tell when she tried whispering, that it was something other than her hearing informing her where everything was in the house.

"Welcome home."

The painful voice escaped her mouth and said those two simple words. Those two words stabbed Ryra in the heart and twisted the blade to make her feel guilty. Ryra had the betraying successful virtual reality device Ana didn't make in her arms inside of the box, and Ana was showing her such kindness and the loving gaze which showed through those milk-white eyes.

As far as studies showed, her blindness was the most troublesome. All she had in her vision, was black. It meant there was no connection from her brain to her eyes. Somewhere between her brain and eyes, the connection was gone. It was near impossible to fix something like that, even with the best surgery. Despite how blind she was, Ryra often saw how incredible Ana was. Her ability to move around like normal around the house even without her assistance device a lot of the time, she would navigate perfectly, and she had dedicated a lot of time into memorizing the kitchen so that she could sate her personal interest for cooking. Cooking was one of her favourite things.

During high school, she performed what everyone doubted her most of being blind. She was incredible at archery. She couldn't see, period. It didn't matter if the archery club put a blindfold on to check, she fired the bow the exact same as usual. She didn't have perfect accuracy, but she was always close.

As a person, Ryra found her the most interesting, the most beautiful, the most intelligent, and the most adaptive. Being blind was as natural as being able to see for Ana through most of her life. There were some things she couldn't do while being blind, such as writing by hand. She had scarred her hands immensely while learning how to cook. She couldn't go around outside in Japan without her assistance device. She was passive to the point that it caused trouble when they went to Shibuya together.

Ana was...well, she could also be terrifying. The memory from the mere thought of their time in Shibuya, was like a melting point steel beam resting on the back of her neck. The memory of a gang doing something nearly the same. They rested a blade against the back of her neck at the time, threatening Ana to do what they told her or they would kill both Ryra and Ana.

Some parts of the world they had experienced together, were terrifying beyond belief, but that time, Ryra saw a side of Ana that had never shown again. Ana had taken off her assistance device and turned it off in her pocket, so that authorities wouldn't be able to check in on the incident, and even Ryra saw her like a blur. Ana was fast and decidedly deadlier than even the knife rested on Ryra's neck. She had broken the wrists of all the men of the gang, and crushed their pelvic bones under her feet. Ana was a kind person to a fault, but she was also deadly when someone would threaten someone important to her. Ryra was terrified of Ana for a day after that, showing something that no blind person should be able to do, but she accepted that it was the fault of the gang for bringing out that deadly weapon Ana could become.

In front of Ryra, was the calm and collected, beautiful woman who just so happened to be completely blind that faced her as if there were nothing wrong with her eyes at all. Ryra put the box of the virtual reality devices on their bed and walked up to Ana, pulling her up to her feet and embracing her as much as possible. She really felt that she didn't get enough of the soft and wonderful sensation it was when they touched.

"Welcome home..."

Ana whispered those words, the pain in her throat stinging at Ryra more than anything else. She had been spending so much time away from home recently, so much time away from Ana, that it hurt more than ever. She held Ana tighter in her arms, and Ana broke out of the embrace first.

"Dinner? Some is ready for you."

Ana limited the words she spoke because of the pain in her throat, but she strained herself to talk to Ryra often. It might be another reason for spending time away from her and putting herself more into her work, but Ryra knew it was definitely most because of the desperation to get Ana back her eyes. She let go of Ana, and Ana led the way out of the room and to the kitchen.

Ryra noticed the small assistance device exposed slightly from Ana's hair being tied back, clipped in her ear. The little device which made it possible for Ana to continue her passion for writing if nothing else was available to her. She didn't need it for navigating the house, but Ryra did know that unfortunately putting the device on and taking it off took time and wore away at Ana's patience. Ana was a dauntingly patient person, but she was also put off easily by the concept of wasting time. She was patient, to a fault.

She made her way to the kitchen and deftly avoided the many raised sections of floor and furniture in their small home, and when she made it to the kitchen, she stopped in front of the microwave for a second while the device told her something which was inaudible to Ryra. Ana tapped two buttons, and the microwave started heating up the food which was still in there. Ryra hadn't noticed until she knew there was food in the microwave, but she could smell her favourite meal Ana would make. It was a ramen, which she adapted with her original style of cooking, and it turned into something that tasted both Canadian and Japanese in one dish. It was like a heart attack in a bowl with the amount of salt from the preservatives, but Ana didn't have the choice of her ingredients. She would have been able to pick out from scent alone how good and fresh ingredients were, and her parents used that when they were still living together.

Ryra stared at Ana, her eyes like usual falling over details after detail. The soft and slightly scarred skin on her face from the fight in her previous relationship, the plump and colourful even without anything added lips, the hair which once was thin on top, but had been grown in through medicine which covered the most notable of scars. The hair which waved down her back in the tail like a stream of water flowing out of a break in a dam. The thin, yet strong frame which was just soft and filled enough to not worry she wasn't eating healthy. The slight bit of muscle visible from her regular training after giving up her archery. The notable gesture that she crossed her arms protectively over her belly, from the unfortunate experience of the past. The small barely visible white scars on her hands and fingers which only added to the character of her hands. The very strong and built legs which had carried Ryra home often whether it were during their time in high school, or if it were their time in Shibuya. Ana's body told many stories of the past Ana had, and their time together. Ryra loved every part of her, and it was so easy for her to overlook the pain of the surgery which would give Ana the chance to be the one to give birth to their biological child. A child who would have both of them as parents.

The sound of the microwave beeping from finishing the cycle pulled Ryra's attention away from staring at Ana, and she sighed. She was disappointed in herself a little for so easily getting so lost in looking at Ana. She could easily explain it away that she was just that in love with Ana, but it wasn't really the case. Ryra was the obsessive type. Once she would focus on something even a little, she would be obsessed with it. Like the times she would end up staring at Ana, or being so absorbed in her work. She was also possessive. She disliked the very idea of another doctor touching Ana.

"Your favourite. It's been a month..."

Ana smiled shyly, which like usual set Ryra's heart fluttering. She knew it was a reaction to the hormones in her, a deep attraction between them. Sadly, Ana couldn't experience some of those emotions with the lack of her vision, but she enjoyed feeling something else. According to Ana, she could feel Ryra's emotions. She could sense the feelings of people when she knew their energy well enough. It was strange. To Ryra, it felt more like Ana was talking about something along the lines of psychokinesis or some kind of fantasy magic when Ana would talk about being able to sense emotions and feelings through Ryra like that. That she could recognize people by their energy before they would open their mouths. Hearing a voice was a dead giveaway for her. Even the most skilled impersonators couldn't fool her. Ana's talent with it was intriguing to say the least, but it was outside of the realm of examining as far as everything that Ryra had learned in her medical schooling.

Ryra started with a partial mouthful of the piping hot special ramen, breathing on it to cool it down a little, and she skilfully used her chopsticks. It had taken her a while to learn how to use chopsticks properly, but now she was proud she didn't even have to try.

As far as blending in with the culture surrounding them, they were both able to comfortably take on quite a few Japanese traditions. The way they sat at their dining table was the traditional short tables where they sat on their forelegs, they used chopsticks for their meals, no other cutlery was needed anymore. They went out for the different Japanese holidays, prayed at shrines, and they wore traditional clothing. What came fastest for them though, was learning the language, which would normally have been the last thing to have ready. Both of them had been learning from a linguistics class in their high school with international conversation partners so they could learn properly. Arriving in Japan and being surrounded by the language made them adapt quickly. They knew enough to react to a conversation, but since they didn't have the appearance of a Japanese, it was somewhat normal for conversations to start with asking if they spoke English or Japanese. When they could reply with being able to speak Japanese, the conversation would go from there. Either way, Ana wasn't able to get into conversation much outside of something through the internet or other such experiences. Because of her throat. Nobody was worth straining her voice except her parents or Ryra.

The two Canadian girls blended into Japan flawlessly, and it would have been convincing to smaller communities in Japan that the girls' back story would have been that they always lived in Japan. Regardless of the situation, they were living a comfortable life. There were regrets and discomforts on Ryra's end, but they were mostly related to her mistakes she had made along the way. Such as their home being right in the middle of Tokyo, their home a small apartment location near the hospital where Ryra worked. Ana had mentioned wanting to be able to live out in the countryside of Japan, where it was peaceful and quite, without the buzz of a lot of people always being about. So she could safely go outside and not have too many issues with her anxiety. She was adapting to their current situation, but Ryra wanted more than anything to give Ana the things she wanted. For the time being, they were just in a temporary place, was her line of thinking.

She finished the ramen while thinking about this, the taste of the ramen was...definitely the one thing which could always send her into another daydream. It was a taste that somehow did things to her. Ana made it every time, so Ryra wondered sometimes with the thought that Ana might have something else up her sleeves with the talk of sensing people's energy, maybe she had a magic to make the ramen unique and suit Ryra's taste perfectly...but that was just a thought, since Ryra was more unfortunately rooted in reality. She liked the concept of magic and other unbelievable things, but her time spent on the sciences and proofs of reality had dispelled her belief that something like magic could be real. There was just no real explanation for some of the chemical reactions around Ana, and her mysterious capabilities despite her blindness.

"You really enjoyed it. I'm glad. Now I guess it's my turn. Those devices you brought home?"

Ana was a little more talkative than usual. Ryra thought about it a little while the two of them went back to their bedroom, how talkative or not talkative a person Ana had been in the past. Ana used to sing often, and she loved it. However, she was otherwise a very quiet person. She didn't really talk to people unless they really caught her attention. She was always calm. She was always quick to catch onto things. Ryra wondered at the possibilities of if Ana had ventured into medicine as well. She might have figured out the whole virtual reality and device issues sooner if she had taken interest in it, but it wouldn't make a difference now. Someone had beat her to it. Talking had nothing to do with her going into further education. She ended up taking programming alone, when she definitely could have handled both medical school and programming at the same time. After all, it only took hearing something once, and it would be memorized to her.

The most interesting thing about Ana wasn't how amazing she was. It was the unknown of her that was most interesting. The sudden lethal ability she had in their dangerous situation in the past. The near masterful skill in archery despite being blind. The mysterious ability to sense people by their energy. The unique taste of her food. It wasn't just the one dish which was completely unique after all. Everything Ana touched was perfection to Ryra. Like somehow there was some kind of blessing over her to cover for the loss of her eyes. It didn't make any sense, but at the same time, it was the only explanation which was acceptable, even to the most rooted people into science and proofs. There was no proof pointing to anything about her mysteries.

The two helmets were fished out of the box Ryra had brought from work, and she placed each on their pillows.

"So, these each have a wireless connection as one of the more dedicated versions of the device. However, they do need to be plugged into the wall to get the batteries charged. It's surprisingly comfortable, but they look ridiculous. They are fully charged, but it'll be safe to plug into the wall either way. We'll need to give them a minute to connect to our home network, then we can log right into the game."

"So confusing..."

Ana sighed and shook her head.

"What do you mean? Was I somehow confusing?"

"Mm-mm. There's no sense in this working. Unless they're using some kind of harmful energy, it shouldn't work. I feel like they're incomplete, or dangerous."

Ana's words made Ryra worried about them testing the device out.

"Instructions?"

The asking for instructions made Ryra baffled. The one person she would least expect asking for instructions, asked for them. She pulled out the little booklet which seemed to have been an after thought, and she went over it. The booklet was all in Japanese, so it took her a little to get through it. No matter how good she was at speaking Japanese, it was sometimes difficult to read. She passed the booklet to Ana since the booklet they were given also had braille on it. Ana's lips moved, her mind and body understanding the Japanese flawlessly.

"Of course...it really is dangerous. The developer needs to program some emergency shut offs, or the device could definitely kill someone. Are there-"

She erupted into a coughing fit. Her throat had been going through so much strain while talking, that it led to the coughing fit. During the coughing fits, there was unfortunately nothing that could be done. Ana had to catch her breath and massage specifically where her throat was inflaming. It went on for a whole two minutes before she finally stopped. She stumbled her way back to the kitchen, and filled a glass of water to return some moisture after the fit of coughing.

"Are...are there people already in the test?"

Ryra was more worried about Ana and her coughing fit, but Ana was a very protective person with a lot of sensibility about her. She was concerned about people who might already be in danger.

"There...is nothing to worry about with the test. The other users have been able to log out just fine. What's so dangerous?"

Ana made her way back to the bedroom, and searched around with her hands for the instruction booklet which had fallen to the floor from her hands before, and she searched around with her fingers until they found the page with the important information. She showed the page to Ryra, but unfortunately, Ryra didn't understand the difficult kanji.

"This page reads, the power source is a radioactive battery which is sealed, and it emits micro-waves to the brain to transmit the understanding of the virtual environment. Any sudden interruption of the signal...would destroy the brain."

Ana had to take a break toward the end. Her whispers sounded weak and exhausted. Ryra realized from Ana's words. The description of the way the device worked, especially as someone well versed in the medical field, just how dangerous the device was.

"We should shut down this project then...there's a reason you never finished your virtual device project. It's because of how dangerous it can be. These people need to know how dangerous their project is."

Ana shook her head.

"They would already know."

Ana sighed and walked around to her side of the bed, picked up the helmet, and put it on her head. She searched around it with her fingers and found the buttons which were mentioned in the instructions, and tapped the power option, turning it on. She also flipped the lid of the power cord section, and bent down to connect the helmet to the outlet beside the bed. She laid down, and waited while listening until the device started asking for physical calibration. The device was already reaching into her brainwaves, gaining an understanding of her body, and required her to give a detailed pat down understanding of her physical situation. It took her a minute to finish, and the device finished the calibration while also saying it had finished connecting to a local network.

"Why are you even testing it if it's so dangerous?"

"Dangerous or not, it's a near complete product of something I spent years on."

Ryra wanted to pull the device off of her, but it was already too dangerous to do that. She watched Ana, and when it seemed her body was asleep, she knew that Ana was inside of the virtual environment.