Yuno:

Despite the fact that I'm one of the designers for the development of locations, Elysium still remains an unexplored space for me. I don't have access to all functions, I don't know the names of system administrators, and I have never really seen the developers. Therefore, there was nowhere to gain experience, except with the help of an aimless, at first glance, travel through the rooms.

Seeing what has already been created by other users, I involuntarily thought about something new, and ideas were born. One of my best locations was the two-parted room with pets. Inside, users could cuddle puppies or kittens, play with them as much as they like, because in reality we can't keep pets at home. The tax on them at one time exceeded the norm, and soon people stopped having pets. An entire industry collapsed related to the sale, veterinary services, goods such as food, drugs and toys, and later people completely forgot that they could once buy themselves a "friend" and keep him at home.

The room I created was always full of users, so due to the relevance of the idea, analogues appeared quite quickly. Rooms with parrots, rooms with rodents, rooms with turtles...

For a particularly successful location, you always get additional minutes of physical access, therefore, you feel freer in Elysium.

I kinda feel tired today. Don't really want anything. I think that I should work, but it's hard to force myself, although I usually do this all the time - I don't feel well, but I'm doing work, so I don't need any drugs.

All my friends are offline, and I'm not in the mood to meet someone new.

I choose location randomly, the condition is the absence of other users, and I'm lucky enough - I see empty room called "Everlasting Trip".

After entering I find myself in a subway train. The clock on the display shows five minutes to eleven. Outside the window, a night city flies by, with its busy streets and half-empty skyscrapers. It is quiet in the train, I can only hear the breath of the air conditioner, "outside" the temperature is about twenty-eight degrees Celsius at such a late time.

Stations flash one by one, but the picture keeps repeating, and the train doesn't make a single stop.

Suddenly my gaze falls on a girl sitting by the opposite window.

"The location showed zero number of users inside, I really thought I was alone here," I say out loud, grinning. It's probably rough. Like I'm hinting at her leaving.

She looks at me with empty, expressionless eyes of large gray eyes, and then turns back to the window. I can't catch the true color of her long hair because of the changing neon lighting - they are light blue, lavender, mint, cotton candy.

"Probably some kind of bug," she replies indifferently.

"Well, looks like the whole location is broken. The train even skips stations... I wonder what is the final destination here?" I say, looking around.

"This train is going nowhere. It never stops," she says.

For some time I just silently look at the scenery of the night city, which, as it were, remains behind us, but at the same time again turns out to be somewhere ahead.

"So we're going in circles?" I ask, frowning.

She gives out an incredibly sweet grin, which I don't think I've ever seen here - a kind grin, without a hint of arrogance.

"Are you here for the first time?" she asks with a smile as she takes off her headphones.

"Yes, I've never played before," I lied for some reason. Suddenly there is a desire to communicate with someone.

"In that case, welcome to Elysium."

The girl holds out her hand to me and the username displays above her avatar - "a.i.a_in_reality". When you meet a new person in Elysium, you get access to his nickname.

"Thanks," I shake her hand with white shining tattoos on her fingers. My name glows above my head, and I can see by the look in her eyes that she has already read it.

"Why are you alone in such a dubious location?" I ask.

"This is one of my favorite locations. Sometimes I just want to be alone. There are practically no people here. At least I have never met them. Except for you," she says.

"I can leave, just tell me," I smile.

"Come on, this is not even my personal location. There is no apology for this," She waved her hand in my direction in a funny way.

"It didn't work out very well. I also like to be alone, sometimes."

"I understood that right away," The shadow of a smile appears on her face again.

"And how?" I ask with a smile.

"It's very simple. You chose a location where at that time there was no users at all. Well, the location itself failed, a bug like me popped up, and you didn't expect it at all. This is it," she replies.

"Right. Very rightly pointed out."

She continues to look out the window.

"Don't be surprised, I usually come here and stay for hours," the girl replies, as if reading my thoughts, and then looks into my eyes.

We sit in silence for a long time. And it feels good. I think that such locations aren't that meaningless, as it seemed to me at first glance.

"It's so weird... everything's here is not even real," I say, not taking my eyes off the window.

"Yeah, it must be weird..." she says thoughtfully. 

"I think when you stay here for a long time, it feels somehow lonely. I mean, you can see all these people, cars, shops, windows, the whole city, but you realise that it's all artificial and..." 

"What's the problem with being artificial?" she suddenly interrupts me. 

The girl discouraged me with her strange question. She had such an intonation, as if my words offended her.

"Well, the problem is that you can't really feel artificial. Artificial is not about being alive or living your life on fullest. You see these streets of Tokyo outside the train window, but the thing is that you can't get out and just go for a walk, breath real air, hear real voices. Your abilities is limited in Elysium. That's what I'm talking about. I wish it was real. But sadly, it's not. And the only real element I see here - is you. Because you're a user. At least, you exist somewhere in reality," I smiled. 

She was silent for a moment, and then she asked:

"How do you know that I exist somewhere?"

"What do you mean?"

This girl was so strange. The whole conversation felt psychedelic.

"Are you sure that I exist somewhere in reality?"

"But how can you not be existed?"

I thought she was about to say something, but at the very last moment she just turned back to the window. 

"You okay?"

"Yeah, totally fine. Sorry. I spent too many hours here, and I believe I'm just going insane," she laughed nervously, and then she asked, "Do you like reality?"

"There's no living human who likes current reality. Do you like it?"

"Actually I prefer not to answer this question... Where are you from?"

"Neo-Seoul. Multi-storey gray anthill. Have you ever heard about it?

"At least I haven't met people from there. And how is it there?"

"I don't know. Like everywhere else, I guess. Overpopulation. People are born there and grow roots in these high-rise buildings. They sleep in small cells, and if your room has a window, you are lucky. And where do you live?"

She laughs at my words with a strange sadness.

"Everywhere and nowhere at the same time."

"How's that possible?"

"It doesn't really matter," she gives me an enigmatic smile.

 The train keeps going on without stopping. Going nowhere. I look at Aia again.

"You know, it's probably sounds creepy, but it feels like I already saw your face. It's very familiar to me. Like I knew you before," I said, trying not to look crazy, but she reminded me of someone I knew well.

"Many people tell me that," she replies indifferently.

"Wow..." I say in a whisper. However, I didn't lie. This girl seems to me more and more familiar.

For a second, I thought that it really could be someone I know. Anyone can hide behind her avatar, but for some reason it's in her facial features, in her manner of speaking, even in her voice that I feel something close.

Even this strange half-smile of hers says - "I know something that you don't know." 

If we know each other in reality, then how did it happen that at the same time we ended up in the same location, completely unknown and empty? There is something mysterious about all of this. Or maybe I just want to believe it. Sometimes there is a desire to entertain yourself with such thoughts.

When I intend to take another look at her face, Aia is already gone.

I'm sitting alone like she was never here, and the train continues to go to nowhere.