Rio woke to an uncomfortable weight pressing down on her chest.
A faint groan escaped her lips as consciousness slowly returned. Her entire body felt heavy, as though she had spent the night buried beneath a mountain of blankets. Every muscle ached. Her thoughts were sluggish. For several long seconds she simply lay there, trapped between sleep and wakefulness, unable to remember where she was or why everything felt so strange.
Instinctively, she tried to move her arms.
They wouldn't budge.
A small frown appeared on her face.
Something was pinning them down.
Her legs felt trapped as well, tangled beneath an unfamiliar warmth. The sensation immediately felt wrong. Warm. Soft. Breathing.
Breathing?
Rio's eyelids slowly fluttered open.
The first thing that greeted her was a plain white ceiling. Above it, a small ceiling fan spun lazily in slow circles. Each rotation produced a faint clicking sound that echoed through the quiet room.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Rio stared at it for several moments.
Then confusion slowly crept into her expression.
"...My apartment doesn't have a ceiling fan."
The realization surfaced instinctively.
Her thoughts remained clouded as fragmented memories drifted through her mind like scattered pieces of a broken dream.
Dark clouds.
Cold rain.
Neon lights reflecting off wet pavement.
The violent swaying of a bridge.
Panicked screams.
The ground shaking beneath her feet.
Then—
The river.
Rio's eyes widened instantly.
Her heartbeat accelerated.
The bridge had collapsed.
She remembered it now.
The deafening snap of steel cables.
The asphalt splitting apart beneath her feet.
The sensation of falling.
The freezing water swallowing everything whole.
People screaming as they plunged into the darkness.
Her falling with them.
The memory returned with terrifying clarity, causing her breath to catch in her throat.
I died.
The realization struck her like a bolt of lightning.
There was no doubt.
She remembered the impact.
The crushing cold.
The darkness.
The feeling of consciousness slipping away as the river dragged her deeper and deeper into the abyss.
She was supposed to be dead.
Rio immediately tried to sit up.
The moment she moved, the heavy weight resting on top of her shifted slightly and forced her right back into the mattress.
"...What?"
She froze.
Warm breath brushed softly against her neck.
Slowly, very slowly, Rio turned her head.
A face stared back at her from only a few inches away.
Messy white hair.
Closed eyes.
A completely peaceful sleeping expression.
The owner of that face was sprawled across her body as though she were a luxury mattress specifically purchased for his comfort. One arm was draped casually around her stomach while one leg was hooked around hers. He looked less like a person and more like an oversized human blanket.
For three full seconds, Rio's brain stopped functioning.
Nothing happened.
No thoughts.
No reactions.
No understanding.
Only complete mental shutdown.
Then her mind restarted.
And immediately exploded.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING ON TOP OF ME?!"
Without hesitation, Rio shoved him with every ounce of strength she possessed.
THUD!
The sleeping boy was launched off the bed and crashed onto the wooden floor hard enough to rattle the nearby desk.
"OW!"
Rio shot upright.
Her heart pounded furiously against her ribs while adrenaline flooded her body.
The boy rolled across the floor while clutching the back of his head.
"Ow... seriously... you didn't have to throw me..."
Rio stared.
Messy white hair.
The same age as her.
The same irritating face.
The same ridiculous expression.
Recognition struck immediately.
"...Ryota."
The boy blinked.
"...You remember my name?"
Rio ignored the question entirely.
Instead, her gaze swept across the room.
And immediately, every detail felt wrong.
The room was small.
A wooden desk sat beneath the window, covered with textbooks, notebooks, and neatly stacked papers. A pressed school uniform hung beside the closet door. A bookshelf occupied one wall, packed tightly with manga volumes and fantasy novels. A backpack rested casually in the corner.
The room looked ordinary.
Far too ordinary.
Rio felt her stomach drop.
"...No way."
Slowly, she raised her hands.
Small.
Smooth.
Young.
Gone were the subtle calluses she had developed over years of adulthood.
Gone were the tiny marks and imperfections accumulated through fifteen years of life.
These were not the hands of a thirty-year-old woman.
These were the hands of a teenager.
Her heartbeat accelerated.
"No..."
She practically launched herself from the bed.
Ignoring Ryota's confused stare, Rio rushed toward the mirror hanging beside the closet.
White hair spilled over her shoulders as she stopped in front of it.
Then she froze.
The reflection staring back at her wasn't the woman she remembered.
It was a younger version.
Much younger.
A fifteen-year-old girl stared back at her.
The maturity she remembered was gone.
Her features were softer.
Smaller.
Almost childish.
"...High school..."
The words escaped as little more than a whisper.
Her mind spun wildly.
She remembered drowning.
She remembered dying.
And then—
A strange message.
A glowing screen suspended within the darkness.
Words that should have been impossible.
Would you like to reset the game?
Rio slowly turned away from the mirror.
Ryota was still sitting on the floor.
Rather than panicking, he was stretching lazily and yawning as though he had merely woken from an afternoon nap.
"...Man, that was a weird dream."
Rio's eye twitched.
"You."
Ryota looked up.
"...Me?"
Before he could react, Rio marched across the room, grabbed the front of his shirt, and yanked him upward.
His feet nearly left the floor.
"YOU!"
"W-Wait! What did I do?!"
Rio glared at him.
"If you hadn't chosen that exact moment to confess your weird love to me—"
Ryota blinked.
"...Weird love?"
"We wouldn't have stayed on that bridge long enough for it to collapse!"
For a moment he simply stared.
Then something changed.
The confusion vanished from his face.
His eyes widened.
"...Wait."
Rio paused.
"...What?"
His expression became serious.
"You remember that too?"
Rio felt her grip tighten.
"...Too?"
"The earthquake."
"The bridge breaking apart."
"The freezing river."
"And that weird game screen asking if we wanted to reset."
Rio's eyes widened.
"You saw it too?"
"Yeah."
For the first time since waking up, genuine concern appeared on Ryota's face as he looked around the room.
"...But why am I in some teenager's bedroom?"
Rio released his collar.
"Because it is a teenager's bedroom."
Ryota stood up and walked toward the mirror.
The moment he saw his reflection, he froze.
"...No way."
He leaned closer.
Touched his face.
Then touched it again.
"...Why do I look fifteen?"
Rio crossed her arms.
"Because we are fifteen."
Ryota slowly turned around.
His mouth hung open.
"...What?"
Rio didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she grabbed the phone sitting on the desk.
Her hands trembled slightly as she unlocked it.
The lock screen appeared.
Rio's eyes immediately locked onto the date.
And her stomach dropped.
April 3rd.
For several seconds she simply stared.
"...You've got to be kidding me."
Ryota walked over.
"What is it?"
Rio turned the phone toward him.
"Look."
He glanced at the screen.
Then looked back at her.
"...Okay?"
Rio stared at him.
"This date."
Ryota blinked.
Rio resisted the urge to throw the phone at his head.
"This is one week before Evermount launched."
The room fell silent.
Ryota's eyes widened.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
"...Wait."
"The Evermount?"
Rio nodded.
"The biggest VR game in the world."
Memories flooded her mind.
The launch day chaos.
The endless lines outside stores.
Players desperately trying to buy the first-generation VR helmets before they sold out.
The beginner zones overflowing with newcomers.
The hidden quests nobody understood.
The secret dungeons that remained undiscovered for years.
The rare items worth fortunes.
The legendary classes.
The future guild wars.
Rio knew all of it.
Every boss.
Every hidden event.
Every valuable item.
Every broken skill combination.
Every mistake.
Her hands slowly clenched into fists.
A fire ignited inside her chest.
"This time..."
Her voice was calm.
But beneath that calmness was iron determination.
"I'm not making the same mistakes."
Ryota tilted his head.
"...Mistakes?"
Rio's eyes darkened.
Memories surfaced.
Royal Knights.
Reina.
Arclight.
The people she had trusted.
The betrayals she never saw coming.
The opportunities she had missed.
The regrets that haunted her until the day she died.
No.
Not this time.
She would reach the summit first.
She would become stronger than anyone else.
And she would never allow history to repeat itself.
Ryota suddenly raised his hand.
"...Uh."
Rio glanced at him.
"What?"
He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"So... if this is really one week before Evermount releases..."
Rio narrowed her eyes.
"Yes?"
A nervous grin appeared on his face.
"...Does that mean I still have time to marry the Silver War Goddess?"
Silence.
Rio stared at him.
Her eye twitched.
Then she grabbed the nearest pillow.
THWACK!
The pillow flew across the room like a missile and slammed directly into his face.
"GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"
Ryota staggered backward.
"HEY! WAIT!"
A second pillow struck him in the chest.
"STOP PROPOSING TO ME!"
A third pillow followed immediately afterward.
Ryota yelped and sprinted toward the door.
Rio chased after him.
Every pillow within reach became a projectile.
"OUT!"
"THIS IS ABUSE!"
"OUT!"
Ryota barely escaped into the hallway before Rio slammed the door shut behind him.
BANG.
Silence returned.
Rio stood there for several seconds, breathing heavily.
Eventually she exhaled.
The anger faded.
The room became quiet once more.
Soft morning sunlight streamed through the window.
Outside, the world was beginning to wake.
Birds chirped in the distance.
The sky glowed with the colors of dawn.
Rio slowly walked back toward the mirror.
The girl staring back at her looked young.
Fifteen years old.
A high school student with her entire future ahead of her.
But behind those silver eyes existed fifteen years of memories.
Fifteen years of victories.
Failures.
Regrets.
And experience.
The former Level 243 Silver War Goddess.
The strongest female player in Evermount.
Now standing once again at the very beginning.
Level 1.
Rio stared at her reflection for a long moment.
Then a small smile appeared on her face.
A confident smile.
A dangerous smile.
"Alright, Evermount."
Her eyes gleamed with anticipation.
"This time..."
"I'm taking everything before anyone else can."