"A TCP endpoint receiving a FIN will ACK but not send its own FIN, until its user has CLOSED the connection also."
——IETF RFC 9293, Section 3.6
On the screen, three silhouettes formed from dense green characters stood with their heads bowed. CRT scanlines swept across them — the lines of their hair, the curves of their shoulders, all sketched in sparse and dense dots, motionless, watching Taro sit there without moving.
"Taro-kun~! You're spacing out again!" Ayaka spoke first.
How long had he been spacing out? The timestamp in the top bar was still blinking. Tal glanced at it and didn't bother calculating.
"Hey! Are you listening?!" Miyu's voice followed, sharper than Ayaka's. Kagami stood behind the two of them, silent, head lowered, just like the others.
Tal triggered the IBMI and selected "Not sleeping." The puppet raised its head. Ayaka let out a small breath of relief. Miyu had already put her hands on her hips.
Connection, is waiting.
Do you think computers, networks, and anime to be "fake"? Although they are all built upon reality, many people still call them "fictional." So the question is — what is real? Those who call computer networks fictional all say the same thing, yet answers to "what is real" differ from person to person. This proves that the real reason people consider anime characters fictional has nothing to do with fiction or reality — it lies in the difference between a 2D character and a three-dimensional human. In other words — the difference between machine and human.
Information carriers, drawing tools, computers — all are human creations. Anime characters are built on computers. Anime is also a human creation, a medium for processing information. The number of machines created throughout human history far exceeds the number of humans ever born. After capitalism, even in slave societies, the value of machines surpassed that of individual humans. Admit it! Humanity's love for machines far exceeds its love for fellow humans! Admit it! And yet you come to accuse my love of being fictional, of not existing — this is simply absurd. Computers, networks, and anime — these are my favorite things! These are everything to me!
"Do you know how long we've been watching you space out? School's over. Club activities. Everyone's waiting!"
No matter how many times he turned it over — despair is the gentleness of words, not the brutality of fact. Tal selected "Coming." Ayaka took the first step. Miyu had already turned and walked ahead. Kagami slipped to the back, and followed, quietly.
Before the end comes, connection still on.
Features
Virtual desktop environment — freely switch between windows and programs within a TUI-style operating system interface, as if you're really sitting at that machine
First-person immersive experience — a three-dimensional virtual world built from ASCII characters, where green outlines and character dot-matrices trace manga-like contours
A precise simulated campus — small actions cascade into butterfly effects that alter the course of history; the end and the everyday are nothing more than two sides of the same world
IBMI cognitive choice mechanism — every option emerges from Tal's current mental state; miss the only window, and there is no going back
Terminal command system — interact with the world through real command-line syntax; as the god of this world, you can effortlessly erase what displeases you and reshape its face — yet still cannot hold on to what you treasure most
