Prologue

In this empire, the Emperor held no power at all. His only job was to live in a huge, beautiful palace in a forest at the center of the capital, and spend his life praying for the citizens of the Empire.

But the people of the Empire had always loved their rulers, and the current Emperor (or Empress, rather), Kazuko, was especially beloved. Special measures were taken to ensure that she maintained the form of a charming, beautiful young girl. Her mannerisms were artful and elegant, and every time she opened her mouth, her words were wise and insightful.

Thus, while Kazuko had no political power, she certainly did not lack for influence; a single word from her could drive the people to action. That was why there were careful restrictions on what she was allowed to publicly say, and careful measures were taken to ensure that her private life was kept from the public eye.

As a result, Kazuko had many secrets. Some of them were small, and some of them were big, but the biggest of them all was kept a secret even from the nation’s high priests. The only ones who knew her secret were the highest ranking members of the royal guard, and a single young girl.

The secret was this: Kazuko had a twin. And of course, the young girl who knew it was her elder sister.

The Imperial family had a number of strange customs. One of them was that if the family ever gave birth to twins, the eldest was to lose her right of ascension to the throne, and be raised in secret to serve as a replacement for her younger sister, should it ever be needed. The imperial family’s servants faithfully followed these rules, and raised Kazuko’s older sister in a hidden room in the palace.

The elder sister was never even given a name, for she too was Kazuko.

“I’m Kazuko? But then, who is she?”

The young girl was looking out at a brightly lit room in the palace, holding a doll she’d been given as a toy. In that room was another girl with the same face as her, sitting at a tiny desk and being taught to read by her instructor.

“She is also Kazuko,” the Liradan who took care of her said.

“But why am I not allowed to talk to her?”

“Because that’s what the rules say.”

“But why am I not allowed to study, like she is?”

“You will learn the things she studies very shortly. But all you’ll have to do is use a machine. There will be no need for you to work hard or study.”

“Hmmm... So it’s easier for me, huh? But she has to work hard.”

The girl laughed as she spoke. But later, when she grew up and began to understand more about the world around her, she learned just how unnatural her life was. At regular intervals, the Empress’s memories would be transferred into her mind. She would believe, without the slightest doubt, that she was Empress Kazuko. But there was another Empress in the palace, one that she could only stare at. It was a strange feeling, one that nobody but her had ever experienced.

After a while, the girl ceased to understand at all who she was. To make matters worse, the girl was forbidden to communicate with anyone but a small group of Liradans. When she tried to escape from the carefully hidden room that made up her entire world, the Liradans would always find her and bring her back.

The girl had never spoken to anyone, but her counterpart, Empress Kazuko, interacted with any number of people at the palace daily. And all those memories were implanted in the girl — she knew the names and faces of all the world’s leaders and the nation’s high priests, but none of them had the slightest idea that she existed.

The girl had no one who could prove to her who she was. And in that respect, the Liradans were useless. Whenever she asked them, they could never give her a real answer to her question.

But the girl never went insane, and she never killed herself. The best medical technology in the world made sure of it. Regular injections of psychotropic drugs ensured her mental stability, and just like the real Kazuko, her body was altered to be exceptionally long-lived.

Her empty life went on and on, far longer than she would have wanted it to, and eventually, she stopped thinking about who she was. She was a creature of the shadows, ignored by everyone; the polar opposite of the Empress of the land of the rising sun.

Eventually she just stopped thinking about it, and just accepted that this was who she was. And in doing so, she ceased to think of herself as human, and began to think of herself as a kind of ghost. As a ghost, she spent her days looking down on the world from above. A formless observer, an empty vessel to be filled with data.

But all of that changed when she began to study magic.

When Empress Kazuko grew up and began to study magic, the young girl did as well. But their differing personalities resulted in them learning distinctly different kinds of magic. The Empress was able to master most magic easily, but the other Kazuko displayed very little talent. There was one spell, however, that she had a strange talent for: a secret magic possessed only by the imperial family, that almost no one else in the Empire had been able to master: the ability to possess the minds of multiple targets at once. Perhaps it came from the fact that she thought of herself as a ghost.

The girl devoted all her energies to mastering this strange magic, and eventually came to realize what an incredible power she possessed. She could take control of any number of mindless tools without even touching them, and if she limited herself to a single target, she could even take over a sentient Liradan.

Her only guards were Liradans — if she wanted to, she could escape. She was shocked and overjoyed when she realized this, and began to think about the best way to put an end to her imprisonment. But her joy faded in a matter of minutes.

There was nothing for her to do. She was no one. She wasn’t even human. No one would ever give her a role to fulfill. By taking over a doll or a Liradan, she could become anybody she wanted. But there was no “real” her left that could go out into the outside world.

But that began to change when one of the dolls she used to observe the world outside found a strange man. The man didn’t exist in any of the past data. He was no one, too. But he knew all sorts of very strange things, and while she’d never found out how he did it, he’d risen to the top of the magical intelligence organization known as CMID-8.

The girl decided to make contact with the man. She wasn’t interested in his work, but she was interested in him.

The man called himself Boichiro Yamato. She told him the truth about who she was, and what her circumstances were, and he listened to her sincerely.

That was the day she decided to leave. She decided to join CMID-8, and moved her hideout from the palace to a small condominium.

That was the day the girl got a name of her own.

Her name was 2V.