1 - A New God?

After the students returned from Virtual Phase Space, Constant Magical Academy was in a state of panic. Korone, the Liradan that served as Akuto Sai’s observer, had suddenly shot him with a cannon.

The compact laser beam she’d fired from the beam weapon she kept in her bag was powerful enough to slice a human body in half; it was clearly an act of attempted murder.

To make matters worse, Akuto was injured. He’d been attacked by Zero in VPS, where he couldn’t use his body’s recovery abilities, and he was almost dead. An attack on him in such a state couldn’t possibly be written off as one of Korone’s frequent bad jokes.

All the students there were too shocked by her sudden action to move. Everybody had noticed there was something wrong with Korone, but it was also clear that there was something wrong with everything else, too. In the distance, below them in the city, they could see black towers of smoke rising up.

“Every Liradan in the city has gone out of control...” one of the students whispered as he looked at the breaking news displayed on his student handbook. “Then...”

All eyes turned to Korone. Everyone began to step away from her.

Korone was still holding her beam weapon at her side as she began to walk down the path the students made by backing away from her. At the end of the path, Akuto was lying on the ground. Keena Soga and Fujiko Eto were leaning over him with expressions of shock.

“Wh-What happened?”

“S-Stop it, Korone...”

But Korone didn’t seem to hear them. She was still walking forward with the barrel of her gun pointed towards Akuto.

“I cannot kill humans. Please move to the side.”

Keena was shielding Akuto’s body from Korone as she leaned over, and this had evidently stopped her from firing.

Fujiko’s expression froze when she heard Korone’s words. “...It looks like she didn’t go crazy and lose control.”

“Is somebody controlling her, then?” Keena whispered. But there was nobody there to answer.

Korone walked up to the both of them silently, and looked down at them.

“C-Come on... If you can talk, tell us why you’re doing this!” Keena said with a quavering voice.

Korone put her gun back in her bag. For a moment, Keena smiled.

“W-Whew...”

But then Korone spoke again. “I am doing this in order to eliminate the current Demon King.”

Keena couldn’t speak. And then Korone took out a thin rod from her bag. Fujiko looked at it in terror; she knew immediately that it was a melee combat weapon. It was shaped like a sword, with a stick for a blade.

“This is a stun stick. It will enable me to remove any resistance without resorting to lethal measures. Resistance is not advised.” Korone ran her hand along the stun stick, and it lit up with electricity.

“Looks like we’ll have to fight...” There was sweat on Fujiko’s face. She’d just fought Korone inside VPS, even if it was just a game. She knew that if Korone was serious, she could move far faster than a human could react. “This... might be a problem.”

It was worse than a problem. It was a lethal situation. None of the other students would want to try to fight back against Korone. In a melee fight, the only other person she could count on was Junko Hattori, but when she finally saw the class rep in the corner of her eye, she seemed to be in some kind of state of shock.

“If I only had a moment’s opening, I might be able to do something...” Fujiko tried to find an opening in Korone’s movements, but failed.

“If you refuse to move, you will be eliminated.” Korone raised the stun stick.

“No!” Keena clung tightly to Akuto’s body. Fujiko closed her eyes, ready to face the end.

Just then, a shock wave violently shook the air around them.

“...What was that?” Fujiko opened her eyes and looked around.

Korone was frozen, her body twitching slightly. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa....” Her voice sounded like a broken tape recorder, and she wasn’t moving at all.

Fujiko had no idea what had just happened, but this was just the distraction she needed.

“Cerberus!” she shouted.

A demon beast came bounding out from the school building in answer to her call. It was a huge dog monster, with three heads. She’d trained it before to listen to her commands, and now it was her favorite.

The beast picked up Akuto’s body with one of its mouths, then jerked its head to flip him onto its back. Keena was still clinging tightly and refusing to let go, so she went with him. Fujiko leapt on the beast’s back as well. She ordered the beast away from the schoolyard, but when she realized that Junko was still too shaken to move, she ordered the Cerberus to put her on its back too.

“Hyah!” The shock of being picked up by a giant dog mouth and flung upwards brought Junko back to her senses.

“Fujiko, what are we going to do now?” she asked as she looked into her eyes.

“We have to run. We still don’t know what’s going on. The only thing I can say with certainty right now is that this ‘First Demon King’ we saw inside the game is what made Korone go crazy.” Fujiko started to make the Cerberus run from Korone.

“Wh-Where are we going to run to? Ackie’s tough, but he’ll need time to get better, right?” Keena said, worried.

“We don’t have a lot of options. Our best choice now is to go to one of the black mages’ hidden villages.” She said “now,” but the tone of her voice made it clear that she’d been planning on this for a while.

“Hidden villages?” Keena asked, surprised.

“That’s right. There’s a spot where some of the black mages I’ve been dealing with make their home. It’s a little out of the way, but that’s what makes it a perfect place for us to hide.”

Junko raised her voice in objection. “Fujiko, that sounds like you’re admitting he’s the Demon King...”

“Of course I am,” Fujiko said, as if she was surprised there was any question about it at all.

Junko looked uncertain. “I don’t know if that’s what’s best for him...”

“We’re not in a position to worry about that now. If every Liradan in the country is under that thing’s control, the whole empire’s been taken over.”

Junko didn’t seem to have anything to say in response to that.

“And if it has, the only ones who can fight back are the black mages. We’re rebels anyway.” Fujiko grinned. Then she turned to look behind the Cerberus. “We don’t have time to talk about it, either.”

Korone had recovered, and was skating across the ground towards them.

“Tch... But even if that’s true, I can’t go to a black mage village...” Junko said, pained at the thought. She looked from the unconscious Akuto to behind them, then back again. After glancing over and over at Akuto, she looked sad for a moment, and then jumped off of the Cerberus’s back.

“I’ll hold off Korone!”

“...If we get separated here, I won’t be able to tell you where the village is!” Fujiko said as Junko began to recede into the distance.

But Junko didn’t look back.

“Get out of here!” She raised her katana up high.

Meanwhile, Korone skated closer and closer.

“Yah!” With a short cry, Junko brought down her sword.

But in the next instant, Korone’s stun stick landed square on her stomach. There was a sharp sound of crackling electricity.

“Gwah!” Junko grunted and passed out cold.

From the Cerberus’s back, Keena gasped in surprise at Korone’s merciless blow. “Even if she was serious, normally Korone would tell a joke right now...!”

Korone knocked Junko out without a single sarcastic remark, however, and continued to follow after them. She was moving faster than the dog could run, and before long she was right at its tail.

“But this time, I can fight back!” Fujiko raised her hand to cast a spell.

But then she lowered it, confused. The mana wasn’t coming to her hand.

“What? My magic...”

“You can’t use it?” Keena asked in surprise.

“Have the gods gone out of control too...?” Fujiko gasped just as Korone jumped up, holding her stun stick out as she attacked from above.

“Fine then...!” Fujiko tried to use the code for black magic — magic that wasn’t controlled by the gods — but Korone was just a little bit faster. “I won’t make it in time...!”

Fujiko’s eyes went wide with fear, but then the same strange phenomenon struck Korone again. Her body began to vibrate, and she fell from the sky like she’d suddenly passed out.

“Again? I’m glad it saved me, but... what just happened?” Fujiko asked, when suddenly the Cerberus began to drop in speed. “What’s wrong?” Fujiko looked forward again to see Keena pointing to the front.

“There’s someone there...” Keena said. On the hill away from the school, where the Cerberus had fled to, there was a single girl standing. She held some sort of box in her hands.

“Who is it?” Fujiko tensed up for a fight, but the girl waved as if she recognized them.

“You’re Fujiko Eto, right? If you’re running away, can you let me on? I’ll explain later,” the girl said cheerfully.

Fujiko looked suspicious for a second, of course, but when she heard the girl — Yoshie Kita — say her next words, her mouth fell open in surprise.

“I’m sure this will come as a surprise, but this isn’t our first meeting. I was Yoshihiko inside the game.” “...So that was what happened, then?” Fujiko nodded, satisfied, and let her on the Cerberus. She turned her eyes towards the box that Yoshie was holding. There was a cord coming out of it connected to an antenna that was pointing towards Korone.

“This came with the VPS generator I used. It was supposed to be a way to vibrate the mana in the air to make a barrier, but I made some quick adjustments to make it directional,” Yoshie explained.

“So wherever you point that thing, the mana will vibrate and keep anyone in its path from moving, huh?” Fujiko said.

Yoshie nodded. “That’s right. It looks like the gods aren’t giving anyone permission to use magic, but machines work just fine. So this is all we can count on right now. But I can only use it a little at a time, or the machine will just overheat and burn out. All it can do is buy us some time...”

While Yoshie sighed, Fujiko just smiled. “As long as you can buy us a little time with it, we can get away. I’m no machine, but I’ve got magic I can use without the help of the gods. I can use black magic.”

“Woooah! That’s great. I’m counting on you, then!” Yoshie clapped her hands together.

Fujiko grinned and said,

“You make it sound easy, but it’s not....Bring the darkness of my heart to the world!”

Fujiko chanted the words to focus her mind, and a dark aura flowed out from her body into the surrounding air. No, it looked like an aura, but it was black mana. The mana was warping the light around her, and making it look like it was pitch black. The dark cloak of mana quickly spread out over a hundred-meter radius.

“We can use this to hide on the mountain behind the school until she’s gone,” Fujiko said, satisfied.

“That’s amazing! I’m so impressed!” Yoshie cheered.

Fujiko sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “...You’re a lot different than you were inside the game.”

“Aww, you know what roleplaying is, right? I tried to act like a character in a reverse harem game.”

“A reverse harem game...? The ones where the player is constantly surrounded by handsome boys?”

“Oh? Are you a fan?”

“...No. But yes, if you’re that game’s creator, it would explain a lot...” Fujiko commented. “But that doesn’t matter now. Can you explain to me what’s going on?”

○

At the same time as Fujiko and the others were beginning their escape, a car was traveling down the streets of the Imperial Capital’s city core. 2V had fled from Lily Shiraishi’s attack successfully, and had one of the members of CMID-8 pick her up.

The voice of the man in the front seat was quavering with surprise. “Twins?!” It was a calm-looking older man who wore glasses and a scientist’s lab coat. He didn’t look like the type to ever sound like that, so what he heard must have been truly shocking.

“That’s right. Kazuko and I are twins.” 2V said, grinning.

She looked like a pale, sickly young girl, but if that were true, she must actually have been very old. But she didn’t seem to be lying, or crazy. The driver — whose name was Sage — realized that if she didn’t look so pale or sickly, she would look exactly like the current Empress.

Sage realized that this was actually the first time he’d seen 2V’s face.

“And nobody knows this?”

“Nobody but me and her. The head of the royal guard too, maybe. They need to make sure I don’t come back to the palace. But anyway, most people don’t know. The doctors who treated me probably had their memories erased. It’s a pain to deal with, honestly,” 2V said, sounding quite unconcerned.

“Is this some way to stop twins from struggling over the line of succession?”

“Nope. It seems like it’s just the rule. One twin is raised as the other’s double. That’s just how the imperial family works, I guess. And that’s why they trained me until I gained this power. Until the now dearly-departed leader of CMID-8 hired me, I dedicated my life to the service of the Empire. Hahaha...” she laughed loudly.

“Is that why you revived the first Demon King, Zero?” Sage looked outside the window. There was a bitter tone in his voice. The city was in the midst of a huge disaster. He could see smoke rising up from between the gaps in the buildings which was probably from where a flying car had fallen from the sky. He’d seen a lot of surface cars, like the one they were driving, crash along the road.

This was what it meant for the Liradans to temporarily lose control. In this era, most driving, and a lot of physical labor, was done by Liradans. He couldn’t even imagine how many accidents were taking place at the factories.

“Zero can control every Liradan. He’s the perfect partner for me. The chaos was only temporary, too. I’ve regained control. There’ll be no more disasters after this.”

“I prepared a vessel for Zero, just like you asked, to keep the disasters from spreading further. I’ll ask this again. What is Zero?”

“The first Liradan, and the first Demon King, it would seem. Liradans are artificial intelligences who were created to control mankind.”

“...Created before the gods, huh?’ Sage whispered. “Artificial intelligences that control humanity” was a perfect way to describe the gods, too.

“Zero began with the goal of maximizing human happiness, and for some reason ended up with the conclusion that they all had to be wiped out.”

“How did that happen?’

“We can do interviews with him now, so I’ll ask. He’s pretty busy now, so it won’t be for a while. Either way, the problems with Zero were quickly solved, and the gods were created. And that’s how the first Demon King war began.”

“So that’s what the first war between the Demon King and the gods was?”

“It was a battle between Liradans and human magic. The battle itself never reached that large a scale, and it ended with Zero being sealed away.”

“I get that he was sealed... but why wasn’t he destroyed?”

“That’s the key, you see. In the simplest terms, Zero is the core of their minds. If they lose Zero, they’ll quite likely cease to exist.”

“So it all started with Zero, huh?”

“He’s also the first Liradan, so he’s actually the founder of our society. But a tool’s still a tool; that’s why I can control him. And that makes me the strongest person in the world. I hate to steal the title from CMID-8’s Codename USD, though. It used to belong to them.” 2V’s face twisted with laughter.

The USD she was talking about was none other than Sage. He, however, seemed unperturbed by this, and calmly adjusted his glasses.

“So you’re going to start a rebellion.”

“Nope. I’m taking over. From now on, I’ll be Kazuko. Just watch and see how I rule.”

Sage glanced back at 2V for a short instant. There was something like murder in his eyes.

“I know you’re not the ambitious type. What even brought this on?”

2V’s exhausted eyes stared back at him for a moment, before she raised her lips into a smile.

“I get it. If I give you a boring answer, you and I are enemies. But I know for a fact that you’re going to love what I tell you. You see, I want to prove that everyone except me is insane. Isn’t that a fascinating experiment?” There was a brilliant smile on her sunken cheeks. Between the smile and her dead eyes, it seemed that if anyone was crazy, it was her. But her words and her expression were carefully calculated, and carefully controlled.

Sage opened his mouth a little, and then closed it. This seemed to have caught him off guard.

“Everyone but you, you say?”

“That’s right. Everyone in the world. Once I’m Empress, I’ll make them all go mad with only a few words. But I believe that’s just what you need to save the world, you see. I’m going to strip away all the empty trappings they use to cover themselves, and show them how much they truly desire chaos and violence.” 2V laughed aloud.

“I see. I won’t be able to help you with that, I’m afraid, but I will watch and see what you do. If you think you can pull something off at that scale, then try it. I’ll look forward to seeing who is victorious — you, or someone else — someone sane, that is.”

Sage stopped the car. He opened the door. They were in front of the park surrounding the imperial palace. 2V stepped out, and saw a long row of Liradans waiting for her. It was the palace’s Liradan staff. They were all dressed in formal servant’s clothing, lined up to welcome their new master, 2V.

The entire palace, surrounded by a forest in the middle of the huge capital, was now 2V’s.

“Did you capture the Empress... capture Kazuko?” 2V asked one of the closer Liradans

“No. The Empress was not at the palace.” the Liradan said.

“So she ran?”

“Yes. But she is alone. We captured everyone else in the palace.”

“Hmph. Then if I go inside, they might just think she came back. Given the circumstances, even if they think it’s suspicious, they’ll still have no choice but to assume I’m real.” 2V chuckled and looked up at the top of the palace.

There was a strange sight unfolding above. A huge object, a polygon with at least 20 sides, and so many edges and facets that it almost looked like a sphere, was floating there. The object was around 20 meters in diameter. It was hard to tell if it was transparent or silver, but its slick, wet, metallic surface reflected its surroundings as it gave off a light too bright to stare at.

It was Zero’s body.

“The body of a god, with its own VPS inside, huh? That must’ve cost a fortune to make.”

2V turned back to the car and waved, and Sage raised a hand to wave back and then drove off. When he was gone, 2V began to walk past the row of Liradans as she looked up at Zero again.

Zero was her slave, now. The magic she’d learned as a member of the imperial family made that possible. She was the one person on Earth who could use that spell, and it gave her absolute power.

Silently, she gave an order to Zero. A giant image appeared in the air above the palace.

It was Kazuko — though of course, it wasn’t the real Kazuko. It was a fake that Zero made. But its appearance and its voice were identical in every respect. The words it spoke, however, belonged to 2V.

“I grieve for the accidents that took place today...” Kazuko began to speak.

The image was broadcast all over the empire. First, 2V explained that what had happened was Zero’s fault, and explained who he was and what he could do. Then she explained to the citizens that they should not try to resist.

The gods weren’t working right now, which meant that no one could use magic. The Liradans were all under Zero’s control. Their only choice was to obey.

This was, in a sense, a de facto surrender. Once her declaration of surrender was finished, this time 2V spoke in Zero’s voice. It was the mechanical, terrifying voice of a man.

“The gods are dead. However, it matters not. Abandon your magic. The Liradans shall become the tools I use to serve you. And in doing so, I shall grant you eternal happiness under my rulership. I am your new god,” Zero (or rather, 2V) said.

2V cackled and stepped through the palace gate.

The Empire was now under her control.

○

A week passed since 2V’s takeover. There’d been a lot of confusion, of course, but the people had quickly gotten used to life without magic.

All public services were handled by the Liradans. The churches were dismantled, and the priests became unemployed. The knights were reorganized under Liradan command, and now took Liradan orders. Most companies were placed under Liradan control as well.

Of course, the unemployment level had skyrocketed. But even without jobs, the people had no trouble surviving. Most all the services and products needed to keep society running were provided by Liradan hands, and now there was no need for humans to work at all. You could do nothing, and still get a good salary.

—But it all feels so empty...

Junko thought as she sat in a corner of the classroom.

Constant Magical Academy had been shut down. The students were all allowed to choose another school to go to. Most of them got to go where they wanted, but no one school was allowed to take in too many.

Junko was now in the middle of a new, normal life, surrounded by students she didn’t know.

—Normal?

She wondered at the thought she’d just had. No, a long time ago, this was normal. You would go to school for no real reason, and just memorize the things you needed to know to avoid being a burden on society. But the only thing you were forced to learn was how to have the endurance to sit silently in class for hours.

Being quiet was more important than anything. And in this new society, the Liradans would even carry your food to your mouth if you let them, so the ability to “think about nothing” was even more important.

But none of the students around her had been students of magic. They seemed to welcome this new society.

“I ended up buying that guitar Myo-chan was using on TV last night.”

“Wow, are you stupid or something? Did you honestly buy something just because it was on TV?”

“Shut up. Once I learn to play it, I can finally get a girlfriend.”

“The Liradans can play it better than you, so probably not.”

“I can put more feeling into it, though. I’m gonna learn to play the guitar and make girls cry.”

She heard the boys talking during a break between classes. The only human-like things left for humans to do were art and self-expression, she realized, and the only point in doing them now was to try and impress a member of the opposite sex. She was so shocked she could barely breathe, but the boys didn’t seem to think anything of it.

—This is all we’ll ever have, forever...

Everyone knew that. There was no need to graduate. All there was to do was to eat, drink, and fall in love. She hadn’t been able to get a hold of them, but her parents had been relieved of their duties reconstructing Suhara’s shrine, and were more or less confined to their homes. Her life had become an endless trip between her dorm and her school.

“You look depressed. Want to go get parfaits after school?”

It was Korone who spoke to her. Her voice was far brighter than before, and there was an actual expression on her face. Her uniform was slightly untidy, and she looked just like a normal schoolgirl.

“...No, thanks.” Junko answered with a frown.

She still couldn’t get over the change in Korone, who was now the most popular girl in class. Everyone loved her for her fun, cheerful nature.

“You’ll never get a boy like that, you know,” Korone said jokingly. “It’s a shame when you’re so cute.”

Junko had tried many times to get the old Korone back, but with no luck at all. Now it was Junko’s turn to be the class oddball.

“Sorry, I’m meeting my little sister today. But that doesn’t matter. I just want you to go back to being the old Korone...”

“The old Korone? I’m still Korone. I always have been. And you know, if you keep acting weird, they might arrest you. You know they’ve arrested a lot of people for being subversive lately, right?” Korone said, and then she ran off to join another group of friends. Junko saw an eerie light in her eyes just as she left.

She’d heard the rumors that there were people fighting back against Liradan control. She’d even seen a post online asking for people to join them, but the post had vanished before the day was out.

—Maybe something really bad is happening...

She had an unshakeable sense that something was wrong.

When school ended, she headed to the spot where she was supposed to meet her sister: beneath a big clock on a street corner near the school.

Her sister Yuko was an idol, a celebrity. Her face was well known enough that she’d be recognized if she went outside, so she was wearing a big hat. But what really surprised Junko was that somebody was standing next to her.

“Hiroshi!” Junko gasped in surprise.

Hiroshi waved at her awkwardly. “I ended up having some extra time, so I came by. It’s kind of embarrassing though, huh?”

“You weren’t there during that whole mess. Where have you been?”

“Sis, he ended up at school with me,” Yuko explained. She seemed really happy.

—Come to think of it, the two of them were oddly close.

She looked at the two of them as if she’d just realized something.

“That’s fine, but is it okay if people see you together?” she said with a grin. Yuko smiled, but Hiroshi seemed to panic.

“D-Don’t say stuff like that, Class Rep!”

“Don’t worry, Hiroshi,” Yuko laughed. “I don’t worry about that stuff at all.”

“I think you should,” Junko said with a sigh.

“Th-That’s right. You’re really popular, and you need to remember that.” Hiroshi still seemed to be fidgeting.

“Nah, I’m sure it’s fine. The whole business has been really weird lately.” Yuko frowned.

“Has it?”

“Yeah. It’s like there’s some kind of... pressure coming down from above. I don’t really know how to describe it, but I don’t like it. They tell you what you’re allowed to say in advance, and there’s starting to be more and more songs that you’re not allowed to sing...” Yuko started to complain, but Hiroshi quickly put his hand behind their backs and gave both her and Junko a little push.

“C-Come on, let’s find someplace to sit down. There’s no point in standing here...”

They went inside a nearby coffee shop, where Junko and Yuko began to discuss the real reason they’d gathered. They were here to talk about their parents.

“So, are they okay?” Junko’s voice dropped.

“Yeah. They haven’t been hurt, but it looks like we won’t be able to see them for a while. You see...” Yuko’s voice trailed off when their tea arrived. The waitress was a Liradan, and Junko didn’t like the way it was staring at them at all. Maybe she was just on edge because of everything that happened...

“How far are we really allowed to push it?” Junko whispered to herself.

“How far?” Yuko asked.

“How far can we push it before... they arrest us like the rumors say.” Junko continued. Hiroshi’s face took on a serious expression, but Yuko just laughed.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Mom and Dad are just fine, right? So it can’t be that bad.”

“Y-Yeah...” Junko agreed, but something still didn’t feel right. It had only been a week, but there was a strange, unpleasant feeling she could sense all around the city. Maybe people who didn’t use magic on a daily basis wouldn’t notice it, but there was a sense of being stifled, that it was hard to breathe.

But what really bothered her was that the people didn’t seem to mind. Even Yuko didn’t. Her parents were being essentially locked up, and she was still acting like it wasn’t that big of a deal.

“But we’ve lost our freedom. Isn’t it naïve to expect the person who stole it from us to have our best interests at heart?” Junko said.

Hiroshi quickly cut her off. “B-But we’re more free now, in a way, right? We can do what we want without the gods bossing us around. Even the ability to use magic was almost too much responsibility for a person to have. Our new schools are so easy that we can get perfect grades without having to actually work, right? So now school’s just a place to hang out with your friends.” The smile on his face, however, was frozen.

“Don’t you want to get smarter, though? And Yuko and I could be in danger at any time, so I don’t think...” Junko kept going, but Hiroshi waved a hand for her to be quiet.

“Nah, there’s no danger,” he said.

Then Yuko cut in. “It’ll be fine. If that happens, Hiroshi will protect me.” She grabbed Hiroshi’s arm and pushed herself up against it.

Hiroshi blushed and shook his head. “No, I’m not that strong. Don’t do anything dangerous, please.”

Junko hated herself a little for feeling more annoyed than pleased by her sister’s happiness.

—It’s still only been a week...

It had only been a week, but her old life had begun to feel very far away. The horrible danger, the emotional outbursts, all the things she’d wanted to be rid of when they were happening to her, had all begun to feel sweet, like fond memories.

—And he was the one who brought them all to me, wasn’t he?

Akuto was on her mind. Maybe she’d regret for the rest of her life not running away with him in those last moments. Now she didn’t know if she’d ever see him again.

—But he doesn’t care about me...

It had been a huge shock to her when he’d told her to spend more time with Yoshihiko inside the game. She didn’t want to admit it, but that was the reason she’d leapt off the Cerberus’s back.

—But maybe I should’ve stayed with him, no matter what the cost?

She let out a low sigh.

“Sis, you okay?”

Yuko’s voice brought her back to reality.

“I-I’m fine. It’s nothing. I just think it’s not safe to relax so much,” Junko said as she coughed and shook her head.

“Aww, fine. I get it. I’ll make sure I keep in touch,” Yuko said as she swallowed her tea and turned to Hiroshi. “You’ve still got time after this, right? There’s someplace I want to go with you.”

“S-Sure. As long as I’m not out too late,” Hiroshi replied.

“What? You’re not a kid anymore. You don’t even live in a dorm anymore. You’ve got your own apartment, right?”

“Y-Yeah, that’s true. But I’m a little busy today...”

“Fine. I’ll just make sure you don’t get home too late, then.”

Hiroshi and Yuko were already in the middle of their own conversation, so Junko awkwardly scooted her seat backwards.

“I think it’s time for me to get going,” she said.

“Yeah. I’ll call you if anything comes up. Make sure you watch when I’m on the air, okay?” Yuko replied. Junko left a happy-looking Yuko and a slightly stammering Hiroshi, and headed back to her room at her dorm. There was barely anything in the room except the bare necessities she needed to live. She sat down.

The only form of entertainment she had was internet streaming. She could communicate with anyone she wanted online, but the only people she knew well enough to talk to were the people she’d studied magic with. And talking about anything political would invite attention she didn’t want.

As she watched the news, only half paying attention, she began to feel like she was going insane. The news was so much more peaceful than it had been before. There was no news about any crimes, just stuff about sports and food. Maybe there wasn’t any crime anymore.

Some of the Liradans weren’t made to be beautiful, but made to look identical to humans. She’d heard stories about them stopping crimes before they happened, or arresting people immediately afterwards. If that was true, it would mean that humanity was being watched it all times.

—If I keep watching this, I’m going to go insane.

She turned off the news, but now there was nothing left to do but sit in a quiet room.

—I wish... I could just talk to somebody about how I really feel.

But the only person she wanted to talk to was Akuto.

—Am I just... regretting that I didn’t go with him?

Just like Fujiko had said, she may never see him again. As she sat there in the silence, thinking about that, her face began to feel strange. She put a hand up to it, and it was wet.

—I didn’t even realize... I’ve been crying...

Nobody was watching, but she still felt horribly embarrassed.

—Did I really care about him that much?

And at the same time, she started to feel pathetic.

—Then why don’t I just tell him? Why can’t I do that? Why do I keep screwing it up?

Junko looked up to keep herself from crying more.

—Is this the end of everything?

○

Hiroshi had transferred to a school without a dorm, and ended up living in an apartment instead. He’d spent enough time with Yuko that day that when he got back, it was early evening. When he entered the room, there was a girl standing in the back, watching him with sharp eyes.

She was short, and tomboyish, but her expression was one of a person used to command, and her first words to Hiroshi were an insult.

“You’re late, idiot! I thought something had happened. You need to be more careful.”

It was former student council president Lily Shiraishi. After 2V had escaped, she’d managed to defeat the dolls with Hiroshi’s help. But with Zero holding the empress hostage, and the gods under his command, there was nothing for her to do but flee and hide.

Fortunately, they’d managed to keep it a secret that Hiroshi had regained the suit given to him by Yamato Boichiro. The suit’s mana canceller had stopped that information from getting to Zero. After that, they’d decided to hide in Hiroshi’s apartment.

“I can’t help it. I’ve got a life to live, you know.” Hiroshi sighed and turned on the light, only to freeze in shock.

Lily was sitting cross-legged on the floor, naked except for her underwear. Hiroshi quickly averted his eyes.

“P-Put some clothes on...!” he stammered.

“Stop acting like a horny teenager. I’m washing my clothes right now, idiot,” Lily sighed. She didn’t seem to even think of Hiroshi as a member of the opposite sex, because she didn’t show the slightest sign of embarrassment.

“Then put some of my clothes on while you wait!”

“I’m not wearing your clothes. It would go against my sense of aesthetics.

“And your sense of aesthetics lets you sit around in your underwear?”

“If you don’t find your own body aesthetically pleasing, it means you need to train harder,” Lily said.

Hiroshi glanced at her, a little confused. “I mean, you’re not fat, but you’re not very feminine...”

Lily’s eyes flashed, and her left hand shot out as she remained seated. She sat there for a moment, before standing up like she’d remembered something.

“That’s right... I’m not used to the fact that I can’t use magic yet.”

She walked over to Hiroshi, stretched herself as tall as she could, and then grabbed Hiroshi’s face with her right hand.“Owwowwoww!”

“Shut up. It’s all some people can do to maintain the body they were born with, you know.”

“I get it. I get it, so let go!”

“Sheesh... I would’ve preferred to share an apartment with a more manly man, anyway.” Lily took a step away.

“Like the boss?” Hiroshi said, rubbing his face. Of course, he meant Akuto.

Lily’s lips curled up into a grin. “Heh. It might be fun to have a relationship with a man I’ll want to kill someday,” she said, sounding far more grown-up than her body looked.

Hiroshi stood there for a moment, uncertain of what to say.

“Anyway,” Lily said, eventually deciding to change the subject, “you’re all I’ve got now. I need a little more manly spirit out of you.”

Hiroshi’s expression tightened. “I know that. We can’t use magic now. Which means our only weapon is my suit, right?”

“Right. You have to be my messenger, now that I’m stuck in here.” Lily turned the computer she was holding to face him. “So, what did you learn about who 2V really is?”

Hiroshi transferred the data from his student handbook into the computer and said, “There’s limits to what I can find out on my own, but one of your dad’s old workers passed me the data. Just like we thought, the Kazuko that issued the surrender proclamation was computer-generated. It wasn’t really her.”

“So the rumors that the current empress is a little different are true, then. It definitely looks like a healthier 2V.” Lily still seemed skeptical, though.

“But even if she did have Zero’s help, the only way she could’ve taken over the palace that easily is if she was related to the Empress. If we assume it’s true, a lot of things make sense,” Hiroshi said.

Lily crossed her arms. “Yeah, that’s the thing. But what does she do now, then? If I were her, I’d be looking to either kill the real Kazuko, or kill us... But she doesn’t seem to be doing much at all.”

“Yeah. I expected to run into more trouble by now. If Empress Kazuko is dead, which is a possibility, that would just give her more reason to want to kill you. You know her secret.”

“But all she’s doing is getting rid of anti-government forces and black mages. That means she’s after Akuto.”

“It just doesn’t make sense, does it...?” Hiroshi fell silent for a moment, lost in thought.

“But whatever the reason, it’s perfect for us. We can kill 2V and our problems are solved. That’s where you come in. I’ll work with the priests to come up with a plan of attack for the palace. I just need you to be my messenger boy.” Lily tapped him on the shoulder.

Hiroshi just sighed. “All you care about is killing 2V. Why not take it easy for a while? Relax, try and look cute for once?”

Lily’s face broke into a grin. It wasn’t a cute smile, though — it was the smile of a veteran warrior. “I can be cute when I need to. But she shut down my school, and she’s taken over Arnul, one of my Liradans. There’ll be plenty of time to be cute when she’s dead.”

Hiroshi took a step away from her. “I-I get it. I won’t ask for cute. Just stop scaring me all the time.”

“Quiet. If I stopped, you’d try to sneak into my bed,” she said.

“You say that, but you’re the one who’s stolen my covers... If I did sneak into your bed, it would be just so I could stop freezing at night,” Hiroshi sighed.

“Fine. You can have one of the smaller blankets back. If you wrap it around your stomach instead of trying to use it as a blanket, it might actually keep you warm,” Lily said, strangely confident.

“...Even if we’re not boyfriend and girlfriend, I’d thought that living with a girl would be a little more fun...” Hiroshi sighed, but Lily just ignored him.

“I said quiet. If you can’t cook dinner, go buy me something from the convenience store. Don’t just buy two dinners, or they’ll know there’s two people here.”