“It’s over for you both!” The general clad in armor barks. The ground below me quakes, charges up with energy, turning a menacing red. I dash to the side, keeping my eyes well on him. Not a second too late a pillar of flame engulfs where I was standing.

 

I am in love with my best friend.

 

Lifting up my mace, I run up to him and spin on my heels, converting all that speed into power as my weapon connects square on his chest. His plate bends under the force of the impact, with a quick tug, I make sure my weapon doesn’t get lodged in there, and let the momentum carry me past him. I take a foothold on the ground to stop spinning and lift up my shield, just in case a quick counter-attack comes my way.

 

The issue is… my best friend is the Chosen One.

 

“HYPERNOVAAAAA!!!” Taking advantage of the weakened armor, a huge beam of multicolor light pierces right through the fallen knight. With a final grunt, he falls to one knee, then two, before slumping on the ground. With a lasp gasp of agony, he raises his hand in the air for a beat. As it flops, his body turns to dust, dissipating up into the sky, like captured by a gust of wind.

I gasp and wheeze, taking a moment to breathe. My body is covered in cuts and bruises, but it is done. The Demon Monarch’s second-in-command is now gone. The citizens of Glavariel will sleep safe tonight, for the first time in decades.

The source of the death ray saunters up to me, an innocent smile on her face. An innocent, beautiful smile. My heart skips a beat and I hide my blush behind my arm. “Nice going, Vivi! Gee gee eee zee!” Jane, my friend, the Chosen One, the mage, says.

 

She is not from this world.

 

“Thanks for keeping aggroh! I really thought that last ai oh eee would do you in. You have like, a sliver of ach py left! Here, let me,” She raises up her hand towards me, and I’m basked in a glow of light. My wounds close up one by one, leaving no hint of them, no trace of any scar behind.

“Thank you Jane. I owe you my life, once again.” What started as gratitude had long since evolved beyond that, but I didn’t know whether to talk about it or not. Of course, there was the fact that she was the Heroine, and I was just a tag-along on her adventure, but… There was something else, too.

“So we’ve unlocked the last dungeon raid now, right?” She asks nonchalantly.

“The… Demon Monarch’s castle, yes.” I roll my shoulder. Thanks to her healing, I feel like I have enough energy to continue. “I suppose now would be the time to strike.”

She takes a step back and shakes her hands. “Aaah, I can’t tonight! It’s already kinda late, and tomorrow’s Monday, so…”

I can’t say I really understand what she implied. But by now, I have become quite adept at pretending like I do. “Ah… Will you accompany me back to the inn, at least?”

She looks to the ceiling for a moment, in thought. “Hmm… I’m sorry Vivi, I don’t think I can… I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“I…” I sigh. “See you tomorrow, Jane.”

A blue circle lights up beneath her feet. Five seconds later, she blinks out of existence.

Watching her go was strange, at first. Nowadays, it is painful.

 

I arrive at the inn alone, deep into the night. I bring our horses to the stable and head in. After a meal and a quick chat with the innkeeper, I take my leave to our room. Well, I say our room, but Jane has yet to sleep in the bed beside mine. She disappears, instead, as usual. Where to, I do not know. But every afternoon, she shows up again, all smiles and energy and full of life, and I just… wish she could be there with me always.

I have been torn on whether to tell her how I feel for months. Even putting our duty aside, what if that quirk of hers means it doesn’t work out? And that is, of course, on top of the usual fears of holding a crush on your best friend, of not wanting to put your friendship in jeopardy.

My thoughts drift to tomorrow. Once we free the land from the Demon Monarch’s reign… what then? What will happen of Jane? Will she disappear, never to return? That was what she was summoned here to do, after all. Would I be able to live in my world, knowing that she would never visit it again?

Would I be able to live with myself if I never told her how I felt?

With that ultimatum hanging over me, I finally find the courage I needed. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, I will tell her how I really feel.

 

The sun is already setting as Jane arrives. She’s all apologetic about being late, mutters something about having had to clean some dishes. We get on our mounts and let them bring us to our destination, following the road.

Jane hums along a little tune, one that I’ve heard from her before. She calls it the ‘riding theme’.

I take a deep breath. “Jane?”

“Hmm?” She stops humming, turning her head towards me.

“After all this is over, after we’ve defeated the Demon Monarch… Will you continue coming by?” I ask.

She stares at the sky. “Hmm… I dunno,” she says. “I don’t remember there being any post-game content?”

I’m not sure what the mail has to do with anything.

“We can keep in contact elsewhere, right?” She beams a simple smile. “Maybe play something else together. I’m iks iks magical girl fan two thousand iks iks ashtag seven seven oh two on discord. Add me!”

“I don’t think that’s gonna work…” I mutter.

“Why not? Do you not have a discord?” She asks innocently. “It’s fine, you can make one. Hell, I’ll even dust off the skype if it means keeping in contact. You mean a lot to me, you know?”

I blush and smile, but turn my head away, dejected. “Sure… Thanks.”

She goes back to her song.

 

After what felt like an hour of travel, we finally arrive at the doors of the Monarch’s castle. The structure is gigantic, imposing. Just looking at it would terrify anyone half to death. Everyone knows not to approach it. But not us, not today. This is the end of our journey. With the Monarch’s generals defeated and his army disbanded, nothing but the walls and traps of this place stands between us.

And yet, the distance I care about is the one between Jane and I, which feels a million times bigger. My stomach aches, like my anxiety became manifest and decided to take residence in my gut.

“Be careful in there, Jane. Even weakened like he is, the Demon Monarch could still do us in.” This is it. My last chance to come clean with my feelings. Beyond that, lies too big a risk. If I fall in the final battle… “Jane?”

She is giddy with excitement, all starry-eyed. “Oooh, I can’t wait! This is gonna be epic.”

I swallow my saliva and turn towards her. “Jane, I have something to say.”

“Vivi? Is this about the discord again? I can repeat it if you forgot to note it down.” She grins.

I grab her by the sleeve and she jolts. “Jane. I… I’ve been meaning to say this for a while. I… love you. I’ve been in love with you. For, uh, months now.”

She chuckles nervously, taking a step back. “Heh… Is, uh… this roleplay? I know you’ve been taking it prettyyy seriously, but…”

“No, it’s not… whatever ‘roleplay’ is.” I shake my head. “I’m serious. Whenever you’re around, I get this feeling in my chest. When you smile, it’s like I’m sitting on a cloud. And I thought, hey, if… if I die here, not that I want it to happen, I wouldn’t want to leave without having gotten to tell you that, you know?” I try to force a smile, but I don’t think my expression hides my fear very well. I hold her hand in mine and stare deep into her eyes.

“L-look, I’m flattered, but…” Her cheeks are a deep red. “I don’t… You don’t know me, you know? Not the real me. This is just a character in a video game, you know?”

A game? She’d mentioned it before, but… I shake my head, one topic at a time. “You’re real to me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Jane. When you leave every night, it… I miss you so much. I treasure what little time I get to spend with you a lot. I just wish you could be there with me all day long.”

She tries to tug her hand out from mine. I let go. “We can get to know each other ay er el if you want, but… But would that even work? We’re both women, I think…” She squints. “I didn’t get catfished again, did I?”

“Jane, I’m gay,” I say.

“Oh! Good. Erm, for you, I mean! Yeah!” She scratches the back of her head, looking awkward.

“Why do you have a hangup on that anyways?” I cross my arms. “No one in all of Glavariel does. Is it taboo in your world or something?”

Her eyes avoid mine. “It’s not always seen from the best of lights, no…”

“Then come live here!” I say. “We can stay here, together, forever! Why do you always need to go back to your world anyways?”

She blinks and stares at me. “Look, completely oh oh cee here. This is a video game, you know that?”

I tilt my head.

“This is a em em oh are py gee.” She points at the ground. “We’re playing characters in a video game.”

I raise an eyebrow. “No? This is real. You’re the summoned Chosen One.”

“That makes no sense,” she says.

“YOU make no sense!” I lose my temper for a moment. “Every day you babble about incomprehensible things, you disappear to who knows where, you’re stronger than anyone has ever been in all of history, and all the while, you do it with… a beautiful, excited smile, like you’re enjoying yourself, you’re happy to be here with us as we fight for my world’s freedom! That’s… what I love about you, okay!? I fell in love with you because of your positivity and optimism, and I can’t bear that you’re not here with me always.”

Her expression is aghast. Her eyes dart around, she’s thinking deeply about something. Her mouth hangs open. “Oh. Oh, god. This isn’t a prank, is it? I know you. You would never.”

I shake my head. “I don’t see why I would want to fake having feelings for you.”

“That’s not the part I… Urgh. I’m sorry. I, uh… need. To go. Ay ef kay. For a bit. Bee ar bee.” Her head slumps forward, expressionless.

“Jane?” I approach slowly. Her body is completely limp.

 

After a dozen minutes, she sits down on the entrance stairs next to me. “…Hey.”

“You’ve made me wait,” I reply snappily.

“Sorry.” We both stare at the evening sun in the distance. “So… Vikalia? It’s not… a display name? That’s really your name?”

I turn my head to look at her. She looks tired. “Should I assume you’re not named Jane, then?”

“Oh, no, I am Jane in and out of game, but…” She shoves her head in her hands. “Jeez. You’re not a human from the real world? You live in the game? The… the game is real?”

“And I’m in love with you,” I remind her.

“God, right, this is why this whole conversation started in the first place… Look. I’m sorry. This is a lot to take in. I’ve never…” She pauses, searching for words. “had another woman declare their love for me.”

“Well?” I ask. “how does it make you feel?”

“I don’t know? Can we go with I don’t know? I’m feeling super confused and anxious, but I think it’s more to do with the other bombshell.” She takes a deep breath. “Well. Okay. I know that you mean a lot to me. I just… have to change my understanding from ‘you somewhere on another computer’ to ‘you inside the computer’. Oh god, do you cease to exist when I close the game— wait, no, you’re probably on a server, you must be fine.”

I give her a moment to collect her thoughts, then slump my head on her shoulder. “I don’t know about all of this ‘real, not real’, ‘computer’ business, but I know I want to spend my days with you.” I slide my hand in hers, intertwining our fingers. “So how about it, Chosen One?”

Her face reddens slowly. “I… I’m really nobody special, you know. I guess it looked like I put on a brave face, because I didn’t know this was all… actually important, but I’m not exceptional in reality, you know? I’m just some everyday girl…”

“Not to me,” I say. “You’re the most beautiful, the most kind, the most compassionate person I know. And I’ll repeat it every day until you see it too.”

“T-thank… Thank you, Vivi… I like, your, uh… your bravery!” She says, trying to compliment me back. “Gosh, if this has been all real for you since the start, it must’ve been scary to go up against all those bosses… I’ve got nothing on you in terms of kindness, I’ve not been risking anything.”

“And yet it still took me months to build up the courage to ask you out.” I giggle. “So… Is it a yes?”

“I don’t know if I’m into other women…” She stares at my face with an expression that suggests otherwise.

“Well, let’s discover that together, then, yes?” I think for half a second. “At least a date tomorrow?”

She takes a moment to consider the offer, then nods. “Hm!”

“Alright! It’s a promise!” With a wide smile, I get up, and extend my hand. “But first, let’s take care of the Demon Monarch!”

She takes it and I help her up. “Oh, but now I do have something to lose from helping!”

“Oh? What?” I ask.

She places her second hand on top of mine. “You!”

I giggle. “I won’t go down that easily.”

“It’s a promise!” She says, playfully mirroring my words. “I’ll use my best dee pi es spell!”

 

Starting from that night, after we took down the Demon Monarch’s reign of terror, Jane stopped disappearing, leaving her (or ‘her character’, as she told me, for as little a difference that did to me) to sleep beside me.