+ + +

Kiu's hand trembled slightly as she held out her arm to 「DELETE」 the mauled corpse.

It quickly turned transparent and faded away into nothingness. The bloody pool of crimson also vanished, but somehow the underlying patch of grass seemed more sunken than before. The evidence of the crime scene was gone, leaving behind nothing but...

...a sunny day with warm light trickling through the gaps of the forest leaves.

It had been so easy to clean up.

There was a certain amount of morbid irony to it, and the reclusive girl felt deeply uneasy.

It didn't seem right.

Something was out of place.

It was beautiful here. Golden marigolds bloomed on the rocks, and a nearby creek was sun-kissed with a glimmer of reflective shine. Small peach fruits hung from the branches of venerable ancient trees, and chickadees chirped as if it was any other ordinary afternoon. The garden seemed completely oblivious to the violent assault that had transpired.

Was it all... a lie?

Kiu silently rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hands, trying to stop the water from welling up.

Why did she feel so emotional?

This was just a computer game.

It was just a bunch of numbers, a binary code of ones and zeroes.

Why should it matter if somebody slashed up a tiny bit of data and rearranged the values so that one byte was replaced with another?

It wasn't even real.

How was it possible to feel loss when it didn't exist in the first place?

+ + +

"Fallilee? You play this game too?" A voice came from behind her.

Kiu jumped and nearly cried out in alarm.

However, as she whirled around, she promptly recognized the figure who stepped out from behind the brush.

"K-Kuro...?" She stammered, her arms tightly withdrawn to her chest.

"What a surprise. I didn't really take you to be the type that played sandbox virtual reality games."

"H-How long were you standing there?"

"Just got here. I saw you from the road, and wondered if it was my eyes playing tricks on me. Turns out my instincts were right."

"I... I..."

"Are you lost? New to the game? I can show you around if you like, although you really ought to sleep more instead of gaming."

"I... Well... It's... Um..."

"Ah, but there's a meeting that I'm headed to." Kuro interrupted her. "Maybe we can catch up after that?"

"I... guess... sure. Okay?"

Kiu's head was still spinning. Her heart was still thumping and pounding out of her chest. The dark-skinned man's sudden appearance had caught her by surprise, and the black-haired girl stabilized her shaking right arm with her opposite hand. She discreetly hid her hands behind her back.

She struggled to put together words, but her brain was completely blank and tongue-tied.

The administrator of 「Historica 1900」 seemed not to notice that there was anything wrong.

"Oh, it's a shame you couldn't come to the opening ceremony of the Schloss Leopoldskron. The Austrian Prime Minister was there, and there were many people who were impressed with the work you did with the library. We would have loved to have you at the party, and I think you might have liked it. There was a chocolate fountain and Herr Schneider brought his rare collection of monastic books from the 14th Century."

Kiu's eyes remained perfectly expressionless.

"Was... I was... busy..." She responded. "...And a bit sick."

Kurotora shrugged.

"That's too bad. I hope you're feeling better."

"Kinda."

Kiu tightened the grip of her hands, and willed herself to calm down.

She was in control here. 

She wasn't emotional.

She was perfectly fine.

Kiu wasn't going to let a stupid little tiny thing win over herself. She was strong. Really strong. She just had to think rationally, and isolate herself from the annoying distracting bits. Feelings were irrational, and they only made people weak.

The black-haired girl inhaled deeply and exhaled.

She was okay.

Perfectly okay.

+ + +

"Oh, I have an idea!"

Kurotora continued talking without pause. He seemed to be an in an unusually talkative and good mood today.

"You can come with me to my meeting!" He proclaimed assuredly.

"Huh?"

"It's not supposed to be open to outsiders, but it's probably fine if it's someone like you. You can keep something confidential, right? You never really seemed like the gossiping type, so you'll just have to promise that you won't blabber about it all over the Internet."

"What?"

"There'll be a bunch of people, so if we stick to a corner, I don't think anyone will notice."

"Wait, what?"

The black-haired man hummed cheerfully to himself as he pulled out a large cloak and a wide brimmed hat out from his inventory. The fabric fluttered in the air before it came to a rest in his hands. He stared at the black hat for a second, inspecting it, and then snapped his fingers to add a soft purple ribbon to it. 

Satisfied, he passed it over to Kiu.

"You can wear this. It looks like a large witch's hat, but witch avatars are always fashionable and popular on the Internet. You'll blend right in."

"I'm disguising myself?"

"Just as a precaution. We have new attendees all the time, but it's better if you look as cookie-cutter and unremarkable as possible."

"...Are you sure about this?"

"It'll be fine! The meeting won't be long. We can talk right afterwards. It'll be easier if we just stick together."

Kurotora reached into his inventory again and pulled out a pair of tinted shades with an mischievous smirk.

"Want sunglasses? Should we go with a fake mustache too?"

"..."

"Just kidding." He laughed and put the accessory away. "I'm going to start a 「TELEPORT」 now."

A silvery portal opened up in front of the two of them.

Kurotora stepped forward, then turned back to hold out his hand.

"Coming?"

+ + +

Kiu shut her eyes for the scene change. The universe blurred past her, and there was a slight bout of a motion-sickness before everything came to a rest.

Almost immediately, sounds from a crowded room full of chatter filled her ears.

She opened her eyes slowly, and then blinked a few times to focus them.

Kiu's brow immediately furrowed.

Wasn't this the staff meeting for her own server?

Wait, there was a meeting scheduled for today...? She didn't seem to remember. Although... it's not like she would have gone anyways.

She turned around to face the dark-haired man who had brought her here.

"You're staff here too?!" She whispered to him furiously.

Kuro tilted his head sideways with a self-satisfied look on his face. 

"Surprised? They're pretty selective with who they pick to promote, although the perks to being staff are great."

"..."

Kiu was speechless, and she didn't know exactly what to say.

Of course, she had never told him that she was 「Q」 despite all the time they had spent together on 「Historica 1900」. It wasn't the kind of information that she bragged about publicly, and if anything Kiu preferred her anonymity. Honestly, it was a total miscalculation that she thought that she would never see him anywhere else.

However, before she had the chance to say anything, @Synbius climbed onto the podium in the distance and cleared his throat.

"Alright, let's get started!" His deep voice resonated across the room.

 

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