The blackout curtains were closed. No matter how hard someone tried, they would be unable to see into my room from the outside. Similarly, my door was locked twice. Even if Dad tried to open the door with the master key, he wouldn’t make it through the dead bolt.

I searched my room from top to bottom. I worried that Moogle searching might flag something in the system so I didn’t exactly know the right way to find a wiretap or a secret camera, but my fruitless search did ease the fears twisting around in the back of my mind.

Once I ascertained to the best of my abilities that the coast was clear, I booted up my PC and placed the WHO livestream on the left monitor. I threw the WHO forums on the right monitor. The Hexennacht app booted up on the center monitor.

The hidden Witch’s mark on the center of my chest heated up as the Hexennacht app verified my identity. An androgynous voice spoke up as soon as the verification was complete.

“Welcome, Player Alpha.”

Alpha was the username I went by while I played Violent Evergarden and it naturally became my account name when the video game suddenly turned real. The title screen of Violent Evergarden appeared on my main monitor.

A gentle breeze caressed the battle scarred forest. The World Tree, the final dungeon of Violent Evergarden, stood at the center of the title screen surrounded by wilted flowers and burnt patches of grass. A sad, peaceful melody played in the background.

The start button was grayed out. Instead, a timer counted down at the top right corner of the screen. There was little more than 40 minutes left until the real version of Violent Evergarden began.

Nobody knew what to expect. WHO forums were full of speculation as everyone wanted to guess exactly how the game would play out. I briefly glanced through the fresh wave of outlandish theories before directing my attention back to my main monitor.

My mouse clicked on the character selection screen and my stomach immediately churned. Every gamer faced this single most important question upon starting a new game. Male or female?

This was normally not an issue for me. I always played as a female character. Who in their right mind would choose to look at a guy’s ass all day when they could be looking at a girl’s butt instead?

I put on my headphones and turned my attention to the WHO livestream. On screen was the most popular Witch Hunter of the Witch Hunt Organization, Hiro Okabe. He was an online friend of mine and a well known Violent Evergarden theorycrafter on the forums who went by the username Hero.

“Mr. Okabe, your fans are dying to know what your character is like in the upcoming Witch’s Game.”

“Tsk, Tsk. You know nothing to call Violent Evergarden a Witch game. It is a God game that everyone should play at least once in their life. As for your question, the Witch Hunt Organization advises all Witch Hunters to create female characters as Magical girls and Valkyries are female exclusive classes.”

“Then, will you take part in the game as a girl?”

“Hmph. I have my own plans for how to participate in the game.”

“Impossible!”

My jaw dropped in dumbfoundment. The Hero I knew couldn’t possibly make such a low level mistake. A man could only be a Pilot. While fighting in Giant Mechanical Robots certainly sounded powerful, a Pilot could achieve C rank at best.

A demon general was A rank, the four heavenly kings were AA rank, and the demon king was AAA rank. A Pilot was helpless against the upper echelon of the demon army. The Witch Hunt Organization’s entire plan revolved around defeating the demon king.

Hiro Okabe’s interview continued, but my mind was elsewhere. There was only one reason to make a male character. Hiro planned to ditch the battle aspect of the game and instead focus on the dating simulation portion. His thoughts on clearing the game matched my own.

I turned my attention back to my character and sighed. If I was a confident, sunny person like Hiro Okabe, perhaps I could believe in my own thoughts and participate in Violent Evergarden as a male character. Instead, doubts clouded my heart and the crushing weight of the world’s salvation hung squarely on my shoulders.

I found myself staring at the figure of a girl I had spent the entire month since the Witch’s Proclamation crafting. On the surface, she looked like an ordinary nerdy character that one could easily befriend.

Astrea Academy, the school that all the main characters attended, was an all girls school. No one was certain what would happen if a Player chose to play as a male character. While crossdressing as a woman and sneaking in with a male character might be possible, I didn’t have the courage to risk it.

The Love system that powered Magical Girl Camellia Maxwell in a normal playthrough took affection and friendship into consideration. Getting a lover was impossible since I had never had a girlfriend before, but even someone like me could make friends.

“I’ll make 10 friends… no, that might be impossible… 5..? 3 friends..?”

I muttered to myself as I looked at my character, steadily growing unconfident in my goals. Who was I kidding? I couldn’t even get a job. Saving the world was out of the question.

As the countdown approached the end, I pulled out my phone and navigated through my short contact list. My thumb stopped at Sariel Lockengard. My finger never found the strength to push the call button despite knowing that this was perhaps my last chance to talk to my little sister.

— ❀❁✿ —

The world and I collectively held our breaths as the countdown hit 0, but nothing special happened besides the start button becoming enabled. A huge wave of relief swept through me. I wouldn’t be diving headfirst into Violent Evergarden blind.

“Damn, I am locked into playing as Alice Phantasmagloria.”

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. Regardless of what information I uncovered before logging in, I was stuck playing as a girl. The WHO live stream immediately switched to a player who was streaming their perspective through the Hexennacht app and my wildest expectations were blown away.

“This can’t be real…”

The player gasped in surprise as he found himself standing in a busy intersection no different from the real world. Some part of me had expected a highly advanced virtual reality, but Violent Evergarden was its own genuine world.

Terra, our home world, was no longer the only world that humanity knew of that possessed intelligent lifeforms. The Witch had already challenged our beliefs of reality, but this overturned everything we thought we knew about the universe.

A second, mind shattering revelation threw all my plans out the window. I wouldn’t be playing the female character, Alice Phantasmagloria, in the game Violent Evergarden. Instead, I would be living as the girl, Alice, in the world of Evergarden.

“Someone, kill me.”

Despair clawed at my heart. I messed up and there was no way to recover from this. I didn’t want to be a girl. A shiver went through my heart at the gimmick I hid in Alice’s appearance. Humanity had united like never before to clear Violent Evergarden and that meant the world would examine every inch of livestream footage from head to toe.

While I had no intention of streaming my perspective, I would undoubtedly cross paths with other players. Endless curiosity and malice would plague my every step. My appearance was a ticking time bomb. 

I slumped in my chair and absentmindedly watched a player go through her first day at Astrea Academy. A mutter unintentionally leaked from my mouth.

“That school uniform is different from the one Alice wore.”

I thought Astraea Academy had a different set of school uniforms because Alice’s uniform was different, but I was wrong. The Astraea Academy uniform matched the uniform in the game.

I turned to my other computer monitor with the WHO forums to find an answer. The post I was looking for was stickied right at the top. Someone had compiled a list of school uniforms and school locations.

I slapped a hand over my eyes and groaned as soon as I read the location of Alice’s school. Nothing was going my way today.

“Emerald Coast. It is a city on an entirely different continent that has a 12 hour time zone difference from Saint Freya Academy. I can’t even get involved with the main story even if I wanted to. Worst of all…”

I trailed off in despair, unable to bring myself to voice it. Worst of all, Emerald Coast was the first city to be destroyed by the demon’s initial invasion one month into the game.

— ❀❁✿ —

I took a deep breath and exhaled. In and out. In and out.

12 hours had passed since Violent Evergarden started. I had pulled all nighter analyzing the information brought back by the other players.

Starting locations were determined by the timezone the players lived in. The main story’s timezone corresponded with the Witch Hunt Organization’s headquarters in Italia. Violent Evergarden started at 7 am to match with the main story’s entrance ceremony.

It was now 7pm in Astraea City and 7am in Emerald Coast. While the main story’s first day was winding down, Emerald Coast’s first day was just beginning.

Five minutes had passed since I told myself that I would enter Violent Evergarden and my hands were damp with sweat. I encouraged a shivering Alfonse Lockengard in the mirror.

“It is not a big deal. I have noted all the streamers who wore the Saint Freya Academy uniform so that I can avoid them.”

A shadowy character with loner attributes like me would die from being exposed to the world’s curiosity. My encouragement was no good. I tried again.

“Saint Freya is an ordinary all girl’s school. Students are not expected to fight demons.”

How stupid. My status as a student would not save me from a demon’s fangs once they invaded Emerald Coast.

“...The others will save the world.”

Annoyance at my pathetic behavior filled my heart. I opened up my social media accounts and looked at what my friends were up to. I couldn’t hold my head up high if I met them again.

I was tired of keeping my head down and pretending like everything was okay. I was ashamed of having to tell people I met that I did not have a job. I was sick of being left behind by the world.

Hadn’t I always fantasized that if I had a second chance, things would be different!?

If I did not change, my future would be hopeless. I wanted to go back to those bright, cheerful days I spent in high school.

“I will do it. I’ll change the world!”

I clicked on the start button of the Hexennacht app and a brilliant heat erupted from my Witch Mark. My vision went pure white.