“I’m back.”

I muttered to myself in the restroom of the Karaoke shop. I still couldn’t look at myself in the mirror without my stomach twisting into knots, but my body felt lighter than before. My chest was still as suffocatingly tight as ever, unfortunately.

I left the restroom hoping to catch one of my friends. As it turned out, Lily was waiting at the entrance to the Karaoke shop.

“Aria, Lily still wants to play some more!”

“Aria?”

I parroted back the unfamiliar name thrown at me.

“Yup. It is Lily’s nickname for you.”

Aria… Wasn’t that something like a vocal solo in a song? That was perfect for a loner like me.

“Thanks, Lily. I love the nickname.”

I was touched. Everyone called me Al back in Terra to the point where I treated that as my real name. Lily’s new nickname made Alice Phantasmagloria feel like she was a part of me.

“Then, let's go, Aria!”

Lily grabbed my hand like it was a matter of course and dragged me away from the Karaoke store. While Letty’s hands were incredibly warm and soft, Lily’s hand was cool and firm. Lily hummed a cheerful song as she led me through the city. The sun began to set, painting the sky in a splash of oranges and reds.

“We are here!”

“This is an apartment complex, Lily.”

A certain, unbelievable possibility entered my mind. I followed Lily with growing trepidation up until she stopped in front of a room. I couldn’t keep quiet when I saw Lily pull out a set of keys.

“What are we doing here?”

“Lily’s friend always said that if she wanted to grow closer to someone, then Lily should invite that person over for a sleepover!”

“This doesn’t seem appropriate.”

I was a man and Lily was a woman. Having a man and a woman spend the night together was inappropriate no matter how I looked at it.

“What are you saying, Aria? We are both girls, so why would it be inappropriate?”

I flinched. That was right. I was a girl in Evergarden. Lily dragged me inside before I could raise more arguments. The door swung shut, sealing my fate for the night.

Even though I had visited my little sister’s room thousands of times, it did not at all prepare me for the event of being dragged into Lily’s room. If I had to sum up Lily’s apartment with one word, it would be small.

The kitchen, dining room, and bedroom were all in one space and the bathroom was tiny. Lily had very little personal belongings.

“Make yourself at home, Aria.”

“Ah… yeah.”

I followed Lily and sat down on a shabby cushion by the low table. The only saving grace was that this room did not feel like a girl’s room. Lily followed my gaze and laughed sheepishly.

“Ahaha, does lifting weights not suit my appearance?”

“You are wrong. I think it fits you perfectly.”

The workout equipment in Lily’s room was well maintained. Even though I was unfamiliar with Lily’s equipment, I knew that her collection had to be rather expensive. When compared to the shabby state of the rest of the room, it showed just how much Lily valued building her strength.

“I know it is a silly dream, but I want power so that I am not the same helpless child from ten years ago. I do not have the aptitude to be a Magical Girl, Valkyrie, or Pilot, so I can only build my strength the old fashioned way. It may be a waste of time, but I can’t sit around doing nothing.”

Lily’s weak smile pained my heart. She would remain helpless in front of demons no matter how much she trained her strength. I glanced around the room one more time, picking up a lot more clues than before.

“You aren’t wasting your time. You are strong, Lily. Far stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

The last major demon invasion was ten years ago. In addition, the only pictures Lily had of her parents were from when she was very little. It didn’t take a genius to realize that Lily lost her parents during the invasion. Lily had made it this far by relying entirely on her own strength.

She was far stronger than someone like me who continued to leech off my parents even in my early twenties. Really, there was no comparison between us.

“Allow me to test your strength.”

I set my elbow on the table and motioned for Lily to arm wrestle me.

“Prepare to be crushed.”

Lily clasped my hand. I counted down and the match began. It ended in an instant.

“Impossible!”

“Hahaha. Aria, you are so weak!”

I couldn’t believe how quickly I lost. Sure I didn’t lift, but Lily was a girl. Ah, but I was Alice and Alice was a girl. I no longer had the natural strength advantage that a man had over a woman. Lily’s bright expression removed the worst of the sting from my wounded pride.

“What did you have in mind for our sleepover?”

“Do you need to freshen up? If not, then I will go ahead.”

I told Lily I was fine and she walked into the bathroom. My relief was short-lived as a moment later, the shower turned on. Lily had not brought a change of clothes into the bathroom. I lost my composure. Lily’s cheerful humming in the shower only made my situation even more awkward.

“Could it be that I am in a dangerous situation?”

The main character of Violent Evergarden was Camellia Maxwell. By some happenstance, Lily happened to share the same last name as her, but surely that was where their similarities ended.

Camellia Maxwell ‘captured’ the seven capture targets in the game and they, ahem, consummated their love, but surely this was different. I wasn’t about to get captured… was I?

I didn’t think I was the type of person to reject the meal set before me, but… I shifted my gaze to my reflection in the window. Alfonse might welcome it but Aria was way out of her depths.

“Well, it is not like that is going to happen anyways.”

I had known Lily for only a single day. I was just overthinking things. I picked up the picture frame of Lily’s family and was struck by the cruel reality of my situation. This wasn’t a game and the people living in Emerald Coast weren’t nameless NPCs.

I had known that several lives were lost in the last demon invasion ten years ago, but I was only now realizing the weight of that loss. If nothing was done, the same tragedy that Lily went through would repeat on a far larger scale in the near future.

I… I needed to get my act together.

— ❀❁✿ —

Lily shattered my naive thoughts the moment she walked out of the bathroom naked. Everything was on full display from her small, perky breasts to her cute, little butt. Tight muscles surrounded her dainty belly button and her limbs were rather slender.

“L-Lily, you forgot your clothes!”

Heat flooded my face and I turned my back on Lily. Lily responded with a laugh.

“You are wrong, Aria. I don’t wear clothes while I am home.”

“H-Huh?”

I hoped I misheard her, but reality was a cruel mistress.

“Don’t you think it is weird for us to cover up our bodies? None of the other animals cover themselves. In fact, it is humans who behave unnaturally by wearing clothes.”

“Other animals have fur. We need clothes to—”

“Keep warm, I know. But with the heater on in my apartment, that isn’t an issue. Why do I have to stifle myself with restrictive clothing when I can truly be free?”

Something about Lily was different. Now that I thought about it, she had stopped referring to herself in third person ever since we entered her apartment.

“Join me, Aria.”

The devil suddenly whispered in my ears and I nearly jumped.

“What!?”

A strong pair of hands held my shoulders and rooted in me in place. I couldn’t afford to turn my head in fear of catching sight of something I shouldn’t.

“It is this world that is wrong. Humans should return to their natural state and free themselves of their bindings. You in particular, should know how constricting one’s own trappings might be.”

My heart leapt to my throat as Lily hinted at my bound breasts and the various coverups hidden throughout my body. A finger pressed against my back and drew idle circles.

“I-I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Heh. Sure you don’t.”

Lily released me. I heard the pitter patter of her feet as she walked the short distance to the kitchen utensils. It wasn’t until I heard the sound of the oven turn on that I allowed myself to collapse against the low table.

“Geez, Lily. You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“You should try my suggestion sometime. Everyone who followed my advice found it particularly liberating.”

Pots and pans clattered as Lily began to make dinner for the two of us. I didn’t dare look in her direction, so I remained seated at the table vaguely staring at the wall. I couldn’t stand the strange tension filling the room, so I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“The only person I plan to show my bare skin to is the person that I love.”

It ended up being an incredibly lame excuse. The thought of showing my skin, even if it wasn’t truly my body, was somehow incredibly embarrassing.

“Love, huh?”

Lily spoke the word with a meaningful enunciation. Her next words completely blindsided me so much that my head turned towards her.

“What is love anyway?”

Thankfully, the kitchen countertop was between us and her head was the only thing peeking out from above it. Lily’s eyes told me she was serious about her question.

“Love is… err…”

My words came to a halt. I couldn’t explain a vague feeling I had never experienced myself. At most, I had a small crush on a few girls, but it would be a great stretch to call that love.

“You can’t even explain what love is. Is it really something so great?”

“It is! Love will save the world!”

Camellia Maxwell used the love of her seven companions to defeat the Demon King. I firmly believed that love was the only way to truly clear Violent Evergarden. Lily’s eyes lit up from interest.

She set down the knife she was using to cut vegetables and approached me wearing only an apron. The dark, predatory glint in her eyes sent me scrambling backwards. My back bumped into the wall. Lily had me cornered.

“I couldn’t become a Magical Girl, a Valkyrie, or a Pilot… but that doesn’t matter if it is as you say. Aria, teach me what love is. I will save the world so that no one has to experience the same feeling of loss as I have.”

The mysterious power dwelling in her twinkling, green eyes captivated me. I had promised her before I knew it.

“Okay.”

Just like that, the spell that captivated me ended and Lily returned to her usual self. Strength left my body and I rested against the wall. Cheerful humming filled the space between us.

Lily’s words might have sounded like a confession, but I knew she was serious about saving the world. The firmness of her hand and the tight, muscular body I glimpsed earlier all spoke of how seriously she took increasing her strength.

Still, how was I supposed to teach someone about love when I barely understood it myself?

— ❀❁✿ —

Lily was an excellent cook. Eating dinner with a girl wearing only an apron was certainly awkward, but I was already a pro at not looking at people when I talked to them. Neither of us brought up the topic of love again.

While I struggled to meaningfully contribute to a conversation involving three or more people, I had never had an issue with one on one conversations. Spending time with Lily honestly wasn’t that different from when I used to spend time with my male friends back in high school.

Lily certainly wasn’t a man and she didn’t behave like one, but she had the same kind of easy going camaraderie that I typically associated with friendships between guys. I wasn’t pretending to be a bright, cheerful person in front of her.

Rather, being with her brought out the bright, cheerfulness buried deep inside me behind many years of solitude. Her smile was infectious and her occasional mischief was endearing. We eventually grew tired as it got late and we called it a night.

“Aria, are you sure you don’t want to sleep on the bed with me?”

“Y-Yeah. I’ll take the sofa.”

Lily was strangely desperate in trying to convince me, but I refused to budge on this. We turned off the lights and silence fell between us. I closed my eyes on the couch pretending to sleep. Once Lily fell asleep, I planned to log out and spend the rest of the night seeing what the rest of the world has been up to from the comfort of my home in Terra.

An uncharacteristically meek voice spoke up.

“Can you hold Lily’s hand until she goes to sleep?”

I couldn’t dismiss her request, especially when I noticed she referred to herself in third person. I brought up one of Lily’s dinner table chairs to her bed and sat beside her. I had noticed it earlier when we walked to her apartment, but Lily’s body temperature was rather low.

“...Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. This is what friends are for.”

Lily’s face peeked out from under the covers like a small, frightened animal. I was starting to understand why Colette spoiled Lily. Seeing her like this, I wanted to do the same.

“Do you think Letty would do the same for me?”

“Of course. She is your best friend.”

“Hehe…”

A small smile formed on Lily’s lips and she closed her eyes. It was not long before Lily fell asleep with a comfortable grin. I let go of her hand and tucked it underneath the blanket. The loss of her parents had forced Liliana Maxwell to grow up quickly, but the original child peeked through at times.

As someone who spent the last several years alone, I understood how nights grew lonely. I had over complicated things earlier when I tried to guess why Lily invited me over, but perhaps this was the true reason.

Before I moved back in with my parents, I longed for the simple comforts of hearing someone say goodnight to me when I went to sleep and good morning when I woke up. I brushed Lily’s hair out of her eyes.

“Sweet dreams, Lily.”

My plans to logout for the night lay in ruins. Instead, I sat down against the wall on the other side of the room and pulled out my phone. Experience taught me that logging out and back in wiped away the effects of not sleeping for the night.

I used the Hexennacht app to access the WHO forums. It was the dawn of the second day of the main story at Astraea Academy. Only a day had passed, but players from all over the world had already gone on several adventures.

Another 3% of the player population had fallen. Even if a player died in Evergarden, that just locked them out of returning to Evergarden. Of course, the Magical Girls who lived completely in Evergarden would be gone for good once they died.

Our game knowledge turned out to be a double edged sword. Most of the deaths came from players trying to utilize their game knowledge to gain an advantage over everyone else. Few succeeded.

No matter how knowledgeable we were, we all came from a peaceful world. It was simple to push a button to kill a goblin in a game. It was an entirely different matter to swing a sword at a monster.

Several of the players that died were live streaming their perspective up until their very last moments. I grimaced at the gruesome sights. The lucky ones died to Succubus demons. Others were torn in two by Lesser Demons, killed by goblins, or mauled by demon wolves.

My grip on my phone tightened. As long as I lived in Evergarden, there was always a chance I would end up like those unlucky players. Only 8% of the players had died, but the number that lost the will to fight far exceeded that.

With their naive power fantasies crushed, how many would continue to fight in a war knowing the horrific endings that awaited them?

I was terrified. A large part of me wanted to leave Evergarden and not come back. Even so…

My gaze wandered to Lily’s sleeping figure. Running away meant abandoning Lily, Colette, and Rose to that very same fate I feared.

The Witch Hunters of WHO planned to launch their first major counter offensive on the day that Demons invaded Emerald Coast, but nobody knew what the future held. For example, the combined might of every player would not be enough to defeat the Demon King if she showed up.

In the end, we were extras on the game board for the battle between the Hero and the Demon King. Now that Camellia Maxwell’s opportunities had been stolen by hundreds of players, it was doubtful whether she would even triumph in the end.

“Letty… don’t go… don’t leave me alone…”

A tearful voice cut through my thoughts.  Lily had a tormented expression on her face and she was sweating buckets. Her hand flailed left and right as if looking for the hands of somebody who was no longer here.

I hurried over to Lily’s side and clasped her outstretched hand. I tried to adjust the displaced comforter to cover her body once more, which was why I was entirely unprepared for the sudden strength that filled Lily’s hands. Lily pulled me close to her and I fell onto the bed with her.

A hand snaked around my waist and the next thing I knew, Lily was tightly clinging to me underneath the comforter of her bed.

“L-Lily! Wake up, Lily!”

I struggled, but Lily’s grip on me was firm like a vice. I called her name, but Lily remained asleep despite all the racket I made.

“Don’t leave me…”

I froze as fresh tears spilled from Lily’s closed eyes. Lily took advantage of my moment of inattention to nestle her head into my chest. I didn’t know what to do. Lily went to sleep naked. The only saving grace was that I couldn’t really feel her touch through my several layers of clothes. Eventually, I settled on hugging Lily back and whispering her comforting words.

“It is okay, Lily. I am right here. I am not going anywhere.”

“...Liar.”

Nothing I said eased Lily’s nightmare. My words didn’t reach her heart. If anything, they seemed to make matters worse.

“Liar, liar, liar.”

A wave of black light shone underneath the comforter, increasing in intensity as Lily repeated that word over and over again.

“Liar. Everyone left me alone.”

A strong force pushed me down on the bed. I didn’t realize what was happening until Lily clambered on top of me. The comforter lid down her back. The moonlight from the window shone into the room, revealing Lily’s naked figure.

“Li…ly?”

Empty, emerald eyes gazed vacantly at me from above. I somehow got the feeling that she wasn’t really looking at me. Instead, Lily was looking at some figure lost in her memory. None of that mattered in comparison to the wicked, black mark that sprouted above Lily’s crotch and was spreading across her body.

“No way…”

“I will never let you leave me.”

A sharp pain interrupted my thoughts. Lily had closed the distance between us and bit me. Her teeth sank into my flesh as if she wanted to leave her own mark on me.

The base of my neck throbbed in pain. I opened my eyes through the haze of hurt, but the wicked light from Lily’s Cursed Mark dominated my vision. I gasped as Lily’s teeth left my tender flesh. My relief was short-lived.

Lily bit the other side of my neck. I hissed in pain. My mind was a mess from my overwhelming horror at seeing Lily’s Cursed Mark. I didn’t know what was going on and as a result, I simply allowed Lily to do as she pleased. A trace of annoyance filled those empty, green eyes as my clothes hampered her ability to bite me.

A wave of black light from her Cursed Mark filled the room. Warm air from the heater brushed past my bare skin. A dim red glow appeared at the center of my chest. It took me a moment to realize what had happened. I was naked.

“Eh? What?”

My final line of defenses fell. Shame restarted the locked gears in my brain and I did the only thing I could to stop Lily’s eyes from roaming my body.

“Don’t look!”

I pulled Lily into a tight hug, pressing her face into my chest. I ignored the strange sensations the action brought and did my best to forget the eyeful I saw. It was useless. The image of my breasts in their final form was seared in my mind along with Lily’s own nakedness.

Lily weakly struggled in my arms, but I wouldn’t let her go. Her body was abnormally cold, as if lacking the heat a living, human body naturally possessed.

“...Don’t leave me…”

“I promise! I promise to stay by your side.”

My desperate words seemed to have some effect this time as tension left Lily’s body. The wicked light from Lily’s Cursed Mark faded, returning the room to its original tranquility. Lily’s breathing quieted as she fell into a deep sleep.

Even now, her body was far colder than the average human being. I shifted us so that Lily was laying beside me rather than on top of me. Her arms remained wrapped around my back in a steadfast refusal to be separated from me.

“There, there. Everything will be okay.”

My phone was somewhere under the covers of the bed, but it was impossible to reach it given the circumstances. That left me alone with my own thoughts, which was the last thing I wanted at that moment. Growing despair drowned out anything else I might be feeling at that moment.

I had recognized Lily’s Cursed Mark at a glance. It was not an exaggeration to say I was more familiar with Lily’s Cursed Mark than any other Cursed or Saint Mark in the game.

Lily had Maxwell’s Cursed Mark, the same Cursed Mark that killed Camellia Maxwell in the game. Even if the world was saved, there was no happily ever after for her.