By the time Ann shifted her gaze a little bit from Laura, she noticed the annoying window box.

‘The heck? This is so useless! I needed that information because I didn’t know! Now that I know, it’s just… useless!!’

If possible, she wanted to grab on the system in this world, shake it until it could no longer function. Anyhow, this system is useless!  

 

“You never change, you’re so unbelievably dense! I even went by the same name as my original name and you didn’t even recognize me? So much for a bestie!!” Ann protested as she pinched Laura’s cheek.

“You already know how I had high hopes that you’d be here too and jumped on every Ann in this world that had even a remote similarity to you! By the time I encountered you, I was attacked and that made me think that you couldn’t be Ann! I had to make sure it was 100% you!” Laura protested as she reminded her quick-to-forget bestie.

“Still, we are bestie! You should’ve felt some sparks or anything from being close to me!”

“Well, what about you yourself?!”

“That—”

Ann was tongue tied.

True.

Never in her wildest dream would she thought that she’d encounter someone she knew from her original world, much less for that to be her bestie, and furthermore, for her bestie to turn into the heroine!!

 

“Whoa, to think that besties like us would end up in the body of the heroine and the villainess…,” Ann shook her head in disbelief.

“Heroine? Villainess?” Laura repeated the terms, causing Ann to stare blankly at her.

‘Don’t tell me…,’ Ann thought in horror.

“What do you mean, Ann?” Laura’s eyes clearly showed her confusion.

“Lori, you…?!”

“I what?” Laura asked.

“You seriously don’t know that we’re in a game world?!!” Ann asked.

“WHAT?!” Laura freaked out now.

 

“Hold on, why’s your name here Laura? Should I call you Laura from now on, or Lori?” Ann asked.

“Wait, the game thing is more important now!! What do you mean?!” Laura insisted her question be answered now.

“Argh… Okay, so here’s this otome game that I liked back then… Hold on, I think I’ve told you too,” Ann narrowed her eyes looking at Laura. Her gaze seemingly said, ‘I can’t believe you don’t remember anything about it despite me talking about it a lot. So, you’re not paying attention to me, are you?’

“I’m telling you! I’ve been living here for 18 years! What we’ve talked is like more than 18 years to me! I’d be surprised if I can remember!” Laura reminded Ann.

“Ah, okay… So hear me out…,” Ann began to narrate the original story of the game ‘Saving the World, Snatching the Beauty’ to Laura.

 

“Oh, so we’re supposed to be enemies and that’s why you’ve been wary towards me, I see,” Laura nodded.

“And the game plot has deviated, huh? But you still want to make sure that it won’t correct itself and have you expelled and the original villainess be back?” Laura asked again.

“Exactly!”

“Well, of course I don’t want you to be gone so I’ll give my 100% to this,” Laura said with a look of determination.

“Thank you, Lori!” Ann hugged Laura before she suddenly came to a realization.

“Wait, so you mean you haven’t been giving your 100% before this?” Ann asked suspiciously.

“Uhm, that’s not what I mean…,” Laura realized she had misspoken.

“Huh—”

“Anyway, about my name, let me explain.”

Laura said without letting Ann utter another word.

 

“I’m listening,” Ann said.

“I was born as a baby here so I was named Laura. Even when I insisted my name is Lori after I could speak, they thought I misspoke my name. Anyway, when I was adopted, I got the full name Laurence Holly Ainsworth,” Laura finished explaining before adding, “Anyway, I’m accustomed with the two of them so you can call me Lori or Laura, they’re similar either way.”

“Okay then,” Ann nodded in understanding.

“Anyway, what happened after my passing?” Ann finally asked the question she had been thinking the most.

“About that…,” Laura’s face turned gloomy when she recalled about it.

 

“I was so shocked I couldn’t cry when I first heard about it. Your family was so heartbroken. When the doctors told us that the cause of your death was heart attack due to your poor quality of life and overworking, your family thought of suing the company, but… Sigh… Long story short, they couldn’t sue the company for it as heart attack had many factors and the company said that if you felt unwell, you shouldn’t have continued working… They didn’t want to take the blame. Well, there were social repercussions but that didn’t really shake the company too much,” Laura sighed a lot during the whole narration.

“Well, actually, that’s within my expectation,” Ann’s expression turned sour too, perhaps disappointed as she wanted her death to amount more than just this. But that was how the world worked…

“And then, not too long after, pandemic happened… Oh, I continued to work in the company because when I wanted to quit, the pandemic happened and many people were out of job. I had no choice but to suck it up,” Laura sighed.

“But then, I still got infected from the pandemic and eventually succumbed to the illness… When I woke up again, I had become a baby in an unfamiliar world,” Laura finished narrating.

 

“Deep condolences for you,” Ann said.

“Nah, it’s alright. I don’t really feel bad about my passing and then rebirth in another world. But why is it that I was an orphan back in our modern world, and when I reincarnated, I had become an orphan again?!” Laura pulled her hair, seemingly going crazy.

“There, there. It’s better to be an orphan than being born in a very twisted family… like this body of mine…,” Ann patted Laura’s shoulder.

“Well, at least I got adopted this time around and my adoptive family is nice,” Laura also comforted herself.

“Oh, but Ann…,” Laura remembered something and said seriously.

“Yes?”

“Your parents were so saddened and they even blamed themselves for your death… Something like if they knew you were living like this and got sick to death, they would’ve asked you to quit and they would take care of you… They don’t really care if they have a jobless daughter, for they’d rather have a living daughter…,” Laura bitterly said, her eyes showing sadness and a hint of envy—for she had no biological parents that would do the same for her. The biological parents in her original world… they had abandoned her.

“Mom… Dad…,” Ann’s eyes turned hazy due to her tears.

“Your little sister also became depressed and isolated herself for a moment after your passing. She felt guilty for not really checking on you…”

“…”

 

Laura turned to look at Ann who had tears falling from her eyes.

“Don’t worry. I’ve tried to comfort them to the best of my abilities. By the time I passed, they had already processed their grief and managed to resume their lives, although I know your passing still saddened them,” Laura said.

“Thank you, Lori,” Ann hugged Laura.

 

“Okay, enough about the sad thing. Let’s talk about some light stuff to cheer up our mood,” Ann decided after processing her sadness.

“Right. We should take our time to lighten our mood before getting back to work, right?” Laura asked.

The two girls smiled as they huddled together behind the sofa, sitting on the fluffy carpet.

The two would occasionally joke with each other, talking about trivial stuff just to catch up from the last time they met, as well as to reminisce things that happened in their shared past.

 

“Having fun, aren’t we?”

Suddenly, a familiar voice with an eerie and chilling tone could be heard from behind the two girls who were just giggling together.

Ann and Laura froze, their smiles turned stiff.

Together, they slowly turned their heads around and…

 

“Hiiii!!”

“OHMYGOD?!”

Their timid gazes were met with the scary face and sharp gaze that Mila was making.

Yes, they had been discovered by the furious Mila.

 

“Saintess-sama, I thought you wanted to catch the fleeing person and then resume the session diligently, not playing truant along with her?” Mila asked.

“Uhm… That…,” Laura was unable to talk smoothly.

“And since when you two get along so well that you’re playing truant and giggling together?” Mila asked.

“Uhm…,” Ann wanted to speak.

“Never mind. Save it for later. Time is of essence. The prince and the duke is looking for you two,” Mila said before pulling Ann and Laura by force.

‘Holy shoot, this woman’s got the strength for sure!’ Ann thought in her mind, clearly amazed.

 

Ann and Laura were shortly dragged by Mila to the room where Allen and Kiehl were already waiting for them. Faye and Birdie were also there.

“So? Finished playing truant?” Kiehl raised his eyebrow.

“If there’s a problem with this method, you can tell us. We’ll think of another way,” Allen said.

“See? It’s your fault for suddenly running away!” Laura quickly elbowed Ann and said rebukingly.

“Excuse me? You don’t know how much pain your magic inflicted me! It’s only natural for me to escape!” Ann elbowed Laura back.

“But there’s progress! I’m sure that we’ll be able to try out the purification rite soon and see if it works!” Laura grabbed Ann’s hand to stop her from elbowing herself again.

“Well, why didn’t you say so earlier?! Let’s go and finish it quickly, then!” Ann said.

“Now that’s the spirit!” Laura said.

“Just promise you won’t torture me like before!”

“Hey, it wasn’t my intention to torture you!”

“But be gentler!”

“Okay, I’ll try because it’s you!” Laura helplessly agreed, although she wasn’t sure how she could go about being gentler in this kind of thing. But she could try and even if nothing was changed, at least she would have already put Ann in ease by giving her a promise. The so-called placebo effect!

 

Looking at the two’s quarrel, the two men looked at each other in confusion.

Sure, the two girls quarreled as always, but for some reason, their interaction this time seemed to be a lot better… or heck, they seemed a little bit intimate, even?

“So, the truancy has improved your relationship, it seems,” Kiehl said.

“But isn’t this too fast?” Allen asked in confusion.

“Well, they seem to get along better now, indeed,” Mila agreed.

 

Ann and Laura stopped quarreling with each other the moment they heard others’ opinions about their relationship.

They then turned their head sideways to look at each other before giggling. Although they spoke nothing at all, their gazes seemed to have conveyed their intention as they had a tacit understanding.

After giggling for a while, the two of them turned to look at the Allen, Kiehl, Mila, Faye, and Birdie. Ann put one of her hand on Laura’s shoulder and Laura did the same to Ann.

“Actually…,” Laura said.

“We’re besties!” Ann said with a hint of pride in her tone.

 

“Besties in such a short while?” Prince Kiehl scoffed at that idea.

“Impossible,” Allen also shook his head.

“Nah, we’re actually besties for years,” Laura said.

“How?!” Mila was the one who asked in genuine confusion.

“Actually…,” Laura and Ann began to explain their joyous finding.

 

The more the audience listened to the two girls’ stories, their expressions began to change.

Prince Kiehl was shaking his head in disbelief.

Allen’s brows scrunched up together the more he listened.

Faye seemed a little bit clueless while Birdie… had the same face like always.

Mila was the one who was the most dumbfounded here.

 

“So… It’s true that you had memories of your past life, and not just your imagination?” Prince Kiehl asked Laura.

“I told you!” Laura could finally say that with confidence.

“And this means that Ann’s identity and the truth of her story has been verified,” Allen said as he gazed softly at Ann, who smiled back at him.

Looking at the two’s interaction, Laura realized that she had forgotten to ask Ann about this! She would certainly interrogate Ann after this!

‘The juicy details of their relationship… I need to know!!’

…but Laura’s mind turned crooked instead of straight.

 

“Is… is this all true?” Mila still couldn’t believe it.

“Yep!” Laura and Ann said in unison.

“Y-you…,” Mila pointed at Ann before asking, “you aren’t putting any weird spell to the saintess, are you?”

“NO!!” Ann said in her defense quickly.

 

“Well… This is unbelievable but certainly a welcome development. I believe you two will be more cooperative going forward, right?” Prince Kiehl asked.

“Yeah! I am more spirited to do this now!” Laura energetically said.

“Actually, I still haven’t forgiven you for torturing me for quite a time…,” Ann muttered, much to Laura’s surprise.

“…,” Laura turned to look at Ann with an open eyes and mouth, while Ann only hung her head down.

 

“YOUUU!! Aren’t you my bestie?! Why are you holding that kind of grudge, you petty?!” Laura squeezed Ann in her arms.

“Being bestie doesn’t mean you can’t hold grudges like this, right?!” Ann said in her defense.

“Why you little…!!”

 

Allen, Kiehl, Mila, Faye, and Birdie could only look helplessly at the two quarreling girls.

Now they weren’t sure if this was better than before or not…

Hopefully the future will be bright…

So they thought.