–Remember that one game that you said was different? The one they said you "absolutely" couldn't play? Seems like they're finally releasing it – was what John had come to tell her. Fucking hell!, him and his stupid timing and way of bringing news!

After the party, when she was about to inaugurate a couple of "new blood" who had somehow managed to escape her more loyal fans' temptation – though at times it seemed more like a bunch of bloodin' virgin hunters – the ultimate boss had descended upon her and demanded her attention!

All she could do was blame her own tardiness in dealing with the freak show as two girls were escorted out of her sight by an overzealous John's lefty and a seriously proud Male guy with a microwave head and Satellite Dishes for eyes as an Avatar. 'Even the Cooking alley is stealing my sleeping bottles now…'

At first, she had listened to him with some interest. John was, after all, her longest follower to date. A bit too zealous with all the idea that she was different from every other damn idol, who the heck was an idol?, that he knew, but his interest in her at least was genuine. He knew exactly what kind of worlds she liked to explore, what made her feel the most thrill when going for the last stretch of the race she had to run through before one of those too prude of a developer decides that she was breaking one too many rules of their game before issuing her the "Thanks for the Cover, but you're banned from here."

The problem was, though, that John was also a full-time maniac. A single look at his Avatar and people would understand what that meant. Who would use a full-blown Halloween Special as your casual avatar these days when every damn eye was on you?

That "thing" was meant to be a gift she had made for the guy after he had managed to get her into a world of Pink dolls and Guillotines when the other side had vehemently denied any chance of her taking part in it due to her Innocent looks ("You've already been banned 3 times from our previous games.") Yet, had she known by answering John's honest feeling and modifying his avatar that much would have brought her this much of a headache, being followed by him looking like that 5 years later, she would have thought twice about the meaning of: "What do you think I should look like?"

But instead of just delivering the news and getting away, John, the so-called Number 1 Fan, had to stick to her till the end of her night. And that meant he would be keeping away anyone who could not stand the presence of something as repugnant as that vermin. It also meant she would have had to give him all her attention unless some other less savoury fans were to be around, which she would also rather not be alone with due to mostly the same reason as John.

Entertaining people was one thing, but keeping company to a single one? That was going way beyond what she had signed up for when she had accepted the name “Jynx” that her fans had given her!

" – nd'Ey'Aid'ee'game–!!"

"Enough of the damn chattering, John!"

That was enough for a night! No more humouring the damn fans!

“Jynx? Nee’ng-wong?”

“You! Now! Human!”

“Wait! Is-en..!”

And with that, the “spell” was broken for John. Or rather, his Avatar was unmade.

What was once a dreadful, for those who couldn’t stand the reality of unsanitary bowels, vermin, was no more. John, the too-long tapeworm with wasp features, was broken in a flash of light and its pieces disappeared in thin air.

The people who remained in the Cooling Monument had very different reactions. Some of them skedaddled the fastest as they could, either turning into light themselves or finishing crossing one of the many ways that lead to that area.

Others froze in place regardless of what they were doing. In the middle of dancing, serving water, cleaning the place, jumping, flying. It didn’t matter what they were doing or what kind of motion they were in the middle of; the very objects they were interacting along had lost motion and stuck there with them.

And very few were looking at what remained of John standing next to Jynx now. It was a Human. A bona fide one, too normal for that Garbage Dump. No filters covered its figure, neither was it wearing any flashy clothes. So plain, in fact, those looking felt awkward instead when looking at them, feeling a certain déjà vu of themselves in it.

“Good. Now you look the part. Talk.”

The Atmosphere of the place was shattered, but it seemed to not be important in the least to “Jynx”. In fact, the place that used to be a dancing hall was so still that things were obviously wrong, but to her, it was now that things were right.

That place should have always been “lively”. One should always be able to hear the hum of some electronic gadget working in the background. Of metal being displaced, thrown from one pile to another. One should be able to feel these tiny movements that were constantly happening on the “ground”. This place was an illusion after all. It was a Virtual Space held for people to have fun.

“Why are you quiet all of a sudden, John? You had so much to talk about. Are you sad that you now don’t look like how I thought you should look any more? Don’t worry. I think you look better like this. I assure you. It was getting a bit boring for you to look like that all the time, you know? People have to change from time to time! Even I do, you know? Haha! Come on, don’t stand there and look at me dumbfounded, just tell me what you have come to tell me, you’re starting to make me feel bad–”

“Sorry, my bad, Jynx! I was just so surprised! Hahaha! It has been so long since I have been a human that I forgot how to use my mouth! Heheh-hahah!”

“Oh, isn't that right?! I know what you mean! Every time I grow a new pair of eyes, it’s so hard to get used to the new field of view, right?!”

“What? New field of view? What you? I just meant to say I was caught by surprise haha.”

“Oh! That?! Right? Hahahaha! Obviously that!?! Right?! Anyway, hurry up and tell me. You were so eager to tell me some news. But I just couldn’t understand you, you know!? You kept speaking funny, it was nerve-wracking…”

“Speaking funny? Huh? Anyway, you remember that game we couldn’t get you to participate in their tests no matter what? What was the game again…. Trans-something… Well, I have good news for you. Someone I know just told me that they’re making the official release of it.”

“Huuuh? That one? But shouldn’t it have gone under after so long without news?”

“Weird right? But no, I’m not mistaken about it. This guy told me that they’re releasing it anyway. No fanfare, no nothing. Just quietly doing it.”

“Really?! And they’re letting me in?”

“Seems like they don’t cross anyone from playing it. ANY-ONE.”

“What do you mean ‘Anyone’?”

“I don’t really understand it either. When I asked the guy if they could make an exception, and they looked at me weirdly and said, ‘Exception? The /Exception/ here is that everyone can play it.’”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I was hoping YOU could explain it to me. You’re usually the exception, you know?”

“Hahah! Wish I knew! Anyway, when are they releasing it?”

“Hm… Well, nothing to it. In a week, it seems. Are you going to be doing your usual antics?”

“What do you mean by antics? I’m always being myself here! I’m not doing anything more than that, just so you know! So YES! I’m going to! HAHAHAHA! Finally! Something interesting to do!”

“Is that so? Just being yourself, huh? That’s why you’re ‘Jynx’ after all.”

“Shush. Stop that, will you? You’re the one who gave me that name. I don’t even know why you think I’m cursed or whatever.”

“For once, normal people don’t normally ‘just because’ and destroy others' rules. They're enforced, like it or not."

"Here you come again with too complicated a stuff for me! I'm just a free bird, you know it! Anyway, time to hit the quit button before someone nags too much! You deal with them, John! You're the cause of the trouble anyway!"

No more need to stay there! Finally! Fun! Things promised to be fun again! How much she longed for it!

She twisted her hips and jumped high in the air. Her wings started flapping on both back and hands and in a green light display she was gone.

"Wai – ! And she's gone. Shit!"

Just like the free bird she had called herself, "Jynx" was gone in a flash of green light, leaving behind an astounded now-human John.

The zone around him, however, had changed a bit during their conversation. More people had left the scene through the portals. While a few others were arriving.

The arriving ones clothed uniforms sporting a logo depicting a plot of green land and atop it a mound of trash. Around the trash, were sound notes, perfume bottles, people dancing and masks smiling; the logo of "Air Dump Dance Club".

A woman, who had remained looking John from a distance all this time, finally got closer and spoke to him.

"I'd warned you before, John. The Princess wasn't happy with you."

"Hff. That's a low one, Yiven. You, calling her a princess? Has everything around here gone wrong, huh?"

"Yes, and as the princess said, it's your fault. Be more careful of her whims next time."

"Tsk! Shut up, will you?"

"Who's responsible for this area here?" One of the employees had got closer while man and woman bickered.

"Tch, took you long enough. She is."

"No, he is."

"According to the registrar's, this area is under joint management of Johnson Sanders and Chang Yuu Li. You're both of them; therefore I take it I'm going to have to hold you responsible over this incident if you don't reach a consensus."

"There's no Incident here, Sir. It's all a misunderstanding."

"I understand your concern, Mr. Sanders. But according to the logs, the misunderstanding you talk about is anything but missed and all understood.

Some very serious crimes have been committed here, Mr. Sanders.

Unauthorized Access and Modification of running code of Class 2 Entertainment Facilities. Unauthorized Access and Modification of Class 1 and Class 2 Artificial Intelligence Workers. Unauthorized Access and Modification of Class 1 Civilian Environmental Modu–"

"Enough of that, Officer. We are the ones who are responsible for this mess. John was just trying to find a solution, that was all."

"I see you, at least, are more sensible, Ms. Chang. The boss has offered to 'misunderstand' a few things if you would care to explain how this 'exactly' happened…"

"We will foot the bill, of course."

"I'm glad you understand. The 'Management,' however…"

"We're not doing anything more 'bout anything else!"

"I see. It's a shame. I am then afraid that you are not welcome here anymore. Please, I hope you understand the situation, Madam and Sir."

"We were about to leave."

"That's fortunate. We have much to do. Just leave after you foot your bill and we can all forget what happened here."

"Certainly."

Having formed an agreement, the employee turned its back and left both of them to themselves.

Both of them glared just for a while longer, but there was a tacit understanding formed between them that now was not the time to talk. They followed after the employee, leaving the room behind.

Not so long later, the area, a Monument for the Cooling, was strangely lively again. The people who had frozen in place were once again moving. The mysterious machine was humming, and the ground was shaking.

People were once again dancing, being served drinks. They were asking for their favourite combination of sights and sounds.

But for the moment, there was nary a human there. The full house that it sported was all a gimmick: nothing more than A.I. playing their roles. They were there to keep company to the real customers. Even the employee whom they talked to in the end had been an A.I. as a matter of fact.

Simple and Efficient. That was how things had to be.

John and Yiven still had business to solve and decided to solve it in a café room.

"... And that was how you were going to solve it? 'A misunderstanding'? You want them to show to whom exactly those logs?!"

"My bad."

"My bad, my ass, you maggot! I know you love her for some strange reason, probably because she sees you for the disgusting insect you wished you were born but wasn't, but don't you dare ruin it all on the others just because of your warped views."

"Sorry. Seriously, k?"

"Work out that money if you really are. You can't just give her these 'worlds'. And you know it, too."

"But this one, she really wanted it!"

"So what?! It took damn too long to get it. Be more aware of what is happening around her if you really want to call yourself 'Number 1 Fan'.

You did not even notice how nervous you were making her every time you were getting closer to her looking like that!"

"I did notice! I'm not that blind, ok!?"

"Then why not do something? There was no need to have it blow up like this!"

"Because I couldn't!"

"What do you mean 'couldn't'?"

"Its… I was permission blocked…"

"... What?"

"She blocked my permission…"

"When?"

"When it happened. I only noticed later…"

"But that is…"

"You know what it means, and you know why I'm telling you…"

"Bloody hell… you serious?"

"I am."

"... That must be why she has been so nervous lately, then?"

"I don't know. You're the one who's been close to her. She did say weird stuff to me, though, while we were talking earlier. You heard, no?"

"Yes. I did notice she was getting stranger with her form but… she's always kept to herself anyway. Anytime she says too much these days is when her Avatar changes."

"Did you look into that?"

"She knows my touch is different from the others for some reason. Too smart for her own good sometimes, the little thing."

"Careful how you say that, or else people might think you're not cut for the job and replace you."

"Alright. I get it. I just can not get her to relax so well these days. Maybe now with your news she will?"

"Well, I hope so. But this one is so strange too…"

"Is anything wrong with this world she wants to play with?"

"Nah. Not that I can see but…"

"Well, stop thinking too much then! You will never get it. The others must have already realized what happened."

"Tsk. Don't tell them, please!"

"Tell? Why should I have to? You made such a big mess on the scene, I am amazed no one has yet come barged in here to interview you yet!"

"No!! Not while I'm wearing my PJs!"

'Interview…'

(2023-12-28 Small English edit.)