-

With metaphorical ice flowing through her veins instead of warm blood, Tsune turned around. Her face was pale and eyes lightly quivered from the fear and anticipation.

"He knows? What is he going to do?"

From the moment she looked into the mirror for the very first time, she couldn't help but try to rationalize what has happened to her.

The girl suppressed that thought in the next second. She became brutally efficient at changing her train of thought, as even recognizing some of the possibilities scared her. But these ideas reappeared time and time again, like shark fins on the sea surface of her subconsciousness.

Even worse, this fear was too real for her to get used to. And every time it returned it brought new details.

So the more she pushed them away, the more they intertwined with a sickly anticipation. That the proverbial sharks would finally attack and leave her psyche in pieces, if that's what was needed for them to leave her alone.

'Wow.'

Seeing her expression, Rod let go of her shoulder and made several quick steps back. His hands now raised in surrender.

'I'm sorry I scared you, Red. I really didn't mean to.'

'It was really bad for me to ask this right now. I'll just go back to class.'

The girl's lips turned into a thin line and, before the boy could even turn around, she had his hand in a tight grip.

"You are not going anywhere until you tell me everything."

She was emotional enough to feel dizzy, she even thought of taking her uniform shirt off. Not because she felt hot or needed air, but to physically tie her sudden source of information to her. Although she quickly discarded that idea, because it was less efficient than just asking.

'I'm feeling faint, so I'm going to medbay and you are going with me.'

'But we have a class right now.'

'If you run, I'm not going to forgive you.'

With one hand firmly on his arm, the blonde pressed the button near the medbay's door. The camera flashed green as it scanned her and the door opened with a click.

-

Entering the medbay, a room that was split into many walled off sections, Tsune pulled him to the nearest open door.

Once inside, she let go and went to the bed. With her back resting against the pillow, that she propped up against the wall, she felt her head start to clear.

When she gave him her full attention, Rod started to repeat his question, but she interrupted.

'Before I answer, I want to hear more from you. Are you serious about me being from another world?'

'I'm serious.'

With a sigh, Rod now looked almost regretful that he ever said anything.

'You see, I'm also from another world.'

Tsune pulled her collar up to her nose and felt her her heart beat quicken. It was way too early to judge, but she had a chance to learn more about transportation between different worlds. Maybe it'd even prove some of the worse ideas about herself false.

'Tell me everything. I want to know how you got here and why.'

'At least say that you are didn't agree to listen just to laugh at me later. Or because you are scared of me being crazy.'

'I promise, I promise. Start talking please.'

Wary of choosing the words that would shake whatever trust she had in him, the boy started his tale.

'First, I don't think I can prove that I'm from another world with any items. That's because I woke up here in a body that wasn't the one I had in my world.'

'I couldn't have been transported here by a spaceship either. My home world barely even went outside of its orbit .'

'Also, it never discovered superalloys, never met a mechamonster, or giant robots outside of entertainment. But it didn't live a peaceful life either, so I'm not a stranger to the idea of wars being common.'

Noticing that the girl's eyes began to show impatience, Rod smiled to calm her down. Then he decided that getting to the point was for the best, while he still had a chance.

'I asked if you were from another world, because in my world there was a game whose's world looked just like this one.' 'And the more I learned about this world during the almost two years that I lived as Rod Rhodes, the more it reminded me of that game.'

Tsune watched the boy as he continued his explanations. She was still feeling high strung, with the feelings apparent in her expression, but now she could think with relative clarity.

As far she could judge, his words were too elaborate to be a prank. But it wasn't impossible.

And as much as she was uncomfortable with the idea, with how students behaved back in class, he could have an hidden reason to lie. But to lie so closely to her own memories of the previous world, he would need to be either incredibly lucky, or...

'Say, do you think your memories are real?'

Interrupted once again, by the girl asking him with a serious look in her eyes, Rod was quiet as he prepared the answer.

'I think I know what are you asking about, but isn't it impossible to fake that many memories?'

If she were to speak from the bottom of her heart, she did believe that her real identity was Lyle, but-

'But isn't having fake memories, or being lucky even at that scale, much more believable than being from another world?'

If he asked her, the idea that she had a mental disorder was one of the more realistic ones. And that in reality they were no more than the daughter of Professor Red and a boy from her class who shared that strange disability.

Rhodes put his hands on his knee, as a replacement of a tribune, an gave an entire speech.

'I think believable and possible are two different things. '

'Since I'm limited by my goals, I avoided doing indepth research. But as far I know, these memories were't inspired by a third party's words, nor were they implanted by anyone. The latter might be possible but it's rendered not believable by my study of the world's culture and my current social circles.'

'Therefore I think that memories, even fake ones, are created only using events I interacted with. One could certainly create memories of imagined events, but even those are based on real experiences.'

"This guy looks so serious."

Tsune couldn't help but smile as she listened to the lecture. She imagined him before an audience and he fit right in.

And he even attempted to fix the position of his nonexistent glasses, every time when he finished speaking, something she didn't notice before.

Meanwhile, he was almost done.

'A young boy thinking up almost two decades worth of memories, with so many details that don't exist in this world to begin with. Such a thing is believable but I don't think its possible at all.'

'Besides, if I were to think that, it would really interfere with my goals that I set for myself in this world.'

His last idea mirrored much of her own thoughts. If she were to accept her memories as fake, she would no longer care about things she was used. And she would rather believe that she was actually Lyle transported into a world similar to the game, than have her world crash around her.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

And that prompted another question from her.

'I probably should've asked that earlier, but when you say *I*, who is that *I*?'

The boy sighed, as he shifted around to find a better position. Or at least to become as comfortable as he was at the start of this long discussion, that slowly turned into an interrogation.

'As far as I care to think about it, this line of thinking is a slippery slope that can't lead to anything useful.'

'Even if I'm really Rod Rhodes whose identity was replaced, instead of being who I think I am. Even then, the best I can do for the previous me is to remain physically and mentally healthy while working on the goals that I think are important.'

'Same goes for being transformed to look like him, given his subconscious reactions and... replacing him in this world.'

The blonde was thankful that the boy didn't notice his unintentional jab reach its mark, because of the stumble near the end. It was a hole she dug completely by herself, but the idea that Tsune had an identity of her own, before that fateful morning two years ago, was one of those sharks that swam in her unconscious mind.

If she took this girl's life, it would hurt both her self-perception and Lyle's remaining identity and self respect. And she instinctively knew that, if she accepted that Lyle was imaginary, the original would feel really bad.

And if she even tried that, it almost certainly could make her paranoid. Constantly dissecting her actions and personality traits. Turning simple retrospections into a witch hunts that separated the good real Tsune from the bad illusionary Lyle whose memories haunted her for life.

It was somewhat unexpected, but as she thought about this, the girl realized that she felt much better now.

The ambient nauseating sensation, of being glued into the world as a puzzle piece. Her sense of self overwhelmed by impressions and expectations others had of her. All of these have faded.

She remembered how hard she was hit in the first day, when she thought she was a coma patient with a fever dream. And mentally laughed at it, which helped her feel even better.

'We'll settle on you being from another world, but do you know what caused you to appear here? Maybe you can use it to return, if you want.'

The boy looked at the wall clock as he changed positions again and the girl followed suit. The class was mostly over, but they still had time.

'I'll need to tell you about the friend I had in the other world.'

'In that world, a sport centered around creating robots that fought each other was really popular with young people.'

'A lot of companies that dealt with science fiction, video games, or just worked with robots made their own team. Or sponsored a popular independent team, like the team I was in.'

The girl's years perked up when she heard a familiar tale. The memories of her past as a part of one such team came with a trace of nostalgia.

'Most of my friends had a favorite team, or something related to the robots, so I spent most of my time talking about robots even when I wasn't working.'

'During one of the meetings I had with my friends, I met a guy that really liked a very long running series of games. He made a drawing of a robot that he wanted my team to present at the next shop session.'

The nostalgia turned bittersweet, as those words hit a bit too close to home. The girl smiled on the inside, thinking that her story wasn't unique after all.

'Ah, I forgot to mention that most teams created virtual robots that they used to fight in holograms, or in video games. But some people liked watching robots made from real parts.'

'Unfortunately, there was a catch. Robots, that their opponents knew too well, had a much lower success rate, so their redacted blueprints were sold after one or two tournaments. Which is why we needed new ideas.'

'Anyway, I showed his drawing to my boss and the team decided to hire him as one of the designers and pilots. We all gave him advice to gradually raised win rate, but eventually his rating started to decline and he left.'

"Wait, what? You are him!"

"You kept saying I put too much importance on form over function and that I would be fired if I didn't win enough."

Any sort of flowery descriptions for *atmosphere*, or *nostalgia*, or whatever connection she imagined she now had with the boy, all of those were burned to ash by a sudden flash of anger. She suddenly recognized all of his mannerisms and honestly felt blind that she couldn't see it before.

"Is that how you thought of it? That call to discuss *an important matter* the first thing in the morning and making me sign the self resignation letter."

'Some of my team mates felt that his rating fell because of our advice that made his robots too boring to watch. I tried to offer an apology, but I couldn't reach him.'

'But during my attempts I learned that the voice actor for main character of his favorite games, the pilot of *Destiny*, was retiring. And that the next game will have a scene with his character's death, so he would be among the first to buy it to avoid spoilers.'

Tsune's expression, still hidden by the collar, floated a smug grin as she kept mentally commenting on his story.

"What, were you scared? Would your precious reputation of a great team leader be tarnished if anyone learned that you mismanaged one of your subordinates?"

'So, I decided to meet him in the shop. I even downloaded the script for the game's story campaign, to find a place in the game with the highest chance of meeting him, but he never came. And the next morning I woke up here.'

The satisfaction of meeting somebody else from her world was almost pushed out by anger. And the girl could barely wait for him to finish before speaking. Her voice betrayed her lack of interest in further discussions.

'So, what do you want from me?'

'Ah, I want to know if you are from another world as well.'

Both of their phones rang, bringing notifications that the third year ceremony was about to start. Tsune got from her bed, but the boy grasped her hand, waiting for answer.

'I am, so what of it?'

'If this world really would follow the game's story, then this world will have to fight for survival. And it would start after the Destiny's assassination in the prologue. But the game's story developed in a way that guarantes the victory for our side. Therefore I think it's our obligation to make sure that the story develops as it should.'

Rod raised his hand to fix nonexistent glasses, before he caught himself.

'I studied the story to be able to meet that person, so I was able to write it down here. I'll give you the main character's part later, so please make sure to follow it.'

:"In prologue?"

Tsune's hand twitched. The boy's appearance hid the person she knew too well. He wouldn't misremember a crucial detail, which that left one answer. Another trick.

"Are you trying to sacrifice me for your goals again? You self serving..."

-