I returned to my bed – no, I returned to Ronin Kassius’s bed – kicked off my sneakers, and then slipped under the covers.

I lay in darkness, and vacantly stared up at the indistinct ceiling.

Was I feeling shell shocked?

I didn’t know if that was the right word for it.

I wondered if I would offend anyone by even thinking of myself in those terms. After all, these days the vast majority of the populace was offended and slighted by every little thing they saw or heard. I found it ludicrous how they were all looking for a reason to pick a fight, or prove they were right and someone else was wrong as though trying to justify their existence.

Thus, I decided that I didn’t care if I offended anyone by describing myself as shell shocked.

I’d survived more hardship in two days than most of those easily offended people experienced in a lifetime.

To Hell with social graces and political correctness.

I had a right to feel this way.

Yes, I was shell shocked and there was no way in Hell I was going to fall asleep.

However, sleep wasn’t my goal.

For the moment, it was simply coping with the start reality of my existence, and by that I meant avoiding a nervous breakdown. Whether or not in future I could come terms with it wasn’t something I’d resolve overnight or just by sleeping on it. Thus, for now I was doing my best to avoid plunging into despair, because I felt that the progress that I’d made toward accepting my new life as Isabel and Mirai had suffered a major setback.

At its worst, I was more or less back to square one, and not knowing if I could move forward again sincerely frightened me.

But was there a way forward?

In other words, even if I wanted to make new progress – and I was certain that I did – was there a path or two for me to choose from?

That gave me food for thought because it next made me consider what my end goal was.

If I wanted to return to life as Ronin Kassius, that put me at odds with what Erina had told me back on the boat. In short, that it wasn’t possible for me to go back, so if I wanted to make peace with my new life as Isabel and Mirai, how would I go about that?

Perhaps, the first new step was to stop worrying about being a girl.

Perhaps, I just needed to gradually grow accustomed to it, and little by little, as time went by, I would settle into Isabel and Mirai’s skin.

With a heavy, shuddering sigh, I kicked back the bedsheets and lay still for a long while, before eventually swinging my legs off the bed. Sitting on the edge, I stared down at my feet for a good minute before I reached over to double-tap the base of the bedside lamp. Warm amber light spread across the room, pushing back much of darkness inside the apartment, and I slowly gazed around the living area while gently biting my lower lip.

If I was going to step away from the brink of despair, I believed I needed something to distract me.

Surprisingly, it was the kitchen that caught my eye.

Standing up, I walked over to its small refrigerator and peered inside.

The service bots had stocked it up again with fresh fruits and drinks. There was even a collection of square meals for me to choose from if I was hungry. But I was thirstier than famished, so I picked out a lemon soda in an emerald green plastic bottle, closed the fridge, then ambled back to the middle of the living area.

Uncapping the bottle, I drank it down slowly as I gave the place another sweeping look.

Everything really was where I remembered leaving it that Monday morning.

It was both reassuring and troubling because it made me feel as though I’d never left.

It threatened to instill me with a false sense of belonging, anchoring me in the past when I’d asserted that I wanted – needed – to look toward the future. But even so, that wasn’t quite right, because I wasn’t looking to a future as a girl out of necessity, but because I presently had no other options.

However, for the time being, I had to do something to take my mind off my situation.

I understood that in a way I was running away from the problem, but I’d already decided it wasn’t something that I could face right now.

What to do? What to do? What. To. Do?

My attention fell on the shelves filled to the brim with Mercy Haddaway material.

In this day and age, there was no need for large storage boxes to hold photronic media, but that didn’t stop companies from selling them in the time honored tradition since the days of Blu-Ray and Q-Ray discs.

Strolling over to one set of shelves, I peered at the spines of the slim cases sitting on the middle shelf, then pulled one out on impulse.

The cover was familiar to me but not the content.

It was a holovid that I’d never managed to watch beyond the first few minutes, but I knew that it featured Mercy returning to her high school in the city-state of Pan Pacifica.

Carefully, reverently, I opened the slim case and retrieved the photronic data-card inside. It was roughly the size of a cash card. Possessing half a petabyte of memory, that was enough for a few hours of holovid and projecbeam material to playback.

Closing the case, I slipped the data-card into the holovid player. While it loaded, I moved the low lying coffee table aside to make room in the middle of the living room, then retrieved the remote from beside the player. Last but not least, I turned off the bedside lamp with a tap, then sat cross-legged on the floor and waited for the holo-album’s menu to appear. When it came up, I selected the projecbeam playback option.

Originally, the dorm room came with a standard, mid-market holovid player. But at the end of last year, I’d spent a sizeable portion of my early allowance to purchase a high-end player with projecbeam capability. Unlike a holovid that required a projection surface behind it, making the images appear as though they were floating in front of the screen rather than on it, a projecbeam was projected into the air. The player I’d purchased could generate a spherical projecbeam. It came with emitter strips that I carefully attached to the walls of the dormitory’s living area. The connecting kitchen had complicated things a little, but I’d followed online advice on how to get the best results out of the room’s layout.

Sitting on the carpeted floor in the middle of the living room, I was quickly enveloped in an ultra high-resolution image bubble that recreated an urban environment.

Even though I was sitting down, my P.O.V. was from a standing position.

I was on a sidewalk outside of a towering school building encircled by a wall some twenty-feet high.

As I looked around me, my surroundings rotated when I turned my head and body as the player read my movements and line-of-sight to adjust the contents projected within the bubble.

The recreation was so detailed and life-like that I could easily suspend my disbelief as I stared at the city street, the moving vehicular traffic, the pedestrians, and Pan Pacifica’s soaring skyline. However, I wasn’t just seeing my surroundings but hearing them as well. The only shortcoming was the lack of smell, and there wasn’t any breeze to feel.

As I grew accustomed to the projected environment, I noticed a luxurious, executive styled passenger van pull up to the sidewalk, then stop within spitting distance of the school’s wide entrance. The passenger door opened by sliding back, and a dark suited gentleman climbed out. He turned to assist a pretty, blonde girl alight from the van.

Wearing a figure hugging, thigh length, lilac summer dress with a ruffled skirt, she had a svelte figure that most women would envy, and she stood on the sidewalk perched on heeled, strappy sandals. Gazing upon her surroundings with a breezy smile, she then appeared to notice me, and her smile grew as her green eyes appeared to meet mine.

Blinded by her beauty, my heart jumped then landed at a run.

My goddess, Mercy Haddaway, was smiling at me.

I’d played a few of the other albums as projecbeams, but my heart could never handle this one for more than a minute, so I always turned off the playback before I suffered a cardiac arrest. However, Mirai was made of sterner stuff, and she was able to weather the brunt of Mercy’s radiance, though I was trembling all over.

I needed a distraction. I guess this is it.

Mercy greeted me with her mellifluous voice, and then bade me to follow her as she ventured into the school through the open gates. They should have been closed since it appeared that classes were in session, but maybe they were opened just for Mercy since she was recording at the school today.

I didn’t need to walk to follow her.

That was convenient because my rubbery legs weren’t going to support me any time soon. Therefore, it was a good thing I was already sitting on the floor.

The projecbeam bubble and the recording made it seem as though I was really accompanying Mercy as she walked into the school grounds on a clear morning. My P.O.V. was like that of a drone floating off her left shoulder, and when I looked over my right shoulder – so to speak – I saw two dark suited gentlemen following a few steps behind us.

After a while my heart began to ease down, and I stopped trembling, allowing me to enjoy the immersive experience.

Mercy was warmly greeted by the school’s principal, a stunning brunette in a business-skirt suit. In a way, the woman made me think of Erina, and that was a bit of downer. However, after hastily pushing the comparison aside, I focused on Mercy and soon forgot about my bitch of a sister – I mean former sister – as Mercy toured the school.

San Marianna Academy was remarkably different to Telos Academy.

Everything from the layout, to the uniforms, to the general ambience. But that was understandable since this was an all girl’s school, and not co-educational.

The building was also much taller than Telos Academy. Because it wasn’t located on an island, the school was stuck somewhere in the city-state, and this had restricted its footprint, so the builders had gone up about a hundred floors. That said, space was always at a premium, so it seemed that only the bottom dozen floors were school facilities, while everything above it was accommodation for the students and staff. In short, much of the building was a giant dormitory.

However, that wasn’t all there was to it.

A level above the school floors had a parkland with a bicycle and jogging track, and a swimming pool that resembled a mini lagoon.

I could only imagine just how heavy that floor was with all the water it had to support.

To be honest, I didn’t see a point to it, other than to promote it as a den – I mean a paradise – for the female students. Of course, Mercy explored the place, and much to my delight she had a swimsuit underneath her summer dress, perfect for a quick dip and photoshoot session in the lagoon pool.

Unfortunately, she was quickly surrounded by girls during their lunch break.

I wanted to kick those ruffians out of the way.

How dare they cloister around my goddess!

Damn them! They were blocking my view of Mercy.

Thankfully, the tour moved on to other parts of the school building, and I calmed down when the female students returned to class. I had jumped to my feet, but was sitting on the floor again as I followed my raison d’etre like an infatuated butterfly or a moth drawn to a flame.

Then disaster struck.

As the tour rolled on, I started to nod off, and sometime later, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, the playback had ended, and the player had entered sleep mode. However, it was the slivers of morning light intruding into the room from around the edges of the drawn curtain that came as a surprise, because that alone told me that I’d been out like a light for a few hours.

I was crestfallen that I’d slept through the remainder of the holo-album.

I’d finally succeeded in watching much more than the first few minutes, yet I’d succumbed to exhaustion. In addition, I was feeling stiff as a goal post because I’d slept while sitting cross-legged on the floor.

Should I tell you that’s not the best way for a girl to sleep?

Straightening my legs, I groaned as Mirai’s muscles complained loudly, then I ungracefully fell flat on my back.

Lying spread-eagled on the living room floor, I stared up at the ceiling.

I didn’t need to look at the clock on the bedside table to know that it was 7:15 AM on Wednesday morning, February 12th, 2273 AD.

I had Mirai’s wetware to thank for that update.

I wonder if I can use it like a daily planner?

Gazing at the flowery patterns on the ceiling above me, I realized that I’d never given Mirai’s wetware much thought. I knew that it could interface with ‘smart’ weapons, and it allowed Ghost to project himself into my senses, namely my hearing and vision, but what else could I do with it? What other capabilities did the wetware possess? For that matter, what hidden talents did Mirai possess?

Lifting an arm above me, I turned it over slowly as I studied it, while thinking of the Angel Fibers running through Mirai’s body.

Can I do more than sprout wings?

I let my arm flop down over my belly, then pondered what the day held in store for me.

How long before I was paid a visit by the girl on the phone?

And what would come after that?

Once again, I was back to considering the crux of my problem – coming to terms with living as Mirai, as Isabel, and as a girl. For the most part, I’d acknowledged there was no going back to my life as Ronin Kassius, and if Erina produced a male body for me, only a copy of my mind would occupy it. I would still be stuck inside Mirai, while my copy faced the difficult prospect of adjusting to life as a man.

Why?

Because Erina had said there would be consequences to imprinting my neural map onto a male brain after spending so much time stuck inside Mirai’s head, so there was the likelihood that my copy would suffer from gender dysphoria or perhaps other behavioral disorders.

And yet…

I frowned to myself.

…why haven’t I suffered from gender dysphoria already?

Certainly, my experience in the bathroom had felt far worse than a punch in the gut. In different terms, it was an emotional kick to the groin. But after the shock had subsided, why wasn’t I feeling like I was wearing the wrong skin? Why didn’t I feel alien within Mirai’s body?

Was it possible that Erina and her motley crew of mad scientists had somehow tweak my mind?

Had she modified me so that I would be more open to accepting life as a girl?

After all, she must have known I was terrified of turning into a girl. So maybe she, or someone in her team, had discovered a way to help me transition into Mirai’s body.

It was a disturbing possibility that I couldn’t dismiss, and it sent a cold chill running through my bones.

Maybe Erina has prepared me already for life as a girl—

The faint sounds of movement out in the hallway outside the apartment distracted me but failed to surprise me. This was the dormitory complex and there were always students who left early to head to the academy, whether for club practice or other reasons. However, what did take me aback was the fact that I could hear them, something I had never experienced before from inside the apartment due to its supposedly soundproof walls.

Just how far above normal was Mirai’s hearing?

Contemplating the question, I pillowed my head on my arms, and then quietly lay back to listen to my surroundings.

I could hear faint humming on various frequencies, and the sounds of a handful or more students traveling down the hallway, including the drone of their conversations. Beneath that, Mirai’s ears could perceive indistinct activity in the adjoining apartments. However, as I was focused on the sounds around me, I noticed someone had walked up to my apartment’s door, and they stood there for a short while before ringing the bell.

A soft sing-song chime consisting of seven notes played in the air.

My immediate reaction was to lay still on the floor and hold my breath, and I was still playing possum when I heard the melody play for a second time.

Slowly, I turned my head to look at the apartment’s door at the end of the hallway.

There was a short period of silence before the melody sounded in the air again.

And that makes three.

“Princess?”

It was the first time Ghost had spoken to me for a few hours, since I sincerely doubted that he’d been whispering sweet nothings to me in my sleep, and hearing his voice shook me into action.

“Yeah, I know,” I muttered. “She’s here.”

But what if it wasn’t the girl I’d spoken to on the phone?

What if it was someone else?

I gave the possibility some hasty but serious thought.

I crossed Mat off the list since he was currently under observation – according to Erina.

Then there was Shirohime. I crossed her off even quicker.

Angela and Felicia were two suspects I considered but dismissed when I factored their recent deaths. I doubted they’d been given new Simulacra bodies to move around on such short notice. On the other hand, it could be them in their human bodies at the door. But what reason could they have for coming to see me?

The Cat Princess was the next probable contender for an early morning visit. She would have to gain entry into the complex via the ground floor entrance. That meant facing Perceval who was guarding the building. And yet, since the building was owned by the Telos Corporation, it was likely she would receive permission to do so after pulling a few strings. If that was true, it annoyed me because they could have done the same for me, thereby saving Renew and I a lot of trouble with the staunchly stubborn Perceval.

Last, but not least, was Erina.

Her venturing into the apartment complex at this hour could be explained as a relative visiting a younger family member, though the time of day was odd for such a visit. However, that was only from an outsider’s point-of-view who knew nothing of my unconventional escape from Isabel’s luxury apartment.

Last on my list was Renew, and if it was her outside the door, she had to have a pretty good reason for coming to fetch me now, what with students making their way down the corridors.

Did she dress up like a teacher?

I really couldn’t picture her dressing up as a student.

Regardless, I’d run out of possible suspects.

Wetting my lips, I then swallowed quietly. “Ghost, who’s at the door?”

I asked because I was certain he was accessing the hallway security system to peek outside the apartment.

“Princess, if you are wondering who is at the door, I suggest you answer it.”

His reply was not amusing. On the contrary, it had me frowning apprehensively. “Why aren’t you going to tell me?”

“Because, it would be far easier and more efficient for you to see for yourself.”

I was ready to angrily snap at him when I abruptly realized what he meant. “Ghost, are you saying—?”

“Correct, Princess. It is someone you are indeed acquainted with.”

However, that posed a conundrum because I had exhausted the short list of contenders that came to mind.

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So who did I leave out? Who was I forgetting?

Whoever it was, they were getting impatient and the chime was now ringing almost continuously.

With a groan and a growl, I climbed up to my feet, then padded barefoot toward the apartment’s entrance. However, I stopped when I passed by the open bathroom doorway and glimpsed Mirai’s reflection in the shower stall’s glass enclosure.

What the—?

Quickly plunging into the bathroom, I stared aghast at my appearance in the cabinet mirror mounted above the washbasin.

Mirai’s hair was raven dark and her eyes were wine red.

In a way, I was relieved to know that she was powered up, and on her guard, but it also made me anxious about the present situation. However, the door chime kept on ringing, and despite my apartment being touted as soundproof, I couldn’t risk drawing complaints from my neighbors.

After took a long, deep breath that I exhaled uneasily, I hurried out of the bathroom.

Arriving at the door, I tapped the console plate beside it.

A holovid window the size of an A4 sheet of paper materialized a few centimeters away from the surface of the door. It floated at eye-level, and like a real window, it offered a view of the corridor immediately outside my apartment.

For a short while I stared in silence at the face of the person standing out in the corridor.

It was a face that roused mixed feelings with a dash of danger and despair.

Why? Because in many respects, that individual was the Harbinger of Bad News, and they dragged trouble along behind them. That’s why I was reluctant to open the door, despite the ongoing cacophony of the chime ringing for the umpteenth time.

Ghost gently nudged me with a word. “Princess?”

Knowing there was no avoiding this encounter, I took a deep, shuddering breath while glaring reproachfully at the face in the holovid window. But it took another lungful of air for me to gather sufficient resolve to open the door.

However, it wouldn’t open. The handle simply wouldn’t turn.

Looking down at the console plate, I saw the red light indicating the door was locked.

Damn it. It must have locked behind me when I came in.

Unlocking it by entering the passkey into the console, I hesitated as a wave of doubts and misgivings washed over me, then I turned the handle and opened the door.

Standing in the corridor, a girl with long dark hair greeted me with a languid smile. “It’s about time. I was beginning to think you were ignoring me.”

I was immediately aware of two things.

One. She hadn’t changed since the last time I saw her.

Two. She wasn’t human – there was no lifeforce aura radiating from her body.

In short, she was a machine avatar.

That realization alone made my stomach clench into a tight, nervous little ball.

If push comes to shove, can I beat her?

Once again, I sorely missed not being dressed in Mirai’s Princess Regalia.

The girl at the door cocked her head at me, and mockingly asked, “You’re not going to invite me in?”

I brushed her question aside with one of mine. “What are you doing here?”

The machine with the appearance of a pretty teenage girl of average height and bust size held up a canvas gym bag for me to see.

“I come bearing gifts,” she said.

Or rather it said.

I glanced anxiously at the bag before staring into her lifelike eyes. “I’m going to ask one more time. Why are you here?”

The girl lowered the bag. “You invited me here. Remember?”

Her reply confirmed what I’d been afraid of.

Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit! Why her of all people? Why her?

For that matter, how the Hell could I have forgotten about her?

The girl looked both ways down the corridor, then turned to her right, but not before I heard someone walking toward us. She then eyed me sidelong and smiled coyly. “A girl in a boy’s room is a no-no.”

“I couldn’t agree more, so leave.”

I started closing the door on her, but she stuck her foot in the doorway. She then used a free hand to force the door open wider until I pushed it against her, bringing her efforts to a stop.

It was possible we were evenly matched, or perhaps she was going easy on me. Either way, I was able to stop her from stepping into the apartment.

“What are you doing?” I asked her.

“You’re being boring and predictable,” she replied with disinterest that I found increasingly annoying.

“Then leave,” I retorted while keeping her at bay.

“It’s rude to turn a guest away at the door.”

The sound of footsteps walking closer grew louder.

The girl glanced off to her right, then unexpectedly leaned forward on tip-toes as though delivering me a kiss.

“Oh darling, won’t you let me in?” she asked through puckered lips.

I jerked back in shock but kept a firm grip on the door.

But from down the corridor, a young male voice muttered, “Oh great. Another chick on this floor. It’s like you’re coming out of the goddam walls.”

The mechanical girl winked at him and flashed him a victory gesture. “Oh, poor lonely boy,” she quipped. “Get a girlfriend.”

True to her nature, she was turning a bad situation worse.

Ah—damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

Yanking the door open, I reached out and pulled the girl into the apartment before quickly closing the door behind her. Then I shoved her against a hallway wall and used both my weight and strength to pin her there.

She giggled but it didn’t suit the dull look on her face. “Isn’t this a little rough for foreplay.”

Ignoring the remark, I searched her face with a glare, eventually growling at her in frustration.

“Which one are you?” I demanded to know.

“The wicked witch of the west,” she replied with a weary smile.

I gave her a hard push that splintered the plaster behind her. “Tabitha.”

“In the flesh,” she added.

I backed away a couple of feet. “Or is it, Taura Hexaria?”

She shrugged a shoulder. “Tabitha Hexen will do fine.”

Snorting scornfully at her, I shook my head at her unwelcome presence. “So it was you.”

Tabitha blinked innocently at me, then pushed herself away from the wall.

“Hey,” I warned her as she drunkenly slipped past me toward the living area, “where do you think you’re going?”

Swaying to a stop at the end of the hallway, Tabitha sleepily peered into the room.

She seemed to be taking in my vast collection of Mercy Haddaway merchandise occupying most of the shelving.

“Oh, I like what you’ve done with the place,” she opinioned with a drowsy look on her face.

However, she suddenly dropped the gym bag to the floor, then tip-toed nimbly into the middle of the living room as though threading her way through a minefield. Then slowly spinning with her arms wide, Tabitha threw back her head in rapture.

“It’s the Temple of Mercy.”

I glared at her as she spun around again and again.

She was dishing on my place of worship.

I sorely felt like knocking her out with a right hook to her metal chin, but since she was a mechanical, I doubted that would make a difference to her.

Damn, I miss my Regalia!

Tapping into the resentment I felt for Tabitha, I picked up the gym bag, then tossed it at her.

It smacked her chest, but she caught it before it fell to the floor, and then gave me a wounded look. “Someone didn’t sleep well.”

I stepped into the living room with arms folded rigidly under Mirai’s bosom. “Was it you? Did you call me?”

She walked over to the bed and then dropped the bag onto it. For a long moment she stood motionless, before turning to face me. “I’m a member of the Battle Commission’s Libra Division.”

I exhaled raggedly. “That doesn’t mean anything to me.”

Tabitha shrugged as she began wandering lazily around the room. “Libra watches through the eyes of the watchers.”

I was having trouble making sense of her. “Are you going to give me a straight answer?”

“My job is to observe you.”

“What?” I frowned openly at her.

“The moment the Sanreal Crest docked at the marina, Libra’s Conquistador Class Awareness started watching you. It tracked your flight from the marina to the city, and it watched your mad dash down the residential complex.”

“Why?”

“That’s a silly question that has two answers.”

I gave her a shallow nod. “I’m listening.”

Tabitha held up a finger.

“The first answer is that Libra watches the people of interest to the Gun Princess Royale. And you are high on that list.”

Tabitha held up a second finger.

“The second answer is that the Empress has taken an interest in you. Though the Battle Commission is mostly independent of the Imperial Family’s influence, the second Primary of the Feylan Family has graciously granted Libra additional authority and resources to act in her name.”

I was confused. “The second Primary? Who is that?”

“The Empress’s younger sister, her Imperial Highness, Korinthia Feylan Aventisse.”

I blinked slowly while digesting this. “The Empress has a sister?”

“Well, duh,” Tabitha replied.

I scowled at her. Is she implying that I’m stupid? “Why are they just watching me? Why don’t they just kidnap me? Wouldn’t that be easier for the Empress?”

Tabitha wagged a finger at me. “Because your sister told the Empress that any attempt to do so would result in your death.”

I frigid wind blew through me. “What…?”

“I meant to say your destruction.”

Another frigid gust rushed through me, constricting my lungs, and robbing me of my voice.

Ghost chose the next moment to materialize in my vision.

Standing off to my left, he watched Tabitha with a penetrating gaze, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, only that he was blatantly suspicious of the girl.

Is he doing that for my benefit? Why?

Suppressing a shiver, I swallowed hard before whispering, “Ghost?”

“This is news to me,” he replied in a low, tense voice, his eyes on Tabitha the whole time.

“Don’t lie to me,” I hissed under my breath and out the side of my mouth.

“Princess, I am upholding my promise to you,” he answered without relaxing his expression or tone.

Unaware of Ghost’s attention on her, Tabitha studied me for a short while before holding her palms up and shrugging apathetically. “Hey, that’s what she said.” Lowering her hands, Tabitha then added, “The Empress decided it wasn’t worth the risk. Without the data on your body, there was no way to tell if Erina Kassius was lying, although you were scanned during the translocation process between islands.”

Crossing my arms, I hid my cold unease by glaring icily at Tabitha. “And? What did you find?”

Tabitha snorted as she tossed her hands into the air. “Nothing. No bomb. No capsules. Just the wetware in your head that we couldn’t scan at all.” She then noticed a life-sized poster of Mercy I had up on a wall. “But it was downright shocking to discover Remnant tech embedded inside your head.”

I watched her step up to the poster for a better look. “Why is that such a big deal?”

“Because sticking Remnant wetware inside a human or Simulacrum body has always failed before.” Tabitha threw me a glance. “Always.”

I arched my eyebrows at her. “So that makes me special?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Tabitha listlessly pouted at the image of Mercy on the wall. “Such big boobs….” Abruptly she directed that pout at me. “Speaking of boobs. I noticed you have quite the fulsome rack.”

My eyes widened before I retorted while glaring, “Does that really matter now?”

“Hmm. I wonder which of you is bigger?” Tabitha mused softly, alternating her attention between Mercy’s poster and I. Yet I suspected she already had her answer. After all, she’d revealed that Mirai’s body had been scanned during the translocation between the Proving Grounds and the second continent.

No doubt, she had my three sizes down to the nanometer, but what else did she know about me?

By scanning me, did they know how to make another Mirai?

No, that seemed unlikely.

Clenching my hands, I growled at her. “Like I said, does it matter?”

“Of course, it does,” Tabitha replied with surprising honesty that was unfairly undermined by her sleepy voice. “Do you think you’re going to participate in the Gun Princess Royale solely as a competitor?” She shook her head and smiled weakly as though pitying me. “You have no idea what your sponsor has planned for you.”

I froze as a variety of dreadful possibilities paraded before my eyes.

A bikini photoshoot was one of them.

That was made all the more embarrassing since Mirai closely resembled my goddess, Mercy.

In fact, I suspected I was going to be mistaken for her quite often in the days to come, and the thought made me blush hotly.

Feeling the blood rush to my face, I squeezed my eyes shut.

Get a grip! She’s trying to unhinge you!

Opening my eyes, I furiously rubbed a palm over my face as I labored to regain control over my emotions. “Can you just tell me what’s going on?”

Tabitha pointed at the poster. “Can I have this one?”

“No,” I snapped, irritated by how she kept making the conversation jump about.

“By the way, have you thought about dressing up like her?”

“Huh?”

At first I was perplexed at the prospect, then promptly horrified.

Me? Dress up as my Goddess?

How could she even suggest such a thing? It bordered on sacrilege. But what popped into my head next was the fear of a bikini photoshoot, and once again I was blushing hotly all over.

“No, no, no.” I held up a hand in protest. “No, I haven’t. I have not!”

Tabitha grinned like the Cheshire Cat. A very sleepy looking Cheshire Cat. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

“Aggh.” I palmed my face furiously for a second time.

Keep it together. Keep it TOGETHER!

Lowering my hand away from my face, I took a couple of noisy breaths, then stepped closer to Tabitha. “Can we stay focused? Please!”

“Poster.” She pointed at it. “Gimme.”

“Get your own!” I yelled at her.

“Really? Where?”

Taking some time to calm down, I considered the question and remembered how I’d acquired that poster. “Ah…actually…that one was limited to the first hundred attendees at Mercy’s handshaking event last year. So you’d have to try the online auctions.”

That event was what started my nightmare as Princess Silver Blue. Succumbing to temptation, I had accepted the Cosplay Club’s terms in exchange for a ticket to meet Mercy at a handshaking event.

Ah, but that’s a story already told.

Tabitha mimicked a dirty old man. “How much for the poster? I want to buy the poster.”

I recoiled from her. “Cut that out. You’re sounding like a real creeper.”

She held up a finger. “The price of knowledge is one precious article from your collection.” Then she pointed again at the poster.

“Forget it,” I dismissed the offer immediately.

There was no way in Hell would I agree to those terms.

Tabitha folded her hands behind her back and regarded me with disappointment. “So you really don’t want to know?”

“The price is too high.”

Hell, it was astronomical in my book.

Besides, I could always ask Ghost to investigate for me.

However, my certainty was chipped away by doubts when I noticed him looking distinctly troubled.

Ghost, you’re not inspiring me with confidence!

As though feeling the weight of that glance, he cautiously suggested, “Princess, perhaps you should make the trade.”

I barely succeeded hiding my shock and confusion.

Does that mean there’s something he doesn’t know?

I remembered him mentioning the ICE surrounding information related to Mirai.

Was Tabitha privy to something in there?

I mentally scratched my head.

Wait a minute—what the Hell was the question again?

I turned my attention on the mechanical girl. “Why do you want something from my collection?”

“To sell it and make money,” she replied easily.

I was flabbergasted. “What?”

“Limited edition posters of Mercy go for a steep price.”

I felt my blood threaten to boil. “I’m not selling my Mercy poster.” Stabbing a finger at her, I came close to yelling. “I even had it framed. That cost me money. So forget it. No way. No gods damn way.”

Tabitha frowned at me. “Why are you so obsessed with this girl?”

“Because she’s a goddess!”

“I think you have your definition of a goddess messed up.”

I crossed my arms unhappily. “Look. I’m not giving you my poster. That’s final.”

“I’ll tell you about your sister, Erina Kassius.”

It was a bad move to bring up my sister at this point and time. “She’s not my sister.”

Tabitha hummed for a moment. “Technically, she may be your future sister-in-law.”

Hearing that made my chest tighten such that I struggled to breathe, but it didn’t stop me from rejecting her bluntly. “Not interested.”

“Do you want to know a secret?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Not if there’s a price involved.”

“Your sister told the Empress about you.”

In a flash, every thought inside my head made for the hills, leaving only Tabitha’s words in their wake, and for a long, long while, I stared blankly at her, too dumbfounded to move or think.

As for Ghost, I could see him in the corner of my eye standing stock still with a bamboozled look on his face.

Of course, Tabitha couldn’t see Ghost, but she could see me and there was a subtle smile playing on her lips as she studied my reaction. But true to her nature, she soon gave me an insouciant shrug and studied Mercy’s poster as though she could divine the secrets of the universe from it.

The need to swallow and avoid choking started the wheels turning again inside my head. After a handful of ragged breaths, and a glance at Ghost who’d grown pensive, I decided to break my silence. However, I had to clear my throat a handful times before I was confident my voice would hold up

“Is this what you wanted to talk about?”

Tabitha didn’t answer me right away, but instead continued eyeing the poster with an unsettling intensity, before eventually asking, “Does that mean you’re interested?”

My emotions began to stir anew into a troubled, somewhat anguished brew.

When I took a very deep breath that ended up straining my lungs, and then released it slowly, Mirai’s body shuddered as though wracked by a frigid cold, forcing me to tighten my crossed arms under her bosom, while staring hard at Tabitha. “Why would Erina tell the Empress about me? Why betray the trust House Novis has in her?”

“Because your sister learnt the truth.”

“About what?”

Tabitha began to trudge slowly around the living room. “You paid Clarisol a visit in that prison for her mind, right?”

Surprise stole my breath while Ghost jerked sharply.

Tabitha continued meandering wearily, and slowly circled the low coffee table I’d moved aside hours ago.

I shook myself out of my torpor while facing her, but then I felt a familiar heat welling up inside me. “How do you know that? Who are you?”

Tabitha spread her arms wide, mimicking a bird circling around the table. “I am the ghost of Christmas past.”

I unfolded my arms. “That’s not funny.”

“I am the ghost of Christmas future.”

“Answer the damn question!”

Tabitha continued flying around the table. “Do you know that Clarisol lied?”

“About what?”

“About me.” She threw me a glance but didn’t stop. “The reason they didn’t know who I was had nothing to do with searching through the wrong years.”

I was confused and didn’t bother hiding it. “What are you talking about?”

“I crashed their simulation—the Zombie Apocalypse that Ronin Kassius fought through. Remember?”

I leaned back a few inches. “Yeah, I remember.”

“Clarisol said they tried to find out who I was but failed.”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah, she did say that…back in the school’s library.”

“She lied.”

I was starting to see what she was alluding to. “You mean, she lied about not searching the databases far back enough.”

Tabitha winked at me. “Yup.”

“Then…she knew who you were?”

“Nope. She didn’t have a clue, and neither did the Sanreals.”

I frowned slightly. “Then…Taura Hexaria—the Gun Empress—doesn’t exist?”

“Oh, she exists. She’s real. She’s me. She just doesn’t look anything like me.”

My gaze repeatedly searched Tabitha’s face. “Why is that?”

“Because this way, I can move about freely as whomever I want be.”

I gasped softly as I realized that Tabitha used mechanical bodies that could look like anyone…or no one at all.

She cocked her head at me. “Clarisol and the Sanreals searched the databases but could find no record of anyone matching my appearance. Therefore, they assumed that Tabitha Hexen was either a Simulacrum or a mechanical avatar, in which case, Clarisol probably had a hunch it was me. But that’s all she had. A hunch. A gut feeling. Her woman’s intuition.”

“You’re saying Clarisol wasn’t telling the whole truth.”

“That’s right.”

I flicked a glance at Ghost who also nodded ever so faintly. Yet I saw the suspicion in his eyes.

Does Ghost know who Tabitha or Taura Hexaria really is?

I kept that in mind when I asked Tabitha, “So who are you? Who are you really?”

“I am an observer attached to the Battle Commissions’ Libra Division. It’s my job to watch over the matches involving Mirai. This is on the Empress’s express orders. Well, actually, the directive comes from her Imperial Highness, the First Princess, Korinthia Feylan Aventisse.”

I hesitated before cautiously asking, “Did you say…the First Princess?”

“I did.”

Biting my lower lip, I recalled my first verbal exchange with the Gun Queen of Ar Telica. “I have a question.”

“By all means.”

“Out in the desert, Kristeva said she was the first Imperial Princess. And she called herself—ah, what was it”—I struggled to recall the name—“she called herself Kristeva Annelise Aventisse, first in line to the throne. Was that true?”

“She lied.”

Tabitha’s brusque reply surprised me.

The mechanical girl continued after a brief pause. “Kristeva is indeed an Imperial Princess. However, in the Erzvallen Empire, she is not considered the First Princess. That title belongs to her mother, despite being the Empress. And her aunt, Korinthia, is referred to as the Second Imperial Princess.”

“So she’s not the First Princess?” I openly frowned. “Then why did she—?”

“Because she is a consummate liar,” Tabitha explained in a cutting tone. “It’s the way she is. Or rather, one could say that she has a difference of opinion regarding the rules of succession. In your universe, it is the first born who succeeds the throne. In mine, it is the Emperor or Empress’s siblings who succeed their reign. This means that leadership of the Empire does not progress down the family tree as quickly as it does in your history. It also means that Korinthia is next in line to take over the Empire, not the Empress’s eldest daughter.”

I was puzzled, but in my peripheral vision, which was remarkably acute, I saw Ghost throw me a slow nod.

If Ghost agrees then Tabitha must be telling the truth.

Nonetheless, I was still confused by what I was hearing from her.

“And there is one more thing,” Tabitha said. “Her name is Kristeva Feylan Aventisse. It is not Annelise.”

I wondered why that was important. “So what?”

“It is the name of Clarisol’s mother.”

My eyes quickly widened, expressing my disbelief, then slowly narrowed as I remembered what I’d heard back in the cave.

She’s right. Ghost did say that Clarisol’s mother was called Annelise.

I’d failed to connect the dots that Tabitha was now joining for me, leading me to ask, “She lied about her name? Why?”

Tabitha looked distinctly aggrieved. “As I said before, Kristeva is a consummate liar—short and simple. Anything that comes out of her mouth, should be taken with a kilo of salt.”

I swallowed nervously before asking, “Then why didn’t you say something back at the library?”

“Because I left it to Clarisol. She should have corrected Kristeva when she first called herself Annelise, and yet Clarisol didn’t.” Tabitha raised her head high, and for the first time, I sensed real anger in the girl. “It doesn’t matter if she’s a Princess, Kristeva had no right to use that name. She crossed the line back then.”

I didn’t know why the usually languid and Jester-like Tabitha was visibly ticked off. To be honest, it was the most irate I’d ever seen her, but it got me thinking along a tangential train of thought.

Knowing what I did now, what if Kristeva had assumed the name Annelise to light a fire under Clarisol? At the time, I knew little of Clarisol’s family history, the death of her mother, or why House Novis had been demoted in the Imperial Court. Perhaps, Clarisol had been forced to stay silent lest she betray too much information about what was happening. Maybe she was trying to keep things simple for me so that I could focus on the task of surviving.

Could it be, that Clarisol wasn’t nearly as crazy as I’d thought.

If that was true, then perhaps there had been method to her madness. When she almost blew us all up with that bomb she left behind in the school’s administration building, it wasn’t out of desperation or lunacy. Instead, she may have been helping me while taking her revenge on Kristeva for falsely appropriating her mother’s name. The one contradictory note to my reasoning was that she almost ended up killing her brother, Mat, and that was why I still believed she was at least a little crazy.

Thinking about it made my brain ache, and with a groan, I clutched at my forehead. “Why is everybody playing these games with me?”

I felt like sitting down, but decided to remain standing.

My gut impression was that if I sat down, I’d somehow project weakness to Tabitha, and the latter would try to capitalize on it. I also acknowledged that in some ways, dealing with Tabitha was harder than dealing with Erina. So I took a deep breath to steady myself, lowered my hand, then stared fixedly at the mechanical girl.

“No more lies. No more crap. Okay? Tell me who you are.”

“I will tell you in due time.”

“No—tell me now!”

She held up a hand. “I will tell you in due time. I promise. But first, there is something else I came to tell you. Something important.”

Of a sudden, my mind seemed to skip ahead or maybe my thoughts simply circled back to the beginning. “Something about Erina?”

“Yes.”

A cold chill began to settle in my chest, and yet, I also felt somewhat annoyed.

Maybe it was because I didn’t want to hear about Erina or the bad news that surrounded her, and that was probably why I glared unhappily at Tabitha, herself the Harbinger of Bad News.

The girl lowered the hand she’d been holding up between us. “As I said before, your sister betrayed House Novis. But she had a reason to.”

Ah…we’re back to this.

Inhaling deeply as though steeling myself, I slowly crossed my arms under Mirai’s breasts. “What reason did she have?”

“Actually, she had two reasons. You and Clarisol. She was protecting both of you.”

I narrowed my eyes at Tabitha. “Don’t you mean she was protecting Ronin?”

The mechanical girl shook her head. “No. She was protecting Mirai and Clarisol.”

“From what?”

“From the plan the Sanreal Family had concocted to give Clarisol a chance at freedom.”

I spared Ghost a fleeting look, and he happened to glance back at me.

Our eyes met, and the look he gave me seemed to say, I don’t know what she means.

I took a step closer to Tabitha. “Why?”

“The transfer would never have worked,” she stated. “Copying Clarisol’s mind into Mirai’s brain would have ended in disaster.”

Ghost abruptly demanded, “Ask her why!”

I flinched a little, unaccustomed to his harsh tone, but nonetheless relayed the question to Tabitha. “Why wouldn’t it have worked?”

Tabitha took a deep breath – or made a show of doing so since she was operating a mechanical body that didn’t need air. “Because anything copied out of that virtual prison is corrupted. It’s the reason why Clarisol’s copies only last a year before going insane.”

I felt the blood drain from my face, and then stumbled back a step.

As for Ghost, he spun on his heels and punched a nearby shelf, but of course, his fist went right through it.

Tabitha smiled but there was no humor or malice behind it.

All I sensed was a deep regret – a genuine, heartfelt sadness.