PART 1

Home, sweet home.

The common idiom said that a man's house was his castle. I always wondered if being a King of Knights made that more metaphorical or less so. It didn't really matter, but whenever I was tired, my brain just loved to dredge up weird thoughts like that, and oh boy, was I tired!

"We're home," I announced as I stepped through the door. It was a habit I developed as an ironic call-out to a certain trope, back when I was living alone. Things have changed quite a lot since then, and I was welcomed by a cacophony of greetings.

While I slipped out of my shoes, Arnwald closed the door behind us. At this point, he more or less moved in, along with Morgana, ostensibly to keep up the illusion of being the parents of the Dunning household in case the child protective services decided to bother us again. In practice…

"Welcome home, dear," our Dame Gorgon, wearing a white apron over her casual clothes, came over to greet us in the entryway with a demure smile.

"Y-Yes. I'm home… Morgana."

Trying to ignore the grown adults going through a weird honeymoon phase that was blindingly obvious to everyone with working eyes and ears, I walked into the living room. To my momentary surprise, I couldn't see anyone else, but then I noticed the sounds coming from the kitchen.

The girls were already waiting for me upstairs, and I was even running a little late, but I was still curious. I could've just Far Glanced there, but it was just a couple of steps away, so I decided to check it out in person. The sight welcoming me was both unexpected and a little bit wholesome.

"L-Like this?" Penny asked uncertainly, hunched over a large metal bowl and nervously trying to break open an egg.

"Yes, just like that. You're doing great," my other sister encouraged her with gusto, her hands balled up in front of her and acting like she was breathlessly watching someone about to break a world record.

"M-My Lady! How much salt did you say we need?" Tajana spoke with a skittish voice, holding up a teaspoon. "Is… this enough?"

"That's a bit too much. Half of it is enough."

"O-Okay!"

My knightly sister and the Abyssal spymaster were both wearing their hair in tidy buns mirroring Morgana's, and they had the same kind of aprons as well. On the other hand, Snowy was in full-on maid mode, wearing the entire outfit including the frilly headdress. They were so busy that it took them until this point to notice my presence, but then my Abyssal sister's expression lit up at once.

"Leo! Welcome home!"

"Hi, guys. What are you making?"

Penny answered in her stead, puffing out her chest and declaring, "We're baking muffins!"

Snowy followed that up with a slightly more exhaustive answer.

"Mom… I mean, Morgana asked me to teach her how to cook, and everyone joined to learn together."

As if waiting for her cue, Morgana entered the kitchen as well, and she immediately tried to explain herself.

"It's shameful to admit, but I have never had the chance to learn how to cook homemade meals before. To uphold the image of the mother of the household, I deemed it necessary to learn the basics."

"And you're making muffins?"

"The dinner's already done, so we're making the dessert!" Penny declared a tad too loudly and flashed a smug little smirk. "I helped a lot with the stew, you know? Even Snowy praised me!"

"Yes, yes. Good work, kiddo. I'll make sure to try it."

"I-I didn't make it because I wanted you to try it or anything…"

Ignoring her random outburst of tsundere, I glanced at the conspicuously quiet woman in the back of the kitchen. She was pretending to be completely immersed in measuring the amount of salt in her teaspoon and not looking at me at all. However, when I pointedly cleared my throat, she instantly twitched and sneaked a peek at me.

"What about you?"

"The muffins were Tajana's idea," Snowy chimed in. "She wanted to learn how to make them."

"Really? How unexpected."

My comment was completely ignored by the hapless spymaster, so after a slightly awkward beat, Morgana let out a soft chuckle to dissipate the tension and told me, "I believe she wanted to gift those to someone."

"T-That was supposed to be a secret!" Tajana protested, finally turning towards me, only to immediately shrink back.

A gift, huh? Considering it was her we were talking about, the list of potential recipients was rather short. If it was a present, it made little sense to give it to the ones making it, so my sisters and Morgana could be struck from the list. We didn't exactly have a great relationship, so there was no way it was meant for me. Then we had Arnwald and Roland, and while she was a bit closer to the latter, it wasn't likely that they were at the stage when baking pastries for him made any sense. By process of elimination, that left us with…

"The Fauns?" I guessed, and her eyes opened wide, visibly shocked by my deduction.

It didn't last long though, and she soon crossed her arms with a huff.

"So, what if I want to give it to them? What does it have to do with you?"

"It's my kitchen and my ingredients," I pointed out, just to tease her, and after a beat of silence, I relaxed my expression and added, "Not that it matters. Do you want me to deliver the end results to them?"

"No. I already made a deal with Rabom."

Hearing his name, I glanced over to the Faun standing in the far corner of the kitchen, cloaked under the thin orange layer of his invisibility Sigil. When our eyes met, he flashed a sheepish smile and scratched the back of his head. He was on duty today, watching over Tajana. She might've been on her best behaviour as of late, but I didn't slacken her surveillance just yet. By the looks of it, she not only made her peace with her observers, they got to the point where they were conspiring on muffin-deliveries, no doubt for a cut of the sweet, sugary profits. This… might have been the first time I'd seen her do anything even remotely resembling the actions of a spymaster, and it was for the sake of pastry. Go figure.

In the meantime, she must've read something into my silence, as she indignantly huffed and puffed before telling me, "Since you still don't let me see my retainers, this is the only thing I can do for them!"

She sounded entirely convinced of that, but I had to say, chocolate chip muffins would've been pretty low on my list of 'things I can do for my captured minions'. Chances are, my sisters planted the idea in her head, because they were still working hard to subvert her through family integration. I didn't want to interfere with that, so I dismissed her comment with a lazy wave of my hand.

"Sure, sure. You're free to do whatever you want, so long as you don't try to escape." Since most of my initial curiosity was sated, I was about to leave the kitchen and head upstairs, but on a whim, I decided to throw her a bone first. "Your Fauns are behaving themselves very well. If you also remain on your best behaviour, I might just take you to visit them one of these days."

"Really?"

Tajana's expression lit up at once, and after I assured her, she got fired up all over again. Good for her.

In any case, I left the kitchen and returned to the living room, where Arnwald was sitting on the couch and watching the news. Morgana followed after me, and the two of them started discussing their day, which was very wholesome, but not something I was particularly invested in. As such, after that sidetrack, I finally headed upstairs and entered my room.

"Hi, Leo!" the princess greeted me from the floor, sitting cross-legged on one of my spare pillows.

On her left, Judy was similarly seated, while my third guest, Ammy, opted to sit on the edge of my bed instead. Between the three of them, there were a whole lot of notes, soft drinks, and snacks. If I didn't know better, I would've been tempted to think they were having a sleepover or some kind of study group. Of course, I did know better.

"Hi, girls. Sorry I'm late. The day's been hectic."

"As they always are," Judy noted, deadpan as usual, and patted the cushion next to her on the floor. "Come. Take a seat, and then we'll get started."

This was our third meta-meeting, so I already knew the drill. As busy as I was during the past couple of days, we still managed to squeeze in at least an hour or two of discussion time every evening. We burned through quite a number of topics, but there were still lots more to discuss, so I had a feeling these gatherings would become part of our daily routine for the foreseeable future.

"So, what were you three talking about before I came home?" I opened the discussion, but Judy shook her head.

"No. We were only discussing subjects unrelated to the Simulacrum."

"Such as."

"Girl things," she stated emphatically, which signalled that I shouldn't pry any further.

"Oh, okay then."

Following that exchange, the princess raised a hand to draw our attention to her.

"Where did we leave off yesterday?"

Elly's question prompted the hitherto silent class rep to shift to the corner of the bed and state, "The invisible ninja maids."

She paused, her face showing that she never thought she would be saying a line like that with one hundred percent sincerity, but she quickly shook it off and doubled down.

"We didn't finish talking about them. Or 'it'?" She levelled a dispassionate gaze at me and adjusted her glasses. "You said it was a 'legacy term', was it?"

"Yeah, I just called the phenomenon like that on a whim," I admitted.

"So there aren't any intangible housekeepers."

"No."

"And they aren't ninjas or maids either."

"Since they don't exist, then by definition, they can't be either of those things," I pointed out, and the class rep let out a thoughtful hum.

"But you're destiny now, so if you wanted to, can you make them real?"

Stifling a groan, I held my head in my hand and tried not to sound as weary as I felt.

"No, I'm not 'destiny'. I told you to stop conflating that with the Narrative, didn't I?"

She didn't respond right away, but instead she tweaked her glasses again and locked eyes with me.

"You said that this 'Narrative' is part of you."

"It would be more accurate to say we are both parts of a bigger whole."

Ignoring my correction, she barrelled on.

"And said 'Narrative' had the capability to steer events towards a pre-determined outcome."

"Yes, but…"

"That's what destiny is, isn't it?" She capped her train of thought and then further insisted, "And you also told me yesterday that this Narrative, or destiny, or whatever you want to call it, no longer functions because you changed the past with your powers, and now you have to do its job yourself. Q.E.D., you're destiny now."

"That's not how it works," I protested, but she remained adamant. "Girls? Support?"

"I'm taking notes," Judy answered even as her fingers danced on her phone's screen, while Elly had a thoughtful finger perched on her chin.

"I don't know. What she says makes some sense."

"Et tu, princess?"

Feeling that she was in the saddle, the class rep immediately tripled down.

"Now that we are clear on that, please answer the previous question: could you, as something analogous to destiny, change the world so that the Invisible Ninja Maids Phenomenon would be accurate to its namesake?"

"No, of course I can't!" I denied it on the spot, quite vehemently at that, but then I took a deep breath to cool my head and tried to explain it in detail. "Listen, we didn't get to it yesterday, but the ninja maid thing is not something that's designed into the Simulacrum, but more of a… How should I put it? Okay, so, recall our tabletop game." Ammy frowned at the sudden right-turn in the conversation, but let out a hum in acknowledgement all the same. "So, when you're playing Milfeulle, what are the things you care about?"

That was meant to be a rhetorical question, but she readily answered it.

"Reaching level nine and getting access to fifth circle spells."

"Right, thanks for demonstrating the point. You care about mechanical things. If I asked the others, they would probably say similar things. Heck, even I'm the same with Grognar. When you play the game, you care about the quests and your build, and if you're Josh then you might also roleplay your character for better or worse, but you don't exactly care about the socio-economic state of the Kingdom of Winterspire, or where the food comes from, or when your character needs to go to poop and whether there's a centralized sewage system to take care of that poop. You just skim over these things, because they aren't important for the adventure, but from the perspective of the setting, they still have to have an answer. The Simulacrum kind of operates on the same principle, just on an infinitely more complex level."

"Is that the reason why your kitchen has everything?" Judy inquired, only briefly glancing up from her phone, and even the princess was taking notes.

"Pretty much. It's rather inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, so the Simulacrum just defaults to what a kitchen is 'supposed to be'. A fridge is supposed to have food in it, so it does. We live in this house, so it's supposed to be clean, therefore it is, even if we don't do any housework. Timaeus is supposed to be a prosperous city, so the streets are well-maintained and free of trash. It's that kind of thing."

"Is that the explanation behind the Ninja Maid Phenomenon?" Ammy interjected, and when I nodded, her brows descended once again. "That's good to know, but you're dodging the question. Judy told me that, according to your past observations, your perspective and expectations can passively change the world."

"Like when Leo was expecting music streaming to be a thing, and it was!" Elly exclaimed with a grin. "Hehe! If he hadn't helped us jump ship early, our company would've been in so much trouble!"

I didn't know why she was grinning while she said that (maybe because it gave the family more profits?), but I didn't have much time to contemplate, as the class rep immediately yanked the rudder of the conversation back to her.

"Among other things. Now, it's obvious such grand changes were only possible because of your intrinsic ties to destiny," she said, doggedly refusing to change her terminology, "but couldn't the same have happened to the Invisible Ninja Maids if you were genuinely expecting them? You brought up our tabletop game for comparison, right? So, if I get it right, all of this works similarly to how Angie would skip over details as the game master, but when you ask her about them, she would fill in the blanks. As you said, the fridge is supposed to have food, so if you asked her about the contents of one, she would just tell you there's food in it, and because she's the game master, it's just how it is."

"Yes, in broad strokes, it's comparable."

"In other words, the same could apply to other parts of the… what was the term we used?"

"Worldbuilding," Judy chimed in from the side.

"Yes, that. Thank you. We can presume that because you in particular had certain expectations about the world, it acted as a question to the Simulacrum, which then 'filled in the blanks' in the worldbuilding to answer them. But if so, what if you didn't just accept the fact everyone's fridges got restocked every night as just a quirk of the Simulacrum, but demanded answers, could it have resulted in the Invisible Ninja Maids becoming reality in the name of the Simulacrum's worldbuilding?"

"That's a fair question," Judy responded briskly, and after tapping her phone a few times, pointed a finger at me. "Chief?"

Sighing, I rubbed my forehead before responding in earnest.

"No, it wouldn't have happened. There are limits to everything. Before anything else, a setting has to be consistent. Since we keep using our game for examples, imagine that Angie lost her notes, and she gave us a quest from a character who was already dead. That's a break of continuity and consistency that would take us out of the story, so she would have to fix it.

One way to do it would be to retcon it, replacing the name of the quest-giver. So long as we all agree on it, it's a simple, but inelegant way to fix the problem. Then she could turn it around and make that into a plot hook. Say, it turns out that someone else impersonated the dead NPC, and we would have to find out why. Works much better, but then if it turns out that the impostor was a robot from Alpha Centauri, and it's piloted by a tiny hamster, it would cause more problems than it would solve, calling the integrity of the entire campaign and the setting into question.

For the record, the ninja maids are the hamster-mecha equivalent of answering the 'why does my kitchen keep restocking itself' question. Do you get the gist of what I'm saying?"

"Yes, but since you brought it up, there's another thing we need to take into consideration." The class rep took a deep breath, as if to prepare herself for something big, and she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "You can change the past, right?"

"If you mean the retcon, then yes," I confirmed.

"Meaning you can actively change the world and make it so that the Invisible Ninja Maids Phenomenon involved actual, flesh-and-blood unseen infiltrator domestic servants, right? Just like how you already altered the past once?"

"Well, okay, I could theoretically maybe do that, but that's a silly hypothetical. That time it was an emergency, involving the lives and future of Angie and Josh, while this is… it's like saying since I have infinite money, I could build a city in Antarctica. It might be technically true, but… why? Why would I want to do that?"

"It's not the point," Ammy insisted. "What I'm trying to say is that it is possible, and because of how it works, no one would be any the wiser about it if one day you decided to do it."

I wanted to point out that the entities outside of the Simulacrum would, but Elly beat me to the punch.

"We would."

For emphasis, she showed off her faintly glowing engagement ring, followed by a girlish, borderline silly giggle. Following her lead, Judy also presented her hand, and Ammy's eyes were glued to the simple jewellery. Those artifacts, using lots of reverse-engineered and heavily modified arrays from the enchantment that once housed Ichiko, were designed to safeguard my girlfriends' records, and consequently their consciousness, in case of the Simulacrum suffering some kind of existential failure. It also granting them effective immunity to external manipulation, such as the consequences of my retcon, was but an unforeseen but pleasant side-effect, and ever since we discovered it, they never took them off. Not even in the shower. Don't ask how I knew.

"But are you sure of that?" Ammy, ever the deliverer of uncomfortable queries, asked in a low voice. "If Leo has the ability to alter the past in any way he deems fit, then can you say for sure that it didn't include your memories being manipulated to think you weren't manipulated?"

Before the girls could get a word in, I raised my voice first.

"What the hell, class rep!? Do you think I would do that? Or that retconning things is that easy and straightforward? It's not as simple as walking to the grocery store and deciding whether I want white bread or whole bread! Do you think I can just do it all willy-nilly in any way I want? It's so freaking complicated I don't even know where to even begin explaining it to you!"

To be fair, that was mostly because after my stunt with retconning Angie so that she wouldn't be fully Deus'd, I apparently sealed off most of the memories of the process for the sake of my sanity, but that was beside the point. However, before I could fume any longer, Judy put a hand on my knee and looked me in the eye.

"Calm down, Chief. Amelia's question isn't entirely unwarranted, at least from her perspective."

"That's right…" the class rep responded a touch more sheepishly than usual. "I'm just asking questions."

"And to answer it," Judy began and presented her ring once more. "The reason why we never asked that question was not only because we experienced the events slightly differently than everyone else, but because we trust and love the Chief."

"Yes! Exactly!" Elly declared, and if my dear assistant wasn't sitting between us, I was sure she would've given me a bear hug right then and there.

"I understand, it's just…" Ammy's words trailed into a whisper, and after a few long seconds of stillness, her expression changed. She made up her mind and looked me in the eye again. "I mean, it's not like I don't trust you. In fact, I trust you a lot, so… can I also have one of those?"

Was it just me, or did the temperature in the room drop to the freezing point in an instant? I probably wasn't the only one who noticed, because Ammy's face was bleached and she hastily raised her hands towards Judy.

"I-I didn't mean an engagement ring! I meant an artifact! One like yours!"

"Really?" Elly asked with narrowed eyes, and the girl on the bed became even more flustered.

"Of course! I already have Mike, a-and anyways, I would never even think about Leo that way, you know…"

And with that, all the seriousness of the previous meta-conversation evaporated in an instant and got replaced by weird sitcom shenanigans. I'd say I was surprised, but I really wasn't. This kind of thing happened two or three times every single time we sat down to have a discussion on these topics.

Knowing that this sidetrack would last a couple of minutes, I let out a shallow breath and picked up a half-empty bag of chips from the middle. I was getting a bit peckish, and I doubted we would have dinner before the muffins finished baking downstairs, so it was good enough to tide me over until then.

For now, I sat back, watched the situation unfold, and made a mental note about trying to get to the bottom of why the class rep was so pinpoint-focused on the invisible ninja maids. One step at a time. Who knew? At this rate, we might even reach some kind of proper Theory of Simulacrum by summer. My inner pessimist immediately asked 'which summer', but I ignored it, grabbed a soda bottle, and just took my small break, happy to have one wherever I could find it.

PART 2

Dinners at the Dunning household had been… hectic as of late. It was to be expected; even if we only counted the 'official' members of the family, our numbers swelled to five in the blink of an eye. Add in our semi-permanent guest, my girlfriends, the class rep, and the Faun on duty (ignoring poor Rabon would've been rude), and suddenly we were looking at nine people around the table. There were Christmas family reunions smaller than that, and if Mountain Girl and Ichiko weren't busy somewhere else, the number could've gone even higher than that.

Luckily, now that the Angie route was resolved… No, that's not the right word. Ruined? Too harsh. Prematurely concluded? Let's go with that.

Accurate verbiage aside, the point was that since the route-ending climax was no longer hanging over my head, there was no need to rush the homunculus project anymore. Since it could be paced out a bit more, it meant the strain it put on my finances lessened enough that food expenses no longer had to be taken into account. Not that feeding half a dozen people was cheap, but considering I was backed by two-and-a-half supernatural superpowers, the alternative would've been just plain embarrassing.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

But talking about the homunculus… I was a bit torn on what to do with it. When I commissioned my science team (I still couldn't believe I could unironically say that), I was hedging my bets a bit, but since the Deus problem was currently under control, I figured I could safely go all in on Plan B instead. Except, even if I did, I wasn't sure how I would use it. That was something I still had to think about, but I had a feeling the topic would come up in discussion again, so I shelved it for later.

Speaking of discussions, it was getting a bit late, but we decided to continue the previous meta-talk with the girls, and returned to my room. As soon as we did, Judy guided me to the bed and had me sit down, before taking a seat on my legs.

"Chief. Please give Judy-bot some oxytocin."

"… Just say that you want to cuddle, would you?" I grumbled even as I put my arms around her, only to pause and raise a brow. "But wait. Isn't oxytocin the 'snuggle-hormone'? Does a Judy-bot even have hormones?"

"Don't nitpick me."

For emphasis, she pinched my cheek, eliciting a giggle from Elly, who was in the process of climbing onto the bed and draping herself over my back, as usual. Meanwhile, the class rep was giving us an odd look, but after the discussions of the last couple of days, we were all used to her presence and reactions already.

"I didn't think we would still have to enact anti-harem countermeasures this late in the game," Judy continued to gripe, and Ammy, who was in the process of pulling my swivel chair over, nearly stumbled.

"I told you it was just miscommunication! I didn't mean it that way!"

"Don't tease Ammy too much," my other girlfriend chided her, cutely poking at Judy's cheek with a finger, and she soon relented.

"Fine." While her expression said 'I'll be keeping an eye on you', my dear assistant soon glanced away from the class rep and looked at us. "Where were we before dinner?"

Considering Judy's memory, I was sure she only asked out of courtesy, and Elly answered without missing a beat.

"We finished talking about the retcon, and we just started on what we can expect in the future when Penny told us that dinner was ready."

"That's right," Ammy added on and sat down in the chair she set in front of us. "I wouldn't say we're finished on the topic of this retcon, but we can continue that line of inquiry on a later day."

Judy shifted in my lap to get her phone out, and even Elly moved to sit next to me instead of sticking to my back. Once everyone was in position and ready, I raised a finger to signal the start of the serious business— By some standard, at the very least.

"Let's make sure we're all on the same page first. I already told you how the plot was supposed to go, with Angie getting taken over, acting as the second act low-point before the third act climax with the power of love saving the day."

"Yes, yes," the princess nodded repeatedly at my side, and Ammy followed suit. Judy was only looking at me impatiently, but as the class rep just demonstrated, miscommunication was dangerous and it was best to make sure we were all clear on the situation.

"All of that is out the window at the moment and effectively irrecoverable."

"Question!" Ammy interrupted me, raising a hand for attention. "If it's a problem, can't you just alter the past again to change it?" It took her a second to notice my subtle glare, at which point she self-consciously cleared her throat. "I don't mean you should, I'm just curious if it's possible."

"It is, but it would be ridiculously counter-intuitive. While I veritably screwed up the original plot, the cat is already out of the bag with the Emergents, and I can't change that."

"Right, the extra-Simulacral entities." The class rep adjusted her posture, crossing her legs and pondering for a while before she continued. "But even so, you said destiny's original plan was really important, wasn't it?"

"It was about those 'Submerged Ones', right?" Elly chimed in, face brimming with curiosity.

"Kinda, but not really."

My response naturally didn't engender lots of confidence, so I inhaled deeply and tried again.

"Disclaimer: this is still based on partial information, so take it with a pinch of salt. The idea is that these Submerged One things, related to the Emergents, are linked to or in some way part of the Simulacrum. The Simulacrum itself is designed to produce stimulation, probably for them, and it's achieved through drama. Are we clear on that?"

"More or less," Judy noted, sounding a touch disinterested, but I barreled on.

"The point is that the Plot existed as a crucial element of this framework, but it was also part of the scheme between other-me, or maybe pan-conscious Narrative-me even, and the Crowned Coalescence, and something big was supposed to happen once said Plot was concluded."

"You already told us about that," Judy spoke up, now getting distinctly impatient.

"I know, I just want to make sure everyone understands the situation."

Meanwhile, Ammy raised her hand again.

"Do you know what this 'big thing' was supposed to be?"

"No, not really. It must've been related to the Emergents or the Simulacrum as a whole, but even other-me wasn't one hundred percent clear on the plan."

"But you changed the past, so that plan cannot come to fruition," the class rep concluded, and I hastily shook my head.

"That's the thing; it still can, but it's going to be tricky. You see, the criteria for the completion of that plan wasn't 'the Plot has to end this way', but more like 'there has to be a Plot, and that plot has to wrap up conclusively'."

"T L semicolon D R, the Chief is saying that so long as we uphold something resembling a plot, the world won't end overnight."

"… Dormouse. Did you just seriously TL;DR me?"

Instead of a proper answer, my lovely (if currently slightly prickly) assistant stuck out her tongue. I understood why she was impatient, considering I had discussed this with her beforehand, but it was still cold.

"Then what?" Ammy continued, seemingly ignoring our understated argument. "You said that once destiny's plan concludes, it would cause some kind of upheaval. Couldn't that also be the end of the world?"

"You see, Chief? That's why I didn't want you to bring up this topic yet," Judy grumbled in my lap, and I was very, very tempted to point out that she had the same reaction when we talked about it the first time. For now, I let slightly hypocritical lions lie and focused on Ammy.

However, that momentary break was enough of an opening to let Elly speak up, and she gave an optimistic spin to things, as usual.

"Why would it? In romance stories, the conclusion is when the couple gets together, but it doesn't mean the story is over. And there are after-stories too!"

"She's on the right track," I joined in even while giving my other girlfriend some extra snuggles so that she would hopefully stop being sullen a bit sooner. "I sincerely doubt that we would've seen a giant black screen show up with the letters 'FIN' written on it and smother the island the moment the Plot was over. Whatever the Crowned Coalescence is planning, it's related to the Emergents, not us."

"So you're saying that the machinations of these god-like entities are beyond us, and we shouldn't concern ourselves with them," Judy summarized, already sounding less grumpy. Yay for oxytocin.

"Kinda. We can't fully ignore them, but for the moment, our focus should be on the Simulacrum's inner workings, and how to keep everything running."

"With drama?" the princess interjected, and I automatically nodded.

"Yeah, with drama. I think we're good for the moment. The climax we just survived provided more than enough of that for the time being, and while my retcon cut a couple of threads short, we still have a couple of side plots we can rely on to tide us over for a while."

"How long?"

I considered Ammy's question for a while, and gave her a pessimistic estimate, as usual.

"I'd say we can coast for a few weeks. A month at most. It should be enough to get the political situation under control, and then we can start working on the capital P Plot for the finale."

"We?" the class rep blurted out, and it drew an amused chuckle out of the princess.

"Of course! You're part of the team now."

"That's… I mean, don't take me wrong, I find these discussions intellectually stimulating, but I'm not sure I'm up for the task."

Seeing her suddenly act so timid made me roll my eyes.

"Hey, it's not like anyone ever asked me if I wanted to be part of this whole madhouse."

"Me neither!" Elly chimed in out of the blue, sounding oddly happy about it.

"I was bribed into it with sandwiches," Judy joined next, and after a meaningful beat, she added, "No regrets."

"Oh. Sorry."

I didn't know why Ammy was suddenly apologizing, but that whole consideration was pushed to the side when Judy poked my side to get my attention.

"What are the sub-plots?"

"The what? Ah, right. I just mentioned those. Since Percival is still alive, his plot has to be concluded. There's also the situation in the Elysium, though that would probably resolve itself given enough time at this rate, and finally, Crowey and whatever upheaval is currently going on in the Abyss."

If we stretched things a little, I figured we could also add the will-they-won't-they romance shenanigans between Naoren and Mountain Girl. It wasn't a big thing, but beggars couldn't be choosers, and her denseness could theoretically lead to some rom-com situations that could provide enough drama to tide us over a little longer.

"What about Bel of the Abyss?" Ammy interjected out of the blue, and the three of us blinked in unison.

Right. While she was let in on about 90% of things, I never quite found the right moment to explain the whole 'Bel thing' to her. It caused a few holes in our descriptions of the recent events, but thanks to the retcon providing me with a convenient excuse to explain any discrepancies, she hadn't raised a fuss until now. Was this the right moment to let her in on the secret?

Honestly, no. The meta stuff was one thing, and it was another one of those cats that couldn't be stuffed back in the bag anymore, but at this point, I needed to keep a tighter rein on who would know about Bel's true identity, especially since I had some serious plans for the character. After all, I'd been building him up as the big villain for quite a while now, and with Deus being knocked down from arch-antagonist to the grouchy grandpa living in Angie's head, it would've been prudent to keep my cards even closer to my chest as usual.

"He's a wildcard, but he'll probably play a major role in the events to come."

In response, my girlfriends gave me diametrically opposed looks. Judy's narrowed eyes said 'Uh, he's planning something shady and overcomplicated again, isn't he?', while Elly's sparkling gaze told me 'Yay! Leo's scheming something bombastic again, isn't he?'. As much as I hated to admit it, they were both right, but again: cards, close to chest.

"So you have to arrange a new plan, as the new destiny, while he's still on the loose."

Ammy's whisper prompted a soft chuckle out of me, and I adopted a mysterious tone.

"Who knows? Maybe he will provide us with a ploy we just need to play into in the future?"

"You can't do that!" I was just about to drop some more hints, but the way Ammy raised her voice in a near-panic made me shut up at once. She grabbed the corner of her glasses and furiously tweaked them, clear evidence that she was worked up, and she spoke in a voice that bore no disagreement. "You said he started causing chaos because you threw the tracks of destiny, or routes, or whatever you called them, off their planned direction. Isn't that why his appearance always led to things getting out of control? Like what he did during the Draconians' tournament? You told me that was clearly set up and planned out by destiny, and yet he very nearly completely ruined it. What if he does the same to your plans when you act in the stead of destiny? It could be a disaster!"

"I mean, if you put it like that—"

Before I could finish, she interrupted me again, even more vehemently.

"If anything, you should try to capture or kill him as soon as possible!"

"Whoa! Easy there, class rep. Don't get so worked up."

My dear assistant sent me a 'you made your bed, now you lie in it' kind of look, but then her expression softened with a sigh and she came to my rescue.

"Let's not overwhelm the Chief. He has a lot on his plate already."

"But didn't he just say that we have a month at best before we have to come up with a new conclusion?"

I wanted to point out how she was now using 'we' without any reservations, but Elly beat me to the punch, though with a different observation.

"That's only true for the current side-plots, right? We can make more of those! Like when we went to the hot springs. We can do something similar, like… um…" She thought long and hard but was seemingly drawing a blank, so she turned to my other girlfriend. "Judy? Support?"

"We're going to have the school's sports festival in May."

"Right! That's one of those tropes!"

"But that's more than a month away," Ammy pointed out, but my dear assistant remained undaunted.

"We're also going to have spring break at the end of March. We can organize another group activity, and that should generate enough of the Chief's drama to keep us going a bit longer."

"Wait, I know it!" Elly exclaimed, one hand high in the air and the other grabbing my shoulder. "I know that trope! Beach episode, right? Right?"

"I… don't want to disappoint you princess, but I think it's going to be a bit too cold for that." My draconic girlfriend's expression withered at once, so I hastily added. "We can still go to the beach. Maybe we can look at the baby seals or something."

"Oh, that sounds fun too! But… If it's going to be too cold here, why don't we go somewhere else?"

That… actually wasn't a bad idea. We had been stuck on Critias since the very beginning, and while we had people coming to the island from the outside, we never ventured past its shores. Was the rest of the world simulated properly? Would things truck along normally on the island while we weren't here? My gut told me the answer to both of those questions was 'yes', but there was a difference between second-hand (or, considering it came from other-me, not-quite-first-hand?) knowledge, and seeing things with my own eyes.

"That sounds lovely, but let's discuss it again when the time comes," Judy steered the conversation along, and turned back to Ammy. "The point we are making is that there are many ways to generate drama and buy us time to push the grand finale of our, or rather, Joshua's plot back until we are ready to write, direct, and star in it."

Elly joined in with a confident "Agreed!", leaving the class rep no other option but to acquiesce.

"Understood. I still think we should focus on dealing with Bel of the Abyss, and… Speaking of side-tracks, I have asked Grandfather about the Grimoire. He was skeptical, but he said he would let me inspect the Grimoire Key soon."

"You see. That's another sub-plot we can work with." I unconsciously flashed a smile, and then a beat after, I shook my head. "Let's cross that bridge when we get there. Why don't we focus on smaller things for now? Stuff that we can do while things are still a bit tumultuous on the island."

"Such as?"

Hearing the princess's prompt, Ammy's mind immediately switched tracks, and she pointed at me.

"I have a proposal. I've read your preliminary observation notes on the 'Placeholders', and noticed that you stopped them a while ago."

"Yeah. We didn't quite have the time, and there didn't seem to be immediate benefit to any further experiments."

She accepted my excuse and moved on.

"I understand that, but I think we have a new angle to investigate. You said these 'Submerged Ones' are part of the Simulacrum, but your understanding of them is still vague. Could they be related to the Placeholders?"

"A fair question." Judy turned on her phone with renewed interest. "What makes you think that?"

And with that, the rocky start of the discussion was over, and we moved on to more productive topics, such as how to experiment with the common folk of the island. Ethically. That was important.

Yet, my heart just wasn't in the conversation. Not because it wasn't interesting, and based on the class rep's proposal, I was sure we would soon engage in some rather wacky tests that may or may not serve as yet another side plot, but there was something I just couldn't get out of my head. As embarrassing as it was to admit it, after everything that happened over the last couple of days… heck, make that weeks, I was both mentally and physically exhausted, so as much as it irked me to admit it…

"I could use a beach episode."

PART 3

"Good night, Chief." My lovely assistant said as she faced me under the frame of the front door, and then she rose to her tip-toes and planted a quick peck on my lips before turning to my other girlfriend, currently standing behind me. "Take good care of him. Don't let him overthink things on his own."

"Aye, aye, captain!"

Elly's cheerful response was followed up by a mock salute, and the two of them shared a solemn nod. I didn't get it.

Anyhow, I bid farewell to Judy, who proposed to accompany the class rep home (or at least part of the way). It was already dark outside, and they were going to walk, but I wasn't worried about them. Since the flustercuck a couple of days ago, security around the neighbourhood had been tighter than the lid on a pickle jar. From just a glance at the nearby red dots on the edge of my perception, there was at least one of the Fauns and three hidden ninjas shadowing the two of them. And that was on top of the Squires and Celestials covertly patrolling the area.

That said, the more precautions, the better, so I was planning to have Ichiko resume her bodyguard duties in Judy's shadow one of these days. Just to be safe. Or safer.

Once the girls waved their goodbyes, the princess automatically latched onto my arm and she started pulling me back towards the stairs the moment I closed the door.

"Ah, Eleanor. Are you staying for the night?" Morgana asked as we passed by her in the living room, and my draconic girlfriend nodded with gusto.

"Yes! It's my solo time with Leo."

She smiled at us without any pretences, legitimately looking like a doting mother for a second.

"Have fun."

With that, she beelined towards the kitchen. In the meantime, I glanced around and saw that my sisters and Tajana were playing Super Bash Siblings on the TV, while Arnwald was sitting on my favourite comfy chair and reading a newspaper, ignoring the noise the game (and they) made. How very peaceful.

In fact, it was peaceful to the point I felt a bit incredulous. As if I was out of place here. Though again, maybe I was. Family or not (ignoring Tajana for a second), everyone here was normal inhabitants of the Simulacrum, while I was… Honestly, I still wasn't completely clear on that.

I tried my best to explain it to the girls, but it was hard when even I wasn't certain of the nitty-gritty details, and the whole thing was so confusingly esoteric it just made me sound nutty. Like, if someone came to me and told me they were part of a pan-consciousness that was suffused into the very fabric of the world and secretly guided every major event we experience, but then they were severed from it and now it fell on their shoulders to steer history, I would probably nod along and try to keep them talking while sneakily dialling our equivalent of nine-one-one.

Yet, I was precisely in that situation, and I was also somehow related to some post-Lovecraftian out-of-our-known-universe entities, and I could also literally change reality by retconning the past with my own power, so… what the heck was I? And was it right to mingle with the people of the Simulacrum the way I've been—?

"Ah! You're overthinking things right now, aren't you?" Elly interrupted my train of thought, and yanked me towards the stairs. "Judy just warned us about that!"

"No, I wasn't… Well, okay, maybe a little bit, but…"

"No buts," she cut me off with a huff and pulled me upstairs, and into my room.

Once we were inside, she let out a shallow breath and turned to me.

"Leo. This is our alone time, right? Don't just get lost in your thoughts pondering about weird things!"

"It wasn't about…" I tried to deny it but stopped and considered things again. "Actually, you're not entirely wrong. Point taken."

"Good." Nodding, she jumped backwards onto the bed, landing butt-first with her legs extended. Once she stopped bouncing, she patted her thighs, much to my confusion. "Come here. I'll give you a lap pillow."

I wasn't entirely sure what prompted that, but it was an enticing offer I wasn't going to turn down. I climbed onto the bed and laid down on my back with my head resting on her legs. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but any issues with ergonomics were covered up by the cosiness of it all. Once I was relaxed, Elly carefully stroked my forehead.

I'm not going to lie, it felt nice. Really nice.

"Just relax," she whispered to me, and her fingers slowly combed through my hair. "Let's stay like this for a while, and take it easy."

Despite my best efforts, I couldn't stop my lips from twisting into a wry smile.

"I look like I really need a break, huh?"

"Um… Honestly, yes." Elly continued to stroke my head with soft, delicate motions. "You've been running yourself ragged for a while, so I promised Judy I would look after you tonight and make sure you relax." When I didn't respond right away, she let out a soft giggle, as if recalling a funny story. "She said she's not good at that, because she wouldn't be able to stop herself from discussing the Simulacrum with you."

"To be fair, it's kind of important," I pointed out, and her smile was immediately replaced with a contemplative expression.

"Yes, but we've been talking about it non-stop lately. We need variety. And not just about that." Her hand stopped and rested on my forehead. It was warm. Or was my forehead cold? A rhetorical question, if there ever was one. "You've been doing nothing but working day and night ever since… Now that I think about it, ever since that time you got the letter from the government."

"The child protective services."

"Yes, that one. You really need a break."

"Of course I do, but I can't." My reply made her frown, so my tone probably wasn't right. Let's try again. "I meant to say that I'm aware that I'm burning both ends of the candle right now, but I don't have much of a choice. As much as I wish things would sort themselves out in my absence, I have to be present in the Draconic Council to show that my allegiances belong there, I have to keep a close eye on the Directorate to make sure they don't get up to any funny business, and I have to regularly visit Amadeus in the School as a representative to ease diplomatic relations. And that's on top of all existential concerns about the Simulacrum and the Emergents." It was impossible to stifle the groan clawing at my throat, so I rubbed my face and added, "You see? This is the reason why I tried to shake off all of those leadership positions the Narrative tried to shoehorn me into. What was I thinking? I mean, what was Narrative-me thinking?"

"Don't worry about that," Elly chided me and grabbed the hand still in front of my face. "You see, this is the problem. You're focusing on the things you can't do anything about, instead of the things you can."

"Such as?"

"Well, since you asked, you could try delegating more."

"Please, princess. Do you think I didn't try?" I wanted to roll my eyes, but I didn't want to make her mad, so I just closed them for a second and then stared at the ceiling. "I told you that we're under a soft time limit already. Sure, Roland and Naoren would probably keep the Draconic Federation running whether I was there or not, and the Reformists of the Elysium have been stumbling over themselves to push through any proposed legislation I bring up. I grant you that. But if I wasn't there personally, things would move much slower, and we need to resolve all of these governmental and diplomatic ass-pains so that we can focus on creating a new Plot."

"Hold your horses, please," she interjected and squeezed my hand for extra emphasis. "You said we have about a month for that, right?"

"It's the high-end of my estimates, yes."

"Whatever. Doesn't that mean we have a lot of time? There's no need to push yourself so much to rush things."

"No, a month is not a long time at all, and I just told you it's the most optimistic of my pessimistic guesstimates."

"You see, this is the problem." She suddenly let go of my hand and poked my nose. "You're too pessimistic."

"Don't pick on pessimism. Pessimism is why we're all alive today," I objected and, for extra emphasis, I poked her nose back. "You know my motto: expect the worst, prepare for worse."

"Since when's that your motto?"

"Since forever," I responded with a shrug. "And so far, it worked. If it's not broken, don't fix it."

"But at this rate, you're going to break first," she insisted and poked my nose harder. "You don't sleep, so you just keep ruminating over these worst-case-scenarios of yours, and it shows on your face."

"Does it?"

"Yes." This time, she poked my cheek. "You have bags under your eyes, and your face is always sullen and just… less handsome than it used to be."

"But still handsome."

"Yes, but that's beside the point," my girlfriend fumed at my attempt to steer the discussion into a more comedic one, and she grabbed my head with both of her hands. "We are worried about you."

Ouch. That's one of those lines that's impossible to argue against. I still had to try though, because… erm… Okay, so maybe I didn't have to, but I felt obliged to put up at least a token resistance.

"Elly, love. I already explained this. I can't afford to take a break now and dump… pardon, delegate, everything to others. Not yet."

"Then don't take a big break, take lots of small ones. Like this one," she argued back. "Or pick up a hobby."

"Like what? Knitting?" I joked, but she nodded with the utmost seriousness.

"If that's what you want to do, then sure. So long as it's something you like."

"Hm. I don't think you and Judy count as hobbies, right?"

"Leo, I'm serious," she insisted, leaning over to look me directly in the eye. "Answer me honestly; do you have any proper hobbies?"

Since she was so earnest, I put some thought into my answer, but it still came out as a somewhat lame, "Does beating up Duncan during sparring matches count?"

"Leo…"

"O-Okay, hold on. What about watching cat videos?"

"That's not a hobby. It's something everyone does," she denied my answer with narrowed eyes. "I'm talking about a proper hobby. Like how Neige likes to draw. Or how Penelope is playing video games. Or how I practice singing. Or how Judy reads novels about—"

"I get it, I get it." I put my hands on hers, still clasped on my cheeks, and carefully pulled them away. "Fine. I admit you caught me flat-footed with that."

The closest thing I could think of was theory crafting about the Simulacrum, but with the recent developments, that had already become another unofficial 'job', so it was out. What else? I joked about Judy and Elly being my hobby, and it was true that the time spent with them was probably the most relaxed I've ever been, but I would hardly count that as a 'proper hobby' by the Princess's definition. Other than that, I had… scheming? I doubted it would pass the definition check, and with the whole 'filling in for the Narrative' situation going on, it was also edging uncomfortably close to 'job' territory.

Damn. I really didn't have any hobbies, did I? That was just plain depressing, but in retrospect, understandable. Even before all my official duties fell on me like a ton of bricks, I was always too busy with one thing or another to even consider doing something comparatively 'useless' with any regularity. No wonder I was feeling shaky as of late; I've been bottled up since forever, and the pressure on my shoulders has only ever been increasing over time.

"Okay, it's clear I'm guilty as charged. What now?"

"Now, we'll find you a hobby!" Elly declared with a smug yet silly little smirk. The kind I loved the most.

"Right now?"

"Um, no. For now, you just relax, okay?" She paused, and after a few seconds of odd silence, a different kind of expression settled on her face. "Unless you want to do something… ummm… n-naughty?"

"… Princess, my love. I'm sorry to say, but you're terrible at being coy."

"S-Shut up! I'm trying!" She pinched my nose and let out an indignant huff to further drive home her displeasure with me.

"Sorry, I'm just saying as it is. Seduction just isn't in your character."

"Oh, really?" Triggering her competitive instincts, she flashed a daredevil grin, and with a single motion, she pulled her sweater over her head and threw it next to the bed, revealing her frilly pink bra and her toned tummy. "What about now?"

"A… valiant effort, but… Considering how many people we have in the house right now, I'm not sure this is a good idea."

"Hah!" Elly laughing out like that made me fall into a startled silence, and it quickly shifted into a baffled one when she poked my nose again with a triumphant grin and added, "I won the bet!"

"… What bet?"

"Ammy put a sound-dampening spell on the room before you came home," she explained and vaguely gestured at the walls around us. "We made a bet with Judy whether you'll notice it or not! You didn't, so I won."

"You bet against me?"

"Because I knew how exhausted you are."

She put her hands on her hips as she proudly declared that, and tearing my eyes away from the mounds hanging over my head, I glanced around. She was… right, actually. Now that I knew what to look for, I quickly recognized the telltale signs of an active spell around the room, with all the colourless swirling lights and everything. Most other times I would've noticed them right away, but I just skimmed over them because they didn't seem dangerous.

"I can't argue with that," I admitted glancing up at her, and the sexy bits in front of my eyes bounced and quivered as she leaned forward again to look directly at me.

"The spell should last all night. You know what that means?"

"Yes."

"Are you in the mood?"

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't, but I would like to point out that putting your goods on display like that to prove that you can be seductive is kind of cheating."

"Everything's fair in love and war." She stuck out her tongue and reached behind her back, probably to unhook her bra. "The important part is that you focus on something else other than work."

To be fair, while I admit that my libido still wasn't up to the national standard, it was kind of hard to focus on anything else other than her when she was undressed like that. Not that I was against spending some quality time with my princess like this, and I was just about to initiate some advanced-cuddling techniques when the air in the room froze.

I wasn't being metaphorical there. It seriously felt like temperatures dropped to freezing point for a moment, followed by a strange, quivering sensation. It was as if space itself was shaking before an eerie, orange hole appeared at the end of the bed. It was a two-dimensional flat plane floating in place, pitch black and completely unmoving. At least at first. Until a pig-tailed girl stuck her head through the hole.

"Ah, sorry for being late!" she exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, looking towards the door. "Ah, wait."

She squirmed around for a bit and the whole black spot on the fabric of reality turned one hundred and eighty degrees so that her face and upper body were facing us. It was unmistakably The Girl, yet her appearance felt more defined than before. She had delicate features, sandy blonde hair in pigtails with bright, practically glowing tips, and from what I could see of her, she seemed to be wearing a bright pink dress.

"Sorry ***************. I was in a hurry, and didn't lock in the coordinates proper—" She fell silent the moment she laid eyes on us, and after lingering on Elly for a while, she turned to me with a bright grin. "Ah. I see you're in the middle of something."

"Yes. You can say that," I answered with a mounting sense of trepidation.

"My bad, my bad. I only checked that you were at home, and forgot to check if you were alone. Oopsie?"

Seeing that Elly was gradually turning as red as a tomato, I let out an exasperated sigh and sat up on the bed.

"You picked a terrible time to show up."

"Sorry, sorry. I had to convince the others there was nothing out of the ordinary, and sneakily inserting yourself into the right spot on a linear timeline is tricky." She glanced at Elly and then flashed an even wider grin at me. Oddly her expression was less over-the-top than when I last saw her in the not-black-not-room. Did it have anything to do with this 'manifestation' she spoke of? I imagined I would have to ask later, and she must've read my expression and added, "Ah, don't mind me. I'll wait until you're finished."

"Okay." I thought that was the end of it, but she continued to stare at me expectantly. "What?"

"Can I watch?"

Blinking, I answered with an immediate, "No."

"I'll be just in the corner. Don't mind me."

"I do," I hissed, and instinctively reached out with a phantom limb.

When it met her forehead, there was a solid, tactile sensation, different from when I interacted with objects within the Simulacrum, and when I pushed, two small, white hands reached out and grabbed onto the edges of the hole.

"H-Hey! Don't be like that!"

Running out of patience, I brought all my other phantom limbs to bear.

"Go away!"

With that, I pushed her back into the hole, and the moment I pulled my extra appendages back, it popped out of existence. Following that, a strange silence settled in the room.

"What was that?"

"The Girl," I answered off-handedly as I turned back to the princess. "One of the Emergents I talked about."

"Really?" Her eyes kept jumping between me and where the hole in reality used to be. "I… didn't expect her to look like that."

"Why? What did she look like to you?"

"… Normal? Or rather, for a moment I felt like I was staring at a planet. Not like one of those big photos from space probes, but an actual planet, but then that impression completely disappeared, and she was just a girl."

"Yeah, they do that. The way you perceive them is wacky." With a sigh, I crossed my legs under me. "I guess I'd better go and talk with her."

"No," the princess stopped me by literally grabbing onto my shoulder. "You're on a break now, remember?"

"Yeah, but… I'm sure you're not in the mood after what just happened."

Elly didn't respond right away. She uncertainly glanced around the room, and after a long beat, she looked me in the eye.

"Is she still watching?"

"I… can't say for sure, but I don't think so, no."

"Good."

Before I could get a word in, she reached behind her back again, and a second later, my vision was obstructed by a pair of still-warm bras thrown over my head.

"This is a matter of pride now," she declared and literally pulled me on top of herself. "I promised Judy you won't be working tonight, so you won't be. End of story."

"I'm not sure that's the most important thing right—" I tried to object, but she was too fired up and sealed my mouth with hers. My joke about her prowess as a seductress probably hit a nerve much harder than expected.

Oh well. The Girl made me wait, so she could wait for me too. It's only fair, am I right?