Alright… I’m here… Carol wasn’t done with her questions about the other world and my powers, so she told me to come to the dorm again today. But she’s nowhere to be seen now that I’m here. Did I come too early or what? I sent her a message and received a reply almost instantly.

“I’m behind the dorm building. Come here instead.” Hmm… If that’s what she wants… I left the dorm just as quickly as I arrived and circled around to the back.

There she is… Carol was sitting on top of a waist-high stone wall. One of her legs was up on the wall, while the other was hanging freely. “Sup.” S- sup? Is that how she speaks now? Her pose too… Is she trying to look cool or something? She’s more on the cute side than anything, so it really doesn’t fit her that much, but… The way she’s trying so hard is cute in and of itself. She really can’t help but look cute, no matter how hard she tries not to. And her skirt… She’s not in a great pose to be wearing a skirt. I can almost see what’s underneath…

“H- hi? How are you, Carol? Why did you call me? What did you wanna talk about?” She wants to continue our conversation from yesterday, but she really didn’t tell me what part in particular. I told her about my powers, if you can even call them that, and about the other world, so what’s left to talk about?

“Shhh… Are you gonna die if you’re not a loudmouth for a minute?” Carol gestured for me to get closer to her. I’m not a loudmouth, am I? I just got here… It’s too early for me to be letting her words get to me. I got closer, like she wanted, and laid back against the wall next to her. Why is she being so secretive? Is it because I asked her? She’s so sweet… But meeting with her behind the dorm like this is weird. What are we? Delinquents trying to find a place to smoke without getting caught by teachers? The only difference is that we’re not smoking but talking about conspiracy theories instead. Or better yet, we’re the ones starting them—we’re the ones conspiring. I’m actually getting a little tense now… What if the others find us here?

“What is it you wanted to talk about?”

“You know, there’s a lot we still haven’t figured out, even after everything you told me. We’re gonna need to come up with a plan to find out more and really get to the bottom of this.”

“A plan?”

“Yeah, what’s up with the portals, where they come from… There’s a lot we don’t know, and I’m not gonna rest until I find out why they had to lie to us about all that. You’re interested too, right?” I guess I am… The portals, the other world, Ririna… More than anyone else, I really need to know more about the whole situation. I have too much to lose. How real is the other world? It’s so different from the game… Is it possible to have a relationship with someone from there? I need the portals, and I need to understand how they really work.

“Of course I’m interested, but I haven’t found much thus far… Do you have any ideas on how we can get more information?” That’s the biggest problem here. How do we learn about something so supernatural? Who would we ask to know more about the very fabric of reality? Who has that information? God? I’m at a loss. I can draw some conclusions, like I’ve been doing so far, but that’s not nearly enough to get the full picture.

“Tsk… I don’t really have anything specific… The only thing I was thinking is that we should split up. You look for info on one side while I look on the other.”

“Meaning…?”

“Do I have to spell it out for you? I’ll look for info in this world while you look in the other world. I don’t know how far that’s gonna get us, though… I’ll try asking the other girls some questions and see if I can get anything out of Shinji, but after that, I’m out of leads. I’m counting on you to do your part.” It’s weird to be talking to Carol about this. She’s really making an effort to get more information. I’m not on my own anymore, am I?

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“Alright… I’ll do whatever I can.” If we want to learn about the portals, the other world’s probably our best bet. There’s gotta be someone there who knows about the portals and can tell me what’s going on. I just need to find someone I can trust to ask about the portals who can point me in the right direction. Maybe Ririna…? We’re not that close yet, right? But maybe in the future if nothing goes wrong? Sarasa and Flanne might know something too. Ahahaha… I guess my goal is still to gain their trust and improve my relationships with them.

“Who were those girls that were with you when you were looking for me? They your friends?”

“Yeah… I think you can say that.”

“I thought so… You managed to befriend people from the other world then… Impressive. They must be just as weird as you are.” Unnecessary… Just when I start thinking Carol is actually very sweet, she does nothing but spew venom at me.

“They’re normal, I think. At least by their world’s standard. Since I knew some things about their world from when I played the game, I was able to get along with them. But it was mostly a coincidence that we ended up meeting.”

“You say normal, but I saw one of them summon some kind of light. Whatever, think they know something? Can you ask them?”

“I’ll try… That’s what I was also thinking. They might not know anything, so don’t expect too much.”

“Yeah, yeah, no expectations, I know…” Carol shifted positions and let her leg down. She swung her feet back and forth, hitting the wall alternatingly with a constant rhythm. “You’re really not scared of the portals at all. You didn’t even hesitate when I asked you to search in the other world.”

“Huh? I guess not… I’ve passed through the portal so many times that I don’t even think about it anymore. I was gonna keep going to the other world anyway, so I have no reason to hesitate.”

“That’s the strangest part. Why do you even care about the other world at all? No one’s forcing you to go.” Carol shook her head in disbelief.

“It’s just become a part of my life at this point. I’ve made friends there, and they’re important to me. I only went there to train at first, but now it’s more than that.”

“Hmmm… I see… Well, I’m going with you.”

“What? What do you mean by that?”

“I mean exactly what I said. I’ll join you in your training. I’ve been here longer than you, and I’m not about to let you get ahead of me just because you’re gaining experience in another world. I’m coming, and I won’t accept no for an answer. I can’t join you every time, but I won’t let you climb up the ranks without putting up a fight! Got it?” Is she serious? I actually wouldn’t mind having someone with me from this side… I just can’t believe she actually wants to accompany me. She’s kinda hung up on this idea of who’s better than who, and I don’t really get it. We’re on the same side.

“I’d be happy to have you with me. Just tell me in advance when you have some time, and we can go toge-”

“Shh!” Carol lightly kicked the side of my belly, shutting me up instantly. What the hell? What did I do… now… “Narumi?” Carol called out to Narumi, who was walking while looking down at her phone. She hadn’t noticed us until Carol raised her voice, and I hadn’t noticed her either… We’re a pair of complete airheads, apparently.

“What…? Carol?” Narumi looked up from her phone, completely confused. Maybe one of us is not as big of an airhead as the other. “Oh! And Iroha too! Hi there!”

“What were you doing here? Are you lost? You gotta pay attention to your surroundings. Why were you wandering around glued to your phone like that?” Carol looked down at Narumi from atop the wall as she joined us.

“Ahahaha… Sorry… I was just… What’s the best way to put it? Playing a game? Or at least I was, but I lost track of what I was doing. What are you two doing here?” What do we say here? Carol’s been in charge of the excuses so far, so I turned to her for help.

“We’re just… hanging out… Right, Iroha?” Why did she have to put me on the spot?

“Th- that’s right! We were just… catching up.”

“Really? Why are you behind the dorm then? Couldn’t you do that inside or something? Wait! Is this what they call a secret meeting? Were you two trying to do something lewd? Can I join?”

“Lew- There’s nothing like that going on, you dumbass! We were just talking! You can even join us if you don’t believe me. Don’t you have anything else better to do, though?” Carol was flustered and jumped down from the wall. She stood up to Narumi with her arms crossed.

“You said it yourself. I was just wandering around while messing with my phone. Does it look like I have anything else better to do?”

Yeah… “She has a point.” I can’t think of anything else to say to that.

“So? What are we doing?” Narumi had already wormed her way into our group, and she was ready to get started on something.

“Well, me and Iroha were talking about how we were going to train before you showed up. You wanna join us?” We were? In some ways, I guess we were…

“You’re gonna train…?” Narumi got a little apprehensive. “Is it breaking rocks?”

“No… Of course we’re not gonna break rocks. We’re not you-” Carol glanced at me before continuing. “I’m not you.” What’s she insinuating? That I’m at the level where I can break rocks? To be fair, I haven’t tried it since I got all those powerups, but those huge boulders that you see in anime training montages are still beyond me, I think. “If we’re practicing together, that means we’re gonna spar. Not too interested now, are you, Narumi?”

“Yeah… I’d rather just watch…” Hmm? I was under the impression that Narumi’s pretty strong… Why doesn’t she like sparring? Is she that much better than us, so she’s scared of hurting us? Weird…

“Alright, Iroha, it’s decided, let’s head for the dojo and practice for a while. You know what to do now, so I’m counting on you.” Carol whispered that last bit and led the way to the dojo.

‘I’m counting on you’… Hearing Carol say that… I couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, you can count on me!” Never have expected things would turn out this way…