"Woah… So you're saying that you were in a Virtual Dive before you came here?" Amber gasped, her arms linked with mine as we made our way back to the apartment.

"Sort of… You guys have similar looking machines I guess."

"Woooow! That means this place could actually just be a virtual simulation!"

"Doesn't that scare you?"

She shrugged, "I mean… Even if it is, what can I do about it, right? Plus, if The simulation is nice enough to bring you into my life, I don't really mind it that much."

I raised an eyebrow, "You do know that means the simulation might end at any time right?"

She tilted her head at me without slowing her step, "Uh huh… And?"

"Doesn't that… I dunno… Bother you? Alongside the fact that we may not be real?"

"Oh Tera. The only thing that we can actually be sure of is our own existence and nothing else."

"Mmm… But doesn't this mean that if this is just a virtual simulation… There's someone out there who can just delete everything at any time?"

Amber hugged my arm a little tighter, "Well~ There's multiple religions out there that all believe in different gods who may or may not be all powerful. Isn't that the same thing? Their gods could also wipe out this universe if they wanted to but yet we're still living in it anyway. So if this all powerful being decides to wipe us out because they felt like it one day… I might as well enjoy what time I have right now instead of worrying about it right? Simply living in fear of what 'may be' instead of living while enjoying what actually 'is' is just a sad way to live."

I stopped and stared at her, prompting my blonde haired lover to stop as well.

She gave me a questioning look, "What? What is it? Did you see something?"

"No… Since when were you so philosophical?"

She giggled, "Oh I don't know… Probably after I met you because all the love I have for you changed my perspective, Tera~ Ehehehe~"

Somehow I actually don't doubt that…

We continued walking and our apartment was already in view.

Amber was happy to just walk along my side without saying anything so we maintained an air of comfortable silence as we continued our walk back to the apartment.

When we reached the lift that would bring us up, I suddenly turned to her, "Do you think… I should tell the other two about this?"

Amber gave me a surprised look, "Eh? Wait… You haven't told them yet?"

"Eh? Of course not?"

"Waahhh! So you decided to come and tell me first?"

"Why wouldn't you be first? You're my first companion and also my first lover in this universe. Unless I had a good reason for it, I would, of course, tell you something like that first."

"Ahhh!! I love you so much, Tera!" She squealed, pulling me into a tight hug before she peppered my face with kisses. "I love, love, love, love, love you!!!"

"Mnnghh… Mmm… I love you too, Amber."

"Ehehehe~ Though I'm surprised you didn't tell Lea first though. I thought you would tell something serious to someone as serious like Lea first. Ehehehe~"

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Well… That's why I kind of plan to tell her too… Should I?"

She giggled, "Why not? I do want to see both their faces when they hear that you came from a different universe though. Can I watch?"

I shrugged to show that it didn't matter to me and she cheered while hugging me even tighter.

We eventually reached our apartment and I found the two of them poking around the kitchen.

"Mistress!" "Boss!" Both of them greeted me quickly.

"What are you doing?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lea averted her eyes, "We… We thought that Mistress would be out for the rest of the night… So we were trying to make something for ourselves to eat…"

I actually felt interested in that, "What are you making? Could I try?"

Ries grimaced, "It wouldn't taste as good as what you can make, Boss…"

"But it's something made by you girls! I'll still eat it!"

"But… Your food would still taste the best, Boss… And I would just waste our fish… Plus I don't really know how to handle this stove thingy that's completely different from the one on your ship…"

I shrugged, "Well, if you're alright with me just making something simple for dinner then… Also, there's something I want to tell the both of you anyway so why don't you take a seat at the counter?"

The three of them agreed and Amber was clearly more excited to take her place than they were.

They did notice that she was seated at an angle where she could watch the both of them which was odd since she would usually take another spot which made Lea question her.

"Why are you seated there?" Lea asked.

"Oh, don't mind me~ Just listen to what Tera has to say~"

The two of them turned to me with a questioning look while I prepped the grill again.

I wasn't going to do anything flashy this time so I was thinking I could just make something simple like some fried noodles with pieces of meat and fish served alongside some vegetables.

I chose that since that's what the two of them had prepared to use for their own cooking anyway.

While I started up the grill, I considered how I should break the news to them and decided there was no point in trying to soften the blow so I decided to just say it out loud.

"I'm from another universe."

There was a moment of silence before Lea actually nodded while Ries continued to stare at me in shock.

Amber pointed at Lea, "No way that this is your only reaction! What the heck was that?!"

Lea turned to her, "I was already aware of the fact that Mistress might possess memories from another alternate reality. So the jump from an alternate reality to an alternate universe isn't really that big."

Amber seemed a little disappointed to hear that before she turned her attention to Ries who was still staring at me with a shocked face.

"Boss… You're not kidding?"

I nodded, "In my universe, I was actually a guy and I was from Earth. I was playing a game in my VR Capsule, or what your universe would call a Virtual Pod, when it suddenly short circuited and the next thing I know, I woke up in the middle of nowhere in my current ship. The ship which incidentally also exists in the game that I was playing."

Ries gasped, "Do you mean… The Verlandi?"

I nodded.

"Wait, wait, wait… Does that mean this entire thing might just be a virtual simulation? Does that mean that none of us are real?"

Amber giggled, "Ahhh~ This was what I expected to happen~"

I shrugged, "I honestly don't know. If this was still the virtual world, I would have expected some game-like stuff to still apply to this… But then I also realise that this is not the exact replication of the game since there were things that happened here that didn't happen in the game. For example, there weren't any Alvs in the game I was playing. In fact, there weren't even gene or cyware modding. And Earth was still a place that everyone could go to."

Ries thought about it for a moment, "It… It could be that this was simulated to several decades or even centuries after the game?"

I shrugged again, "I'm not throwing out that possibility but I don't really think that's the case either. I believe that the timeline between the game and this universe doesn't really match up."

"Then how does this… Why would… I don't understand… Are we real?" Ries gasped, her hand clutching at her head.

Lea was more composed and tilted her head at me, "Are you alright though, Mistress?"

"Hmm? Of course I am. Why?"

"Because you are telling us this. It feels like something happened for you to decide to tell us something like this."

I waved my hand at her, "Oh there's not really a deep meaning or anything like that. I just felt that since all of us would be practically living like a family from now one, it should be fair for me to tell you this since I don't really want to hide it from you and saw no point in hiding it anyway."

Lea's brows seemed to scrunch up slightly from hearing that but said nothing and simply nodded.

Ries was still clutching her head like she was having a mental breakdown, "If this was a simulation… If I could connect myself to a port… No… There's no guarantee that they are even using the same OS… And even if it is… How do I know I'm not just seeing what they want me to see? I… I don't know…"

Damn… I think I broke her…