“Doesn’t it seem a bit brighter than before?”
Claire asked in a slightly unsure voice.
We were gazing at the jibo that Claire had brought over after a long time. Since it was the jibo used when Claire and Alice flew over here, we naturally had to use it to return as well. Using the jibo, created to seize the Goddess’s power amidst the chaos she could not handle, was our theory so far.
But for that to happen, the order had to be sufficiently broken.
So far, there were hardly any viewers of our broadcast who doubted our identity.
And the signs of this power returning…
“Hmmm… I guess it seems a bit brighter?”
Alice looked a bit doubting too; it was kind of faint.
Honestly, it did look a little brighter to me, but I couldn’t tell if it was actually brightness or just my imagination.
“Well, there’s nothing to change by worrying about it now. We can think about it a bit longer.”
In truth, I wasn’t sure at all.
Considering that time hardly flowed on this side when I went over there, it could be flowing extremely fast in the opposite case.
But even if that were true, there was nothing we could do. Since we were here, we couldn’t know the situation over there.
“……”
“……”
“……”
The mood sank into a brief gloom.
“…Shall we order some chicken or something?”
“Sounds good!”
“I’m worried we’re going to get fat.”
At the suggestion to order a special remedy for our gloom, both of them responded positively.
*
However, that didn’t mean our broadcast had no effect at all.
“Look at this, it’s a post questioning whether we really came from that world.”
“That’s probably just some internet nonsense.”
In reality, the post was almost half full of ‘lol,’ making it clear it was just a funny joke. The comments were the same.
But there weren’t even such posts during the early days of the broadcast.
“How about we try to verify our identity with our ID next time?”
At my suggestion, Alice and Claire tilted their heads in confusion.
“Didn’t you say we shouldn’t show it?”
“Well, if we just cover the number and address, it should be fine. We just need to show that our name really is ‘Fanggriffon.’”
And surely, someone would report it to the police. They would say our ID was fake.
But we weren’t fools either. These days, you could easily get a resident registration online. Of course, I had already confirmed that Claire and Alice’s IDs were real.
And I had already verified that my ID was real when I reconnected to the internet. If it were fake, we wouldn’t be living like this now.
“Hmmm… Are we proving that we are ‘real’…?”
Alice fell deep into thought for a moment.
“If you don’t like it—”
“N-No, it’s not that.”
Alice said with a slightly awkward smile to my words.
“It’s just that the idea of proving we’re real is a bit funny. The story inside this game is indeed real to these people. They’re, after all, people who didn’t even know our world existed.”
…Was that the meaning?
“It’s funny that the flowing story is different, yet we claim to be the ‘real’ Fanggriffon, right?”
“And my name isn’t Fanggriffon, it’s Grace, sis.”
“…I only said that for convenience since we’re three sisters.”
In response to Claire’s objection, I sighed and replied.
“You can think of it as a name change, right?”
“Names can be changed, but changing surnames is quite difficult. If we were naturalized foreigners, we could choose a surname, but there’s no record of that.”
Of course, it was noted that we were born in this country at the right age.
“The more we deny it, the weirder it gets.”
“That’s the gap, I guess. We need to dig into that gap.”
“Ah.”
While Alice and I were chatting, Claire let out a small gasp, turning both of our gazes toward her.
“Have you thought of something?”
“Soon the chicken will arrive in a minute. Shouldn’t we get ready?”
“……”
I felt a bit envious of that optimistic personality.
Alice seemed to share my thoughts, as a wry smile appeared on her face.
*
[Is it really true?]
[You’ll get punished for forging your ID.]
[Isn’t that a serious crime?]
“I apologize for disappointing you, but we have never forged our IDs. This is truly our identification.”
[Then are your parents’ surnames also Fanggriffon?]
“Our parents don’t exist in this world. They’re all in Azernar.”
For reference, we couldn’t find any trace of our parents’ existence in this ‘other world.’ If the Goddess had a plan, some administrative processing might have been done, but if we wanted to dig further, we would need to go through some office, and I really didn’t want to do that. It would only complicate things.
And if things were to get complicated, they needed to be a societal complication, not a personal one.
That way, the Goddess would be even more flustered.
“If you don’t believe us, feel free to report us to the police. If we’re innocent, you’ll know that’s true, right? By the way, we are paying our taxes properly.”
They usually deduct 3.3%, so that’s handled. The final tax settlement is a matter for next year anyway.
“Even if you can’t believe that we came from Azernar, it’s still true that we have these names.”
Claire, who was sitting next to me, said seriously.
[So that hair is real?]
“Huh? Hair?”
Claire tilted her head in confusion, so I explained why I was asked that.
“In this world, hair colors are quite limited. Alice’s blonde exists, but blue hair is not a naturally occurring hair color.”
“Is that so?”
Claire was taken aback.
“Red is somewhat possible, but purple hair like Sophia’s or your blue hair can only be achieved through dye.”
“Wow, really?”
Claire’s eyes sparkled.
[No way, is that true? LOL]
[It’s obviously dyed.]
“Shall we do a DNA test or something?”
I said with a serious expression.
Well, I wasn’t really planning on going that far.
As long as those people are confused, that’s fine.
…I just hope I don’t end up with a stalker… but well, that’s a problem for later.
[But why do that verification?]
“It’s because we’re fighting against the Goddess of Order. The more you believe us, the higher our chances of winning become.”
[LMAO]
[LOL, solid concept!]
[But even if it’s a concept, crimes are a bit—]
“If you think it’s a crime, it’s only a matter of proving that we are indeed criminals, isn’t it?”
I said confidently.
The chatroom became increasingly chaotic. While some began to wonder if I might actually be real, others staunchly disbelieved it.
All the ones hurling insults got banned. No way you can allow those kinds of vulgarities.
For reference, the number of viewers was the highest it had ever been. I guess someone must have taken a screenshot and posted it somewhere.
Wouldn’t it be nice if it ended up on some wiki?
As long as there was one person believing, that would be enough.
If it looks like we’re getting caught up in some incident… well, honestly, if things escalate that far, we’ve pretty much wrapped up our plans for escape already.
“Well then, let’s stop chit-chatting and play some games.”
I left the still chaotic chatroom as it was and, as usual, booted up the latest installment of the Chronicles of Aetherna.
*
After that, while I was playing, the chat calmed down a tad. Since Sylvia hadn’t noticed other characters about her ability since she turned back time, the story was flowing just like I experienced with my friends.
Of course, the Sylvia in the game seemed much more stiff and emotionless than I was.
Ever since she turned back time, it seemed she had become like that.
That day, I didn’t discover any uniqueness in the story throughout my gameplay and ended the stream as normal, then lightly tidied up my room, washed up, and went to bed.
And—
“Claire! Claire!”
I opened my eyes to the feeling of Claire shaking me vigorously.
Blue light was pouring in through the window, indicating that it was still early morning.
However, an even brighter blue light was catching my eye.
“Look at this!”
It was the light flowing out from the jibo Claire was holding.
“It’s definitely brighter now, right?”
“……”
Of course, it wasn’t as bright as when we saw it from that other world.
The light flowing from the jibo was the most vibrant I had seen since coming here.
“Don’t you think we might be able to go home soon?”
Claire shook the jibo as she said that, giving a broad smile.
“…I think so. If we just keep going like this, it should happen.”
I rubbed my eyes as I saw Alice waking up and smiled again as I looked at Claire.
The way we chose seemed to be definitely the right path.
You may also like Mesugaki Tank Enters The Academy
