Chapter 168

He returned to his room to escape Shiro’s scornful gaze. Day Three—Nighttime. “Whoa?! What the heck was I doing?!” “Hmm… More like who were you—? Uh, actually…” “…Do you…really, wanna…know…?” It was the day after the most recent stream. Approximately twenty-two hours had elapsed since Jibril and Steph’s forced coupling. After Steph suddenly reverted to her regular self, Sora and Shiro timidly peeked out of their room and asked her a question. The siblings figured they had no business in seeing the girl-on-girl—Jibril-on-Steph—shenanigans unfolding. So they’d gone back to their room before the stream was over and played some games. There was no way for them to know exactly what Jibril and Steph had done, and yet— “Absolutely not! I never want to know what happened!!” “Report: Full-length audio-visual footage captured of Woman of Unknown Name and Irregular Number. Wanna see, Master?” “Don’t you dare show him!! Y-you say something, too, Jibril! That wasn’t you in there, right?! We were forced into acting that way! It’s most certainly not something I’d ever want to do of my own volition! You know that, right?!” “Yes, we were both under the same spell. I must say, it was quite the tantalizing experience in its own way. ” —judging by those reactions—not to mention the potential progression of the stream—the siblings had an idea of what had transpired. Truthfully, it was hard for them to picture what exactly the pair had done, since Foeniculum kept things strictly PG-13. Whatever the case was, Sora and Shiro chose to respect Steph’s wishes and not prod any further. However—with another plop on Sora’s head—Foeniculum appeared with a nasty grin and her usual off-screen demeanor. “Geh-heh-heh… Y’all got nothin’ to worry about. I have a two-hour highlight reel from that entire day! I pulled an all-nighter to get the editing done! This’ll be perfect for tonight—you guys’ll get to see it with the rest of our viewers!!” “You’re going to stream us?! This must be some sort of joke! It better be!!” Sora had a Fairy on his head and a screaming Steph at his side. He thought for a moment. Honestly, I do wanna see the footage. But I also don’t. Steph-on-Jibril action—this was something Sora would typically like to appreciate with eyes wide open. He’d even like a copy of the video for himself to enjoy later. At the same time, he would effectively be watching the people around him pair into couples while he was left all alone… Sora was slightly in denial—but more than anything else, he felt sad. “…So, Foeniculum…why aren’t you participating again?” If you joined in, I wouldn’t end up being the fifth wheel. I would’ve been brazen enough to watch the JibSteph action myself. Sora made no effort to hide his accusatory tone. “What? Here’s the deal—Fairies don’t do romance,” a puzzled Foeniculum answered. “Us Fairies—we’re basically flowers. We reproduce with pollen, so we got no need for love.” “Hold the phone. You mean to tell me, like…that Fairies have a set of both stamen and pistils?” “Uh, yeah? What, you wanna see?” “…Stop, right there… By stamen and pistil…do you mean, like…metaphorically? …Or literally?” Shiro squinted with suspicion as she asked the Fairy, but her question seemed to go unheard. Foeniculum had something much more important on her mind—and she communicated it to them with her usual passion. “I’ll lay it out for ya: Us fairies like watching!! We like being the fly on the wall—the flower in the pot—that watches while others have big, fat, passionate love affairs!! Us jumping in on the action? Completely out of the question!! It’d soil all the juicy drama!!” “If I might add, Master: Fairies fuel their souls with the love of others. If they were able to fuel their souls with their own love, that would make them perpetually self-sufficient…and that would be quite nonsensical.” “You’re the last person we need calling BS on other races.” Flügel were the same in that regard: They didn’t need love for procreation. It wasn’t a reason to never experience love… If anything, there might just be certain racial limits. Either way, Sora let out a sigh as he accepted their assertions and submitted to this philosophical notion. “And? Since we’re all here—I think now’s as good a time as ever for your question.” Foeniculum wanted to answer their question before the next stream, which was going to start soon. Sora had the same answer as before, though. “Well, I don’t really have a question for you…” “I do!! Let’s ask her if there’s a way to get out of here—or for more details about the situation we’re in!” “Then you go ahead and ask, Steph…” “Do you think I’ll be able to get any pertinent information out of her with just a yes or a no?!” Steph stood proud in her assertion that she was incapable. Sora lamented to himself. Ugh… I don’t have any actual questions, though. But if he had to ask something, it wasn’t so much a question as a confirmation: “…Okay, let me ask you something, then, Steph.” “What? Me?” “Do you wear those clothes to sleep?” “Huh? Well, no, I wear pajamas… Oh, if you’re talking about the pajamas I bought after coming here, don’t go thinking I wasted money on them!! I bought cheap ones, and—” Steph made excuses for herself, but that wasn’t what Sora was interested in. “That’s what I thought. You’d never sleep with all those accessories; they’d poke you in your sleep. Now, look at Shiro and me. We have our phones, tablets, and games. There’s one important thing, though, that we’re missing.” The lack of a certain article of theirs didn’t warrant a question. “So just checking here… Foeniculum—” “—Shiro and I are no longer the monarch of Elkia—right?” “Yes…that’s correct.” Foeniculum’s answer caused Steph, Jibril, Emir-Eins—and even Shiro—to open their eyes wide in shock. “Oops, almost time for the stream!! I’m gonna be watching the highlight reel with the viewers and taking comments, so you guys can chill out for the day!! Next game will start at eight o’clock tomorrow night—wait here and don’t be late! I’ll be back in two hours!! Adios!!” Foeniculum rattled off her good-byes before poofing away. And then: “Wait, what, huh?! Wh-wh-what is the meaning of this?!” Steph acted as the representative for the group as she walked up and practically screamed at Sora in shock and horror. It is what it is… Sora was down in the dumps, back at square one. “I ignored it earlier because I was still half asleep, but Shiro and I don’t have our crowns…” Sora wore his on his arm, and Shiro used hers as a hairpin. They were both missing. Realizing this, Steph and the others began frantically searching the room for the missing crowns, but Sora ignored them and said: “I take mine off before I go to bed, so I figured maybe it was back at the castle, but I knew something was off when I saw you in your usual getup, Steph. And it’s not like I usually sleep with all my devices in my arms, either.” Therefore: “…When we woke up, the game had already started—and our belongings were transported here with us. Our crowns weren’t included in our belongings—the only logical conclusion is that we lost the Elkia throne.” “What—? Huh—wait just a second. Isn’t that a gigantic problem?!” “Yeah, it’s a huge problem.” Something big definitely happened during the gap in their memories. But what was it? Steph and the others asked Sora with their eyes, but he could only shake his head. “I don’t have any ideas beyond that. Most likely our memories got erased so that we wouldn’t know anything else.” “…Master, what do you mean by that…?” Jibril, Steph, and Emir-Eins all stared at Sora, begging for an explanation. Truthfully, Sora was quite down about it as well. Having to explain what he already knew was, well, quite a dismal position to be in for him. As much as he wanted to sigh and return to his room— “Brother…?” —he couldn’t ignore his little sister’s gaze. He still sighed, then continued where he left off. “…………Shiro, what’s your last memory from before we were locked away in here?” “…When…Emir-Eins, got left in Elkia…I think?” That’s right: Ex Machina had paid a sudden visit to Elkia—to see Sora. They departed after a brief kerfuffle, leaving only Emir-Eins behind… This was Sora’s final memory as well: He nodded quietly as he noticed Steph, Jibril, and Emir-Eins doing the same. However, this didn’t necessarily mean they had all their memories up to that point. And that was because: “Yeah. I think our memories might’ve been altered from somewhere before then, too.” The four ladies gazed wide-eyed at Sora as he took out his smartphone to show them what he meant. “This is my scheduling app. It’s unnaturally blank for a period before the Ex Machina came.” Whenever Sora schemed, he always made sure to record his ideas into his scheduler. The problem was—there were large blank sections in spots where he should still remember things. He had no idea what he’d planned for those periods. They’d been erased from his memories. But there was never a day when Sora and Shiro didn’t write down their plans. Not only were their memories missing, but any record they had of making plans was filled with holes like a sweater in a moth-infested drawer—plus: “They’ve messed with our phones as well, so it’s hard to know whether the date on the screen is correct—but it says it’s been thirty-nine days since Emir-Eins stayed behind in Elkia with us.” “…Affirmative: Internal observation equipment matches with this timeline.” Emir-Eins agreed that thirty-nine days had indeed passed: There was no way the siblings had been sleeping that entire time. Therefore—the conclusion was simple. This all meant: “Due to something we were planning since before the Ex Machina showed up, we were chased out of the kingdom, and—” This was a big and… “—we made some kind of mistake and…lost. That’s why we’re here.” Lost…? Sora and Shiro…lost? Did Blank really lose? Steph, Jibril—and even Emir-Eins—heard the words leave Sora’s mouth but stared blankly, unable to process them. Sora wanted this conversation to end—so he repeated himself to press the conclusion. “Do you need me to spell it out for you? Someone eliminated all our memories and records so that we’ll never be able to know the truth, and now we’ve been thrown into a game we can never win—that’s where we are right now.” “What? What do you mean by a game we can never win…?” Steph asked. It all began to make sense. The group’s memories had been thoroughly erased, so that they could never figure out what happened. But why did this mean that Sora thought the game they were playing was unwinnable? Sora could tell by their gazes that Steph and the others thought it was a bit of a leap in logic, but— “…If you really wanna know, I’ll get the answer out of Foeniculum for our next question.” Sora had no more energy after the exchange. He slumped over as he left the group with these words. According to Foeniculum, they would be playing another game the next day. It was likely something to help prop the five into new couples in exchange for another yes-or-no question. So they could use their next question—which was more like a confirmation—to get all the information they needed to know. What’s more: Another game was another chance for Sora to couple up with someone. “Hey, I’m gonna hole up in my room for the rest of the night… See ya tomorrow…” Steph, Jibril, and Emir-Eins watched helplessly as Sora—along with his sister—returned to their room. Day Four—Evening. It was not yet eight o’clock, when Foeniculum had their next game scheduled. Lured by a delicious smell, Sora and Shiro poked their heads out of their room. The living room had changed quite a bit since they’d last seen it the night before. “Oh, Sora and Shiro. Perfect timing. I was just about to go get you two.” Standing in the now dine-in kitchen was a smiling Steph, and she was cooking. There was a table, silverware, and various cooking utensils… It was actually starting to look like a home. The siblings knew she must’ve procured these with their tip money using the tablet they’d left with Jibril. “St-Steph, d-did you spend my key fund on this…?!” Sora couldn’t help but cry out. He was convinced he’d be the one buying a key to get out of there. Wh-what does she think she’s spending all this money on?! We can literally just eat bread!! Sora lamented to himself, when— “There’s no need to worry; I’ve calculated it all out, and this will actually save us money.” —Steph retorted proudly. “If we’re going to spend longer than a week here, then instead of buying water and prepared food every time we need to eat or drink, we can make a well in the garden and use basic utensils to prepare our own meals. It’s much cheaper this way.” O-oh… Huh. Sora looked at the tip counter on his smartphone app and internally acknowledged Steph’s culinary prowess. Even though Steph bought ingredients and remodeled their entire living room, their counter was at 1,871,000 points—down from 1,984,000 after last night’s stream. They’d acquired a stable supply of water and a week’s worth of food for just a bit over one hundred thousand. It was more than evident that Steph knew what she was doing when it came to handling money—and moreover, when it came to living in the real world, a department the gamer siblings were lacking severely in experience. Acquiescing to this, Sora and Shiro sat at the table. They were greeted with two plates of food. “A weak mind starts with a weak body! I’ll see to it that you two eat properly. Though, it’s not much… We could only afford the bare minimum in ingredients and seasoning; nothing fancy…” Steph finished with an apologetic look, but her spread told a different story. There was rice, a main dish, a side dish, and even a small dessert. For the past four days—actually, for most of their lives—the siblings had subsisted on white bread, instant noodles, and C*lorieMate blocks. This spread looked like a genuine smorgasbord to Sora and Shiro. They figured they might as well eat it right up. They grabbed their knives and forks, when— “Oh my… I can’t help but notice you’ve set five plates, Dora.” “Well, of course. These two are for you and Emir-Eins.” “Rejection: This unit does not require food to survive. Such morsels are vital for our masters’ health. Meaningless waste.” Jibril and Emir-Eins gained sustenance via spirit energy. The two of them didn’t need to eat, but with a smile, Steph gave her retort. “You needn’t worry about waste. I knew you would say something like that—so I’ve prepared modest portions for you two using the scraps from our dishes. I have tea for Jibril, and I’ve heard that you like coffee, Emir-Eins.” True, they didn’t need to eat, but they were still capable of doing so. What’s more: “Good food is like nutrition for your heart. If you two have hearts, then you need to eat. If you’re not going to eat with us—well, I’ll have you know it’s bad for our hearts if the three of us eat while you just watch. ” Granted…while Steph was the worst of the five at gaming by a long shot, when it came to domestic matters, she refused to let anyone else get a word in edgewise. What is she, our mother? thought Jibril and Emir-Eins as they begrudgingly sat down to eat. “…Staaare.” “…Is there something on my face, little Dora?” “Oh, no… While I am admittedly forcing you to eat this… Seeing as I was limited with what ingredients I could buy… I was just curious what you thought about…the taste…” “…Sigh. Well… It’s edible… I suppose?” “! That’s fantastic!” …Meanwhile, Sora and Shiro ate silently during the exchange. Nom, nom. “…I’ve always wondered this, but weren’t you technically royalty, little Dora?” “I still am royalty, and there’s nothing technical about it!!” “You shouldn’t have ever needed to prepare your own food, so why are you so good at cooking?” “Huh? Ah… When I was a child, I made some treats for my grandfather, which he complimented me on.” …Nom, nom. “I started making him different things, and before I knew it, cooking became a hobby of mine. The ladies-in-waiting were my teachers… Although, they used to tell me A princess doesn’t belong in a kitchen all the time. Hee-hee.” “Is that so…? My, this tea is wonderful.” …Nom, nom. Gulp. Wow… That was good. Sora finished his meal, politely put down his silverware, and— ……Now, then… —waited for the most opportune moment to…sob. “WAHHHHH! SHIROOOO!! THIS DAMN COUPLE IS KILLING ME HERE!!” “What?! What couple?! Where?!” Steph hollered. “Nay, extrovert! I see through your thin veil of feigned ignorance!! You may have thought you could pull the wool over the eyes of an introvert, but it shan’t work on I!! The two of you are oozing with an anxious albeit warm aura—something seen only in the honeymoon phase of coupling!!” Make no mistake: Their aura was blinding—so much that it made others hold their tongues! Just like the aura from those kids in class who start dating in secret!! Though Sora knew absolutely nothing about love, he wasn’t so oblivious to not pick up on this. It’s a silent aura that scorns all onlookers—quietly screaming Mind ya own business!! “Alas!! You two relish in the haughty warmth provided by such an aura—all without even sparing a thought for those like me who shiver in the chill of solitude beneath a blanket of vanity and resignation in our insistence that we neither need nor can ever obtain a significant other!!!! BEGONE, HAPPY COUPLE! REMOVE THYSELVES FROM MY PRESENCE THIS INSTANT!!” “…Brother…shut up…” “GRAGH! Wahhh… I haaate this… I’m just gonna curl up and die… Maybe I’ll serve a purpose when I decompose into soil…” Sora had buckled onto the floor after getting punched in the stomach. Shiro gave a pointed stare. “…It’s been, way longer…than one day…right?” “Affirmative: Twenty-four hours passed at eight forty-three PM last night. Another nineteen hours and twenty-three minutes have passed since then.” “…Then why, are Steph and Jibril…still a couple…?” “Whaaat?! Jibril and me?! A couple?! We’re back to normal already!” “Yes, Lord Shiro. I won’t deny we showed you ourselves at our worst after the game ended, but we are already—” “Negative: Zero confirmation of Irregular Number ever showing signs of interest in Woman of Unknown Name. Likewise for compliments regarding Woman of Unknown Name’s cooking. Report: Feelings detected between Irregular Number and Woman of Unknown Name.” “I told you: There’s nothing between us!!” “Command: Silence. This is an urgent matter of high importance. The Fairy’s claim of a singular day of forced love may be dubious. Request: Answer this promptly: Are the two of you clinically sane?” ““!”” Steph and Jibril gasped in unison at Emir-Eins’s question, when— “Oh? Did I forget to tell you guys? Sorry ’bout that.” —a Fairy happily smoking a cigar appeared out of thin air to answer the Ex Machina. “Whoo-hoo! Thanks to you two, our viewership is through the roof! I’ll be one of the top streamers in no time at this rate! So as a reward, I’ll answer your question!” Foeniculum continued with a grin: “This space I made works to increase love between two people as time goes on.” , “There needs to be some existing love for this to work, though. You can’t create something from nothing, after all. But you see, even a day of forced love is enough to create that very something—more than enough to turn a zero into a one. And once you have ‘one,’ it’s only a matter of time before it becomes two, then three, and…the rest is history! How much longer can you guys deny your love for each other? Now that’s a sight worth seeing!” The four ladies looked at Foeniculum in fear, like she was the grim reaper about to swing her scythe. They let out a collective internal scream: So this was the Fairy’s goal all along!! The secret confession game they played before had been way too easy. No lasting love would be born from such a short-lived coupling! However—there were hidden goals behind that single day of love!! It likely wasn’t the last game they’d play that paired two of them up—that would effectively lay the seed for a real couple to be born. It didn’t take into account the group’s own feelings!! How did I not pick up on this?! I shouldn’t have been so naive!! It’s not a space that only couples can leave—it’s a space that forces you into a couple against your will!! Foeniculum didn’t give a rat’s ass about their feelings—this unit’s feelings for Master; my feelings for Sora; my feelings for Master; my feelings for Brother!! The four ladies felt a long, cold shudder run down their spines. Meanwhile, the direness of the situation seemed to fly over their male companion’s head. “S-so there’s still a chance I can come out of this with a girlfriend?!” The virgin—whose IQ fell into the single digits when it came to love—looked at the Fairy, his eyes shimmering with hope. “So with that outta the way…it’s time for today’s game! We’ll be playing with new rules this time, but the stakes are the same. Y’all get to ask a freebie if you win. And to win, you just need a single, one-off couple to form—you guys up for it? Why wouldn’t you be?!” “You bet we are!! We need to ask you more questions, after all!! Right, guys?!” Sora, hyperventilating with excitement, agreed to the terms, but the ladies were still trying to collect their thoughts. This set a new pretense for the game as opposed to the one they played two days before. They didn’t mind being coupled up—if it was going to last only a day. But if that single day of being a couple would stand to blossom into a long-term relationship, now that was a different story altogether. None of the girls wanted to pair with each other—only with Sora. It went without saying that if one of them went after Sora, then the other three would do everything in their power to stop her! Not only that—they also needed to pair up the other two ladies while they went for Sora… This was truly a mind game of the highest caliber!! “…Jibril… I have an…order for—” “Obstruction: Assertion of Irregular Number’s individual rights. Stripping her of those is bad. That’s cheating, Little Sister.” “…To think the day would come when I owe this scrap heap my thanks… My apologies, Lord Shiro.” “Oh, I see what’s going on here. You’re all going to team up against me!!” said Steph. “Bring it on!!! I refuse to be the eternal loser!!” It was more than evident that Sora was out of sync with the rest of his group. With a new, cutthroat premise, the team began the fourth day’s game… And then, Day FiveNighttime. Sora and Shiro had waited a day after last night’s simple coin guessing game ended before leaving their room. “…All right,” Sora began, “I wasn’t gonna ask, but I figure I might as well: What happened?” “Nothing! Nothing whatsoever!! Everything is just peachy!!” Despite her insistence otherwise, something was clearly up with Steph, who rounded on Jibril and Emir-Eins. “Report: Woman of Unknown Name interrogated us. Presumed angry and jealous that, despite having good relations with Irregular Number yesterday, Irregular Number and this unit are now a couple. Much to this unit’s chagrin.” “I already told you, I’m perfectly fine the way things are!! Jibril can get together with whomever she pleases!!” Last night, they had played a guessing game with a coin. There was no real strategy involved, and naturally, Sora was single for another night—while Jibril and Emir-Eins ended up becoming a couple for a day. Jibril and Emir-Eins—a Flügel and an Ex Machina, the definition of sworn enemies—were forced to be a couple. According to the rules, they formed a relationship they could both rationalize subconsciously. No one thought this coupling would be even remotely possible, and yet it was—and in the most unexpected way, too. “Could you please leave us be, little Dora? I was merely ordered by Master to hug this heap of scrap metal. During the time we spent as a forced couple, there wasn’t a single moment where I felt any feelings—not even a sense of camaraderie—toward it, nor do I plan on ever having them.” “Affirmative: This act is to please Master only. The premise of this embrace is this unit’s love for Master.” Evidently, their memories had been reworked so that Sora had ordered the two to embrace each other. For Jibril, she was simply ordered to do so by Sora. For Emir-Eins, she was told by Sora that hugging Jibril would float his boat. With this as their pretense, the Flügel and Ex Machina couple would go down in history as the first of its kind. “Observation: Pleasure detected in Irregular Number as she hugs this unit. So gross.” “I’ll admit that I felt a hard-to-describe sense of disgrace when Master ordered me to embrace garbage… But please refrain from overstepping your boundaries. You wouldn’t want me to accidently destroy you now, would you? ” The two detested each other as much as usual, but Steph continued reprimanding them: “Then, do you mind explaining why you two are still holding hands?!” ““?!”” The pair had long since returned to their usual selves, and yet… Even with Steph in their faces, they never let go of each other’s hands. Until she pointed this out to them, that is—but it was already too late. “…I, get it… At first…you did it, for your master…and hated it…but then you, were…actually into it…and before long…doing it, for your master…became nothing more, than an excuse…” “Waaait, Shiro. Where’d you learn about that scenario…? Uh, actually, n-never mind. You don’t need to say it.” This wasn’t the type of logic you see in a nice, wholesome manga… It was more like something out of her brother’s magazines. Sora almost asked his sister to explain but quickly chalked it up to something she probably saw in some shoujo manga. Yeah, let’s go with that. Anyway, it went without saying that Sora was familiar with this plot device as well. This raised a new—albeit microscopic—red flag. His route for getting together with either Jibril or Emir-Eins was on its way to disappearing. The only route left was the one he was paving to hell—no, it was more like laying track for a bullet train at this point—which brought tears to Sora’s eyes. “Master, I implore you: Please order me to lose my memories of the past day.” Jibril knelt before the teary-eyed Sora, her hands together in supplication and her head bowed low. “If there really is a chance—even a fraction of one—that I’ll fall in love with this industrial waste, I beg you, please erase my memory before time can work to expand these feelings, or—”