That had been the main thing that had convinced me Lily was a guy in this world too. Had Lily truly been a girl, then she wouldn’t have been bullied for having a normal girl’s name. So far Lily had been able to provide reasonable explanations for all of her other words and actions, but this wouldn’t be as easy to explain away! However, she just gave me a puzzled look.
“I did? I don’t think I was ever bullied for— Oh!”
Lily nodded, as if suddenly remembering something. Then she took out the instrument that she’d used multiple times during our little dungeon exploration session—her harmonica.
Don’t tell me...
Lily smiled bashfully and said, “I wouldn’t say I was bullied, exactly, but the other kids did tease me for playing the harmonica when my last name was Harmonix. But it was because of my last name that I started to get interested in music in the first place, so it wasn’t all that bad.”
The only thing that stopped me from screaming, “Seriously, the punch line was you were teased about your last name?!” was the knowledge that the real Rex would never be so uncool.
I was out of ammo. Everything Lily had said made perfect sense. But it was still so weird! At the very least, the Lily in BB had undoubtedly been a man. There was no room for debate there. Both Lily’s fans and haters had dug deep to find all the story events related to the character that they could, either because they liked him as-is, or were hoping to find something to support the theory that he was lying about being a guy. However, even if you continued Lily’s storyline past the reveal, there was absolutely nothing that suggested it was a double-layered deception and he was actually a girl after all. Furthermore, most of his events had no real branching choices. You couldn’t trigger any event where you got back at him for tricking you, and if you wanted him in your party you instead had to shower him with goodwill even after the way he’d treated you. Eventually you’d get a scene where he said, “Ugh, you’re a hopeless pervert. Honestly, the thought of traveling with you disgusts me, but I suppose if you really want to serve me that badly, I’ll come with you. You’ll make for a nice footstool at least.” Even after joining your party, Lily’s personality never changed, and he didn’t really get any other events.
If this world worked the way the game did, Lily would have absolutely been a dude here as well, I thought. But somehow that reality hasn’t come to pass.
“I see you still don’t believe me. In that case, I have only one thing to say.” Lily brought her face closer to mine. She didn’t look angry anymore; in fact she looked as though she almost pitied me.
“What?”
“This isn’t a story, and the kind of person you described can only exist in fiction, not reality.”
I crumbled to my knees. She was absolutely right. Her words finally cleared up my confusion.
I see... It all makes sense now.
I’d still been treating this world as a game, which was why I hadn’t thought too deeply about Lily’s situation. But if you took a more meta view of this world, and thought of it as a universe that followed consistent rules, you could see the problem with Lily’s backstory. In fiction, you occasionally encountered characters who pretended to be the other sex. In games and light novels especially, they were all over the place. But of course, such people typically didn’t exist in reality—which was why Lily, who’d mostly lived according to the womanly build and voice she’d been given in the game, had ended up being a woman in this version of Braves and Blades.
This world might be based off of the game world of BB, but it was still a real, living breathing world. It was just like how in the Maze of the Immortals, the skeletons had only spawned once instead of infinitely. Most things were identical to how they’d been in the game, but anything that was too far removed from reality was adjusted to fall in line with the rules of the world. People who looked and acted and sounded too much like the other sex had simply had their sex swapped. As a result, Lily Harmonix was a woman in this world. Actually, considering her age and the fact that she didn’t have an older sister, it was highly likely that in this world she was the older sister the male Lily in the game was supposed to have had. Which meant the person I’d been trying to get revenge on this whole time didn’t even exist in this world.
“Do you believe me yet?” Lily asked.
I nodded despondently.“Yes. Sorry, I must not have been in my right mind.”
But just as I apologized again, I suddenly realized something. Hang on, doesn’t this mean I’m in a really bad spot?
Since Lily was really a woman, what I’d done to her was assault. Furthermore, Lily had been recording it all with her crystal, so there was irrevocable proof of my actions.
If she wants, Lily could screw me over just as badly as in the game! It’d probably be even worse this time. Cold sweat started pouring down my back.
“Umm, Rex. I have a request.”
“S-Sure, what do you need?” I braced myself, preparing for the worst.
Seeing my terrified expression, Lily chuckled. “Would you be willing to hire me?”
“Huh?”
That was not what I’d been expecting. Seeing my wary expression, she continued, “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you,” and gently embraced me, pressing my face into her bosom.
“Uh, Lily?” I had no idea what was going on.
“Poor Rex. You must have been at your wit’s end if you believed such a ridiculous story.”
“Huh? What?”
“Don’t you remember what you told me that evening you got drunk? You hated how people were putting you up on a pedestal, but you couldn’t afford to rely on anyone else for your mission, or go back to your hometown of Japan. You’ve worked so hard all by yourself this whole time.”
My face went pale. Holy shit, how much did I tell her when I got drunk?!
“But it’s okay. I’ll support you from here on out.”
“W-Wait, Lily...” I trailed off, my protests dying in my throat.
“I’m not like Recilia, who ties you down and tries to control you; or like Veteram, who works you to the bone; or like Mana, who idolizes you so much she doesn’t see the real you.” Lily looked up at me, her eyes full of kindness. “I and I alone am your one true ally.”
My thoughts were a mess, and the softness of Lily’s boobs wasn’t helping me think any more clearly. However, there was one thing I was certain of.
She’s the kind of girl who gets easily duped by shitty guys, isn’t she?
And so, on that day, I gained the most valuable pawn I could have ever hoped for.