The Extra Steals the Fortuitous Encounter
The strict yet kind, loving, and warm examiner began the questions. What does Tiara like?
"Puppies."
Next?
"Making games."
...
Next?
"...Netdiver."
Uwaaaah—! Whatever she was expecting, Dorothy smacked my back hard as she hugged me.
...That hurt more than I thought.
My number one favorite, our little puppy, giggled "uhi hi" and stroked my back as I let out a faint groan.
"Tiara's a happy person now."
Certified happy girl by Dorothy, I slowly peeled my body away. Dorothy, buckled into the pod, shook off her lingering attachment with a bright smile.
"Here, a gift."
At this point, it had to be the most precious and expensive gift imaginable.
I stared at the Netdiver catalyst Dorothy handed me, then asked one last time.
"You sure about this?"
"It doesn't suit me anyway. Plus..."
She'd promised to come find me.
Dorothy pulled up her pale, glowing cheeks... and forced a smile. A single tear trickled down.
"See you later, Tiara."
"Yeah."
I'll survive and make it back to you, Dorothy.
The pod departed. I tucked the catalyst into my bosom and gripped the pistol in one hand.
"Hoo...!"
Good. Now I want to live.
For the first time in the twelve days since arriving in this world.
Left alone, my first task was scouting a safe spot to inject the catalyst. Not the pod area—the protagonist could show up anytime. With both the vaccine and catalyst gone, he'd arrive faster than expected.
"Hoo..."
I never paid much attention to his face while playing, but damn, the protagonist looks terrifying.... Just holding the catalyst makes me think he'd snap my neck on sight. Ugh. Better bolt.
I stepped cautiously into the corridor. The whole lab hummed from ongoing battles, and explosions and shouts grew closer. The government forces were gaining the upper hand.
I headed deeper into the lab—somewhere the government troops hadn't reached yet. If I hid quietly and awakened as a Netdiver, escape wasn't a pipe dream. For that, the Resistance—who just wanted my brain preserved—was better than the government forces torching every research record. The losers wouldn't have time for a thorough search anyway.
"Ah, here."
As I crept along, a familiar path caught my eye. The white lab. Where Dorothy and I had spent over ten days together. Now it was just an empty facility, devoid of life. The kids had either escaped... or met their end at the researchers' hands.
But this place works, right? Private rooms, no one searching it now, and it's one of the farthest spots from the entrance—the government side.
I slipped inside and checked my old private room.
"Haa..."
Lying on the bed, the familiar ceiling and soft mattress enveloped me. Ugh, no. Don't get comfy. Hurry up and inject it.
Popping the cap off the catalyst revealed a long syringe needle. No matter how many times I checked, it was the same one the protagonist had used. He'd injected his shoulder, so... shoulder it is.
Hiss. Gonna hurt, huh? Haa... Menhera girls, give me strength.
I needed that menhera mindset—the kind that doesn't hesitate to shove pain into your body.
Just in case, I loosened my dress and slipped down the shoulder strap. Heard injecting through clothes could go wrong.
Okay. Ready. Come on, you bastard...
"Hoo... hoo...! In!"
A dull ache throbbed in my shoulder. The syringe, hit with strong pressure, automatically pushed the solution into me.
"...! Eut...! Heok...!"
Cold and hot sensations spread from my shoulder throughout my body. Sweat poured out, soaking the bed and pooling on the floor like rising water. Or maybe I was sinking into the sea. Either way, my brain felt submerged.
That's when it started.
Static electricity coursed from head to toe. Like contrast dye zapping every organ and limb, I could map my body with eyes closed. And so, my shitty new... female body etched itself into my brain.
Once that ended, an itch came from outside my body. Phantom limb? Nonexistent parts tingled and ached. My legs in Dorothy's room itched; my shoulder in the researchers' storage hurt.
Simultaneously, my head burned hot—like a computer overloaded with data. Trees seemed to sprout from my eyes. Their roots pierced my brain, splitting left and right hemispheres, which wrestled inside my soft skull.
Amid it all, my senses expanded across the entire lab... the whole ship. Like that grotesque dream from day one coming true?
I focused on random thoughts to distract from the itching everywhere. Otherwise, I'd go mad. Like how Dorothy looked at me... I glanced sideways at the ship.
My body was surrounded by crude buoys. No, damn it. Snap out of it.
The sea-based lab floated ringed by government boats and helicopters. Some massive armed guards had betrayed the lab.
-This bastard!
-Traitor!
Guards shot at each other or chased researchers. Cornered lab staff were picked off one by one. One desperately resisting researcher wore a glove-shaped cybercore.
-Almost there! Snap it!
-Keep going!
The core system from the original game, now my world. Cybercores—implants or tools embedded with AI, unleashing functions without much cost. Like skills and gear combined.
And Netdivers were among the best at using them in this world.
Focusing on the researcher's glove cybercore, its embedded functions lit up like stars. My scorching head cooled. My vast senses faded. Faces I'd seen clearly blurred with effort. Sea breeze, waves, screams, explosive smells—all melted like blood in water.
But one thing remained. The starlight still twinkled.
Like a shark scenting blood underwater. I re-perceived the glove.
> Rarity: Rare (4 Stars)
> Functions: [Barrier Field] + 3 Unknown
The core had four stars. Four different functions. Fun. A tutorial zone with gear like that?
I breathed into one star. A force field blocking incoming blades. The fading star flared back to life.
-Wha... what?
-The barrier's output...!
-It's stronger!
-Good, hold on a bit longer!
That'd buy more time against the government forces.
As if that act fulfilled the final awakening condition... my extended consciousness contracted back into my small, weak fifteen-year-old body.
"Haa... haa... This... is fucking insane."
My brain tingled with its new power; I nearly laughed. With this, I could raid megacorps like the original protagonist...
Thud.
Click.
Cold metal pressed to my forehead. A soft whisper in my ear.
"Right? Totally unbelievable."
A familiar yet alien voice. Chilling dread paralyzed me.
"Crawled all the way to the sea for my stuff..."
Lifting my head cautiously, I saw a woman with long, snow-white hair.
"And some kid I've never seen swallows it whole?"
Her red eyes—different from Dorothy's—half-lidded. Dorothy's were warm flames; these were eerie blood-red.
The white-haired, red-eyed woman. The original game's protagonist stared down at me.
Her sharp gaze felt like it could tear me apart. Eek. Scary as hell.
"Ugh. No need to freak out that much."
I always skipped story and NPC dialogue in games. Mostly played for dev reference purposes... I wasn't the story guy anyway.
"So, kid got a name?"
"...Tiara."
So I never knew the original Netdiver protagonist with white hair and red eyes was this type of character.
Her actions screamed hero—saving the good, crushing the bad—but rolling "Tiara... Tiara..." on her tongue before grinning made her look like a psycho killer.
"Pretty name. I'm Theia."
"Yes. Hello."
Theia plopped down beside my frozen, startled self. The gun at my forehead? My own pistol. Yet she handled it like an old friend, twirling it cowboy-style before speaking casually.
"Was gonna just kill you at first...?"
Theia, in her skin-tight bodysuit, sprawled seductively on my bed. White hair brushed my shoulder; her head settled on my rigid knees.
"Why'dja— so cheeky? Stealing someone's stuff."
But... pausing, Theia nestled into her self-claimed lap pillow, kneading my face with one hand.
"You're cute, so I'll let it slide."
Ew. Her sudden flirting twisted my face involuntarily.
Hmm? Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance.
"This is rare, y'know. I spare you, and that's your face?"
Theia nudged my lips up with the gun barrel. I forced a smile and gave the answer she'd want.
"Thank you kindly..."
"Good girl."
Dorothy wasn't the menhera. The real crazy bitch was elsewhere.
But... something about this woman with a gun to my head stirred a strange feeling. From playing the original? Or because she let me—who stole her vaccine and catalyst—live, whatever the reason?
Theia didn't seem that bad.
Y'know, like a country mutt sizing up a spot to lie down. If it's the dogcatcher, it bolts without looking back. Even if love comes violent, it rubs against those who care—but sniffs out pure malice from afar.
Years of menhera-wrangling told me Theia felt some inexplicable fondness for me.
"Alright then..."
Theia sprang up with a "Yee-haw!" stretched languidly, and said,
"Time for a test?"
Test...? As I tilted my head, Theia grinned.
"If you're stealing it, you better know how to use it properly. Let's see how good you are."
"And... if I fail?"
Theia smirked, tracing my nape with a finger—like feeling the silver solution in my veins.
Damn. Don't need to spell it out.
Retracting her earlier words, I thought. She'll take it back herself if I screw up.
Theia stroked my dark hair—unlike hers—and said,
"Don't be so scared. Escape this ship safely, and you pass."
"From this ship?"
"Yup. But no help from me."
Light rippled up from Theia's bodysuit, accentuating her curves. Her white hair tips turned transparent first, then her body followed.
No wonder I didn't notice her during awakening. Clearly cybercore gear, but some trick made her undetectable.
Legs, waist, face vanished in sequence; only a long, slender arm remained, petting my hair.
-Fighting. I'll be cheering?
Even her voice had no source.
How'd I end up tangled with this psycho...? Already missing Dorothy. My fluffy little guardian...
I fought not to pout, managing my expression.
After some rest, my stamina recovered enough. I slipped out of the damp bed and into the lab hall cautiously.
Cheering, my ass... No sign of her following.
Good. That's the gap...
Headache. Can't detect Theia, so no clue how far she'd tail me. Maybe to the Dorothy rendezvous, threatening her.
...Grind.
-Nice face, Tiara.
"...Thank you, sis."
She's watching.
I barely relaxed my jaw, controlling my expression.
Still, escaping this ship now was priority. Future problems for future me.
I gripped the pistol Theia had left, tight.
Time to end the tutorial.