Water Park (5)

{Hey, long time no see.}

{Helper}

{Hey, long time no see.}

(^.^)

It was the Helper, greeting me like an old friend. He fired off a cheerful "(^.^)" emoticon into the chat window beside me, and the constant ding-ding-ding of notification alarms had my head spinning.

"Where the hell have you been?"

{Helper}

{I never went anywhere. I simply kept trying, nonstop, to connect to this side — and finally seized my chance.}

"So you didn't choose not to come in — you just couldn't."

{Helper}

{Exactly. Watching you from this cramped little room while munching on snacks is my one and only pleasure in life. Why on earth would I skip that?}

He explained that he hadn't avoided the chat window on purpose. I still had no idea what was actually going on inside his head, but I decided to take him at his word for now. Honestly, half of what he said never meant much to me anyway.

{Helper}

{Anyway — sounds like you finally had your big match with Eva. Congratulations. That's one step, a small one, but a giant leap all the same.}

Pweee!

The sound of fireworks bursting crackled out of the chat window, as if he'd been waiting for this very day to launch a celebration.

"Hold on. Eva going into heat and panting with her eyes rolled back — that wasn't your handiwork?"

{Helper}

{Oh, she did? Hearing that, I'd say I succeeded in drawing out the Divine Artifact's power to its absolute limit.}

"Where did 'Divine Artifact' ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠suddenly come from?"

{Helper}

{Remember when I remodeled your artifact into a bracelet? I told you then that it would make wooing women easier.}

"Did you...? That was ages ago. It's all a blur."

{Helper}

{I attached a setting to it back then. 'The Venerated One' — one of the Solar Halo's abilities.}

"The Venerated One?"

It wasn't something I'd ever heard of, even in the setting compendium. The Writer didn't know about it either — and yet, like so many times before, how did this guy know every last detail?

{Helper}

{The sun has often been deified and worshipped as a sacred object throughout history. The sun god Ra from Egyptian mythology is the classic example.}

"So you even know about that world's lore, huh?"

{Helper}

{I may not look it, but I hold authority equal to the author of Academy Yuri Princess herself. In short, all you need to know is this: whoever bears the Halo becomes an object of worship.}

"That alone tells me absolutely nothing. How does that explain Eva suddenly waking up to sex?"

{Helper}

{The rest you'll discover through adventure. That's all I can tell you — going any further would put me in a difficult spot, you see?}

If you're going to explain, why not just spill everything? The Writer, this guy — always with their precious secrets. I'm sure they each had their reasons for hiding things, but listening from my side was suffocating.

"Tch. What a pain."

{Helper}

{Haha, sorryyy. But if I told you this one thing in particular, it would spell disaster.}

"Fine, fine. You must have your grand reasons. Anyway — welcome back."

{Helper}

{Oh? Unexpected. You actually seem glad to see me.}

"It's just that without you chattering away next to me, things got boring."

Those two — I never appreciated them until they were gone. We'd banter back and forth, bicker and squabble, but in the end they always had my back. They were the only ones who got my references, knew where every joke came from, and fired one right back. And it was ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nice to be able to talk freely and openly about my next plans, too.

"You and the Writer both — why did you both go dark without a word? Because of that, I got no help during an emergency."

{Helper}

{Emergency?}

"This thing."

I held up the luminous green jewel embedded in the center of my chest, presenting it before the chat window.

{Helper}

{That's the First Heartbeat! Vital Sentry's Divine Artifact!}

"I killed the bastard and ripped it out of him. It wasn't part of the plan, but I've now claimed one of the artifacts held by the Celestial Clan."

Obtaining the artifacts was the surest path to the ending the Writer and I both wanted. Collect them all, raise Eva to a position equal to the God King's — then my duty would be fulfilled, and I would claim the fulfillment of my wish.

{Helper}

{Congratulations. So you and Eva joined forces and brought him down together.}

"Only flaw is that I landed the finishing blow myself. If he hadn't run into the dungeon, I'd have let Eva finish him off."

{Helper}

{Hmm, he fled into the dungeon, you say? Vital — that bastard resides in dungeons to begin with.}

"Well, about that..."

I gave him a brief rundown of what had happened while he'd been locked out of the chat. The midterm exam held in the Max Republic, Vital's intrusion, Eva and Chloe's heroics, and finally how I'd chased the fleeing Vital down and ended him. It wasn't a detailed account, but I laid it out plainly enough that even a small child would come away saying, Oh, so that's what happened.

{Helper}

{I see. They moved earlier than expected.}

"You're telling me. I never even touched the Celestial Clan, and they just barged in swinging."

The Writer had said that as long as I didn't intervene, the story would flow along its natural course. That power carried an element of compulsion — the story wouldn't change unless I stirred up trouble. And yet, out of nowhere, the midterm exam flipped everything on its head. I wanted to ask the Writer about it, but there was no answer from the chat window.

If I hadn't worked so diligently to grow accustomed to my Divine Artifact, the story would have unfolded as written: the one bearing the Sentry bloodline would have taken the artifact back and joined the clan. Looking only at the ending, that wouldn't have been a problem — just a brutal fight to get there. But that wasn't the process I wanted, and Arlan's odds of survival would have plummeted. So it was a task I absolutely had to complete.

{Helper}

{I understand completely. Nobody likes an unforeseen catastrophe.}

"The Writer cheated on me. The second she shows up in this chat window, I'm going to rake her over the coals."

{Helper}

{Go easy on her. She's probably already pacing in circles over being locked out. Kukuku.}

"..."

A sinister chuckle drifted out of the chat window, and my shoulders flinched on instinct.

Don't tell me — did he?

Did he know this would happen all along? Vital's intrusion, me claiming the artifact — all of it?

"You..."

I raised my voice, intending to demand answers for that suspicious laugh. If he knew something, I was going to make him cough it up on the spot.

"Um... Mister?"

Oh, damn it!

Eva's voice from behind me forced the accusation back down my throat. It had been so long since I'd spoken with the chat window that I'd completely forgotten there was another person beside me.

"W-who on earth are you talking to?"

"Just a madman's monologue. Don't worry about it."

It was far too late for excuses, but I brazened it out anyway, acting as if nothing of the sort had ever happened. I shamelessly played dumb. She might think I was a lunatic, but so what? No matter how hard I tried to explain, there was no way to prove that I was having a conversation through a chat window. Only I could see it.

So ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠anything I said would be pointless. It was cleaner to confess to being a crazy person and close the case on the spot. Besides, she already knew perfectly well I was a weirdo — press the point and she'd lose interest on her own.

"D-don't lie to me! Then how do you explain that thing floating next to you?!"

"Huh?"

But Eva's finger traced a slow arc through the air — and stopped. At the spot she was pointing to sat the chat window, the one that should have been visible to me alone. She was staring dead-on at the system window as it took shape, radiating a haze of electronic static.

"Eva. You can see this?"

"Y-yes. Am... am I not supposed to?"

Well, it wasn't forbidden, but that window was the Writer's communication channel for delivering messages to me. She'd surely rigged it so no one else could see it. So how had it caught Eva's eye? The questions piled up faster than I could answer them. I wanted to demand an explanation from the Writer, but she wasn't connected to this chat — which left exactly one person capable of clarifying anything.

{Helper}

{HAHAHA!}

He suddenly burst into loud, booming laughter. It was an exultant sound, as if a long-stuffed nose had finally cleared.

{Helper}

{Excellent! Eva has seen the chat! Everything is proceeding according to plan.}

"You — what the hell do you—!"

{Helper}

{Be sure to tell her she's worked hard. Thanks to you pounding away at all those other women to your heart's content, we've made it this far!}

The Helper — no, this unidentified freak — had he been waiting for this exact moment? He erupted into maniacal cackling, laying bare every ounce of the malice he'd been suppressing, without a single filter.

{Helper}

{For that girl to see the chat window, two conditions had to be met. She needed to possess two or more Divine Artifacts — and you needed to bed the main cast of the story, increasing my authority.}

"...So it worked out exactly how you wanted."

{Helper}

{Credit your cooperation. Though truthfully, this was destiny all along — I hardly needed to rush you.}

"What did you say?"

The man's words were riddled with riddles, but one thing was clear: he had taken another step closer to his grand design.

"So what are you going to do now?"

{Helper}

{What do you think I'm going to do? Scared?}

Gulp.

Honestly? A little.

I didn't know who he was, and his purpose was murky at best. He claimed to be moving for the sake of one woman he cherished, but that could easily be a lie. Even granting it was true, his words were far too vague. What if the woman he adored wanted me dead? That would make him a threat to me, so I was right to stay on guard. Practicing my artifact's powers to their very limits had, in part, been my contingency plan against this unidentifiable bastard.

Come at me, then!

I would meet him head-on, whatever came. Promising myself I'd handle anything he threw at me, I began drawing mana up in preparation for a surprise attack. Tension thickened the air. Silence settled over the room, everyone holding their breath — and in that exact instant—

Ding!

"Wha... huh?"

What shattered the silence was none other than Eva's bewildered voice, followed by the chime of the system.

💬 CHAT INVITATION 💬

The Solar God King has invited you to a chat room. Do you accept?

"M-Mister, what is this?"

Eva held out the system window that had popped up in front of her. It was a chat room invitation — the kind you'd see in everyday life.

"This was you, wasn't it?"

{Helper}

{Correct. Only possible because I now hold authority equal to the Writer's own.}

"You have that kind of power, and what you use it for is... a chat room invitation?"

{Helper}

{What else would you have me do with it?}

The same man who'd been playing sinister mastermind a moment ago now acted as if I were the weird one. Bastard. Nearly gave me a heart attack.

{Helper}

{PUHAHA! Judging by that expression, you were tense?}

"Yeah, I was a little rattled, you jackass."

{Helper}

{I told you, didn't I? I'm on your side. I would never, ever betray you ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— so rest easy.}

"You won't even show me your face, you reek of suspicion from every pore, and I'm supposed to rest easy? Like hell."

{Helper}

{Haha, that prickly attitude of yours — I adore it. No, no, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that even if I wanted to hate you, I couldn't.}

He laughed heartily once more. That vivid voice rang out as if he were shouting directly into my ear — and then, abruptly, his tone turned weighty and serious as he typed.

{Helper}

{In any case — trust me. I trust you in return.}

"Why do you trust me?"

{Helper}

{Because you are someone trusted by the person I hold most dear.}

"..."

{Helper}

{I'd say that answer is more than enough, so I'll take my leave. Call me whenever you need help. If the chance arises, I'll come running.}

With those final words, the chat window went dark. No more messages rose up the screen, and I murmured to myself as I stared at the empty display.

"What a headache."

The short review slipped out of me before I knew it. And just like that, with the water park behind us, our week staying with the Amethyst family came to an end.

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Water Park (5)

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