Maybe They Really Came From Somewhere Strange

Maybe they really were someone who'd come from a very strange place.

A face so uncannily ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like someone we all knew.

—Click.

The lighting was so dim, and half the face was hidden, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that it was hard to be certain — but there was no doubt about it. That woman looked like Lily.

The woman covering half her face then pulled on a mask, hiding another eighty percent besides.

With only her eyes faintly visible now, she raised her head.

Her blue eyes flinched, just slightly, as they found the screen.

It seemed she had only just realized she was being filmed.

"It seems Lily-nim is a cosplayer, doesn't it? What an incredible impression."

"Indeed. And her outfit wasn't even a costume, which startled me all the more — for a moment there I genuinely thought the real Lily was sitting among us."

"That's right. And the person seated beside her is…"

The gazes that had swung to one side now slid next door. The woman who'd been giggling away just moments before was stammering, her pupils quaking in a full-blown earthquake.

"That's Yena-nim. Yena's in-game customization is nearly identical to her real-life appearance, you see. Ah, for those who don't know — Yena is a famous assassin-class ranker and streamer."

"Yena-nim! You've no doubt heard plenty about her. She appears to be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠here to watch the DCK finals in person. Yena and player Chukachip were even on the same team during the Mock Siege Battle."

"Exactly."

While the commentators rattled on and on, Yena had managed to claw back some composure — but the window for noticing that something was deeply off had long since slammed shut.

Yena waved both hands in an exaggerated greeting.

She had resolved to split the incoming aggro, but everyone's attention was already locked onto Lily's "cosplayer." In the end, when her turn came around, the cosplayer simply gave the camera a light nod.

Then she flashed a smile and offered a little wave of her hand.

"Oh… uh! She's waving to us! Thank you!"

"Yena-nim, and Lily-nim's cosplayer! We hope you enjoy the rest of the show to the very end! Oh, this is going to be the talk of the town for sure!"

"Most everyone already knows that Lily and Yena are quite close friends, after all. It truly felt like watching DeoEn step out into the real world."

"Exactly! …Ah! The awards ceremony for the finals will be getting underway shortly, so…"

The broadcast cut away and returned to the stadium temple it had shown at the very beginning.

The long-awaited finals — and now, a moment to bless its stars as everything drew to a close.

With the wait already this long, on any ordinary day the crowd would have been screaming for it to just start already, but…

By now things had collapsed in a rather different sense.

Completely beyond anyone's control.

—Well. That's a problem.

To be honest, I had braced myself for it to some extent.

I knew the broadcast would show the audience, and from the moment I stepped outside, I had expected as much.

So I might get caught on camera. Fine.

But I hadn't thought it mattered.

Eighty percent of my face was covered anyway, and the VIP seating had that famously dim ambience — no one could pin anything down easily.

Even if I did get filmed, people would simply think, Huh, a pretty woman with a great figure cosplaying as Lily.

Real or fake, I had no reason to prove anything either way.

…That was what I'd thought, anyway.

"Apart from one teeny-tiny lapse in judgment, of course."

The wait alone had been a full hour.

The cameras rarely bothered with the VIP seats, and at first I had kept myself thoroughly bundled out of sight, but as time wore on, my guard had loosened considerably.

It wasn't like the old days. There was no war anymore.

Peaceful reality — no one was about to ambush me, and there was nothing worth ambushing me for.

In a society with this kind of safety net built in, I had let myself unwind — quite a lot, in fact — and this was the result.

"And of all the times to start snacking. I got far too careless at the end there."

"……"

"I was just a little hungry, so—"

"I… I'm sorry."

Yena bowed her head at a full ninety degrees.

I tipped my head slightly and looked at her.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"You could've just watched from the stream, but because of my request…"

I'm the one who said I'd come. So what's there to apologize for?"

"But still…"

"Yena."

WAAAAAAAH!!!

"I've always traveled alone."

"Everything I did, only I could do. If anyone stayed beside me, they might vanish — 'again.' That's why I had no choice but to go alone, every time."

"……?"

"I kept everything under my control. Anything dangerous got cut out, or crammed into some framework I had built myself, one way or another."

The players were taking the stage.

They had a captain at their center, yes, but fundamentally they stood as equals — one team.

Facing down every threat, they had leaned on one another until they reached the finish line together.

"I believed, stubbornly, that this was the right way. That's precisely why I'm sitting here now, but…"

"…Lily?"

"I think it's okay to loosen the reins a little these days."

There was no need for me to shoulder everything by myself anymore.

If I came up short, I could borrow a hand. If something looked empty, someone could fill it in my place.

The nightmare of devouring everyone around me was over, after all.

"…Mm. So, in conclusion…"

"Maybe it's fine to just live."

Just as his final wish said.

"…You're planning to bluff your way through this, aren't you?"

"Nope."

If I were, I would have walked out openly from the very start.

Why else would I have covered up and hidden in the first place?

"You know that old saying? 'Imagination is free.'"

"…Don't tell me."

"Whether people imagine I'm just as transcendentally gorgeous in real life, or that I'm a perfectly ordinary person off-camera — that's their freedom."

All I do is keep streaming in DeoEn, steadily.

The choice I'll leave to the viewers.

"So you should give it some thought too, Yena."

"About what…"

"Whether the person standing in front of you is just Lily Elbrit, an ordinary mixed-race woman. Or."

"…Whether they're someone who came from a really, really strange place."

"Oh, I know. That Lily's an alien from planet Kkirangkkarang."

"That's the one."

"I knew something was off about you from the very first time I saw you. Should I report you for this?"

"I'd rather you didn't."

"And why not? Afraid you'll be exposed, after you're the one who told me to keep your identity a secret?"

Yena puffed herself up with a haughty "Hah?" and struck an imperious pose, and I couldn't help but snort.

"No. I'm afraid you'd get hurt, Yena."

"…Assault is illegal on this planet, y'know~"

"For the sake of the mission, bending one or two minor rules is fair game."

"Nope. Not minor."

"Shall we test that?"

When I playfully clenched my fist, Yena threw up the cookie tray in front of her and took a full shield stance.

Once the ridiculous bit of roughhousing had run its course, Yena said with a laugh,

"Today was fun, wasn't it?"

"Of course it was."

"Then I'll explain the whole face thing my own way. Hmm… how about: just an acquaintance I know, who wanted to come watch, so I brought her along?"

"A plain lie won't quite do, so let's mix in a little truth. I had two tickets, and one was left over. I was just wondering what to do with it when your offer came up."

"Somehow I don't think they'll believe even half of that."

"Doesn't matter either way."

Truth or lie — either one.

I intend to keep streaming, and I have no plans to make public appearances.

With CO lifting the championship trophy set at the center of the temple, the long DCK finals finally drew to a close.

People began filing out of the stadium one by one, and a handful lingered by the exits hoping to catch a glimpse of Lily and Yena — but really, what kind of place did they think this was?

"The VIP seats have their own separate exit route."

Slipping out of the stadium through a secret passage where barely a soul passed, we made our way back to the sports car Yena had parked.

This lot, too, was one only authorized VIPs could enter.

"Shall we go?"

"Yes! Want to grab a drink on the way?"

"Sounds good."

Yena hummed an "aw yeah~" under her breath as she started the engine.

She looked genuinely, visibly delighted.

What could Yena be thinking right now, I wondered?

She probably wasn't writing it all off as a complete lie anymore.

DeoEn, now nearly four years old, had flipped the world a hundred and eighty degrees, and this had become a world led by Nutri Company.

The corporation most often invoked in that old joke about how it "must have been built by torturing aliens."

No matter how absurd the story, someone as deeply entangled in DeoEn as Yena surely had her own suspicions by now.

And yet…

"Oh, right. I meant to say this earlier."

"? Say what?"

"I don't care what you are, Lily. You're just fun to be around."

"I felt it from the very first moment we met, you know?"

"Like — this person's different from the rest of us, isn't she?"

"……"

"Too serious?"

"A little? Then let's add a spoonful of fun on top."

"In that case… hand over that Green Hermit. Not lending it — forever."

"That's a no."

"Eck."

My precious materials ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠are not for giving away.

But I'll teach you everything I know. Gladly.

"Feel free to look forward to it."

"…Somehow that makes me nervous."