Information (1)

In any case, this game was a JRPG. I hadn't played many JRPGs from the 90s, so I couldn't say what the atmosphere was like back then, but most JRPGs released in the 2020s tended to be anime-style games overflowing with content that otaku would love.

That was just a matter of degree. No matter how photorealistic the graphics or how Hollywood-blockbuster the direction, if you dug into the content you'd find that the heroines, the heroes, everyone without ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exception was gorgeous.

Their personalities felt more like anime characters than movie characters, and even though they were clearly supposed to be white, the Japanese voice acting somehow fit better than the English dub. The motion felt exaggerated somewhere, too.

Well, maybe that was just my own stereotype from enjoying those kinds of games...... but at least, that was how it felt to me.

So in that sense, if you asked me where the Aetherna Chronicles stood within that JRPG landscape,

I could state without hesitation that it was a game hard to endure unless you were already an otaku.

That the character designs were based on 2D illustrations was a minor issue. Quite apart from the game earning ratings like 'Mostly Positive' on review sites or internal ESD platform evaluations, the characters' personalities and behavior were blatantly the sort of thing you'd see in Japanese animation, and there was even a dating-sim-style system for pursuing those characters.

A single overarching storyline did exist, but among the short events within it, there were quite a few that were brazenly aimed at a particular demographic.

An episode where everyone went to the beach in swimsuits was something this type of story simply couldn't omit. Any academy story that skipped the school festival episode where the heroines could be put into maid-like waitress outfits had arguably forfeited its reason for existing.

However, beyond those episodes that were slipped in smoothly and naturally, this game also contained content that made you wonder, "Isn't this a bit too forced?"

For example, the episode set in a casino.

...... The fact that I could hear the word casino in a game and immediately guess what kind of outfits the heroines would end up wearing proved that I was a hardcore weeb right down to the bone.

*

I'd put out the most urgent fire for now, but there were still plenty of issues left to resolve.

Sure, fine, going tactical was a good thing. Since that sort of style barely existed in this world's setting, it would probably work. By my standards, which to others would probably look like I could see the future, it was a reasonably fitting combat method.

If I framed it as the battle-honed techniques of a veteran who'd rolled through enough battlefields to learn hard lessons, people around me would surely acknowledge it. The image I was aiming for was probably something like that.

The problem was that this endangered the mystique I'd been cultivating up to now.

Characters who juggled multiple concepts at once did exist, but if those concepts weren't properly harmonized, the character inevitably became a mishmash that was neither one thing nor the other. I needed to build my character a little more carefully.

"Is something bothering you?"

And seeing the look on my face as I fell into such thoughts, Alice read my mood without fail.

"Nothing major."

"Don't be like that."

Even when I answered as if nothing was wrong, Alice didn't give up and pressed further.

"I mean, well......."

Alice herself, despite broaching the topic, rolled her eyes this way and that with an expression like she was bringing up something difficult to say,

"I'm, you know, like an older sister to you. If you have worries you can't tell anyone else, wouldn't it be all right to tell me?"

"......."

For a moment I was so dumbfounded that I turned my head and stared at Alice, and her cheeks flushed a little red.

She wore an expression that showed she knew how forced it sounded even as she said it.

That made sense, since the person who more often felt inferior on a daily basis was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Alice, and the person who'd been boosting her self-esteem was me.

"Ahem."

But Alice quickly composed her embarrassed expression and cleared her throat.

We'd been walking, and at some point we found ourselves stopped in place. There was no one around. Which was probably why Alice had brought up such a topic.

"Look, for one thing, your birthday comes first."

"......."

"And that birthday business isn't really the most reliable piece of information anyway......."

"......."

"Well, I'm the one who was under Father longer, right? Hm? So, since you became his child later......."

"......."

"Even if I said you were my little sister, it wouldn't be that strange, would it?"

If she was that confident, why did a question mark creep in at the very end?

Well, whatever.

I honestly had no intention of arguing over acknowledging it or not. Strictly speaking, I wasn't even someone you could call Alice's older sister, and if you really dug into it, whether I could even be called a woman at all was questionable.

Sure, my body was female, and I'd lived in this body for over ten years in my own way...... If you counted from my time in the orphanage to the present, it was barely ten years, but if you rewound time and included the moments I'd experienced, it easily surpassed ten years.

But the life I'd lived as a man before that was longer than the life I'd lived as a woman.

Still, if you asked me whether I could therefore claim to be Alice's 'older brother'...... a pretty big question mark arose there too. If you wanted to get technical, wasn't my age closer to an old man's?

"...... If that's how you'd like to think of it, you may think of it that way."

"...... Your reaction is too lukewarm for me to be satisfied."

Had this been Alice's idea of a joke? It felt like she was fairly serious for it to be just that.

Since I'd let Claire get away with openly calling me her older sister, Alice had apparently developed some jealousy of her own. After all, the two of us had grown up in something like a sisterly relationship.

Maybe her pride wouldn't permit her to call me sister the same way Claire did?

"Well, fine. Reaction or whatever, since you said so yourself, I'll treat it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that way going forward. From now on, you're my little sister."

But even so, ridiculous was still ridiculous.

I didn't use the term 'older brother' for Lucas or Jaden either. Naturally I had no intention of calling Alice my older sister. Alice surely knew that well enough.

The two of us started walking again.

We passed through the empty school grounds and went out the academy's main gate.

The weather, by Rondarium standards, was slowly transitioning into summer. Still, it was far better than the stifling summers of Korea. According to the setting, the temperature supposedly almost never exceeded thirty degrees Celsius even in summer.

But that didn't mean summer couldn't be hot. The temperature was the temperature, and the beating sun was the beating sun. If it weren't hot in the first place, there'd be no reason to specifically head to the beach in summer.

"Here, sit down and wait first."

The place the two of us arrived at was a café.

It was a place I'd been coming to now and then since eating parfait there last time. Though I'd turned back time and maintained a blank expression, it seemed that in Alice's eyes I'd looked like I was very fond of this shop.

And that was actually true. I liked this place. Cafés that served such delicious desserts yet were mysteriously empty were rare.

"Hm-hm."

When I sat down without a word just as Alice had said, she hummed through her nose, sounding pleased.

"I figured you'd be wanting some about now."

In truth, it wasn't that I wanted some 'about now'; I almost always wanted things like this.

I mean...... it's sweet. I like sweet, delicious things. It felt like I'd started liking sweet foods even more since getting this body, too.

Anyway, as if being acknowledged as my older sister had put her in a good mood, Alice didn't even wait for the waitress and headed straight for the counter.

"......."

And seeing her like that, resembling an excited little child so much, honestly it was very hard to attach the image of 'older sister' to her based on that sight alone.

Well, if that was what she wanted, I'd cooperate.

While I sat quietly watching that thrilled back—

"So, has it now been decided who the youngest is?"

A voice said.

"......."

I turned my head toward the direction of that mature woman's voice and found someone seated at the table.

The woman, who had tucked her long silver hair behind her ears to reveal her forehead, exuded a somewhat decadent air. Her skin was on the darker side, but her hair, her softly curved eyebrows, and even her long eyelashes were all silver, giving her a thoroughly distinctive presence.

Her grey eyes, which normally seemed to show little interest in the ways of the world, held a glint of intrigue, the likes of which I hadn't seen in a very long time.

At ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠some point she'd taken one of the empty seats, propped her chin on both hands, and was gazing at me. Her name was Bella.

Her family name was Fangriffon.

The original owner of the Whip Sword, who in the original story had died before the main plot began.

"Ah, Lucas said he had something he wanted to do and took leave on his own before going off the grid. I took over his work instead. Father didn't seem all that angry, so don't worry too much."

This character, who smoothly rattled off stories I hadn't even asked about in a languid, slightly slow voice, was actually one of the characters I found a little awkward to deal with.

Although, at this point, it was hard to call her as difficult to predict as Lena.