The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

"Huh? Sis, you don’t look so good. Are you feeling sick?"

"..."

What was I even supposed to say to that?

To be honest, I had intended to keep this hidden—no, not hidden exactly. I just wasn’t planning to bring it up. That’s different, right?

Yeah. I never hid it. Not saying something isn’t the same as hiding it. Isn’t that fair?

It’s not like that minor gallery was some massively famous place. Even if I had some reputation under a consistent nickname, it wasn’t anything big enough for the whole internet to know. Even streamers who are hugely popular still get overlooked by people who don’t follow that scene.

Besides, it’s not like I created anything. All I did was buy the original Japanese sources, translate some bits, post magazine interviews, or compile dialogue scripts before the Korean versions came out... That was it. That’s what I was known for—if anyone even remembered my name.

—Well, sure. Clearly someone did. Like the person in that post Claire showed me.

"I’m just feeling a little chilly... Might be coming down with something."

But now the story had shifted a bit.

That’s right.

Just because I hadn’t planned to hide it doesn’t mean I wasn’t going to now. I’m not even sure what I’m saying anymore—just that my stance changed. Situations change, and so should assumptions, right? I hadn’t planned to hide anything, but I wasn’t about to volunteer the information either. So if someone dragged out my embarrassing past, then yeah, I was going to try and hide it.

I mean, come on—when I wrote all that stuff, they were just ‘characters,’ not actual people. Doesn’t really count as blackmail material, does it?

Even if a friend had found out, the only one who would care was someone who also played the game—and even then, not someone who visited the forums.

"But you were fine this morning, and we didn’t even go outside today."

Claire looked at me with worried eyes. She wasn’t trying to accuse me or anything—she just wanted to understand what was going on.

"Lie down for now. Want me to take you to the bed?"

"..."

I wasn’t sick at all, but now I felt horribly guilty.

"What’s wrong? What happened?"

Even though I hadn’t said anything, Claire helped me up—completely of her own accord—and Alice was startled. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"She says she’s not feeling well. Might be the flu or something."

"The flu? But we didn’t even leave the house. It’s not like we worked out or anything."

Alice made a very reasonable point. Basically the same thing Claire had said.

Right. You don’t usually catch something just sitting at home. I’m not exactly high-energy either.

With both Claire and Alice expressing concern, of course Charlotte and Mia chimed in as well.

"Sylvia’s sick?"

"Where does it hurt? Should I use a spell—oh, wait, we can’t do that here."

No, seriously, you guys can go back to what you were doing.

Also, I don’t need two people to help me walk when I’m not even sick.

It’s just the flu—or, rather, it’s not even the flu. Even if it was, it’s not like I’d be too weak to walk around.

"Could it be something we ate?"

"If it was food poisoning, we’d all be sick."

Claire and Alice’s back-and-forth was agonizing to sit through.

Because yeah. It was embarrassment that was killing me.

One offhand comment had led to this whole fake illness situation.

...Since losing the ability to rewind time, I hadn’t missed it this badly in a long time.

"..."

And so, I found myself lying in the middle bed of our shared room, staring up at the ceiling.

A damp towel had already been placed on my forehead. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any basic meds, so I wasn’t able to take anything.

...Is it okay to take cold medicine when you’re not actually sick?

Also, why are they all still in the room?

With three desks, three beds, and one wardrobe, it wasn’t exactly spacious. There was still some floor space to sit, sure, but not comfortably.

The girls sat between my bed and Claire’s, chatting softly among themselves.

Had this just become a habit at this point?

"So, what was the post you were reading earlier?"

Alice asked Claire with curiosity.

Claire showed Alice her phone as she replied.

"Well, our original world is considered a game here, right? So of course there are fans—enthusiasts even. And this person was apparently part of that community for a long time, writing speculative posts and stuff."

Community, not some friendly club.

I didn’t even know what those people looked like. And if anyone ever tried to get chummy, they’d get shut down instantly.

I know. I tried.

And it wasn’t just speculation! I posted tons of helpful tips too! I got banned multiple times, but never permanently—and that was thanks to the quality of my posts!

Well, okay, later on I did criticize translation tools and got suspended for that...

"They were ridiculously wrong about everything, though. Especially... what is this? My chest size? Like, okay, guessing is one thing, but this person clearly knows nothing about women’s underwear."

I wanted to plug my ears, but doing so might’ve outed me. So I grit my teeth and endured it.

"And I didn’t have any secret siblings, thank you very much. If I had, my father wouldn’t have needed to name me as his heir."

Charlotte added.

Come on, though. That kind [N O V E L I G H T] of twist is a staple in these games. It’s not weird to expect something like that.

"At least there weren’t many posts about me."

Ah, that was a relief. I guess I hadn’t written much about Mia.

If I had, I probably would’ve veered into Claire’s territory.

She was one of those characters I’d seriously considered buying a figure of. Naturally, I hated seeing anyone slander her. But fans of this genre often used the same old arguments against characters with troubled pasts.

It was implied in the game that Claire had killed Mia’s father—and the reason was pretty solid—but I hesitated to judge him until I’d seen the full story myself.

In the end, though, I did choose the kill route.

"...There is this one post: ‘Why Claire’s Still a Virgin.’"

"..."

"That’s... disturbing."

Charlotte frowned at Claire’s words.

"I mean, I get that it’s from someone who liked her, but wow, yeah, that’s... no."

Alice looked like she was trying to figure out how to react.

"Honestly, it’s kind of creepy, isn’t it?"

Mia said it outright.

Each comment stabbed me like a knife.

No, listen.

Back then, they were just game characters. Who on Earth talks about ‘human rights’ when discussing game characters?

"Seems like someone who wasted a lot of time on the internet—"

"—That’s not true."

Ah.

I slipped.

I interrupted Alice without thinking.

But still—I had to say something.

"I wrote walkthroughs. I translated information. Whether people realized it or not, those posts helped a lot of players."

I stood up abruptly as I spoke, and the others stared at me in stunned silence.

"And those walkthroughs and translations take time and effort. Do you have any idea how hard it is to learn a foreign language without any special skills? And I wasn’t getting paid, so of course I added personal commentary for fun! What kind of person complains about mistakes in free translations? If you think you can do better, then why don’t you—"

"Uh, sis?"

Claire spoke in a calm voice.

"Is it you? Are you the one who wrote those posts? Is that why you’re so mad?"

"..."

Thud.

I collapsed back onto the bed.

And pulled the blanket all the way over my head, curling into a ball.

"Sis? Sylvia?! Wait, I’m sorry!"

"Y-Yeah, sorry! I had no idea it was your post!"

"I completely forgot Sylvia was originally from this world!"

"...Is that why you were feeling sick?"

That last question from Mia hurt the most.

"Don’t worry, sis. You thought of us as just characters back then, right? You wrote about people you thought you’d never meet. If you knew we were real, you never would’ve posted something like that."

...Ah. That was kind.

Yes. Exactly. I didn’t write about Claire or Alice. I just posted my thoughts on the characters I saw on screen.

So—

I peeked out from under the blanket.

Claire was smiling brightly at me.

"So while we’re at it, how about reading it out loud yourself?"

[Claire is the purest, most noble character in all of Azerna Chronicles, and anyone who says otherwise is just wrong.]

That was the final line of my infamous “Claire Virgin Theory” post.

"..."

I stared at it for a moment.

Then pulled the blanket back over my head.

And for the next ten minutes, I kicked at the air under the covers with wild, helpless fury.