Rewinding time a little.
Kain's expression shifted repeatedly, mostly sinking into grim tension.
The other party said things like how he carried a threat, how they could send him back to his original world, and demanded he explain where he came from. The answer he gave was that he had been on a battlefield, and then in the next second he had inexplicably arrived here.
After that answer, the other party fell silent.
Then they told him some things. The information carried an enormous amount of implications, so much so that it made him feel unreal and anxious.
He had read plenty of novels before, stories built around things like "dimensional chat groups" and the like.
If it were anyone else, experiencing it firsthand should have been reason to celebrate. But for him, all he felt was intense unease.
He couldn't help doubting the authenticity of this world again.
Maybe he had fallen into some experiment arranged by those few bastards.
Maybe they had pried into his memories, and cobbled together this kind of "plot," trying to make him believe he was some novel protagonist whose highlight moment had finally arrived.
But what would be the point of such an experiment? Pure amusement?
In any case, if it was the four Chaos Gods experimenting on him, then he was finished.
But what if this really was an opportunity?
For him, it would be unbelievably good news. He could leave that utterly wretched universe behind and stop living every day on edge.
So how could he prove that he truly had crossed into another world because of that "Hyperdimensional Channel," instead of being trapped inside an experimental world manufactured by the four Chaos Gods?
First, he still couldn't connect to the "Toilet Line."
And logically speaking, even out in void space, even under the Warp's radiation, he should still have been able to connect.
If he couldn't connect now, did that mean he had truly escaped that universe?
But there was another explanation for losing the connection: the guy sitting on the Golden Toilet had kicked him offline and refused the link.
Still, that seemed unlikely. After all, they wanted him to do things.
So… had he really crossed over?
He closed his eyes and relaxed his entire body.
He bit the tip of his tongue, feeling pain and the taste of blood at the same time. One hand rested against the trunk of a nearby tree, while the other lifted an intact fruit he had picked. He took a bite. The taste was slightly sour.
He took a deep breath and clearly sensed the unchanged scent of nature.
When he opened his eyes again, the scene before him was the same as ever, but the panic and confusion in his gaze were gone, replaced by resolve.
Following his intuition, he decided he truly had crossed into another world.
After all, he couldn't keep hesitating forever, wavering and refusing to move forward. He would gamble on it.
Then, he would check this so-called "Hyperdimensional Channel."
How did he open it?
The moment he thought about opening it, a pop-up appeared in his mind.
He would see what the other members in this channel were saying.
Blank. Quiet. Nobody chatting?
No history, either?
Should he say something?
How did he speak?
Huh? He thought he understood.
[Golden Toilet: Anyone breathing? Make a sound.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: beep~~]
Someone replied instantly.
But that ID was overflowing with chuunibyou energy. It felt strangely familiar, like a strong sense of déjà vu.
[Fallen Angel Kuroneko: You're still alive? I thought you got murdered.
Golden Toilet: Why would I get murdered?
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Dummy. You just joined this special chat group and then accepted an invitation to some other world like an idiot. What if the other side wanted to harm you?
Golden Toilet: Harm me? Why? What's the profit in that?
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Mm, no clue yet. But that A2 who invited you never talks. People can't help but wonder.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: By the way, they're still not saying anything. Don't tell me you took them out?
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: No, that doesn't make sense. If they died, you'd probably get kicked out of their world, right?
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Mm, maybe not. We haven't seen that happen before.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Did you meet the person who invited you?
Golden Toilet: Not face-to-face. We connected over radio. I only learned this channel even existed because they told me. Otherwise I'd have thought I was hallucinating or something.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Heh heh, same for me at first. I couldn't tell whether it was my own delusion, so my talking-to-myself freaked my two little sisters out.
Golden Toilet: Two little sisters? Fallen Angel Kuroneko? Kuroneko? Black cat?
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: ??]
Kain couldn't help making a strange face. Now he finally understood why that ID had felt so familiar.
He decided to test it.
[Golden Toilet: Chuunibyou, Evil Eye, denpa girl, gothic lolita girl.]
Somewhere, in another world.
"Bang!"
The sound came from a slender, delicate hand slapping down on a desk as its owner abruptly stood.
"Miss Gokou, what is it?"
"Uh, n-no, it's nothing. Sorry, ma'am."
The petite, black-haired girl with a gloomy air—addressed as "Miss Gokou"—apologized to the teacher at the podium, then sat back down awkwardly.
But even after sitting down, the girl—now in her third year of middle school—Ruri Gokou, was still boiling with excitement.
Once upon a time, every night, she would conduct bizarre rituals in her room, talking on the phone with imaginary figures.
And then, very suddenly, one day, a "Hyperdimensional Channel" appeared in her mind, filled with people from other worlds.
At first, she thought it was a new delusion.
An unbelievable delusion. A delusion that could appear in her head at any time.
In other words, she assumed her chuunibyou had gotten worse, and it scared her.
She might be chuunibyou, but she was still a normal person. She absolutely did not want to become genuinely unstable, to the point of severe hallucinations.
Then, after she was invited to another world once, she finally confirmed it: she had truly encountered something impossible.
That made her intensely thrilled and excited.
And after talking more with the others, she discovered something even more astonishing.
Different worlds—within another world—might exist as "stories," shown through anime, novels, games, and the like.
In other words, her own world might also be a piece of anime or a novel in some other world.
And now, a new member had joined, and without warning, said words that shocked her to the core.
It was as if the other party was saying they knew exactly who she was.
[Golden Toilet: Miss Kuroneko?
Golden Toilet: Miss Denpa?
Golden Toilet: Miss Ruri?]
That third address made Ruri's eyes widen. So they really did know her.
[Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Y-You know me?]
Up to now, she hadn't told anyone her real name. She had only let everyone call her "Kuroneko."
[Golden Toilet: So it really is you. This channel is hyperdimensional, huh? Connected to the world of "Oreimo"? That means all the different online friends in this group might be characters from different anime. Interesting.]
It was practically self-talk, but the other party accepted it immediately and even inferred the point on their own.
But what Kuroneko cared about was what "work" her world belonged to.
[Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Oreimo? What's that?
Golden Toilet: A slice-of-life romance light novel. It got an anime adaptation.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: What's the main story? Am I the heroine? Has it ended? What happens to me?]
Ruri fired off questions in a rapid chain, then waited, tense and uneasy, for the answer.
Still, if it was a slice-of-life romance story, that meant her world probably wouldn't face any kind of crisis.
(End of Chapter)
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