“Carol!” *knock knock* “Are you awake? I’m coming in, okay? Take a look at this!”

  I pushed the door open and entered her room.

  “Nghh…” The day had just started, and she was still rolling in bed. “Iroha…? What are you…” After rubbing her eyes, she tried to sit up. The summer weather forced her to wear only a thin camisole to bed. Very sexy and very exposed. When her mind caught up, she covered her chest. “Hey! Wh- what are you doing here? Don’t come into my room without permission!”

  “Yeah… Good morning to you too!”

  She glared while hiding behind the sheets, took her a while to relax. It’s been a while since I’ve been to her room. Her room is not that different from mine here in the dorm, except for the plushies placed on the furniture for decoration. I forget how cute she can be.

  “Grrr…” We had seen each other’s rooms before. There was nothing to be ashamed of. And she slowly got used to me being there. “Are you going to answer my question or not? What are you doing here? You better have a damn good reason to barge into my room.” I was kneeling next to the bed, and we were more or less on eye level with her sitting up.

  “But of course. What do you take me for?” I stretched my arm with a bouquet of flowers in hand. “Here! Surprise!”

  “H- huh?! Flowers? Why?” She preferred plushies over flowers, but whatever. Still a nice gesture. “Is today some kind of special occasi-” Wait… There was something strange about the flowers. “Is the bouquet an… illusion?”

  “Yep!”

  “Wh- why? Did I accidentally make them when I was sleeping? Is it because of the crown?!”

  “Well… First, calm down… You didn’t make the bouquet. I did!” When I let go, it turned to mist. The same white mist that appeared in the Forest of Illusion, not her red mist.

  “Uhh… Is this… a new skill of yours? I thought you didn’t use magic… Much less illusion magic.”

  “You’re right. There’s a bit of a story behind it.” A tragic story, some might say. “It wasn’t exactly on purpose. Let me tell you what happened…”

  …

  The journey to the Pillar of Void was tiring for everyone. We may have been back, but Hecate and Carol were more tired than usual. They needed more time to recover and were still in bed when I woke up. Katja, Narumi, and I had to improvise something for breakfast since we didn’t have Hecate, and so far, so good. Different than usual, but no big deal.

  We ate and talked for a while, and eventually, I was left without anything to do. I sat on the couch near the entrance to kill some time until my girls woke up and decided to look at my skills. After how much we fought yesterday, it wouldn’t be surprising if I had something cool waiting for me.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  [Bonded Partner has acquired the skill Mist – Glass Crown. A unique Bond Skill is now available]

  That was the first thing I saw when I accessed the VISS Driver. Something cool. Something very cool. Bond Skills. A special type of skill that existed in the game as a reward for getting close to one of the characters. They were a big deal in the game, so I was instantly hooked.

  [Bond – Tome of Reflections (Cost: Free)]

  [Tome of Reflections – Borrowing the power of the Queen, grants the ability to create illusions befitting of Her Majesty’s partner]

  In other words, high-level illusion magic for free! Doesn’t come with the ability to materialize illusions, but still. From the context, I’m pretty sure this is all thanks to Carol. The person getting a bond skill gains an ability representative of the other person’s major strengths. This means Glass Crown must be a significantly powerful skill.

  Obviously, since it’s directly related to one of the Pillars.

  …

  “Hmm… So that’s why you can make illusions now. Sounds great, so… Why are you crying?” It made no sense, but she patted my head as I punched the bed in tears.

  “Because because… They lied to me!” I was kneeling next to her, crying on her lap.

  “Slow down… Who lied to whom? I don’t get what you’re upset about.”

  “The skill! It stole my last Skill Tree!! That’s not how it worked in the game! It was supposed to be like an extra! It’s unfair! And now I can’t remove it! My last Skill Tree… I was saving it for so long… Not sure for what, but not for something that shouldn’t have taken up a slot in the first place! They could have at least told me, you know! Then I wouldn’t have wasted my last slot! Why does it work differently from the game?”

  “Sigh…* How terrible… I barely get any of what you just said, but isn’t that skill kinda like a gift from me? Would you seriously have rejected it if you knew how it worked?”

  Ah! That would be a bad look, wouldn’t it? “It’s not like that, uhh… darling. I would never do that to you, I just… I wanted to keep an empty slot for something cool in the future… yeah…”

  “So fake. And why are you calling me ‘darling’ out of nowhere? Gross.”

  “Don’t say that. I’ve changed my mind. I’m actually happy now. I’m glad I got it without thinking. Kinda serves as proof too… I wasn’t even thinking about it that way.”

  “You mean the bonded partner stuff? What does that mean? Are we married now or something?” She poked my cheek with a grin.

  “A- are we?!” Seeing me blush made her blush too.

  “Don’t ask me, idiot! Isn’t that something from the game? You’re the one who’s supposed to know.”

  “Right… I mean, I guess the fact I got this skill means that whatever controls skills recognizes our relationship as something deep and irreplaceable…”

  “What? So it really is like we’re married… What the hell?” She mumbled while looking away. This is a bit too much this early in the morning.

  “Ahh… Well… I also wanted to thank you for yesterday. You’re the reason we managed to get out of that town alive. Are you better now?”

  “Of course. I had no idea using the Crown and giving Life to illusions would hurt me, but I’m fine now.” She casually shrugged. “But you see now? You should have listened to what I said and attacked right away.”

  “I mean… I’ll admit trying to sneak around didn’t help, but do you really think charging them would have helped? Wouldn’t we have ended up in a similar position?”

  “Maybe…”

  Okay, I’m not crazy. Good to know.

  “But, I would rather help you out of a tough situation than see you being a coward.” A coward? Really?

  “It wasn’t cowardice… I just wanted to avoid putting you and the others in danger. If we had successfully snuck past them, we would have been fine. At least there was a chance, you know? We ended up fighting regardless, so I guess there’s no correct answer. What would you have done?”

  Carol shook her head. She wasn’t really criticizing before, just talking for the sake of talking. “Don’t ask me. It’s your job to figure that out, not mine. For what it’s worth, I’ll follow you no matter what you choose.”

  “Thanks…” I needed that… I feel like I’m getting closer, but I’m not there yet… “It’s not easy to know how to make all of you happy.”

  “Ehh… That’s what was on your mind?” She poked my forehead. “You know, I’m not unhappy right now. Why don’t you give up on the others and focus just on me? If you’re this much of a coward, maybe you don’t have what it takes to have a harem.” Never misses an opportunity, does she?

  “So mean! What does it take then? What am I missing!?”

  “Obviously…” She wanted to reply with a smartass answer, but nothing came to mind. Genuinely thinking about it didn’t help either… I mean… What does it take to make a harem? This wasn’t something any sane person would ever think about.

  “Isn’t it just impossible?” A harem is just a fantasy, usually… “Only an idiot would even try to make a harem, right?” But saying that, she giggled. “Then again, if that’s the case, I guess you do have what it takes.”

  “…” Being an idiot? “Fuck off…”

  I pushed her shoulder, and she laughed. “Don’t get mad at me for telling you the truth. In all seriousness, maybe the hardest part of a harem is being dumb enough to go for it. And you’re clearly mad enough.” She poked the temple of her head. “The fact that you got this far is a pretty good sign, isn’t it?”

  Madness… “*Sigh…* I feel like you’re making fun of me, but whatever. That made me feel better. Thanks, Carol…”