The world knew about monsters now. Nothing concrete. Not yet. But people were aware now… And they’re paying more attention now.

  The two worlds are separated by a boundary. The tears are becoming more numerous, and they show no sign of going away by themselves.

  With all eyes on the supernatural, it’s only a matter of time until everything drastically changes…

  The mood on the couch was tense following the news coverage on the mall an interview. We stared as the television created lie after lie to hide what we went through until they finally changed topics.

  “It’s like I said. It’s not looking good. The PSF is losing control of the situation…” Katja sat with her arms crossed and a serious look. Hecate leaned on the armrest next to her.

  “I’d say some of that control is already lost for good.”

  What did this mean for us? What would happen in the future? We reflected on these matters in silence while the TV droned on. Carol was on the opposite end of the couch, leaning against the armrest. I was between the two of them, with Narumi leaning forward from behind the couch.

  “Katja… Is this our fault? Is the PSF mad at us?” They’ve been interfering with us more lately. Whenever there’s an opportunity to blame us, they do, so I’m worried.

  Katja nodded. “They are, but probably not for the reasons you’re expecting.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “This is an unprecedented situation. It’s being treated as a major disaster and a major leak in confidential information. So major, in fact, that it exceeded the PSF.”

  “It’s that big a deal, huh?” Carol sighed while staring at the ceiling.

  “At this point, the PSF are not the only ones involved anymore. I don’t know all the details, but other Three Records organizations are discussing how to handle things going forward, and even the president is involved.”

  “The president of what?”

  “I’m pretty sure she means the president of Three Records.” Hecate answered in Katja’s place. “Right?”

  “That’s right… And it’s thanks to him that we can rest easy this time. He congratulated the House for the quick response and, in turn, the PSF for sanctioning our organization. It’s good for both of us, but being officially recognized makes it harder for them to control us in the future. Hence, why even now they’re probably angry. Though I imagine they’re a bit too busy to worry about that right now.”

  “Yeah… Just a bit…” Carol chuckled sarcastically. “Just enough for emergency interviews.”

  “So… To clarify, nothing’s gonna happen to us? We’re in the clear?” There was a hint of happiness in Narumi’s voice, like she was hesitant to celebrate.

  “Yes, we should be good this time.” We all let out small sighs of relief.

  “How do you know all this, Katja?”

  “Shinji told me before he ran out this morning. I believe he’s been working non-stop since yesterday…”

  “Poor guy…” Narumi looked down. “He takes such good care of us.”

  “We’ll have to thank him when he returns. At this rate, I worry he’ll work himself to the afterlife.”

  “The situation with the PSF is complicated, but there’s something else I wanted to bring up for us to discuss…” Katja stood up and looked at us like she was ready to give a speech. “During the fight with Ayumu, she said a few things that worry me… The portals might not be as dangerous as we thought… And on the other side, there’s apparently a whole different world.”

  Sh- she’s bringing this up? I had a bad feeling about it the moment I heard Ayumu talk about it…

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  “I haven’t verified whether this is true or not. And considering it was something said by someone responsible for creating all those monsters that attacked us, maybe it’d be better to completely ignore it. But there’s one thing I think she’s right about. We don’t know the whole truth. There is someone who knows more than us. And that someone told us convenient truths.”

  “I agree!” Narumi jumped over the couch and sat on Katja’s former spot, hand raised. “Iroha and I heard what she said, and it made sense. I might be overthinking it, but it’s strange. We were told getting close to the portals is dangerous, but there’s a team whose job is to close portals. They obviously get close, so what the hell? How exactly are they dangerous? They’re dangerous to us but not to them? Must be a lie to keep the average fighters away.”

  It’s a great summary… She must have been really thinking about this… Wait… Is she gonna ask me to sleep together again because of this?

  “I didn’t know you two were there…” Katja blinked. “I was thinking we should look into this matter as a group. Maybe there’s a valid reason for them to hide the truth… Maybe it’s just not something we need to know to do our duty. But now that we’re aware of it, I feel like it’s important for us to know. So that none of you get needlessly hurt… So that we can work properly.”

  Carol and Hecate shuffled in place. What do we do about this…? I crossed my arms and thought about what was right… What is the right thing to do here?

  “There’s no need for that, Katja… I can tell you what you want to know.”

  The other two, who also knew, stared in shock.

  It’s time to come clean. Like Katja said, I don’t want any of them getting needlessly hurt. I’d rather they know my secrets than have them risk their lives for curiosity.

  “What Ayumu said is true. The portals lead to another world, and I doubt the portals themselves are dangerous. Anyone can cross them, be they people or monsters. The last of those two is the only thing dangerous about them.”

  Now it was Narumi and Katja’s turn to be surprised. It was hard to accept when put so plainly, and Katja forced the next words out.

  “A- are you sure? What makes you say that?”

  “Remember when we first met? At the parking lot? I fell into a portal on that day. We met just as I managed to make it back.”

  The two who found me were Katja and Narumi. Both remembered the day, and Narumi noticed an inconsistency.

  “How? There was no portal when we found you… How?”

  “That part I don’t get either… Portals are supposed to stay open, right? I don’t know why that one disappeared.” I honestly had no other explanation. “Then again, the portal Ayumu created seemed to close right after. Maybe there are ways to control portals? I don’t know…”

  “Controlling portals… That’s a good explanation…” Narumi was satisfied with the explanation. “That would be the next thing to look into then…”

  “Wait wait… You can’t be serious… Is that a joke?” Katja was taking longer to process things. “And you’ve kept this a secret from all of us this whole time?!”

  “Sorry…” There was anger behind her voice, but that was fine. As long as it’s directed at me…

  “Actually, me and Hecate knew about it too.” Carol?!

  “You did…?”

  Hecate nodded. “Not every single detail, but Iroha told us about the portals. Everything she said is true. The portals are safe, and entering them leads to a different world.”

  The locals call it Balterra, but introducing locals into the conversation would only derail things further.

  “And you two kept a secret from me too…?” Katja calmly asked.

  “Listen, it’s not like that, okay? You have a strong sense of duty, and we just didn’t want you to think of Iroha as a liability…”

  Katja was a bit offended. “A liability? Do you think I’d do that? She’s one of us! I would never think of her that…” I believe her. She wouldn’t do that now. But back then… She knows very well what she would have done.

  “A- are you mad?” Carol asked, but all of Katja’s negative feelings had already disappeared.

  “No… I’m actually glad… There’s no limit to what you can handle, is there? You’ve grown a lot… You can make decisions on your own now. Even without me, you’d probably be fine. It’s heartwarming…”

  I’m not sure what to make of that, but it looks like she’s feeling better.

  “I’m sorry too, Katja. At first, I was worried someone from the PSF would dissect me alive if I mentioned anything, and then there just was never a good opportunity to bring it up until now. It’s not that I don’t trust you, okay?”

  “I understand… Thanks for telling me. I appreciate it.”

  “Hey hey…” Narumi poked me with her elbow. “Did you also get your abilities from going into the other world? You have powers beyond what your Matching Weapon gives, right? The way you opened a path for us was crazy!”

  “You’re not wrong… I got some skills that I kinda got from the other world, but it doesn’t work the same way it did for Ayumu…” At least I’m assuming it didn’t… There’s only one VISS Driver, after all… Should be only one.

  “I got an artifact called VISS Driver when I first went into the other world. It’s a device meant to help the owner grow faster, and it’s what lets me do things normal people wouldn’t be able to…” I continued my explanation for a while longer, going over skills, levels, and how the VISS Driver sort of fused with me.

  “You’re impressive, Iroha… Good thing I taught you not to fight with techniques we didn’t teach you. You would have been dissected…” Katja let out a dry laugh.

  “Ahahahaha… Even then, there have been a few times when I had to push it a little…”

  Narumi responded with a laugh of her own and slapped my shoulder. “We noticed! Did you think we didn’t know you had something up your sleeve, huh? You’re lucky we’re the only ones! Ahahahaha!”

  “Yep… Many times now you’ve worried me to death by showing off too much.” Carol kicked me lightly from the other end of the couch. “You’re an idiot, so it’s actually a miracle you didn’t get caught until now…”

  “Excuse me, I didn’t get caught! I confessed, willingly! There’s a big difference!”

  No one gave me any credit and laughed at me instead, dissipating all tension still in the air. Sigh… If there’s anything the girls around me are good at is in coming together to pick on me.

  The couch was all smiles, but there was somebody across from us whose smile was barely present. “Well… I guess that’s it… I wanted to discuss what Ayumu said about the portals, but I see now there is no need…” And what little was present came through a bit bitter. “I’m going back to my room… I need to think about things for a while.”

  After a few steps, Katja said a couple more words. “Oh, and don’t worry, Iroha… I won’t tell anyone anything you’ve said today.”

  “I know? I said I trust you…” Katja resumed walking after standing still for a second.

  “What about you, Narumi?” Pushing Narumi from the side, Hecate finally decided to join us on the couch. Gets a bit cramped with four people. “Did you really get all that? Do you need a short version?”

  “Do you think I’m an idiot? How rude!” Narumi pouted. “I’ll have you know I can keep my thoughts under control thanks to Iroha, so I can think about whatever I want now. Well… Sometimes… I might need her help at night again…”

  “Tsk… This better not go where I think it’s going…” Our couch neighbor was grumpy, and Narumi had no idea why.

  “That’s good progress.” Hecate smiled, to which Narumi gladly nodded back.

  “It’s good that you can keep yourself under control better, but do you need to cling to Iroha that much? Give her some breathing room, will you?”

  Narumi stared at me with a blank look on her face. “Should I?”

  “Yes!” Carol continued. “Tell her off, Iroha…”

  “Well…” She’s jealous, but I don’t think Narumi’s doing it on purpose… It’s nothing romantic when it comes to Narumi, and I did promise I’d be there for her… Also… I can’t tell her to let go when she’s pressing those soft things against me… “Sorry, Carol. I actually like it~”

  “Really? I’ll do it more!” Narumi now grabbed my arm and squeezed harder.

  “Arggh! Dammit! You two are so annoying!”