“Yo, Ririna! Welcome!”

  The biggest hotel in Ebrilyon was located next to the fast-travel station. Rooms were dirt cheap, but even then demand wasn’t amazing. No one knew why it was built, not even their owners, but that made it easier for adventurers like Sarasa to rent rooms full-time.

  “I was bored waiting for you. Ready to have some fun?” The rooms were nice and well furnished. Sarasa sat at a round dining table while balancing on a chair.

  “Uhh… No…? Are you planning something bad? I don’t wanna get involved, so I’ll just leave…”

  Sarasa jumped after her and grabbed her wrist before she could leave. “Nyahahahaha! Just joking… I just wanted to hang out. How have you been? Like, in general? Did you get your apprenticeship back?”

  “No… Not yet…” Ririna slumped her shoulders and sighed. She decided to give Sarasa the benefit of the doubt and sat with her. “Phillip, the former head of Ebrilyon’s guild, probably blacklisted me… I’ve gone there a few times, but they always say they can’t help me right now.”

  “What an asshole… What have you been doing then? Are you done with alchemy?”

  “Of course not!” Ririna was insulted. “I have my own projects. Even if I’m not part of the guild, I can still do alchemy. It just… makes it hard to learn new stuff…”

  “Hmm… Have you tried asking Iroha for help?”

  “Ahahaha… I can’t do that… Can’t burden her with my problems. Not like she could do anything about something related to alchemists.”

  “I’m not so sure… I think she could come up with something somehow.”

  Ririna shook her head. “It’s okay. I can learn on my own by trying things myself. That’s how alchemists learned back in the day. Either way, why did you ask me to come here? If it was just to hang out, you would have invited me somewhere fun.”

  “You’re pretty sharp, aren’t you?” Sarasa grinned, then grabbed her chair and scooted closer. “I wanted to ask you about something…” She pulled the phone Iroha gave her and raised it between them. “What’s that internet thing Iroha told us to stay away from?”

  Ririna sensed danger. “Why would I know?”

  “Well, don’t you wanna find out?” The phone’s screen lit up.

  “No! You can’t! Iroha explicitly told us not to! It’s dangerous!”

  “Dangerous how? There’s no magic in her world, remember? This isn’t a magical device that’s going to send fireballs everywhere if we mess up, so where’s the harm?” Sarasa shrugged. “She doesn’t need to know. Help me out here, okay?”

  “No way… I’m not helping!” Ririna crossed her arms but didn’t move from her seat. “I’ll keep an eye on you, though…”

  “Nyahahahaha! That’s my Ririna! Can’t win against curiosity, can you? But we have a big problem to start off with… I don’t know how to do internet!”

  Sarasa managed to get to the phone’s home screen, but they didn’t know what to click. Iroha only taught them what app to use to send messages, how to take calls, and not much more.

  “Me neither… I tried looking around, but there wasn’t any button labeled ‘internet’. Probably has a different name, like the chat thing. Why isn’t it called chat? Do people from her world like using confusing names?”

  “Like you alchemists can talk. What’s a Torn Violence potion? Just call it ‘insane plus strength’ potion.”

  “We’re not like that! That’s an exception, okay?” Ririna contested. “We have strength and agility potions. Can’t get clearer than that.”

  “Whatever you say. I actually have an idea how to use internet, but I want to hear what you think. See this bar? ‘Search the web…’ I think this might be it.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “Well, instinct. I have great instincts, remember?” Arguable… said the look on Ririna’s face. “Okay, listen… Internet. Net. What’s something that’s like a net? That’s right, a spider’s web. Makes sense, right?”

  “When you put it like that…”

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  “Got your approval! Time to tap it!”

  Their curiosity steadily rose, and their cheeks pressed together to get the best view of the screen. Sarasa touched the bar, but nothing crazy happened. A keyboard like the one they’ve used to message Iroha and each other appeared, and they stared blankly.

  “Oh… Sarasa… It wants you to write what you want to search, I think… Maybe internet is like one of those fancy libraries where you say what book you want and someone brings it to you.”

  “But it’s not a library, right? What are we searching for? Nets? Inters? What should I type?”

  “Don’t ask me… I know as much as you do. Why don’t you just ask for whatever they recommend?” That’s what you do at a restaurant, not a library.

  “‘Give me the best you have!’ Like this?” Sarasa didn’t wait and just sent it.

  The screen rapidly changed, and the results of their search appeared. “Woah! That was fast!” Sarasa leaned back. “Whoever’s on the inside is hella fast!”

  “There’s no one inside… That’s an object, remember?”

  “Yeah? Well, whatever… This is the internet, isn’t it? And we’re not in danger!” Ririna nodded, and they both celebrated. “Let’s see what we got here… ‘Best memes to start the summer’? Rirna, you’re the expert. What’s that?”

  “The expert on what? Again, don’t expect me to know more than you do about the other world… I’ve only been there twice.”

  “Nyahahaha! Don’t be so stiff. Just messing with you. I’m gonna click it then. Let’s find out together.”

  The screen once again changed colors, and a video started playing.

  “Endell… What should I do?”

  In my humble room at the dorm, I summoned the spiritual embodiment and my sister in soul. As in, our souls are connected. Whatever that means.

  The small girl appeared, white as a sheet of paper. White, shoulder-length hair, white eyes, white kimono. Ironically, the least white thing about her was her pale skin.

  “You’re no fun, Iroha… You called me for the first time in a while, and you’re jumping straight to the point? Don’t you wanna play with me first?” She blinks, making puppy eyes.

  Unlike her big sister from the Pillar of Silver, who was a very detached and serious lady, Endell is as much of a menace as Sarasa if I let her run wild. Her way of being is apparently influenced by my expectations and tastes, but… Is this the type of girl I like? Really?

  “I’ve been busy, okay?” I couldn’t deny wanting to play with her and averted my gaze to not see her cute face. “If you do get lonely, you’re free to show up on your own when I have some free time…”

  “Yayy! Yayy!” She floated to celebrate, even doing a flip. She calmed down and floated up to my side. “I’m surprised you haven’t realized you can use me as a buddy whenever you need a coop partner.”

  “For games? Wait, really?” I could do that… Sounds convenient… But since our souls are connected, would it actually be considered multiplayer?

  “Wait! Don’t distract me, Endell… I have important things I want to talk about.”

  “Of course! Ahem! I’m ready. Ask whatever you want!” She puffed up her chest. “It’s singleplayer, by the way.” Sh- she listened to my thoughts?!

  “It’s about Ayumu… What happened at the mall left me with a lot of questions. How did she get those powers? How was she capable of creating a portal? Where did she go? If you know anything, that would help.” Sorry, hehe~ I listened to them.

  “Uhmm… Is Ayumu your priority right now?” Don’t reply in the middle of another conversation. You’re making this too confusing!

  “I don’t know… If it were possible to reach her right now and stop her, that would be nice. At least it’d help to know how her portals work. Can she make a portal into our rooms while we’re asleep and kill us? It’s hard to focus on anything while she might be coming after us.” Yeah… If we don’t stop, you’re gonna receive complaints that our conversation is too hard to follow…

  “Complaints? Complaints from who?!” Ah… I mixed them up.

  “Ahahahahaha! You lose!” Endell pointed with a huge smile on her face. “But to answer your question, it’s almost impossible for her to appear near any of you while you’re asleep.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because portals only connect two locations… If there’s a portal in a certain spot, that portal will always connect to the same place in the other world. If she wanted to open a portal straight to your room, she’d have to open portals at random until she got lucky and found the spot that connects to your room.”

  “And is there no way to know beforehand?”

  Endell stayed quiet before her face got paler than it already was. “Maybe… If she had some kind of otherworldly compass skill capable of pinpointing where exactly to go to open straight to us… What do we do, Iroha? We’re gonna die!”

  “Okay, calm down… Does a skill like that even exist? We don’t know for sure if she can do that… I’ll keep it in mind, but at least we know she can’t just show up whenever she wants. Gives us some time to track her down… And that’s where you come in!”

  “Me?! I can’t do that?!” She recoiled.

  “You sure? You haven’t even tried. Can’t you sense the disturbances caused by the portals or something like that?”

  “That doesn’t exist! There’s no way I can track her! I’m not connected to her… in any way…” Endell slowed down like she realized something.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Well… Remember how the Pillars are vaguely aware of everything that goes on in their world…? Especially people like you, with powers related to them… The avatar of the Pillar of Silver, my big sister, as you think of her, can easily sense where you are.”

  “So… Are you suggesting we go into the Endless Silver to talk to her? I mean, I wish I could, but going to that place would get me killed. I still had questions I wanted answered when our conversation got interrupted.” About the separator’s identity.

  “No no no… The Endless Silver is out of the question, and my sister might not be able to perfectly track Ayumu either. The Pillar of Void, on the other hand…”

  That’s the pillar in the Forest of Illusion… Far less lethal than the Endless Silver, but it’s impossible to leave once you enter… Or is it…?

  “You remember how I told you that the ability Ayumu had needed to be very connected to the Pillar of Void, right? It’s a power that’s strong enough to form a connection between user and pillar similar to yours. If you went to the Pillar of Void, you might be able to find out where Ayumu is.”

  “That might be our next destination…”

  “That was just a suggestion. The choice is always yours, of course.” I need to think about it… It’s not something I can do without dragging someone down with me, is it?

  “Yeah… Thanks for telling me… Helped me sort out my thoughts…”

  “Was that all?” Endell stared at my face like she knew I was hiding something. And she probably did.

  “That’s all the questions I had for you…” I hesitated. “I don’t understand what is Ayumu’s problem with me… What did I do to her? I lied about liking girls to not get bullied. Lying may be wrong, but I had to do it to protect myself. It’s also no one else’s business, so I’m not forced to share… Why does that make her mad?” Then I remembered I was talking to Endell. “It’s not like you could answer that… Ahahaha…”

  “You’re right… I can’t tell you what’s on her mind, only on yours. But I can help you sort your feelings. What do you wanna do when you find her? Do you want revenge?”

  Revenge? Does she know what’s on my mind? Because that sounds like a joke. “Why would I want revenge? I don’t even understand what her problem is. I’d like to understand her first… If her reasoning is stupid, I might get mad then, but for now, I’m not interested in that… Actually, I’d rather she leave me alone!”

  “So… You don’t like her anymore?” Endell’s question was as direct as they came.

  “No… Right?” Her beauty is the same as always. I’d be lying if I said she’s not attractive. And she looks even better with pink hair. But I don’t have a reason to like her. She’s not like Carol, Ririna, or any of the others.

  Am I lying to myself? Can Endell tell? “It’s not a lie, if that’s what you wanted me to say. Whatever it is that you feel is not black or white. Even for me, it’s not completely clear.”

  “Really…? Well, she’ll probably give me a reason to hate her when I see her again. Another reason to go to the Forest of Illusion. Settling things with her on a personal level.” Whether it makes dragging someone there with me worth it is a different story, though. “You can go back now, Endell… Thanks for everything…”

  “No problem!” Endell stood in front of me and saluted. Back to being silly, I see… “Call me whenever you need help, and I’ll show up! Wait, no, call me more in general! Or I’ll show up unannounced!”

  “You’re threatening me now?!” Other people can’t see her, can they? It might be fine if she randomly shows up, but maybe I can make a few preparations… “Actually, Endell, don’t go. I want you to meet someone…”