Mashu stared at the holographic golden ticket floating above the penthouse's glass table without blinking.
— "Are you certain, my Lady?" — the dragon maid asked politely. — "A Direct Intervention Ticket will tear open the fabric of space between the Interdimensional Interval and your Primary Timeline."
— "Tear it" — Shiro cut in.
Her demigod eyes flared with dense, molten gold.
She had no idea how much time had passed in her own world. Aqua had said the murder would happen on the day of the Tokyo Dome concert. But what if that day was today? What if that bastard with the knife was already ringing her apartment doorbell right now?
Mashu elegantly snapped her gloved fingers.
The ticket burst into light and crumbled into ash. With a deafening crack, the air in the center of the luxurious office split wide open, exposing a vortex of stars and dark matter.
— "I'll be back soon, Tomoko. Don't touch anything," — Shiro tossed over her shoulder, then stepped into the rift without a second thought.
Primary Timeline. Tokyo. Ai Hoshino's Apartment.
The entryway was quiet.
Only the steady hum of the refrigerator drifted in from the kitchen, along with the muffled murmur of a TV somewhere deeper in the apartment.
Then suddenly, the space in front of the front door distorted.
The air compressed with a shriek like a vacuum bomb going off, and Shiro came tumbling out of a blinding golden flash onto the parquet floor.
— "Get the hell away from her, you bastard!" — she roared, throwing up her hands.
Her divine aura blazed so brightly that the hallway lightbulb exploded with a sharp pop. Shiro was ready to catch a knife barehanded, rip flesh, break bones, and tear apart anyone who dared—
She froze, breathing hard.
The entryway was empty.
No maniac. No bouquet of white roses. No pool of blood.
Just a pair of scattered sneakers and a glossy magazine forgotten on the shoe cabinet.
A figure shuffled out from the living room in bunny slippers.
Ai Hoshino stopped in the doorway.
She was wearing an oversized, stretched-out gray T-shirt — clearly stolen from Shiro's closet — her hair messily clipped up at the back of her head, and in her hands she held a half-eaten bag of potato chips.
The two impossible six-pointed stars in her eyes widened in surprise as she stared at her panting friend.
Shiro, wrapped in luxurious antique silk stained with someone else's blood and surrounded by fading golden light, stared at Ai.
Ai, with a potato chip still between her lips, stared at Shiro.
— "Uh...?" — Ai tilted her head adorably to one side and blinked her long lashes. The chip snapped with a crunch. — "Shiro-chan? Did you suddenly get into cosplay? And why didn't you open the door with your key? I thought it was pizza delivery..."
Shiro's golden aura fizzled out with a pathetic little pfft.
The goddess of vengeance instantly deflated, feeling like a complete idiot.
— "Ai..." — Shiro exhaled, feeling her knees nearly give out from the sudden wave of relief. — "You're alive. Thank God... Tokyo Dome... the concert..."
The chip bag hit the floor.
The next second, Ai launched herself forward with a speed that would have been terrifying from a normal person. She practically body-slammed Shiro onto the parquet and latched onto her with both arms and legs like a koala.
— "Where the hell were you?!" — Ai whined, burying her nose right into Shiro's neck. Her voice trembled with outrageous, clingy indignation. — "Two days! Two endless days! I called you a hundred times! I thought you abandoned me! I was already planning to go to the police and say aliens had kidnapped my wife!"
— "What wife, idiot? We're not married. Get off me already, you're gonna break all my ribs," — Shiro snorted, rolling her eyes as she tried to pry the clingy star off herself.
But the idol's grip was iron.
— "Not married yet!" — Ai shot back, not loosening up in the slightest.
Then suddenly, her starry eyes narrowed like a predator's.
All her childish sulking vanished in an instant, replaced by something disturbingly possessive. She drew in a loud breath through her nose, sniffing at Shiro's skin.
— "Hold on..."
The smile vanished from the perfect idol's face.
— "Shiro," — Ai said, her voice turning dangerously soft and sweet. — "Why do you smell like... expensive perfume? And... blood? Whose blood is on your dress? Did you find someone else? Someone more interesting than me?"
She pressed even closer, her fingers sliding possessively into Shiro's black hair, almost scratching her scalp.
— "Tell me that's not true, Shiro-chan. Otherwise I'm going to cry so hard I'll ruin tomorrow's shoot. And then I'll find the girl who dared touch you and claw her eyes out," — Ai smiled sweetly, completely sincerely, but the stars in her eyes darkened for a moment.
Shiro let out a long sigh and patted her friend on the back with practiced ease.
Kruul Tepes, the thousand-year-old vampire who had bitten her, would probably be very surprised to hear a pop idol making threats like that.
— "Calm down. I didn't find anybody. It's a long story," — Shiro muttered, finally giving up and letting Ai keep lying on top of her. — "Ai, listen to me. This is really important. The Tokyo Dome concert. When is it?"
Ai puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, clearly disappointed that Shiro had once again ignored her jealousy scene, but she answered anyway.
— "Um... well, President Saito said we hit the quota, so the booking's confirmed. The show is in six months! Can you believe it? We're going to perform there! You have to sit in the front row, or I'm not going on stage at all!"
Shiro's jaw dropped.
— "Six months..." — she let out a nervous little laugh and covered her face with both hands. — "I'm an economic genius."
— "Hey, are you even listening to me?" — Ai lightly bit her earlobe, demanding attention. — "And also, while you were gone, some guy at the agency was hitting on me. Kamiki Hikaru, from some theater troupe or whatever. All mysterious and pretty-eyed and—"
— "What Kamiki? Who cares about him," — Shiro waved it off. The name meant absolutely nothing to her. She tried to focus on the important part. Aqua's message and that photo were still burned into her mind. — "Ai, tell me honestly. No lying. You don't... happen to have two little kids you've been hiding from me, do you?"
Ai literally choked on air.
The shining stars in her eyes widened so comically it was almost absurd, and she jerked back, staring at Shiro as if she had just said the dumbest thing in the universe.
— "Whaaaat?! What kids?! Shiro, are you insane?!" — Ai puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms over her chest while still half-lying on top of her. — "Where would they even come from when I don't even look at anyone except you? I haven't even kissed anyone! And anyway, if I did want kids, it would only be with you! But science isn't there yet, so for now we can just keep practicing!"
Shiro went still, staring up at the ceiling of her own entryway and letting yet another one of Ai's deeply questionable jokes fly right past her ears.
Everything clicked into place.
That boy in the chat — Aquamarine...
In his world, Ai must have accepted the advances of some guy, maybe the very actor she had just mentioned, or maybe someone else, and gone on to have twins.
But in this timeline, things had gone differently.
Ai had stayed utterly loyal to her obsessive attachment to Shiro and completely ignored every other guy.
And that could only mean one thing.
Those children from the photo did not exist in this world.
And never would.
Just by being part of Ai's life, Shiro had literally erased Aqua from this reality.
— "Shiro? Why are you suddenly so serious?" — Ai leaned closer again, her starry eyes turning soft and worried. All her fake sulking disappeared instantly. — "Hey... what's wrong? You really won't disappear again, right?"
Shiro slowly hugged her back, feeling her warmth and heartbeat.
Alive.
Real.
A selfish, unbelievably clingy star who simply wanted to stay by her side.
— "I won't disappear," — Shiro answered quietly, burying her nose in Ai's shampoo-scented hair. — "Now get off me. I need to take one selfie and send a message. Someone is really waiting for news."
Getting Ai off her turned out to be about as difficult as fighting a dungeon boss.
In the end, Shiro had to compromise: she slid down the wall and sat on the floor in the entryway, while Ai settled comfortably against her side, arms wrapped tightly around her waist, chin resting on her shoulder.
Shiro pulled out her old smartphone — now synced with the System — and opened the camera.
— "Smile," — she said, tired but full of genuine relief.
Ai transformed instantly.
Like someone had flipped a switch, the homebody girl in an oversized shirt became a dazzling idol. She pressed her cheek to Shiro's, squeezed one eye shut, and flashed a perfect V-sign at the camera.
The flash lit up the cramped hallway.
Shiro opened the holographic Chat Group interface, which obediently unfolded in the air before her face. Since Ai was just a normal human, she could not see the panel, so she simply watched curiously as Shiro stared into empty space with intense concentration.
Chat Group Log
Status: Everyone is online and emotionally unstable
[Clumsy (Admin)] attached file: IMG_8835.jpg
[Clumsy (Admin)]: @Aquamarine Breathe.
[Clumsy (Admin)]: Good news: I'm home, and she's completely fine. The Tokyo Dome concert is six months away, so there is no psycho at the door yet.
[Clumsy (Admin)]: Weird news: I asked her about kids. There aren't any. She said some actor named Kamiki Hikaru tried to hit on her at the agency, but she turned him down because apparently we're "basically together" now. Don't ask. She's weird.
[Clumsy (Admin)]: Anyway... in this universe, she isn't dating anyone. Sorry, man. Looks like you're never going to be born here.
After sending the message, Shiro leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes.
She had no idea how Aqua would react to learning he had been erased from her version of reality.
But he deserved the truth.
World 3: Entertainment Industry, Tokyo
Dead silence filled the dark room.
The only sound was rough, uneven breathing.
Aquamarine sat before the glowing System screen, gripping the armrests of his chair so hard his fingers had gone white. He stared at the photo.
Ai.
Alive.
Unharmed.
Without the traces of exhaustion from secret motherhood. Without the crushing weight of lies she had carried in his world. She was simply fooling around in front of the camera with her best friend, and her smile was...
Real.
Then his eyes moved to the text.
An actor named Kamiki Hikaru... she turned him down...
The breath was knocked out of Aqua's lungs like he had taken a hit to the stomach.
His eyes — one of them burning with that dark star — widened with raw madness.
Kamiki Hikaru.
In his own universe, Ai had been secretive. She had never told anyone who she had been seeing. Aqua and Ruby had been hidden away, and their father's identity had remained a phantom he had hunted for years, ready to sacrifice his own life for the answer.
He had never known the name.
Never known the face.
But in this girl's world — this Administrator's world — Ai had rejected that very same man.
The puzzle Aqua had failed to solve his entire life had just fallen into place because of one accidental message in an interdimensional chat.
Kamiki Hikaru.
That was his biological father.
That was the bastard who had leaked their address to a delusional fan.
The first tear slid from the boy's chin and fell onto the keyboard.
Then a second.
The ice armor he had spent years building shattered in a single instant. He covered his face with both hands, his body shaking with silent, suffocating sobs.
They were tears of catharsis.
For the first time in years, that black, all-devouring guilt for failing to save his mother loosened its grip — because somewhere out there, she would live.
And smile.
At the same time, a cold, merciless fire began burning in his chest.
He finally had a name.
The trembling fingers of the boy reached for the keyboard.
[Chat Group Log]
[Aquamarine]: Thank you.
[Aquamarine]: Dear God... thank you.
[Aquamarine]: I don't care that I don't exist there. This is the best news I could possibly have received. And you just gave me the information I've been searching for my entire life in my world.
[Aquamarine]: Shiro. You have six months before the stalker comes to her door. And Kamiki is still alive in your world, which means he may try to retaliate for being rejected.
[Aquamarine]: I offer you my mind. Any strategy, any enemy analysis, any plan for clearing System dungeons — whatever you need. I will do everything in my power to make sure that in these six months, you become strong enough to crush them.
[Aquamarine]: My life belongs to you, Administrator.
Primary Timeline. Ai's Apartment.
Shiro read Aqua's message with a faint frown.
Judging by everything, just casually mentioning Kamiki had accidentally blown open some enormous secret for Aqua himself.
Still, whatever the full story was, that boy had just sworn her absolute loyalty.
The multiverse was not such a bad deal after all.
Then a new notification chimed in the chat.
Chat Group Log
[Zero]: Remarkable. A butterfly effect on a multiversal scale. Your personal influence on Subject "Ai" has functioned as an absolute blocker for a key event in her line of fate. You did not merely save a life, Administrator. You rewrote causality itself. If this chat is capable of producing changes of this magnitude, then its potential as an instrument of world control is limitless.
Shiro arched one eyebrow skeptically.
Who even is this Zero? she thought, rereading his overdramatic prose. He talks like some philosophy professor on maximum settings. Or maybe he just has terminal eighth-grader syndrome. "World control," yeah, sure.
Then another message appeared.
[Chainsaw_Dog]: WOOOOOOOW! ADMIN, YOUR FRIEND IS INSANELY HOT!!! 😍
[Chainsaw_Dog]: Does she have a boyfriend?! Does she like dogs?! If I kill some really strong devil, will she let me touch her bo—
[SYSTEM: User "Chainsaw_Dog" has been muted for 10 minutes by Administrator Clumsy for inappropriate behavior.]
[Clumsy (Admin)]: Don't even think about it, flea-bag. She's taken. By me.
Ai, noticing Shiro typing that last message with a smug little grin, puffed out her cheeks and poked her in the ribs.
— "Hey, you're ignoring me for your phone again!" — the idol grumbled, wrapping her arms around Shiro's stomach so tightly that she let out a small oof. — "You should order us pizza instead. I'm stressed from your disappearance. I need carbs. And you're coming into the shower with me — you smell like some ancient tomb!"
Shiro laughed, tipping her head back.
She was home.
She had a traumatized teenage genius in her phone who was ready to do anything for her, one ridiculously pompous weirdo named Zero, and one chainsaw pervert.
She had her clingy, hyperactive star.
And she had the black card of Midas Bank.
— "Alright, brat. You'll get your pizza" — Shiro smiled, ruffling Ai's hair.
But in her mind, she was already looking at the timer.
Six months.
She had half a year until Tokyo Dome to transform from a rookie Administrator into someone who could wipe out any threat to her world with a snap.
The game had only just begun.