Chapter 44: Double Booking

I woke up in a hospital room.

I reflexively sat up and looked at my hands.

Slender, pale fingertips. The long, delicate fingers befitting a proper young lady were something I’d grown quite used to over the past two months.

I slowly pressed one of those fingertips against my cheek. Sure enough, I felt the now-familiar smoothness—familiar enough that I could already recognize it as mine.

“……………………………”

I gave my cheek a little pinch.

…Ow.

《Oww!? That hurt! Shiren!? Why did you pinch me!?》

…………And loud as always, on top of that.

Just then—

“———Oh? Looks like you’re already awake.”

Still dazed while listening to the noisy voice inside me, the hospital room door suddenly slid open. In came a doctor with a balding head and a face like a frog.

Yeah, I get it now. Good morning, Heaven Canceller, the walking miracle man.

“Good morning, Reicia-san… no, should I say Shiren-san?”

“Shiren, please.”

“I see. Well then———do you have any questions? If there’s something you’d like to ask, go ahead.”

……Hmm. Questions, huh?

Well then, I guess I’ll start with this one.

“…………This isn’t a dream, right?”

Final Chapter: A Certain Villainess's Comeback — We_are_"a_Villainess".
Episode 36: Double Booking — The_Reason.

Yeah. Definitely not a dream.

And Reicia-chan gave me a hell of a scolding. Sorry, really. I just couldn’t help it—it really felt like a dream, you know? I never thought I’d actually say that line myself.

《Honestly… After all the effort I went through, you call it a dream? Really now, a dream?》

《I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It was just a little joke, you know? A common trope in subculture stuff…》

《I don’t know anything about that!》

……She’s sulking.

I mean, Reicia-chan really is clueless when it comes to subculture. Well, she was a stoic noble lady and all, so it makes sense.

《I’m sorry, Reicia-chan. I really do appreciate you, so please cheer up. C’mon, let’s go to that crêpe shop. Let’s eat something yummy. The doctor gave us the day off today, so we don’t have to go to school.》

《……Well, I suppose I do have no reason to turn down food.》

Nice, easy win.

——And so, it’s September 1st.

Reicia-chan and I were ordered to rest today after yesterday’s experiment, so we have the whole day off. That meant while everyone else was drowning in back-to-school blues, we got to casually stroll around town.

Seriously though, walking around the city on a weekday afternoon like this—it feels like stepping into a parallel universe.

《I mean, this is kinda weird to bring up now, after we started sharing a body and all, but… was this really okay?》

《…What do you mean? If you start saying stuff like “I was never supposed to be here,” I’ll go tell Kamijou, you know.》

“Don’t you dare! That would be a total disaster!”

……Oops. That slipped out loud.

《…That’s not what I meant. I mean, I’m an otaku, right? And this whole ‘Toaru’ thing is basically an otaku light novel series, yeah?》

《Even if someone told me the world I live in is a light novel, I still wouldn’t really believe it……》

《Yeah, me neither.》

Since I can’t hear any voices from readers or anything… Come to think of it, what does the “Toaru” series look like in my world now? Does the original novel or manga content change depending on what I do? If that’s the case, then how does that affect the way the anime treats Kongou-san…? …Yeah, let’s not overthink this. It gets complicated real fast.

《Anyway, I’ve been given permission to share this body now, right?》

《That’s correct.》

《…Which means, I’ve finally got the mental space to think about stuff like my ‘wants’—you know, selfish desires.》

《That is not a good thing!》

《Well, one of those desires ties back to my otaku hobbies. Do you mind if I pick those up again?》

《…………》

Ah! That was a look! She just gave me this totally conflicted emotional feedback that even my actual face twisted from the intensity!

《I don’t really want people thinking I’m an otaku too, if I’m being honest.》

《That’s such a stereotype! And don’t forget—you were saved by this otaku! Otaku save the world!》

《Even if you slap some cheesy catchphrase on it to appeal to your audience’s self-esteem, it still sounds painfully misguided…》

……Still, I seriously do want to get back into my hobbies. Watching late-night anime, buying games, reading manga, that kind of stuff.

Even aside from that, I think it’s time I started thinking about things like this.

That moment the other day—honestly, it really moved me. Living together. Facing the same future. It’s a beautiful thing.

But no matter how far we go, we’re still fundamentally two different people.

And now, two different people are sharing the same body. …It goes without saying, but we really need to get on the same page about everything.

It’s not like we’d have a falling out even if we did argue, and we’ll probably get around to talking eventually, but hey—sooner is better, right?

《If it helps, I’ll even stick to anime for girls.》

《…Ah, you mean like the “Lovely Miton” brand that Misaka-san likes? That’s still… acceptable.》

《No, more like the magical girl shows that air Sunday mornings at 8:30.》

《Rejected.》

《Why!? They’re both shows for girls! That’s prejudice!》

《As Reicia Blackguard, I have an image to uphold, you know!!》

《I’ll make sure to wear a disguise whenever we go to events!》

《Events are absolutely out of the question! And your “disguise” is completely ineffective! It’s not hiding anything!》

《Wha…………!?!?!?》

……Yeah, looks like it’s gonna take a while to get on the same wavelength.

In the end, we settled on keeping my otaku life under wraps.

Reicia-chan wasn’t thrilled about it, but I guess she figured completely shutting down my hobbies would be too much. Heh heh heh. Just you wait. I’m gonna make you watch so many classics, you’ll be brainwashed in no time. Otaku together, strong.

《By the way.》

While I was quietly chuckling to myself about our glorious future, Reicia-chan suddenly spoke up.

《What’s supposed to happen next again? In the novel, I mean.》

《Ah—》

Her question jogged my memory.

September 1st. The first day of the new semester.

Right, right. If I remember correctly… 1, 2, 3 is Accelerator, then 4, 5… 6… Kazakiri. Then there’s that attack from Sherry.

That incident is its own brand of dangerous, huh…

I don’t remember the details, but I think the underground mall collapses or something? And now that I’m here, there’s no guarantee the story will play out the same way. So maybe I should just go ahead and restrain Sherry the moment I find her…

《……Wait? No no no, hold on. Is it really okay for me to just take Sherry down on my own?》

I probably could take her down. I’ve got that much potential, no question.

But at the end of the day, I’m someone from the Science Side. If a Science Side person captures someone from the Magic Side, it’s bound to cause trouble...

With the Index incident, we reconciled almost immediately after I got involved, so that was an exception. But generally, I get the feeling this isn’t something I should stick my nose into...

《What’s the issue? If you’re worried about the story not following the novel anymore, doesn’t it really not matter? It’s not like everything can go exactly the same, and doing something is better than doing nothing, don’t you think?》

While I was stuck in that loop of indecision, Reicia-chan casually dropped that take.

…I mean, I get it, but still, only someone like her could say something that bold.

《You really say some wild stuff, Reicia-chan… Though I do agree with you there. But I don’t think now’s the time. Politically, I feel like it’d be bad for me to get involved.》

《Politically? …I’m not sure I understand.》

《You know, how defeating someone from the Magic Side could have political consequences and all?》

《Ah… Now that you mention it. Some of the earlier incidents did come with that kind of setup… I think.》

When I brought it up, it seemed to jog her memory—though technically, it was my memory she was recalling.

《But Kamijou defeats plenty of Magic Side enemies, doesn’t he? Toward the end of Old Testament, no one was even mentioning that stuff anymore.》

《Well, that’s Kamijou. And besides, that’s what led to World War III. If we butt in this early on, we might trigger the war even sooner—and in an even worse way.》

《Hmm… That would be bad.》

Looks like Reicia-chan understood where I was coming from.

Not that we’ll be able to stop World War III from happening altogether, probably, but even so, I’d rather try to delay it if we can.

《…So then, is there some incident happening today?》

《Hm? Oh—Reicia-chan, you don’t remember yet? You know, the one during the school opening ceremony, when Kazakiri got attacked by that magician named Sherry? That one.》

《……………………Eh?》

She looked completely stunned. Guess she totally forgot.

《Yeah, uh… Volume 6. Volume 6 of Old Testament. Sherry attacks Academy City, Kazakiri’s the target, and Kamijou and Index fight her… Reicia-chan?》

Her expression suddenly tightened.

Incidentally, now that we’ve officially become a dual-personality—or maybe a squared-personality—unit, it turns out we both have equal control over the body. More precisely, whichever one of us speaks up last gets priority.

Right now I’m the one moving the body, but if Reicia-chan tries to take over, her will overrides mine.

And if she experiences a strong emotion, it can physically manifest in our shared body, even if I wasn’t feeling it myself. Weird body, huh?

Anyway, back on topic.

The point is, if my expression suddenly goes all stiff even though I’m not feeling anything in particular, it means Reicia-chan is harboring some strong emotion behind the scenes...

《What’s wrong?》

《Alright. Let’s intervene. In that incident.》

《Were you listening to anything I just said!?》

Her sudden declaration made me mentally scream in shock.

《No no no no no! I’m telling you, if we just go barging in, we might accelerate World War III! I get that you’re worried about the potential casualties, but there are other things we can do—like helping evacuate civilians. Just because we don’t intervene directly doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do…》

《No, we’re intervening.》

《Why!? Listen to me!!》

《I won’t. We’re intervening.》

……For some reason, Reicia-chan was dead set on ignoring me with an unshakable will of steel.

Ughhhhhhh… What do I do…? At this point, there must be some reason behind it. She just doesn’t want to tell me.

…Oh! Wait. The real issue is that, as a Science Side person, I’m not supposed to get involved without permission. So if I get permission, then it’s fine, right?

《Alright, fine. But if we act on our own, it could cause problems, so let me do one thing first. If that doesn’t work, we’ll drop it. That’s my final offer.》

《…………Fine. And what is this “one thing”?》

《Just a quick message.》

Saying that, I pulled out my smartphone.

When it comes to the Church of England, best to go straight to the source and ask for permission.