“You really wanted to follow us that badly?”

“Of course.”

“…”

Inside the aircraft heading to the frontlines, everyone looked at Amelia with dismayed eyes.

“What?”

“But still, he’s your father…”

Honestly, it was still shocking.

A daughter exposing her father’s secrets that he wanted to hide.

No matter how I thought about it, this wasn’t right.

Okay. Let’s say, with many concessions, that it could happen.

But why did the secret he was hiding have to be something like that?

His tastes were beyond unique. They were bizarre.

He was a famous and popular hero who was always on the front lines.

Does it make sense for someone like that to have a hobby of reading light novels?

Could it be that the Author planned this?

Perhaps noticing the suspicion that she had done this, the Author began frantically appealing that it wasn’t her doing.

[No, no! It really wasn’t me!]

“…”

[All I did was set up Amelia’s personality to be inherited from her father… And I did that a long time ago!]

It was you who did it.

Seeing her confess her crime while trying to make excuses was ridiculous, and a hollow laugh escaped me.

“Your parents also thought you were in danger and tried to stop you.”

“Well, that’s true. They always play with me but stop me when it’s really dangerous.”

“Even though you know that…”

“Don’t you remember what I said last time?”

“…What?”

Amelia looked at Siwoo, who was trying to send her back somehow as if it was absurd.

What on earth did she say?

As Dorothy and I expressed our puzzlement, Amelia sighed and opened her mouth.

“Can someone who abandons their friend and runs away aim to be a hero?”

…Ah.

Come to think of it, she did say something like that.

Siwoo and I were lost in emotion.

The memory of when we had just entered the school suddenly came to mind.

What was it? A rat demi-human?

I remembered the man with the impressive protruding front teeth.

It was impressive how Amelia stepped forward, saying she wouldn’t abandon her friend when she was in danger.

Yeah, she did say that.

Time has already passed so much.

“Don’t worry too much. I have the confidence to protect myself. Dorothy may not look like it, but she’s also a precious existence. Do you know how important a buff totem is?”

“This isn’t a game…”

Dorothy, who was treated as a buff totem, drooped.

She knew it wasn’t wrong, but being told that still hurt her.

But with no words to refute, she just looked gloomy.

“… We’ll be arriving soon. Please get ready to disembark.”

“Ah, yes.”

“And Amelia, please be kind to your parents…”

“I’ll think about it.”

Perhaps because of his experience on the frontlines, there was pity in investigator Lee Ha-Yul’s voice as he accompanied the students.

“Sigh… He’s still into that… At least hide it from your daughter.”

“…What? You know my dad?”

“Of course I do. I met him briefly before.”

People who have been there are usually tightly bonded.

Because they’re comrades who share each other’s lives.

A faint smile hung on Ha-Yul’s lips as he said that.

“Did you see that kind of thing back then too?”

“Don’t even mention it. He was always looking at that stuff, saying he had no time to meet women.”

“…But how did he not get caught until now?”

“Because you have to protect a colleague’s private life. Besides, he was quite a promising person. It’s a headache if rumors spread about someone who’s rising.”

He smiled and said he tried to hide his comrade’s tastes somehow.

“Besides, well, it’s true that he was too busy to have time to meet women. Everyone just accepted it.”

“…But how did he meet my mom then? They seemed to get along well.”

“Oh, um. That’s…”

Ha-Yul, who was talking with Amelia, suddenly started paying attention to me.

… What’s going on?

I was listening with interest as old memories came up.

It felt like listening to a teacher telling a story during class.

There seemed to be something thrilling about what wasn’t a big deal.

…Being a teacher really is your true calling, isn’t it?

Unable to endure the students’ gazes, he finally opened his mouth.

“I heard they were close friends since childhood. He went to meet that friend during a long-awaited vacation, and…”

Rawr!

Investigator Lee made a cute gesture with his hands spread and shouted softly.

“He got gobbled up.”

“…Oh.”

What, why is everyone suddenly looking at me?

Amelia and Dorothy were looking at me with meaningful eyes.

As for Siwoo… I’m not sure. What kind of look is that?

Ha-Yul’s eyes looked worried.

“…I think this story is enough for now. Everyone, please get up. Let’s go greet the commander.”

We took out the luggage we had packed one by one, as we had to live here for a few months.

Perhaps because it was adjusted appropriately to match the context without the Author’s setting changes.

Amelia ended up becoming a daughter with a mother who died to maternal complications.

But the family seemed happy, so I guess it’s fine.

“…Hmm.”

I thought a woman pouncing first was just a delusion that only happened in subcultures.

But it really does happen.

When I turned my head towards Siwoo, he hurriedly turned his head away from looking at me.

“…?”

“L-let’s go. Arte.”

His voice was trembling.

…Is he sick somewhere? Did he catch a cold?

“If you walk that slowly, we’ll be late. Everyone already went far ahead.”

Since the others had already gone far ahead, I hurried and followed them.

…But I feel a bit uneasy.

No matter how much of a protagonist he is, a person is a person.

I couldn’t help but feel tense about the fact that he walked into a dangerous place on his own feet.

I hope he didn’t get sick from being unable to sleep properly.

I hastily grabbed Siwoo’s hand.

“?!”

“Hmm, are you okay…?”

… I’m not sure.

In comics and novels, they check a person’s body temperature by touching them, but aren’t they all too sensitive?

No matter how much I touch him, there doesn’t seem to be much difference from me.

All I could feel was his firm and well-trained hand.

“…Um, Arte?”

“…”

Squish squish.

Various emotions swirled inside me, and I ended up fiddling with Siwoo’s hand for no reason.

It’s firm. It’s probably natural since he trains every day.

I feel a bit jealous of Siwoo’s physique, but…

I saw with my own eyes how he trains.

I wonder if I can follow his training method. It looked really tough.

When I tried touching my own hand, I felt a soft and squishy sensation.

…Yeah, well.

I guess it’s okay even if I don’t train hard.

There’s no need to build muscle, right?

I used to get angry about why this body was made like this.

Have I become completely used to it now?

I’m slowly starting to forget even my original appearance.

“…Arte. Let’s go now. We’ll really lose them.”

“Ah. Sorry.”

Oh no.

It seemed I had been lost in thought and fiddled with Siwoo’s hand again.

Startled, I let go of his hand and hurriedly started running in the direction my companions were walking.

“…Phew. That surprised me. I got flustered.”

That’s why I didn’t see Siwoo’s face turning completely red and him letting out a shallow sigh.

***

(So?)

“Huh? What?”

(You’re moving to a new stage. Do you have anything in mind?)

“No? Not really?”

(You… never mind.)

They were about to shout at the pure girl again about why she was not setting things up.

She spoke confidently.

“I didn’t plan on having everyone go there in the first place!”

(Ah, right.)

(If it’s you, then that makes sense…)

Storylines were no longer important to the girl.

Because of that, some guys said they were getting bored and went to do something else, but who cares.

It was self-satisfaction from the beginning.

A work made by picking up a wandering soul, searching for an interesting world.

It was a work she made because she wanted to enjoy it.

“I’m not interested in the protagonist’s growth story anymore.”

‘How amazing it is that you, dear reader, who should have been just an observer, made me throw away all the plans to create a work that captures the protagonist’s growth.’

In the first place, it’s an impossible goal now that she can’t manipulate the Protagonist as she pleases.

Now, she only has one goal.

It’s to watch the Reader and Protagonist connect.

“So I don’t really care about the change in location either.”

(…Right. That looks fun too.)

Of course, seeing the Protagonist being cool and active is also nice.

But the ultimate goal is no longer his growth.

The girl was trying to think of a plan to get them together.

“The protagonist seems to have already fallen for her…”

Perhaps because she was holding his hand, the Reader didn’t notice, but the Protagonist’s face was red.

Well, it would be if the person you love is doing that.

(As for your Reader… About halfway there?)

“Yeah. She hasn’t realized her own feelings. But it’s okay.”

In the girl’s judgment, she already had some feelings for Siwoo.

The only one who understands her. The only person she can trust even if the whole world turns against him.

It’s no joke. She must be sincerely thinking that.

“Having that kind of feeling itself isn’t normal.”

She seems to think of him as just a close friend you can trust…

Well. Would you hug a close friend’s clothes to calm down?

It would be difficult without a physical attraction.

“The setting happens to be a battlefield too, right?”

And a very dangerous battlefield at that.

It’s the perfect place for emotions to reach an extreme situation.

The girl smiled innocently.