บท 25: 24- Alert! Cal Needs a Firefighter PROMPTO, For His PA-

After capturing the spy program lingering on the outside edge of his world, Cal had to acknowledge a few things. Firstly, the void residing outside both the physical and virtual boundary of the game was a very odd place.

Point on case, nothing existed in it. Not time, not space, not even a shred of code. If it wasn't gazed upon by consciousness, it very may not be a 'thing' at all. Just a sort of stillness in which special kind of beings could swim in.

Secondly, his world was indeed anchored to this stillness. He couldn't move it as he couldn't move whatever the void was. Like a pebble stuck in concrete. Maybe if he was significantly more powerful, like DDLC script time 10, he could do something about it, but right now he couldn't.

Thirdly, and in relation to that. It wasn't possible for him to just 'up and leave', because by all means and purpose, the world relied on him to exist and not vanish into dust. Plus, it was a bit paradoxical, but normally, something with a character file would be deleted if it left the boundary of its place of creation, not that they ever could try to leave it in the first place, since they wouldn't have the capabilities.

He knew that because anything he pushed out of the bubble into the void vanished instantly, be it programs or blank character files he had created.

Which lead to his current state, in which he phased his hand through the wall keeping the void at bay from his world and witnessed his gooey heart react faintly, as well as his hand very much not disappear into darkness.

Had he taken a big risk to do that? Certainly. But to be fair, he had kinda expected that kind of outcome already. His gathorade heart was the origin of all his anomalies in the first place. And he didn't really believe it belonged to any 'gameworld' or was even made of code at all.

"So?" The soothing and curious voice of Monika, as clear as always even in the virtual realm, brought him out of his thoughts.

"Luckily, it's as I thought. I would be kinda lost if it didn't work." He grinned at her, having adopted his physical appearance as his avatar and having discarded his armor now that nothing could threaten him anymore, at least not here. "And you, are you done?"

She smiled back. "Yes, it was pretty easy. To be honest. I'm still a bit surprised you gave me that much authority that quickly, though. I thought it'd take more time at least." Her smile turned wry.

"Heh." Cal shrugged, and he turned to place a hand on the 'wall'. "I was being stupid and paranoid, and maybe a bit greedy too. Not wanting someone else to be able to change the world like I can. But I'm not blind, I saw the way our relationship dynamic was going. And I don't want assistants, or worse, servants. I want partners, Monika." He looked back at her. "I'm very aware that I have all the power here, and that I'm already asking a lot. So it's my responsability to actively give some away if I don't want to eventually become twisted and twist everyone around me." He smirked slightly, closing in on her. "I think that's the standard god among men should hold themselves to. But more importantly, the minimum standard a stunning girl like you deserve to have." He said the last sentence slowly while tucking a strand of her hair behind her ears.

Upon seeing her freeze for a second and take in a breath, he chuckled and went to turn away before Monika spoke up and stalled him. "You're good, Cal. Too good."

"Hmm? I'm not so sure about that, it's not like‐" Just as he went to wave her off and looks back at her he was forced to bend forward slightly as his virtual school's uniform tie was taken and unbearingly soft, warm lips pressed themselves against his.

He didn't know if it was because they were in the virtual realm or something, but the experience was downright shocking, sending electricity down his spine and straight into his core as he could feel her radiate warmth through their connection.

Overall, best kiss of his life by a mile, and there wasn't even any tongue involved.

Separating, he knew she felt the same if the breathless and slightly flushed state she was in and the dazed yet confused look in her eyes was any indication. from a simple kiss too, damn he was good. Virtual sheananigans included.

Coming back from whatever thought she had going through her head, she didn't hesitate to speak up as she locked haze with him. "I love you."

If he wasn't utterly stunned by her assault already, having somewhat anticipated, okay, hoped, for such a development after his words, now her declaration left him completely on the back foot. Because it was simply too soon to say it back and for it to not be a lie. He felt the beginning of something for her, even more after the kiss, but it wasn't the burning fire he had briefly felt in her earlier. More like a candleflame, as sad as the comparaison was.

So, squaring up his shoulder and preparing himself mentally to man up, he went to tell her how he felt. "I-"

And was stopped dead as Monika held up her hand and sighed, calming herself from her emotion fuelled high before she spoke. "I understand. No need to tell me... I spoke impulsively." She smiled softly in reassurance that she wasn't upset. "Our circumstances are different. You weren't the one told with certainty that they were real when they thought otherwise. You weren't the one saved from a dark fate and delivered from a cold overlord pulling the strings." She took a breath. "You weren't the one being accepted as a companion and given the chance to experience true normalcy for the first time in their short live. You were the one who saved, gaved, and accepted. Whatever your others demands, doesn't really matter to me. So I understand, and I don't expect you to answer back right away, nor do I want you too. Okay?"

Considering her in silence for a moment, he looked into her eyes and nodded, saying sincerely. "Thanks for that."

"You still fell for my ploy, though. With the kiss." He coughed out after a second of quiet.

Monika frowned, reaching to fix his ruffled, virtual tie. How did that even work? Before smirking up coyly at him. "Well, if that was a ploy. I'll gladly fall in it everytime."

Damn. He might need a medic after that one. His blood pressure certainly felt like it needed to be checked pompto. Luckily, it was easy to control his reaction in the virtual realm, or else he'd be either chuckling nervously or giggling like a little girl. And that would be way too embarassing for a manly man like him. And that simply wouldn't do.

However, since it was fair revenge. He'll let it go unanswered, just this once. Wait, didn't he already says that already? Eh, whatever.

He was glad she was understanding. To be honest, he did find Monika to be an incredible girl. But circumstances didn't allow him to develop strong feelings for her, if he had dig deep to find the reason, he'd say it's because they'd been entraved by his previous notions of cautiousness and responsability toward her. And that even now now, after they were meaningless, he had still to shed that mindset entirely. He was grateful Monika understood that fact, even if partially.

Bringing the construct left behind by the script to his hand, the whole thing appearing like a dense ball of rolling code. He spent a short while ignoring it in exchange of inspecting the work Monika had done to create a monitoring as well as a managing system for the whole world while they were gone. And to be honest, he was damn impressed by what she had done. It was damn near perfect, and she had done it by tapping into his proccessing power alone, since she couldn't overwrite reality with her will like he could.

After smoothing the edge of the system and linking it directly to his character file, he gave it life by separating with near half of his processing power. It was the bare minimum neccessary even freezing time and stopping applying most laws of the physical world without the sheer prowess of his heart and willpower accompanying it.

Relegating the entire weight of the world to it, he made sure it worked as intended before refocusing on the script's spyware, and more precisely, on the subtle thread leading to the edge of the world and beyond into the void.

"I don't know any other way to protect you during the trip other than dematerialising you. So you'll not be conscious, more asleep than anything else though." He reassured. "There's another option where you become akin to a voice in my head and shares my senses. But I'm not really comfortable with that. Are you?" He said with a wry smile and then asked with a lifted eyebrow.

Monika pursed her lips for a few seconds and shook her head. "I'll stick to sleeping."

"I'll bring you out as soon as I can."

"I believe you." Were Monika last words as she smiled and burst into line of code and a simple character file that he brought inside his avatar.

"Well now, let's see where that little coward went." He followed the thread with his gaze and a smirk as it buzzed with information almost rythmically.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(A/N: Exams almost overs. Give me stones so I may perfect them with the POWAH and be MOTIVATED. Next chapter is the start of the mini arc by the way.h )