"U-urghhh…"
Matt stirred as he awoke from his deep sleep. His eyes opened slowly, flinching away from the bright light that surrounded him, and his senses slowly returned to him.
It took some time, but he finally regained full consciousness of his surroundings.
"U-uh…? Where am I?"
The room was a pristine white, and nothing else could be seen beyond the white walls, white floor, and white ceiling. He was sleeping on a bed that felt warm and comfortable—more comfortable than anything he had ever felt before. The warm feeling enveloped his body in a bubble of comfort, causing him to moan in satisfaction.
Even with the pleasure he felt, though, Matt curiously wondered what this room was, and where it was located.
As he pondered this, the events he had experienced—both in Outerverse, and in his Subconscious Realm—came flooding back to him. His expression was a range of emotions as this happened. He went from being overwhelmed, to shocked, to a calm acquiescence..
He had to finally come to terms with the truth. Everything he had known was a lie. He had thought he would be more skeptical, but there was a limit to his stubbornness. Besides, a part of him—just a tiny part—wanted all of this to be true.
Why?
'I must be crazy!' Matt thought to himself, shaking his head in mortification of his innermost thoughts.
As he did this, a door—appearing out of nowhere—opened up.
'Uh?' Matt looked up instantly, both surprised and curious about what happened.
How did the door get there? It wasn't there a second ago, after all. While Matt was still considering these things, a group of people entered his white room. Out of the trio, he only recognized one person.
"Mar—I mean, Matt, glad to see you're awake." Violet said, smiling.
She was currently wearing a different outfit from the last one he saw her in. This time, she was in an oversized overall and pink flip-flops. In all honesty, she still looked weird.
For some reason, though, Matt thought it was cute.
"Heyyyy!!! You're very strong, right? Strong enough to blow a C Class Monster in one hit, right? Violet told me all about it! It was all like 'bwuuuussshhh', and then a big 'boooommmm!' You're amazing, you know? Is it true you never believed in Fiction and Outerverse before now? C'mon, tell meeee!!!"
Bee, the hyperactive weirdo—still dressed like a mascot—buzzed around Matt, assailing him with a barrage of questions. The poor boy was so confused by her rapid-fire questions, that he thought he felt dazed and lightheaded. She kept drawing closer to him, which made him terrified.
'Who is this weirdo? Why is she dressed like a bee?' At this point, Matt realized that asking the latter was useless when among people like these.
If this girl was friends with Violet, she was most likely a Chuunibyou too, hence the weirdness.
"Don't bother him, Bee." A voice came from right beside him.
"Eeeek?!"
A hooded fellow casually stood right beside him. They were completely shrouded in black, so it was impossible to decipher who they were or what they looked like. This was, of course, Shadow.
"I think you scared him more than Bee." The older woman in the group smiled at the whole exchange.
While she, Violet, and Bee had conventionally appeared in front of Matt, Shadow's presence was completely obscured until she had spoken.
That was pretty scary.
"Greetings, Matt. My name is Rose. These three are my proteges, and I am aware that you are acquainted with one of them."
"Y-yeah… Violet" Matt mumbled, staring at the girl who was now beside him, giving a bright smile.
'She's cute.' He thought to himself.
Also, she was no longer wearing her pink wig, allowing her light brown hair to cascade nicely down her head.
"The other two are Bee and Shadow. We came to rescue you and Violet in the Outerverse Dungeon."
"D-Dungeon…?"
"Surely, you didn't think that place you ventured was the entirety of Outerverse, did you? Outerverse is much larger than that, and it has multiple ecosystems as well as a variety of locations. Each Link serves as a connection to one portion of Outerverse. We call those places Dungeons." Rose smiled as she explained everything.
"Umu! Umu!" Bee nodded as she made affirming sounds.
Shadow was quiet, so was Violet.
Matt, still trying to completely understand where he was, and the context of everything that was going on, decided to focus his attention on Rose. She seemed like the one with the answers he sought, anyway.
"Why are you telling me all of this? Also, where am I?" His question only made her smile broaden, further creeping him out.
"You had an encounter with Gaia, didn't you? That means you know what's going on, as well as what is at stake."
"H-how do you know I—"
"As for your whereabouts, well, you should brace yourself."
Matt gulped nervously. Something told him he wasn't going to like what she had to say.
*
*
*
"WHAAAAAAAT?!" His voice echoed across the room in both shock and amazement.
According to Rose, they were at the headquarters of the Chuunibyou Society. And it wasn't as simple as a mere building in the middle of nowhere. No, they were on a blimp—an aircraft that was currently hovering above water.
Matt could do nothing but stare in a daze—especially when he was shown footage of the world outside the white walls.
He could have assumed that they were merely showing him projections, and that wasn't the actual thing, but with all the crazy things he had experienced so far, being on a flying blimp that belonged to a secret group of Chuunibyous suddenly seemed believable.
"We couldn't return you to your campus because you've officially awakened to the truth of this world. You have become what is known as an 'Exposed', but the power you displayed in the Dungeon is akin to an 'Enlightened'.
"U-uh, what's the difference?"
"An Exposed can't control their Magia, and they haven't developed any Imagi. As such, the power within them runs wild and ends up making the Veil even more unstable. In essence, having the knowledge of the truth of this world, and not being able to control it causes the Veil to weaken."
There were some terms mixed in the explanation that Matt didn't understand, but he decided to let them slide. After all, he roughly understood the concept Rose was talking about. Gaia mentioned something similar.
"However, in your case, you definitely have an Imagi. Those dark flames of yours, they're clear expressions of your inner power."
"Okayyy…" Matt didn't know what this lady was driving at .
Her outfit also weirded him out, but he chose to focus on her words—though the Hawaian shirt was really distracting.
"We can't have Exposed and unlicensed Enlightened individuals running around. Doing that could adversely affect the Veil. As such, we needed to bring you here and be clear about certain things."
"Certain things? L-like what?"
"Sorry to put you on the spot, but we'll need you to make a choice." Matt froze, as he remembered what Gaia told him.
Was this it? He had to make a choice on what to do with the knowledge he had been given.
Matt's head was a mess. He needed time to think things through. He wanted space, but at the same time, he needed more explanation on what was going on.
However, he needed to make his choice right here and now. The stakes were high and the risks were tremendous, as such his decision had to be firm.
"What happens if I refuse to participate?"