"The truth of the world..."
Kaguya frowned slightly as she glanced around. Frost had silently crept into more areas of the castle, spreading without notice.
"It's impossible to prove," Kaguya eventually said, shaking her head. "If this world is anything like the concept of 'brains in a vat,' then there's no way to confirm its reality."
[A-N: The "brain in a vat" is a philosophical thought experiment that asks people to consider the possibility that they are actually a brain in a vat being stimulated by a computer program to believe they are experiencing the outside world.]
The "brain in a vat" theory posits that all human perceptions are merely signals interpreted by the brain, making it impossible to determine whether we are experiencing reality or a dream.
Sight, sound, touch—they could all be just fragments of subconscious information conjured during sleep.
Amamiya had considered that the various 'hints' he had encountered might also be dream fabrications—until he discovered a way to test them.
Everyone knows that a dream is constructed from what the brain has already processed.
In other words, you can't see a person or thing in your dream that you've never encountered before.
So...
Yukino stood quietly in a corner, observing, until her gaze swept across the second floor. Suddenly, her entire body froze.
"Did something appear?"
Amamiya, who had been closely watching Yukino, took a small step forward and asked in a hushed tone.
"Yes."
Yukino bit her lower lip, her face paling slightly, and softly responded.
Following her line of sight, Amamiya's gaze drifted to the second floor.
There, at the junction of the corridor, where Jack once stood in 'Titanic', a woman had appeared silently.
She wore a black evening gown that accentuated her figure, with short, neatly trimmed hair and a mask obscuring her face.
The mask itself was peculiar—one half an angel, the other half a devil.
Amamiya's eyes narrowed as he focused on her.
A prompt flashed before him:
[You have discovered the 'Masked Witch'. What expression lies beneath her mask?]
[The happiness of a witch is beyond the reach of ordinary people—unless you can pique her interest.]
[Difficulty Level: High]
[Unlockable Achievement: Sisters Rice Bowl]
"Sisters Rice Bowl…" Amamiya muttered, piecing the clues together. He already had a strong guess about the woman's identity.
This achievement could only be unlocked by sisters.
There was no doubt now...
"She's your sister, isn't she?"
Amamiya turned toward Yukino, his tone certain.
Yukino's eyes widened, her surprise unmistakable. "How... how did you know?"
"It doesn't matter."
Amamiya broke his gaze from her.
What mattered was the confirmation.
Earlier in the library, Amamiya had asked Yukino to imagine something fantastical, something that wasn't from a well-known literary work—something personal, that only she knew. She was forbidden from telling anyone, not even him.
Humans cannot create something in their dreams that they've never encountered in real life.
This was the first time Amamiya had met Yukino in the game, so there was no way she could have known or interacted with her sister here.
Yet, the 'Masked Witch'—an entity whose identity only Yukino knew—had manifested. The prompt had clearly confirmed her identity. This, in turn, proved that the cues appearing before Amamiya were not false.
Having caught the "real butterfly," the truth of this world had finally begun to unravel.
"It's time to go," Amamiya suddenly announced.
"Huh?" Chika blinked in confusion, looking at him. "Where are we going, Amamiya-kun?"
The other players also turned their attention to him.
Amamiya continued walking as he explained, "To the halfway point on the mountain, where we first woke up."
"Why are we going there?" Chika followed, tilting her head in thought. "...Did something fall there?"
Amamiya nodded, casually. "You guessed right."
"So nonchalant…" Chika puffed out her cheeks. "You said that in the most indifferent way possible."
'You know I'm being indifferent, but you're still asking?' Amamiya thought. 'We all arrived in this world with nothing, so how could there possibly be anything left halfway up a mountain?'
Despite her earlier complaints, the pink-haired girl trailed closely behind Amamiya without hesitation or delay.
In the "fight against evil" squad, adorableness was inseparable from strength, and where there was strength, there was always adorableness.
Needless to say, Kaguya stayed in step with the group, moving forward and retreating as one.
Yukino followed silently, her expression contemplative.
As for Rikka, she didn't need much convincing—she simply clung to someone she trusted and stayed close.
The four remaining players, ordinary passersby, exchanged uncertain glances. Although they followed along, hesitation was written on their faces.
"Umm... Can I ask why we're leaving?" one of the female passersby players asked timidly.
Amamiya's voice was calm as he responded:
"If you want an explanation, I'll explain it all after the game ends."
"Huh?"
The female player blinked in surprise, but soon nodded fervently, like a chicken pecking at grains of rice. "I-I understand."
'After the game is over...' The girl surmised that Amamiya had found a way to clear the game.
In that case, there was no need to ask further. It was better to follow quietly.
Amamiya approached the castle gates and pushed them open. A gust of freezing wind howled through, carrying snowflakes into the entryway.
"It's freezing!"
"The snow hasn't let up at all."
"Is it just me, or is the storm getting worse?"
The players huddled against the bitter cold of the blizzard.
As Amamiya stepped outside, his right foot sank deep into the snow, and the icy chill immediately gnawed at his skin.
"Everyone, look!" a player exclaimed in surprise. "The countdown's speeding up!"
Everyone quickly checked their task panels. The death countdown was ticking away at 'double' the previous speed.
Seeing this, several players hesitated.
"Maybe we should head back to the castle."
"Yeah, it's too dangerous out here."
Amamiya trudged forward through the ankle-deep snow but stopped after a few steps. After thinking for a couple of seconds, he made a sudden decision:
"Let's go back to the castle."
"Hm?"
Kaguya glanced at him, surprised.
Amamiya wasn't the type to change his mind easily. If he had decided to turn back so quickly, there had to be a reason behind it.
'What's he planning?' Kaguya wondered.
As Amamiya returned to the castle, the other players followed without question.
"What are you doing back here, human?" Miss Werewolf, who hadn't yet gone upstairs, was startled to see him return.
With a sincere expression, Amamiya replied:
"I was rude to you earlier, Miss Werewolf. I owe you an apology."
Miss Werewolf lifted her chin and gave a haughty snort. "Hmph. At least you know that much."
Amamiya continued, "A mere verbal apology won't suffice, so before we leave, I'd like to offer you a gift."
"A gift?" Miss Werewolf's ears perked up slightly, her curiosity piqued despite herself. Unable to resist, she asked, "What kind of gift?"
Realizing she might have sounded too eager, she quickly turned her head and scoffed, trying to appear indifferent. "Human, if you're offering a gift, give me one of your arms, and maybe I'll consider forgiving you."
Amamiya smiled faintly, hiding his right hand behind his back. Under the watchful and shocked gaze of Kaguya, he approached Miss Werewolf and said with utmost seriousness:
"Lower your head, and I'll place the gift on you."