During the candlelit dinner—

  “Este, have you noticed something’s off since we started knowing each other?” Alice asked curiously.

  Estel gave a puzzled look. “That’s a little too vague, can you please be a little more specific?”

  “Hmm…ah!” Alice cpped her hands together. “For example, have you realised that the time period of my story is completely screwed up?”

  “Time period?”

  “Here’s an easy one—I drink coffee on a daily basis, which means that this story must be set after the 16th century. That’s because coffee was first introduced to Europe in the 1500s. Makes sense, right?”

  “I don’t know what is this ‘century’ thing that you are referring to, but I guess so…”

  “So, hear me out—” Alice pointed at Estel’s headscarf “—why is it that you wear a kruseler veil when that particur style of headdress fell out of fashion by the 15th century?”

  Estel touched her veil self-consciously. “A-are you saying that my clothes are too old-fashioned?”

  “No, it’s the other way round,” Alice revealed with a sheepish smile. “To be honest, I added the existence of coffee into this world on a whim because I love coffee. Everything else—the masquerade ball, the Temprs, even the usage of ecclesiastical Latin in prayers—fits the whole medieval theme better. I only realised it when I actually began to do serious research into worldbuilding.”

  “Worldbuilding…that sounds like a complicated word, is it something that authors do often?”

  “Of course! Without a world, you and I will simply be talking into the void. That’ll make for a very boring story, won’t it?”

  “And this ‘worldbuilding’ creates the world that we are in?” Estel widened her eyes. “Not the Goddess?”

  “See, you got it all mixed up,” Alice pointed out. “The Goddess is part of the worldbuilding. I can easily change the name ‘Lumina’ to ‘Jesus’, and the world will still exist—albeit now with Christianity and the whole shebang.”

  “Is that so…?” Estel pursed her lips in thought. “Wait a minute, Alice. If you are the author of this story, and you are here talking to me, then who’s that person—”

  She pointed at the author with a curious expression.

  “—writing our conversation right now?”

  “It’s like an author-ception, isn’t it?” Alice giggled. “By the way, Este, you shouldn’t acknowledge them directly while the chapter is being written—they are really, really shy about it. Not to mention, you are breaking the fifth wall.”

  “O-oh, my apologies, I didn’t mean to be rude…” Estel paused. “The fifth wall? Where are the first four walls?”

  “I mean, the first three walks are basically the three-dimensional world that we are currently in,” she expined. “And the fourth wall is where the readers hide behind.”

  “Readers?”

  “See? Over there.”

  Alice pointed at you. “They’re the ones watching us.”

  “Oh wow, I always thought it was just a speck of dust floating in the corner of my vision…” Estel leaned in closer to you and waved her hand tentatively. “Hello? I can’t really see you, but can you see me?”

  “They can’t ‘see’ us,” Alice expined. “They can only rely on words on a screen to roughly imagine what we are doing in the present moment.”

  “Hmm…” Estel tilted her head to the side. “So, in other words, we can technically do whatever we want as long as words cannot convey what we are doing?”

  “Yep, that’s right!” Alice ughed, walking over to the author. “See, I can do this—”

  Hey, my keyboard!

  …?

  Asuahfihosjfdgjk????

  “—and not even the author knows what I just did,” she said with a smirk.

  …damn you.

  “So here’s the pn, Este,” Alice continued, returning to the table. “When we reach the NSFW chapters, just do the weirdest, kinkiest shit you can think of to throw off the author! That way, no one can disturb us…hm, wait a minute. Would that just defeat the whole point of the story then?”

  “Erm, you are using a lot of words that I can’t understand…”

  Estel shook her head in resignation. “On another note, I’m curious about one more thing. If we can’t see the readers, how do you know that they are watching us now?”

  “Hmm, let’s just say that it’s an author’s instinct?” Alice shrugged. “But if you pay close attention, you can hear a tiny notification bell chiming each time a reader leaves a comment or a review. That’ll let you know that you have gained the approval of someone outside of this world.”

  “Woah, that’s fascinating—”

  I am going to bed now. Do whatever you want.

  “—eh? Wait, did the author just interrupt me? Alice, where are they going?”

  “Oh, we are finally getting some free time to ourselves!” Alice beamed. “Come on, Este, say a few words to the readers before the author shuts off their computer!”

  “M-me?” Estel pointed at herself in surprise before giving you a bashful smile. “Um…um, I know I’m not really acting like a viliness now, but I’m slowly working on it! One day, I’ll make sure Seraphina and that cheating son of a bitch prince get the beating they deserve!”

  Alice turned to you and bowed with a dramatic flourish.

  “And with that said, thank you for being such great readers, and I’m sure the author appreciates your comments and reviews! We’ll be right back, after the break~”

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  ReiHayashi