39 Once Again, Nice To Meet You!? (1/2)

Editor: Crembo.

-Early Evening, My House, Simulation Room-

-Bara POV-​

The Sun was shining brightly. The wind rustled my hair. The sky was clear, with not a cloud in sight.

'… Kill me.'

The waves crashed gently against the shore, the sound they made soothing my heart.

'Kill me.'

The sand felt soft when I stepped on it. It was as if I was stepping on a pillow.

'Kill me!'

And finally, my brand new swimsuit, red frilly tank top and red skirt-and-panties swimsuit.

”Tadaaa~!!” I made a pose.

'KILL ME!!' he shouted in our mind.

”Relax, aren't you actually happy that you can finally see a girl in a swimsuit?” I said playfully.

He grunted inside.

'… Part of your statement is right, I did want to LOOK at a girl in a swimsuit, but I did not want to BECOME the girl in the swimsuit!'

”Hoi!” I made another pose.

'UARGGH!' My action blew him away in our mind. '…I don't care anymore.' Now he gave up.

”Then suit yourself, Master!” I started playing on the beach.

[Simulation Room: Environment Simulator(Small) = 30,000 IP]

That was the new simulation room function that Master bought a few days ago.

It started when both of us were getting anxious, counting the days until this was all over.

It was strange, Master shouldn't have been feeling anxious over this. After all, I was the only one who would disappear by the end. I guess I influenced him somehow.

That said, because of our anxiety, Master decided to distract ourselves by doing something else, and that something was sightseeing. Thus, he bought the new function.

Bountiful forest, cities from many different countries, a hot desert, a crystal cave, a field of flowers, and many more.

Both of us enjoyed it, especially me. It was all very new and exciting to me. Ever since I was born, all I saw was just the white of snow, the frozen lake, and glimpses of other places like in the Simulation Room. I also heard and glimpsed many things from Master's Thoughts, but they were just thoughts. I couldn't fully experience them that way.

But now everything that I wanted was realized, it was wonderful.

That was, until Master brought us to a beach. Suddenly, Master's Thoughts were filled with things called 'Swimsuits'. All of them were really cute and I was really curious how I would look with a swimsuit, so I tried my best to influence Master to bring me back to the beach all this time.

'Beach~.'

”No.”

'It's gonna be fun~.'

”No.”

'There's gonna be lots of swimsuits~.'

”..No.”

'You're thinking about it~.'

”Nonsense.”

After I kept nagging Master for days, he finally gave in and created it. And as it happened on my final day, too, I counted it as a win on my part.

'Hey, Bara.' Master called me.

Since I was still underwater when he called me, I needed to go to the surface to reply. ”Pwuaaah!” I gasped for breath. ”What is it, Master?” I asked.

'Do you want to build a castle?'

”Castle?”

An image flashed in my mind. A small Castle made out of sand.

”Sand Castle?”

'Yup, and with our ability we could make it life sized. Do you want to do it?'

”Of course, let's do it!” I started swimming back to the shore.

After vigorously swimming, I finally arrived on the shore.

”So how do we start making the sand castle?” I asked.

'Let's build something basic first before we continue.'

Master manipulated the sand using Vector Change, compacting it into a block .

”All right, me too then!”

I created another block beside it.

'Another basic shape.'

He created a triangle beside his block.

”Yes!”

I also created a triangle beside my block.

'Another one.'

He created a circle.

”Got it!”

I also created a circle.

'…'

He created an 'X'.

”Hup!”

I also did the same.

I caught a glimpse of what Master just thought, some kind of symbol and a word.

”PlayStation?” I asked.

'PlayStation for the win!!'

He created this 'PlayStation Logo' behind his sand structure.

”PlayStation for the win??”

I also did the same even thought I didn't know what a PlayStation was.

'Suck it Xbox!!'

He raised both of my middle fingers to the sky.

”…Master.” I was worried.

'Ah, yeah, sorry, I just went with the flow. Let's make the sand castle now.'

After that, we both started making a very big sand castle. It was a lot of fun. We played until the sun started to set.

I sprawled on top of the sand castle's roof. The roof was wide and sturdy enough for me to do that.

”Haha, that was fun.” I said with a satisfied smile.

'Yes, it was definitely a fun experience.'

”I'm glad that I know you, Master.”

'…Yes, me too, Bara.'

We ended the conversation with a happy note, both of us smiling. But we know that was not true. All this time, the both us refused to point out the truth, hoping the other one was also ignoring the issue like themselves.

But today was different, and I refused to let our last conversation end with this kind of feeling.

”… Master”

'Hm?'

”You've already noticed it, haven't you?”

'…'

”These last few days, new words suddenly appeared when I talked to you. 'Bara', 'We', and 'You', those are new words, right?”

'…'

”And this,” I waved 'my' hand. ”You occasionally let me take full control of your body even though you could easily take it back just like earlier today.”

'…' he stayed silent.

”You're finally aware that I'm real, but you never pointed out that fact and just decided to call me by my name to indirectly notify me that you're aware of my existence.”

”All of those clues, if I gather them and guess what they mean... You were taking pity on me by letting me do whatever I wanted these last few days, but you also didn't want us to invest too many feelings toward each other so that we both wouldn't be hurt when I was gone.”

”It may look cruel to others, but I believe Master actually really cared about me. Today was proof that what I'm saying is true, you really hated to wear a girls' swimsuits but because this is my last day, you let it slide and gave in to my request.”

”So thank you for everything, Master.” I smiled.

'…Tch.'

-My POV-​

I switched seats with Bara.

”System, simulate a Karaoke Room and change my clothes back to normal.”

[Affirmative]

The scenery changed from a beach to the inside of a karaoke room.

I picked up the microphone and selected a song from the song list.

'Eh?'

”We're going to sing.”

'Eh?!'

”I said we're going to sing!”

'O-okay!'

I searched through all the songs I could remember for one that would help me right now.

'S-so many songs, t-too much noise.'

Found it.

[PaRappa the Rapper - Romantic Love]

”Sing with me.”

'W-what?'