After promising to meet Alice’s Best Friend and settling on a date, we called it a day. Alice wore a conflicted expression until the very moment we parted, but personally, I was looking forward to the meeting.
When the day finally arrived, I headed to her General Store with a mixture of anxiety and anticipation.
"We were supposed to meet here, but where’s your Best Friend?"
"Ah, we’re going to head over to her place now. She can’t come here for... reasons. Anyway, shall we go?"
Alice pulled out a palm-sized gear and held it aloft. The gear was sucked into the empty air, and a sudden flash of light tore through the space, opening up like a doorway.
It was a surreal sight, but I was past the point of being surprised by portals appearing out of thin air. It felt a lot like the time I went to see Gluttony.
I stepped through the rift without hesitation. My vision flashed white for a moment, and when it cleared, I found myself standing in a Pure White Space.
Looking back, the rift had already vanished. I was left standing in the middle of a vast, empty void.
The only things visible in the surrounding emptiness were gears floating here and there. To be honest, it looked familiar. Or rather, it was only after arriving that I finally understood why Alice had been acting so strangely.
I turned to Alice as she appeared behind me and gave her a wry look.
"Alice... now I know why you were making that face."
"Eh?"
"I see. So your Best Friend is Machina..."
"Wait, what? Have you... met her before?"
The moment I had entered this space, the memories came flooding back. Machina—the Main Body behind Eden and the God of the World where I once lived. I also just remembered that she was Alice’s Best Friend.
No wonder Alice had looked so conflicted. This was the person "inside" Eden, after all. I could certainly understand why she’d hesitate to introduce us.
"It’s more like we’ve talked in my dreams a few times than a proper meeting, but still..."
"I see. So she already made contact, huh? But if you’re only bringing it up now, does that mean... you can’t remember her outside of this space?"
"Exactly. I’d completely forgotten Machina even existed until just now."
"Right. That must be a countermeasure against Shallow Vernal-sama."
Trust Alice to piece everything together so quickly. She processed the information and nodded, looking satisfied with her conclusion.
Just then, a fanfare blared through the void, and a massive neon sign reading "GRAND WELCOME" flickered into existence, bathing the area in light.
At almost the same time, a familiar girl appeared in front of the sign. She wore a beaming smile and threw her arms wide in a grand gesture.
"Alice! My Child! Welcome! I’ve been waiting for you!"
"..." "..."
This was bad. She was at max energy right out of the gate. She must have been holding back during my dreams to keep Shiro-san from noticing, but now that we were face-to-face, all bets were off. If she went on a rampage like Eden usually did, it was going to be terrifying.
As those thoughts crossed my mind, Alice marched up to Machina and delivered a sharp chop to her forehead.
"Ouch! Hey, what was that for?!"
"You seemed like you were getting a bit too excited."
"What? I get hit just for being excited? That’s so unfair!"
Hmm. Surprisingly, I felt like this might actually turn out okay. I wondered why. When she was with Alice, Machina seemed a lot more grounded—mentally stable, even.
Maybe that was just the power of being with her Best Friend.
"Quiet, you... More importantly, you’re being pretty bold today. Is your agreement with Shallow Vernal-sama going to be okay?"
Alice's question echoed my own concerns. Come to think of it, during our dream chats, she'd mentioned it would be bad if Shiro-san caught on and something about "gray zones." Was meeting me in person like this really allowed?
"It’s fine! After endless negotiations, I finally—finally!—got her to agree to let me bring My Child here for 'just one minute'!"
"One minute? Hasn't that already passed?"
"Don't you worry, My Child! No matter how long you spend here, only one minute will pass in the outside world! We can be together for as long as you want!"
"..."
Was that even allowed? Also, the second half of her sentence sent a distinct chill down my spine, so I decided to pretend I hadn't heard it.
"I bet you just nagged her until she broke... I can only imagine the headache Shallow Vernal-sama must have. Besides, didn't you go out with Kaito-san just the other day? Are you still not satisfied?"
"Wait, Alice! You've got it all wrong. I don't have any ulterior motives this time. I invited you both with the sincere intention of enjoying some quality time together. Of course, I still want to dote on My Child! I want to lick him from head to toe! But that's not the main goal today. I have much purer intentions..."
"Uh-huh... And the truth is?"
"It's not fair! Shallow Vernal is going to spend the whole festival with My Child, isn't she?! I barely got to spend any time with him during the Six Kings Festival! It's totally unfair! I want to enjoy a festival with My Child too!"
"So you're just a massive ball of self-interest, after all..."
I wondered if she had even a shred of divine dignity left. But as I’d suspected, as long as she was with Alice, I didn't think there would be any real trouble.
Serious-senpai: "Well, look at that. An unexpected Machina Capture Method—pairing her with Alice. She actually acts pretty normal when Alice is around. Could this be the strategy?"
???: "No, please don't. Alice would end up becoming a Stomach Pain Character permanently."