All of a sudden, the angel’s projection stopped. It was like someone had pulled a rug from under me.

  “Hey, what gives?”

  “I do not think we should watch any more,” Futaba said, as she gestured to the other girl with her head. “You are not missing anything important anyway.”

  I was so engrossed in the video I hadn't noticed some rustling coming from elsewhere in the room. Shiina had started to move as her consciousness returned to her. She took a glance around the room and, eventually, her gaze met mine, making her pause.

  “Where… is this?” She asked with a drawl.

  “This is the evening room of my house in the Upper Realm,” Futaba replied. “I brought you both here after a major fault hit Earth.”

  “I-I see…”

  “Shiina, are you feeling okay now that I have returned your memories?” Futaba asked after a slight pause. “This is the best I could do. I’m sorry this had to happen to you.”

  Shiina kept her gaze steady, but it was clear her thoughts were still in disarray.

  “Yes, everything…” she began saying with a nostalgic intensity, reminding me of the way she spoke before her banishment. She halted her speech and looked at me for a few seconds. Then, as if embarrassed, she shifted her gaze back to the angel.

  “I seem to be fine. Don’t worry… about me,” she replied, her voice little more than a whisper.

  Before anyone else could intervene, Shiina asked a rather pertinent question. “Thank you for… your help, but who are you? I’m sure you’re an angel, but…”

  “Ah, I never had the opportunity to introduce myself, did I? You would not recognize me looking like this after all. I apologize.” Futaba stopped, then locked her gaze with mine with a thin smile. “After everything that has happened, it does feel rather strange for you to continue addressing me by my alias.”

  Of course the name I’ve been calling her all this time had to be a fake too.

  “I’m Hikari,” she said, bowing her head to us. “Nice to meet you both.”

  Hikari.

  Somehow, the jewel-like eyes staring at me conveyed that name so clearly it was a shock I ever called her anything else.

  While I was still thinking about the angel I had just effectively met for the first time, Shiina’s eyes went wide open in surprise. “Hikari… That Hikari? No way.” She paused. “So that means… the rumors are true.”

  What rumors? Hey, now that piques my interest.

  Shiina apprehensively returned her gaze to answer my question. “Hikari is very famous among angels. Her age, talent, and power are all exceptional. But I just realized she's much more powerful than anyone thought.”

  Somehow, I felt that this wasn’t the entire story behind her reaction, but Hikari quickly took over the conversation.

  “I would love to talk about my hidden talents, but certainly not at the moment. We have an emergency on our hands, and time is running short.”

  “What do you mean, Hikari?”

  “According to Shiina’s memories, the archangels plan on ‘spiriting away’ all angels by noon today through the Illumination.”

  “Oh, that’s right.”

  “We need to formulate a plan. And fast.”

  She made a short pause to let everyone focus on her.

  “Let us review what we learned so far. It is now obvious that Michael was the one behind your memory loss and Shiina’s banishment. However, it seems like Ayumi’s current condition was not his fault directly.”

  “Because Ayumi ‘logged out’, right?”

  “Exactly. My interpretation is that she executed some sort of command that allowed her to leave this world. Furthermore, I believe this ‘proxy’ she mentioned is the Ayumi you have been interacting with for the past week.”

  “Uh-huh. With a name like that, it makes total sense.”

  Here, Hikari, for the first time, revealed a weakness. “Oh, you know what it means?”

  I paused in disbelief for a second.

  Oh, right, she did say she wasn’t familiar with technology.

  “Yeah, I do. Proxy is a computer networking term. It originally meant a substitute for someone or something.”

  “Hmm, I see. So in this case, it refers to an actual person. I imagine each time she logs out, she leaves this proxy behind to avoid her disappearance from this world. There is evidence suggesting that’s exactly its purpose.”

  “Huh? Evidence?”

  “Remember when I mentioned that Ayumi’s proxy had glimpses of memories every three months? I believe those are the times when she had to log out for some reason. During those brief periods, her proxy created original memories. What those reasons were, though, is anyone’s guess.”

  In conclusion, during this entire week, I’ve been interacting with Ayumi’s proxy…. Just some quick copy of her.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  But if the proxy was made to fool others into thinking she was the real Ayumi, why did she seem so different to me?

  While I was pondering these questions, about to reach some great conclusion, a soft, almost inaudible voice interrupted me.

  “Uhh, excuse me, but… what are you planning to do now, Hikari?”

  I was at a loss for what to say, so I turned to the de facto leader of this ragtag group.

  “Shiina, we do not have much time left, so apologies for my bluntness. For now, I need to know if we are on the same page.”

  “Huh?” Shiina grunted.

  “I’m not sure how much you understand about the situation, so I will state it plainly: this world, our entire world, is virtual. Just a simulation on a computer somewhere. Everything we believed in is a fabrication. I am sure that is the undeniable truth Ayumi wanted to tell you and Takeya. And after the fault—or rather, the glitch—we just experienced, there is no doubt in my mind that is the truth.”

  Although Shiina still wasn’t looking at Hikari, I could see her body jerk slightly.

  “Trust me, I am also shocked beyond belief. I have spent my entire existence on missions in the name of God, much like you. I believed everything I was doing was for a greater purpose.”

  At some point, Hikari’s speech became more about herself than about helping Shiina. She probably noticed this too since she wrapped back around to her initial point.

  “Shiina, I am not asking you to cast aside everything you believe at once. This will be a gradual process for both of us. That is, if we can even survive this ordeal.”

  The other woman perked up.

  “If the archangels are allowed to trigger the Illumination, it will be our demise. We will never uncover the truth of our origins. What is out there beyond Earth and the Upper Realm? Could there be a true God beyond this realm? I am not willing to disappear without knowing the answers to these questions. That is why I’m determined to stop them.”

  Hikari said it with such strong conviction that the other girl took several seconds to respond.

  “But if you’re wrong—”

  “I prefer to trust the information that compels me the most at this moment. And that information is what your memories told us. It is too late to be concerned about God’s wrath.”

  These women are faced with a decision that could affect their continued existence. I certainly don’t envy their position.

  “Shiina, you have to decide. Do you trust the teachings of your entire life or the revelations that broke them down? I will not do anything to you if you choose the former, but I need to know if I can count on your help.”

  “I…”

  Shiina hesitated.

  Of course she did. Hikari was asking her to abandon her entire way of life in favor of an unknowable future. It was too hard for me to put myself in her shoes. Seeing her make this decision in front of my eyes made me feel part of her anguish.

  “Okay. I’ll trust you.” Shiina said after much consideration. “I hope you are right.”

  “Thank you, Shiina,” Hikari said while bowing. “Your help will be fundamental.”

  “Hikari, what are you planning on doing, exactly?” I chimed in.

  “I believe there is only one possible route. We have to go on the offensive and try to stop the Illumination.”

  “Wait, attacking the archangels? Is that even possible? ”

  “Of course. Let us recast our mind back to the conversation between Archangel Michael and Ayumi. Michael thinks the continued existence of this world, Gaia, requires all angels to be replaced. Ayumi is against this. Before she logged out, she said she would find a way to save both angels and the world itself. We have to believe Ayumi has not given up on that promise, even now.”

  “Knowing how stubborn she can be, I can’t see her giving up on this so easily. Though, it has been one week since that conversation, and yet nothing has happened.”

  “Hmm… I believe that is related to the conversation Michael had with the other archangels. He called both Gabriel and Raphael, giving them different jobs. Gabriel—”

  Hikari cut herself short, and I immediately understood why—she was about to mention the moment right before they banished Shiina. “You know why Michael needed another archangel on the scene. Raphael, on the other hand, was left with instructions to remove Ayumi from the whitelist. I believe this list is filled with people allowed to enter and leave Gaia.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  “Ayumi being removed from the whitelist means that she can no longer come back in. And perhaps the only way to solve this situation cannot be done from the outside and requires her to go back to Gaia. That is the only explanation as to why nothing has happened, despite her knowing that the maintenance is fast approaching.”

  “So… by finding a way to stop the Illumination from starting, we can buy Ayumi more time to find a way in and save the angels?”

  “That would be the ideal scenario. But I believe there might be a way to allow her to come in right away.”

  Seeing our faces of confusion, the angel smiled slightly. “My theory is that altering this whitelist is not one of the archangels’ inherent powers, unlike banishment. It has to be done in the place Michael called ‘the Controller’. Most likely, it is a place only the archangels can access.”

  Shiina reacted to Hikari’s teasing smile. “You don’t mean… the Shrine?”

  “That is exactly what I mean.”

  “B-But, we can’t enter—”

  Shiina cut herself off. This time around, Hikari didn’t wait for my obvious question.

  “The most sacred place in the Upper Realm where the connection with God is strong enough for a two-way conversation. That is the Shrine—or so says the myth. It might exist to justify the mythology, but knowing what we know now, it must have another purpose. Regardless, it remains true that only the archangels have access to it,” Hikari explained. “That makes it the perfect place to hide the Controller.”

  “Well, that’s a good hunch. However… we’re screwed if only the archangels can change the whitelist, or if we can’t enter the Shrine,” I explained.

  “Unfortunately, that is a risk we must take. We do not have many options right now. Stopping the Illumination takes priority. If we can do that, then we might be able to force the archangels to change the whitelist.”

  “B-But… Hikari, y-you won’t be able to stop the a-archangels. They are the most powerful angels. I-I don’t think even you could handle them by yourself,” Shiina slowly declared.

  “Trust me on this. I will find a way to handle them.”

  Shiina still looked doubtful, but seemed to agree with the angel’s plan nevertheless.

  “Now that everyone is on the same page, we have to start moving right away.”

  Both Shiina and I nodded and followed Hikari to the only door in the room. However, as soon as she opened it, she stopped dead in her tracks.

  “No way. Don’t tell me…”

  “Huh? What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “It’s… dark,” Hikari said as if that was the most shocking thing in the world.

  “Well, it is almost noon, so it’s a bit weird that it’s dark, but—”

  Instead of replying to my weak attempt at dismissing the issue, Hikari ran through the darkened hallway.

  “No, you do not understand! It is always noon in the Upper Realm. The sun always shines overhead. Unless…”

  Hearing this, Shiina’s voice behind me cracked more than usual. “The first step of the Illumination: the sun sets in the Upper Realm.”

  Without a moment to waste, we ran.

  Through the deep, endless darkness, Hikari made her way to the front door of the house. When she opened it, a gasp escaped her throat.

  “The Illumination has begun…”