"Sakura Matou?"
Illya gasped in surprise, staring at the purple-haired girl who was all too familiar. Bubble had said she was taking her to meet a character with the Authority to modify the world's rules. Illya had expected some grand, imposing figure, not another person she already knew.
"Sakura Matou? Nope, you should call me BB here."
BB corrected her, then sized Illya up. "Since you called me that, you must be Illya, right? I've only seen you online. I didn't expect you to look like this in person. So cute! My world has also been documented in anime, but you shouldn't be here. We're not from the same Worldline. Does the Counter Force just let people hop between worlds now?"
"BB?"
Illya couldn't believe someone would actually use that name. After BB's correction, she examined her more closely and noticed she was indeed slightly different from Sakura Matou. This version was far more energetic—almost too energetic, with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Also, her figure was... more pronounced. For some reason, she seemed to have gone up a cup size.
"Oh, I almost forgot. And who is this dangerous-looking young lady?"
BB turned her gaze to Bubble. This must be the one who brought Illya here. However, her databanks contained no information on this individual, making it impossible to identify her, though she could be using an alias. But an aura never lies, and this one wasn't even trying to hide it—an oppressive presence that radiated absolute superiority on a fundamental level of existence.
"Yog-Sothoth. You can call me Bubble, if you prefer."
Bubble didn't much care what others called her. It was better to have some distinction between her avatar and her true self anyway.
"No way... That name..."
BB, of course, was familiar with the Cthulhu Mythos. Logically, a character with no historical basis should only manifest as a Phantom Spirit—a rank below a Heroic Spirit. Yet the aura radiating from this being was far more powerful than even the two Counter Forces combined. Even in this world where the laws were locked, she had used her overwhelming physical might to forcibly carve out special privileges. The only way to describe it was terrifying. "You guys... you're actually real?"
"All myths are real," Bubble replied. "I'm just not one of your native gods."
Well, if you think about the history of the Type-Moon World, the Age of Gods was real. So isn't it perfectly normal for Outer Gods to exist too?
"I never expected you to be so... approachable(?)."
BB struggled for a moment before settling on the word.
"Logically, shouldn't just seeing you drive someone insane? I mean, I'm confident in myself, BB, but the power gap is just too vast. It's completely demoralizing."
"This is just a human-shaped avatar," Bubble explained. "For your kind—fellow members of this body's species—the corruption has been minimized."
She then evaluated BB.
"Actually, according to your lore, you're quite compatible with Nyarlathotep..."
"You mean my swimsuit."
BB had searched for everything related to herself. Honestly, learning about her own lore this way felt indescribably bizarre. And it wasn't just happening to her; everyone else seemed to completely ignore it. This made BB intensely curious about what was really going on in this world. That's why, when a danmaku comment appeared that knew her true identity, she had been so desperate to make contact.
"If changing a swimsuit could connect you to an Outer God, wouldn't those Spiritron Hackers... oh, wait, this place is practically a complete world now, so I should call them Magi, right? Wouldn't they be parading around in swimsuits all day? Summer event stuff is usually just for laughs... right?"
Seeing Bubble's ambiguous, half-smiling expression, BB started to feel uncertain. While both she and Nyaruko were supposedly masters of chaos according to their lore, this method of connection seemed far too childish even for her.
"Fine, this world is just a game, after all. And I, BB, am nothing more than a tool to please the players (sob)."
After deducing the truth from Bubble's attitude, BB began to feign sobs. Though the sentiment was genuine, it wasn't enough to actually make her cry.
"Alright, enough chit-chat. So, what brings you here with an Illya from another world?"
The saying "one doesn't visit a temple for no reason" wasn't limited to China, or even just Earth.
"I need you to get Illya a legal identity in this world."
Bubble gently pushed Illya forward, placing her in front of BB.
"Oh?"
Though Bubble hadn't explicitly stated her intentions, BB could guess it had something to do with a certain individual she was also interested in.
"It's not that I'm unwilling to help, but my authority is extremely limited right now. The closer I get to that side, the weaker my permissions become. See? In my current state, I can't even leave this tower."
So this place is a tower?
Illya scanned her surroundings. If no one had told her, she would have thought it was a normal home. It had a kitchen, a bathroom, and a living room. Behind BB, she even spotted a room fully equipped for live streaming. How could this possibly be a tower? Illya suspected BB could leave but simply chose not to.
As if sensing Illya's skeptical gaze, BB explained, "As for why I'm able to enjoy this hotel-style living, I actually swapped the rules of this place with those of a certain luxury prison in America. That place is less a prison and more a sanctuary—the kind with maids. Ehehe~ It's tough luck for those prisoners, but they weren't good people anyway, so you could say I was doing a good deed."
"So, as you can see, I'm afraid I can't be of much help right now."
BB had, in fact, considered escaping. But Kaleidoscope had done something to extend her sentence by several years. Logically, the penalty for infringing on portrait rights should be less than three years, yet she had inexplicably been sentenced to over a decade. It made no sense—the people here shouldn't even know who Sakura Matou was, and no such copyright should exist.
"However," BB's tone shifted, "since Miss Bubble brought her to me, there must be a way to solve this problem, right?"
Her meaning was crystal clear: she would help Illya, but Bubble had to find a way to get her out too.
"You really are a perfect match for that guy."
Bubble's comment was ambiguous—was it a compliment or a criticism? She glanced at Illya beside her. "But that's fine. It makes things more interesting. I accept."