059—From Now On, I Won’t Dare to Kill Off Characters Casually

Altair soared swiftly across the sky.

Once she had flown far from the abandoned building, she landed on the rooftop of a high-rise.

"This place should be safe from prying eyes."

After confirming that no one else was around, Altair stood quietly, waiting.

Souta had already explained that the system's teleportation ability would place him near the friend group member who sent the invitation.

Altair didn't want Souta to be discovered by Mamika Kirameki and the other "Creations," in case anything unexpected happened.

So she chose to avoid everyone.

Soon, about three meters away from her, a bright white light suddenly flared up.

Altair watched as the figure inside the glow slowly materialized, a delighted expression appearing on her face.

The system and the friend group are real after all.

Her lingering doubts finally disappeared.

"Souta, welc—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Altair froze mid-speech.

As the light dissipated, what she saw was a man standing in the middle—his arms wrapped around two women.

Altair's eye twitched.

The man in the center should be Souta, and the two women… Kiss-Shot and Tokisaki Kurumi?

Wait—so this is the kind of relationship they have!?

"…Huh? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Souta also took a moment to observe Altair.

She looked just as he remembered—long silver twin-tailed hair, an exquisitely beautiful face, and heterochromatic eyes with a red outer ring and a blue inner ring—a fantastical beauty far beyond that of real humans.

Though, her eyes weren't as dramatic as Kurumi's clock eyes.

Right now, Altair was dressed in her signature military attire—a navy blue cavalry cap, a Spanish-style double-layer coat, knee-high socks, and thick platform heels.

Her entire look resembled a modified military uniform, giving off a cool and commanding presence.

Noticing the strange look Altair was giving him, Souta let go of Kurumi and Kiss-Shot, clearing his throat and explaining:

"It's not what you think.

Didn't I already tell you before? The system has a rule—when crossing worlds, the group leader must be physically touching someone."

Souta shrugged helplessly, adding:

"I really don't have a choice here."

His tone carried a hint of "gaining benefits yet still pretending to complain."

"I was going to say this earlier—

but this system rule is really shady."

Kurumi clicked her tongue, mocking as she crossed her arms.

However, she was smiling faintly, seemingly quite satisfied with the fact that she had just been held by Souta.

But as soon as she glanced sideways at Kiss-Shot, her smile immediately faded.

"So, you must be Altair."

Kiss-Shot stepped forward.

At 182 cm tall, with a proud expression and a cold tone, she radiated an overwhelming presence—she was clearly the most intimidating one among them.

Altair had to admit…

She felt slightly pressured.

"…Yes, that's me."

Altair nodded, quickly regaining her composure, and smiled politely:

"Welcome to my world."

After that, the four of them introduced themselves properly, finally matching names to faces from the group chat.

"By the way, Altair." Souta suddenly asked,

"Did you just arrive in the real world, or have you already pulled in a lot of characters?"

He was curious to know how far the plot had progressed.

"Many characters have already been summoned."

Altair raised both hands slightly, sensing the state of Holopsicon ability.

After a moment, she assessed:

"The 'restorative force' of this world has already been disrupted…

but not to a significant degree yet."

"I'm a bit curious."

At this moment, Kiss-Shot cut in:

"I've already watched your story in the real world."

"Now, I want to know—what are you planning to do next?"

"If Setsuna Shimazaki is resurrected, then everything you're doing now will become meaningless, won't it?"

"So… what do you plan to do with all these characters you've summoned?"

Right now, Kiss-Shot was experiencing a bizarre feeling.

It was the same feeling that Souta had when he first met Tokisaki Kurumi.

The sensation of seeing a fictional character appear before your eyes…

It was surreal.

"…That's a question I haven't fully figured out myself."

Altair sighed lightly and admitted:

"I brought these characters into the real world because I wanted to use them."

"But now that I no longer need them…

I don't really know what to do with them anymore."

Souta added:

"The simplest option would be to send them back to their original worlds."

"But…"

At this point, Souta suddenly sighed.

"…What's wrong?" Kurumi asked with concern.

Souta hesitated for a moment before explaining:

"Honestly, I'm a little uncomfortable with how 'reality' and 'fiction' work in this world."

"If the fictional worlds created in reality actually exist…

then that means every time an author writes a dark story, or kills off characters…

they're actually causing real people to suffer."

Souta's expression turned slightly conflicted:

"The problem is… the authors aren't doing anything wrong.

They're just telling their stories.

So of course, they wouldn't think twice about how many people they're 'killing off.'"

"Even if the authors find out the truth, most of them might start holding back on killing off characters out of caution.

But if they don't actually 'feel' the consequences, that restraint won't be reliable."

Souta continued:

"I remember that in your world, Altair, there was an author like this—Blitz's creator.

Even up until the very end, she kept saying she would create more tragedies to make the story more interesting…

Even though she knew she was literally killing real people."

Altair looked at Souta with a hint of surprise.

She felt like she was starting to get a clearer read on his personality.

"So, what you mean is…" Altair asked,

"There's a fundamental problem in the relationship between authors and their Creations?"

"Yes. And it's a big problem."

Souta nodded, then gave an example:

"I once read a story in a book—

It was about a man born into a noble family in ancient times.

He was extremely timid. Even though he held great power, he never dared to personally take a life.

He was even terrified when others slaughtered pigs in front of him.

Yet, because of his greed, during a brutal winter battle, he decided to cut costs on military supplies.

As a result, the soldiers received poor-quality winter coats, and by morning, nearly a quarter of them had frozen to death in the barracks."

"This noble didn't have the guts to kill someone directly,

but he had no problem indirectly causing the deaths of countless people."

Souta looked at Altair and continued:

"Blitz's creator is just like that noble.

Even after she found out the truth, even knowing that her writing was killing people, she still felt nothing when she casually wrote off characters.

Because she simply had no sense of actually taking a life."

"That… is a serious issue that can't be ignored."

Hearing this, Altair fell silent for several seconds before finally speaking:

"…I've never really considered this before."

"After all, my own creator was a gentle person—

She wouldn't have deliberately put me through tragic events."

Souta sighed:

"Shimazaki Setsuna wouldn't.

But that doesn't mean others wouldn't."

"And to be fair, the authors aren't actually doing anything wrong.

It's not their fault for writing stories without knowing the consequences."

"That's what makes this world so twisted.

A simple act of 'creating a story'—something that should be harmless—

has become something incredibly dangerous."

Souta then offered:

"Altair, you're also standing from the perspective of a Created being, right?

You should pay attention to this issue."

"If you ever need help, come find me.

I'll help you figure out a way to fix this."

In reality, Souta's own world wasn't much different.

But when he had asked the system last time, he was relieved to learn that even if someone altered a story in the real world, it wouldn't affect the actual world of the story.

That meant his reality and fictional worlds weren't connected.

Which was a good thing.

But in Altair's world, reality and fiction were still linked.

If an author suddenly got inspired to write a character's tragic death, that character would really die.

If possible, Souta really wanted to help change that.

As for how…?

The depths of anime logic were limitless.

There had to be a way.

"Of course, that can wait.

For now, let's focus on bringing Shimazaki Setsuna back to life."

Souta then exchanged a look with Kurumi and Kiss-Shot.

The two of them instantly understood and stepped forward.

And just like that—

The three of them embraced.

Souta had Kurumi on one side, Kiss-Shot the other.

Then he turned to Altair and said:

"Come on, hurry up. There's just enough space for you."

Altair: "..."

...

Quest: Find the translator a good DC fanfic with harem!

Reward: Mass Release 1x, Respect+, and 1exp

Fail: No chappies