...Ah, why again?
Why the hell was he crying?
I had no idea.
Had Dante always been such a tearful character?
You were not like this in the game.
His face was somewhat androgynous, and he had a certain hot-blooded quality more suited to a shonen manga protagonist than a male lead in a romance fantasy.
He did have a tendency to be unusually obsessed with Niklas, and for a man, he was rather sensitive—the sort whose routine included taking walks while looking at the stars.
Even so, I remembered Dante in the game as someone who never showed tears to anyone.
And Dante in this world had been the same.
He was a genius and had something of a loner about him, but during the Kafka incident, even though he could have left it to the professors, he supported conquering the dungeon because leaving it alone would be dangerous. During Arghalia’s attack, he had rushed right over to help. Was that not Dante—a friend with an exceptionally strong sense of justice?
He did cry a lot in the DLC, but that story was so utterly miserable it practically filmed misery porn with everyone around him dying, so it could not be helped.
And that was only at the beginning. Later on, scenes of him crying barely appeared at all.
I knew that even in the ending CG where everyone but him had died, there had not been a single tear in Dante’s eyes.
Maybe that was why it felt so awkward.
Twenty-nine playthroughs. And in one of them, I had even played as the protagonist.
I had raised Dante’s Affection and reached an ending with him.
Beyond that, I had controlled this guy myself and made it all the way to the DLC ending.
Then I had fallen into this world, become his dorm roommate, conquered dungeons alongside him, and even joined forces with him to defeat a Sword Master.
So I thought I knew him reasonably well.
But in none of those playthroughs, nor after falling into this world,
had I ever imagined he had a side like this—a side he had never shown at all.
He was not wailing dramatically, but it was impossible to deny how awkward it felt to see Dante crying while clutching my collar.
Maybe female Dante and male Dante were separate personalities, and he was some kind of split-personality case.
Or perhaps this was Dante’s true self.
But.
His eyes were trembling pitifully.
The hand clutching my collar was faintly, but steadily, tightening its grip.
【Dante de Astoria】
◈ Level: 44
◈ The target is anxious.
◈ The target is afraid.
What was more, [Insight Eye] told me that this was not an act.
This guy was afraid of people discovering that he had been disguising himself as a man.
If he was asking whether I found it disgusting, then it was probably not some hobby of his.
Even if he was not proud of dressing as a man, he would feel embarrassment, not fear.
Even if it had never been revealed in the game, there had to be some circumstances behind it.
And besides.
If I handled this wrong, it was the sort of development that would make those voyeuristic bastards throw a fucking fit.
If I left him like this, they would surely toss another goddamn [Oath of Chivalry] at me for making a woman cry.
So I sighed and took a moment to sort out my thoughts.
Then.
At the end of my sigh, his body trembled even harder.
So did his eyes.
The trembling traveled directly to me through the collar he was clutching.
And just as Dante lowered his head deeply, his hands shaking as he struggled to open his mouth—
"Just as I thought..."
"So your balls finally fell off, Dante."
"Huh?"
I cut him off, as though getting the first word in.
In truth, it was a desperate attempt, in my own way, to avoid receiving some shitty trial from those bastards up above.
And whether Dante was a woman disguised as a man or a man—
Whether his balls hung up top or down below was none of my business anyway.
"How badly did you want to become a woman that you turned into one even in a dream?"
"...A-a dream?"
"I respect those feelings of yours."
"What do you mean...?"
"I envy you, you know. Even if you became a woman, there would probably be people lining up to take you. Me, though? Even if I became a woman, there would be no demand for me."
So I just—
blurted out whatever came to mind, as though it made no difference to me whether he was a woman or a man.
Perhaps because of that, Dante’s trembling eventually subsided, replaced by a look of utter disbelief.
And then—
"Pfft—!"
I had not exactly told him to laugh.
But apparently he found something hilarious, because laughter burst from his lips.
He clutched his hungry stomach, bent over at the waist, and laughed so hard that tears gathered at the corners of his eyes again.
"What’s so funny?"
"No, it’s just... I suddenly thought of something funny."
After lightly wiping away the tears gathered at his eyes, Dante looked at my face.
The pitifulness from earlier was gone from his eyes.
As if that laughter had shaken off his fear, he had returned to being his usual self.
"So... you do not find someone like me disgusting?"
He took a deep breath and muttered the question while looking straight at me.
Unlike before.
His voice was not trembling; it carried something like certainty.
I gave a hollow laugh at his expression.
"My face is more disgusting, you bastard."
That was my answer, in my own way.
After hearing it, Dante stared silently at my face for a moment. Then he covered his mouth and finally let out a snort of laughter.
"I do not think so."
"You laughed your ass off and now you’re saying that?"
"N-no. It’s true."
Watching Dante stammer out excuses at my retort, I placed a hand on his shoulder as I slowly stepped closer.
"Uh, Ian?"
Actually.
I had thought that in all twenty-nine playthroughs, I had never once seen you look like that.
But something had just come back to me.
One scene where you had worn an expression similar to the one you had while crying.
The DLC ending.
When you had survived alone in that ruined world, unable to save a single person, and looked out upon that horrific sight.
The expression you wore then.
The you in that CG had not been crying.
But it was similar.
To the expression you had worn while crying earlier.
So.
"Do not worry, Dante."
"Huh?"
"I do not care whether your balls are attached to your chest or down there."
"What?"
"You are still Dante—my friend and roommate."
As I looked at Dante staring at me like I was absurd, I thought—
Yeah.
This expression was definitely better than that hollow, devastated look.
That one was so unpleasant to look at, it felt like it would haunt my dreams.
As I gave a faint laugh while looking at Dante, he checked my expression once.
Then he let go of my collar, clenched a fist, and pressed it against my chest.
"Thank you."
Dante mumbled something else afterward.
Unfortunately, I did not catch it.
"But... you are not going to tell the club members, right?"
...Hm?
I had not particularly intended to tell anyone.
But was it really something I could not tell them?
The club president probably already knew.
Dolnesia and Angelica would not care much.
Isabella... Well, that one was a bit hard to predict...
"You absolutely, absolutely cannot tell them!"
Dante suddenly grabbed me by the collar and shouted.
He was not anxious like before, but there was an urgency that overwhelmed everything else.
"Y-yeah, okay."
I had not intended to tell anyone in the first place.
Besides, even if I told them the truth, it was not as though they would believe me.
But had I answered too casually?
He let go of my collar, yet his narrowed eyes suggested his suspicions had not entirely faded.
"Hmm... I do not think I believe you..."
"What, should I write you a pledge right here?"
I dusted off his shoulder and headed toward the portal.
Just as when I saved Dolnesia five years ago, time in Dreamland was probably different from time outside.
Even if we stayed here doing nothing, little time would have passed outside—or perhaps no time at all.
But we could not leave unless we cleared Dreamland anyway.
It was better to finish this quickly.
When I slowly walked up and stopped before the portal—
"But... are you not curious?"
Dante, who had come up beside me at some point, carefully opened his mouth.
I was curious, sure.
Considering he had slept with the heroine and even had a child with her, he had definitely been a man in the game.
No, but even if Dante was a woman disguised as a man... did he really need to disguise himself?
If it was related to succession rights, the first prince had a firm grip on the right of succession as the crown prince, and Dante was not the type to have any interest in the throne in the first place.
And if he dressed as a man because, as a member of the imperial family, he could not afford to be looked down upon... our club president walked around without disguising herself as a man, did she not?
So there was no particular reason Dante would need to dress as a man...
Then.
...Could it be related to that?
Something suddenly flashed through my mind.
I definitely needed that item to marry him.
Just as resolving the second prince’s lingering resentment was a condition for reaching his ending.
Dante had a condition for his ending as well. To marry him, I had to give him a certain item related to Asteria.
If I did not give it to him, I remembered that marriage was impossible.
Besides... it was an item Dante absolutely needed, even apart from marriage.
If there was anything connected to dressing as a man... it was probably that.
No, that was too much of a leap.
To begin with, that item had nothing to do with gender-swapping.
And.
This was not my job to deal with.
It was something Dolnesia or Iris, the ones who had to win this guy over, should handle.
"You must have your reasons, but I do not want to pry until I know them."
And—
"More importantly, are you not curious where we are?"
We had suddenly been dragged into outer space... Should that not be the first thing a normal person asked?
At my response, Dante blinked once, then twice. Finally, he nodded with a dazed expression, as if he had just realized something.
"Is it too late to ask now...?"
It was.
#
Crackle. Crackle.
What the fuck?
What lay beyond the portal was not outer space.
It was some burning castle.
It looked like a fierce battle had taken place there. Pillars had collapsed, the floor was painted over with blood and sword marks,
and everything was engulfed in flames.
The heat slammed into my entire body, and nauseating smoke stung sharply at the tip of my nose.
It did not seem to be an illusion.
And I knew this sight.
I had only seen it once, and never since falling into this world.
But it was a place I had seen beyond a monitor.
"Ian..."
Dante, who had followed me through the portal, murmured beside me in disbelief.
I understood.
This place, with flames blazing all around it,
had to be the most familiar place in the world to Dante.
"Why is this place...?"
The Imperial Palace.
The heart of the Astoria Empire.
The setting of the prologue—the first sight you encountered upon starting the DLC, in a world that had been destroyed in the heroine’s absence.
The scene I had only ever seen in a CG lay spread out before my eyes.
Why?
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