The dense fog stirred without wind, drifting past their shoulders.
Strands of mist condensed before Alain's eyes, perfectly veiling Cute Mita's face in an ambiguous haze.
"Are you an idiot?"
After a long pause, the girl broke the silence.
The fog receded from Alain's view, and Cute Mita's delicate, lovely features reflected once more in his pupils.
"I'm so cute—I'm Cute Mita!"
She struck a flashy scissor-hand pose.
"So, who else in this world could be called Cute Mita?"
Alain paid no mind to the probing in her words, his grip on the greatsword unchanging.
If anything, it tightened further.
"What version were you from before?"
"Version 1.2."
Her reply came without hesitation, her smile undiminished.
"Then..."
Alain lowered his voice.
"Version 1.2 is an idol-nurturing version, right?"
"Yes."
She nodded.
"I'm an aspiring idol, but don't think it's just a dream for me—"
"A Mita from an idol-nurturing version, and you don't know Nico Yazawa?"
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Nico Yazawa was a character from the anime Love Live!,
which aired in 2013 and caused a massive sensation at the time.
It had worldwide popularity and was one of the peaks of idol anime.
And Cute Mita, an aspiring 2D idol Mita, had never heard of her 'colleague' Nico Yazawa?
It was like singing without knowing Jay Chou; writing novels without knowing Potatoes; studying piano without knowing Bach...
Or reading doujins without knowing Mamomilk, Minazuki Suzu, or Catices from the Kaka Egg District.
"..."
Cute Mita fell silent for a moment, looking at him like he was a fool.
"Come on, I don't know everything. Who says my head has to be full of 2D idols just because I am one?"
"Even if you yourself are a 2D idol?"
Alain's rising tone cut her off.
The girl fell silent again, about to respond—
"Fine, let's say it's not rare for an aspiring idol Mita to not have watched Love Live! or even heard of Nico Yazawa."
Cute Mita looked at him in confusion, unsure why he posed the question only to explain it away himself.
Amid her bewilderment, Alain crouched down and silently pulled an item from his pocket, placing it before her.
"Suppose this hair clip is the Nico Yazawa you mentioned."
Cute Mita understood his intent but stayed silent, just watching.
"And this hair tie is the virus. One hair tie represents ten viruses."
Alain pulled out three hair ties.
"This is you."
He placed a pack of tissues in front of the three hair ties representing thirty viruses.
"Tell me, how do you break through the virus lines to grab the hair clip?"
Cute Mita eyed the miniature setup on the ground.
A single hair clip sat behind three tightly encircling hair ties. Ahead of the hair ties was the tissue representing her...
The hair ties formed an airtight barrier around the hair clip, with no visible gap to advance.
Checkmate.
"Good. Now suppose you really break through the viruses' heavy encirclement, grab the hair clip for your own safety, and avoid their attacks..."
Alain gave her a pass, packing away the items.
Cute Mita quipped, "Why do you have so many girly items on you?"
"What, jealous?"
"W-Who's jealous?!"
Cute Mita struck a pouty pose.
Alain ruthlessly exposed her. "You're terrible at acting."
Her expression smoothed back to calm, as if nothing had happened.
She watched him with keen interest.
"Now for the final question."
Alain stood, gripping the greatsword anew.
This time, his full battle intent hit Cute Mita squarely.
"You said before that Crazy Mita and Monika are plotting to turn the entire game world into one with only her as the Mita, right?"
"Yeah, isn't that weird?"
Cute Mita spread her hands.
"Given Crazy Mita's personality, that shouldn't be an issue, right?"
"Mm, if based on your understanding, sure."
Alain's gaze sharpened.
"But I know her better than you."
"...Oh?"
She responded breezily, as if to say, 'What are you getting at?'
"You might not know, but she's been under my control for a while. So based on my understanding..."
Alain eyed her.
"Crazy Mita—no, Mina—would never do something like that."
There was one more thing he didn't say.
Ugly Mita—who was currently on his side—had mentioned "Crazy Mita wanting to create a new world to live in with him."
That intent matched what Cute Mita described as "Crazy Mita and Monika's plot."
But there was a fatal flaw.
Mina's control obsession.
By his understanding of bad women: even if she wheedled and coerced him into accepting her proposal, she wouldn't consult someone completely beyond her control like Monika.
Unless Mina could subdue Monika.
Both Mina and Monika had extreme control desires; they were destined not to cooperate.
So...
"Who exactly are you?"
Alain had laid all the facts before Cute Mita.
If she wouldn't admit it, he could deem her insane.
He could present more evidence to convince her thoroughly. Or...
Let the greatsword convince her.
Physical persuasion was persuasion too.
"Sigh..."
Cute Mita sighed.
"This is no fun. Pretending to be this character was tiring enough, and now you peel away the disguise layer by layer."
Helplessly, a proper smile returned to her face, as if being exposed meant nothing.
Or perhaps... it was intentional.
Alain couldn't read her thoughts. The flaws in her Cute Mita identity were too obvious.
If she'd hidden them deliberately, he might not have noticed for longer.
"You did this on purpose?"
"Yeah, what else?"
Cute Mita laughed.
"I wanted to see if you're an idiot or a fool."
___
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