Back at the receptionist's desk, things felt weirdly calm after the chaos of the fight and the tense meeting with Wilder. The receptionist handed us two slim sapphire cards.
"These are your updated rank IDs. They also link to your registered bank accounts."
Radellei took hers, flipping it between her fingers, clearly uninterested in the card's aesthetics. I was already opening the holo-display. My balance loaded up and my jaw nearly dropped.
30,000,000 Kenyan shillings.
Converted to Iluvia—the common currency used in all countries worldwide—that was roughly... two hundred and fifty thousand in the world standard currency? It was enough to buy a small property, a hover transport and still have plenty to burn on food and Flux repairs.
"Damn. We're loaded."
Radellei chuckled softly that it actually made me forget for a moment that she was a princess.
"Looks like all those sun punches were worth something, huh?"
I rubbed my chest where Owino had nearly caved it in.
"Barely. I can still feel my ribs negotiating with each other."
"You'll live," then she turned her eyes to the receptionist. "Thank you. Is there a converter here for Iluvia?"
"Right beside the station. It'll transfer your balance directly."
We followed her directions to a small booth. It wqs sleek, chrome-plated, with a transparent digital interface hovering midair. Radellei went first, tapping her card, and the holographic display shifted to the Iluvia format. She converted almost all of it to Iluvia, leaving about a hundred thousand as Kenyan currency. When she stepped aside, I converted mine too the same way.
That's when Radellei turned to me suddenly with a faint gleam in her blue eyes.
"Should we get something to eat?"
"Uh… what brought that on?"
Her grin widened a little as she held up her phone, flipping through a list of photos. She said, swiping through image after image of rich, colorful dishes.
"Because, I've been dying to try East African food."
"You want to eat street food?"
"It's not street food."
"You sound like one of those food vloggers trying to convince people that meat stew is an experience, not a meal."
Radellei chuckled. "Oh, come on. It's not that Egyptian food is bad. But East African food is different. It's got this… warmth to it. People around the world literally argue about whose dishes are the best and I just like tasting different items."
I sighed, finally giving in. "Alright, fine. You're the boss of this dinner expedition. But you're wearing a disguise."
"Why?"
"Because you're you. After that match, Everyone's probably flooding the net trying to figure out where the Princess is. You're trending."
"Am I?"
"Yes. And your popularity's gonna get us swarmed if someone connects the dots. I'm not trying to get into a paparazzi ."
She laughed. "Fine. But you're wearing that mask again."
I tapped the mask, which shimmered faintly, then turned transparent. My face reappeared, and I shrugged.
"It's invisible now. Best disguise there is."
"Do you… have another one?"
"Nope."
She groaned, dragging her hand down her face.
"So I get stuck with the basic disguise?"
"Yup. You'll wear the classic glasses and a hat."
"Is this payback for making you suffer in the match?"
"Your words, not mine."
She sighed deeply but she went along with it anyway, scrolling through her phone to find her "public" look.
"There's a fashion store below us. We should be able to get there if we use Fast Travel."
We finished the conversion and headed toward the Fast Travel Room. As we walked, something hit me.
In the Masquerade of Dreams: Shattered lore, the Rameses sisters had one of the most tragic backstories. It was their brother, the eldest son of the House of Rameses, who betrayed them. One by one, he hunted them down and killed them. Hinesia, not the original one but the Outer, wants to change that future by protecting her sisters.
If that future was still coming, if this world's version of the story still followed the same cruel script, then she was doomed and I couldn't let that happen. Not when she was helping me get stronger and definitely not when the Rameses sisters were real than the tragic NPCs I remembered from the game. She must have noticed something in my expression, because she tilted her head slightly as the teleportation powered up.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. Just… thinking."
"About what?"
"Nothing important," I lied.
She studied me for a moment, clearly unconvinced, but she let it go.
"Ready?"
"Let's go see what this city tastes like."
"Just don't complain if I make you try food with your hands."
I smirked as the light swallowed us. "I'll survive. Probably."
------
I was never really one for fashion stores. The air always smelled like too much perfume and money, and the music was a little too… confident. Radellei was in one of the fitting rooms, trying on who-knows-what.
"Five minutes," she had said.
It had been twenty-eight. Do women have to make a big deal about outfits?
I sighed and leaned back with my eyes drifting up to one of the holographic screens mounted high on the wall. It was news in Swahili. I didn't understand any of it, but my system — bless its ever-watchful gaze — instantly auto-translated the closed captions in real time.
"...mlipuko mkubwa umetokea Manhattan, New York, saa kumi na mbili na dakika ishirini na saba asubuhi..."
The translation popped across my vision.
"A massive explosion has occurred in Manhattan, New York, at 6:27 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time..."
The words didn't hit at first. It was background noise. There was another explosion somewhere across the world.
And that's when I heard it.
"Heart's Boutique, the headquarters of a famous cloth brand, has been completely destroyed in the explosion. Approximately four thousand people have died and over are ten thousand injured..."
I froze. That wasn't just some random place. That was lore.
In the world of Masquerade of Dreams: Shattered, Heart's Boutique wasn't a store. In the game it existed, run by Norphie Phoenicia,. Every main heroine, every route, every love interest, every single protagonist iteration visited that boutique at least once.
It was where identities were reborn.
Players didn't just wear skins there. The boutique was the system's emotional engine. Skins created within the game were said to come from Heart's Boutique. And one could credit skins too. If one crafted a "Lament Skin," for instance, the storyline shifted subtly. NPCs treated you differently, your dialogue tone changed and sometimes, the world itself reacted.
In MoDS lore, that boutique was untouchable. Even when the cities collapsed a few rimes, Heart's Boutique stood untouched. And now the headquarters in Manhattan, New York, was gone.
My mouth went dry. The time in my phone read: 14:27.
New York was about seven hours behind. That meant it happened exactly an hour ago. While Radellei was playing dress-up in my coat, four thousand people died across the ocean and part of the game's most sacred structure just ceased to exist. But there are other branches worldwide so I m not surprised.
I leaned forward, staring at the holographic screen as the camera zoomed in on the ruins. It was a mess of twisted steel and glass.
"Norphie Phoenicia, the owner of Heart's Boutique, has survived the explosion with minor injuries…"
I spotted the woman... or man since she's androgynous and can change her gender. Her long blonde hair was tied up in a ribbon, her face streaked with soot and yet she still managed to look like a painting. In the otome route, she was the one who favored the heroine and her male leads. People worshipped her online.
She was real now. Sometimes it hits hard knowing that a character you used to see in a game actually exists in reality. However, none of this happened in the original script. Heart's Boutique was stable. It was a fixed constant. The camera panned over the debris as rescue workers carried survivors on stretchers.
For just a second, through smoke and fire, I saw a silhouette of a young woman with long golden hair, faintly glowing crystalline blue eyes, and a calm, terrifying composure as she was with Norphie.
My blood ran cold. Verdamona was in New York.
Verdamona was a living paradox. She could twist narrative causality. If she was here, that meant that the University Arc was going to change a lot more then ire supposed to. I rubbed my temples, staring blankly at the screen as the newscaster continued speaking.
"Authorities suspect a terrorist attack but are investigating possible energy anomalies detected around the epicenter…"
Energy anomalies. Yeah, sure. Try explaining Flux residue to normal Fluxers. Norphie was being targeted. It's obvious and it's not a normal Fluxer.
A soft voice behind me broke through my thoughts.
"Phaser?"
I turned.
Radellei stepped out from the fitting room. She'd changed into.a pair of jeans, a sleeveless top, a light brown hat and sunglasses. Her expression wasn't calm anymore. She must have felt the tension through my silence. Her eyes followed mine to the news, and when she saw the live feed, her face fell.
"Heart's Boutique?"
"Yeah. It's gone."
She came closer, standing beside me as footage replayed the burning wreckage.
"That shouldn't be possible. Norphie Phoenicia is supposed to be the link between the twelve Houses."
"I know. Let me call someone."