Yue watched as John quietly filled out some forms and handed it to the receptionist.

Her husband’s face was neutral.

After the call, he didn’t ask Yue what she wanted to say. And Yue didn’t speak up.

But it seemed that he knew. Or at least, he could guess.

Because since that call, John’s face looked fatigued and the bright energy she had seen in his blue eyes before was gone.

Yue pursed her lips and subconsciously pulled her coat closer to her chest. She wasn’t cold, but she felt a chill in her heart.

What was he thinking? Did he know for sure what she did? If he knew, then what did he think about it? Did he still love her? Would he still love her?

Yue didn’t know. She didn’t know, and yet the thought of it, of John turning to her with harsh eyes…

‘But isn’t that what you wanted?’

A faint whisper in the back of her mind. An illusion, but one that existed all the same.

‘To have Husband spurn all those other women and look only at you. To not care about any of his children but your own?’

Yue pulled her coat tighter around herself, as if that could block out the words.

It wasn’t real. Those words weren’t real. It was just her mind playing tricks on her.

Even so… While they weren’t real, they were true.

Just thinking about those words dug out countless examples from the depths of her heart.

Sending Alpha and Beta after their father to keep an eye on him, but secretly hoping that they would never be found.

Turning away Wang Zhaojun from the Imperial Jade Pagoda and pretending that John didn’t care for her anymore.

Hiding the letters that Su Daji sent to John and giving them only after he asked for them.

Telling the Celestial Army to keep an eye out for and expel Jiutian Xuannu whenever she showed up.

Petty acts that had no effect or real impact. And act that, if John knew about he didn’t care for, or acts that he ultimately forgave.

But those three girls… Zhuque, and then the cute Little Xuan and Little Wu…

“Alright.”

Yue flinched and looked up.

John walked over to her, carrying their bags over his shoulders. “We’re done here, Wifey. Let’s get going.”

“Y-Yes.” Yue bowed her head and meekly walked to his side.

As they walked out of the resort, Yue saw people staring. Young couples, older couples, foreigners…

They didn’t say anything, but Yue felt like she could hear them.

‘Look at that girl.’

‘Such a handsome and mature man… Why is he with a child like that?’

‘That girl is with child… Did she do it to snare that man?’

‘Taking responsibility for a girl like that… How noble of him.’

“Hey.”

Yue flinched and looked up at John.

He stared at her with a neutral expression… No, a weary look and then sighed.

Seeing that, Yue looked down and muttered, “Husband, I-“

“Calm down, alright?” John wrapped his arm around Yue’s shoulders and pulled her close. “I don’t know what’s going on or what you’re thinking, but relax, alright? Nothing and no one here is going to hurt you.”

Yue tensed and then subconsciously leaned into John. “…I know.”

And she did.

Her husband would never let anything harm her. He had made that clear over and over again.

But…

“…You are too warm, my Husband.”

“Hm?” John blinked and then laughed. “Well, better that I’m too warm than too, cold, right?” He looked up at the sky and said, “Especially now that it’s snowing like this.”

Yue looked up.

It was cloudy. Snow was falling, covering the already white mountains with a pure cover. A blank sheet, hiding the trails and marks of the people who had been skiing before.

John held Yue close and said, “Now this time don’t go running off by yourself through a blizzard, alright?”

A blizzard… Right. The first time they met was during a time like this as well.

John gave Yue a light squeeze and said, “Let’s head back now. Don’t let go.”

“…I won’t.”

John smiled and then stepped forward.

Wind blew behind them, sending snow to obscure their tracks. At the same time, space bent- No, they moved through space.

And then they were back.

Towering buildings made of steel, glass, and concrete. Cars slowly driving down roads as a flurry blew past.

Cold. White, slowly covering everything in sight.

But that cold didn’t reach Yue. Instead, John’s warm presence surrounded her.

And feeling that warmth…

‘Weren’t you the one who stole this from others?’

A faint voice whispered in the back of her head. One that sounded just like hers. No, one that was younger and colder.

Yue shivered.

John frowned and then unzipped his coat before draping it around Yue. “There. That better, Wifey?”

“…Yes, Husband.”

Touching concern, love and warmth.

‘And something that should belong to you alone, right? After all, you’re the perfect woman for him.’

Yue flinched and looked around.

John’s frown deepened and he said, “Are you sure you’re alright? Qing said it was important, but we can take our time… Are you hungry? Should we get something to eat?”

“…I’m fine.”

“But you don’t look fine.”

“…I’m just a bit tired.”

“Oh right. I guess skiing does take a lot out of you…” John nodded and started walking, carefully guiding Yue along. “Well, let’s stop at home first and then get some food.”

“…Yes, Husband.”

She replied as she always did, waiting on his word.

‘That’s what you want to think. But I remember it being different, don’t you? After all, didn’t you make him wait on your words?’

Again, that voice.

Yue shook her head and then leaned on John. His warmth and presence helped drive that voice away… No. She could still hear it whispering a bit in the back of her head. But the words were inaudible.

“Hm…” John glanced over at Yue and then said, “Let’s get out of this snow then. Stick with it a bit longer, Yue. The apartment’s just around the corner.”

Yue nodded, closing her eyes and just letting her beloved husband guide her.

—–AI|IA—–

At a park near Roppongi Hills, a certain mad scientist stared at the sky with a VR headset. But after a few moments, he frowned.

“This isn’t good.” Titor took off his VR headset and then looked at the sky.

Thick clouds, filling up the sky with dark gray. Not only that, but white flurries that didn’t do anything to help with visibility.

Well, for most people.

Titor could see right through it though. And that was the problem.

The copy of John… No, at this point he was a person in his own right. A mad scientist who set about making a revolutionary new technology that would help springboard Project MirAIs into exciting new territory. A way to help those girls fulfill their dreams even more as well as pave the way to bring hope to the people who were giving up on this bleak world.

Except, he miscalculated.

“…Is this what they meant when they said that scientists were too busy asking if they could instead of if they should?”

Titor felt sweat running down the back of his neck.

A harsh wind blew past, causing his white lab coat to flutter. At the same time, the sweat running down his neck started to freeze.

Titor shivered and brushed it off, still staring at the sky.

To the naked eye… And to spiritual senses, it was fine. Nothing was happening, just a strange blizzard. But, if he put on his VR headset and stared at the world through the Incarnation System…

“…Yeah. I’m totally screwed huh?”

It was a web. But not just a web, one that was ripped and torn to shreds with frayed threads flying in every direction. Karma and the world’s broken causality as a result of Titor trying to integrate his system to the world’s natural logic.

…Well, ordinarily it would be fine. And it *was* fine. Nothing was wrong with the integration logic… other than that small hiccup earlier where he forgot about the fact that John punched a hole through space to get to the Three Realms.

But Titor fixed everything. Ironing out the wrinkles in the world logic, smoothing over that temporal paradox John left untouched after he jumped back in time to avoid being called a pervert from accidentally catching Rin naked in the shower, locking down the dimensional transfer protocols so that they wouldn’t get any unexpected guests… It was all good.

And then Titor got the brilliant idea of trying to make a copy of Yue so that he wasn’t so lonely.

It was simple. After all, Yue loved John, John loved Yue, and if there was a copy of John running around, a copy of Yue would naturally want to come into existence.

Except, there was a problem. And a big one too.

Titor had manifested a physical form using his Incarnation System. It was essentially like a ‘log-out’ system for VR games in a way that turned abstract thoughts and constructs into a tangible medium.

…It was a lot more complicated than that, but the point of it was that sentient entities that didn’t have a corporeal form could get one of their own if there was enough ‘probability’ of it happening.

Of course, the amount required for something like that needed either an existing entity that went beyond the rules of the world already, like John and himself, or a tangible base that could take on a life of its own.

Since Earth forbade supernatural beings except those granted express permission, like John and the people he welcomed, it wasn’t a problem. It shouldn’t be a problem.

Even if weird things managed to come into existence through the Incarnation System, they would just be forced into a human form without any sort of power.

…But there was a problem when it came to Yue.

Titor took off his VR headset again and groaned. “Dammit, John. You should have told me that her Dao of Karma surpassed her Dao of Perfection.”

The path that one chose to cultivate had a serious impact on how their life would turn out. At least, until they faced the path they walked and mastered it, accepting it entirely with its faults and with its strengths. Until then, instead of taking the path where they wanted to go, the path would lead them.

That was why John kept getting into so much trouble with random events. ‘Accumulation’ kept dragging things towards him since he subconsciously wanted to run away from his problems. Troubles kept accumulating in addition to good fortune and everything else. Only when he recently remembered why he walked that path and its true nature did things stop.

But that wasn’t true with Yue.

Titor ran his hand through his slicked back hair and muttered, “It just had to be karma…”

It was similar but different from John’s path.

John accepted everything that came his way, and he automatically drew things towards him. Like a blackhole. A bit dense and thickheaded, but it took in everything that it touched without exception or consequence. Because it was something that could accept anything, faults and all.

But karma was different.

If ‘accumulation’ was like a kind parent who would support you no matter where you went, ‘karma’ was the tiger mom who would brag about your successes in public but also bring up your worst failures in private.

In short, exactly like the popular saying here on Earth.

Even still, it should have been fine. After all, if you walked the path of karma, you were used to the weight of your actions. Cause and effect, good and evil, consequences… by the time you got to the point where you had to master your path and attain your ‘Dao’, you would have a strong enough sense of self to not be overwhelmed and instead accept that weight.

But Yue didn’t walk the path of Karma from beginning to end. Instead, she changed into it after turning her back on ‘Perfection.’ Not only that, but while she was still cultivating ‘Perfection,’ she no doubt did things that she wouldn’t be proud of right now.

Things that were forcibly being drawn out now because of the karma storm caused by Yue tossing so many karma beads to try and curse John, Shin’s countless evil deeds, and John no longer drawing all of that to him because he had stopped his Dao of Accumulation from taking that stuff in.

It wasn’t a divine tribulation. After all, something like that didn’t exist on Earth. The events that happened earlier with Yue back in the United States were a result of the Three Realms interfering.

And even if things got out of hand, the world wouldn’t be affected by the karma storm. In reality, it would just be some bad weather for a few days until it cleared up.

Because despite everything, the most that would be allowed by the world for that karma storm would be a few days. In fact, if all went well, it would go away by itself.

But that didn’t mean that it wouldn’t affect anyone.

While limited in scope… mostly in that normal Earthlings wouldn’t be affected, that didn’t hold true for people sensitive to karma.

And the person on Earth who was most attuned to it, even more than John… was a person who had the weakest heart and who had been a cold, petty, and vicious young woman before meeting John.

Titor let out a deep sigh and started walking. “John’s gonna chew me out for this, but better that than have Yue get hurt.” Dissolving his VR headset and sticking his hands in his pockets, Titor followed his connection with John and started heading back to his apartment. But when he did-

“Wait! Sister, look over there!”

“Gasp! Big Sister Daji! That person there! Does he not seem like John?”

A pair of similar female voices. Young, cute, and innocent.

Titor froze.

He recognized those voices. After all, he… No, John was the one who was there when they were technically ‘born’ after he purified them from the cursed and crazed demonness running around.

But he didn’t stop to look. Instead, he started walking faster, hoping to get away. Especially if that Big Sister Daji they were talking about was-

“Wait! You there! The man in the white shirt!”

Another cute female voice. But it wasn’t innocent. Slightly seductive, but not at the moment because the speaker was purposefully keeping it light.

Su Daji. One of the three women that Titor absolutely didn’t want to meet.

“Dammit.” Titor flicked his gaze up at the sky and muttered, “Karma’s intangible, but it can pull things like this off…”

It was improbable, but not impossible. And that fact was enough for karma to weigh the odds against Titor since he was trying to stop it from exacting its price on the woman who needed to face it the most.

“You! Do not dare run!”

Titor crouched and then kicked off the ground, planning to dash ahead and then escape by jumping back into cyberspace. But before he could-

“Hold on there pal.” A hulking man in a green overcoat appeared in front of him, blocking his path.

“Yes.” Another man appeared. One with a white suit and red blazer underneath it. “Let’s not be too hasty.”

Saji and Kiri. But not only that, the power that John gave them last time to lock enemies in a bounded field to prevent them from running away like in the games flared up.

Meaning Titor couldn’t escape.

Not only that, but since Titor had taken on a physical form, he couldn’t just yell at John in his head to let him know what was going on.

…And that guy wouldn’t be realizing it either because he couldn’t see it.

Great.

Titor let out a deep sigh and then muttered, “Note to self. Find a way to make Murphy into an actual person and then kick him in the balls.”

Seriously. Screw that guy.

_________

we’ll do the concert, a celebration with the whole crew, and then do some interviews with Gen 1 before an unveiling at Comiket

/the expo.

P.S. Cookie for people who get the arc name reference (Tell me why).