This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

"So if she comes to kill you, that still counts as ’coming to find you,’ right?"

"Of course."

"...Then when Deceitful Bloom visited you, was it the Quiet Mountain one or the Starsea one?"

"Both have come."

"Then when Starsea Deceitful Bloom came, why didn’t you ask her to pass along the message?"

"I was afraid she’d embellish it and trick Foolishness into playing along."

...That actually sounded very possible.

Rita hesitated for a moment, then agreed anyway. This was a perfect opening to dig deeper.

Whether it was Foolishness’s past, the truth behind Foolishness Game, or the philosophy behind "toys," all of it was something she wanted to understand.

And if QM Foolishness really was the person Starsea Foolishness wanted her to meet in Graveyard of Bones, then maybe Starsea Foolishness also wanted to talk to her, just unwilling to take the first step.

Most importantly, Rita still needed My Sigh to verify information.

Back when Byme gave her the burial time of "King," she hadn’t used One Call to confirm it. She had been reluctant to spend it, and thought the pocket watch map would be enough to verify the truth.

It wasn’t a bad outcome, but it was still a mistake.

After thinking it through, Rita confirmed QM Foolishness’s wording one last time, then held the coin up to B80.

"Come on, repeat what she just said."

B80: "..."

Rita comforted it, "It’s fine. You’re my pet. If you say it, it counts as me saying it. And if she tracks you down, she’ll definitely come for me first."

QM Foolishness commented, "...You’re really not human."

Rita stared at her silently for a few seconds, saying nothing, but the meaning was obvious: you’re one to talk.

B80 took the coin, cleared its throat, and spoke in Brilliance language:

"Foolishness, the reason Divine Game created the Toy system for you is because what you make is neither qualified to be a relic nor an item. Toys have no future, so they can only ever be toys."

Mission complete, B80 handed the coin back.

"I did it!"

Everything was correct.

Except for one small detail.

B80 had used a voice changer.

And it had imitated Nivalis.

Rita: "..."

QM Foolishness: "That voice was...?"

Rita: "...My other pet."

Just as she finished speaking, the coin vibrated slightly, letting out a faint hum.

As the owner, Rita could sense that her message had received a reply.

It can reply too? Or did Starsea Foolishness use some advanced toy?

Rita raised the coin to her ear. QM Foolishness leaned in as well.

As if perfectly timed, the moment their ears got close, the voice began playing.

A cold, indifferent voice came from the coin.

"Idiot."

Rita smoothly shoved the coin into QM Foolishness’s hand without changing expression.

"For you."

QM Foolishness: "..."

She shot Rita a look that clearly said "I’ll deal with you later," then focused and kept listening. There had to be more than just that one word.

And there was.

Almost the moment she took the coin, the voice spoke again.

Still cold.

"You too."

The humming stopped.

That was the entire reply.

QM Foolishness and Rita: ...

In the suffocating silence, Rita struck first.

"Well? Happy now?"

QM Foolishness held the coin, lazily propping her chin on her hand as she stared at the ground.

She had no expression, but an unmistakable sense of dejection radiated from her.

That strange sense of mismatch surfaced again.

Starsea players and Quiet Mountain players all carried heavy stories. By the late stages, every one of them was shaped by experience.

But QM Foolishness felt different.

At first glance, she resembled Starsea Foolishness: distant, cold, quietly assessing whether someone was worth speaking to.

But after interacting with her, Rita realized something else.

QM Foolishness had a kind of pure innocence.

Her emotions were direct, unhidden. Compared to Starsea Foolishness, she was far easier to understand.

The difference felt like this:

One was a lifelong researcher, buried in a lab.

The other was someone who had taken that research into the world, fought through complexity, and then returned.

The former had grown in knowledge, but not much in emotional experience.

The latter had been shaped by reality.

Rita couldn’t help but wonder.

Did QM Foolishness’s demon game cause all her research to fail?

Her thoughts drifted further.

If Foolishness lost one eye and discarded the other, then why were their hair colors different?

"Actually, it’s not that she couldn’t create items or relics."

QM Foolishness’s voice pulled her back.

Rita had a feeling that the buried divine wills here were all bored. They liked talking, especially with people who were somewhat connected yet still new.

So she chose to just listen.

"But she found them boring. Most relics and items are made for combat, just like Starsea players."

"You’re about to say the empty rounds in Foolishness Game can be used in combat, right?" QM Foolishness cut in first.

Rita shook her head, but seized the chance to ask something she’d been wondering.

She spoke with complete sincerity.

"I want to ask something that might be basic knowledge."

QM Foolishness, now quite amicable toward her after their shared experience of being called idiots, nodded slightly.

"Go ahead."

"What’s the difference between toys and relics? I once got a toy called Plush Collar and a relic called A Big World, A Small Me. They both shrink targets."

"That’s exactly where we disagree the most!"

QM Foolishness’s eyes lit up as she straightened.

"Relics are called relics because their effects are strange and varied, often with unique conditions. They’ve already diverged from items.

"Take that coin for example. It’s fun too. But she insists it’s different.

"You weren’t born in that era. If you were, you’d know how special she was. She was the most famous player in Starsea. Everything she made was classified as relics, all with ’Foolishness’ as a prefix.

"She loved giving them away to players she liked. Sometimes she’d even publish the blueprints.

"But she insisted they were toys, not relics.

"So stubborn..."

Despite her words, the pride and admiration in QM Foolishness’s expression were obvious.

Along with something else Rita couldn’t quite read.

Melancholy, maybe.

"So her ’toys’ don’t have restrictions?" Rita asked. "Like only for entertainment, not usable in combat?"

"No."

"...Then that’s great," Rita said. "She’s just competing with herself."