I watched my brother, who had just parted ways with Refleia, standing motionless, through the screen.

His expression revealed nothing.

Was what lay before him the future, or despair?

For now, I can only believe in my brother's words when he said "I will live."

And I can only do what I am able to do.

I call Izuna on my smartphone.

"Selica here. Yes... that's right. Please follow the plan. ...Yes. Then, I'll be going."

With that, the matter with that man is settled for now.

If everything goes smoothly, I might even need to return to Japan once.

"Selican, what now?"

"Yeah, the viewership race will probably happen again... maybe the second round will come eventually, but right now, maintaining my brother's mental state should take priority. Let's only do live commentary when there's actual action happening."

Honestly, during the viewership race period, both I and Karen pushed ourselves too hard.

Great work comes from great rest.

My brother must find it exhausting, constantly having over a hundred million viewers. If it were me... well, I'd probably be fine. I'm not as sensitive as he is. To me, viewer counts are just numbers—I wouldn't get hurt by every message.

　

Our sibling dynamic is simple: the sensitive brother, the sensitive sister, and me—the clumsy one.

I don't care what anyone thinks of me.

—It's true, I've often been mocked online for being "fashionable cute" or "fashion delusion," but if that's how I'm perceived, well, there's nothing I can do about it.

I’ve long since passed the phase of harboring a faint romantic feeling for my half-brother, just like Karen.

My brother is my very life.

For the sake of this love, I’ll become a demon or a warrior if need be.

After the house burned down, my sister was killed, and my brother disappeared.

Our childhood as twins has come to an end.

"Serican, will the police actually announce that guy is the real culprit?"

"Well, don’t worry. We’ve got plenty of evidence, and even his own confession data. All we need now is to win public opinion and make a small donation to a few high-ranking officials—it’ll be settled soon."

"Wow, seems like a lot of behind-the-scenes work. Maybe it would’ve been better if we’d kept it simpler?"

"……I can’t deny that. I was a bit… actually, quite unhinged myself at the time."

"Because I suddenly lost both the person I liked and my older sister..."

"I haven't lost them yet!"

In the end, things worked out, but honestly, it was a dangerous gamble.

My brother's life was probably saved more by Refreia's presence than by our little tricks...

The person on the phone earlier was Izuna, a subordinate of my grandfather who's been working on our behalf.

　

I asked Izuna to take the killer of Nanami-senpai's family out of the confinement room and leave them at the police station,

along with the murder weapon, dressed in the clothes they wore during the crime, and including the data from their confession.

I also attached video footage of them fleeing from Senpai's house, captured by the hidden camera.

They were threatened not to speak about being held captive—under penalty of their parents' deaths. Even if they do talk, we'll deal with that when the time comes.That day. By deciding to use people from the underworld, I stepped into a place from which there was no turning back—but I have no regrets.

After all, the world was already going mad with the appearance of God.

In a world without my brother, there could be no meaning to living a normal life.

"Ah, my brother's moving!"

Hearing Karen's voice, I looked at the screen and saw my brother finally turning around and beginning to walk.

His expression, once heavy with sorrow, now showed the faintest trace of a wry smile, as the boy stepped forward into the evening light.

His gait carried a clear, determined strength—like someone truly walking toward the future.

Something had ended, and a weight had been lifted.

...Maybe I just want to believe that.

Either way, I can safely say I've moved beyond the point of psychological danger.

If it had been possible, much sooner.

I had planned to arrest the culprit as soon as we exited the forest, clearing my brother's name.

I couldn't do it because my luck was just too bad—either that, or I had become the target of divine malice.

To suddenly add a messaging function right after exiting such a forest, I can't help but curse the gods, thinking they're as devilish as they come.

The real culprit, OZAWA, might be able to look into the events and the time period up until now, but regardless, a death sentence will come swiftly. Whether he's a minor or not, killing three people means the death penalty is certain. The precedent is clear on that.

In any case, this marks the end of relations with that country.

Closed-off, malicious, conservative, and exclusive.

A country where neither I nor Karen had much good happen.

Without my older brother, both I and Karen would have long since decayed away.

Now, beneath this dry sky, it feels like something from a distant, foreign world.

Indeed, one might say this world now revolves entirely around tales of "another world."

I am, personally, the individual who holds the greatest rights regarding alternate world content, and in America, I am treated as a complete VIP. Though I arrived in the U.S. almost like a refugee, I was genuinely surprised when citizenship for my entire family was arranged within just two days.

Well, my parents and I are just lucky beneficiaries—what America truly wants is Karen alone. But that’s fine. In any case, that girl simply can’t function properly without me.

Anyway, just saying I won't provide technology to Japan would put that country at a significant disadvantage in terms of异世界 content.

Naturally, there's AI-powered automatic software translation, and even regarding edited video content, my company holds substantial shares not only in our own products but also in others, allowing us to exert influence to the point of excluding Japan.

It's not like I'm doing this as retaliation just because the forum got chaotic or anything.

I myself was involved in that incident—I intentionally provoked the backlash.

Still, couldn't they have gone a little easier? I can't help but want to complain about that.

But then again... I don't really intend to be that cruel. I don't, really.

Self-loathing.

Even though I know rationally that I'm the one behind it all, I can't help but feel deep revulsion.

I'm a person without a fixed compass.

I can manage to do almost anything decently.

No matter what I do, I'll probably get to a passable level.

That's why I can't decide on a clear path forward.

I don't like that part of myself.

Only my older brother used to light my way.

　

If I don't regain that light,

I'll remain lost forever, unable to move anywhere.

◇◆◆◆◇

It's January 1st.

The chosen transmigrants are finally about to be transferred to another world.

Let's go back to that day.

"A New Year's Day that's raining? That's rare, huh. Haven't seen it in twenty-five years."

Kuren says, rapidly tapping the keyboard.

Indeed, New Year's Day is usually sunny. At least, in my memory, it's always been sunny.

"So, how's it going? Karen. Do you think we'll make it on time?"

"To this genius, that's a silly question~. Everything's perfectly fine!"

"S-sorry for the trouble. I didn't expect to earn money this way, but well, we've got to use whatever we can. Since our plans went off track, the more money we have, the better."

"The southern island is one step closer~♪"

The chaos of otherworldly transference has granted us an opportunity.

First, translating the language of the other world. This is our specialty, so we've already set up a research team.

Right now, there's still too little information to start properly, so we'll begin in earnest tomorrow, but we're fully prepared either way. The advanced AI for language translation is ready, and all arrangements for supercomputers have been secured without fail.

Even if we talk about a different world in general, there are likely multiple languages, so choosing which one to use becomes an issue. Ideally, we'd pick a language spoken by many, but at first, it'll probably just be trial and error.

Either way, once translation succeeds initially, that version will become the standard.

There'll be few competitors, and we won't be translating ancient texts from only preserved stone tablets, so the difficulty isn't overly high. After all, transmigrated individuals already exist.

Another option is video streaming.

Originally, every move of a transmigrated person was supposed to be broadcast live, but clearly, modern people aren't free enough to watch it all the time.

So, demand will arise for edited videos.

Although major video streaming services have already announced their entry, there are already over a thousand migrants. Naturally, even large companies can't allocate the same resources to every single migrant.

KAREN and I were preparing to create and upload edited videos centered around Japanese content, particularly focusing on Nanaomi-senpai.

Most major video streaming services are owned by Western companies.

If we can attract viewers primarily from the Asian region, we'll have a solid chance of success.

"…Almost time, isn’t it? Has onii-chan said goodbye to Nanaomi-senpai yet?"

"Did it get awkward?"

"Well, she is my sister, after all. Who knows?"

I felt sympathy for Nanaomi-senpai.

Being sent to some incomprehensible other world.

And having almost nothing to take with her.

"Time’s about right, nyeh~"

On the large monitor mounted on the wall, footage from the interdimensional transfer ceremonies of various countries is being displayed.

Everyone is being sent to another world at the same moment. Due to time differences, it's 9 a.m. in Japan. It's good it's not midnight, but I wish it had been a bit later.

The number of transfer participants gathered for Japan's broadcast is roughly half of the total.

After all, this is a farewell to "this world."

It's like abandoning everything built in the previous society and moving to an uncharted planet completely bare-handed. There's no time to be lounging around watching TV.

Some want to spend their final moments with someone they love, like Nanaomi-senpai.

Others wish to indulge in their favorite foods one last time.

Some are paralyzed by fear, drowning in alcohol.

Everyone is different.

On television, the countdown had begun.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.

The travelers in the television vanished simultaneously.

I had imagined a scenario where only their physical bodies would remain as empty shells, but that doesn't seem to be the case.