The photos on Gelman's phone weren't entirely reassuring, either.
Most of the people here appeared in them: Renard, Biscuit, Sigman, Shizuku, and Hart.
There were photos of them with Gelman, as well as photos of them together.
The only ones missing from the photos were Ging Freecss and "Cursed One" Dubisk.
Ging scratched his head and explained, "You know me. I don't like crowds, and I don't like taking pictures."
Dubisk offered no explanation, but his withdrawn, taciturn nature, uncomfortable to be around, said it all.
"Shield Breaker" Sigman had originally been withdrawn, too, but there were photos of her. Most of them had been taken after Biscuit forcibly dragged her in front of the camera.
"How could this happen?" Biscuit asked, staring at the photos, utterly confused.
Gelman already understood what was going on.
"They can affect not only our perception but reality itself. The process just takes time. We noticed something was wrong before they could finish correcting our memories and reality."
Ging suggested another possibility. "Or perhaps they're doing it on purpose..."
"Their goal isn't to completely replace one of us. It's to provoke us into fighting and killing each other."
"Maybe creating a few inconsistencies for us to notice is part of their plan."
The others felt a chill run through them.
If that was true, the situation was becoming more and more complicated. How much of what they were experiencing could they trust?
Ging continued, "Whatever the case, we have to trust the premise behind all our judgments: Gelman is real. Everything has to start there."
Everyone fell silent. No one would take it well to be forced to judge whether they themselves were real by relying on someone else.
But Gelman had better be real. Otherwise, it would mean that everyone's perceptions had been