Starting with Firefly, Speedrunning the World — Part 26

She had even wanted to explain some things about herself, but she held back. Some things were not suitable to be said yet.

She might have had other motives, but she bore absolutely no ill will!

And many of her actions had been completely sincere.

"I understand."

Steadying herself, Firefly smiled faintly at her and said nothing more in refusal.

"That's more like it."

Kurama Neon was very satisfied to hear that. Only then did she let go of Firefly, pick up their things, and lead her onward.

"Let's find somewhere to put these things, then keep looking around. There's still plenty of interesting stuff here."

"Mm."

Naturally, Firefly had no objections.

The two arrived at the mall's luggage storage area, put away everything they had bought, and continued exploring the other sections.

This was not merely a place for shopping; there were many other things and facilities as well.

They cast aside all their worries and wandered everywhere, leaving behind bright, pleasant laughter. After who knew how long they had been playing, Kurama Neon brought Firefly to the top of a very tall building in Ginza.

Almost the entire area up here was made of glass walkways, and it was incredibly, incredibly high. It looked terrifying.

But in turn, it was breathtakingly beautiful.

Especially when looking down from above, one could take in all of Ginza's buildings at a glance.

There were very few people here at the moment, only a handful. It was incredibly quiet. Though they were in the heart of the city, it felt as if they were far removed from all the noise.

Firefly slowly stepped forward and placed both hands on the railing, her beautiful eyes fixed on the scenery before her.

By then, dusk had arrived.

Beneath the evening sunlight, the city looked so dreamlike.

"How is it? This place."

Kurama Neon walked over to Firefly's side as well, but she did not look at the view below. Instead, she watched Firefly's profile as she admired the scenery before her.

Compared to the view here, she was more beautiful in this moment!

"It really is... so beautiful..."

Firefly stared straight ahead, completely immersed in the sight before her.

"Yeah."

Kurama Neon finally looked away. She had deliberately timed their arrival here, because this was when the scenery was at its most captivating.

And Firefly's reaction did not disappoint her.

"How beautiful... If only time could remain forever in this golden moment..."

Firefly slowly reached out a hand, as if she wanted to grasp the light before her.

But the sun would always set, and the moon was bound to rise. Whether one liked it or not, it could not be changed!

"..."

Hearing that, Kurama Neon did not speak again. She simply accompanied Firefly in silently watching the last rays of the sunset, until the sky had completely darkened.

At the same time, colorful lights appeared throughout the city below.

After quite a while, Firefly suddenly turned around to look at Kurama Neon. She seemed conflicted, wanting to speak but hesitating.

"Firefly?"

Seeing her like this, Kurama Neon's eyes showed a hint of confusion.

"I'm sorry. Actually... there are many things I've kept from you."

After thinking it over, Firefly still could not hold it in.

She placed one hand over her chest, her voice full of apology as she softly said sorry to her.

Regardless of what she had thought of her in her previous life, in this world Kurama Neon had wholeheartedly been thinking of her, while she herself had harbored other motives.

She truly felt terribly guilty.

"Huh? Kept things from me?"

Kurama Neon was slightly puzzled by this.

In truth, she had always known that Firefly was mysterious, but that was her privacy. Therefore, Kurama Neon had never pressed her too much.

"Actually, the strange item I gave you before had another purpose. At its core, it was a tracking device."

Setting everything else aside, this was the main reason Firefly felt guilty toward Kurama Neon. No matter the reason, she had indeed used her.

"A... tracking device?"

Kurama Neon was startled when she heard that, never expecting it to be this.

"Why?"

She didn't understand why Firefly had done this.

And now, Firefly had said it herself.

"I'm sorry. For certain reasons, there are some things I still can't tell you in full right now. But there are also things I should be honest with you about..."

Firefly took a deep breath and moved closer to Kurama Neon, deciding to be honest with her about some things. There was no need to hide everything from her, and it would also help her prepare herself mentally in advance.

The reason she hadn't told her before was that the circumstances had been different then.

What she had experienced today made it impossible for her to keep using Neon without any psychological burden—to use someone who cared for her wholeheartedly.

If she had once merely regarded Neon as a familiar character from the story, Firefly now truly saw her as a friend.

"Actually, the Desire Grand Prix isn't some mysterious organization that saves the world."

"It's a live-action reality show staged by a group of people from the distant future, using this world as their stage to satisfy their own pursuits—or rather, their twisted amusement."

"The DGP's management, the viewers behind the scenes—they don't care what happens to this world. To those extreme future people, human lives and happiness are merely tools to satisfy their warped desires."

"Even when the game ends and the grand finale begins, this world will enter a countdown to doomsday..."

Firefly told Kurama Neon everything about the Desire Grand Prix in full detail. To be honest, she wasn't very good at speaking in riddles.

But Kurama Neon wasn't like Ukiyo Ace and the others. Firefly believed that, with her warning, Neon wouldn't act recklessly or spread the information around.

Of course, if Neon truly did act recklessly, then Firefly could only say that she had misjudged and trusted the wrong person. Besides, she had plenty of ways to remedy the situation.

"People from the future... a reality show..."

"Viewers who enjoy other people's misfortune..."

As Kurama Neon listened to Firefly's words, she was completely stunned and found it hard to imagine.

There was simply too much information to take in. It almost felt fake.

It was hard to believe that this was the true nature of the Desire Grand Prix—that a group of future people had turned their world into a stage for amusement.

Everyone's happiness and misfortune were being toyed with at will by these people from the future.

"How could this be..."

Kurama Neon clutched her head, looking dazed...

"That's all I wanted to say. I don't have any other motives. I just want to stop those future people and prevent them from continuing to do whatever they please."

"Let me process this, Firefly. What you said is too shocking."

Kurama Neon crouched down. She needed time to properly digest it all.

"Mm."

Firefly said no more. She simply stayed quietly by Neon's side, waiting for her to process the information.

After an unknown amount of time, Kurama Neon finally stood up again, though she had no idea what she should do for the moment.

"No wonder that Stellaron Hunter, Sam, said those things. So he was targeting the DGP's management and the future people too?"

She let out a long breath. Now, she finally understood what the Stellaron Hunter had meant by those final words last time—that he had personally sent all those future people on their way.

Before, she hadn't understood what "future people" meant. It had seemed completely baffling.

So the people behind the DGP had all come from the distant future.

But a future like that truly made people feel sick. If future people had become like this, then there was nothing to look forward to in the future at all.

Kurama Neon didn't connect Firefly with Stellaron Hunter Sam. How could that mighty and powerful knight possibly be the same person as a delicate girl like Firefly?

Perhaps they were connected, perhaps they belonged to the same organization, but they absolutely couldn't be the same person.

For one thing, they weren't even the same gender!

Stellaron Hunter Sam was obviously a man, so Kurama Neon had never suspected Firefly at all.

But...

"Then, Firefly... who are you?"