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Saeko Busujima's appearance was only the beginning.

After that, more and more bizarre things happened in the house...

Not only was the kitchen frequently invaded, but the living room TV would mysteriously turn on, the bathroom would get used from time to time, and even his all-important computer had been switched on several times!

Changing the password didn't help. In fact, after changing it too often and making it too complicated, Chen Xiao ended up unable to get into the computer himself.

Fortunately, the password was changed back the next day...

Thank goodness he didn't keep his figurines in the dorm. Otherwise, having people magically appear every day would probably scare his roommates into convulsions.

Of course, it might also end with his roommates donning inquisitors' robes and hanging him on a cross to cosplay Jesus.

"I'd better check one more time..."

Still uneasy, Chen Xiao secretly bought a surveillance system and installed cameras throughout the house to find out whether someone was playing a prank or his figurines really were coming to life.

After all, this world had so many different superpowers. If some bastard was using one to mess with him, wouldn't his wishful thinking make him a complete clown?

Better to be cautious.

Fortunately, just a few days after installing the cameras, Chen Xiao returned to his apartment complex for the weekend and saw "them" moving around his home in the footage.

The first to take physical form was a beautiful blonde, blue-eyed maid in black. She wore a black, off-the-shoulder gown that fitted her slightly voluptuous figure perfectly, her curves rivaling those of a mature woman. Most eye-catching of all was her full bust, squeezed together into a deep valley of cleavage.

Of course, there were also the tantalizing fishnet stockings peeking out beneath her skirt...

"I remember her... Alice Landlot from The Duke of Death and His Maid, right?"

Come to think of it, he'd watched that anime with a doting grin plastered across his face, especially when the maid teased the young duke. No one could resist that kind of unabashed seduction!

Then Chen Xiao watched Alice tidy up his bedroom in the footage before turning back into a figurine and landing in the display cabinet.

"No wonder there's never any dust when I come back. I'd almost forgotten when I last cleaned."

But he'd barely finished marveling at that when Alice took physical form again, left the bedroom, and started cleaning the living room.

Before long, however, she turned back into a figurine, then took physical form again after another half hour or so.

"So there's a time limit."

Chen Xiao rubbed his chin.

If this really is some superpowered person's prank, isn't it a bit too weird? They're bringing the girls to life just to do my housework?

Their behavior also fit their characters. Using a vacuum cleaner for the first time, Alice was clearly unfamiliar with its controls.

Lost in thought, Chen Xiao failed to notice that Alice kept glancing toward the camera in the footage, occasionally striking seductive poses for it as she cleaned.

A shame all the maid's little efforts went to waste.

"Who's next...?"

Without examining her movements closely, Chen Xiao skipped ahead.

This time, a young woman with long flaxen hair appeared in the kitchen. She was practicing her cooking skills in his kitchen while complaining that there weren't enough ingredients in the fridge.

"Come on, I don't live here every day. I stay at school most of the time. There's no reason to stock up on ingredients."

Still, Chen Xiao recognized her.

After all, she looked like the perfect wife and mother just standing there.

"Oh! It's Asuna."

Asuna Yuuki from Sword Art Online was another heroine who'd been a must-have in early multi-anime crossover fanfiction. Any story featuring Sword Art Online was sure to include her.

She was also one of his childhood dream girls.

"And then... whoa!"

He kept skipping ahead.

This time, there was a clash in the bedroom.

A girl with long, straight black hair, dressed in a black Gothic Lolita outfit, sat typing at the computer. She kept tapping away right up until her time ran out and she turned back into a figurine.

Chiba's fallen holy angel, Kuroneko-Ruri Gokou.

"Kuroneko... I still can't get over how things ended for her."

Come to think of it, Kuroneko had also been a regular in the multi-anime chat-group novels he'd read in his previous life.

Immediately afterward, an elf-like girl in a pink Gothic Lolita outfit took physical form. Brimming with curiosity, she approached the computer. When she saw what was on the screen, she first frowned, then began muttering as though complaining about it.

In the end, she couldn't help laughing.

She laughed so hard she doubled over, even pointing at the monitor with an expression worthy of the "Great Desolate Imprisoning Heaven Finger."

"Pfft... ahem. I know Kuroneko's writing is a little... you know, but do you really have to mock her like that?"

Chen Xiao's mouth twitched as he struggled to suppress the laughter brought on by the blonde elf's infectious cackling in the video.

Elf Yamada, real name [Emily Granger].

Although she and Kuroneko were from different works, the girl who looked so much like a fantasy elf had been created by the same author. Their stories even shared a universe, and she'd made a cameo in the anime.

Perhaps she'd gone too far with her mockery, because an embarrassed and furious Kuroneko materialized behind her.

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Elf Yamada's mockery had clearly set Kuroneko off. As soon as she took physical form, the furious girl lunged at the blonde elf, and the two wrestled, rolling around the room.

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"So two of them can take physical form at once..."

Before Chen Xiao could finish, another two figurines in the display cabinet came to life. They approached from either side and grabbed Elf Yamada and Kuroneko, who were still grappling with each other.

"Four?!"

Chen Xiao was so surprised that he stood up.

Could there be no limit to how many figurines can take physical form?!

He recognized the other two as well: Anna Yamada from The Dangers in My Heart and Nanami Aoyama from The Pet Girl of Sakurasou.

But the instant Anna Yamada and Nanami Aoyama pulled the pair apart, all four turned back into figurines.

The sight left Chen Xiao deep in thought for a moment.

He glanced at the timer on his phone. From the moment Elf Yamada had materialized to when all four changed back, nowhere near the full time limit had passed.

"...I see. So they share the time they can stay materialized."

Chen Xiao figured it out.

The figurines shared a single mana bar for their physical forms.

They'd previously materialized one at a time to maximize how long they could move around. Having several materialize at once rapidly ate into their time-their mana bar-which was why all four had turned back less than two minutes after appearing together.

Which raised a question...

Was this really a superpowered person's "prank"?

Even if it was, would someone with supernatural powers in this world know the personalities of girls who had never existed here?

"Impossible!"

That was Chen Xiao's conclusion. He sat back down and pulled up the footage from outside the house as well, focusing on the times when the figurines had materialized.

"There really wasn't anyone else...!"

Once he'd thoroughly confirmed that there had been no suspicious people around the house while the figurines were in physical form, Chen Xiao slumped back in his chair.

How did he feel at that moment?

Lost? Ecstatic? Terrified?

Perhaps all three.

It would be a lie to say he'd never fantasized about his anime wives appearing beside him. But when it actually happened, he had no idea what to do.

He'd never truly considered the possibility.

Just as this world's setting had abruptly shifted from ordinary urban life to an urban supernatural world, the girls' "arrival" had once again thrown Chen Xiao's plans for the future into disarray.

All he'd wanted at first was to remember the things he'd loved in his previous life.

At that thought, mentally and physically exhausted, Chen Xiao could no longer hold on and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Creeeak-

At that moment, the door behind him quietly opened...

The next morning.

"Mm... did I fall asleep?"

When Chen Xiao woke up, he found himself lying in his bedroom, his clothes changed into pajamas. For a moment, he thought watching the footage had all been a dream.

Then he climbed out of bed, went to the surveillance room, and switched on the computer to check. In yesterday's footage, he saw Alice carrying his sleeping self out of the surveillance room. She'd even turned off the computer before leaving.

"So they found out."

Chen Xiao felt troubled.

Will the figurines think I'm a pervert?

After all, to put it bluntly, what he'd done was practically voyeurism...

"Wait!"

Something suddenly occurred to Chen Xiao. He'd only recently changed his computer password, and none of the footage he'd watched showed a hacker figurine coming to life. Yet Kuroneko had logged into his computer with ease.

How did she know the password?!

Wait, could they see outside the display cabinet even when they were figurines?

Then wasn't changing my password just fooling myself?

Then Chen Xiao remembered how, before discovering that they could take physical form, he'd been pretty careless at home. He lived alone here, after all, and didn't have to worry about anyone seeing him...

"Ah... no way! I-if Alice and the others were conscious all along, then whenever I came back to my bedroom naked to get dressed after a shower-"

They'd already seen everything!

And when he'd browsed porn and taken matters into his own hands, they'd probably been watching too!

Compared with him secretly watching their physical forms through the cameras now...

The figurine girls who silently watched his every move from inside the display cabinet were the real voyeurs!

No! There's something else!

How did I end up in these pajamas?

There's no way I changed into them myself!

Even his underwear had been changed...

"The bedroom camera... why is yesterday's footage gone?!"

Chen Xiao's right hand trembled unnaturally as he clicked on yesterday's bedroom camera footage, only to discover to his horror that the recording had been deleted!

No matter where he looked, all he could find was footage of Alice carrying him back to his room.

The meaningful look Alice had given the hallway camera as she pushed the door shut with her heel made it especially clear that they'd discovered the cameras long ago!

Then what happened while I was asleep...?

"Ah... aaaaaah!!!!!"

The more he thought about it, the more terrified he became. Chen Xiao's face twisted into an expression straight out of the famous painting The Scream.

This Earth is no longer fit for me to live on!

The figurines in the bedroom: hee-hee...