#by the way deosuni is the name of the dummyhead mic from the dlcs. bit of trivia for you.

[cheritzssebba]

Secret Ending Three Chapter Ten: Still Famous

It's kind of hard to write in Red's point of view.... I feel like maybe he doesn't think in words but rather feelings. And they're rather hard to write down into words for me. So it's pretty difficult trying to write from his thoughts

Also his speech pattern is a little bit difficult for me to get the hang of

Let's see where Lance got off to then shall we?

When I leave the classroom, I linger in the doorway for more than a moment. It's not that likely she might lose her memories or get confused while I'm not there again...but was it ever likely that it would even happen in the first place? She knows that I'll be here though, and I'm only a phone call away if she needs me.

Maybe she'll be okay. I can't shake off the instinct to sit down outside the classroom, so I'm still standing there hesitating when I hear the footsteps of someone coming this way, stopping right behind me.

"Oh! Um, uh... Uh- hi." It's just a small girl with long black hair that her face hides behind and her fingers brush through desperately, as desperate as can be.

She's a girl I think I've seen before, but only out the corner of my eye. And I'd have to say that today is the day I found out she could actually speak.

Oh, but I might look pretty weird just standing here holding onto the door handle like this- "Oh- um, sorry. I was just leaving."

And I awkwardly remove myself from the door and step back- right into the poor girl. "Oh-! Sorry!" "Ahh!! Uh, sorry!! I'll just-" And we step again, out of the way, once more into each other... "Um, s-sorry. Uhh..." "Ah, no, I'm sorry, it's okay-"

I'm really really really really really not proud of this weird awkward dance we end up doing. When I try to step out of her way to the right, so does she, and when I go to the left, she does too... Um...

"Ah, you know what-" I sigh. "It's easier like this." I just take hold of the girl's arms and guide her gently to the side while I finally escape the awkward dance.

"Mission accomplished! You may now proceed!" I beam with a big thumbs up. Fantastic job, me! "Ah, haha..." Is it too warm in here? Her cheeks are a bit pink... "Th-thanks... Ah... I mean, sorry...." She stops twisting her hair around her fingers to return my thumbs up. Nice!

That felt super awkward...but oh well. Onward...

I turn the corner but then I stop... What's she even doing? That's not her classroom, she's a senior. And she's probably not in the student government and coming to speak to Lance, since she looks a bit too quiet to be in such a demanding role, so... Why?

Could it be that she's like those girls who hurt the Heroine..? What does she want to do to her..?

I have to make sure it's okay... With all the stealth and subtlety I can manage, I hide in the next corridor and listen out for what she's got planned.

She's quiet, that's what I learn. And that's probably the word that would describe her entire personality. Pacing back and forth. She's not entering the classroom but she's not leaving either.

She hesitates for a long time, a lot longer than I had stood there. And she finally takes a deep breath before finally opening the door with a knock.

It's nothing bad, right? It can't be. I've never seen her hanging out with the girls that hurt the Heroine and she just looks so...innocent.

Looks can be deceiving. That's what Tei said. If he was here, he might know. I trace the dust patterns in the wall's brickwork as she and Lance stand there in the hallway together. They don't know I'm here.

"Okay, so-" she cuts herself off with another breath. And then another. She puts her fingers back to work in her hair and I can just about see through it that she's staring down at the floor as she speaks.

"Is this really important?" "I just- Can I- Please-?"

Lance rolls his eyes.

"So...I've been thinking about this for a while. And I went back and forth on whether I should say anything. And I wasn't going to for a long time. But..." She pushed the hair out from above her eyes and she looked at Lance right in the face.

"'Cause it's New Years, I really wanted to change and be more confident. So I decided I should say something.

"It's not every day that you run into a situation like this. And since no one else has said anything about it yet, I might be the only one who noticed."

"So Lance." She pauses again, like she's psyching herself up for something big. "I don't really know how to explain it, 'cause it's a bit crazy but.

"Is this you?"

Damn it, I can't see from here. What's she showing him on her phone?? And from this angle, I'm facing Lance's back, so I can't see how he's reacting either.

But what he says... "I... I...don't know what you mean." I've never heard him so speechless... Damn it, what is it!!

"I know this does sound really crazy, I know. 'Cause it still doesn't make sense. But I don't think it's just a coincidence. 'Cause it's the same for the rest of the HOT5 too, they're all here... Apart from Red."

Apart from me? Why me?

"I... What are you trying to say? It's...just a doll. It cannot be anything more than a coincidence."

Oh my god............. Oh my god???? Is she..????//?

"But it's more than just appearance though. It's not just looks, it's personality and skills. You're plain, Yeonho has that 'maternal instinct' thing, Mr Yuri is a musician and Tei is like an older brother." "That's..." "So it can't be coincidence. I have a Lance doll myself, so when I first heard of you, I got reminded of my own doll at home. But then I saw you and the others too and I couldn't help but connect he dots... Or rather, connect the dolls? Haha-"

"Who else knows about this?" "What? Oh, I haven't told anyone. It's just me... But does that mean you want to keep it a secret if you're asking that?" Damn, she's good... She was so quiet before but won't even stutter now that she's opened up.

"So...what is it? You are him, right? The Lance from Crobidoll? You look exactly like him..." "Uh... Well... I just..." "So is it like you're just pretending to be him or you are him? It's really weird if you found out about him when you learned Korean and then tried to model all your behaviour and personality off of him to fit in, but somehow it's slightly less weird if you've just always been him and one day became human, especially since the company wouldn't be that well known outside of Korea. So which is it?" "..."

Lance is completely silent... I don't blame him though. We never decided what to do in this kind of situation. What the hell would I do in his place..? And hell, what are the odds that I specifically would actually end up in that situation?

"No one would believe the latter. They'd say you were insane," he ended up saying. "But again though. Why would you say that if it weren't true?" "Uh-!" "So you're saying it's true that you're all dolls that came to life..?"

Hmm...

"... Still. It's not like it's believable. Even if it were true, does it...matter?" Lance... I'm a bit disappointed. Of course it does. "Of course it matters!" Yeah. "Oh- Sorry..." She seems to slink back into herself, embarrassed. "Sometimes I get excited about things... I'm so sorry."

Lance sighs and tries to go back into the classroom. "Well don't get too excited about it. It's not even something I can explain anyway." But it's impossible for him to do that when she's hanging onto his sleeves and asking him so many questions.

"But what's it like to be a doll? And why are you a human now? Did Crobidoll do it or do you have an owner? Did they do it? How?

"Is it more like a conspircy theory about the company that they're experimenting in the nature of souls and stuff and they're trying to artificially create people to combat the plummeting fertility rates, or possibly to quickly create a plastic army to save the human race from the alien invaders?

"Or is it more like something completely irrelevant to the company and whatever owner you have is some sort of scientist, possibly experimenting in the world of cloning and AI and they wanna create an artificial intelligence with the personality and looks of high school boys with Crobidoll dolls as the template for each boy, and they put you in a high school as a turing test to prove how believable your coding is?"

... Uh...

"..................... Wh-... What?"

"I mean, the latter does explain a lot. But if it was some kind of experiment, you'd have to be monitored, right? By your owner, right?" "Well-" "Then your owner must be someone who attends Crobi Academy!"

Oh no...

"Oh. Uh. N-no. That's..." "They'd have to be someone who no one would actually suspect, who'd be in your classes with you and be able to interact with you through all times of the day..."

Her hair fell back onto her face again and her chin fit neatly into her hand. Clearly lost in thought.

But eventually she'll figure it out. She got this far at least. I don't know how. I don't know what she showed Lance. But she must know that we're dolls.

On it's own, that's not that bad. But if she's going to figure out that the Heroine is our owner... I can't just stand by and watch.

I have to do something.

"Actually..." I have to save her. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation." I won't let her get hurt again. "Sorry for eavesdropping."

"Red??" Lance looks at me as I march over to him. How is he pissed off at me again when I'm trying to save everyone??" "Uh- oh! Um. Th-this... This is just...a joke, haha." The girl is running her fingers through her hair again. "I mean, even if this stuff was true, you wouldn't believe me anyway, so it doesn't matter, haha..."

"No. It's true. Because it's me. I'm Lance's owner. Please don't bother him or anyone else about this anymore. It's me who knows everything. It's true, I never told anyone because it's just not something that people would believe.

"So I'm sorry for lying. But please don't bother my...dolls...about this anymore. They just wanna live life normally as regular people, okay?"

"...................... What the fuck, Red??" "What?? It's not like you were doing any better, Lance, I actually-"

"Oh.

"My.

"GOD.

"No way no way no way!!!!!" The girl jumps up and down and claps her hands together. And...her excited smile is so big and genuine I...can't help but smile back. "I was right!! I was right I was right I was right, no way!!!"

"You have to tell me everything!!!" "Okay! Uh but first, what's your name?"

"Oh! Hahaha, I'm so sorry," she nervously stops herself again, facepalming at herself. "I should've probably opened with that, I'm sorry.

"Um, it's really nice to formally meet you. I'm Deosuni."

So that's the story of how I saved the day again!

How many insults is Lance gonna throw at me for this? What will happen next with Deosuni? How many more lies are we going to tell?

Tune in next time to find out!

Real Weeaboo-boo ass situation