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Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

“Once again… Welcome to the gaming club!”

Haru officially welcomed them, but they…

“…You could’ve at least told us that you were our senior here.”
“…I barely attended in person, so I had no idea you were studying here.”

Kou was staring intently at Suzaku, while he awkwardly avoided her gaze. Haru scratched her cheek lightly, clearly trying to find a way to smooth over the tension.

“Ahahah… I mean he’s already a professional gamer, so he doesn’t have much time to attend school. I’m sure that’s why you never saw each other here…”

A professional gamer. Hearing that, everyone looked at him in shock. Then Haru was the one to stare at the young man this time.

“Suzaku, you’ve already met Mitsuki both in-game and in real life, right? And you never mentioned that?”
“…And what do you want me to do? Every time I run into this damn Demon Lord, I just lose. And you want me to call myself a pro?”
“Ahhh…ahahah…”

When Haru pushed him, Suzaku just spat that out, sounding almost annoyed as he glared at Kou again, who just tried to play it off with a fake laugh.

That seemed to make him feel embarrassed, as he quickly averted his eyes. He really was not used to dealing with girls, even in real life.

As everyone was sighing in unison, Hijiri and Subaru decided to raise their voices, trying to sound more cheery to improve the mood in the room.

“It’s still a bit hard to believe…that you’re attending the same school as us, I mean.”
“It really is a pretty crazy coincidence. There’s Kou, Reo, and now even the Dragonblood Hero in here.”

It was like most of the top players had gathered in that singular spot. By then, Kou was starting to suspect that maybe Lan Canglong’s Shao was also somewhere nearby.

“…Nah, it’s probably not that much of a coincidence.”
“…Huh?”

Hearing Suzaku say that, Kou tilted her head, trying to comprehend.

“Oh yeah, I didn’t even introduce myself. I’m Hikami Suzaku.”
“Hikami…you mean like…”
“Yeah, I’m sure you’ve heard that last name in your parents’ company, right?”

And he was right. That name did sound familiar to Kou. That was the last name of one of the game’s art design leads, who always worked remotely so Kou had never met whoever that was in person.

“But why wouldn’t it be a coincidence?”
“Mm, I mean… This school has some pretty strong ties with the people behind that legendary VRMMO Worldgate Online.”
“You mean…”
“That was the first Full Dive VRMMORPG in the world, wasn’t it? But apparently, it shut down all of a sudden, even though it was still popular…”

Even now, twenty years after that game shut down, there were still plenty of theories and rumors being thrown around about it. Some of which sounded like esoteric urban legends, so it was hard to know what was true and what was not.

It was also famous for being the game directed by Aureo Uber, the principal of their school.

Before that, Aureo Uber had just been a scientist and researcher with no previous involvement in game development… But considering all of those factors, it did make sense that the school had a strong connection to Worldgate Online.

“Suzaku and my parents also had something to do with it, you know? Our mothers would tell us all sorts of stories when we were still small.”
“And somehow, it seems like you don’t know this, but your parents were involved too, Demon Lord.”
“…Seriously? Mom, again?”

Kou groaned in frustration.

Neither Amari nor Sora had ever mentioned anything about that to Kou. And this time, it was both who were at fault, so Kou decided she would force the truth out of them once she got home.

It was all a bit of a shocking reveal, but it successfully connected the dots, so Kou could accept it, but…

“Either way, we’re hardly the most involved in the matter.”
“You also know about this, don’t you? Heir of Archduke Uber, and the third son of Baron Roland?”
“…Bfugh?!”
“…Ack…Cough?!”

Having the conversation suddenly turned their way, Reo and Reinhard began coughing wildly, spitting out black tea.

“A-Archduke? Baron?”
“Isn’t an archduke almost like a king? Even more powerful than a duke or something…”

The group began to discuss, as they were not very familiar with such words. Seeing that, Haru, the one who had dropped that bombshell of a reveal, raised her index finger like a baton of sorts and calmly began to explain.

“What we call a duke here can also mean a prince sometimes, so it can be a bit confusing to understand. But he’s definitely more of the prince type.”
“Wait, Kagurazaka, why..?!”
“You know very well that this concerns Mitsuki, so it wouldn’t be fair to keep it a secret, would it now?”
“Um…ugh…”

Haru’s finger went straight to poke Reo on the nose, talking to him in a slightly reproachful tone, and he could not find a way to argue back and just groaned.

“Then, you really are…”
“You’re actually a prince?”

Subaru and Hijiri could not conceal their shock as they asked Reo directly. He let out a deep sigh, seemingly giving up on hiding it and nodded.

“…Yes, she’s right. But if I may correct her a little. Around ten years ago when the imperial heir ascended to the throne, my father rescinded his position as archduke, so now he’s just a regular duke.”

His voice was reluctant as he explained. Everyone was speechless, feeling like that was still amazing, and he seemed to be fighting a headache as he continued.

“So anyway, Kuga Reo is just my Japanese name. My real name is Sorleon Uber. Just don’t ask me which country I’m from.”
“Also, please keep in mind that due to certain circumstances, his title holds no value here in Japan, so please pay it no attention and interact with us as usual.”

As Reo looked away, almost like he was sulking from being forced to say all of that, Reinhard stepped in to amend things a little.

Somehow, what had started as a bit of a stupid joke between classmates turned out to be true, leaving Kou and her friends feeling rather conflicted and unsure of how to feel.

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