Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

The group that went skiing finished their lunch and returned to the vacation house. They had nothing else planned until dinner, so they did different things.
By then Julia was fully in dreamland as Reiji carried her on his back, so together with Iris and Reo they went to take a nap.
Hijiri and the rest wanted to read something, or go on walks, and Kou…she had been called by Yukina, who said she had something to discuss, so they logged into Destiny Unchain Online.

But then…

“…They’re all watching. I can’t believe they’re that curious to see if we’ll keep going tonight or not.”

As soon as she logged in, she could feel the intense stares of many players, all observing her movements.

“I promise we’re not doing this for some hidden event…”

It seemed like the players thought that Crim’s traveling group were there for some event.
There were even players in stealth, observing everything from far away…but since she could not feel any malice from them, Crim decided not to pay much attention to them.
It was only an issue because she wanted to have a secret conversation…so Crim spread her wings and flew off to the tallest peak in the region.

“Okay…Setsuna said she wanted to discuss something, so she should be…”

Opening her friend list to check, she saw that Setsuna was marked as online, and her position was…

“…I don’t think there’s an ability to instantly teleport to another player’s location, is there?”
“Huh, you noticed?!”

Setsuna got caught, just as she was about to jump on Crim from behind and cover her eyes to ask “Who am I?”
Then again, there was no other explanation for how Setsuna had gotten to that place, considering she had been absent the night before.

“I guess it’s time for an explanation for that…and allll the other odd things thou hast done, right?”

Crim turned around with a wide grin, and Setsuna nodded while trembling.

***

Destiny Unchain Online had a special Whisper mode, which allowed players to isolate their voices, making them only audible to those they wanted.
It was a very useful feature when discussing private matters or strategy, which was also why Setsuna had decided to have that conversation in-game.
So now that there was no danger of anyone overhearing them, Setsuna revealed something…that would make Crim almost want to pull her hair out in distress.

“I see, so thou were part of the police…nay, the National Police Agency’s Security Bureau, did I get that right?”
“It’s more like my father is, and I’m just an independent collaborator of sorts. To be honest it’s all pretty complicated for me too…”

The Security Bureau…a special division within the National Police Agency that in a way was the core force of it, focused on keeping public safety.
That also meant much of the work they did had to be kept under wraps…in some cases to the extent that a member’s own family could not know where they worked or their position.

“…And is that really something I should be able to know?”
“Don’t worry about that. Or rather, those were my father’s orders. I can explain things to you, but not to anyone else.”
“And why’s that?”
“In his words, *She’ll probably find out on her own so it’s better to put a plug on it beforehand.*”

*I see, I guess a controlled explosion is way better than a ticking timebomb.*

It was a strange feeling to learn that she was being shadowed by such an important agency, but she also understood what Setsuna was trying to say.

“There’s one thing I still don’t understand. Why did such important people choose to become involved specifically with Destiny Unchain Online, out of all the countless other forms of entertainment?”

Usually a simple VRMMO was not something public safety officers would ever get involved with.
If anything, that was more in the ballpark of the cyber security sector, which Crim found odd.

“I’m sure you’re at least faintly aware of this, but Destiny Unchain Online isn’t just a mere game.”
“…Hmm? Sometimes I do get the feeling that there’s something bigger afoot, but can thou put what that is into proper words then?”
“Yes…well, it is a game all things considered…but hmm, how do I say this. Basically it’s also a big experimental site, with a lot of research secretly going on behind the scenes.”
“I see…an experimental site, huh.”

There were various things that fit that description.

A virtual world utilizing never before seen technology to recreate reality to a staggering degree.
Similar technology being used to bring to life NPCs with intelligence indistinguishable from real people.
A deep understanding of human emotion and mental states, like what allowed Crim to evolve species.

That type of technology was clearly overkill for something most people would treat as a simple game, but it had been included in this world.

“…A world simulator, entirely controlled by a stand-alone AI, with state-of-the-world accuracy. At least that’s the goal. Accomplishing that requires a lot of data from real people interacting with its systems, so the prototype was turned into a game and opened to the public.”

Setsuna’s explanations did not really shock Crim, instead being more of a confirmation.
Some people had described this game as an “isekai simulator” in jest…and in reality, that was exactly what it was.

“And that’s why the Agency and the developers led by Amari solicited my services. I’m basically a spy surveilling the systems in case they go out of control or someone tries to exploit them in some way!”

Setsuna puffed her chest and grinned smugly, revealing her true identity to Crim…

Afterword:
She also has access to various handy debug commands, but she needs to request permission from the devs to actually use them.