Everyone fell silent after Sorachi said that, and stared at me like they are forcing me to agree. I shivered when I felt Okita's glare through my sides. He was really angry at me...

"Can I ask...what I'm supposed to do first?" I asked nervously.

"I would have to ask the officials first, so even I don't know what you're going to do," Sorachi said. "But it is confirmed that everything could go back to normal after you did what you're supposed to do."

"So? Do you agree?" Okita asked with that glare of his. I shivered once again. It's so sad and disappointing at the same time thinking that your favorite character hates you...

"I...I think." I fidgeted under their gazes and agreed.

"So that's done." Sorachi stood up. "I'm gonna contact the office now, so get out. This is becoming too much of a problem."

He then opened the door and kicked us out. As we were about to leave, Sorachi called me again.

"Oh, and Nia? You'll stay at the Shinsengumi. Also, you should really remember the name of that friend of yours."

He slammed the door shut.

"So now, we're going to interview you for a while," Hijikata said. We were in a room used for interviewing. Hijikata and Kondo are the ones who would ask me questions, and they said that I should answer them honestly so that they could help me.

"O-okay."

"First question. Do you know why you got here?" Hijikata asked, to which I shook my head. I have some suspicions, but I haven't proved it yet, so I can't confirm whether it is the reason why I am here.

"Wasn't it because of the fiction gem?" I asked.

"No." They said. "We still don't know what happened to it. If it is really broken, then this world would disappear forever. So we think that there is a different reason why this happened."

"Next question. Have you known about the gem-- or even the truth about this world before?" Kondo was looking at the paper with the questions while saying that.

I also shook my head. It really surprised me that this world really existed. I thought that fiction is only fiction. That it only exists in the imagination of the population. But I guess that was the one that gave it life.

"Do you have any suspection about what happened?" Hijikata suddenly asked. "You seem pretty clever," he added.

I stared at them for a while before nodding my head. "Yes, I do have some," I said. "But I don't think they could be a reasonable one."

"Still," Kondo said, "You should tell us. It could give us some clues about what's happening."

"Does Sorachi tell you what happens in the outside world?" I asked, slightly getting away from the topic.

The two of them shook their heads. I was even surprised that they answered my question.

"The knowledge that we have are only obtained through the investigating that we've done since the beginning of the anime," Hijikata said.

I nodded and fell silent. "Do you know what the appearance of the gem is?" I asked.

Both Kondo and Hijikata shook their heads. "Unfortunately, we don't. The only thing we know is that it is in the hands of responsible people," Kondo said.

"That's right...he wouldn't give it to me, right?" I muttered to myself.

"Did you say something?" Hijikata asked to which I quickly shook my head no.

"I think...what Sorachi-sensei said was right. That the gem is the reason why everything is abnormal," I said even though it's already quite obvious. "But...what happened to the gem in the first place?"

"We don't even know--"

Hijikata was cut off from his speech when Okita suddenly came in.

"Hey. The gorilla told us to go to the meeting room." He looked at me. "You come too."

I nodded, uncomfortable at the ice in his eyes.

"Looks like something happened," Hijikata said and looked at Kondo. The latter nodded and all of them went out, with me trailing behind them.

When we arrived at the room, I saw Shinpachi serving tea and snacks to the people in the room, which are Gin, Sorachi-sensei, and a stranger who has red hair.

"Wahh...this looks delish!" The stranger said. He immediately took one of the snacks after it was put down and swallowed it. "Mhmm! Who cooked this?" He asked, looking at Shinpachi.

"My older sister cooked that," Shinpachi answered, that made me surprised. Isn't her cooking always the worse? Or is the guy just lying?

"Oh, your sister?" The red-haired guy looks surprised. "Wow...I thought she only cook charcoal."

Shinpachi chuckled a little, "No, it's just a part of her character's role. She cooks really delicious dishes when she's not in camera."

"Oohh," the guy nodded, and then continued eating when Sorachi stood up and greeted us.

"Hey. You guys hurry up, I don't have time wasting time with all of you being lazy," Sorachi-sensei said and stared at us lazily, slowly sitting back on his seat.

"By the way, this is Rigel," he said after seating, gesturing his hand towards the red-haired guy, or should I say Rigel, still eating the food on the table. When he heard his name, he raised his head and glanced at us briefly before resuming his eating.

"Sit." Sorachi-sensei nodded his head towards the free spaces around the table. The rest of us sat and silently waited for them to talk.

In the middle of the silence, the only thing you can hear is Rigel's crunching and chewing while he eats. Sorachi-sensei is glaring at him but doesn't stop him, while all of us just stared at him, uncomfortable with the silence.

Rigel slowly stops eating when he noticed the increasing silence between the people inside the room. He observed his surroundings and put down the food, cleaning his mouth with a white cloth and smiled.

"Sorry about that." He stood up and bowed at all of them. "My name is Rigel, a member of the official Astral Office."

Sorachi-sensei sighed, seemingly relieved that Rigel has communicated with the people in front of him.

"Nia," Sorachi said.

I looked at him, confused as to why he called my name. "Yes?"

"He's going to be...the one who will help you with your mission," he said.

"And what would that be?" Okita suddenly said.

"We figured out what happened," Rigel said. "We traced the energy of the Origin and we found out that it's powers significantly disappeared."

"Origin?" Hijikata asked.

"It's what they call the fiction gem in their place." Sorachi-sensei answered Hijikata's question.

"The Origin...it was a really important part of this world. I don't know if this guy--" he pointed his thumb at Sorachi "-- has explained to you how important it is, but it's as important as your brain to your body.

"If the Origin's powers are not in this world, it will collapse. The original characters are made aware of their real situation--their reality.

"The office sent me, Rigel, to fix this mess and find the person who started all of this." He suddenly looked at me, and I lowered my head to avoid his eyes. Why did he look at me?

"Nia, right?" He said and I nodded. "You're going to have to come with me to this mission because...you are from the outer, right? We presume that you have some kind of knowledge on what happened, so I have to ask a favor."

I nodded again, agreeing to his speech. "I accept it. I will help you with...what are we gonna do again?"

"We're gonna travel to different dimensions of fiction...and find the fragments that makes up the Origin, to recharge the power of the world."