A/N: Funny enough... by this point, I'm starting to run out of ideas about what to write (aside from a cliffhanger end) but then I had a light bulb moment.
Keiwa let out a long sigh once his tears had run out. As much as he understood completely the reason why Ace did what he did, he didn't understand why Ace didn't just take his mother away from the DGP admin and just let the 'show' be without a 'Goddess of Creation'. Without the Goddess under their control, those people from the future will no longer have the ability to resume the DGP in whichever world they decided to move on to.
Then they have to find some OTHER way to find their source of entertainment.
So why?
Surprisingly, Tsumuri knew the answer.
"Ace did it to also protect me..."
Keiwa glanced up to look at Tsumuri in confusion.
"What do you mean, Tsumuri-san?" he asked. "What do you mean that Ace also wanted to protect you?"
Tsumuri bit her lips.
"Because like Ace's mother before me, I have also awakened my Goddess powers." Keiwa's eyes widened as he heard Tsumuri's confession. Tsumuri let out a long sigh.
"Prior to his defeat, Producer Niram had already decided to leave this world and restart the show on a blank slate elsewhere. He would've done that, had Ace returned the Game Master's Vision driver back to him when he first recovered it. And later, Executive Producer Suel decides to follow up on that to reestablish the Desire Royale in order to determine the fate of the Desire Grand Prix. Even then, they were already prepared to cut this world off from the start, given how things had progressed since."
Keiwa frowned. "So once the producer had the two Vision drivers with him, it would just be easy for him to abandon this world and restart the game elsewhere. And no one in this world will remember anything and the people who were already lost because of the Desire Grand Prix will never be recovered."
Tsumuri nodded her head as Keiwa turned to face her again.
"But what that got to do with you also gaining the Goddess's powers? I don't understand!"
Tsumuri shook her head as well. "I don't either, but Ace's mother used to be the game navigator as well. And she had awakened the same power."
And as much as Keiwa hadn't asked about it, Tsumuri explained to him further. "Mitsume awakened her powers when she wished to bear a son with someone she has fallen in love with."
"Eh?" Keiwa gasped.
Tsumuri smiled weakly. "I awakened my Goddess powers after wishing desperately for Ace to be revived. I didn't believe that I awakened such power at first, but the more I thought about it, no other explanation could've been possible."
xxx
"After being revived, Ace wanted nothing more than to have the Desire Grand Prix ended once and for all. But then after finding out that I also had awakened the same power as his mother did, he changed his mind."
"Because Ace knew that even if he rescued his mother and stopped the game, the admins would've just chosen a different world and restarted the game with me as the new Goddess of Creation. He didn't want the same fate that his mother has suffered to happen to me as well."
"So when his new wish was granted... Ace had sealed the power within me before he completely lost awareness of himself."
"So with that, Ace would be the only one remaining who could wield the Goddess of Creation's powers."
.
Keiwa continued rolling on his bed as he found it difficult to fall back to sleep. So much had happened in the day and so much information to process. So aside from needing to get his 'normal' life straightened out, he also had to figure out a course of action on how to rescue Ace from the DGP.
Keiwa groaned inwardly.
"Ace you idiot! Why did you have to do that?"
xxx
As much as he didn't plan to contact either Michinaga or Neon to ask for their help, Keiwa couldn't stop himself from checking on them in between his current charity work. He couldn't help feeling curious about them, whether or not the two had also been approached to rejoin the new DGP. Of course, he could've just asked Tsumuri about it... but it was enough for him to know that his sister will not be involved in the DGP anymore.
.
Anyway from what he gathered so far, Michinaga was constantly occupying himself with his work and Neon with her video streaming. Neither seemed to act as if they knew him or recognised him... so perhaps they haven't been roped into the game. Perhaps that was for the best.
After all, he didn't want to drag Neon into danger again... and he doubted Michinaga would be interested in anything related to the DGP, much less wanting to try launching a rescue mission to save Ace.
Guess he would have to do this by himself. Somehow.
xxx
"Welcome, new players... to the Desire Grand Prix..."
.
He couldn't believe it! How could the two of them be here of all places? He thought the two of them already had their lives laid out in front of them. The two people in question stood in front of him as if there was something they wanted to talk to him about.
Azuma Michinaga rolled his eyes dramatically at Keiwa.
"What? Did you think that I would stay out from all of this?"
Neon also made a disagreeable face at him.
"You're awful, Keiwa! Did you seriously think we wouldn't want to also help save Lord Ace? How could you pretend to not know either of us when we passed each other?"
"W-wait a sec—"
What an unexpected turn of events! Yet, Keiwa found himself laughing at himself silly. Perhaps he had been overthinking about this too much.