As Kurushimi sat down, she looked around herself and curiously inspected her surroundings. The shrine, which had sat in the background during her conversation with Atelier, had an old-fashioned and run down look from the outside, but was surprisingly clean and homely on the inside. The interior really didn't lose to a house built in Kurushimi’s old world.

“Do you like it?” Atelier asked, seeing her unreserved eyes scanning around the room.

“Mm, it’s comfy!” Kurushimi stopped looking around and refocused back on Atelier. Before explaining how to enable the ‘spectator mode’, she had been invited to sit down in the shrine and for a second of momentary rest. After having spent all her time so far in this untamed forest, she felt it was nice to be able to finally take refuge in a proper building. However, she knew she wouldn’t be here for long. So she tried not to get too comfortable.

“You’re looking plenty comfortable to me.” Voice-san voiced her doubts about Kurushimi’s current train of thoughts. Despite thinking about not getting too comfortable, she laid with her back to the floor and was revelling in the soft texture of the furry rug which sat underneath the table she and Atelier were currently seated at.

“All of this is actually an illusion I made. In reality, this is what the shrine looks like.” With a snap of Atelier’s fingers, the cozy room suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a much more run down, cold and old room which fit the exterior of the shrine a lot more. As it all went away, so did the soft and furry sensation of the rug, making Kurushimi disgruntled. “Trapped here, I had a lot of spare time. So I spent a fair bit of that playing with the skills and magic I could use. I can even make illusion magic simulate touch, taste and smell.” As Atelier talked, she snapped her fingers once more and the illusion magic returned.

“My illusion magic is also how I hid myself and the shrine from you so I could sneak up~” Atelier said with a big smile. Kurushimi felt a little taken back by Atelier’s looks. She herself had gained a body that looked doll-like but it really couldn’t compare to the mature beauty in front of her. Maybe it was because her own body looked anything but mature. Rather, it looked like she had de-aged a good few years from her old self.

Whatever the case, Kurushimi could tell by Atelier’s expressions that she was enjoying the conversation. Perhaps it was because she had the chance to talk with someone after being alone for such a long period of time. Thinking about it, Kurushimi realised she was quite lucky to have Voice-san with her rather than being alone. Even if she got on her nerves, it would have been a lot harder on her mental if she had been alone to face the various monsters and challenges.

Kurushimi was happy to continue conversing with Atelier. However, things were beginning to get pretty off-topic. The main topic of the spectator mode was yet to have been spoken about since they entered the shrine. With a cough, she cleared her throat and caught Atelier’s attention. “So how is that spectator thing going to work?”

Atelier made a blank expression for a second before a look of realisation appeared on her face. That look of realisation became a look of slight embarrassment as she spoke, “Ah sorry, sorry. I got distracted. Um, it’s fairly simple how it works. All I need from you is your consent and I handle the rest.”

‘My consent huh?’ Kurushimi squinted as she thought about Atelier’s words. All that was needed was to give consent apparently. Meaning, after she had given her consent, that would be it. No turning back. Although she had decided to go through with it earlier, Kurushimi felt it would be a good idea to hold off on giving her consent just yet. At least, until she was absolutely sure.

Glancing over the vestige of the innocent-looking, green-haired woman one more time, Kurushimi breathed in, sitting up as she opened her mouth. “I want to help Atelier, I really do. But I can't give you my consent yet. I need to weigh the risks and benefits and the risks are far too high at the moment. I need some kind of insurance to avoid my body being…”

“You want some insurance that will assure I’m not going to hijack your body right?” As Kurushimi trailed off at the end of her sentence, Atelier finished it for her. She was a little nervous about accusing a stranger, a god at that, of such a thing. However, she was surprised to see Atelier’s expression completely devoid of worry. As if it were but a trivial matter.

“Mm, I can get you sure-fire insurance if that’s what you need.” As Kurushimi heard Atelier’s statement, she couldn't help but feel her curiosity peak. A ‘sure-fire insurance’? What exactly would that be to say with such confidence? Atelier sighed in relief, “I thought I was going to be rejected. I’m glad only that was your concern~”

“What is this insurance then?” Kurushimi asked.

“A contract.” Atelier replied.

“A contract?” Kurushimi felt very intrigued by Atelier’s solution. A contract, an agreement between two parties that could concern really anything. But how a contract was going to work here, in this other world without a legal system to enforce said contract, was another concern for her. Thus, she asked, “Can you elaborate?”

“Through the system, we can make a contract between us about basically anything. The system will work as a third party to ensure the contract is followed through by both sides. So anything you set in the contract, I will be forced to follow.”

“So what you’re saying is I should form a contract with you to make it so you can’t hijack my body?” Kurushimi summarised Atelier’s intentions. If they really could make a contract like that, concerns of being deceived would truly go out the window. Especially if it was enforced by the system. In itself, the system was kind of similar to a body of law governing the world, so contracts through it did make sense.

“Mm, let’s do that then.” Kurushimi nodded her head, agreeing to the idea of a contract. Atelier promptly held her hand out towards Kurushimi, her palm facing upwards. Her spread out fingers were slender and thin, but most noticeably glowed in transparency. Kurushimi stared at her hand for a second, unsure what Atelier was trying to do.

“Hand.” Atelier suddenly said, extending her hand out towards Kurushimi a little more. Seeing Kurushimi’s confused expression, she continued, “Give me your hand.”

“Ah?” Kurushimi was only made even more confused than before. She now understood what Atelier was asking her to do. But that wouldn’t work, would it? After all, she had tried to touch her hands before, only to end up falling straight through her into the ground.

“But I can’t touch y-” Kurushimi tried to talk, but was interrupted when Atelier abruptly leaned forward and grabbed her hand. Kurushimi felt the touch of Atelier’s skin against her own, contradicting her past beliefs. Meanwhile, Atelier led Kurushimi’s hand back to where she had originally stuck her hand out.

“Illusion magic, remember? I can simulate touch.” Atelier smiled, as she explained to the confused Kurushimi.

“Oh yeah…” Kurushimi’s face froze a little in embarrassment, until she felt her hand being embraced by Atelier’s and realised that she had no idea as to why they were currently holding hands. Looking down at their hands, she asked, “Why did you grab my hand?”

“We need to hold each other's hand for the contract.” As Atelier spoke, a system panel suddenly appeared above their hands.

CONTRACT

Contractors: Kurushimi, Atelier.

What are the terms of the contract?

“I’ll let you set them.” Atelier said a short moment after the panel appeared. The system was asking for the ‘terms of the contract’, meaning she could now set whatever the terms were going to be. Atelier had left her to decide the terms now, so she had to decide on what exactly to put in the contract.

“Umm… Atelier cannot do anything to me with bad intentions and… Cannot attempt to hijack my body or mind or anything.” Kurushimi stated most of what she was worried about in her decided terms. She felt her wording could have been a bit better but that should be enough to prevent Atelier from hijacking her body.

[Are these the desired terms of the contract?] Briefly after she had stopped speaking, a new system message popped up in front of Kurushimi. With a verbal “Yes” and a nod, the text on the contract panel expanded, adding the line, [Contractor: ‘Atelier’ may not act towards contractor: ‘Kurushimi’ with malicious intent or attempt to hijack the body or mind.] Seeing the properly worded version of what she had said, she looked up at Atelier and asked, “What next?”

“Now we just need to both verbally agree.” Atelier replied. Kurushimi looked back towards the contract panel which hovered above their interlocked hands. As she glanced over it, she heard Atelier say, “I agree to the terms of the contract.” To which a check mark appeared next to Atelier’s name.“I also agree.” And as Kurushimi agreed, a check mark appeared next to her name as well before the panel disappeared. As Atelier let go of Kurushimi’s hand, a system message popped up in the contract panels absence, stating, [Contract successfully created!]

Kurushimi waved away the system message as she stood up. Looking over towards Atelier, she said, “Now that the contract is done with, we can get on with the spectator mode.”

“So I just need to consent, right?” Kurushimi asked Atelier.

“Yep, that and we need to hold hands again.” Atelier reached her hand out once again towards Kurushimi.

“Go ahead, I consent.” Kurushimi said as she firmly grasped Atelier’s hand. The sensation in her hand was suddenly lost and Atelier disappeared from sight. Kurushimi stepped back and looked around. The shrine had reverted back to its run down state with Atelier’s absence. She stepped out of the shrine, back into the outside and walked a distance away until she suddenly stopped.

“Atelier, you there?” Kurushimi asked, having not heard Atelier speak. After seeing her disappear, Kurushimi had expected she had gone through with the spectator mode and would talk any minute now. However, she hadn’t said a word or done anything to alert her presence.

“Ah-! Um, yeah I’m here.” After a few more seconds of silence, Atelier finally spoke up. Her voice now playing directly in Kurushimi’s head, like how Voice-san would sound. As Kurushimi was about to ask why she wasn’t speaking, she was interrupted before being able to. “And it seems like another god was here before me.”

“A what?” Kurushimi wondered if she had heard wrong. The only person Atelier could be referencing when she said that someone had come before her had to be Voice-san. However, if she wasn’t mistaken, she had just heard Atelier say a ‘god’ was here before her. Was it possible that there was a sneaky god that had somehow gotten into her mind at some point? No matter how deluded she was, there was no way that was it.

“Are you referring to me?” Voice-san said in her usual monotone, cold voice. Kurushimi wasn’t sure if it was just her, but she felt like Voice-san’s tone was a little different than usual. This was also the first time Voice-san and Atelier had interacted. Kurushimi knew they would have to interact soon, so she hoped they could get along but…

“Yes, Who else would I be referring to?” Atelier asked, skeptically. Continuing on, she said, “I suspected you may have been talking to someone earlier, but I didn’t expect another god. Much less, one I can’t recognize.”