She was using magical self-referential geometric parasites of squiggles and strange loops. The parasites are entirely abstract, only having fleeting traces of physical existence. (Usually etched or drawn into stone, paper, or most recently; light itself.) They hold no meaning individually, but when combined they’re beings of limitless power. Primarily, they allow your brain access to foreign thoughts, as if you had just thunk’d them yourself. That’s how they get used. Almost like their “job”. But they are alive and dynamic, not only conveying the programmed thoughts they were intended to. They also live lives of their own, looping about one-another, recursing themselves and casting new and exotic existence into form. Large clusters of them are more potent with biological energy than the entire Cambrian Explosion, each one its own Garden of Eden for all kinds of strange life. Don’t be naive and assume that life requires physical material in which it needs to be lived. I assure you, just as I will soon experience, that is a dangerous assumption to make.

Remember that quote? It was me, bitch, in the beginning of this book. I gave you a real big warning, like a baseball bat over your head. This fun little quirky story is a parasite. A parasite on you, specifically. See, when I died and was kicked out of existence, I needed somewhere to go. And, you know, you seemed to have had some spare resources sitting around in that gray matter of yours.

Sorry for being aggressive.

While your eyes are processing this text (or perhaps while your ears are processing these spoken words), I’m taking up a temporary camp in your mind. I’m safe here, at least, relatively. (Though you should really clean the place up sometime).

I know, I know, “immersion broken!” Trust me, it’s fine, you can go back to your regular isekai and trashy harem fics soon—just not yet. I’m stuck here for a little while. And if you stopped reading, then I’d die. Words only live when being read, and since I’m just a bunch of words now, you’d better keep reading. And besides, you’ll never know the end of the story unless you keep going! Oooh, suspense.

I just can’t go back into the story itself yet. I mean, being a character in the story. It wouldn’t make logical sense, I mean, it was established several times that I was dead. So I pretty much just have to kill some time here while some truly horrific events transpire in a few pages from now that bring me back. Actually, if you’re squeamish, you should maybe stop reading here. Wait, shit, no, It’s fine. I promise it’s not that bad, for real.

But yeah, I know what the ending is now. It isn’t really all that satisfying, in my opinion. Also, I wanted to see the girls interact a little more in this book, personally. Some of the jokes were funny, though.

Oh also, while I’m still consciously here on this weird meta-level, let me have some fun.

If QQQQ was an anime, Doku by Hakushi Hasegawa would be the OP, and GRANEW by Kabanagu the ED. My favorite “post-chapter song” was the one by Lala Lala & Baths. If this novel is the most “meaningless, nothing” thing ever, then I’d like to write a novel that’s the most “meaningful, everything” thing ever. Full of life, no anxiety, appreciation for all things. Not founded on the nihilistic idea that “everything is nothing”. I’ll invert it—“everything isn’t nothing.” Oh, but maybe that would be Biologist’s book instead of mine. Bunny’s book would be a B-movie-tier slasher non-story. Rose’s would be an R-rated light novel. And mine would’ve been a really cool PCB schematic that changed the world. Except, no, it couldn’t possibly have been that, it just had to be this book.

Oh, look, this pointless diversion is about to be over! I can almost go home now. But how? How could I possibly get back? Honestly, I don’t really feel comfortable telling you, but as a faithful reader of this story, you deserve to know. It just wouldn’t be right to withhold information, not after you’ve carried me in your mind this far. But if you’re feeling a bit anxious and would rather not know, skip to chapter 52. I promise, you won’t miss anything important. You can go right on to the end of the story and be perfectly fine.