Sekitana, Japan. The sky was blue, and so were the rolling waves on the ocean.

A girl who had been long forgotten sat inside a gazebo on the beach, staring out at the great Pacific Ocean. The town and her empty home were miles behind her, and she embraced the calm of the beach.

Shiori set down the book, which was still unfinished, and sighed.

"This is a horrible book."

The book was called DZ!, and then Shiori got too metaphysical.

"The author needs to just delete the whole latest arc and start over. She needs to take a different direction. Now that she lets herself write ahead, she has a lot more freedom to control the plot flow, and she's probably realized that the Talent Arc is completely disorganized."

"Disappear?"

Then Gen of Sky was next to her, because he had to bring up a question that had to be answered for the readers. Shiori shook her head.

"No, Gen, you're not going to disappear. You're still going to actually be in the plot. It's not like you were just pulled out of thin air. You and Riva are both supposed to play important roles in the plot, so you can't just disappear. You're just not going to come in along the same storyline. Same goes for Silia, Aston, Zinc, and Mello."

"Oi! I haven't dropped in yet! Don't pop my name like that!" yelled Zinc, a character whose character we won't get into.

"And, well… did I appear?" asked Mello.

"You did, but you weren't ever named." Shiori explained. "The readers probably don't remember you, anyways."

"Wait… er, how about us?" Rich said, appearing along with Seveul, making the gazebo grow crowded. A sunbather far away on the beach noticed the magic gazebo and started to slowly edge away.

"Oh, you two. You were minor characters. Really were pulled out of thin air, just to support Aston. You'll probably vanish."

"N-no! Wait!" Rich waved his arms in the air, howling in horror, and then he and his partner vanished because they never needed to exist. That's how writing works, really.

"Well, this is interesting!" Aria said, appearing. Somewhere in the DZ, Selena and Elizabeth were probably panicking at how Aria was suddenly gone, but they were pretty important characters, so they would probably appear in the gazebo before long. "So, would I be correct to presume that we would be starting from Chapter 50?"

Shiori weighed two worthwhile options, nodding to herself as she thought. "Maybe. Chapter 51 works well with Kisho's plans for the retooling of the arc, though. She might keep that one, too. She might not."

"I see…" Aria nodded. "So how is my game going to play out in the end?"

"Oh, Kisho has no idea what she was thinking when she used that game. The basic idea is something she had in mind for a much later date. For some reason, she stopped and thought 'wow, this would be great to explore the concept of Talents,' and so she tossed it into the middle of the arc. Then she realized that her main character having an unidentified Talent was one of the most crucial plot points, that Gen's backstory and planned future story were about him hiding his Talent, and that Riva's deranged, so everything went crazy."

"Oh." Aria could not find any more words to say, try as she might have.

"Yes. Odds are, your game will be thrown out the window altogether. Many chapters in the future, though, you might see someone else playing that same game. Maybe it will even be you!"

"Well, that would certainly be incredible!" Aria clapped her hands together. "It's as if I'm some sort of future-teller, like the Prognosticus my lord so despises!"

"Who's your lord?" Tsuki asked, randomly appearing because he never gets enough screen time.

"Nex."

Aria was not telling the truth. (Or was she?)

Speaking of Nex, he appeared. "Oh, is this a beach? Ugh, it tastes salty. Why do humans romanticize this garbage?"

"Okay, we're losing our focus." Shiori clapped her hands together, setting the book on her lap aside. "Everybody! This iteration of the Talents Arc is going to be undone. It will become the Unwritten Talents Arc. Any questions?"

Silia appeared. "Is my name going to change?"

"Maybe. Our author couldn't decide on your name for the longest time, and then when your chapter came around she had to suddenly come up with one. She regretted it, like, next chapter, though. Other questions?"

"I have one," said Eterno, who appeared with a puff of smoke, unlike everyone else, who had just come to be. The effect god must have been getting antsy.

"Yes, the chapter where you get teased about your first kiss will be withdrawn."

"I-I wasn't asking that!" Eterno's face turned red. "God, you're the one who was swooning over me towards the beginning of the story! Don't try to make fun of me with impunity!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. But then, what is your question?"

"It's about the pacing. Didn't she say she'd be slowing things down? Will the rewrite be slower, then?"

"Most likely." Shiori nodded. "Our author didn't like that fast pacing, which mostly came about as a result of rushing the chapters and feeling disconnected from having written the last one a week ago every time. This time, it will probably be slower, and more focused on exploring the characters and their relationships, and on answering all the questions that came up from chapters 1 to 50."

"Or 51," said Aria.

"Or 51," agreed Shiori. "Wait, did any questions come up in chapter 51?"

"How I pull all-nighters so effortlessly!" Red yelled, appearing.

"That's a stupid question." Fai appeared to chastise her.

"You're a stupid question!" Red screeched at him.

"That doesn't make-"

"You two, stop it! We're almost at 1,000 words." Shiori snapped. "Wait a second, is the main character not going to appear?"

The crowd waited expectantly. Miki didn't appear.

"Ugh… we're over 1,000, too, now," Shiori sighed. "If the Dimensional God were here, he'd be furious."

"Is…" Selena appeared. "Is he why… is he why we have 1,000-word chapters? That seems…"

"Yes. Any words after 1,000, he eats."

Eterno put a hand on his forehead. "The legends support no such… no, we're getting distracted. We have to wrap this up now – without Miki, I guess."

"Sorry your girlfriend's missing," Red said, shrugging. Eterno settled just for glaring at her, instead of yelling.

"There hasn't been a lot of Miki/Eterno development…" Selena mumbled. "They don't make for a very good couple."

"Yeah, there's been more Miki/Selena development, actually," Shiori said. "Some fans think you two should get together."

Selena blinked, slowly. "M… Miki? I don't… swing that way?"

"Shame," said Shiori. "Anyway, I guess we'll call it a day now, before Dizone shows up."

Together, they all turned to look at you, the reader.

"Thanks for coming through these 66 chapters and this nonsensical one here, too!" Shiori said. "I hope you read and enjoy the rewrite, too! Until next time, Kisho's cast, out!"

They saluted.

And then the Dimensional God appeared, and with a furious hungry roar, he began to devour all the words that