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savemidoriproject · 7 years

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Chapter 20: [Dimension M | Worldline 1] – Midori Divergence

Midori and I got inside a black car. The night sky was filled completely with expansive blackness, but something about this blackness felt artificial. The night breeze also felt much colder, sharper, and cynical than before. It was as if the universe was trying to signal us that autumn was now over…

The worldline was becoming unstable.

Soon after the car started moving, we entered a pitch-black highway. Illuminated only by regularly spaced pale road lights, Midori’s melancholy expression remained unchanged, almost like a cold, solitary flower.

“Ryan,”

As I turned my head, Midori slowly grabbed my hand and turned her gaze toward me. The fragility of her fingers sent chills along my arm, and her dark brown, lucid, bottomless eyes had a familiar superposition of lucidity and cloudiness. At the core of this dialectically opposed superposition lied a particular hue of melancholy that couldn’t have represented anyone other than Midori herself. By now, I had an acute understanding of the mechanics underlying this melancholia – it was the defining feature of the inner emptiness that have haunted her ever since the first moment she heard Singular Lyricism’s performance, and the vast, expansive sonic landscape of her shoegaze music was meant to hold together her precarious self-conceptions, fragmented by endless layers of abstractions that allowed her to hide from her own trauma stemming from childhood abduction and emotional neglect.

This melancholia, of course, was also the very substance of her aching beauty – the sharp outline of her face, her brown bobbed hair, long eyelashes, slender arms…

“Ryan… Mayu-san is not someone to be taken lightly.”

Before I had a chance to properly verbalize my question of what she exactly meant by that, my mind couldn’t help but be absorbed by the reflections of the road lights from her eyes as Midori stared into the meaningless darkness lying beyond the car window.

“I know she told us about her plan to subsume YM Corp under JS Corp… but I know for sure that this merge is only a small part of her alternative plans. She’s been involved heavily with YMMR ever since the onset of the JS-YM transactions, and it’s safe to assume that she has been aware of the development of Ene’s worldline theory all this time.”

I was reminded of Mayu-san’s dark purple eyes, and her exotic, ominous beauty suggestive of subliminal danger…

“That being said, one thing that I can say for sure is that Mayu-san’s top priority has always been, and will always be, absolute consolidation of power through expansion of JS’s corpocratic control. The fact that YM Corp will now be under her control – and I can guarantee you that it will be – indicates that military is a necessary component for her next plan or counter-measurement…”

As Midori’s voice faded away in uncertainty, I could see that we were now entering another urban setting densely packed with countless tall buildings. The regularly placed buildings created a grid-like road system, with isolated businessmen walking busily on the side. It might have been due to the fact that our car windows were completely sealed black, or that the whole city was palely lit by white fluorescent light coming from the street lamps and the building windows… Every single one of those businessmen were identically dressed, and everything about them felt too uniform, almost to the extent where it seemed as though they didn’t have any distinguishable faces…

As we continued deeper into the center of the city, we arrived at a circularly open area, at the center of which was a giant convention center – another building with a hypermodern glass design, much like the Imperial Library we visited last time. The building had a simple sign above the main entrance: YM Corporation.

“A ton of reporters will bombard us with flashlights and questions. Just ignore them all and follow me into the building.”

Upon Midori’s curt instruction, the car entered into the rotary and pulled in front of the singular pathway leading straight toward the main entrance. The guards sitting in the front seats stepped out of the car and swiftly opened the door for us.

“SDo, activate automatic threat screening. Mark, please take care of all neutralization.”

“Right away.”

“Leave it to me.”

As we stepped out, I immediately understood what Midori had meant. There was a swarm of reporters from several broadcasting stations waiting outside, and I was instantly blinded by overwhelming flashes of camera light. As the reporters attempted to approach us with their cameras and microphones, the two guards prevented them from getting too close as Midori and I started walking along the pathway. The reporters started bombarding us with an incessant barrage of questions.

"Midori-san, is it true that the JS-YM relations have taken a negative turn in the recent days?”

“There are rumors that you have been at the center of this turn. Is that true?”

“To what extent has JS been involved in YM’s growing control of the Ministry of Defense and the military?”

“What is your official stance on the privatization of the national security by YMMR?”

“What was the underlying motivation behind your decision to do away with private security on the university campus?”

“Are you in a personal relationship with the new guard accompanying you today?”

“As the major JS shareholder, can you confirm your future involvement in JS as the company moves forward?”

My augmented reality glasses indicated no signs of direct threat from these reporters. Midori continued walking by my side with a composed expression, unaffected by either the flashlights or the questions. It seemed she was completely used to these types of situations…

The main entrance was guarded by several military personnel, and several reporters were reporting on the situation while facing their respective cameras. Midori and I entered the building, leaving the swarm of reporters behind…

As soon as the entrance door closed, we were wrapped in silence, the only sound being small echoes of classical music coming off of invisible speakers. The main lobby was much like the JS Corp lobby, vast and mostly empty, with minimalistic sofas, tables, and lamps located here and there.

“We must first attend the reception.”

As Midori crossed her arms and let out a sigh, a male secretary approached us and bowed courteously. His thin silver glasses along with his neatly brushed hair gave him a slightly shrewd look…

“Welcome, Midori-san and Ryan-san. YM Corporation thanks you for visiting us today at our main branch for the biannual conference. Please allow me to lead you to the reception hall.”

Our two guards followed behind us. The secretary led us further into the lobby and took a left turn into a long hallway. There were countless conference rooms on both sides, the doors marked with alphanumeric codes and short descriptions of the respective meeting agenda:

Military vehicular application of photonic crystals(*1)

Sustainable batch synthesis of stimpack(*2) pharmaceuticals

Prototype modeling of exoskeleton(*3) electronics

Computational financial optimization for fiscal year IV

Construction proposal for Gen V molten salt nuclear reactors(*4)

…

“Midori, these meeting agenda seem quite heavily oriented around military research collaborations between JS and YM… Are there other external research organizations involved?”

“Yes… In addition to JS and YM’s own R&D sectors, we invest significantly in research groups across major academia and industries. All of them are invited here today – you can think of this conference as being academic, industrial, and political in character at the same time…”

As Midori responded my question nonchalantly, several people stopped and bowed to us as we passed by. After a minute or so, one of the conference room doors opened ahead of us, and a few people in suits came out…

… but a particular girl caught my eyes. She was dressed in a white button-down shirt with collars decorated by black linings, a red necktie, and a simple black skirt… and on top of her long blonde hair was a round black hat with a white ribbon. After exiting the conference room, she remained standing where she was, as several people bowed to her and walked away… She was stretching her arms toward the ceiling and yawning with her mouth covered, not making any attempt to hide her bored expression. My glasses indicated her name was Reina Kirishina – she was the daughter of the head of JS Construction. At that point, I remembered Kirishina-san from the JS board meetings – he was the middle-aged businessman who voiced his concern regarding the YM-JS transactions. It now made sense why he was particularly concerned about them…

Midori raised her hand abruptly and gestured the secretary to stop.

“Reina? Is that you?!”

With one of her arms still pointing toward the ceiling, Reina turned her gaze toward us, her bored expression changing rapidly to that of delight, and ran toward Midori.

“Midori! Oh my gosh!”

Midori also ran toward Reina and embraced her. They jumped lightly with their hands interlocked, almost like a pair of frolicking children.

“How many years have it been? If I remember correctly, last time you visited me was during the summer three years ago, right?”

“Yeah… I’m sorry I haven’t been able to visit more often. But no worries, I just graduated and I’m back for good!”

“You graduated? Congratulations! When did you arrive from USNA?”

USNA… I’m guessing that stands for United States of North America…?(*5)

“Hear me out Midori… I just arrived this afternoon, and my dad made them drag me here straight! And I had to sit through these boring meetings… Can you believe that?”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Well, you already know that I am the last person who ever wants to attend this conference.”

“Haha, that’s for sure—”

At that point, Reina’s energetic eyes met mine. Midori smiled and introduced me to Reina.

“I forgot to introduce Ryan, he’s my new guard and boyfriend. Ryan, this is Reina, my childhood friend that I told you about.”

“Hmm…”

A pair of crystal clear, green eyes was staring at mine with a curiosity.

“If you do anything bad to Midori, I’m gonna kill you, okay?”

As Reina said the last part with a witty smile, Midori and I laughed.

“Nice to meet you too, Reina.”

“Reina, why don’t we all go together for a tea at Saijo-san’s place after this?”

“I’ve been dying to have tea with you, Midori… just like the old days.”

After finishing her sentence with a certain whimsicality, Reina sighed and said,

“Well, I don’t want to keep you late to the reception. I still need to greet a few people from JS Construction, so I will see you after the conference. Please take care of Midori for me, Ryan.”

With that, she waved her hand with an enchanting smile, and started walking in the opposite direction along the hallway. The secretary bowed, and we continued following his lead. We soon encountered several pairs of wide doors, all of which led to the reception hall. The secretary opened the central door, and we entered.

The hall had a very high ceiling, decorated with several layers of colored glasses of blue-greenish hue. The entire floor was made of shiny white granite, and several small round standing tables were located throughout the hall. The colored glasses flooded the air with gentle turquoise light, making the space look like some sort of a modern art museum. Upon our entrance, everyone turned their gaze toward us and resumed talking in subdued tones after a few seconds of silence. I immediately recognized Mizuki and Mayu-san at the front of the hall – they gave us a nod and a mysterious smile, respectively, and continued talking with other people.

A particular middle-aged man in a uniform approached us – Minister of Defense, Hazama Tarou…

“Midori-san, welcome. It is my sincere pleasure to see you in person again this year.”

“Tarou-san... How unusual it is for you to be saying hello to me. Could it be that the Ministry of Defense has suddenly gained an interest in strengthening its alliance with the JS group?”

Midori said this as matter-of-factly while grabbing a cup of tea from a floating waiter. Tarou-san gave out a small laughter to ease the apparent tension.

“Oh, the Ministry of Defense has always remained in solidarity with both conglomerates, Midori-san. Without the support of the JS group, our government would never have been able to thrive as it is doing currently.”

“Hmm… is that so.”

Midori took a sip of her tea and responded nonchalantly.

“Tarou-san, I would like to think that you and I both know when a certain measure starts to go a little too far. I am sure Mayu-san has also talked to you about this, am I right?”

Tarou-san looked slightly thrown off by Midori’s straightforward invocation of Mayu-san’s name… He quickly collected his expression to an agreeable smile.

“Yes, of course. National economic interest is entirely synonymous to JS Corporation’s interest, after all.”

Midori continued sipping her tea while holding her tea cup with both of her hands.

“Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page. If you may, I’d like to say hello to a few other people now.”

Tarou-san bowed to us as we walked away. Hazama Tarou… his name will be marked from now on. Midori went to a small table with refreshments and started refilling her cup of tea.

“Midori, how are you feeling?”

She looked at me with a slightly surprised look, and gave a small smile.

“I’m okay… quite used to these kinds of conversations now. I would have to say, though, that they’re not in the least bit interesting at all, don’t you think? Everyone is so trapped in this corpocratic stage play.”

“I expected you to be much more detached from these matters.”

Midori’s dark brown, lucid, bottomless eyes stared at mine with a mixture of urgency and melancholy.

“I used to be… but not anymore. Whatever is a threat to JS Corp… is also a threat to you and me.”

As Midori poured a spoon of sugar and started stirring her cup, my glasses suddenly directed my gaze to a tall man approaching us from the front of the hall.

It was Nagisa-san. He was about the same age as Mizuki-san, a few years younger I would say, perhaps due to his semi-formal navy blue blazer attire. He was also wearing a black thick-rim glasses that accentuated his sharp expression, giving him a very much calculating look… Quite different from Inaba’s more gentle expression, I should say.

“Ah, if it isn’t the major shareholder of JS Corporation.”

Midori abruptly stopped stirring her tea, put the spoon down on the table, slowly picked up her tea cup, and responded to Nagisa-san’s manifestly unpleasant greeting. I could sense that a few people were watching us a far from their respective standing tables…

“Nagisa-san. It seems that you’re doing as well as you ever have been.”

He laughed out loud and started pouring a cup of coffee on the table.

“Nevermind me, how have you been doing lately, Midori?”

Midori closed her eyes while sipping on her tea, as if trying to find out the most optimal way to respond to a question that could be taken in many different ways…

“I have been doing very well, thanks to the unceasing attention from the YM group as of late.”

Nagisa-san sipped on his coffee as well and responded casually.

“Oh really? I am sorry that I wasn’t able to heed any personal visits myself – I was very busy with a lot of things, you see, all of which we are going to present today here.”

Nagisa-san pointed his hand to the front of the hall, turned his gaze toward me, and gave an all-knowing smile…

“So… It has come to my attention that Mayu-san has been talking to a few people in the Ministry of Defense lately. It seems like the JS group has recently gained quite some interest in the military. Interesting, don’t you think?”

Midori managed to cross her arms again while supporting her tea cup on her left arm.

“Well, I am not sure if I would call it interesting, Nagisa-san. I would say that it is only natural for the head of the Japanese Conglomerate Federation to engage with the military, given the increasing dilapidation of balance in the bilateral JS-YM relations within the federal government.”

“Hahaha, oh well. Your stance is most definitely intelligent and understandable. I cannot agree with you more that now is the time that we need JS-YM cooperation the most. It is in my best personal interest for both conglomerates to thrive together, after all.”

What he said the last did not fail to bother both me and Midori… How far is he aware of Mayu-san’s plan to merge JS and YM?

“Well, enough with the not-so-interesting talk, I suppose. Are you still studying philosophy in the university?”

Midori responded while putting her empty cup down on the table.

“Yes, I am… My new partner Ryan has joined me in my classes as well.”

Nagisa-san looked at me and raised his glasses with his index finger. He started thinking out loud while staring at the colored glasses on the ceiling.

“Philosophy, huh?...”

He looked at Midori and finished his musing:

“If an unexamined life is not worth living… then is an unlived life worth examining?”

Midori’s eyes grew slightly bigger. Nagisa-san gave his all-knowing smile again, turned around, raised his hand to bid farewell, and started walking toward the front of the hall again.

The surprise in Midori’s eyes gradually faded away, leaving behind her familiar cloudiness along her long eyelashes directed downward… Before I had a chance to say something to her, however, Mayu-san stood up on the front podium and started talking.

“Everyone, welcome to the biannual YM-JS conference. We are pleased to have members of both conglomerates here today, as well as the Japanese Conglomerate Federation and various research organizations from academia and industries all across the nation.

JS-YM cooperation has been paramount to the well-being of the nation, especially in light of the steadily rising threat by the terrorist group HADES. These conferences are critical in maintaining this synergy, but also in providing checks-and-balances to our alliance in relation to the federal government, so that none of our individual subsidiaries receive either too much or too little power.”

It was interesting and absurd to see how all of the dialogues seemed to be focused on trying to make certain references without being overtly blatant… A few people started murmuring to each other inaudibly, and Mayu-san continued after a brief pause.

“Unfortunately, it is true that there has been some tension between the JS and YM groups recently, especially regarding our involvement within the Ministry of Defense. I would like to emphasize, on behalf of all of us here, that, although the importance of the state-of-the-art military technology can never be overstated, what is even more important is the way in which we utilize it. Military, just like any other instruments, can be used in many different ways, and it is our firm belief that it should be used primarily as a defensive and preemptive, rather than an offensive, mechanism, such that our infrastructure and economy can be protected and continue to thrive steadily.”

I could see that several people were nodding their heads, while other people continued to murmur amongst each other, perhaps in subdued discontent…

“Without further ado, I would like to now hand over to members of each of our subsidiaries, who are going to present us today on the main progress of our R&D sectors.”

As Mayu-san stepped away from the podium, it was at that precise moment that I heard SDo’s voice on my earpiece.

“Ryan, it is now our scheduled time for the infiltration. Please meet Mark outside at the back entrance of the convention center, as indicated on the map.”

I grabbed Midori’s hand and quietly exited the hall. I could see Mayu-san’s cryptic smile from my peripheral gaze…

“Midori, I need to go now.”

Midori’s dark brown, lucid, bottomless eyes took on a distinct hue of melancholy.

“I see…”

After staring on the ground for a few seconds, she looked up and forced a smile.

“I’ll see you at Saijo-san’s place after it’s over, okay?”

I smiled reassuringly.

“Yeah… Don’t worry, I’ll come back right away if anything happens to you.”

Midori looked like she was at a loss for words… I decided to break the tension by letting go of her hand.

“See you on the other side, Midori.”

Right when I was about to pass her, she grabbed my hand again, while still facing the other side.

“You have to bring those donuts, got it?”

My fingers slowly interlocked with hers.

“Of course. That’s the most important part, after all.”

And gradually... her hand was slipping through my fingers, and I was entering the original hallway.

The image of Midori standing by herself refused to leave my mind…

Before I knew it, I found myself running, perhaps to divert my attention away from her. I took out my gun from my pocket, shot a portal on the wall at the end of the hallway, and ran through it.

It was completely dark outside, and it took me a minute or so for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Mark greeted me with his trademark smile. I could see that he was already dressed in his black stealth suit, holding his helmet in his left arm.

“Welcome back, Ryan. Are you ready?”

I answered with a heavy sigh.

“Ready or not, Mark. Let’s just get over with this.”

He laughed lightly and handed me my stealth suit and protective gears, as well as a new gun. Ene’s voice invaded our earpieces.

“Ryan, I have a new gun for you. It’s called DASER.”

“A new gun? And is that an acronym?”

I could already visualize her mischievous smile from her voice as I started changing into my stealth suit.

“Yes, it is an acronym! It stands for Data Amplification by Structural Eidos Resonance.(*6) Rather than creating or annihilating matter-data, DASER allows you to convert matter-data into disorganized forms. In other words, you can now disturb any spatial structural data yourself. It works exactly the same way as the annihilation gun.”

“That’s convenient. That means that we now don’t have to go through you directly for any structural data manipulation.”

As I commented matter-of-factly, Mark nodded and grabbed his portal gun.

“Bob and his SWAT team are waiting for us at the rendezvous point outside of the YMMR facility.”

I put on my helmet, grabbed my DASER with both of my hands, and nodded.

“I’m ready.”

Mark shot a portal in the open air, and we stepped into the middle of a mountain, surrounded by countless, bleak trees with no leaves whatsoever.

Lying ahead of us was a barren landscape, with several modular buildings surrounded by wired fences, and countless military vehicles and personnel patrolling the perimeters.

(*1) Reference to photonic band gap materials (*2) Reference to stimpack from Starcraft (*3) Reference to powered exoskeleton (*4) Reference to Gen V reactors and molten salt reactors (*5) Reference to the homonymous fictional country in The Irregular at Magic High School (Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei) (*6) Reference to MASER (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation)

Ch. 20 Illustration

Ch. 20 Soundtrack 1 | Soundtrack 2

Go to Chapter 19: Midori Liminality | Chapter 21: Chronostasis | Chapter List

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ecoamerica · 1 month

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The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

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zeljkapotoku · 6 years

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R.I.P. dear Stephen Hawking, you where and you will continue to inspire many generations, to search and to dare to discover the unimaginable! #inspireyoung ------------------ #rip #stephenhawking #science #generations #inspirationformanygenerations #dream #imagination #universe #space #unimaginable #british #theireticalphysicist #cosmologist #cambridge #gravitationalsibgularitytheorems #generalrelativity #blackhole #hawkingradiation #cosmology #quantummechanics #manyworldsinterpretation 🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈 #seeyouoneday

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greatprinceofabraham · 4 years

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@amoelcordero: "Have you experienced a near-fatal accident or survived a serious illness? #QuantumImmortality suggests you may have died. Some say this test will determine if it happened to you" #ManyWorldsInterpretation

Have You Died? Take the Quantum Immortality Test - https://medium.com/swlh/have-you-died-take-the-quantum-immortality-test-a41d8bda16b2

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auastr0nautics · 10 years

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Everett's daughter, Elizabeth, suffered from manic depression and committed suicide in 1996 (saying in her suicide note that she wished her ashes to be thrown out with the garbage so that she might "end up in the correct parallel universe to meet up w[ith] Daddy")...

- Wikipedia entry

Tragic, yet endearing for acknowledging her pop's under-appreciated, rejected work. Quantum pun intended: She loved, hated Pops.

#hugheverett #manyworldsinterpretation #quantumphysics

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savemidoriproject · 7 years

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Chapter 22: [Dimension M → γ | Worldline 1β] – Memorification

From the moment she disappeared, it never stopped raining once – as if the entire universe wanted to flood everything that was in sight. It started pouring down like a waterfall, and the stormy wind blew the rain into the café, until shutting the door with a loud thud, amplifying the tension amidst the loud splattering on the windows and the cozy lamp lights of the café.

I started feeling dizzy.

“What… Where is she? What just happened?”

A confused fragments of questions came out of Reina’s alarmed voice. Saijo-san put the tea pot down with a sigh, raised his glasses, and picked up an antique-looking receiver afixed on the wall.

“I’m afraid the worldline has diverged in the β direction now. I will contact my fellow reconstructionists. We must start gathering memory primers and initiate meaning injection as soon as we can before Midori’s mind data starts decohering significantly.”(*1)

“What does that supposed to mean?”

As he was about to dial the numbers, Saijo-san turned and answered me with an unease.

“Well, mind data is a type of matter-data. In this case, the projection of Midori’s mind data into real-space has been severed. This means that it currently remains dispersed as a form-data in the world of ideas. In order to remain stable, all matter-data must exist as a dual pair with its corresponding form-data. This pairing is mediated by a special type of data called eidos. If this pairing remains broken for too long, the core data structure starts to decohere… like a fraying edge of a fabric.”

“So… you’re saying that there is a problem with Midori’s eidos data?”

Saijo-san turned back to the receiver again, staring grimly at the dialing pad.

“Yes. Her eidos data has essentially been destabilized by the mind data overload.”

With that, he started dialing a number… After staring back and forth at me and Saijo-san, Reina stood up and slowly approached me.

“Ryan… What on earth is going on?”

I didn’t know how I was supposed to answer that question. It was just like the time when Midori and I fell into Dimension H for the first time… A pair of crystal clear, green eyes was staring at mine with apprehension. A wave of fatigue suddenly inundated my eyes, and I forced a smile to push it away.

“Just… some military-corpocratic-metaphysical mess, that’s all.”

Reina’s mind was most likely confused with a ton of questions. It was the same for me, after all. She walked toward the window pane, grabbed her blonde hair with both of her hands on her right shoulder anxiously, and stared into the rainy sky.

“I’m sure Midori would have loved this rain. Just when I thought we were getting back together after so many years…”

Her words slowly disappeared amidst the heavy sound of raindrops. Saijo-san started speaking to someone over the receiver.

“Hello? Han, it’s me. We’ve got an urgent situation, as you’re probably aware by now. Is Christina there?”

Christina... I somehow had a feeling that she was going to be the same person as Chizu-san’s daughter that I had met at the French patisserie. This wasn’t the first time that people around Midori have turned out to be connected in unexpected ways. The universe really seemed to revolve around Midori…

“I see. We must start acting quickly before the divergence factor becomes intractable. I will bring everyone with me there – Mark, Ene, Ryan, as well as Reina. Make sure everything is ready. See you then.”

As Saijo-san put down the receiver, the splattering sound of the rain seemed to echo with increasing reverberation, and the peculiar cloudiness in my mind aggravated the dizziness… Could it be that I have a fever or something?

“Look, Saijo-san. Frankly, I really need to take a break now… I’ll meet you at your coffee time in Dimension γ early tomorrow morning.”

No… It must be that I was just tired. I just came out of an intensive operation, so it was understandable. Reina and Saijo-san’s concerned looks somehow failed to register in my mind completely, and I found myself turning around, opening the door, and entering the forest of rain.

As soon as the door closed behind me, the rain completely consumed my body and my mind. I couldn’t think of anything else. I didn’t know how I was supposed to feel. It was as if my mind wasn’t able to properly digest the fact that Midori wasn’t here anymore.

Singular normalcy, and abstraction thereof.

Somehow, what she had said… that time at her private library in her green, checker-patterned dress… seemed to have been inverted over the chain of events.

Singular abstraction, and normalcy thereof.

The boundary between what was real and what was not was becoming unclear. I could almost hear Ene saying, “The question of whether something is real or not has no cognitive value.” Such marked noncognitivism.(*2) If it has no cognitive value, then what value does it have? Are you going to apply the same mannerism to Midori as well?

The question of whether Midori is real or not has no cognitive value.

It didn’t matter if it has no cognitive value. Even if everything was a mere projection of predetermined data, that fact was still incommensurable with the palpable and irreducible phenomenology…

I must have sounded like a Cartesian dualist(*3) just now... Ugh.

Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the giant tree at the center of the familiar mini park. The image of Midori standing in the rain staring at the tree invaded my mind. The tree no longer had any yellow leaves. I felt a slight shiver run down my body. It was late autumn now, after all.

Can you hear me becoming an endless rain?

Midori’s voice echoed in my mind with such clarity… almost as clear as her dark brown, lucid, bottomless eyes. I pulled out my annihilation gun and pointed it at the sky. But I didn’t know what to do. I was not aware of the actual mechanics behind meaning injection… Not just yet, at least.

My arm dropped back down. I turned the switch to the portal function and shot a portal in front of the tree.

Dimension γ. Akihabara. Evening. I was standing next to the JR entrance. It wasn’t raining here at all. Only Dimension M seemed to have been affected by the endless rain. Several people were staring at me with a wary gaze. It must have been very unusual to see a stranger completely soaked in rain on a completely rainless day. How long had it been since the last time I was here? Somehow I felt a wave of relief after witnessing with my own eyes again that there was, in fact, a spacetime in this multiverse that had remained constant and unchanged.

The problem, however, was that I was not.

As I entered the main street, I was reminded of the time when Ene appeared in front of me out of nowhere, along with Mark. Was Ene okay? I’m sure Mark was taking good care of her… There were many things that I was hoping to clarify with her, after all.

The fact that I was having these thoughts must have meant that my life was no longer the same. For the first time in my life, I was irreversibly entertwined with other people. A strange, uncertain feeling permeated my heart that refused to be defined in a singular, cohesive manner.

Was that a good thing?... I just wasn’t sure anymore.

As I continued to indulge myself in this aimless chain of reflections, I realized that I was already standing in front of my all-to-familiar house. Normal, ordinary, completely unremarkable. It’s been ages since I was here. None of the lights were on. I guess my parents were not here. Nothing unusual. I highly doubted that they were here, actually sleeping in their bedroom. That would have been highly unusual.

I scrambled through my completely soaked backpack and found the key. Somehow everything started to feel like an exercise in futility. Why on earth was I digging through my bag and searching for the key when I could have just used my portal gun? The very definition of normalcy was starting to break down.

“I’m home.”

Absolutely no sound. Hermetically sealed silence seeped into my ears. The thickness slowly made its way down my heart, blocking my airway and making it difficult to breathe.

That was when I realized that there was a giant vacuum inside of me. Where Midori used to be.

A terrible nausea was about to overthrow my mind. I quickly forced my body to move, to engage in some sort of action to distract my mind. That’s right, let me take a shower first and make a cup of coffee. I dragged myself to the bathroom, turned on the radio at a loud volume, and threw myself into the hot rain shower.

“And coming up next is the episode from username Azalea001! We have her here with us today over the phone. Ms. Azalea001?”

“Good evening! Am I seriously on the radio? Ahh, this is so exciting!”

“Hahaha, yes you are indeed, Ms. Azalea001! So what is the outrageously funny story that you have to share with us today?”

“Well, it’s the story about this dream that I had the other night, you won’t believe it!—”

As hot water enveloped my body and meaningless radio talks filled the air, my mind gradually started to calm down and recover its lucidity… If one had to pick three most uninteresting topics of conversation, they would most certainly be about the weather, someone else’s relationships, and someone else’s dream.

I realized that I was missing the conversations I had with Ene and Midori.

It seemed like the external world was going around perfectly fine in its business-as-usual mode. There were people out there, living a perfectly normal, ordinary, unremarkable lives, and the radio was even broadcasting the whole world about this fact. Why would anyone want to broadcast about people living a perfectly normal, ordinary, unremarkable lives? The only wretched conclusion my fatigued mind could draw at that point was that there were way too many people, and way too many worldlines, for any of our lives to have what Midori would describe as an “ontologically objective and intrinsic meaning.” Metaphysically, and physically, for that matter.

And absolutely no one seemed to care about what Ene would describe as “decentralization problem.”

Since when did I start borrowing other people’s expressions so much?

I put on my sweater, turned on the kitchen light, and started brewing my coffee, only to be reminded of Midori’s love of coffee. Just about everything in my life now seemed to be colored with her sensibilities.

As I sipped on my coffee and the thick aroma permeated my mind, it became clear to me that saving Midori wasn’t a simple personal matter. Midori wasn’t just a person. She constituted an entire sensibility, an entire philosophy… an entire universe.

Midorism.

I tried collecting my fragmented thoughts. I first need to get some rest, and I will work with Saijo-san and everyone else to bring Midori back and reset the worldline back to normal.

Actually, I needed to get something to eat… I was craving for something sweet, which meant that only one place was in my mind.

“Welcome. Just one person?”

As the waiter bowed with a generic smile, I couldn’t help but feel melancholic upon his question. As I followed the waiter to an empty, dimly lit booth in the corner, I noticed that the dessert café was almost empty now. It was quite late in the evening, after all.

“Pancake specialty, with a cup of Kilimanjaro, please.”

“Sure.”

The waiter wrote down the order and left with another bow. I noticed that a small café music tune was on. The illumination from the lamp light above the table only managed to highlight the emptiness and meaninglessness of eating a pancake alone at a café late at night.

“You don’t happen to be musing about the meaninglessness of eating a pancake alone at a café late at night, are you?”

The voice of a girl startled me from behind. I instinctively grabbed my DASER and turned around to find a small girl with a long black hair wearing a navy blue one-piece dress patched with small white floral patterns… holding a teddy bear.

I responded to Kana’s rhetorical question with another rhetorical question.

“How did you know that I was here?”

Kana sat down in front of me with an expressionless face and placed her teddy bear next to her. She looked at me with a faint smile.

“You can put your DASER away. I am not going to just randomly launch VMS portals and ruin a nice dessert café like this.”

She raised her hand toward the waiter.

“I would like to have the same as him, please.”

For some reason, I had a vague feeling that it was okay to trust her words for now.

“Aren’t you too young to drink coffee?”

Kana gave me her characteristic look of melancholic annoyance.

“Is that really the first thing you wanted to ask me?”

The waiter brought two cups of Kilimanjaro to our table.

“Would you like any cream or sugar?”

Kana coldly shut down the waiter’s suggestion.

“I can handle it black. I’m not a kid.”

The waiter apologized with an uncomfortable smile and walked away.

“You didn’t have to be like that.”

Kana sipped on her coffee, pretending to not have heard my comment with her eyes closed. She put down her cup on the table, still holding it with both of her hands, as if trying to absorb the heat.

“Do you understand the gravity of the situation right now?”

The question only managed to confuse me even more.

“If the situation is so grave, why on earth are you eating a pancake with me right now? Aren’t you supposed to be our enemy? You work for YMMR.”

“Enemy, huh… I’m sure Ene would say that word has no cognitive value. Anything that she deems inconvenient seems to lose cognitive value, apparently.”

Before I could ask more questions, the waiter came to our table with our pancake specialties. Kana’s eyes widened slightly.

“Ohhh. You’re treating me this time, of course.”

My mind couldn’t help but overlap the image of her eagerly picking the fruit toppings with that of Midori… The absurdity of the situation only managed to render the memory more pronounced.

“What do you want from me, Kana? I don’t have enough energy at the moment to entertain a frilly-dressed girl who works for a paranormal military base.”

Kana brought a piece of pancake to her mouth, while looking at me with a look of amusement.

“But… that’s exactly what you’re doing right now. I’m sure this is what people refer to as self-fulfilling prophecy. Actually, self-defeating prophecy would be more accurate in this case.”

I gave out a long sigh, and decided to start cutting my pancakes before they turned cold. Kana momentarily put down her fork and grabbed her coffee again.

“The fact that Midori disappeared means that the only remaining evidence of JS-YM transactions no longer exists. That’s a problem for both JS & YM Corporations, you see.”

What she just said completely chased away every single bit of appetite that I had.

“I’m sorry. Am I supposed to give a shit?”

Kana stared at me with her expression unchanged. I couldn’t help but raise my voice.

“Why, isn’t it good for YM Corporation that Midori is gone? I thought you guys wanted to run her over with a truck.”

Kana responded to my cynicism with her arms crossed.

“That actually wasn’t the intention of YMMR. YM Corporation isn’t as unified as you think. Opposing factions are constantly struggling for control. Besides…”

She put on a faint smile before continuing.

“… powerful notwithstanding, YM Corporation is still under the umbrella of the Japanese Conglomerate Federation.”

She raised her hand toward the waiter and asked for a refill of her coffee. Upon taking another sip, her eyes turned darker and more lucid than before. I slowly put my fork down on the table and spoke up after a brief pause.

“Does that mean that you and Inaba are working under Mayu-san’s instructions?”

Kana’s eyes grew slightly bigger over her coffee cup, followed by a smile.

“You’re a smart one. I can see why Ene wanted to work with you.”

She continued to hold her cup close to her chest. Just what was her relationship with Ene anyway?

“The truck incident was indeed the catalyst that triggered Mayu-san’s motion toward the JS-YM merge. I have to say, her strategy for defusing Nagisa-san and the HADES threat has been quite promising so far.”

Kana rested both of her elbows on the table and leaned forward. Her small and delicate face made her look like a Japanese doll.

“I want to help you reconstruct Midori.”

For some reason, I was not able to read this girl’s expression… Her thoughts were hidden under a veil of melancholia, but of a distinctly different kind from that of Midori.

“Did you honestly think that I was going to just say yes?”

“No, of course not. Let’s go with the old-fashioned give-and-take then. I’m sure you have many questions for me, don’t you?”

Her gentle smile only managed to entangle my mind even more. I couldn’t figure out what her exact motives and feelings were.

“Okay. My question is simple: Why?”

Kana slowly put her cup down and started staring at the steam... After half a minute or so, she answered with a distinct hue of emptiness.

“I want to reconstruct my memories with Ene.”

Quiet café music continued to stroke the heavy silence ever so meaninglessly.

(*1) Reference to quantum decoherence (*2) Reference to noncognitivism (*3) Reference to dualism

Ch. 22 Illustration

Ch. 22 Soundtrack 1 | Ch. 22 Soundtrack 2

Go to Chapter 21: Chronostasis | Chapter 23: Antisolipsism | Chapter List

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Chapter 21: [Dimension M → H → M | Worldline 1 → 1β] – Chronostasis

“Good evening, Mark and Ryan.”

Bob gave us a curt salute as we entered the rendezvous point. Behind him was the JS SWAT team that consisted of around fifteen other officers, dressed in the same black stealth suit and protective gears as us. I immediately noticed that they were all equiped with the augmented reality devices, as well as the new DASER recently devised by Ene. Bob turned toward the entire team and proceeded with instructions.

“Everyone, Mark and Ryan are the paranormal agents hired by JS Corporation. From now on, they will be in charge of the entire command. Their ICA, Ene, will be providing all of us with a force field. All of you should now be familiar with the DASER equipment. Their AI system, Do, will constantly provide strategic information through the augmented reality devices. Now then—”

Bob gestured toward me. I took a deep breath and stated our objective.

“Our objective is to infiltrate into the YMMR Special Operations Division to uncover and, if possible, neutralize their capabilities, specifically their virtual missile system. As so, you are to neutralize any form of active threat that we encounter, with the exception of the nuclear facilities. It is crucial that you follow the strategic instructions as communicated by Do. These are optimized by Do in real time.”

A strong, cold wind blew indifferently against the bleak trees. At this point, Mark stood forward. It was unusual to see his expression devoid of his customer-service smile.

“We will most definitely be facing against the ICAs working under YMMR. Their identities are currently unknown. Be prepared to adapt to any strategic anomalies. Ene will back us up, and under no circumstances are you allowed to go against Do’s instructions. Do, let us start now.”

“Right away. Please follow the highlighted trajectory toward the entrance point.”

Of course, there was no need for me to explain that it was in fact SDo who was assisting us. Do was probably battling against YMMR’s MIME system in some imaginary dataspace right now…

The path toward the entrance point was sinuous and irregular. As we ran through the bleak trees, the only sounds present were the wind, our hectic footsteps, and my own restless heartbeats. I tried to remind myself of the numerous trainings that I underwent with Mark…

I couldn’t help but think about Midori… and whether she was okay at this moment.

The main gate was being patrolled by several guards equipped with conventional weapons. A few cargo vehicles were undergoing extensive security checks. I raised my hand to gesture everyone to pause. I pointed my DASER toward one of the vehicles.

“I will first get the vehicles out of the way. Each of you will take out one of the guards as assigned to you by Do. Mark will bust the entrance.”

It really didn’t matter who was against us anymore. I was here only to get my job done… and return to Midori as quickly as I can.

As I pulled the trigger, I immediately noticed the absence of any rebound whatsoever. A half-transparent beam instantly reached the target, almost with a superluminal speed. The truck flew away from the entrance and landed with a loud explosion.

“Hahaha! I’m glad to see that my new equipment is working so well.”

Before Ene could finish her rambunctious declaration into our earpieces, we were under heavy fire by the guards, and the emergency alarm went off across the entire facility.

“Don’t you worry – Your Ene-sama will protect you with eidos fields.”

Ene was right; every single bullet that reached us instantly evaporated into smoke upon hitting the invisible barrier around us. The barrier became slightly luminescent at each impact, as if the luminescence was a manifestation of neutralization. After only a few seconds, all of the guards around the entrance were incapacitated by our officers. DASER worked like a regular gun, except with… invisible bullets (or more accurately, eidos packets) that traveled at the speed of light. Mark pulled the trigger, and the main gate was busted with a loud explosion.

It was as if Ene was playing a video game run by Do… with all of us as the player characters.

“The Special Operations Division is located underneath the Mobile Weapons Sector at grid G7. Please proceed along the highlighted trajectory, while continuing to eliminate the specified targets as indicated.”

Upon Do’s sanguine and detached relay of instructions, our field of vision was flooded with specifications of new targets. The area beyond the entrance was an irregular grid, created by countless modular buildings. The pathways were just wide enough for vehicles to pass through, and I saw military personnel open-firing at us behind these buildings.

“Once again, I will take care of the mobile vehicles and stationary weapons. Mark and everyone else can take out individual opponents.

“Do not get distracted – Our goal is to reach the Mobile Weapons Sector, not to eliminate all the forces here.”

Mark’s stern warning reached our earpieces as he started eliminating several soldiers while running through the central pathway with a blazing speed. As our officers started mobilizing accordingly, Do indicated the presence of a barricade being developed at all of the pathways that lead to the Mobile Weapons Sector. Several tanks and combat vehicles were being deployed at these intersections. As live projectiles started being fired at us, I instantly realized that this was going to turn into a bit of a mess.

There was only one way to physically remove them without creating a mess.

“Do, set my portal destination coordinate to somewhere spatious, isolated, and uninhabited. It doesn’t matter where it is.”

“Sure. Destination set underwater in the Central Ocean.”

I pulled out my portal gun and fired a portal at one of the tanks. The portal instantly engulfed the tank and vanished along with it. But it wasn’t long before I saw on the map that there were vehicles now strategically located at every possible intersection that led to the grid G7.

“Do, is it possible to create multiple portals simultaneously?”

“It is possible. Please specify the coordinates and fire one of them, and I will create the remaining ones for you.”

“Okay, target all the combat vehicles at the intersections around grid G7. Can you check for the feasibility of the transport to the same destination?”

“The Central Ocean is a very, very expansive place, Ryan.”

I smiled at SDo’s sense of humor, and fired the portal. The vehicles vanished instantaneously, now opening up the path toward grid G7.

“All barricades eliminated. Everyone now proceed quickly to G7.”

It wasn’t long before we reached the Mobile Weapons Sector. A giant hangar-like facility lied in front of us. The tall metallic gate had several warning signs:

Restricted Area Warning: Military Base

Military Live-Firing Range: No Entry

Warning: Martial Law In Effect Within This Area

Warning: YMMR-IJF Joint Military Installation

Mark pointed his DASER toward one of the warning signs, but before he could pull the trigger, the gate started to slide open by itself. A murky, ominous feeling was spreading inside me… but we had no choice but to slowly enter the facility, after which the gate closed by itself again.

The space inside was completely empty… and completely unlit.

“Night vision activated.”

Even with the night vision, it only managed to highlight the vastness of the unoccupied space. I was starting to wonder whether this was some sort of a trap…

… when suddenly, an alternate force field was deployed over the entire facility.

“Ene, are you doing this?”

“No, it’s not me... This field-data is—”

Ene’s voice abruptly stopped, as if she was just struck with some sort of unexpected revelation.

“Ene, is everything okay? If you aren’t doing this, who—”

Before I could finish my sentence, however, a signal came up on my field of vision, indicating a person standing far away at the center of the hangar.

The entire space was suddenly lit with pale white lights. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the brightness….

The person standing at the center was a small girl, dressed in a navy blue one-piece dress decorated with elegant frills. On top of her smooth, long black hair was a small checker-patterned hat whose edges were also decorated with frills and a ribbon. She was staring at us with a pair of crystal clear eyes shaded with discontent. But more importantly… she was holding a teddy bear in her arms.

It was the exact same teddy bear that Ene was always holding… I was sure of it.

“It’s been a while, Ene… How many years have it been, ever since you and I schismatized on the notion of superdeterminism?”

The officers immediately pointed their DASERs at the girl. The girl’s expression turned to a disquieting mixture of annoyance and melancholy. Almost by reflex, I raised my hand to gesture them to stop. Countless questions invaded my mind, almost like the time when I first met Ene.

Why was this facility so big but completely empty? What was this girl doing in a military base like this? What is her relationship with Ene?

“I see that the people you work with are as rude as ever. Making such commotions in other people’s workplace. But it seems like you have finally taken the first step toward getting over your obsession with matter-data. I’m glad you’re discovering the utility of other types of data. I have to say, your eidos fields, as well as the use of eidos packets in your new device were quite entertaining.”

There was something quite surreal and absurd about the way in which a doll-like girl was performing a monologue around a team of armed SWAT officers.

“Of course, I still haven’t changed my mind regarding the nature of worldlines, either. What if I told you that creating or annihilating matter-data isn’t the only way to shift worldlines, Ene? Are you still using superdeterminism as an excuse to—”

“Stop it right there, Kana.”

Her monologue was abruptly interrupted by none other than Ene in her holographic form, now floating a few feet away from Kana. Ene’s eyes took on a sharp, almost murderous hue…

“Ah, you’re here. I was starting to become afraid that I was just talking to myself. Although I am quite used to talking to myself at this point. You left me… all alone by myself with teddy, after all.”

“No, Kana… You are the one who left yourself.”

Kana’s mixed expression of annoyance and melancholy grew deeper.

“To think that I would run into you under the same worldline within the same dimension. You better not have planned this on purpose, have you?”

“Who knows? Perhaps this is one of those predetermined moments, to use your theoretical parlance. Do you still believe that worldlines are immutable, Ene?”

Kana’s expression turned serious upon seeing a tinge of surprise in Ene’s eyes.

“What if I told you… that there is still possibility that we can bring your parents—”

Her question was interrupted yet again, but physically this time. In a blink of an eye, Ene dashed toward Kana and knocked her down.

Ene, in her real, physical form, was pinning Kana down on the floor.

“Stop it right there, Kana…... or I will annihilate you.”

Kana’s expression remained unchanged… and a single drop of tear rolled down her cheek.

“You’re as stubborn as ever, aren’t you… Well, that’s the Ene that I have always known, though.”

She wiped her eyes with her frilly sleeve.

“You can’t annihilate me, Ene.”

At that precise moment, several luminescent, portal-like entities appeared midair. They were spinning rapidly, getting brighter and brighter, until a sharp beam was fired from its center.

The beams, upon hitting our eidos fields, were dispersed… leaving cracks on our barriers. Several beams were now being fired rapidly, and it seemed like our barriers were becoming weaker and weaker upon each impact.

“I figured that your eidos field can be penetrated with anti-eidos. Eidos is nothing but a type of data packet with an antisymmetric counterpart, after all.”

Ene looked quite alarmed… and at a loss of words. So this is what virtual missile system looks like… Mark and I, along with the officers, started firing our DASERs at the VMS portals, only to realize that it was an exercise in futility.

“The portals are virtual gateways… You aren’t naïve enough to think that you can counteract it with simple eidos packets, are you?”

Kana raised her body and sat down, hugging her small legs and her teddy bear with her arms… as if she was watching a boring TV show on her living room sofa. Ene rapidly turned toward me and Mark and shouted.

“Mark! Ryan! You have to use the annihilation waves!”

At that point, some of the eidos field barriers shattered, and a few officers were knocked unconscious after the impact by the VMS beams.

“Shit! I am gonna go reconfigure the field-data!”

With that, Ene swiftly disappeared. Kana seemed quite detached from the chaos generated by the VMS portals. In fact, it was almost as if she already knew what the outcome was going to be…

The barrier around me also shattered. I quickly grabbed my annihilation gun and dodged the incoming beam. As I pulled my trigger, I was relieved to see that the annihilation wave indeed shattered the VMS portal.

The rest was quite similar to the training, then… except under heavy fire without a force field.

I didn’t know how long the chaos ensued. My body was moving on its own, almost by reflex, dodging the beams and shattering the VMS portals with the annihilation gun. The problem was that the VMS portals continued to be regenerated after a certain number of them were annihilated. I don’t think I have ever fired the annihilation gun that many times in a row before, not even during training. Mark was also doing the same, as well as assisting me by intercepting any VMS beams that I have failed to annihilate.

I couldn’t think of anything else… except that I had to go back alive, so that I can see Midori again.

After what seemed like an eternity, a new force field suddenly appeared at the center and rapidly emanated outward, destroying all the VMS portals as well as the original force field deployed over the entire hangar.

“Selective anti-Eidos annihilation field deployed. The objective has been fulfilled. Generating exit portal into Dimension H.”

As SDo relayed the information nonchalantly, Mark and I were finally able to catch our breaths. Kana stood up and looked at me with a pair of melancholy eyes.

“I will see you again soon, Ryan… probably later tonight.”

She then turned around and disappeared into the thin air… just like how Ene disappeared a while ago. What did she mean by that?

Suddenly, a giant portal enveloped all of us, and we found ourselves surrounded by Ene’s countless teddy bears inside Dimension H.

“Ene… What on earth was that about?”

I was still lying down as I asked that question breathlessly, taking off my helmet and staring at the ceiling while breathing heavily. I raised my body and saw that several SWAT team officers were still unconscious. Bob was attending to them, trying to take off their helmets and see whether they were still breathing. The teddy bears were lying on the floor, as indifferent as ever.

“Don’t worry, they are all alive. They will regain their consciousness later today. They are just dazed by anti-eidos packets, that’s all. Gosh, this is why I hate working with eidos data. It messes up the core data signals.”

I could barely see Ene as she complained to herself; she was literally surrounded by layers and layers of holographic projections. She snapped her fingers, and all of the projections instantly disappeared.

“Do, transport the officers back to JS Corporation.”

“Right away.”

The original Do appeared in her holographic form, dressed in her usual gothic lolita outfit... I guess she was free from engaging against MIME, now that the operation was officially over. She created a portal at the back wall. Bob and several other officers carried the unconscious ones with them and exited through the portal.

I could see that Ene was quite upset… I wanted to ask her about Kana, and just what on earth had happened between the two of them. But something about her expression was shaded with melancholy, just like the time when she explained the worldline theory to me for the first time… except much deeper and darker this time. Mark stood up and gave me a smile. It was strange… I always thought his hyperuniform smile was kind of annoying, but why was it that I was so relieved to see his customer-service smile now?

“Ryan, why don’t you go check on Midori? I will take care of Ene for now.”

I gave him a nod, looked at Ene one last time, and exited into Dimension M.

“Welcome! What would you like to have for today?”

A high-school part-time worker greeted me with a bright smile as I entered Don Don Donuts shop. I smiled back at her and asked while staring at the menu board,

“Hmm… What is the best selection of donuts that you have?”

She gestured toward the display case enthusiastically and gave me a recommendation.

“Oh, if you’re looking for a selection of donuts, why don’t you try our supercombo pack? It includes one of all of our chocolate and fruit-flavored donut kinds!”

As I looked at the donuts inside the display case, I was reminded of Midori’s bright eyes brimming with lucidity when we visited the French patisserie together…

“Sure, let’s try that combo, then. Could you put them in a gift bag?”

“Of course! I’d be happy to.”

It was getting quite dark as I walked into the familiar residential area. The sky was overlaid with thick clouds, and it looked like it was about to start raining at any moment. My steps were becoming briskier, and before I knew it, I was in front of Saijo-san’s tea time.

I took a deep breath and was about to put my hand on the door knob… when the door swung open by itself and Midori embraced me.

“Ryan…”

I was a bit surprised and ended up dropping the gift bag… but immediately felt the warmth of her body spread across mine… as well as the sensation of her breath on my right ear… and I gradually wrapped my arms around her as well.

She looked up… and a pair of dark brown, lucid, bottomless eyes were staring into mine. Her eyes were covered with a clear layer of tears, rendering them much darker and more bottomless than before.(*1)

“Hahaha, you really like him, don’t you, Midori?”

Reina was gesturing at both of us to come to the booth at the far end, and I could see Saijo-san with his usual round glasses standing next to her with a smile while holding a tea pot.

Midori was wearing a navy-blue woolen sweater today on top of a white-collar button-down shirt… I wanted to tell her just how much it looked good on her. She wiped her tears with her sleeve.

“Did you bring the donuts?”

“Of course, I did. I never break my promise, you know.”

She gave me the most radiant smile I have ever seen my whole life… I turned around, and lowered my body to pick up the gift bag…

But when I turned back around, Midori was no longer there.

What I’ve been dreading all along was happening at the worst time possible. Midori disappeared… and the worldline was now diverged. The memory tracker on my wrist was beeping like an alarm clock while displaying a holographic message:

WORLDLINE DIVERGENCE DETECTED

MEMORY DATA UNALTERED

I finally witnessed it myself for the first time. There is, to be sure, a singular reality, but what use is that singularity if it’s subject to such discontinuities? Midori was suddenly not here anymore...

… just an endless disarray of books, papers… and abstractions.

(*1) Reference to Chapter 16

Ch. 21 Illustration 1 | Illustration 2 | Illustration 3 | Illustration 4 | Illustration 5

Ch. 21 Soundtrack 1 | Soundtrack 2 | Soundtrack 3

Go to Chapter 20: Midori Divergence | Chapter 22: Memorification | Chapter List

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savemidoriproject · 7 years

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Chapter 19: [Dimension H → M | Worldline 1] – Midori Liminality

“The conference starts today.”

All four of us were gathered together in Dimension H: me, Mark, Ene, and Midori. Several holographic projections were floating above the sea of teddy bears, with Ene standing at the center. She was wearing a white T-shirt with a bright yellow suspender skirt on top of it. The suspender’s pockets were decorated with pink floral patterns, which matched her light pink sneakers and her red hair accessories. In contrast to Ene’s child-like outfit, Midori’s attire was much more elegant in design: an indigo one-piece dress lined with white bottom edge, collars, and sleeves. The long white sleeves managed to outline her slender arms against the royal blue background.

Ene’s announcement filled the room with heavy silence, outlined only by small background noise of the countless computer machines.

“It was hard to hack into the YMMR database, but I managed to succeed.”

Ene’s triumphant expression was reminiscent of the moment she announced her theory of worldline shift for the first time… in her green summery dress.

“How did you do that? I remember Saijo-san mentioning polymorphic code—”(*1)

“Oh, he already told you about that. The conversation will be much more straightforward then.”

Ene reached her hand out to one of the projections and dragged it in front of us. The projection was displaying a schematic of two identically shaped objects whose shapes were in continuous flux… One of them was slightly lagging behind the other one, as if trying to block its pathway.

“YMMR database is protected by what I call a mimemorphic system – MIME to put it short. MIME is a type of algorithmic metadata just like Do, except its only capability is mimicry of external systems that try to access the database.”

After seeing me and Midori staring intently at the schematic, Ene continued.

“I first used Do to access the database, but our attack patterns were immediately recognized, mimicked, and blocked by MIME. Clever, I would say, but this method has a loophole. Any guesses on what it might be?”

Ene looked at each of us, like a teacher looking for a volunteer in the class. I turned toward Mark, but he only managed to reciprocate a pair of shrugs. Midori commented pensively.

“Well, you would have to make a move quickly enough before the system can mimic you, but that seems unlikely…”

As her voice tailed off in uncertainty, Ene pointed at Midori and answered the question herself.

“That’s right, which means there is only one way to outwit MIME: It cannot mimic more than one type of system at the same time! So I created another Do, essentially.”

Ene said the last part a bit too matter-of-factly, as if such solution was the only plausible alternative that anyone could have figured out. Perhaps that was true… at least in hindsight.

At this point, Do appeared in front of us in her usual holographic form. Standing next to her, however… was her identical twin. She looked exactly the same as Do: the only difference was in her hairstyle. Unlike Do’s straight black hair, she had a ponytail, which made her feel a bit less aloof, compared to Do’s reticence resembling that of a cold, solitary flower.

“Everyone, I introduce you to SDo, where S stands for supersymmetric.(*2) I always wanted to see Do in a ponytail, you see. Now I can enjoy both hairstyles at the same time!”

Ene squeezed her teddy bear in both of her arms and stared at SDo with a pair of shiny eyes, as if she got a new doll to add to her already gigantic teddy bear collection. Midori looked enchanted, her mouth slightly agape with fascination… while I couldn’t help but be a bit bothered by the term supersymmetric. Ene stopped cuddling her teddy bear and looked at me sharply.

“No, Ryan, we’re not talking about particle physics here. Do and SDo are metadata, not matter-data. Although technically, supersymmetrization of matter-data is possible in principle.”

What she said last bothered me in more than one ways… Either her ability to read other people’s mind had reached a clairvoyant level, or I was simply being too impressionable as usual. She put on a mischievous smile as I sighed.

“I could have made an exactly symmetric copy of Do, but that would have defeated the purpose, of course. I made Do engage in a standoff with MIME, and used that opportunity for SDo to hack into the database.”

She then dragged another set of projections toward us, which consisted of four blueprints showing a set of complex layout.

“Before I let Mark take over, I was able to find out that there are currently two ICAs working under YMMR. It turns out one of them is Inaba, which is not a big surprise, considering his direct affiliation to YM Corp. I am not sure about the other one, but I have a vague suspicion—”

“Inaba? He is involved in this as well?…”

Midori interjected abruptly upon hearing Inaba’s name, as Ene crossed her arms and put one of her hands on her chin in a thoughtful expression. Midori’s melancholic expression reminded me of the time when she talked about him at the dessert café…

“But Ene, surely Inaba couldn’t have been the one responsible for manipulation of Midori’s mind data.”

Ene responded to my question with her serious expression unchanged.

“That… is still a work in progress. SDo has been scraping the database searching for information related to the incident. It seems like there are multiple firewalls she needs to overcome.”

As Ene took a brief, uneasy pause and started biting her nails again, Mark took that opportunity to take over and ameliorate the tension somewhat.

“While Ene was busy with MIME, I was examining the perimeters of the YMMR facility, and I found that the area is quite heavily guarded by the military. But as you already know, conventional military arsenal means nothing to us, as we are shielded with a force field. The only way it could become problematic is if our task involves actual neutralization of the threat.”

After seeing Midori’s concerned expression, Mark dispelled her worry.

“Not problematic for me or Ryan, but problematic in terms of collateral damage. Which Ene can undo with her information control… technically.”

As Mark knowingly turned his gaze toward Ene, she crossed both of her arms and responded sternly.

“Yeah, I don’t do that unless absolutely necessary because such spatial structural data reconstruction always consumes large computational power.”

Mark gave Ene a smile and continued.

“We have reported our preliminary findings to Mizuki-san. At this point, given YMMR’s involvement in HADES, it is quite likely that we be asked to preemptively neutralize, if not totally decimate, their military capacity, in addition to gathering further information on-site. In that case, we must request Mizuki-san to back us up with JS’s privatized SWAT team at our next meeting with him.”

“JS has its own SWAT team?”

Midori answered my question while staring at the ground with a grim expression.

“Yeah. It was formed mainly in reaction against YM Private Security. I was rescued by them when I was kidnapped.”

I remembered her telling me about this after we visited the record store together. The room was filled with heavy silence again, until SDo suddenly broke the silence.

“Everyone, our schedule starts in half an hour. Please allow me to brief you on the list of agenda relevant to us today.”

I was surprised by SDo’s voice: it was much lighter, higher pitched, and energetic than that of Do. She gave off an image of a pleasant secretary. All of us turned toward the holographic projection that appeared next to her.

“The first in line is the meeting with Mizuki-san and the JS board members to go over the details regarding the YMMR infiltration plan. Next, Midori and Ryan are scheduled to meet with Mayu-san, while Mark is to oversee the main conference hall in preparation of the following joint YM-JS meeting. There, we will be introduced to Nagisa-san, as well as members of YMMR and the Ministry of Defense. Any questions?”

I could see that Midori was feeling nervous. SDo looked at Midori and smiled.

“Throughout the duration of the conference and the subsequent infiltration, I will be the one to assist you via augmented reality, as Do will be busy systematically engaging against MIME. I look forward to working with all of you.”

By this point, her amicability was brought in sharp contrast to Do’s aloofness. Ene was smiling confidently as the atmosphere was now filled with a heart-wrenching mixture of anxiety and anticipation.

“Shall we go now?”

Mark put on his eyeware, smiled professionally, and created a portal next to him. I turned and looked at Midori. She had a serious and determined expression. Upon noticing my gaze, she smiled, almost imperceptibly… and we all stepped into the portal.

The same hallway lied ahead of us, covered in black tiles, illuminated only by regularly spaced columns of bluish white light on the walls, hermetically sealed with deafening silence. We approached the black door, knocked, and heard Mizuki’s deep voice.

“Please come in.”

The dark room was occupied with the same board members as last time, illuminated only by the cold projector light. The atmosphere was filled with uneasiness and restlessness.

“Let’s get started right away. Mark, please give us an overview of the YMMR layout.”

“Right away.”

Mark stepped up to the front of the room, and the same blueprints of the YMMR facility appeared on the projection.

“The facility is divided into four major sectors: nuclear, land combat, aircraft, and mobile weapons. Extra caution must be taken with the nuclear sector containing the three main pressurized water reactors. In case an explosion is incurred, our current force field capability allows us to counteract mass-energy-data corresponding to only one reactor.”

A few people were murmuring with concerned expressions amongst themselves. Mark continued.

“There is one extra sector that is not publically known, which is their Special Operations Division.”

At this point, a different set of blueprints appeared on the projection.

“This is where their ICAs operate. The division is led by a person currently unknown to us, in addition to Special Officer Inaba. Based on the limited amount of information we obtained, it is conjectured that they are developing a set of special matter-data manipulation techniques that they can incorporate into military use.”

Special Officer? Does that mean that Inaba is a military personnel?

“Do you mean to say that they are trying to use the annihilation and creation techniques Ene has mentioned?”

Mizuki interjected sharply with a critical tone. Mark responded swiftly.

“No, not at all. They are not interested in shifting worldlines. Maintaining their dominance within this worldline is their main objective, after all, at least to our best knowledge. We were able to deduce that they have been developing a type of virtual missile system involving pure energy-data. Nothing that we cannot achieve, of course.”

As I wondered what virtual missile system could possibly look like, Mark put on his customer-service smile again as a means of reassurance. Mizuki stood up from the central chair and started walking back and forth in between the side walls, with his hand on his chin deep in his thought.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. First of all, let’s stay out of the nuclear sector. We’ll come back to this issue later.”

Mizuki was now facing toward us, speaking with a composed urgency.

“With that in mind, our priority is to find out the exact power underlying their virtual missile system within their Special Operations Division that you mentioned. It is highly likely that HADES’ next move will involve the ICAs, and in order to effectively counteract or even be able to preemptively neutralize them, we need a complete understanding of their capabilities. In cases of close combat, I would like both of you to actively neutralize the threat while minimizing any extensive collateral damages outside of the facilities. Does that make sense?”

Kirishina-san, the same middle-aged man who spoke up last time, interrupted at this point with an impatient overtone.

“Mizuki-san, why don’t we just go ahead and destroy their manufacturing facilities in the remaining three sectors once and for all? That would effectively cut off their main supply chains.”

Mizuki responded to Kirishina-san’s question while firmly shaking his head.

“No, we cannot have that happen. The resulting warfare would only manage to amplify the atmosphere of fear in the general populace and undermine our Finance sector, which is precisely what YM Corp is trying to accomplish. We must keep tomorrow’s conflict localized within the YMMR facilities. Is that clear?”

As Kirishina-san crossed his arm in subdued discontent, Mark and I nodded, and I managed to speak up in order to make the necessary request.

“Mizuki-san, we would like to have your SWAT team back us up. It will make our plan go much smoother. Of course, they will all be shielded with Ene’s force field control.”

Upon hearing my request, Mizuki gestured enthusiastically toward Bob, the bodyguard we met on the first day, who was standing in front of the door.

“Yes, of course. You’ve met Bob before, right? He is in charge of our privatized SWAT team. Bob, you are to provide strategic and firepower support under the directions of Mark and Ryan tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.”

After bowing his head lightly with his brusque reply, Bob turned toward us.

“I look forward to working under your directions tomorrow. We will try our best to provide support as effectively as we can.”

I nodded briskly while Mark waved his hand at him with a smile. I could see Midori’s long eyelashes were directed downward again…. She was fiddling with both of her thumbs on her lap, but her expression was a subtle mixture of uneasiness and disillusionment.

At that point, a singular set of knocks reverberated dryly on the door. Bob moved aside and opened the door, and a tall secretary in a suit stepped inside.

“I apologize for interrupting the meeting, Mizuki-san, but it is now time for Ryan and Midori-san to meet with Mayu-san.”

Upon the arrival of the secretary, the entire room grew dead quiet, as if everyone here knew the significance of the name Mayu-san. Mizuki responded to the secretary with controlled criticality.

“Ah, thank you for letting us know, we have just finished going over our agenda. Midori and Ryan, I will see you at the main YM Corporations branch later.”

Upon Mizuki’s remark, Midori stood up and turned toward me...

… with her dark brown, lucid, bottomless eyes, and a cryptic smile.

“Let’s go, Ryan.”

As I accompanied her to the door, Mark stayed next to Mizuki, and I saw that everyone in the room was averting their gazes uncomfortably… It was apparent that Midori and Mayu-san’s consolidation of power within the corporation was undoubtedly real and palpable.

We followed the secretary into the elevator. Upon pressing the button “60,” she brought her ID card to the card detector, and the elevator started moving upward, rather than downward to the basement where Midori’s private library was. There was a real floor 60, after all.

The elevator door opened and revealed a very large private lounge. The entire lounge was surrounded by wide windows, displaying the nighttime city view in its magnificence. The atmosphere was dimly lit with low-key lamps located next to sofas and tables dispersed throughout the room. There was absolutely no one in the lounge, until I noticed a small bar at the corner with a single bartender…

… and that was where Mayu-san was sitting.

I was struck by how similar she looked to Midori. She had a longer hair that fell down below her shoulders, and she looked surprisingly young… almost too young, it seemed. It would have been entirely possible to have mistaken her as Midori’s older sister had I not been told beforehand. I realized instantly that almost all of Midori’s beauty came directly from Mayu-san… including her lucid, bottomless eyes that exuberated clarity and authority.

She turned toward us, stood up, and approached us slowly. Her attire was much more casual than I expected: a simple black woolen sweater and a slim pair of dark jeans. Perhaps that was part of the reason she looked so young. Her cryptic smile was identical to that of Midori… but upon closer examination, I realized that her eyes were actually dark purple in color, which gave her beauty a somewhat exotic and ominous aura that was suggestive of… a sort of subliminal danger. So this was the head of the Japanese Conglomerate Federation...

My instinct was telling me she was not an ordinary person to be taken lightly.

“My dear Midori. It’s so good to see you again. How long has it been… almost two years?”

Midori put on an empty smile and responded to her rhetorical question.

“I believe so. How was your trip to Germany, mother?”

So she does call her mother, after all…

“Very busy, everything went well. We ended up purchasing a company that manufactures automated microfluidic pumps for around 12 trillion yen, and it will now be a subsidiary of JS Electronics. But, I didn’t open up my schedule tonight to talk business with you. Why don’t we all first take a seat?”

She looked at me and accentuated her cryptic smile before turning away and walking toward the sofas sitting next to the wide window. As we sat down, the secretary asked Mayu-san if she wanted anything to drink.

“Espresso is fine. Would you two like anything?”

“Espresso please.”

“Same for me.”

As the secretary nodded and walked away, the three of us remained silent for a while. Mayu-san was staring at the city view outside the window. The sharp outline of Midori’s face was illuminated by the warm lamp light next to her. She was staring at the small coffee table in front of us with a lucid expression. It was quite a tense atmosphere.

The secretary brought our espressos to the table, bowed, and walked away. Mayu-san took a sip of her espresso, rested her arm along the back edge of the sofa, and spoke up while facing slightly toward the window.

“How have you been, Midori?”

Midori was holding her cup with both of her hands on her lap.

“I have been doing well, thanks to your unceasing patronage.”

Mayu-san smiled and turned her gaze toward Midori.

“I am happy to hear that. It is my duty to keep you as my protégé, after all.”

Based on a few exchanges of curt remarks so far, I was able to deduce two things. First was that there was no presence of any sort of personally meaningful ties between Midori and Mayu-san whatsoever. But second, perhaps a bit more unexpected, was that I could sense Midori was taking extra care in choosing her words so as to make sure that the appearance of her loyalty toward Mayu-san constantly remained unadulterated.

Mayu-san took another sip of her espresso and continued.

“So, I have been briefed of the situation from Mizuki. You must be Ryan who has been in charge of overseeing Midori, right?”

As I nodded with a short “Yes,” Mayu-san placed her cup down on the table and crossed her arms.

“Good work so far… I very much appreciate your and Mark’s efforts.”

She gave out a sigh and started shaking her head lightly from side to side.

“So it seems Nagisa is planning to cause quite a commotion these days. He hasn’t changed at all, has he, ever since the incident seven years ago… Don’t you think so, Midori?”

Midori took a brief pause, as if to prepare her mind to digest the manifestly unpleasant nature of the question, and managed to respond back with a certain sense of neutrality, along with a vague smile.

“Yes, he has caused distress to all of us here… much to our inconveniences.”

As my mind was busy analyzing the precise tonality underlying her choice of words, Mayu-san turned her gaze toward me.

“Ryan, do you know what my philosophy is when faced against a threat?”

Upon her question, I couldn’t help but immediately realize how strikingly similar the question was to that of Ene when she realized for the first time that YMMR was behind Midori’s mind data overload.

“What would it be?”

She put on an enigmatic smile and answered my question.

“It is to turn them into our friend.”

Her philosophy was indeed quite different from that of Ene... Ene’s child-like voice echoed in my mind: To destroy them before they destroy us!

At this point, Midori interjected sharply.

“I wonder what that is supposed to mean precisely?”

Mayu-san leaned back on the sofa and announced her plan in a low voice.

“I am going to merge YM Corp into JS Corp.”

Midori’s eyes became slightly larger and was filled with a surprised overtone. What Mayu-san said also came to me as completely unexpected. Having noticed our subtle reactions, she uncrossed her arms and picked up her cup again.

“Of course, this is contingent upon removal of Nagisa from the main YM board, which I am currently working on right now. In fact, the main purpose of today’s conference is to set up the preliminary motion for this to happen.”

Upon finishing the last sip of her espresso, she smiled gently, looked at her watch, and waved toward her secretary.

“I am sorry to cut our meeting off so shortly, but I now have another important meeting to attend before heading to the main YM Corporations branch. I need to speak to a few people in the Ministry of Defense, you see.”

She gave us a small wink before standing up. Midori and I stood up as well. After putting on a dark navy blue coat which the secretary brought to her, she spoke to me with a slightly more serious expression.

“Ryan… in case Midori actually disappears, I am counting on you to bring her back. All of us here at JS need Midori.”

After seeing me nod, she smiled lightly and turned to Midori. She stared at her for a few seconds with her dark purple, lucid, bottomless eyes… and she asked her the question that most likely would have been better if it were left unasked.

“Midori, do you like Ryan?”

Midori froze instantly… as if her veil of carefully chosen words was about to be shattered. A sharp current of electricity ran through my body as I was thrown a bit off-guard by the question as well. Her big eyes became flustered as she attempted to gloss over the question… albeit in a rather disconcerted manner.

“Umm, I – you see, –”

Mayu-san sighed and interjected her series of fragmented phrases.

“You haven’t changed at all, Midori, have you?”

She turned away toward the elevator… with her long eyelashes pointing slightly downward.

“Woefully sensitive to your own emotions… and woefully insensitive to those of the others.”

As Mayu-san started walking away, the secretary bowed to us and followed her as they disappeared into the elevator shortly afterwards. Midori remained standing where she was, staring down at the ground… just like the time when Inaba told her that she can’t be running away forever.

By “others,” could she have meant me?

“Midori, are you okay—”

“She’s right.”

A tinge of disappointment started mixing into her melancholic expression.

“I am woefully self-absorbed, after all… Funny how she looks straight through me even after not having seen each other for over two years. Maybe it’s because I really am transparent.”

The indigo color of her dress was endowed with much more warmth upon the lamp light.

“I don’t think there’s anything particularly wrong with being self-absorbed.”

She looked up at me with a slightly surprised look.

“What do you mean?”

I answered her question with a reassuring smile.

“Well, it might be a bit sad to be self-absorbed if you’re completely alone by yourself...”

I turned toward the wide window and looked into the pitch black sky.

“… but being self-absorbed together with someone can actually be quite consoling, I think.”

Her dark brown, lucid, bottomless eyes continued to stare at me. I returned her gaze and finished my thought.

“That’s what you meant by singular normalcy, and abstraction thereof, after all.”

Midori smiled and walked toward me. She stood next to me facing my right side and grabbed my right hand.

“Ryan, promise me something.”

“I can try.”

“Promise me to come back alive tomorrow and find me.”

“I will.”

“Oh, and make sure to come back with a box of donuts from Don Don Donuts. You know, the new shop that opened recently?”

“Donuts? Ahh… can’t you ask one of your guards to bring it for you instead?”

“No, I can’t do that… I will end up eating them all by myself if I do that.”

Her eyes were flooded. I wiped them off with my other hand and forced a smile.

“Okay, I will definitely bring those donuts back.”

“It’s an absolute order, got it?”

“Anything for you, Midori.”

(*1) Reference to polymorphic code (*2) Reference to supersymmetry

Ch. 19 Illustration 1 | Illustration 2

Ch. 19 Soundtrack 1 | Soundtrack 2

Go to Chapter 18: Midori Memories | Chapter 20: Midori Divergence | Chapter List

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savemidoriproject · 7 years

Text

Chapter 18: [Dimension M → γ | Worldline 1] – Midori Memories

Her dark green checkered one-piece dress had a belt of the same design that accentuated her waist. The long sleeves covered her slender arms, and I could see her thin collar bone over the collars, below which were brown buttons going down to the middle of the dress. The dress stopped right below her knees, and she was wearing a simple white sneakers.

This dress is the one that always comes to my mind when I recall Midori…

Midori was leaning forward with her hands on her knees, looking for an album in one of her bookshelves that contained her collection of CDs. As I stood next to her, leaning on the neighboring bookshelf, her bobbed hair moved lightly from side to side as she turned her gaze across the CDs.

“Looking through old CDs makes you feel quite nostalgic, don’t you think? There was a time in high school when I used to be obsessed with alternative rock as well… Ah, here it is.”

As her slim fingers pulled out an album, she opened it, took out the CD, and inserted it into her CD player. Before I had a chance to move, she caught me off-guard by swiftly moving toward me and pinning me against the bookshelf with her left arm above my right shoulder… and her dark brown, lucid, bottomless eyes immediately pulled me in… almost like a void that was starved for another soul. The lavender floral scent of her shampoo gently invaded my mind, and she smiled enigmatically, putting an earphone into my left ear. Her earphone was in her right ear, and she leaned the left side of her face on my chest, as if trying to listen to my heartbeats at the same time. As her arms slowly wrapped around my waist, I could feel several waves of butterflies diffusing through my veins…

A storm of sound flooded my mind. The song was much more melodically driven, with power chords channeled across fast upbeat tempo by distorted electric guitar sounds – a very heavy pop punk influence. I could recognize the same expansive sonic style as Singular Lyricism, along with lyrics driven by similar melancholic themes and dreamy vocals… but this time expressed more through catchier and livelier melodies. I could see Midori in her high school uniform, drowning herself out with her headphone… These repetitive and predictable chord progressions emanated powerful feelings of reassurance and aliveness… as if to dispel everything that was uncertain and dying, and to shout out to the world of one’s singular existence.

Gradually, and irreversibly… my world was being permeated with her sensibilities, and intoxicated with her words, memories, philosophies, and songs… until there was absolutely nothing left of me that wasn’t Midori.

“So if you recall… there is still one more place that I’d like us to go together.”

Midori raised her head from my chest and looked into my eyes again.

“The patisserie, right?”

Her eyes glimmered with delight and a tinge of nostalgia.

“So this patisserie is run by someone very close to me… Chizu-san was the only nanny that I was close to when I was young. She is a cheerful, plump woman who used to work as one of the maids in the house I used to live before I moved into the corporate building. She made all sorts of sweets for me when I was young, and she played with me until late at night so that I won’t feel lonely in that empty, uninhabited house… But she eventually had to leave because of her chronic knee pain, and after she left, she opened her own French patisserie. Ever since then, I’ve visited her from time to time whenever I craved for her pastries.”

“If she’s someone important to you, then she is also important to me. I’d love to try her pastries. Of course, I also can’t wait to hear about your childhood from her.”

Midori laughed and leaned backward while still holding onto my waist.

“Haha, well… my childhood memories with her mainly consist of late nights filled with puzzles, miniature doll houses, and countless sweets. I can’t believe how I never gained any weight after eating all those sweets.”

She bounced back toward me and brought her face close to mine again.

“Thanks for staying by my side, Ryan. These past few days with you made me realize how important it is to treasure people that I care about… when I still have time.”

Midori raised her hand and lightly stroked the side of my face and, with her cryptic smile, completely took hold of my mind.

“Shall we go?”

The sky looked like it was going to rain again as we walked into the same residential area of tea time layered with thick autumn foliage. The patisserie was a small European-style shop located in the corner of a narrow street. Two small white tables were placed outside the shop, and I could see numerous French pastries of all sorts of colors and fruit toppings lined up in the display cases behind the window.

“Those macarons look pretty, don’t you think? That tarte with strawberries looks tasty too…”

Midori couldn’t hide her excitement as she pulled me toward the window. Her shimmering eyes reflected the colorful pastries… As we entered through the glass door, a kind-looking woman greeted us cheerfully with a slight look of surprise.

“Midori! It’s been a while, how have you been?”

“Christina!”

Midori delightfully exchanged a hug with Christina. Christina looked like she was in her mid-thirties. Her long, straight black hair fell partially on top of her white apron. The interior was decorated with smooth white furniture and simple chandeliers, making the shop look like a small dollhouse.

“It’s so good to see you, Midori. And no guards today? Who do we have here today with you?”

“Oh, this is my new boyfriend, Ryan. Ryan, this is Christina; she is Chizu-san’s daughter.”

“You have a boyfriend now? That’s unusual for a bookworm like you!”

As they laughed together, Christina reached out her hand toward me.

“Nice to meet you, Ryan. You must be quite a person to have been picked by Midori.”

“Haha, oh well… I highly doubt that. It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Christina.”

Christina smiled, but I noticed that her expression was overshadowed with a slight look of anxiousness…

“Please have a seat! I’ll bring you some coffee and desserts.”

Saying that, she briskly went back into the kitchen. Midori and I sat down at a table next to the window.

“Could it be that she’s feeling a bit nervous because I’m here?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Christina has always been shy around people she doesn’t know.”

As Midori lightly brushed off my concern, Christina came back and placed in front of us coffee and the tarte with strawberry toppings that Midori pointed at before entering the shop. Midori looked delighted and was already cutting and tasting her tarte.

“How did you know I was looking at this one? I’ve been craving for these strawberry toppings. Did Chizu-san make this? By the way, is she not here today?”

Midori was busy carefully picking up the strawberry and a piece of the tarte together while I was sipping on the coffee. Christina’s expression turned melancholic upon Midori’s question. She diverted her gaze and started fidgeting her thumbs restlessly…

“Umm… You see… The things is…”

After putting another piece of strawberry into her mouth, Midori stared at Christina with her big eyes filled with curiosity.

“What’s wrong, Christina?”

Christina continued to avoid Midori’s eyes. After a moment, she forced a smile on her face and spoke her words… with much effort.

“My mom suffered a heart attack a few days ago… She’s in the JS Hospital right now. Really, it’s not a big deal, she’s just unconscious—”

Midori dropped her fork. She had a look of disbelief… like the one you have when you’re walking down the stairs in the dark and realize that there was one more step than you had expected… She stood up abruptly and murmured confused fragments of words.

“That… You’re joking, right? Chizu-san is— There’s no way she’d—”

Midori was turning half-transparent again, glitching a few times like a broken computer monitor… Christina looked shocked upon seeing this.

“Midori, are you okay? What is happening—”

“Why didn’t you tell me right away?”

Midori’s tone gradually turned from that of disbelief to sorrow overlaid with frustration. As a clear layer of tears gradually covered her eyes, Christina also looked like she was about to burst into tears.

“I— I’m sorry, I was so shocked myself, and I was preoccupied with getting her to the hospital—”

Christina reached out her hand toward Midori, but before she could touch her, Midori grabbed my hand. Her hands were shaking lightly, and I could see that she continued to glitch rapidly a few more times.

This is not good.

Having sensed what was going on, Ene’s voice suddenly interrupted me through my earpiece.

“Ryan, what is going on? Midori’s condition is suddenly turning unstable—”

Before Ene could finish her sentence, Midori pulled me toward the door. She didn’t seem to care at all about her own state at this point.

“Ryan, we need to hurry— the hospital—”

“Mark and I will get ready and meet you both at the hospital. Take care of her until then.”

It took me a second or so to digest the words of both Midori and Ene. Midori’s tears made her eyes look like a pair of jet-black gemstones, saturated with feelings of desperation.

She continued to glitch… as if the world around her was slowly beginning to crumble.

Before I had a chance to properly respond, Midori rushed out of the shop on her own, leaving me and Christina behind. I quickly grabbed my bag and smiled at Christina.

“Don't worry. Everything’s going to be okay. We’ll come back soon.”

I rushed out of the shop as well. I saw that Midori was running, already one block down the street. I grabbed my portal gun, set the coordinate to two blocks ahead, and shot a portal in the air. I ran through, turned around, and embraced Midori.

She looked completely surprised. I grabbed both of her arms.

“Midori, I need you to calm down for a second—”

“My world… is falling apart—”

She grabbed my shirt tightly while staring down... Teardrops fell on the ground, and she continued to turn half-transparent back and forth. Her shoulders were shaking lightly.

“That is not true at all. I think your world is much more compelling and complex than anyone else for it to fall apart so easily. And if you ever think you’re running out of strength to keep your world from collapsing... I will always be there to lend you strength. Mark and Ene too.”

Upon hearing my words, Midori looked up and stared at me with a slightly surprised look. Her big eyes still had some traces of tears, but I could see that she was no longer crying anymore. The gray clouds were moving rapidly across the sky, and we were surrounded by the sound of the wind blowing through the trees and the falling leaves… It was as if the trees were gossiping amongst each other. The wind roughened Midori’s hair as well, partially covering her eyes. As if taking some time to digest my words, her eyes gradually recovered their lucidity, and her breathing became more regular. She was glitching much less frequently now. She wiped her eyes with her green sleeve, and her expression turned somewhat serious and determined. I smiled reassuringly and grabbed her hand.

“There’s a faster way for us to get there, if you remember.”

As Midori smiled lightly, I set the coordinate to the JS Hospital and shot a portal open in the air again. And we stepped into the portal together.

We came out right in front of the hospital entrance. The sign read JS Hospital, which meant that it was most likely a subsidiary of JS Pharmaceuticals. The hospital was a tall and a very big building. The entrance area was crowded with ambulances and hectic with several white-robe doctors rushing patients on their gurneys. A few pedestrians turned toward us and murmured amongst themselves upon seeing us appear out of a thin air… But Midori didn’t care. Her expression was filled with seriousness… and she briskly went inside the hospital on her own. I followed her in.

As soon as she entered, the front desk assistants recognized her immediately. One of them quickly dialed a phone, and another one ran out and greeted us.

“Midori-san! What brings you out here today on your own? We weren’t notified of your visit today—”

Midori raised her hand, telling her to stop talking in gesture.

“Chizu Shirohana.”

The assistant answered her with a look of uneasiness.

“Could it be that you’re looking for one of the patients? Can I have her—”

Before she could finish her nervous response, however, a middle-aged man in a white robe rushed toward us.

“Midori-san, we sincerely apologize that we weren’t notified of your visit—”

“It seems like this hospital thinks of handling patients as a joke, Dr. Sakamoto.”

Midori crossed her arm and cut him off with a stern voice that startled everyone around us. The reception area now became suddenly quieter… Dr. Sakamoto bowed his head with a shocked look on his face.

“We are truly sorry, I am not sure what happened but we will do everything in our power to correct—”

“Chizu Shirohana. Where is she.”

As Dr. Sakamoto raised his head again, the other assistant ran toward us and handed a piece of paper to him. Dr. Sakamoto looked at the paper and replied.

“Ah, Shirohana-san. Yes, she was one of our recent cardiac arrest patients. She is currently in one of our regular patient wards—”

“How do you expect to correct something if you don’t even know what is wrong to begin with, Dr. Sakamoto? Are you saying that no one in this hospital realized who she was?”

Midori raised her tone of frustration, and Dr. Sakamoto was clearly unable to find the next set of words.

“What sort of unqualified people do you hire to do background checks on the patients?”

As she scanned the entire area, the assistants had mixed looks of confusion, fear, and concern. Midori’s voice grew louder as she slowly articulated her next statement.

“Chizu Shirohana was my own personal nanny when I was a child. Even if the records may not have shown this personal detail, isn’t it a basic human decency for me to be notified when someone possibly related to me has suffered a cardiac arrest?”

Dr. Sakamoto quickly bowed his head again and responded with urgency.

“We have been completely at fault for missing such a critical detail, Midori-san. What are you all waiting for? Transfer Shirohana-san to the VIP ward right away!”

As Dr. Sakamoto ordered the assistants, they started moving around busily.

“Do people in this hospital no longer see patients as human beings anymore? Or have I been mistaken all along thinking that a corporate hospital would adhere to such principles?”

Midori’s voice was now shaking with bitter disappointment. Dr. Sakamoto once again bowed his head and spoke in his deep voice.

“We sincerely apologize for making you lose your faith in us–”

“Enough. I’m sick and tired of this.”

Midori raised her hand again, and then grabbed my hand. Her hand was shaking slightly… As she started walking away toward the elevator, she stopped once more.

“Whoever was responsible for the background check on Chizu-san… should be prepared to resign and transfer to another branch.”

Her cold remark left the reception area with the same ice-cold tension as when she stormed out of our last meeting with Mizuki-san… Dr. Sakamoto’s head remained down facing the ground, up to the moment when the elevator door closed behind us.

Midori pressed floor 30, and collapsed onto me. She became half-transparent once more…

“Midori… Are you okay?”

She buried her face in my chest and breathed in and out slowly… After a few times, she looked up and smiled weakly. Her smile was overshadowed with a thin layer of fatigue… She held my hand tightly and faced the elevator door.

“Never leave my side… ever.”

I looked at the sharp outline of her face and her long eyelashes. I then turned toward the elevator door as well, and grabbed her hand even tighter.

“I don’t have any world to return to… except the one where you exist.”

The elevator opened into a spacious private room. At the center was a large bed, on top of which was Chizu-san. It seemed they managed to transfer her instantaneously to this room… She was a plump old woman with a curly gray hair. She was lying on the bed unconscious, with oxygen mask covering her mouth and nose. Two nurses were checking up on her, writing down a few things on a clipboard and adjusting pieces of equipment here and there… When we entered, they immediately stopped what they were doing and bowed to Midori.

“Midori-san, we would like to sincerely apologize for not being aware of the situation until now. We will do everything to make sure Shirohana-san recovers swiftly.”

It seemed like the nurse’s words failed to register in Midori’s mind. After staring at Chizu-san with a sad expression for a while, Midori calmly spoke her words again.

“You may leave us alone now.”

The nurses bowed and quietly left on the elevator. The room was now enveloped in silence, textured by regular beeping noise indicating Chizu-san’s heartbeat… and the fragile sound of her breathing through the oxygen mask, along with a small humidifier emitting white water vapor next to the bed. Midori slowly walked toward Chizu-san, kneeled down on her left side, and held her hand with both of her hands. She stayed glued in that position for a few minutes… as if trying to make sense of the situation… until teardrops started falling down her cheeks again.

“Jeez… At least let me know if you are going to get sick like this, will you? I am sorry Chizu-chan… These corporate people haven’t changed at all, have they…”

As I was wondering what she exactly meant by that, Midori glitched a few times again, although much less severely than before… and Chizu-san’s expressionless face remained unchanged.

“Chizu-chan, did you make the strawberry tartes? They were really tasty… You will make them again for me, right? Hey, we still have that 1000-piece puzzle we need to finish, you know? I can barely finish it on my own, so you better wake up soon…”

She remained by Chizu-san in the same position for a while… After she calmed down a bit, I picked up a tissue box from a table in the corner and approached Midori.

“Midori, don’t worry too much… After some time, she’ll wake up as if nothing has happened.”

As I held the box out to her, she smiled, took a tissue, and wiped her eyes.

“Oh yeah, I’m sure she will… I’ll make sure to protect those around me that I care for.”

At that point, a portal suddenly appeared next to the elevator, and Mark stepped into the room. Ene also appeared out of thin air in her holographic form. Her bright yellow one-piece mini dress flickered in the air along with her twin tails as she flew toward Midori.

“Midori! Are you okay? We were so worried about you!”

Ene wrapped her arms around Midori’s neck, which she couldn’t feel, of course, being mere holographic projections. Midori stood up, and her surprise gradually turned to delight.

“Ene and Mark! I missed you all so much, how have you been?”

Come to think of it, it has indeed been a while since the last time we were all together… Mark put on his customer-service smile and greeted us as well.

“Hi, Midori! We’ve been busy taking care of many things in the background in preparation for the upcoming YM-JS conference. Oh, I apologize for bringing up the unpleasant topic in this situation—”

“Mark, I told you not to bring that up in front of her!”

As Ene scolded Mark with her finger pointed at him, Mark placed his hand on his head and laughed awkwardly. Midori smiled weakly, turned toward Chizu-san again, and grabbed her hand while staring at her.

“Don’t worry about it. The conference is coming up in a few days, isn’t it… Compared to what happened today… that silly conference is really nothing.”

Mark and Ene both stared at Midori with concern for a while… until Ene broke the silence with her cheerful, high-pitched voice.

“Midori, we shielded Chizu-san with a force field. Based on the analysis of her current state, it is very likely that she’ll recover soon.”

Ene’s words seemed to have provided the much needed reassurance to Midori. She turned toward Ene with a big smile and let out a sigh of relief.

“Really? Ah, I’m so glad to hear that… thank goodness…”

Ene smiled brightly and put both of her hands on her waist.

“That being said, now that we are also done with our preparation for the conference… why don’t we celebrate and have some fun together? I think you can use some fun too, Midori! Oh yeah, let’s celebrate on behalf of your private tea club. I can still join as well, right?”

As my mind started wondering about the details of what she meant by the preparation, I decided to hold my questions for later when I saw Midori’s smile. It exuded the kind of happiness that can only result from a sense of belongingness…

“Of course! What are we doing to celebrate?”

“I wanna go to an amusement park!”

Ene frantically started doing her signature somersaults in the air, and Midori started laughing.

“Haha, you’re such a kid, aren’t you?”

As Mark contentedly stood next to Ene, I sighed and said,

“Ene, calm down a bit, is it really safe for us to be going to such a public place?”

Ene stopped midair and casually gave an answer to my question.

“It should be! We’re going to your home dimension, after all. Or should I say, our home dimension?”

Ene looked at me with a mischievous smile. Mark then created another portal next to the elevator. I smiled gently at Midori.

“Midori, whenever you’re ready.”

After mulling over my words for a few seconds, Midori turned toward Chizu-san one last time.

“Chizu-chan, I’ll come back soon, okay? From now on… I’ll be the one to protect you…”

Her words gradually thinned out into a pensive silence that lasted for a little while more… She then turned toward me, Ene, and Mark and put on a bright smile.

“Okay, I’m ready to go!”

We came out in the middle of an amusement park in Dimension γ… and we instantly became surrounded by a crowd of by people. Real Ene greeted us, holding her teddy bear in her right arm as usual. It was already dark outside, and the park was brightly lit with all sorts of decorations and lights. Ene clung onto Midori like a little sister nagging her older sister. She kept dragging Midori to different food stalls: takoyaki, candied apple, crêpe, soft ice cream…

It was when we were passing in front of the giant Ferris wheel that I was overcome with a sudden sensation of déjà vu. Midori and Ene’s laughter echoed in my mind, and at that precise moment, it felt as if multiple versions of my memory overlapped simultaneously… It wasn’t a déjà vu across time… but one across worldlines.

Having sensed my peculiar state of mind, Mark fell back a little bit from Midori and Ene and approached me.

“Is there something wrong, Ryan?”

I was once again surprised by his acute ability to detect other person’s mental state… His customer-service smile only managed to amplify this acumen and render it even more inscrutable.

“Nothing… Just a strong déjà vu, that’s all.”

“Ah, that happens a lot, doesn’t it? For a second, I thought you were becoming jealous of Ene being close to Midori.”

“Mark… I may be childish, but I’m not that childish.”

Mark gave out a big laughter upon my retort. For once, he seemed to be enjoying himself just for the sake of enjoying himself.

“I’d like to thank you for taking care of Midori and working closely with Saijo-san on memory primers. To be honest, Ene and I have been so preoccupied with figuring out YM Corporation. The more you get to know Midori, the higher the chances that our subsequent reconstruction be successful.”

Mark sighed, looked up at the dark blue sky, and continued.

“I know that saving Midori isn’t just a matter of contract for you… But perhaps that’s a good thing… It ensures that we work through this task to its gory end. After all, I feel the same way about Ene as well…”

I couldn’t help but be a little bit surprised by this.

“What do you mean by your feeling for Ene?”

Mark was staring at Ene with a slightly melancholic smile… She was getting a bite of Midori’s cotton candy.

“I like Ene a lot. I wouldn’t say in a strictly romantic sense, but… When I met her for the first time, she was almost at the brink of complete breakdown, entangled in a chaotic mess of emotions, maladaptive worldviews, and confused self-conceptions… Being involved in her existential maelstrom, and helping her get back on her feet, completely changed who I was. It was as if I became intertwined with her by something permanent… and irreversible.”

After confessing his thoughts in a somewhat dreamy manner, Mark stopped abruptly and tried to hide his embarrassment with his formulaic smile again.

“Ah, please don’t tell Ene that I said this, okay?”

As I brushed off my surprised look and nodded, Ene turned around with a grumpy face.

“Hey, you guys were just talking about me, weren’t you? I totally heard my name come up at some point!”

As Mark lightly shrugged off Ene’s tantrum, she suddenly pointed her finger at the haunted house. The rapidity with which her expression changed never ceased to impress me.

“Mark! We need to try that haunted house! Come with me now!”

Her eyes were brimming with an unprecedented craze as she grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the haunted house, leaving me and Midori behind. Mark looked back with an apologetic smile as he waved his other arm at us. As I gave out another sigh, I noticed that Midori was pointing at the Ferris Wheel.

“Ryan, I want to ride that Ferris wheel with you.”

Warm yellow lamp lights were illuminating her green dress. I smiled and grabbed her hand.

“I’ve come to realize how hollow I am on the inside.”

Midori was touching the window of the cabin with her right hand. A few stars were visible in the dark blue sky. The light decorating the cabin shadowed the melancholy along her long eyelashes.

“The hollowness makes my heart ache.”

Midori turned her face toward me. Her bottomless eyes looked like they embodied the hollowness itself…

“Sometimes it feels as though there’s something wrong with me… like something is broken, or there’s an insatiable black hole inside of me…”

She sat across me and brought both of her hands on her lap.

“Ryan, where do you come from, where are you right now, and where are you heading from now?”

Her questions left my mind blank, and I couldn’t help but think the same thoughts that she was thinking:

I’ve come to realize how hollow I am on the inside.

It was as if my mind was being completely synchronized with her mind… Or perhaps my life was empty to begin with, until I met Midori.

But something about this emptiness and the continuous sensation of déjà vu felt artificial… as if a portion of my memory has been rewritten.

“And where do I stand in the picture, Ryan? What do I mean to you?”

I couldn’t help but stare into her eyes… as if the answer was hidden within the depths of her eyes and among the infinite layers of internal hollowness that enveloped her.

I stood up next to the window and looked at the now pitch black sky, glowing softly with the lights of the amusement park.

“Your pensiveness,

your vulnerability,

your fragility,

your penchant for abstractions,

your melancholy,

your lucidity,

your cloudiness,

your longings,

your love of confectioneries,

your love of dark coffee,

your loneliness,

your solitude,

your kindness,

your scars,

your strength,

your songs,

your music,

your rooibos tea,

your CDs,

your headphones,

your cursive handwriting,

your private library,

your philosophies,

your secret garden,

your bluestar flowers,

your lavender floral scent,

your checker-patterned dresses,

your brown bobbed hair,

your long eyelashes,

your dark brown, lucid, bottomless eyes,

your sharply outlined face,

your cryptic smile,

your fragile hands,

your complexity,

your hollowness,

your sadness,

your sensibilities,

your memories,

your love of rain,

and everything about you that I still don’t know about,

and the despair of not being able to be a part of your maze-like world.”

Her eyes were flooded with tears... She quickly wiped them with her sleeve, stood up, and wrapped her arms around my neck.

“Have we met somewhere before?”

Her words left me with an unexpected sadness in my heart...

… like a clear and soundless wind.

Ch. 18 Illustration 1 | Illustration 2 | Illustration 3

Ch. 18 Soundtrack 1 | Soundtrack 2

Go to Chapter 17: Midori Shoegaze | Chapter 19: Midori Liminality | Chapter List

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