The holographic Doctor repositioned her cigarette in her mouth and grinned again.
“I’ll answer your questions properly — so forgive me. First: why do I know about you? Because I have a tool that lets me peek at future events.”
A tool for peeking at the future? Artifact-class? Building something like that — what kind of genius is she… Even if she’s deranged.
“Combining space-time magic with light magic, plus Null magic — well, I’ll skip the fine details. The tool can project the future. Unfortunately, it only catches things in fragments, and the era it peers into is fixed — not adjustable. It locates someone with the same bio-wave pattern as the user and shows them across time. In my case, having every element backfires — I can only peer into eras as distant as yours.”
Same bio-wave as this person — me? That’s… starting to feel really bad. Like she’s lumping me in with her… Categorically wrong, by the way. Having the same elements is NOT the same thing!
“Anyway — I used it to find you. Started out as a little curiosity, but it got fun. I was happily watching you and your friends’ adventures — and then, at some point, I couldn’t see anymore. Why? The future had changed. Or — more accurately — it had become indeterminate.”
Indeterminate…? Meaning?
A (past) ────── B (future)
If that’s the original flow of time, and a change-point C appears between them, the future becomes B’, not B.
If the future the Doctor had been watching was B, then some change-point C started to disturb that future and B’ was forming instead… that’s the idea?
“The fall of Partheno… no, that one was fixed. Our civilization is already gone in your era, after all. The destruction of Partheno by humanity’s enemy — the Phrase — was already woven into the future I’d been watching.”
Partheno…! Phrase, she said…! That crystal monster Leen mentioned!? 5,000 years ago — the fall of the ancient civilization — those things did it!?
“We fought, of course. But Partheno’s destruction by tens of thousands of Phrase couldn’t be stopped. And the destruction of the entire world by their spread was imminent — beyond that, there was no future. That’s why I lost the ability to see.”
So A (the Doctor’s past) leading to B (our future) was shifting toward B’ (a world destroyed by the Phrase)? But…
“Yes — as you’ve already noticed — for some reason the world did not end. At a certain point, the Phrase vanished from the world. Reason unknown. But thanks to that, I could see your future again.”
So it didn’t go to B’. Good. If it had, I’d have been sent to a different world, maybe. Maybe I wouldn’t have met everyone.
But — why did the Phrase suddenly disappear…? Like in old sci-fi novels — did some virus or some Phrase-specific something emerge?
“In short — that’s how I know about you. And of course, my legacy Babylon was left for you. Use it however you like. I built some girls to your taste too — use them however you like.”
A wicked grin spread across the hologram. Ugh — what is this! That “I get it, can’t be helped — you’re a boy” smile! Like a big sister teasing her little brother!
“To be safe, I scattered Babylon so no one else would end up with it — but the remaining pieces, find them or don’t, doesn’t matter. Search when the mood takes you. Too much power doesn’t seem to be necessary in your era.”
That’s casual! Doubts are starting to creep in about whether this person really is a genius.
“Right — long, but with that, the message is over. By the way: the moment this message ends, Francesca strips fully naked.”
“Whu-whaaat!?”
“Joke. Until next time.”
I hurled the smartphone onto the futon again. Khaaa! Teasing me right up to the very end, that pervert Doctor! What — did she build Babylon specifically to mess with me!?
”…Shall I strip nOw?”
“You don’t have tO!”
I checked Cesca, whose hands had already gone to her clothes.
In any case — that Doctor was peering at us from the past, and she knew about us. Though, considering she dropped a transfer circle at the bottom of the sea in Eashen and split Babylon into pieces, it doesn’t really look like someone who can see the future.
She said she could only catch fragments, so maybe she can’t pick what she peeks at. Still — the thought that even right now, someone might be peering in from the past — that’s a no peace, ever situation. Please, let that not be the case.
The other thing on my mind is the Phrase.
The Doctor probably hasn’t seen that the Phrase exist in the future too.
That cricket-shaped Phrase we encountered in the old royal capital ruins — maybe it was sealed. Maybe there was a Phrase invasion 1,000 years ago too. That’s why the old royal capital became ruins, and they had to move the capital… it fits.
Maybe what we found was a survivor of that period — captured, maybe, to search for a weakness, or for some similar reason.
But… in that case… the snake-shaped Phrase that Leen and the others met — what’s that? Is it a sign that the same thing as 5,000 and 1,000 years ago is about to happen again?
5,000 years ago, the world nearly ended. 1,000 years ago, a capital fell. You could say the scale is shrinking. Maybe if the same thing happens this time, the damage won’t be as bad… or is that too optimistic.
“Is something tHe matter?”
“No… nothing.”
This is all just hypothesis. If it turns out to be groundless worry, fine. But if the worst happens…
”…No point thinking about it. It’d just put everyone on edge — better keep it to myself for now.”
“My night visit, you meaN?”
“Not that part! But yes — keep it quiet!”
“Yes, masteR.”
On the very day I got betrothed, having a fuss kicked up over cheating would be a disaster. I quickly ushered Cesca out (her own room is properly set aside, of course) and burrowed into bed.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
The next day, I went out alone to the capital’s South District — the commercial quarter.
Destination: a jeweler’s. Well — engagement rings, you see. Figured I’d buy them.
I mean, with [Modeling] I could probably make them myself — but skimping on a present for your betrothed felt off, so.
Only, I have no idea what the going rate is for this sort of thing. They say an engagement ring should cost three months’ salary, but I’ve heard that’s just a catchphrase a jewelry company spread around. And anyway, I don’t really have a salary…
I checked online. The ring a man gives a woman when proposing is the engagement ring — the “three months’ salary” one. The pair the couple exchanges at the wedding to wear daily is the wedding ring. Wedding rings get worn 24/7, so they don’t need to be too expensive. Usually no stones on them either.
In a normal marriage you’d buy three rings total — including your own. In my case, with four brides-to-be, between engagement and wedding I’m looking at nine rings total…
Wait. Now that I think about it, this custom is from my world. Maybe this side does it differently.
Hmm — I’ll just ask the jeweler’s staff to confirm.
While I was thinking that and walking through the commercial district, I heard the sound of someone arguing. What’s that? I headed toward the food stall the voices were coming from, and the stall’s owner was glaring at a customer, arms crossed.
“Look, kid. I don’t know where that’s money from, but I can’t take it. Get me?”
“That’s a problem, man. It’s all I’ve got on me…”
About my age. White shirt, black jacket, black pants, long white scarf — gloriously monotone, scratching his head in apparent helplessness. The hair on top of his head was pure white too. In his hand: two half-eaten crepes.
“No money, no dine-and-dash. I’ll hand you over to the guards.”
“What? I really can’t pay with these?”
“That country’s coin won’t pass here, I said!”
“Uh, excuse me…”
I couldn’t help stepping in. From the look of it, this boy had eaten the goods without realizing he had no usable currency.
“What is it, mister?”
“Just a passerby — I’ll cover his tab. That works, right?”
“Long as I get paid, no complaints, but…”
I paid one copper, and got two more crepes for it. Four crepes for one copper — pretty cheap, actually. I took the boy and stepped away from the stall.
“Thanks. Big help.”
“It’s fine — we all hit a rough patch sometimes. More importantly — you don’t have any of the common currency?”
I asked the boy, who was thanking me. What country’s countryside is he from, exactly? Even faraway Eashen uses the same common currency.
“Used to be able to buy stuff with these.”
The scarfed boy pulled out a fistful of silver coins from his pocket — they clinked together.
“That’s an unusual shape.”
The common currency — the gold and silver coins we use day to day — is round. Perfectly round. But these are octagonal. Unusual. I picked one out of his hand and turned it over to look.
“If you like it, keep it. Thanks for the help just now. They’re useless here anyway.”
“Yeah? Then I’ll take a few — as payment for the crepes.”
Honestly I didn’t particularly want them, but I figured saying that would settle his guilt about the stall, so I accepted a few coins.
“I’m Touya. Mochizuki Touya. You?”
“Endo. Nice to meet you, Touya.”
The boy — Endo — held out his hand and I shook it. For some reason it was unusually cold — I remember that. This was my and Endo’s first encounter.