[scify]

Spoiler for September the Fifth, Day 4, Interlude 08: Thunder Rumbling:

Thunder Rumbling


"The scene is a military office, kept meticulously clean and ordered. A nameplate on the desk reads /“ARAKAWA,/” in English."

"Arakawa stumbled into the office, pulled out a chair, and collapsed face-first onto her desk. The impact was such that the bun her long grey hair was wrapped in nearly came loose."

"Satou Mori, his arms crossed over his chest and looking for all the world like nothing was wrong, entered after her, and cooly sat down in a chair in the corner, reserved for visitors."

"Arakawa gave him a disgruntled look."

"/“Mori, exactly how do you do that?/” "

"/“Do what?/” "

"Satou Mori didn’t seem to notice what was odd in this situation. He never did."

"/“I spent the past two hours yelling at troops and organizing plans of attack without a minute’s rest, which left me tired as a bear in late autumn. You spent the last two hours flying around as a ball of cold fire, destroying red giants inside an alternate reality, and you seem perfectly rested. My question was about how you do that./” "

"Satou Mori opened his mouth to answer."

"/“Don’t you dare say ‘love’./” "

"/“Mental discipline. We may be called out at any time if Closed Space forms over the city again./” "

"Arakawa angled her head to look at the desk again. "

"/“Please don’t remind me about that. In all my years working here, I’ve never seen the Agency in such a state of chaos./” "

"Satou Mori pulled a plastic tube, the kind one keeps camera film in, out of a pocket of his suit."

"/“Well, it is to be expected. Closed Space simply does not form at this rate. Three occurrences within two hours is unheard of./” "

"Opening the tube, he pulled a cigarette out of it and stuck it in his mouth, then began to fumble around in his pockets for a lighter."

"/“And it’s all because of love./” "

"A muffled sigh could be heard from the direction of the desk. Satou Mori allowed himself a smile as he pulled out a very old and very tarnished lighter."

"/“Although we must wonder about the involvement of love, given the state of the Avatars inside… before we lost contact with the children, they were simply sitting there, inert. After the lightning and thunder began, they started destroying things at a faster rate than ever before. It was most certainly not a reaction I would associate with… love./” "

"Thunder rumbled, as though to punctuate his point. Arakawa continued to say nothing."

"/“Also! Although there has never been weather in Closed Space up until now, it was raining the entire time I was in there earlier. This might have something to do with the destruction of Headquarters, as well. Everything we’ve ever known is beginning to fall apart…/” "

"With a little difficulty, given its age, Satou Mori managed to light the lighter. There was still no response from Arakawa."

"/“By the way, you need not worry about the children in the other world. Although we were unable to give them detailed instructions before the connection was severed, as long as they have one another, they will be fine./” "

"…And was about to do the same to his cigarette, but…"

"/“Mori./” "

"/“Hmm? What is it?/” "

"/“Go outside, and look at the sign posted on my door./” "

"/“The one that says ‘No Smoking?'/” "

"Arakawa’s muffled sigh was interrupted by a knock on that very same door."

"/“Come in, please./” "

"A placative smile entered the room, followed by the form of Emori Kimidori. Arakawa immediately sat up straight in her chair, trying to affect an aura of dignity that her loosened hair did not support."

"/“Kimidori-kun? Didn’t you go home already?/” "

"The young TFEI bowed."

"/“I’m sorry, but I decided to stay and offer what support I could. My data manipulation can be used to heal minor injuries and increase defensive abilities, although it doesn’t have the ability to blast your ‘Avatars’ with laser beams like some of your men seemed to be convinced it can./” "

"Arakawa seemed slightly taken aback, but she nodded."

"/“Well, we do need all the help we can get in this crisis… would you like to sit down? I need to ask you some questions before I can be sure that we can use you… How much do you know about—/” "

"Emori Kimidori raised a hand."

"/“Wait, please. There was another reason I came here, to your office. I found it crawling on the road, and I thought it would be of interest to you./” "

"He stepped back to allow the reason behind him to enter the room."

"A bloody mess stumbled through the door and fell to the floor of Arakawa’s office with a noise like overcooked spaghetti falling to the floor after being dropped by a housewife who had discovered one of her children had put a worm in it."

"Mitsuuru Asahina was, miraculously, still alive."


"The scene is a sick bay. The giant wad of bandages with brown hair sitting up in one bed, surrounded by three people, is Mitsuuru Asahina, who should, given the state of the HQ Building, should be crushed under a pile of rubble."

"The nurse who examined him couldn’t understand it. Aside from suffering from cuts all over his body, Mitsuuru Asahina had no internal injuries whatsoever. No broken bones, squashed organs, or burst muscles at all. Aside from his lungs and heart being almost completely deteriorated, he was perfectly fine, internally, and there was no way falling debris could cause anything like that."

"Arakawa smiled wryly."

"/“Congratulations. You’re truly a medical miracle./” "

"Kimidori’s affable smile was faltering slightly."

"/“I wasn’t aware you had developed self-repair technology…/” "

"The wad of bandages coughed up a few words."

"/“We haven’t… this is just my luck striking again… keeping me alive, a person who should be dead…./” "

"/“You could certainly say that again./” "

"Satou Mori was reviewing Mitsuuru Asahina’s medical report."

"/“How are you still alive with this kind of heart condition? And what caused something as dire as this? I’m very curious now./” "

"/“Entropy./” "

"Arakawa looked confused. (No mean feat.)"

"/“Entropy? How could entropy destroy heart and lung tissue?/” "

"A coughed-out response."

"/“My younger self no longer exists on this time plane. The waves of paradox cross time planes, eventually circling back here, and inevitably destroy me from the inside out. I’m resisting it with all my might./” "

"Kimidori’s smile continued to falter."

"/“That should be impossible. This is all a predetermined event, yes? How are you being destroyed with paradoxes when the future is set in stone?/” "

"If the wad of bandages wasn’t in so much pain, it would have grinned. (And it tried anyway.)"

"/“You… you remind me of someone… heh, heh haaaaackkkk… well, let me put it like this. I can no longer return home to my future. What does it mean for a world when it no longer has a future, I wonder?/” "

"/“You’re not suggesting…!/” "

"/“I’m afraid that he is. But he’s wrong. I synchronized a month ahead this morning. Everyone is going to be fine. The world is not going to end./” "

"Arakawa relaxed again. But she wasn’t able to do that for long."

"/“Hah… hah… hah… hack. So, the aliens are in denial, are they?/” "

"/“I’m most certainly not in denial./” "

"/“The world is going to end, and there’s nothing we can do about it./” "

"/“Wrong./” "

"Satou Mori put down the report, which he had been reading upside-down."

"/“If all three factions are here… there must be something we can do. We must pool our technology, our efforts, together. This will all end if Haruki Suzumiya has his love returned to him, and I believe with a combination of all our abilities, we may be able to do it./” "

"/“Mori, where exactly did this…?/” "

"/“I’d certainly be up for that, yes. It would certainly square with my knowledge that everyone is going to be just fine in one month./” "

"/“And what about you, man from the future? What do you say?/” "

"Mitsuuru Asahina, the wad of bandages, began to laugh even harder. (He was probably going to have a heart attack at this rate, but perhaps that was his intention.)"

"/“Haaaaaaaackkkkkk… No. I refuse to help./” "

"/“……Why, exactly? Don’t forget that I can order them to just let you bleed to death./” "

"/“Oh please, I’d welcome it. No, I refuse to help because, for the month of September of this year, I only remember going to school and being forced into weird costumes. Nothing like this ever happened./” "

"/“Where is this go—/” "

"/“So even if you did bring them back, it doesn’t benefit me in any way. The unchangeable future will have been changed, and I will cease to exist. And if I’m going to die anyway… I feel like I might as well take everyone with me, riiiiiiight?/” "

"The laugh of an insane man, pushed too far by circumstance and change, echoed throughout the sick bay, turning heads. The three people around him looked upon him with disgust."

"Thunder rumbled, and lighting flashed outside."

"Thunder rumbled and then the lightning flashed. That’s important."

"The lights flickered, and the room went completely dark."

Hmm... renewal of one of my previous theories.

Are we really doing this entire scene without any way to identify the speaker? That'll be interesting...

Anyways... yeah, I should probably be asleep or something instead of posting edits, but whatever. After all, it's not really like I've been able to keep a rational sleeping schedule anyways. Or do my arabic homework and go to class and whatnot... Spore is much more fun anyways. Also, what's up with Kaisos? Did he get banned or something? Is this going to spread to the rest of us working/editing the Visual Novel? Are the mods gunning for editors next?

Sleep-deprivation paranoia is fun.