Story Reader / Festival Event Story / The Night Train on Reunion / Story
Are you sure you would like to invest all memory data from the stack?
Positive.
Timestamps implemented. Returning to data structure...
Now... show me what you will do this time.
Liv...
Liv... is still out cold.
Bedridden, Liv is quietly sticking through her suffering exactly as you remember.
At the same time, feeling the pain from recovery that you did back then at this point in time, you remember what had happened.
Don't think anyone would have complained if this weren't part of the replay...
Guess the mechanoid does it to ensure the accuracy of the simulation.
Historically speaking, Liv was exactly right here bedridden at Star of Life at this point in time from switching back to her Eclipse frame.
Holding the side rail of Liv's bed, Lee sounds calm.
Try to mask himself as he may, you see right through Lee—and the emotional turmoil that's now raging in him.
...And I ran into Chiko, too.
At the mention of the name, the room falls silent.
They all know what the name means.
Because everyone in the room—including Liv who's bedridden "at this moment"—has experienced the battle at the beach.
I asked Commander Nikola to refrain from sending Chiko to Earth.
And as of now, Commander Nikola has yet to reject my request.
Silence once again befalls the room.
This is a virtual space, Bianca, and nothing we do here is going to change what's already happened.
I know.
But I... just can't help it.
Bianca shakes her head with a wry smile.
Lee is right. We're just living through a replay here, and it's fundamentally different from traveling back in time.
Right. Knowing her, I'm sure she would.
But I'm going to do it anyway, even if it's my decision isn't going to change what's already happened.
Well, we were "usually" either on missions or out fighting.
That's what we did most of the time, and we never really had the time to hang out.
And that's all I need to do?
Looking at Bianca, you seem to see in her eyes a billion things she can't put into words—some about the past, and some about the "future."
Finding yourselves where the past and future cross paths, you can't help but wonder if there is more you can do.
This, perhaps, is probably why Lee has asked Nikola—the actual Nikola who's come to this virtual world, too—to put the team on standby at Babylonia.
None of us was by Liv's side in the past when she was suffering.
Lee and I had ourselves repaired and tested after the battle, and then we were out on missions again with some of the other teams.
Based on previous infiltration, we can do whatever we want to do, as long as what we do is, historically speaking, factually correct.
And historically speaking, I couldn't use my Hyperreal Frame just yet because I was in the process of adjusting to it at this point in time.
And Liv is here bedridden because... again, historically speaking, that's what happened.
This replay is based on "events that have a significant impact on history," which means those events already pre-exist in the first place.
And that means we're able to make our own decisions on events that are not these pre-existing events.
Lee nods in silence.
...Right.
Casting one last look at Liv, Bianca nods and quietly leaves the room.
Like Task Force, Purifying Force can be found on standby in the lounge when they're off duty.
As always, Chiko is on standby in the lounge waiting for her next assignment.
Chiko?
Yes.
But we still have a chance to cherish what we once forgot.
Wanna catch a movie?
...Huh?
Putting down the report she's been reading, Chiko looks dubiously at Bianca.
What gives?
That's what we do sometimes, right? And we're both off duty today.
Sure... Anything you're in the mood for?
Let's go down to WGAA and check out some of the new movies they're playing now.
Fixing her eyes on Bianca, Chiko wants to find out what's going on.
Sensing nothing else from Bianca's genuine invitation, Chiko gives in.
Chiko lets out a sigh and breaks into a smile.
Sure. Let's go, then.
Seems like we only ever walk down this way when we go to the movies together.
True. I mean, we're always out there on missions and all.
Remember that time when you wanted to watch a movie but the ticket ended up in your battle report and got submitted to Headquarters?
It was a physical ticket that was hard to come by. You didn't say a thing, but I could tell how upset you were.
...I remember now.
The ticket was for a night screening of Sunset Street. It was a slice-of-life kind of movie, and that's what I found interesting about it.
...I wonder what umeshu tastes like.
Sweet and sour, no?
Have you tried it?
Nope, but they probably have an electrolyte that tastes like that here in Babylonia.
Let's go and give it a try sometime, then.
Since you asked me to go to the movies with you.
...Thought you'd hate the idea of a quiet life.
I wouldn't say I hate it, but a quiet life is just something I can never see myself living.
Some people lived in big houses by the beach back in the Golden Age, but that's not something I've ever thought about.
Away from the crowd and leaning against the railings, Bianca and Chiko are taking their time to enjoy the afternoon sun.
Or, more accurately, the artificial sun hanging in Eden's artificial sky.
Have you been to the aquarium by any chance?
They have a super long glass tunnel, and you can see all sorts of sea creatures swimming on the other side of... Hey, what's wrong?
Noticing the look on Bianca's face, Chiko stops talking and looks her way.
No... I'm fine.
That's what came to my mind when I thought about the movie.
My baby sister said she wanted to see whales and sea urchins.
Whales and... sea urchins?
They're completely different in size, though.
I don't know why she named those two, but it was already too late and I just stopped thinking about it.
Well... I'm sure that day will come.
Sure, I guess.
With it, they both fall silent again.
I had a look at the brochure for the investigation assignment that you called off, and the locale was the aquarium.
Why, though?
If I had to make a choice again, Chiko, I'd still stop you from going on that mission.
...How?
...
Chiko says no more as she looks Bianca quietly in the eye.
You... sound like you know what would have happened.
The look on Chiko's face remains unchanged, but Bianca picks up a familiar yet rare tenderness in her tone.
...I do, and I also know that there's no stopping you from accepting the mission.
...
I can hold death up to ridicule if I can criticize darkness.
In place of her response, Chiko reads out a line from the movie's promotional poster.
You're exactly as I remember you.
Gazing up at the artificial sky, Bianca, for the first time, catches undisguised grief in her own voice.
And you... are no longer the Bianca I know?
Right.
Which is why... I'm still going to accept the mission, Bianca, because I know I'll have you by my side.
In the artificial sun, Chiko smiles a rare but genuine smile.
I can hold death up to ridicule if I can criticize darkness.
I can bid farewell to dawn if I can do the same to darkness.
I shall rise in hope if I shall succumb to darkness.
Shall we?
The screen over at the turnstile shows the title of the movie they came to watch. Letting go of the railings, Chiko gestures for Bianca to follow her.
And just like old times, Chiko is the one taking the lead.
Let's go back to the fourth iteration in a bit and give it another shot from a different angle.
Hey, hey!
Rubbing her eye at the desk, Karenina stares at the electronic wall before her—that's overflowing with calculations.
What in the world is this...
I see you're awake. You're now officially a piece of garbage.
Right back at you. I just woke up from a power nap and am still trying to figure out what happened.
Oh boy, finally lost it from all the overtime work, huh? Wait, you were never quite right in the head to begin with.
Deciding that the argument is going nowhere, Karenina turns around to look at the clock...
Six hours have passed since the mechanoid—who called itself "Conductor"—brought them into this replay.
According to Conductor, time in this virtual space works differently than it does in the real world—a dozen days in here are roughly half a day out there.
Still, Karenina finds six hours unbearably long.
Unlike everyone else, Karenina was brought to the lunar base by the train—which Conductor simply wrote off as, "The train went just a little too far."
Sir, the guys from Babylonia are here.
With panda eyes, Yarha looks up from mountains of data.
Again? Didn't they just send people down here last week?
They came with supplies and a table of construction-related materials for infrastructure, apparently.
So...?
Yarha looks quizzically at Teddy and Karenina.
From an engineering perspective, he knows that he would do well to trust them with this kind of logistics deployment, given that they're from the Cosmos Technicians Union.
Not going to have a look?
Wait, me? And I guess I should just file a complaint to the Union against you while I'm at it?
Excuse me?
Let's see what I'm going to put down in my letter of complaint... "Mishandling of Level-Three radioactive substances" or "excessively high deterioration rate of experiment consumables"...
And that's all you have stored up in there, huh?
Look at you working up that little brain of yours for this argument.
Uhm... fancy a piece, Teddy?
See?
...I'm pretty sure Yarha is just saying it so you wouldn't beat the hell out of him.
No, I'm just... You see, I'm sure you're tired from work, so why don't we...
Chop chop and get it done already.
I don't think we're done with iteration for this time, no? There's new data and a structure experiment waiting to be verified, no?
I'll get all those done to make up for the time I was out cold napping, yeah?
Boy, never thought I'd ever hear that from you...
Haha... Well, shall we? See, I can really use some stretching here... Uhm, was that my spine that just cracked?
Yes, yes it was.
Pushing both Yarha and Teddy out of the lab, Karenina once again lies face down on the experiment table with a frown.
Historically, at this point in time, zero-point energy's engine had yet to work, and the moon was still safe.
Hmph, history can't be changed, huh? Just watch me do that in this virtual space...
Ma'am, about the data from just now...
Alright, just leave it here and I'll go through it in a bit. Go on and try to catch up to Yarha already.
Certainly.
After the researchers leave, Karenina picks up her Blast Hammer by the door and steps out of the lab.
She knows the way from the lab to the control room for zero-point energy's engine like the back of her hand.
It all began with the engine—and destroying it would nip it all in the bud.
She did it once—and no matter how many times she has to do it again and what it's going to cost her, Karenina believes she'll always get it right.
In the past—the one she actually lived through in the real world—she faced the seemingly impossible and prepared for failure. Given another chance, however, she'd do the same nonetheless.
Come what may—because real or not, I'm not backing away!
