Translator: WeeJen, Ruri

Editor: Eclarion, llybos.h.i.+, Creis

h.e.l.lo, it’s me again, Kouki.

Well well, so much happened since then, and now I’m 15.

What? Too much time skip?

Nah, it’s nothing compared to something else I’ve found. So, since I’ve been able to move around by myself at 5, I’ve been collecting information for 10 years now. Don’t get so surprised now, first thing first, currently I’m here in the 3rd planet of the solar system, earth. The current timestamp is…

January 4th, 2102, 10:59 A.M.

I was reborn around 90 years in the future of my previous life. Although it’s in the future, it’s not like there are flying cars, nor things like teleportation technology. What we have now is military power-suits (when I first saw it on TV, I got so excited and asked my mom, “Mom, is that a robot? Is that a robot?”) and a personal laser weapon that’s just barely portable.

I think it was when I was around 3 years old, when a thought suddenly occurred to me. How could the human civilization progressed so much in a mere 90 years? The world era I lived in previously, year 2010 to be exact, the progress of civilization has more or less getting stagnant. There was even a scientist group declaring that civilization will slowly wither away as time goes by. So when mom took me to the library when she was searching for a picture book, I sneaked away looking around for history books. Later Mom found me out, but it seems like she thought I was only interested in the pictures. After that, she would upload lots of scenery or beautiful castles e-books to my personal device. As expected from my mother, such kindness! Even though I don’t really need those for now…

Should we go to the details, we can go all the way back to the middle age, but I’ll explain some points that are definitely different from the world I lived in before.

In 1935, the 2nd World War breaks out. It started 4 years earlier than the history I knew and only lasted for a year and a half. The reason was because America, Russia, and Deutsch has finished developing nuclear weapon at around the same time. j.a.pan launched the attack on Pearl Harbor and occupied Hawaii, but after that j.a.pan was locked on by the nuclear bomber from Aleutian Islands. That was actually j.a.pan’s defeat, but America’s main objective was only for j.a.pan to totally retreat from Hawaii, hence America never steps its foot on j.a.pan. The j.a.pan disarmament and const.i.tution was established, but the surrender of j.a.pan never happened, so as the result, j.a.pan still retains power over its own country and countless lives were spared. Of course, the nuclear attack on j.a.pan never happened too. The whole world avoided going into a prolonging war with no clear winner, all that’s left is the political power and productivity that was used for technology advancement.

In 1950, Apollo 3 successfully landed on the moon, which is 20 years earlier than the history I know. And by the way, by 1948, around 70% of commercial flights are already using jet fuel.

In 1951[1] there was the Cuban Missile Crisis, it’s same as the history that I know. America and Russia was about to engage to the nuclear war at any moments, but the pa.s.sing of pope of Rome at that time have an adverse effect on the whole world, causing the war weariness to peak, which prevented the impending all-out war.

In 1970, World Conference of Strategic Arms Control[2] took place. This didn’t happen at all in the history that I know. Learning from the Cuban Missile Crisis, every nation possessing nuclears (which includes j.a.pan), was enforced a possession cap. All the nations possessing nuclear warheads, are limited to 23 warheads.

In 1976, The Europe Tragedy[3]. This is also different from the history that I know. A contagious disease that started in a remote countryside in Europe, spread the terror around the whole world. At the start of the pandemic event, the world population was 9,100 million, but by the time WHO announced the cure, the world population was already drastically reduced to 4,700 million.

In 1990 there was The Versailles Miracle, where all countries, worn up by the after-effects of the Europe Tragedy, made a big decision. All nuclear weapons were to be disposed permanently, all nations were to dismiss 80% of their military power, and the inauguration of the United Army. Many people said that this is a victory for the world peace, but the stronger argument is that all the nations wanted to reserve as many human resource as possible by moving them from military to civil service. Oh, and by the way, The Europe Tragedy and the The Versailles Miracle will definitely come up on tests. I learned it too.

I guess it’s about time you’re getting bored? What’s with this guy and his endless blabbering of trivial things, that’s what you were thinking, right?

You see, actually it was not just pointless blabbers.

Why? Because each of those trivial things actually has something to do with the text books.

Too long for you? Then again, let’s take a big skip.

In 2091, my mom proposed a new theorem, called the Theory of Multilinear World Timelines. This theorem, published by Arakawa Miki of j.a.pan, redefines the quantum science theory from its very core. This theorem proves that there can be infinite copies of worlds similar to ours, each with their own time frame. Arakawa Miki constructed this extremely complicated theorem all by herself, and published it. For that, the whole world now called her “the Mother of New Quantum Science”

But sorry… that theory was actually inspired from my scribble!

—– Point of View : Arakawa Miki —–

—– Year 2090, Early Summer —–

Watching Kouki’s growth, I often find myself smiling and feeling at peace. When I think about it, he’s really a strange child. He never cries at night and when his diaper got dirty he would call me right away. He knows what should be done and what not, as if he understood all of it before he was even taught. A really smart and cute child. I don’t even got into parental burnout.

Recently, Kouki often watch TV and read newspaper. He shouldn’t be able to understand anything too complicated yet, but he would always had this serious face. I find his adultlike manner so adorable, and I can’t help but tease him. I would take the TV remote and change it into some satellite-based entertainment channel. Even so, he would still looks happy, his eyes brighten up as he watches. I giggled at him, and go back to the laundries.

“Uwaaa!! Whoaaa!!

I heard Kouki’s loud cheers from the living room. The normally quiet kid, now being so excited to the point of shouting out! I dropped the laundry and quickly went to the living room, then I saw the figure of Kouki, clapping and yelling in front of the TV. It’s my first time seeing this kind of reaction from him…

When I see the TV, there is a news about new powered suits that was just deployed by the Ground Army Self-Defence Forces

“Mommy, mommy~! Look, robo? Robo?!”

I was quite surprised, but I know that mechanical suits is a thing for boys. I’m not really sure what he meant, but somehow I’m sure that he wants to own one…

“Kou-chan, it’s not something that our family can afford, you know?“

After saying that, Kouki’s face shows a delicate expression, as if already grasping what I mean. Not long after that, he fall asleep. I lift Kouki gently, and carry him to his room.

—– Point of View : Arakawa Kouki —–

—– Year 2090, Early Summer —–

Oh s.h.i.+t– This is bad… Mom looks pretty angry to me… For now let’s just cry… This way she would probably calmed down and return to the usual Mom.

“Uwaaaaah–!!! Mommy is scawyyyyy!! Uwaaaaaaaahhh–!!”

While crying, I start to think back of what happened.[4]

The first time I went to the library is around 2 months ago. At this era, even though this place is still called a library, its contents is mostly e-book already. Just think of it like borrowing a DVD from a rental, but in this library, only history books are not converted into e-book yet.

I was lying on the floor reading a certain book, when suddenly my mother frantically rushed towards me, looking worried, then scolded me because I wandered around, all by myself. Actually I don’t mean to make her worry, since I myself know that for going in or out of of the library, people needed to verify their personal nanochip identification, and with me holding my personal terminal, my mom could easily tracked my whereabouts. Still, I couldn’t say those things to justify my wrongdoings, so I obediently apologized to her.

“Mommy, sowwyyy…”

Mother pats my head while smiling gently. Then she saw the book I was holding, I think it was a book about architecture design of an old castle, then soon after, she looks at me with questioning look…

(Eh? You like this kind of murky-looking castle? Ugh, my son is becoming a weirdo. So you want me to borrow this? Then not only I have to carry you, but also this heavy book back home? Ehhh, how troublesome…)

Probably that’s what she’s thinking since her expression looks like smiling, but it’s not reflecting in her eyes. I was thinking to give up and abandon the book, but soon after, Mom take the books she had picked for me, along with the book I requested earlier (which is probably as thick as dictionary) to the counter. She’s so kind… I’m sure she thought of me as a nerd, but she’s still grants me what I wanted. Starting that day, Mom brought me to the library everyday. Borrowing picture book that she pick and history book that I pick has become our daily routine.

Until today, I found some simple numerical quiz in one of the picture book Mom chose for me. It’s quite interesting so I solved them all, then I tried making my own quiz in my drawing book and solve it on my own. When I’m still in the middle of solving my own-drawn quiz, suddenly Mom got furious and put up her scary face.[5]

Is it now fine to stop crying? I need to know the reason why my mom suddenly getting upset and angry at me. Since I’m still living in her care, If I offended her, at worst case I’ll be disowned…

After taking a good look at Mom’s face, her face now full of worries. It’s a chance for me, so I hug Mom and she gently stroke my hair. However… why did she become that angry?

—– Point of View : Arakawa Miki —–

—– Year 2090, Early Summer —–

Today is my first time going to the library with Kouki. Since he’s smart, I think he’ll be just fine in that quiet place. I walk slowly while carrying Kouki. When I was still a child, cars are still running on gasoline, but now the cars all are electric powered automated[6] car. Chances of traffic accidents are close to nil. Of course it’s a different matter if Kouki jumped out to the roadway, but my son wouldn’t be that stupid.

In the library, I put Kouki on a nearby seat and left him there to find picture book for him. I wonder… What kind of animal and story that he will like? Previously, he become really excited when he saw j.a.panese Wolf in TV. Hmmm, I guess a story about wolves? While I keep pondering, I’ve just realized that more than half an hour pa.s.sed since I left Kouki. I hurriedly went to Kouki, but he’s not at his seat. Now I’m getting panicked.

“It’s alright, that child couldn’t have left the library without my identification chip.”

I know about it already, but I said it out loud to reduce my anxiety. I use my wristband type personal terminal to search Kouki’s terminal location and found him at section F-2. That area is filled with none other than old printed books, and nowadays people rarely go there…

…… !?!?!?

Could it be!? THERE’S A PEDOPHILE!?

I rushed towards Kouki’s location, but I was able to find Kouki right away. He was covered in dust, reading a book about fortress architecture with a serious face. He probably doesn’t understand that… He’s probably just got interested in the castle that caught his eye by coincidence. To hide my anxiety, I scolded him for wandering around on his own. Kouki give me a bit of considerate look, and then…

“Mommy, sowwyyy”

He apologized while crying. Actually he didn’t do anything bad, it’s me who left him alone for quite a long time, so it’s basically my fault. Moreover, I scolded him even though he’s just reading a book quietly in the library. I’m sure he understands all of it, even my feelings, and yet still honestly apologized. That’s why I decided to not reprimand him any further, holding back my words, and pats him on his head.

Was I able to smile properly? When I look at Kouki’s face, he diverted his eye. Since I scolded him while he didn’t do anything wrong, no wonder he would get downhearted. I can’t help but feeling guilty, so I also took the book that Kouki shows his interest in and went to counter. It’s the only thing I could do as an atonement for Kouki.

I know that I still regretted what I did on the other day. And one day, when I attempted to move Kouki to another room to let him took a nap, I take a glance at a paper in his hand. I know that recently he spent some time writing something on his scribbling book.

But…… this is

I know what this is. And if it’s true, it’ll be something really outrageous.

“A conjecture[7] of quantum physics theory”

Before I realized it, I grabbed Kouki and questioned him.

“What is this? Did you thought this up? Did someone tell you this? Was it written on a book? Or did you saw it on TV?”

Then Kouki got frightened and cried. I did it again, he did nothing wrong, yet I questioned him with harsh tones. I didn’t know what to do, and Kouki wouldn’t stop crying. I was getting anxious, since I thought Kouki must really hate me now. As I was all worried, Kouki suddenly hugs me tight. I gently pat his head as he buries his face to me. I looked at the scribble once again, and tried asking him about this formula. I need to hold myself back with all my strength, not to get panic again. In tears, he answered.

“I, woote it!”

“I wrote it”, he said, this son of mine had discovered the scientific proof that had been frantically pursued by scholars all around the world. Before we got married, me and Shuuichi-san was also researching about quantum physics in university, that’s why I was able to notice this formula. For a mere child like him to discover this formula, it can’t be a coincidence. A formula this complex can’t be discovered just by a mere coincidence. If I announced this, Kouki will probably be famous. But, will that be all? For a young child like him to solve such complex problem, it’s like he’s a frightening…demon[8]…

I was thinking such negative thoughts until I recalled about the moment Kouki was born. I remembered his eyes back then. This child is abnormal, right? My mind was filled with such questions, and once again, I feel so scared. But right after that, I remember the promise I made at that time.

“Even if the whole world would turn its back against Kouki, I will protect him till the end”[9]

That’s right. I’m a mother. I don’t care if he is a demon or not, but Kouki is still my son. After realizing that, I took immediate action to protect Kouki. I wrote a thesis based on Kouki’s conjecture and claim it as something that I constructed myself, to publish this conjecture to the whole world. Maybe one day this child would get angry at me for stealing his credit. When the time comes, I will apologize to him… that I was jealous of my own son… and asked for forgiveness for being such a horrible mother… I’ll apologize from the bottom of my heart. Even so, this is the only thing I can do to protect him for now.

“Because if this child is fated to be a demon… then I don’t mind bearing the burden of Maou[10]”