Chapter 99: A Bold Idea

Meanwhile.

The Fu household downstairs.

Fu Yuta Togashi sat in his own room, today's homework laid out on his desk, but he held his pen and for half a moment didn't move at all, just sitting there as if quietly dazed for a good while.

Who knows how long passed before he gradually came to his senses, glanced out the window, and let out a gentle breath.

The setting sun's afterglow had already grown very faint, sinking beneath the horizon.

The sky was darkening bit by bit.

The city scenery outside the window was still the same as ever, only the outlines also seemed to have softened; familiar sights always bring extra peace of mind.

Fu Yuta Togashi was no exception; he withdrew his gaze, shook his head hard, gripped the pen barrel, and forced himself to start concentrating on his homework, lying prone on the desk writing rapidly.

People's perceptions are always easily shaken.

Moreover, it's just a high school freshman's thoughts; on top of that, something like an illusion is unfamiliar to no one.

So——

Fu Yuta Togashi believed he had merely overthought it; that was most likely just an illusion, no need to be paranoid…… or perhaps it was because he was worried sick at the time, and amidst wild delusions he happened to feel a chill that caused the illusion?

Because magical girls and such……

Think about it for a moment and rationality evaporates, doesn't it?

Having self-deceived himself into finding a reasonable explanation, the boulder on Fu Yuta Togashi's heart, while not completely settled, steadied at least somewhat.

Only, during his furious writing, he did not perceive…… that gem inside the bookbag beside him, in the darkness, was also faintly flashing with radiance.

————

————

The sky had completely darkened.

Dinner time had also arrived.

Toriya Rikka once again entered the mana-replenishment phase full of ritual sense; after reciting a string of lines with extremely high chuunibyou degree all by herself, she picked up her utensils and with a dead-serious face began drawing mana from the food.

There's a saying that as long as a person can see a progress bar, the motivation to persist at something will greatly increase……

Classmate Rikka is the same.

Although that progress bar, strictly speaking, is not a floating prompt box displayed in her vision, the effect it produces is still very similar.

She can sense "her own" mana!

As long as she eats seriously and keeps a regular schedule, she can feel her physical vitality growing fuller and the mana inside her body visibly strengthening…… even though Classmate Rikka is very thrifty, the vast majority of her mana must also supply the Heroic Spirit warriors she summoned, held in reserve——

For unforeseen needs.

But that kind of being able to feel mana constantly accumulating, feeling that she has always been gaining returns in this aspect……

Such positive feedback is still very stirring, especially for a chuunibyou girl; this is the greatest encouragement.

「……」

「……」

Miss Tenka opposite did not comment on her younger sister's chuunibyou behavior; anyway she's already accustomed to it. The current state is still considered good; at least she can eat obediently while being chuunibyou.

In the past, that was truly headache-inducing……

Simply put, she was both chuunibyou and refused to eat……

——Regarding this point, Miss Tenka can be said to be extremely experienced.

After all, in the previous "Setting", as the Holy Regulator of the Invisible Boundary Line, her job was to maintain the order of the Evil King True Eye Domain.

Whenever the holder of the Evil King True Eye was discovered disturbing the universe's peace, or disappeared into different dimensions, Miss Tenka had to go find her, catch her, and make her understand her place in the current world.

Collecting her thoughts, the Holy Regulator of the Invisible Boundary Line gently bit her chopsticks, gazed at the young man opposite, and hesitated a moment:

"Speaking of which, that amulet of yours…… seems to really work well."

"Be confident, drop the 'seems'!"

Xia Zhi was very satisfied with Miss Tenka's praise, while also hoping she would be more decisive when giving praise.

"And here only you have one, so its efficacy is naturally top-notch……"

「……」

「……」

"Only…… I have one?" Miss Tenka raised an eyebrow, subconsciously looking toward her younger sister: "Rikka doesn't have one either, can't we prepare one for her too?"

"There's no such necessity, and only on you can its efficacy be maximized; your good luck alone is enough to share with Rikka." The young man indicated this was not feasible, "If Rikka also had one, a good thing would instead turn into a bad thing."

"Why?"

"Because luck, its essence is actually a relative value…… to manifest the phenomenon of a high value, there are only two modes of expression: one is letting you fare better than others, one is letting others fare worse than you."

Xia Zhi began expounding: "Right now here, only you, Miss Tenka, hold an amulet, so its efficacy can be maintained in a positive direction, merely making your luck as good as possible……"

"Meaning, if a second amulet appears, it might not be that simple anymore?" Miss Tenka heard the implication.

"Exactly, unless you're far apart…… otherwise collision will only produce distortion."

The Magician nodded, indicating that was the case.

Simply put, it's like the grand prize in a lottery, destined to have only one share. If two people simultaneously have a chance to win, what decides which of them prevails, besides good luck, is bad luck.

"Alright, I understand……"

Toriya Tenka roughly understood; she slowly nodded.

Pausing slightly, she brought up another topic: "Regarding that matter in Itomori Town, I happened to check today……"

"On October 4th three years ago, on the day of the local Autumn Festival, a meteorite split from that supposedly once-in-a-thousand-years comet struck that town; fortunately, because a disaster drill happened to be conducted that day, Itomori Town suffered no casualties……"

Xia Zhi listened seriously, did not interrupt, and certainly didn't spoil the mood by saying he already knew these things, because he had investigated them earlier.

After all, Miss Tenka's enthusiasm shows her role shift was very fast.

Not only did she quickly accept the facts and adjust her worldview into place, she also very pragmatically and personally began taking action, striving to help as soon as possible and solve the main problem at hand as soon as possible.

"... I took a look; Itomori Town has a Shishio Lake locally, which seems to have been formed by a meteorite strike 1,200 years ago. Many people perished due to that meteorite at the time. And the meteorite from three years ago struck right next to that lake, gouging out a new lake area..."

Placing her phone to the side and opening it to check, Miss Tenka turned her gaze toward the Opposite Side:

"In other words, the Meteorite Incident wasn't the first time it happened there? Does that mean Itomori Town is special, and the Divergence Point you speak of is the fact that a second meteorite came crashing down three years ago?"

"..."

"..."

"Actually, no. The second meteorite might also be a coincidence... The true Divergence Point is whether the consequences caused by this event changed or not."

Xia Zhi pondered for a moment, then slowly shook his head: "From the information I possess, that meteorite fell directly near the Miyamizu Shrine in Itomori Town, and there was no Disaster Drill that day, resulting in over five hundred deaths."

"... Impossible!" Toriya Satone froze for a beat, then blurted out, "If over five hundred people died, that disaster could never have been covered up, but I checked a lot of data, and all of it says only Itomori Town was damaged, with zero casualties among local residents."

"I know... that's exactly why it's the Divergence Point!"

The young man smiled gently, spreading his hands: "Time tied a knot, and we're still inside that knot right now..."

He had naturally investigated this data as well, and Perceived the Contradiction.

The most Reasonable Explanation is that some Mors Strength returned to the past, altered history, and caused this Phenomenon to occur.

—So the World Line where "over five hundred people perished" became a Lostbelt, an Error history...

—While the current World Line of "zero casualties" became the correct history, replacing the Mors Original ending, and continued on...

What Xia Zhi needed to do was also very simple. After all, he had long known everything Miss Tenka had investigated now, and had Faintly given birth to a Bold idea because of it.

He extended his chopsticks, picked up a bite of food, and a Bizarre light Flashed in his eyes.

Anyway, time has already tied one knot, so why can't it tie another... The same thing already happened 1,200 years ago, so why couldn't the Imaginary Root have already Fallen On this Planet that time...

Three years' time is far from enough for a Fantasy Tree to grow...

Then—

What about 1,200 years' time?

(Chapter End)