Maia chuckled softly upon hearing Jonathan. It was understandable — her views and the way she thought were so extre that most people were always surprised to discover she had a husband.
"Let guess: he was a feminist man?" Vanessa asked after huffing, raising her eyebrow in a clear tone of disdain.
’Looks like not even a feminist respects that kind of guy. Poor bastards.’ Jonathan thought, glancing sideways at her.
Responding to Vanessa, Maia slightly shook her head. "No, actually he wasn’t. That was an impression many people had about him, especially because, if that were the case, it would make sense for him to be with a woman like that. But reality was the opposite: Dr. Adam Blake was a traditional man. He believed in family values."
"Of course he did..." Vanessa, beside him, rolled her eyes while murmuring weakly.
Jonathan asked Maia again.
"Then why did he get together with her? If he had those values and knew the way she thought, why stay with her? No, actually, more important than that, how did she accept being with him?" He found it much more absurd that she had actually stayed with a man like that.
"I understand your doubt, it’s quite reasonable, if I may say so myself. But the answer to that is just as simple: love." Maia answered simply, while Jonathan and Vanessa stared at her with blank faces.
She continued, smiling lightly, looking a little amused. "Dr. Adam and Eva t during college. At that ti, she already had her views completely established, so you can deduce that their first interaction wasn’t pleasant at all. But, as ti passed and they constantly spent ti together — since both were very close in intellectual level — they ended up getting closer and, unexpectedly for both, developed interest in each other. The basis of that was respect and admiration."
Maia then lightly shrugged.
"Doesn’t matter how smart you are, sotis emotion takes control of your decisions. And, as you already know, emotions have no logic. For two high-IQ people like them, it’s not hard to imagine what happens when emotion takes over reasoning."
"So you’re telling it was the typical cliché love story, where opposites attract?" Jonathan asked, still with the blank expression.
Maia nodded slightly. "You could put it that way."
"Hm..." Humming, Jonathan kept the neutral expression. ’Not that I had any big thoughts about it, honestly, I’m not even that surprised.’ Considering everything, that even seed predictable.
"Well, continuing from where I stopped, as I said, Dr. Adam Blake is the creator of Project Restoration — the project that brought you to this reality."
Hearing her words, Jonathan silently analyzed the man’s appearance in the hologram.
He was a white man and surprisingly young, looking like he was in his late 20s — the sa applied to Eva. He had dium-length brown hair combed back, dark brown eyes and wore thin round glasses, with a friendly expression and a soft smile.
Overall, he seed like an easygoing and friendly man — the complete opposite of the impression Eva gave.
While staring at him, for so reason Jonathan felt a strange familiarity, like he recognized the face from sowhere. Then sothing ca to mind as he tilted his head and frowned, confused. "Hold on a second, does he look like Peter Parker?"
Vanessa, beside him, exclaid in confusion. "What?"
"I an... I think so? He just gives this weird sense of familiarity." He said, rubbing his chin in response.
Vanessa narrowed her eyes at the hologram. "Yeah, now that you ntioned it... he gives off that friendly nerd vibe or sothing. Although I don’t think it has anything to do with Spider-Man. Maybe another character...?"
Hearing that, Jonathan looked sideways at her, raising an eyebrow. "You know Spider-Man?"
Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Of course I know Spider-Man. Do you think I live in a cave or sothing?"
Jonathan didn’t say anything, he just stared at her in silence — but that alone already revealed exactly what he was thinking.
Throwing him a dry look, Vanessa added. "Just for the record, I know all the most famous superheroes. Obviously. I doubt there’s anyone with minimal internet access who doesn’t. But comics aren’t my thing. I prefer manga and ani."
Jonathan’s eyes widened as if he had heard the biggest revelation of the night. "You know manga and ani? And you watch and read them?" He exclaid, shocked, as if that was the most absurd thing in the universe.
This ti, Vanessa didn’t even bother answering. She simply ignored him.
Sighing, disappointed that his provocation hadn’t worked, Jonathan turned his gaze back to Maia. "Right. You talked about that Restoration Project. What exactly is that?"
"Although the doctor was a genius in his own right, he wasn’t on the sa level as Eva. But just because he wasn’t equal to her didn’t an he wasn’t good." While speaking, Maia gestured with her hand, making the doctor’s hologram disappear.
In its place, the image of a machine appeared.
"Since the doctor saw himself incapable of creating a machine that could compete with the Space-Temporal Collision alone, he simply decided to steal the project and create one of his own. But he knew that, even with the machine’s plans, it would still take a long ti and possibly he wouldn’t be able to recreate it. So he counted on the help of twenty other scientists whom he considered the best in the field and the most trustworthy."
"With the help of those specialists, they managed to create a machine — not a copy of the Space-Temporal Collision, because even with twenty-one people working together it proved impossible to recreate — but that didn’t an the project had failed."
Finishing her explanation, Maia pointed to the hologram of the machine, which looked like a flat circle with a hole in the center. "This is the machine the doctor and the other twenty scientists created. They nad it COIN — Connected Interdinsional Network."
"Cool na." Jonathan nodded slightly.
"Yeah, it’s a cool na." Maia agreed. "Since they were unable to recreate Eva’s creation, they made COIN, a machine with a different purpose, whose effect would still counter the Space-Temporal Collider — but in another way."
"We?" Vanessa asked, raising an eyebrow.
Maia nodded. "You were the result of the project. Everything originated thanks to a concept presented by one of the scientists, the concept of Dinsional Acclimation."
"This concept was based on a theory that basically said that every living being — or even an object — has a ’dinsional mark,’ like a fingerprint. And if you bring that being or object from another dinsion to ours, with the necessary ans, you can track its dinsion of origin."
Jonathan nodded thoughtfully while rubbing his chin, looking focused as if he understood everything.
Laughing lightly at his expression, Maia raised her hand. "To summarize: COIN is an interdinsional portal. And not only that — it alters the dinsional imprint of the living beings it summons, making the imprint they have affect the new reality, making it equal to their place of origin. This alteration is dinsional acclimation. In other words... just by existing, you are already affecting the reality around you, making it slowly return to its original state."
Silence fell when Maia finished her explanation.
After a few seconds, while processing, Jonathan slowly murmured. "Holy shit... that was badass."
He ran his hand distractedly through his hair. "So we make the world go back to what it was before just by existing? So that’s what you ant by ’we protect ourselves’? So kind of space-temporal barrier or sothing?"
Maia nodded once again in confirmation. "Exactly. It was a specific change beyond dinsional acclimation. Dr. Adam realized that, by applying that concept, he could, to a certain extent, manipulate space-ti — on a small scale. So he made dinsional acclimation also have a kind of protective barrier, which had the effect of distraction."
"Like an invisible veil, which made your existence be ignored, making it difficult for anyone to locate you precisely."
"Got it... but if she was hiding our presence from anyone, that included you guys too, right? I an, you kind of summoned us and everything. Didn’t that thing have an imdiate effect? Or was there so other reason?" Jonathan asked, doubtful.
"Indeed, it affected us as well. But the problem was easily solved with a simple tracker."
Jonathan blinked upon hearing that. "Ah... forget what I asked then." Sighing, Jonathan ran a hand through his hair. "So Project Restoration is essentially an isekai. But let ask sothing, the person who ca up with this idea watched ani?"
Maia laughed lightly. "Yes. Actually, he was Japanese."
Stopping the motion of his hand in his hair, Jonathan froze and crossed his arms. "Aha. That explains it now."
Lightly shaking her head, Maia returned her gaze to the hologram as she continued. "As I was saying, COIN was responsible for bringing you to this world. What I didn’t say is that it brought only your souls, targeting people who had just died."
Those words made the two of them stop again.
"Right, now that you said that, I realized... since I didn’t arrive here as an adult." Jonathan comnted.
"Right, I died, and then opened my eyes seeing myself in the body of a newborn baby. How exactly did that happen?" Vanessa asked.
"The sa applies to ." Jonathan agreed.
"And that’s where the role of the other twenty scientists cos in." Maia continued. "Besides helping Doctor Adam, they also contributed with a complentary project. After all, bringing the souls of people from another dinsion would be useless if they didn’t have physical bodies."
Maia nodded toward the holographic table, making the circular machine hologram disappear and the 10 figures return.
"This complentary project consisted of creating bodies that would serve as new vessels for the souls."
With another gesture, Maia made 20 more figures appear, two of them positioned above each of the previous images.
Jonathan’s eyebrows rose in surprise when he saw two figures above his image. "Wait, those are my parents?"
"Our parents were the scientists??" Vanessa asked, equally surprised.
Maia confird with a nod. "Exactly. Each of you has two scientists who helped the Doctor as your parents. Through genetic manipulation, each one provided their geno to artificially create bodies — bodies that would serve as new vessels for your souls."
Jonathan blinked slowly until his face ford a weird expression. "For so reason, I thought they had put my soul in her womb, and then he had... sex with her so I could be born as a baby. Like a natural thod."
He made a grimace of pure disgust, as if he had bitten a lemon. "Ugh. Just imagining that already makes sick."
"I thought the sa thing..." Vanessa let out a groan, rubbing her forehead with an equally disgusted expression.
Maia let out a laugh. "Fortunately for you, that’s not what happened. Anyway, I present to you your other eight interdinsional companions."
She gestured toward a hologram.
"Starting with him: this is William Nottingham."
Following her finger, Jonathan analyzed the boy’s appearance.
He was a young guy, at most 18 years old. Handso — very handso, actually. Short blond hair in a neat, formal hairstyle, piercing green eyes, sharp features and a regal gaze. Overall, he had an aristocratic vibe.
"Is he a noble or sothing?" Jonathan asked, curious.
To his surprise, Maia nodded. "Yes. His mother, who contributed the maternal gene, had ties with the British royal family. Third degree, but still."
"I see." Jonathan murmured, looking at the England flag next to the image. He noticed that all the others also had a flag.
Maia continued, pointing to the next.
"This is Alex McDonald."
Just like William, Alex was also a white blond guy. The difference was that his blond was much lighter, almost platinum, with longer hair reaching the nape of his neck. Light blue eyes, a big cheerful smile, and tanned skin as if he spent the whole day under the sun.
He was also ridiculously handso. Beside the hologram, the flag of Australia appeared.
’This guy gives strong shonen protagonist vibes.’ Jonathan thought, seeing the boy’s overly cheerful smile.
Maia pointed to the following.
"This is Ivan Petricov."
Another white blond guy, but with platinum hair cut short and close to the scalp, similar to Chad. Dark brown eyes, a square jaw, and he looked toward the corner of the image with a sowhat sloppy expression, seeming lost.
’Is that on purpose? He looks kind of out of it. And he seems like a big guy too even though I haven’t seen the rest of his body.’ Jonathan thought silently.
The Russian flag was beside the image.
"This is Yusuke Murata."
A young Japanese guy, pale skin that looked like it had never seen sunlight, black hair with parted bangs, delicate features and a pretty boy appearance.
He smiled awkwardly at the cara, looking uncomfortable as if he wanted to be anywhere but there.
’Typical Asian idol face.’ Jonathan thought when he saw the Japanese flag beside it.
"This one..." Maia pointed at the next, smiling slightly. "Is Jonathan Albuquerque."
A young man with light brown short hair, brown eyes, sharp features and lightly tanned skin. Handso, just like the others.
But upon seeing his own image, Jonathan frowned. His eyes were half-lidded, head slightly tilted, and a weak smile on the corner of his mouth.
He looked like he was trying to seduce soone.
And he was fully aware of that because that was the expression he often used with Marianne and Elizabeth.
"Who the hell designed these holograms? It looks like they took pictures of us at the most random and awkward monts possible." He asked, staring at his own image. "Why does it look like I’m trying to seduce soone?"
"Because it looks like you’re trying to seduce soone?" Vanessa asked, looking at the hologram with the sa baffled expression.
"That’s exactly what I want to know." Jonathan looked at Maia, inquisitive.
Coughing into her fist, Maia glanced away in a very not-suspicious manner. "Don’t ask , I wasn’t part of that." She quickly changed the subject, pointing at the next image. "Anyway. This is your next companion: Nina Müller."
The image showed a blonde girl, long wavy hair, dark brown eyes and soft features.
She had a discreet and confident smile — strangely with red lipstick on her lips.
Beside her, the flag of Switzerland stood out.
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