Volu 8, Chapter 4: Morning of Conversation
What are words?
If soone asks that
Is it made of words?
One special skill of Heo Thunderson’s was the ability to sit still for long periods of ti.
At the mont, she was inside a small apartnt filled with the morning sun, but it belonged to a boy she did not know. He was two years older than her and had spoken in English to introduce himself as Dan Harakawa.
He was the savior who had taken her in when she had collapsed.
She observed him while exchanging a few words with him.
Based on his skin color, she guessed he was Japanese with so Latin blood.
He sat across a table from her and the table contained a breakfast of bread, a light salad, and a fried egg.
She had woken to the unusual sll of that breakfast. She had no parents and her great-grandfather always went out to eat, so she was not used to slling breakfast in the morning.
He had greeted her and given a quick explanation of the previous night’s events, but he had not asked about her. That was why Heo had asked a few questions and told him so things on her own.
She now spoke while looking into the coffee cup she held in both hands.
“And at so point, all the people vanished from the cars and buildings. O-oh, and all the lights went out. Yes, even the traffic lights.”
“I see. So it turned into a ghost town.”
“Yes. And my great-grandfather told to leave, but he had sprained his ankle in the taxi and he told to run away ahead of him.”
“Run away?”
Heo did not miss that Harakawa frowned. It was true that “run away” was not a commonly used phrase, but she nodded because the truth was the truth.
“According to him, it was a sothing-or-other space. Then he gave a watch and told I could leave the space with it.”
The watch she had worn on her left wrist had been placed next to the futon’s pillow when she had woken up. It was now next to her fork and knife on the table.
“Can I see that?”
After asking for permission, he took the wristwatch and held it up in front of his eyes.
“It’s pretty old.”
“It’s supposed to do sothing if you ss with the stem.”
But she did not rember the exact process. She thought she could prove the events of last night that way, but telling him everything ca first. He handed the watch back to her and she put it on her wrist.
“My great-grandfather then pulled a spear out of his pocket and had leave. I just kept running and the city suddenly regained its light. I wondered what that ant, but I was completely out of breath and I approached the building in front of to call for soone.”
Harakawa would know the rest.
Feeling better for having told him everything, Heo thought about her great-grandfather.
…He has to be okay.
He was healthy and he was the representative example of “strong” in her mind.
She convinced herself he was okay and tried to steady her trembling breathing.
As she did, Harakawa nodded.
“Where are your other relatives?”
“My great-grandfather was my only family. If he doesn’t show up where he told to et him, he said to visit IAI in Okutama and have them show to an organization called UCAT.”
“I see.” he stood up and turned his back. “You have money, right? Then the first thing you need to do is get a place to stay. If you head north from here, you’ll quickly reach a railroad. The station is only a hundred ters west from there and you can find sowhere to stay near there.”
“U-um…”
“I have to get to school. Leave the key in the mailbox. It’ll probably take ti for your clothes to dry, so you can stick around until then. …But you had better leave.”
“You aren’t going to ask about anything?”
“I’ve heard enough.”
He vanished into the kitchen and she sighed while listening to his footsteps.
…He’s being cautious.
She hung her head as she wondered what to do.
She then saw the n’s pajama top and bottom she wore and belatedly realized a certain fact.
After leaving Heo and entering the kitchen, Harakawa placed his forehead on the white plaster wall with a serious expression.
…This isn’t good. And I thought the only strange part was the na Heo.
He felt he had taken in a landmine of a person.
He had three reasons for this.
First, everything she said was complete nonsense.
Second, she fully believed everything she was saying.
And third, she had no relatives.
On top of that, he was well acquainted with the Okutama region thanks to making motorcycle deliveries for the Arican base and he had even gone to IAI several tis.
…But I’ve never seen or heard of a group called UCAT.
His danger gauge had shot into the red zone in only a few minutes.
Last night, he had called the police to ask what to do, but the officer on duty had laughed and told him to stop making jokes. He now wished he had worked harder to convince the officer instead of making a sarcastic coback.
On the other hand, a hospital might be a better choice here than the police, but it would be a different kind of hospital than the one his mother stayed in.
…The world suddenly beca a ghost town and her great-grandfather pulled out a spear? Even cheap novels and manga are more sophisticated than that.
Don’t worry, he told himself. Dan Harakawa, you did nothing wrong. You didn’t know there was anything wrong with her brain last night. You did a wonderful job of saving soone.
At any rate, he had to think about what to do today. His school attendance was pretty bad and preparations for the athletic festival were beginning, so he could stay until lunch to get his attendance marked and then skip out on the preparations.
“I guess I’ll go to school.”
He whispered an alteration on what he had said while standing up, he removed his head from the wall, and he nodded.
“Um…”
Soone was standing in the kitchen entrance.
He turned around and saw a slender body standing there. Her skin looked a bit pale, so he guessed she had yet to get over her exhaustion from the previous night.
“What is it?” he asked with a frown. “Did you want so water now that you’ve woken up? You did sweat quite a bit last night.”
“No, that isn’t… Well, actually I would like that, but…um…”
She held the neck of the pajamas she wore.
“Why am I wearing this nightwear? Does that an…?”
He could easily imagine what she was going to say next. She was going to protest that he had changed her out of the clothes that were soaked with sweat.
…Yeah, that’s got to be it.
He did not particularly care what complaint she made here. The girl before him was soone who had to leave here and he had not wanted her to dirty his futon, catch a cold, and end up staying here even longer.
In fact, he would be glad if she grew to not like him and left without relying on him any further.
He also felt that was the best option for her. She would probably feel helpless at first, but if the embassy found a relative working sowhere, she would feel relieved to have that support.
And so he answered bluntly.
“You were covered in sweat, so I changed your clothes. I’m not interested in your body, so don’t worry about it.”
As soon as he said that, she objected with her teary blue eyes.
“Will you take responsibility?”
“Wait! What the hell kind of curveball is this?”
“B-but I thought Japan had a custom of marrying the first person you let see you naked?”
“What kind of bizarre custom is that? There’s no responsibility for seeing soone naked.”
More tears filled Heo’s eyes and she finally took in a breath and gave a shout in Japanese.
“I was seen naked for nothing!! I demand compensation for my loss!!”
“Where did you learn that kind of Japanese!?”
She began to cry as if answering his question.
A vast enclosed space was filled with green.
The space was two hundred ters square and the green surrounding it was vegetation. The ground was ford from countless plants gathered together as if bathing in the light of the sunlamps hanging down from the ceiling.
Also, that ground covered the walls and even the ceiling from which the sunlamps hung.
There was a clearing in the center, but a forest covered the rest of the space’s six surfaces while centered on the walls and ceiling.
This gave the area poor ventilation and the small river flowing along the green ground brought high humidity.
It was a hot and stuffy space and a crooked sign stood from the green ground at the entrance to the central clearing.
The sign read “4th-Gear Greenhouse”.
The clearing currently contained two people.
Sitting on the thick lawn were Sayama in his suit and Shinjou in her dress.
They both held handheld ga systems. Sayama’s was a compact white model and Shinjou’s was an oblong black model. The two systems were connected by a cable.
“Yay! I beat you for the third ti in a row with that mounted punch!”
“Shinjou-kun, could you play a proper round of mahjong? Or maybe so other ga?”
“But the rule that allows a sudden reversal through physical force is the special feature of Lovely Mahjong – Punching Edition. And this is the only IAI ga that works on my latest system and the one you borrowed.”
Sayama tilted his head.
“About the ‘latest system’ you received last week…”
“Yeah, I got it from Ooshiro-san. Look, it’s a handheld, but it has color. Because the monochro one was called the Ga Lad, this one is called the Ga Dad. The main downside is that it takes six batteries to run.”
She smiled, but then she saw the battery light on the screen in her hands.
“Ah, the batteries are dying! S-Sayama-kun, let’s play another round. This ga has a super special attack you can only use when your battery light is red!”
“Calm down, Shinjou-kun. You should only play an hour of video gas a day.”
“Eh? Oh, right. That is the saying, but… Ah.”
Her handheld system’s battery died and she lowered her shoulders in a sigh.
“Phew. I haven’t been able to play with you in a while.”
“Still, it is disappointing we have not been able to do more than that.”
She could only give a nod to that. She had not shown it while playing the ga, but she was looking weak.
…We have been pushing ourselves hard since last night.
The party to welco the inspector from Arican UCAT had been cancelled.
The corpse of Richard Thunderson, the guest of honor, had been brought in and it was now in the morgue of a hospital near IAI. The opinion at the ti was that he had been attacked by the sa chanical dragon that had attacked the IAL passenger plane.
…And they predict it is from 5th-Gear.
They did not even know its na, but it was huge, it had great mobility, and it had shown no sign of being destroyed even after being fired on by G-Sp2 and kicked by Susamikado.
Hiba and Mikage had returned in Susamikado and were now sleeping in the nap room.
Kazami had gone to recover Izumo from the ocean, but he had apparently been swept away by the current and they were having trouble finding him. That was nothing but an annoyance, so Sayama had declined to receive further reports on it.
…We have too little information.
Not only did they not know the identity of that dragon, they also did not know the identity of the man who had fought it. He had gotten Kashima to steal the IAL plane’s passenger manifest, but there had been no records of any foreigners on the flight.
Soone had gotten there ahead of them. As he was wondering who, Shinjou spoke up.
“Are you thinking about sothing?”
“Yes, about a lot of things.”
“I thought so. But you haven’t slept, so don’t force yourself. I got a nap, but you haven’t slept at all, have you?”
“Do not worry, Shinjou-kun. I can go about a week without sleep. I was trained by my grandfather when I was younger. We would have week-long fights around the house with rules saying we could hit the other when they fell asleep. If I had only realized that damn old man was sleeping while talking with his eyes open, I could have hit him another five hundred tis.”
“By any chance are you sleeping right now while using that secret technique?”
Shinjou set down the handheld system and sighed. She then looked around the area.
“To change the subject, I didn’t expect Ooshiro-san to suddenly tell us to begin the Leviathan Road with 4th-Gear.”
“Yes. It certainly was not my first guess when he handed us the key to this place.” Sayama crossed his arms. “It is a strange action. I feel like he is hiding sothing. Last night, the Arican UCAT inspector nad Thunderson was killed by a chanical dragon thought to be from 5th-Gear. Arican UCAT says they have sent temporary inspectors, but they will not say what those inspectors are doing. And now the old man is telling us to carry out the preliminary negotiation with 4th-Gear in this greenhouse and then to take an afternoon flight to the 4th-Gear reservation in Kyushu.”
“He seems to be rushing things ever since that Thunderson man died.”
“There is probably sothing behind this, so we should be on our guard.”
“Yes. The issues of adults can be trouble. Anyway, we ca here, but no one else has shown up. Does 4th-Gear have people? Are they plant people or sothing?”
Sayama tilted his head at that.
“I am not quite sure what you an, but do you think plants can speak with people?”
“Eh? Don’t you hear about that every once in a while? Sothing about plants reacting to emotions.”
“Are you referring to the controversy that was popular in Arica during the late sixties? The one where a researcher hooked a lie detector up to plants and used it to read their supposed reactions?”
“Yeah, that.”
“I see.” He nodded as Shinjou rubbed her eyes sleepily. “That controversy continued for about a decade in Arica, but no one was able to reproduce the reactions. And after a while, the sa researcher announced that he found emotion-like reactions from sothing else.”
“Eh? What was that?”
“Instead of plants, it was yogurt. The electrodes detected its emotional reaction to having milk poured into it. All of the newspapers there imdiately stopped reporting on it because they found it disturbing.”
“So in other words…there was soone like you?”
“Ha ha ha. Sleep deprivation makes you say the strangest things, Shinjou-kun. But at any rate, plants talking with people is nothing more than a delusion of people like the old man. You aren’t thinking of using that idea for your book, are you?”
“No, no.”
Shinjou shook her head and Sayama nodded.
“The way I see it, plants are plants. If they are able to express their will, they must be sothing similar yet different. Confusing the two cos from the pride of another type of being.”
Sayama watched Shinjou.
She was looking back, but her head suddenly drooped before she quickly lifted it back up.
“Oh, s-sorry. What was that? For a bit now, I’ve been feeling drowsy like my exhaustion is being taken from .”
“We can discuss it later, Shinjou-kun. I can handle the preliminary negotiation on my own, so you can sleep.”
“Okay. …But will the people of 4th-Gear think I’m lazy if they show up? A-and no doing anything weird while I’m asleep. Really. I an it. For real.”
After making a triple insistence, she lost her balance without realizing it and tried to catch herself on her elbows as she slowly fell backwards.
However…
“Eh?”
Sothing like a chair back supported her.
It was the ground. The grassy ground had risen up diagonally to support her back.
The vegetation slowly moved to form a U-shape that pushed up and supported her back.
“…”
A creature made of vegetation slowly ford from the risen ground. It was a ter long creature with a head and six legs. It stood up very slowly and its silhouette was reminiscent of an anteater or a bear.
The plant creature then lay down to act as Shinjou’s chair back.
Sayama watched as she shrank back from it.
“S-Sayama-kun, is this…?”
“I think it wants you to lean against it.”
“Right.”
She looked at the plant creature’s belly.
It raised its head-like portion, turned toward her, and tilted that head.
Seeing that, Shinjou glanced toward Sayama and nodded. With a resolute look, she leaned against the creature’s stomach.
With the sound of rustling grass and leaves, her thin back sank into the creature’s body. It was much like collapsing into a thick down blanket.
“Wow. It’s so warm.”
She narrowed her eyes and the plant creature raised its head toward her. It had no mouth, but it did have eye-like gaps. Sayama guessed those were its sensory organs.
When Shinjou thanked it, the creature shook its body once.
“Sayama-kun,” she said with a smile. “Um, you know how I was feeling sleepy? I think it was this thing’s doing. It’s absorbing all of my exhaustion.”
“Does it use so sort of concept to absorb the excess heat from other animals?”
Rather than a voice, he heard a reply in the form of an audible thought.
“Sayama?”
The voice seed to awkwardly line up the necessary sounds.
He faced the plant creature supporting Shinjou’s back. Shinjou also turned toward it, so he must not have been the only one to hear it.
“Was that voice you?”
“Sayama.”
The voice repeated itself and he could sense no directionality in the thought voice.
“Sayama.”
This ti, the voice brought movent. Similar plant creatures slowly stood up around Sayama and Shinjou. In all, there were around a dozen of them.
But then Sayama noticed more of the creatures rising up within the forest, on the walls, and on the ceiling.
They all tilted and shook their bodies as if troubled and asked the sa question with the rustling of grass and leaves.
“Sayama?”
And so Sayama replied.
“By any chance, is the Sayama to which you refer Sayama Kaoru?”
He could only imagine that to be the case. He had never been here before and his grandfather had been in charge of 4th-Gear.
However, he received no answer. The plant creatures rely spoke while gathering together and lying down.
“Sayama is Sayama.”
They continued.
“Shinjou is Shinjou.”
“Eh?”
Shinjou gave a sleepy sound of confusion while partially curled up.
Sayama used a hand to tell her to calm down.
“They must be a race that can distinguish between categories but cannot distinguish between individuals within a category. The voice we are hearing is likely the collective consciousness of them all. They view and my grandfather as the sa Sayama and they view you and the Shinjou of the National Defense Departnt as the sa Shinjou.”
“Then that ans…”
“Yes. They know my grandfather and the Shinjou of the National Defense Departnt, so they must be the residents of 4th-Gear.”
The plant creatures then called to them. They began with Sayama’s na, but then said the following:
“Go with Sayama.”
“What?” asked Sayama.
As he wondered what they ant by “going with” him, they all raised their heads and spoke a single word.
“Promise.”
The JR Chuo Line’s rush hour continued from seven to nine in the morning.
Any train one boarded from any station along the Chuo Line would be crowded. Even the trains leaving Tokyo would leave one inundated by a wave of people if they did not secure a seat upon departure.
One train was travelling west to Kanda, the first station after Tokyo Station. This express train had left Tokyo Station just past eight and was on its way to Ou.
After passing Kanda, the number of passengers exceeded the capacity. Most of the passengers were office workers or students and they were securing enough space to stand on their tiptoes.
However, so did not fit those categories. In the fourth car from the back, two foreigners in suits stood in the space closest to the exit. One was a tall elderly man and the other was a young man with glasses.
Whenever the train shook, the wave of people surged and threatened the crush the two of them.
The elderly man frowned and spoke in English.
“Roger, Roger. What kind of torture is this? Who can I complain to?”
“Colonel Odor, this is a travel ritual called Sankin-Koutai that has long been practiced in Japan. When the shogun ruled a form of governnt known as the Edo shogunate, the lords of the local governnts were ordered to travel to Edo, but that ritualistic travel brought an unnecessary number of people to Edo Castle. We left from Tokyo Station which is near the Imperial Palace where Edo Castle used to be. In other words, Tokyo Station is the birthplace of this ritual.”
“I see, I see. So should I interpret this as a bizarre Japanese custom?”
“Testant. Please maintain a tolerant heart. Also, I had to put up with these rush hour crowds every morning when I lived in Japan.”
“Roger, Roger. That is about you. It has nothing to do with . Also, I said I wanted to observe the working situation in this country, but I do not recall saying I wanted to experience it.”
“Is that so?”
Roger lowered his shoulders and sighed.
“Anyway. Anyway, Roger. Start by telling about the target we must search for. You knew her father well, didn’t you?”
“Testant. Heo Thunderson’s father, Jas Thunderson, was Arican and yet a mber of Japanese UCAT.”
The train shook as they arrived at Ochanomizu Station. The train’s speakers played an announcent, people moved, and the density of people grew once more.
With a heavy lurch, the train began to move and Roger spoke within the surging wave of even more people.
“Jas was a chanical dragon pilot. At the ti, Japanese UCAT had a departnt for developing chanical dragons, but they did not have a decent pilot. They tried to have one sent from Arican UCAT, but…”
“We refused. Yes, we refused them, Roger. I know what happened on the Arican end during the late eighties. Arican UCAT was the only one with chanical dragon technology and we weren’t about to hand it over to soone else.”
“But one pilot went to Japanese UCAT while essentially defecting. That pilot was Jas Thunderson. He was young for a chanical dragon pilot and he was our chief pilot at the ti, but he suddenly left Arican UCAT, stole a chanical dragon that sa day, and headed for Japanese UCAT.”
“Why? Why would he betray Arica?”
The train shook to the left and the wave of people tilted while Roger pushed his glasses up his nose.
“It was his grandfather’s influence. His grandfather had co to Japan as a part of Arican UCAT and helped destroy 5th-Gear. Jas was proud of that fact. However, his mother was adopted by his grandfather and he apparently only learned of that in high school. I would guess that played a role in why he wanted to learn more about his grandfather,” explained Roger. “Arican UCAT acted to cover up this scandal. Jas Thunderson was transferred to Japanese UCAT and the Gulf War was used to send other young mbers who wished to defy the higher ups to the Arican UCAT forces stationed in Japan in the na of ‘assisting’. We are on our way to Yokota which, with the Gulf and the ti afterwards, will be my ho for the third ti.”
Roger lowered his head slightly to hide his expression from Odor.
“Also, he is no longer with us. He died on the scene of the Great Kansai Earthquake which I also visited. He and many others who I can surmise were my friends never returned from that place. Afterwards, I personally erased all of the records.”
Odor gave a small snort of either laughter or contempt.
“Roger, Roger. Try to rember. Japanese UCAT is our enemy now.”
“I understand that. They were unable to protect the hero that was Richard Thunderson and they are selfishly continuing the Leviathan Road which affects the fate of the world. That will be our official reasoning, won’t it?”
“Yes. Yes, it will, Roger. Arican UCAT will not allow them to ignore everyone else as they set the world in motion.”
The train shook as they arrived at Yotsuya.
The wave of people surged over and sowhat flowed out the door. Familiar with Japan, Roger avoided the current.
However, Odor was not familiar with the country and he was caught in the current and swept onto the station platform.
“Roger! Roger! Do sothing!”
While thinking of a way to pacify his distressed superior officer, Roger stepped out onto the platform while preparing himself to be late to Yokota.
Sayama communicated with the plant creatures.
They seed to share their thoughts, but the individual creatures seed to make individual decisions for their actions. The one in front of him was currently tilting its head while swaying as if in the wind.
“Sayama long ti. Long ti since Sayama.”
Sayama listened to that audible thought.
…They said “go with Sayama”, but does that an they want to go with my grandfather?
He felt a slight pain in his chest as he asked a question.
“I am glad we could et ‘again’ after so long. But let ask you one thing. Why are you ‘going with Sayama’?”
“Promise.”
“What is this promise?”
“Promise.”
“Do you know what was promised?”
“Promise is promise. Go with Sayama.”
He was making no progress and he wondered if this conversation counted as the preliminary negotiation.
…I suppose that depends on what I say.
They said they would go with him, but as seen with 2nd-Gear, the Leviathan Road was ant to correct their current situation. If they had so complaint or request, he could not cast it aside and simply use them.
He recalled the details of 4th-Gear.
4th-Gear’s Concept Core was possessed by the Tree Serpent Mukiti, so he needed these creatures to help him reach a negotiation with that serpent.
He wondered if he could find a way to do that and asked another question.
“Can I et the one nad Mukiti?”
“Don’t know.”
“You do not know? Do I need so form of qualification before I can et him?”
“Promise.”
The sa word was repeated.
…Everything is sealed by the word promise.
They seed delighted to et him and Shinjou, but they were satisfied with that and shut the door. The key to that door was the word promise.
…Most likely, my grandfather made so sort of promise and 4th-Gear promised to go with him in return.
When he had asked about a qualification to et Mukiti, they had spoken that single word.
…When the promise to go with Sayama is fulfilled, I can et Mukiti.
That pointed to a certain fact.
“Was my grandfather unable to keep his promise?”
4th-Gear’s residents gave no answer. When he saw the plant creatures rely tilt their heads, he smiled bitterly.
…This may be one of the problems between 4th-Gear and Low-Gear.
There was a mystery here.
If Mukiti was in Low-Gear, it should have ant Sayama’s grandfather had kept his promise and the residents of 4th-Gear had “gone with Sayama”.
However, the plant creatures were in Low-Gear and yet they said that they would “go with Sayama” and that a “promise” was needed to et Mukiti.
Had his grandfather kept the promise or not?
Why had the people of 4th-Gear “gone with Sayama”? And if they had, why did they still require a “promise”?
He did not know, but he did know one thing.
“You are waiting for to fulfill that promise, aren’t you?”
“Go with Sayama.”
He took that as an affirmative, so he did not give up.
…I will reveal the identity of that promise.
“What will happen when you go with ?”
“Don’t know.”
“Are you going with even though you do not know?”
“Promise.”
“Why did you make that promise?”
“Because promised.”
He was making no progress. What mattered to them was that they had made the promise and they did not seem to question the reason they had done so, the details of having done so, or the future it would lead to.
…What an amazingly pragmatic race.
It was possible they would not complain even if they were deceived and destroyed because of it.
While thinking about that, Sayama suddenly realized sothing.
…My grandfather would have thought the sa thing.
His grandfather had gone to 4th-Gear, so he would have t these creatures. And as the Concept War continued, what would he have thought of them?
The left side of Sayama’s chest hurt. Shinjou was usually by his side, but she was now curled up and sleeping on the belly of a 4th-Gear creature. He welcod the pain if it ant he could avoid interrupting the peaceful look on her face.
“Do you rember the Concept War?”
“No.”
They may not have taken an active role in that war. It was even possible they had not even known of its existence.
Sayama decided it was both. He suspected the other Gears had not taken any direct action against them. As for why…
“Was your world filled with nothing but you?”
“Lots but the sa.”
“In other words, your body was split many tis over, but you were ultimately a single body and mind?”
“The sa.”
“I see. So even when other Gears visited, they realized they could not fully destroy you. You had great vitality and a near inexhaustible ability to regenerate, but you had no ability to fight and they did not know where among you Mukiti and the Concept Core were. That is why they decided to leave you until the end and allow the ti of destruction to take care of you.”
“Don’t know, but Mukiti knows.”
Sayama’s eyebrows moved when the creatures brought up Mukiti on their own.
“What kind of person is Mukiti?”
“Here but not here.”
Sayama replied with another question.
“In other words, Mukiti is you, but he is not you?”
However…
“…”
He received a thought of silence in return. That response ant they did not know.
Sayama began gathering his thoughts on this Zen dialogue of a conversation. He began with what the plant creatures had just said.
…That ans Mukiti is with them but not with them.
The comnt contained a contradiction which was why he had asked his own question.
…Mukiti is you, but he is not you.
That also contained a contradiction, but it had been t with silence.
He knew that there was a contradiction that received a response and one that did not.
He removed only the similar contradiction from the two questions and was left with a single word.
…You.
That word gave Sayama sothing to say.
“Mukiti lived in symbiosis with you who can be called the world of 4th-Gear, but he was a second individual who was distinct from your mind, wasn’t he? He was like a parasite on that world.”
“Mukiti is here but not here.”
They did not deny it.
That ant Mukiti possessed the Concept Core and lived in symbiosis with the 4th-Gear residents.
In that case…
“Was Mukiti a control system that symbiotically managed 4th-Gear?”
Sayama had begun to lean forward a little, so he straightened up.
He took a breath and lowered Baku from his head. A nearby plant creature seed to take interest in Baku and approached.
The two creatures relaxed, lay on their bellies, and stared at each other without moving.
…This is a generally peaceful world.
Sayama let Baku make a friend and asked a question of the creature in front of him.
“Where is Mukiti?”
“Here but not here.”
He felt he understood the creatures words more clearly now.
“Here but not here” was not a contradictory question from a Zen dialogue.
“Yes, he is with you. As your controller, he is watching over all of you no matter where you are. However, his true form is not here. Where is it? The 4th-Gear reservation in Kyushu?”
“Far away place?”
“It is. It is cut off by a world, after all.”
“Then there. Mukiti is there. Promise. Promise with Sayama.”
I see, he thought. It is funny how much of this is pure speculation.
However, he had no other choice but to keep his mind moving. If his thoughts were not way off base, his grandfather had also spoken with these plant creatures and t Mukiti.
…And they promised to go with him.
If Sayama could persuade Mukiti, their controller, he could move all of the plant residents of 4th-Gear and find a use for their environntal changes.
He then realized he was walking in his grandfather’s footsteps.
…I hope for this to be the only way in which I grab at that monkey’s short tail.
He asked another question as if to cast aside that thought.
“Can I…that is, can Sayama go et Mukiti without keeping the promise?”
“No. Keep promise.”
He received a powerful rejection when it ca to the word promise.
“If I do not keep the promise, I cannot et Mukiti?”
“Promise. Sayama’s promise.”
Sayama then realized his misunderstanding about the aning of the promise.
…It is not that I cannot et Mukiti without keeping the promise.
That was the promise 4th-Gear had made. “Sayama’s promise” was sothing different.
He gave voice to his realization.
“I made a promise myself to not et Mukiti unless the promise was kept, didn’t I?”
“Promise! Sayama’s promise!”
He could hear joy in the audible thought and that thought gave him a smile.
They were surely rejoicing that their words were finally getting through to him.
He too was relieved that they were communicating properly and he went over the problem.
“I see. First, I made a certain promise and then made a second promise to et Mukiti once that promise was fulfilled. And you then made a third promise to go with when that happened. Is that it?”
“Yes! Promise! Promise with Sayama! First promise! First! First! First!”
“I see. So the first promise made with another in 4th-Gear’s history was made with Sayama.”
“Sayama told us. Important. Promise is important. Promise will never disappear. But Sayama is different.”
The thoughts ca all at once.
“Sayama is different. Sayama is not promise. Sayama will eventually disappear.”
Sayama nodded.
Inside, he was surprised. 4th-Gear’s people were close to immortal as long as the world was not destroyed, but this ant…
…They understand the concept of death.
His grandfather had likely taught them that.
The creatures had said that promises will never disappear but that Sayama would.
Sayama asked about the concern that would bring.
“While you have a collective consciousness and will live for close to forever, we will disappear. When my grandfather died, his promise should have died with him. While you will wait for the promise to be fulfilled for eternity, my grandfather’s life was finite.”
Which ant…
“Why do you view and my grandfather as the sa?”
At first, he had thought they were unable to distinguish between individuals because they did not have individuals themselves, but that was not the case.
“You clearly understand that we have finite lives, but you still view as the sa ‘Sayama’. Why is that?”
“Told Sayama would co again. New Sayama.”
“…”
The plants’ thoughts filled the air.
“Promise will not disappear. Sayama will co. Keep promise. Sayama will co to keep promise.”
I see, thought Sayama while sighing inwardly.
…My grandfather once negotiated with them and made their first promise with them.
But for so reason, he had not fulfilled that promise.
And yet for so reason, they had co here.
…Most likely, he was fine with not having fully upheld his promise.
“You still desire the promise because you want to have that unfulfilled promise carried out, don’t you? That will an both sides kept their promise and are equal.”
The word “debt” ca to mind.
In terms of the Leviathan Road, 4th-Gear had already given their conditions for the negotiation.
…They ca here unconditionally.
In that case…
…Fulfilling the promise is well worth negotiating over.
To reconfirm that, he asked a question.
“I can et Mukiti again by fulfilling that promise, correct?”
“Keep promise, so go with Sayama.”
Sayama crossed his arms and looked at the plant creatures that shook their bodies together.
…What was the first promise my grandfather made with them?
They knew, but they were not telling him. Their collective consciousness viewed Sayama’s promise as belonging to Sayama and they would not intrude on the territory of another’s thoughts.
This is an assignnt from my grandfather, he thought. I have to answer what it is they want.
“It is true that is the foundation of negotiation.”
…What did he promise them and what do they hope to gain from it?
Land? Peace of mind? So kind of power? There had to be a hint.
For example, 4th-Gear already had a reservation and this place as well.
As for peace of mind, this room made it clear any fear of external enemies had been resolved.
And as for power, not only did this race not desire to fight, but they seed unable to fight.
…Then what is it?
He realized he was leaning forward again, so he straightened up.
To give himself a change of pace while gathering his thoughts, he took a breath, leaned back, and placed his hands on the ground.
His fingers sank into the plants as if digging down. It’s all plants, he thought.
“No.”
Similar to his discussion with Shinjou about communicating with plants, these 4th-Gear residents just so happened to have bodies constructed from plants, but they could exchange thoughts, try to keep promises, and liked independence.
They were not sothing to protect or to look down on.
…They must be the sa. Even if they desired protection, they would not view us as superior to them.
Since his grandfather had negotiated with Mukiti who controlled them, it was possible they had actually had the superior position.
What did it an to be equal?
1st-Gear had desired to recover their past pride and have a place to live on their own.
2nd-Gear had desired to accept their own power while also living in Low-Gear.
3rd-Gear had desired to clear away their own cris yet continue to use the power that had led to those cris.
All of them contained a common factor down at the bottom.
…The desire to live in Low-Gear using their power.
Sayama thought on the word “power”.
“My grandfather must have negotiated to give you a place where you could use 4th-Gear’s power to live in Low-Gear and have peace of mind. That would have settled any debt.”
In that case, what was 4th-Gear’s power?
He thought and ca to a certain possibility.
…4th-Gear’s power is their vitality and their ability to heal others.
But in that case, what had his grandfather attempted to do with their power?
Sayama thought about using it for a hospital but then shook his head.
Even in the postwar tis, the world had not advanced enough to accept life forms from another world. Even if they could heal and save people, it would cause a commotion if people found out about these thinking plants.
…Was he going to have them heal injured UCAT mbers?
No, he realized.
If they had beco UCAT’s healers, this greenhouse would be much more open and used as a dical room.
Also, he thought before asking his next question.
“Why does 4th-Gear not work as healers for UCAT?”
If they had co to Low-Gear to use their healing ability, 4th-Gear healing would be a major part of UCAT.
He looked forward while he wondered why, but the plant creature only lay on its belly and tilted its head.
“Promise.”
“The promise, hm?”
What had they promised to use their power on?
He continued to think, but then…
“Could it be…?”
He recalled two facts from when the plant creatures had shown up in this large greenhouse.
First, they had known a na other than Sayama.
Second, they had used their healing ability.
“And they did so by wrapping around Shinjou-kun.”
He looked to Shinjou on his left side.
She was curled up on the stomach of the plant creature bent in a U-shape.
“…”
And she was asleep. Her black hair moved a bit and her expression was one of peace.
He then looked around himself, but none of the plant creatures made any attempt to remove his own exhaustion.
They had chosen Shinjou over him.
He rembered a section from the National Defense Departnt docunts that Kashima had sent them during the sumr and that they still could not read the entirety of.
“My grandfather took over working on 8th-Gear in place of 4th-Gear. And he did so because 8th-Gear had been assigned to Shinjou Kana who had fallen ill.”
The plant creatures looked up.
“Shinjou.”
“Yes, that is correct. Shinjou-kun. Is Shinjou-kun the promise?”
The collective consciousness responded to that.
“Promise! Shinjou! Promise!!”
He nodded and looked to Shinjou who slept while clutching her black binder.
“I do not know what kind of person Shinjou Kana was, but my grandfather spoke with Mukiti, ca to an understanding, and made a promise, didn’t he? He asked if you could save Shinjou-san who had fallen ill. And if you did have the power to save him, he asked you to co to Low-Gear where your power could be used elsewhere. That way, he could prepare a place for you even if 4th-Gear was lost.”
He took a breath.
“He promised to let you et the person nad Shinjou, didn’t he?”
If the promise had not been upheld, it ant they had not t Shinjou Kana.
However, they had co to Low-Gear.
He did not know if that had been his grandfather’s or Mukiti’s desire and he did not know why they had done it. Whatever the result, he would look into that from now on.
And he would fulfill the promise as well.
“Promise!”
The creatures’ thoughts rang loudly.
“et Shinjou. Mukiti is waiting. Sayama keeps promise.”
Sayama gave another deep nod.
“Yes, I will go with Shinjou-kun to et the one who watches over you.”
“Promise! Promise! Promise!!”
“Yes, that is a promise. It is a testant.”
“Testant?”
“That is the latest way of referring to a promise.”
“Testant!!”
As the thought voice rang out, Sayama raised his head.
At the sa ti, soone appeared from beyond the trees.
It was Ooki. She may have just woken from a nap because she wore pajamas and looked at the swaying and rustling plant creatures.
“Oh, my. How lively.”
“Do you think you can fit in here as a tree spirit, Ooki-sensei?”
“I don’t know…”
She smiled and her long ears seed to stand up as if reacting to the surrounding thoughts.
She shook those ears and spoke.
“Excuse for a mont, Sayama-kun, but I have to get to school. With the athletic festival preparations, I have to at least show up by lunchti.”
“Oh, is that so? And I thought the one who takes attendance would have to be there in the morning.”
“Sayama-kun, why are you always so an to your teacher?”
“I rely stated the obvious. Do you perhaps have a persecution complex? And when have I ever been an to you, tardy teacher?”
“J-just now!!”
After shouting out, she sighed.
“Listen.” She placed a hand on her forehead and groaned while the surrounding plant creatures looked up at her. “How about we settle for this? Harakawa-kun has been absent a lot lately, so if he isn’t in class today, please go to his ho and get him.”
“Ha ha ha. I understand what you are trying to say. …You are making no sense. Go yourself.”
“But his apartnt’s landlord has started recognizing lately. I got so leftover dinner last ti I went, but I can’t return the dish it was in because I haven’t washed it yet.”
“Oh? Which do you think would make a better nickna for you: filthy teacher or lazy teacher?”
“Hmm. I have pretty stringent standards for elegance, so I don’t think either fit .”
All of the plant creatures tilted their heads at that.
“Str-…string-…strange?”
“Wh-what a rude collective consciousness.”
Sayama ignored her and shook Shinjou awake.
They had to travel to Kyushu that afternoon, but now they had an extra job to take care of.
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