Girls With Short Names Talk About Important Things

[plentyfriendly]

[Soon enough, Phi and Rin are alone together.]

So, let's start off with this: I didn't want to ask you about what you meant by "another world". I already know. Either you or someone else you know made different decisions, or the air moved in a different way, or something like that, and the circumstances of your life before this terrible excuse for a team-building exercise don't match the ones she comes from.

I'd imagine you might be thinking something like "why would you immediately know that", or something along those lines.

Comments

[harshwords]

I am, actually. Considering the fact that you're not a magus, the existence of the Second Magic isn't exactly common-- though many humans have made theories surrounding the existence of parallel worlds throughout the ages.

But what I'm thinking isn't specifically "why would you immediately know that", since I'm assuming that I've dropped hints in the past, but instead, "why do you believe that"?

[plentyfriendly]

I have two reasons. While it's true that I'm not a magus, and thus don't know what you mean by Second Magic, I can explain... well, not briefly, but simply.

In quantum physics, there's something called the "many-worlds interpretation". You might have heard of it before, considering your statement just now, but the main reason that it's valid comes from the fact that certain properties of subatomic particles coexist until they're measured. For example, you could say that a particular electron is spinning both upward and downward until you check to see which it is. The Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment is an extrapolation of that; it's never been actually done by any actual physicists, or so I hope.

The other reason is that I have a kind of... secret special ability related to the concept, although I'm not sure why I have it, how it works, or if I can even control it at all.

[harshwords]

I see.

... What kind of special ability is it? It doesn't happen to do with actually traveling between parallel worlds, does it?

[plentyfriendly]

Maybe not in the way you're thinking, since my body doesn't do the actual traveling; my mind does. Not everything I've learned in one timeline will stay intact after such a movement, though.

[harshwords]

So if I'm understanding this correctly, your consciousness, or rather the "soul", is what travels, and not the body itself. It's completely different from the Second Magic in that sense.

And if information doesn't completely stay intact with these jumps, that just means that your memories aren't always kept entirely, am I correct?

[plentyfriendly]

For the most part, yes. But it doesn't mean I can't suddenly remember something from one. When I started to become aware of it, it was more like I "already knew" something.

I think, though, that you might want to know how I became aware that it was happening. So let me tell you what I was involved in just before this "team-building exercise".

[harshwords]

I see. It reminds me of deja vu, to be honest.

... Hm, I'm curious about it, so go ahead. But make it quick. We still need to have you return that book, after all.

[plentyfriendly]

It began a lot like this did, actually. Nine people, myself included, woke up in places they probably hadn't been before, although not through a tube.

Soon enough, although we were spread across six different rooms, a computer rat appeared and told us that we were playing the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition.

The objective of the game, as stated, was simple: "9 is your goal," or in other words, get nine points and you could leave. However, the fact that I've still got the bracelet has me thinking that there's something more to it than that.

[harshwords]

So are you thinking that this might actually be connected to that game you were playing?

[ She doesn't think so, but she won't discredit the possibility. ]

I mean, I don't think that's the case, but... there's something I've been thinking about for a while now.

[plentyfriendly]

I don't think so either. I meant more like... some other outcome of the game was supposed to happen. If this exercise and the Nonary Game were connected, Sigma and Dio - or rather, Sigma and Left - would probably be here too, since both of them got out with me.

And there really isn't a lot I know about why it happened in the first place, or where it was held; you might have noticed that my profile says "Home Sector: Unknown". There's more I need to find out about the game, and I think I might need to jump into another world to do it.

What have you been thinking about, though?

[harshwords]

Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to thoroughly look at other people's profiles but my own. I'm not that great with technology, admittedly, so all I've been doing is pressing random buttons hoping that something comes up, luckily enough.

So basically, since you don't know where the game was held, the Computer doesn't know either. That's interesting.

As for what I've been thinking, however-- [ She takes out her own PDC, stares at it for a second, muttering softly to herself in frustration; "Was it this button that got there? No, it was this one! Ahh, how annoying...!" until she finally recomposes herself and pulls out the rules. ] Rule number 9 says "When the team-building exercise is completed, all participants will be free to leave", right? It specifically states "all participants" in that rule. I don't know if the computer deems those who are executed or dead, as someone who is no longer a participant, but the Computer never answered my question about that when I asked, so I think it's slightly suspicious. Besides, the phrasing doesn't say "all living participants", it just says participants, period.

[plentyfriendly]

Well, it was a desert somewhere, I think. It was nighttime when we got out, and the moon hung red. It had to have been December 31, 2028, or possibly some other day a total lunar eclipse occurred.

Granted, I'd jumped in from another timeline, so I was more concerned about the passcode for the number zero bomb.

As for rule nine, I noticed that, too. A couple days ago I even suggested there might be a seventh clone for the participants that were eliminated to be uploaded to.

[harshwords]

A desert... There's not too many deserts on Earth, so you can probably figure out where you were rather easily.

A seventh clone, huh.

[plentyfriendly]

Yeah. There's even a possibility that it's possible to make more clones even after we've already died, because that possibility is the only reason Left as I knew him existed.

[harshwords]

I guess that's true. Though the idea of that is rather disturbing, to say the least.

[plentyfriendly]

Moreso given he was a cult militant leading more clones of himself, or so he said.

[harshwords]

... You mean like a clone army?

[plentyfriendly]

Something like that. There was also that time he used medicine we needed to save a little kid as leverage.

[What a slimeball, seriously.]

[harshwords]

Ugh. I hate those types of people.