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Chapter 20: [Dimension M | Worldline 1] – Midori Divergence

Midori and I got inside a black car. The night sky was filled completely with expansive blackness, but something about this blackness felt artificial. The night breeze also felt much colder, sharper, and cynical than before. It was as if the universe was trying to signal us that autumn was now over…

The worldline was becoming unstable.

Soon after the car started moving, we entered a pitch-black highway. Illuminated only by regularly spaced pale road lights, Midori’s melancholy expression remained unchanged, almost like a cold, solitary flower.

“Ryan,”

As I turned my head, Midori slowly grabbed my hand and turned her gaze toward me. The fragility of her fingers sent chills along my arm, and her dark brown, lucid, bottomless eyes had a familiar superposition of lucidity and cloudiness. At the core of this dialectically opposed superposition lied a particular hue of melancholy that couldn’t have represented anyone other than Midori herself. By now, I had an acute understanding of the mechanics underlying this melancholia – it was the defining feature of the inner emptiness that have haunted her ever since the first moment she heard Singular Lyricism’s performance, and the vast, expansive sonic landscape of her shoegaze music was meant to hold together her precarious self-conceptions, fragmented by endless layers of abstractions that allowed her to hide from her own trauma stemming from childhood abduction and emotional neglect.

This melancholia, of course, was also the very substance of her aching beauty – the sharp outline of her face, her brown bobbed hair, long eyelashes, slender arms…

“Ryan… Mayu-san is not someone to be taken lightly.”

Before I had a chance to properly verbalize my question of what she exactly meant by that, my mind couldn’t help but be absorbed by the reflections of the road lights from her eyes as Midori stared into the meaningless darkness lying beyond the car window.

“I know she told us about her plan to subsume YM Corp under JS Corp… but I know for sure that this merge is only a small part of her alternative plans. She’s been involved heavily with YMMR ever since the onset of the JS-YM transactions, and it’s safe to assume that she has been aware of the development of Ene’s worldline theory all this time.”

I was reminded of Mayu-san’s dark purple eyes, and her exotic, ominous beauty suggestive of subliminal danger…

“That being said, one thing that I can say for sure is that Mayu-san’s top priority has always been, and will always be, absolute consolidation of power through expansion of JS’s corpocratic control. The fact that YM Corp will now be under her control – and I can guarantee you that it will be – indicates that military is a necessary component for her next plan or counter-measurement…”

As Midori’s voice faded away in uncertainty, I could see that we were now entering another urban setting densely packed with countless tall buildings. The regularly placed buildings created a grid-like road system, with isolated businessmen walking busily on the side. It might have been due to the fact that our car windows were completely sealed black, or that the whole city was palely lit by white fluorescent light coming from the street lamps and the building windows… Every single one of those businessmen were identically dressed, and everything about them felt too uniform, almost to the extent where it seemed as though they didn’t have any distinguishable faces…

As we continued deeper into the center of the city, we arrived at a circularly open area, at the center of which was a giant convention center – another building with a hypermodern glass design, much like the Imperial Library we visited last time. The building had a simple sign above the main entrance: YM Corporation.

“A ton of reporters will bombard us with flashlights and questions. Just ignore them all and follow me into the building.”

Upon Midori’s curt instruction, the car entered into the rotary and pulled in front of the singular pathway leading straight toward the main entrance. The guards sitting in the front seats stepped out of the car and swiftly opened the door for us.

“SDo, activate automatic threat screening. Mark, please take care of all neutralization.”

“Right away.”

“Leave it to me.”

As we stepped out, I immediately understood what Midori had meant. There was a swarm of reporters from several broadcasting stations waiting outside, and I was instantly blinded by overwhelming flashes of camera light. As the reporters attempted to approach us with their cameras and microphones, the two guards prevented them from getting too close as Midori and I started walking along the pathway. The reporters started bombarding us with an incessant barrage of questions.

"Midori-san, is it true that the JS-YM relations have taken a negative turn in the recent days?”

“There are rumors that you have been at the center of this turn. Is that true?”

“To what extent has JS been involved in YM’s growing control of the Ministry of Defense and the military?”

“What is your official stance on the privatization of the national security by YMMR?”

“What was the underlying motivation behind your decision to do away with private security on the university campus?”

“Are you in a personal relationship with the new guard accompanying you today?”

“As the major JS shareholder, can you confirm your future involvement in JS as the company moves forward?”

My augmented reality glasses indicated no signs of direct threat from these reporters. Midori continued walking by my side with a composed expression, unaffected by either the flashlights or the questions. It seemed she was completely used to these types of situations…

The main entrance was guarded by several military personnel, and several reporters were reporting on the situation while facing their respective cameras. Midori and I entered the building, leaving the swarm of reporters behind…

As soon as the entrance door closed, we were wrapped in silence, the only sound being small echoes of classical music coming off of invisible speakers. The main lobby was much like the JS Corp lobby, vast and mostly empty, with minimalistic sofas, tables, and lamps located here and there.

“We must first attend the reception.”

As Midori crossed her arms and let out a sigh, a male secretary approached us and bowed courteously. His thin silver glasses along with his neatly brushed hair gave him a slightly shrewd look…

“Welcome, Midori-san and Ryan-san. YM Corporation thanks you for visiting us today at our main branch for the biannual conference. Please allow me to lead you to the reception hall.”

Our two guards followed behind us. The secretary led us further into the lobby and took a left turn into a long hallway. There were countless conference rooms on both sides, the doors marked with alphanumeric codes and short descriptions of the respective meeting agenda:

Military vehicular application of photonic crystals(*1)

Sustainable batch synthesis of stimpack(*2) pharmaceuticals

Prototype modeling of exoskeleton(*3) electronics

Computational financial optimization for fiscal year IV

Construction proposal for Gen V molten salt nuclear reactors(*4)

…

“Midori, these meeting agenda seem quite heavily oriented around military research collaborations between JS and YM… Are there other external research organizations involved?”

“Yes… In addition to JS and YM’s own R&D sectors, we invest significantly in research groups across major academia and industries. All of them are invited here today – you can think of this conference as being academic, industrial, and political in character at the same time…”

As Midori responded my question nonchalantly, several people stopped and bowed to us as we passed by. After a minute or so, one of the conference room doors opened ahead of us, and a few people in suits came out…

… but a particular girl caught my eyes. She was dressed in a white button-down shirt with collars decorated by black linings, a red necktie, and a simple black skirt… and on top of her long blonde hair was a round black hat with a white ribbon. After exiting the conference room, she remained standing where she was, as several people bowed to her and walked away… She was stretching her arms toward the ceiling and yawning with her mouth covered, not making any attempt to hide her bored expression. My glasses indicated her name was Reina Kirishina – she was the daughter of the head of JS Construction. At that point, I remembered Kirishina-san from the JS board meetings – he was the middle-aged businessman who voiced his concern regarding the YM-JS transactions. It now made sense why he was particularly concerned about them…

Midori raised her hand abruptly and gestured the secretary to stop.

“Reina? Is that you?!”

With one of her arms still pointing toward the ceiling, Reina turned her gaze toward us, her bored expression changing rapidly to that of delight, and ran toward Midori.

“Midori! Oh my gosh!”

Midori also ran toward Reina and embraced her. They jumped lightly with their hands interlocked, almost like a pair of frolicking children.

“How many years have it been? If I remember correctly, last time you visited me was during the summer three years ago, right?”

“Yeah… I’m sorry I haven’t been able to visit more often. But no worries, I just graduated and I’m back for good!”

“You graduated? Congratulations! When did you arrive from USNA?”

USNA… I’m guessing that stands for United States of North America…?(*5)

“Hear me out Midori… I just arrived this afternoon, and my dad made them drag me here straight! And I had to sit through these boring meetings… Can you believe that?”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Well, you already know that I am the last person who ever wants to attend this conference.”

“Haha, that’s for sure—”

At that point, Reina’s energetic eyes met mine. Midori smiled and introduced me to Reina.

“I forgot to introduce Ryan, he’s my new guard and boyfriend. Ryan, this is Reina, my childhood friend that I told you about.”

“Hmm…”

A pair of crystal clear, green eyes was staring at mine with a curiosity.

“If you do anything bad to Midori, I’m gonna kill you, okay?”

As Reina said the last part with a witty smile, Midori and I laughed.

“Nice to meet you too, Reina.”

“Reina, why don’t we all go together for a tea at Saijo-san’s place after this?”

“I’ve been dying to have tea with you, Midori… just like the old days.”

After finishing her sentence with a certain whimsicality, Reina sighed and said,

“Well, I don’t want to keep you late to the reception. I still need to greet a few people from JS Construction, so I will see you after the conference. Please take care of Midori for me, Ryan.”

With that, she waved her hand with an enchanting smile, and started walking in the opposite direction along the hallway. The secretary bowed, and we continued following his lead. We soon encountered several pairs of wide doors, all of which led to the reception hall. The secretary opened the central door, and we entered.

The hall had a very high ceiling, decorated with several layers of colored glasses of blue-greenish hue. The entire floor was made of shiny white granite, and several small round standing tables were located throughout the hall. The colored glasses flooded the air with gentle turquoise light, making the space look like some sort of a modern art museum. Upon our entrance, everyone turned their gaze toward us and resumed talking in subdued tones after a few seconds of silence. I immediately recognized Mizuki and Mayu-san at the front of the hall – they gave us a nod and a mysterious smile, respectively, and continued talking with other people.

A particular middle-aged man in a uniform approached us – Minister of Defense, Hazama Tarou…

“Midori-san, welcome. It is my sincere pleasure to see you in person again this year.”

“Tarou-san... How unusual it is for you to be saying hello to me. Could it be that the Ministry of Defense has suddenly gained an interest in strengthening its alliance with the JS group?”

Midori said this as matter-of-factly while grabbing a cup of tea from a floating waiter. Tarou-san gave out a small laughter to ease the apparent tension.

“Oh, the Ministry of Defense has always remained in solidarity with both conglomerates, Midori-san. Without the support of the JS group, our government would never have been able to thrive as it is doing currently.”

“Hmm… is that so.”

Midori took a sip of her tea and responded nonchalantly.

“Tarou-san, I would like to think that you and I both know when a certain measure starts to go a little too far. I am sure Mayu-san has also talked to you about this, am I right?”

Tarou-san looked slightly thrown off by Midori’s straightforward invocation of Mayu-san’s name… He quickly collected his expression to an agreeable smile.

“Yes, of course. National economic interest is entirely synonymous to JS Corporation’s interest, after all.”

Midori continued sipping her tea while holding her tea cup with both of her hands.

“Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page. If you may, I’d like to say hello to a few other people now.”

Tarou-san bowed to us as we walked away. Hazama Tarou… his name will be marked from now on. Midori went to a small table with refreshments and started refilling her cup of tea.

“Midori, how are you feeling?”

She looked at me with a slightly surprised look, and gave a small smile.

“I’m okay… quite used to these kinds of conversations now. I would have to say, though, that they’re not in the least bit interesting at all, don’t you think? Everyone is so trapped in this corpocratic stage play.”

“I expected you to be much more detached from these matters.”

Midori’s dark brown, lucid, bottomless eyes stared at mine with a mixture of urgency and melancholy.

“I used to be… but not anymore. Whatever is a threat to JS Corp… is also a threat to you and me.”

As Midori poured a spoon of sugar and started stirring her cup, my glasses suddenly directed my gaze to a tall man approaching us from the front of the hall.

It was Nagisa-san. He was about the same age as Mizuki-san, a few years younger I would say, perhaps due to his semi-formal navy blue blazer attire. He was also wearing a black thick-rim glasses that accentuated his sharp expression, giving him a very much calculating look… Quite different from Inaba’s more gentle expression, I should say.

“Ah, if it isn’t the major shareholder of JS Corporation.”

Midori abruptly stopped stirring her tea, put the spoon down on the table, slowly picked up her tea cup, and responded to Nagisa-san’s manifestly unpleasant greeting. I could sense that a few people were watching us a far from their respective standing tables…

“Nagisa-san. It seems that you’re doing as well as you ever have been.”

He laughed out loud and started pouring a cup of coffee on the table.

“Nevermind me, how have you been doing lately, Midori?”

Midori closed her eyes while sipping on her tea, as if trying to find out the most optimal way to respond to a question that could be taken in many different ways…

“I have been doing very well, thanks to the unceasing attention from the YM group as of late.”

Nagisa-san sipped on his coffee as well and responded casually.

“Oh really? I am sorry that I wasn’t able to heed any personal visits myself – I was very busy with a lot of things, you see, all of which we are going to present today here.”

Nagisa-san pointed his hand to the front of the hall, turned his gaze toward me, and gave an all-knowing smile…

“So… It has come to my attention that Mayu-san has been talking to a few people in the Ministry of Defense lately. It seems like the JS group has recently gained quite some interest in the military. Interesting, don’t you think?”

Midori managed to cross her arms again while supporting her tea cup on her left arm.

“Well, I am not sure if I would call it interesting, Nagisa-san. I would say that it is only natural for the head of the Japanese Conglomerate Federation to engage with the military, given the increasing dilapidation of balance in the bilateral JS-YM relations within the federal government.”

“Hahaha, oh well. Your stance is most definitely intelligent and understandable. I cannot agree with you more that now is the time that we need JS-YM cooperation the most. It is in my best personal interest for both conglomerates to thrive together, after all.”

What he said the last did not fail to bother both me and Midori… How far is he aware of Mayu-san’s plan to merge JS and YM?

“Well, enough with the not-so-interesting talk, I suppose. Are you still studying philosophy in the university?”

Midori responded while putting her empty cup down on the table.

“Yes, I am… My new partner Ryan has joined me in my classes as well.”

Nagisa-san looked at me and raised his glasses with his index finger. He started thinking out loud while staring at the colored glasses on the ceiling.

“Philosophy, huh?...”

He looked at Midori and finished his musing:

“If an unexamined life is not worth living… then is an unlived life worth examining?”

Midori’s eyes grew slightly bigger. Nagisa-san gave his all-knowing smile again, turned around, raised his hand to bid farewell, and started walking toward the front of the hall again.

The surprise in Midori’s eyes gradually faded away, leaving behind her familiar cloudiness along her long eyelashes directed downward… Before I had a chance to say something to her, however, Mayu-san stood up on the front podium and started talking.

“Everyone, welcome to the biannual YM-JS conference. We are pleased to have members of both conglomerates here today, as well as the Japanese Conglomerate Federation and various research organizations from academia and industries all across the nation.

JS-YM cooperation has been paramount to the well-being of the nation, especially in light of the steadily rising threat by the terrorist group HADES. These conferences are critical in maintaining this synergy, but also in providing checks-and-balances to our alliance in relation to the federal government, so that none of our individual subsidiaries receive either too much or too little power.”

It was interesting and absurd to see how all of the dialogues seemed to be focused on trying to make certain references without being overtly blatant… A few people started murmuring to each other inaudibly, and Mayu-san continued after a brief pause.

“Unfortunately, it is true that there has been some tension between the JS and YM groups recently, especially regarding our involvement within the Ministry of Defense. I would like to emphasize, on behalf of all of us here, that, although the importance of the state-of-the-art military technology can never be overstated, what is even more important is the way in which we utilize it. Military, just like any other instruments, can be used in many different ways, and it is our firm belief that it should be used primarily as a defensive and preemptive, rather than an offensive, mechanism, such that our infrastructure and economy can be protected and continue to thrive steadily.”

I could see that several people were nodding their heads, while other people continued to murmur amongst each other, perhaps in subdued discontent…

“Without further ado, I would like to now hand over to members of each of our subsidiaries, who are going to present us today on the main progress of our R&D sectors.”

As Mayu-san stepped away from the podium, it was at that precise moment that I heard SDo’s voice on my earpiece.

“Ryan, it is now our scheduled time for the infiltration. Please meet Mark outside at the back entrance of the convention center, as indicated on the map.”

I grabbed Midori’s hand and quietly exited the hall. I could see Mayu-san’s cryptic smile from my peripheral gaze…

“Midori, I need to go now.”

Midori’s dark brown, lucid, bottomless eyes took on a distinct hue of melancholy.

“I see…”

After staring on the ground for a few seconds, she looked up and forced a smile.

“I’ll see you at Saijo-san’s place after it’s over, okay?”

I smiled reassuringly.

“Yeah… Don’t worry, I’ll come back right away if anything happens to you.”

Midori looked like she was at a loss for words… I decided to break the tension by letting go of her hand.

“See you on the other side, Midori.”

Right when I was about to pass her, she grabbed my hand again, while still facing the other side.

“You have to bring those donuts, got it?”

My fingers slowly interlocked with hers.

“Of course. That’s the most important part, after all.”

And gradually... her hand was slipping through my fingers, and I was entering the original hallway.

The image of Midori standing by herself refused to leave my mind…

Before I knew it, I found myself running, perhaps to divert my attention away from her. I took out my gun from my pocket, shot a portal on the wall at the end of the hallway, and ran through it.

It was completely dark outside, and it took me a minute or so for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Mark greeted me with his trademark smile. I could see that he was already dressed in his black stealth suit, holding his helmet in his left arm.

“Welcome back, Ryan. Are you ready?”

I answered with a heavy sigh.

“Ready or not, Mark. Let’s just get over with this.”

He laughed lightly and handed me my stealth suit and protective gears, as well as a new gun. Ene’s voice invaded our earpieces.

“Ryan, I have a new gun for you. It’s called DASER.”

“A new gun? And is that an acronym?”

I could already visualize her mischievous smile from her voice as I started changing into my stealth suit.

“Yes, it is an acronym! It stands for Data Amplification by Structural Eidos Resonance.(*6) Rather than creating or annihilating matter-data, DASER allows you to convert matter-data into disorganized forms. In other words, you can now disturb any spatial structural data yourself. It works exactly the same way as the annihilation gun.”

“That’s convenient. That means that we now don’t have to go through you directly for any structural data manipulation.”

As I commented matter-of-factly, Mark nodded and grabbed his portal gun.

“Bob and his SWAT team are waiting for us at the rendezvous point outside of the YMMR facility.”

I put on my helmet, grabbed my DASER with both of my hands, and nodded.

“I’m ready.”

Mark shot a portal in the open air, and we stepped into the middle of a mountain, surrounded by countless, bleak trees with no leaves whatsoever.

Lying ahead of us was a barren landscape, with several modular buildings surrounded by wired fences, and countless military vehicles and personnel patrolling the perimeters.

(*1) Reference to photonic band gap materials (*2) Reference to stimpack from Starcraft (*3) Reference to powered exoskeleton (*4) Reference to Gen V reactors and molten salt reactors (*5) Reference to the homonymous fictional country in The Irregular at Magic High School (Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei) (*6) Reference to MASER (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation)

Ch. 20 Illustration

Ch. 20 Soundtrack 1 | Soundtrack 2

Go to Chapter 19: Midori Liminality | Chapter 21: Chronostasis | Chapter List

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