[ video ]

[thirdarrow]

[ The video feed opens to show the inside of an apartment, with a chair directly facing the camera. The interior of the room has been left untouched, and there are no visible decorations save for a single calligraphy scroll hung on one wall. There seems to be no one on-screen.

A few seconds' silence elapses before someone speaks. ]

... Hello? Is this... transmitting properly? [ Pause. ] Ah, it should be.

[ The camera shakes momentarily before settling down again. A young man comes into view from the left of the screen and sits down on the chair.

For those who have met him before, he seems... older, somehow. His features still suggest approximately the same age, but he looks more tired, perhaps even a little unwell. There are dark shadows under his eyes, and his frame shows vague signs of one too many forgotten meals.

His voice still sounds the same, though - calm and composed. ]

I suppose I ought to introduce myself again...? My name is Takakage Kobayakawa, and you may have seen me about during the Thirteenth Hour in the previous week.

From my perspective, eight years have elapsed since my last contact with this city. If I am not mistaken, only a day has passed here - therefore my momentary absence. I apologize if anyone had tried to contact me yesterday, for I was not present and thus could not take your message.

But in any case, I am here again. It has been a long while.

[ He nods, smiling faintly. ]

If there is anything I need to know and have missed, I would appreciate it if you could take the time to update me.

Thank you.

[ The feed cuts here. ]

Comments

[unbroken_chain]

"Well, there was this kind of...chain sound? And then something tried to drown me, but I fell through the sky and into the ground, and then everything started dying around me. Then there were a bunch of Bug-types, and this...Scolipede thing that wanted to eat me, except someone I couldn't see pulled me out and told me 'it's too dangerous for you to be here alone! Come back never!'"

Her voice twists up into something utterly unlike her normal registers for a moment as she calls on her acting skills to reproduce the one part of the dream she remembers clearly.

"And then I woke up, scared out of my mind. Arthur and Scorpina told me it wasn't a normal dream, and they'd know that sort of thing, so I figured it might have been a prophetic dream, even though I don't have that kind of talent."

[konpeitoqueen]

Please, I was always independent! Just because someone's understandably confused over their sudden environmental shift doesn't mean they're not independent.

[...Oh boy.]

[thirdarrow]

If you say so.

[ He answers with a head tilt, but doesn't say any more. ]

[thirdarrow]

[ ... he's suddenly unsure. ]

Well, whatever you feel fit to enlighten me with, I suppose.

[ Pause. ]

Though... I'm more interested in how the people are doing, so to speak. Methods of governance, perhaps. Things ought to have changed with time.

[thirdarrow]

Takakage listens politely, waiting for Kotoha to finish speaking before he attempts a reply. Though he isn't exactly sure who she consulted. He assumes they were her friends.

There is a few moments of silence before he starts speaking, though.

"... I see." His words are careful and deliberate. "It certainly does sound quite out of the ordinary." Right now, it seems like an even fifty-fifty chance of the dream being just a nightmare... but instincts told him that it would eventually mean something.

"Please be more careful, then." It never hurt to exercise more caution. "Though... if it is a prophetic dream... do you know if you are the only one with such an experience?"

[unbroken_chain]

"Not a clue, actually! I should probably get on that."

[thirdarrow]

He nods in affirmation.

"I pray that this is a mere anomaly."

[press_start]

[Eight years....? He was gone for a day.... and spent eight years.... eight years.... back in his homeworld?]

Takakage-kun?

....first, welcome back.

Second, you were gone..... eight years? Was it back to.... where you came from?

[thirdarrow]

Thank you, Nanami-san. [ His smile for Nanami is noticeably more gentle. ]

Yes, It is. I returned to my homeland and almost no time had elapsed. [ A pause. Nanami probably needed more clarification. ] I had fallen asleep prior to coming here for the first time, and on my return journey I found that barely half a night had passed. It was almost as if the time I spent here was merely a rather lengthy dream.

[ Another pause. He chuckles faintly, a sound that could be half-passed off as a sigh. ]

I had thought that to be the case. But of course, now that I am here again, the assumption has been overturned.

Eight long years have elapsed in my world. And yet, only one day has gone by in Hinoto-Ri. The wheels of time turn in mysterious ways.

[meaningdies]

The government of Japan... well, there's an emperor still, but he's really mostly a figurehead. The real power is concentrated in the Diet - the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors. The Diet elects a prime minister from themselves. There's also a court system that reviews the laws that are passed in the Diet.

There's also no national army, though the Special Defense Force acts as one much of the time.

[thirdarrow]

[ He listened politely until Naoya finished speaking, but didn't reply until a few seconds later. ]

... I see. [ The land seemed unified, from what Naoya said, but it seemed unnecessarily complicated. ] I suppose you already know of the governance in my era?

Though.. this system. It does not sound too efficient. If there are too many intermediaries, then the leaders will not hear the people anymore...

[press_start]

[[Spoiler warning: Hints of SDR2 Spoilers ahead.]]

[He- he went back, Takakage-kun went back, that meant that it was possible, she wouldn't be missed, she could check how Hinata-kun and the others were faring, she could help-]

[Nanami seems a lot more agitated than usual when she next speaks.]

So it's possible to.... go back? How did you do it?

[She could go back, if there was a way she had to figure out how to get back, the others needed all the help they could get-]

[No, no. Wait.]

[Takakage-kun said he had fallen asleep to come here. Takakage-kun's case might not be similar to hers at all. He had.... lived, came and went home to live some more, and she.....]

[.....could she even contact the class if she managed to return?]

...... ....wait....um, how much do you know about the mechanics of such things, Takakage-kun....?

[thirdarrow]

[ He detected Nanami's change in countenance almost immediately. The prospect of returning was indeed very important to her - he could already tell from the information given to him in their previous conversations, but actually experiencing it... still took time to get used to.

After all, he only had bad news for her. ]

... I don't think it is by our choice. [ He closes his eyes briefly before continuing. ] I had no warning during all four transport events, no preemptive signs at all.

I'm sorry. I have no knowledge whatsoever on this matter...

[meaningdies]

They're elected by the people, but that's true. The voices of the people often do get lost. If someone causes enough of an embarrassment, though, they tend to step down over it.

[thirdarrow]

Well, I suppose that is somewhat a good thing. [ Different from the daimyos' seats of power. Most of them do pay attention to their people - after all, the citizens' loyalty is what ensured their allegiance.

He sighs faintly. ]

Time does not necessarily change things for the better, it seems...

[meaningdies]

Not always, no. Certain things are better, though - healthcare has been vastly improved, for example.

[thirdarrow]

[ He nods thoughtfully. ]That is true...

... though perhaps this improvement in technology is what slowly seals off the hearts of men.

[meaningdies]

Hm... I would disagree. Communication technology has greatly improved connections between people. People know more, and people can connect with those who share their interests even if it is someone across the world. If anything, technology has created an even greater space for people to express feelings, to share with each other, and to form intimate connections.

Where someone with an interest or a disability might have never found anyone else like them in your time, in mine it's a simple matter of looking for them. People can use improvements in technology to create better lives for themselves and others.

Of course there are people who would take advantage of that, but they become known simply because they are loud about it. Meanwhile, in the background, there are people who can be saved from their former statuses as the downtrodden and lifted up to stand on an equal footing. Technology cares not if you're a peasant or a king - you're all equal when no one can see your face.

[thirdarrow]

[ ... is that so...

He listened to Naoya carefully. After the other finished speaking, he took a while to respond. It was a lot to run through his mind, after all. ]

... I see. [ He nodded slightly. ] That is true... but then again, this presents to me as somewhat of a double-edged advance.

[ But then again, wasn't everything a double-edged advance? ]

Perhaps this is mere cultural difference, but actual physical interaction seems more... sincere, somehow.

[meaningdies]

That's true. There is that loss. But such communication methods are being implemented in smaller and smaller devices, so that people can be connected even while they're outside.

Face to face communication is no less important in my view. It takes being with a person to truly know them. But I'm somewhat biased towards seeing the positives in such things. After all, I make my living by programming them, both at home and in this place.

[thirdarrow]

[ He nodded again, but couldn't shake off the nagging doubt that lingered.

Somehow, the concept still seemed too unnatural to him - the magic of the modern folk was immensely convenient, yes, but it was magic nonetheless.

And as with all things supernatural, they crept into the minds of the people. Who knew what repercussions this would bring? ]

Well... I suppose that is true.

[meaningdies]

Humankind will always foster relationships. It's those relationships that are part of free will. They decide whom to bond with and whom to ignore. I doubt that technology will ever change that.

Humans, for all their technological prowess, are still very much like they have always been.

[thirdarrow]

[ You speak as if you are not one.

Of course, he has enough common sense to not voice that thought, merely settling for a tilt of his head. There didn't seem to be much he could contribute at the moment. ]

[meaningdies]

[He's long thought of himself as an observer in many ways. Among them, but apart from them. He's pushed and shaped and fought tooth and nail both with and against them, but none of them can understand.]

In any case, was there something else you were wondering about?

[press_start]

[....oh.....]

[Nanami blinks. Nanami blinks slowly. Disappointment is not something she is used to. She is used to the discomfort of failing a game objective she's given, she is used to feeling guilty when she's assigned a role in a co-op and doesn't deliver what she's supposed to. But.... disappointment...]

Oh..... .....

....I see. Thank you for the information, Takakage-kun.