I could search the whole cosmos and never find a being as angelic as my sister— I couldn’t believe she’d taken such studious notes on the random story I’d pulled straight out of my ass. I wanted to dedicate my life to making this woman happy.
In case it wasn’t clear, General Grayhair was Szilard, and Princess Europa was Jupiter. I’ve always sucked at coming up with names.
“There’s only one answer, if you ask me. We must have General Grayhair join the battle!”
“What?” Just like that…? “But Sis, if something were to happen to General Grayhair, it might result in a time paradox. The heroes from the future really come to respect him.”
“But aren’t you worried that the main character, Dick Badman, and his partner, Master Psycho Prometheus, aren’t strong enough to defeat the beast of the black, Zeus Omega?”
“…I guess.”
Ugh. “Dick Badman”? What a stupid name. What was I thinking? I wish I’d come up with something cooler.
“Well, in that case, shouldn’t you let General Grayhair atone for his sins? After all, he’s to blame for letting the situation get so bad in the first place. Even if it was to protect the country, he exiled Princess Europa when she was still so young. If a no-good villain like that had shown up asking to be treated like a comrade, I think it’s perfectly fine to set them to work. And there’s nothing wrong with giving them the most grueling role, either!”
I was surprised that Sis had such an aggressive take on the situation.
“But what about the time paradox…?”
“You said this story has no self-correcting force, right?”
“Yeah.”
There was always the chance it did, but considering I had freed Albi and saved Haruka, it seemed pretty unlikely.
“In that case, I see why you’re worried. I can’t deny the risk.”
“Right.”
“But that just means everyone taking part in the battle will have to bear that risk together. Isn’t that what it means to take on the future, never knowing how things will turn out?”
Damn. I had no clever rebuttal to that one. Do your best and leave the rest to fate, huh?
Maybe my resolve had been lacking. Maybe I hadn’t yet fully dedicated myself to creating the future I wanted.
“Also, the main character, Dick Badman… He calls himself the enemy of fate, right? Don’t you think he’s a little bit too obsessed?”
“U-uh, what do you mean?”
She cleared her throat and pointed at the ceiling before launching into her theory.
Oh man, she is so cute. So, so cute. She’s so, so, so, so— (The rest of this adulation has been omitted to save space.)
“Basically, his stance is ‘so-and-so is an important historical figure, so I shouldn’t involve him in anything dangerous.’ It makes perfect sense. I would even say I agree. But if you think about it from a different angle, isn’t that the same fate he’s always fighting?”
“Huh…” Part of me agreed with her.
“Dick Badman knows something about how the future is supposed to turn out, and that makes him cautious. I think that shows he’s quite sensible, and I like that about him. But that sensible nature is about to make him waste a precious opportunity, just because of a silly thing like fate.” To her, it seemed like a waste.
“So you’re saying that it doesn’t make sense for Dick Badman to put himself at a disadvantage to keep things as they’re supposed to be, when his whole deal is that he’s fighting against fate, huh? Hmm, I’ll admit I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I think Dick Badman has justice on his side. But if he gets too carried away following his moral compass, he might fail to protect someone close to him. And if that were to happen, I think he would hate himself for it. I don’t want him to suffer such a sad fate.”
“Same here. I’d much prefer for Dick Badman to get his happy ending.”
She was right. What I wanted was a perfect, good ending for Kyouichirou. I wasn’t looking to recreate the original plot of the game.
I didn’t want to arbitrarily screw around with the world itself, but that didn’t mean I was some baby-faced hero of justice looking to right every wrong, either.
If one of history’s future heroes wanted to lend me a hand, maybe it was okay for me to accept his help so long as I did everything in my power to protect him.
“Thanks, Sis. I feel like I’ve figured some things out.”
“I’m just glad I was able to help. Once your novel is finished, I hope you’ll let me read it.”
Her smile was like a refreshing spring breeze.
“One day,” I promised her.
I called up Szilard later that night.
“Oh, good. I’m glad to hear it, Kyouichirou. Then we’re officially comrades in arms.”
It might only be for the length of the fight against Keraunos, but I would still get to stand shoulder to shoulder with the James Szilard. To be honest, I was pretty excited. I could feel my otaku soul quivering with delight.
“I’m happy to be part of the team.”
“We’re glad to have you. We’re a bit of a mess, but welcome aboard.”
However…
“Mm-hmm. Well, in that case… Now that we’re comrades, there’s something I need to come clean about… I was planning on telling Jupiter—and only Jupiter—this during the cleansing ritual. But I’ve just decided it would be better if I told you as well.”
…in a single instant…
“It’s about Jupiter’s memories.”
…all the excitement and childlike competitiveness that had welled up inside me…
“Let me cut right to the chase. Keraunos is the one who took Jupiter’s memories from her. I believe that was one of the conditions of their pact.”
…completely evaporated.
Suddenly, something Jupiter once said to me came rushing back into my mind.
“Who are you?”
Who…are you…?