My mother gave me an upbringing filled with love, and before I knew it, I had turned 15. Not even in my past life had I felt that time was passing so fast. However, by that point, I had learned a fact that made the passage of such an extent of time feel trivial.
As a result of gathering information for ten years starting from the age of five, at which point I had been able to act under my own free will, I learned something that was enough to make me fall ill for a while.
It seemed that here on the third planet in orbit around the sun, known as Earth, the current date and time in Japan was... January 4, 2102, at 10:52 AM.
It seemed I’d been born almost 90 years further into the future than the Japan where I’d lived prior to my reincarnation.
Despite that, there weren’t any flying cars, nor was there personal teleportation technology. But the first time I saw military-use powered suits on TV, I got excited and asked Mom, Are they robots? Hey, are those robots? There were also other unique pieces of futuristic equipment and laser weapons that could just barely be carried by an individual.
How could civilization be so different after just 90 years? In the 2010 that I’d lived in, civilization had more or less ceased to progress. Some scholars had even gone so far as to publicly state that we were headed for a slow decline. I was about three years old when I started to wonder about that. So I slipped away to go looking for history-related books at the library while Mom was choosing a picture book for me.
Mom caught me while I was still searching, but she got the idea that I was interested in the photographs published in history books, and started regularly putting electronic books full of landscapes and beautiful castles on my personal terminal.
My mother is oh so kind! But, I don’t want these books...
Well, now, many subtle differences had arisen since the Middle Ages, but let’s go over some things that were definitely different from the world I’d lived in, in order.
1935: The Outbreak of World War II.
Although the war had started four years earlier than in true history, it had ended after a mere one-and-a-half years. This was because America, Russia, Germany, and Japan had successfully manufactured nuclear weapons at roughly the same time. Initially, Japan had successfully executed the attack on Pearl Harbor and occupied Hawaii, but Japan had still been within range of nuclear weapons, since bombers could arrive there from the Aleutian Islands.
Despite Japan losing the war, American forces agreed not to land on Japan under the condition that Japan fully withdrew from Hawaii. Although an arms reduction and a reworking of the constitution took place, the lack of unconditional surrender meant that national sovereignty and a large number of human lives were protected. This of course meant that nuclear weapons were not used on Japan.
After avoiding what should have been a prolonged war with no clear victor, nations of the world were able to use their abundant national power and productivity to advance technology.
1950: Apollo 3 Successfully Landed on the Moon.
Mankind had reached the moon more than 20 years early. On a related note, 70% of civil aviation companies were using passenger aircraft with jet engines in the year 1948.
1951: The Cuban Missile Crisis.
Just as in true history, the pope passed away right as America and Russia were on the brink of nuclear war. The entire world, America and Russia included, grew increasingly war-weary, and an all-out war was just barely avoided.
1970: The World Security Assurance Pact Conference.
This event did not take place in true history. After witnessing the Cuban missile crisis, all states possessing nuclear weapons (Japan included, of course) placed restrictions on nuclear weapon possession. All nations were limited to 23 warheads.
1976: The European Tragedy.
This event also did not take place in true history. An infectious disease that arose in the French countryside aggressively spread across the nations of the world.
In 1976, the world population had risen to 9.1 billion, but it had fallen dramatically to just 4.5 billion by the time the WHO announced that the disease had been successfully contained.
1990: The Versailles Miracle.
Nations fatigued by the European tragedy made an important declaration: All nuclear weapons were to be permanently disposed of and overall military strength was to be reduced by 80%.
The United Nations Standing Army was then formed. Although many called this a victory for peace, it was recognized that this was the result of each nation deciding that virtually all personnel serving in national armed forces should return to civilian life and work toward the recovery of national strength.
By the way, the European tragedy and the Versailles miracle will definitely come up on a test. I’ve had to study them, too.
Well, then. Even before reaching the year 2000, some major differences had already formed compared to true history... Actually, I guess those were considered the official history in the world I’d been born into. There were other ways in which history differed from what I was familiar with; but there was one amazing achievement in particular that had been made at a time that would have been considered the future back in the period I’d lived in.
2091: Mother’s Equation.
An equation that overturned the very fundamentals of quantum mechanics was published by a Japanese citizen, Miki Arakawa, in 2091.
It stated that this world was no more than a single time point out of innumerable time points. It completely proved that other worlds existed in other time points. This notoriously difficult to understand equation was formulated and published by a single person: Miki Arakawa, who was now known as the mother of new quantum mechanics.
This person who accomplished this incredible feat, forever etched into human history, was none other than my mother. Somehow, the basis of this equation had been my childhood drawings!!