The First Rei Ohashi’s POV
I left Claire’s sickroom and went to the laboratory on the lowest floor, where TAIM’s mainframe was located. I hurriedly engaged all the identification procedures and called out to the hologram that was TAIM’s digital interface.
“Start the Eternal Loop System!”
The only way to save Claire now was to force through the activation of the Loop System. Considering how long it would take to convert all the souls to quanta, there wasn’t much time left.
“Voiceprint and iris authenticated. Welcome, Administrator Rei Ohashi. Warning: It is highly recommended that the approval of the US government and the UN secretary general be obtained first.”
“No time! Just hurry up and start!”
We couldn’t wait. By the time we received approval, Claire would be dead.
I had learned of the possibility of Claire’s unknown disease purely by chance. We had been in the early stages of developing a plan to save humanity at the time, and I had temporarily received authority over TAIM’s access privileges.
Claire had been none the wiser, but by then, I was already smitten with her. It was practically love at first sight, as she was my type to a tee. My heart had nearly leapt out of my chest every time I saw her unguarded self in the laboratory.
I had peeked at her health data out of pure curiosity, but a single certain value I found there had left me with a deep sense of foreboding. I’d ordered TAIM to periodically report it to me and had later discovered that my bad feeling was warranted.
The value rose by the day. It represented the likelihood of an infection, but it wasn’t clear from what. I tried asking TAIM, but it seemed she didn’t know anything either. At any rate, I understood that the chance that Claire suffered from an unknown disease was going up day by day.
Everything would’ve been fine if the disease weren’t life threatening. Medicine was advanced in the late-21st century; the majority of what were once untreatable diseases could by then be managed. But if it were a known disease, TAIM would have been able to identify it.
So I thought about it: What could I do to ensure I didn’t lose the one I loved, to make my love for her eternal? From there came the idea of the Eternal Loop System.
“Please confirm: Once the system is activated, the process cannot be stopped. Do you still wish to continue?”
“Yes!” I yelled.
“Now entering the activation sequence. Please insert the administrator’s activation key.”
I took off the activation key hanging around my neck and inserted it into TAIM’s console.
“Final confirmation: Are you sure about this, Rei Ohashi? Are you sure you won’t come to regret this?”
“There’s nothing I could regret more than losing Claire!”
“Very well, then. Sixty seconds until system activation.”
I turned the key, and TAIM’s frame rumbled to life. Then my smartphone rang.
“What’s the meaning of this, Rei?! The government still hasn’t given us permission to—”
It was the chief, having been notified of the activation of the Loop System. I hung up without answering and turned my smartphone off.
“With this, I can save Claire.” Overcome with relief, I collapsed to the floor. My consciousness was fuzzy. The soul quantization process was beginning. “Claire, we’ll be together, forever…”
In the next moment, my senses returned, and I was in an unfamiliar place. Surrounding me was a starry night sky, or perhaps the scenery of space. I stood alone at the center of it all.
“Where am I?”
“The administrator’s room, Rei.”
As soon as I heard the voice, a faint light shone before me, and a girl who looked a lot like a fairy appeared. She had silver hair and red eyes, an appearance I recognized.
“TAIM…”
“Congratulations, Rei. The Eternal Loop System activation was successful. All of humanity is now transitioning into a dormancy period.”
“What about Claire? Did she make it in time?!”
“Don’t worry. Claire’s soul has been successfully inserted into the system.”
“Thank goodness…”
I had made it. Now Claire could live forever as well.
“I hate to rush you, Rei, but your duty as administrator remains. There is much to do for the first loop.”
“Right. I won’t mess up.”
I would now form the framework for the world I would share with Claire for however-many millions of years. It couldn’t be anything less than perfect.
“Please configure and distribute the nanomachines to prepare the new magic-based civilization.”
“Right.”
I had to do my best. For Claire.
I dove headfirst into my work. Like TAIM had said, there was much to be done for the first loop. Remaking the global environment was only the tip of the iceberg; there were thousands of tasks waiting to be seen to, but with TAIM’s help, I carefully finished each one.
“Rei, is it not difficult for a single person to handle all these duties? Would it not be more feasible to have multiple administrators like Claire suggested?”
“We’ve already talked about this, TAIM. Administrators will be isolated from the Loop System. The fewer there are, the better.”
“But—”
“I’ll be fine. At the very least, I have you with me.”
If I were completely alone, then the solitude would certainly have crushed me. But TAIM could talk to me, show me recordings of Claire and the others, and even console me. I would be fine for the time being.
“The challenges have only just begun. I am not sure if I alone can support you, Rei.”
“All the more reason for me to finish these tasks and enter dormancy myself—before it begins to take a toll on my mind.”
“Yes, I suppose that is for the best.”
During the millions of years of loops to follow, the plan was for me to receive special mental care from TAIM. Gradually, she would adjust, consolidate, and delete all my memories that didn’t have to do with administration or Claire. That was the only way to keep my mind from falling apart.
As luck had it, I finished my tasks before my mind buckled. It felt like it had taken years, but the flow of time was unclear in the administrator’s room, so I couldn’t be sure.
On Earth, several decades had passed.
I lay down in my cold sleep device and had my last conversation with TAIM before entering suspended animation.
“I’ll be going then, TAIM. Can you wake me up when the magic-based civilization is ready?”
“Of course. Thank you for all your hard work. I’ll see you again at the dawn of a new civilization. Good night, Rei.”
“Good night, TAIM.”
And so, I entered a deep, deep slumber.
“…up…”
“Mm…”
I heard a voice calling my slumbering consciousness awake.
“Rei, it’s time to wake up.”
“Mm…?” I opened my eyes to see myself still amid a starry night sky. How much time had passed? “TAIM?”
“Good morning, Rei. The magic-based civilization is about ready. Please perform the final check.”
“Uh, right.”
Cold sleep should have been different from ordinary sleep, but I was somehow still drowsy. There wasn’t anything like a sink around to splash water on my face, so I decided to just wait until my brain fog cleared.
“Would you like to look at the new magic-based world while your drowsiness fades?” TAIM asked.
“Yes, please.”
A holographic display manifested out of the darkness. The new world I had based off of Revolution appeared on it, and I found myself entranced.
“Wow…”
Nature had healed wonderfully. Temperature, precipitation, and other weather parameters were all at stable levels.
“We haven’t added humanity yet,” TAIM said. “The world is currently ruled by animals, plants, and monsters. Soon, we will add early civilization and guide them toward a magic-based civilization.”
“It finally begins.”
The first half of the first loop.
“Now beginning the final check. If you could do the honors, Rei.”
“Right. Let’s do it.”
I did my check and found the world revived. The environmental destruction our science-based civilization had tried to fix to no avail was restored so well by the nanomachines under TAIM’s control—and various autonomous robots—that you’d never have known it was ruined. As things stood, there would be no problem having humanity create a new civilization from this point going forward.
“We shall now proceed with extracting the souls of humanity,” said TAIM.
“Are the bodies prepared?”
“Yes. They’ve been granted magic aptitudes as well.”
“All right. Proceed with extraction.”
And just like that, humanity’s second chance, one based on magic, began. The primitive stages shared the humble beginnings of our science-based civilization—the only difference being that TAIM’s slight adjustments helped humanity gradually advance until they were at around the same level of development as Europe in the Middle Ages. It was around that time that humanity found magic stones, TAIM’s mini-selves, and began an age of magic.
“Things are going well, Rei.”
“Very. When is Claire’s soul due to be extracted?”
“A little past the dawn of magic, so soon. You are scheduled to enter the world around that time too.”
“Got it.”
Finally, I could meet Claire again. I’d been waiting for this moment for so long. So, so long…
“It’s about time. I bid you good fortune in the battles to come, Rei.”
“Huh? I’m not heading off to battle, you know?”
“But isn’t love a battlefield?”
“Where do you keep learning this useless stuff? Whatever, I’ll be off.”
With that, I left the administrator’s room and descended to Earth.
“To think a commoner would even fathom sitting next to me. Know your place!”
When I came to, there was a girl with a strange hairstyle before me. She looked younger than I remembered, but without a doubt, it was her.
Unthinking, I embraced her.
“Wh-what are you doing?!” she screeched. “Unhand me!”
We could finally meet again.
“Claire,” I said.
“Well, I never! Who do you think you are, calling me by my first name?!”
“Oh, right! Then I’ll call you ‘Miss Claire’!”
“Fine, just unhand me this instant!”
And so, I began my second life together with Claire in a world of magic.