Well. There's been some people who were truly interested in this fiction and asked me to translate it, so... well, I'll try to do it as well and fast as I can. ^^'
So here is the English version of Probabilities, which was originally in French. As English is not my first language, I'm pretty sure that there will be many mistakes; and even if I try not to make any, there will certainly be at least some in the fiction. Feel free to correct them if so, that would be very helpful for me, and that would give you a better fiction to read, with less mistakes. ^^
So, well, what should I say... That's what I would call a "Short Story". It only lasts five chapters, seven if this Initialization and the Conclusion are included, and the original fiction is "only" 30.000 words long (well, for me that's pretty short xD). This should not take me very much time to translate the whole story since it is complete, so don't worry about the plot, which is of course complete, precise and all.
So now, I'll just wish you to have a pleasant time reading. Enjoy ! ^^
Initialization ~ Murphy's Law
"If there is any chance that things go wrong, it will go wrong;
if this probability is zero, it will go wrong anyway."
"Found it."
The high school student raised his head and gave him what he wanted to be a neutral look, but he did not manage to mask this little light of curiosity which reflected for an instant in his eyes.
"What are you talking about?"
"Your presence probability, if you see what I mean."
He started to laugh nervously.
"Still not getting over it, huh?"
"Excuse me, but it's just that it seems so much improbable that I want to check."
He shrugged, amused, keeping his hands in his pockets. He suddenly sighed as he leaned against the wall right next to the computer.
"Seriously, what do you do that for?"
"I just want to know how lucky I am."
But he had outlined a broad smile and had particularly emphasized the word 'lucky', showing that it was pure irony.
For its part, the elder could not help but let resonate in the room a transient and slightly embarrassed hilarity; but he stopped quickly.
"So? What do you get?"
The child looked for a moment at the calculator he was holding just in front of him, looking pensive. Then he explained quietly:
"By multiplying the different factors which have come into play, that's to say for example the probability that Agasa Hakase had this incredible 'insight' that gave him the idea of making this machine, the probability that he actually managed to make it, the probability that we just met you 'by chance', the probability that nobody — especially Ran — saw you coming and many other things, I get about a chance over ten to the power ninety-five."
"Have you taken into account the probability that the machine worked?"
"Oh. I actually forgot this one."
The high school student raised his eyes wearily.
"Tsk. Not good. That's a very important factor."
He paused for a short break, but did not let the silence time to settle properly.
"Must be about ten to the power minus seventy-three percent chance, if my memory is good."
"You calculated it?"
"Agasa had calculated it. He wanted to convince me that it was too dangerous."
The student turned to him quizzically; but he quickly changed his mind.
"You should have listened to him."
"I already told you. I had nothing to lose."
The child looked down, revealing a mixture of emotions completely indecipherable.
However, he corrected his calculation, his fingers dancing on the keyboard being the only little noise which would break the surrounding silence.
He finally pressed the button to display the result, and took an annoyed pout.
"Tsk. It reads 'Error: Overflow'."
"Oh. That's too bad."
The high school student gave a small push against the wall to get up, then a few steps resounded on the floor as he approached the little boy. He then bowed to him, casting a curious glance.
"Oh, I see. You tried to calculate the number of possibilities more than the only probability... Oh, seems I forgot that current calculators will now be limited to ten to the power one hundred. Well, another thing I'll have to get used to."
The younger shrugged, as if to say that anyway, it would not be this kind of habit that would be most difficult to get.
"But whatever. If we only care about the orders of magnitude, then we get something like one chance over ten to the power one hundred and seventy, if you really do care about it."
"One chance over ten to the power one hundred and seventy..." he repeated doubtfully.
He ran a trembling hand over his face, as if trying to calm down the nervous laughter that was beginning to resonate more and more strongly in the room.
"At this rate, I'm really gonna believe that I'm cursed."