My name is Motonobu Matsudaira, and I am a teacher.
By the time anyone picks up this book, I am already dead.
This is the extensive history behind Project Genesis, do take your time to read this, you might not like the boring, long contexts of what I have to write, but I do implore you to finish this story at any cost.
Long ago, there existed a "world". A world different from what the people on these islands think of. This "world" was incredibly big. More people lived on this world than there are grains of sand on these islands. I know it may be hard to imagine, but such a world once existed.
At some point, the world wounded up destroyed. Naturally, it was Humans who destroyed it. In the back of their minds, everyone had an inkling that it would happen at some point. And then it really did happen.
…And so, the world is no more. (About "The End of the World")
Just before the end of the world, a "White Ship": the Interconnected-Type Quasi-Bahamut-Class Flying City Musashi, came to these islands. Aboard it are the people of the Divine States. Yes. Aboard Musashi were those few hundred thousand who had managed to escape the "world". The people on the ship still went by their names from the previous world. This "White Ship" plan had been set in place before the world was destroyed. And, although they're part of the world, the Japanese Archipelago is a special place. They are the one place that would remain even if the world was lost. The one and only place where people could survive.
And so the White Ship Musashi arrived on these islands. (About "The White Ship")
The reason these islands are special is because they harbor a giant dragon nearly as large as the islands themselves, named Yamata no Orochi.
Long, long ago people lived together with the Orochi. However, at some point in time, the people and Orochi could no longer coexist. So, using the Seven Needles, the Orochi was placed into a long, long sleep by the ancestors/creators of the beautiful Automated Dolls, who have lived here since ancient times.
Ever since then, the Automated Dolls have guarded the Needles, in an effort to prevent the dragon from being woken until its power is truly needed. Thus, until the time of its awakening, Yamata no Orochi continued to sleep, as the power of the earth itself.
And so, because of the tremendous energy of the Orochi hidden deep below, these islands were protected from the end of the world. (About "The Yamata no Orochi and the Automated Maidens")
Those who came here from the White Ship feared another "End of the World" more than anything else. They felt the world's destruction was a direct result from the way they had lived. The people of Musashi discussed things at great length. They shared their wisdom and spoke with grave seriousness. And then they arrived at their conclusion. They decided to completely erase everyone's memories of their previous "world" and start their lives over with new rules, new names and new roles.
Yes. In short, everyone would play out the ideal "story" they had come up with. That is what is recorded as "Historical Replication".
The people would restart their lives as famous historical figures, as the kind of heroes they wished they had grown up as. For this purpose, they had erased their memory of everything: their world, their belongings, their rules… and then they would begin their new lives. Everyone's old memories would be reset and replaced with their newly-created "story".
And thus the Divine States of Yamato came to be.
However, it was necessary to record the fact that the memory replacement had taken place. The Records of Fate is the device used to store the memories of the White Ship people. My valuable students, Tadakatsu Honda and his wife Ohisa or rather; the Automated Doll Kazuno, both playing the roles of thieves, were set to take action should a dangerous situation occur.
They were to retrieve the secret of the "People of the White Ship", from the Viper Manor in Mikawa.
And there's one other thing. Me and this book.
It was essential that one person retain the memory of the previous world to sort of "keep watch" over things.
I was the only one in the Divine States who is allowed to keep his original name in the new "story". As a teacher I apply magic in my vocal projection to provide "suggestions", to keep everyone's fabricated memories from reverting.
No, no, just because I am a school teacher that doesn't mean I was anyone special. It was just that I was particularly… smarter than all the others. So, upon discussion I was selected because it would be easier for me to stand out. Being so smart and charismatic, people would want to come see me, you know?
And so I was given the role of revealing these secrets when the time truly called for it. (About "Those Who Lost Everything")
Although the Divine States of Yamato exists in reality, it was originally created as part of a story.
Let me also talk about Mikawa. Apparently, long ago, a country called Japan existed on this islands. However, when we arrived on Musashi, the people of Japan were gone. It seems they had left the islands, fearing the Orochi's eventual awakening someday.
Before boarding Musashi, my adopted daughter, Horizon Ariadust, was an infant who had been orphaned. Upon coming to these islands, she was given to the Automated Dolls to raise, and is also given the role of Princess of Mikawa. Tadakatsu and his family being her retainers was another part of the fabricated "story".
Viper Manor is one of the few and precious relics of this island's "past". We crafted our story in haste, so the people inside it have very little "past" or "history".
No one else asides the Automated Dolls can talk about things from 100 or 1000 years ago; in truth, we HAD wanted to an entire plethora of myths and legends… but our story was made in such a hurry that we weren't able to. It's a real shame. I'm sure much of what I'm writing, you'd rather not read, but it's the truth.
Truthfully, we had no idea how the Historical Replications of the Divine States would turn out. But things actually went rather well. The people who had arrived on the White Ship had fully taken to their new identities.
They believed that they had always lived together peacefully.
It was only when an alien named Lavos stumbled across these islands that everything started to go amok. It seems Lavos possessed the ability to travel through time and space at will. However, it was apparently shut out from all other times and spaces and tumbled into this era and these islands. Even worse, Lavos, like the eye of a whirlpool, had also dragged many people from other eras here. These Foreigners, especially the Americans; were all brought here and brainwashed by Lavos.
This beast Lavos seems to view these islands as its own personal "lunch box", with which it can add anything it wants to eat. It could take its prey apart and recombine them with its dark powers to make horrifying monsters called "Heartless".
Possessing overwhelming intelligence, Lavos began doing whatever it pleased, including building the Thunder Tower and forming its own army. Lavos eventually learned the secret of Musashi because of a traitor. (About the beast known as Lavos.)
This traitor was Nobunaga Oda, who rigged his own role in the Historical Replication of the Divine States to survive.
After faking his own assassination, Nobunaga Oda secretly joined forces with the Americans and Lavos, which then learned about the White Ship people and the secret of the sleeping Orochi.
The Americans decided to pull the Needles to wake the Orochi, so that they could feed the power for Lavos.
Yamata no Orochi is the power of the very earth itself, you see. It's said that whoever pulls the sealing Needles out will become Orochi's master. However, only a very select few are capable of pulling the Orochi's Needles. Apparently, neither the Automated Dolls, Americans, nor Lavos have that capability. Yet, the Needles are being pulled now. That means the only person who is able to remove the Needles and control the dragon's power, is none other than Nobunaga Oda!
…We have to put a stop to Nobunaga's revenge and Lavos' feast. If we don't, the world will be completely destroyed again, and it will spell the true end for everything. For Nobunaga, that might be the ultimate pleasure, but we can't allow that to happen. We, the last handful of Humans there is, absolutely can't allow it to happen.
If you are even able to find this book in the first place, this means that you're the chosen one, with the ability to pull the Needles sealing Orochi away. You, my dear reader, MUST pull the final Needle with your own hands, and pass your heart of goodness on to the Orochi.
Let this be my one and only homework to you as your "teacher".
This is the goal of Project Genesis. (About "The Dragon's awakening")
I predict that six of the Needles have already been pulled by the time you discovered this book. Deep in the earth, Yamata no Orochi is likely beginning to stir from its sleep now. Supposedly, the last Needle is somewhere here in New York.
Lavos has been gathering everything that lives on these islands into New York to prepare for the final Needle's pulling. It's possible it's planning to hold one final twisted party. But now is your chance to change this looming crisis into a golden opportunity. All things may come to an end… or new and bountiful things may begin. Wouldn't you like to help that happen?
If you are my daughter Horizon who is reading this book, I fondly remember that you were once a weak, fragile girl, but now you've been given a tremendous role to fulfill.
Now that you know everything your incompetent father has to tell you, I'm sure you'd rather not know, the time has come for you to save the future of all life as we know it…
"God won't make you bear more than you can carry". I'm sure you've heard that phrase before. Know that you aren't fighting alone. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, will lend you their support.
This was a long story but that is the end of everything I have to tell you… before my passing.
Only the Automated Dolls know the Needles' locations, so I don't know where to find them. But, from the way Nobunaga and the others have been acting, I would say that they're now very close to reaching the seventh Needle.
Please, Horizon. Be the one to pull the final Needle.
Nobunaga is issuing orders from the 100th floor of the Empire Building. Start by jumping into the fray and storming the building. After that, you can start looking for clues.
It's been such a long time since I've last wrote a book. And now I'm exhausted.
I wish I could remember your smile just this last time. As I truly regretted with much anguish about ripping out your emotions into the Sinful Arms.
Are you reading this with all of your reclaimed emotions?
Please let it be a 'yes'.
Authored by your unworthy father,
Motonobu Ariadust.