Chapter 006
Epilogue - The Fate Drifting with the Tide
Update Time: 2011-OCT-15 18:08:28
People often don't understand themselves, and most of the time it's true. Few people can describe themselves clearly, at least not as clearly as others can.
This is especially true for Sorano.
She was organizing her things in her room at the orphanage, experiencing her own unknowns once again.
The so-called organizing was actually ridiculously simple. Although she had earned a lot of money helping her teacher with academic research, she had never spent a penny on anything from start to finish.
The only things in the room that truly belonged to her were those three items. She put them in her waist bag, and that was all the organizing she needed to do.
There were no extra traces left behind, as if she were just a passer-by.
Looking back at her room for the last time, she couldn't find any emotional ripples in her heart. Even though she had already decided to accept it, she still wasn't used to "present". Why?
Living in the present. Consciousness, however, belongs to the past. Does she really have no sense of reality in the present?
Many things really can't be easily let go of.
Leaving the room, Sorano planned to say goodbye to her only friends. However, there was no one in her friends' room.
If it were someone else, they might have been a little upset. But Sorano couldn't find even a hint of unhappiness in her heart.
It was as if she were just watching someone else's misfortune.
Will it continue like this? She herself couldn't say for sure.
As she walked down the stairs, the boy was waiting for her at the stairway.
"Are you ready?"
"Well... onii-san."
This was the first time Sorano had called Unabara Mitsuki "onii-san" since he had become her official brother. For a moment, it even made the boy a little dazed.
"What's wrong?"
"No, nothing," Unabara turned his head, hiding his embarrassment, "We should get going."
The two walked towards the main gate of the orphanage, and the entire process didn't even catch the attention of a single person. This made Sorano a little confused. What was going on?
Today's sunlight seemed particularly bright. When Sorano walked out of the main gate behind Unabara, the sudden brightness made her squint.
When her eyes finally adapted to the light, she saw a scene that surprised her.
All the children, staff, and volunteers in the orphanage were gathered on the lawn in front of the facility. Everyone she knew, didn't know, understood, and didn't understand were all here, just to say goodbye to her, someone who had not left much of a trace here.
Finally, for the first time, Sorano's heart, which had never had much sense of reality in the present, was stirred by something that belonged to the present.
Why was it like this?
She only had two companions here, Banri and Erii, who could barely be called friends!
Looking at Unabara beside her, he just shook his head.
"It has nothing to do with me."
"I told the staff here," the director of the orphanage said, "but the children knew about it earlier than I did."
Sorano naturally shifted her gaze to Banri.
"Well, it's me. I just told them about this, and everyone came together on their own."
Banri seemed to be holding back tears as she spoke in a light tone. Although she tried her best to conceal her emotions, her trembling voice betrayed her. Erii stood beside her, unable to say anything.
"Why do this..."
"Why what? Aren't we friends?"
It wasn't Erii or Banri, but a girl whom Sorano had not had much contact with, and whose name she couldn't even remember.
It wasn't until now that Sorano realized that her present self was not as lacking in reality as she had originally thought.
At least, she could not deny the emotions that everyone here had for her.
At least, her present self had left behind traces that were entirely her own.
At least, the emotions that stirred in her heart now could not be denied.
Perhaps, she had already realized it.
Present itself, would also become a part of her memories from the past.
If that's the case, what's the difference between her present and past consciousness?
If that's the case, does it really matter whether she is truly "Sorano" or not?
What a fool she was... both in the past and present.
Look, the consciousness of the past and present could even be equated in this aspect.
Look at the people here now, and how much she has missed out on because of her fixation on the past and present.
Sorano couldn't think of anything to say. Her mind, which used to quickly find answers in complex formulas, seemed to be useless at this moment. She could only hug and say goodbye to everyone.
Everyone was deeply attracted by her rare display of emotions. This girl had rarely shown her own emotions until now. It was only at this moment that someone finally realized that she was just an ordinary girl.
No one tried to disturb her, even though this scene lasted for a long time. Everyone deliberately ignored the time, just because it was the first and last time in these years that the girl had shown her true emotions. It wasn't until a long time had passed that Sorano got into the car with the director's reminder.
"Sorano!"
Before closing the car door, a familiar voice shouted loudly. The girl turned around, and her familiar friend was panting heavily because of the force of her shouting. She stopped and waited quietly for her friend's final words.
"No matter what happens, please don't forget us..."
Looking at Banri, who was clearly full of tears but still smiling, the girl finally realized her own weakness. This had nothing to do with age. The so-called strength was actually a very simple thing.
When the door of the car finally closed, the door to the future was opened.
Sitting silently in the moving car, the girl said nothing. Suddenly, a pair of childish arms gently hugged her.
"If you want to cry, you can do it now," Unabara gently stroked her head, "When I feel wronged, my mother always comforts me like this."
"Men shouldn't cry easily..."
Sorano whispered softly in his arms, not knowing what she was insisting on.
"Well, that's why I've decided not to cry anymore. But as a girl, it's okay to cry a little, right?"
"Sniff... sniff..."
The sound of quiet sobbing gradually echoed in the small space.
No one knew what the future would be like. But at least at this moment, nether the boy nor the girl chose to mention anything related to the future.
The subtle and unpredictable future began to slowly ferment at this moment.
All the so-called causes and all the so-called consequences would start from here.
Postscript by the Translator
This is a rational fan-fiction of the Japanese ACGN series "A Certain Magical Index" (Japanese: とある魔術の禁書目録, Toaru Majutsu no Index) and "A Certain Scientific Railgun" (Japanese: とある科学の超電磁砲, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun), written by the Chinese author "Mashiro Diamond" (Chinese: 真白金刚石, Zhēnbái Jīngāngshí), and uploaded by his friend "DDT Pesticide" (Chinese: DDT药剂, DDT Yàojì) to the online platform "Qidian". The latter, although humbly claiming himself just as the uploader, actively participates in the main setting, primarily in the aspect of physics, so I consider him the second author.
The two authors have well established the world view of the Science Side in a comprehensive manner, giving the readers a sense of "futurism" that is mentioned but not fully expressed in the original "Toaru" series, which is very appealing to me as a physics researcher. Immersed in the atmosphere constructed by this fiction, it feels like that I, along with our entire Department of Physics, has been transported into a futuristic Academy City that is indeed decades ahead of the outside world, witnessing the playful interactions of Kamijou, Index, Misaka and Shokuhou, and continuing to conduct my scientific research at the same time.
Unfortunately, the masterpiece was taken down in 2019 and remains unfinished till now. Although this work has an excessively high Mary Sue factor and conflicts with many recent settings due to being written over a decade ago, and the two authors have been missing ever since, it is still my favorite fan-fiction of "Toaru" Universe. In order to introduce it to foreign "Toaru" fans, I translated the first three volumes, comprising a total of 53 chapters, to English with the assistance of ChatGPT, which accounts for one-sixth of the entire fiction and includes background setting, character development, and the first major plot event of the main storyline.
The English title of this fiction, "A Grand Design of the Myriad Phenomena", is a literal translation from its Chinese title "事象的宏图" (Shìxìang de Hóngtú), and is also inspired by Stephen Hawking's last popular science book, "The Grand Design", published in 2010. The cover image was released in April 2011 by NASA to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. The celestial object in the image is Arp 273, a "rose" formed by a pair of interacting galaxies, located approximately 300 million light-years away from Earth. It is composed of two galaxies, UGC 1810 and UGC 1813, which are separated by tens of thousands of light-years. They are gracefully dancing under the influence of gravitation and will eventually merge into one another after billions of years.