Message Log: Moon
警告：カウンターストップ
Warning: buffer overflow.
Unable to sustain scenario. Collapsing to base case.
Unable to sustain scenario. Collapsing to base case.
予期せぬエラーが発生しました。
OutOfMemoryException: number of variables exceeded.
MAXIMUM_COMPLEXITY_EXCEEDED
Retry? (Y/N)
Postscript: Terra
The town of Kazamatsuri was protected by a warm layer of life, a haven from the wilds outside.
In this walled garden I now walked, fulfilling my duties as a familiar for the five girls that had formed parallel contracts with me. As was stated, I wore a black tuxedo, and waited on my summoners hand and foot.
Everything sure has changed.
At this time in the branch worlds I would be walking around as a clueless student who had lost ten years of his life, trying to discover the meaning of youth. Now…
I walk into a store and pick up some tea leaves and various other foods–tonight's dinner for the Occult Club. Apparently, that bastard Sakuya had been cheating, because enhanced senses as a familiar also made for improved cooking skills.
(I was also glad that the world had rediscovered modernity in the time I spent as a tree. Apparently, there was also a way to make familiars generate electricity–not through any supernatural means, but through the simple act of turning turbines.)
Smiling a small smile to myself, I left, woven bags in hand. My reflection in the storefront glass catches my eye, and once again, I glance at my own dark hair. Indeed, I had truly taken Sakuya's place–and now, I was the only one left in this world who remembered him.
Kind of grim, but whatever. What's past is past.
I no longer needed to think about the future, to worry about the meaning of life. I had been given a place, and a role, and if this wasn't called happiness, it could at least be called contentment.
As I was deep in thought, someone collided into me.
"Oops! Sorry!"
The fault was, of course, all mine. A butler should always aim to be the picture of elegant efficiency.
"It's fine," I say. "Don't worry about it, young miss."
"A-Ah." She looks me up and down, and I do the same to her–but there was no need.
I had recognised her immediately.
Brown hair in a bob cut. Amber-gold eyes. A notebook in her hand.
And a familiar, eager expression, always on the hunt for something new.
A friend I had not seen for the longest time. THE friend, I should say, that I had not seen for the longest time.
One of the few people I knew who had no inclinations towards violence, who was neither superhuman nor summoner.
During Kashima Sakura's attack on the moon, I had thought about calling her back. She had also been there, after all, her presence lingering in Kagari's simulation.
But to do so solely so I could see her again was too selfish. She couldn't fight, after all. Not in the way that was needed, not at that place, not at that time.
No. That girl fought in different ways, through different means.
The person I had met, even before I had joined the Occult Club. Hunting secrets and finding the truth–that had always been her aim, right?
Perhaps, even after all this time, she had served as an inspiration.
A bright, fiery spirit that had lit the way.
All these thoughts and more passed through my mind in an instant, a blink of an eye.
"I'm a familiar," I say. "Don't worry about it."
"A human-shaped familiar?" Inoue–no, Akira goes into reporter mode immediately. "Wait! That's a legendary kind, with the only other being the Key! Who made you? Who are your summoners? Can you speak like a human? Do you have any special skills?"
"Slow down, miss." I stop her calmly. "I don't really mind giving you an interview at a later date, but there are chores I need to get back to." I hold up my shopping bags.
"But surely you can answer a few quick questions now?"
Yep, she was as relentless as I remembered. "Direct all questions to Kaza High's Occult Club."
With that as my parting words, I leap onto the roof of the nearest house and disappear from her sight.
"What-hey!" She looks around in confusion, but I was already gone.
Memory updated!
Friend: Inoue Akira
A reporter-type girl belonging to Kazamatsuri's Newspaper Club. Her nickname is "Innoway". Her favourite food is cup noodles, which she grew to like when seeing the police officers eating them during the Asama-Sansou incident. She also seems to like oolong tea.
A person with no supernatural abilities whatsoever, but possesses unrivalled instincts for the truth. Very consistent in seeing through deception, especially the supernatural kind, which makes her reassuringly reliable. Has an iron will and an undying passion for finding out secrets, and a surprisingly honest soul.
A bit of a tomboy with a surprising variety of skills with both electronics and the outdoors. An inexperience glass cannon when it comes to romance.
It turns out she's the one who's been leaving the club room rice cooker open.
A cherished and beloved friend.
Friend: Tanuma Imako
A glasses-wearing girl in the same year as me in school. Smart and hardworking, but she has a weak body that easily tires out. Her gloomy and reclusive personality makes people steer clear of her. A deeply closeted otaku.
A misunderstanding led to her being called the Messiah, but she actually does have dreams of the future. A summoner of Gaia, and has the typical world-weary, negative outlook you'd expect. More suited for the Holy Woman's faction than as a researcher. By the way, she's scared of animals, so she only uses paper familiars, except for one.
Makes up for her lack of talent in summoning with her own creativity and ideas drawn from the physical sciences, allowing her to achieve some impossible things. She nearly destroyed the world, though.
A fellow seeker of the truth, and a good friend.
Friend: Shinsaibashi Hitomi
A first-year who transferred in recently. Has a cheery and easygoing personality, and is the popular type that can easily make friends. Likes calling her seniors "senpai". Her nickname is 'Scissor Girl', from an incident when she nearly cut down an entire tree in the yard with a pair of scissors. Of course, that's just her superpower going out of control.
She's a cutter-type superhuman that uses a pair of twin curved swords. Her role in Guardian was a frontline fighter specialised in hunting familiars, which she does with pure skill with her blades. It's an exciting job which she can't get enough of. Has trouble following rules if she can't agree with them, but knows how to keep her head down.
A chunnibyou that names her attacks and isn't shy about her nerdy hobbies. Maybe we need a few more honest people like her around (but not too many).
A fellow seeker of the truth, and a good friend.
~~[r]~~
Friend: Maniwa Yuki
The President of Kaza High's Newspaper Club, and Inoue's boss. An invincible club leader with surprisingly many connections. I could see her becoming a career lady, but right now, she's lamenting her lack of boyfriend. Single guys with courage should apply.
Friend: Tamako
Inoue's best friend and classmate, also in the Newspaper Club. Inoue calls her a 'fox', but when things get rough, the side of her that worries for her friends comes through. Apparently has some affinity for summoning.
Friend: Yuuka
An underclassman in the Newspaper Club who works for a florist. She's also in the Spread the Green committee. Seems somewhat refined.
~~[r]~~
Friend: Inoue Satoru
Inoue's father. He gives off the feel of a retired adventurer, and apparently is responsible for most of his daughter's wide array of skills. A fair man who loves his family very much. Jokes around, but he's serious when it needs to be. I think he's what a good dad should be like.
Friend: Inoue Kaede
Inoue's mother. I thought she was someone who lived in the background, but she has a surprisingly amount of personality. Inoue says she makes consistently average food.
Friend: Minakami Gym's Receptionist
An elder-sister type who is also a compulsive smoker. Cheerful and friendly, and apparently runs most of the gym herself. Many rumours float that she possesses some kind of supernatural martial arts, though they've never been proven. Sometimes I feel as if she knows about familiars and superhumans.
~~[r]~~
Memory updated!
Monster: Asper
A familiar created by Imako's parents from butterfly scales and the wood of a certain tree. A little white butterfly that feels more like a fairy or a wooden cutout than an insect, which is probably why Imako can stand it.
Rather than possessing direct combat ability, it manipulates wind and air. They say that the flapping of a butterfly's wings can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world. Very efficient for the enormous output it is capable of. Imako has had a contract with it for long enough to know how to replicate some of its abilities manually.
The tree that the wood came from was a remnant of a previous Key, and carries with it unquantifiable supernatural properties. This connection was the cause of Imako's dreams.
Monster: Anemoi Kaleo
Imako's own creation. A staff made from the same wood that made Asper–wood from a tree that once had been the Key. It serves as a high-capacity portable reservoir of life energy that amplifies and fuels the abilities of its summoner, allowing for contracts with more energy-intensive familiars, and it can be recharged at a power spot or by planting it into the earth.
Its name means 'wind-caller'. It was only used to replicate abilities its creator had previously seen, such as air manipulation and blades of Aurora, but with such incredible power, perhaps much more could have been done…
Monster: Supercell
Gaia theory posits that the Earth is a self-regulating complex system, while the emergent theory of consciousness states that consciousness is a result of a complex system. The combination of the two theories allows us to extend what we understand as 'alive'. By treating a storm as a living organism and making modifications to the summoning process, it is possible to establish a contract with it…?
Systems and natural phenomenon. Who is to define what life is, and what deserves to be protected or not?