Chapter 4

Daisuke laid there motionless. He wasn't even sure that he was awake. He didn't know what had happened to him before he was laying on the ground. All, that was in his head was just a mixture of memories and emotions, too abstract and chaotic to take a concrete shape.

After a while, he finally decided to open his eyes. He tried to open his eyelids, but it felt weird. Not because he was tired, or because he was disoriented. It was just different. It felt different.

When he finally succeeded, what he saw was something like a corridor, but made from buildings.

"Oh, this is a street. I've been in the military base for too long, I even forgot how streets look like."

Then, his mind stood still. He was starting to remember all that had happened. His eyes were filled with the sight of his friends trying to defend him and in his ears resonated gunfire.

With a sudden rush of adrenaline, he was able to sit up sharply. Upon doing that, his head started spinning. Even sitting felt different. It was like his body was somehow alien to his senses.

He ran his hand over his face, but the contours were somehow unfamiliar. He started breathing heavily.

"I remember now. Sato, Mandi, Mrs. Shirokawa …. Father."

Daisuke clenched his fists and hit the ground with his hand. In his hand, a sharp pain resonated. He was surprised because he shouldn't be feeling this much pain just from hitting the ground.

"What happened to me. No…. More importantly, what happened to them….Father."

He sat there for a few moments. The initial confusion started to settle, and his scientific and logical mind took over.

"The air. No smell of metal. This doesn't look like anything on the base. The transfer of consciousness must've been successful. Which means, that this is not my body. That explains why I wasn't feeling myself."

Daisuke even chuckled at the play of words, but then started thinking again.

"If it was successful, that means I am in 2016. Almost hundred years in the past."

"Correct assumption Mr. Hamasaki. The year is 2016, February, 25th. 22:41:03 JST"

"What was that ? Who is there ?"

"This is Sentient Artificial Research Apparatus. I was fused with your cortex, upon the entanglement. I am now a part of your thought process."

Daisuke didn't know if he should be surprised or scared. He heard a voice. But not with his ears, the sound was reverberating directly in his brain. He knew quantum systems and quantum software, but this thing was just too advanced. The only one capable of creating such thing would be..

"Do you know what happened to father?"

In a moment, his calmness shattered, and there remained only a painful thought of his father.

"I am afraid not. I was only activated after the entanglement took place but I expect that he is-"

"Stop! I don't want to hear that. Just tell me what..."

In that moment, Daisuke understood that his panic is robbing him off his clear judgement. He is alone, in a world, completely alien to him, with nothing clear to him. Any sign of weakness or recklessness could be fatal for him, and therefore for the mission. He exhaled sharply and slapped his face with both of his hands. He decided to summarize the facts.

The transfer was successful, the base in the future was raided, and destroyed. He is now in a body of someone else. His goal was given to him, and it's his duty to fulfil it.

"So, SARA, is that it? My father always loved this kind of naming. Do you have any information on the mission that I was tasked with?"

"Affirmative. I hold all the relevant files and information about the course and objectives of the mission. I also have a database of everything for the year 2016 and all the history before it. I was created solely for the purpose of supporting you on this mission."

"Okay, SARA. Tell me where are we."

"The location is Tokyo, the capital of Japan. The population of 13,6 million people, also..."

"That will be enough. It all started in Japan, so we got the place right. SARA, According to your files, what should be our first objective?"

Daisuke heard a beeping noise, and a screen appeared before his eyes. "This is cool." he thought to himself.

"Our main objective is a woman named Kunosuki Shinoda. The first point on this goal is to locate here. I found in database, that in 2016, Shinoda started attending her high school education in Shirizawa high school. A very prestigious school that only admits gifted individuals."

"Okay, our goal is now clear. We should head there right away. We will locate her, and..."

"Mr. Hamasaki. Please reconsider your decision. You don't have the required understanding for this 'world' and its affairs. You could end up doing something that would completely sabotage the mission. As a start, you should accustom to your new body first, then start to.."

"My body! I was so absorbed that I didn't even really realized that I am not inmy body. This..."

Daisuke first looked at his body. 'Back' there, he was 21 years old and in perfect shape. The military training he received left a huge mark on his body. He had a finely developed muscles and not even a little bit of unnecessary fat. His hair was cut short, as is normal in military and he had a goatee that he was keeping.

But now as he was looking at himself it couldn't be more different. He was very slim with barely any muscles on him. He ran his hands across his face. It was smooth, not even a trace of a stub. He then proceeded to his head. There was a big bundle of untidy, messy hair. He was horrified.

"How am I supposed to do something in a body of someone like this. People will not even listen to me. They will not feel even an ounce of respect. How can I be in this kind of body?"

SARA answered him

"This body was chosen by the algorithm. It was calculated, that this body is the best match for successful neural entanglement. As Dr. Hamasaki said..."

Then, something in his head reverberated. Before he was entangled, his father wanted to tell him something, but he couldn't hear it.

"SARA. My father wanted to tell me something. Do you know, what it was?"

"Unfortunately, I was only activated when the entanglement took place so I don't have any records of it. But I read some traces of quantum entanglement on a wall behind you..."

Daisuke turned around and saw something that brought him to his knees again. On the wall, there was a sentence, just a bunch of words actually. Written with blood. Daisuke tried to hold back his emotions, but no amount of logic or military training could hold them in.

"F-Father….I…...I"

Daisuke knew, how the words got there. When the entanglement took place, a part of his father was entangled with him. He knew, it would happen so he wrote the note to Daisuke.

The writing was "Your Future is In The Past."

The flow of emotions was intense, but the thing that was more intense was his conviction of the fact that hiss mission must be fulfilled, no matter what.

He rose from his knees and with a look filled with determination like never before, he walked toward the street's end.

"I will never be able to return... But... I will prevent all of our suffering."

END OF PROLOGUE