Present.

—

Feeling the curve of the semibreve rubbing against his own and seeing his melody already at rest, wanting to sleep, Yoriichi decided to play the symphony one last time before they closed the philharmonic orchestra for good.

Playing C major on her semibreve and minim notes at the same time, he then moved to F major, followed instantly by B diminished. With subtonic pitches ringing throughout the room without rest, he shifted to E major and A minor, using a higher octave than before.

Placing his acoustic instrument on Rita's for about two hours until the giddy laughter ceased due to tiredness, he finally moved to D minor, G major, and, for the closing, back to C major, filling Rita's minim notes with his white upper mordent.

After finishing the orchestra for the last time, he let himself fall into dreamland, holding his melody tightly against his chest. After an unknown amount of time spent in dreamland, he opened his eyes to see that Rita was already awake, still resting on his chest, patiently waiting for him.

After kissing her pink fuchsia lips to transfer his Sun Breathing into her chest and claim her as his own forever, Yoriichi then asked his melody for confirmation, "Rita, would you accompany me to do something first? If I do it alone, I'm afraid it will take too much time."

"Sure. What is it, my warmth?"

Chuckling, knowing he would extinguish the warmth for just a moment, Yoriichi asked, "Are Radovid and Mannimarco still in Nemsy's netherworld? I haven't yet tested the method developed by the creative people from my homeworld on them."

"Ahh…"

After a few minutes of silence, feeling the warmth inside her chest and realizing at that moment the depth of his emotional connection is truly realized now, Rita sighed. She knew that if the anger inside him wasn't addressed, it would only grow larger.

So, caressing his chest up and down to ensure he doesn't act out of spite but with cold numbed judgment, she said after rubbing his chest for a few minutes, "Yes, they are still there. But we need to take a shower and clean ourselves first. We're dirty."

"Dirty?"

"Again?"

Playing a different symphony this time with many pitches of frequency, ranging from the bed to the floor, from the door to the bathroom, and finally to the showers, Yoriichi made a mess out of his melody after finishing about four sheets' worth of musical performance.

After failing to clean themselves a couple of times due to the drive that kept getting stronger and stronger, Yoriichi decided to use his Selfless State to resist the temptation of the bounciness of his melody. As a result, he and Rita were finally able to take a proper shower, soaping themselves thoroughly.

Despite this, his melody continued to stroke up and down his flute, trying to tune it to the right frequency. However, with his mind now dead calm and without any ripples whatsoever, the lady could only let out a sad minor intonation to express her minim notes frustration, which slowly settled into rest values.

After getting out of the shower and putting on his anime uniform once again, Yoriichi paused, remembering Jaina, who had woven this kimono back to its perfect state. He looked around, trying to find her, but she was nowhere to be seen. Turning to Rita, he asked, "Rita… Do you remember one of your students named Jaina Rightmore? She might have changed her name to Jaina Proudmoore, just like Nemsy became Nemsy Necrofizzle."

"Hmm? She is like you?"

"Yes, she is like me. Many variants fused into one, creating a new entity."

Frowning, knowing that Yoriichi alone has the capability to change the world, Margarita replied with concern, "I do remember her. But I don't think I've ever seen her again in the new Aretuza when you brought Ember to this island. This is bad, isn't it? If she possesses the same knowledge about the Order as you do, she could reach the same level as you. So, what do we do?"

"It's okay; you don't need to worry about them. There are so many factors involved in reaching my level. These include the inspiration provided by Order and Chaos, which is given only to Heralds; a deep understanding of the nuances of our wave functions; synchronization between the three identities fused into our bodies; motivation to reach my level with an abundance of experience; the knowledge we gathered before being transported into this world; how they are able to use the abilities granted by Elder Blood to their maximum potential or beyond; the right timing for applying our knowledge to these abilities, which is not easy; and many more factors that I could continue to list."

"And also, having the right tools doesn't mean someone can instantly become an expert in using them. Take my mentor Linda or Nemsy, for example. Even though she possesses knowledge far beyond mine, her mind isn't dexterous enough to apply that knowledge effectively to her magic."

"Even now, she is still stuck at level 1 and unable to advance or break through to level 2 of the Mythic Path. Moreover, it has been a week since the database of my homeworld's knowledge was passed on, yet none of them has been able to ascend."

"In conclusion, reaching my level of 16-bit number is both very hard and relatively easy at the same time. It's just a matter of the right timing in their destiny."

After his long speech, he couldn't help but think about one of the reasons he was able to reach this level faster than anyone else. When he was still a teenager, for about three years of his life as Richard, he read many fantasy novels and played many games, which filled his mind with novel ideas and inspiration.

For example, the concept of Dao of Fate, Karma, Destiny, Luck, and many others propelled his edited and extended Schrödinger equation into something more than just a partial differential equation. For instance, changing the parameter of the imaginary unit in that equation, so that it represents binary digits of an RGB scene from his memory, lets him glimpse his future Fate based on past experiences.

Another example involves changing the parameter of the position vector in three-dimensional space within that equation into a probability superposition of everyone he knows, along with every particle around him that he can see, using a ternary (base-3) system, which allows him to glimpse every Karma currently connected to him.

Additionally, altering the Hamilton operator—previously used only to represent kinetic and potential energy—into an n-dimensional representation of energy categories he knows, along with possible energies he speculates about, enables him to calculate and glimpse the Destiny of being a higher-level individual.

Another example involves changing the partial derivative in the equation into many functions with novel variables, which is translating every piece of knowledge he has into words and then converting those words into binary digit representations of that alphabet, he is able to calculate his Lucky opportunities and the inspiration needed to solve his current issues.

And many more examples that he is unable to put into coherent sentences, similar to someone who is proficient at mental calculations and can instantly think of the answers without writing out each step of the operation. Not only that, but his wave function, modified to his personal taste, can be self-referential—where the output can become an input once more—creating recursive loops that branch into possibilities that a single normal calculation cannot predict.

"Okay then. If you say these people transformed by Elder Blood are not a threat, then they are not a threat."

Sighing and shaking his head, Yoriichi corrected her, "Don't jump to conclusions too quickly, Rita. I'm not that black and white. I didn't say they are not a threat. And why bother worrying about potential threats? Even if they become our enemies, look at Linda, I mean Nemsy, for example. It's pointless to worry about something that hasn't happened yet or that we don't know about. It only makes us paranoid to the extreme, Rita. Being cynical and distrustful is tiring. Let's just enjoy the current moment and experience the present time. The future has its own experiences, and we don't need to think about it right now."

Looking at her symphony with that strong, wide chest that seemed able to weather every problem thrown at him, Margarita walked closer and snuggled into him. After a couple of minutes, wanting to find out where this trajectory of free and unrestrained will would lead her, she replied with a relaxed smile on her face, "You are right. Let's just enjoy the current moment."

—