Chapter 54: Past

The first year of middle school.

It was not a distant memory, roughly four years ago.

The announcement of his parents' death made him stand blankly in front of the door. He couldn't do anything. At that point in time, he simply didn't have the strength to drastically alter the world.

For once, the law of Honkai prevented him from spitting out future knowledge easily. The fear of losing that advantage (without doing anything significant) was always on his mind. Without that, he couldn't do anything alone. Staying close to some significant people was his best bet.

Aleph couldn't help but feel envious of the munchkins (overpowered characters) in fictitious works he read.

The deaths of Aleph's parents wasn't something he predicted. No, rather, honkai has always been a matter he remained powerless with.

During this period, Aleph opted to revise his plans crazily—in an attempt to find a way he overlooked for thirteen years.

One day, the mirror not far from his desk shone brightly.

"Ah? Ah?"

A girl's voice came from it.

Under Aleph's shocked gaze, a girl's face was projected by the mirror. It wasn't reflecting his room but a completely different one!

"Huh."

"Eeh?"

The two couldn't react for a while.

"This… is interesting."

"...Can we do the introductions first?" Aleph asked. "I might have something to verify…"

"Sure. I don't mind. But, you're first."

The girl's pleasant voice came out from the mirror.

"I am Aleph... From the Far East."

"...Tokisaki Kurumi. Japan."

"..."

Aleph nearly fell from his chair.

"Did you just say… Japan?"

"Yes? Is there something wrong with it?"

He wanted to say 'Yes, it's wrong on so many levels!' but suppressed himself. Thinking that the girl's not that old, he had to explain it in a clear manner.

"On my side… there's no Japan."

"..."

"Do you have a Mu Continent?"

His question made her silent.

"...No."

"What about honkai?"

"...Neither."

Both Aleph and the girl realized the implications from this. The former took the chance to declare it.

"We might be from different worlds."

From then onwards, the two slowly interacted with each other. They discovered that their mirrors could connect between 8PM and 9PM in the evening. Although time was short, the two were still able to use it to transmit some common knowledge in their worlds.

Kurumi's world was a traditional one—without any signs of supernatural powers and likes. It resulted in Aleph talking more about his world filled with honkai.

"If this mirror allows travel… don't think of coming here. It's a dangerous world."

"What about you?" She asked.

"Me? It all depends on luck. Right, luck…"

Aleph slowly got out of the quagmire with the mirror's power. He had someone whom he could confide in, something he couldn't do since his birth. At the very least, he didn't tell someone… rather, he couldn't.

Despite his efforts, Fire MOTH was deeply hidden in his world. His specialization lied in mechatronics and software engineering. 

What's frustrating was that the knowledge he deemed "safe" to be let out was already found. The rest of his theories are connected to the exoskeleton and robotic designs of his past life. Aleph was worried that showing even the 'tip' of the iceberg will force him to reveal his full designs, in turn accelerating honkai's collapse.

The above event would derail everything he knew in the future. It wouldn't matter if he could directly affect MOTH's progress himself, though he couldn't. At the very least, he had to wait until he could leverage his knowledge before it got wasted.

In the end, it resulted in him not telling anything to others.

'No… I'm too careful before. I need to take risks, somehow.'

Aleph saw a flaw in his mentality and changed it. Perhaps it was caused by the mirror, but he didn't feel as anxious as taking risks before. It was the time he published several slightly normal theses with his identity as a middle schooler.

Time continued passing. Aleph slowly unveiled his cards, winning some while losing some. He built up several contacts one after another.

As for Kurumi, her interest with the mirror and his world waned. All that mattered now was to talk with this unordinary friend.

"Hm? You're reviewing in advance?"

"Why, is there something wrong?"

Aleph was surprised to see Kurumi's homework on the high school level.

"No, it's good. In this part…"

Things continued like that for three years. The entirety of their middle school revolved around them using the mirror to talk to each other. Aleph's mentality changed greatly, daring to take some risks to change the future just to contact Fire MOTH. 

When he published the theory about a theoretical framework of a nuclear reaction, he caught the eyes of MOTH.

It was also at that time did he unlock another function of the mirror.

*****

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*

All of these memories flashed in Aleph's mind one after another.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I just thought that our first meeting felt different."

"Hee? Is that it?"

He continued walking along the middle schooler Kurumi. It was currently their summer vacation before she entered high school.

More importantly…

"Can I see how it works?"

Aleph said the same thing as his past self.

"Um, sure. Later, when there's no other people…"

Roughly a year after they met, Kurumi gained a special power. It completely overturned their knowledge about Kurumi's world. A special being like a goddess descended out of nowhere and asked Kurumi whether she would like to become the protector of others.

Kurumi unhesitantly agreed, gaining the so-called Sephira Crystal. Akin to typical magical girl anime, they had a name—Spirits.

'I should've trusted my damned instincts back then…'

Although Aleph didn't have any foreknowledge of Kurumi's world, he knew several remarkable magical girl anime, some of which had brutal twists. It emphasized the concept of equivalent exchange—gaining some while losing some.

'That bastard goddess… no, what if she was a demon..?'

Aleph didn't show these thoughts outwardly. He continued acting as he did before. Kurumi toured him around their city while he acted as a tourist. 

Soon, they arrived at an abandoned construction site.

"This is your secret base? Why does it feel like a place where ghosts live?"

"You are not wrong. Five people died when steel bars fell. That's why this place was deserted."

"..."

Another thing he discovered was Kurumi's penchant for scary things. That, and her love for animals.

Meow-!

As he had expected, cats came out one after another. They are all strays she adopted over these years.

Seeing her surrounded by dozens of cats, he unknowingly smiled.

'I did the right thing back then, after all.'

The melancholic thought briefly calmed Aleph from what was about to happen next.