The four sat on the couch in front me and patiently waited for my words.
I considered all of those girls far too good for me. That was exactly why I didn’t want to lie to them and wished to let them know my true feelings.
“Alright, well, to start things off let me just say... I have no plans of getting married.”
“WHHHAAAATTT?!!” The four of them leaped off the couch at the same time. Their surprise took verbal form and echoed throughout the living room.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Wait, what?!”
“H-Have we done something wrong, have we?”
“...You said you’d accept me as your wife...”
“Touya?!” All four girls leaped to their feet at once and closed in on me. Crap, that came out wrong!
“Okay, wait! I only meant ‘right now,’ all right! I wanted to say that I’ve got no plans of getting married right now!” My words stopped the girls dead in their tracks. Okay, good. They’re at least willing to hear me out.
“If not right now, then at some point in the future?”
“Of course. If none of you are against the idea, I’ll marry all four of you quite happily.” I answered Elze’s question, and the girls returned to their seats. Good, they’ve calmed down a bit...
“I like all of you equally, and I don’t plan on breaking my promise to marry you, but I can’t get married right now. I don’t want it to feel like we’re only together because I got caught up in the moment.”
“...I do not understand what you mean, I do not.” Yae tilted her head in confusion.
“What I mean is, I just don’t think I’m ready for a commitment like that yet. I’m not mature enough to look after other people. I mean, I’m still not fully convinced I can even look after myself at the moment. So, please, wait until I am ready to carry the weight of another life alongside my own. If it doesn’t seem like I’ll ever become that sort of person, you’re free to leave my side at any moment. Nobody can take that right away from you; not me or anyone else.” That was my own selfish condition to the agreement. I wanted everyone to be happy, but I wasn’t yet sure if I could make them happy. I was still lacking in so many areas. I didn’t have the resolve, the courage, the strong feelings of love, or the knowledge to make any of them happy just yet.
I knew that I was basically just telling the girls to wait until I felt like I was worthy of them, but I didn’t intend to just lead them on indefinitely until I suddenly decided that day had come. The condition I’d laid out for them could’ve easily made any girl hate me, and I could’ve accepted it if any of them decided to call the whole thing off for that reason alone. That was their choice to make, and I intended to respect their wishes.
“...You really couldn’t have worded that any better? I mean, I guess that makes sense, but still.” Elze sighed as she spoke, with an expression that was somewhere between exasperation and relief. Hell, the fact of the matter was that the girls had all proposed to me, and what I had said was just as bad as if I’d never said anything at all. I was unsure of what to do. I would basically be taking away their choices in the matter for my own convenience. Even I felt like that was a horrible thing to do to someone.
“You’re playing dirty. You already know that we’d never just throw you aside like that, but you’re pretending like we have that option anyway, right?” Elze shot another glare at me as she spoke. Well, I mean, I don’t think that highly of myself, but it’s not like I was expecting you all to just cut all ties with me here and now or anything.
“Falling in love is never an easy thing, it is not...” Yae gave Elze a pat on the shoulder. Elze herself turned her head away and puffed up her cheeks.
“...Even if my sister gives up on you, Touya, I’ll wait for as long as I have to... Because I want to be your wife.”
“Hey, who said anything about me giving up on him?!” Linze laughed as she watched her sister panic. Oh good, she was just teasing her.
“I’m fine with that, too. We’ve already talked this over among ourselves, after all. Now all we have to do is make you fall so completely head-over-heels in love with us that you’ll be the one proposing to us next time.”
“Guess I’ll just have to do my best to keep you from falling out of love with me before then.” Yumina’s words brought a smile to my face. From now on, we’re not just party members anymore. I’m engaged to these girls. They’re my lovers, and one day we’ll all be part of the same family. I need to do my best so that day comes even a little sooner, and when it does, I’ll be the one to propose to them properly.
“So with that, all four of us are Touya’s fiancees. Shall we line up in order and have him kiss us as proof?”
“WHAT?!” Elze, Linze, Yae, and I were all caught completely off-guard by Yumina’s abrupt suggestion. Meanwhile, it looked like she wanted to give herself a pat on the back for coming up with such a cunning plan. Why are you never satisfied with things getting wrapped up semi-normally for a change?!
“W-Wait, umm, d-don’t you think it’s still a bit too soon for that?!”
“Th-Though we may be e-engaged now, I do believe we should take things in due moderation, we should...!” Elze turned red as a tomato and broke out in a panic. Yae was bright red, too. While I could understand Yae’s reaction, I wouldn’t have taken Elze to be such a late bloomer.
“But he kissed me just yesterday, you know?”
“Huh?!” As Yumina muttered those words, Elze and Yae turned their heads in my direction with such speed that I worried they might get whiplash. I mean, she’s not lying, but, uh...
“A-Actually, he k-kissed me, too... On the forehead, I mean...”
“HUH?!” Linze spoke up, and this time the two turned to face me with even greater speed than before. I mean, she’s not lying either, but give me a break here!
“A-Alright then, that settles it! You’ve gotta k-k-k-kiss us, too!”
“I would... like a kiss, too, I would...”
Alright, hold up! Aren’t you the very same girls who were just saying that it was “too soon” or that we should “take things in moderation” a second ago? What part of this is “moderate” to you?! Elze and Yae locked me down with their gazes, still blushing up to their ears.
Crap, I can’t exactly run away now... Not after I just decided I’d accept everything about them.
I reached out my hand and drew Elze closer toward me. She jumped a little at my touch, but she didn’t put up any resistance as I gently pulled her body in. I placed my hand on her cheek, then drew my face closer to hers, when...
“T-Too embarrassing, changed my mind!”
“Ghuoh?!” Leaving me with only those words, Elze’s fist came crashing directly into my solar plexus without warning. The abrupt force gave me no time to steel myself, so I collapsed for the second time that day. As my consciousness faded, the only thought to cross my mind was something along the lines of oh no, not again...
“...Ungh?”
“Have you regained consciousness?” I awoke to find myself back in my own room, laying on my bed. The sun had long since set. Through the dim lamp-light, I could make out the figure of Cesca sitting in a chair next to my bed. She was dressed in a maid uniform, for some reason.
“Cesca...? What’s with those clothes...?”
“Lady Lapis presented me with them. If I am to serve my Master, then this is to be my uniform, so I have been instructed.”
...Come to think of it, I just kind of left Cesca in the maids’ hands the minute we got back home, huh? I didn’t forget about her or anything, but too many life-changing decisions kept flying at me one after another, and... Hang on, that’s all this girl’s fault, anyway!
“Alright, but what brings you to my bedroom?”
“I have come to make love to you.” I leaped to the edge of my bed like I’d just heard a gunshot fire in my direction. The fog in my mind cleared itself up instantly. My chastity is in danger!
“That was a joke. I have no plans for that. Not tod
ay.” Don’t just casually stick “not today” on the end like you think I won’t notice! I can never let my guard down around you for even a second!
“The truth is that I’ve come to deliver a message addressed to you.”
“A message for me...? Who’s it from?”
“It is from Doctor Regina Babylon.” Hold the phone, what? A message for me... from that ancient genius doc? The very same person who created Cesca and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon?! But how? Cesca moved her right hand to her left wrist as if to take her own pulse, only to open her left wrist up and bring out a cable with some sort of connector on the end.
“Whoa.” It’s times like these that I have to remind myself that Cesca’s actually a machine.
Cesca took the cable and presented the end of it to me.
“Huh? What am I supposed to do with this?”
“I am unsure. The doctor told me that if I gave this to my new Master, then he would understand.” Instructions unclear. Unfortunately, as a flesh-and-blood human being, I can’t think of any other places that I could comfortably “connect” a thing like that to... Do I stick it in my mouth...? Wait, could it be? The shape of this connector looks familiar, but... No, that can’t be right!
I went over to where my coat was hanging up on the wall, then took my smartphone out of the pocket. After that, I took the cable Cesca had offered to me and tried plugging it in. It fit perfectly.
My phone made a little beeping noise when it picked up the foreign cable, and the screen displayed a loading bar that slowly filled up with green. When the loading bar hit 100%, my smartphone’s screen suddenly lit up brightly.
“H-Hey, what is this?!” The light gradually died down to reveal a person roughly 15 centimeters in height standing on top of the screen.
The person was semi-transparent, almost as if to assure me that I was merely seeing a 3D projected image... which would have been fine, except my phone wasn’t even capable of projecting holograms, to my knowledge.
The holographic person was a lady who looked to be in her early twenties. She wore a white lab coat and glasses, and had what looked like a cigarette in her mouth. Her long, blonde hair hung down messily, which I felt was a shame because it would’ve suited her perfectly otherwise. The top and skirt that she wore beneath her lab coat were also creased, adding to her overall slovenly appearance.
“This is Doctor Regina Babylon.”
“This is the doctor...?” The doctor, who had until then been sitting somewhat listlessly, turned her face up to gaze at mine as she grinned at me. Huh?
“Howdy there. Nice to meetcha, kid. The name’s Regina Babylon, as you know. Before anything else, let me just thank you for taking up administration of the garden, as well as Francesca. Really, it means a lot to me, Mochizuki Touya.”
“Wait, how did you...?” What does this mean? Why does someone from almost five thousand years ago know my name?! Not just that, but why does this connector fit into my smartphone perfectly? It’s almost as if it was specifically designed to be used exactly like that from the very beginning...
“Trust me, I know how you feel. I mean, that’s a very good question. Of course you’d want to know. After all, you’re a very special kind of person.”
Special...? Wait, does she know that I’m from another world?! Just who is this Doctor, anyway?!
“Allow me to give you the answer you so long for. Look closely now.” The doctor spoke slowly, and as she did, she raised her skirt up before my eyes. Black lace panties consumed my vision.
“This is my favorite pair, I’ll have you know.”
“The hell do I care?!” I threw my smartphone down onto my bed without thinking. The hell do you mean I’m “that kind of person”?! Don’t just lump me in with you! It’s not like your panties were the first thing I wanted to know about or anything, alright?!
“Ha ha ha! I’m kidding, I’m only kidding. Don’t worry about it, that was just my way of breaking the ice.” Or so the good doctor said, still attempting to flash her panties at me from her new position atop the bed, grinning at me all the while. I knew it, this person’s way beyond your regular eccentric! The holographic doctor returned her cigarette-like object to her lips, that grin never leaving her face.
“I’ll explain everything to you, so forgive my little prank. Firstly, why do I know about you? Well, you see, I have a device that allows me to glimpse into the future.” A device for looking into the future? Is it some kind of Artifact? I had no idea she was such a genius that she could even make something like that... She’s still a weirdo, though.
“I mixed a bit of Space-Time Magic together with some Light magic, and then used a Null spell called... Well, never mind. That’s not important. What’s important is that I made a device that can project the future. The problem is, the device has a couple of fatal flaws. First, the visions of the future I can observe are only fragmentary, and second, I don’t get to decide how far into the future I want to look. The device seeks out someone with the same biorhythm as the wielder from the future, and proceeds to reflect events from that person’s life. In my case, having an affinity for all the base magic elements came back to bite me, meaning the extremely far-off future that you are in is the only one I’ve been able to get a look at.” You’re telling me I have the same biorhythm as this nutty professor? I don’t even know what that means, but I don’t like it. It feels like she’s lumping me in with her as partners in crime or something... I’m not like that, okay?! We might be the same kind of person, but that only extends as far as our magical alignments, got it?!
“Anyway, that’s how I caught sight of you. At first I was only looking out of curiosity, but then things got more and more fun as time went by. It got to the point where I was having great fun watching you and your party go about your wild adventures, but then one day, I wasn’t able to see your future anymore. Why do you think that was? It’s because the future had changed. No, that’s not quite the right word for it. I suppose a better way to put it would be that your future became uncertain.” Uncertain...? What’s an uncertain future mean?
α (The past) —————————— β (The future)
Let’s imagine time moving in a straight line from past to future, like this. If, somewhere along the line from α to β, an unknown factor named γ were to intervene, then the new future would change from β to β1.
If the future the doctor had been looking at so far was future β, then some huge event big enough to change the future, Event γ, must have happened, creating future β1 as a new possibility... I think.
“I thought it might have been the fall of Partheno... but that event is likely already set in stone. After all, our civilization doesn’t exist in your world anymore. Anyway, the fall of Partheno was brought about by the enemy of mankind, the Phrase, and their relentless invasion. That much was already an established fact in your era, too.” The Phrase... Wait, the Phrase?! The crystal creatures that Leen told me about! So the fall of the five-thousand-year-old civilization was brought about by that same weird species?!
“We fought back, of course, but the Phrase came at us in the tens of thousands. Nothing could be done to prevent the fall of Partheno. After that, the Phrase scattered to all corners of the world. It was truly the end of days. I’m sure that the reason I stopped being able to see the future beyond that point is simply that there is no future for the world under those circumstances.”
So the flow of events between α (The past that the doctor existed in) and β (The future that I’m currently inhabiting) was slowly tilting toward β1 (The future where the Phrase destroyed the world)? But still, that doesn’t make too much sense. The world is fine.
“Right. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, your future never came to an end. For some reason, they disappeared from the world before the worst possible outcome could occur. I don’t know how or why, but thanks to their abrupt disappearance, I was able to see the future you inhabit once more.”
That means β1 was ultimately averted
. That’s good to know, at least. If β1 had been the future of this world instead of β, God might’ve sent me somewhere else entirely, and then I wouldn’t have been able to meet with everyone here.
Still, what could’ve made the Phrase just up and vanish from the world one day...? Were they wiped out by some kind of Phrase-targeting virus like in some sci-fi novel or something?
“Anyway, that should suffice as an explanation as to why I know all about you. And naturally, I left Babylon there as a little present for you. Use it however you like. I’ve even filled it with lovely girls catered to your tastes. Feel free to use them however you like, too!” The holographic doctor gave me an evil little smirk when she said that. Dammit, what’s with this feeling?! Her whole face is just saying “No, no, don’t worry. I understand perfectly. You’re a boy, I get how it is,” and it’s driving me up the wall! This must be what it feels like to have an older sister who gets her kicks out of messing with you!
“Just in case, I split Babylon up into multiple parts to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Whether you go hunting for the rest of the pieces or not is up to you, I don’t mind either way. It all belongs to you now, anyway. From what I’ve seen, it doesn’t really seem like you’ll be needing anything so absurdly powerful in your future, anyhow.”
Then why did you even build it?! I know they say the line between genius and stupidity is paper thin, but this person’s clearly way over that line!
“Well, I’ve been talking for a while now, so I’ll end the message around here. Oh, and by the way, when this message finishes playing, Francesca will strip naked.”
“Whhhat?!”
“That was a joke. Anyway, see you around, kid.”
I threw my smartphone at the bed again. Ugh! Goddammit, that little Doctor Panties kept making fun of me right till the end! I don’t get her at all! Did she seriously build all of Babylon for the sole purpose of messing with a kid five thousand years in the future?!
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 3 Page 11
