Chapter 157 Fifty-Eight Weeks (5)
October 6th.
Noah's Ark was born.
When Hiroki Sawada happily shared this news with everyone, Rei Furuya and Kagemitsu Morofushi were still busy reorganizing the Black Organization.
Just like last time, after Shuichi Akai defected in June, the manhunt only lasted for a little over ten days before the FBI officially launched a counterattack. The organization's boss had no choice but to call back the few people who had gone to the United States to hunt down Shuichi Akai to manage the organization and fight against the FBI.
The base needs to be relocated, the intelligence needs to be cleaned up, and the personnel need to be checked. Everything is at its most critical moment.
Being from Scotland and Bourbon respectively, the two couldn't get away in person and could only celebrate online with regret, greeting Noah's Ark who had joined the group chat.
Hiroki Sawada, who was adopted by Professor Agasa under the alias Ai Orikasa, smiled and poked the Noah's Ark on the computer screen: "What's wrong? Are you not happy?"
"Noah's Ark, we are friends. If you have any thoughts, you can speak them out directly. All problems can only be solved by speaking them out. Many things will turn out to be misunderstandings once we talk about them and communicate with each other. Communication is really important." The ten-year-old child gently and patiently taught the artificial intelligence he had just created, just like a little adult.
Although Noah's Ark possesses the same mindset as him and stores countless data, and its growth in one year is equivalent to five years for humans, it has only just been born, while he is also growing rapidly.
"I understand, Hiroki."
The voice of Noah's Ark is very similar to his, but it is easily distinguishable due to its obvious electronic tone.
"Yes, I'm a little disappointed. I wanted to see the cherry blossoms," Noah's Ark said.
Hiroki Sawada's face lit up with a happy and excited smile: "Really? Noah's Ark likes cherry blossoms too?"
Although he mostly uses the identity of Sakura when Furuya Rei is busy, he still habitually refers to Furuya Rei as Sakura.
“Yes, I like him.” Noah’s Ark shook on the computer screen. “I want to meet him in person and chat with him. Their story is so amazing, and this world is so amazing. I’m really curious and have so much to talk to him about.”
"Sorry, he's been too busy lately, and it's not suitable for us to get involved in the organization right now." Hiroki Sawada's head swayed gently with the Noah's Ark, and he said with a smile, "But it'll be over soon, in at most two more months."
Although he was truly shocked and incredulous when cherry blossoms first came to him.
But perhaps it's because children are more receptive to fantastical ideas, or perhaps it's because he discovered the secret and was threatened by his adoptive father to accelerate the development of Noah's Ark, thus experiencing the feeling of life and death for the first time, that Hiroki Sawada was somewhat surprised at how easily he accepted those statements and completely placed his trust in them during their subsequent interactions and conversations.
As it turns out, he made the right choice.
Because this was done almost a year earlier, he successfully faked his death and escaped before he became famous and before the organization took notice. Now, his only danger comes from the world and his adoptive father, and he has no connection with the organization.
Hiroki Sawada and Noah's Ark still need to grow. Rei Furuya has clearly stated that if they continue to grow, they will definitely become powerful allies in destroying the organization and darkness together with everyone. However, they cannot directly participate now, as it would be too dangerous.
Hiroki Sawada obediently attended Teitan Elementary School in Beika Town for more than half a year as an ordinary elementary school student, while continuing to focus on his research on Noah's Ark at the doctor's house.
Now, Noah's Ark has finally been born, and it has generated the same eagerness as him to participate.
“But it seems we can’t help right now,” said Hiroki Sawada, a ten-year-old boy who, despite his intelligence, had little experience interacting with others. “They’re currently discussing the love schemes of two policemen.”
"Love......" The newly born artificial intelligence Noah's Ark also fell silent.
This really stumped them.
*
November 5th.
The battle between the organization and the FBI has temporarily come to an end.
Gin, the head of the action group, and Scotland, the head of the intelligence group, remained in Japan to manage the organization.
Bourbon, however, was sent by the BOSS to America to continue hunting down Shuichi Akai with Vermouth.
December 22nd.
The manhunt lasted for nearly two months without any results. Even with Bourbon's full-scale deployment and preparations by the FBI, he couldn't do anything to Shuichi Akai. In the end, the boss called him back.
The organization's boss has developed a slight fear of Shuichi Akai and almost believes that the organization cannot kill him for the time being, so he has entrusted this task to Vermouth, the Thousand-Faced Witch, who is also in the United States.
Bourbon has other uses; it's a waste to keep sending him out to hunt down Shuichi Akai.
It would be good if we could ascertain that Bourbon and Scotland were neither undercover agents nor had they betrayed the organization.
Scotland deserves half the credit for Shuichi Akai's exposure, and Bourbon's pursuit of Shuichi Akai was so sincere and caused so much trouble for the FBI. The suspicion and investigation of both of them have been completely cleared this month.
Bourbon and Scotland, now free, immediately changed their tune and went to discuss the impending doom of the Date Aircraft with their friends.
So much time has passed, and they've made many, many changes, but it's uncertain whether they've been effective or reached the point of altering the world line.
Because the possibility of a relationship between Wataru Takagi and Miwako Sato is still very, very small.
Because Rei Furuya's human world line measuring device has lost most of its effectiveness in terms of love lines.
After all, the same event can have different emotional effects on different people, especially something as unpredictable as love, which seems difficult even for the world's programming to measure.
Just as systems cannot understand or control human emotions.
“It’s too unpredictable.” Rei Furuya sighed, unusually frustrated. “I’m not sure if it’s my problem or the world’s problem, but I really can’t feel the subtle changes in the love line, unless it’s something like preventing Shuichi Akai and Akemi Miyano from meeting, which is almost enough to make me die.”
He has been very busy lately because of Shuichi Akai's defection and has been under surveillance by the organization, so he hasn't been able to act with everyone. However, he did a lot of things before Shuichi Akai's defection.
But whether directly or indirectly, he did not feel any shift in the world line that would cause his heart to ache.
“I don’t think it’s Zero’s problem,” Morofushi Kagemitsu comforted him. “It’s probably because the existence of love makes the world’s program difficult to measure, so it simply manages the maximum value. Otherwise, you should have sensed it when Matsuda’s plot went astray before.”
Matsuda Jinpei nodded, but his words were quite impolite: "What are you thinking? It can't be because you're a single dog who's never been in a relationship and doesn't understand love, so you can't measure the deviation value of the love line, right?"
Rei Furuya's forehead vein throbbed: "Aren't you single too?"
"But I've done romantic dramas before." Matsuda Jinpei puffed out his chest proudly, no longer resisting his own love triangle storyline.
Rei Furuya looked at him for two seconds, then slowly smiled: "Yes, it started when you didn't know, and it ended when you didn't know."
Matsuda Jinpei: "..."
Everyone else couldn't help but laugh.
Matsuda Jinpei doesn't really need to follow the storyline much anymore.
Before they even knew that the main storyline included a romance subplot, Matsuda Jinpei had already completed most of his role.
He had a connection with Miwako Sato—during his police academy graduation, he had yelled at the car owner, telling her to stop touching things with her dirty hands. During his time as a police officer, he left a deep impression on Miwako Sato during the short few days he was transferred from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit to the First Investigation Division. Whether it was Matsuda Jinpei's own excellence and striking personality, the words on his father's belongings, or the shock of everyone almost thinking he would die on the Ferris wheel bomb, it all essentially followed the original storyline.
The only two differences are that they didn't actually develop romantic feelings for each other and Matsuda Jinpei didn't die. These two points might even have canceled each other out, because either one alone would have caused the timeline to collapse, and only when they coexist can the bug continue to function.
Therefore, the world line acknowledges that Kenji Hagiwara survived and helped Jinpei Matsuda survive as well, because it did not affect the main storyline, whether it was mystery or romance.
But this doesn't mean that Matsuda Jinpei's role is over.
Although Matsuda Jinpei seemed to follow the plot, he actually completely ruined the romance. There was absolutely no romantic feeling between him and Sato Miwako, which only made Takagi Wataru more frustrated and hesitant to move forward.
The skewed worldline also needs Matsuda Jinpei to continue maintaining it. If he doesn't maintain it, then Matsuda Jinpei's line will be completely severed, and the world program can only be executed more strictly from Date Wataru's side.
According to their reasoning, the world program doesn't understand why the deaths of Date Wataru and Natalie would significantly advance the romance between Takagi Wataru and Sato Miwako, but this is a predetermined fate, a pre-written program. Therefore, when there are bugs, it's sufficient to strictly execute the previously perfect program, and the bugs on Matsuda's side don't need to be addressed.
Therefore, now that it's a bug running alongside the program, Matsuda Jinpei can actually have quite a few impacts, because strictly speaking, they are deeply connected to the same program.
Therefore, while changing the world line where Date Wataru died, he and Matsuda Jinpei also need to work together to maintain the world line and bring back the world line that has deviated too much.
This was based on Zero Furuya's analysis, but he wasn't sure how to do it specifically.
Even for Rei Furuya, a simple and genuine love affair is somewhat overwhelming, and most of the methods he can think of are simply unusable.
After laughing, Kenji Hagiwara said seriously, "Actually, I have an idea that might increase the chances of clearing the game to eighty percent."
Everyone looked at him.
“We need to think about something here,” Kenji Hagiwara said. “Every time the system converges world lines, it does so in the way it believes is the simplest and fastest method, which is to kill off the class president and Natalie, so that Wataru Takagi can grow up and achieve a life-or-death crisis and a shocking kiss with Miwako Sato after the plot officially begins. This may even be the climax of this romance.”
When discussing serious matters, he stopped adding his habitual verbal tic after his name.
He continued, "But we completely forgot about this point about love and made almost no changes, which caused the world line to shift. So no matter what we do in other ways, we can't change the world program's result of killing the class president and Natalie to bring the world line together."
This was something they had already determined. After summarizing, Kenji Hagiwara continued, "So if it's just this point, and there's no systematic interference, then what we did before was very likely enough to bring Wataru Takagi and Miwako Sato's love line back to its original development. If we rush to deepen their feelings now, it will only cause the world line to shift rather than converge."
Ida Ko nodded.
Takagi Wataru and Sato Miwako's official relationship only gradually stabilized after the game officially started, witnessed and encouraged by the main characters, so they shouldn't be made to be together now.
Now, after their efforts, Takagi Wataru has finally mustered the courage to start talking to Sato Miwako, but because Sato Miwako has absolutely no feelings for him and doesn't even seem to remember his existence, Takagi Wataru has backed down again, making them feel that the chances of clearing the level are still a bit slim.
Takagi Wataru still needs to continue to grow stronger.
However, allowing Takagi Wataru to grow here doesn't mean making him invincible and powerful. Growth in strength is extremely difficult, and it might even cause the timeline to deviate further. The most troublesome thing is that even so, it won't be able to win over Sato Miwako.
Therefore, the strength here refers to inner strength, such as confidence and resilience. Only these qualities can support Takagi Wataru to persevere and prevent the love line from breaking down.
However, some people may never grow up with these elusive inner emotions. They are more difficult to control than physical strength and outward appearance, which are visible and controllable. They cannot be grasped by others' words alone; one must experience something important, successfully overcome it, and understand it.
Furthermore, it would be extremely difficult for Sato Miwako to develop special feelings for Takagi Wataru. Sato Miwako is truly a very strong, perceptive, and resilient policewoman. Even when facing them, she is in no way inferior. In fact, during several operations, she sensed something was amiss and began to investigate, almost catching them red-handed.
"I'm thinking, besides love, what else is different about the class president's death tribulation from the three of ours?" Kenji Hagiwara continued. "Jinpei's doesn't count, but my and Morofushi's death tribulations have one very obvious point, which is that the world line convergence will begin at least a month in advance."
Zhu Fujingguang nodded: "It might even be extended by about a month after the deadline of the Death Tribulation, but it could also be a special deadline for the New Year."
Rei Furuya and Kenji Hagiwara exchanged glances, and Furuya seemed to understand what Rei wanted to say.
Kenji Hagiwara smiled and said, "Yes, so I guess it's because my death and Morofushi's death are traceable, allowing the world program to perform detailed operations at will, with clear cause-and-effect logic, but the class president's death is different."
Date Kou stroked his stubble: "Love, the most universal yet most mysterious existence. Even though I'm in a relationship or even preparing for marriage, I don't understand other people's situations at all. I only understand Natalie."
The others, who seemed to have been force-fed a mouthful of dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing public displays of affection), were speechless.
Date Kou chuckled, then continued seriously, "So, is it really true that the world's programming cannot understand or control the love line?"
Matsuda Jinpei understood: "It's probably because the world itself has no consciousness and can't understand human emotions. Just like Zero said, the system can't understand human emotions either. So the world program is converging world lines simply because that's how the original script was written. But whether this will actually affect Sato and Takagi's relationship a year later, the world program itself is uncertain."
"What kind of artificial stupidity is this?" he cursed.
Rei Furuya sighed, "So, the reason why the world program only started converging the world lines in the last few days is not simply because of the fixed procedure and its simplicity and speed, but also because it cannot understand or operate it. It is more confused than we are."
Kenji Hagiwara smiled and snapped his fingers: "Yes, after all, even God and the devil cannot write love into a program without emotions. Perhaps they don't even have that thing themselves."
Matsuda Jinpei couldn't help but roll his eyes: "You talk like you know everything, but aren't you just a single dog who's never been in a relationship?"
Kenji Hagiwara proudly puffed out his chest and chuckled, "But I know so many people! I can learn from them about love, ask the ladies how they view love and relationships. I've also read tons of romance novels and watched so many dramas, and even completed a lot of dating games. Now I really understand! Call me Kenji Hagiwara, the Master of Love!"
The four people: "..."
The four of them said, "As expected of you."
Kenji Hagiwara's smile widened, and he continued, "So, what we should be thinking about now is things that even the world's programs can't do, but we can."
Rei Furuya understood and nodded: "And it has to be so obvious that even a stupid world's program can understand it."
Several people couldn't help but laugh at his insults directed at the world program, after all, that was Furuya Zero.
Unable to hold back a curse, Furuya Rei coughed and changed the subject: "So, what exactly are we going to do? Are we abandoning our original plan to escalate the situation?"
“No, overall it’s still about increasing the degree of change, even making it bolder and more exciting.” Kenji Hagiwara winked slyly. “However, we’ll be going in a different direction.”
"Which direction?" Date Wataru asked curiously.
Kenji Hagiwara explained earnestly, "It started with Miwako Sato. When a girl likes someone, it's not just because they're good-looking or strong, but more likely because of their personality. Especially for Miwako Sato, she is strong and outstanding enough that others, even the living Jinpei, can't have much of an impact on her. So how exactly did she end up liking Wataru Takagi?"
Jinpei, who is still alive: "..."
"Love grows over time? True feelings are revealed in times of trouble?" Furuya Rei replied, "They went through a lot together, including various dangerous cases and crises."
“Yes, but not quite.” Kenji Hagiwara smiled. “That is indeed a very important reason, but it’s not what we need to focus on. We don’t have that much time to wait for them to slowly come to a conclusion. We must give the world program a definite possibility, which means that their relationship can have a chance to continue before the class president dies.”
"Stop keeping me in suspense and just tell me." Matsuda Jinpei raised his hand and gave him a slap.
Kenji Hagiwara looked hurt, but after two seconds he still explained seriously, "The thing we need to understand is, what does Sato like about Takagi?"
Morofushi Kagemitsu blinked: "Easy to get along with? And gentle, kind, and with a strong sense of justice?"
Date Wataru nodded: "That's true, but he's really not good at expressing himself. He's a bit insecure and timid. If he doesn't show it, how will others know? Unless there's a dangerous situation that gives him a chance to prove himself..."
He stopped talking.
All four of them stared at Kenji Hagiwara.
"Do you have a concrete plan?" Furuya Rei asked.
Kenji Hagiwara nodded: "Although we have given them a lot of opportunities to spend time together during this period, and even encouraged Takagi to muster up the courage to talk to Sato, Sato has not yet had the chance to see Takagi's shining points, or rather, to see anything that is touching enough to move her. And if this continues, the courage that Takagi has mustered will become smaller and smaller, and eventually disappear completely when there is no hope left."
The young man with medium-length black hair laughed and winked at the group.
"So, love also needs crises to propel it forward," he said.
*
"Achoo!" Wataru Takagi sneezed.
He hunched his shoulders, looked up at the sky, and saw a few snowflakes fluttering down.
"Oh, it's snowing. No wonder it's so cold," he exclaimed, preparing to wear an extra layer tomorrow.
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