Part 117: Coco's Route - True End - Part 22

Video: Coco – Against The Flow Of Time



Track—Das Absuchen









Swaying in the waves and being teased along by time, it left a carefree trail in the deep blue ocean. I searched inside of it, but Tsugumi had already disappeared. She must be somewhere on the floating island....

I expanded my sight and looked down at the entire artificial island. I saw someone....But it wasn't Tsugumi. It was Yubiseiharukana.

Hokuto and I flew down near her side.



He was soaking wet. Which meant that it must have been...'right after You had picked up Pipi from the ocean surface.' She was walking down the trail attended by a few men who seemed to be staff members of LeMU.

She was walking towards a helicopter. She was probably on her way to a large hospital or something. She looked surprisingly healthy. She was walking steadily without support. Although she seemed in a dark mood, at least her health seemed fine. The antibodies must have worked, just like with Takeshi.

Anyway, I needed to tell her what had happened to Takeshi and Coco!


"You! You!"

It was Hokuto who shouted at her.


"W-who is it...?"

Caught off guard, she glanced all around. The staff members darted skeptical looks at her, when she started talking to herself all of a sudden.


"It's me!"


"Who is...this 'me?'"

There was no way she could have known Hokuto. Hokuto hadn't even been born in this world....And she wouldn't have believed us if we had told her 'we're talking to you from 17 years in the future.'

Hokuto told her.


"Look, there's something I want you tell you. So listen to me carefully. Actually...."

Hokuto told her that Coco and Takeshi had been left in the laboratory, and that they were under cryogenic suspension in the pods.


"Oh my god! It can't be...."


"So you have to help them right away, okay!?"


"Are you serious!?"


"Totally! Coco and Takeshi weren't on the sub that rescued you. And the only others who were rescued were Tsugumi and Kaburaki...."

[Pipi]
"Bow-wow!"

Pipi looked at Hokuto and me, and gave a loud bark.


"Oh, yeah! Pipi! Pipi...had a disc in his mouth, didn't he?"


"Uh-huh...you mean the terabyte disc, right?"


"That's right, Sora's data and her memories are in it....What else, um...."


"W-wait a minute! Where on earth are you now!?"


"That doesn't really matter. You have to believe me!"


"How am I supposed to do that...? What is this...am I hearing things?"


"No, you are not! Seriously, Takeshi and Coco are...."

[Pipi]
"Bow!"

Pipi started barking again.


"Oh, oh, I know! Pipi! Pipi must have seen it! Pipi saw Coco collapsed in the hallway. There's gotta be some image data of that saved in Pipi's memory. Can you play it back?"


"........."


"........."


".................."


".................."

She dropped her head down as if deep in thought, closed her eyes and massaged her temples with her fingertips. After seeming distressed in this manner for a while, she must have reached a conclusion. You looked up in different direction and spoke.


"Alright....I have no idea who you are, but I'll see what I can do."


"Thank you, You. I'm counting on you. It's about time I get back to where I came from."


"Where did you come from?"


"You wouldn't believe me, but....It's...17 years into the future...."

[Music—Stop]



Surprisingly, the future had been completely altered! Takeshi was there. So was Coco. Yubiseiharukana was here, as was Yubiseiakikana. Tsugumi was there along with Sara. Sora was there. Kaburaki was there. And so was Hokuto. They were chatting happily in a circle.

I didn't know what had happened, but...I was just relieved....The future had been altered....But how did it happen...?

I supposed Yubiseiharukana had kept her promise with Hokuto, so Coco and Takeshi were rescued immediately afterwards.

In this version of history, Takeshi hadn't died 17 years ago, but was still alive and well. So in this world, Tsugumi didn't have to send Hokuto and Sara to the institution. In this version of the future, Hokuto and Sara didn't have to be separated.

Besides....I understood that the incident in 2034 was planned so that I, Blick Winkel would come into existence. It was planned to have me descend in this world so that the past would be altered, and that Coco and Takeshi would be saved.

But...in this history, Coco and Takeshi had already been rescued safely 17 years ago.

Therefore, there was no longer any way to grab my attention and make me appear in this world. So, Yubiseiharukana didn't have to come up with an outrageous plan to 'trap everyone at LeMU.'

Which meant that the incident, starting on May 1st 2034 hadn't taken place in this history.

None of them had been trapped in LeMU. Which meant that Yubiseiharukana had no reason to lie to Yubiseiakikana. Yubiseiharukana must have told Yubiseiakikana the truth in this history.

So they were all able to spend their lives peacefully from 2017 until now. They all had lived safely with time just passing by peacefully and slowly....And that was what I was seeing right then.

....

Track—Traum In Der Dunkelheit

Hey, but wait a second....I needed to think a little more about this. In 2017, Takeshi and Coco were saved by Yubiseiharukana's action.

So if the time passed by peacefully, eventually it would be the year 2034. There wouldn't be any accident. I, Blick Winkel, wouldn't appear. What would happen then?

Hokuto in this world wouldn't talk to Takeshi in the past (which is 2017).

In the past that I know....Hokuto had funneled his raw, untamed 'force', and had shouted to Takeshi's body lying on the bottom of the ocean.

'Dad! Daad! Don't you die on me!'

But in the past retraced from this future, Takeshi had never heard his son's scream.

That meant....Takeshi would have long decomposed on the bottom of the ocean....

Since Takeshi hadn't come back to life, Coco would have been left in the hallway, and....

Both of them would die.

Because the incident in 2017 had already taken place as a historical fact. Which meant that even in the past connected directly to this world, the incident in 2017 wouldn't have been avoided. Therefore this world could never be possible. It could never exist! It was a paradox! If this world could exist, this question would naturally arise.

"Who had saved Takeshi who is alive here today?"

Was it Hokuto from a different future...?

Was it that Hokuto from a world where there had been an accident in 2034...who had saved Takeshi...?

No...that was not possible....Because in order for the incident to take place in 2034....

The condition must be that 'Takeshi could not be saved in 2017.'

Which meant: In order for Takeshi to come back to life at the bottom of the ocean, the events had to take place in 2034. And in order for Coco to go under cryogenic suspension, the events had to take place in 2034! Therefore, this peaceful world could never exist!

Just as I reached this conclusion....



His skin became soggy and peeled off by itself. His exposed muscle fibers became dark and putrid, their surface flaking away.

His cells started to dissolve and run like mud dripping to the ground.

His abdomen burst open spilling his internal organs.

His hair fell out in chunks, exposing the white skull underneath....

All that was left were white bones with pieces of red flesh stuck to them. Eventually, even his skeleton collapsed with a dry sound. And at the same time, Coco disappeared without a sound.



Yubiseiharukana was still standing in the same place.


"You! You!"


"W-what!? You just disappeared and now you're back again....? Don't tell me it was only a joke or something."


"I won't. It was real. I'm telling the truth. Takeshi and Coco are sleeping in the capsule pods right now. But...but....You can't rescue them!"


"What!? Why is that!?"


"It's...it's because...."


"........."


"........."


".................."


".................."


"Ah! I cannot stand it any longer!"

I pushed away Hokuto's consciousness and jumped to the front.


"You have to wait for 17 years!"

I told her that before anything else.


"17 years from now, I will reappear before you, I promise!"


"???"

Puckering out her lips and You cocked her head to the side.


"Just, listen carefully to what I am going to tell you."

I explained to her about the following.


"'17 years from now, I will reappear to you all.' I just told you that, right? But in order for me to reappear, you will need to trick me. So what I am asking you to do is, trick me 17 years from now! Trick me into falsely believing that it is the year 2017 again. When that happens, I will still be the third eye, Blick Winkel, and that will cause me to reveal myself. And unless I reveal myself, neither Takeshi nor Coco will be saved. Because in order to restore life to Takeshi, who sank to the bottom of the ocean, I will need to appear as myself and go back to the year 2017. If I do not appear myself, Takeshi is going to rot at the bottom of the ocean. And if Takeshi fails to reach the laboratory, Coco will be left in the hallway....Both of them will die. Do you get it?"

"So, no matter what happens, you need to stay away from IBF until 17 years from now! If you save Takeshi and Coco now, the events in 2034 will fail to take place. And if that happens, I will not appear....If I do not appear, then I will be unable to save Takeshi and Coco in 2017....Which will form a time paradox and Takeshi and Coco will disappear. I'll repeat it again, okay? In order for me to appear in the year 2034, you MUST NOT rescue Takeshi and Coco now. I know it is painful, but that is the only way...."

"And...as for the way to trick me....Well, how can I explain...? You will need a bit of preparation. Although it should not be too difficult. You certainly have enough time...17 years, actually....So it should not be impossible. I will tell you what to do....Are you ready? The day to act on the plan will be on Monday, May 1, 2034."

"First, Sara will be visiting LeMU for a school event on that day. Sara is Tsugumi's daughter who will be born next January. She is actually a twin, and her twin brother's name is Hokuto....But due to unavoidable circumstances, Tsugumi, Sara and Hokuto will be separated. So you could probably just tell Tsugumi 'you will be reunited with your son and daughter at LeMU.' If you tell her that, Tsugumi will come to LeMU for sure...."

"Next, you can also invite Hokuto in the same way. If you tell him 'you will meet your mother and sister', he will also come, alone. You must also have your daughter, Yubiseiakikana, work as LeMU attendant just as you did. If you coach her, you could lead her in that direction, right? And you must not tell anything to Sora. It is best that you erase her memories of the incident in 2017. There is nothing to worry about because all the backup memories are saved in the terabyte disc."

"And finally...you will need the cooperation of young Kaburaki. 17 years from now, Kaburaki must look and act absolutely like Takeshi Kuranari. So he must begin training to look and act just like Takeshi. Do not worry. He will catch on in 17 years. These six people are required for the plan. All you have to do is....Simply throw them all together into LeMU on May 1, 2034, and have an accident similar to the one in 2017. If you can arrange this, things will work out by themselves."

"The time in question will be one week from the 1st to the 7th. For these seven days, you must not interfere with them. No matter what kind of crisis happens. Understood? They will survive by themselves. And...should I show no sign of reappearing by 9 p.m. on the 6th....Then I ask of you to rescue them all....Is that clear? Will you do what I just told you? You must not forget. On May 1, 2034, you are going to trick me. Understood? Oh...wait...I mean not 'me' to be exact...it's actually 'Hokuto'....I want you to trick Hokuto. You must trick him so that he will believe it is the year 2017."

"17 years from now, without remembering why, I might ask you something like...'Why have you called me here?' Then I want you to answer this way. 'I only followed your directions.' ...That is all. It was kind of lengthy, but...do you understand? You got it, right? I need you to understand this...."

Yubiseiharukana was surprisingly accepting. As if overwhelmed by my enthusiasm, she kept nodding her head. But I was still worried...about whether she truly understood everything. Explaining to her again in more detail, I repeated the same words almost as if I were trying to hypnotize her. It took several more hours for her to precisely capture the whole picture.

Hokuto and I made sure that she understood one last time. Then we left her.



Three updates left until The End.