Part 48: John Titor makes a bold declaration
"Assistant. You not going home?"
"If I'm an eyesore, I'll leave.""You're not an eyesore at all, but do you have any business here?"
"No, but there's something I want to think about for a bit.""Then go back to your hotel and think about it."
"What? You want to kick me out?""Oh, I see, since you have no friends, you'd be sad and lonely in your hotel room, so you want me, Hououin Kyouma, to look after you, huh, you damn spoiled celeb sev?"
"You're the lonely one, aren't you? You've been depressed for a while now."
"A man getting advice from a young woman is... mmhmm, mmhmm, but if you're fine with that, then just ask away."Does she have to be this impertinent? She's smiling happily as she makes fun of me.
"I need to send some mails. If you insist on staying here, then be quiet and stay out of my way, okay, The Zombie?"
"You just have to call me that, don't you..."Even though she says that, Kurisu still doesn't go home. She sits down on the sofa, beginning to read a massive technical book. On closer inspection, it's a western book. Maybe this assistant isn't a genius, but just an extreme studier.
"Want some coffee?"
"Sure thing."
I take a fresh Dr Pepper out of the refrigerator for myself and sit down in front of the computer. Alright, let's do what I should do. For now, let's pray that I can do it.
Rintarou posted:
Subject: There's something I'd like to ask
Thanks for the info about the IBN 5100. This program code is from SERN's database. Well, besides that, I've successfully made a machine that sends mails into the past, but when we change the past by sending a mail back, does that change the world line? Some of the events are undone, but does something else influence that? You said that the world exists by the many-worlds interpretation, but I want you to tell me the basis of that.
I silently sigh and chug down my Dr Pepper. Now I just wait for his reply. I try looking at the @channel thread just to make sure, but it looks like Titor isn't posting now.
"That was a pretty deep sigh, wasn't it?"Kurisu asks without raising her glance from her book.
About how sending the D-mail changed the past, and about how Kurisu completely lost her memories about it.
Why am I only thinking of talking to Kurisu? Because I don't think Mayuri or Daru understand this problem. Kurisu, on the other hand, might be able to form some kind of hypothesis. That's what I hope.
"Hello?"
"Ah, Okarin! Actually, I just noticed an unthinkable mistake!""Mistake?"
Is it about the Microwave Ophone (Temp)? Is it related to the phenomenon I experienced earlier? I, a mad scientist, am getting stressed over a miserable thing. What is Daru trying to say? Is it related to the D-mail?
I lick my lips, waiting for Daru's words.
"Actually..."
"Wh...at?"
"So I can't get into MayQueen or anything! Can you come bring me my wallet? I'll get you a drink or something.""Go take a swim in Shindengawa!"
I cry out and hang up. Damn, I got stressed over nothing.
"Hello. I'm not delivering your wallet, okay...!"
"Oh, it's you, Mayuri. You're with Daru, right? You don't have to lend that dummy any money, okay?"
"Ah, yup, okay♪"
"So, Okarin, I was wondering if you cheered up. Did you make sure to squeeze Upa?""I didn't. Anyway, I am a mad scientist, always full of madness and ambition!"
"I see! You know, if you're worried about anything, talk to Mayushii, okay? Mayushii doesn't understand hard things, but she does understand Okarin♪""...You understand me, you say?"
"I do. We've been together since childhood, after all, eheheh.""...Hmph. I'm hanging up now. Work hard."
"Yup. Bye now!""Geez, that dummy."
"Wh-What are you trying to say, celeb sev?!"
"Don't call me celeb sev!"I thought about talking to Kurisu about the truth, but I quit. Like hell this mad scientist, Hououin Kyouma, would grin at the words of a hostage like Mayuri.
"You look like a maiden in love, waiting for a mail from the one she loves."She sure likes to attack everything.
"Do you really want to meddle that much?"
Mayuri posted:
Subject: Maid experience
Come to think of it, Mayushii has had her part time job at MayQueen for three months as of today. Everyone at the shop gave me a congratulatory gift just now (*'∀`) It's been three months since I've become a maid, huh? Time sure flew. But don't get me wrong, okay? Mayushii remembers her main job is being a hostage.
Rintarou posted:
Subject: Re: Maid experience
A three month's congratulatory gift, you say? How half-baked. I don't see how that deserves congratulations. That's sweets maniacs for you.
"Despite appearances, I actually respect you."
"You don't even say my name right. That's rich...""I'm sorry about that."
Kurisu raises her face in shock, staring at me.
"That's unexpected... You actually apologized.""I do apologize, but there's no helping it."
"I want to drill electrodes into your skull and shock the daylights out of your hippocampus."
John Titor posted:
Subject: Details
Greetings, Kyouma. I want to verify whether or not what you wrote in your mail is true, so can you tell me the details of what you changed in the past?
Rintarou posted:
Subject: Re: Details
We sent a mail today. It was sent 170 hours prior, that is, Tuesday of last week. Its contents were the third class prize winning numbers for the Loto6 chosen on Tuesday of last week. Right after we sent the mail, everything in my surroundings concerning that subject was instantly deleted, including my partners' memories about even having sent the mail into the past. The mail we sent into the past also disappeared from my cellphone's sent history. The mail certainly was sent back 170 hours, as not I, but my friend got a Loto 6 ticket. It was slightly off, though, since one of the numbers was wrong.
"Who are you exchanging mails with?""John Titor."
"Eh? No way."
"No wonder you referenced Titor's posts. You believe him, don't you?""There are several points in his story that I agree with."
"Really? I think it's just fiction."John Titor posted:
Subject: Very interesting
That's very, very interesting. Just judging by the phenomenon you described, I would say what you accomplished is indeed changing the past. I suspect that the mail you sent into the past changed the world line's divergence, if just a little. BRAVO! The instant your mail arrived in the past, I think you were moved from your original world line to an ever-so-slightly different one. In this world line, the world's supposed past became this: You learned the Loto6 winning numbers from a mail you got from your future self, told your friend the numbers, and your friend mistook a number upon buying the ticket. So the mail probably disappeared from your sent history when the world line changed. The only point I don't get is why you still have memories from before the past was changed. I just want to get things straight, but this is the truth, right?
Rintarou posted:
Subject: Re: Very interesting
I still have memories from before the past was changed. This is the truth. By the way, this is actually the second time this phenomenon has happened. John, did you not experience something like this when you time traveled back 26 years? Or do you think its occurrence is somehow influenced by how the world line changed by my individual will?
John Titor posted:
Subject: Memory
I've confirmed that the current divergence value is 0.571015%. I cannot tell what the value was before you changed the past. The reason is because I, like your friends, have no memories of the world line before you changed the past. In the case of physical time travel, memories are conserved even if the world line changes. That's been proven by my very own experience. But in the case of that mail, the time traveler (let's just call you that for convenience's sake) hangs the past without jumping through time, a situation that hasn't been hypothesized yet in 2036, where I come from. The time machine completed in 2034 is established as a system to physically jump through time and world lines. And so, I do not have the means to explain the phenomenon you are experiencing.
Rintarou posted:
Subject: Re: Memory
John, how exactly do you measure divergence values? What are those numbers based off of in the first place?
John Titor posted:
Subject: Explaining the many-worlds interpretation
Strictly speaking, it's a little misleading when I wrote that the world follows the Everett Wheeler model. More theories that were developed based off of it were popularized. In the two years following 2034, when the time machine was completed, discussion over world explanations progressed dramatically. In 2036, it was clarified that the world was constructed of things called "Attractor Fields", which describe the extent of world line convergence. This theory was originally hypothesized in 2020.
John Titor posted:
Subject: Re: Re: Memory
Sorry, I forgot to mention the divergence numbers. I have a personal meter that measures them. My original world line in 2036 was calibrated to be 0%. It is, after all, a subjective, relative measurement, not an absolute. In the end, this tool can only indicate the current divergence.
Rintarou posted:
Subject: Re: Explaining the many-worlds interpretation
Please give me more details about those Attractor Fields, and how they affect the change of world lines.
John Titor posted:
Subject: Observing convergence
Attractor Fields are, simply put, the focal points of world line divergence. They can also be used to explain things once called "fate" or "change". There is no real meaning to making small changes to the world line. Small changes result in the same conclusion due to convergence, and humans who can observe that convergence rarely exist. I haven't met anybody who holds that sort of ability, so I'm not qualified to accurately judge, but... Kyouma, you could possibly be that rare existence who holds that ability. You might be able to guide the world to the world line beyond 1% divergence. Beyond the Attractor Field wall.
I have a special ability?
I grow a superiority complex in my heart of hearts. Then I'm confused. Could this be a trap? In the first place, I can't confirm if this is the real John Titor, and I don't even know if the 2001 John Titor I remember was a real time traveler or not.
Well, if Titor's world line theory holds, then that could explain the many supernatural events I've experienced firsthand. Now I suddenly think Titor's a suspicious existence. Once that thought crossed my mind, his words started to smell like lies. That stuff about the IBN 5100 might have been a lie, too. That mysterious program code could have been a simple bug. Now with him telling me I have a power, I can't see this as anything but a newfound fraud. And besides that, it's not like Titor would say something like that--
Kurisu twitches at my laughing voice.
"D-Don't just suddenly laugh like that. Gross."Mayuri posted:
Subject: It's not half-baked
Three months is a legitimate milestone. They also gave me congratulatory gifts for the first and second months.
"Heheheh, I just HAVE to laugh at this! Isn't it just rich?! What was that? I have an ability? You don't have to tell me what I've known since long ago, John Titor!"
Then, I snap my eyes open wide. I raise my phone to the high heavens.
"...I don't see what you did there, but I'll tell you this, Okabe: Show some restraint.""Eh?"
"Eh?""..."
"..."Kurisu blatantly hides her face with her book. She pretends to read, but I can tell from here that her ears are red. Is she a @channeler after all?
No, that doesn't matter now.
Rintarou posted:
Subject: Re: Observing convergence
What's beyond the Attractor Field wall? What will happen if we cross it?
John Titor posted:
Subject: Future
What waits for us on the other side is true freedom. Conversely, if we don't cross that wall, the world will turn to the same dystopia I lived through. The future of mankind will be hollow happiness by brainwashing: the forfeit of freedom. My goal is to change the future, just like I wrote on @channel. And the one to help me do that may be you.
This really does feel bad. Is this some new cult? Or, am I really getting conned here? He's also saying something contradictory again. The Titor who appeared in 2000 said he time traveled to revive technology lost in World War III, which started in 2015. Yet now, this guy’s saying he came to change the future of SERN's dystopia. This guy might be an impostor.
Fed up, I quit replying, and just as I was about to put away my phone?
"...Tch."
Was that a physiological reaction to fear, or some other emotion? Now I no longer know.
(Anime episode seven, along with Chapter 3, cleared.)