Chapter 57
「Moderate synchronization symptoms, that’s the result of Orange’s examination.」
It’s late at night on October 9th, and there are three figures in a room at Kōmitsu Industries. Shiroinu Reina and Kōmitsu Momiji are seated, ignoring the cups of hot cocoa in front of them as they listen intently to the doctor. Only a few people know that this doctor used to work for Hereafter before transferring to Kōmitsu Industries.
「On the day of the physical examination, we took several measurements, but the most significant findings were from the brain MRI and the picture arrangement test.」
The most prominent image is an MRI of a brain with several areas circled in red. Next to it, for comparison, is an MRI of a healthy male brain. Momiji raises an eyebrow, impressed that they managed to trick Orange into getting an MRI scan, which explains why it took so long.
「The circled areas show inflammation-like symptoms. In reality, it’s not quite inflammation, but rather the brain synchronizing with death.」
「Wait a minute, what do you mean by synchronizing with death?」
「I suppose we need to review the ‘HAO’ system first.」
She draws arrows pointing straight from 2020 to 2030, 2040, and 2050. But then, the arrow doubles back, and she labels the 2040 coordinate as 2060.
「2040 is 2060. Imagine climbing a mountain and descending on the opposite side from where you started. The time it takes to reach a certain altitude, say 50m, will be different for the ascent and descent from the observer’s perspective. However, there’s no doubt that the altitude reached at that moment is identical, right?」
「Yes. I remember hearing that it has something to do with the wave-particle duality of time.」
「Exactly. Think about the properties of waves. They move forward while oscillating vertically. Ocean waves don’t rise or fall infinitely; they oscillate up and down at a constant frequency. This means that the same altitude occurs at different times.」
As she speaks, the doctor pulls up another document on her terminal—a time chart from when Hereafter was not yet an independent organization. The horizontal axis represents time, while the vertical axis is labeled with unfamiliar jargon. The line appears straight at first glance, but it bends sharply at the year 2050. Next to it, a much larger graph with a scale of 10,000 years per division shows a beautiful sine curve, except for the rapid bend at 2050.
「This is the time of the world we’re living in now. It looks like a straight line, but when viewed on a larger scale, you can see that it has wave-like properties. If you trace the vertical axis at 2040…」
「It matches the phase value at 2060. It’s like a magic trick, isn’t it?」
「You could say that. The close distance of 20 years and the fact that the phase values are identical is the essence of ‘HAO’ and passive precognition espers.」
This is why Nakamoto Tsuyoshi sarcastically refers to his ability as 「present sight.」 2040 is 2060. That’s why espers who calculate and observe phase values instead of the timeline end up seeing the devastated future of 2060. No, they 「synchronize」 with it.
「Now, back to the explanation of ‘synchronization.’ The term ‘precognition’ is completely inaccurate. The truth is, they are logging in to 2060 with just their five senses in the flesh.」
「I’ve heard about existence inertia. It’s strange for something that exists in 2040 to not exist in 2060 when they’re the same. To stabilize that state, matter is reconstructed and connected. That’s why ‘HAO’ is not a simulation; it actually reconstructs and connects the player to their 2060 self.」
「That’s why there are login restrictions. Like in Ver1.08, when the me in the future is alive, both existences are stable, so even if I try to log in, the reconstruction doesn’t proceed.」
「Login restrictions due to death are for the same reason. We know that because the stabilization energy has been used up, only an incomplete form can be reconstructed. Nakamoto Tsuyoshi apparently succeeded in connecting his memories and skills from 2060 through ‘synchronization’ by using this system, even though we stopped the experiments here because people die normally. His tenacity is truly remarkable.」
「You know him?」
「I tried to recruit him a long time ago, but he turned me down.」
She adds that Nakamoto Tsuyoshi’s exceptionally high level of passive precognition likely played a role as well. Returning to the topic of synchronization symptoms, she lays out the results of the picture arrangement test in front of the three of them. The results are abysmal—the kind of scores that would make you want to retort that even an elementary school student could do better on a test of logical thinking.
「To be precise, his logic is sufficient, but once he gets stuck in a rut of thought, he can’t break free and freezes up. Look, in this test, he tried the wrong hypothesis first and couldn’t discard it, so he kept fiddling with it until he ran out of time.」
「You can see that much detail? Well, he’s always been like this to some extent.」
「But not to this degree, right?」
While Orange has always been the type to strongly believe in his own ideas, he wasn’t so extreme as to completely shut out what others said. If you told him, he would understand. But as he’s gotten older—no, more accurately, as he’s played 「HAO」—it’s been getting worse.
Momiji sighs. This is something she had anticipated, which is why she specifically asked this doctor to conduct the examination. But such critical results are still disheartening.
Mishima Kanji, no, all current 「HAO」 players are being influenced by 2060 and are approaching death.(
「In other words, this stabilization energy also works from 2060 to 2040. It’s strange for someone who dies in 2060 to be alive in 2040. Although ‘HAO’ acts as a check valve, a slight impact is unavoidable. As a result, the bodies of people who play ‘HAO’ are more or less heading towards death.」
She adds that for cyborgs and beastkin with auto-tuning functions via nanomachines, it ends without them noticing.
This is the truth behind Orange’s abnormalities on the desk. Something like inflammation occurs in the brain, causing abnormalities in logical thinking. In other examples, the impact on the five senses and brain connected to 「HAO」 has been observed to a greater or lesser extent.
「But can just that make someone so fixated on their beliefs?」
「But if you look online, there are infinitely many Orange-like people, right? People who are obsessed with a particular conclusion and see everything in a distorted way.」
「Stop calling them Orange-like people.」
「Do you think people with depression will accept it if you tell them ‘life is amazing!’? The brain is extremely sensitive, so it can go in a strange direction with just a little bit of stress.」
The late-night meeting continues with such discussions. As Momiji receives a month’s worth of medication that has been effective for similar symptoms as an anti-inflammatory measure, she suddenly remembers something and asks the doctor.
「By the way, how long does it take for synchronization symptoms to appear?」
「It varies from person to person, but even if you’re connected to ‘HAO,’ it can appear in as little as a day.」
「So the synchronization symptoms explain his behavior from Ver1.07 onward. But why couldn’t he reach the answer at the time of the initial RE Corp confidential information disclosure?」
The two women fix their gazes on the doctor, who steels herself and reveals the truth.
「…To put it simply, I think it’s because he was too stupid to realize it.」
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