by Yuu Kamiya
It was that classic event in this kind of story where they got bottlenecked by others’ inability to believe them. Sora carefully looked for the right words to make her believe.
—Scratching his head, sighing. Making a clearly bothered face. Awkwardly, casually, he let it out.
“Basically, we’re people from another world. So we want to know more about this world.”
The study—no. A library about the size of a high school’s. Steph had led them to her personal study, filled with neatly lined bookshelves, reams of books covering the walls. It did seem perfect for research, but—
“Hey, Steph.”
“Yes? What is it?”
Sora had hit upon one large, unexpected obstacle.
“—Is this country’s official language not Japanese?”
Sora groaned with an illegible book in his hand, holding his head.
“Ja-pa-nese? I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but, of course, Immanity uses the Immanity tongue.”
“Whoa… This world is so simple.”
The problem was that even though somehow they were able to talk, the characters in the book made no sense at all.
“So, you really did come from another world.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not really expecting you to believe us—”
Sora knew they never believed right away, so he wasn’t even bothering to try.
“Oh, no, it’s not all that surprising.”
Steph’s nonchalant answer took Sora aback.
“What? Why not?”
Now Steph went blank.
“Why not? I don’t know. Some of the advanced magic used by the Elves includes otherworldly summons. It’s not implausible that you might be like that. In the first place, I can see from your clothes and faces that you’re not from this country, yet you’re Immanities no matter how you look at it…”
—And this was, after all, the only human country left.
“Ah…I see. This is a fantasy world… Hh.”
Having had his expectations upturned, Sora sighed. He turned back to the illegible book and scratched his head.
“Hmm, but it’s quite inconvenient not to be able to gather information by ourselves. Can you learn it…Shiro?”
“…Mm.”
“Yeah?”
“…Mm.”
It seemed that the siblings were conducting some kind of communication that made sense only to them. They quietly cast their eyes on the book and fell silent. With this stillness in the corner of her eye, Steph sighed.
“…And what do you want me to do?”
She added sarcastically that she could fall at his feet as a home tutor, but Sora made a different request, without taking his eyes off the book.
“No. There’s something else.”
Sora’s words reminded Steph of last night, and this morning, and she braced herself. Preparing not to be surprised at any kind of perverted request—
“Can you just answer me a few questions for now?”
“—Um…uh, sure. That’s…quite all right.”
As Steph felt the load come off her chest with this unexpectedly decent request. Sora asked with a perfectly serious face.
“You know, yesterday, why was it that when I fondled your breasts, you didn’t resist, but when I tried to flip your skirt, you suddenly—all right, I’ll ask a serious question; it’s just a joke…”
Having received Steph’s piercing glare, Sora looked back down at the book.
“Hmm, okay, so, I keep hearing this word ‘Immanity,’ but what does it contrast to?”
But Steph queried back as if this was a totally unexpected question.
“…Weren’t there any other races in your world?”
“Well, humans were the only ones we could communicate with, at least—so?”
“Uh, well… Yes…”
Considering where she should begin if they really were from another world as they said, Steph began.
“First—are you familiar with myth?”
“You mean how the Ten Covenants came to be? I heard it from a minstrel who was playing by a fountain.”
“Very well—in that case—”
—Ahem.
“‘Races’ refers to the intelligent Ixseeds, to whom the God’s Ten Covenants apply.”
“‘Exceeds’…”
“War ended in this world when the Ten Covenants came to prohibit all violation of rights, bodily injury, violence, and slaughter among the Ixseeds.”
“…I see. I was wondering what you guys ate—but the Covenants only apply to intelligent life, huh?”
Sora appeared to be reading the book, yet still grasping her words clearly. While inwardly marveling at his dexterity, Steph continued.
“However—shall I call it war by games? Basically, struggle for territory—‘play for dominion’ still continues.”
“Play for dominion”—Sora recognized the term.
“—Is this the only Immanity country?”
“…As of now, that is so… It’s not as if it’s a requirement that each race have only one country—but Elkia is the last bastion of Immanity.”
—Having heard that much, Sora went ahead and presented a question to which he knew the answer. To compare basic assumptions between this world and their own, in other words.
“Why do you still fight over domain when there are no more wars? Can’t you settle it by talking?”
“Uh, well, that’s…”
But, in place of the faltering Steph, the sister answered.
“…Resources are finite… Living things can multiply infinitely…Dividing a finite quantity by an infinite quantity…destroys everything.”
“…Y-yes. Exactly!”
Steph jumped on the view of the sister, who had answered before her, and nodded hurriedly.
“…Come on, I know you hadn’t thought of that…”
Sora looked as Steph as if disgusted by her input, rendered useless by his sister’s prompter response.
“Whawhawha-what are you saying; it’s so basic!”
—Well, this was a world where that was how things were since birth. The question of why living things would play games to take from each other, while perhaps considered, might be difficult to answer.
“Anyway, this is pretty much like our world in that respect, after all.”
Sora sighed. Though combat had vanished, conflict remained.
—So, basically, perfect equality was impossible. Musical chairs, after all, was a game about fighting for limited seats. In this way, the majority would draw the lot of poverty for the minority to prosper—really, nothing had changed between this world and their own……
“…So, what kinds of races do the Ixseeds include?”
Sora cut his thinking short and returned to the conversation. Ummm…Steph counted with her fingers as she recalled what she’d had to memorize.
“Rank One is Old Deus, defeated by the One True God; Rank Two is Phantasma; Rank Three is Elemental—and there’s Dragonia and Gigant…and Elf and Werebeast—and so forth.”
“…I see, pretty much your typical fantasy world.”
Sora mumbled his feedback to Steph’s “and so forth,” amused that she’d given up on remembering all sixteen races, when something suddenly occurred to him.
“Hey, what do you mean…‘Rank’?”
“Uh, well. I don’t know that much about it, either, but apparently there’s a ranking.”
“—Ranking?”
“Yes, basically it’s based on their magical aptitude scores, I hear.”
“‘Apparently, basically, I hear’… You don’t really know what you’re talking about, do you? Steph, did you study up on this stuff properly?”
As Sora put his loser self on a pedestal, Steph grimaced, muttered an irritated “Fine already,” and cleared her throat.
“I’ll have you know, I graduated from academy just fine! Human research still just hasn’t made much progress on the ranking—for Immanity is Rank Sixteen—tha
t is, we have a magical aptitude score of zero. As much as we’d like to research it, we have no way of observing it.”
“…Zero?” Sora asked, looking up from his book.
“Hm—? Wait a sec, humans can’t use magic?”
“That’s right. We can’t even detect magic.”
“…What about if you, like…use an item or something?”
“We can use games created with magic…but it’s just the game working by its magic—humans can’t use magic themselves.”
“—Absolutely?”
Sora interrogated her persistently, but Steph didn’t seem to get offended. Rather—
“Absolutely. Spirit corridors—Immanity lacks these circuits to connect to the source of magic.”
Steph lowered her face a bit.
“That’s why we lose in the play for dominion, you see…”
—Hmmm. Sora gave a dry smile and pressed on.
“…So, in that case, who’s the best at magic? Rank One, right?”
“Oh, no, actually. If you go that high, they’re gods—their very being is a kind of magic. If you speak of being good at magic, in the common sense, the best would be Rank Seven, Elf.”
Elf. The stereotypical image rose in his mind.
“—Elf… By Elf, you mean the pale guys with the pointy ears?”
Steph’s face said, You certainly are knowledgeable for one of another world.
“Yes, indeed. Currently, Elven Gard is the largest nation in the world. They’ve used their magic to climb their way to the top. If you say ‘magic’, you think of Elves.”
—“Hm”, puffed Sora. Placing his hand on his chin and thinking, looking into space with a gaze that could not be more serious.
“—!”
Her heart pounding at his serious profile, collected in his tailcoat. It’s an illusion it’s an illusion it’s an illusion—it’s a planted emotion! Steph chanted to herself as if casting a curse. Meanwhile, Sora seemed to have got his thoughts together. Choosing his words as if probing for something, he queried.
“…Are there any races that can’t use magic…but still have large nations?”
“Uh, well, now that you mention it, Rank Fourteen, Werebeast, can’t use magic…”
Stammering, Steph somehow managed to answer.
“On the other hand, it’s said they have extraordinary senses, with which they can sense the presence of magic and read people’s feelings. The Werebeasts have united their islands in the Great Ocean to the southeast into the Eastern Union, which has already become the third-largest nation in the world—”
Steph continued painfully, unconsciously squeezing her arm with the hand she had on it.
“…Indeed, that is a race and nation which, unable to use magic itself, has—not overcome, but at least come to rival Elven Gard with powers beyond the reach of Immanity. But the other side of it is that it was all accomplished using powers that, from the point of view of Immanity, are supernatural or extrasensory.”
“—Hmm. That’s interesting.”
Humans couldn’t use magic, nor could they even tell if it had been used. There could be no victory when the other side was cheating in a way that was impossible to catch.
—If that was what they thought, then, yeah, they would lose.
“I see…I see how it is.”
Just about as Sora was nodding deeply, as if everything made sense.
“…Brother—I’ve learned it.”
Shiro’s voice rang out.
“Oh, that’s my sister.”
“…Praise me, more…”
“Of course, of course. That’s my sister; I’m so proud of you, genius girl! Wuzzawuzzawuzza.”
Sora stood and messed up Shiro’s hair as she squinted with glee, like a cat.
—While Steph looked on, uncomprehending.
“…Huh? Learned what?”
“Learned what? The Immanity tongue, of course.”
Sora looked blankly at Steph and tossed it off casually.
“But, yeah, you’re so awesome. It’s still gonna take me a little while longer.”
“…Brother, you’re slow.”
“Heh-heh-heh, it’s better for a man to be slow than fast, you know?”
“…Brother, you’re so small.”
“Nn-n-n-n-n-no, I’m not!! H-how do you evenSteph, what’s up?”
Steph was watching their banter agape. She spoke in a falsetto.
“Excuse me…did I hear you correctly? Did you say—she learned a whole language?”
“Um? Yeah, so?”
Shiro nodded once in agreement.
“—In—this short time? You’re kidding, right?”
Steph checked again with a strained face. Sora answered carelessly.
“It’s not that big a deal. As far as we’ve spoken, our grammar and vocabulary is exactly the same. All we need to learn is your writing system and we’re done.”
“…And…you still haven’t learned it, Brother.”
“I can’t learn it in fifteen minutes. That’s crazy. I’m not as smart as you; give me another hour. Anyway, what is this? I can’t figure out the pattern for how this symbol is used—”
“Don’t, think of that, like Japanese… Think of it like a Romance language…”
“No, I mean, I thought of that, but, then, look at the grammar; the predicate would be in the wrong position…”
“…Classical Chinese…”
“What? It’s inverted only in writing? What a pain in the ass—oh, but, yeah, that does work.”
“…Brother, learn more languages…”
“Come on, you’re the one who’s special being able to speak eighteen languages, including their classical forms. Your brother’s a mundane who only knows six languages, but that’s enough for gaming.”
Steph watched this banter incredulously. But the siblings didn’t seem to think anything of it. Tossing it around like it was everyday. But it was true that the words and speech were the same; all they had to do was learn the writing system. Ah, you might say, when you lay it out, it shouldn’t be that hard after all. But you have you noticed that they were working with another important factor? That is—.
To do that without being taught by anyone wasn’t learning, it was deciphering.
And accomplishing that in such a short time wasn’t even something to brag about for them. (I-is this normal in their world?) Two living things that had already completely overturned her understanding. Looking at the otherworldly siblings, Steph felt a chill run down her spine. But also a heat building faintly in her heart.
…Could it be? Perhaps she really had met people who were completely out of this world.
The people—who could change this country.
“—Hm? What is it?”
Steph’s heart jumped at Sora, who turned as if he’d noticed her eyes.
“Ah, um, no, it’s—I’m gonna make some tea.”
As Steph scuttled out of the library, her ears looked slightly reddish. Watching uncertainly, Sora wondered.
“…What’s up with her?”
While Shiro went on reading without so much as a glance.
“…Brother, you don’t…understand…girls.”
“—Yes, that’s why I’ve been a virgin for eighteen years. Wait, does that even have anything to do with it?”
Here was an eighteen-year-old man being lectured about feminine psychology by his eleven-year-old sister. They do say that boys mature emotionally slower than girls… In this case, at least, that seemed to be a fact.
“…Even though…you’re better than me at reading people…”
In contrast to Shiro’s muttering, Sora spoke proudly.
“Applying it to games is completely different from real-life socialization.”
In a manner of speaking, girls—no, people…yes. They were like a visual novel where you had to make tens of thousands of timed choices every second. How could it be other than self-evident that such a game was ridiculous and impossible?
“Got it!…”
Sora had finally learned to read Immanity with the help of his sister. He checked that he had managed to read the whole volume. And closed the hardcover book with a thud. Then his face went serious as he joined his hands in front of his face.
“So—Shiro.”
“…Mm.”
“You’ve realized already, right?”
“…Yeah.”
The siblings exchanged dialogue that only made sense to them. The brother asked with an uncharacteristic lack of conviction.
“—What do you think?”
But Shiro just closed her eyes.
“I’ll…follow you.”
Opening her eyes just a little, with her typical lack of expression, in a monotone.
“…Just as I promised—anywhere.”
—A promise.
His dad’s new wife had brought him a sister—Shiro. The sister who was born too smart. And the brother who was born too dumb. Askew, they fit each other as siblings better than real siblings. And when they came to be abandoned even by their parents, devoid of friends or allies, they exchanged a certain promise.—The sister who was too good and so couldn’t understand people.—The brother who was too bad and so read people’s expressions too deeply. Considering their complementary nature, the then-ten-year-old brother made a proposal. The then-three-year-old, already multilingual sister nodded and pinky-promised.
He rubbed that sister’s head. Eight years since—. The sister who had said that she would deign to follow him—Shiro. The brother who regardless had never ended up taking her out of the room—Sora. If you asked if they had any regrets…
“Well—maybe I can take you someplace more fun than that world?”
Looking at the chess pieces visible beyond the distant horizon, Sora extracted his phone and started his task scheduler.
Steph fixed her gaze on the bubbling, hot water. It was important to pay attention not only to the time to steep the leaves, but also to the temperature of the water to put them in. The pancakes she had made the previous day would accompany it. The pancakes didn’t really have the sugar they needed for tea, since humans had long since lost the land where it was grown. However, she compensated using cinnamon and other spices. She was quite proud of her work.