“Hey Merry, when you went to that forest in your dreams,
what were you wearing?”
“Well, that’s sudden, isn’t it? … I think I was wearing my
nightclothes without my sandals. Why?”
“I was just thinking: You said your dreams usually end with
a Youkai chasing you, but the only things you’ve ever brought back were things
you could carry, like the cookies or those bamboo shoots, right? I was thinking
that it might be that you can only bring things that you can carry along, like
that notepad you had the second time.”
Merry frowned at this, obviously considering whether or not
this was true. This was simultaneously one of the best and worst things about
giving an idea to Merry. If you pose a scenario to her, she will unflinchingly
dive into discussing it without stopping to consider common sense. At the same
time, this eagerness meant she never stopped to question a base assumption. In
the great battle between natural sciences and human sciences, our experience
has ended in Mutually Assured Distraction after the battle over the Ontological
Argument. Merry finally nodded, accepting the idea.
“So, if I kept something on me when I fell asleep, I could
take them with me on purpose and have them with me in my dream. Maybe I can
carry a notebook to record things more clearly, or even take a camera and try
to bring pictures back. Do you think a picture would come back with me?”
“Actually, I was thinking of having you take me instead”
As a clear example of how Merry becomes too attached to
ideas sometimes, she was already shaking her head.
“I don’t see how that could work. A dream is the process of
your mind undergoing activity in the subconscious. The experience within a
dream would only be applicable to the person dreaming it. When I took those
notes on my second trip, they didn’t come back with the paper, so you might not
remember anything even if you managed to come along anyway. That’s even
assuming that I could bring you along, and that you’re you and not an idealized
image I have of you. Anyway, how would I bring you along in the first place?”
“…”
“Alright, silly question. I just didn’t realize the great
quantum physicist needed her hand held through such a simple process”
“Only a quantum physicist would recognize that they do need a second hand to hold to achieve
the necessary oscillation that allows you to vibrate through whatever boundary
lies between your dreams and your reality Merry. It takes two to tangle, and a
closed string loop isn’t quite as flexible as an open one.”
“But I can travel through my dreams on my own, so my own “string”
is good enough, don’t you think so? Maybe I don’t need you.”
“That’s probably because you’re psychologically unstable,
like a polar atom. You have your fantasies lined up on one side and your
factual knowledge on the other, and thus you create a vibrating sting between
yourself. It’s like the opposite from what us normal people do, where we mix
around our dreams and facts until it’s all blended together.”
“Much like curry and rice, don’t you think? So then, do you
mix the curry and the rice to make a uniform state of curry rice, or do you eat
each separately? What is most sensible, Renko?”
“I would say to simply eat the curry as it is and enjoy the
flavor, but I know that smile means you have an answer already, Merry. So, what
is it?”
“Well, you obviously take bites that are half and half. That
way, you get 3 tastes.”
“3?”
“The taste of the rice by itself, the taste of the curry by itself,
and the taste of both of them mixing together at the boundary between solid
and fluid.”
“Breaking the model down to a more fundamental level, you
could say that every grain of rice undergoes the same process, meaning that the
approach to eating is fundamentally irrelevant.”
“Ah, but on that scale the rice is completely surrounded by
the curry. Though your argument that they’re objectively the same holds merit,
I still can’t taste the rice without getting the curry taste mixed in. So it’s
really not the same after all.”
“Alright then, so then my original point is all the better,
isn’t it? I shall supply the boring certainty of this life of rice, and you
shall be my mixed boundary.”
“And the curry?”
“The endless possibility that lies beyond all boundaries,
the one that you’ve been getting to enjoy without your treasured comrades in
the Sealing Club. Speaking of which, why don’t we have a sleepover tonight? Oh
Merry, please hold my hand until I fall asleep and whisk me away to Wonderland!
Never let go, never!”
-
Waking up to find yourself in another world is surprisingly
more peaceful than one might expect. Oh by the way, my name is Usami Renko, a
member of an occult club. And as of now, I can add the honor of being the first
scientist to set foot on an unknown world.
… well, I think it’s a new world.
“Merry, is this the place you usually go to? It looks
boring.”
“It’s always different. Before that though, there is that
thing to verify, isn’t there? How do I know you’re the real Renko? Renko would remember
that I go someplace different almost every time.”
“Yes, but wouldn’t your dream version of me also know that?
Maybe I just forgot in the heat of the moment.”
“And maybe I figured you would if you had come along. Quite
a dilemma we have here, huh?”
“An easily solved one though.”
“Yes, the premise is somewhat overused. Now, tell me
something that I don’t know to prove you’re the real Renko!”
“You make a cute “ah-pichuu~” noise when you’re drifting
off.”
“… alright, you’ve convinced me you’re Renko. Now never
speak of this again.”
“Hey, it’s cute. So, where are we, do you think?”
“Shouldn’t it be me who asks you that? There’s the moon
there, so you tell me.”
“… it’s 2:04 AM, and we’re at… 36.2 N and 138.1 E”
“That’s somewhere in Japan at least. Isn’t that close to
where Mt. Fuji is?”
There is but only one conclusion. We have been transported
through Merry’s dream to a place yet unexplored, though it’s too soon to say
whether it is actually a different world.
“So then Merry, when do the Youkai show up? A full moon
would be the perfect background for a photo. Do you know why that is?”
“?”
“The appearance of both the recognizably natural and the
supernatural in the same place becomes a mixture of both drama and reality. It’s
like the children in this country, remember? Dreams and reality are
fundamentally different, meaning one can become the other with great effort.
Though in this case, your bad habit of wandering in dreams seems to take no
effort. Now, let’s see some Youkai.”
“Well-reasoned Renko, but unfortunately I don’t determine
when and where Youkai appear. Maybe we should explore a bit and we’ll find –
ah!”
As expected of the mysterious Merry, a magician of dreams.
She has literally stumbled across something interesting. Beggars can’t be
choosers, so any souvenir will do, even-
“… An umbrella? I wonder what something like that is doing
all the way out here?”
“Perhaps it was blown out here by the wind? It looks rather
off, like one of those archaic parasols used in feudal times. Perhaps it was
lost in a great conflict, or abandoned when its owners had to flee?”
“… Perhaps your perception of dream and reality had become
too blurred, Merry. Maybe it’s actually a Youkai trick! Pick it up, Merry!”
“Why should I be the one to pick it up?”
“Because it’s your dream, so it’s your show!”
“In that case, I’ve done my part. Now do yours and pick it
up!”
“Fine, I’ll pick it up then.”
“…”
“I’ve picked it up. Guess there’s no Youkai.”
“To begin with, it probably wasn’t going to be a Youkai
anyway. How would a Youkai know to become an umbrella to trick humans in a place
like this?”
“That’s what makes it interesting! Anything could happen!”
-
Unfortunately, as oft quoted from Robert Frost, “Nothing
gold can stay”, and this joint dream is no exception. It should be said that
Renko was doing an admirable demonstration of Flow, snapping pictures left and
right and retaining her hold on the umbrella.
“Merry! Come over here and help me search for a souvenir!”
“Don’t you have one already?”
“Well, I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m not sure I want
to keep the umbrella.”
“Why not?”
“It doesn’t surprise people well enough. Aside from how
old-fashioned it is, there’s nothing to say that it was obtained in a great
adventure. If I wanted to brag about a journey like this, I’d rather have a
trophy like the claw of an Ippon Datara or a picture of a heterochromic
monster, something like red and blue, or green and grey.”
“You’ve seen the things I’ve found before. Settle for
something normal.”
“… Still, I’ll pass. I’m not sure what I’d do with an
eggplant-colored umbrella. So, how do we wake up from your dream?”
“It feels different from normal, but usually I just think
about waking up. Maybe you need to be back over here for us to leave.”
-
Somewhere in the Nagano Region, an umbrella was once
abandoned, cast aside forever. Where might the winds of chance take something
like that?
It may be the
first time meeting you that you know of. I’m Yukari Yakumo. I don’t know from
where and when you might be stumbling upon this. Of course, that’s a lie. I do
know.
I’m certain a
rational person would question the accuracy of the account listed above. A
suspicious person would question my reasons for making it available. A wise
person would realize that asking after it would probably yield little to no
reliable answers, and a happy person should just disregard all questions.
This piece does
have a certain sense of nostalgic charm, doesn’t it? Incidentally, the most
generalized explanation of string theory I can offer is that the universe’s
most basic building blocks are composed of theoretical strings, and these
vibrate in such a way that their physical properties are expressed. Much like a
vibrating string, strings can hold their vibration for quite a while, can’t
they? It doesn’t matter how much time has or hasn’t gone by, you can still hear
the sound of two interlopers plucking the strings in the Nagano region long
ago, can’t you? Such a nostalgic sound.
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