Guilty Gear Stories (spoilers abound!)

[Suzaku]

I get bleary-eyed after about an hour of squinting at tiny kanji in a book, and looking up said tiny kanji on the internets.

http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~grosenth/jwpce.html

JWPce is a godsend. A friend of mine who works as a translater over at Nintendo pointed it out to me a few years ago. It's a Japanese word processor with a built-in kanji dictionary (with English translations) and a bunch of different lookup methods (strokes and radicals and whatnot).

[Ashercroix]

Dude, thanks for the link! I have a really reliable online resource I use that has the same functions, but you don't need internet for this, right? That is AWESOME. When I lose my semi-unreliable internet connection, I can't really translate too well (especially when running into kanji and words that just DO NOT SEEM TO BE IN MY TWO USELESS DICTIONARIES). Thanks a lot! 8D

[Ashercroix]

Okay, sorry, Blade, but real-life copypasta when you don't know what you're reading is probably the most tedious thing I've ever done in my life. I'm all right with the letters themselves, but when it comes to the kanji, I have to look up every single one of them by radical, open the page of the kanji in question, and copypasta it from there into a word document for you. Not only can I practically feel this eating away at my already-poor eyesight (I can barely see and I'm slow-to-focus after about half an hour of it), it makes me want to do ANYTHING but that. Not to mention the complication of the documents themselves; a 22-kanji to 14-letter ratio is not good odds. I scanned it at 300dpi, which is more than good enough for me to recognize the characters with perfect ease, but the first column of text got blurred. I have no idea what resolution the scans that already exist are, but I did it just for the hell of it. If you really, REALLY want me to do this, I can, but with the state of my mental health lately, my counselor has suggested I don't do anything that stresses me out too much. This limits my transcripting to about a sentence a day. As much as I'd like to, this work is SO TEDIOUS AND TRYING that I just CAN'T dedicate more than half an hour to it a day, for the sake of my eyes and sanity. Maybe half an hour in the morning, and half an hour in the evening. Anyway, if you really really really need me to do this, it'll take a VERY. LONG. TIME. I'm not all that great at translating either, but if it's in text form, it's much, MUCH easier for me, so I hear you when it comes to that, which is why I agreed to this so quickly. However, once I began, I was reminded as to why I stopped doing it myself in the first place. It wasn't the translation itself, it was the process of putting it all in the computer. With my technique, that is literally about 90% of the work, and this is HELLISH. If someone can come up with an easier way of doing it, please, PLEASE let me know. I'd be so much more likely to finish this if it wasn't so godawful. Might as well drop what I've got here. Isotope & Isolation 法力の基礎埋論を完成させた人類は,休む間もなく 様々な分野への埋論の応用研究を開始した. 各国は利権 を求め, 我先にと研究に巨額の投資を行い, 優秀な科学 者を次々と登用した. Which basically means: "With the discovery of the energy called "Magic", mankind immediately began the research and application of magical theory in all manner of fields. Each country poured enormous effort and investments into the analysis, appointing many skilled scientists and researchers one after another." The next bit talks about three American scientists. Later, there's a part where someone tells Sol to stop smoking inside, and he says it's a fake cigarette. Then I'm pretty sure That Man says he's going to tell them a story. And yeah, that's about all I got from skimming over the talking bits. I'm not even sure that that's right. :/ Anyway, let me know what you want to happen.

[Nekomata]

You guys are working on copying text from a scan to a word file, right? If you want some help with that work, I could try. I'm not too good at translating, but I'm pretty good with kanji and I have the patience to do tedious work most of the time. I have homework, so I can't promise how fast or how much I can get done, but....I'd love to be of any help to you guys in translating this stuff if possible, I just need readable scans. ^^ And first post, so hi everyone, been stalking for a while though and you guys all do a really good job in organizing this crazy storyline into something understandable, thanks! ^^

[Ashercroix]

First of all, welcome to DustLoop! Most everyone here is really nice, so I hope you like it here. d >_< b Second... that would be so incredible helpful, dude. I'd probably be more likely to work on it more if I knew my workload wasn't so daunting. XD; Like I said before, I have no idea what the available scans' resolutions are, but if they aren't read-worthy, I'd be more than happy to squish down the spine of my copy and get a clear picture. Of course, don't feel pressured or anything. Hakuna matata. :P Oh, and Blade is the one doing most of the story work around these parts. I'm more or less relegated to comic and doujinshi translation. d >_< b The Overture Materials Collection is just a pretty daunting task, so I want to help out if I can, but it's been proving itself pretty tough. >_<

[Blade]

More or less, I don't mind if someone isn't fluent in English, if they can just type what they read in the Japanese books "as-is" and convert it to text document, that cuts the work in half. I don't mind Kanji, Hirangana, or Katakana if it suits you, as long as its text in a text file. Like I said, I suck at ID-ing Kanji, much like Ashercroix here, but anyone willing to simply type the stuff up, or convert a PDF or two to Japanese text (once in a blue moon if necessary, not right now, but it might come up, like that Raven PDF, though that one's done), that'd be EPIC WORK for me to thank you for. Nekomata, if you'd be so willing, you'd be doing this community a great service. I tend to do better when the kanji is solid text document and can process through it faster for translation.

[Nekomata]

Yeah, typing stuff up in Japanese isn't too hard for me, I've tried it out before and its time-consuming, but its a good chance for me to practice my kanji, so I like it. ^^

But, um...I found the scans again, and they're almost readable, but the more complicated kanji are too blurry to really tell what they are, so...if its really no problem, Ashercroix, would you mind making some higher resolution scans? I don't want you to ruin your book or anything though! >< Its a really nice looking book, I don't want you to have to damage your copy or anything, but I just can't manage to tell the exact strokes on the complicated kanji I don't know to look them up unfortunately...

[Ashercroix]

More than half, Blade! Once I've got it in computer-text form, that's like, at LEAST 80% of the work done, for me.

If I wasn't so busy with other things (work, school, other issues), it wouldn't be nearly as big a problem for me. I need something like this to be my SOLE project, or the tedium has me doing other things after about an hour, tops (if I have absolutely no idea what I'm reading, and there's like a million kanji with like, an article here or there - with conversation, I can go on for quite a long time without getting bored).

It'd be nice if you had actually directly SAID what you want me to do. Do you want me to keep going? I AM willing to help for the sake of the community, like I said, but until I get a direct reply, I have other things to do. Sorry if conferring directly with someone is too personal for you or whatever, but if I have even a smidgen of a human connection with someone, it makes a big difference in what I'm willing to do. I'm easily guilted by people, but if it feels like I'm just talking to text on a screen that just happens to mention something mutually interesting once in a while, I have no desire to put forth much effort.

That said, if anyone else wants this done on top of Blade, your opinions carry a lot of weight.

And Nekomata, no problem, I'll get right on it and edit this post with it when I'm done. I'm happy to do this for the people in the community! And how could I say no when you ask so nicely? Hahaha. Fear not, I'll just flatten it down under some artbooks if it gets a little strained. I've scanned a lot of books, and so far, so good! d >_< b

Edit: Here we gooo...

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=H1X95RBH

Let me know if there's any problem! d >_< b Oh, and don't forget to not do the bit I already did, just in case. It's not that I think you would, it's just that that's definitely something I would have forgotten about and then kicked myself for later, so just covering all the bases, hurr.

[Blade]

It'd be nice if you had actually directly SAID what you want me to do. Do you want me to keep going? I AM willing to help for the sake of the community, like I said, but until I get a direct reply, I have other things to do. Sorry if conferring directly with someone is too personal for you or whatever, but if I have even a smidgen of a human connection with someone, it makes a big difference in what I'm willing to do. I'm easily guilted by people, but if it feels like I'm just talking to text on a screen that just happens to mention something mutually interesting once in a while, I have no desire to put forth much effort.

Ah, I apologize. About all I wanted was someone who could read Kanji relatively easily and type what they see. Even if they suck at English, all the better if Japanese is their native. Sorry for not making that clear. Just turning the text in the book to a text document via copy and paste or just typing what they see as is like you did earlier with that bit of text. That's all I really wanted, no translation needed, just ID kanji and type as is. (I'll probably do the translation work, and if needed I'll look for corrections as I go.)

[Ashercroix]

I know that. I've said that the translating part is not that difficult for me. The translation I put up there took me all of about five minutes, as opposed to the hour and some it took to get the kanji and everything from the book to the computer.

I can do it, it's just tedious as hell. I have no way of typing the kanji out as is without knowing what it says first, so I have to do a roundabout procedure to track down the kanji in a copy-paste form. For me, it's possible, just TEDIOUS. It goes something like:

1. Get all the non-kanji text down, a line at a time, to keep confusion to a minimum.

2. Look at the kanji. If recognizable, look up the word and copy/paste the kanji itself to the document.

3. If unrecognizable, look each up, one at a time, by recognizable radicals.

4. Copy/paste each kanji after lookup process.

5. Repeat ad nauseum.

Obviously, steps three and four take the longest.

The reason I'm willing to help is for the sake of having as much GG stuff in English, for fans to enjoy, and since no one else seems to be willing/able, who else will do it? Since I can, I'd feel kind of shitty to not even at least try. And I do respect all the work you've done, and would like to give you a hand.

Since it takes me just a little while to actually get the meaning once I have it down in a document, I'll provide a crappy little translation with each bit I do. Feel free to look it over and whatnot, I'm sure it'll be full of errors, or something will be overlooked, or something. This kind of work is definitely not my forte, and I'm by no means anywhere near professional level.

[Blade]

Well, if you feel it's easier to translate it, than to convert it, by all means but...I was just trying to save you the trouble.

[Suzaku]

I wasn't planning on jumping in, but I hate to see you guys suffering.

OFFICIAL SHORT STORY: THAT MAN

Isotope & Isolation

　法力の基礎理論を完成させた人類は、休む間もなく

様々な分野への理論の応用研究を開始した。各国は利権

を求め、我先にと研究に巨額の投資を行い、優秀な科学

者を次々と登用した。科学者たちもまた、恵まれた環境

の中で新技術発展のために邁進していた時代。法力応用

研究の最先端――アメリカの半国営研究機関には新進

気鋭の若き三人の頭脳（ブレイン）が集（つど）っていた。

「もう！　また、研究室で煙草吸ってる！」

ファイルを小脇に抱え、軽やかにドアを開けて滑り込ん

できたのは研究室の紅一点、肩口まで伸びた赤い髪が特

徴の女性で名をアリアといった。十代にして情報工学の

博士学位を取得した紛れない才媛である。言動が大人び

ているため実際の年齢より落ち着いて見えるが、時折見

せる仕草がまだあどけない少女の面影を残していた。

「うるせえな。これは煙草じゃねぇ…」

窓際に腰掛け、気だるそうにしていた男性が応じる。研

究者というよりアスリートに近い引き締まった体躯を持

つ長身の男は名をフレデリックといった。アリアよりも二

つ年上になる彼は素粒子物理学の学位を持ち、先頃制定

された法力エネルギー物理学研究の第一人者でもある。

「…あ！　気づいてくれたんだ？」

「……別に…普通、気づくだろ」

「んもぅ！　普通は似合ってるぜ一とか言わない？　あ、

やっぱりいいや。フレデリックが気のきいたこと言うの

を想像したら、寒気がしてきた…」

フン、と鼻を鳴らしてフレデリックはそっぽを向く。

「はは、随分バッサリと思い切ったね…」

湯気の立つコーヒーカップを両手に持ち、のっそりと現

れたのは、この研究室の主任（チーフ）を務める細身の男性であっ

た。彼もまた若くして生命科学を修め、法力学基礎理論

完成の一翼を担った若き天才科学者である。現在はバイ

オインフォマティクス――即ち生命情報学に専攻を

移し、同研究室の主任（チーフ）として応用法力学研究の陣頭指揮

を執っている。

「あ、おはよう！　暖かくなってきたし、長いと仕事の

邪魔になることが多くて…」

「うん、ずいぶんと印象が明るくなったよ」

「わあ！　ホント？！」

「…フン、テメェもようやく学生気分が抜けてきたらしいな…」

フレデリックが苦々しげに毒づいた。

「ハハハ…、ほら、フレデリック。熱いから気をつけてね」

淹れたてのコーヒーを手渡す。フレデリックは無言で受

け取り、ブラックのまま口をつけた。

「…で、二人はまた、徹夜明けなの？」

「うん、まあね。でも、仕事をしてたわけじゃないんだ。

少し話し込んでしまってね…」

「五時間を少しとは言わん…」

面白くなさそうにそっぽを向いたまま、フレデリックが

毒づく。

「うわあ、五時間って。二人ともよく飽きないね…。で、

何の話？」

「現代においてまだ議論の余地が残る事象について話し

ていたんだ」

「なんだ、がっかりー。仕事の話と大差ないじゃない…」

ため息をつくアリア。そんな彼女の様子を無視してフレ

デリックが言う。

「俺たちも科学も万能じゃねぇ。解明出来ねぇことだっ

てあるだろう」

「もちろんそれは否定しない。僕が言いたいのは“僕達

の理解が足りずに解明出来ない事象”と“僕達がそもそ

も知覚できない事象”とは別だということだ」

「知覚できない事象って、どういう意味？」

「例えば…そうだね、神という存在だ。信心の有無はこ

こでは置くとして、僕達は神という概念を理解している。

けれど、神の存在を科学的に立証してはいない」

「神様は神様でいいじゃない。信じる者は救われる、ってね」

「喩えが悪かったね。もう少し身近な話にしよう。僕達

の肉体（からだ）はDNAによって役割を定められた約六〇兆個の

細胞によって構成されている。二十世紀になって僕達は

このメカニズムをようやく解き明かした」

「テメェの専門分野だな…」

コクリ、コーヒーを啜りながら頷く。

「けれど、このメカニズムが“誰がどのようにして構築

したものなのか”は判っていない」

「誰がって…。自然が織りなす試行錯誤の結果でしょ？

失敗したらやり直し、成功したら次のステップへ。もち

ろん突然変異（ミューテーシュン）もあったでしょうけど」

「アリアは…変異も含めてこれら全てが自然界の偶然の

産物だと？」

「…それ以外に考えられないじゃない」

「それは、確率的に極めて低すぎる。確率論は君の専門

分野だろう」

「確率的には正しいよ。でも、他に何があるというの？」

「――もういい。結論はなんだ？」

しびれを切らしたフレデリックが促す。

「ごめん、フレデリック。では、結論を急こう。事象の

なりゆきをある単一の方向に向かわせるようなカを持つ

存在があるとしたら？　この世のありとあらゆる事象の

行方を事細かに定義する存在だ」

「え一っと、それって神様のことでしょ？」

「イメージとしては近いかな。では、これを仮に“神（ゴッド）”

と呼ぽう。そして、“神（ゴッド）”は僕らが根源的に知覚できな

いものだとしたら…」

「…それが仮に存在したとして、何が恐いというの？」

「ミッシングリンクって知っているかい？　連続性が期待

されている事象に対して、非連続性が観察された際にそ

の顕著な間隙を指す用語だ。分かり易く生物学で例える

とＡ種からＣ種への進化の過程で発生すべきＢ種の存

在がスッポリと抜け落ちている状態だね。では、ミッシ

ングリンクがどのようにして起こるのか？　僕はこの現

象は“神（ゴッド）”の制御ミスじゃないかと考えている。つまり

“神（ゴッド）”の事象定義は常に正常に動作しているわけじゃない

と言える。…では、制御ミスはなぜ起こるのか？　機構

そのものに欠陥があるのか…第三者によって変異を促さ

れたのか…。僕は後者だと考えているんだ。つまり“神（ゴッド）”

が自然のなりゆきとして定めたＡ種からＢ種への進化を

“第三者”が介入して、Ｃ種への進化を示唆する…あるい

はＢ種への可能性を消す。ともかくＢ種を経てＣ種へと

進化するのが本来の姿であるのに“第三者”によってＣ

種へ直接進化するようにプログラムを書き換えられてし

まう、と。僕はこの第三者を“啓示”と呼んでいる」

「ちょ、ちょっと待って！　全然分かりやすくない…」

アリアがぷうと頬を膨らませた。その様子を見たフレデ

リックが腕を組み直してフォローする。

「１ｍ（メートル）のキリンの首を１０ｍにするのに２ｍ、３ｍ、４ｍと

段階をおく必要はねえってことだ。一気に１０ｍにしち

まえばいい。ＤＮＡを書き換えてな。ただ、コイツはこ

のＤＮＡの書き換えは“神（ゴッド）”ではなく“啓示”ってヤツ

の仕業だと言ってる」

「理屈は分かったけど、突飛すぎるわ。それに進化を促

す存在なら問題ないんじゃない？」

「いや、そうとは限らない。ミッシングリンクが確認さ

れている種には少なからず絶滅種も存在する。生物の進

化の究極は種を永久的に存続させることだ。故に絶滅種

は進化の成功例とは言えない。これは僕達人類にも当て

はまる。正しい進化を遂げようとしている僕らに“啓

示”が介入して、あらぬ方向へ進化させられてしまった

ら――僕達は滅びの道を辿ることになる」

ことさらにシリアスな口調だった。アリアが色を失う。

「…アリア、全部コイツの妄言だ。真に受けるな」

「ハハハ、妄言とは酷いねフレデリック。仮説と言ってよ」

「そ、それで、フレッドはどう思うのデ？」

「テメェの道はテメェで決めるのが一番だ。誰かの手に

よって変えられるなんて我慢ならん…それだけだ」

「よかった。君も僕と同じだね…」

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

ピー ビピッ ピー ピピッ ピー ピピッ

仄暗い室内に、電子的な警告音が響いた。

「やれやれ、また容量限界を超えて（オーバーフロー）してしまったか…」

長身の黒ずくめの男が苦々しげに舌打ちした。コンソー

ルを叩き装置を停止させる。男は祭壇へ上がるかのよう

な厳かな足取りで端末の先――巨大な棺桶のような装

置に歩み寄った。

　スイッチを押すと音もなく装置の上蓋が外れた。やや

あって、装置の中から色白で華奢な少年が身を起こす。

装置の中は無色の液体で満たされ、外界からの干渉を

遮っていた。粘度の高い液体が一糸まとわぬ少年の身体

にまとわりついた。

　少年の脳漿には数百を超える極細の金属糸が繋がれて

いた。記憶（データ）を海馬へと再定着させていく処置（プログラム）。より具体

的に説明するならばＨＰＣサーバから一時保存（バックアップ）した記憶（データ）

を受け取り、失った記憶（メモリー）の復元を行う処理（シーケンス）である。

　肉体を若返らせる処置（プログラム）には、代償として高確率で記憶

の喪失と混濁を引き起こすという致命的な欠陥があっ

た。そのため少年は記憶の永久的な消失に備え事前に

記憶（メモリー）の一時保存（バックアップ）を行っている。

「いかがですか、お身体の調子は…」

「瑞々しい感覚で研ぎ澄まされている。復元は問題なく

完了したよ」

「しかし、幼若ホルモンの拒絶反応は厄介ですね…」

「元々、人間の生理活性物質ではないからね。当面は事

前に記憶（メモリー）を一時保存（バックアップ）するしかないね」

「……はっ」

「鴉」と描かれたマントを翻し、黒い男が恭しく頭を下

げる。

「ところで、いかがされました？　途中、少々脳波が乱

れていたようですが…」

「…ああ、古い記憶を久々に見てしまってね。感情が昂

ぶったのかもしれない」

I could probably have it translated inside of a few days. Ashercroix: Could you please post Raven's as well? Or any/all of the other ones. I could at least help transcribe them.

Edit: After parsing it out properly, it's really quite a bit shorter than I initially thought. Might be able to translate it quicker than I first estimated.

Edit 2: Minor typo fix.

Edit 3: All of the typos corrected.

[Blade]

Hah, it wasn't so much suffering as a misunderstanding. Regardless, Suzaku, if we had more guys like you, we'd get this stuff done in no time flat. Thanks a ton, and do what you think you can, and if you can't that's fine, we'll work with whatever. Just gotta get the guys who "can do it" to work with the guys who "can get the goods". If you catch my meaning. I'll be honest when I say, I work best when I sort the info into logical bites. Translation was never my forte, but I'll do what I gotta to get stuff done. It's just my passion for the series, that's all. Jeez, how come Final Fantasy fandoms get their stuff translated so fast, anyway?

[Ashercroix]

LOL, holy crap, Suzaku! You've sure saved my bacon. ...Or something like that. Anyhow, thanks a lot! You're amazing! Woooo yeaaaahh! I aspire to be as good as you someday. Seriously. d >_< b I'm like, so tired I can barely read the screen right now, but tomorrow I'll have the scans up, same quality as last time. No problemo. Sorry if I sounded miffed, Blade. I've had a lot to worry about lately. Let's play to our strengths, shall we? Final Fantasy gets translated because they have about one million times the size fanbase we do. :/ ...Not that we don't miss out on a lot of idiot fanboys because of it, but still... eh.

[danceljoy]

I have really nothing to contribute in the translation except: Go Blade! Go Ashercroix! Go Suzaku!

[Alien55234]

Blade, just to let you know I'm not dead yet. The past few months I've been trying to get more tag team quotes out of GGX Advance. Not much luck there, I've got 5 or 6 more but I'm still trying. I'll send you a text file once I have more.

[TheAirCorsair]

I've been reading those tag team quotes. Some of them are pretty damned funny. I especially like this one you translated: Johnny: Teaming up is more exciting than I thought! What do you think? Sol: ...I think you're a bastard. Oh Sol, you're such a tsundere.

[Zazz]

when did the title get updated with "SPOILERS ABOUND!"? hrmm and is that GG wikia up yet?

[Lou_Cypher]

I've been reading those tag team quotes. Some of them are pretty damned funny.

I especially like this one you translated:

Johnny: Teaming up is more exciting than I thought! What do you think?

Sol: ...I think you're a bastard.

Oh Sol, you're such a tsundere.

Wait, when where there ever some tag team quotes? Could just be my head but...eh?

[Alien55234]

Well in the Gameboy Advance version of GGX, you could team characters up with each other. At some point, you'd get a unique dialog between the two characters. Unfortunatly, it's very random so it's very time consuming to log them all. At the moment I'm helping Blade with that.

[Blade]

Regarding that list...here's what I have thus far:

http://mimeblade.oddigytitanium.com/Guilty_Gear/Guilty_Gear_Quote_Project/GGXAE_Winquotelist.txt

I created a list based on all the possible combinations, though I don't know if they all have one. I tried hex-editing GGXAE once but that failed to yield results.

[Ashercroix]

Stories scanned and uploaded. Any issues, let me know. d >_< b

Sol's Story: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KSIYF5XF

Sin's Story: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=209HUSW4

Paradigm's Story: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8WZ7HHMV

Izuna's Story: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=70P5B45V

Valentine's Story: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QWYZI3TU

Ky's Story: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6HTMNSJI

Raven's Story: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W5QOAQ6Q

Lizards are not for eating, Sin.

[Alien55234]

I see you've added the quotes I gave you. I'll be using this so I can narrow down which quotes I still need, thanks Blade! Also, I tried to hex-edit it as well, no cigar.

[Suzaku]

Okay, all done. I also corrected some typos I made in the transcription as I went through, so the first post is updated. Here it is:

OFFICIAL SHORT STORY: THAT MAN

Translation by: Suzaku

Isotope & Isolation

The human race had completed a basic theory of magic, and without rest began applied research of the theory in a variety of fields. Each nation pursued interests, scrambled to invest huge sums to conduct research, and appointed one excellent scientist after another. The scientists, too, were blessed to be in a landscape with the new technological developments of an era that strived to advance. Cutting-edge applied magic research -- in an American semi-state-operated research institute the brains of three energetic, up-and-coming youths get together.

"Not again! You're smoking in the lab, again!"

Files tucked under one arm, the bright flower of the group who slipped into the laboratory through a gently opened door, with red, shoulder-length hair and feminine features, was Aria. A teen when she acquired her PhD in intelligence engineering, she was a focused and talented woman. Though her grown-up speech and conduct made her appear more settled down than her actual age, from time to time her mannerisms showed traces of the innocent girl that was left behind.

"Gimme a break. This isn't a cigarrete..."

Seated by the window, it had been a lazy-looking man that responded. Tall and with the toned physique of an athlete rather than that of a researcher, his name was Frederick. He was Aria's senior by two years and held a degree in particle physics, and was also an authority in the recently established study of magical energy physics.

"...Oh! Did you notice?"

"... Nothing... apart from normal, that I'm aware of."

"Grr! Wouldn't it be normal to say it suits me? Oh, I should've known. Just imagining Frederick saying something considerate, it gives me the chills..."

With a "Hmph", Frederick snorted and turned away.

"Haha, you cut it quite boldly..."

Holding steaming coffee cups in both hands, and entering slowly, it was the slender man who served as chief of the laboratory. Having completed his study of life science in his youth, he was a young scientific prodigy who had played a part in completing the basic theory of magic. Now specializing in bioinformatics -- that is, the study of biological data, he was transferred to this very laboratory in the capacity of chief to spearhead applied magical research.

"Oh, good morning! It's been getting warmer, and it kept getting in the way while I was working when it was long..."

"Yeah, it gives quite a cheerful impression."

"Wow! Really?!"

"... Hmph, seems like you finally shed the student feeling..."

Frederick cursed in disgust.

"Hahaha... Hey, Frederick. Be careful, it's hot."

He handed over the cup of coffee. Frederick grabbed it without a word, taking it black and putting it to his mouth.

"... So, you two, did you pull an all-nighter?"

"Yeah, you could say that. Though, not because we were working. We got into a little bit of a deep discussion..."

"I wouldn't call five hours a little bit..."

Not amused, Frederick turned away and cursed.

"Wow, five hours. You both must be pretty tired... So, what did you talk about?"

"We were talking about phenomena that remain controversial to this day."

"What the heck, that's disappointing. That's not much different from talking about work..."

Aria sighed. Frederick ignored the way she looked and spoke.

"Neither we nor science are all-knowing. There are some things which can't be explained."

"Of course, I don't deny that. What I'm saying is that there's a difference between, "phenomena which can't be explained because we lack understanding," and, "phenomena which can't be percieved in the first place.""

"Phenomena which can't be percieved, what do you mean?"

"For example... Let's say, the existence of God. Assuming the presence of faith, we understand the general concept of God. However, the existence of God isn't scientifically proven."

"God is a kind God. Those who believe shall be saved, not."

"A bad example I suppose. I'll talk about something a little more familiar. Our bodies are comprised of about 60 trillion cells which are assigned roles by DNA. It's now the 20th century and we've finally explained the mechanism."

"Your field of speciality..."

Confessing, he nodded while sipping his coffee.

"However, the mechanism for "who built us and how" is still unknown."

"Who...? Wasn't it a result of the trial and error weaved by nature? If something fails it gets redone, if it succeeds it goes to the next step. Of course there might be mutations, too."

"Aria... is everything in the natural world, including mutations, produced by accident, then?

"... I'd never considered otherwise."

"Well, the probability of that is extremely low. I guess probability theory is a specialty of your field."

"It's stochastically accurate. But, what else is there to say?"

"--That's everything. What's the conclusion?"

Having noddded off Frederick was jolted out it.

"Sorry, Frederick. I'll get to the conclusion. What if there was an existence which pointed the outcome of every event in a single direction? It would exist to define every possible outcome of any event anywhere in minute detail."

"Uhh, I think that would be God?"

"Your image is close enough. Well then, we'll call it "God" for argument's sake. So, in this case "God" would be beyond our fundamental perception."

"... Assuming it exists, what's there to be afraid of?"

"Do you know about missing links? In phenomena that are expected to have continuity, the term indicates the significant gap where non-continuity is observed. In simple biology terms it's the condition in the evolutionary process from species A to species C in which a species B should occur but is missing. So, how does a missing link happen? I think this phenomenon might be a mistake in "God's" control. In other words, you could say that the events defined by "God" don't always behave normally. ... Well then, why do control mistakes occur? Is it a defect in the mechanism itself... or a mutation prompted by a third party...? I think it's the latter. That is to say, in the natural result defined by "God" for the evolution of species A into species B a "third party" intervenes, and prompts the evolution into species C... or eliminates the possibility of species B. Generally speaking, the evolution in its original form from species B to species C would be rewritten like a program by a "third party" so that it would evolve directly into species C, then. I've dubbed the third party "Apocalypse.""

"Wa, wait just a minute! I don't understand it at all..."

Aria puffed out her cheeks with a "Whew". Seeing her appearance Frederick crossed his arms and followed up.

"For a giraffe's neck to go from 1m (meter) to 10m it would need to progress to 2m, 3m, 4m, and so on. I want it to jump to 10m all at once. I rewrite the DNA. So, this guy's saying that if the DNA is rewritten it's not "God" but rather "Apocalypse" that's responsible."

"I understand the theory, but it's too wild. Besides, isn't it good for the existence to encourage evolution?"

"No, not always. When checking species where missing links exist there's a considerable amount of extinct species. The ultimate evolution of a lifeform is for the species to continue indefinitely. Therefore an extinct species couldn't be considered an example of successful evolution. This applies to we humans as well. If "Apocalypse" were to intervene in our attempt to achieve righteous evolution, it could cause us to evolve incorrectly -- we would tread the road to ruin."

His tone was particularily serious. Aria turned pale.

"... Aria, all of this guy's statements are absurd. Don't believe them."

"Hahaha, absurd statements, that's cruel, Frederick. I did say it was a hypothesis."

"Oh, so, that's what Fred really thinks, eh?"

"Your way is best decided by yourself. It can endure being changed by someone else's hand... nothing more."

"Good. I feel the same way..."

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Beep, Be-Bee, Beep, Be-Bee, Beep, Be-Bee...

In a dark room, an electronic alarm resounded.

"Alas, did it overflow again...?"

A tall man all in black clicked his tongue in disgust. He struck the console and the equipment stopped. As if ascending an altar the man approached a computer terminal with a solemn gait -- stepped up to a device like a gigantic coffin.

With the press of a switch the lid silently came off the apparatus. After a short while, a delicate, fair-skinned lad sat up within the device. The interior of the device was filled with a colorless liquid, obstructing interference from the outside world. The highly viscous liquid coated the stark-naked boy's body.

More than a hundred superfine metal threads were connected to the boy's brain. It was a program to repair the data in his hippocampus. To explain more specifically, he was recieving backup data from the HPC server, it was a sequence whereby lost memory was restored.

In the program which rejuvenates the body, there was a fatal defect which caused a high probablity of haziness and loss of memory in return. Therefore, to prepare for permanent memory loss the boy was conducting a backup of his memory beforehand.

"How is it, the condition of your body...?"

"It feels keenly young and full of life. The restoration was completed without complication."

"However, the rejection of juvenile hormones is troublesome..."

"That's because it wasn't a human bioactive substance in the first place. For now we'll just have to backup my memory beforehand."

"... Aye."

His mantle which had "Karasu" drawn on it fluttering, the man in black respectfully bowed his head.

"By the way, was something wrong? Midway through, there seemed to be a slight disturbance in your brain waves..."

"... Ah, I got to see an old memory after a long time. Perhaps it elicited some nostalgia."

[Ashercroix]

Karasu? So that's Crow? Jeezus, thanks so much, Suzaku. You are AMAZING. *kisses boots* Seriously. Man, Sol was a dick even back then. Gotta love him. XD