Chapter 39: Recollections of Time

"Huh… It's delicious."

Aleph murmured as he sat on his chair. He is currently residing in one of the special dorm rooms within the fifth institute.

"It's below Mei's… but it's alright for her first cooking."

He did not expect Mobius to take their jokes seriously. She immediately cooked all by herself for their dinner. Though it wasn't as outstanding as the lunch boxes Mei offered to him back then, it wasn't bad for a first-timer.

Click-!

Aleph opened his silver briefcase and took out a notebook. It was already half-filled with words. It was separated into two halves by a built-in bookmark. 

The notebook detailed his life—rather, his past life and his current life. The first half is reserved for his past life while the second half is reserved for his current life.

After a month and half of dreaming, Aleph saw all sorts of memories. He then decided to sort all of them into a diary of sorts.

"There's something strange…"

He looked at the first page of his [Past Life].

According to the dreams, he was born on a planet called Earth. It has a total of seven continents and is divided into numerous countries. 

Earth was a place devoid of any supernatural occurrences. There was no honkai that invaded it, much less monsters that threatened humanity.

Nevertheless, they ended up creating a conflict by themselves. The Third World War began a hundred years after the end of the Second World War. The major powers took out numerous things they kept hidden to themselves. It wasn't an exaggeration that his past life's technological tree far surpassed the current Fire MOTH despite Honkai's existence.

Their main combat forces are made up of mechs and exoskeleton suits. It was a change brought by the discovery of the miniature nuclear reactor.

Many people thought that everything would turn for the better as the world's energy crisis was lifted. They even looked forward to space travel that only existed in fiction.

Unfortunately, the complete opposite happened.

The major powers' consensus to space travel was for Earth to be fully integrated. They weren't able to form an alliance unlike Fire MOTH, which then led to that war.

As far as Aleph had experienced, "he" was a fresh graduate enlisted in the war. Due to his course, however, he was directly placed in the Research and Development of the mechs and exoskeleton suits.

Then, the situation turned for the worse when even they were forced to fight. It was also at that time did he use his specialization to strike at the enemies' weaknesses. He fought mechs and exoskeleton suits by exploiting their weaknesses.

In the end, he slowly became accustomed to it and was able to defeat mechs with an exoskeleton suit. That time interval lasted for a decade.

After that, he couldn't remember much. His dreams only gave him portions of his memories. He had to piece them together for them to make more sense.

The final thing he could recall was when he "died" due to a huge explosion.

"I knew about the future in my current life. Is it possible that I knew about it when I was on Earth..?"

That was the problem that kept scratching his heart. He somehow knew about this world's future. Aleph couldn't find any reasonable links in his [Current Life]. It served to explain that it might be from his [Past Life].

"Speaking of which…"

Aleph went to the page that detailed his [Current Life]. It was more detailed compared to his [Past Life], mainly due to the fact he could access his records from Fire MOTH.

This world, coincidentally, was also called Earth. It was just that it was divided into five continents, with Mu Continent as the center of them all.

"Aleph Ainsworth" was born in the Far East. His mother and father are from the Far West and Far East, respectively.

Aleph's life trajectory was completely normal, aside from some events that made his prodigious side stand out. He was shown as smart from the beginning.

"Reincarnation…"

Through the dreams, Aleph knew that he was self-aware since his birth. The daily events that followed showed how he dealt with things maturely. Though, Aleph has a strange feeling and somehow thought of it as "prejudiced".

That normal life trajectory continued until he realized this world's origin as soon as he heard "Nagazora City" in one of the reports on the television.

…

"Nagazora City? Is it..?!"

The elementary schooler Aleph's appearance was outstanding. Although, he could not help but be panicked when he realized what this "world" was.

"Honkai..!"

…

"I knew about this world…" He blankly muttered as he spun the [Fountain Pen] in his hands. "How come I knew about this…"

Numerous ideas entered his mind. The pen enhanced his 'creativity' and allowed him to see things in numerous perspectives.

The entries to his diary continued.

Everything progressed "normally" until he was informed of his parents' death. With his authority in Fire MOTH, he found out that his parents became the victims of honkai beasts during their second honeymoon.

At the age of fourteen, he became an orphan.

Aleph's life became bleak at that point. He was left alone in their house. 

Then…

"I haven't dreamed of those years."

His life during that bleak period somehow didn't appear in his dreams. It was fast-forwarded to him being a junior who is about to enter college in the next two years.

The only clue he had during that period was a person called "Kurumi". She was close enough with him that he thought about her several times.

"Ugh…"

Tonight, Aleph focused on 'connecting the dots' once again.

*****

In a place far away.

The unrelenting flow of time is enough to erase numerous things.

The names of the defeated dynasties.

The people who fell due to their enemies.

Swoosh-!

In the midst of a blood-colored alley, a girl stood in place. Her presence was out of place. Her astonishing appearance could steal everyone's gaze.

The hem of her skirt swayed with the wind. As she strolled within the alley, dozens of bodies lay to the ground lifelessly. Her gothic lolita outfit was completely inconsistent with the leather jackets these gang members wore.

Sou-!

Tap-!

Someone leaped from the rooftop straight to where the girl was. Surprisingly, her appearance was extremely similar to the girl's.

"There's not much time."

"Time… We don't lack time."

As the girl said so, she faintly touched the silver pocket watch hidden on her side.

Hearing her poetic words, the other identical girl was stunned before she laughed.

"You're right. They can wait."

Who knew that this girl was the notorious spirit hunted by the entire world?

"If it's a show they want, let's give them that, no?"

At this moment, a trace of lawlessness emerged from her smile.