this.”
“Like this?”
“All alone with a boy…”
“That’s very surprising. You’ve never gone out with someone before?”
“I haven’t.”
“Really? But you probably have guys asking you out all the time.”
“Well…” She hung her head shyly. “But I can’t. I’m not allowed to get involved with anyone. At least, not in this…”
She suddenly became quiet. Three couples looking like they didn’t have a care in the world passed behind us before she spoke again.
“Kyon?”
I was counting the number of leaves floating by in the river when her voice brought me back to the real world.
Asahina looked at me with a brooding expression on her face. She then spoke in a firm voice.
“I have something to tell you.”
I could see the determination glimmering in her doe eyes.
She sat next to me on a bench under the cherry trees. But she was finding it hard to start talking. After mumbling things like “Where do I start,” “I’m terrible at explaining things,” and “You might not believe me,” Asahina eventually caught herself and said this.
“I do not belong in this epoch. I come from further into the future.”
“I can’t tell you exactly when and which time plane I come from. I couldn’t tell you if I wanted to. The information about the future that can be revealed to people in the past is severely restricted. I was required to undergo mental conditioning and receive mandatory hypnotism before boarding the trans-time vehicle. So if I try to say anything beyond what’s necessary, I will automatically be blocked. Please keep that in mind as you listen.”
Asahina spoke.
“Time cannot be viewed as something that flows continuously. Rather, time is an accumulation of punctuated planes.”
“I’m already lost.”
“Um, let’s see. Picture it as animation. It looks like it’s moving, but it’s actually composed of a sequence of still frames. Time can be considered a similar kind of digital phenomena. Would it be easier to understand if I compare it to a flip book?
“Breaks exist between one time and another time, though their rate of occurrence is close to zero. That is why time appears to have no breaks in continuity.
“Time travel means moving in a three-dimensional direction across the accumulated time planes. Being from the future, my presence on this time plane is similar to that of an extra picture added into a flip book.
“Because time has no continuity, even if I tried to change history in this epoch, those changes wouldn’t be reflected in the future. The changes would only affect up to the end of this time plane. If you only scribble on one part of a flip book with hundreds of pages, the story won’t change, right?
“Time isn’t analog like this river. Every moment is a digital phenomenon made up of accumulated time planes. Do you understand now?”
I considered if I should press my hand against my forehead. I ended up doing it.
Time plane. Digital. I didn’t care too much about those things. But a time traveler?
Asahina stared at the edge of her sandals.
“The reason I came to this time plane was because…”
A couple with two children passed by, their shadows falling across us.
“It was three years ago. A large timequake was detected. Oh, um. Three years ago if you count from the current time. Back around when you and Suzumiya became middle school students. After arriving in the past to investigate the matter, we were shocked. No matter what we tried, we were unable to go any further back in time.”
Again with the three years ago business, huh?
“The conclusion was that a large time fault had appeared between time planes. But we couldn’t figure out why the fault was limited to this epoch. We only learned the possible reason recently…. Ah, recently for the future I come from.”
“… And the reason is?” Don’t tell me it’s that.
Unfortunately, my wish wasn’t granted.
“Suzumiya.”
Asahina said the dreaded word.
“We found
“Like this?”
“All alone with a boy…”
“That’s very surprising. You’ve never gone out with someone before?”
“I haven’t.”
“Really? But you probably have guys asking you out all the time.”
“Well…” She hung her head shyly. “But I can’t. I’m not allowed to get involved with anyone. At least, not in this…”
She suddenly became quiet. Three couples looking like they didn’t have a care in the world passed behind us before she spoke again.
“Kyon?”
I was counting the number of leaves floating by in the river when her voice brought me back to the real world.
Asahina looked at me with a brooding expression on her face. She then spoke in a firm voice.
“I have something to tell you.”
I could see the determination glimmering in her doe eyes.
She sat next to me on a bench under the cherry trees. But she was finding it hard to start talking. After mumbling things like “Where do I start,” “I’m terrible at explaining things,” and “You might not believe me,” Asahina eventually caught herself and said this.
“I do not belong in this epoch. I come from further into the future.”
“I can’t tell you exactly when and which time plane I come from. I couldn’t tell you if I wanted to. The information about the future that can be revealed to people in the past is severely restricted. I was required to undergo mental conditioning and receive mandatory hypnotism before boarding the trans-time vehicle. So if I try to say anything beyond what’s necessary, I will automatically be blocked. Please keep that in mind as you listen.”
Asahina spoke.
“Time cannot be viewed as something that flows continuously. Rather, time is an accumulation of punctuated planes.”
“I’m already lost.”
“Um, let’s see. Picture it as animation. It looks like it’s moving, but it’s actually composed of a sequence of still frames. Time can be considered a similar kind of digital phenomena. Would it be easier to understand if I compare it to a flip book?
“Breaks exist between one time and another time, though their rate of occurrence is close to zero. That is why time appears to have no breaks in continuity.
“Time travel means moving in a three-dimensional direction across the accumulated time planes. Being from the future, my presence on this time plane is similar to that of an extra picture added into a flip book.
“Because time has no continuity, even if I tried to change history in this epoch, those changes wouldn’t be reflected in the future. The changes would only affect up to the end of this time plane. If you only scribble on one part of a flip book with hundreds of pages, the story won’t change, right?
“Time isn’t analog like this river. Every moment is a digital phenomenon made up of accumulated time planes. Do you understand now?”
I considered if I should press my hand against my forehead. I ended up doing it.
Time plane. Digital. I didn’t care too much about those things. But a time traveler?
Asahina stared at the edge of her sandals.
“The reason I came to this time plane was because…”
A couple with two children passed by, their shadows falling across us.
“It was three years ago. A large timequake was detected. Oh, um. Three years ago if you count from the current time. Back around when you and Suzumiya became middle school students. After arriving in the past to investigate the matter, we were shocked. No matter what we tried, we were unable to go any further back in time.”
Again with the three years ago business, huh?
“The conclusion was that a large time fault had appeared between time planes. But we couldn’t figure out why the fault was limited to this epoch. We only learned the possible reason recently…. Ah, recently for the future I come from.”
“… And the reason is?” Don’t tell me it’s that.
Unfortunately, my wish wasn’t granted.
“Suzumiya.”
Asahina said the dreaded word.
“We found
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