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Chapter 104: Renya Gouto 4
We’re really plugging away at Gouto. We’ll be done with this chap in no time at all at this rate.
Music: Beyond the Memories (Rikako Watanabe)
But this suddenly makes me feel so… nostalgic.
Sunsets will do that, I find. Regardless of time period.
Yes, but… This must be… Well, I suppose it must be one of those places.
Where am I going?
I've rented an apartment under a false name.
Can't be any worse than our last accommodations. As long as it's not rubble, I'll take it.
My apologies. If it's any comfort, I'm certain nobody will find you there. Not Shikishima, and certainly not Ms. Morimura. I suppose we have Ida-san to thank for all this. The funds and paperwork he prepared were invaluable.
Tetsuya Ida… And he's still missing, is he?
Yes...
Fucking dying laughing thinking about Professor Chihiro Morimura, genius nanomachine expert from 2188, begging Gouto for a piggyback ride.
Okay, before we continue, I need to clarify something about the temporal relation between these two scenes. They are not back-to-back, the previous scene was presumably just after Gouto awakened her memories while this scene is a continuation of the previous scene at Ayame Park where Gouto was questioning Morimura and hypothesized she was actually the 2188 Morimura. I know the previous scene opened with a big text saying it was a flashback, but the scene is weirdly extraneous and the transition isn’t entirely clear, so I’m going to belabor it by adding this message.
This flowchart labeling the scenes as “Renya Gouto’s Theory 1” and Renya Gouto’s Theory 2” might help a bit. Remember, the prior scenes in the flowchart just means we saw those scenes first, not establishing the direct timeline of events.
That is what I said.
Music: Heated Debate (Mitsuhiro Kaneda)
You are Professor Chihiro Morimura. A major figure in Shikishima in the year 2188… Namely, the leader of its space initiative.
What are you even talking about…?
Just some hypotheticals. A possible interpretation of the evidence I found.
Remember: Ms. Morimura's the one who created me. You think that was her plan? She wanted a host for the professor, and not herself? How would that make sense?
Use Compatibility on Chihiro
She believed that you were synchronized to her.
……
But it was the other Chihiro Morimura in Sector 0. And of course, you entered the world as a newborn. Incapable of verbal communication. So Ms. Morimiura never realized her mistake.
This is all speculation.
Certainly, yes.
I imagine you were in quite a panic yourself. All things considered, it was a staggering deviation from the original plan.
What original plan?
Use Report Log on Chihiro
One of Tetsuya Ida’s noted that he’d found an anomaly. Chihiro Morimura was set to undergo a memory transplant in the final phase.
That would be us.
Consider Future Log
(The log from the future I saw first… That would be the comms log I found with my own ID.)
A bit of patience, please. There’s a little more context I need to provide.
Use Gouto’s Log on Chihiro
The author seemed to be an elderly Renya Gouto. And the date of recording appeared to be 2188. I assumed… it was some future version of myself. One that had time traveled into the far future. But now I don't think that's the case. I believe it's the other way around. In other words… I, myself, am a clone of him.
Use Clone on Chihiro
They all created clones of themselves.
Clones, huh…
I did find a log that proves this point.
…What did you see?
A comms log between you and Professor Takamiya. Her field is genetic engineering, I note.
*shock*
Consider Takamiya’s Log
Music: Cognitive Dissonance (Rikako Watanabe)
The simulations look good. Especially the survey range. We never expected a rate of expansion that high. It was definitely the right call to prioritize its strength as a group over individual units. These probes are pretty much living machines now. They self-replicate using natural resources mined from asteroids in their routing. They'll just keep building up and breaking down. An infinite cycle of self-replication on its way to its target. There's basically zero chance of the tech failing midway through. They'll just keep on going… …Probably long after humanity's gone.
Glad I came to an expert, then. All that's left is the refinement of the memory cube.
The infrastructural storage cell, right?
The cube's made up of five identical memory layers. In theory, it'll compare itself to nearby probes and use them as a template for repairs.
I’m glad they’re explaining all these things they both already know for our benefit.
And if it can't be repaired, well… Fine, one probe down. We've got thousands more.
And our passengers?
I'll be loading them up with the DNA of all the survivors. I've already got samples and data from all fifteen.
There it is! There’s our idiot teenagers!
Now it's just down to launching them.
These clones will go with all our hopes on their shoulders.
By the way… What do we do about him? I mean, after that DNA test…
…… We do nothing. …He doesn't have to know. What could I even say to him?
……
The log ends.
Music: Double Bind (Mitsuhiro Kaneda)
Use Clone on Chihiro
Each with a clone established to be compatible. Though they grew up in different eras, different worlds. And you… You aimed to replace your clone's memories with your own. That was your real plan.
……
...Is precisely how much of that log I've seen. Am I close?
……
You do have a genius mind, but also the form of a child. I imagine it's harder than usual to hide your agitation.
Use Takamiya’s Log on Chihiro
Professors Takamiya and Morimura seemed to know each other quite well. Maybe you'd know something about that?
Of course not.
*gasp*
Being compatible, that makes one part of his identity clear. He's one of the fifteen from the year 2188. So. Any theories? Who was he in the year 2188?
*frustrated grunt*
Wait, what!? …In hindsight, I probably should have seen that coming. The hair color is absolutely something this game would play like that.
The professor donated her egg cells as a young woman. In accordance with the policies on population control.
No comment at this time?
Use Clone on Chihiro
…until DNA testing on the clone revealed it.
Which, naturally, sparked an inconvenient surge of maternal instinct.
……
He had his disagreements with the project staff, too.
The professor recorded him one final message. One last chance for him to know the truth.
But how? You’d need a biometric ID match to access that log. So you should only have been able to access your own. My logs and Okino’s should have been locked off…
…Thank you. Professor Morimura.
Oh shit! Gouto’s got you now! Can’t pretend any more, Professor!
……
Mostly company logs. Meeting reports, call transcripts, bureaucratic chaff. Barely anything in the way of your personal records.
…… Then how do you know what was in my logs?
It’s simple, really.
Music: The Tower of Knowledge (Hitoshi Sakimoto)
Now. With Ms. Morimura’s ID… I should be able to get into her logs.
But how is he going to get her ID?
Oh, the camera’s panning further to the left this time, I wonder wha—
…Oh. Gouto, you’re kind of a scumbag.
This is probably from when Iori fainted when that Sentinel appeared in 2065 though, right?
Music: Staring Into The Void (Yoshimi Kudo)
I might find a clue why your biometric ID matches hers.
Though unconscious, she proved very helpful. She is Chihiro Morimura. A compatible version. If you really are Ms. Morimura… Then you should already know who Iori Fuyusaka is. Because that would mean you hid her here in Sector 4. The plan was for the two newborns to grow up with their own separate lives. Ida-san's idea, presumably. Chihiro Morimura was planned to be placed in 2104. And Tetsuya Ida in 2024. Yet neither could be found.
I knew Renya Gouto of Shikishima pretty well. You and he are very different…
So. Suppose I am the professor. Then what?
I want to know the reasons behind all of this…
I imagine you're not inclined to tell me anything.
And why's that?
It'd be inconvenient for you if we had all the facts.
……
I was right about when Gouto nabbed Iori, then.
DUN DUN DUN!!!!!
If you haven’t figured it out by now, Gouto’s entire story comprises largely of scenes of him talking to Chihiro, revealing details they ran out of dev time to put in the game no one else could figure out.
Wait, I thought she was an expert in genetic engineering? Though that was also supposed to be Ryoko’s thing, wasn’t it? Eh, whatever.
And Gouto’s locked behind some more Destruction. We’ll have to do that next time. Also, we’ll update the board next time because I’m feeling lazy right now!