Just In Time, The Main Heroine Arrives

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”That’s not a very convincing answer, if I must say so.“ The woman, Shion, muttered, calmly tapping her chin. “Which part was most confusing to you?”

“Uhhh, how about everything, ‘the hell!?” I scoffed. “If you ask me, I’d say you've absolutely lost it, but I don’t know what to think anymore…”

Shion sighed so deeply that it caused the crab grass on the ground to twitch. Suddenly she pouted.

“You’re incorrigible, Ren-kun.”

Incorrigible?

“I understand that you’re a bit confused, so why don’t we take this one matter at a time for your convenience, hm? I think that would be best.” She suggested, and I nodded in agreement after a moment. “You’re probably surprised about my involvement with the Institute, are you not?”

“Among many other things, yes.” I replied, figuring we could start there. “My only experience with those bastards was when they all-but-threw me out when I went to register as a student. What was that all about, or would you even know?”

“I would know…”

Wait, really!?

“And? Out with it.”

“And, well… I don’t think you’re going to like the answer very much if I speak frankly.” She shrugged. “So perhaps I’ll keep my explanation brief, and on a need-to-know basis.”

“And perhaps I’ll just turn around and walk away right now, instead of listening to all this cryptic bullshit.”

Shion wore a troubled expression, averting her gaze and shifting around like she was wrestling with herself about something.

“Alright, fine!”

“Fine, what?”

“I’ll tell you why your admission into the Institute was denied, but only if you promise to listen to the rest of my explanation from start-to-finish.” Shion suggested a compromise, though I wouldn’t call it a fair one since I had no clue what she was about to say in the slightest. “It’ll be long and confusing, though, I must warn you.”

I had always suspected my denial had to do with my inaptitude for magic or the fact that I didn’t have some sort of special ability like all the other otherworlders appeared to. Was that not really the case?

“So, do we have a deal, or not?”

However…

“Sure, I’ll hear you out, I guess. As long as it’s the truth.”

There were things that I simply had to figure out. Little did I know… the sort of can of worms I had just opened wasn’t one that could be used up in one sitting.

“Very well, but don't fly off the handle at what I’m about to reveal to you.” Shion cleared her throat. “The reason you were denied entry into the Institute for Practical Magic, the reason why you had to live this way—in total squalor—for all these months…”

Wait, where is she going with this?

“… was because I, the Headmaster’s right hand, personally advised them not to accept you.”

…

My eyes widened.

“In fact, I opposed it so passionately to drive home the point that it may have had other consequences on you as a result.”

“You… huh??” My mouth hung open. “But why? Why would you do that??”

“For what it’s worth, I do offer my sincerest apologies for—“

“—like hell I’d want to hear that! That sort of half-hearted bullshit ain’t worth a damn thing!” I shouted, clenching my fist and staring down at the ground. “Do you even know the kind of things I’ve been through, what I’ve had to do just to stay alive? Well, do you!?”

“I am aware, yes.”

“Just tell me why… Was it… because I don’t have an ability like the others, is that it?”

It always came back to that in the past, didn’t it?

“Nope, you’re way off the mark.”

I looked up, surprised.

“Well… if not that, then—!?”

“Then, why, you must be thinking? Hmph—it would seem that you’ve carried on all this time with the belief that there’s nothing to you, that you’re a blank canvas who exists only to be muddied by the world around you. But that isn’t at all the case.” Shion smiled a bit. “I meant what I said before, that you’re special, Ren-kun. One in a trillion, in fact.”

Even if she told me that a thousand times, there’s no way I would just believe it outright. I was still extremely upset at her, and why wouldn’t I be? The person partly responsible for my shitty life in this world had come out and admitted it to my face, and even without knowing her reasoning, it took everything not to break my promise and lash out.

Shion must have picked up on this because she began to speak again, her tone somewhat less patronizing this time.

“To get you to believe the words I’m saying, I’ll just have to explain from the beginning… the story of my first sin, and the reason this is all happening now.”

“…”

First… sin?

“It was all my fault, you see. I mentioned before that us Time Keepers manage the time stream, but as an extremely long-lived race of humanoids, we are deeply indebted to our principles… and to our holy text.” She explained, holding out her palm. In it, a huge web of royal-blue light appeared, like veins coursing through the air, along with characters in a language I couldn’t comprehend.

“Woah… what is all that?”

“We are bound by our deity, Lord Aemor—under penalty of losing our powers and lives—to be silent observers throughout the multiverse. The complex network you see before you is the Akashic Records, the beginning and end of all existence, for all time.”

“The… Akashic Records?” I repeated to myself what sounded like some science fiction nonsense. ”What is that supposed to mean?”

“There are an incalculable number of realities, and in them, records that contain the stories of universes and worlds far beyond our wildest imagination. Many of which even we Time Keepers haven’t yet seen with our own eyes.” Shion’s eyes sparkled, but then her gaze shifted back to me, suddenly grave. “However, Ren-kun…”

“Yes? Why are you looking at me like that?”

”In the Akashic Records, of all those infinite possibilities, your life… always ends during your summoning to this world, the world of Kai. Without exception.” She said, firmly closing her hand and the web with it. “The fact that we’re even speaking right now is a miracle, and by all accounts, it shouldn’t be possible. Or, at least, that’s how it was supposed to be.”

“So what you mean to say is that, right now, I…”

I shouldn’t exist?

“But that’s impossible.” I shook my head, it was tough to accept. “Right?”

”To act, to forsake our role as a silent observer, to change the time stream and natural course of life for our own benefit… that is a Time Keeper’s one and only cardinal sin. A line they cannot cross.” Shion’s voice mirrored her tense expression. “I called you the tenth variant, or Ren X, because this marks only the tenth reality in which you have survived the summoning, that you have defied your fate.”

“Alright, so, I’m some sort of cosmic fluke. I get it, I think. But…” I tried to rationalize it all, but I couldn’t apply logic to something that defied common sense. “Even if that’s the case, then what does that have to do with you? Or my life here, or any of that stuff?”

I had grown tired of having to ask so many questions that I even felt a tinge of guilt for making Shion have to answer them all, despite still thinking she owed me at least that much.

“Had I chosen to follow my sworn duty and observe, then it would have had nothing to do with me. Nothing at all.” Shion smiled bitterly. “However, things didn’t quite play out that way. Your survival was in no way a “fluke” as you described it, I can personally attest to that. And would you happen to know why?”

I realized something suddenly, perhaps the truth of it all.

“Based on that expression, I’m almost certain you can guess what I’m about to say…”

“So, you decided to intervene, right? To go against your principles, or holy book, or whatever.” I said. “Which would mean, the first sin you mentioned before… Was it… rescuing me?”

“Indeed, very good. Though not you, to be exact, but a “you” from another reality, the first variant. Let’s call him Ren I.” Shion explained further. “I grew… let’s say, attached and used my powers to protect and guide him to this world, but his very existence disturbed the natural cycle, sending ripples that created other variants like yourself and eventually… a monster.“

To think that my existence could inspire such a shift in the flow of time, but that last bit of info was rather ominous and I couldn’t very well brush past it.

“A “monster“, of what kind?”

“Of unchecked proportions. One capable of destroying other realities, in addition to their own, costing trillions of people their lives in the process.” Shion said. “They’ve already succeeded in ending all the other Ren variants and their realities, all except you and yours.”

Well, that’s… That’s really fucking bad, isn’t it!?

How would we have any chance of stopping someone—or something—like that?

“I argued against your admission to the Institute, because I’ve seen what’s to come to some degree, and you weren’t ready yet for the battles ahead. That’s what I concluded.” Shion continued. “The monster I mentioned, the thief that stole your dagger, they are one and the same and they’re here to bring you and this reality to disaster like all the others. I let them think they’d won, but it was all to find out their approach, you see…”

So that’s why she had almost let me get scalped by the Captain’s sword? I supposed I could accept that shoddy explanation, for now, but something more important nagged at me.

“Then, what the hell am I supposed to do now? Aren’t I majorly screwed here?” I wondered. “But you, if you’re a time traveler, don’t you have the capability to see the future and change things so that they don’t follow the same path? Like warning me before the dagger gets stolen, maybe?”

“Tsk, tsk, Ren-kun, it’s not like I have clairvoyance or anything like that.” Shion shook her head as if disappointed by my question. “This is only my first run. If I could have worked behind the scenes without issue, do you think I would be revealing myself and my intentions to you now, already?”

“No, I guess not.” I admitted.

“To summarize, I need your help. Our objectives are numerous and I’ve set the stage in a way where our foe doesn’t know we’re taking action against him, for now at least.” Shion explained. “If we shift course too far, we risk alerting him and all of our careful planning goes to waste. Didn’t think of that, did you?”

Her grin was awfully smug for someone asking me for forgiveness only a few moments before. But I think I was finally starting to understand that her wishes were genuine, and she believed this was the only way to help.

“So, do you have a plan then?”

“Of course I do, and it deeply involves your participation.” Shion proudly proclaimed. “But if we’re going to face our foe, and save the princess, we’ll have to—“

Oh, how could I have forgotten to ask…

“—wait, stop right there, please. You said that before, but don’t you mean “Prince”, as in Prince Nou, the heir to the throne?“ I gestured towards the Palace District. “That Prince Nou??”

“You wouldn’t know this, Ren-kun, since you clearly haven’t taken a look at that missive in your possession, but Princess Nouella—or Prince Nou as she is known to the public—is actually female.” Shion smirked upon seeing my shocked expression for what felt like the millionth time today. “The Princess has played the role of a dutiful prince since her birth, in the case that King Dante’s line had ended. But, she’s nearly ten years old now, and it won’t be long until her appearance changes and certain things become harder to hide...”

“I get you, so the moot I heard Grimwick muttering about…”

“A meeting to discuss who might take on the responsibility of being the next ruler, and minimizing the fallout from the public upon learning that the kingdom that spans this whole continent has been without a true heir.” Shion said. “Our goals, meaning you, me, and our allies, include protecting the princess from harm and making sure the meeting goes off without a hitch.”

Allies, meaning we’ll be working with others? That’s a challenge for me in its own right.

“Understood, but…” I noticed a few merchants and their customers outside the alley had taken a bit of an interest in what we might be doing, sending us some suspicious glances.

“But we risk attracting the wrong attention if we speak here any further, yes?” Shion, as sharp as ever, followed my gaze. “In that case, why don’t we go somewhere else for now?”

“Like where?” I asked. “And I still have to deliver this missive, probably.”

“That can wait, for now.” Shion replied. “As for where we can continue this talk… In order to face our foe, and stand a fighting chance in the process, we’ll need to make use of your innate abilities as an otherworlder.”

“Wait, you mean that, I, too—!?”

Shion nodded, casting a wide grin.

“You’ll need to be officially appraised, of course, and there’s really only one place where we can accomplish that…” she said, turning northward. “I think it’s about time we finally paid an official visit to the Institute for Practical Magic.”