October 5, 2053 – 8:36 a.m.

"Speeches prepared in advance are useless, because you have to measure your words according to the impression you make at the moment. And to do that, you first have to make them like you."

Jin is getting ready for his first day at university. As he is busy buttoning his shirt, he hears a knock on his door.

“It's Junna!”

"Come in."

As soon as Junna enters Jin's room, she notices that he is dressed more elegantly than usual.

"Oh... I see you've dressed up to start university."

"Of course... there might be some cute girls there. I remember Kenji telling me lots of interesting things about college girls... although I think it was all nonsense."

Junna looks sulky. “Girls, eh? You won't have time for that!”

"W-what? That's the only reason I wore this shirt."

"Here… take this."

Junna hands Jin a piece of paper with the schedule of the courses he will be attending. The boy takes it and looks at it, realizing how busy the class schedule is. “Hey, what's this stuff?”

“These are the classes you have to attend, broken down by day and time.”

"I understand that, but I don't even have a minute's break and it says here that I should go to university on weekends too."

“This is a special program that I had made especially for you. I know your abilities are well above average, you will surely be able to stick to it, and I'm sure that even the Resistance, despite their ridiculous means, were making you study.”

“Actually, yes...”

“Excellent... don't feel you have to thank me.”

“I really had no intention of doing so...” Jin replies, clearly annoyed by the overly intense schedule.

Jin notices that Junna is holding another sheet of paper and asks her about it, taking the opportunity to take a dig at her. “Is that for me too? What is it? The night class schedule?”

"No, actually, this is a letter I found outside your room... I guess it's addressed to you."

"Let me see" says Jin, reaching out his hand.

Junna hands it to him, but adds a sentence. "Here... honestly, when I picked it up, my eye caught it and I looked at it, but it seems to be written in an incomprehensible way."

Jin looks at the paper for a few seconds and then exclaims the solution.

"It's Esperanto."

"E-Esperanto?"

"An alternative language that was created in the late 19th century by Ludwik Zamenhof as an international language that could unite all peoples, and in fact mixes elements of several languages. His goal was to prevent the languages of stronger nations from overwhelming those of weaker nations."

“And can you read it?”

“I think so. A few years ago, I learned it as a hobby... I liked this idea of balance, where no one prevailed over the other.”

"Like Gotha" Junna points out.

Jin smiles slightly, then returns to looking at the letter. “It says here... I will establish peace in the country, no one will terrify you, I will remove harmful beasts from the country, I will establish my dwelling among you and I will not reject you, but if you do not listen to me and if you do not put my commands into practice, if you despise my laws and reject my prescriptions, I will send terror upon you that will consume your lives."

“This is a threat.” Junna declares.

"It does seem a bit like that..."

"This is unacceptable!" Junna shouts, snatching the paper from Jin's hand. "I'll go see Law Member Suzuki myself. I'm sure he'll give me some advice on what to do. I'm sure Physics Member Domon or one of his allies is behind this nasty prank."

Meanwhile, Jin realizes what time it is. “Damn! I have to go or I'll be late for my first class!”

"Go ahead, I'll take care of it here" Junna replies, trying to reassure him.

Jin walks out of his bedroom door, while Junna stays inside. Immediately afterwards, however, the boy reappears, poking his head into the room.

"I know I'm in a hurry, but I wanted to ask you one last thing about yesterday's conversation... my friends Kenji and Misaki... do you know if they're okay?"

Junna is taken by surprise, but tries to give an answer anyway. “I can't talk to you about them right now, they're as involved in this story as you are.”

Hearing those words, Jin throws himself back into the room. "So you know them? Please tell me where they are! I need to see them!"

Junna avoids him and leaves the room, but not before uttering one last sentence about them. “Give it time, Jin. When you're ready, I'll tell you everything, but to do that, it's absolutely essential that you complete your studies.”

Jin, saddened at not being able to get the information he wants about his friends, falls to his knees as if he has been deprived of all energy, but then, in a faint voice, he makes his intentions clear. “All right... if all I have to do is study to find out what I'm doing here, what has happened in the last 28 years, where my friends are, and what they have to do with this story... then I'll do my best. Kenji... Misaki... I'm doing this especially for you, wherever you are... I miss you, my friends.”