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Miri drifted towards the door of the settlement, an old-fashioned building within tons of similar buildings like a copy. She treaded towards the porch, and as she looked through the gap on the door, the anxiety on her face was relieved in a flash.“Hey, Yoko, I am back. Guess who do we have here?” said Miri, and at the same time, a white-haired female in similar age leaned against the corridor, from which Jason inferred her to be Yoko. She had a rounder and smoother face compared to Miri, so were her eyes.“Ah, is it the long lost IV or...” responded Yoko, whose voice sounded as young as that of Miri, whilst being more vigorous in emotion.“In fact it’s not her, but you will never guess who it is anyway—”Miri couldn’t help but burst out a chuckle, and then Yoko giggled with her at approximately the same moment.“Come on! What’s so funny?” giggled Yoko.“Why won’t you check it out with your own eyes?”Jason walked ahead, stopping at the small path next to the steps where Miri was on. Their heads perfectly leveled.“Greetings, Miss Yoko, I’m Jason Parstenach, a time traveler if you’d like to call it in that way. I’m from another layer, and am here to investigate the mysterious voice here, to be specific,” said Jason, in a few gentle nods.“Oh hello Jason, nice to meet you!” returned Yoko. “Even though we aren’t expecting any visitor, but welcome here anyway! It seems like you’re quite familiar with how our world works. I guess you’ve looked into the Outpost beforehand?”“Not really, Miri told me that,” answered Jason.“Yes, additionally, I’ve come across him in a convenience store. He might take some kind of spacecrafts and land somewhere nearby—Hmm, actually, I am not sure about that,” explained Miri.“As a matter of fact, it’s unnecessary for me to take any kind of transportation to travel among the dimensions. Well, as you see, I’ve mastered in a unique technique about spatial compression and unfolding, universally addressed as Teleportation back in my dimension. That’s the required skill of cross-dimensional investigation,” added Jason.“Woah, that’s shocking, to be honest. I thought teleportation is no more than a pseudo-science mumbo jumbo concept from some random action RPG games, or Portal 3,” gasped Yoko.“Heh, so long as you don’t regard me as some full-time henchman.” Jason smiled smugly. “Speaking of which, Yoko, have you heard any strange voices going around this settlement?”“Um... yeah? I guess? I did catch some voice resembling some kind of human’s cry late in the night, yet they were so quiet that I had to pay full attention to catch them, so they helped me sleep well in some way...” explained Yoko.“Unfortunately, you are right. They are some kind of painful howls. I am here to specifically investigate that voice and attempt to remove it if possible,” responded Jason. “It will take up hours. Hopefully you won’t be affected by any inconvenience caused.”“Alright, I’d appreciate it. You can check my room of course... Miri, what about you?”“Okay as well.”“Alright, thank you for cooperation. Let me get to the business.”Jason walked straight into the building after thanking the two girls. After a brief discussion, they decided to take a walk around the square to relax, especially stopping by the mound of rusty bars, a slightly protruded hill with plates and sheets and specifically iron bars overlaying it in a mess.As a matter of fact, the mound was at the very center of where the observers addressed as the Outpost. The Outpost itself was a poorly furnished base in moderate size, and all buildings were left to deprecate except the residence and the observation site.“You know, I think we’d better ask that guy to help us remove these annoying scraps later,” said Yoko. “What do you think of that?”“Yeah, that’d be the best. After Setsuki and Ivy left us, none of us can be counted as... you know, muscular,” responded Miri. “It may sound absurd, but Jason told me he had once fought a malicious god.”“Jeez, you must be kidding me, Miri!” yelled Yoko, who widened both of her eyes and her mouth at the same time in great dismay.“No, I am not, Yoko! As you see, Jason can teleport, and that means he must be from a dangerous world of fantasy so he has to teleport to everywhere to avoid monsters, doesn’t it? It won’t be surprising for me even if he manages to summon a blade out of thin air.”“You’re such a genius!” exclaimed Yoko, in a mixture of astonishment and an unmatched delight. “Miri—if... let’s say, if that guy is really much, much stronger than we’d have expected, then, you don’t have to risk your life to do that crazy task on Saturday!”Miri’s broad smile froze in a sudden.“Wha—what’s wrong?” stammered Yoko, whose smile was also brought down in a sudden.“He rejects,” answered Miri. “He informed me that dimensional-crossing interventions are always risky, and he can’t tolerate himself making another mistake like—”“Bullshit!” shouted Yoko, erupting in anger. “He has crossed a dimension himself, and now he’s telling you that crossing another few dimensions will be risky. How hypocritical it is!”“Oh please... Yoko, I know what’s been on your mind, but—”“Then should I stand by and watch one of my best friends going to die? We’ve lost Setsuki and Ivy. Do you think I would let another one vanish in vain? Miri!”“God! Yoko, I can—”“Shut up! Miri! SHUT UP! I am freaking the calmest person out of every calmest people in the world right now. Don’t ever try to kidnap me with that kind of compassion! I will regret my entire life if I fail to save anyone if I can! I’ve got to get even with him!”Yoko rushed down the trail she had walked upon, all the way back to the building in thundering trot. She slammed open the door of her own room first, and then opened that of Miri’s room in a push, only to discover Jason carefully groping before a computer that constantly emitted buzzing sound—the old yet precious computer that Miri treasured.“You!” exclaimed Yoko, pointing at Jason with her index finger. “What is your true intention?”Jason steadily straightened up, merely widening his eyes, and other parts on his face retained totally the same.“Can you speak English?”“Oh, I mean, what is your true intention?”“Check out the voice,” answered Jason.“Nonsense! If so, put your dirty hands away from that computer!” yelled Yoko. “You have zero idea about what kind of distress she’s been undergoing—Hands off!”Yoko grabbed Jason’s hands in a great leap, dragging them away from the computer.“Rumbling over that stupid voice all the time—I’ve had enough of that! Is it even more important than someone’s entire life?” yelled Yoko.“If you want to get yourself and everyone else here killed, then, yes,” replied Jason. “Forcefully altering the entire destiny of a layer comes with a serious consequence that no one could bear.”“You can’t deceive me the same way you deceived Miri, Jason! The hell with that ‘altering the entire destiny’ thingy, should I turn a blind eye at the alteration brought by your arrival—SERIOUSLY? I’ll be brutally honest with you. I don’t trust in any bullshit of time or dimension or mistake you’ve said! If you can fight against a malicious god, why can’t you even try to save Miri’s life?!”A glimpse of shock flashed over Jason’s face, whereas it only flashed at the very end of Yoko’s interrogation, which somehow enraged Yoko even more.“Oh, you dare to budge over that name, chap?!” shouted Yoko. “Now you are beyond hypocritical—you conspirator! What do you want from her?!”“I cannot demonstrate what I intend to do here by myself, nor can I illustrate my past, while as to my power, I can particularly justify that in some way,” stated Jason.Unfolding his right palm, Jason gathered the rays of light. The intangible and iridescent beams unearthed from the center of his hand, in an instant, assembling an illusory blade. He swiped, and the air beside him cracked open, crying in the rumbling pain of being torn down.Yoko was utterly stunned. She gazed upon the white, hollow fissure. She felt the world within it revolving, so did her eyes that went blank in the revolting rotation.“I can create a spatial fissure with my weapon. Upon entering, you will be exposed to something higher than your original world. I am convinced that the things more metaphysical are there,” explained Jason. “Those voices may be there as well, as far as I am concerned, yet this isn’t the most accurate spot, so I’ll have to seal it and open another one.”Jason retrieved his blade in a snap, and the fissure was zipped out as well. Meanwhile, Yoko froze like a statue, and her entire head broke out in cold sweat.“Hey, I am not hurting you, lady. I won’t use that blade unless I find myself in some really desperate situation, and so includes this one,” replied Jason, in a deeper and steadier tone. “If you’d like to give me another second, I’ll get the job done soon. Otherwise, it’d also be okay if you want a chat to settle down the conflicts between you and I.”“Ah... I guess it’s never mind ha ha—Keep going with the work?”Yoko mumbled, and stumbled backwards in the meantime, backwards and backwards until she was away from Jason’s vision. Fear and awkwardness froze her dull smile. At last, she gently closed the door.Yoko finally got to take a breath of relief. She had forgotten the fury of her skepticism to the ‘deception’ beforehand, and her entire skin chilled out as if it had been soaked in cold water. Suddenly, something warm wrapped her shoulders—it was the palms of Miri, looking stressed out as well.“God... are you okay? Yoko?” asked Miri, in an anxious face.“Goodness... I hope I could say so, but... Miri, I am sorry. I shouldn’t have said that to you... I was lost in anger again. I am so sorry...” returned Yoko, in whispers.“It’s okay to be angry, Yoko, I understand...”“Darn, Miri, you dork... why do you think it’s worth it to risk your life to save a girl we don’t know at all? She’s not Setsuki’s daughter... she’s... no, it’s all my fault...”Yoko couldn’t finish her complaint. She failed to arrange a complete sentence with remorse pressed against her mind, and the only thing she could feel soberly was her own weeping face.“Let’s walk around, Yoko... You know, you don’t want little Kanshi see you crying, too, right?”Miri and Yoko roamed out of the building together.In the meantime, inside the room, Jason attentively focused on the old computer, carefully examining it in every way.“Seriously? That voice is within this computer?” murmured Jason, sinking into the pitfall of questioning himself over and over again.“According to my monitor, yes...” answered the girl. “Then, heading into corresponding space will be a little bit tricky. Nevertheless, there’s some way you can solve it.”“Oh, how come?”“I don’t know if you’ve ever questioned yourself whether there’s a higher dimension over us. Well... think of how you project yourself to those lower dimensions, human.”“Like entering the imaginary space?”“Well yes... sort of, I mean. The imaginary space is bound to every Herrscher holding the power of time, and ‘every’ in this case is technically equal to three. We’re the ones who decide where our imaginary space should be, and how we can enter or exit it.”“Ah... well, I think I know what you’re trying to allude. We can enter a lower dimension and return to our original point, and this returning process can also be seen as ascending to a higher dimension.”“You get it. But have you thought about why we are still able to return to a higher dimension, instead of getting lost in the lower one?”“Because essentially descending to a lower dimension is a kind of projection, our original spot is saved during the projection.”“That’s the point. To return from a lower dimension, you need to find an anchor previously set in the original dimension. In most cases, we are the anchors. Theoretically, if we can find an anchor from a higher dimension, then, we can also project ourselves to that dimension.”“But how can we find something from a higher dimension?”“Yeah, that’s why I say it is theoretical. To begin with, you need to find something that is a projection from the higher dimension, which is impossible in almost every case, but... I mean, perhaps there is one around... in the drawers?”“Sigh—eventually we still have to invade someone’s privacy.”Jason bent down, reluctantly holding his hand onto one of the bars from the drawers below the computer. He carefully pried it open, peeked inside, and collected something in a frame.“Ah, it’s a photo—wait a second,” said Jason.“What’s wrong with that?” answered the girl.“I can plausibly tell you that... it isn’t about Miri or Yoko. It illustrates a man... Look.”Jason raised his arms and held the frame with both of his hands. The left side of the photo illustrated a middle-aged man in light red hair and glasses, and on the right side there was a woman, presumably to be the wife of the man on left. Atop everything, the most noticeable part of the photo was in the gap between the couple, where a figure was poorly sketched.“Ay, human, remember what Miri told us earlier?” hinted the girl. “Read the katakana below.”“Ay, Herrscher, I am trying...” responded Jason, spelling with his intermittent Japanese. “It reads... Set-Tsu-Ki-Ta-So-Ga-Re.”“Setsuki, the third observer that passed away. Miri said his daughter is trapped in a lower layer. I’d say the person in middle should be his daughter.”“It must be her, but what’s bothering me is why she’s sketched, especially, it’s almost scribble. She has a long pink hair, blue shirt and... two dots on head?”“They’re just accessories.”“Huh, fair enough.”Jason seized the photo even longer. He shut his eyes, and his eyebrows constrained. Something seemed to have gripped his mind. More importantly, it was something ominous.“They’re getting louder...” whispered Jason.“The voices?” returned the girl. “They didn’t get louder, did they?”“No... they’re not from the computer. I was wrong. They’re... at somewhere higher? No, I am not referring to the vertical movement within a physical frame of reference... I...”Jason spat a string of incoherent words, as though his mind was hijacked.“I feel getting high...” mumbled Jason.“Ay, human, drop that photo now. I’ve never seen you zoning out in such an irrational way,” yelled the girl, instantly appearing beside Jason. “You need to stop it, or else—”But Jason couldn’t. He was rational enough to claim that he didn’t abuse drugs. His rationality couldn’t account for the hype running in his nerves. Something within him was ascending like prismatic bubbles, causing the hardness to fall apart under its erosion.“Who’s talking—”Before the girl could find out the answer to her question, the illuminating blade had reappeared in Jason’s hand. In a sudden swipe, he opened a fissure overhead, leaping into it without even a second of hesitation. Then, the fissure sealed itself.“No! Human, wait for me!”The girl swung her arm instantly in an attempt to create a similar fissure. However, nothing happened.“Holy, this isn’t good,” murmured the girl, to herself. “I can’t feel him in the lower dimensions, nor in parallel ones, which means... sigh, may luck be with him.”On the other side, the two girls sat next to each other on a bench, overlooking the sunset at the other end of heaven. Miri turned on her old phone. It was late in October. The sunset wasn’t in its most beautiful shape in fall, yet paired with the cooling breeze, it was still relaxing to sit down and enjoy the serene scene of the setting sun.“What are you going to do next, Miri?” asked Yoko. She spun her head to the sunset, pinching her nose because she could feel soreness still burn within. “What about... that guy?”“It’d be good if he wants to spend another few days here, though, it doesn’t seem like we’re deciding whether he’s to leave or stay,” answered Miri, also turning to the sunset. “If he’s willing to stay, I’ll introduce Kanshi and Sakura to him. It’s always good to make more friends. All in all, he may be back in future. But, speaking of which, that’s also his business. The work on Saturday has to be implemented—it is up to me to do it. I am ought to do it.”“Yeah, we can’t always depend on someone else to do the works,” responded Yoko, fixing her eyes upon the sun, as though it was a mirror reflecting everyone looking at it. “I... I don’t want to lose anyone, anymore. I just want to live a normal life.”“Yes, Yoko, yes... I am thinking the same,” remarked Miri. She apparently wanted to say something more, but she turned out to be silent.“Miri, how I wish I can make you abandon your bloody compassion!” exclaimed Yoko, profusely overflowing in frustration. “If I can be a little stronger, or at least a little bit more useful, you... you may not have to do that.”“Yeah, Yoko, I hope so. But, it’s just that—we can’t always depend on someone else to do the works—”“What kind of works?”The duo was immediately awoken from sorrow. They both opened their eyes wide, spinning backwards, and found a purple-haired girl standing there.“...Who is that, Miri?” asked Yoko.“Oh, it is Jason’s little companion—”“Can you girls speak English?” said the girl, shrugging while making a helpless face.“Ah—sorry! We can speak English, but most of the time we speak Japanese,” answered Miri, and suddenly, she realized something was off. “Wait, where’s Jason?”“Ah, don’t mention it,” returned the girl. “Jason went into your room and grabbed a photo. He was kind of intoxicated, and then he... went missing.”“Missing?!” exclaimed Miri and Yoko, at the same time.“Don’t psych out, please. Jason has probably reached the lair of those mysterious voices. If everything goes right, he will return by himself. If everything doesn’t turn right—I think he probably will also go back,” explained the girl.“Probably?” doubted Yoko.“Jason’s fleeing skill is as good as his combat skill, trust me.”“But isn’t he an intelligence agent?” asked Miri.The girl had an evident pause of blankness on her face.“Oh—I was wrong about that. His fleeing skill is one hundred times as good as his combat skill!” returned the girl, throwing in tantrum. “Jason’s always someone with poor judgment on his enemy. He once engaged the demise itself and I was shouting at him to make him run all the time. He just couldn’t listen until he realized he was going to lose.”“So he inherited your fleeing skill, didn’t he?” remarked Yoko.The girl angrily stomped the ground.“Fine! Everyone is a critic, ffuuaaaggghhh!” spat the girl.“Eh, chill! You can’t throw your temper more than I do,” returned Yoko, standing up in the process along with a humorous smile. When she was about to reach for the girl’s hand, her hand perfectly landed on the top of the fluffy purple hair. Moreover, it felt comfortable to pet on it, especially when she began to gently move her hands.“Oh uh,” stammered Yoko, awkwardly. “It’s like... a curl of cotton.”Realizing something, Yoko put her hand away instantly, and she found the little girl before her glaring at her, like a boiling kettle with a loose top that might go off at any moment possible. Thankfully, she managed to ease at last.“Ahh, that’s why I hate communicating with others. I’m always the shortest!” growled the girl, standing akimbo, and her eyes rolled upon the bench Miri and Yoko had been sitting on. “...What a nice bench. Mind if I take a seat?”“No, we don’t mind it,” answered Miri, budging to the other side. Yoko also replied in a few nods, shifting to the other side, and left a gap for the girl to sit in.“That’s better.” The girl smiled broadly, with her anger instantly and magically purged.“It just hit my mind that we’ve never asked anything about your name,” said Miri.“Oh, I don’t really have a name. My kindred don’t have individual names like humans do, though we share the name Herrscher, which means manipulator in German, addressed by the entire humanity in my universe,” answered the girl. “That way, my name shall be the Herrscher of Time, while I’ve also got a nickname called Timey. Just call me in my nickname.”“Wow, okay, Timey, that sounds cool,” remarked Yoko.“In fact, my kindred and I originate from a natural being inhabited at the center of my universe. We adapt to the forms of respective civilization, which is also the target that has to be brought down. Mine is evidently the humanity,” explained Timey. “Jason is a native human, I am not. There’s a long, twisting story between us. Luckily, we turn out to get on well with each other.”“So—um, you’re in fact, to destroy civilizations?” questioned Miri.“Yes, most of my kindred are bad to bones and they are blood-thirsty to hunt down human and bring destruction. Those atrocities aren’t as absorbing to me. That isn’t to say I’m not capable of mass destruction, though,” answered Timey.There was a sudden glint in Yoko’s eyes.“Really? Then, you can help us remove the bars over there?”Yoko pointed to the hill of metal sheets and bars.“Oh yeah, sure thing, let me show you how it’s done.”Timey directly walked to the mound, pausing in front of a bar with approximately three times of her height. Wrapping her arms around and lifting them up, she propped up the entire bar with her right hand, carrying it on her back.“See? It’s just a walk in the park for me!” exclaimed Timey, pointing back to herself with her thumb proudly with the other hand.“Uhhhhh—” groaned Miri, pressing her index against her lips. “Sorry but... I am about to choke up—”“OH SHOOT I GOTTA GO NOW—” screamed Yoko, bouncing up from the bench instantly.“Hey, I am not throwing this thing on your head!” yelled Timey. “Why are you acting as though you have seen DEATH itself?”“NO NONO THIS IS TEN TIMES WORSE THAN DEATH—” returned Yoko, in an even louder shriek, falling back in surrender over her head. “DON’T KILL ME PLEASE—”Timey stared at Yoko with a speechless distain. She budged the arm holding the huge metal bar deliberately to give it a shake.“NAAAWWW—”Yoko buried her head in Miri’s body.“Ah, GIRL!” yelled Timey. “You weren’t dying being scared THIS promptly last time you saw Jason pulling out his sword! Is a metal bar scarier than a sword?”“Okay, Timey! We’re just a little bit out of our minds seeing something we’ve never witnessed before!” added Miri. “Can you put the metal bar away now, please?”“Ah, okay. I’ll place it... hmm, here.”After a short scan, Timey decided to lay the bar on the vacant ground on the right side. She laid it so gently that it didn’t make any noise hitting the ground.“Did... did she put that thing down?” faltered Yoko, nudging.“Ah, she did,” answered Miri.“Thank god...” said Yoko as she lifted up another crying face. “I swear this is my closest talk with the death other than the void transistor...”“Eh, what is that?” questioned Timey.In the tiniest moment Miri heard that thing, her spirit diminished as her complexion turned pale. She immediately gestured at Yoko that she would answer for her.“That is... the beginning of the cross-splitting incident,” explained Miri. “A state-of-art mining device used in extracting substances from the void, was invented by Sakura, the fifth observer, and was developed by Yoko, the one in front of you.”“Ah, I get it,” answered Timey. “It exploded at last, right?”“How do you know about that?!” gasped Yoko.“Sigh... Exploiting substances within an ever-inflating universe can propel creepy consequences, Yoko,” stated Timey, whose tone suddenly went as serious as an instructor, gesticulating with her hands concurrently. “You converted the massive black things into wealth on Earth, and created a vacuole within your world. It was either you extracting substances at a very, very slow pace, or the vacuole becoming too enormous to withhold the squeeze from its surrounding substances. It’s all about the law of gravitation, from your high school textbook of physics. Alright, now I know who’s to blame for the disappearance of every citizen.”“It’s... all my fault,” murmured Yoko.Yoko buried her head in her arms, and again she quietly sobbed.“Yes, it is, but now what?” returned Timey, softly petting Yoko’s head. “Nothing can stop that now. You’re still able to help your friends share their burdens.”“Yes, I totally agree with you, Timey,” added Miri. “I believe Yoko didn’t intend to do that out of any taste of power. She isn’t that kind of person... I believe it’s associated with her childhood trauma.”“You know, girls, you need to align yourselves with Jason on this one,” replied Timey. “I personally dislike him to some extent due to his stubborn attitude and his bloodlust in battles, but he particularly wins my approval through the way he looks forward. He’s at least not that kind of person who will kill himself when depressed—”Timey deliberately tilted up her head to disguise the flush on her cheeks.“Of course, that is absolutely not a compliment on him.”“Yes... we need to look forward. That is to say, we need to think of something we can do now,” responded Yoko, in a few nods. “Hey, Timey, can you please give me some time to turn around?”“Oh, okay, why?”“Nothing... it’s just, moving all the scraps away, please?”“Well, sure, why not?”Timey propped up her back and headed to the mound again.“Also, it’s getting late. Are you going to rest or have some dinner?” asked Timey.“No, we’ll be staying here until nine,” replied Yoko. “We actually have some spare cans in the basement. Although... we don’t need nutrient intake to survive, practically, those cans are for you.”“No thanks, I’m not in the mood of eating,” responded Timey. “Also my body clock has gone out of sync since a long time ago. Do not expect me to sleep with you at the same time.”When Timey was about to start another round of work, she suddenly froze, as though her brain was penetrated by an arrow. She instantly turned an alarmed face at Miri and Yoko.“It almost slipped off my mind,” growled Timey. “Miri, what’s with the photo in your room? The one with Setsuki on it?”“Wait, the one with Setsuki on it?” returned Miri, looking confused. “I thought you were mentioning the photo of Yoko and me, but I’ve never had a photo with Setsuki, let alone putting it inside my room.”“No, both Jason and I saw it. It lies right in the top drawer on the left,” pursued Timey. “You better think of whether anyone has gone inside your room before.”“There’s absolutely no one, I swear. I had been stuck in my room before that computer for days with no one coming in. On top of that, I can justifiably say that I’ve opened that drawer for countless times to store my portable hard drive. There is no photo,” returned Miri.“But, there has to be someone who placed it, though?”“No, it can’t be...” muttered Yoko. “A photo with Setsuki on it? What if the one who placed that photo is exactly...”Miri’s face suddenly turned pale.“...We’ve got ourselves into something, get a move on.”Miri dragged Timey’s right arm and began sprinting.“Ay! Where are we going?” yelled Timey.“The observation site, we need to inform Sakura about this one,” returned Miri.