059 Casual Talk: Past — Nine Years Apart
014.5 024.5 032.5 058.5 — what came before the casual talk was split.
Skip this if you’ve read through the previous casual talk.
Left here for those catching up on the latest.
014.5 Casual Talk: Past Laboratory One
It was long. A constant string of hardship.
Keeping the bloodline of that noble family intact—manipulating local DNA to secure healthy bodies—was easy enough.
But I never expected the DNA tied to the mind to fail so completely.
My wife and I have spent years posing as locals, conducting research across this planet.
Alchemists. Witches. We were hunted. Comrades fell one by one.
Only when we reached this eastern island nation, went into hiding, did we finally manage to produce results.
The princess is growing steadily, for now.
But not yet.
We can’t stand against them like this.
We need a boy. A boy who can inherit that noble’s power.
Physically, the princess has reached perfection.
But adding a boy’s genetic code would shatter the spiritual DNA.
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024.5 Sidebar — Past, Lab Two
Nine years have passed since the princess’s success.
At last, we’ve brought forth our prince, the heir of that noble.
From now on, we’ll present the princess as our daughter, Karen, and the heir as our son, Akira. We’ll live as a couple with two children—nine years apart, siblings, twins in name only.
We can’t let them find us, can’t let them figure out who we are—before the time comes.
We can’t let them get their hands on the secret of the mind’s DNA.
Not even for a moment—can they take away the power of that Being, the warship… the warship…
No matter what, we must get the ship… to Akira-sama…
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032.5 Ramble — Past Laboratory 3
The two of them are growing steadily.
But the Dimensional Jump Gate we installed… they’ve already reached out to this planet through it.
Careless of us. Never thought the system would be hijacked.
They’ve been here on this planet since before Karen-sama was born.
We stood out too much.
They’ll figure out we’re not native to this planet.
Let’s make it look like we’re dead.
If we die in an accident, the siblings’ll have enough money to live comfortably.
We’ll be killed in a lab accident—just like real humans on this world.
The siblings’ parents vanish from the world entirely.
Under their laws, harming intelligent life from another star system is forbidden.
If they think we’re Earth-born, they won’t touch us.
As long as we don’t give the siblings any extra knowledge, they won’t realize they’re the chosen ones.
When the time comes, we’ll show up again.
We’ll have to take the siblings out into the outer void.
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058.5 Ramble — Past Sister Hualian
After our parents passed, the siblings and I got hit with the full force of public scorn.
No one knows where it started, but apparently nine years apart between twins is a rare oddity.
A monster born from genetic experiments. A product of inhumane science.
Every rumor had its day, and human rights? Didn’t last long.
But as the saying goes—rumors fade after seventy-five days. Time passed, and the public lost interest in us entirely.
In the meantime, we were constantly on the move—house to house, hotel to hotel, running from one place to the next.
We lived in hotels more often than not. Used up most of the inheritance and insurance money our parents left behind.
My current job pays decently, but I can’t afford to let my brother live luxuriously unless I pick up extra work.
So I’ve decided to become a pro-player in SFO—a game that’s suddenly become profitable.
Good thing I’ve always been good at this kind of thing.
I figured I’d gone too far with the foreshadowing, so I spoiled it myself.
The mind’s DNA is fiction.
There’s no theory, no doctrine, nothing like that.
Starting next time: new arc — the Wandering Arc.