I changed the timeline with the game.

Chapter 1159 Blueprints Embedded in the Sky

Before meeting Professor Su Wen, Chie Natsume probably never imagined that these things would come in handy more than a decade later.

She simply regarded those blueprints as a memento left behind by an old engineer who had worked tirelessly his entire life.

The girl said with nostalgia:
"That camphor wood box is now on the second shelf on the left side of the storage room."

Besides them, there was also a badly worn tin toy, a miniature steam locomotive.
Because it's well-maintained, the gear meshing joints can still rotate.

When she was little, she always loved to hug it and follow behind her grandfather, listening to the creaking sound of the metal scraping against each other, mixed with the clanging of old trams passing by on the streets of Tokyo, which formed the clearest background sound in her memory.

The girl's memory unknowingly transitioned into the next segment:
"Chie, look at these gears."

So beautiful.

It's clearly not time for it to retire yet.

It was a dilapidated factory with mountains of old mechanical parts, and the old man happily picked up a part.

The young woman nodded repeatedly at the old man's joy, saying, "Yes, yes, just like you, I haven't reached the time to retire yet."

Rusty bearings, broken drive shafts, dusty dashboards, the air thick with the smell of rust and engine oil, and the faint fishy odor of canal water.

Looking at the scene in her memory, Chie murmured to herself:

"This is my grandfather's favorite place to come."

Tsukishima, Tokyo, ten years ago.

The warehouses along the canal have not yet been transformed into artsy cafes; they are mostly abandoned factory sites, piled with machinery discarded during Tokyo's industrialization.

Chie Natsume remembers her grandfather saying before he left that the warmth of civilization was hidden in these cold metals.

"Gears need to mesh together to turn, just like people need to support each other for the world to move forward."

Her grandfather placed the gear in her small palm; the cool metallic touch traveled through her skin.

“Look at its teeth, each one is just right, any more would be too wide, any less would be too narrow, that’s ‘balance’.”

But at that time she didn't understand what balance was; she only felt that her grandfather's voice was like a fan on a summer night, buzzing and reassuring.

The little girl squatted down beside her grandfather, watching him put the scattered parts back together.

One moment it's a spinning windmill, the next it's a walking tin frog. Those scrap metal pieces that are useless to others can always be given new life in my grandfather's hands.

Occasionally, a truck fully loaded with goods drives by outside the warehouse, kicking up a cloud of dust.

In the distance, the whistles of cargo ships on the Sumida River could be heard, mingling with the faint cries of appliance vendors coming from the direction of Akihabara.

Ten years ago, Tokyo was not yet covered by today's holographic advertisements and trams.

An old JR Yamanote Line train slowly travels along the tracks, with rows of low-rise buildings reflected in the windows.

The neon signs only light up gradually at dusk, casting a warm orange glow.

"grandfather,
What are you looking at?

One early autumn evening, her grandfather took her to Odaiba Seaside Park. The evening breeze, carrying the salty scent of the sea, lifted the hem of her skirt.

The lights of Rainbow Bridge trace graceful arcs in the night, while the outline of Tokyo Tower appears and disappears in the distance. The twinkling lights on the sea surface resemble scattered diamonds.

Grandfather simply tilted his head back, his gaze passing over the city's neon lights and looking up at the deep night sky, his eyes focused as if he were reading a thick book.

"I'm looking at the stars."

Her grandfather smiled kindly and patted her head.
What can Chie see?

She followed her grandfather's gaze and saw only a few sparse stars dotting the dark sky.

It's still somewhat dimmed by the city's light pollution:

"There are only stars and airplane lights."

At that time, she didn't know what the legacy of Sephiroth was, nor did she know that her grandfather was actually very, very lonely.

So, when he saw that gray-haired but still vigorous and indomitable old man shake his head, even pointing to a corner of the sky and saying to himself:

"There,
There is a brighter light.

Like a firefly, it flickers, and you can only see it if you calm down. She didn't know that her grandfather was actually referring to Justusta.

Being so young, all she could do was open her eyes wide, but she saw nothing but the cold night wind brushing against her cheeks.

Her grandfather didn't insist. Instead, he took her hand and sat her down on the bench, telling her a story about machines and the sky:
“Long, long ago, people wanted to communicate with the sky, or even with the gods in the sky.”

So they built tall towers and flying machines, all in an effort to find a way to connect with the world.

And in the end,
In order to protect that world, they embedded themselves into it as well.

Just like me, haha, I've truly 'embedded' in this world.

Yes,

I can't leave here.
But you might just see the true sky of this world.

"Like gears meshing together?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Yes."

Grandfather's eyes crinkled with laughter.
"The sky has its own gears, and the earth has its own gears."

Will has its own gears, and groups, individuals, and minds all have their own nested structures of operation.

The 'machinery' we manufacture,
What I did with that old man who once thought he was the greatest genius in the world was the bridge that held these massive systems together.

But I understand now.

Hey,

This bridge really can't be too complicated.

The simpler the structure, the more it can transmit the purest signal.

In her memory of that night, Natsume Chie's grandfather said many things.

He said that machinery is the backbone of civilization, supporting people to move forward; that the sky is the breath of civilization, giving people infinite possibilities; and that retreating is not giving up, but leaving room for the backbone to grow.

At that time, she only vaguely understood, but she remembered that her grandfather's voice was enveloped by the sound of the waves, as gentle as moonlight.

When she got home, her grandfather placed a drawing in front of her, covered with lines. The drawing contained a few simple gears and a thin antenna, marked with strange symbols.

"This is a gift from my grandfather to Chie."
When you grow up, you'll understand its usefulness.

Grandfather also said,
"Remember, what is truly important is often hidden in the simplest structure."

But now, more than ten years have passed since then, and she still can't recognize all those symbols.

However, when Natsume Chie recalls the memory of drawing lines with her fingertips, she also inexplicably remembers the look in her grandfather's eyes at that time.

And upon hearing this...

Su Wen calmly pushed up his glasses:

"Chie, do you mean those blueprints are still there?"

The girl nodded:

"The camphor wood box also contained many similar blueprints."

Some drawings depict complex mechanical frames, others mark star-like trajectories, and still others sketch maps of Tokyo with pencils.

Tsukishima, Odaiba, Akihabara, and Shibuya were also circled and connected by red lines, like a hidden network.

When she was little, she always liked to spread these blueprints on the floor and pretend that she was an engineer directing the machinery.

Her grandfather watched her with a smile, occasionally reminding her that "the gears are facing the wrong way" and "the antenna should be pointed towards the sky."

Until now,

She seemed to finally understand a little bit.

However, given her background in physics and engineering, she is unlikely to be able to solve this duplicated solution.

Therefore, after confirming her information, Su Wen chose to contact Tsukishima Chisaki.

(End of this chapter)