Unlimited Ambition

"Stop laughing, okay? It's disgusting." I said this while reaching out with my other hand and crushing her cheekbones and jawbone. During this time, she still didn't resist and continued to smile brightly like a fool.

"So, can we talk for a bit now, Ms. Ryoko Asakura?" I asked.

"can."

Despite losing both hands and having her jawbone crushed, the girl still answered in this way.

"I killed you to observe Haruhi Suzumiya's reaction."

"Oh?"

"Haruhi Suzumiya is a very important material for the evolution of the Information Integration Thought Entity. In other words, she can also be called an experimental subject."

"Oh. Go on."

"For experimental subjects, no matter how they are treated, it is not excessive, is it? Of course, because of Haruhi Suzumiya's special and unique nature. Experiments that cause harm are unacceptable—of course, this does not include psychological harm."

"For example, killing her closest childhood friend. That is, me?"

"That's right. I imagine Suzumiya-san will have quite an interesting reaction after learning of your death. What a pity—"

The next moment, I pulled out her tongue.

"Couldn't you be a little gentler? I'm a girl too, you know. Mr. Kyon."

"Can she even talk like that? She's a monster." I rolled my eyes. Then I casually tossed her onto the ground like trash.

"Ah, how rude, Mr. Kyon."

"Call me Wright Baldwin."

"Is Mr. Kyon a foreigner?"

"Do not."

"Then why—"

"—Because this name suits my taste better."

“Is that so? So Mr. Kyon is the kind of person who is self-satisfied.” Ryoko Asakura said this, followed by a series of soft whispers.

“I come from another world.” My words interrupted Ryoko Asakura’s laughter. She then looked at me with a surprised expression.

"Another world?"

I nodded: "That's right, it's the most typical kind of otherworld, a world of swords and magic."

“…I see. Indeed, aliens, time travelers, espers, people from another world…that’s how it is…” Ryoko Asakura pondered for a moment, then her bright smile returned—but unfortunately, given her blood-covered and disfigured face, she couldn’t look cute at all.

"Then it seems we have a basis for cooperation, Mr. Kyon."

"No." I refused decisively.

"If it's because of my previous actions, I apologize for that."

“No, it’s not for such a simple and superficial reason.” I shook my finger at her.

"Why is that? Do you believe that our information integration and thought entities are inadequate and unable to achieve an equal status with you?"

"It's not because of that," I continued, denying it.

"So... you think we can't offer any bargaining chips? Absolutely not. In fact, we do possess information that you would absolutely be interested in—the ability to perfectly reverse time and cause and effect. It's hundreds of times more powerful than the imperfect, half-baked products that humanity has developed itself."

"Ah, speaking of which, that is indeed good news." I was slightly surprised, then squatted down, reached out, and touched the girl's forehead—immediately afterward, a torrent of information surged forth, instantly flowing into my consciousness. Among it was some information that was useful to me.

However, I have not discovered the ability that Ryoko Asakura mentioned—the ability to reverse time and even reverse cause and effect.

"Lying is never a good thing." Feeling thoroughly fooled, a dangerous glint flashed in my eyes.

“No, that’s not the case,” Ryoko Asakura explained. “As I said before, I’m just a humanoid dialogue terminal. Such high-level information is beyond my reach.”

"So, your boss?"

"That's right, an information integration thought system."

"Oh." I nodded. "But, without any evidence, I can't trust you."

"Then, as an advance payment, I can provide you with a little bit of a similar ability. How about that?"

"I have just searched your soul—or, as you put it, your database. So—"

"—No, this authorization was just obtained from the Information Integration Entity. However, such information has not been loaded yet; everything will have to wait for your reply before it can proceed."

"Oh? Is that so? Well then, let's talk about it. The prepayment."

"The ability to accurately predict the future."

"You mean talking to your future self?" I rolled my eyes. "Absolutely not."

Because I know how awful I am. I even harbor murderous intent towards my past self. Therefore, my future self will naturally also harbor murderous intent towards my present self. Thus, that kind of information is completely meaningless.

“No, that’s not it.” Ryoko Asakura shook her head: “It is, as the name suggests, the ability to see the future with absolute accuracy—of course, this ability has some limitations.”

"limit?"

"That's right. Because theoretically speaking, there are countless futures in this world, and what will happen in the next second is completely unknown. Even so-called accurate prediction is actually only predicting a small part of the greatest possibility of what you want to know."

"In other words, the longer the time interval, the more variables there are, and the more important the future, the more vague and unreliable the conclusions drawn. Is that right?"

"indeed."

"It's a bit of a mixed bag."

"This is just an advance payment."

"Something is better than nothing."

"That's true."

"So, just a quick question. For an individual as important and with so many variables as myself, what is the longest possible time interval for obtaining an accurate probability of over 90%?"

"..."

Ryoko Asakura seemed to have done some calculations.

Five seconds.

"Then, what about something that's infinitely close to one hundred percent?"

"Similarly, it is infinitely close to a fleeting moment."

"What a useful ability!" I couldn't help but exclaim.

"So, you agree?"

"—No, I never said that."

Ryoko Asakura's smile vanished.

"Why is that?" she asked.

"Because I am not satisfied with the person I am negotiating with."

"Huh?"

"How about someone else? For example... um, for example, Yuki? Compared to you, Yuki is like the moon. You're just a firefly at best."

"Yuki...?"

"That expression of yours, are you jealous?" I put on an exaggerated, shocked expression: "I really didn't expect that."

"...No, it's not jealousy. I wasn't given that emotion when I was created."

"Is that so? Whatever. Now that you know, just do it. Yuki, Yuki. I just want Yuki to talk to me, even if she's a little cold to me, it's okay, even if she takes advantage of me a little, it's okay, because she's Yuki." I said to her with a sincere smile.

"Is... that so?" Ryoko Asakura's smile became extremely forced.

"That's right. To be honest, I was completely captivated by her the moment I saw her. As for a flawed product like you, you'd better find a secluded place to hide. Don't let me see you a second time. It'll ruin my mood."

Asakura Ryoko seemed to be forcibly enduring something—just then, the upper level of the space suddenly collapsed, and Nagato Yuki descended from the sky.

"I won't let you hurt him—huh?" Yuki seemed slightly confused. After seeing me, who was supposed to be the one she was protecting, unharmed, while Asakura Ryoko, the one who should have been the attacker, lay on the ground covered in blood, she uttered a cute sound.

"Ah—Yuki, did you come to save me? This is so touching."

In the next moment, I had already ascertained Yuki's purpose and said this to her.

“No…this is my responsibility.” Yuki still didn’t understand what had happened. But Yuki still answered like this—and then, asakura Ryoko, who was hopelessly infected by the extreme emotional Trojan horse called “jealousy” that had just been generated, raised the knife in her hand and stabbed Nagato Yuki hard.

"!!!!!!"

Yuki, unusually, showed a look of shock. At this moment, she no longer had time to set up her defenses.

But there was another me beside me.

So I stepped forward and did what any man should do in a situation like this: I shielded Yuki from the attack.

"What—" Not only Yuki was dumbfounded, but Ryoko Asakura was too.

"!"

The next moment, Yuki made her move. An extremely difficult-to-detect mental fluctuation rapidly transmitted to Asakura Ryoko, negating her entire existence.

An extremely sophisticated divine art of prophecy!

In the next instant, I completely analyzed Yuki's actions. With this ability alone, Yuki even possessed the potential to kill a god. Her combat power was simply not on the same level as Asakura Chain's.

"Is it over..." Ryoko Asakura said helplessly, "After all, I'm just a lowly support staff member... Hmph."

Her body began to transform into starlight from bottom to top, and then disappeared.

“However, don’t let your guard down because of this,” Ryoko Asakura said. “Since the negotiations have failed, the radicals will send other people over. Yuki might even turn his guns on you.”

"Are you trying to sow discord?" I asked.

“No, I’m just stating the facts,” she said. “But before that, I wish you happiness… and I wish Yuki happiness too.”

After saying all this, Ryoko Asakura disappeared completely.

"It's over." I breathed a sigh of relief and said that—and then, Yuki collapsed. But before that, I had already caught her in my arms.

"Yuki?!"

"Don't worry, it's just that the system processed too much information and got a little overloaded..."

Chapter Sixteen: It's Not a Misunderstanding