[Conan Doujin] The Mystery of Theseus

Observer of Puzzle35□□.

Looking at the detective who looked like a primary school student in front of him, he was vigilant as expected, and the person outside the door smiled slightly.

"It seems that you still remember me." The soft and pleasant voice was unexpectedly cold, "Do you need me to introduce myself again?"

do you need?

Edogawa opened his mouth, but didn't know how to answer.

This is no longer a question of whether it is necessary or not, and even the most detailed and nuanced explanation cannot explain the current situation.The picture in front of me is fundamentally illogical.

Light-colored hair, blue eyes, the same white coat as in memory, and the same height as an adult.

A few minutes ago, Edogawa was still talking to Haibara.And now, "someone who is absolutely impossible to appear here" rang the doorbell of the doctor's house.

Miyano Shiho.

No matter what changes have taken place in the world, no matter how many plots hidden in the ground have not been revealed, she should never stand here at this moment and pull out that kind of non-related smile as if nothing happened.

How could she stand here?How could she stand here?The girl who used to be Miyano Shiho and now lives under the name Haibara Ai undoubtedly exists here, and the reason why the person in front of her is standing here, even if she exhausts all her imagination, is unreasonable.

"It seems that you need an explanation." Miyano tilted his head in a good mood, and Miyano no longer kept his secrets. "It's not suitable for talking here," she suggested, "how about another place?"

Compared to facing the impact of the weird reality just now, speaking in another place seems to be a very common reason.Edogawa easily agreed to the proposal.I have already seen such a surreal picture, I am afraid that this world will not set any new traps in insignificant places.

After leaving the doctor's house for a while, the woman who looked like Miyano, but was indeed Miyano, spoke again.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't intend to scare you." Her tone was not as cramped as if she was restrained, but showed a relaxed indifference that had experienced everything, "But things are out of control, and I have to do this. "

Although it seems to be stating a solemn and serious fact, the understatement is more like a complaint like being afraid of trouble.

Edogawa looked at her inexplicably, as if looking at a stranger.Judging from the intersection, she is indeed a stranger.

"Let me think about it, how can I simply let you understand the situation," Miyano pondered for a moment, and then called out a term, "Time Administration," she waited for Edogawa's response, "At present, we are called like this .”

"Time Administration?" This may be the name of an organization, or a team, or a company.This name did not exist in Edogawa's cognition, and he did not have enough intelligence to understand it, "Sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean."

"As far as your timeline is concerned, I come from the future 'after everything is over', and in order to protect that future," Miyano explained starting from the root, "the Time Administration must exist."

"The future?" Edogawa never thought about this question.He didn't have much time to think about it.The future is formed by the accumulation of countless presents.Once you know what the foregone "future" looks like, "now" loses its meaning at that moment.

Edogawa didn't really want to ask what happened in the future, or he didn't dare to ask.

"Of course, I won't do such things as spoilers. In the future, I have to walk on my own two feet," Miyano smiled, "However, I can tell you about our work and my appearance here s reason."

"Well, I'll listen," Edogawa exhaled, "I don't think I'm more surprised than just now."

No matter how unbelievable the facts are, as long as you see all this with your own eyes, you have to accept what should be accepted... right?

What a nasty habit.

Without explaining too much, this is more like good news for Miyano.She secretly thanked a certain detective for his unaltered understanding, and began to try to make him understand the cause of everything in a non-devious way.

"The job of the Time Administration is to maintain all the details that happened in the past, so as to ensure that the final outcome will not change. Our working policy is 'loyalty to the original'." At this point, she raised her eyebrows, "You Many people I know are serving the Authority."

"A lot of people?" Just by hearing all this, Edogawa felt that he had glimpsed a corner of the future.

"That's right, in order to ensure that everything follows the original order, the participation of those who have been in it is required," Miyano nodded, "By the way, you are also among the people involved in maintenance. But that was a long time later thing."

"May I ask," Edogawa raised his eyes after thinking, "What do you do with your so-called 'maintenance work'?"

"Good question." Miyano softened the corners of his mouth, "Our job is to conduct uninterrupted observation of everything that happened in the past, and once we discover emergencies that will change the direction of the main plot, we will send personnel to that point in time to carry out the investigation. Correction." At this point, she seemed to recall something unpleasant, "What kind of butterfly effect any insignificant detail will cause is probably beyond your imagination."

"Like?"

"Can you imagine that just a traffic jam that day made it impossible for you and Mao Lilan to go to that amusement park?" Just saying this, Miyano seemed to have a headache, "The length of the queue waiting for the roller coaster, the queue The relative position of every passerby in the street... Any change in any detail may cause everything behind to not happen."

Edogawa listened to her story quietly, and in the process of trying to understand, he discovered a fact that he didn't want to admit.

"So, you are here now," he felt his throat a little dry, "this means that the reality I am in... has gone wrong?"

"clever."

Now that the purpose of coming has been understood, Miyano will not try to repeat those complicated space-time concepts and causal effects. "Now that you understand this, many things can be said easily."

She cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry to inform you that due to the existence of some uncontrollable factors, the reality you are currently in can no longer reach the future that this world should have."

Her voice was not as relaxed as before, her words were formal and rigorous, with some annoying public relations flavor.

"Can't... reach the future?"

Time is still advancing, and I am still breathing.There is solid ground under your feet, and if you look at your watch, you will definitely be able to see the second hand moving from one second to the next.Edogawa does not agree with such a statement.This world must have a future.

"If you can't accept this reality, I can only tell you this," Miyano still maintains the tone of a publicist, "Because you made a wrong choice at a certain moment, or did something unnecessary, the world will The elements needed to travel to the necessary future are missing. Therefore, we need to correct the wrong events and return everything to the original track.”

"But, no matter what you do," Edogawa insisted, "no matter what kind of future it is, there is a reason for its existence, isn't it?"

"But for us," Miyano responded unabashedly to his gaze, "there is only one necessary future."

Edogawa suddenly realized a fact.A fact that I suddenly discovered from the conversation just now.

Just once, even once.Miyano Shiho, who appeared here as a "mainline maintainer", never called himself by his name once.She didn't call him Edogawa, and she didn't call him Kudo.Not once.

It's as if he doesn't recognize his existence at all.

"What did I do wrong?" Existence was denied, and this fact took his breath away. "Where did I choose wrong?"

"Strictly speaking, this world is not the result of your choice alone," Miyano stated the facts, "We just chose the people who are directly related to all of this as the object of notification."

directly related?That is, indirectly related, and others?

Seeing his question, Miyano sighed.

"I'll just say it," she herself seemed to hate this unpleasant job, "all this happened because you and Kuroba Kaito met prematurely at the wrong time. At that time The points are too far apart for us to observe in time, and this directly led to his over-involvement in irrelevant events," Miyano's eyes welled up with apology, "It is our fault for not being able to detect these earlier and correct them. fault."

But Edogawa didn't intend to dwell on whose fault it was.

"Is there no room left?" He felt that he should struggle again, "Can't we discuss it with other people besides you?"

"I think, I'm afraid it won't work." Thinking of that unbelievably sunny noon, and recalling the encounter that would never have happened near Kudo's house, Miyano began to regret that she didn't make a decision earlier, "At first, I observed the wrong I was the one who observed the error and didn't report it in time. So now, I have to take responsibility and correct this error."

error?This is simply a farce.

Edogawa no longer knew what to say.Acquainted too early?at the wrong moment?Since when does being a friend need to be timed?He doesn't understand why there can only be one future in the world, and every future should have its own reason for existence.And here, all the choices he made were not respected.What he thinks is right is wrong, and the world he lives in should never have existed from the very beginning.

Could it be that the world would have had a more perfect ending if he hadn't watched the video of the "Magic Genius Boy" at that time, hadn't spoken to Kaito Kuroba, and hadn't become friends after that?

But didn't they also say, "The ending has to be walked on by one's own feet"?

"He..." When he spoke again, Edogawa only felt his throat tighten, "How is he... now?"

"Ah, you mean Kuroba?" Although what he said before was already very unreasonable, Miyano would still give a corresponding answer when he needed to answer, "For the convenience of correction, I have contacted other people in advance, through Quarantine somehow." She smiled, "If you're asking about safety, don't worry about it."

Is this nothing to worry about...

According to the previous statement, the world in front of me is clearly coming to an end.

"Why did you tell me?" Emotional management had lost its effect, and Edogawa felt so embarrassed that he was about to laugh out loud, "If you observe a mistake, can't you just correct it without saying hello?" He snorted in disbelief , "It's only now that I've come to tell me, 'Everything you did was wrong', 'You shouldn't have existed in the first place', how can it be easy to accept?"

"If you have to ask, I can only say," Miyano lowered his gaze, "this is out of some kind of humanitarian concern. Forcibly correcting wrong events without prior notice is against our work in principle."

"Is this considered humanitarian care?" This time, Edogawa really laughed out loud, "What's the difference between this and reading the charges before the death sentence?"

In that instant, all the choices that had been made crumbled and crumbled like aging statues.Along with it, the future they lead together is also shattered. What is about to happen and the possibility of being born with it are all shattered into powder, which is sadly laid out at the feet of those who have made choices.

And when those who make the choice give up moving forward, no matter what kind of future it is, it will no longer exist.

Edogawa took off his glasses.There is no imprint on it, and the transparent medium is so clean that any beam of light can pass through it.He also didn't quite understand why he had to take it off, or even who he was now.

But he still wants to try, struggle again, and make another choice.

"Can I... meet him again?"

Miyano nodded.Edogawa wondered if it was also out of bloody humanitarian concerns.

"If you can promise not to interfere with our revision work," she gave the prerequisite for accepting the choice, "of course."