[Voice]

[undyingcrow]

[In the middle of a restless night, Akechi addresses the radio.]

One thing has become abundantly clear since my arrival: the vast majority of us hail from different times, if not different worlds.

[He pauses, letting that sink in.]

For instance, I'm from Japan in the year 2017. However, it is specifically the same version of Japan shared by Akihiko Sanada and Naoto Shirogane... in the future. That places the three of us in a shared reality, but not the same point in time.

However, our version of Japan has endured a number of odd, even supernatural occurrences, such as a "Dark Hour" and, more recently, the vigilante work of a group of "Phantom Thieves" who quite literally changed the hearts of wicked adults through the use of a parallel, cognitive world.

[His voice remains calm, if tinged with a subtle weariness.]

But that is far from universal. In my time here, I have encountered a talking turtle from a world where yokai and mutants are real. I've spoken with someone who had been sent into a digital world, like an isekai protagonist. I even had to explain the concept of religion to Serph-san, as well what a horse is.

[...]

All this to say, it may be worthwhile to cross reference the worlds and time periods we hail from. If nothing else, it may help us discern patterns that could in turn heighten our understanding of our present circumstances.

Comments

[undyingcrow]

The summoning circles alone gave that impression, but the vehicles also stood out as an obvious clue.

[How to put this...]

The fact that we felt drawn to them was already alarming on its own, but my designated motorcycle had crow decals. Only someone deeply familiar with me would know of my connection to crows.

[It was, after all, his codename in the Metaverse. A codename meant to conceal his identity.]

You are right, though. The events preceding our arrival may be just as telling.

[serialmurderbot]

[Now see, that just gives Murderbot even more reason for stubborn denial, because it immediately retorts.]

Or maybe you felt drawn to it because you noticed the crow decals. There were plenty of vehicles. That doesn't mean there were specific targets.

[undyingcrow]

Normally, I'd be inclined to agree, but this was more than a passing interest. It was as if something had tampered with my mind, making me feel much too drawn to it than I normally would.

[How to put this...]

I've experienced status inflictions that tamper with the mind. Supernatural states of rage, despair, and the like. This was a similar feeling. A sort of tug, a belief that it was mine that only intensified after I obtained the keys.

[serialmurderbot]

[Okay, that might stymie its attempts to rationalize this, mostly because it's once again thinking about alien remnants and compulsions and feeling just about ready to crawl out of its skin with horror.

Some of that has to come across in its voice when it says;]

Supernatural how? Caused by what?

[undyingcrow]

Shadows. You could think of them as monsters, not unlike the ones we encountered here, save for the fact that they exist in a parallel reality that only a select few can access, and they're generally more cognizant.

[A soft snort of laughter follows.]

They reside within the collective unconsciousness, and thus many of them take on forms of gods and demons within various human mythologies. Anything from Jack Frost to Cerberus, though the latter lacks the three heads that Hades' hound is typically known for.

One of the monsters in the first attacks did look identical to a Shadow called Pisaca, however.

[serialmurderbot]

[Okay, so: still existential horror. It has to start playing an episode of Sanctuary Moon in the background just to stop its performance reliability from tanking. Because combination highly affective alien technology with what sounds like the plots of one of its shows isn't helping it keep its cool.]

So you think the same thing, or something similar, is happening here.

[undyingcrow]

I'm honestly not sure.

[It'd be easy to assume this is some form of cognitive world, given how he can still summon Hereward, but too many things don't add up.]

The Shadows in the Metaverse dissolve when slain. The monsters here leave behind corpses, even if some do eventually transform into energy that our bodies absorb. Certain abilities of mine I'd thought only usable within the cognitive world function here...

But the scale is far more massive than any Palace I have seen, and it even surpasses the tunnels of Mementos. Food and drink also don't function the way they do in the cognitive world, where soda could replenish stamina and food could heal wounds.

So this world seems more real, yet one monster resembles a Shadow, which in turn drew from Hindu mythology.

Ultimately, I need more clues and a larger sample size before I can draw proper conclusions.

[serialmurderbot]

[Wow that's a lot of jargon, all at once.

Also;]

Why would eating food heal wounds, that's stupid. [Okay, not stupid, but that sounds like how it works in some of the interactive media, not real actual life. Whatever this "cognitive world" is, it doesn't sound like a real thing. Is this like one of those stories where the protagonist ends up in a virtual world?

Well, there's at least one similarity to those usual tropes. They're all fucking trapped here.]

Fine. For your dataset, I've never heard of Japan, and I'm guessing you've never heard of the Corporation Rim.

[undyingcrow]

It's a cognitive world. Rather than logic, it often relies on associations. Eating vegetables makes you healthy. Coffee and soda give you energy.

[Yes, it's all outlandish. Akechi is well aware of the tropey feeling, but then again, a world of cognition is the proper place for such things.]

At any rate, you're correct, though if I had to guess, this Corporation Rim is rather important to your world.

[He could feel the proper noun in its wording.]

[serialmurderbot]

Sure.

It's not a world, it's a collection of planets and stations in loose alliance and marked by corporate control and treaties.

[Akechi's not wrong about the capitalization though.]

[undyingcrow]

[Well then. That's an interesting nugget of information.]

I've heard of such concepts, but where I'm from, they're a distant dream. One that captures the imagination and inspires art and literature, but far from our level of technology.

[Though, rather than send SecUnit on an existential rollercoaster...]

I do believe Roger-san's world may share some overlap, however. He even mentioned a galactic war.

[serialmurderbot]

[Personally SecUnit still suspects that most of these people are from seeded colonies that have been abandoned but survived for just long enough that their arrival on their home planet has become a matter of fable, rather than of direct personal memory - but the evidence is mounting up against that theory in a way it doesn't want to sit down and quantify just yet.

But that second point is by far the more immediate concern.]

What else did Roger say about it.

[undyingcrow]

[It takes a moment for Akechi to respond, as he tries to succinctly organize the information he gathered during that initial meeting.]

Let's see... He spoke of a Galactic Civil War, of clone wars... I believe he also mentioned something about a "First Order" and his genuine surprise that no one here seemed to know of them.

[serialmurderbot]

[Yeah that definitely sounds like the plot of some show.]

Doesn't sound familiar. As far as I know no one's had a war about cloning.

[undyingcrow]

Likewise. Cloning where I'm from is often limited to animals, and certainly not on a scale broad enough to facilitate a war.

[But the Metaverse aside, his world is fairly mundane. Perhaps that's to be expected.]

[serialmurderbot]

[It thinks, but doesn't say, that the only part of that the Corporation Rim would fight over would be whether they could make cloning proprietary.]

Anything else you need for your dataset?

[undyingcrow]

I suppose that's enough to start. I'll have to ruminate on more structured followup questions.

[He blows a small sigh.]

Then there's the matter of our transformations and how they relate to us, but that's an entirely different can of worms.

[serialmurderbot]

Right. Share it when it's done.

[And that's... more or less what counts as a sign-off for SecUnit, it seems.]