User blog:Seieireppa/God Eater:Universitas, chapter 37: Between One and Zero, part 2

Nanako Kawashima had lived a long (relatively speaking) and eventful life. She’d seen her fair share of loss, of strife, and of new beginnings; she’d expanded her horizons and become the person she was meant to be. As she was now, her current situation, Feldman aside, was not an unfavorable one—she was overall happy with her life, with no major regrets and no significant dreams for the future.

Thus she thought to herself as she exited the elevator and headed to her room…

“Yo, Kawashima!”

The sudden voice, which came from inside her room as she opened the door, startled her. No one should have been able to get in there—

—least of all not Isaac Feldman, the supreme villain of the entire world whom the aptly-named anti-Feldman task force was now training to destroy.

With no conscious thought, Nanako dashed forward and threw a solid punch at Feldman, who sat on her bed, only to have her fist pass directly through Feldman’s head as if it were—

“A hologram?!” exclaimed Nanako, looking definitively surprised.

“Precisely,” came Feldman’s reply. “I’m not actually here, you see. At the moment, I’m reconstituting my power far, far away across time, thanks to your little friend Idenn.”

Nanako gritted her teeth. “Why the HELL are you here?” she growled, her face an image of rage.

“Because, Miss Kawashima—“

“Just ‘Nanako’ is fine, thanks,” interjected Nanako. “I’m not much of one for formalities.”

Feldman paused, clearing his throat. “Because, Nanako,” he continued, “I’ve come to you today with an offer of sorts.”

“Let me guess,” returned Nanako, absentmindedly checking her nails, “you want me to join you? Some clichéd bullshit like ruling the world together, or something?”

“Hardly,” came Feldman’s reply. “You see, Nanako…”

Feldman, or rather Feldman’s phantasmal image, stood up and began to pace about Nanako’s room. “As I’ve been regaining my power,” he began, “I’ve had to pass time somehow. To do that, I spent my time gazing through the past using my extremely limited powers of time travel.”

Nanako was slightly surprised. “Oh, you can do that on your own now?”

“Only looking,” Feldman answered. “No actual time travel yet. I suppose I envy Sigma for that… but it’s only a matter of time now, I suppose. Anyway… I digress. While I was looking into the past, I happened to catch a glimpse of your own past. Do you know what I saw?”

Nanako looked even more annoyed. “It’s my own damn memories,” came Nanako’s reply. “It’s nothing I’m not already familiar with, you bastard.”

“In that case,” Feldman continued, “this should be easy. What I saw, Nanako, was a girl who had it pretty easy in life… or at least as easy as a God Eater could have it. You became a God Eater, accomplished a great deal—this much I remember, as I was in command at the time, if you’ll recall—then traveled around the world essentially doing whatever you wanted and living life at your own pace until Sakaki called on you. Do I have that about right?”

Nanako sighed. “Again… what’s your point?”

“My point,” continued Feldman, “is that you’ve never really experienced true hardship in your life. Overall, you’ve had it pretty easy… and don’t you think that’s boring?”

At this, Nanako’s interest was piqued. “And what do you mean by that?”

“You’ve never really experienced any significant troubles in your life…” answered Feldman, “but would you not agree that overcoming hardship is the spice of life?”

Nanako remained silent.

“All I’m offering you is a chance to make something of yourself,” came Feldman’s words. “I’ve been watching you all… you’ve been reaching the Horizon one by one and gaining power so you can take me down, right? So how would someone like you, who has no grand goal, no major dream you want to achieve, be able to prove yourself worthy to the Horizon?”

Once again, Nanako spoke not a word in response.

Feldman stopped in his tracks and turned to face Nanako. “You’ve got nothing you care about so much that you’d willingly give up everything to achieve it,” he continued. “You’re worried that you’ll never amount to anything, and this tears at you more than anything else.”

At this, Nanako moved in for another punch, her fist traveling harmlessly through the flickering image of Feldman that stood before her.

“Shut… up…” Nanako interjected. “Just… shut up…”

“And do you know the best part?” continued Feldman. “Do you know what is truly the richest, the funniest part about all of this?”

Another fist flew through Feldman’s face. Nanako was visibly incensed.

“What the hell are you getting at, bastard?” she seethed.

“What I am getting at,” replied Feldman, “is that in addition to the past of this world, I viewed in my free time, of which I have all too much, the past of another world… a world where your own utter powerlessness proved to be the downfall of all of humanity.”

Upon hearing this, Nanako came to a halt and showed visible signs of shock. “What… what do you mean…?” she inquired.

“Everything in this world gives rise to possibilities, everything begets a ‘what-if’ situation, an alternate ‘what-if’ world where events that could have happened did. In this world, your own inability to stop the onslaught of the Gehenna doomed all of humanity to extinction. Would you like me to tell you more?”

By now, Nanako was clutching her head, trying to block out Feldman’s words. But no matter how hard she tried, his voice still reached her.

“Let me tell you…”

“…about the maxim of possibility.”

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