Chapter Text
"Futaba, are you in?"
The door to the science lab slid open. Futaba barely looked up from the book she was reading.
"What do you want, Azusagawa?"
"Nothing much really."
"Then can you take this 'nothing much' somewhere else?"
"Afraid I can't."
Sakuta sat down opposite Futaba. A beaker filled with water was slowly coming to a boil over a bunsen burner.
"Can I have a cup?"
"You really aren't going anywhere are you?"
"Nope."
Futaba sighed. She took out the ground coffee beans from under the desk and started to make a drink.
"I met Makinohara-san over the weekend."
"I will be reporting everything you say to Sakurajima-senpai."
"She already knows."
"And then?"
"We talked for a bit over some parfait."
Futaba glanced up from her preparations, "Pedo."
"You know it's not like that."
"Don't sit so close, I don't want to catch it."
"The only one for me is Sakurajima Mai."
"Sure... Here's your coffee. Again, help yourself to the sugar."
"Thanks."
The cold winter air pervaded the room. Futaba started making another cup.
"Tell me again, is time travel actually possible?"
"I thought we've been through this, Azusagawa. It is impossible."
"I know... but I can't find a better explanation for what happened between me and Makinohara-san."
Futaba took a sip of her coffee. "And what brought this up?"
"Makinohara-san mentioned that in one of the timelines she was in, you mentioned the tale of Urashima Taro. Something about relativity."
"Hmm... Time dilation..." Futaba paused. "It would make sense to someone observing from within I guess."
"What do you mean?"
"For someone to observe an Older Shoko existing alongside a Younger Shoko at the same time, it makes sense to talk about time dilation. Time moves at different speeds for different points of reference."
"Is it? So time travel is real?"
"Again, time travel is impossible."
"Ehh— Then what could explain it?"
Futaba took another sip of her coffee. She gazed out of the window, observing the many snowflakes that were falling outside.
"It's multiple universes."
"Another one of these?"
"Remember, it's only a way I can think of to explain Puberty Syndrome. I don't think that modern physics is capable of explaining all of this."
"I am much obliged, Futaba."
"Remember Schrodinger's cat?"
"As clear as day."
"Remember how I said that the cat is both dead and alive at the same time until it is observed?"
"How could I? I was saving the love of my life."
"Yes, yes. Now, assume that whatever I said is wrong."
"Wait, what do you mean 'wrong'?"
"Assuming that Schrodinger's cat is in a state where it is both dead and alive at the same time isn't the only conclusion we can arrive at in this experiment. In fact, the man Schrodinger came up with this thought experiment to show how weird this idea of being in a superposition of states is in our everyday lives."
"That's what I said at the start."
"There is another way we can explain this: at every point in the experiment, the universe splits into multiple realities, a group of realities where the cat is dead, and another where the cat is alive."
"Question: what do you mean, 'universe splits'?"
"There is a whole other universe where the cat is alive. Or dead. Or a universe where you never met Sakurajima Mai. Or a universe where I am not explaining this to you."
"Cold. But how do these universes split?"
"It happens on a higher dimension. Outside of space and time."
"I haven't an inklin' of what you're talking about."
"Try to keep up, it gets harder. Now, you say that Shoko-chan dreamt of different timelines where it was either you who were dead or Sakurajima-senpai, correct?"
"I think I see where you're going."
"So Shoko-chan must have made decisions that will let her end up in the many universes that she dreamt up with. She's had to see both your death and Sakurajima-senpai's death before she finally found the universe that everything worked out."
"I cannot imagine a universe where Mai-san is not around."
"Then don't."
"But... there were things in those universes that she didn't have control over, right? She said in those universes Mai-san didn't star in 'Summer Comes, Winter Goes'."
"Well, considering how much she has interacted with you and Sakurajima-senpai in these many universes, something like quantum entanglement must have happened. Sakurajima-senpai mentioned that even she didn't know why she wanted that role so much, right?"
"So it's like with Koga?"
"Approximately. But her's was a projection of the future. Shoko-chan's is more of finding universes."
"Maybe there's a universe where it was Mai-san who openly confessed her love to me in public."
Futaba raised her eyebrows at Sakuta. "Azusagawa, you're really a total rascal."
