Work Text:
Yuki: Good morning
Akiyama Mizuki stared at the DM in confusion.
It most certainly was not morning.
In fact, it was currently 10:28 PM.
Why would she say good morning to them? Did she say that to everyone?
Maybe this was some kind of prank. But no, they realized, Mafuyu wasn't the kind of person to play pranks. So then…
Ah, maybe Mafuyu took a nap, woke up, and thought it was morning! Mizuki laughed a little and ignored the message. While not too likely, it was definitely possible.
Silly Mafuyu.
A while later, they decided to check the Nightcord server.
Enanan: I want eggs
Amia: ??
Amia: didn't you have like a million eggs in your fridge
Enanan: Yea they disappeared
Amia: what.
Enanan: Idk
Enanan: Anyways
Enanan: I want eggs
…ignoring the strange, sudden disappearance of the eggs, it was like, 11 PM. Why the hell did Ena want eggs? Dinner’s been over for a while, and it wasn’t anywhere near breakfast. Plus, eating this late at night was supposed to be bad for you, right? They doubted Ena would want that.
They… didn’t really have an explanation for this.
Unless it was actually morning?
Haha… no, no, that makes no sense. They shook their head. Just… had to accept that those two were weirdos. Yeah.
It was dark outside. All of their clocks said 11:02 PM. It was night. It was… definitely night.
…
Several tens of minutes went by before Ena’s next message.
Enanan: Update
Enanan: I had a breakfast sandwich
…
What the fuck.
No. No, that’s not right. A breakfast sandwich is something you have for breakfast. In the morning.
So then, why would Ena…
…
Was it really morning?
They had two pieces of evidence already.
A “good morning” from Mafuyu, and a breakfast sandwich from Ena.
But it was dark outside. It was clearly night… right? There’s no way it could be morning. That just didn’t make any sense. Of course, time zones were a thing, but all of them were in Japan. None of them are halfway across the world, or anything. Why would--
Their thoughts were interrupted by a sudden text message.
Rui: Hey, Mizuki
Rui: Wanna do some homework together?
Rui: It’s due today so we still have time :3
You: ?????
You: THERWS LITERALLY 6 MINUTES UNTIL MIFNIGJT
Rui: HUH????
Rui: BRO I LITERALLY JUST WOKE UP TF YOU MEAN MIDNIGHT :Ɛ
…
Something was very, very wrong.
This shouldn’t be happening.
Were they hallucinating? The clock clearly said it was 11:54-- oh, wait, no, it’s 11:55 PM now. It was dark outside. They were meeting on Nightcord in an hour. It couldn’t be morning. There was no way. Absolutely no way.
But… Ena, Mafuyu, and Rui all seemed to agree that it was morning. One person was silly, two people was weird, but three?
This was…
…
Wait. There was still someone they could ask.
Maybe someone was just as confused as they were.
Of course, that person was…
Amia: K
Amia: K is it dark outside
Amia: answer plsplsplsplspls
K: i dont know
K: i have my blinds closed
Amia: open them and tell me if it’s dark
Amia: plsplsplsplsplsplspls
K: but if it’s not dark then sunlight will get in
K: and i don’t like the sun
Amia: THEN UHHHH
Amia: JUST TELL ME IF ANYTHING WEIRD HAPPENED RECENTLY
K: hm
K: anything weird?
K: well i tried to pet a cactus that looked really fuzzy
K: but the fuzz was actually really small spikes so i spent a few hours trying to pull them out
K: so it’s weird how fuzzy and friendly that cactus looked
…
Thanks, K.
That sure did help a ton. Totally.
Well, this told them absolutely nothing. This gave them absolutely nothing to…
…
Wait a minute.
Cactus.
A cactus is a plant. Plants rely on the sun. And the sun is what determines day and night.
Long, long ago, people used the sun as their only way to tell time. Sundials were their clocks. Without the sun, they had no knowledge of what time it was.
Nowadays, we rely on mechanical clocks. The sun could burn out, and yet, we would still know what time it was, thanks to the soft ticking of the simple device mounted on everyone’s walls. The turning of gears told us more than the turning of the planet.
But still, we’ve never disconnected day from light and night from dark. And darkness was not morning, not by any means. It’s impossible for three people in such close proximity to determine that a dark sky and a clock reading 11:58 PM meant “morning”
In the grand scheme of things, time was subjective. Late at night for one person could be considered evening for another. One person could feel that hours had passed, while another felt only a few minutes.
But this kind of dissonance? Extremely improbable. Calling 11:59 PM “morning” isn’t something that most people do, not without some sort of supernatural element involved. So while it may be dark outside for them, it might be bright outside for everyone else.
Maybe they were in some sort of dark corner of reality. The fabric of the universe had been torn, and they just happened to be caught in the rift. Their skies were dark while everyone else’s were bright. Their clock was behind, or perhaps ahead, of everyone else’s.
But the concept of time and dates is pretty arbitrary, isn’t it? Maybe there’s no “behind” or “ahead,” simply out of sync. The universe had been thrown into discord. Or, more specifically, Akiyama Mizuki’s corner of the universe.
…”corner of the universe.” The universe that they called home. Where was the edge of it, Mizuki wondered? How big was the universe? Is there really an end, or does it keep stretching forever? At one point, if you travel out far enough-- and fast enough-- you will eventually reach a place that no matter has ever touched. A place that has not been expanded out to yet. Could you still call that the universe? Is it still the universe if there’s nothing there?
What shape was the universe? If it was truly infinite, then it would have no shape. But that’s rather difficult to comprehend, isn’t it?
Is the universe a loop? If you travel out far enough on one end, will you reach the other end of the universe? Does the universe even have an “end?” Mizuki didn’t know. They truly didn’t. But at this moment, they made a promise to themselves, to dedicate their life to uncovering the secrets of the universe. Starting this moment, they’ll be working to answer every question they’ll ever have.
Of course, there will always be questions that’ll go unanswered. They’re limited, very limited, on time. Compared to the billions of years that the universe has been in existence, their lifespan is but an insignificant flicker in the grand timeline.
But they’ll do their best.
What triggered the big bang? Where did all that matter come from in the first place? How did life truly come to be? Queries like these are what they will aim to answer.
How long will the universe continue to expand? Is the universe truly infinite, or does the everlasting void eventually come to an end? In a similar vein, is a Minecraft world truly infinite? How does Minecraft world generation work? What kind of information does a Minecraft world seed hold? What does--
Wait, what? Minecraft? Weren’t they contemplating the nature of the universe just now?
Actually, why were they even thinking so hard? They literally couldn't care less about science and stuff. Also, dedicating your life to finding out the secrets of the universe sounds... REALLY hard. And not worth their time. So, uh, on second thought... no thanks, actually.
It was past midnight now, according to the clock. The Nightcord chat had new messages.
Yuki: Breakfast sandwich? Isn’t it night?
Enanan: shut up it’s my cheat day i can eat whatever i want whenever i want leave me alone
Yuki: Oh
Yuki: Not anymore, though. It’s midnight.
Enanan: fuck you
…well, that was settled, it seemed. But Rui--
Right on cue, their phone buzzed.
Rui: fml
Rui: it’s midnight
Rui: i woke up at midnight
Rui: (´；ω；`)
Yeah… sounds about right. Mafuyu’s message, though?
…
…
Okay, there wasn’t any coincidentally timed message there that could explain this.
But also, why did they even care? There was like, literally no valid reason for them to be prodding into her reasoning.
Well, that was settled. Mizuki yawned. There was still an hour left before it was time to meet, but they seemed to all be online already, so… might as well join the call early, right?
With a smile, they clicked on the VC.