shiningworld | text; 1st skill.

[Philip jumps, and then turns around. Way too many people in this place remind him of his mother and her weird habits. He sighs and scratches his head.]

It's rude to surprise people like that...

[He pockets the phone and shifts his book out from under his arm.

I think I'll stick with Najimi-san, if that's all right. My name is Philip.

[Might as well get the introductions out of the way.]

Wahaha, sorry about that! But the truth is, I love surprising people!

[ SHRUG. come at her bro. ]

I'd really like you to call me Anshin'in-san, but I guess that's fine too. It's not like I care about what chessboard pieces call me.

Anyway, Philip-kun! It's nice to meet you! Take good care of me, all right?

Anshin'in-san still seems a bit long, but I suppose if you prefer it, it's fine. It's nice to meet you.

What information do you have on Lady Eureka? I've made progress but most entries on her specifically seem to still be blocked from access.

Hmm, well, I suppose our relationship can be considered something like "friends"? Or maybe, "fellow nonhumans" would work better? At any rate, I know a lot about Eureka-chan! We're friends, after all!

I wasn't quite human myself once... Though I think that's passed now.

I've only met Lady Eureka once. Hoenstly, I can't be sure it even happened at all with the condition I was in at the time. But if I understood her correctly, she needs us to believe in her power, and I've taken it upon myself to find a way to make that happen. But I knew a few people who are rather stubborn, so I need more information to find a way to prove it to them.

So anything you could provide me with would be helpful.

Oh, an avid believer! How nice, you're really earnest in what you're doing, huh?

Well, isn't the best way of proving that magic exists just to show it to their faces? Surely, that's all you really need! To show them an "impossibility", one that can't have ever existed.

As Eureka-chan's friend, I don't want to step on any eggshells, so talking about her might be a little difficult, but helping you prove that she exists is something I can definitely do! As a nonhuman, one who has lived three trillion years, something like making someone believe magic exists is as easy as enticing a young adolescent to pick up the WSJ, after all.

I believe in facts. Things that I know are true. The bookshelves can't lie to me, and they've told me Eureka is a witch.

So I believe in her.

Evidence to support it has shown itself numerous times, and I cannot deny something when evidence further supports the facts. Unfortunately, even this much evidence, with or without the facts behind it, isn't enough for some people.

Hmm, that's interesting. Such obtuse people existing in this world! Do they realize how much pain that causes for people?

At any rate, you're the kind of person who would pick up a WSJ series and naively believe that everything in it exists. That's some kind of amazing, and it's certainly not something I could do, so I commend you!

Going back onto the topic, it's simple, really -- if they don't believe, then make a situation that forces them to believe. It's as simple as that, really. If they don't believe, then keep on pressing on until they do. Stubborn people like that won't understand unless you take their approach and ram them headfirst!

In my world, such things are not possible. There are not witches, nor is there magic. Though perhaps there is, and I just have not encountered it first hand. But we are in a place possibly connected to infinite worlds, and it has been more than proven that we are now faced with infinite possibilities.

As I said, I merely believe in facts. Facts here are not what they were at home. So I have merely opened myself up to accepting possibilities that were not available before.

I have presented Tendou with evidence. The fact that there was, for a time, snow here when that is geographically impossible, was not even enough for him.

Our very being here at all should be enough proof but he refuses to believe until he sees Eureka first hand, which I do not think is possible unless he believes...

I'm sure it's there, you just haven't found it. But anyway, you're correct! This place is a gathering of kakera, and that's what makes this place so unique! It takes people from different infinite universes, and drops them down here! It's a nexus, if you will.

You're a really open-minded person. I don't hate that. In fact, it's a really good skill to have in this place, especially when the very existence of someone relies on whether the residents are willing to be open-minded or not.

Is that so? Tendou-kun is silly, then - but something like geographically impossible occurrences aren't really the best way to convince someone! After all, there could be something that happened to the place; it's not as if it's impossible for the thought that the Earth's balance had shifted, and so there was snow, or maybe that there was some sort of world wide freezing for a period of time. Maybe global warming stopped? Or maybe, Eureka exists, but she's a human who is very rich and has a machine that produces snow!

That's the kind of thinking that obtuse people will think of, they'll run around thinking like that! They'll make up all the excuses in the world, those humans. That's why there should be a bigger impossibility, Philip-kun! One that will definitely make him understand that witches are real!

I suppose, but a snow machine couldn't cover the whole island in one night, and any sort of global climate change would would have much larger, longer lasting effects.

But Tendou is very smart and I suppose he would be able to find a way of talking around all of it... I'm not used to people not accepting things I say as fact. Back home no one questioned my research...

What kind of bigger impossibility could be created?

Ah, but if it was a very, very big snow machine, it'd be easy!

That's unfortunate, but it's not whether he's smart or if he believes in you or not. He just has a lot of anti-magic toxins, which is why it's hard to convince him.

A black hole being created, gravity being reversed, the world being flipped upside down, everyone's sex suddenly changed, the creation of a new world, the creation of a new universe, bringing the dead back to life, summoning dead spirits -- or something like a closed room murder, everyone dying repeatedly and coming back to life, summoning monsters from Hell ..

All of these impossibilities are possible to create, and they're certainly impossibilities, don't you think? If no human can do something like this, then it can only be a witch!

[Philip frowns a bit.]

Dying is particularly unpleasant though. Especially multiple times... And can be done without a witch, if the conditions are right. Though in truth that all sounds horribly unpleasant. Though the sex-changing not quite as much, if it's done magically. It would be awkward, but otherwise not very unpleasant.

[It's not as though Philip didn't wear a dress that one time anyway.]

Monsters will not convince him though. I am not sure exactly what the ones he dealt with were like, but he and I have dealt with monstrosities on a regular basis. It is part of who we are, part of our role as Kamen Riders.

Well, it's not as if I know about it. I can't die, after all.

Hm, so you want everyone's sex to be changed, then? Of course, it'll be done magically. Is that something you think Tendou-kun will believe in?

... [ ...stops. ]

Ah... Kamen Rider...

Eureka-chan.. You really are a great witch, to bring in a childhood memory like that ..

I suppose next, I'll see characters from WSJ. Ah, well.

I've died three times. It is incredibly unpleasant and I would rather.. not do it again. Not any time soon anyway.

I'm not sure if I want that to happen, but it it were temporary and it caused Tendou to believe, then perhaps.

[Philip just.. tilts his head bit.]

Ah... So you know what we are? ... T-Technically I am only half of a Kamen Rider. I can't henshin without Shoutaro... But the other two here can.

Right, right, I remember that! Yes, it was pretty heartwrenching. Ah, I cried a lot!

It'd be funny though, don't you think?

Mm, well, it took a little bit for my memory, but of course! I remember. W was pretty good, I think, but I liked Kiva better. Anyway, yeah, I understand!

I suppose it might be funny. And I've already had practice walking in heels.

...I didn't think... many people knew I had died. I thought Shotarou had said he'd kept that a secret.

[Philip's just going to look at you kind of weird now because he doesn't exactly understand what you are saying.]

We've.. never met Kiva?

Heels don't need to be worn, but if you want to be fashionable, okay!

Ah, ignore me. It's because I'm someone who can be anywhere at any time, so the fact that you didn't know I knew is just proof of that, you know?

[ That's the best way of putting it, anyway.. ]

It was a long time ago, a long time ago! Don't worry about it.

If I'm going to dress as a woman again, I figure it would be best to do it right in order to thoroughly prove the point. They are also very painful if you kick someone with them so there is an odd degree of practicality to them.

[Philip still just... looks at her oddly. But then again he had a library of infinite knowledge in his head so he's really in no position to judge.]

...All right then.

It'd be a nice opportunity! I'm not really one to care, but even someone like me is curious about what Philip-kun would look like as Philippa-chan. Of course, it's only because it's a spin-off that something like this is possible.

[ smile. ]

You're rather accepting! That's certainly something Eureka-chan would appreciate.

I had the one time, but that was more to look like my sister than me as a girl... So I suppose it doesn't really answer the question.

As I said, it would be a terrible disadvantage to not be accepting under these conditions. I've already met people who come form places I've never heard of and who can do things that would be impossible in Fuuto.

Keeping an open mind seems to be the best way to get closer to going home.

Yeah, I remember it! It was quite fun, but I want to see you as a real girl.

[ nod, nod. ]

Mmm, you're definitely the kind of person who'd be able to adapt in a different scenario. Still, no matter how open you are, even I, Anshin'in-san don't know when you're going to go home.

Eh-heh... I guess... it might be fun?

[Philip just smiles and shrugs.]

I suppose the when doesn't matter. If Shoutarou doesn't know I'm gone, and thinks that I'm okay, then it's fine. I just don't want to make him worry again.

So the research doesn't need to be rushed. I just need to know the goal is attainable.

Sure, if it's not that time of the month! Thankfully, as a nonhuman, I don't have to endure that, but I've heard terrible things about it.

Well, if it's any consolation, when you go home you'll never even remember this happened! All of this is happening in a blink of an eye, and no time will have passed at all, either.

I'm sure Eureka-chan will send you home when she's bored of you. That's how it normally is, anyway!

[Philip shudders.]

I've heard Akiko's complaints... It sounds awful.

That's a shame... Not remembering any of this. I've learned so many interesting things. I wanted to share them with Shoutarou.

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