This is not the date I wanted.

Yes, if it is just about predicting the future, this is not the first time Mengyue has done it. Whether it was when Origami reversed or when Shidou reversed, Mengyue has always been using the ability to see the future to help them.

[Future prediction and future glimpse are two completely different abilities. At least that's how it feels to me... Shidao.]

Meng Yue sighed and explained slowly.

[Future prediction, to put it bluntly, is calculation. The Dawn Sage integrated and analyzed the information collected by my senses, and then deduced the development of the next few seconds based on this. Strictly speaking, it is not the future, but just one of many possibilities. The limit of the accuracy of this ability is no more than ten seconds. The farther into the future the prediction is, the lower the accuracy. At the same time, I have the right to accept or give up this "future". ]

Some people believe that the moment a person sees the future, the future will change, because whether one accepts this "future" or not, the "future you" is already different from the "present you".

But in fact, this is only because what you see is not the future, but just a "possibility" of the future.

"However, future glimpses are different. Although they are still calculations, this ability is not based on me, but on some laws of the world that I don't understand. I can't actively trigger it, and the time range that can be predicted is unclear. Moreover, once it is observed, it will become the future that cannot be changed."

"Can not change……"

Ling Yin asked calmly, chewing on the words Meng Yue said.

"Given your personality, you won't easily say something so absolute... In other words, you have activated this ability to peer into the future more than once..."

"——!?"

Shidou was shocked when he heard Reine's words.

"Is that so? Meng Yue."

"...If this time is not counted, there have been three future glimpses so far."

After a moment's silence, Mengyue acknowledged Lingyin's guess.

The first time it happened was in the last world, when Meng Yue saw the origami that destroyed the town after the reversal, and got inspiration from it, and deduced the truth of five years ago. But before Meng Yue could take action, in just five minutes, the observed future became reality.

The second time was after she changed the world. Meng Yue spent a very peaceful day without any disturbance. She was watching anime in her room when a picture of an unknown little girl drinking Coke suddenly appeared in her mind.

At that time, curiosity forced Mengyue to go out to look for the little girl, and soon she found her target in the crowd on a street.

At that time, the little girl was holding a few coins and preparing to buy a drink from the vending machine. In order to verify whether the future could be changed, Mengyue secretly hacked into the vending machine and made it crash. She also used the future prediction to calculate the little girl's route and bought all the Cokes in the convenience store on the road. The little girl who was one step slower than Mengyue naturally couldn't buy anything.

[Just when I thought I had changed the future, there was a sudden cheer from the front. It seemed that a man had won the third prize in a supermarket lottery - quite a rich variety of snacks and drinks.]

"Isn't she a little girl?"

Shidou couldn't help but complain. In response, Mengyue replied helplessly.

[I had the same idea as you at the time. I was slightly startled and didn't take it seriously. But when the little girl threw herself into the man's arms, I realized that the two were father and daughter.]

(Um... Is this even possible...)

Shidou thought with shame.

[After that, just as the future peek observed, the little girl picked only Coke from among the many drinks and drank it happily. At the time, I also thought that the failure was due to insufficient information, so I didn't take it too seriously.]

The third peek into the future happened in August when Mengyue came to Tiangong City. Mengyue saw the scene of "herself" rushing into the train with a very anxious look three days later.

At that time, Meng Yue, after confirming that there was nothing special to do in three days, planned to stay in her hotel room all day without going out.

[As a result, on the day of the event, the hotel's power facilities and network suddenly failed, and 70% of the staff were poisoned by food and unable to work. The store was in a mess, and the manager asked me to check out after compensating me for the rent.]

Afterwards, Mengyue tried to find other hotels, Internet cafes, comic cafes and the like to kill time, but no matter where she went, she got the reply that they were full or there was a problem and they could not accommodate her.

[Not only that, on that day, a store in Akihabara had a scheduling problem and moved up the release date of a limited edition peripheral special, and it was the one I had been eyeing for a long time. If I didn't take the train to Akihabara, I would definitely not be able to buy it. Can you imagine——such a mistake happened by such a coincidence. ]

Shidao couldn't help but ponder. Indeed, if it happened only once or twice, it could be explained as coincidence, but what if three or four coincidences overlapped at the same time?

"So you got on the train?"

[No... I held back, thinking that I could spend a lot of money to resell it online in the future. I was inexplicably mad at the time, thinking that as long as I didn't go, the future I saw in the future peek would definitely not happen.]

Meng Yue said in a tired tone.

[And guess what happened next? A man ran past me on the side of the road, bumped into me, and then rushed to the station.]

"Did your wallet get stolen?"

【No, on the contrary. He dropped something here. 】

Meng Yue denied Shidao's guess and continued.

[A paper bag containing nearly 2 million yen in cash and a copy of an old lady's heart disease medical records.]

"Forehead……"

A frown appeared on Shidao's forehead. What era is it now? There are still people walking around the streets with such a large amount of cash.

[To be honest, I felt a chill down my spine at that time. What era is this? There are still people who carry so much cash on them. And I just happened to see it that day.]

On the other end of the phone, Meng Yue expressed a similar sentiment to Shidao.

"So, you went to the station and gave him the money back?"

The question was asked like this, but actually Shidou already knew the result. With Meng Yue's personality, he would not involve others in his own willfulness.

[Yes. Just as the future peek observed, I almost rushed into the train on time. I returned the money to that person.]

Later, Mengyue found out that this person did not live in Tiangong City. In order to arrange a heart bypass surgery for his elderly mother, he traveled all over the place, borrowed and raised two million yuan for the surgery, and was preparing to rush back to his hometown to pay for the surgery.

If it weren't for Meng Yue, he wouldn't even know that his money was lost.

[That person started crying and knelt on the ground to thank me. I couldn't stand the atmosphere, so I jumped out of the car and ran away.]

When she said this, Meng Yue smiled bitterly and sighed. She did not have a sense of accomplishment for doing a good deed. On the contrary, Meng Yue even thought that the man lost the money because of her.

[If I had embezzled the money, his mother would have no money for surgery, and he would have committed suicide out of guilt, which would have indirectly killed two people. And if things went wrong, if I still chose not to get on the train, I'm afraid that kind of "coincidence" would have happened again and again.]

"Indeed, I would make the same judgment."

Just imagine it, and a chill spreads down Shidao's back. It was originally a matter of catching a train, but it was forced to involve human life. It was really terrifying.

"Judging from Meng Yue's words... Future Peeping should have two characteristics..."

At this moment, Ling Yin, who had been listening silently, suddenly spoke.

"First, if the object of the observed future belongs to a third party, trying to interfere with this future will be like editing a videotape of a movie, only adding content during the process, but unable to change the result. Second, if the object is the person himself, an irresistible 'external force' will appear, forcing the person to a situation where he has no choice but to choose that 'future'."

[It is very arbitrary to draw conclusions based on just these two cases, but my conclusion is similar to Lingyin's. 】

"No matter which one, the future has not changed..."

Shidou now understood how bitter Mengyue felt when she said "it cannot be changed".

Judging from the results, peeking into the future does not mean seeing the future, but rather locking people in the present into an ending. Whether it is good or bad depends on personal luck.

Meng Yue naturally wouldn't expect this ability to be like a Russian roulette. After all, human life is something that cannot be gambled.

"Fortunately, although Future Vision cannot be activated based on my consciousness, I can choose to turn it off. I just didn't expect that after connecting to the Whispering Announcement, it would actually start up like an updated computer reverting to default settings, and as luck would have it, Erya drew the worst fortune."

Standing on the balcony of the apartment, letting the cool breeze blow across your face, cooling down your hot head.

(It’s my responsibility…)

Thinking back to Erya's pale and lifeless face, which looked like a corpse, Liangyi Mengyue secretly clenched her fists.

Even though it was Erya who was pestering her at the time, Mengyue, who did not completely refuse, also had an unavoidable responsibility.

[Meng Yue... you just said that you saw Erya's chest being cut open by 'someone', right?]

At this moment, Shidou suddenly asked.

"Um...that's right."

Mengyue nodded.

[Have you confirmed it? Is Erya really dead in the picture? ]

"——!?"

Hearing Shidao's words, Mengyue's eyes widened in surprise. Then, a smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, and she answered with certainty.

"do not know."

[That's good. Whether Niya will die or not is still unknown to us. We just need to work towards the future where Niya will still be saved even if she is thrown out of the chest.]

"Are you stupid? You can't survive with your chest cut open. So naive! So sweet! If Niya were awake, she would definitely scold you. You little brat who can't face reality!"

[You have already cursed! ]

Shidao retorted dissatisfiedly, but he didn't know that Mengyue at this moment showed a very relieved expression.

Yes, this is how Shidao is seen in Meng Yue's eyes. Innocent, childish, always saying things that are hard to get from others, doing unrealistic things, and in the end, even if it is not his own will, he will involve everyone around him.

However, if Gokawa Shidao was a more rational and mature person, many people that Mengyue knew would probably not be saved.

[Eiya is still alive, so let's work together to save her. ]

[Hmm...you are right...]

Mengyue nodded gently.

(First of all, someone has to say with certainty that they can be saved. Otherwise, nothing can be started...)

PS: Although I feel like I haven’t expressed what I wanted to say clearly due to the word count… well, forget it.

18 Conspiracy

==============================

[Reporting to the Director, the signal just sent from Sister was intercepted by an unknown person and lasted for ten minutes. It has now been restored.]

“Is it a hacker?”

Westcott asked calmly, not feeling the slightest bit surprised.

【Based on the method, it can be confirmed that it is a hacker. 】

Hearing the reply from his men, Westcott nodded with great satisfaction.

"Very good, thank you for working so late. Have a good rest from now on."

「Yes, yes──」

A flattered voice came from the communicator in his hand. Westcott smiled slightly, stood up from his office chair, and stretched his body comfortably. He seemed to be in a very good mood.

"The moon is so beautiful! It's a rare night like this. My dear Alan, would you like to open a bottle of champagne with me and enjoy it together?"

"Ike. It's cloudy today."

Watching his boss making a scene at the cloud-filled night sky, Alan corrected him without changing his expression.

“Also, don’t drink in the studio.”

"Of course I'm joking, Alan. People need to have a sense of humor~"

Westcott shrugged his shoulders, narrowed his dead eyes slightly, and looked at the dark night sky outside the window with interest, as if there was a bright full moon hanging there.

"Is it okay? What if the hacker finds out what we did to the Sister?"

Seeing Westcott's relaxed attitude, Alan couldn't help but ask with concern.

"It's no problem. Rather, it wouldn't be fun at all if we didn't find it."

With a "pleased" smile on his face, Westcott answered in a very relaxed manner.

"As long as the 'Hacker' is not a fool, he will never do it. Alan, I'll leave tomorrow to you."

"Of course, I am the strongest magician."

Alan replied in an unquestionable tone.

“It’s really reliable.”

After sighing with relief, Westcott turned around and sat down at his desk.

On his desk, there was a ready-made chess set.

"Then - let the game begin."

As he spoke, Westcott picked up the black "king" and moved forward.

——————————————————I have reached the dividing line of daytime——————————————————————

December 12st, 31: am, Tiangong Square.

The door of the gymnasium slowly opened, and many club contestants walked into the hall in an orderly manner.

Comic Colosseum is a large-scale doujinshi sale held twice a year, in summer and winter. Held over three days, it is a major event that attracts comics and anime fans from all over the country. It varies from year to year, but it is said that more than 500,000 people attend the three-day event.

[Note: The translated version I have is Comic Arena. Because the name is too low, I went to the Chinese translation team of the original novel to confirm it. Judging from the scale, Lao Ju should have referred to the real Comic Market.]