296 – True Possibilities
The memories of someone other than yourself.
A fragmentary fragment that does not even know what this memory means.
Juliet didn’t understand why she was crying. She didn’t even realize she was sad.
However, her longing for her younger brother, whom she had never seen since birth, soared to the core.
Her anger and resentment from before suddenly disappeared and she was filled with only sad feelings, to the point where she was embarrassed by these sudden ups and downs.
“What did I just say…”
She must have muttered someone’s name, but she couldn’t quite remember it.
It was a strange feeling, as if in that split second, her body had been temporarily taken over by someone else.
Her imitator watched Juliet in such confusion in silence.
The Goddess of the Night and Juliet are distinct personalities.
However, it cannot be denied that the source of its existence is a sculpture of a goddess.
Juliet may have developed her own unique values while growing up in her orphanage over the past dozen years, but in the end, if you look back, she is like the alter ego of a goddess. It wasn’t impossible for her to recall the traces of her memories.
Yes. This seemed like an inevitability that had been decided from the moment she first created them.
It’s not just Juliet. Regardless of when Sharon was, she would eventually gradually recall the memories of Eterna, her true self. The timing was only delayed by her memories of her childhood with Franken.
Juliet, on the other hand, had a relatively unhappy childhood and did not have any major regrets about her current life.
Her only wish is one thing. All I want to do is meet her parents, who don’t even know her face or even her name, just once.
Therefore, the moment her wish came true, it was actually only a matter of time before her memories as a goddess came to mind.
The imitator knew this from the beginning. Even just now, I watched this scene through the window in the dimensional gap.
Maybe there was a better way than this. No matter how much the future Juliet tells me that it’s okay, the hurt that the present Juliet must have felt doesn’t go away.
But what if you hastily try a different method and the future you see out the window is all distorted? What if the future that was barely completed was shattered by one of my wrong decisions?
Ironically, in order to change her destined fate, she became bound by a plan she had set for herself.
The burden of carrying everyone’s future turned him into a coward.
No matter how happy the future may be, is it really the right way to go if the present leading to that future is unhappy?
If you can’t even comfort the girl who is crying right in front of you, is the future you gained really the right ending?
Juliet is Juliet. No matter how much she inherited some of the goddess’ qualities, she was still a weak girl who was only 15 years old.
Even though she is criticized for only raising Sharon with pampering after sending her to an orphanage, believing that she can overcome her, she can’t argue with anything. Because that’s actually true.
However, his physical condition has already reached its limit to turn back the past. He was so broken that he could no longer use his time manipulation powers. If he didn’t drink a decoction of evening primrose every day, it wouldn’t be surprising if he suffered terrible pain and died of shock.
“You can blame me. “If you can relieve your anger even a little by swearing and slapping your face, you can do that as much as you want.”
There was deep regret in his voice.
As he spent such a long time that it was difficult for a human to handle, he gradually became exhausted.
The two goddesses that the innocent boy loved left his side, and he spent thousands of years alone, planning a perfect future.
Too long a time for one human being to endure. It was a difficult time for even him, who had experienced eternity within a dimensional gap, to handle. That’s because in reality, unlike dimensional gaps, time passes. Everyone but yourself grows old and dies as time passes. All the brief relationships that passed him by have long since turned to dust.
At some point, the world the boy saw became increasingly gray.
As the colors faded, I became unable to feel much inspiration from anything and became just a machine that moved according to a set plan.
It has gone through many names.
Cro-Maurice, Lupin, Doyle, Leblanc, Franken, imitators…
In addition, he has lived a false life by creating countless fake names.
Then, at some point, the innocent boy realized that he had lost himself.
When I reunite with the goddesses again, what will they think of me now?
Everything felt like a dream. The feeling of being in a long sleep for a very long time.
When I think about it now, I think I was happiest during my time as a phantom thief Raven, living without knowing anything.
Of course, I have no intention of giving up. The goddesses are probably still waiting for him to safely complete his plan.
However, the boy lost his joy in the process and continued to move forward with only vague hope. He believes that once he passes this thorny path that may never end, he will definitely be happy.
Then, 10 years ago, when Sharon and Juliet were born, he was truly happy.
It wasn’t because they were the goddess’s alter ego. Because now that I have reached this point, I have been able to reminisce about the relationship I had with myself in the distant past.
Detective Sharon, her classmate and rival to the phantom thief.
Juliet is a talented secretary who supported President Baji, who knew nothing.
Indeed, with the old memories that came to mind after a long time, the color of the world that was dotted with black and white became a little more colorful.
In the days when she was raising young Sharon as her father, she was in pain due to her worsening physical condition, but thanks to Sharon, she was able to gain strength.
As she enjoyed such happy times, she realized even more that she had committed an unforgivable sin against Juliet by staying alone. No matter how generously she supported her orphanage behind the scenes and helped her through her operators, that original sin does not go away.
“···Are you going to end it with just a slap in the face and a scolding?”
So, despite Juliet’s words, the imitator just quietly lowered his head.
“How long have I been… Do you know how hard it was? “I thought a thousand times, tens of thousands of times, about why my parents abandoned me and why they never showed their faces!”
In her past, when she was called Crow, he did not understand Juliet’s betrayal and resented her.
But she was the one who made the mistake first. No matter the circumstances or excuses, she had to do her best to help Juliet have a happier childhood, even if it meant changing her future.
“You said my future self suggested it first? I can’t believe it. That kind of excuse… “It’s unacceptable.”
Of course. In the end, the future Juliet she saw outside her window is a different being than the present Juliet right before her eyes.
No matter how well her future self may be, the pain she is experiencing now does not disappear.
“So, so that I can understand… Please allow my future self to say things like that without any hesitation. “That is the greatest atonement you can make.”
“······.”
No matter how much you regret, the past cannot be brought back. No matter how much you kneel and hit the ground, time doesn’t look back and just moves forward. In that case, we have no choice but to hurry and catch up before it is too late.
You can’t change the past, but you can change the future.
At that moment, Raven realized that he was finally completely free from the ‘predetermined fate’ he had created. This is the essence of true uncertainty.
Yes. Even if he saw the whole story out the window, he didn’t necessarily have to follow along.
Who can decide that the story has the best ending in the first place?
The moment you escape from the wheel of fate, you must write your own story.
Even if I am my future self, I cannot interfere with that free will.
The future is only the future, not the present. The future you have glimpsed is just one of many, many possibilities.
Yes. He was a free thief.
Destiny? Best plan? Perfect ending?
I don’t mind things like that.
It is not too late, even from now on. Let’s start again from a blank page.
Raven, the imitator, or rather the phantom thief, stood up.
The phantom thief declared to Juliet, who flinched in surprise at the sudden action.
“I’ll start again.”
“···Yes?”
He held out his hand to the dumbfounded Juliet.
“Let’s go together.”
“Let’s go, let’s go.” “Where?”
According to the original plan, we would have had to wait about 5 more years until the original work began.
At that time, he planned to quietly awaken the goddesses, avoiding the gaze of the gods as much as possible, by taking advantage of the story as an imitator, just as he had encountered in the past.
But now it’s okay. He will no longer be tied down by making plans and creating his own destiny.
Neither your past self nor your future self.
The destiny I am carving out for myself at this moment.
Now, no one knows what the future will be like.
Nevertheless, Phantom Thief Raven was confident that if he followed this path to freedom, he would definitely reach a happy ending.
Even if it is fate.
Because there is nothing he cannot steal.