Parallel Memory

Chapter 767: What the hell is happening?

For a long time, neither spoke.

Zero understood that much.

He had never intended to stand in anyone’s way.

But intent didn’t change results.

His decisions had affected events.

Those events had affected people.

And slowly—

the focus had changed.

Earth Zero moved toward the table and drew two lines across one of the papers.

"Look."

Zero approached.

At the beginning, the names appeared evenly.

Hiro.

Mia.

Other members of the group.

Different events.

Different roles.

Then further down—

Mia appeared more often.

Then again.

And again.

Hiro’s name remained.

But the space around it became smaller.

Zero stared at the page.

"You’re measuring this."

"Yes."

"How often their names appear."

"Not just that."

"Then what?"

"Where they appear."

Zero looked toward him.

Earth Zero pointed toward several lines.

"Who acts."

Another.

"Who changes the outcome."

Another.

"Who people talk about afterward."

Another.

"Who remains attached to the event."

Zero remembered his earlier investigation.

Earth Zero had been measuring all of it.

Not just public attention.

The position people occupied before, during, and after important events.

Earth Zero looked at the records.

"At first, the changes were small."

Zero remained silent.

"One event."

His finger moved down the page.

"Then another."

Another.

"Then someone else began occupying the position Hiro should have occupied."

Zero’s eyes followed his hand.

Mia.

****************************************

"Mia isn’t doing anything wrong."

Zero said.

Earth Zero looked toward him.

"I know."

"She’s not trying to replace Hiro."

"I know."

"Then stop making it sound like she is."

For the first time, Earth Zero looked annoyed.

"Do you think I don’t understand that?"

Zero stopped.

Earth Zero’s expression hardened.

"Mia isn’t the problem."

The words echoed through the empty room.

"Neither are you."

Zero remained silent.

Earth Zero continued.

"The problem is that the world doesn’t care about intentions."

Zero frowned.

"What does that mean?"

"It means the result still happened."

Earth Zero pointed toward the papers.

"She became more central."

Another page.

"He became less central."

His eyes moved toward Zero.

"And every time that happened, the next event changed more easily."

Zero’s expression became serious.

"Changed into what?"

Earth Zero didn’t answer.

Zero’s patience returned immediately.

"What?"

"Not yet."

Zero looked away.

Earth Zero had finally begun explaining.

But he was still hiding the most important part.

*******************************

"You said I kept changing Hiro’s path."

Zero’s voice was quieter now.

Earth Zero nodded.

"Explain."

Earth Zero was silent.

Then he picked up another paper.

The page described one of the early events after Zero left the Tower.

Zero immediately recognized his own involvement.

A conflict that had led to several people meeting earlier than expected.

Earth Zero tapped one of the lines.

"Hiro was supposed to be here."

Zero looked.

"But I was."

"Yes."

"And because you were stronger, the situation ended differently."

Zero stared at the page.

"The others followed you."

Another line.

"Their attention shifted."

Another.

"Hiro arrived later."

Zero’s expression hardened.

"That doesn’t mean his entire life changed."

"No."

Earth Zero looked toward him.

"One event doesn’t."

Zero understood where he was going.

"Several do."

"Yes."

**********************************

Earth Zero moved toward the window.

Outside, the distant capital was barely visible.

"Hiro was supposed to remain the person through whom many things moved."

Zero watched him silently.

"Not everything."

Earth Zero continued.

"But enough."

He looked toward the darkness.

"People were supposed to meet him."

"Conflicts were supposed to challenge him."

"Failures were supposed to affect him."

"Victories were supposed to belong to him."

Zero frowned.

"Belong?"

"Not exclusively."

Earth Zero glanced back.

"That’s not what I mean."

"Then what do you mean?"

Earth Zero’s expression became tired again.

"He was supposed to remain the person people followed through those events."

Zero slowly understood.

Not necessarily the strongest person.

Not necessarily the only hero.

But the person through whom major events continued unfolding.

The person whose decisions connected one event to the next.

The person who remained—

at the center.

Earth Zero spoke quietly.

"And then you arrived."

Zero’s eyes narrowed.

"I was already in Edolas."

"You know what I mean."

Zero remained silent.

Earth Zero turned toward him.

"You weren’t part of that path."

The words hit differently.

Zero stared at him.

"And because you weren’t bound to it—"

Earth Zero stopped.

Zero waited.

The other Zero’s expression changed.

He had almost said something he didn’t intend to.

"And because I wasn’t?"

Earth Zero looked away.

"You made choices no one accounted for."

Zero watched him carefully.

"Who is no one?"

Earth Zero ignored the question.

"You entered conflicts differently."

"Because I had to."

"Yes."

"You keep agreeing with me."

"Because I’m not saying you were wrong."

Zero’s expression darkened.

"Then stop talking like I broke something."

Earth Zero finally looked directly at him.

"Fine."

The answer came sharply.

For the first time since Zero had known him, Earth Zero’s calm control cracked.

"You didn’t break it."

The room became silent.

Earth Zero continued.

"You changed it."

Zero didn’t move.

"And there is a difference."

*****************************************

The words remained between them.

Zero looked down at the records again.

Mia.

Hiro.

Events.

Changes.

Expected.

Current.

He could see it now.

Not the entire truth.

But the deviation.

Before, he had thought Earth Zero was simply obsessed with making Hiro important.

Now—

he understood that Earth Zero believed Hiro had originally occupied a different position.

A larger one.

And Zero’s existence had gradually altered it.

His choices had changed events.

Those changes had changed relationships.

Those relationships had changed who became important during future events.

And eventually—

Mia had become the person the world increasingly revolved around.

Not deliberately.

Not maliciously.

Naturally.

Which, somehow, made it more disturbing.

**************************************

Zero looked toward Earth Zero.

"So what?"

The other Zero didn’t respond.

Zero stepped closer.

"So what if things changed?"

Earth Zero remained silent.

"Why can’t Hiro’s path change?"

Still nothing.

"Why can’t Mia become more important?"

Earth Zero’s expression became unreadable.

"She is important."

"That’s not what I asked."

"No."

Zero’s voice became colder.

"Then answer."

Earth Zero stared at him for several seconds.

Finally, he spoke.

"Because there are changes you don’t understand yet."

Zero clenched his fist.

"Then explain them."

"I can’t."

"Why?"

Earth Zero looked toward the empty wall.

For a moment, he seemed almost afraid of the answer.

Then he shook his head.

"Not yet."

Zero laughed once.

There was no humor in it.

"Of course."

Earth Zero didn’t react.

Zero looked toward the records again.

For the first time, however, his anger wasn’t directed entirely at Earth Zero.

Part of it was directed at himself.

Not guilt.

He still believed he had made the right choices.

He would protect Lilith again.

Fight Aamon again.

Support the peace treaty again.

He would make the same choices if given another chance.

But now he understood that those choices had consequences beyond what he had seen.

Not consequences he could measure with mana.

Or rank.

Or military reports.

Consequences that had quietly changed where the world looked.

**********************************************

"Did you know?"

Zero asked.

Earth Zero turned toward him.

"Know what?"

"That this would happen."

Earth Zero’s expression changed.

"When you were on Earth?"

Zero watched him.

For several seconds, Earth Zero didn’t answer.

Then he spoke quietly.

"Not at first."

The answer caught Zero off guard.

"I didn’t understand it either."

Zero’s eyes narrowed.

"Then how do you know now?"

Earth Zero looked toward the darkness outside.

"Because by the time I understood—"

He stopped.

His expression closed.

Zero waited.

But Earth Zero said nothing else.

Another answer hidden.

Another part of the truth Zero wasn’t allowed to see.

Yet this time, Zero didn’t push immediately.

He already had enough to think about.

*************************************************

Earth Zero walked toward the door.

Zero followed him outside.

The night air was cold.

The capital remained visible in the distance.

Earth Zero stopped.

"Watch Hiro."

Zero frowned.

"I’m already watching him."

"No."

Earth Zero looked toward him.

"Watch what happens around him."

Zero remained silent.

"Watch who begins following him."

"Who asks him for answers."

"Who waits for him before making a decision."

"Who remembers his name after something ends."

Zero’s eyes narrowed.

"You want me to help you."

Earth Zero smiled faintly.

"No."

"Then why tell me?"

"Because you’re finally capable of seeing it."

Zero looked toward the capital.

Hiro was there.

Living without any knowledge of the records.

Of expected paths.

Of altered events.

Of the strange position Earth Zero believed had been taken from him.

Mia was there too.

Still one of the strongest people in the human domain.

Still a hero.

Still the person many people associated with the victory against Aamon.

Zero looked between the two names in his mind.

For the first time, he could understand the deviation Earth Zero had been trying to show him.

Not because Mia was wrong.

Not because Hiro deserved more praise.

But because something had shifted.

A balance between paths.

A position at the center.

And Earth Zero believed Zero Elea himself had helped move it.

********************************************

"You said you were correcting your mistakes."

Zero suddenly said.

Earth Zero stopped.

His back remained turned.

"What mistake?"

For several seconds, nothing moved.

Then Earth Zero answered.

"Believing that changing one thing would only change one thing."

Zero stared at him.

The answer was quiet.

But it felt heavier than anything else Earth Zero had said.

Then he stepped forward.

Space distorted.

Zero immediately moved.

"Wait."

Earth Zero disappeared before he could reach him.

Zero stood alone beneath the night sky.

For a long time, he didn’t move.

He now understood the deviation.

That was undeniable.

Hiro had once occupied a larger position in the sequence Earth Zero possessed.

Zero’s choices had altered events.

Those altered events had gradually changed the people around Hiro.

And Mia—

without ever intending to—

had increasingly become the person attached to the world’s most important moments.

The focus had shifted.

The center had moved.

Zero finally understood why Earth Zero kept watching.

Why he created situations around Hiro.

Why he measured attention.

Why he cared about who remained after an event.

He wasn’t trying to make Hiro stronger.

He wasn’t trying to make him famous.

He was trying to restore the position that had slowly disappeared.

But Zero still didn’t understand the most important question.

Why?

Why did Hiro need that position?

Why did it matter if the path changed?

Why couldn’t the world simply move forward differently?

Zero looked toward the distant capital.

For now, Earth Zero had given him an answer.

But not the whole truth.

And somewhere beyond the questions he had finally begun to understand—

there was still something Earth Zero was afraid to tell him.

Something that made restoring Hiro’s place at the center worth every risk.

And Zero had a growing suspicion—

whatever Earth Zero was hiding had nothing to do with Hiro alone.

It had something to do with the world itself.