5 - Connection Lost

“Huh? Why can't I summon Yagen?” 

I believe I already did the thing I usually do when summoning Touken Danshi, but nothing happened. 

“Really? Well, I sense something is off in this Honmaru.” 

Hachisuka put his hand on his chin and thought. 

“Let’s check in Saniwa's room.” Hachisuka suggested. 

“Alright, let’s go.” 

I followed Hachisuka to the Saniwa room, but on the way there, we passed the Forgery and froze. 

Noticing I stopped, Hachisuka turned this way. 

“Master? What’s wrong?” He approached me.

I look inside the forgery. The smither spirits are still there, but they’re not moving. 

“Hachisuka, why are they not moving? It’s not because I’m not smithing now, right?” 

I frowned. They certainly moved around before, even if I’m not smithing a sword. 

“Huh? Yeah, I think this is weird. Why are they not moving?” Hachisuka was also confused. 

He approached the smithers and tried to touch them. 

“Excuse me…” but his hand passed through their body, and weird pixelation waves went through along with Hachisuka’s hand movement. 

It’s just like a hologram projection. 

“What?” Hachisuka is startled.

“Is this normal?” 

I tried to touch them too, but I can’t touch them either. 

“I don’t think so… This is definitely not normal.” 

We continued to walk towards Saniwa’s room. 

Hachisuka opened the door and suddenly stopped. I bumped into his back because of it. 

“Hachisuka? What’s wrong?” 

I peeked over his shoulder to check what made him stop.

≪CONNECTION LOST≫

The screen on Saniwa’s room are filled with a warning with a weird writing. 

“Connection Lost? How do I connect it back?” 

I walked closer to the button panel in front of the screen. I tried to press any button I could touch, but nothing happened. 

I remembered the switch. 

“Should I try to go back, Hachisuka?” 

I showed him the switch. 

He knows what it is because we both come here with this switch. 

“Yes, Master, please try to use it.” He nodded. 

Because I came here by pressing the red button, I tried to press the green button. 

Nothing happened again. 

Anxiety washes over my body, and I tried to press it again multiple times. 

“I-it won’t work…” 

I felt tears building up in my eyes. 

“Master, let's sit down first and calm down…” 

Hachisuka guided me to sit on the chair and kneeled in front of me. 

“Master, this is probably just temporary, maybe they’ll fix it soon.” 

Hachisuka held my trembling hands tightly until they no longer trembled. 

I took a deep breath. 

“You’re right, It’s no use to weep around like this…” 

I tried to compose myself. “But I can’t bring Yagen back… what if you’re gone too?! Am I going to be alone here?!” 

I squeezed his hands back. 

“I don’t think so, Master. I’m here with you. Even after the Honmaru lost connection, you are still able to summon me, right? I think it’s because I’m your first sword.” 

Hachisuka tried to reassure me. 

“Is that so?” 

I touched his cheek and Hachisuka smiled softly. 

“Yeah. I will always accompany you, Master. Don’t you worry about it.”

“Don’t you feel hungry? Let’s get something to eat first. It’s getting dark now.” 

Hachisuka stands up and pulls me up. 

“Do Touken Danshi also need to eat?” I tilted my head. 

“Of course. We’re fighting, so we do need some energy to do it, and also, eating will increase our mood.” 

Hachisuka guided me to the kitchen and pulled a seat for me. 

“Please wait a while, Master, I will change my attire and whip up something quickly for you.” Hachisuka walked away. 

“Are you going to leave me?” I grabbed his hand before he could leave. 

He smiled understandingly. 

“Ok, then, let’s go together, I will show you our room.” 

Hachisuka took me to Touken Danshi’s room. 

“As I guess this is an empty room for now. Touken Danshi usually will fill up the room with their belongings over time.” Hachisuka explained to me. 

“Please wait a bit, Master, I will change quickly.” 

I nodded and waited outside the room. 

A while later, Hachisuka walked out of the room with a fancy gold colored yukata with his hair tied up in a ponytail. 

“Sorry for making you wait, Master.” He took my hand and we went back to the kitchen. 

“You’re always dazzling no matter what your outfit is, Hachisuka.” I blinked because of his extravagant attire. 

“Haha, why thank you, Master. As you know, I’m not a fake, so that’s a given.” Hachisuka chuckled. 

After that, Hachisuka cooked me an omurice. It was surprisingly delicious. I didn’t think that swords would be skilled at cooking. He also ate with me. 

“Thanks for the meal.” I put down my spoon, and then fell silent. 

I don’t think this honmaru is connected yet. 

I brought Yagen with me, and tried to touch him again, but nothing happened. 

“Master…” Hachisuka looks sad too. 

“They said I will be forced back to my world if I spend more than 24 hours here. Maybe I should spend the night and see if I can go back by tomorrow.”

So I decided to spend the night at the Touken Danshi’s room with Hachisuka. The big screen in Saniwa's room makes me restless, and I believe I won’t be able to sleep there. That night, I slept while holding hands with Hachisuka. It helps me sleep. 

The next day, even after 24 hours had passed since I arrived in this Honmaru, nothing happened. 

“Can I ever go back?!” I slammed my fist to the button panel in Saniwa’s room. 

“Master…” Hachisuka also didn’t have any answer to my question. 

I leaned my body to the button panel while pressing the red button I can use for choosing the time and place for the battlefield. 

DING!!

A notification sound goes off, and something unexpected appears on the screen.

≪Configuring system…≫

≪Granting administrator’s access due to connection lost≫

≪Do you want to access timeline manually?≫

Hachisuka stood beside me and we exchanged glances. 

“Do you think this is safe, Hachisuka?” I asked cautiously. 

“Well, I don’t think we have any other choice, am I right?” 

Hachisuka also looked at the screen curiously. It must be something he didn’t know before.

 “Alright then…” 

I pressed ≪Yes≫ on the screen, and there’s another loading screen going on.

≪Loading main timeline…≫

≪Waiting time : 2 hours, 24 minutes, 53 seconds≫

“Woah… it takes that long to load?” 

I wasn’t expecting something that needed to load for this long. 

“It seems so… Let’s eat dinner first, Master.” Hachisuka suggested. 

I nodded. It’s almost time to eat dinner again, and also we don’t know what is waiting ahead of us after it’s done loading. 

We decided to eat our dinner in Saniwa’s room, just in case the loading is done earlier than the waiting time. But surprisingly the waiting time is accurate. 

≪Alpha Timeline≫ [?]

A new screen appeared before us after the waiting time ended. 

It’s like strands of wire that are entwined together. 

I guess the biggest strand of wire is the “Alpha” timeline. From what I understand, those wires are the timelines of different universes, but they’re tangled together as one big timeline, Alpha Timeline. 

The Alpha Timeline started from the year 2015, previously, they’re not tangled together, but they have individual strands of timelines. 

But the timelines connected to each other since the year 2015, making them stronger. But the timeline is fading away starting from the year 2335, and disperse before completely disappearing. 

It’s still more than 100 years from my current time, but is that the end of the world? Is this just a prediction or is this actually accurate?

I clicked the question mark beside the Alpha Timeline title, and the explanation about Alpha Timeline appeared.

≪Alpha Timeline Project≫

≪Timeline unification project - Alpha Timeline≫

≪In order to delay the end of the universe’s timeline, we found an optimal way to elongate the timeline by unifying other timelines into one timeline, the Alpha Timeline. The Alpha timeline is the strongest timeline that we have in the universe. By changing the other timeline’s history according to the Alpha Timeline, we can delay their end and also strengthen the Alpha Timeline.≫

≪Saniwa Project - The most optimal method to interfere with other timeline.≫

There’s a black dot in the year 2015 with the label “Time Void”. 

The Honmaru is placed in the time void, so I guess this is where the timeline unification project takes place, 190 years before my current time. I wonder why they need someone from the future. 

On the right side of the screen, I can see the notification box, but I can’t read the content because it moves so fast, they have more than 10 notifications in one second, so I can’t keep up with the notification. 

I tried to click on a random notification.

≪Historical Revisionist - Meiji Era : Hakodate - Case #5315976≫

≪Successfully Defeated by Honmaru 10✕✕75≫

“Master… I think there is actually no ‘True History’...” 

I exchanged glances with Hachisuka. 

“You’re right… We are adjusting other timelines according to our history. Historical Revisionists are defending the other timeline while we are the ones who change their history…” 

I fell silent for a moment. How do I react to this situation? Are we doing the right thing? 

How will the other Saniwas react when they know what’s happening?

“But Master, the Alpha Timeline is really strengthened when more timelines are unified.” 

The end of the timeline previously was 2335, but now it’s 2336, the addition is not that fast, but we can see the result from the unending notifications about battle succeeded by the Saniwas. 

“Oh you’re correct… and also the other timeline that hasn’t connected to us yet are all already dead by now.” 

I saw those timeline strands mostly ended before 2100, only a few strands that can go beyond 2180. 

I guess there will be a big debate if this ever leaked out. In a way, we’re saving other timelines from ending, but by doing that, we erased their existences, and just focused on strengthening the Alpha Timeline. It’s a selfish solution to take, but then again, I can’t give a better solution to solve this problem.

“Master, the most important thing now is getting you back. Let’s forget what we just saw… I think it’ll be a dangerous situation if the Government of the Time found out that you know about this.” Hachisuka held my hand. 

It makes sense. There must be a reason why this information is not disclosed to the Saniwas. Obviously it’ll create a big controversy. 

“You’re not wrong. Let’s go back.” 

I held Hachisuka’s hand, but it made him hesitate. 

“Master… I don’t think I can leave with you.” He shook his head. 

“What are you talking about? Of course we’re going back together! I’m not going to leave you! I’m also bringing Yagen back with me!” I held his hand tighter. 

“But I think they will be able to track me if I’m going with you.” Hachisuka disagreed. 

“But this Honmaru already lost connection, I’m not sure if I can go back here ever again!” I frowned at him. 

“I won’t do anything that will make a dangerous situation for– No, Master–!” 

My brain worked faster than his speech and I already turned him back to his sword form. 

“I’m sorry, Hachisuka, I’ll make sure I’ll be fine.” 

I said even though I can’t be sure about that. 

Okay, now it's time to go back. I started packing my things. My attire didn’t change when I arrived here, so I’m still using my school uniform now. So I tied some rope on my waist and attached Hachisuka and Yagen there. After making sure I didn’t forget anything, I tapped on the screen again.

≪Connected to Alpha Timeline, 14 January 2205≫

Uhh… how do I go back? Is it using the switch? 

I tried to press the green button on the switch, but still, nothing happened. 

I look around to the platform inside the Saniwa’s room. 

I guess that’s it. 

The blue button is slightly glowing. I walked up to the platform. 

What if there is “the other me” there? 

There will be two of myself in one place and timeline? 

That would be really bad. But I have no other choice. 

I took a deep breath before pressing the blue button.