kscans

Chapter 225 - The Local Hanako-san 1

"I see. So you started watching Anpanman and got completely hooked, did you."

"Yeah. Takahashi and Chika-san were right."

That day, I was at the top of the Tokyo World Tree, Yggdrasil, a landmark of the Supernatural World, shooting the breeze with Kawasaki while we looked at the night view. She’d said she was in a slump and asked me to keep her company for a bit. And why the top of the World Tree, you ask. Well, you know what they say about fools and high places. Both Kawasaki and I love heights.

"The Anpanman movies are great, and the weekly show is genuinely entertaining too. It’s a magnificent anime that can withstand adult viewing."

Because it’s for children, it’s woven with lessons necessary for them to grow up healthy. Yet it isn’t preachy. It’s an anime. It never strays from the principle of being something for kids to enjoy. The work of a master, I tell you. I’m so into it lately that I’ve even started playing the gachapon machines at the supermarket.

"So you know about Anpanman, huh."

I thought she was only interested in robot anime. When I said that, Kawasaki laughed, korokoro, as if I’d offended her. She really does laugh like a little girl.

"Like many kids, I grew up watching Anpanman, you know."

"This might be prejudiced of me, but I thought a proper young lady like you wouldn’t watch anime."

"No, you’re not actually wrong. At least not in my family’s case."

She said that the only things she could watch were long running national anime like Anpanman that were free of violence or lewd content. The girl born into such a strict household is now a total robot maniac. Life is full of surprises.

"Besides, I don’t dislike Anpanman either. To be more precise, I don’t dislike Baikin-kun."

"Oh?"

"Baikin-kun, now he is a fine mechanic. Yes indeed."

What high horse is she speaking from? But now that she mentions it, a lot of mechs do show up in Anpanman. The ones Baikin-kun uses are probably the most famous. I mean, they’re robots, but they’re those childish looking ones based on Baikin-kun’s design.

"So from your perspective, Kawasaki, are those kinds of robots okay?"

"Absolutely, totally, completely okay!"

"My, what a quick answer."

"The design, the naming, everything about them is worthy of a score in the high nineties."

"And with such high praise, no less."

"That’s because they are the type of robot that properly meets the needs of the viewers."

"Meaning?"

When I prompted her to continue, Kawasaki began to speak, her nostrils flaring just a little with a mufuu.

"The ones watching Anpanman are small children. That means prioritizing clarity and memorability over the coolness of the robot itself. In that sense, a design based on Baikin-kun is extremely appropriate. The same goes for the naming. Using model numbers with mixed letters and digits, or borrowing names from myths and heroic tales is still too early for the viewers. Using variations of Baikin-kun’s name or simple words that indicate its use or features is the correct approach."

Robots designed with the audience’s reception in mind have their own charm, she explained. Hearing her put it like that made my own opinion of him go up. You’re a considerate guy, Baikin-kun.

"Hmm."

After finishing her passionate speech, Kawasaki wore a pensive look. I asked her what was wrong.

"Come to think of it, I haven’t had a chance to watch Anpanman since I became an adult. I’ve checked out the robots and mechs on their own through images, but I haven’t watched the anime itself. You can learn some things from images, but for an anime, it’s always best to see them in motion."

It might help her break out of her slump, she said, nodding to herself as she decided to watch it again after so long.

"Speaking of your slump, are you having trouble with the modifications for Kaiser?"

"Oh no, Kaiser is on a break for now. I’m working on a new model at the moment."

"A new model, you say."

"Yes. You remember how we flew into space during the battle with the villainess, right?"

"Yeah."

We were certainly in your debt for that one.

"Not at all. You had taken me to space before, Satou-san, but it was my first time doing it in a machine of my own piloting."

Kawasaki shyly fidgeted, rubbing her inner thighs together. Oh, right, I think I get what she’s trying to say.

"It made you feel something."

"Yes. There are many super-type robots set in space, but personally, I feel that space as a setting ‘suits’ the real-type robots best."

"So you felt the urge to build a real-type machine."

"Yes!"

"Knowing you, you’re probably building a mass produced model."

"As expected of you, Satou-san! You understand me so well!"

She brought her hands to her mouth, giggling with a kyakkya. Of course I get it. We’ve marathoned all sorts of robot anime with her commentary, after all. Kawasaki likes the so called custom units that protagonists and named characters pilot, but when it comes to the real-type genre, she’s a woman who prefers the mass produced ones.

"So, where are you stuck?"

"The variations. I’ve completed the base model, but from there, I’m just not sure."

"Ah, you mean the high mobility type, the cold region specs. The heavy firepower model and all that."

"Yes. I’m thinking of adding backpacks and things to the base model, but I can’t quite nail the designs."

If she made them too elaborate, the understated charm of a mass produced unit would be lost. But if they didn’t stand out enough, that would be a little sad in its own way. She just couldn’t seem to come up with a design that struck the right balance.

"Normally when I’m stuck, I’d switch gears and try my hand at something else to take my mind off it, but I just don’t feel like it."

I wouldn’t call it fickle. That’s just how hobbies are. It’s not like she has an obligation. I think she should just relax and work on it as she pleases. That’s what I was thinking as I sipped my tea, but then she spoke.

"When you know that time is finite, you can switch your focus from one thing to another to satisfy your heart even a little."

Huh?

"Perhaps it’s because the stagnation of time has removed that constraint. I can’t seem to compartmentalize things properly anymore."

Her next words made me spit out my tea in a spectacular fashion.

"You…?!"

"Ah, that reaction. So you really are looping."

"...Were you trying to trick me?"

No, but even if she were, she wouldn’t have said that without some kind of hypothesis. How in the world did she figure out about this daily life time loop? She must have sensed my question. Kawasaki took a sip of her tea with a placid expression and answered.

"I don’t have any clear proof. In fact, even now that you’ve confirmed it, it’s not as if I can perceive the distorted flow of time."

She even said she still had doubts about whether we were truly looping. So where did the idea of a time loop come from?

"A change in my thinking."

"A change in your thinking?"

"As I said before, normally when I’m stuck, I put the problem aside and work on something else."

As a superhuman, her lifespan is longer than an ordinary person’s, but it’s still too short to accomplish everything. That’s why Kawasaki’s stance is to branch out in many directions, so as not to waste time. This part probably varies from person to person. Devoting yourself to one thing because time is finite is also a valid approach.

"And yet, I don’t feel like doing that. It’s strange, isn’t it. Nothing has happened that would cause such a major shift in my way of thinking."

The battle with the villainess was a huge event, but I guess it wasn’t something that would change her perspective on life. If anything, it was an event that reinforced her previous way of thinking. You never know when something like that will show up and end the world. I mean, the world did get destroyed once.

"Even after encountering an event that made me think the world might end before my own lifespan does, my way of thinking changed. What was the cause? My way of being is rooted in the idea that time is finite. So I considered, could it be that the root cause was eliminated? If I assume the problem of time has been resolved, there are several possibilities."

A physical change, for example. Like becoming immortal.

"Yes. But I am still myself. If there’s no change in me, then I should assume the environment has changed instead."

"...And that’s how you arrived at the possibility that something was wrong with time itself."

It seems logical at first glance, but it’s still a wild idea. Her thinking is too advanced. But I suppose that’s just how geniuses are. After all, she figured out all that stuff about space on her own.

"Yes. Even then, there were several possibilities, but a loop seemed to be the most likely one."

She laughed with a perfectly innocent face, saying it was a good opportunity to ask.

This robot maniac really is something else.

I really made a fine play back then.