episode_0021

It took a moment, but the selves finally regained their senses.

“Alright. Let’s first figure out what’s going on.”

“First, let’s sort out why we ended up like this.”

Now our words didn’t overlap as much.

To use an analogy, at first, our bodies felt tightly bound together, almost as one, but now it just feels like we’re tied with a rope.

The two of us—that is, I—looked at myself. I had summoned clones many times before, but this was strange. I could feel myself looking at me.

I looked at myself. ‘Why are my thoughts overlapping?’ ‘I feel dizzy!’

So, I don’t even know where my thoughts end and my words begin. ‘Ugh!’

“Augh…”

“First, let’s calm down by taking a deep breath!” “That sounds like a good idea!”

Because we tried to speak at once, our thoughts tangled, causing confusion. After a long struggle, I and my clone—my clone and I—decided to take turns speaking.

“Who am I?”

“I’m Violet! Violet D. Ruzilin, a student at Polaris Academy.”

The other me replied.

“No. That’s not the precise answer. I’m asking something more fundamental. What was I doing right before I was possessed here?”

“I was hurrying to an interview for a temporary position.”

“Correct! But there’s one more. What was the biggest black mark in my life that I committed in April 2017…? Ah, wait. Don’t say it…”

“Ugh… Stop! Don’t think about it…! Right…that…”

We looked at each other and nodded.

“This is a strange situation, but at least we share the same memories.”

“We can even know each other’s thoughts.”

Our minds gradually calmed down.

In front of our eyes, glittering, a status window appeared.

—————————————————– Synchronization Aptitude: Due to the effect of collective intelligence, consciousness synchronization is complete. ————————————————–

“You saw it too, right?”

“Yeah! Could this possibly be due to this situation?”

The name ‘collective intelligence’ was not given for no reason.

“Wait, but who’s the original body?”

I folded my arms and said to the other me.

“Of course I’m the original! You’re the clone I created.”

“But I died at the freshman welcoming ceremony just now. When I opened my eyes, I had transferred to clone unit 2. So aren’t *you* the clone?”

I shook my head.

“No! It’s the original me who transferred into a clone. So you’re my subordinate.”

“What? Subordinate? No! I’m the original!”

“You’re the clone!”

Both of us stood up abruptly. Annoyance surged, and I swung my fist.

“Hiyah!”

“Hmph!”

Unbelievable! My clone dodged my punch! I also dodged the clone’s punch…?

“No! How did you dodge that?!”

“It’s because our thoughts are connected!”

We flailed our arms about for a while, like an awkwardly choreographed martial arts movie scene. However, our arms and fists were constantly blocked or missed.

“Pant, pant… This is pointless. It feels like shooting a gun into the air.”

“Sigh… Let’s worry about who the original is later. I’m tired…”

-Ding!

My old smartphone chimed with a messenger notification.

“-Ruzilin-ssi! All the school stores are either closed or don’t have anything to sell! I’ll have to go outside the school to buy some things, so it might take a while. Please wait for me!”

“Oh dear, Daphne will be a bit late then.”

“What now?”

We slumped down. With exhausted expressions, we looked at each other.

“I’m tired… I’m just sweating… I’m just going to shower.”

“Me too…”

I decided to just shower and took off my shirt. Suddenly, something strange caught my eye.

“Hey, what’s that number on your arm?”

“My arm? Huh? You’re right! You have one too!”

On the upper part of our left arms, the numbers ‘1’ and ‘2’ were written in large characters respectively!

“Is this, by any chance, a number assigned to clones? It wasn’t there before.”

“It must be an effect of that ‘fluid self’ clone technique that appeared recently.”

I looked at the number ‘1’ written on my arm.

“See! If I’m number 1, then I’m the original!”

“No…! How can you determine the original just from a number…?”

I gloated, looking at clone unit 2. Clone unit 2’s spirits sank, and it hung its head. Its bruised pride was conveyed. When clone unit 2 became depressed, I also became depressed.

Let’s change the subject.

“Do the other clones have numbers on them, too?”

“…Yes. I’m curious, so let’s try creating one.”

We created clones one after another.

“Oh! It’s true! We also have numbers written on our arms!”

“I’m number 4!”

The other two Violets also had ‘3’ and ‘4’ on one arm, respectively.

“So the numbers on our arms indicate the order of clone creation.”

“Let’s try summoning as many as our magic allows!”

Using all the aether we had, we were able to create three more Violets in a row.

“It’s impossible now. I have no magic left… Can’t you?”

“Looks like I can’t, clones seem to share magic.”

Violet unit 5 lay on the floor, panting. Unit 3, exhausted, leaned against the wall.

“Is it because my level increased? It seems like the number of clones I can summon has increased.”

“If the amount of magic we possess increases, won’t the number of clones also increase?”

“That sounds like a good idea. Let’s check it later.”

Units 5 and 6 agreed.

Several identical beautiful girls with blonde hair and red eyes filled the dormitory room.

Perhaps due to the effect of my unique ability, even though there were now seven of me, the initial confusion was gone.

However, the world seemed to shrink, expand, and rise simultaneously.

It was like playing a first-person shooter, only for the genre to shift to a third-person strategy simulation viewed from above.

A chilling thought struck me—that is, unit 1—like lightning.

As if it had spread to everyone, everyone in the room gasped in surprise.

“Wait, if we reverse-create a clone here,”

“…No! Unit 1! Don’t say it! That’s scary!”

“What happens to us, to me?”

Upon hearing those words, all the Violets’ faces froze simultaneously.

“Gah! Could our existence really vanish?”

Unit 4 screamed.

“Well, I don’t think that would happen, unit 1. Remember when we were at the lab and Kalia’s house?”

Unit 3 calmed unit 4 down and spoke to unit 1 calmly.

“There? Wait a minute…Aha! Back then, the clones sometimes did detailed things without being told. Like suddenly sitting at the table, or performing precise actions when only roughly controlled.”

“Right. For a while now, vaguely, I’ve felt like ‘I’ was thinking. At that time, the self-awareness of ‘This is me!’ was weaker than it is now, but I clearly felt myself thinking in that place.”

Hmm, in that case, this strange ability of ours didn’t just suddenly appear, but was a predetermined possibility from the root.

“And a moment ago, Violet died, whether it was unit 1 or the original body, I don’t know. But I, the being who considers myself the original, am perfectly alive here, right? Therefore, the conclusion is: even if reverse-created, the subject’s consciousness and memories will remain somewhere. They don’t completely vanish.”

“Hey, unit 3! Do you have proof for that? We need to consider the worst-case scenario too!”

Unit 5 shouted.

“Hey, unit 1, the ‘original body’ that was crushed by the air conditioner’s outdoor unit… Was that really ‘me’?”

Unit 1’s face contorted. Unit 1 opened its mouth.

“You’re right. So am I not the original body then? Am I just another personality mistakenly believing I’m the original?”

We all clutched our heads simultaneously.

“Ughh… Suddenly we’re having a debate about the essence of existence and the concept of self.”

“A hundred hearings are not worth one seeing! [A proverb meaning ‘seeing is believing’] Let’s just try reverse-creating one!”

As unit 6 snapped its fingers, unit 1 began to scatter into glittering dust of light.

A commotion broke out among us.

“Woah? That’s too fast! Wait! Stop!”

“Gah! No! The original body is disappearing!”

“Unit 1 might not be the original body.”

“But you’re thinking it a little too!”

The spot where unit 1 had vanished was watched by the Violets with eyes full of fear, curiosity, and tension.

“-Huh? I thought I’d vanished. I’m still here!-”

From somewhere in our minds, unit 1’s voice could be heard. When we used the remaining magic once more, a clone with ‘1’ written on its arm was created.

“Violet! Resurrection!”

Unit 1 bounced up, unit 5 sighed in relief, and unit 3 nodded as if it were obvious.

“As expected! I was right.”

We now put our heads together and discussed this strange phenomenon.

“Through the reverse-creation and creation experiment, we learned one approximate truth. The consciousness of a reverse-created clone doesn’t evaporate or vanish. Instead, it’s temporarily stored somewhere in our minds. Looking at the case of the welcoming ceremony incident, even if the body is destroyed, the self is preserved and can move to another body.”

Unit 4 summarized our thoughts and spoke.

“Oh, according to what you said, we can’t die?”

Unit 1 raised its head, eyes sparkling.

“I hadn’t thought of that! So, assuming there’s at least one clone remaining and our magic hasn’t run out, what happens to our existence?”

“The answer is already clear. In the original story, the Witch of Limitless could only be defeated after each and every one of her clones was destroyed. Ah! Then…”

I, all of us, cried out in admiration.

“Wow! That’s amazing. We, we don’t die!”

“We’re invincible!”

“We’ll only know that after we’ve utilized this ability more. There’s still one problem left.”

Unit 3 rested its chin in its hand, with a serious expression.

“Question: Who is the ‘original body’? Unit 1 was reverse-created in the last attempt. We thought unit 1 was the original body.”

“Don’t be silly, we said it’s ‘collective intelligence,’ didn’t we? All of us Violets are ‘me.’ Overmind, hive mind!”

Unit 5 chided unit 3.

Unit 2, at those words, shook its head and countered.

“No, Unit 4 has a point. I share thoughts with all of us, and I feel that all of you are also ‘me’s, but I, ‘me as unit 2,’ can also feel myself thinking and existing here.”

Unit 6 proposed a new hypothesis.

“It could be a delusion. We might actually be a single, clear entity, just talking to ourselves as if playing with dolls.”

I was horrified. Our current conversation was just a madman’s monologue?

“Ughh! This won’t do. At this rate, we won’t reach any conclusion. My God, Descartes! [An exclamation related to philosophical quandaries]”

“So what can we do?! This is hopeless! Even if we brought Dennett or Frankfurt here, they wouldn’t be able to explain our situation!”

“Aargh!”

“Hiiiyak!”

Following the Chinese Room argument, the cognitive-philosophical disaster, Violet’s Room! We Violets fell into a state of anomie over this problem.

Confusion of self! Crisis of lost subjectivity! Brain in a vat!

While everyone was in disarray, unit 7 stepped forward, spread its arms, and declared.

“Everyone shut up! From now on, the First Violet Council Meeting will begin!”

And so, we put our heads together and earnestly began our meeting.

***

After a heated, marathon meeting that lasted 10 minutes, I was able to summarize several conclusions.

“We’ve briefly laid out several hypotheses about our state and summarized them.”

Units 3, 4, and 5 took out pens and sketched drawings on scraps of notebook paper.

“Alright, let’s look at the first theory.”

Below a crudely drawn face of me, a diagram with several numbered circles connected by lines was visible.

“The very first hypothesis was the Central Control Theory. It’s the idea that a single consciousness controls all bodies.”

“This can be refuted by the fact that unit 1, which was considered the original body, died and came back to life. Above all, we all have consciousness. At least, we *feel* like we have consciousness. This is dismissed.”

We examined the second hypothesis drawn by unit 4.

“The second is Integrated Consciousness. Our individual selves have crude consciousness, but all of them are connected like an internet network, forming a larger identity called ‘Violet’. Think of cloud computing.”

Unit 3 countered.

“This explains the emergent tendency where multiple entities gain self-awareness when a certain number of them gather! ‘We’ started from a single person. It’s the exact opposite case, so it’s dismissed.”

Finally, unit 5 pulled out the third diagram.

“Then this is all that’s left. A parallel-connected consciousness structure.”

Crudely drawn faces of my character could be seen stretched out in a line.

“For now, this is the most definite model that can explain how our consciousness and thoughts are shared. Each one possesses individual consciousness, but they share memories and emotions with each other.”

“But, according to this model, when a clone is reverse-created or vanishes, that entity would simply evaporate. How do we explain the preservation of self-consciousness?”

“Ah, that’s the problem. There must be some other way…”

Unit 6 picked up a pen and added a few new things.

“Then let’s hypothesize an external server. A kind of backup server exists that shares and stores our memories and self! Then, even if a clone vanishes or is reverse-created, it explains why the concept of ‘me’ is maintained when it’s created again.”

“What an idea!”

“It feels like it’s mixing some of the previous hypotheses, but it’s good!”

We were convinced.

“There are still many shortcomings. A backup server is only a hypothesis, after all. However, one thing is clear: we can share all memories and thoughts without omission, and we possess a unified goal. Let’s conclude with this for now. Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Having come up with a satisfactory answer, we concluded the First Violet Council Meeting.

“I have a feeling Daphne will be back soon. Shall we reverse-create ourselves?”

“Alright. For now, let’s keep it a secret that we share consciousness and memories.”

One by one, slowly, they transformed into glittering dust and disappeared. In the end, only unit 4 remained.

Just then, the door clicked open and Daphne came in, carrying an armful of plastic bags.

“I’m so late, aren’t I? Ruzilin-ssi! It took a while to buy various things. For now, would you like some ramen and rice balls here?”

I ate the cup ramen and rice balls with satisfaction.

As expected of an otaku game, it’s a Western-style school, but they sell rice balls and cup ramen nearby.

When it was time to sleep, I simply dressed and climbed onto the top bunk.

Since proper school life would begin tomorrow, I had to go to bed early.

As I lay there, my sleeping spot felt empty and cold, so I couldn’t fall asleep easily.

I created unit 2.

“Mmm? Why?”

“I’m cold…”

I hugged unit 2 tightly and fell asleep. It was warm.

The existence of ‘me’ truly felt soft and smelled nice…