Thursday morning, April 1st 2021 – On the Hillside Path Where the Cherry Blossoms Flutter

In difference to years past, the cherry blossom lined path up the hill to the school wasn't host only to high school students. The Hikarizaka Private Academy had become an escalator program ever since the board of directors decided to embrace Kyou's revolutionary education program. The path up the hill and the gate at the end of the path had remained mostly unchanged, but the school itself had seen many changes over the years.

Built more like a campus environment, fundamental classrooms were still separated into grade school, middle school, and high school buildings. Practicals, labs, and club rooms were set up to be shared across age groups.

For this reason, Ushio hadn't felt a huge change in her life as she took the long winding path that would take her to her first day of high school. Mostly because it was the same path that she had taken in middle school. The other reason that this felt so comfortable lay in who was walking up the hill with her. Aside from uniform changes, she was surrounded by the same group of friends and relatives that had been with her the previous year… and all the years prior to that.

The Okazaki twins Shuichi and Shuji were just ahead of her but she was overtaking them quickly. It wasn't that she was sprinting up the hill, but the two boys were holding the hands of their two brothers and two sisters – all going into their third year. Shuichi and Shuji were heading into their third and final year of high school while the swarm of randoseru clad younger siblings around them were about to start their third year in grade school.

With most of the kids either in high school or grade school, Yoshino Yasuo was the only one in the group wearing the middle school uniform. He didn't mind though. Having inherited his rock-star father's good looks, he was quite popular with the girls of his grade. However, the only one that was holding his hand on this morning was little Sunohara Yoshie. The Sunohara and Yoshino families continued to be close friends and Yasuo had been the little girl's babysitter of choice for several years now. With her ivory skin, long black hair and blue eyes, she complemented Yasuo's reddish brown hair and skin tanned from years of being on the swim team. If it hadn't been for the five and a half years of age difference, a lot of people would have been making suggestive guesses about their future.

Ushio had her eyes set on the pair whose future no-one doubted. Spying Sunohara Yoichi walking hand-in-hand with Okazaki Michiko, she smiled and sped up to catch them. It was rare that their affections raised any eyebrows since they had been going to school this way ever since Kindergarten. Moving as quietly as she could, Ushio planned to surprise them on Yoichi's unoccupied side. The plan was doomed to fail though.

Just as she pulled alongside the two, Yoichi's hand grasped hers and he casually greeted her with a "Good morning, Ushio-chan."

"That's not fair! I can never surprise you." Ushio complained but it was a good-natured rant. "How do you always know?"

"I guess I have a little of Obachan Fuko in me somehow. She always seems to know when you are near too." Yoichi replied.

"Yeah… I could never win against her in hide-and-seek." Ushio bemoaned. "And she won't tell me how she does it."

"She told me once. But… I probably shouldn't tell you." Yoichi said thoughtfully. On his other side, Michiko giggled.

"Michiko-chan knows too? Aw come on, please tell me!" Ushio begged.

"Are you sure you want to know? Even if it makes you feel bad?" Yoichi challenged.

"Yup! I can take it. So tell me!" Ushio declared.

"All right, but don't blame me if you get upset." Yoichi waited for her to nod in acknowledgment before he continued, "She said she could smell you."

"WHAT?" Ushio's surprised squawk got the attention of a lot of other students making their way up the hill. Her face colored pink with embarrassment and she ducked her head both to hide her blush and to quickly smell her shirt.

"If it makes you feel any better, she said it was a cute smell." Yoichi added.

"A cute smell?" Ushio looked dumbfounded, "What the heck is a cute smell?"

"I don't know, but that's what she said." Yoichi replied innocently.

"Hmpf." Ushio walked along for a few moments before noticing that she was still holding Yoichi's hand. And… it didn't seem like he was trying to pull it away from her. Emboldened by this, she asked, "Is that how you always know when I'm there too? Do you think I smell, Yoichi-kun?"

"Yes." Yoichi replied immediately and left Ushio's mouth hanging open in shock.

"Is… is it a cute smell?" Ushio pouted.

"No." Yoichi said while trying to analyze his own reactions to Ushio's presence.

Ushio was crushed. If not a cute smell, then what? Do I smell like the girl's locker room? Please tell me it's a nice smell like candy, cake, or pie! Afraid of what the answer might be, she summoned up her courage and asked, "Is it a stinky smell?"

"I don't know that there is any label for it. I wouldn't call it a bad smell. In fact… it may not be a smell so much as a sense that you are near. And yet, it always leaves me with the impression of spicy grilled dangos." Yoichi explained.

"I… I smell like dangos?" And not even the sweet ones! Ushio was stunned.

"I like the smell of spicy grilled dangos." Michiko chimed in, trying to be helpful.

"Do I smell like dangos to you too?" Ushio worried.

"No, I don't think you smell anything like that." Michiko could already see that this conversation might lead to Ushio demanding that Michiko thoroughly sniff her to make sure that she didn't have any weird smells. To head off that possible future, Michiko mentioned, "You know… Obachan Fuko once told me that she thinks dangos are very cute."

"That's right. She said that they were almost as cute as starfish." Yoichi recalled.

"But what does that mean?" Ushio asked.

"Maybe she is reminded of dangos when she senses you too. Maybe that is why she thinks you have a cute smell." Yoichi postulated. A flash of insight told Yoichi of the possible future that Michiko had already guessed with logic. Also eager to avoid that possibility, he suggested, "Since it might be a sense and not a smell after all, you should ask Obachan Fuko about it next time you see her."

"Yeah… I guess." Ushio wondered out loud, "Maybe if my mom sniffed me…"

"That won't work." Michiko shook her head.

"Why not?" Ushio asked as both she and Yoichi turned to the purple haired girl.

"Knowing how much your mom loves those things, do you really think it's possible that she never mentioned it to you if she thought you smelled like dangos?" Michiko pointed out.

"I guess not." Ushio was both pleased and disturbed by this. She really wanted to know if there were just a few people who sensed her and smelled dangos, or if most people did and there were only a few that did not.

"Deeeee-tach!" Shuichi called out as he separated Ushio's hand from Yoichi and took it for his own. At the same time, Shuji took Ushio's other hand.

"Successful capture!" Shuji announced as he and his brother pulled Ushio away from the two lovebirds.

"Hey!" Ushio objected.

"Now, what is this nonsense talk about you smelling tuna Sushi?" the purple eyed Shuichi asked.

"No, I think it was Takoyaki." the blue eyed Shuji corrected.

"What? No!" Ushio was rattled by her prankster half-brothers, "I smell like spicy dangos!"

"Spicy dangos you say?" Shuichi scorned such an idea.

"Not even remotely." Shuji shook his head.

"Are… are you sure? You don't think I smell?" Ushio asked hopefully.

"Let's find out, shall we?" both the boys said with a very Okazaki-ish smirk.

"Oh no…" Ushio barely had any time to react before the boys pulled her hands up to their faces. She stopped breathing as they raced up her arms and breathed deeply at each side of her neck near her ears. Speechless, her face turned a concerning shade of red.

"Not dango, for sure." Shuji said calmly.

"But there was… something." Shuichi said decidedly.

"Huh? You smelled something? What was it?" Ushio asked after shaking off her blush and embarrassment.

"I'm thinking… velociraptor." Shuichi proclaimed.

"Yes, definitely velociraptor." Shuji agreed.

"V… velociraptor?" Ushio balked, "They went extinct millions of years ago. How would you know what they smelled like?"

"Ah, clever girl." Shuji said proudly.

"I always knew you were a velociraptor in disguise." Shuichi nodded his head sagely.

"Hey," Yoshino Yasuo asked after he saw little Yoshie off toward the grade school building, "aren't you going to get my sister all bent out of shape – walking around holding another girl's hands?"

"Maiko-chan is off at a photo shoot… or a recital, or something." Shuji replied.

"And what she does not know will not hurt us." Shuichi said with a conspiratorial wink.

"Besides, Ushio-chan is our sister." Shuji added.

"Half-sister." Yasuo countered.

"That's right. She's half sister and half velociraptor." Shuichi said proudly.

"Hey!" Ushio objected.

"If it comes to a fight, always bet on the velociraptor." Shuji advised.

"HEY!" Ushio objected… again.

"Do you guys ever take anything seriously?" Yasuo asked with a pained groan.

"Sure. We take a lot of things seriously." Shuji replied.

"But not your sister." Shuichi added.

"Oh? Why don't you take onee-chan seriously?" Yasuo asked for his absent sister.

"Because she never takes us seriously." Shuji said with a sigh.

"Ever since first grade, she insists that we both belong to her. We are just things to collect." Shuichi said.

"Toys. We're just toys for her to play with." Shuji sounded sad as he finished with, "But it all comes to an end in four months."

"What happens in four months?" Ushio asked.

"We'll be leaving for America." Shuji told them.

"We'll both be studying at okāsan Kotomi's alma mater." Shuichi said with a bittersweet smile.

There was quiet between the four teens for a minute as they all thought of what this would mean. For the first time since they were small children, the Okazaki boys wouldn't be around. They wouldn't be a classroom or a club room away at school, and they wouldn't be a few streets away at the Ichinose Residence. They wouldn't be playing pick-up baseball games in the park across the street from the Furukawa Bakery, and they wouldn't be leading study groups around the big table at their home. Soon, they would be missing all of their friends. Friends that they had known for over a decade. But just as much, their friends and siblings would be missing them as well.

"I can't argue that my sister has been selfish. But, I know she is going to take it pretty hard when you guys leave. I'm going to miss you too." Yasuo said honestly.

Shuichi and Shuji looked at each other over Ushio's head with the same thought. They hadn't meant for the conversation to get so serious.

"Even so, I can't agree with what you are doing to Ushio-senpai now." Yasuo set his jaw before he issued a verdict that he knew would rattle the twins. "I know you think you're just teasing her, but it looks to me like… bullying."

"Ah!" both of the twins released Ushio's hands as if their sister had suddenly started sparking with electricity. At the same time, their faces blanched at the allegation. They both bowed and apologized, "We're so sorry Ushio-chan."

"It's okay, I knew you were just teasing." Ushio tried to stop them from their apology right at the gates to the school.

"No no no! Yasuo-kun is quite right." Shuji replied.

"If others see your own brothers picking on you, it could lead to actual bullying." Shuichi explained.

"We should all head to our classes." Yasuo suggested.

"Right… see you in the club after school!" Ushio said as she sprinted away shortly after Yasuo.

The twins watched their half sister running off for a moment before turning toward their own destination. Both of them started to smile as they replayed the conversation they had just had.

"Honestly though, I pity the idiot that tries to pick on her. She really had no idea how popular she is, does she?" Shuji laughed.

"Nope." Shuichi asked with a very sneaky grin, "The plan to make her the next Student Council President is still on right?"

"Of course!" Shuji confirmed and gave his brother a fist bump. "But ya know… Ushio is no pushover. She's pretty tough. Even without all of her friends, I think she could handle a little bullying."

"Absolutely she could," Shuichi agreed, "she's half velociraptor after all!"

.

At the top of the long tree-lined walkway, and just inside the gated entrance, a pavilion had been erected as a gift to the new headmaster and dean of the academy. Many of Ryota's favorite elements had gone into it's construction. Built to be earthquake resistant, it also sported solar tiles on the roof that powered ceiling fans on hot days, or radiant heat through the floor and ceiling on cold days. A water catchment system captured rainwater from the pavilion's roof and the surrounding walkways and stored it so that the grounds could be cared for even in the dry months.

Kyou had been in love with the pavilion from the moment she saw it. But little of those technical aspects were important to the headmaster and dean who benefited from the gift. It was the beauty of the construction and the location that warmed her heart every time she saw it. Ryota had started with a classic tea-house roof, made it a double eave, and then imagined it through a broken mirror. The result was a seven sided, double eaved teahouse located just inside the school's main gates. With it's open air pavilion design, she had a clear view of the arriving students in one direction and buildings surrounding the courtyard behind her.

At the moment, Kyou was luxuriating in the soft cushions of the rattan couch that overlooked the school gate. The morning was cool but not so cold that the radiant heat has turned on. Still, the smell of a hot cup of coffee brought a smile to her lips.

"No, Kyou-sensei, you can't move your office here." Kouko said with a wry smile as she handed Kyou a steaming cup of her favorite blend.

"Ohhh," Kyou groaned, "Can't you let me dream just a little?"

"Yes," Yukine said as she breathed in the aroma of her own cup of coffee, "dreaming is wonderful, isn't it?"

"I… try not to remember my dreams." Fuko said as she blushed and looked down at her glass of apple juice. She wanted to be more adult and drink coffee in the morning like the others, but she still couldn't stand the taste of the stuff. But, that wasn't the principal source of her embarrassment just now.

"Don't be so hard on yourself." Yukine told her old friend, "We all know that your situation is… somewhat unique." She knew what was making her friend squirm. Now married to Ryota, her ikiryo was in a relationship with Fujibayashi Kyou-kun. Or rather, the male Kyou-sensei… so called because he got a job teaching here at his onee-chan's school.

"I don't want to talk about it." Fuko pouted. Indeed it was a unique position for her to be in. She wholeheartedly loved Ryota, but was blasted with confused feelings every time her ikiryos came home to roost. It would happen every time she woke up from a night's sleep, or a nap, or finished a meditation session. The return of the ikiryos would join their memories and feelings to hers, and she would suddenly feel intense love for Kyou-kun. She would remember touching him, kissing him, and… other things that her ikiryos did with the younger man. The strong feelings of love for the young man would disappear after a short while, but the memories of intimacy took a lot longer to fade away.

"Don't worry Fuko-sensei," Kyou-kun said compassionately, "Ryota-san and I have talked it over and we have an understanding. I respect his marriage to you and he respects my love for ikiryo Fuko. We are okay with it."

"I'm not okay with it!" Fuko's agitation almost made her spill her juice. "Every time I wake up… I have all these confusing feelings every time…"

"I'm sorry Fuko-sensei," Kyou-kun sounded truly contrite as he offered, "I didn't know it was so difficult for you. If you ask me to… It won't be easy for me, but if it is causing you pain I will stop…"

"No!" Fuko insisted. Even though the offer made her confused emotions even more chaotic, she didn't want to do that to her own ikiryo. Besides knowing Kyou-kun's feelings, she had a very deep understanding of her ikiryo self as well and she knew what that would do to her. Unfortunately, she also found it difficult to articulate those thoughts.

"It was a very thoughtful offer, Kyou-kun." Kouko said.

"Truly, I have quite a wonderful otouto." Kyou-chan said with a smile as she brought her coffee up to her lips.

"Thank you, onee-sama." Kyou-kun said with a respectful bow. She had told him that he no longer had to address her with the sama suffix when he graduated college, but he was used to it by then and really did have a lot of respect for her. After getting over his disdain for Tomoya, he was able to see his sisters' accomplishments and realized that both of them were amazing role models. And now that Kyou-chan was also his employer…

"You're pretty amazing yourself, Kyou-chan!" Yuki giggled, "You own the high school that you graduated from and found a way to hire all your friends."

"Stop it!" Kyou-chan threw a pillow at her cousin-in-law, "I'm just the headmaster, I don't own the school! And I didn't hire all my friends!"

"I don't know," Yukine said as she thought about it, "it might be easier to count the ones that don't work for you, than the ones that do."

"What?" Kyou was stunned that Yukine was teasing her like that, but when she saw the thoughtful expression, she knew that Yukine was being serious.

"My husband doesn't work for you, but you pushed me to get a degree in education so I could work in your program." Yukine replied.

"Your sister-in-law doesn't work for me." Kyou challenged.

"Mei works for your husband. That's close enough." Yuki teased.

"If that's the case, we should also count Koumura and Sugisaka." Kouko added.

"Well… Ryou and Nagisa don't work for me." Kyou-chan said defensively.

"Didn't you try to get Nagisa-san to teach a drama class here?" Kyou-kun asked.

"She refused, so it doesn't count." Kyou-chan pouted.

"Oh? So the famous Kyou-chan charm doesn't work on Nagisa-san?" Yuki teased again.

"No… she wanted to do it, but her schedule is too busy with the shooting for the television show she's in." Kyou replied.

"Who's left?" Kouko asked.

"Sakagami Tomoyo. She doesn't work for Kyou-chan." Yukine said.

"Well… she's the mayor now, and Tomoya is our representative in the Diet. So… doesn't she work for him?" Fuko asked.

"Remind me not to let you teach political science." Kyou said with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey!" Fuko knew it was a stretch but thought that there was some validity to it.

"To say that the local mayor works for the Diet representative is like saying that a building janitor works for a vice president of a company that leases space in the building." Kyou-kun explained.

"You would liken the city mayor to a janitor?" Kouko asked Kyou-kun.

"Sure!" Kyou-chan laughed, "Local government is always having to clean up the messes caused by the national government."

"I remind you that your husband works for that mess creating national government." Yuki taunted.

"Oh believe me, I know." Kyou-chan chuckled at the consternation Yuki was feeling about her beloved cousin's reputation being besmirched by his wife.

"Kotomi?" Yukine said aloud as she looked out toward the students approaching the gates from the long winding path.

"She has lots of people working for her at the research facility, but none of them are her old friends." Yuki replied.

"That's because none of us are smart enough." Kyou-chan chuckled while remembering the last time Kotomi tried to explain something she was working on. Kotomi promised that her explanation would be very simple and would only take ten minutes. Kyou had only been able to make it two minutes into the lecture before her eyes crossed and her brain threatened to completely seize up.

"Um no… I meant… why is Kotomi here?" Yukine nodded her head toward the gates and dissipating crowd of arriving students.

The others under the pavilion looked up where Yukine was staring and saw a peculiar sight. Kotomi was wearing something that looked like a motorcycle riding suit and was carrying a helmet. Everyone that knew her was aware how much she feared motorcycles and wondered why she would even own such an outfit. Aside from her appearance, she was looking around as if confused by her environment.

"Oh… oh my." Kyou's eyes opened wide as she realized what she was seeing.

.

Tuesday morning, April 13th 2021 – Grand Ballroom at Le Dauphin Hotel in Tokyo

Academic circles were far different from political circles. In academia, Kotomi had no qualms about introducing Tomoya and Kyou as her husband and wife. Those that knew of her understood, and those that didn't – just brushed it off as eccentric behavior befitting of the genius elite.

The political realm was a different story though. Being involved, or even having the appearance of involvement with something immoral or unethical could wreck a political career. This was the reason why Tomoya never talked about his home life to most of his peer politicians. Coincidentally, whenever there was a function that demanded he arrive with a spouse, it was Kyou that would appear on his arm. The primary reason for that was different though. Kotomi had absolutely no interest in being around a room full of politicians.

So it was known to all the staff and Diet representatives that Tomoya interacted with, that his wife was the beautiful and talented, lavender haired woman who was changing the method of education in the country. It was the truth after all, and any investigation would quickly turn up the corroborating evidence of their marriage. Since there weren't many instances of elite hard science academia mixing with politicians, it hadn't been a problem to hide… or rather, to just not mention Tomoya's relationship with Kotomi - the world renowned physicist.

Until now.

Something remarkable had happened recently. An event that was as completely unexpected as it was fantastical, had occurred in the last few weeks that had brought Kotomi's old multiverse program back to the forefront of academic discussion. And now… the politicians needed to weigh in. They had heard about a scientific uproar and they wanted to know what it was about and what it could mean for the country. This time, there would be no way to ignore it or create an adequate subterfuge that would satisfy the curiosity of the political mob.

The best Tomoya could hope for was a modicum of privacy due to the need for secrecy. He had hoped to limit the exposure by informing only those with a need-to-know. Alas, that list wasn't small. His mentor, the former party Secretary helped him with the invitation list, and to find the venue for the presentation.

The Le Dauphin hotel was chosen for the event because of their history of providing privacy and security to events of all kinds. Whether they were secret weddings of high profile celebrities, corporate conferences, or government events, they had become the go-to venue. Tomoya hadn't required their services before, but they had been highly recommended by his mentor. Their relationship still hadn't progressed to a point that Tomoya could say that they were friends, but he had learned to trust the old man implicitly.

"Why do you call me sensei, Tomoya-kun?" the former party Secretary asked while Mei busied herself fixing Tomoya's tie.

"You are no longer Mr. Secretary, so it seemed appropriate." Tomoya replied.

"Then, shouldn't you call me senpai? Sensei sounds so… stodgy." the old man pouted.

"You are stodgy. More to the point, you're ancient. Calling you senpai would make me feel old along with you." Tomoya said with only the slightest smirk.

"That really hurts, Tomoya-kun." the old man replied with a reproving glare.

"Auk!" Tomoya choked as his tie momentarily became a garrote around his neck.

"That was not nice, Tomoya-kun. Sensei does a lot for your career and for your family. You should at least show gratitude and respect." Mei kept up the tension on his tie until she finished talking, then went back to retying it as if nothing had happened.

"Yes… you are quite right." Tomoya gasped. He suspected that he had upset Mei more than his old mentor. She was in the habit of calling him onii-chan most of the time… when he was a good boy. In front of officials or the public, she would call him Okazaki-san. It was only when he had done something wrong that the Tomoya-kun came out. Sure, other people called him that, but when she said it, he knew he had earned her displeasure. Clearing his throat, he restated his prior explanation in a more acceptable way, "My apologies sensei. What I meant to say was that senpai is not a sufficient title for you. You are not merely a more senior person who is just showing me the ropes. Even after all these years, I am still learning much from the benefit of your vast experience. Please, continue to be my sensei and teach me all the ways of your wisdom."

"Mei-chan, if you ever leave this idiot, please come to see me immediately." the old man chuckled.

"Yes, sensei." Mei smiled as she put the finishing touches on Tomoya's tie.

"As for you, young man… I really don't feel that I have all that much left to teach you. But, if it makes you feel confident, I will be there when you need me… for however much longer I am around." the old man smiled. His comment wasn't meant to foreshadow a looming health issue. But all three of them knew that he had been entertaining the idea of finally retiring from the political life.

"Incline your head a bit while I wire you up." Mei instructed as she approached Tomoya with the small communication device he would be wearing during the presentation.

"From what I can tell, you are all ready to go out on stage and get this over with." the old man observed.

"Yes. I probably won't make any friends with the way we will be doing this, but I refuse to turn this into a circus where a room full of politicians get to laugh and jeer at my wife… or anyone else that is close to me." Tomoya said with some bitterness. Kyou could handle a room full of egotistical politicians, but Kotomi… It would take her a week to recover from the emotional carnage.

"I know you want to protect Kotomi-hakase. So, my advice would be to make sure you take control of the room, instill upon them the importance and value of Kotomi-hakase, and then give them only the facts that they need to know." the old man suggested.

"Perfect!" Tomoya's smile looked almost feral as he compared his sensei's advice with what he had already planned. "You just outlined my plan, but hearing you say it does give me confidence that this will work as expected."

All three of them had that momentary vacant look as something was whispered into their ears by the tiny communication devices they wore.

"It appears that we will find out soon." the old man said as he slowly got to his feet.

"Please sensei, I would be honored if you would join me on the stage." Tomoya asked and made a polite bow.

"I will sit with you in the VIP group, but you… you must do the speaking." the old man insisted.

"Yes, sensei." Tomoya agreed, then turned to Mei – but she spoke before he could ask her.

"I'll be behind the curtain with your w… family." Mei gently rejected him with the reminder.

"Right." Tomoya tapped the ear where Mei had just hooked in the tiny communicator and told her, "I know you'll do your best to keep things calm back there, but let me know if you need help."

"Don't worry. Kyou-chan has already said that she will help me, so you just concentrate on your presentation." Mei said confidently while the three of them walked towards the back stage entrance.

"I will, and thanks." Tomoya gave his assistant a respectful bow as she turned toward the privacy curtain.

"She is a marvel. You do not deserve her." the old man chuckled as he and Tomoya finished watching the tall girl walk away.

"I wish I could argue with you… but you're right." Tomoya gave a forlorn smile as the two men turned toward the row of VIP seats at the back of the stage.

.

The hotel event staff had set up the room so that Tomoya and a few others were seated in a VIP area on the stage while another small group were seated behind a privacy curtain at the very back of the stage. The stage was angled towards a speaker's dais which faced nearly a hundred select members of the National Diet and other important government offices. Hearing the cue over his earpiece, Tomoya stood and walked over to the dais to begin the presentation.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention please." Tomoya called out in a normal speaking voice. The dais had microphones to carry the speaker's words to every corner of the room, but it wasn't set to amplify like a sporting event. He had learned a trick from watching Kotomi give science lectures over the years. If the room is rowdy, you could waste a lot of time trying to get them quiet or exhaust yourself trying to talk over them. By simply proceeding in a normal tone, the room would quiet of it's own accord as half the people in the room shushed and glared at the other half until they were seated and quiet. "Thank you for coming to this event on such short notice."

Sure enough, there were many shushes and even a few harsh words. Some people continued to talk, but Tomoya proceeded as if he heard nothing else in the room.

"Not all of you here today were members of the Diet back when The Ichinose Project was doing amazing things. The full accounting of that project is still somewhat classified so I won't be going into a lot of details. Suffice it to say that it involved high energy physics and resulted in accurate predictions regarding several natural disasters including the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami."

"Excuse me son, could you repeat that?" an elder politician who had finally finished his conversation and made it to his seat asked in a dismissive tone.

"No." Tomoya replied simply as he met the elder man's eyes. He could see that the elder statesman was shocked that he wasn't being accorded the respect he thought he deserved, but Tomoya's stare exhibited no apology. Indeed, he seemed somewhat accusatory as he stared down the older man.

The staring contest was broken when one of the seated people behind Tomoya joined him on the dais and respectfully requested the microphone.

"I yield the floor to Inspector Sunohara." Tomoya bowed and took a step back.

"Let me be clear on a few points regarding this meeting." Youhei said with a cold smile, "In today's briefing, nothing will be repeated, notes are not allowed, and photography is prohibited. Use of any recording devices will result in immediate expulsion from this room, revocation of security clearance, and censure from the Diet until a complete investigation is completed. Additionally, the violator will be arrested and prosecuted under the State Secrets Law. If you feel that you cannot abide by these restrictions, you have five minutes to leave before Representative Okazaki gets started."

The old man fumed but didn't budge from his seat. No one else moved either. Many people glared up at Youhei but he met their eyes with an apathetic smile that had no interest or regard for their bruised ego or challenges. The room was eerily quiet for five full minutes before Youhei spoke into the microphone once again.

"Very well, I will now yield the dais back to representative Okazaki." Youhei winked at his old friend as he walked past him and took his seat behind the dais again. He had a huge desire to give Tomoya a high-five or do a fist pump as they passed, but that would ruin the image of the dispassionate inspector that he had assumed.

As Tomoya moved back to the dais, a huge screen above him started displaying a slide show of different pictures of Kotomi. Many of them were from lectures she had given, or awards and honors that she had received, from prestigious institutions around the world. Others showed her amongst her friends or enjoying the company of her children. There were also several cover photos from her appearance in many science journals and a few news magazines.

"Today, you will meet Kotomi-hakase, one of Japan's most prominent scientists. Potentially tens of thousands of lives and trillions of yen in infrastructure damage, were saved as a result of the 2011 tsunami prediction that was a result of her work. In terms of national treasures, she is worth more than everyone else in this room combined… including me." Tomoya looked around the room in a challenge to anyone that did not accept his bold statement.

There would be no challenge though. Several independent studies over the last decade had been carried out and all agreed that Japan had dodged a very costly bullet. Back when he had still been the Secretary New Komeito, Tomoya's sensei had been thorough in disseminating these study results so that these facts were now common knowledge.

"Since you have all signed the secrets agreement, I will reveal to you that this was a result of opening dimensional doorways to travel to parallel worlds. In 2008, while beginning work on her first PhD, Kotomi-hakase hypothesized that a locus in Hikarizaka would yield hundreds, potentially millions of dormant wormhole gateways to parallel universes. In early 2010, she had developed a way to detect those gateways, and by August of that same year, she found a way to open one of those gateways and send an expeditionary team to another world."

Several people in the audience leaped to their feet and were about to demand or decry… but they also saw Inspector Sunohara come to his feet. The short man said nothing, but he shook his head slowly and motioned for them to sit back down. Something about his countenance suggested that there would be no second chances. As if to emphasize his warning, several very tough looking men and women wearing black suits and dark visors started to quietly move toward the potential troublemakers.

But there was no trouble. The message was effectively delivered and the outburst fizzled out before it had a chance to start.

"I could spend hours talking about the different worlds that were encountered over the life of this experiment. Some of them gave us glimpses of the immediate future while others were so close to our own reality and time that it didn't seem that it was a different world at all. But the important facts that you need to know are the following:"

"One. We did not create the wormholes that allowed this travel, we merely opened the doors to wormholes that already existed."

"Two. We do not posses the capability to create the wormholes at this time."

"Three. The wormholes are ephemeral."

"Finally, the last of the available wormholes collapsed four years ago."

Tomoya took a few moments to let all of that sink in. They had all been listening to him attentively even if their eyes were divided between him and the image stream of the purple haired scientist on the big display suspended from the ceiling.

"From what I have told you so far, it would seem that all the excitement ended with the loss of the wormhole gateways in 2017. It is true that the explorations ended then, but the project continued as the researchers began to carefully examine the mountains of data that had accumulated during the experiment's run." Tomoya paused to look around the room before moving onto the part of his presentation that would most probably wreck the fragile calm of the room. This was also the cue for the black suited people working for Youhei, to move into the aisles to their ready positions. Taking a deep breath and hoping for the best, Tomoya continued, "However… something unprecedented has happened recently that demands another look at this experiment. At this time, I request that you maintain your composure as I introduce Ichinose and Okazaki Kotomi-hakase."

At first, the seated people thought that the brash young man had made a gaffe in his introduction… until they saw the three women come out from behind the privacy screen. The one in the middle was a woman that most of them had met once or twice. The revolutionary educator, Okazaki Kyou was wearing a fashionable women's business suit that complemented her husband's attire. With her trademark lavender hair in a long braid, she was instantly recognizable. And, wearing matching Kimonos while clinging to each of Kyou's arms as she guided them to the dais, were…

Two Kotomis!

.

A Farewell To The Kotomi Continuum

This concludes the story that I wanted to tell. I deeply appreciate the readers who have stayed with me for this long. I hope you enjoyed my tale as much as I enjoyed writing it. I am especially thankful for everyone who bothered to write a review. I didn't think they would mean so much when I started this journey, but they actually make a huge impact. Some encourage me to go on and others challenge me to do better. I appreciated them all.

Finally, I would like to specifically call out a few people that really helped me to go on. Without their help, the story would not have been as readable, rich, or satisfying. My special thanks goes out to (in alphabetical order):

CrazyWombat

Dawnseeker101

MagnusPrime

and

RiverBoatJim

.

Glossary

.

Escalator Program: The normal academic progress is for 6th graders to take tests to get into the middle school of their choice, and for graduating middle school students to take tests to get into the high school of their choice. In an escalator program, the schools are affiliated with each other and require no testing for progression.

Otouto: younger (little) brother. Although technically the two Kyous are male and female variants of the same person, environment and time asymmetry between the two universes, means that Kyou-kun is nine years younger than Kyou-chan. Thus, the otouto and onee-sama relationship.

Randoseru: the traditional backpack for grade school children in Japan.

Takoyaki: a batter fried octopus ball. It is a classic Japanese festival food.

PS: If you are wondering where another Kotomi could have come from, read virtually anything written by MagnusPrime.