Chapter 2: The Present

I went through a lot.

Anyhow, Mom is so awesome.

My childhood drawings gave her a hint that she used to perfect a new theory; pictures I drew of powered suits gave her the idea to try creating a new form of fusion reactor; and to top it all off, she designed a new model of aircraft. She had exceptional talent in so many fields.

If you ask me, she’d soon cease to be the mother of quantum mechanics, and instead would be known as the mother of creation. But if I had to say what was most amazing, I would have to say that it was how, despite accomplishing so much, she was always here at home.

My old man, on the other hand, was never home. A long time ago, he’d said he was going to Africa or something, and hadn’t been home since. He should have tried following Mom’s example and staying home once in a while.

You know, when I tried mentioning to Mom that Dad isn’t home very often, is he? her smile looked so sad. One of these days, he was going to end up divorced.

That said, even Mom wasn’t home today. She’d said she had an important conference to attend or something, but I’d been half asleep and not really listening. Sorry, Mom.

I’d been left at home, totally bored. We were never able to guess when Dad might return home, so we had a family rule that there’d always be someone home.

It was a real bother, to be honest, but whenever Mom left the house, I absolutely had to be at home. It wasn’t like I had any friends anyway, so I didn’t care... I didn’t care.

I think I’m about to cry.

I’d already finished cleaning inside the house, so I figured, why not weed our garden once in a while? It was a big garden, so unless we tended to it now and again, it soon became overgrown.

A while back, I’d seen something online about a simple weed killer that could be made at home, but when I’d tried making and using it, it hadn’t just killed the weeds; it’d killed all of the garden grass and caused a lot of trouble. After that, I’d decided to always weed by hand. Mom had called Dad, and workers had arrived to replace all of the garden soil.

Come to think of it, that was the first time I’d seen my dad angry.

“I get it, you’re a genius, but I won’t tolerate you doing these things to our property!” he’d told me.

A genius, am I? I thought resentfully, remembering that. He said it sarcastically knowing full well that everything I ever create is a failure! That damn stupid muscle man. If he ever comes home while Mom isn’t around, I’m going to get my revenge by making him a meal with laxatives in it.

Well, anyhow, we had a big garden. Really big. It was as big as the garden of an old samurai house. Likewise, the house itself was pretty big, too.

Naturally, Mom made an insane amount of money. She had over 200 patents, and she was so highly regarded that research institutions begged her to let them put her on their member list, even if she was a member in name only. They came crying to her because having my mom listed as a part of their institution would triple their funding.

Incidentally, my dad’s income was a bit of a mystery.

Mom once told me something like, “Your dad doesn’t make a lot of money, but he helps people by working with the United Nations.”

I wish he’d show some of the same generosity toward his own son! Mom was really too good for that macho man. I didn’t even see why he was so macho. He’d said he was working for the United Nations, but couldn’t he just be a subcontractor who helped them carry their luggage? He’d said he was going to Africa, so maybe he’d be useful as a meat shield for their VIP personnel.

Well, I suppose I’ll start weeding the garden, I thought. I know! I’ll try using the industrial use powered suit that me and Mom made a while ago.

Recently, this sort of powered suit for manual work had come to be used in ordinary households. Naturally, this one was an all-powerful type handmade by my mom. This was a superb model that I could even wear while cooking or doing delicate work, so I assumed it had been made as a prototype that would allow all types of people to operate a powered suit.

It fits perfectly! All right, weeds, prepare yourselves!

Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep! I was enjoying weeding when a message appeared on my personal terminal.

Oh, it’s from Mom...

I answered by pressing the call button. “Hello?”

“K-Kou... What are you doing right now?”

For some reason, she asked the question sounding a little worried. I gave her a straightforward response and told her I was weeding the garden.

“R-right...” she said. “You don’t have to weed the garden. You should just go inside and watch the TV. One of those nature documentaries you like should be showing today.”

No way?! Nature in this world here was different from the previous world I’d lived in; animals that had been extinct were still living here. I loved those animals. There were also creatures I had never seen before, perhaps due to environmental differences. I loved documentaries featuring those creatures, and had watched them regularly ever since I was a child.

Mom told me I didn’t have to help out around the house, so I should go and watch that program. I really was proud to have such a kind mother! I thanked her and ended the call. I cheerfully shut off the powered suit and was about to enter the house when something in the corner of the garden caught my eye.

It was a rare bird. I tried to move closer to get a better look, but it flew away before I got the chance. I shrugged it off and headed back inside.

**

Louis Coleman’s Point of View

I think it was about four years ago when I... when we... began our duty of protecting and observing the commander’s son. It all started with an incident caused by his son.

Apparently, after being concerned about the weeds around his home, the boy had released a deadly defoliant composition into the garden. What’s more, this was something he’d made himself using nothing but commercially available chemicals typically found at hardware stores.

The commander’s wife had immediately contacted the commander after seeing what had happened. The commander had made arrangements to mobilize a squad with anti-chemical weapon suits ASAP. We’d laughed about it and told him to just call it a training exercise if he wanted a believable excuse.

After going to the trouble of traveling to the scene in a truck disguised as a vehicle of a civilian organization, what we’d seen there was pure hell. Although the defoliant had only been spread a few hours ago, the entire surface of the garden had turned brown, and the levels of contamination we’d measured with our equipment had informed us that the levels at the center were high enough to cause instant death from a mere touch. Despite all that, his son acted like he’d been caught playing a prank.

In other words, this young child had happened to feel like creating and using a weapon powerful enough to annihilate an entire city.

The commander had reported this incident to the upper levels of the United Nations, but the whole thing had been hushed up, probably because of a high-level political decision. However, we’d been given a mission of observation to ensure that the commander’s son was protected and that nothing like this could ever happen again. Although naturally, our purported duty was to protect the commander’s wife, Miki Arakawa, the discoverer of Mother’s Equation and the mother of new quantum mechanics.

Just now, the son had headed out into the garden. It seems he wanted to weed the garden. After that incident, the commander had sternly told him to simply remove weeds manually rather than using chemicals, and today he was doing just that...

Or so I’d believed...

I’d wanted to believe it...

The son had emerged wearing a powered suit from the storehouse. If it had been an ordinary powered suit, that wouldn’t have been a problem; powered suits for manual work were commonplace in ordinary households. However, this one...

“A sixth-generation military-use suit...”

I suddenly felt dizzy. This was a weapon that could destroy a main battle tank with a single frontal blow. It had the ability to protect the occupant against a direct hit from a missile, and a single unit could go head-to-head with an elite regimental combat team. It certainly wasn’t something for weeding a garden. Why was such a thing even in an ordinary household in the first place? Fair enough, this house may not be an ordinary household, but that sort of equipment should be kept in a research facility.

I sent a transmission to the commander. This situation was well beyond my control.

“Commander... it’s me.” I already sounded worn down when I called him.

At first there was too much noise, but eventually the commander heard my voice.

“Hey! What’s up?” the commander responded in a moronically cheerful voice.

Come to think of it, the commander is on vacation escorting VIP personnel in Africa right now, I realized. It’s not like he can head out to the scene.

“Your son is weeding your garden. In a powered suit.”

In response, the commander laughed as if to say, Yeah, what about it? His pride in his son had been awakened.

I doubt he’ll be able to remain such an oblivious, brainless father when he hears what I have to say... I thought.

“Your son equipped a military-use suit. More precisely, a prototype sixth-generation suit.”

The commander stopped laughing immediately and told me to contact his wife. He also instructed me that if his son tried to step out into the street, I was to use my own body to stop him.

How am I supposed to do that? What can I do while barehanded against an opponent who can easily destroy a tank? I thought desperately. But while I was frantically trying to think of a plan, his son disengaged the suit. It seemed a message from the son’s mother had gotten through to him.

He began cheerfully heading toward the house, and then stopped.

He was staring right at me.

I was so afraid, I thought my heart would stop. He might normally act like a good boy who always listened to what his mother said, but make no mistake, this was the type of boy who would use weapons within his own garden without hesitation. What would someone like that do after someone got in the way of their plans? Am I about to be killed...?

Fortunately, at that moment I was using optical camouflage that made me invisible to the naked eye.

It shouldn’t be possible for him to notice me... and he certainly has no way of knowing that it was me who contacted the commander. But can I really be sure of that? What if that military-use suit can intercept communications? No, it couldn’t possibly...

My thoughts were chaotic as I tried desperately to think of the best course of action. That’s when the son took one step toward me!

He’s going to kill me...

With that thought, I had given up all hope. But nothing happened. I slowly opened my eyes and saw the son shrug his shoulders before entering the house.

Even though this was no battlefield, the thought that ran through my mind was, I’ve made it out alive.

The son had probably just wanted to scare me a little. However, I had been shamefully afraid. This was despite having made it through countless battlefields within the United Nations military special forces unit. I was almost certain the son had been thinking: Is that all you’ve got?

I was fine with that. I was content to stand and gaze at the clear sky, feeling truly alive.

**

Miki Arakawa’s Point of View

I breathed a sigh as I received a message telling me to stop Kouki from using a military-use suit to weed the garden. For starters, Kouki wasn’t the violent type. Well, that was part of it, but mostly I was sighing over the conference that was about to take place. To summarize, my efforts to protect Kouki had ended in failure.

I had never dreamed that he’d ever use the weapons we had at home. When the incident had occurred, Shuuichi and his subordinates had acted swiftly so that no real harm was done; but one misstep could have resulted in the loss of many human lives. In the end, Shuuichi had revealed Kouki’s secret to his superiors as a secret intelligence agent.

The chaos that had followed was a real sight to behold.

“That’s right, the new theories, weapon systems, and pharmaceuticals I’ve published up to now were all the work of a young child,” I’d told them.

To keep society from being thrown into confusion, none of the details were ever made public. The real problem was, which nation did Kouki and his outstanding talents really belong to? That question had placed us on the verge of an outbreak of an armed conflict.

Finally, there was the summons I’d received today from the United Nations. I feared that Kouki’s fate had already been decided. I still didn’t know what was to happen.

What if the world decided that Kouki was dangerous and decided to eliminate him? If such a decision was made, I would fight it with the full extent of my power. Shuuichi had promised to do the same. Shuuichi even had people among his own subordinates trying to protect Kouki—mostly female personnel, much to my dissatisfaction as his mother.

Shuuichi’s unit would no doubt rise up in arms. Even so, I would always be the one to protect my son. I opened the door to the conference room with determination in my heart...

**

United States President William Auld’s Point of View

A lone woman entered the conference room. She seemed to understand the nature of the declaration this conference was to make as she walked straight toward the stand filled with confidence and pride.

So this is Miki Arakawa... The woman who holds the reins and controls Kouki Arakawa, the renowned demon child. She had lent her name to almost every notable research institution, and was the originator of the most important military secrets of each nation. Demon Lord Miki Arakawa... Just how many scientists would be willing to join this woman’s cause if she were to speak the words?

Her husband, Shuuichi Arakawa, was no small fry, either. There was no way that he or his subordinates would surface. They were monsters known for having accomplished a seemingly impossible top-secret operation to bring down a nation-state, albeit a small one, using a single squad. Even a great country like the United States would be greatly damaged by making an enemy out of the Arakawa family.

I spoke to Mrs. Arakawa in the most cheerful voice I could muster in spite of my anxiety and the pain in my stomach, which seemed to be about to lose its contents.

“I’m glad you could make it, Mrs. Arakawa. We’re grateful to you for traveling so far when you must be so busy.”

She raised one eyebrow slightly, and acknowledged me with the slightest of nods.

Well, give me a little more than that!! Are you sure that’s a good idea? We’re here to decide on your son’s future. I’d expect you to be a little more friendly. Actually, you’re scaring me, so please stop looking at me like I’m an insect! I think I’m going to be sick. I was feeling ill from the pressure my nation and the world had placed on me.

The Russian Prime Minister was looking serious, but his legs were trembling under the desk, too. The president of China had been drinking ridiculous amounts of water since a moment ago.

Please, somebody, trade places with me and chair this conference! I thought frantically. Otherwise, I think I’m going to have an ulcer before we’re through here.

Why is everyone avoiding my gaze...? This is bad. I need to calm down.

“For what business have you summoned me here?” she asked coldly.

Oh no! She seems upset. I hastily came up with a response.

“We’d like to inform you of a decision made with regard to our handling of your son.”

This is the end... Now her face looks like the face of real demon lord. My beautiful daughter Mary, your daddy might not be coming home tonight. It seems I’ll be laid to rest here in the Far East. Be a good girl for Mommy when Daddy is gone...

“Before that, might I make a brief statement?” the boy’s mother asked.

Looks like I’m about to die. I haven’t finished thinking about what to put in the letter to my daughter, but if I interrupt this woman now, I don’t think she’ll even allow me to write the letter; so I’d better let her finish.

“Thank you,” the woman said. “First, I’d like to talk about what’s possible. If Kouki were to take technological development seriously, I think he could build a perpetual motion device using items lying around our kitchen; and using a few items from the supermarket, he could build something far more powerful than the fusion reactor I built.”

That much was probably true. The most incredible thing about him was his ability to make advancements using existing items. I’d normally sneer at such an idea, but if it was him, it just might happen.

“So what do you suppose would happen if Kouki were to feel as though he’d been abandoned by the world?” she asked.

Huh? Us abandon him? What’s she saying...? We’ve already reached a point where the world’s technology could fall into stagnation without him. How could we abandon someone so precious?

“Suppose you make a foolish decision and try to eliminate Kouki...” she went on.

Now I see! This is bad! She’s got it all wrong!

Expecting there’d be trouble unless something was done, I interrupted her in a serious tone.

**

Miki Arakawa’s Point of View

“Suppose you make a foolish decision and try to eliminate Kouki...” As I tried to finish my sentence with determination, the president put up his hands and interrupted me.

“I have a seven-year-old daughter. Her name is Mary. She’s incredibly cute and I’m very proud of her.” He spoke those words from out of nowhere.

What does that have to do with the situation? I stopped talking and let him continue.

“But just last month, I learned she was suffering from childhood cancer. My family was in deep despair... I cursed God asking him why my Mary should suffer from such a disease.”

It wasn’t something particularly unusual. It could happen to any household. But if Kouki were to suffer from such disease, would I be able to face the fact calmly?

“Fortunately, Mary was cured four days later. By sheer coincidence, a new treatment pod had just been installed in the nearest hospital.”

Come to think of it, I had heard that anti-cancer treatment pods were being installed for civilian use. The president’s daughter had probably been lucky to have the opportunity to use one, but Mary had nothing to do with their plans for Kouki. As I became irritated and opened my mouth to speak, I was silenced...

“The name of the treatment pod was ‘Type-ARAKAWA.’ Mrs. Arakawa... the pod was proposed by your son. I can’t deny that there are those who call your son a demon, but make no mistake: to my family, he is an angel. People all around the world use his creations to some extent. If we eliminated him now, we wouldn’t be able to go on living. Indeed, I suspect that such unseemly human ideas would be a problem for an angel like your son.”

I felt that there was hope. Perhaps rather than abandoning Kouki, the world would embrace him? My thoughts were confirmed by the president’s next words.

“Well, then, I shall read to you our declaration.”

The president’s expression ceased to be that of a father and returned to being that of a conference facilitator as he read the document.

“The members of the United Nations forbid nation-states from interfering with Kouki Arakawa. We declare that his individual freedom is to be respected, and whichever country he wishes to belong to, we will not interfere. However, Kouki Arakawa’s ethics are a cause for concern. Thus, upon starting his high school education, he is to enroll at the International Science and Technology Academy in Japan where he will develop the ethics of a scientist and researcher.”

That day, an important pact, never featured in any public history book, was made. The pact was signed by all members of the United Nations and was known as the “Arakawa Pact.”

January 4, 2102: The Arakawa Pact Takes Immediate Effect.

That day would be remembered as the day the world embraced Kouki.