"Then your mom's personality is… pretty unique," Loki said, surprised that Tsunayoshi's mother was that type—sunny and a little airheaded, the exact opposite of the stern Riveria.
"That's just how my mom is. She's always smiling, moves at her own slow pace, and she's not the sensitive type—her reaction time's a bit long."
Once he started describing her, Tsunayoshi realized he had a lot to say. "She's not young anymore, but her personality's like a child's. She loves romantic things. Dad sweet-talked her into everything so easily. But she really likes taking care of people and doesn't overthink complicated stuff."
Listening, Loki formed a rough picture of this mother: like Riveria with the seriousness stripped away—more smiles, less pressure—and a face somewhat like Tsunayoshi's.
"Put going home aside for now. We wait until this Joint Expedition is over and you break through to Lv.3," Loki said. "The expedition isn't far off. You need to refocus."
"I know." Tsunayoshi's smile faded. The Joint Expedition was obviously the top priority. "I want this expedition to be my chance to reach Lv.3.
"After it ends, our Familia, the Astraea Familia, and the Hephaestus Familia will all go into a recovery period. During that time, you and Hephaestus-kami can 'disappear.'"
"You're already prepared for time in the two worlds to start moving together?" Loki asked.
"Yeah. Once I open a channel between them, the worlds will naturally draw closer. Maybe the flow won't sync right away, but it won't be completely frozen like before."
Like two whirlpools on the surface of a lake, once they're close enough, the currents start to affect each other. At first the influence is small, but the more they touch, the stronger it grows.
With a passage between worlds, contact begins; the chance of one world's time standing still relative to the other becomes almost zero. Even if the flow is slow, once it starts, we have to be ready.
Tsunayoshi never thought he could keep commuting between worlds without considering time. That was a key problem to plan for. "I also need to explain things to my mom."
"Huh? You're sure you want to tell your mom something that wild?" Loki stared, incredulous.
If possible, Tsunayoshi would have preferred not to tell her—but he couldn't avoid it. "I can't help it. Mom's slow about some things, but she's extra sharp about others.
"When it comes to me, she's especially sensitive. She's looked after me for thirteen years—you can't expect her not to tell a puppet from the real me. And if we want to keep my situation properly covered, I'll need her to run interference. Otherwise it's too easy to slip up."
"…Fair enough." Loki's surprise gave way to understanding.
Tsunayoshi felt a bit helpless about it: Dad had always hidden the 'hidden world' stuff from Mom, yet here he was—her son—about to tell her something beyond even that, a whole other world.
"Fortunately, the other world won't put Mom in danger. Otherwise I wouldn't say a word. I just want her to know where I'm going, so if she notices the puppet, she won't worry herself sick."
"Then there's nothing to fear on the safety front," Loki nodded. With an entire world's distance in between, she didn't believe any god could cross over to make trouble. The gap and barrier between worlds were vast and thick. If hopping worlds were that easy, the gods wouldn't still be fooling around in Orario—Loki herself would be the first to leave.
Sadly, across endless years, Loki had only ever seen one person as outrageous as Tsunayoshi, someone who had jumped out of the story's frame. Unprecedented—and likely with no successor.
"Since you've decided, then be crisp about it," Loki said. "As long as your mom doesn't talk, nothing major will happen. And with her jumpy, off-beat vibe, even if she slips, people probably won't take her seriously—might sound like she's spacing out."
To Tsunayoshi's surprise, that actually made sense. Given his mom's personality, even the truth might come off as muddleheaded chatter.
"Alright, we can think about that after the Joint Expedition," Loki continued. "But you were excited all night because of the Grail; don't tell me you didn't make anything else useful?"
"I did, actually—prep work for going back. I told you before: in my world, most information is stored in a realm built from zeros and ones. I made a tool that can capture signals from that data-world—'Info Essence.'"
"And to test what Info Essence can do, I made some 'Mimic Eyes' to monitor and record. Considering how sensitive gods and some adventurers are, I didn't plant them inside Orario—only in a ring outside the city."
"Outside the Labyrinth City, huh?" Loki didn't scold him; she just nodded. "For testing, best not to tie it to yourself. And like you said, some gods have hypersensitive nerves; they notice what normal people don't. Some adventurers too—especially the Ganesha Familia kids who're always on the front lines keeping order. After years of outwitting rule-breakers, they pick up on things fast.
"But that's just inside Orario. Most Familias that aren't production-type can't leave the city at will. If you set things up outside, unless your luck is terrible, getting discovered won't be easy."
Once Loki understood what he'd done, she relaxed. None of it sounded reckless, and Tsunayoshi had been cautious—everything was deployed beyond Orario—so there was even less to worry about.
(End of Chapter)
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