The voice behind him remained entirely innocent. She hopped around in front of him.
That girl there had done all this.
She could end the current world with a snap of her fingers.
“It doesn’t matter if your real-world theories have broken down. Even if there is no direct connection between two ideas, a bridge can always be built if the girl goes on an adventure and creates a new path.”
“A bridge?”
“Hmm, like this: ‘There are four emotions and four elements, so when roleplaying, you can draw on a special power by intentionally drawing on a specific emotion in yourself.’ ”
People would normally call that “a stretch” or “sophistry”. It might sound reasonable at first, but there was no existing mythology or law behind it. In this case, the idea of the four emotions was an Eastern thing and the idea of the four elements was a Western thing commonly seen in fantasy RPGs.
But if you could build a bridge between the two and it would give you power with 100% reliability, you would have a legitimate miracle on your hands.
It reminded him a bit of the way the Amakusas combined Shinto, Buddhism, and Christianity, but this was completely different. Alice didn’t need to find points in common between the two things to form a logical connection. She could notice that a paint set on sale had 12 colors, associate that with the 12 numbers on a clock, and with nothing more than that gain a complete control over time. Except it wouldn’t just apply to Alice herself. The moment she decided that was true, all the paint in the world would gain the same power.
“Burning something requires phlogiston, observing one of a pair of separated particles determines the spin of the other one no matter the distance between them, neutrinos can travel faster than light. It might sound ridiculous, but if the girl links together the surrounding theories to build up a solid basis and makes it convincing enough, she can create an actual functioning theory. Even if the idea she started with was flawed and even if the values she started with came from faulty measurements.”
“You mean…?”
“It works even if the theory is how to resurrect the dead. After all, magic is meant to give people joyous hopes and fun dreams.”
By forcibly connecting entirely separate theories, she had created a single path to this destination.
Even if she hadn’t created anything herself and was journeying around by peering into someone else’s mind.
If he had continued traveling through that comfortable world without questioning it, all of the pieces would have intertwined and become real.
Like a board game where surrounding your opponent’s pieces captured all of those pieces for yourself.
Kamijou noticed a straining sound.
It came from within Alice.
Specifically, from her blue storybook dress with a white apron over it. It tore in a way such solid fabric never should have. The entire center of her body tore to either side like it was a thin stocking.
The ripping noise sounded somehow suggestive.
“Now.”
Immorally bright skin emerged from within.
The transformation was like a childish mint candy becoming a sticky honey dripping onto the skin.
The thing contained in the storybook dress came into view. Metal buckles shined and red and black belts glistened with oil while digging into a slender body.
Alice spread her arms wide without showing any concern for the empty shell left behind.
“Please guide the girl, teacher. She wants to go on an adventure inside you. You weren’t satisfied with this ending? Then what kind of ending would you accept? Just tell the girl and she will join the theories together, fill in the gaps, establish the necessary facts, and give you the world you want.”