The sea at night, surrounded by a terrifying silence. On it, Eden absentmindedly gazed at the moon and slowly began to tell the story that led to the present.
[...When the premise changes, the essence also changes. Perhaps, was your second question already answered?]
[Y- Yes, my second question is... Shallow Vernal-sama should have had prepared the Summoning Magic Circle 19000 years ago, just a thousand years after we had invaded the God Realm. I didn't really understand her motives thus far.]
[I don't know what Shallow Vernal's true motives were. If you're fine with assumptions, should we talk about it?]
[Yes, please.]
For the sake of her beloved Kaito, Alice wants to gather as much information as possible. Thus, she urged Eden to continue with a serious expression on her face.
[It's just a guess but... "Shallow Vernal's purpose has changed once". No, I guess it would be more appropriate to say that it had transformed.]
[...Transformed?]
[Yes, when she first created this world, I think Shallow Vernal was lost... bewildered. Until then, she was just a phenomenon; she had no such thing as a heart. No, she may already have a heart back then, but she was not aware of it. To put it another way, when she first created this world, Shallow Vernal's heart was that of a newborn baby.]
[I see, so Shallow Vernal-sama was bewildered about her own heart, right?]
[That's just a guess though. Shallow Vernal herself didn't know what to do after she created the world. For this reason, she created a half-body of herself... and had thrown the decision over to her. But then, something happened that transformed Shallow Vernal's mental state, and she accepted that she had a "heart of her own".]
[...That should be the battle that took place twenty thousand years ago.]
Eden's guess was probably right. Shallow Vernal was confused about the existence of her heart, and left it up to Kuromueina to decide what to do.
But in that battle against Kuromueina, Shallow Vernal admitted that she had a heart. Yes, that's where it all began.
[And with that transformation in her purpose, what Shallow Vernal sought next... is Miyama Kaito. I don't know what future she saw, but this premise is the most important one.]
[...]
[Have you ever wondered about it? Why is it that Shallow Vernal had an "abnormal" attachment to Miyama Kaito in the first place... She was so attached to Miyama Kaito in a way that couldn't be explained by mere interest.]
[...That's certainly something I should have thought about.]
Alice is also one of the few people in the world who has gained Shallow Vernal's interest. However, Shallow Vernal isn't particularly attached to Alice. At best, she remembers her name.
That's also the same case for the First Hero, Kujou Hikari... In other words, Shallow Vernal clearly has a special interest to Kaito...
[And that's probably as it should be. If my guess is correct, she had been seeking the being named Kaito Miyama for nearly 20000 years. The future is always bending, always changing, but it can also be "fixed if several factors are aligned".Perhaps, Shallow Vernal made a lot of movements so that Miyama Kaito will be invited into this world.]
[To make the future of Kaito-san coming to this world definite....?]
[Yes, if you think about it on that premise, each of the actions Shallow Vernal made are all connected. Thinking about this, don't you think the movements she made were strange? Shallow Vernal, who had previously maintained non-interference in both the Demon and Human Realm, went along with Kujou Hikari's words and surprisingly easily agreed to the Treaty of Friendship between the three realms, even though Kujou Hikari should have been someone that she had only heard from the Supreme Gods.]
[!? So that's how it is... The God Realm's, no... Shallow Vernal's agreement to the Treaty of Friendship was...]
[It was because the Treaty of Friendship is needed to bring Kaito Miyama into this world.]
Alice's eyes widened in astonishment at what Eden had told her. I guess that was obvious... Because what she heard was that "everything led to Shallow Vernal"...
The Hero Summoning that brought a major change in this world, and the Treaty of Friendship between the three realms... All of these things happened because Shallow Vernal was seeking for the being named Miyama Kaito.
[This is also just a guess... but with those actions, "the future where Miyama Kaito would come to this world was confirmed". For the last thousand years or so, Shallow Vernal must have been in a better mood than ever. She will even attend the once-in-a-decade Festival of Heroes so often "even if she isn't interested at all"...]
[Please wait... There's something that's bugging me. Something incredibly important...]
[...I said it earlier. When the premise changes, the essence also changes... Please think about it on the premise that the future of Miyama Kaito's arrival in this world was fixed a thousand years ago.]
[S- So that's what you meant!? I- In that case... Kaito would surely be going to be caught up in the Hero Summoning at some point. That the Hero Summoning Magic Circle... "was bound to get out of control one day"... B- But that means... In that case...]
Yes, Alice immediately understood where their conversation led them. The essence of the story, revolving around the being named Miyama Kaito... and the "miscalculation" of the God named Shallow Vernal...
[Yes, the future of Miyama Kaito's arrival in this world was already fixed. All Shallow Vernal had to do was wait. She was in a good mood... but there are some people who intervened in the future that Shallow Vernal wanted... beings that have "turned the clocks forward".]
[...Because Kuro-san can nullify Shallow Vernal-sama's power... She had unintentionally changed the future that Shallow Vernal-sama had her eyes on...]
[Exactly. I guess that's probably the most important part. This series of stories that Shallow Vernal started, is modified by Kuromueina, and finally converges back to Shallow Vernal.]
[...…]
[I wonder how Shallow Vernal felt with this turn of events? I don't know what kind of future it was that she was aiming for and was trying to make. But the only thing I can say is that... This "isn't the future that Shallow Vernal wanted"... That's why she started making great movements.]
Hearing the words Eden nonchalantly said, Alice was just dumbfounded and lost for words.
A story of cogwheels that derailed, a future different than the one she sought... And Epilogue, who had set out to change that...
Shallow Vernal, who can even be called the pinnacle of this world, stands before Kaito with her unfathomable attachment towards him.
What will the match between Shallow Vernal and Kaito be like... What is it that Shallow Vernal is seeking with her actions...
Slowly, the stage began to change its aspect, leading towards its final chapter.