[Grysar] (Encrypted email) From: Haruko Kinsha To: Kyon Sorata, Katie Andrews, Satoshi Watanabe, Taki Shimiru Cc: Kaede Takeuchi, Wataru Yamada Date: Evening of May 3rd (1 hour or so after her prior group email) Subject: Reversed World's foundation is all of us, and that foundation has cracks Yesterday Wataru, Kaede, and I visited the Ozoras to talk about possible approaches to better understand Reiji's predicament. It looks like our initial approach is not going to work and we learned some things about other possible options, but want to take a little time to think those through. We'll be sure to talk to the group before taking any actions with broader implications or potential dangers. But for the moment, I'm being circumspect because I want to respect our role as a team of advisors for Kyoko, and her role in working through what's in the best interest of her family. Nonetheless, some of what we learned goes way beyond Reiji-san and is relevant to the whole group. For context, after Reiji-san heard our initial plan, he fairly abruptly sent us into Reversed World to learn more from "him" (Connery-san, thankfully). This isn't the first time Reiji has done this and it appears that Connery-san may have been Reiji-san's source for his quest years ago to retrieve the Pentacle. The power of that artifact had apparently been to find any Arcana and it had been close to falling into the wrong hands. Those were the stakes that drove Reiji to do what he did. On our journey there we encountered literal fissures in the reality of Reversed World. Running along one of the subway line, the road and nearby buildings were bent into themselves, creating a precipice that divided the road. We jumped from asphalt island to asphalt island to finish our journey to Tokyo Tower. [Haruko gives a bit of detail on the subway line and the relevant intersections for reference.] When we reached the Tower Reversed and Connery-san, we learned why. The stability of the World Reversed comes from all of us, the Arcana (both upright and reversed). When an Arcana dies, some of that stability is lost. Were the reincarnation cycle still in place, apparently the fact that someone would eventually be reincarnated would be enough. However, and I wrote down what Connery-san said because it seemed particularly important: "Artifacts were more than just symbols and tools. They were destroyed in the fight with the oni for a reason, and with them went the cycle." Connery-san did not describe this as a risk to the real world, or even to the Arcana ourselves, except in that it makes it hard to navigate the World Reversed. The destabilization has been happening since the final battle. Winston didn't seem to think that there's necessarily been any more deaths recently so much as the consequences of those lost before. Whether or not Connery-san is sharing this information, and possibly even more, with others, the state of Reversed World is likely to be revealed sooner or later. I suspect that this may come up in Council elections and other matters as the end of the of cycle is made front and center and physically manifest. Aside from perhaps putting up a warning side in the Tower Reversed, I don't think the slow demise of Reversed World is even necessarily a problem. We didn't ask Connery-san about Satoshi's tower, for obvious reasons, but I suspect something like this is the risk of what would happen if a tower is left untethered. But given the magnitude of the greater Tokyo area, I would see no reason that Satoshi alone couldn't support a single building. Haruko ============ (Encrypted email) From: Haruko Kinsha To: Kyon Sorata, Katie Andrews Subject: Campaign Update Date: Evening of May 3rd (5 minutes after her reversed world email) My initial results are decidedly underwhelming. Satoshi, Taki, and Winston-san are all willing to vote *if* the outcome depends on their vote. Winston-sempai "would prefer to stay out of politics," and I had to make a plea to democratic values him to agree to even that. So no endorsements coming from him, but at very least he's not going to support someone else. Hibiki now knows he's an Arcana. We are also on the outs and he called me a "water witch" and is literally afraid of me. In fairness, he's not necessarily wrong on either front. We're on the outs at the moment, though he did at least call me to let me know that he safely got home, if only because he (rightly) feared my wrath if he did not. So I think we can safely put him in the "not registering" column. Conversations with Matthias, Sumire, Hirokazu, and Ryuji-san are still being scheduled. I may be worse at this than I hoped. Though on the upside, being single frees up some campaigning time. Haruko ========== (Encrypted email) From: Haruko Kinsha To: Kaede Takeuchi Subject: Reversed World Logistics Date: Late evening of May 3rd I'm sorry to intrude, but I have an idea and an eventual favor request that I hope will not be a waste of your time. Sometime back, I'd mentioned that I've had a weird relationship with bicycles, I just don't click with them the way I do with automotive vehicles. I've come to think that the reason might be that I'm too dependent on the power of others, a device that "merely" magnifies my own power felt solitary. Also, less dramatically, there are some hills between my parent's house and Sakuragaokoa and mechanicing/dancing and biking sometimes tax different muscles. After hulling my motorcycle through Reversed World, and acknowledging the number of us that wouldn't have been comfortable with even two on the bike, I think it may be time to "get over myself" as Kyoko would put it. I've seen some people with bikes that could fold and be carried by hand around town. If the time comes that we need to navigate Reversed World more in the future, that may be the best transportation option. I'd need to save up some before even considering making such an investment, but I wanted to share the idea with you now, so that when I'm in position to seek your advice it won't come out of the blue. H