Consciousness and Body

After Touko's rejuvenation, her physical age was determined to be around eight years old by Alice's Magecraft.

Although Touko's experience and knowledge still remained at the level of an adult Magus, her body had shrunk to that of a child. Consequently, her hormone secretion and the information received through her nervous system were vastly different.

Aoko still remembered the personality of that brat who tried to prank her with Magecraft when she was little.

However, because an adult's consciousness was placed into a child's body, if one were to compare the current Touko with the Touko of the past, they were different existences.

In the Type-Moon Universe, individual humans possess souls, but human souls are absolutely not the sole factor determining a person's consciousness and personality.

A rather interesting example is the existence of what are known as Servants in this world. During the Holy Grail War, what the various Masters summon are not actually the Heroic Spirits' true forms located in the Boundary Record Belt, but rather a certain facet of that Heroic Spirit's true form.

Different facets of the same Servant could very well be him at different times and ages, naturally leading to many differences in personality. So, are the reasons for these personality differences truly just the differences in life experiences?

Aoko believed it was not, because according to the discussion in a paper she read in her past life (Self-consciousness and cardiac activity, Babo-Rebelo, M., Richter, C. G., & Tallon-Baudry, C. (2016)), the decisions made by a person's consciousness are closely related to the state of their heart's activity.

If the state of a single heart's activity could cause subtle differences in a human's consciousness, personality, and decision-making, then if the age of the entire body changed, could their original personality remain intact?

The answer, of course, is no. One only needs to look at the Touko before them to understand.

Aoko was certain that Touko would never have sulked and refused to speak to them after Alice dressed her in the Western-style dress she wore as a child in England. (Of course, this might be because Aoko didn't know where she got a camera and took a barrage of photos of Touko in the frilly dress, but that's not the point.)

Touko's Magic Circuits and Magecraft cultivation were still intact, but because her current body was too young, she couldn't exert the combat power of her original adult form at all.

Aoko had also forced Touko to sign a self-binding contract, stipulating that Touko was not allowed to activate the adult clone she had already prepared, not allowed to commit suicide, and not allowed to harm Alice or Aoko in any way, or by entrusting anyone else.

Of course, Aoko wasn't so cruel as to prevent Touko from creating and transferring her consciousness to a clone body of the same age. This maintained a certain degree of pseudo-immortality for Touko, akin to a monkey version of an egg person.

It was already very late after Aoko had beaten up Touko. After tying Touko up and explaining everything, the time had now come to around two in the morning.

Now, as an eight-year-old child, Touko couldn't resist the overwhelming sleepiness. After a brief argument with Aoko and Alice, she couldn't hold on any longer. She plopped onto the sofa with a thud and immediately fell fast asleep.

"Children sleep so soundly!" Aoko exclaimed with a grin. Alice, watching her antics, couldn't help but chuckle.

"You can… put Touko in the room at the very back of the second floor," Alice said after a moment's hesitation. "It's quite suitable for her right now."

"?" Aoko looked puzzled. "Is there something special about that room?"

"That was the room I lived in when I was little," Alice replied. "It's a bit small for me now, but it'll be just right for Touko."

After speaking, Alice cast a meaningful glance at the young Touko.

"That's great," Aoko said, picking up the sleeping Touko from the sofa and walking towards the stairs to the second floor. "Wait a moment, I'll take her to her room and come back."

Aoko carried Touko up to the second floor and arrived at the bedroom at the very back.

After opening the door, she finally understood why Alice had specifically recommended this room for Touko.

Because this room was too cute!

All the wooden furniture in the room had rounded edges and corners to prevent children from getting hurt. The bed was the bunk bed type that children liked, with a desk on the lower level and the bed on the upper. Various corners of the room were filled with plush toys, and there was even a large teddy bear on the bed!

The wardrobe was also a custom-made, short model designed for children's height, making it easy for them to reach. It was evident how much effort Alice's father had put into bringing her back to Japan, with these details filled with deep affection.

Just thinking about how Touko would look waking up in this room tomorrow morning made Aoko struggle to contain her laughter.

The corners of her mouth were contorted into a lying S-shape from trying so hard to hold back her laughter. She quickly used a 0-ring Magic trick to help Touko wash up, then changed her into Alice's childhood pajamas, placed Touko on the bed, and pulled the covers up.

Before leaving the room, Aoko secretly placed a magical sentry for recording purposes. She was determined to record the footage of Touko waking up tomorrow morning, so even if Touko grew up again, she could use it to threaten her…

After completing all of this, Aoko quietly closed the door and returned to the living room on the first floor.

This time, Aoko could no longer hold back her laughter and burst into hearty laughter. The Kuonji Residence had good soundproofing anyway, so Touko upstairs wouldn't hear a thing.

"Hahahahaha~" Aoko laughed with great delight. "Alice, you're too wicked! Such a cute room, our Touko-chan will be overwhelmed by its cuteness~"

Unprecedentedly, Alice also covered her mouth and laughed along with Aoko. It was likely that only one person in the Kuonji Residence would be unhappy when they woke up tomorrow morning.

"Alright, Alice, you should go to bed now," Aoko said, standing up after her laughter subsided and heading towards the kitchen.

"What about you?" Alice asked. "Why aren't you going to sleep yet, Aoko?"

"I'm going to prepare breakfast for you and Touko," Aoko replied. "I definitely need to sleep for eight hours. What if you two get hungry later?"

"…I can wait until you wake up and eat together," Alice said softly.

"Thanks, but missing breakfast isn't healthy, you know?" Aoko said. "I'll be done soon, so you go to sleep first."

Although Alice didn't argue further, she stubbornly followed Aoko into the kitchen, watching her skillfully prepare tomorrow's breakfast.