Long Live Quantum Mechanics / Tomoe

Shuya felt a wave of despair when he thought about the effort it would take.

He understood why Nagato, had gone berserk; the constant pressure was truly immense.

However, as the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining, and things took a turn for the better.

Shuya received a message from Azusagawa Sakuta, who contacted him via Rio's Line:

"Um... Inoue, maybe it's strange of me to ask this, but how many times has this happened today?"

Shuya: "..."

Good heavens, the clue was right next to me!

He had completely forgotten about Azusagawa's existence.

Shuya quickly replied, "Stay where you are, I'm coming right away!"

He flew at top speed to Fujisawa, found the high school Mai -chan attended, and with a sweep of his Power of Will, instantly spotted Azusagawa on the rooftop.

Shuya landed beside him and immediately asked, "Do you know anything?"

"Whoa?!"

Azusagawa was taken aback. "So fast? It's only been a few minutes?"

"You are the reason?"

Shuya didn't answer his pointless question; instead, he asked his own.

"No, at least I don't think I've done anything wrong... Now it's my turn to ask you, are you the demon of Laplace?"

What the hell?

Shuya was momentarily stunned. Was this some kind of chuunibyou-esque thought?

That's really hilarious.

His gaze as he looked at Azusagawa was scrutinizing, as if he were getting to know him all over again.

But I really like this type of story, and I even want to write a new book of the same kind. I've already thought of the beginning and am currently filling in the settings.

But when it comes to actually writing, I get lazy...

Section 678, Chapter 631: Long Live Quantum Mechanics

"Don't look at me like that. I heard it from Futaba."

Azusagawa didn't want to be seen as sick.

"Oh, that's quite cute."

Shuya's disdainful look vanished instantly... Just kidding, chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) girls are treasures, completely different species from chuunibyou boys.

Rikka and Ranko are so cute!

"So, what do you mean by 'demon'?"

"I can't explain it clearly either, you should ask Futaba."

Azusagawa subtly provided assistance to his friend, and then he brought Shuya to the physics lab.

"Futaba, are you there?"

It's you again.

Rio Futaba looked at him and sighed.

"It's me again, and I brought guests with me."

Azusagawa stepped aside with a strange smile, revealing Shuya behind him.

"Ugh."

Rio's brain short-circuited, and then she glared fiercely at Azusagawa.

Azusagawa wasn't afraid at all; instead, she grinned mischievously and said, "Ah... oh no, I'm a little thirsty. Let's go buy something to drink."

He took a few steps away, then turned back to Shuya and said, "You two can continue your conversation."

Shuya nodded at him.

He didn't say anything on the surface, but he already knew in his heart that Rio Futaba liked him.

... But this wasn't surprising to him; he had plenty of fans, and since they didn't make it clear, he didn't need to respond.

Shuya entered the lab and gave Rio a friendly smile, "I heard from Azusagawa that you have some unique insights into this case of Puberty Syndrome?"

Come on, quantum mechanics.

"Oh... so it's the same thing as what happened to Azusagawa."

Rio was silent for a moment, then said nothing more, "I told him it's best not to be fixated on the idea of time loops, because going back to the past is difficult in every way."

"What you mean by experiencing the same day several times might be a glimpse into the future from a much earlier time."

"I've considered the possibility of precognitive dreams, but I've ruled it out today."

Shuya didn't comment on her words, but simply stated his own conclusion.

"Because Inoue- kun felt it was impossible to have the same dream twice?"

"That's right, but that's just my judgment from a supernatural perspective. I don't know about Puberty Syndrome."

Shuya give definitive answers; if he didn't know something, he would honestly say he didn't know.

Pretending to know what you don't is pointless.

"I don't know much about the supernatural either. Let me go back to what I was talking about with Azusagawa earlier... that was before quantum mechanics came into being, back to classical physics."

Then Rio Futaba explained what Laplace's demon was.

"All matter existing in the world is completely equal under the rule of the same physical law. By converting this law into a formula, one can predict the future."

"Specifically, if we knew the positions and momentum of all the atoms in the world, we could predict the future simply by applying formulas from classical physics."

"But physicists in the past could not do this. Even if they could grasp the position and momentum of all atoms, it would take a lot of time to calculate using formulas. Calculating the future more than one second in advance would take more than one second, so it was still impossible to predict the future successfully."

Physicist Laplace proposed a hypothetical entity capable of doing this.

That is what is known as Laplace's demon.

"This demon can instantly grasp the position and momentum of every atom in the world, and use these numbers to calculate the future in an instant."

"That is to say, Laplace's demons can see into the future."

"According to this theory, everything in the future is fixed. But the advent of quantum mechanics has destroyed Laplace's demons."

"In the world of quantum mechanics, the position of a particle exists in the form of probability. To observe it, you need to shine light on it. However, particles are very small, and if you shine the same amount of light on them, their speed and direction will change."

As long as the particle's position is investigated, its velocity will change. To determine the correct momentum, including velocity, position becomes a probabilistic variable, which cannot be simultaneously determined.

"Therefore, Laplace's demon was destroyed, proving that the future is not predetermined... However, quantum mechanics is merely a human perspective, and Laplace's demon is an existence beyond humanity, so perhaps it could simultaneously and correctly measure position and momentum..."

That's about all I told Azusagawa.

Shuya: "..."

What is she saying?

Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?

It took him some time to understand what Rio was saying.

"... I really hadn't thought of looking at the event from this perspective. You're right."

Shuya expressed his understanding of what she said.

He believed her explanation.

However, it wasn't because her words were particularly convincing, but because he realized that she was definitely a crucial figure in the Frozen Eel series.

Her explanations, in other words, are the words the author speaks to the reader through the character... She is the character who embodies the so-called "illustrating story theory."

Furthermore, judging from her appearance, Rio Futaba is an important supporting character even if she isn't the main character, which makes her words carry more weight.

Through this Shuya gradually came to understand everything.

No matter how far-fetched her words were, Shuya would believe her—because arguing with the author about the setting was an extremely foolish thing to do.

In conclusion, long live quantum mechanics.

Shuya said, "Unfortunately, your theory is not helpful in the current situation."

Whether it's helpful or not is up to you or Azusagawa to decide.

Rio looked at Shuya.

She meant that she believed Shuya or Azusagawa was "Laplace's demon."

"This Puberty Syndrome has nothing to do with me."

Shuya shrugged, then asked, "Do you have any ideas about finding that demon?"

"It's too difficult, I'm sorry."

Rio couldn't do anything about it either.

"It's nothing... I think I have an idea."

Seeing that she had nothing more to say, Shuya stood up and prepared to leave.

He smiled and said, "Thank you for your help this time. I'll treat you to a meal next time to thank you... although you probably won't have your memories then."

"..."

Rio didn't answer, silently lowering her head to drink her coffee.

She didn't look up until Shuya walked out of the lab.

After Shuya came out, he used his Power of Will to find Azusagawa and walked towards him.

By confirming Rio's identity as the female lead (or supporting character), he can conclude that Azusagawa is also not simple.

Whether it's living apart from his parents, living with his younger sister who suffers from Puberty Syndrome, or befriending a reclusive, beautiful girl in white, all of these things reveal his unique identity.

He's probably the protagonist of some kind of anime or manga, like Kyousuke.

Although Shuya didn't have the memory of those stories, it wasn't difficult to deduce them; he saw the protagonist template in Azusagawa.

Such people are usually plagued by troubles; looking for the reasons in their surroundings can be a good starting point.

Of course, this method is not a panacea.

This is clearly a world where frozen eels coexist, Puberty Syndrome can occur in other frozen eel characters.

For example, Motoko and Kirino.

However, investigating Azusagawa and this high school is the best solution he can think of at the moment.

Section 679, Page 632 (Tomoe)

Shuya quickly found Azusagawa.

He was drinking a beverage in the hallway, looking quite relaxed.

"Azusagawa."

Shuya called out to him, and he turned around. "Finished talking?"

"That's right."

"But it's no use you coming to me; I don't know what to do either."

Azusagawa shrugged, looking quite helpless.

Shuya didn't reveal his true thoughts, but said, "Let's search your school together; maybe there are clues around there."