"I merely bought up the shortest route to the Salt Cavern you're all after. Nothing suspicious about it. I'll guide you there myself."

  "Liar." Terumi struck him sideways.

  "That section wasn't showing up on Starlight — it's a restricted zone, isn't it? Something's being hidden here."

  "Please, just a moment!"

  "Clamo, I'm not blaming you. We won't breathe a word of this to anyone outside. And if your plan has gone a little off course — well, it's about time you came clean with yourself."

  "...Alright. Yes. I imagine you've all sensed it by now. This is the future. July, 2126. And this land — after a century of people vanishing without a trace — came to be known as the Cursed Forest. We were dispatched here to purify it. Our team of ten..."

  "We brought ten people — scientists tasked with measuring radiation and checking for water contamination, all under the banner of a web series operating outside local regulatory oversight. Just as Phoebe and the others converted that magnetically unstable land to build their laboratory. And yet — we found nothing abnormal. Doesn't that strike you as strange?"

  "Strange enough. Children go missing every year. Thirty sheep disappeared. And there are rumors of UFOs."

  "I was one of those children."

  "You're serious — so was I!" Ten's expression shifted in an instant, as though a door to buried memory had swung open.

  "Amethyst! That's a relief. Without corroboration, my testimony means nothing."

  "Likewise. So it wasn't a dream. I seem to remember two other children around my age — we were being taught about triangles by some unknown, gentle creatures. A girl I exchange letters with wrote that the moment she returned to her parents, she found she could suddenly heal. Strange, isn't it?"

  "No doubt about it. We were taken by the same ship. They were surprisingly kind, weren't they — those slippery beings who came from beyond Earth. Quite different from you, Laili."

  "Slippery...? Perhaps the Pleiadian scouting party. How intriguing." Laili blinked, reaching for something just out of memory's grasp.

  Phoebe drew a figure in the dirt. "There was an old comic called Moomin — do they remind you of the Hattifatteners?"

  Ten's eyes glistened, and she answered quickly. "Yes! Exactly! There were so many of them — like Hattifatteners straight out of a picture book. They were adorable. Clamo, don't you remember?"

  "I remember perfectly. They were slippery even on land. And there was a small dolphin in a tank, and something like an octopus as well."

  "Takoyaki?" Letty drew an octopus beside the Hattifatteners.

  "My, you know your stuff, Letty. You like takoyaki(ball-shaped snacks made from a wheat flour filled with octopus)?"

  "I love it!"

  "In the ancient past, they transplanted mollusks — creatures with many arms — onto Earth. Enough so that scientists have noticed their genetic sequences don't quite align with the theory of evolution. More undiscovered species will surface in time." Laili's hypothesis left the group momentarily speechless.

  "Let's hope they turn up here on Earth too." No one had imagined Ten could be this bright. Her reason for joining them suddenly made perfect sense.

  "The triangles they taught us — I believe there were three, side by side in a row. They told us we must never forget them. Even now, I can't say I truly understand..."

  "Then let's work it out." Laili seemed to already know.

  "Could the way a triangle is drawn hold some kind of meaning? I was still a child then — I can't recall it clearly enough." Ten looked deep into Laili's eyes.

  "Most likely, they possessed the power to erase your memories entirely — and chose not to. First, then: what is a triangle? It points to the structure of this world. Before the universe was born, before this world was made, there existed one point — and at the opposite end, another. Connect them, and you have a single line. But that alone cannot raise the dimension by even one degree. If all you do is hold your own feelings up against the image of someone before you, you are simply looking into a mirror."

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "See how serious someone else is, and you start to see your own laziness — and a different kind of seriousness too. Or the other way around: you can find each other's failings in each other." Terumi muttered under his breath.

  "You're onto something. Heh."

  "Once you perceive both yourself and the other — once that recognition gives rise to understanding — a view opens up that diverges from parallel lines. What the apex represents. What does it coincide with? The birth of a plane: a triangle formed by connecting point and line. Only then does something finally emerge as a solid object in three dimensions. Do you see now? Points, straight lines, curved lines — none of them, in truth, exist in this world. People tend to forget. Every thin line visible to the naked eye is, in reality, a thin plane."

  "Now that you say it — you're right." Terumi felt as though something had leapt at him and seized him by the face.

  "The horizon, too, is nothing more than a construct of human perception — the line itself does not exist. Only when three or more points are present does a plane emerge that can be perceived in three dimensions. It runs deep." Ten drew three neat equilateral triangles side by side on the ground, trying to sharpen the edges of her memory.

  "Could the pyramids being triangular have something to do with this?" Clamo asked.

  "That is something the near future will reveal. In fact, a certain number of people already know. It will come to light in time. Only by gathering all the wisdom of every soul on this Earth together can you reach a higher dimension. That is why I cannot intervene beyond what I already have. Please — pursue it until you are satisfied, and gather more people to your cause."

  "Right. And first — we came here to find resources. To search for the five stones that constitute life itself."

  As midday drew near, Terumi was already firing off questions.

  "Looking down at the sea from this cliff, I feel like I'm aboard an ocean liner — but this isn't the same sea that flows into the Salt Cavern, is it?"

  "A very good question. After nearly a century, it's entirely different. The sea dried up, so what you see is no more than an artificial recreation."

  "That business with the 2000-degree world?"

  "W-well, actually..." Clamo hesitated.

  "...Yes. But everyone is safe — please don't worry. The years haven't quite caught up with any of us — you might struggle to tell yourselves apart."

  "Do our future selves live somewhere different from you?"

  Ten was the first to press further.

  "I visit once a week — they live nearby. But they foresaw your arrival and have each stayed to their posts, so you're unlikely to cross paths. I was told in no uncertain terms: you must not meet. There are rumors that if you did — you would cease to exist."

  "What a shame! I'd have loved to meet them."

  "Let's find the stones first! Details later!"

  "Agreed."

  "Ten — do you remember? A hundred years ago, the sketch you made of the area around the Salt Cavern, peering down from the roof of the laboratory storehouse."

  "Clamo, you kept it all this time?! I can't believe it — I panicked before we left yesterday, realizing I'd left it behind. To think it survived into the future without anyone throwing it away..."

  "The artificial sea before you — and the Salt Cavern — lie buried directly beneath where we stand."

  "What do you mean?!"

  "When the comet made its closest approach, the surface temperature rose to nearly 2000 degrees and the sea evaporated, so the entire coastline was sealed and preserved. When a signal comes for a UFO landing, the ceiling opens and the real sky becomes visible. That's how the system works."

  "So how do we get down there?"

  "Simple. Lift the rug in the living room."

  "Here?"

  They pulled back a thick rug embroidered with a deep crimson, ox-like creature — apparently of considerable significance — and beneath it lay a perfectly square hatch leading underground.

  "This isn't a sewer, is it?"

  "Please don't joke about that!"