Part 21

Go to the Ann Sakura of this school

Go to the Ann Sakura in your notebook

Ran Ibuki seemed shellshocked and stunned. She looked all around before finally settling on Ann's face.

It was at this point that I suddenly realized, with astonishment, that I could no longer perceive Ran's thoughts anymore. Her internality was nothing but complete stillness.

Ran: I'm fine. I must have been overwhelmed by the memories of how I died the first time. Miss Sakura, are you alright?

Ann: I'm alright, of course. You?

Ran: Mm- y'know, this is a pretty nice place, now that I think about it. Maybe staying in this place isn't such a bad idea after all.

Aya: Uh, Ran, you sound a little... off?

Tama: Maybe you should take a bit more time to recuperate?

Ran shook her head.

Ran: Nah, it's nothing. I was just thinking about how I've actually been having a lot of fun during my time here.

Sai: Well, Ibuki, even though I'm not sure what kind of epiphany you've had exactly, you ought to do whatever you feel like you want to.

Ran nodded, laid back, and closed her eyes again.

At this point, I am less a whole consciousness and more just the lingering will of Ann Sakura's desire to protect Ran Ibuki, anyways.

If Ran has decided that she would rather stay in this place, rather than continue to search for a way to revive me, then I will abide by her decision.

No matter what, I will keep her company and continue to protect her.

Good night, Ran Ibuki.

Sai: Can't believe I've been caught red-handed. Sakura, you sure are devious.

Ann nodded, smiling.

Ann: I knew you wouldn't push back too hard while we were forcing the door open. What if you caught my fingers in the door hinge that way? That'd hurt.

Aya: Hey, excuse me, what, like getting stabbed a bunch isn't supposed to hurt?

Aya got up and lightly punched Sai a few times. She didn't look mad, but she was sweating- she was probably in quite a state of panic just now.

Ran: Ann...

I sat up from the metal-framed bed, the memories in my mind fully clarified, freed of shrouded confusion.

Tears rolled down my face. As I shook my head, I turned my trembling body towards the stand next to the metal-framed bed, where the notebook was resting.

Ann was already dead. I'd been traveling the world for the last four years for the sake of reviving her, in the hopes of finding any sort of anomaly that had anything to do with reviving the dead.

But this attempt had also been a failure. The Ann here wasn't the person I'd loved.

I hugged the notebook to my bosom, my tears falling on its cover with splish-splash sounds, making it seem as though the notebook itself were crying as well.

Ann looked like she didn't quite know how to react to me. Probably because I hadn't immediately pounced on her the way I had all the other times I'd run into her.

Ann: Ran, what's wrong?

As soon as she spoke, my longing for miss Sakura redoubled itself again, and I had to cover my mouth and bite my lips to keep myself from crying out loud.

Ann, on the other hand, clenched her hands tightly together and rested them on her thighs, and pointed the tips of her toes together at each other- all behaviors completely different from the actual Ann's behavior.

Ran: I... I want to say some things to you. Maybe you won't understand, but- I hope you'll listen to me.

Ann nodded, staring at me with nervous focus- another behavior that the real her would never have shown.

Ran: After you killed me, I managed to get most of my memories back. The real Ann is already dead.

Ann seemed rather calm after she heard me say that. She didn't ask me what exactly she meant by that, or who the person sitting in front of me was in that case.

Ran: She always liked to mess with me- toying with me and jerking me around- and she was a little selfish, too, for the sake of doing what she wanted she could disregard the wishes of pretty much everybody who wasn't me, and a lot of the time I couldn't figure out what she was thinking...

Ran: But she truly loved me, and I her.

I bit my lip again- but it was of no use. The tears had already spilled out past my eyelids.

Ran: You're also good to me- more gentle and kind- and also ready to make some sacrifices for my sake like her, too. And you're still alive... perhaps, you, are the 'perfect' Ann Sakura who existed only in my heart.

Ran: But, the Ann I loved, for the sake of protecting me, became one with the notebook, and though I could hear her speaking to me at first, in that state of unbearable suffering immediately after her suicide... I couldn't bear something like that.

Ran: So I ate a large amount of the paper from the notebook, as though doing something like that would help Ann come out from the notebook. At the least it helped stabilize me psychologically.

Ran: But that's all secondary- no matter what the cause, as long as Ann isn't by my side, then I have to go look for her.

Ran: Even if she's already gone.

I did my best to express a determined attitude, speaking these preplanned lines like I'd actually found any sort of resolve, but it couldn't stop the tears.

I'd always been a weak and fragile person, and right there in front of me there was a blood and flesh Ann. She had temperature, could hug me, could stroke my hair, could kiss me, so what did I...

How could I...

Ran: I want to... stay here, so much-

I sank to the floor, raising a hand and gripping tightly to Ann's wrist.

Ran: I miss you so much, I... Ann, I want to be with you. I've suffered so much just to make it as long as I have.

Ran: You are the closest I've seen in the whole last four years, the person who seems most like Ann. You won't suddenly collapse into a puddle of organic sludge, or wear Ann's face just to speak instead with a malevolent and disgusting voice, you can talk and you care about me-

Ran: I want to stay here, and be with you, Ann!

Ran: But, I... I can't... But- Please, I'm begging you, let me give up on you, let me leave and keep searching for a way to revive Ann...

Ran: Even if you have to, turn into a monster right now, or something, I'm begging you, miss Sakura... I can't keep staying here-

Ann: I'm sure that Ann was very happy to have been loved so much by you. If it were possible, I wish I could become the Ann that you carry in your heart for you.

Ann: But I can't do something like that, because I have my own life as well. I do not want to become a replacement product or a paltry imitation of anybody else.

Ann was speaking with a bit of a hitch to her own voice, as well. I pushed her away, gently, and we looked each other in the eyes.

Ann: The first time I saw you, I felt like I couldn't leave you to your own devices, because you needed someone to take care of you so desperately. And you held such strong feelings for me, that I felt like I wanted to respond to you somehow. But I'd never expected that you actually didn't need anyone else to care for you. What you needed was Ann Sakura- but that's not me, and I can't deceive you by disguising myself as Ann for your sake.

Ann: I'm sorry, Ran. I can't fall in love with you.

Ann wiped my tears away, and I did the same as well, wiping away the tears on her face with a finger.

It was almost inconceivable how such a simple motion was able to calm me down entirely, leaving only the single tear that was sliding down Ann's finger to the back of her hand.

Ran: Thank you. This is the optimal response you could have given me, from my perspective. It's enough to let me put down everything here. I hope it won't leave any burdens on yourself, either.

Ann: What will you do after this, Ran?

Ran: I'm going to leave this place. It's possible that my departure may cause some changes in the fundamental nature of this place, but...

This whole environment was clearly a dimension that only existed for my sake. If I were to cease to exist here, the other girls here would also be transformed in some way as well, perhaps- but this wouldn't have any impact on the outside world at all, so no matter what, the things that happened here would be meaningless.

Ran: The suffering that Koizumi-sensei and Makoto went through won't have changed because of anything I did for them here- so what happens after that is also meaningless.

Ann: I don't know what exactly you mean by 'leaving here', but no matter where you're going, you won't forget what happened here, right?

Ann: The things that you said and did for Koizumi out of guilt, the way you helped Makoto change- even if you don't think it has any meaning for them, what about for yourself?

Ran: Me?

It was true that I'd never attempted to make up for Koizumi-sensei, and that I'd never even had an opportunity to get to know Asakura, but my deeds here had given me the opportunity to try out all kinds of alternative possibilities, and let me understand them far more.

Just like in the recalls. Even though all I could do in the recalls was watch, I was indeed experiencing them as well.

Ann, is that the meaning that the power of Recall brings me?

Ran: Maybe you're right. Maybe these events do have some meaning to me. But I will need time to prove that. Perhaps I will be able to see the impact of these experiences on me in time, once I depart from this place.

Even if she wasn't the real Ann, she was still easily able to dissolve my confusion and inspire me. It made me miss the real Ann even more.

Ann: Goodbye, Ran. I hope you can find the real Ann Sakura.

Ran: Thank you, Ann. I'm- I'm very happy- that I could meet you in this place.

I stood at the edge of the swimming pool, looking at the water. There wasn't a single ripple on the whole pool's surface- it was as perfectly still and flat as the surface of a mirror.

Sai: What is it, Ibuki? Asking to meet privately with Sakura, then asking to meet privately with me- do you have something major planned or what?

Ran: Sai.

I wanted to make some light conversation, or maybe crack some jokes to help break the ice, but then I thought there wasn't a point.

If my reasoning was inerrant, then no matter what kind of ridiculous ideas I proposed to her, Sai would always believe me and support me.

Ran: Sai, I've recovered the vast majority of my memories. I understand why I've come here, as well as what's happened to Ann.

Ran: When Ann killed herself in front of me, we were third-year highschoolers. I spent the four years after that trying to find a way to revive her- and during the period of time between my first meeting with Ann and Ann's death, I came into contact with everyone in this school in one way or another,

Ran: Other than you.

Ran: So, I'm pretty sure that, right now, I'm 22, and I met you only after Ann died, which is why there's no trace of you in the memories I've recovered thus far.

Ran: More importantly, in this four-year journey, I'm pretty sure you kept me company; we spent these four years together.

As she listened to me speak, Sai fidgeted with her bracelet. Maybe that was how she showed her nervousness.

Sai: Ibuki, I'll be honest, I don't have a damn clue what the hell you're talking about. All that stuff about being 22 or Sakura already being dead. But it doesn't matter.

Sai smiled at me. Her expression put me at peace.

Sai: Even though saying this is a bit embarrassing, but I don't mind what your plans are. Just tell me what I can help you with, and I'll help.

Sai: Like, how do I put it, I feel like if it's for you then anything is okay. It's weird, since we've clearly only just met not too long ago, but.

Ran: It's the same with me. The first person I saw in the whole school was you, and probably you're also the one I trust the most, too.

Ran: Whenever I found myself unsure, you always tried your best to find a way to help me.

I turned and pointed at the pool, and continued.

Ran: Maybe you don't even like swimming all that much, and you've been spending all your time here to indicate something to me.

Sai: No, that's bullshit. I really do like swimming.

Ran: Yeah? I guess I could see that, if it's you, yeah.

Sai walked to my side, without speaking.

Ran: I've had a blast during my time here, all things considered. But it's probably about time that I take my leave.

Ran: Witnessing a young and adorable Tama discovering her inspiration to write, getting to meet Miho and Aya in their youth and even helping them with a relationship issue, helping Makoto and having another chance to see Koizumi-sensei again...

Ran: And meeting Ann. Even though... Well, no, it's enough...

I felt Sai Yano put a hand of hers on my shoulder, and I placed my hand atop hers as well.

Ran: And last of all there's you. If I've been with you for these last four years, then I must trust you a lot.

Ran: That's the kind of personality I have, isn't it?

Sai nodded, failing to hide a bit of gloominess in her expression.

Ran: I'm looking forward to learning just how we got to know each other.

I patted the back of her hand, bent down, and stared at the water, and, as I remembered all the experiences I'd had with everyone here, reached out and touched the surface of the water.

And, in an instant, the pool turned into the starry sky.

Sai: ...The fuck?

Ran: Thank you, Sai. Goodbye.

Sai: Wait!

Sai grabbed me by my arm and pulled me up and back from the water. She was very strong, and I almost fell over.

Sai: Sorry...

Ran: It's fine. What's up with you?

Sai: I- don't know.

Sai: But you- can't you just, stay here?

Sai: See, I'm here, Ann's here, everyone else is here too, aren't they?

Sai: I can keep cooking things that you enjoy eating, and you can stay here and keep playing detective games, right?

Ran: Sai, don't say something like that...!

I took a step backwards, shrinking away from her, tears beginning to form in my eyes again.

Ran: If I stayed here, time would surely progress as usual. We'd graduate from this school, and go to some city or other, and slowly grow up and eventually grow old.

Ran: And I'd definitely get to be with Ann for all of that time- a future like this would be absolutely wonderful- but it's not one I can choose! It's a future where only I get my happiness!

I bent over and cried until I couldn't breathe anymore.

Ran: The real Ann died for me, and aunt Miho and aunt Aya will need me to take care of them after they get old and can't take themselves anymore, and there's another you waiting on the outside for me to leave this place...

Ran: So- please don't say things like that to me. I really will lose my resolve!

Sai: Alright. I won't say any more, then. You get on out of here, and go on and make your future what you want to make of it.

Sai helped me up, and wiped away my tears. She was a lot rougher than Ann was.

Sai: According to you, there's another me on the outside waiting for you. With her there to take care of you, I'm sure I won't have to worry at all!

I was confident that the stairs weren't always there- but rather that they would appear wherever I stepped.

My footsteps echoed, but besides that, no other sounds could be heard- I couldn't even hear the sounds of my own breathing.

Just how much longer did I have to walk? I wondered about this, but I felt no tedium- because I could see the ever-shifting galaxies before me, and watch bizarre stellar and planetary bodies known and unknown to me revolve.

Here, perhaps, I could see the entire cosmos. If I turned and headed towards one of those distant stars, would I arrive there instead?

Ann Sakura: Ran Ibuki.

The voice of the notebook rose in my ear. She was warning me, reminding me not to forget the conditions required to become the Mother of Humanity.

Ran: (It's okay.)

I concentrated my attention to my feet, and tried to run downwards. Soon, I'd left the stars behind, high up in the sky where they belonged.

Then the sound of the revolving stars rose again; there was something approaching me. But I ignored it, and kept running downwards.

Ann Sakura: Ran Ibuki, would you give control of the body to me?

Ran: (No worries, I'll handle it.)

Something massive appeared at my side, its head taking up nearly my entire field of vision. It had no ocular organs, but it was quite obvious that it was watching me.

[Why do you insist on departing
All of your most important memories]
All those people whom you care for the most]
Are all fully gathered here]

[The intellectual games of which you are so fond
And a life balanced on the edge of danger and excitement]
How can you yet remain dissatisfied]

[Ann Sakura
She too is in this place]

Its voice was emotionless, and its head had no muscles with which it could express emotions- but clearly it was in despair, and its words were that of pleading.

Ran: Thank you for letting me see Ann, and letting me confirm again the strength of my feelings. I have to leave this place, and keep searching for a way to bring Ann back, no matter what.

[I implore you to help me escape the path of the lost
To borrow the aid of the Mother of Humanity and help me return to my homeland]

I looked up at the entity's core, at the spiral galaxy contained therein, and thought that I saw that it had an expression similar to mine. Perhaps it'd always been trying to convey its feelings- just in a different way from what we were used to.

[I can no longer sustain my form
I trapped you in this location]
To attract the attention of the Mother]
Or perhaps you, after you replace her,]
Can lend me what aid you can]

Ran: The Mother won't bother herself with me. She has far too much time, and can afford to keep waiting as long as she needs.

Ran: You shouldn't put your hopes in me. I will not become the next Mother. You should wait for the next Beloved Child.

[What if-
Becoming the Mother]
Would allow the revival of Ann Sakura]

Ran: Well, that's just reversing the means and ends.

Ran: What I need is not just a living Ann Sakura, but an Ann who can be with me.

The sound of revolving stars slowly weakened. The entity continued hovering before me, but it didn't seem to want to speak again.

Soon, spots of starlight began appearing before me again, in the darkness. But, different from before, I felt like my whole body was soaked with water, as though I was under the sea- not interrupting my ability to breath easily, of course.

It seemed as though I would arrive soon.

Ran: Would you tell me your name?

[I have no name that your language can speak
From the mouth of the first human I encountered]
I learned of the true nature of your language]

[He named himself a poet of Thrace
And sang for me]
But did not bestow a name upon me]

Ran: I see. I'll come up with a name for you.

[No matter what
Don't forget me]
If you possess the power]
Then please help me]

Ran: I won't. Thank you for letting me get to meet them.

Suddenly, I couldn't help but cough, as my previously free breathing suddenly became obstructed. I reflexively opened my mouth, but only felt water rushing down my throat, and realized that I was experiencing asphyxiation- no, drowning.

I raised my hands, trying to find the surface of the water, to find a breath, but all of these efforts were met with failure. I struggled, accompanied only by the sounds of roiling bubbles.

No- there was another sound.

???: IBUKI!

???: Don't panic! I've got you!

???: I'm going to pull you out now!

I was dragged by the force on my wrist forwards at a massive speed. I felt the water slice past my face like a jetstream- but the pain on my skin at this moment made me feel as thought I was being newly born.

After that, I seemingly broke through some kind of membrane. Finally, fresh oxygen appeared before me at last, forcing away the fluids that had stuffed up my trachea.

Gasping deep breaths, I looked around, trying to figure out where I was.

Ran: You're-

A clearly-older-by-a-few-years Sai was standing in front of me. She embraced me, with joy and surprise on her face.

Sai: Are you okay?

Ran: Sai...

Ran: So that's how... I remember everything now.

Sai: Eh?

Sai: Oh, so you lose your memories once you go inside, is that how it works. But it was pretty fast, all things considered. Only took you three hours to come out. I was all but ready to pitch a tent to wait for you and everything.

Sai hadn't gotten wet from the rain. It seemed like her bracelet was still working properly. Every time it rained I always worried about whether the bracelet would decide to betray us.

Ran: Sai, can you help me out here a bit? My legs're a bit sore.

Sai: No problem. Here we go.

Sai pulled me free from the Spacetime Egg, and then released her hands, before immediately embracing me at the waist and catching me in her lap.

Sai: So, how was it? You feeling okay?

I shook my head and hugged her neck.

Ran: I met the you from highschool while I was in there.

Sai nodded as she cleaned my hair with one arm.

Sai: Yeah? So about the way I looked when we first met? I was still in highschool back then, while you'd already graduated.

Sai: Not seeing Sakura anywhere. No good on this one either?

I held Sai even closer, struggling not to cry on her.

Ran: I saw... She was really a lot like Ann, you know? But she wasn't Ann...

Sai: Hm. I see.

Sai patted the back of my skull a bit- her way of indicating that I could rest on her shoulder and calm down that way.

She never asked unnecessary questions, and didn't spend a lot of words on reassuring me. That might have seened a bit cold of her, but I knew that she could always understand how I felt.

Sai: And you still managed to make the decision to leave, huh. It must have been hard.

Sai: Forget this for now. Let's go back to the hotel and take a break. Then you can tell me the things you saw.

I nodded, feeling a lot better already, and stood up straight, leaving Sai's grasp.

Ran: Sai, by the way, how's your little sister doing?

Sai was about to go wheel her motorcycle- which she'd parked nearby- over, but when she heard me asking about her little sister, she paused in her tracks.

Sai: Why're you asking now?

Ran: After I entered it, my memories went through the blender, metaphorically. I want to make sure that my understanding of the past is still aligned with your understanding of it.

Sai: Oh, well, you helped cure her, remember? Now she's able to see things other than myself again. Her illness has stopped worsening, and I'm sure one day she'll get better for good.

Ran: Mm, that's good, then.

Sai took a quick step in and leaned an arm on my shoulder.

Sai: What, you worried that I'll stop hanging out with you once my little sister's fully cured?

Ran: As if...

Sai: Relax. I promised I'd repay you for your help, so I'm sticking with you until you get Sakura back, trust me.

Ran: Of course I trust you. I know you'll always look out for me.

The effects of the Thanatonic God of Poetry have disappeared

I've restored all the notes regarding to the Terms tab and to Sai Yano

...i am really sad we're not getting dossiers for ANY of these bizarre anomalies, tbh.

Sai Yano's little sister, one day, suddenly anomalously lost the ability to perceive anything other than Sai Yano. Afterwards, Ran Ibuki was able to help her transform the nature of the anomaly by utilizing the Devourer of the Self, and transplant the anomaly onto Sai herself.

To repay Ran for her help, Sai decided to help her find a way to resurrect Ann Sakura.

The Devourer of the Self

The Devourer of the Self are two black-scaled snake-like organisms, 61.8 millimeters in length, possessing high-level intelligence.

The Self-Devourers possess the ability to transfer concepts or properties from one material object to another material object. The two snakes each represent the origin and endpoint of the transfer, respectively. When the Devourers have decided to use their special ability, their bodily length will change based on the target, allowing them to encircle the targeted origin and endpoint objects in the form of ouroboros rings. In addition, when they initiate a conceptual or property transfer, the concept or property itself will be changed depending on the Devourers' will.

Ran Ibuki placed one of the Devourers each on Sai Yano and her little sister, in order to transfer Sai Yano's sister's anomalous condition onto Sai. The result of this is that Sai has become incapable of, in material terms, perceiving or interacting with her little sister or recognizing her little sister's existence- a condition that will persist until Sai's death.

Mother of Humanity

During the formation of the solar system, after the collision of the planet Theia and the Earth, the Mother of Humanity, an incorporeal consciousness, was born on the earth. Her stimulus-reactivity caused the Earth to produce frequent tectonic motions. Afterwards, due to the actions of the Mother, the planet gradually cooled, and at the end of the primordial period, she caused the seas to become an organic soup that allowed life to be born.

With the continual evolution of lifeforms, the Mother's will evolved as well, until she gained the ability to think when humanity was born, and began directing the course of human history consciously. However, after the industrial revolution, the Mother of Humanity found that keeping humanity away from the supernatural was growing more and more difficult, and that at the same time humanity no longer seemed to require the Mother's protection. The Mother grew tired, and thus began seeking out human candidates who could replace her as the consciousness of the planet.

Beloved Child of the Mother of Humanity

The Mother of Humanity will, by her subjective determination, cause a single human to become her beloved child. The Beloved Child is the only person on earth who can encounter supernatural phenomena without having their memory subsequently removed by the Stilling Rains. At the same time, the Beloved Child will produce an incomparable attraction in anomalies.

When the Beloved Child of the Mother no longer focuses on small individuals, but rather places her attention on the world as a whole, she will become the consciousness of the planet, allowing the Mother of Humanity to detach herself from the Earth. In actuality, even if the Earth didn't possess a planetary consciousness, no abnormalities would result; the Mother is merely bored with humanity, but cannot bring herself to leave humanity to its own devices, causing her to seek out candidates who can continue to protect humanity in her stead.

The Stilling Rains

A liquid lifeform that existed on the planet Theia, capable of storing the consciousnesses of other organisms within their own bodies. After Theia and the Earth collided, these organisms were also brought to the Earth, after which the Mother of Humanity reproduced her own will and imprinted it upon the Rains.

Whenever a human encounters supernatural phenomena, these liquid lifeforms will descend from the sky in the form of rain, after which the organisms will parasitize the humans in question, cause them to faint, and erase their memories of the encounter, in accordance with the will of the Mother.

At the moment, approximately 5% of all humans have been infected with this organism.

Hive Amnesia Syndrome

Hive Amnesia Syndrome is in actuality a nonexistent disease. When humans notice broad amnesia and fainting, they named the phenomenon's unknown cause as a medical syndrome.

Humans who have been parasitized by the Stilling Rains have their memories before and after the rains removed, resulting in humans not being aware that the Rains cause Hive Amnesia Syndrome. Humanity is under the misconception that there is no shared factor between the widespread amnesia events, and that it is a disease that cannot be controlled.

The Syndrome was given its name because all of the sufferers lose memories of the same time period, like several hives which had the exact same cell meticulously removed from their structures simultaneously.

Infrasonic Pudding

Infrasonic Puddings are masses of infrasonic vibrations around 15 hertz in frequency. Externally they appear to be 15-meter-tall 30-meter-wide green masses. Because they appear as solid masses, only direct contact with the pudding has any anomalous effect.

Infrasonic Puddings appear all over the galaxy, and tend to disappear after two hours after manifesting. Furthermore, all Infrasonic Puddings which manifest share the exact same vibrations no matter time or place.

Currently their goals and origins are unclear. However, wherever Infrasonic Puddings appear, Stratum Whales are always invariably found as well.

Sapient Tensionform



Sapient Tensionforms are highly aggressive organisms which can freely change between various forms of matter. However, they cannot control their transformations, and only change under the influences of other consciousnesses.

Physical interference cannot impact Sapient Tensionforms. Only the mind affects them; for example, when Tensionforms are surrounded by highly excited minds, they transform into continually expanding flammable gases, while being surrounded by depressed minds will cause it to transform into a highly dense silver metal. Besides that, the thoughts of nearby higher lifeforms will also influence the exact form they take upon.

However, if nearby minds are strong enough, they can also directly slay the Tensionform in question, or cause it to transform into unique forms of matter, such as supersolids or superconductors, etc.

The Thanatotic God of Poetry

The Thanatotic God of Poetry is a 2100 meter long molluscoid organism, currently located on a coastline in the Azore Islands, with very weak life signs. Twenty thousand years ago, it landed alongside an asteroid in the Aegean Sea, upon which fell into a near-death state,until it was brought to the Azore Islands by tsunamis caused by the eruption of undersea volcanoes.

Countless Space-Time Eggs grow from the underside of the Thanatotic God, and peering into their membranes reveals that their interiors resemble spiral galaxies. The Thanatotic God of Poetry can control space and time within any of its eggs, and Ran Ibuki's experiences were the result of it reproducing people that Ran knew of, from different points in space and time, into the Egg that Ran occupied, in an effort to create an ideal space that Ran would be unwilling to leave, which could eventually be used to help Ran ascend to becoming the new Mother, and thus gaining the power to return the Thanatotic God to its origin and home.

Stratum Whales

Stratum Whales were named such because, while on Earth, they take appearances identical to that of Humpback Whales. However, on other planets, they take completely different forms altogether.

Stratum Whales are capable of living in the 'gaps' between any two 'strata' or 'layers', whether those 'layers' are physically material layers, or merely abstract concepts. In the gaps, they use bubble-hunting methods similar to that used by Humpback Whales to capture and consume materials or concepts floating in their 'gap', quickly expelling them after a quick digestion process that has little impact on the 'layers'.

Ran once attempted to track down the most recent appearance of an Infrasonic Pudding on Earth, planning to use it to help track down a nearby Stratum Whale. Her plan was to use the Stratum Whale to enter the gap between 'life' and 'death', to try to find Ann Sakura there.

Ran: Of course I trust you. I know you'll always look out for me.

Sai shied back away from me, as though she'd seen something disgusting, and shrunk her shoulders in.

Sai: Ibuki, your heartfelt confession is making my skin crawl, you know that?

Ran: As if I'd make a heartfelt confession to you. Just- go get your bike already!

Sai laughed as she jogged to get her motorcycle. I, on the other hand, opened my notebook, and turned it to the tab where I kept useful leads that might be related to a way to revive the dead.

Ran: Let's scratch the Thanatotic God off, then.

As soon as I said that, a line drew itself across the 'Thanatotic God of Poetry' entry on its own. It was fine. There were still plenty of leads to follow up on, plenty of hope left.

Just then, Sai pulled her motorbike up next to me.

Sai: Ibuki, where're you off to, next?

I closed the notebook. A few different locations appeared in my mind, but I didn't have to think long before rejecting all of them.

Ran: Let's go back to Japan, first. I want to visit aunt Miho and aunt Aya, and Koizumi-sensei.

Sai nodded, and, after putting her helmet back on, turned the motorcycle back the direction we'd came.

I looked down, watching the wheels kick up dirt, and thought about the way that miss Sakura and I had brushed off the mud on our shoes before entering the gymnasium, just a few days ago.

Ran: (Miss Sakura...)

Leaning on Sai's shoulders, I hopped on the backseat of the motorcycle and hugged her waist tight.

The heat of the motorcycle engine, and the warmth emanating from Sai's back, filled me with courage.

I turned my head and looked back, at its giant mass, which stretched the length of the coast. Compared to its size, the storms were nothing but a thin veil.

The tears and rainwater forced me to narrow my eyes against them, but I still wanted to get a good look of it, before I departed, and so I pulled up my shoulder, wiping my face on the water-resistant fabric to clear my vision.

Ran: (Goodbye, Tama, Asakura, Ann...)

Ran: Miss Sakura! Good news! Good news!