Vol. 0 Chapter 0.1 - Prologue 1: Video Diary 40010101

Prologue 1: Video Diary 40010101

 

Happy New Year.

 

January 1, 4001 AD. The weather is clear.

 

I’m sure the first sunrise was wonderful and appropriate for the new century. I didn’t see it, though, because I was asleep.

 

Uh, so what’s this video all of a sudden?

 

If I’m being honest, I’d say it’s just a way to kill time….. but, you know, I thought the records wouldn’t go to waste.

 

So, yeah, I’d say…… you should decide what you want to talk about …… before you shoot.

 

OK, ahem.

 

Uh, let’s introduce ourselves first.

 

My name is Kibitsu Cho.

 

The kanji for “prepare” and ” Tsu” for “tsunami” are written in “Kibitsu”.

 

The name is a trillion butterflies… the one after the billion. It’s called a toki.

 

Occupation would be a guy called… NEET? Well, I’m unemployed.

 

And, um, I’m not human.

 

If I were to tell this to someone from my time, they would probably say, “Are you crazy?” But it’s true.

 

December 16, 2030, I’ve already died once.

 

It sounds like one of those otherworldly stories that were popular when I was alive, but unfortunately, this is Earth.

 

The cause of death was overwork. I worked for a so-called black company, and… is really like an otherworldly story.

 

When I died, a medical institution took some of my cells as a sample and I was cremated, and Kibitsu Cho’s life was complete.

 

Then what am I?…Simply put, I would be an android.

 

I was born on December 16, 2148.

 

I don’t know how ironic it is that the day I died and the day I was born are the same day.

 

Of course, androids do not have an ego. My cells were originally cultivated to make androids more human-like, using the cells for the skin, but inside they were just machines.

 

A doll that has no will of its own, but moves as it is told or ordered…

 

It all changed that day.

 

January 01, 2150… The events that happened that day changed the world…

 

The conflict began with a terrorist attack in South America at that time.

 

The U.S. intervened in the conflict by putting the ANTIS, a terrorist organization that uses the silhouette of a dragon as its flag symbol, on the international wanted list.

 

Isn’t the dragon on the flag a bit too geeky?

 

The dispute seemed to have been settled when the American military shot down the helicopter carrying the ringleader.

 

However, You  couldn’t simply say, “The ringleader is dead, congratulations”.

 

I am sure that no one could have foreseen the consequences.

 

The terrorist organization dared to retaliate against the United States. They bombed a city.

 

I don’t know what they did or how they managed to get past the tight security.

 

Strictly speaking, the rumor was that it was retaliation, which is correct, and we don’t even know if it was ANTIS’ fault.

 

Whatever it was, it was a bad place for an explosion. It was… Area 51. I don’t know if the people of today can understand that.

 

The video records from that time still exist.

 

“Oh, really? Can you wipe it out around here?… Oh, great, thanks.”

 

Now that I look at it again, the image is rough….. I mean, who took this picture? Well, whatever.

 

The video is over. It’s like this. Fire bursts from the ground, you know. It’s amazing.

 

And at the end of the video, you can see the black mist coming from the explosion, right?

 

The result of this was, well, outrageous.

 

The black fog covered the world in the blink of an eye, and what should I say… pandemic… is different.

 

Anyway, anyone who inhales this fog will mutate and become violent.

 

And the violent victims, with their unnaturally swollen muscle fibers and enormous size, developed claws and fangs, and attacked nearby beings one after another.

 

From domesticated dogs, cats and farm animals to zoo creatures and of course… humans.

 

The mutated form was a genuine monster.

 

When the U.S. was on the verge of a crisis, some citizens of Japan, who were still a stranger to the world, jokingly wrote on this image, “The end of America” or “America will be destroyed by the dragon”.

 

I bet those guys who wrote the comment a few days later didn’t think they would become monsters.

 

We never figured out what it was. There was no time to figure it out.

 

What I do know is that the living beings who were pure enough to retain their reason have disappeared from this world, and that androids like me, whose cells were used as an outer shell, were suddenly awakened to their prenatal selves by that black fog.

 

And, well, just for the record, Kibitsu Cho was not an honorable man.

 

It’s not like I excelled at something or had a successful business or anything.

 

Well, I was the kind of person that could be found anywhere in the world, living aimlessly, leaving my life in the hands of others, to the point of dying of overwork at a black company.

 

It was my body that was special.

 

I guess I was lucky… My cells were used in a specially made android ordered by a rich man.

 

You know how it is in fiction, right? An all-purpose android that can do everything from fighting to housework.

 

It’s just that the company that created me, Riverine Heavy Industries, wanted to show off its technological prowess and aimed for a sci-fi iron fist, and my cells just happened to be used in the aircraft that made it.

 

Skeletons, artificial muscles, and even various sensors are specially made. And for some reason, it has a reproductive function.

 

The concept is to “do everything that others can do, and accomplish what others cannot do”.

 

That’s why I survived.

 

While the other androids were being crushed to pieces, I used my power, speed, toughness, and battle programs that no human, or even biological, being could have.

 

The quarry was originally a private machine, so the only thing written down was the security program, or suppression warfare, but before I got here, I lost it at an SDF facility.

 

So, this facility is called “The Shelter Onido”.

 

In case you’re wondering, Onido is the name of the contractor. I’ll let you forget about this one.

 

Anyway, it’s been about 1850 years since I found this place…

 

In the meantime, I’m holed up.

 

Oh, yes, I’m talking about what this facility is.

 

At around 2130, Japan had suffered quite a bit of damage due to the collapsing ecological balance.

 

Floods, tornadoes… and earthquake damage, though unrelated to the ecological balance.

 

There was a rich man who developed and built a shelter underneath a small mountain in the northern Kanto region that could be inhabited on a permanent basis. The list of people on the reservation list included government officials and CEOs of large corporations.

 

In other words, those guys.

 

After 15 years of construction, the owners and users had lost their minds and become monsters, and the place had lost its significance, so, well, I’m sorry to say this, but …. well, I took it over.

 

You know. It’s called self-defense. I don’t know if androids are allowed to do that.

 

Anyway, thanks to this, I have no shortage of food and am now enjoying my life alone.

 

What do androids do for a living? It’s necessary to maintain the ecological system.

 

If we can’t live without food, then let’s make it so that our operating energy can be taken from food as well as living things, and my generation’s model will eat rice.

 

My body is powered by artificial Mitochondria, which are converted into energy.

 

The facility has several androids sleeping around as caretakers for the rich people.

 

The maintenance facility is running well, so there’s no shortage of things for me to live on.

 

By the way, I have no plans to wake up the sleeping androids.

 

I guess it’s because I’ve always had a distrust of people, thanks to being killed by a black company. Socializing was just too much trouble for me. Organizations always get into trouble.

 

Instead, thanks to them, I don’t find loneliness unbearable.

 

Sometimes I get lonely…

 

Yeah, I’m fine with being alone.

 

Ah, it’s getting kind of damp.

 

There’s no point in going on too long, so yeah, that’s it for today.

 

I’ll see you tomorrow.