Chapter 3 Chapter 1 Discord

After opening his eyes, Tsuruga Takashi felt a kind of disharmony. It seems that something is different from usual, but the root cause cannot be ascertained.The blanket on the double bed was still the same mess as before, the angle of sunlight coming in from the gap in the curtains was the same as yesterday, and the robe on the chair kept the same shape as when he took it off yesterday.If there is any difference from yesterday, is it the smell from the kitchen?The sense of smell told Chongshi that what he ate today was pancakes.But that sense of incongruity definitely didn't come from the smell.

He got up from the bed and began to change his clothes sleepily.Put on pants, a white shirt, and a tie.He only has four ties, and one of them was given by a relative in his hometown to congratulate him on his inauguration. It was a style he didn't like very much.But only three can't be replaced, so this tie can only participate in the rotation.It happened to be the turn to wear this tie today, and when he looked in the mirror, Chong Shidun felt depressed for a while. "I always feel that the pattern of the hook jade is very strange." Throwing his coat on his shoulders, Chong Shi walked into the restaurant and complained, "No matter how you look at it, it looks like mitochondria."

"Ha, you're up." Tsuno Mayuko, who was baking pancakes in a pan, turned her head and smiled at him, "It's started again, you have to say it every time you wear this tie." "yes?" "You said last week that you looked like Euglena" Chong Shi frowned. "Whether it's mitochondria or Euglena, they're all disgusting things." "Can't you just buy a new tie?" "I always feel a bit wasteful. I have to wear work clothes to go to the company, and I can't see a tie. Although I have to wear a tie every day at work, but now only new employees strictly do so."

"There's nothing you can do about it. You've only been a full-time employee for two months, so you're obviously a new employee." Mayuko placed the pancakes and bacon eggs shared between the two on the dining table and said.This week it's her turn to make breakfast. "I participated in the inauguration ceremony two and a half years ago. At that time, some of the people in my group had already acted as if they thought they were the backbone. Why should I be attacked by new employees? What a treat. It’s really pissing off.” Chong Shi poked the center of the pancake with a fork.

"Then you mean it's fine not to enter the MAC?" After speaking, Mayuko poured coffee into the cup in front of Takashi. Chongshi brought the coffee to his mouth without sugar milk, pouted his lower lip and turned his head to one side before drinking. "Of course I didn't say that." "The company gives you a salary and lets you study in it, so you have to bear with being treated as a new employee." "That's what I said, but it's actually a lot of bitterness. Mayuko, you'll be able to taste this taste next year." Chongshi took a sip of coffee, then glanced at the cup, and tilted his head.

"What's the matter? Does the coffee taste wrong?" Seeing his expression, Mayuko also took a sip. "No, it's not this." Chongshi turned the coffee cup at an angle, and ripples appeared on the surface of the liquid immediately, and he stared at it for a while. There is something in my heart that I can't let go of, that is, the sense of incongruity when I just woke up.What the hell, he thought, was making him so uneasy? "Hey, what's the matter?" Mayuko asked with a slightly disturbed expression. Chong Shi raised his eyes and said, "Coffee Cup"

"Huh? What?" "It's a coffee cup, a small cup for espresso." "I know that, so what?" "I saw it in my dream, pick up the cup and do this..." Takashi held the coffee cup up to eye level, staring at Mayuko's face. "I remember you were there" "What kind of dream is this?" "I don't know, it's just that I can't let go of it. It always feels like a dream with some meaning." Chongshi shook his head, "I can't, I can't remember it." Mayuko smiled slightly, seeming to let out all the breath she had been holding.

"Chongshi, isn't it because your mind has been full of research during this time that you have become like this?" "What does dreaming have to do with research?" "It's like a novelist or cartoonist who can't think of a good idea for a while. After they have a dream, they will say 'ah, this can be used as a subject'. Then they quickly write it down with a pen, before they forget it. " "It's like the story of Dr. Tang Chuan, who couldn't continue his research. He used this method to come up with the story of neutron theory. I seem to have heard it there. But my situation is different." Chongshi shook his head, "When I woke up, I have completely forgotten the content of the dream, and I haven’t had time to take notes yet.”

"You don't need to be so upset. When the artists mentioned earlier looked back at their notes, they couldn't believe that they were interested in these things, and they became a piece of waste paper in the end." "Inspiration doesn't come so easily, just think about it." Chongshi spread butter on the pancakes, cut them into bite-sized pieces, and put them in his mouth. The heat and softness of the pancakes were the usual style of Mayuko. When he reached for the coffee cup, a scene appeared in Chongshi's mind: four people were holding cups and clinking glasses with each other.

"I'm toasting," Chongshi muttered, "I'm using a coffee cup to toast, but I can't remember why I did it..." Although what happened before and after is extremely vague, but the memory of these four cups is still fresh, because it is so clear that it is impossible to imagine that it was just a scene that appeared in a dream. Finally Chongshi burst out laughing. "It's so boring, it's meaningless to talk about people's dreams." His tone was self-deprecating, and he looked at Mayuko, thinking she would laugh it off. But she didn't smile, she stopped the hand that was cutting the pancake, and opened her eyes that were bigger than almonds.But it didn't last long, before Chongshi spoke, a smile appeared on her face again.

"Are you too tired? It's better to relax" "Maybe." Chongshi nodded. After breakfast, Mayuko left the dining table to clean up, and Chong Shi left the apartment first.Although the residence is only a walking distance from MAC, to reach the Vitec Central Research Institute in Akasaka, you need to transfer two subways, and you only need to take the train to Nagata Town, and you have to walk a long way to get off. It was almost ten o'clock when we arrived at the research institute, and Chongshi's direct supervisor used to go to work at ten o'clock, and considering work efficiency, he should also follow this habit. He took the elevator up to the seventh floor, and out came a door with a slot for an identification card and a numeric keypad.He inserted the card, keyed in a combination known only to him, and the door clicked open. After the door opened, there was a light brown corridor with many doors lined up on both sides.Chongshi stood in front of the outermost door, which also had an authentication slot.Here, not to mention people outside the company, even employees within the company are not allowed to enter offices that are not in the department at will. On the door he opened was written 'Reality System Development Department Section 9', which was the name of his department. After entering the office, there was a rustling sound. There were two cages in the room, one containing a female orangutan, and the other was empty. "Good morning, Wupi," Chongshi greeted the orangutan. Wupi didn't respond to him, but squatted in the corner of the cage, seemingly looking into the distance.Not only this morning, she always has this expression. The office is roughly divided into two research areas, one of which is Chongshi's workplace, and another group with a different research topic is also working here.Of course, there will be communication between them, because they are only separated by a transparent baffle, so they can see each other doing research. Another research group has four members and has already started work.Chongshi changed into gray overalls and glanced at those people.When a woman named Tongshan Jingzi saw Chongshi, she raised her hand slightly to greet him. She joined the company at the same time as Chongshi.The other three just glanced at him briefly. Strictly speaking, the four people on the opposite side of the baffle are not just researchers.The table they sat around contained a cot on which slept a bound male chimpanzee named Joy, wearing a special helmet with nearly a hundred wires attached to it. Connected to various pulse machines and analysis instruments. The subject of their research is the direct input of sensory information.That is, trying to send signals directly to the brain without touching the sensory system.In fact, this topic was done by Chongshi during his MAC training.For two years, he has been learning continuously based on this research.So when he announced the assignment of departments in April this year, he was convinced that he could enter this group to continue to do research as a matter of course. However, the task entrusted to him in the end was completely beyond his expectations.Although in the same department, he was assigned a completely different subject.When he heard the news, he questioned his immediate superior in protest.But this boss named Sudou's answer did not satisfy Chongshi. "That research can be done by other people, but the research here can only be done by you, so I want you to do it" was Sudou's answer. However, Takashi, the newly proposed topic, knew almost nothing about it, and Sudou only briefly explained, "It depends on the company's policy, and I don't know." That new project is about imagining, which is to use computers to analyze how the brain works when human beings are imagining.The ultimate goal, written on the first page of a research report, is essentially an attempt to gain external control over the content of the utopia.However, Chongshi reckoned that he would not be able to look forward to this day at work, and the progress at the current point in time was only enough to be able to judge whether the chimpanzee Wupi, the subject of the experiment, was in a fantasy state. He still has a question, even if such a fantasy thing can be done, what effect can it play?Anyone can do this kind of thing without the help of a computer.But fantasy alone is not enough, it must reach the level of imaginary reality.And isn't it the responsibility of the 'Reality System Development Department' to make this kind of virtual reality?Chongshi thought. Seeing Keiko Kiriyama and the others imagining a perfect imaginary reality in the human brain, Chongshi couldn't restrain his anxiety.And thinking that among the reference materials they used, there are also their published works when they were in MAC, which makes them even more angry. Chongshi sat in his seat and sorted out the data. When it was almost 11 o'clock, Sudou appeared.It was too late for this man.With the briefcase under his arm and his hands in his pockets, he nodded and winked at Chongshi, which was regarded as his morning greeting. This Sudou was also one of Chongshi's instructors when he was at MAC, and his age seems to be only about 35 years old.Because I practiced kendo when I was a student, my figure looks very thick and my shoulders are very broad.But in stark contrast to his appearance, he often drives Chongshi out of his nerves.For Chongshi, a man who talks less and shows no emotion or joy on his face is the most difficult to deal with. "Is this the data from yesterday?" Sudou asked, glancing at the computer screen in front of Chongshi. "yes" "What about significant differences?" "No" means that the result is not satisfactory. Sudou didn't show a particularly disappointed expression, nodded and sat down.His seat is next to Chongshi, but everyone's desks are surrounded by partitions, so if they sit facing the desks, they can't see each other. "I have doubts," Chongshi said. Sudou's expression was a little dull, and he turned his head around. "I don't think what we're doing is moving toward the goal of controlling brain activity during fantasies." Sudou twitched his eyebrows, "What do you mean?" "Why do we interfere with the memory circuit?" Chongshi asked, "Imagination is something based on memory, that is to say, memory is the foundation, but if we want to tamper with it, I don't know what data to take." "Whether fantasy or memory are all thinking activities, you can't treat them separately." "I know this, but we should minimize the interference with memory, shouldn't we? Otherwise, we won't be able to correctly capture the changes in the brain during fantasy." Chongshi uttered the words that he had held back for several days. Sudou crossed his arms and considered for a while, then let go, and said to Takashi: "I understand what you mean, and I will think about it again. We should start with the research project we proposed at the beginning, and you should follow that first." "but" "Sorry" Sudou interrupted him with his right hand, and then stood up, "The director called me, let's talk about this later." After finishing speaking, he picked up a document on the table, and before Chongshi answered, left the office.The owl in the cage let out a slight cry because the door was closed too roughly. After Sudou left that day, he never returned to his seat. Takashi analyzed the data alone, and did not leave the research institute until seven o'clock. He walked in a trance in the tunnel leading to the subway, and it was a bit hot halfway, so he took off his coat. In front of him walked a man, slender and short in stature.Looking at his back, Chongshi suddenly thought of someone. That is Miwa Tomohiko. Chongshi stopped involuntarily, so that a white-collar woman walking behind him almost bumped into him, and the woman passed him with a displeased expression. I don't think of Zhiyan anymore, which is very unexpected to Chongshi, I have been with him since junior high school, and I haven't forgotten him once. It's been a while since this matter came to mind, is it because I'm too busy?Chongshi thought back.But aren't we two best friends who share weal and woe? What is that guy doing now? Chongshi thought about it, and was suddenly taken aback, because he found that he didn't know what Zhiyan was busy with now. He began to recall when he saw Zhiyan for the last time, but he couldn't remember when he hadn't seen him again? No, Chong Shi opened his eyes wide. He felt that he had met him recently, but when and where was that? Then, he gasped. It was yesterday's dream, and he appeared in his dream.But is that really a dream?In retrospect it was as if it had just happened yesterday. How stupid it was, he immediately dismissed his thoughts.Looking back, it was indeed a dream, and there was a huge difference between reality and reality. Tomohiko introduced Mayuko to himself as his lover. "Really boring" Chongshi whispered, and took another step.