More than a month passed.

Turing and Merka didn’t use magic. Like a couple of genuinely cash-strapped newlyweds on their honeymoon, they relied entirely on cars and ships, crossing vast stretches of black earth and broad oceans before finally arriving in Iceland.

Iceland was a country where rain and snow fell all year round.

Even in summer, it was often plagued by rain and snow.

Turing and Merka arrived in Iceland from the port.

They looked this way and that, then rode the humming escalators through the long waiting area, all the way to the plaza outside Iceland’s port.

Iceland in the seventies was far more developed than they’d expected.

Fast, steady ways to get around. Holographic fountains. Dazzling ads. Even the vending machines floated in midair—everything here had a cyberpunk tech vibe.

Merka approached a vending machine with interest. He dropped in the coins he’d stolen from the shop earlier, then pressed the button for the drink he wanted.

He bought a cup of milk tea and a can of unsweetened black coffee.

“...Compared to Acadia, this place feels more like the legendary edge of the world.”

“So lonely, so vast... Between people, there’s nothing but endless plains.”

“The dry, biting air has frozen the earth here black and hard.”

“Step on it, and even the soles of your feet start to ache.”

Merka returned to Turing with the drinks. He handed her the can of black coffee.

“The days are getting longer.”

“And the nights are getting shorter.”

“Rainy, snowy days like these make it easy to think about the past.”

Merka sighed, then spoke to Turing in a relaxed, unhurried tone.

He gazed absently at the layers of clouds overhead, piled up like mountain peaks, his thoughts drifting somewhere far away.

“Mm.”

Turing smiled and didn’t say much.

She held the warm can of black coffee in both hands, rubbing the ring on her left ring finger as sweet ripples stirred in her heart.

Across the vast sweep of time, time itself would speak her love for her.

She wished these days could go on forever.

“Turing... just out of curiosity, do you know how much longer we can stay in this illusion?”

“We’ve been heading west, and then north...”

“But Iceland is already the westernmost and northernmost part of the world.”

“You brought me here...”

“Does that mean Iceland is our final stop?”