Ling Yi lurched to her feet… then dropped back down like a startled spring.

…?

Uh— it’s just, what you said was too shocking… She hunched her neck like a turtle and tried to explain, then licked her cone like nothing happened.

That’s absolutely Gu Xiangshi! Who wears a full suit to a theme park? A crow-black tux in a field of balloons— how is that not weird! And he’s riding the Ferris wheel alone!

Ling Yi’s fingers tightened around the Flashblade Key in her pocket. If Gu Xiangshi starts a fight here…

She steeled herself and looked up at that gondola.

…

Gu Xiangshi was staring this way, face set like carved stone.

Eavesdropping— no, peeking…

Ling Yi kept her tone breezy, chatting with Luo Jie. So what happened to the future Doctor?

Luo Jie heard the strain in her voice, but continued anyway. Mom finished high school smoothly, then entered Twin Towers Institute of Technology with Aunt Ling Ya. They began studying Infinite Power. In junior year she tested up into grad school, then went abroad to the City of Ivalice. There, she extracted a new class of Infinite Power and named it Flash Energy— and kicked off an era where hybrid Infinite Power went everywhere.

Eh…

A few meters away, Gu Xiangshi lifted his right hand. Little black boxes flickered and crossed in the air like darting sparrows.

Two things at once— Ling Yi’s brain started to overload. She glanced at Gu Xiangshi, then at Luo Jie, and made a helpless eh-eh-eh sound.

So… on that worldline, the Doctor didn’t break Lalabel’s woven lie. She lived a normal high school life— for two years. Then still walked the road of Infinite Power anyway!

Seeing the “Mom here,” I realized she’s not quite the same as the Mom I remember…

Mm, right… basically a different person!

Ling Yi couldn’t picture a Yekase who thought she was standard-issue female, never found the Twenty Second Squad memories, and even lost Jiang Bailu. How did it get that bad?

That’s a total failure.

She wasn’t great at detective work, but feelings were her home turf. By Luo Jie’s description, maybe Yekase tasted the “bliss of ignorance” for a while. But the Reverse Meme’s twist— that crooked gut-sense of “I lost something, but I can’t recall it”— would pile up grain by grain. And that Yekase had no tools to fight it, didn’t even know where the wrongness came from.

That warped absence would crush her, a thousand years later.

So, Luo Jie’s chosen “save point” was probably right. Her plan was to use her own presence to wake the questioning spirit buried in Yekase. As long as Yekase starts asking why, things get better.

Then what about me on your side? If that Doctor never remembers Ivaris, and she isn’t with Sister Bailu, then wouldn’t I be—

Yes—

A cold prickle of danger hit Luo Jie. She pounced on Ling Yi and pinned her to the seat.

Ling Yi’s left hand stayed raised, still holding her half-eaten ice cream. A black box blinked in, swallowed the cream whole, and vanished like a trick swallow.

Their faces were less than two centimeters apart… no, their noses were already touching.

Aunt Ling Yi, are you okay?

Uh— I’m fine, thanks? What are you doing?

Luo Jie crawled up slowly and sat back down.

Ling Yi stared at the ice cream, full of question marks.

Huh?!

As you can see, I lunged over to steal a bite.

You chomped the whole thing in one go! Yours isn’t even finished!

Then let’s trade. Luo Jie held out her own cone, all innocence.

That makes no sense…

In the aftertaste of confusion and surprise, the Ferris wheel kissed the ground.

They stepped out. Ling Yi scanned the crowd, but Gu Xiangshi had already melted into the river of people.

What’s next?

Luo Jie pointed ahead.

A spiral of track clung to a steel frame. A car shot by, trailing screams like red ribbons.

A roller coaster? Sure.

They lined up. Ling Yi opened her mouth, but Luo Jie pressed the cone to her lips. Ling Yi had to take two licks, as Luo Jie cut in first. Don’t worry. In my world, Aunt Ling Yi becomes a hero— strongest and gentlest of all.

Stronger and gentler than the Doctor?

Maybe not stronger than her.

Mm-hmm. She is the Doctor, after all.

But from a daughter’s eyes, you’re gentler than Mom. In the last hundred years, Mom had no smile left. She moved like a precision machine, killing waves of combatants and aliens every day. By then, the only one still there to care for Mom was Aunt Ling Yi.

…

Are there really that many combatants to kill? Ling Yi wondered, a cloud shadow passing over her heart.

You said “still there”… so before that last century, there were teammates?

Mm.

The gate opened. The next group flowed in like fish. Ling Yi and Luo Jie were placed in the very last row. That little luck cut the pressure a bit. Ling Yi checked Luo Jie’s harness, then buckled herself in, and blew the carbon dioxide from her chest.

The siren blared. The coaster rolled.

A straight, steady run. A slow climb to the top. A quick breath at the peak—

Then a heart-drop plunge.

Waaaoooh—!!

The wind drilled into her face, knife-sharp, eyes forced shut. So this is what the Doctor feels flying at speed with no gear? It’s nothing like wearing Blade Armor.

Ling Yi burst into laughter, unable to help it. Wind flooded her mouth; she didn’t care. When the appetizer-dive ended and the train speared into a tunnel, she opened her eyes—

And saw Jiang Bailu standing in the tunnel’s dim center.

—?!

No, that’s wrong. Sister Bailu’s busy in Arcadia. How could she be here—

Here they come, Luo Jie said.

The riders saw the white-coated figure standing on the track. Screams split into shock and fear like stirred flocks.

“Shining entrance— a Universe-Shaking Hero Show!”

A burst of white light detonated on the right.

We’re fighting here!? Well, the tunnel does have no cameras, so I’ll—

Even if I don’t get what’s going on!

Why is Sister Bailu here as an enemy? Why is Luo Jie transforming like a tokusatsu kid who’s used to the villain popping up every week—

Whatever. Cover my identity first.

“The one who gives the final answer— should be me!”

Silver twin tails flared. A black officer’s cap dropped. Sky Striker rode a tightened galactic gleam, spinning down from above, cleaving the dark, and spearing into the steel beside the rail.

Ling Yi leaned out from her seat (do not copy this move), both hands clamping the Sky Striker.

A shriek of metal ripped the air. Dragged by the train’s weight and inertia, the blade tore a fearsome scar along the track. The speed bled away hard, and the coaster ground to a halt.

Luo Jie turned into a mass of white light and rammed Jiang Bailu (?), carrying her out through the far end of the tunnel. Ling Yi popped her restraint and jumped down, yanked the Sky Striker free, and sprinted after them.

Everyone, call the staff and have them guide you out! There might be a fight ahead!

She ran and shepherded at the same time, breath a gust, heart a drum.

Why not wear the Blade Armor? Because Gu Xiangshi’s still in the park. If Ling Yi shows up as the never-public “Magical Girl Rushi” and dons armor in front of everyone, it’ll scramble their intel on who the “real body” is. That’s the camo trick Yekase taught her. The point isn’t power— it’s confusion.

“Now— we save the world!”

Luo Jie’s voice carried a strange reverb, familiar as an old lullaby.

…

Ling Yi burst out of the tunnel— and saw a silver-blue dragon of light writhe in the sky.

It sounded like her voice after she became Balafaruth.

What is even happening?!

The Doctor’s daughter, back from the future, turning into a dragon in public!

That’s basically an official announcement, right? That’s an announcement, right?!

Damn it, I’m jealous of the other-line me—!

She pounded along the track, jaw tight. Just as she reached the one-and-dragon tangle, Jiang Bailu (?) pulled a thin red strip from a chest pocket.

Mind Energy sharpened her vision to ninja-grade clarity. She caught the thing’s shape in a blink.

No doubt— that’s a Flash Energy Key!

Transform.

!!!!!

“Sky Striker ACE.Code-00.”

“—‘ROZE’.”

Steam erupted, nostalgic as a festival kettle. Black machinery formed all around, then fired like fists. It slammed into Luo Jie in bursts of metal-bright sparks.

Then it snapped back in sequence, piece by piece, layering onto Jiang Bailu (?).

Ling Yi’s foot slipped off the rail. She fell.

—Bang!

Oww…

A pit cratered in the stonework. It hurt a little.

More important, Luo Jie and Jiang Bailu were still fighting midair. Ling Yi had worked hard so she could just have fun, and now they were fighting anyway. Fine— make it a righteous two-on-one and end it fast. Her “Rushi” debut is already on the cameras. Time to suit up and—

A hand settled on Ling Yi’s shoulder.

Who’s there?!

She dropped low and broke forward, then spun to look.

A yellow bear mascot in a red vest stood there, plush and unthreatening.

…?

The bear waved. Its left hand lifted the head just enough to hide the inside. Its right reached in, took something out, and offered it to Ling Yi.

A 20th-century cassette tape. Blank side label. No writing.

Ling Yi used tapes like that for English listening as a kid. At home, the tape would sometimes spill out, tangling like yarn, everywhere.

Who’s this bear? Why give her a relic?

Excuse me, you are…?

[I am Anonymous J. Please do not identify me.]

A sharp, odd voice came from the seams of the head and vest, like a reed pipe run through a machine.

Eh? A synthetic voice…

Mm. I’m not human, after all.