Chapter 169: He Is Not Him

Hiroyuki’s consciousness was exceptionally clear, which was why he knew that the place he currently occupied ought not to be here.

He remembered taking a heavy blow from Tregear within the Dream Ruins of Noah—though, admittedly, he had brought it upon himself. In any case, he should still be lying in that patch of woods, unable to get out.

So, where was this place?

Hiroyuki hesitated slightly, yet still yielding to a certain inward inclination, he walked in a particular direction. Then, he saw a door standing there out of thin air.

Hiroyuki: “……”

He remembered seeing somewhere that things like "doors" inherently carried the metaphor of an "invitation," and their appearance was effectively an invitation letter.

Therefore, torn between the thoughts of "I refuse to go in just to see what happens" and "I might as well just go in smoothly," Hiroyuki finally gripped the doorknob and pushed the door open.

The scenery inside the door was identical to the scenery outside; it was simply "nothing," devoid of everything... except for a little tiger, who was lowering his head and tinkering intensely with the Taiga Spark and the Taiga Key.

“Taiga.”

This was a first.

Hiroyuki felt no great surprise. He walked over to greet him and, seeing Taiga sitting cross-legged on the "ground," he paused to think before casually producing two cushions. He shoved one toward Taiga, placed the other beside him, and sat down leaning against him.

This trick was also the result of the captain’s training camp over the past few days. With some simple things, as long as one blocked out the thought that "this object ought not to be here," it could be fished out with a casual reach.

Taiga clutched the cushion straight into his arms, rested his chin on top of it, and continued to furiously fiddle with the key and the Taiga Spark.

Hiroyuki reached over, pulled the key right out of his hand, and began turning it over in his own hands as well.

For a moment, neither spoke. Taking advantage of the lull, Hiroyuki opened the key’s interface to see if any adjustments were needed. At that moment, the interface brazenly expanded directly into the air. Taiga could clearly see the interface as well, and he leaned in to take a look.

The bond value currently on the ledger was 13: 3 points for Tregear, and 1 point each for Officer Sakura, Senior Ayumu, the Captain, Uncle Oda, Magna, Fuma, the Kujo couple, Senior Riku, and Taro. Apart from Tregear, Hiroyuki and everyone else were in a state of "purely acquainted" or "re-acquainted." These past few days, he had been so busy he barely had a moment to breathe; the moment one matter finally looked like it could be wrapped up, the next one caught right up to it. Overwhelmed, Hiroyuki simply hadn't found the time to deepen his bonds with these familiar figures from the script.

Hiroyuki had not deliberately farmed affection or bonds either, because in his view, such things ought not to be mixed with any utilitarian motives. Gradually deepening bonds through natural interactions was the proper path; farming bonds with an ulterior purpose made it impure and "tainted."

His friends and family were sincere toward him, and Hiroyuki could not bring himself to exploit their feelings with an agenda—that would be far too wasteful.

Looking next at the second page of the interface, the two skills from Grigio Regeden were completely grayed out, while the third slot had actually been unlocked. Originally, Hiroyuki had felt that slots were not enough, but now he simply had two empty slots with no skills to place in them.

Once the adjustments were complete, Hiroyuki closed the light screen—the method for closing it was simply removing his hand from the key.

“Hiroyuki.”

“Mm.”

“I think we’re running out of options to get by.”

Taiga finally revealed the reason he had dragged Hiroyuki into holding this little meeting. His tone was very calm, much like stating a fact.

Having been a human on Earth and rolling with all the other humans for so many years, the Warrior of Light before him had already acquired the look of someone seasoned by battle and countless trials. His voice remained young, for three or five decades left no marks of time on the body of a Giant of Light; one could only say that Earth truly was a hell-difficulty dungeon, one that tempered a person fiercely.

“Mm.”

Taiga’s question came out muffled, and Hiroyuki’s reply was equally muffled.

The two young men sat side by side, leaning against each other. If they each had a handheld console at this moment, playing games while chatting would have made the atmosphere even more fitting. But right now, they lacked the conditions; gaming consoles were too complex, and Hiroyuki couldn't casually conjure up two Nintendo Switches—one for each of them—the way he could summon a cushion, so the two of them could only make do, one holding the Taiga Spark and the other holding the Taiga Key.

Who the person by his side truly was, Hiroyuki was actually well aware.

It was none other than himself—the projection of himself from the fourth-dimensional world falling into the third-dimensional world... or rather, a partial fragment of it.

Regarding the concept of multi-dimensional worlds, Hiroyuki had also looked up some reference materials after returning. He learned that a zero-dimensional world is a point without size or dimensions; a one-dimensional world is a line without width, essentially an X-axis separating left and right; and a two-dimensional world is a plane, built upon the one-dimensional world by adding a directional vector to form a two-dimensional planar system composed of an X-axis and a Y-axis, creating front, back, left, and right. The three-dimensional world adds yet another directional vector to the two-dimensional world, namely the Z-axis, forming a three-dimensional spatial system where front, back, left, right, up, and down are all completely present.

From this, a vague pattern could be found: for every dimension the world ascends, the directional vector increases by one.

Then what about going from the three-dimensional world to the fourth-dimensional world?

Hikari could, of course, easily calculate a four-dimensional matrix transformation using paper and pen to show Hiroyuki. When the matrix was rendered graphically, Hiroyuki saw the projection of a four-dimensional rectangle within the three-dimensional world.

It was a figure consisting of a large cube nested inside a small cube. Hikari told Hiroyuki that the length of every line segment in the figure was actually equal, and asked him to imagine it for himself. Hiroyuki looked at the long and short segments that clearly were not equal, and indicated that imagination failed him.

And when this rectangle began to rotate, the projection changed accordingly: the large cube began to contract inward, while the small cube originally nested inside began to expand, after which the two cubes returned to their initial state, repeating the cycle.

Hiroyuki vaguely understood what the vector added upon ascending from the third dimension to the fourth dimension was.

It was "inside and outside."

That is, building upon "front, back, left, right, up, and down," the vector of "inside and outside" was added.

That's right, the relationship between Hiroyuki and Taiga right now was probably just like that. They were the same cube, merely divided into "inside" and "outside." Sitting shoulder to shoulder right now, they looked like a four-dimensional cube projected into the third dimension—appearing as two separate entities, yet in reality, there was only a single entity, and right now they were merely engaging in self-dialogue.

“If we don’t transform into Giants of Light, there’s too little we can do.”

“Mm.”

What was the reason they couldn't transform?

Taiga had learned about it in school.

Hiroyuki had also seen it on television.

Both Taiga and Hiroyuki were well aware that the reason was none other than this—the two of them had failed to truly achieve complete harmony of mind and heart.

That sounded truly awful to say out loud!

The two of them sighed in unison. Their synchronization rate was too high; they looked at each other and smiled wryly, before falling into distress once again.

“Hiroyuki……”

“I know.”

That’s right, having been through life and death for so long, Hiroyuki and Taiga were still just "getting by." They stood cautiously on the dry bank, watching the rushing torrent before them.

Taiga looked with a trace of worry at his partner sitting beside him. He had already become certain that the reason they couldn't transform wasn't because the Taiga Spark or the Taiga Key was malfunctioning—at this point, transforming shouldn't even require these auxiliary tools for them anymore. That left only one possibility...

Hiroyuki was subconsciously refusing to grow to giant size.

“……I’m just not quite used to it.”

Anyone could imagine that on the Ultraman stage, warriors who couldn't grow to giant size could mostly only provide support from the rear—and not everyone had Jugglus Juggler's capabilities. Without the ability to grow to giant size, it was difficult to achieve any notable results on the main battlefield. Hiroyuki didn't consider himself afraid of combat; in fact, he was eager to try, and over these past few days he had more than once fought through thick and thin amidst enemies, carving a path like a one-man army. So, what was he afraid of?

Hiroyuki only felt that his thoughts at this moment were incomparably clear.

Hiroyuki didn't want to admit that he was indeed a little scared, or rather, Hiroyuki had been subconsciously dodging a fact: the fact that after merging with Taiga, he had already become a Giant of Light.

Hiroyuki had always been a human, whether in this Earth or in that other Earth. He had never believed that he "could" be a Giant of Light. Yet reality told him otherwise: you already are. You are no longer the you of the past; the old you has died, and a brand-new you has been born.

Yes, Hiroyuki admitted it. Whether it was falling from an altitude of ten thousand meters or taking a sniper shot to the back, he had died long ago. Yet Hiroyuki still subconsciously resisted this fact.

He clung tightly to the driftwood named "self-awareness," refusing to sink.

I am Hiroyuki. I am no one else; I am simply Hiroyuki.

But Hiroyuki was already dead. No one in this world could come back to life; if someone truly resurrected, they would no longer be that original person—they would definitely have turned into something else entirely.

In Hiroyuki’s subconscious, it seemed as though as long as he bit down hard on the fact that "I cannot transform," he could continue to immerse himself comfortably in the illusion that "I am Hiroyuki" without having to wake up.

He was no longer that person. He was no longer himself.