The banquet with Jin and the others unfolded in a warm, genial atmosphere.
"Let's see... So in short, everyone became homunculi in the order their natural lifespans came to an end, right?"
Reinhard was drunk, and with everyone chiming in by turns to explain, Jin was a little bewildered. He put his own understanding into words to double-check.
"That's right."
It seemed slots had been reserved for Sion and Marikka, while the consciousnesses of the other Jin Family members had been transferred into homunculi in this manner.
"And since extending that to the children's generation was impossible due to the sheer numbers, their memories were slightly altered to spare them mental anguish, then."
"Mm, that's it."
"...Did I not know about this back then?"
Jin wondered what his self from 400 years ago—that is, the "original" Jin—had thought about it all.
"...We didn't tell you, Onii-chan."
"Huh?"
"Or rather, I'm the one who planned the homunculus transformation for the Family."
Hanna insisted that everything was her responsibility.
"Laojun, No. 700672-san, and Jack cooperated in order to prevent Master Loss Syndrome."
In other words, with the exception of Hanna, everyone had once reached the end of their lives without knowing during their lifetimes that they would continue living on like this.
"Still, Jin. That resignation that comes with growing old—that feeling of 'I've lived long enough'... I think that's a kind of self-defense mechanism where the mind is dragged along by the physical decline of the body."
Reinhard spoke with deep emotion.
He suggested it was perhaps an act of divine providence so that one would not harbor too many lingering regrets when their lifespan drew to a close.
"Kufu, after being reborn like this, you really can't help thinking, 'I'm so glad to be alive,' after all."
Saki said that she felt the same way.
"The way I see it, while I wouldn't call the resignation one feels in old age a lie, isn't it largely bundled together with biological age... or rather, one's remaining lifespan?"
In short, Saki suggested it was heaven's way of keeping people from struggling in an unsightly manner when their natural lifespans ran out.
"Kufu, interesting theory, isn't it? But since it's based on personal experience, it carries a fair bit of weight."
Saying that everyone felt the same, Saki chuckled again.
"At any rate, we remained in dormancy until Jin appeared four hundred years later, and until Laojun sent him back to his original era."
Reinhard explained once more.
"So that means you woke up relatively recently?"
"Well, yes. About four months ago, I suppose."
"And you've been here the whole time since?"
"That's how it turned out."
Even so, the facilities were well-equipped, and since it was originally built as a residential district, though they had been a little bored, Reinhard mentioned that regular updates on the state of Planet Ars were provided, making it far less tedious than one might expect.
"...Laojun had no definitive proof whether it was safe to let Jin-nii know about us."
Elsa spoke with an apologetic look.
"Because if Jin-nii, as a Duplicate, became fully satisfied with his current circumstances, no one could predict what would happen."
There had been a possibility that, feeling fulfilled, he might simply vanish.
It's almost like passing peacefully to the next world, Jin thought with a wry smile, but perhaps that wasn't entirely wrong.
If lingering attachments turned one into a ghost, then resolving those attachments would cause them to pass on. Perhaps the very existence of ghosts was nothing more than a trick played by free ether, Jin mused idly.
In any case, hearing that explanation made sense of Laojun's noncommittal reactions up until now.
No. 700672 must have also been forbidden from confiding in Jin.
"Well, let's stop this stiff talk already!"
Toa, who seemed quite plastered, raised his voice.
"That's right, that's right!"
Saki agreed with her father.
"Today is the day the Jin Family gets back together, after all!"
Marcia chimed in cheerfully, and
"Everyone has been longing for this day!"
Rodrigo added his own words.
"You're right."
Jin felt the same way.
It would be a total buzzkill to focus on stiff, serious talk during such a long-awaited banquet.
Of course, as a Duplicate, Jin was entirely incapable of getting drunk, but since he was never a heavy drinker to begin with and tended to get swept up in the festive atmosphere anyway, it wasn't a problem at all.
"Come on, Elsa, go sit closer to your Husband."
Nudged forward by Marcia, Elsa took a seat right next to Jin's right side.
"Fufu, isn't this lovely?"
Berche was pouring wine for Reinhard as well.
"Aaah, must be nice for those with partners."
Vivienne grumbled as she downed her wine.
Lucol was not here—which was, in other words, simply how things were.
Though the banquet was beginning to descend into chaos, everyone's faces were boundlessly bright.
Perhaps that was because their ties to the mundane world had been severed.
Until now, everyone had been bound to reality to a greater or lesser degree—or rather, to quite a massive extent.
Now that they were freed in this manner, they likely preferred to enjoy the benefits rather than worry about the downsides.
(Many of them held positions of extraordinary responsibility, after all...)
In a sense, it might be similar to the mindset of a salaryman thinking, I've reached retirement age, and now it's time for my second life, Jin thought to himself.
"A second life, huh..."
When he unintentionally murmured it aloud,
"A second life! I like the sound of that!"
Saki caught it with her sharp ears.
"A second life—that hits the nail on the head!"
Reinhard agreed as well.
"Cheers to our second life!"
Toa shouted loudly too. It had practically turned into a gathering of drunks.
Those who didn't drink much, like Hanna, Lishia, and Milowina, seemed to have taken refuge long ago.
Even so, fortunately, none of them were vicious or belligerent drunks. It was, through and through, a merry drinking party.
Growing somewhat exhausted from keeping up with the drunks, Jin quietly excused himself and invited Elsa along.
"...It really has been a long time."
"...Mm."
There was a detached room on the north side of the mansion, connected by a covered corridor.
Jin headed in that direction, guided by Elsa.
"...I wanted to see you."
Leaning against Jin's shoulder, Elsa looked up at him from beneath her eyelashes.
In the detached room, the din of the banquet couldn't reach them, and all was quiet.
"It feels like a dream to be able to meet everyone like this... especially you, Elsa."
"Mm, me too."
"A second life, huh... I'll be in your care from now on, too."
"Likewise."
Once they closed the fusuma of the detached room, a tranquil silence enveloped them. Perhaps showing tact, Reiko hadn't followed them all the way here.
Jin and Elsa spent some time alone together for the first time in a long while.