The stroll where I wandered through various places with Eden-san had started quite abruptly. Several hours had already passed since then, but I never imagined we would keep going for this long.
I was certain she would eventually spiral out of control and bring the date to a premature end, yet somehow, Eden-san was still holding it together.
Well, even though a mysterious phenomenon was occurring where she would revert to Phase 0 through some strange reaction every time it looked like things were going south, the fact that we had made it this far was quite an achievement.
Thanks to that, we managed to cover a lot of ground. We visited the first uninhabited island, a quiet seaside, and a small hill, and now we had arrived at a lakeside with a view of the sunset.
To be honest, I had no complaints about the locations she chose. Most of them were quiet, peaceful spots, and if I had visited them under normal circumstances, I probably would have found them very relaxing—were it not for the ticking time bomb sitting right beside me, liable to explode at any second.
"...What do you think, my child?"
"Yes, it’s a bit lonely, but the scenery is beautiful. The way the sunset reflects off the water creates a wonderful atmosphere."
I offered my impressions to Eden-san. Just a short while ago, she had displayed an incredibly rare—actually, it was the first time I'd seen it—look of sheer terror before jumping in fright and resetting to Phase 0.
"...I am glad to hear that. You have seemed quite weary lately, my child."
"Eh?"
"New encounters have a way of accumulating fatigue. Whether or not you realized it yourself, if you were able to find even a moment of peace, then my invitation was well worth it."
"...Thank you."
It was true that I’d been feeling a bit of social exhaustion lately from the constant stream of new meetings. It seemed Eden-san had sensed that and invited me out to help me clear my head.
...I see. Now that she mentioned it, her selection of only deserted locations made perfect sense. I was genuinely happy for her consideration, so I decided to skip any unnecessary retorts and simply offered my gratitude.
A comfortable silence settled between us for a while. After a short pause, I decided to ask her something.
"...Eden-san, do you have a moment?"
"What is it?"
"You mentioned before that you once participated in a festival, but... could you tell me more about that? Or anything else like it?"
"...Hmm. Are you interested in my past, my child?"
"I am. I realized that even though we talk fairly often, I don't actually know much about you..."
Despite the fact that we talked almost five times a week, I really didn't know much about Eden-san as a person. Beyond the festival story, she had other unexpected traits, like her fondness for hamburgers.
When I asked, Eden-san fell silent for a moment, gazing out at the sunset before slowly speaking.
"...I was once... in the far, distant past... an existence that turned from a human into a god."
"...Huh? Wait... what? Whaaaat!?"
The words she muttered so casually were the most shocking thing I had heard all day. E-Eden-san was a former human? It was so unexpected that my brain stalled, unable to process the scale of what she’d just said.
But she didn't have the air of someone telling a lie or a joke. If that was the case, then Eden-san really was... originally a human being?
"The Earth where you lived, the Solar System that houses it, and the galaxy containing that Solar System—which you call the Milky Way Galaxy—were all created as a recreation of the world where I once lived. I did not alter them much, but it is a curious thing... the current Earth is very similar to the Earth where I once walked."
"..."
"My memories of going to that festival are from that original world."
I didn't know how to respond to such a staggering series of revelations. I stared at Eden-san's profile in a daze, seeing an expression on her face that seemed nostalgic for the past, yet also incredibly gentle.
"...From the moment I became a god until now, speaking in units that are easy for you to grasp, more than 20 billion years have passed. This is strictly within the flow of my own space, of course. Since I have occasionally altered the flow of time for the world I created, much more time has actually passed since its inception."
"I see... To be honest, 20 billion years is so far back that it's beyond my comprehension as a human... but you still remember those times clearly, don't you?"
"Yes. No matter how many eons pass, the memory of those ten years I spent with a single best friend in that world has never faded."
"A single... best friend?"
When I pressed for more, Eden-san looked up at the darkening sky and spoke as if whispering to the wind.
"...Shall we change locations?"
"Eh? Oh, sure."
"Let us return to the first uninhabited island. If I am to speak of those days, that is the best place for it. We shall teleport there... and by the time I have finished my story... the stars should be visible."
The look on Eden-san’s face as she spoke was so profoundly kind that, even without knowing the details, I could tell just how much she truly cherished that friend.