After all that education, graduates were finally fit to become just an average technician or to take a clerical role, but to become a medical doctor or a scientist would require even more training. So by the time one had graduated from an institution as a specialist, that person would already be thirty-eight at the youngest, or in many cases closer to fifty years old. This meant that people didn’t really have time to get married until after forty, which finally led to a much-needed decrease in the Earth’s population.
“This is a disaster. If we continue down this path we’ll go extinct,” said those in the future. Kazuo explained that the doctors and scientists got together to try to find a solution. And in 2640, they succeeded in developing a truly revolutionary invention. It was a new kind of educational method called sleep education or subconscious-awareness education.
“What’s sleep education?” asked Kazuko, mesmerized. In the beginning, she’d wondered if this was all made up, but it seemed too detailed and realistic to be only a story.
“Sleep education,” explained Kazuo, his eyes lighting up with excitement, “is a method in which information and memories are planted directly into a child’s brain. A magnetic tape is loaded with information, connected to the child’s head with electrodes and played back. The human unconscious has outstanding capacities, and is able to recall this information whenever it’s needed. With this invention, it took a lot less time to educate people. So if this educational method is begun at the age of three, by the time the child is about the equivalent age of a first-year junior-high student they will have finished education through to current university level. I personally have been through this system too, so…” Kazuo’s voice trailed off.
“So how old are you now, really?” asked Kazuko.
Kazuo looked a little embarrassed before replying. “I’m eleven.”
“What!?” Dumbfounded, Kazuko looked at Kazuo, who was at least ten centimetres taller than her. “But that makes you four years younger than me! Is that true?”
Kazuo scratched his head and smiled. “The thing is, in 2660, children simply develop faster. So from my point of view, of course, the children in this time are suffering from growth deficiency.”
“So you’re saying we’re underdeveloped?” said Ka-zuko, sounding a little annoyed.
“Don’t get angry. In 2660, all foods are super-nutritious. That’s how we maintain the balance between spirit and body. You understand, right? If we don’t maintain a kind of balance, we could end up with super-educated babies, and that would just be creepy, wouldn’t it?”
“Are you telling me that you have university-level academic ability?”
Kazuo nodded. “That’s right. I’m at university studying pharmaceutical science.”
No wonder he was a good student, thought Kazuko.
“But why did you come to this moment in time? And to this school? And why are you pretending to be someone from my time attending school? Don’t you want to go back to the future?”
Kazuo tried to stop the flood of questions thrown at him by Kazuko. “Wait, wait. Let me explain one thing at a time.”
AN UNEXPECTED CONFESSION
Kazuo was born in 2649. Just like the other children he spoke about, he was educated with the sleep tapes from the age of three and entered university to study pharmaceuticals at the age of eleven. Right around that time, a great number of new chemicals were being developed, some of them designed to stimulate and bring out latent abilities in humans. It had already been scientifically proved that humans could develop physical, telekinetic and psychological powers, and so the last challenge remaining for scientists was to find a way to fulfil such potential.
At university, Kazuo was involved in research relating to teleportation by free will. He’d been limited by his university to carry out experiments only at a safe level, but being as bright as he was, Kazuo soon began formulating a whole range of new experiments. One of the areas he’d started to work on was the combination of teleportation and time-leaping, or to put it more simply, the ability to transport oneself instantly to another place and another time. Kazuo felt sure this could be done. He knew that the stimulants for teleportation had already been developed, and that time travel was already possible. All he needed to do was to find a way to incorporate all such capabilities in one stimulant.
After considerable experimentation, Kazuo found that by adding essence of lavender to the stimulant used for teleportation — known as Crox Zilvius — he could achieve the desired effect. And after many more trials and errors, he finally managed to blend exactly the chemical he needed.
All he needed to do then was to run an experiment to test the effect, which he decided to do himself in secret.
“That experiment was a big failure,” said Kazuo, scratching his head and laughing.
“You could leap across time. But when you wanted to leap back, you couldn’t. Is that right?” asked Kazuko.
“That’s right,” nodded Kazuo. “I didn’t know how effective the potion was going to be, so I drank a small amount. I was able to come here, into the past, but the potion was too weak to get me back to the future.”
“You should have brought the potion with you.”
“Yeah. I did think of that, and had it ready, but I forgot to bring it.”
“For someone so advanced, it’s quite surprising to see you still have a scatterbrain side.”
“That’s not it,” answered Kazuo with reddened cheeks. “I was thinking about which time to travel to, since I wanted a fairly peaceful time. But as soon as I thought of one, my mind initiated the time leap and I wasn’t holding the stimulant at the time.”
“So that’s why you became a student of this school, and that’s why you sneaked into the science lab?”
“That’s right. But then you walked in, surprised me and made me knock it over! Luckily, you didn’t drink the stimulant. But you did smell it, so it gave you powers to teleport and to time-leap, but in a limited manner.”
“Does that mean my powers will fade away with time?”
“That’s right, so you don’t have to worry so much.”
Kazuko was relieved. “So were you able to make the potion again?”
“Yes, I was.” Kazuo pointed at the bottle on the table, filled with brown, steaming liquid.
“But why are you explaining all of this to me?” asked Kazuko.
Kazuo thought carefully for a few moments before answering.
“Well, you seemed to be having such a hard time with the situation, so I felt that I owed you an explanation.”
“But from your point of view, I’m someone in the past. If you return to the future there will be no connection between us…”
Kazuo started to look rather sheepish, and his eyes dropped to the ground. Then he took a breath and glanced up to meet her eyes.
“Well, there’s a little more to the story than that,” he said. “You see, Kazuko, I’ve… I’ve fallen in love with you.”
PEOPLE OF TOMORROW, PEOPLE OF TODAY
“I guess confessing their love is not such a big thing for people in the future, huh?” said Kazuko, playfully. She knew he was a university student, but the fact that she was older than him in years gave her the confidence to make a joke.
“So do you like older girls?” she quipped.
“That’s right, I guess in a sense you are older,” said Kazuo, who hadn’t thought about that until now.
“Oh you guess, do you?” said Kazuko, a little offended. “Well, I am older. I may be just a person from the past in your eyes who is both physically and mentally underdeveloped, but I can’t help that, and yes, I am older.”