But right now, what mattered most to me wasn't just confirming what this movie plot was.
The most important thing was to confirm if there was another version of myself out there.
I looked at the living room and saw that in this magic world, Dad's portrait was still there. Then I called Shizuka's house to ask about the situation, and it was the same with her dad.
Next, I briefly switched the world back to the normal tech world using the What-If Phone Booth.
In the tech world, I asked the same people, but what I asked was whether I'd come by earlier to ask questions.
The answer was that I had asked the same question.
I did a series of observations and investigations.
From what I observed, it seemed like the other world didn't have another Nobita.
But even though my actions were synced between the two worlds, the people's thoughts and concepts were different.
I let out a sigh of relief and quickly switched the world back to the magic one.
Doraemon watched my operations and looked totally confused!
He had no idea what I was doing!
I didn't explain, but through this series of observations and research, I finally put my mind at ease.
However, this also raised more questions for me. Why didn't this tech world have Professor Mangetsu and Miyoko? Professor Mangetsu and Miyoko seemed to exist only in the magic world.
This was completely different from the original story, where the tech world did have Miyoko and Professor Mangetsu.
The setting seemed to have shifted.
Also, in the original, why could magic from the magic world still work in the tech world? Just like the Doraemon statue that fell from the ceiling this morning—why could it still have an effect in the tech world?
And why could the moon in the tech world suppress the magic in Doraemon's world in the original? Doraemon's Moon Torch Light was effective against the Demon King too, but wasn't the moon in the magic world special only because magic was cast on it?
Why was the tech world's moon effective?
Could the magic world and tech world be the same world? But that didn't make sense! After using the What-If Phone Booth to restore the original world, the other world would still run independently.
And in the original, why could Doraemon use the Time Machine to cross from the Demon World to the tech world? Or rather, return to the magic world's past?
I could understand the Time Machine going back in time and moving locations, but this was directly crossing the past and present of two different worlds! It was like spanning two different times and two different places!
How was that even possible?
Or were Time Machines just that powerful and could do anything?
Of course, there was also my own uniqueness—all of this really left me scratching my head.
The more I thought about it, the more my head hurt, so I just stopped thinking.
The Doraemon world was already a complicated place, with tech, magic, and all sorts of messed-up stuff.
Not to mention, as the protagonist of this world, I was basically an anomaly. Even the Time Patrol insisted that history couldn't be changed.
But when it came to me, it turned into: whatever I did was history itself, and my actions couldn't be changed.
All of this piled up made the Doraemon world even more chaotic.
So, I decided not to think about it. Novels care about logic, but reality is just that tangled and hard to sort out.
That said, this protagonist aura was a bit tough—having to bear the duty of saving the world and all—but the perks were there. Just being the one chosen by history was pretty nice!
While I was lost in thought...
...
In another place, the Demon World.
In the pitch-black, dim caves of the Demon World, the interior resembled a karst landscape, with sharp stones protruding like stalactites everywhere.
Only the constantly rising ethereal blue Demon World flames provided some faint blue light, slowly illuminating the inside.
But under that ghostly blue glow, the karst features created an incredibly eerie and terrifying atmosphere.
Deep in the cave, where the Demon World flames burned the brightest, a throne stood tall.
On the throne sat a black shadowy figure with imposing authority, surrounded by constantly burning Demon World flames. He remained unfazed among them, showing how different he was from other demons.
Just as Nobita was making that call in the What-If Phone Booth and voicing his thoughts into it...
At that moment, the black shadowy figure was using his withered, zombie-like hands to rub a crystal ball in front of him.
Soon, images appeared in the originally blank crystal ball.
The images on the crystal ball showed Nobita, Doraemon, his group of friends, Miyoko, and Dorami standing on a flying magic carpet, holding weapons.
The black figure on the throne stared intently at the images in the crystal ball.
A voice came from below: "Lord Demon King Demaon!"
"Who exactly are these humans?"
Hearing the question, the black shadowy figure on the throne finally shifted his crimson eyes away from the crystal ball.
"These guys are a bunch of humans who came to the Demon World to defeat me."
"What a group of overconfident Earthlings!"
The black shadowy figure on the throne let out an involuntary mocking laugh.
Then he said to the shadowy figure kneeling below the throne,
"Medusa! Show them your power!"
"Yes!" Upon hearing the command from the one on the throne, the shadowy figure kneeling below instantly vanished from the spot.
At the same time, the black shadowy figure's crimson eyes turned toward Earth, and a dark phantom flew toward that blue planet.
...
After stopping my thoughts on those complicated issues, I felt a lot lighter inside.
I slowly started getting familiar with this magic world. Besides seeing Mom use magic to cook,
I tried some magic myself. With a "Ching-kara, pong!",
The object in front of me suddenly floated up, which surprised me a bit. Sure, I could do the same with telekinesis,
But achieving it with just an incantation really amazed me!
Heading to school, I used the same incantation to control a flying broom and fly.
It seemed my magic talent wasn't as lousy as in the original.
At school, it was still the same crew-cut teacher, Sensei, teaching.
But the content wasn't science—it was magic.
Luckily, my comprehension and execution weren't as bad as the original Nobita's, so I basically got all the magic the teacher taught.
What left me speechless, though, was how all these spells just used the incantation "Ching-kara, pong!"?
Was this some kind of universal spell?
I didn't quite get it, but at least I could handle the teacher at school for now.
Anyway, after learning a bit, magic was indeed amazing,
But the level of magic I'd learned didn't seem as useful or powerful as my own superpowers, let alone Doraemon's gadgets.
Of course, maybe I just didn't know if there were stronger magics out there.