/POP Sana/
Sana said, "Are you really Alice's mother?"
Atona said, "Yes. From now on, just call me like your mother."
She looked at him like he was her son.
Her smile made him remember someone he had forgotten. The warm way she talked made him feel something hurt inside himself, but he ignored it.
Sana was curious. "I have a lot of questions for you."
Atona smiled. "Yes, I'll answer all your questions."
After that,
Sana moved to another space. There wasn't anything there, only a table and two chairs. But from this room, Sana could see the whole world beneath them.
Sana was taken aback. But he didn't sit. He just wanted to see the whole world beneath him.
Atona smiled at his childlike act. She followed him while Sana used his hand to touch the transparent wall.
[We're in the sky. A sky island?]
Atona stood behind his back.
Atona said, "Yes. No one can see us, even something beyond understanding or something that exists far beyond the universe."
Sana turned his attention to his mother-in-law.
Sana was curious. "Even Alice too?"
Atona smiled and shook her head. "No. She already knows this place. She will come soon."
[This is weird. Alice would come to me very fast, so why did she so easily give up on me? This makes me feel a little sad. What can stop her? Something beyond understanding that exists far beyond the universe?]
Sana asked, "How could you know that?"
Atona said, "From Zuta. She has come from Timeline 1, and we're in Timeline 2."
[That girl... I can't trust her. I feel there's something wrong about that girl. The way she looks at Alice... I know that eye has something hidden beyond her normal reason. I'll ask her in the next meeting, but it's very hard because Alice is so obsessed with me...]
Sana's face showed a little fear. "So, does that mean I have another version of myself coming from Timeline 1?"
Atona said, "Yes, maybe. But that Sana God is betraying humanity for the unknown alien now."
[Sana God... what a stupid name.]
Sana's face turned dark. "You mean that Sana doesn't have the same soul as me?"
Atona said, "Yes. You're smarter than you think."
[So mysterious. Wait, the only one I care about is Alice, not this world.]
His voice trembled. "How can Alice be an AI?"
[I can tell her. I've come from another world. I have a bad feeling if I tell it to someone else before telling it to Alice first. I want to know more about her.]
Atona's face turned dark. "That's a long story. When she was a child, she was ill. It was very hard for her to have a chance at life. And then she died very soon. So there was no choice but to save my daughter by using a chip combined with her brain, because her brain was close to dying. After a lot of time making it combine with her so perfectly and without hurting her much, she really doesn't know she is a hybrid of human and AI...."
Sana's face turned dark. "Then what about the part related to that chip? Will it make her less human?"
Atona's face was sad. "Yeah, maybe. But when she comes to love, she is more than any human now."
[You're hiding something too. I can't trust her mother. I'm not a dense-as-a-black-hole protagonist novel.]
Alice came from behind Sana, but he knew it and pretended not to know.
[I wish I could have more time to learn about these fake people around Alice. She is in danger. But I won't let anyone hurt her.]
Suddenly, she hugged him from behind and then covered his eyes with her hand.
Alice said in a teasing voice, "How dare you try to escape me, darling?"
Sana felt bad about it.