Novel Bin
Chapter 422
Chapter 422. [Iroha Language]
We spent a long time talking after returning home.
Just as we finished talking for a while, Angu Ogu suddenly turned her gaze elsewhere.
《What’s wrong, Ogu?》
《......It’s exactly the same number of days.》
《...?》
Following Angu Ogu’s gaze, I saw an advent calendar. Staring at it, frozen on the day I left, she said:
《It’s how much time we have left in America.》
《Oh, right.》
Only about a week left, huh?Soon, we’d have to leave this house and return to Japan.
《Like I said, I’m planning to move to Japan, so I’ll be spending half the year there.》
《My study abroad period is over too. Not that I even attended half of it, though.》
Another brief silence.
Maybe it was the loneliness, but ever since coming back, Angu Ogu and I often fell into wordless moments.
But it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence... quite the opposite, actually.
It felt like we were reassuring each other through our connected hands.
《Hey, Iroha. For the remaining time we have in this house... how about we open one door of the advent calendar every day? I want to... continue where we left off that day with you.》
Her palm conveyed a hint of anxiety.
She seemed worried I might refuse...
《Yeah, of course.》
《......! Yay.........!》
Angu Ogu cheered quietly.
Really, as if I’d ever say no.
Besides... it worked out perfectly for me too.
Because the final piece to fill the last door of the advent calendar was already in my hands.
《Oh, right, Ogu! I almost forgot! We gotta let the girls know we’re back!》
The family in the same apartment—the ones we had barbecues with and went trick-or-treating together.
I figured we’d worried them a lot too.
《Ah, no... Iroha, they’re already gone.》
《Huh?》
《They moved.》
《......I see.》
Three months was apparently enough time for people to disappear.
Now that I thought about it, they did say this was just a temporary place.
《Ah, that’s why... here, look at this.》
《A letter?》
Written in clumsy handwriting, it said:
『—Iroha-chan, Ogu-chan, let’s play again someday! I wanna play with Ah-neechan and My Onee-chan too! Come visit our new house, okay?』
At the end of the letter was the girl’s name, followed by what was probably the dad’s neat handwriting—their contact info.
《...》
Right, what was I even thinking?
Just because they moved didn’t mean it was goodbye forever.
They’d only been living here because the place they originally planned to move to had gotten unsafe.
So this move was actually a really good thing...!
《For now, let’s video call the girl next time, yeah?》
《...! Yeah!》
March is the season of goodbyes.
But those goodbyes are just the start of something new.
And for me, there was one more farewell—
***
《Wha—Irohaaa!? Y-you... you’re alive!?》
《Haha, long time no see, Shitenou-kun.》
The moment I stepped onto the school bus, the whole vehicle erupted in chaos.
Shitenou and the girl who always sat next to me burst into tears.
My true identity seemed to be... well, pretty much an open secret, so no one asked, “What happened?”
But they did worry, asking, “Are you okay?” and “What was it like?”
《Sorry for worrying you. But I’m fine now.》
《I see...》
《Oh, right! Shitenou, you’re still helping out at that research institute, right?》
《Yeah, both of us go there.》
《Hehe, that’s right!》
《That institute’s translation system got adopted for the international live auto-translations, right? The accuracy was insane! How’d you do it?》
《...Ugh, you’re really something.》
《Hm?》
《I can’t go into details because of confidentiality. But broadly speaking...》
Shitenou then quietly explained it to me—since I was involved too.
According to him...
Previous machine translations went directly from 『English → Japanese』.
But now, they added a middle step: 『English → “I-Language” → Japanese』.
Somehow, that drastically reduced translation errors—improving accuracy.
However...
《Since it’s translating twice, it takes longer than normal machine translation. The international live stream brute-forced it with hardware specs, though.》
《Whoa~!》
Translating twice sounds like it’d make errors worse—I’d never have thought of that!
Though now that I think about it, I unconsciously use lingua franca to bridge languages too... but never mind! As I kept gushing, “That’s amazing!”...
《............》
《Huh? What’s up?》
《...Nothing.》
《???》
《Well, translation speed will improve as “I-Language” gets more refined. It’s just a matter of sample size... it’ll get way faster.》
《What even is this “I-Language” you keep mentioning? Like... “I” as in “me”?》
《You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?》
《...?》
《Sigh... It’s the initials.》
《Of what... Oh! “Introverted Language”!》
E-language—Extrovert. Languages like English or Japanese, existing “outside” humans.
I-language—Introvert... the language of thought and concepts, existing “inside” humans.
That’s gotta be it!
I never thought they’d try to define something so abstract...
《You’re totally messing with me now, aren’t you!?》
《Huh?》
《.........Sigh......》
As I tilted my head in genuine confusion, Shitenou let out a long, exhausted sigh—
What do you think?
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