Editing Seikai no Senki:Danshou1 Story1 (section)

===The Creation of the World - 創世===

This might be thought of as surprising but, my relationship with him at work was extremely thin. 

Indeed at that time, I was working as the Planning Director in addition to the Head of Clerical Affairs for the Council, while he was Chief of Genetic Designs. In any case, as long as one advances the plan, it's a job that can't be failed. Just in case I'll write this down but, even though they're both important roles, I don't think about raising an objection over his name being the one that'll come up repeatedly when the plan is reflected upon. I appear further up in the organization's standings but, for the job called Head of Clerical Affairs, if one possesses a loyal heart towards the city and some degree of business sense, anybody can do it. There were probably numerous people who could have taken my place. On that point though, his job demands a very high degree of scientific principle, and it'd be fine to assert that there was no other person who could fulfill that duty.

At any rate, my job involved allocating the budget, the negotiation of related persons' positions, etc. As long as you're a member of the city's public administrative organization, he was no exception, you can't escape from the like hassles of everyday affairs. Although between the two of us there's the plan's Technology Chief, and all of the requests from the Genetic Designs group were dealt with by her. 

We rarely saw each other in public, but we met in private regularly. He was a childhood friend, and we spent a lot of time together, coming and going between each other's homes often.

When we were together, our conversations must have seemed meaningless, even absurd to a stranger. Even during the advancement of the plan, we never talked about work.

That one day was the only exception.
He came by my house, bringing a single liquor bottle with him, like always.

While we were exchanging small talk, he suddenly asked "Wanna take a gamble?" He pulled out a jar and dice from his pocket, as if to prove he was serious. How he got his hands on something like that, I still don't know. 

I was taken aback. He had a fun personality, not at all stiff, but at his core he was always very serious, never picking up any bad habits. I couldn't even picture him with eyes bloodshot from gambling.

At first I suspected whether he had recently been taken over by the allure of gambling. This type of thing happens a lot to the people that are serious to the core: when they end up finding something fun they get sucked in completely. I feared that might've been the case for him too.

If that's the case, then as an old friend I'd have no choice but to warn him.
However, he perplexingly said "It's not money we'll gamble with". 
'Then what are we gambling' I asked, "Fate" he answered. 
With this it hit me and I asked, "Did you read it? Did you see it?"

I just got done saying how he wouldn't stain himself with bad habits but, if pressed I'd say there is one. It's doting on literature works from foreign cultures. During our youth, the ban on works from foreign cultures still hadn't been lifted, and it would've been a crime if his secret hobby was discovered. Actually, it could be because of that that he got so obsessed with it.

Of course there's no longer a need to hide it anymore, but the firm regard towards the excessive devotion to foreign cultures as being a bad hobby remains. 

As for me, I have no intention of getting in the way of a friend's hobby. However, I was annoyed with how easily he got influenced. 

Behind the reason he said such an outrageous thing as "We'll gamble with fate"; there probably lies the influence of some novel or play, anyway, some sort of fabrication. 

"I read it" he said.

It seems there's a strange story that starts off from a scene where the future of the world is laid down by a god called the Fate of Everything and a god called Opportunity, rolling a die. 

As I jokingly asked him if he thought he became a god, "Exactly. To them we're their creators. I wonder if not God itself," he answered in response. 

And finally I was able to understand what he was talking about. It was a truly outrageous suggestion. That's because whether fate is attributed or not is not a matter that can be decided by just me or him alone. Of course, even with both of our consent it would be impossible. 

To assign fate to them, that is the Living Work Droids (temporary name), is the decision of the Council. We don't even have a fragment of a right to overturn that.

Since the matter was so serious I tried to verify it. "That's right. If I win we unbound them from fate. If you win, just as the plan goes, we'll send them off with fate attached." He backed up my fears. 

'Hey that's mutiny towards the city,' I pointed out, followed by this argument. Their God isn't you, of course it's not me, not anybody else, not themselves, the city should become their God.

I have two years oven him so I sometimes end up lecturing this old friend of mine. Even though I'm supposed to clearly know that it would be impossible for him to honestly listen to me.

This time too, he just wasn't paying any attention.

"What, they won't find out if we remain silent." He said as I rested my tongue. "I'll do something about the records. All that's left is for you to be quite about it and it'll be alright."

There's no way we can do that. If discovered we'd likely be inquired for a crime of breaching trust. No wait, setting aside whether we receive punishment or not, it was something we shouldn't be able to do in light of our conscience. 

As I remained silent with my arms crossed, he said, "Either way, isn't our job a gamble?"

I vaguely remember him saying something along the meaning of, 'There's no humbling ourselves'. Because he has no confidence in his own work he says those kinds of things, is what I thought. Due to the characteristics of his works, they weren't able to be tested enough, and whether or not they started up properly was left unconfirmed.

"No, noo," he interrupted what I was saying. "The animal tests were repeated plenty of times. Even I know how much time and money a perfect experiment would take up. Especially time. I have no discontent. I'm convinced; the fate I set up will work."

'Then what is the gamble,' I asked. 

He, rather, squinted his eyes mysteriously. "Like I said, that plan of ours. I won't let you say you aren't involved. Because after all, you're one of the directors of the plan, moreover the Head of Clerical Affairs." 

Finally here, I realized that he was stating that the Plan, itself, was a gamble. Until then, I was misunderstanding his "Us" for his Development team's colleagues and subordinates.