Volume 5 -A Chapter 2 (1/2)

02/22/1944 - 03/07/1944

Rosetta polishes the Lourd de Marionnette every day.

A mystery Lourd de Marionnette appeared in the streets of Pairs last night!!

Last night at around 8, a Lourd de Marionnette of unknown affiliation burst from a warehouse near the Théâtre du Châtelet and escaped the stationed German troops surrounding it. That Lourd de Marionnette has been missing ever since it vanished into the Boulogne Park. The investigative authorities are working with the stationed German troops to search the Seine on the western end of the park's forest and the lake inside the park.

There are some rumors claiming the Lourd de Marionnette crossed the river and escaped into the city to the north.

Are you reading this, Beretta who inherited my name?

These letters developed by the US military are expensive, but I hope that means you really can take them with you into France. Well, they were made by people I've relied on a lot in the past and the 7th letter is hardly the time to start worrying.

Now, I told you to open one of these a month and this is the 7th one. That means it's February, Beretta.

By that time, you might just be finding yourself caught in - or causing - incidents I know nothing about. When I infiltrated the city as a special spy, I had a new Heavy Barrel sent in with me, but the Germans discovered it and blew it up, so I had to run for it. Disguising myself after that wasn't easy.

Now, the big incident in February would be the small Wort Bombe arriving in Paris. At 2:03 AM on the 14th, the Neue Bladlikburg IV lands at Paris's international airport (which I believe was half militarized at the time) and the bomb is transferred to a storage s.p.a.ce below the airport.

During the Allies and Resistance's movement to the liberate Paris on August 6, 1944, the frightened military commanders decided to drop the small Wort Bombe on central France using a transport plane. That destroyed France and started the endless repeating of history.

I'm guessing the lesson Germany learned in Russia wasn't when to give up; it was to use scorched earth tactics. In that case, they achieved the best results they could have hoped for. Think about it, Beretta. As long as France cannot escape the repeating age of the Rondeau, World War Two will never truly end. That was a fortunate result for Germany.

After all, the world has already given up on France.

The world will be destroyed if the 54-year paradox hits it. If that happened, you would live on in there, but those of us out here would be wiped out.

It's a tricky thing.

But can you see the world on the move outside that country? Outside that closed s.p.a.ce, it's 1999, but from in there, everything outside France is still in 1944, isn't it? You're receiving information on the Allied and German activities outside the country, aren't you?

To perfect its own closure, France is attempting to recreate that year based on what information it has.

Everything you see outside France is only the ”bare necessities”.

France absorbed the memories of the people caught in the Format, so it knows who will contact someone outside the country and what response they'll get. So the information needed to respond is created based on their memory Lives. It's pre-established harmony.

For example, think about the soldiers who landed at Normandy and were later caught in the Format. Until June of '44, they are placed in a world created based on their own memories and they live out their exact same life there in the Rondeau. Anything they didn't see isn't created. It's a world entirely based on their memories.

But what about someone like you who arrived from the outside world? If you try to contact someone outside the country, France will use all of the information it has to try and fool you.

So if you were to send a letter to that M. Schrier you look up to (He was in the US at the time, wasn't he?), since he briefly visited France in '39, France will use the memories of that time to build up his character and provide a response. (Of course, he was only in France for 3 days, so the answer will only be as accurate as those 3 days' of information allow.)

The problem is the Format concept.

You know I was there in '43 and '44, right? My personal reason was to search out why your great-grandfather died and my official reason was to support the Resistance as a Knight Striker sent in by the US. I was publicly known as an exchange student, so my circ.u.mstances were a lot like yours now.

I was born in France, so I found it all so nostalgic when I arrived in '43.

But I escaped France just before August 6 and was not caught in the Format. France is repeating that year based on the worldview built up before August 6, 1943, but it does not contain my Lives or those of any of the other Erased.

France has its own memories of everything before August 6, 1943 and that includes us. But France does not remember the people who were not caught in that first Format.

Listen carefully, Beretta. The Paris I know is only the Paris I experienced. The Paris you learned about at school and read about in various doc.u.ments is a second Paris that exists without me.

And the Paris you are in now is your Paris. You are borrowing my ident.i.ty while there, but you are not my replacement. Keep that in mind.

Each year, Paris is a little different and then is Formatted again.

All of those are mistaken and false while also correct and true.

So don't worry about whether you've screwed everything up. I think I've given you everything I have other than my hair color, but I'm not going to take away your freedom. Everyone only gets one shot at reality. Once you're expelled by the Format on August 6, you can never enter France again. The immune system of France's own Lives will never again allow in anything ”extra” once it's gotten in once. So focus on this one shot at being an exchange student.

If there is a right answer, it would be a way to liberate Paris from the Rondeau so it is never Formatted again. Of course, we don't even know if that's possible. You were taught all about this, weren't you? The immune system is gradually eliminating outsiders as it tries to immerse itself in that year of history undisturbed. And the scientists predict that, by 2005, France will fully reject the intrusion of anything from outside and become a truly closed city.

It really is a shy city, isn't it?

I can't go on. Thanks to today's incident, I was subjected to a surprise inspection as a Knight Striker and my friends covered for me, but I can't go on. I'm so tired. The exhaustion hit me once I started reading my grandma's letter. It really hurts to know how much trouble I've caused:

1. I altered history in a bad way.

2. I was protected by others when a Knight Striker is supposed to be the one doing the protecting.

3. I don't have anyone I can discuss this with.

That's really all I need to know.

I'm going to sleep.

My friend, I had just been thinking that I had nothing to tell you and had lost any opportunity to speak with you.

That would be because the Germans have occupied this city for 4 years now. Nothing new is happening and we were merely suppressed and monitored. Doesn't it all seem so silly?

But I am still writing you a letter because of something that has happened more in my private affairs than anything. And I am certain you will find it fascinating.

A Lourd de Marionnette showed up at my home. Since it is a long story, I won't explain how that came to be, but it was exactly what Rose Francisca said would happen. And it reminded me of what she had said:

”Paris is repeating its history over and over.”

And only Rose Francisca knowns the truth due to her skill as a Correcteur. According to her, France has been repeating this year for 54 years now and something will change this year.

Is this the beginning of that?

If so, what will it lead to? You don't know either, do you? If all this is true, how will the 54-year Rondeau come to an end? Even if the change this time is special, won't it all return to the way it was once we reach August 6?

To be honest, I don't really know the answer. And even if I did, there would be nothing I could do.

But still, what is this? Do young girls pilot Lourd de Marionnettes in this day and age? And with as much skill as I had in my heyday? The most frightening part is how she not only climbed the slope behind my house in the rain, but she also jumped right over the roof of my house. The Lourd de Marionnette is collapsed in my courtyard. My house might only be 2 stories, but it's an old building that stands 12 yards tall. She jumped over that.

When I checked over her Lourd de Marionnette more carefully, I found the right leg's cylinders were completely shot. That girl brought herself this far with just one leg.

And when I checked the slope out back, there wasn't a single footprint. Even if the rain would have washed them out to an extent, she had to have been walking the right way. Not on her heels like the Germans do, but in the French style meant to move a Lourd de Marionnette around swiftly.

Ha ha. How about that? Do I have your interest now? It's been 25 years since I got this false right leg (or 79 years if Rose Francisca is to be believed. Viva long life), and I certainly never thought I would be directly involved with a Lourd de Marionnette again now. The Resistance inside Paris has 13 Lourd de Marionnettes, but none of them belong to the team I directly command and I did make that vow.

You know, the vow we made to never actively involve ourselves with Lourd de Marionnettes again.

But even after trying to distance myself from them, here I am.

How do I explain this? Maybe after reaching my mid-forties, my anger and resentment has calmed and my mind has grown as simple as a child's. A child who immediately reacts to everything in front of his eyes.

That girl might be the cause of that. But…to be blunt, I can't help but notice how much she resembles Rose Francisca.

To prove her theory, Rose Francisca predicted that a Lourd de Marionnette would arrive and then the girl who showed up looked somewhat like her.

Also, the girl said her name is Beretta.

Do you understand what that means? Rose Francisca's daughter is also named Beretta.

Is she that daughter? No, that daughter is supposed to be in San Francisco. And that daughter would probably remember me. Does she just so happen to look like her? It just bothers me to no end.

I do intend to look into her ident.i.ty. Nothing is making sense anymore. When Rose Francisca sent me a letter for the first time in 20 years, it was under a false name. What happened?

Rosetta also seems interested in that girl. Whenever she has some spare time lately, she polishes the milk-white Appareil in the bas.e.m.e.nt storeroom. I don't know if she feels some kind of affinity as a Belle de Marionnette or if it's because of you-know-what. I'd probably have to ask you directly on that one. Why is Rosetta so interested in the Lourd de Marionnette?

And ever since last night, Rosetta has oddly begun to smile. I was shocked to see the smile on her face when she greeted me in the morning. I had never given her a life which made that necessary.

The Lourd de Marionnette was sent to the Resistance by the Allies, so it of course belongs to me. But the girl is a different story. I cannot bring her into the Resistance.

After I finished preparing the Lourd de Marionnette to be dismantled, I walked from the storeroom to the bath and happened to hear her crying in the guest room. She was apologizing to those who died that night. I have no intention of making a girl like that one of us. Well, maybe I've grown too soft. I will still look into her ident.i.ty, though.

Until next time.

I expect something interesting will happen soon, so I will send you another letter then.

Greetings, our beloved protector G.o.d.

The other day, you asked about the details of one of our students, so I have retrieved that information from our student affairs office and provided it below. I hope that it will be useful in guiding your future actions.

Name: Beretta McWild

Species: Human

Age: 21 (Born in 1923)

Nationality: French (Lived in America for 15 years)

Family: Father (Jack McWild - Deceased)

Mother (Rose McWild - 48)

Appearance: Brown Hair, Blue Eyes

Health: Excellent

Qualifications: Unrestricted Lourd de Marionnette License, Cla.s.s 1 Official French Language Certification, Cla.s.s 1 General Automobile License

Academic History: École Primaire de Paris - Graduated

San Francisco 3rd High School - Graduated

San Francisco State University - Accepted

After completing her first year, she transferred here (on a special invitation). The year after France was made German territory, she reentered our school as a first year. She is currently a first year in our deuxième division.

Special Notes: She transferred from America, but she was originally French. She was born in Paris.

Her father was an American technical officer and her mother was the daughter of a doctor in the Bourgogne region. The details are unknown, but they were wed shortly after the war ended (1920) and she was born two years later (1923).

15 years ago (1929) she moved with her father to America due to a falling out between her parents.

5 years ago (1939), her father visited France for a business negotiation and died.

The San Francisco State University student affairs office is acting as her guardian.

She worked on Belle de Marionnette maintenance at her home and her industrial knowledge is impressive.

She also has great promise as a Chevalier and won the Lourd de Marionnette battle at the previous year-end festival.

If you wish to know any further details, please visit our student affairs office.

Today I'm writing this in the library like always.

My mood has improved enough that I actually feel like writing something for once.

I definitely didn't feel like wandering around outside for about 3 days after returning home from that commotion. The police showed up for a surprise inspection. They were apparently searching out all of the women in Paris with a Knight Striker license.

I was out that night, but my friends at the appartements got their story straight and saved me with a (false) alibi. But Mallette was really mad at me afterwards: ”Why did you have to get back in the morning on that night of all nights?”

And yet she's always bringing guys home to her room. Still, she heard about the surprise inspections in the market that morning, so she's the one that saved me. I should buy her a tart on the way home today.

But I've learned that I really can use my grandma's ident.i.ty here. She infiltrated France on July 25, 1943, and her falsified doc.u.ments were sent to Sorbonne University. According to those doc.u.ments, she arrived in Paris just before the war and then studied as a student there for 3 years.

She did a lot for the year after that, but she's disappeared for that year here. Because she wasn't caught in the Format.

So here I am living that life for her.

The normal ”exchange students” have to falsify a lot more and pretend to either be German or French, so I have it a little easier. (Although the exchange student management office had to run around preparing a period-appropriate spy dismissal doc.u.ment to make sure none of my grandma's missions were sent to me.)

The Format, hm?

During the First Format, France decided that everything inside it was its own property and now everything (life and death included) is reset every year. But the people who weren't in France during the First Format don't appear in the world after the Format. So there are some people who always ”go missing” each year just after the Format. According to the statistics from '93, a total of 200,000 people escaped France between August of '43 and the First Format. The only reason so many people going missing only causes a small commotion is due to the German occupation.

People apparently get ”purged” from time to time, so it isn't strange for a neighbor to just disappear.

The most unfair part is what happens to the people who died between August '43 and August '44. Their deaths became a part of the Format and they've died 54 times at this point.

Phillip Missel is one of those. He's from the former Chevalier de Paris family which bears the Signe de Épée and he lives a double life as both a part of the Resistance and an honorary officer in the German army. But during the Resistance uprising on August 1, he is killed by Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Berge's Barrel.

After spending some time with him I've realized that it's always the good people who end up dying like that.

Everyone looks at him with scorn because they see him joining the German army as a betrayal, but I'm sure he's gathering intelligence for France right now.

However, I can't tell anyone that and we ended up getting into a fight over that misunderstanding. We found out we had more than just school in common, like foods we like, and I even let him kiss me, but he has his reasons for this and I can't stop him.

But to be honest, I expect that's for the best. I dated him out of curiosity, but it's not anything more serious. Plus, he's going to die on August 1 this year. And even if he wasn't, I'll be sent back to my original age during the 54th Format on the 6th and then I'll never be able to get back inside France.

I think it may be for the best to keep our relations.h.i.+p as it is.

Oh, but everyone's having a get-together today, so he might come to that. Hmm, what should I do?

Let's change the subject. This is a journal meant to gather my thoughts, not a Sign doc.u.ment.