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Chapter 8 – Operation, Start

“What should I do? How am I supposed to change history?”

There was no one to answer my questions. And there was nothing a three-year-old could do.

(First and foremost, I need to make allies.)

That was my immediate conclusion. A three-year-old alone couldn’t accomplish anything.

(But how do I do that? Even if I came out and said, “Hey, I’m a reincarnator from the future (probably)”, people would just see it as a little girl playing make-believe. Worst case, I could end up in a mental hospital.)

The more I thought about it, the worse my thoughts spiraled.

So, I made a decision.

(First, I need to organize information. I have to write down the history I know, the events that are coming, and any critical data… But man, this little girl body may be smart, but she’s still a child—my mental capacity and working time are way too limited. Ugh, I wish I could grow up faster. Then again, if I just sit around waiting, I’ll be doomed instantly.)

Having made up my mind, I took action immediately.
There might already be a historical event unfolding at this very moment, and I couldn’t afford to miss it. That was one of the fundamentals of time-travel science fiction.

That said, from what I could recall, aside from the Great Kanto Earthquake and its related incidents in the fall of 1923, there wasn’t much else.

(Incidents… incidents… If I remember correctly, the cabinet collapsed at the end of the year. But why was that again?)

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I realized I was starting to go off track.

“Mari~! I need my drawing tools~! Pencils too~! And lots of paper, okay~?”

“Yes, Reiko-ojou-sama. Please wait just a moment~.”

First, action. 

Time is money.

A few days later, my first painstaking creation had reached a makeshift state of completion.

“Hmm, I really am capable if I put my mind to it. Actually, isn’t this little girl ridiculously smart? There’s no way I’m really three years old.”

I muttered to myself as I looked at the completed stack of papers. But my words were true—though not about me being capable.

It was this body. I had to admit, as expected of a villainous noble daughter.
At just three years old, this level of high specs was unbelievable. 

Even things I could only vaguely recall—or had completely forgotten—surfaced in my mind, neatly assembling themselves like puzzle pieces.

On top of that, I instinctively knew exactly how to lay everything out on paper.

It was like I had become a human memory storage unit and document creation software.

And I realized something else as well.

(At the very least, this intelligence is a weapon I can use. My villainous noble daughter body might actually come in handy.)

And right in front of me was my freshly completed weapon.

The history of the future.

For now, I had written down every incident, accident, and war I could recall, from this current point in 1923 up until December 8, 1941—the moment Japan effectively hit the game-over event.

I also wrote down, as much as I could remember, the people and things related to these events in the margins and on separate sheets of paper.

(This alone could fill an entire book, but for now, it’s just a delusional notebook. The problem is that if any of this actually happens in reality, it’ll only bring trouble.)

With that thought in mind, I placed the stack of written pages into “Reiko’s Treasure Box”, the one labeled “Absolutely No Peeking!”

Not only that, but I also buried it deep at the bottom and covered it with various toys that a three-year-old would normally play with.

As long as I didn’t make a mess, no one should ever come across this stack of papers.

I had even confirmed that Mari and the other maids deliberately avoided tidying up my things.

(But just hiding it away isn’t enough. I need to use this as a starting point to plan my course of action… Alright, time to move on to my next task. Seriously though, I have to give thanks for this cheat-level body—or rather, this cheat-level brain.)

With that thought, I began working on something new—writing about certain future events in a way that would make an impact on anyone who saw them.

The future I revealed focused on the near future as much as possible.

More importantly, I laid out means to prevent the downfall of the Ootori clan and the Ootori financial conglomerate.

Once I finished writing these, I deliberately left them out where someone could find them.

I repeated this for days.

Most of the time, it was just Mari or the other maids cleaning my room who saw them.

But I knew.

There was a high chance that my grandfather and great-grandfather would eventually see what I had written and drawn.

Their purpose was to observe the growth of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

And if they were members of the Ootori family—a clan that was quite the cheat-level existence—they would surely understand the meaning behind what I had written and drawn.

They might even question me about my true intentions.

That was my current plan.

But what would I do if they actually asked?

I already had an answer prepared: “I saw it in a dream.”

Just as I had been dreaming of Japan’s destruction, I would simply claim to have seen other future events in my dreams as well.
That way, it wouldn’t be knowledge of past history from my previous life, but rather a prophetic revelation of the future.

It was undeniably an occult-like explanation, but I believed that would be far more convincing than claiming to be a reincarnated person from the future.

(If I’m going to gain allies, my family is my best bet. If it’s about preventing the downfall of the Ootori clan, they should be more willing to cooperate. But… there’s a high chance they’ll dismiss it as just the ramblings of a little girl. Still, the sooner I act, the better. Time is still on my side!)

Encouraging myself with that thought, I went back to my work.

Time passed, but there was no response.

I was starting to feel a bit disheartened.

(Maybe they really just saw it as childish nonsense…?)

“That should cover matters regarding the entire clan.”

A man, who seemed to have been in the middle of a discussion, paused for a moment.

Then, his gaze fell upon something, and he spoke again.

“Tokita, what do you think of this?”

“It reminds me of something Rin-sama once wrote.”

“I feel the same. It reminds me of my mother.”

“I’ve never seen it myself.”

“That’s because we destroyed all of it.”

In a lavish study, dimly illuminated by slightly subdued lighting, three men conversed.

This was, in effect, the Ootori clan’s top-level meeting.

One wore a formal kimono with a family crest, another was dressed in a military uniform, and the third donned a Victorian-style butler’s outfit. They were Ootori Souichirou, Kiichirou, and the head butler, Tokita.

There had once been another person qualified to be here, but that individual had since passed away.

Tokita stood between the two seated men, occasionally pouring wine and attending to other small tasks.
Opposite each other, separated by a low table, an elderly man and a middle-aged man sat on luxurious sofas.

But what they all shared was the same expression—serious and intent.

The reason lay in the numerous sheets of paper scattered across the table.

Each one was hand-drawn, covered in various writings and illustrations. Among them was something that appeared geometric in nature, which Kiichirou picked up.

His usual air of indifference was gone, replaced by the sharpness characteristic of the Ootori clan.

It was the look of a man once nicknamed “The Razor” in his youth—a look that only deepened as he scrutinized the document.

“This… This is undoubtedly the movement of the Dow Index, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Lord Kiichirou.”

“But it’s not based on past records. This chart projects market trends for the next ten years.”

“At first glance, it appears to be mere scribbles, but the level of detail is astonishing.”

“More than that—it’s shocking that a three-year-old not only writes kanji but English as well.”

Kiichirou shrugged. Despite his military uniform, at this moment, it suited him all too well.

“Indeed. But this is the first time I’ve ever experienced such a shock myself. In that regard, I’m the same as you, Kiichirou.”

“I must say, I feel the same as well.”

The three men exchanged wry smiles at their shared reaction.

However, as soon as their chuckles faded, their expressions turned serious.

“Now then, which do you two believe it to be?”

“Which? Isn’t there only one possibility?”

“Two? Father, I don’t understand what you mean.”

Hearing their responses, the eldest, Souichirou, looked back and forth between them before speaking.

“At first, I thought that my mother had appeared to Reiko in a dream.”

“Father, that makes no sense. Just because she appeared in a dream, a three-year-old child wouldn’t be able to draw such precise graphs. Or write in both kanji and English.”

“So, there are two possibilities. And what is the other one?”

“Hold on, both of you.”

“You’re suggesting that Reiko is a prodigy, aren’t you?”

“And that because she’s a prodigy, Rin-sama appeared to her in a dream?”

Kiichirou and Tokita’s expressions barely shifted.

The irrationality of the situation left them struggling to form a conclusion, yet Souichirou noticed their subtle attempts to mask their uncertainty.

That was why, behind his mustache, the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

“I knew my mother well, which is why I can say such things and believe them without hesitation.”

“So, what’s the other possibility?”

“…That child herself is mother’s reincarnation.”

Having spoken the words aloud, a faint trace of regret flickered across Souichirou’s face.

“So, you’re saying that sooner or later, she’ll reveal her true nature?”

“She already has, in many ways. While she usually speaks like a child her age, there are times when she adopts the tone and mannerisms of an adult. Moreover, I believe she has likely read most of the books in her room.”

“Hah? She’s only three years old. Are you suggesting that inside, she’s already the same as an adult?”

Kiichirou, taken aback, started to rise from his chair.
Even Souichirou raised an eyebrow, though his gaze made it clear he wasn’t fully convinced.

“Yes. I speculate that she already possesses knowledge and insight comparable to that of an adult. I was only visiting at the time of the earthquake, so I am not entirely familiar with what transpired in Yokohama. However, according to reports from the surviving maids, Reiko-sama displayed exceptional intelligence.”

“I see. If that’s the case, then when the time is right, she will take action on her own. My father once told me that my mother was the one who brought ‘the future’ to us.”

With those words, Souichirou downed his drink in one swift motion.

That act signaled the end of yet another meeting between the three.

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Dow Index
The Dow Jones Industrial Average. A major stock market index representing the U.S. economy.
In many ways, it serves as the world’s primary economic indicator.
Around 1925, it showed an abnormal surge leading into the late 1920s.