Digital Devil Story: Reincarnation of the Goddess Read Free

eyes, Nakajima started tapping the keys with a flowing rythm.
    Nakajima first became interested in magic when he had the opportunity to read "The New Golden Dawn Theory." While the book was poorly written, and the interpretation therein was clumsy and unskillful, Nakajima read through the whole thing regardless; while the world of magic held an appeal that hid a dark and sinister side, it also showed a rational and scientific realism to it as well. While re-reading passages that seemed to unusual to him two or three times over, Nakajima had made a sudden realization that was almost like an epiphany.
    Magical theory and computer theory were surprisingly similar.
    At first glance, the two worlds did not seem to have any connection to each other. However, the similiarities between them had been discovered by both magic and information technology researchers long before Nakajima. Charles Feed, a professor at MIT, a school famous for its study of artificial intelligence, was one of those researchers. Nakajima had immediately become a member of his group, ISG. (International Satanist Garden) And for the past few months, Nakajima had been immersed in writing a program to summon demons, the idea for which he had thought up himslf.
    It was almost complete.
    Nakajima had already finished the core part of the program. All he had to do now was add a few subroutines and it would be finished. But until yesterday, Nakajima had had reservations about finishing the project to completion. If his theory was correct, the program would definitely call a demon into the world. But up until this point, Nakajima couldn't think of any particular reason to summon a demon; he wouldn't even know what to make it do. But the events of the day had given him a clear, simple, goal.
    "I feel a little sorry for you, but you're going to be the subject of a little experiment." Nakajima started creating his final subroutines.
    "Use data addresses 3780-3990 for 'Toad's Legs.' Put this in the buffer, and before displaying the result, chant the spell. Yod, Dur, Dawr, Set. Wonder what this spell means?"
    Picking up the modem receiver, Nakajima called Arkham in Massachusetts, to connect with ISG's host computer. As the connection picked up, his computer's display filled with the image of the demon Lucifer. Calling up the AI, Craft, and explaining the situation, he asked about the spell. Nakajima's English was not particularly good, so several times the only thing that appeared on-screen were question marks.
    > OK, I UNDERSTAND.
    Finally, Craft appeared to have gotten it; Nakajima asked the AI what the spell meant.
    > PERHAPS IT'S ONLY A COUNTER?
    Craft's response probably indicated that the spell was only a time counter.
    > THANK YOU, CRAFT.
    Cutting the connection to ISG, Nakajima set himself to the task of writing the subroutine once again. Two hours later, there was a knock on his door.
    "Come on in." With a hint of irritation in his voice, Nakajima responded to the knock without taking his eyes off the program list on-screen.
    "Did you eat dinner?"
    "...."
    Nakajima didn't respond, and just kept typing on the keyboard.
    "Oh, what happened to your lip?" Nakajima's mother bent down from behind him to take a good look at his face.
    "I ran into the goalpost playing soccer." Nakajima stopped typing and looked back at his mother. Nakajima had a strong resemblence to his mother, who was a beautiful woman with a slender face. When they were together, they would frequently be mistaken for siblings. When it came to her son's education, she was very conservative; she wanted him to get into Keio University's medical school. Of course, there were too many blemishes on his academic record for that to ever happen.
    "Shouldn't you put some medicine on it?"
    "It's OK, mom. It's not serious."
    Irritated at his programming being interrupted, Nakajima absentmindedly tapped keys at random on the keyboard.
    BEEP.
    The computer made a harsh tone, and an error message appeared on-screen.