T・P BON (T・Pぼん)

Namihira, what's wrong with you?

Why?

Your essay. It's unacceptable.

Personally, I think it's entertaining and well-organized.

And the twist is good, isn't it?

It's not the content.

You made too many mistakes.

How can you be so bad at writing kanji?

Please go back to elementary school.

What's the big deal?

So what if I wrote the characters slightly different?

It's fine as long as you get the meaning.

Hey, easy. Calm down.

For making the children of future generations suffer,

I want to time-travel and punch the dude who invented kanji!

Relax, Namihira.

Don't be so quick to hate them.

If you look at kanji's origins, you'll find it fascinating.

Kanji characters started as pictures.

They turned into symbols, then into logograms,

and then became the kanji we have now.

Wow, that sounds interesting.

It's definitely intriguing.

And then, when those basic symbols are mixed,

they create new meanings and become increasingly complex!

Wow!

I see.

KANJI WORKBOOK FOR JUNIOR HIGH STUDENTS

Whoever invented kanji must have been a weirdo

who had too much time to kill.

Oh, hey! It's a mission!

I can skip studying!

Agent Bon, this is not an excuse to skip studying.

Oopsie.

Didn't think you'd hear that.

Hey, someone's studying hard.

A mission?

That's right. Get ready.

We're going to 3319 B.C.

The location is Sumer, in modern-day Iraq.

First, we'll head to the ancient city of Eridu.

It must be a hassle to always come pick me up.

Not really, since I have this boat.

I think it's about time I got my own boat.

Let's ask Headquarters...

And you're going too far again.

Here he comes.

Want your own Time Boat?

Gain experience and make achievements,

complete your apprenticeship, and become an associate agent.

This is how everyone who was chosen to be a Time Patrol agent has...

Wait up!

I'm not done talking to you!

Buyo!

THE SUMERIAN BOY

This is Eridu in Sumer.

Look! There's a really magnificent temple!

There'll be an even larger ziggurat built in Babylon later.

So this is the original model of the Tower of Babel in the Bible.

Where's our destination?

It's a small village not far away from here.

Look at that! That's amazing!

What exactly is amazing there?

The wheels!

The wheel is one of the Sumerians' two greatest inventions.

It enabled the mass transportation of people and goods to distant places.

Didn't you learn it in school?

Show-off. I bet you know it thanks to Compressed Learning.

Guilty as charged.

This place looks nice and tranquil.

It's a small village,

but the residents seem to live peacefully.

Which one in this village are we saving?

The whole village.

-What? -Buyo?

This is horrible.

They were raided by thieves.

Headquarters couldn't pinpoint the exact date and time.

But the village was plundered and burned,

all men were killed,

and women and children were enslaved.

Such atrocity.

This is a huge mission.

Right.

What's that?

It's a wolf!

I'm not your food!

What?

It's wagging its tail.

Come on. Don't scare me like that.

It looks pretty tame.

It's got something on its neck.

Let's follow it.

Lu, right here!

Hey, good job.

Let's see.

Interesting.

Geme Inanna is going the day after tomorrow.

Thanks, Lu.

Have a treat.

Something like pebbles came out,

and they seemed to hold some sort of message.

But those were just some complex tokens.

What's that?

Complex tokens are small objects

that were used to record types and amounts of things.

That's what people used way back then before writing.

But he looked like he received a letter or something.

Let's keep watching.

On it.

I'm back!

Hey, you!

Where were you playing during this busy time?

No, Dad...

With your wolf again.

"Finding wealth is hard,

but poverty is always by our side."

Your Grandpa used to say that.

But here's what Grandma said.

"Being rich makes you happy,

having goods makes you glad,

but being poor makes you sleep well."

They also say, "Into an open mouth, a fly enters"!

Stop acting smart and come with me!

I wasn't acting smart. Okay, Dad, I got it.

Let go of me!

He's getting dragged to the field.

Kids just want to play, no matter the era.

Hey, Dad.

When do we go to the temple in Eridu?

I'm thinking of going sometime soon.

Let's go in two days.

Only if we finish everything we need to do.

I'm gonna work really hard.

Let's finish everything by then. Please?

Fine.

In two days, then.

Yeah! Thanks, Dad!

What's happening in two days in Eridu?

Let's skip to two days later.

Absolutely not.

We're not taking a wolf to Eridu.

But Lu is gentle and tame.

He's not like other wolves.

Uru, you want to go to Eridu, don't you?

Then do as your father says.

Okay.

Lu, I'm sorry, but you're staying here, okay?

See you later!

The oil and the cloth and...

Dad, we can see it from here.

It's Eridu.

The great god Enki,

the guardian of people.

Thanks to you, we had a good harvest this year.

We thank you very much.

Good, we've paid our dues.

Let's buy the cloth and oil for your mom and go home.

Dad, can I go see the port?

Sure.

Let's meet by the boat in the evening.

Cool!

He's super excited, isn't he?

He really is.

Hey, Geme!

Geme Inanna!

Uru Dumuzid!

Hi. It's been quite a while.

It really has.

Where's Lu?

Dad didn't let me bring him, so he's staying home.

How adorable.

They're having a date.

But how did she know he was coming here?

Uru and his dad decided to come here only two days ago.

Perhaps those complex tokens are the key after all.

You know, I was so excited to see you that I couldn't sleep last night.

Me neither.

I really wanted to see you too.

My father decided to come to Eridu,

so I asked Lu to make haste.

How's Uruk?

You're so lucky, Geme.

You live in such a big city.

I'd love to go there sometime.

I'm going to leave Uruk.

My father is moving to our family's hometown of Bad-tibira

to inherit my grandfather's business.

Bad-tibira?

It's a village much farther away from Eridu or Uruk.

No way.

You'll be even farther away than now?

But it'll be fine,

because we can talk to each other no matter how far apart we are

if we use the signs you came up with.

The signs?

This is me.

This is you.

This is Eridu.

These mean "in two days."