The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria
Book 6: Chapter 10

15 Years Old and Earrings, SCENE 4, 2/3

11. A PARK – NOON

A big park with a pitcher’s mound. Though the chatter of children can be heard in the distance, there is no one around Daiya and Kokone.

On the mound is a black-haired Daiya. Kokone, wearing glasses, stands atop home base with the wall to her rear.

Behind the park spreads a field of wheat, glittering gold.

DAIYA

Here.

Daiya tosses an easy curveball. Kokone stands ready for it, visibly flustered. She accidentally hits the ball with her glove, sending it rolling away. She scoops it up hurriedly, and when she throws it back, it doesn’t reach Daiya.

The two of them repeat the same sequence several times.

You suck.

Daiya speaks with a laugh as he retrieves a wayward ball.

KOKONE

Ohhh! I’m sorry!

Kokone somehow manages to catch the ball when she holds out the glove and supports it with both hands. Her return toss still falls short.

KOKONE

Daiya… Don’t you get bored playing catch with me…?

DAIYA

Well, I definitely can’t call it practice.

He snatches up the rolling ball.

DAIYA

But I don’t mind.

KOKONE

I can’t even get the ball to you, though. All my throws are way off.

Kokone sends the ball in the wrong direction yet again. Daiya chases after it.

DAIYA

Throw it wherever you want.

He calmly picks up the ball.

DAIYA

I’ll go get it every time.

Smiling, Daiya is truly okay with the arrangement. Kokone, on the other hand, doesn’t like relying on him like that, so she runs up to Daiya to get some pointers on how to throw.

She spends a while intently learning how to move her arms and space her legs. Daiya seems to enjoy this, too.

KOKONE

Okay, here goes.

She is able to throw the ball several times with somewhat better form. She’s getting better and better as time passes.

KOKONE

Here!

The ball goes straight into Daiya’s glove.

DAIYA

You got it to me.

Daiya grins.

KOKONE

I did.

Kokone grins.

12. THE PARK – A WINTER NIGHT

Daiya, his hair colored and a single piercing in his right ear, is throwing the ball at a concrete wall by himself like a man possessed. The ball bangs loudly against the wall, over and over. There is no one to catch it.

The stalks of wheat have been harvested, leaving the field barren.

DAIYA

……Huff……huff……

He throws with a wide swing. The powerful pitch shoots upward, jamming itself into the net above the concrete with a crash. It remains stuck there instead of falling down.

It’s impossible to retrieve.

Daiya glares at the ball for a time.

DAIYA (VO)

Purity is…

DAIYA (VO)

…beautiful…

DAIYA (VO)

…and delicate.

DAIYA (VO)

Once it’s lost, no one can ever get it back.

Daiya Oomine 09/11 FRI 10:50 PM

I can’t take any more.

For some reason, my head keeps ringing with a sound like the alarms announcing an incoming earthquake.

On-screen is Kokone Kirino, back when she had black hair. Then there’s me, mild mannered and polite, not questioning the world at all.

I knew it.

I knew this would happen if I saw 15 Years Old and Earrings, starring Kokone Kirino.

But that forewarning does nothing to stop the pain.

“...Ah.”

Malice.

Malice.

—Malice.

It feels as if I’m pinned to the seat of the theater by a blade of animus. Everything has changed color since then. Anyone can see the murky hue that’s joined the others: the truth. It feels like viscous mud, as if everything is working against me.

This malice that I should have grown accustomed to gnaws away at me.

Seeing the past beauty of the world forces me to see how different it is today—the impurity.

Yes.

I just wish I could pass out right now.

I just wish I could be at ease right now.

“Lord Daiya.”

A voice yanks my consciousness back, calling my name with that pompous, unpleasant title attached.

Resisting the lethargy unique to the Silver Screen of Broken Wishes, I summon my strength and turn my head toward the source of the voice. An older woman I don’t recognize is near the entrance to the theater. With my head hazy from the Box’s assault, I wonder who she is for a moment, but I soon identify her. Though I don’t really recognize her face, the fact that she addressed me by that title means she must be one of my fanatical Subjects.

The one here now is a different devotee from the middle school girl I met in Shinjuku. She wasn’t my only crazed follower. I remember now. The woman walking toward me now is a university student who repeatedly tried to take her own life. A woman who mistook my Crime, Punishment, and the Shadow of Crime for a spiritual experience.

Ironically enough, the presence of someone less-than-innocent relaxes me.

It’s probably because she helps me feel the reality I know and not the warmth found in that movie. It’s hilarious that something unpleasant makes me feel better.

“What is it?”

Once I pull myself together through the headache and the nausea, I remember what role this fanatic was assigned. She was given the task of keeping an eye on Kazu’s actions.

I gave that middle schooler an Order to use Mogi to deliver an ultimatum to Kazu and make him come here, and that I didn’t care if she broke Mogi’s fingers. At the same time, I ordered this college girl to go along with her in secret to observe how things went down. I figured Kazu and crew would be so fixated on the fanatic with Mogi that they wouldn’t notice my other Subject.

I then gave her an Order to come report back to me here in the Silver Screen of Broken Wishes after she had witnessed everything.

The college girl comes up next to me and kneels down like a vassal about to swear her fealty to me.

Her expression is quite panicked.

I can guess what it means.

“Did the threat with Mogi fail?”

“Yes.”

Since he has the power to crush Boxes, the answer is about what I expected. I made that Order before I heard what O had to say. Kazu’s ability pretty much leaves that scheme dead in the water.

I was not expecting what the woman says next, however.

“But that’s not all. Our plans have been leaked to them!”

I can’t process that situation straightaway. I scowl.

“What do you mean? How much has been leaked?”

“They’ve heard that my lord’s goal is to make Aya Otonashi lose her memory!”

“What?”

How did this happen?

It goes without saying, but I’ve mentioned that here, within the Silver Screen of Broken Wishes. There’s no way it could have leaked to the outside.

“Would O be able to relay that to them? …No, I really can’t imagine that now that she’s said Kazu is her enemy. If so, then—”

“Forgive the intrusion, but I can tell you that. It was Kasumi Mogi who told them.”

“Mogi?”

Can Mogi tell what’s going on in here? How could she?

After a little thought, I quickly arrive at the answer and turn back and to my right.

To the culprit behind the leak.

To a girl I had already considered released from duty.

“Yuri Yanagi.”

“Huh? What is it?”

Yanagi’s eyes open wide, as if she has absolutely no idea why I would be suddenly calling her name. But I’m familiar with her theatrics by now.

“Shindo gave you just a bit of her power, huh? Without my permission.”

That’s the situation as I read it.

Yanagi drops the clueless look in favor of a bright smile.

“Eh-heh-heh.” Her expression then turns cold and hard. “So the jig is up. You’re right. And Kasumi is my sole Subject.” She’s being awfully brazen after her innocent performance just a moment ago.

Yanagi’s defiance prompts my crazed university student follower to glare at her with unbridled hostility. I motion for her to stand down with a hand, then continue my conversation with Yanagi.

“Did you forget that my success would have benefitted you and Kazu?”

“Oh? I had no idea. I said this before, but do you think anyone would obey someone who murdered them? You believe you can make women do whatever you want. It’s disgusting. You should just die.”

She’s useless.

With my power, I could work up her shadow of a crime and put her through a world of pain. She’s my Subject; I can control her actions as much as I want.

And yet, she’s still letting her emotions control her.

I wait for Yanagi’s mouth to open, knowing that as soon as she finishes talking, I’m going to give her shadow of a crime hell.

But—

“Just kidding.”

—Yanagi grins.

“What?”

“I said, just kidding, Oomine. Please don’t be angry. It’s not what you think. I’m actually helping you.”

I have no doubt her words are misleading. I know that, but I decide not to mess with her shadow of a crime just yet and instead question her true intent.

“You’re trying to say that leaking my plans is helping me?”

It sounds like a pathetic excuse and nothing more.

But Yanagi is brimming with self-assurance as she declares, “That’s right.”

What’s up with her attitude?

Yanagi is smart. Surely she must be self-aware enough to know that, as one of my Subjects, she pretty much has a knife held to her throat. Maybe she’s just confident I won’t use the knife?

“Please just imagine Kazuki’s reaction when he finds out you plan to wipe Otonashi’s memory.”

I finally piece together what Yanagi is saying.

“Maybe this is what you’re getting at. You did it…”

I say it.

“…to draw Kazuki into the Silver Screen of Broken Wishes.”

She nods slowly, and a little arrogantly. “Exactly. Don’t you think that’s the most reliable way of getting him to do what you want? There’s no need to be terrible and break Kasumi’s fingers.”

I had attempted to use Mogi in a now-meaningless countermeasure against O. It’s understandable that Yanagi would find the threat ineffectual.

“Hey, Otonashi. It’ll bring Kazuki here, right?”

She’s even going to the trouble of getting confirmation from Aya.

Aya’s been watching us almost like a bystander, but now that she has to join the conversation, she replies, “…Yeah, it almost certainly will.”

If she’s saying he’ll show, then there’s pretty much no doubt.

“See? I have helped you.”

Kazu is on his way here thanks to Yanagi.

I’m going to come face-to-face with him.

Dammit…

I consider what Yanagi has done.

Damn her. She has really done it now.

It’s not that I hadn’t given any thought to baiting him with a threat to purge Otonashi’s memories. I did understand that it was a viable option to draw him to me.

Why should I have to take on such a risk, though?

If Kazu knows what I’m cooking up beforehand, then naturally, he’s going to take countermeasures. It raises the chance of my strategy failing. What’s worse, he has the extremely formidable power to obliterate Boxes.

If Yanagi wanted to act in my best interests, I would have wanted her to put together some completely different threat to tell Mogi.

Still, I’m surprised she’d go to such lengths to split Otonashi and Kazu apart…

“Kazu is probably gonna hate you when he finds out what you’ve done.”

“No he won’t. What’re you talking about?” Yanagi says with a matter-of-fact look. “I tried to keep you from harming Mogi and exposed your schemes, right? I did everything I could for Kazuki. In fact, I think he’ll be so grateful, he couldn’t hate me, don’t you think?”

…What is she on about?

But now that I think about it… No, she’s right.

From Kazu’s point of view, divulging my plans will just look like a helping hand. And she did protect Mogi, too. This girl is playing the role Kazu wants to a T.

She’s hanging on to her position to the bitter end.

“And you call this help for me…”

On top of it all, she’s covering her own ass, too. Now that he’s aware my thrust is to make Aya forget him, Kazu has probably surmised that Yanagi will be the target of the Misbegotten Happiness. And of course, once he’s got that down, he’ll think of a means of stopping that—a means of protecting Yanagi.

And thus, she raises her own chances of making it through this.

“—I’m sure you think it is, Yanagi, but you’ve dug your own grave.”

“Huh?”

Yanagi’s eyes go wide, and I seize her shadow of a crime.

“...A-ahhh!!”

She is experiencing the murders she committed in the Game of Indolence.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!”

She doesn’t stand a chance of enduring it.

“Before, I thought I would need Otonashi to use the Misbegotten Happiness in front of Kazu to make it really sink in that she’s forgotten about him. But if he already knows I’m going to make her erase her memory, if he’s on his way here now, that changes everything. He’ll know what happened if her memories are long gone by the time he arrives. When he sees that, it will break him.”

Yanagi tumbles out of her seat.

“A​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​ahhh!!”

“You’ve destroyed yourself and Kazu with your own actions. Congratulations. Now, despair and beg for the Misbegotten Happiness.”

The crime is murder.

Yanagi may be sly, but her heart is good-natured. Pure. She is far from being a villain. She doesn’t stand a chance under the weight of all her sins.

And yet—

“………I won’t.”

I frown at that small, rasping voice.

“I won’t. If I did, it would mean I lost to the Game of Indolence. I know I’m despicable. But I had no choice. I had to do those things for my own survival. Whether it was good or bad doesn’t matter; if I couldn’t have done anything else, I have to accept that fact.”

“Oh, shut up, murderer.”

“You shut up! I won’t let it go to waste. Kazuki came to see me at home so many times. He helped me to understand that I did only what I had to do. He forgave all the bad stuff I did. So no matter how much I suffer, I won’t let my guilt win… I won’t!”

“…I wonder how long you can keep that up?”

She talks big, but there’s no way she can hold out for long. I’ll just keep at her until she begs for someone to save her.

But…

“Stop, Oomine!” Aya says in a still voice. “I won’t use the Misbegotten Happiness this way, not even if she asks for it herself.”

I release my grip on the shadow of a crime at her words.

“Don’t ever try to force someone into asking for the Misbegotten Happiness again. I’ve made up my mind. Even if you torture someone to make them ask for it, I will never use it.”

If Aya says she won’t, then it’s a safe bet.

So Yanagi is released from her torment.

“Unh, ahhh…ahhh……” As tears stream down her face, she fixes an angry gaze on me. “…Eh, heh-heh…sounds like she isn’t going to do it… You’re pathetic.”

Crawling up into her seat, Yanagi lies there motionless as if utterly exhausted.

“Kazuki…,” she whispers. Calling the name of her absent crush? Regardless, her behavior makes it apparent she really did relay the situation to Kazu through Mogi in order to hinder me.

“Tch, you stupid bitch…”

The whole thing probably would’ve worked if I’d been able to wrangle her, so that’s a one-in-a-million chance that I missed.

…That, or maybe it’s Kazu’s fault again that she was able to stick it out. Maybe it was due to his patience in facing down the Game of Indolence and helping Yanagi recover?

Exhaustion washes over me in a wave, and I fall roughly into my seat.

The kneeling fanatic has been watching me uneasily. It’s unpleasant.

“Leave.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t want to even see you.”

She seems about to say something, but a fanatic isn’t going to talk back. As instructed, she disappears from the theater.

“...”

The movie is proceeding at a steady pace.

The scene where Rino burns Kiri with the cigarettes should be starting pretty soon.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.