The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria
Book 2: Chapter 1

I’m in the midst of sights I can remember only in dreams.

I already know who’s standing before me. However, since I refused to take the Box, I have no means of consciously remembering any of this when I’m awake. I have no idea when this conversation took place, either.

“Do you recall what I said to you before? About how I can’t tell any of you humans apart, yet for some reason you catch my eye?”

I don’t understand. I feel like I have heard this, but also like I haven’t.

“Well, thanks to this last incident, I’m beginning understand why—the reason I can differentiate you from the rest of your kind. Perhaps it’s because you don’t reject anything, but at the same time, you don’t accept anything, either.”

That just sounds like wordplay to me.

“That ‘normal life’ you’re always going on about is not the ‘normal’ other people see. To you, even things you wouldn’t mind parting with are part of that ‘normal life,’ right? Other people can’t accept things for what they are the way you do.”

The speaker smiles while saying this to me.

“Humans are all distorted. What a person perceives as normal is warped and twisted by their own values. So, you could say my Boxes allow someone’s biases to encroach upon others. This is why you are so sensitive and averse to the intentional distortions of the mundane created by their use. Am I wrong?”

I have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about. I wish they would just leave me alone.

“This time, it was applied directly to your very flesh. Yet despite this, you managed to maintain your identity without falling under the sway of the owner’s values because you can recognize other people’s perversions of reality for what they are. And once you’re aware of the distortion, you naturally refuse to accept it. The thing is, your ability to sniff out these abnormalities far exceeds that of any regular person. That is the reason why…you don’t accept anything.”

All I can do is scowl in confusion, but they still don’t let up.

“Your powers of perception are so very limited compared with mine, yet I can’t deny this unique capacity of yours. Hmm, yes… It could be that you and I are rather alike.”

I want them to stop.

I find them completely repulsive.

When I tell them as much, they smile, and this being who can resemble everyone and no one takes the shape of someone I know all too well.

O now looks exactly like me, Kazuki Hoshino, and speaks.

“Perhaps this is why it’s said the ones who resemble you are the ones you hate the most?”

No.

We may appear identical, but we’re nothing alike.

April 29 (Wednesday) Showa Day

April 29 (Wednesday), 12:02 AM

The start of the first day.

April 29 (Wednesday), 11:57 PM

The end of the first day.

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