The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria
Book 2: Chapter 8

May 2 (Saturday), 9:14 AM“You sure this is okay? If word gets out that you were in here with Kazuki Hoshino, it could mean big trouble for both of you.”

Maria Otonashi leads me into one of the stalls of the girls’ bathroom.

“…Heh.”

I walk right into the stall without a second thought, and she regards me with a cold smile. What exactly is she plotting here? True, the toilets up on the third floor of the second annex don’t see much use, since there’s nothing on this floor but special-purpose classrooms. I still can’t figure out for the life of me why she would go to the trouble of bringing me all the way here, though.

“You’re right. If we get caught, we would both be suspended. Everyone in school would hate us.”

“Are you already desperate? Well then, how about we make a little bit of noise, if that’s what you want?”

“I’m game if you are.”

Her smile has just the slightest hint of derision… She must already know I’m not sincere. The plan is to assume Kazuki Hoshino’s position in life as it stands now. While I have succeeded in doing more damage to it than I thought possible, I don’t want to get him into any real trouble beyond that.

“Now then, ‘Yuhei Ishihara,’ let’s see Kazuki’s phone.”

“Just open his pictures. Specifically, the third from the top.”

I have half a mind to refuse, but I end up playing along since there’s no point in giving her a hard time.

I open the picture in question. It appears to be a selfie taken by a cute girl in pajamas.

“So, can you tell me who that is?”

“…Is there a point to this question?”

“I’m afraid I can’t answer that for various reasons.”

Hmm, that was more straightforward than I expected. I take another look at the picture. I have no clue who she is, but I’m sure it’s not to my advantage to simply admit as much.

I scan the background of the picture. She’s definitely in a hospital. Now that I think about it, I did hear about a big accident that happened nearby about two months ago. Could she be the victim?

Unfortunately…I can’t remember the name they mentioned.

…Welp, I don’t know what I don’t know, so I simply toss out the first name that comes to mind and hope it’s right.

“Kasumi Mogi.” I try the name I heard the other night from the underwear girl, Ruka Hoshino.

“Sorry, but that’s incorrect.”

Damn. I smile ruefully. “I was just saying whatever since I don’t really know.”

“I lied.”

“What?”

“I lied when I said you got the name wrong. The girl in the picture actually is her, only you don’t know what she looks like,” Maria Otonashi says without even the tiniest shift in her expression.

“…That’s a dirty trick.”

“What’s dirty about it? It’s your fault for letting yourself think things would work themselves out if you managed to guess the right answer. On to the next question. How are Kazuki Hoshino and Kasumi Mogi connected?”

I still don’t understand what she’s getting at with these questions. I’m sure she’s trying to confuse me, though.

I search for an acceptable answer. “……They’re friends.”

“And?”

I knew she wouldn’t let me off the hook that easily. “I don’t even know who Kasumi Mogi is, so how could I possibly know what they are beyond that?”

It’s an obvious conclusion. I already said I didn’t know her, so what other answer can I give? Even she should have no problem with that.

“You don’t know Kasumi Mogi?”

All the same, Mario Otonashi fires back like I’ve committed a fatal error.

“…I thought I told you earlier. I’ve never seen the girl in that photo before today.”

“That’s true—you haven’t. I hear what you’re saying. But why does never having seen her before mean you don’t know her?”

“…C’mon, you’re not making sense. If I’ve never seen her before, how in the hell could I…?”

…No, wait.

“Interesting. Well, thanks to this, I think I’m that much closer to pinpointing your identity. You can’t be in Class 2-3.”

……So that’s what she was after.

It’s safe to assume that Kasumi Mogi hasn’t been coming to school because of her hospitalization. That’s why I’ve never seen her before. But the members of Class 2-3 would at least know her name, even if they’ve never seen her in person. There’s no way they wouldn’t pick up on the name of the one in the empty desk, not to mention any of the other opportunities a classmate would have to hear it.

So the purpose of these questions was to narrow down the list of suspects.

“Hmph. To be honest, I had considered it highly probable that Ryu Miyazaki was the owner, but if you aren’t in 2-3, that wouldn’t work.”

Ryu Miyazaki?

Why would she mention his name?

Don’t tell me… He went and acted on his own since I couldn’t give him instructions while Maria Otonashi had me trapped earlier.

“You, or to be more precise, the owner, is not one of Kazuki’s classmates yet still knows a lot about us. Not many people fulfill those conditions as far as I can tell. It’s probably someone who Kazuki or I could think of if we try, isn’t it?”

Of course, there’s no way I’m going to answer that.

“I’ve considered one other thing, about Yuhei Ishihara. Ryu Miyazaki said he’s his mother’s common-law husband. But when I think about why he would be willing to share such a thing with us, it’s only natural to reach certain conclusions about his intentions. That’s right…”

Maria Otonashi speaks with confidence.

“…There is no one by the name of Yuhei Ishihara.”

I swallow.

“It was just a made-up name from the beginning. I’m sure you or Miyazaki came up with the idea of using it. You wanted to make it seem like Yuhei Ishihara actually exists to throw us off the trail of the real owner, right? Cooking up a messy relationship like a common-law marriage was probably another move to make it harder for us to sniff around for clues.”

He doesn’t exist and was merely a diversion, eh? Wow, she really did see through our plans.

But she’s also completely wrong. Yuhei Ishihara is indeed the common-law husband of Ryu Miyazaki’s mother. The only thing is that he doesn’t exist anymore.

He’s dead, after all.

“Are you through? Can I talk about something now?”

Maria Otonashi scowls, probably wary thanks to my sudden desire to speak. “……What do you want to talk about?”

“I’m sure this will be of interest to you, too. In fact, I imagine you’ve been racking your brains trying to figure this one out.”

I smile broadly as I continue.

“I’m going to tell you all about how the Week in the Mud works.”

May 2 (Saturday), 10:00 AM

Little by little, I assemble bits and pieces of information and regain control of Kazuki Hoshino. Sky. Concrete. Ground. Gravel. Maria Otonashi. My hands. Kazuki Hoshino. We’re behind the school, and I’m…me.

After so many switches back and forth, I’m finally starting to get used to this, but with familiarity comes certain realizations.

This is a pseudodeath.

There’s a “me” that’s there when I’m not. During those times, I vanish completely. I don’t even dream. It’s a death visiting me in stages. If I can’t put an end to the Week in the Mud before the end of May 5, I’ll disappear for good, never to return. In other words, I’ll die.

“Kazuki?”

It’s Otonashi, standing right in front of me. I nod a silent affirmation before realizing that isn’t good enough. “That’s right, Aya.”

Otonashi looks at her watch and frowns. I notice the battered electric guitar at her feet.

“Oh, this? I took it from the room of the light-music club.”

The guitar looks really old, but judging from the fresh set of strings, it must still see regular use.

…Also, I bet she didn’t ask permission before borrowing it.

“I picked it up as a hobby to relieve the boredom of the Rejecting Classroom.”

Otonashi takes the guitar in hand and begins strumming. She’s much better than I am; I only just barely learned to play an F chord. She stops as quickly as she started and holds the guitar out to me.

“Huh?”

“Play it. I know your sister gave you her guitar.”

“Yeah, but…I’m really bad. I can’t play anything.”

“That doesn’t matter. I want you to play for the entire time I’m talking. That way we’ll know the instant ‘Yuhei Ishihara’ takes control again, see?”

Ah, I get it. That’s why she took the guitar.

I’m so bad it’s embarrassing, but I begin playing the song of a famous rock band I saw a while back in a method book.

“I’m surprised you knew my sister gave me her guitar.”

“There isn’t a single thing about you that I don’t know,” she replies without a trace of shame.

“…Aya, have you forgotten anything that happened in the Rejecting Classroom?”

My fingers keep fumbling over the strings as this question pops into my head.

“Yes, I remember it well. But if I were to be completely honest, I would have to say there are some things I have forgotten because of the sheer length of time I spent in there, especially since it was the same day over and over. For the most part, I remember everything, though.” Otonashi gives me a questioning look. “Is it not the same for you?”

“Yeah, I don’t remember much of it at all. I don’t have any emotions to go with the memories of back then, so it’s easy for them to slip away. Kind of like how it’s impossible to remember the faces of each and every person you pass on the street.”

Otonashi falls silent for a moment, her eyes wide.

“Huh? What’s the matter?”

“Oh, it’s nothing…”

Her obvious distress ends up confusing me.

“So what you’re saying is that you remember hardly any of what we went through together in that Box?”

“Y-yeah.”

“I…see…”

For some reason, Otonashi goes silent once more. When I look over at her, waiting for her to speak up again, she hurriedly averts her gaze.

“I suppose it makes sense when you put it that way. There’s no reason to expect you could remember things the way I do. You’re not an owner, either. Ahh, I think I’m finally beginning to understand…” Refusing to meet my gaze, she mumbles, “That’s why you call me Aya, isn’t it…?”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

Otonashi’s typical composure returns in a flash, and she fixes me with a stern gaze.

“Hey, Kazuki, you’ve stopped playing.”

Flustered, I start strumming again. I’ve forgotten where I was in the song, so I go back to the beginning.

“Thanks to your nonsense, we still haven’t even gotten to the matter at hand.”

“Sorry. So, what is the matter at hand?”

“…Right. I’m still deciding whether we can believe anything ‘Yuhei Ishihara’ says, so let’s set that aside for now. I need to tell you about this latest Box while I can be sure that you’re really ‘Kazuki Hoshino.’”

I nod as if to say Go ahead.

“In actuality, there are different kinds of Boxes. For a simple, albeit potentially misleading, description, there are Boxes that act inwardly and Boxes that apply their effects outwardly. The Rejecting Classroom was more of an internal type, while this recent Week in the Mud is most likely an external type.”

“…Um, how are they different?”

“The internal type of Boxes are the ones you get when the owner isn’t certain their wish is truly possible in the real world. Kasumi Mogi, the owner of the Rejecting Classroom, wasn’t fully convinced she could redo the past. That’s why the Box created an entire realm where she could believe in her wish coming true instead of applying its effects to our world. Mogi and her classmates were placed inside this Box where she could believe.”

I nod as I keep strumming away on the guitar.

“External Boxes are what you get when the owner does believe their wish can be implemented even in the real world. It seems the one responsible for the Week in the Mud feels that their wish can come true in the real world as long as they have the power of the Box. Simply seizing control of someone else’s body doesn’t seem too far removed from reality. It’s credible, so there’s no need to go and create a separate dimension. I think that might also be part of the reason why I can’t fully sense this Box.”

“…I’m not sure I’ve got all the details, but if the owner doesn’t think the Box’s miracle can happen the real world, it will result in an internal-type Box, and if they do believe, it will result in an external-type Box?”

“That’s the gist of it. If we want to make things even easier to understand, we can assign the Boxes a rating on a scale of one to ten. The Rejecting Classroom would be an internal level nine, while the Week in the Mud would be something like an external level four. The higher the external level, the stronger the Box’s influence on reality.”

The Rejecting Classroom had almost no influence, as evidenced by how none of the trapped students has any recollection of that time.

So I guess she’s saying this new Box, the Week in the Mud, isn’t like that?

“Ah…”

I suddenly realize the harsh reality of what she’s implying.

At present, all my classmates hate my guts. My relationships with Daiya, Kokone, and Haruaki have all been destroyed.

“S-so that means my life—”

“Will never go back to the way it was before, yes.”

I stop playing the guitar. The sound fades.

Nothing will go back to how it was? My normal life will never return? I’ll never recover my peaceful, mundane existence from this madness?

Then…there’s nothing left.

There’s nothing left for me to even try to take back.

The moment this realization dawns on me, everything goes black, as if someone tripped the breakers on the world. There’s nothing for me to work toward. There’s no point in destroying the Box. I’ve truly lost everything.

Nothing matters anymore.

I begin stumbling away. Otonashi says something, and I say something back. I don’t know what she said, or what I replied, but none of that matters, anyway.

I want to scream.

But even if I did, no one would help me.

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