The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria
Book 2: Chapter 12

May 4 (Monday), 11:02 AMI reflect on my phone call with Riko Asami.

“Don’t get any ideas that you’re gonna make it out of this somehow, okay, ‘Riko Asami’?”

The sheer malice in her voice caught me off guard at first, but I soon recovered and fought back.

“…And just how do you think you’re gonna get the Box out? Do you even have a clue of what you need to do?”

“I don’t. But I can still destroy it,” she retorts effortlessly, and I’ve got nothing. “I want to escape. And I want to erase you, because I hate you. There’s something I can do that will fulfill both those goals at the same time. I’m sure you know what I mean. Before the Box fulfills its mission…”

I have to strain to hear her clearly as she finishes.

“…all I have to do is kill myself.”

I remember someone once said something similar.

Oh, right. That’s what I said to Kazuki Hoshino once.

“Uh-oh, were you thinking that even if worse came to worst, you’d still get to keep Kazuki Hoshino’s body? Too bad for you, but that’s impossible. No, achieving victory over somebody or seizing happiness will never be realities for you. You’re still me, after all. You’re Riko Asami. I really wish you would remember that. Just die. You need to die.”

She begins mumbling a curse under her breath in a barely audible voice, much like the old Riko Asami used to.

“……I hope you hang yourself and die and leave a smelly corpse covered in shit. I hope you jump off a roof and die and leave a mess of brains for the passersby. I hope you jump in front of a train and die and splatter your organs all over the platform so that it pisses off the other passengers… It would be perfect for you. So what do you think?” she asks. “Which of those deaths would you prefer for Riko Asami?”

How would she die?

I get it now. If Riko Asami, the owner, dies, then as an inevitable result, I’ll cease to exist, too.

She has me completely up against a wall now.

“……Don’t.”

My short response shows how horribly overwhelmed I am while leaving her positively gleeful.

“Don’t what? Kill myself? Why not? Weren’t you the one who tried to off me first?”

“Th-that…was only because I didn’t realize I would disappear if you died.”

“Hee-ha-ha, are you serious? You thought you would somehow still be here? Wow. Oh, that is rich… Don’t tell me you’re seriously thinking you can become Kazuki Hoshino, too?”

“I can! As long as you don’t interfere! And then his happiness will be mine!”

“Oh. Well, it doesn’t really matter, I guess. I’m just gonna kill myself, anyway.”

“I’m telling you, don’t do it!”

“And why in the hell should I listen to anything you have to say? I’m your enemy, after all.”

“Enemy…?”

“Yeah, your enemy. You of all people should know that you’re your own worst enemy, especially when it comes to your past self.”

“Shut up! Why do you always have to be like that?! I could become Kazuki Hoshino if it weren’t for you! I hate you! I hate you!!!”

I can hear Riko Asami giggling in amusement at my raving.

“What’re you laughing at?!”

“You said you hate me.” Still chuckling, Riko Asami continues, “Maybe you should take it easy on the self-loathing.”

And that was my conversation with Riko Asami.

“H-hurk…”

I clutch my abdomen as a wave of nausea hits me.

I feel awful. Why, why…did I have to speak with her…? Was Ryu Miyazaki lying when he said he killed her?

“……She’s going to kill me.”

It’s not a bluff. I say that because I know Riko Asami better than anyone. Someone like her, who hates herself more than anyone, will never allow the Box to complete its work.

My guess is that she’ll destroy it on the night of the fifth.

She’s going to drag it out to the bitter end and ensure my psychological torture goes on for as long as possible.

I had thought I needed to kill Riko Asami to avoid this very situation… But as it turns out, even if Ryu Miyazaki had actually offed her, it would have destroyed the Box and wiped me from existence as well.

So what is there for me? Am I doomed to oblivion no matter what I do?

“……Oh, Riko, what are you gonna do…?”

……Wait. I think back over my mutterings. What did I just say?

Riko?

I thought I gave up that name when I got this body. Naturally, I stopped using it.

No, it can’t be—am I starting to accept it?

Am I starting to accept that I am “Riko Asami”?

No…no, no, no, no, no, no! I am not “Riko Asami”!! I am a nobody, a fabrication, and soon, I will be Kazuki Hoshino……!!

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