The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria
Book 2: Chapter 13

“You think you can escape your actions so easily—that childish nature of yours is so adorable, I can hardly stand it.”

What is that voice?

The voice resonating in my body is tremendously charming, and I swear I’ve heard it somewhere before.

No. That’s not gonna happen. I…can escape from Riko Asami.

Even so…

“Ah…aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!”

A massive flood of memories replays through my mind all at once. These recollections should have vanished when I forced my way into this body. There’s no way I can possibly process so much information at once, but they keep playing in my mind despite my protests.

The first thing I see are images of the first time Yuhei Ishihara got violent with Riko Asami.

The thirteen-year-old girl sobs and cowers in fear of that red-faced beast.

Yes, I remember. That’s how it was in the beginning. At first, the beatings were a punishment for Riko Asami’s bursts of temper. As a young teenager, she had possessed a visceral hatred for this man who wasn’t her father. She had treated him as an enemy and acted hostile toward him. Unable to bear it any longer, Yuhei Ishihara eventually lashed out at her physically.

That was when the daily violence began. With just one thrashing, the problem child who he didn’t love would become quiet and obedient, so maybe it was only natural that things progressed in such a way. In that monster’s eyes, pummeling Riko Asami was effective, even pleasant.

Her mother had also reached her wit’s end with her daughter’s disagreeable behavior, so she took relief in the beatings, too. Riko Asami’s acting out had been an attempt to destroy her household. The problem had been a real headache for the old bitch.

They say a person’s morals adapt to suit their surroundings. An aversion to the violence inflicted on Riko Asami once existed in this household, but it was worn away over time. Eventually, no one questioned the cruelty, not even its victim.

But while no one questioned it, the beatings slowly but surely tore away pieces of her heart. Over and over, she heard it happen. It wasn’t a loud sound, but more of a gentle one, like a pebble dropping into a pond. Each time she heard it, she generally brushed it off, thinking Well, there goes another piece, but after a while, she noticed that several important parts of her had gone missing.Put into words, the violence of that man, who put even monsters to shame, would surely seem unexceptional and be of little interest to third parties. They’d merely slap a label like “abuse” on it. Just knowing the terms would make people think they understood.

That was why Riko Asami never put a name to the violence.

The brutality had come to dwell in the gaps of Riko Asami’s heart and replace what she had lost. Loving herself would mean accepting it, too.

And so Riko Asami never accepted her existence.

The next thing I see are images from Riko Asami’s high school entrance ceremony.

There she—Maria Otonashi—was, standing at the podium as the head of her class.

A single look was enough to overwhelm Riko Asami. The sight of her, the sound of her voice, made it so hard to breathe that she had to sit down from the discomfort.

She was, in a word, art.

The pinnacle of creation.

She was like a masterpiece crafted over the course of a lifetime by an artisan. She had such a sense of purpose, so much direction. She was an incomprehensible existence—a work of art.

Riko Asami didn’t even notice the tears pouring from her eyes.

That was it. The only way to escape from herself. The only way was to purposefully construct an idealized false self that was just like Maria.

Riko Asami began the process of dismantling herself. She cast aside her melancholy aura and designed a new self that was androgynous and strong. But Maria Otonashi did it far better. The more Riko Asami learned about her, the more she was confronted by the reality that copying her simply wasn’t possible. What allowed Maria to build an ideal self was the fact that she wasn’t normal. That wasn’t something another person could imitate.

Maria Otonashi…could not be human.

The final thing I see are images from April 28.

This was the day Riko Asami received the Box.

She was holding a well-worn rabbit plushie in her hands. Her older brother had won it for her from a crane game long ago, but now it was missing an ear and had blood on it.

And there were two corpses.

Her older brother was screaming silently in a puddle of red.

Yuhei Ishihara had completely broken Riko Asami.

There was nothing in that house that wasn’t in pieces.

Everything had come to an end. All that once constituted Riko Asami had been trampled down and utterly destroyed.

I’m crying.

The illusions before my eyes finally disappear—maybe the tears washed them away.

“…I can’t… I can’t…”

I can’t accept this. I will never accept that I am Riko Asami!

“…That’s why…”

That’s why I will become Kazuki Hoshino.

“Kazuki Hoshino” disgusts me. I can’t stand him and his stupid belief that a normal life is happiness, or any of the others who don’t even know they can laugh and smile only because they are stealing someone else’s joy.

Well, I will make sure he knows. I’ll make sure “Kazuki Hoshino,” who doesn’t even try to comprehend my misery, knows.

I’ll use him. Maria Otonashi won’t confuse me for “Kazuki Hoshino” anymore. Trickery won’t work on her at this point in the game. That’s why I have to bring out the genuine article. I’ll threaten him, force him to obey me, and then deceive her.

I want his own actions to steer him down the road to oblivion and fill him with despair. He’ll never be happy with his life again.

I pull out Kazuki Hoshino’s phone and record a memo for him.

“‘Kazuki Hoshino,’ I’m gonna murder your entire family. I’ll butcher them in the most merciless ways possible. Their deaths will be hideous. I’ll dissect them so thoroughly that you won’t even be able to tell which corpse is whose. That’s why you need to do what I say. If you do, then maybe I’ll spare them. If I feel like it. You also absolutely must not let Maria Otonashi hear this recording. Now, here are your instructions…”

May 4 (Monday), 12:06 PM

“…I’m gonna kill you. I’m gonna kill you and become Kazuki Hoshino. And one more time, for the record—don’t tell Maria Otonashi about anything you’ve just heard.”

“…The fool,” Maria mutters, scowling after listening to the message. “She’s so desperate that it’s like she doesn’t even know what’s happening anymore. There’s no way I wouldn’t listen to this message the way things are now.”

In the most vulgar, almost unlistenable terms possible, the message had told me to “Deceive Maria Otonashi and get me free of these bindings.”

Her threats don’t frighten me. Now that Maria and I are on the same side, it’s impossible for “Riko Asami” to carry out any murder in my body, no matter how she tries to coerce me. Sinking this low is more pathetic than anything else.

I can tell from the grim line of Maria’s mouth that she probably feels the same way.

Maria spent yesterday and the day before learning as much as she could about Riko Asami. While the things she had heard were nothing more than rumors, they painted a horrible picture.

And then of course…there was the undeniable truth of those dead bodies, those irreversible mistakes. She had reached the point where the Week in the Mud was her only chance at hope for the future.

That’s why Asami has reached the end of her rope.

“……Huh?”

“What’s got you so confused all of a sudden?”

“…Well, I just kinda am, is all. Um, so Asami and ‘Riko Asami’ were talking to each other, so that means the owner is Asami, and the ‘Riko Asami’ inside my body is a separate being, right? …Is that even possible?”

“What it comes down to is that Asami is a person who operates on common sense and deals in half measures. She could have seen that possessing you is plausible but couldn’t fully believe in the idea of actually entering someone else’s body. That’s why things ended up how they are now.”

“…So the owner is the real Asami?”

“She’s neither real nor fake. But she will continue to exist and suffer as before, regardless of whether ‘Riko Asami’ was ever created by the Week in the Mud.”

So Asami was unable to escape her misery even after obtaining the Week in the Mud. Now that she’s been left behind, she plans to kill herself and take “Riko Asami” with her.

“We have to prevent this suicide at all costs, but to do that, we need to find Asami. Where in the hell could she be? …Damn, we have less than a day and a half!”

Maria is visibly distressed. No one places others before themselves more than she does. If Asami dies, it will put an end to the Week in the Mud, but Maria refuses to let it come to that.

“……Maria, how about if we try to use this threat to our advantage?”

She reacts to my idea with doubt. “What do you mean?”

“…Sorry, it’s just that I was thinking that if we intentionally go along with her demands and let ‘Riko Asami’ loose in my body, it might help us break out of the deadlock…”

“True, we aren’t getting anywhere at this rate.” Maria folds her arms in contemplation. “So we do as she asks and set ‘Riko Asami’ free. And then… Yes. It’s just a possibility, but she might try to meet up with Miyazaki.”

“Yeah, I think so, too.”

“Wait. Is it possible Miyazaki knew where Asami was this entire time?”

“…My guess is probably not. If he did, he would never help make sure the Week in the Mud is a success.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right… But if that’s the case, he has no basis for his confidence that we’ll never find her… Do you think Miyazaki is mistaken about something…?” Maria scowls and thinks for a moment. “…This isn’t an answer we can find merely by puzzling over it in our heads. For the time being, I can’t come up with a reason not to see if Miyazaki is truly unaware of Asami’s current whereabouts.”

I nod in agreement.

Maria continued, “So is there any point to freeing ‘Riko Asami’ at all? The one we need is Asami the owner, not ‘Riko Asami.’”

“…Um, actually, I think there is. Judging by what we heard on the recorder, I think we can assume that ‘Riko Asami’ knows how to get in contact with Asami the owner.”

“You’re saying we work with the one possessing you and let her contact Asami? That won’t work. If she’s making threats this extreme, I can’t imagine she’ll go along with any requests from us.”

…She’s probably right.

“Or are you suggesting that you think you can bend her to your will, break her spirit, and force her to go along with our plans?” Maria jokes with a light chuckle.

I answer her facetious question. “Actually, I am.”

Her face freezes.

To be honest, I’m just as surprised at the cold strength in my words as she is.

But while I may be surprised at myself, I have a plan. As someone in a similar situation to “Riko Asami,” I know how to manipulate her into doing what we want.

Once we set “Riko Asami” free, she’ll get in touch with Miyazaki. He means as much to her as Maria means to me.

And this is why…

“We’ll get Miyazaki to betray ‘Riko Asami.’”

Even as the words leave my mouth, I wonder: Can I really pull this off?

I intend to drag Miyazaki back into this, fill “Riko Asami” with despair, and destroy the Week in the Mud. As a result, my schoolmate will return to her old self and the results of her irreversible actions. I can’t see a happy future ahead for her after that. Essentially, I’m sacrificing her.

……Time to quit acting like I’m a good person who’s conflicted over which path to choose.

The truth is, I’ve known what I was going to do since the very beginning. I made that choice the moment I declared I wouldn’t stand for her existence, as soon as I acknowledged her as my enemy.

I will defeat her. I won’t accept what she has done.

Maria regards me and my resolution with a long face.

“I…”

“…Can’t help with this?”

“No…that’s not it. If I don’t help, you will be lost, so I know I have no other choice. I just can’t accept that inevitable misery awaits Asami,” she says, worried and biting her lip.

“You can’t stand to see other people unhappy, I know…”

“…That’s not all. If it were, I might be able to bear it to an extent. There’s something else I noticed.” Maria lowers her gaze. “‘Riko Asami’ is the same as ‘Aya Otonashi.’”

“…The same?” I ask.

“…”

Maria doesn’t respond, but her silence helps me understand even better than words would have.

She tried to become a Box, and she still exists with “Aya Otonashi” as a part of her. “Riko Asami” used a Box and exists within me. They’re both similar, separated from their original selves.

Given Maria’s claim that they’re alike, I’m sure she understands almost too well how Asami feels.

I don’t know what to do. All I can try is sharing what I do know with Maria as she broods.

“But that isn’t what Asami wants,” I tell her. “She doesn’t want to disappear.”

“……Yeah, I know.”

And with that, Maria lifts her gaze again.

There’s nothing we can do to change what the future holds for Asami.

May 4 (Monday), 12:35 PM

I stand in front of the door to Miyazaki’s apartment and take a deep breath.

Maria is already hiding in the room next to his. She apparently learned it was vacant the last time she came here.

I exhale once and then ring the doorbell for Miyazaki’s apartment.

Just as I expected, he doesn’t answer.

I’m still certain, though. I know he’s inside.

“Come out.” I try knocking. “C’mon, answer the door…!”

I wonder how much what I’m about to do is going to hurt Miyazaki. I know it will, but I keep at it all the same.

“Open up…Ryu.” I call him by the same name I heard Riko Asami use on the phone. “Help me, Ryu.”

Miyazaki has probably decided to have nothing to do with “Riko Asami” and hole up in there until the sixth. He won’t be able to ignore her if she comes to him for help, though.

That’s why the door to the apartment opens. His complexion is even worse than yesterday.

“……Is Otonashi nearby?”

“No.”

“…Where have you been?”

“Maria Otonashi captured me…but I was able to trick ‘Kazuki Hoshino’ into helping me escape. What about you? Why haven’t you answered any of my calls?”

“…It’s just… More importantly, why are you calling me ‘Ryu’ now? I thought you decided to stop doing that.”

“Well…”

Asami may have called him “Ryu” during that phone call, but she must not be calling him that now. I fight down the urge to panic and quickly use the excuse I prepared.

“Maria Otonashi is already calling me ‘Riko Asami,’ so I thought I might as well call you ‘Ryu’ now… Back on topic, though, how did I get caught? What should I do now?”

I hit him with more questions before he has time to think too hard about my excuse. He falls quiet after the rapid-fire demands, biting his lip in thought. The reaction convinces me that he’s buying my act.

“Are you going to keep helping me, Ryu?”

It pains me to see the suffering twisting his face. I want him to say he won’t help “Riko Asami” any longer. I want him to declare that he’ll plan to help us instead. If he does, we won’t have to hurt him any further.

“Yeah, I’ll keep helping you.” Unfortunately, Miyazaki gives his assent, forcing a weak smile.

It’s time for me to move on to the next step in the plan. “You will? I really wish you wouldn’t.”

Miyazaki’s eyes go round in confusion at the sudden shift. “……Huh?”

“I said, I really wish you’d stop helping ‘Riko Asami.’”

Even now, he’s silent and unable to fully grasp what’s happening.

I decide to give him a hint. “I’m ‘Kazuki Hoshino.’”

“Hoshino…?”

Miyazaki mutters my name back to me. He stands dazed for a moment longer, but eventually, his eyes fill with knifelike rage. He seizes me by the throat as he realizes the “Riko Asami” he was talking to was only a performance courtesy of “Kazuki Hoshino.” “What the hell do you think you’re doing, you bastard?! Do you enjoy toying with me?! Do you have any idea how despicable that was?!”

“…I do.”

“Then why did you do it?! Tell me!!”

I start to open my mouth, but I hesitate. Everything I’ve planned to say will hurt Miyazaki. “If all you want is to save ‘Riko Asami,’ then you’re instinctively going to assist her. Remember what Maria said? You aren’t choosing anything when you do that.”

The sharp glare remains in his eyes, but his grip on my collar loosens a bit.

“……I thought I told you. All I want to do is help my little sister.”

“And you were going to just now, weren’t you? Only, the person who asked you for help was me, not her.”

Miyazaki’s eyes widen.

“C’mon, Miyazaki. You can’t even tell us apart. Is a being you hardly understand that important to you?”

Though I’m sure he wants to hit back at such a hurtful remark, he bites down on his lip hard enough to turn it white.

“If it were your sister, I’d tell you to go ahead and help her. I wouldn’t try to stop you. But ‘Riko Asami’ is not your little sister. So c’mon, Miyazaki. Why don’t you say it for me one more time—”

I land the finishing blow.

“—who would you be helping?”

He glowers at me, but I give as good as I get.

“……Damn you!!”

With a yell, Miyazaki angrily releases my collar.

He balls his fists, ready to punch me and release his directionless rage…but then he stops and slumps in exhaustion.

“……Do whatever you want.” He sounds sad. “Just do what needs to be done. If you want to put an end to the Week in the Mud, do whatever it takes, and do it far away from me. I don’t want to be involved. I won’t be a part of this anymore.”

“I’m afraid…that’s not good enough.”

Miyazaki’s head snaps up. “…What do you mean, ‘not good enough’?!”

“I mean exactly what I said. Your decision, your resolve, it’s not enough. I need you to actively help destroy the Week in the Mud.”

His features contort in anger. “You… Do you have any idea what you’re saying?! You’re asking me to help you hurt her!”

“I suppose I am.”

“Don’t be an idiot! I could never do that!! I won’t get in the way… Even you have to understand that’s the most I can promise!”

“Oh, I know. I know you were about to help her a moment ago.”

“……”

“That’s why I’m saying it’s not good enough. If your resolve is that weak, then nothing will change from the way it was before. You know she’s going to come to you for help from here on out. If you reach out to her then, you’re throwing your lot in with the Week in the Mud, too.”

Miyazaki looks away and mutters, “All the same…it’s not like I can abandon her.”

“It doesn’t matter. You still have to choose. ‘Riko Asami’ will be here soon.”

“……What?”

“‘Riko Asami’ threatened me and demanded that I help her escape from Maria. I decided to act like I was going along with it. Since she’ll think her bullying worked, I guarantee she’ll come to you next.”

“……So the next switch is at one PM?”

“Yeah. You have until then to decide how you’re going to handle things. If you help ‘Riko Asami,’ then the Box will fulfill its purpose, and only that personality who wasn’t even anyone to begin with will remain. If you rebuff her, we’ll help you get your real sister back.”

“You’re saying I should believe you two? Ha-ha… This is the dumbest deal I’ve ever heard.”

“So you’re fine with things the way they are?”

Miyazaki clenches his hands into fists. “…Of course I’m not. You don’t have to tell me for me to know. It’s just…I could never turn her away…”

Even after everything I’ve said, Miyazaki can’t bring himself to make a decision.

This isn’t good. We need him to reject the one inside me. We have to make her feel hopeless. That’s why I decide to play my last card.

“You know, there’s something I find strange. Why do you believe the Week in the Mud is real? I mean, the only ones who would believe that ‘Riko Asami’ is inside me would be people who’ve received a Box before, don’t you think?”

Miyazaki raises his face and turns back to me, staring.

“Explain it to me. How did you come to believe in something so unreal?”

“…What’re you trying to say?”

“Can’t come up with the answer? Well, let me tell you. I can imagine only one reason why someone would ever believe in Boxes. So let me ask you, Miyazaki…”

I didn’t tell even Maria that I was going to say this.

“You’ve met O, haven’t you?”

Miyazaki’s features freeze in place.

“I don’t know how exactly you interacted with him. But I’m almost certain that O wanted you to help ‘Riko Asami.’”

“……”

His mute surprise gradually shifts to a pallid, fearful expression.

The name “O” alone probably isn’t enough for him to understand what I mean right away. In most cases, only the current owner is conscious of O’s existence. Miyazaki gains that awareness for the first time as I say their name.

And then he remembers what was done to him.

“…Ah!” Miyazaki clutches his head, eyes still wide.

“I’m familiar with O, so I know what you’re going through. There’s no way anyone ever forgets them. It’s just that they can’t be remembered by normal means. You may not be able to recall at will what O did to you, but that knowledge is still buried below your subconscious. That’s how you were able to believe in the Box. After that, they manipulated you into believing you had to help ‘Riko Asami.’”

“……S-slow down. That… How do you know all this, Hoshino?!” He looks up at me, voice trembling in obvious fear.

“I mean, I don’t know it for certain. But I do know that if you don’t help ‘Riko Asami,’ O won’t be able to fulfill their objective.”

“Objective…? What objective…?”

“What O is after is to observe me… I guess that doesn’t make much sense to you, but that’s what it is. This Box is fascinating when it comes to studying me, but it’s weak. It puts ‘Riko Asami’ at a tremendous disadvantage. It has to be horrible for her to be stuck in another person’s body while still retaining her sense of self. To even stand a fighting chance, ‘Riko Asami’ needs information from the times when she’s not controlling the body. If O didn’t do something to level the playing field between us, the Box would simply get destroyed without any intrigue. That’s why O used you to balance the scales.”

Miyazaki lowers his head as my words sink in. He’s motionless.

“…I’ve said all I can say.”

This is the final spell ensnaring Miyazaki, a curse woven into the depths of his mind to persuade him that he must protect the Box. Once exposed for what it is, its effects should come undone.

“Well, I’d better go. It’s almost one. What you do when she comes calling is up to you. ‘I’ won’t be there, so I can’t stop you two.”

“……I’m going to help her. I’ve told you that.”

I don’t say anything in response—Miyazaki’s simply trying not to acknowledge his defeat, I know—and close the door without even glancing at his expression.

“……”

I head for the stairs. Although I can hear footsteps approaching from the apartment next door, I don’t turn toward them.

“You… Why didn’t you tell me O had interfered with him?!”

I wasn’t trying to hide it from her. I realized it myself only just before arriving here, and there wasn’t time to tell her.

“Why aren’t you saying anythi—? Kazuki?”

Her anger is comforting, though, and I rest my head on Maria’s shoulder. I am the nemesis of “Riko Asami.” I must break her, even if it means using Miyazaki to do so.

I have to. There’s no other choice. But still……

“Hurting others is really hard.” I mumble the obvious under my breath, unable to lift my head.

Nevertheless, I’ve set myself on course to take my life back.

Now, I’m the kind of person who will sacrifice another for my own sake. I want somebody to rake me over the coals and tell me how horrible I am.

But for some reason, Maria does no such thing.

Instead, out of all the things she could have done, she gently rubs my head.

“……”

Why?

Why is it so comforting, even though it’s the exact opposite of what I wanted?

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