The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria
Book 3: Chapter 7

Day 1 <E> Kazuki Hoshino’s Room

YURI YANAGI WAS STRANGLED TO DEATH BY ASSASSINATE.

This is the message on the monitor in my room.

Unable to process the words, I don’t react at all. I just stand there silently, reading it over and over.

She died?

Yuri…died…?

“…What the hell is this?” I mutter without thinking, giving a small laugh.

I mean, everybody said it, right?

There’s no way anyone would die on the first day. It’s all gonna be okay. That’s what they said.

“HeY_hey_hey.”

The incomprehensible text vanishes from the screen as the green bear appears.

“PoOr_Yuri_hAS_dieD.”

“Don’t lie!!” I find myself yelling at Noitan.

“A_lie?”

Suddenly…

…Noitan’s sprite changes to something I’ve never seen before. His mouth spreads wide enough to tear its face, and it raises itself open.

“O​o​-​h​y​a​-​h​y​a​-​h​y​a​-​h​y​a​-​h​y​a​-​h​y​a​-​h​y​a​-​h​y​a​-​h​y​a​_​A​_​l​i​e​?​_​W​o​u​l​d​n’t that be nice_But she’s dead_She was strangled_so her eyeballs popped out_and her face turned all purple_and her bowels emptied_and she died_She used to be so cute_and now she’s ugly and stinky and dead.”

I had thought he was just a creepy bear.

But this is the first time I’ve ever felt such utter loathing from the depths of my heart.

It’s possible this is the true nature of Noitan—no, the Box. This is the truth of this hateful, irredeemable, senseless wish.

“It’s really too sad_You two were becoming such good friends_Maybe you coulda hooked up if you played your cards right_But now she’s dead_Too bad_so sad!_Oo-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya!”

The laughter is so grating that I cover my ears.

There’s no way I can allow a wish like this to continue. It doesn’t matter what kind of troubles led the owner to make a wish like this. I don’t care if there are any weaknesses to work on or not. No matter why it came into being, I cannot allow a wish like this to exist.

“Oo-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-hya!”

That’s why this bear is my enemy.

“……Prove it.”

“Hmm?”

Noitan’s mouth returns to normal.

“Show me some proof that Yuri is dead. If you don’t, I’ll never believe you.”

“Proof_eH?”

“Yeah, I know you’re lying, so prove—”

“Fine.”

Noitan disappears. At the same time, the door to my room opens.

“…What the hell…?”

The same darkness as before unfolds beyond the door.

I swallow hard as I stand before the black depths. Only now do I pause to think. If everything is as Noitan says it is, then beyond it lies the “proof”…

Regardless, I have no choice but to go through that door—through that darkness.

I plunge through the entryway.

And then, in the center of that backward cell-like room—there it is.

“Ah!”

Yuri Yanagi’s—xxxxxx.

“A-ahh!”

Irrefutable proof.

I know now. I know it’s real.

I comprehend why it’s there, but even then, I still can’t seem to make the connection. I can’t connect this sight to the same girl who was once so pretty.

Despite this, even if I can’t associate her with what has become of her, the horrible state of the body alone is enough to break my heart.

I yell, then lose control of myself and collapse. It brings me closer to the xxxxxx. In place of the lovely features one might expect, what reveals itself before my eyes is…

“…U-urgh.”

…a visage, purple and monstrous, that threatens to drive even my own pity for her from my mind.

Now I get it; there weren’t any falsehoods or exaggerations in Noitan’s description. She’s really here, in exactly the state Noitan said she would be.

Now, I can finally acknowledge the truth.

Yuri Yanagi is dead.

Yet again, I was unable to save Yanagi.

And thus, Kingdom Royale begins…

…with the death of the girl who said we would be fine as long as we took one another’s hands.

•Yuri Yanagi, dead via Assassinate

Day 2 <B> The Common Area

A hemp sack is lying on the table like it’s on display.

Its contents are pretty much identical to the one in my room. The only difference is that the digital watch is beige instead of light blue. Yuri’s portable device is inoperable.

There are also six sets of rations. This means that if someone dies, we can take their food and extend the time limit. This, too, is most likely a system to encourage murder.

It makes me sick.

All of us sit in our chairs, simply gazing at the sack in silence.

Next to me, Daiya wipes away some blood dribbling from his mouth. Kamiuchi punched him almost as soon as <B> period had started. Kamiuchi believes beyond all doubt that the Revolutionary—the one who killed Yuri—is Daiya.

The president, who had joined Maria in stopping Kamiuchi’s outburst, whispers to Daiya: “…Just be happy he didn’t use a knife.”

At this point, anyone could kill anyone, and it wouldn’t come as a surprise.

“You two need to cool off and think things through. Let’s confirm something first. The Revolutionary killed Yuri. They killed a kind girl. And the culprit is one of us. There’s no mistaking that.”

At first glance, the president seems as levelheaded as she did yesterday, but her expression seems, almost deliberately, a little less confident.

Her gaze is also almost unnaturally steely.

“Our goal is to find a way out of Kingdom Royale. But now we have a second goal. Namely, to find the Revolutionary and kill them. That’s fine and well, too.”

“Hold on, Shindo. Where do you get off deciding this?”

“Otonashi, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to accept any debate on this. Would you like me to explain? First of all, at this rate, the Revolutionary is going to kill the rest of us, too. Second, if they murdered someone at this point in the game, it’s plausible they’re the mastermind, or at least an ally of whoever is behind this. Third, I can’t stand the thought of them walking all over us.”

“You yourself said that killing someone would ruin your life. Does all this mean you’re prepared to let your life fall apart now?” Maria asks.

For just a moment, the president struggles to respond. However, her answer is smooth.

“I don’t know. But I do know I could never forgive someone for murdering Yuri like that.”

“……I see.”

I’m guessing Maria has determined that trying to persuade her right now would be pointless, not to mention unnatural. She holds her tongue.

“Our goals are settled. Does anyone have anything else?”

The president surveys us as we sit there with our heads bowed, then starts up again.

“No? Well then, this is just my opinion, but—”

She stops before she can finish and widens her eyes in surprise.

Daiya, who chose not to participate properly in our talks yesterday, has his hand raised.

“Is there something you would like to say?”

“Yeah… Well, I’ll stay quiet if you aren’t interested in hearing any testimony from the suspect.”

“I didn’t say that… But why are you speaking up now after staying silent for so long?”

“If this keeps up, I’m almost certainly next, so you can’t expect me to keep my mouth shut.”

“You have a point.”

Kamiuchi snorts at their exchange. “You can say whatever you want. Nothing is gonna change the truth as I see it, so your comments are nothing more than a bunch of white noise to me, got it?”

“Suit yourself.” Dismissing him, Daiya turns his gaze on the president. “My question is, why did the Revolutionary decide to target Yuri Yanagi?”

“I’d like to find the answer to that as well,” the president says with a small frown on her face, and Kamiuchi lashes out:

“What’re you saying? Does any of that matter? What else do we need to know? The Revolutionary is a low-down piece of crap who needs to die!”

“…Kamiuchi, if you were the Revolutionary, and you had to kill someone, would you kill Yanagi first?”

“Would the trash heap please mind not speaking to me before it gets tossed in the incinerator? I’m only sittin’ here calmly right now because I know you’re going to get wasted by Magic soon enough.”

“Ugh… And here I thought he understood how to speak like a human.”

Daiya shrugs exaggeratedly.

“What do you think, President? Do you think Yanagi should have been killed first?”

“…Probably not, if it was just for survival. If it did happen to be me, the first person I’d want eliminated is you, Oomine. It’s plausible some of the others might want me or Otonashi out of the picture, but I can’t imagine anyone getting rid of Yuri right off the bat.”

“Right? I suppose it’s not unthinkable, if someone learned she was the Sorcerer, for instance, but I figured out that wasn’t the case yesterday, so we can scratch that idea.”

The president seems slightly irritated as she asks, “I understand what you’re saying, but what’s your point?”

“Basically, the goal of the Revolutionary was to put us all into this exact situation.”

I don’t see what he’s getting at. But I have the feeling everyone else does. Silence takes hold of the room instantly.

“…Ha-ha.” Kamiuchi’s sardonic chuckle breaks the silence. “I have no idea what you’re going on about. Do we really need to keep beating around the bush? If someone wanted you dead, all they’d need to do is take you out with Assassinate lickety-split, right? The fact that the Revolutionary didn’t do that just proves it’s you, don’t you think?”

“But if I die, then they could get suspected of being the Revolutionary.”

Kamiuchi’s eyes go wide as he finds himself at a loss for words. As he falls silent, the president speaks in his place.

“The Revolutionary set you up as a scapegoat—that’s what you’re trying to say, isn’t it? So why wouldn’t that be some lie you came up with to try to get out of this situation?”

“If I were the Revolutionary, I’d have no reason to start with Yanagi.”

“Well, that applies to everyone else here, too, don’t you think?”

“Not necessarily.”

Daiya pulls his portable device from his pocket and presses the playback button.

“—If that’s the case, then wouldn’t it be better for us all to just come out and tell one another our Classes?”

“Yanagi wanted us to be open about our Classes. More than anything, she hoped to keep us from being consumed by fear. That being the case, there’s a good chance Yuri Yanagi had already revealed her Class to someone she could trust.”

The president and Kamiuchi both fall silent.

“So what do you think? The two of you had a Private Meeting with Yuri Yanagi yesterday, right?”

I suddenly remember she tried to set up a Private Meeting with me as well.

If we’d had that meeting today, she most likely would have shared her Class with me.

But—that’s right.

She would trust the president more than someone she just met, like me. If so, would she really tell me her Class before she told her?

“…So let’s say we did know Yuri’s Class. That still doesn’t give us a reason to kill her straightaway.”

“And that’s because our great and wise student council president can’t figure it out? …Heh-heh-heh, then let me fill you in. The reason would be to steal her Class.”

…There wasn’t anything in Kingdom Royale rules about being able to do that.

Still uncertain what he’s getting at, I listen to what Daiya has to say.

“They want to convince everyone else I’m the Revolutionary. As the real Revolutionary, they must of course pretend to be another Class. If they said they were Yanagi’s Class, then their chances of being found out by the other players would decrease dramatically. The dead tell no tales. If they did ever find themselves having to reveal their Class, they could simply say Yanagi’s.”

All of us are quiet, waiting for Daiya to continue.

I don’t get it, though. Is that really enough to warrant killing her first?

“How about we run a simulation? Let’s start by utilizing the advantage of being able to say we’re Yanagi’s Class since she’s already gone, and then suggest that everyone reveal their Class. The victory conditions for the Revolutionary are to kill three people: the King, the Prince, and the Double… Hmm, I would guess that maybe Yanagi was the Prince or the Double.”

“…How are you able to narrow it down so much?” Kamiuchi asks with a sullen look.

“If the King gets killed, then the Double will know that someone offed the King. Namely, because they will then be able to use the Murder command. So the Double will lose the ability to deceive others about being the King.”

“But there’s still the Knight.”

“If Yanagi was the Knight, it would be better to find a way to use her than to kill her. I don’t need to explain about the Revolutionary or the Sorcerer, right?”

“……”

“Now that the Revolutionary has killed Yanagi, they only need to do away with two other people to win. With pretty much everyone thinking I’m the Revolutionary, there’s almost no chance anyone will go after them. If they can successfully ask everyone’s Class, they’ll be able to identify who they need to kill. I could explain in further detail…but it’s too much of a pain, so I’ll stop there.”

A small smile rises on Daiya’s face as he carries on.

“But I’m sure you all know this, right? Setting me up as the Revolutionary will turn the game in their favor, and victory will be all but certain.”

And with that, Daiya…

…fixes Iroha Shindo with a glare.

“I’m sure they thought they were pretty badass up until now. To them, everyone else is dim-witted scum that serves no other purpose but making them look better in comparison. They’re probably more than happy to kill worthless slugs like that if it helps them survive… And they’ve got a lot of nerve.”

Daiya snorts scornfully, then spits:

“They’re just a fool, but they still made an enemy of me.”

“……”

A thought suddenly strikes me.

I notice it because I’m still in shock over Yuri’s death, which has kept me from speaking and joining the discussion.

What is this?

Right here, right now, we’re all snapping at one another. We’re hurling hate and accusations, ready to explode at any moment. It’s just like the way we imagined Kingdom Royale would start, isn’t it?

This is bad. We’re done for at this rate. I mean, everything is going exactly the way they want it… Exactly the way the owner of the Game of Indolence wants it!

If this keeps up, we’re all going to kill one another, and that will be that.

That’s the one thing we have to avoid. We must find out exactly who the owner is. We have to work together… We have to, but…

“That’s enough out of you, Oomine.”

The president’s voice is utterly unlike before.

All the anger and loathing she can no longer keep bottled in has contorted her face.

“You’ve got a lot of gall, throwing out such baseless delusions so confidently. You can sneer from your high horse all you want, but I have no idea where you get off thinking it’s okay it to act this way. Otonashi has better grades than you in school, Kamiuchi has you beat physically, Hoshino is more popular than you, and Yuri was more charming. Oh, look, guess you’re not the best at anything, huh? If you are, it’s your talent for twisting logic.”

The president smiles the same sort of condescending smile I would expect from Daiya.

“You’re no different from all the other scumbags who can’t face reality. No… You’re even worse because you actually murdered someone.”

At those words, Daiya returns the president’s smile with a similar one. The president isn’t even pretending to be pleasant anymore.

“We aren’t in a nice, soft little world where everyone will leave you alone if you throw your weight around, not anymore. You’ve made a painful blunder, and you can’t write off a mistake like this as youthful indiscretion. You killed Yuri… Haven’t you noticed? You’re done. Crushing someone as innocent and incompetent and helpless and ineffectual as you will be as easy as stepping on an ant.”

She continues on in an unfittingly gentle voice:

“I already recognize you as an enemy, get it? I’m going to do everything in my power to ruin you. Why, I might even—kill you.”

“So what?”

“…That’s right—you probably need me to spell it out for you, huh? I’ll start off by exposing your delusions for what they are. You said Yuri was the Double or the Prince, but that’s wrong. You made a simple oversight. The King will know if the Double dies because they will no longer be able to use their Switch Places command. Oh no, what a stupid mistake! That’s why if someone was going to kill Yuri to try to say they were her Class, the only thing she could possibly be is the Prince.”

Hearing this, I look over at Maria, the real Prince. She continues to watch the two of them go at it with a keen gaze.

“I’ve got a confession to make. I knew Yuri’s Class. Isn’t that great, Oomine? At least one little theory of yours was right. But see, she wasn’t the Prince. That means one of us here must be. Hey, Your Highness, whoever you are, do you understand that Oomine’s full of it now?”

Daiya simply remains quiet, perhaps unable to come up with a good argument.

“You would have noticed all this if you were the King or the Double, so I know you aren’t either of those Classes. So what does that leave us with?”

The only ones left are the Knight and the Revolutionary. That’s how much the president has narrowed down Daiya’s possible Class.

Even then, Daiya only breaks his silence to laugh mockingly at the president.

“Do you really want to take me down that badly? You’re really at the end of your rope.”

“What?”

“You sure are proud of yourself just for finding a loose thread in my theory. I’m not really the Revolutionary, so naturally, all I can do is make conjectures. All you’ve accomplished with your blabbering just now is prove your own treacherous nature to all of us. I’ll come up with as many new theories as you want. Then you can have fun wasting your time breaking them down.”

“Oh, stop with the desperate show of strength. It’s getting to be more annoying than funny.”

This conversation is more like two people stabbing each other with knives, and watching the carnage, I think:

We’re already done for.

The moment the first body showed up, the moment Yuri was killed, we lost the ability to stop Kingdom Royale.

All the same…I still can’t accept this.

Yuri was the one who said we would be fine as long as we trusted one another. But now, it’s her body that’s preventing us from doing that. I can’t possibly accept such a horrible outcome.

Tears of frustration well up within me. The president’s eyes widen as she sees my reaction. As I try my hardest to fight it down, a slender arm wraps around my shoulders.

Long black hair sticks to my cheek, staunching the flow of tears.

“……It’s all right, Kazuki.”

I know, though. There’s no basis for Maria to say that.

“Hoshino.” The president says my name. “I like that you’re so kindhearted.” She continues in a gentle voice, as if calming a child. “But I won’t allow you to use that kindness to hold me back, understand?”

Those words were more than enough to hammer it home: For us, peacetime was over.