The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria
Book 3: Chapter 13

Day 1 <C> Kazuki Hoshino’s Room

YOUR CLASS IS THE REVOLUTIONARY.

I stand in place for a moment, taking in the message.

“……Huh?”

I’m the Revolutionary? The Revolutionary, as in the most indisputably dangerous Class…?

If Kingdom Royale starts, everyone is going to come after me straight off the bat, no doubt about it. No matter how you slice it, the Revolutionary and his ability to take lives independently are a hazard.

…Wait, let’s try looking at it from another angle.

If I’m the Revolutionary, then that means I won’t get hit with Assassinate. If you put it that way, I’m actually in a pretty safe position.

And that’s not all. Since I’m the Revolutionary, the one most likely to kick Kingdom Royale into motion, I can keep the game from starting.

So I should assume I’m in relatively little danger, yeah.

Telling myself this, I let out a deep breath and try to calm my racing heart.

“H​e​Y​_​h​e​y​_​h​E​y​_​K​a​z​u​k​i​_​i​T’S_​t​i​M​E​_​f​o​r​_​t​h​e Private Meetings.”

“Eep!”

As usual, the mascot appears at the worst possible timing for my heart. I’m positive he’s doing it on purpose.

I listen to Noitan’s explanation of the Private Meetings, and then, of course, I choose Maria.

“…Daiya chose me?”

Does that mean I’m the one Daiya wanted to confer with?

……At any rate, I’ll have time to speak with Maria before that.

Day 1 <C> Private Meeting with Maria Otonashi – Maria Otonashi’s Room

“We might’ve had a bit of unexpected luck there.”

Maria says this out of nowhere.

“…What’re you talking about?”

“Telling them about Boxes.”

“…Huh? Is there a situation where we wouldn’t be able to?”

“There is. If we did it after we learned the rules of the game, the others would most likely think we were spreading disinformation in an attempt to win. We were able to talk about it because they would seriously consider the existence of Boxes in those circumstances.”

She might just be right.

“Thanks to that, we have a chance of victory. As time runs out, they’ll have no choice but to trust in us since we have the only plan for getting out of this. Oomine will probably be difficult as we saw earlier, but that’s just the way he is, so they won’t trust him.”

I think that’s true. I feel bad about it, but when it comes down to trusting us or Daiya, probably no one would take his side.

“…Maria.”

“What is it?”

“Is Daiya really the owner of the Box?”

Maria furrows her brows.

“In light of our situation, I don’t see any other possibility, do you?”

“But you could also say it was Daiya who kept things from getting out of control by stopping the president. Thanks to that, we had a good environment for the president and the rest to hear us out about the Boxes. Do you really think he would have done that if he wanted Kingdom Royale to start?”

“…What you say is true. But I’m guessing he probably wasn’t thinking that far ahead. Or maybe he wants us to think that so we’ll drop our guard or something.”

“Hmm.”

“You’re free to worry over whatever you want, but we know Daiya is the owner. Do you have any better evidence?”

“…You’re right.”

“Now that we’re in agreement there, let’s go over things. We need to get Daiya to bring out the Box. We have to convince him to do this. But he isn’t going to respond to our attempts easily.”

I nod dutifully. Yeah, our real work has just begun.

“We need to make time to get through to Daiya. To that end, we have to make sure Kingdom Royale never gets started, even if just by accident.”

“How do we do that?”

“Build a relationship of trust, as Shindo said. A good starting point would be to have those who actually have the ability to kill, particularly the Revolutionary, come forward and reveal themselves, but…”

“Oh, I’m the Revolutionary.”

“Really?!”

“Y-yeah.”

Maria’s enthusiasm throws me off a bit as I answer.

“This is huge. It means there’s no chance the Revolutionary will be consumed by paranoia and commit an error. Then, if we wait for the right moment and have you reveal yourself, there won’t be any better way to win their trust.”

…So it really is a good thing I’m the Revolutionary.

“So what’s your Class, Maria?”

“I’m the Double.”

“…Oh.”

According to the game, that makes us enemies.

“Our chances are good. All that leaves… Yeah, the one possibility that bothers me is that Daiya might conspire with someone to use Magic behind the scenes.”

“I have a Private Meeting with Daiya, so I’ll try asking him a few things then… Um, should I try driving the point home about not starting Kingdom Royale?”

“…Yeah. But be very careful. One slipup, and he could deduce that you’re the Revolutionary.”

Day 1 <C> Private Meeting with Daiya Oomine – Kazuki Hoshino’s Room

“I have no intention of playing a crappy game like Kingdom Royale.”

That’s the first thing Daiya says as he enters my room.

“What’re you all goggle-eyed for?”

“I…I mean—”

Is it really possible Daiya, the owner, wouldn’t want to play his own game?

“The look on your face says you don’t understand where I’m coming from.”

He’s right on the money, so I can’t say anything.

“The answer to that question is simple: I’m not the owner of this shitty Box. Forcing people into a game where they kill one another? Heh-heh… Sounds pretty unproductive to me. It has no reason to exist.”

“…I…think the same…”

“So is your insistence that I’m the creator of this Box some roundabout way of insulting me?”

“Uh, no…”

So maybe this is what Daiya is trying to say: He’s without a doubt an owner. But the Box that makes people play Kingdom Royale is not his.

This Box has another owner.

“That aside, what’s with this Box? I can’t sense any way of interfering with it. If it doesn’t have any loose ends, whoever made it must really know what they’re doing.”

“Huh…?”

“Come on, why are you so astonished? Think about it. Otonashi can detect Boxes, interfere with them, and knows about O because she’s an owner, right? I’m an owner now, too, so it shouldn’t surprise you that I can do all that.”

“That’s true…”

“What’s with that face? From where I stand, you’re the strange one since you know about O even though you’re supposed to forget completely about them.”

“…But that’s—”

“Yeah, it’s not possible. We’re owners, and it’s possible for us to do these things, since we can consciously make use of our special nature. But you’re not an owner, are you?”

I don’t have anything to say to that.

“…So what is it that makes Box owners different, exactly?”

Daiya crosses his arms and thinks a moment before answering my question.

“…This is just the way I see it, but from the moment a person comes into possession of a Box, they’re no longer human, because the Box allows them to surpass the limitations of humanity. When they step outside the bounds of these limitations, owners step outside the bounds of normal life. That’s what makes them special.”

I frown as if I have no idea what he means, and Daiya continues his explanation.

“Leaving your original standpoint allows you to perceive things you never could before. I don’t mean that we can see Boxes or O in the visual sense, but more that we are just aware of them. Like how you’ll spot a salon you’ve passed by many times, but only when you need to get your hair cut.”

…I guess Daiya thought that would help me understand.

“So why is it that you can perceive O?” he asks.

“I don’t know.” My reply is a little apathetic.

“…Hey, Kazu, you rejected it, but apparently, you did touch a Box once.”

Not really wanting to answer fully, I simply give a tiny nod.

“That’s because you truly felt that a wish-granting Box sounded like a bunch of nonsense. You knew there were no limitations. Back then, you took a step outside the norm—how does that sound?”

“How does it sound…? So does that mean there’s no going back for anyone who has ever been an owner? Mogi doesn’t remember O at all.”

“Yeah, I guess there is that. Mogi and Asami both got really lucky in that sense. They thought of their Boxes as something special. They didn’t notice the true nature of the Boxes. That’s why they could go back to how they once were, and why they couldn’t use their Boxes fully.”

Daiya looks me over.

“But I get the feeling you could master a Box. That’s why you ended up like this just by touching one.”

“No way. I’m normal.”

“No, I’m afraid you’re not. I said it before, but you’re floating in suspension. Away from normal life.”

“You’re wrong.”

“I’m not. On the contrary, you were abnormal even before you came into contact with a Box. You were, in essence, very close to the nature of an owner from the very beginning. No… Maybe less an owner and closer to O.”

“—Stop it!!” I yell. I can never accept the idea that I resemble that disgusting being in any way.

Daiya observes my exclamation. After a moment, he sighs.

“Well, there’s not much point in talking about this now. All I wanted to do was get you to trust that I’m not the owner of this Box.”

“…I…don’t think I can believe that anymore.”

“Hey, don’t make up your mind so quickly. Say…would you believe me if I could stop Kingdom Royale in its tracks?”

“…What do you mean?”

“If Kingdom Royale is designed to make people kill and deceive one another, then all we have to do is lead it in a direction where that doesn’t happen. Do that, and the game doesn’t work anymore.”

…It seems to be in line with our goal of keeping Kingdom Royale from starting…I guess?

“Do you think the owner of this Box would want the game to stop running?”

“No, I don’t think so… Uh, hold on. Do you have an actual plan for how to stop Kingdom Royale?”

“Yeah.”

That’s when Daiya says it.

“Find the Revolutionary.”

“……”

I instinctively swallow.

I fight down the urge to let my panic show on my face. That was close. He almost outed me as the Revolutionary.

“Why will finding the Revolutionary stop the game?”

I manage to ask the question naturally. Daiya replies, without the slightest hint of doubt toward me.

“Because the game will never start if they don’t use Assassinate. If we can find the Revolutionary and threaten them so they can’t use Assassinate, then we’ve achieved our objective.”

The word “threaten” scares me a bit, but I maintain my composure and raise another question.

“How would we keep them from using that ability…?”

“There are plenty of ways. For instance, we could say that if they kill anyone, we’ll out them as the Revolutionary. Once exposed, the Revolutionary has no chance of victory. No one’s dumb enough to kill someone for no reason.”

“But let’s say we find the Revolutionary and prevent them from using Assassinate. Then what about Magic…? Wouldn’t it still be possible for the game to start if someone dies that way?”

“There’s no worry of that.” Daiya denies it firmly.

“Why?”

“Because I’m the Sorcerer.”

…Huh? Is he really okay with just revealing his Class to me like that?

“R-really…? You aren’t just trying to fool me?”

“Does it benefit me in this game to lie to you about being the Sorcerer here?”

“That’s—”

I think for a moment, but I can’t come up with anything.

“All I want is to get out of this worthless Box. By necessity, I have to work with you and Otonashi to do that. That’s why I don’t mind telling you my Class.”

“…Are you sure? We might be Classes that are opposed to each other…”

“Do the Classes of this game matter to you? You know we can resolve all of this if we destroy the Box, after all.”

…He might be right.

“All I want is for you and Otonashi to realize I am not the owner of this Box… In light of that, I need to ask you something.”

Daiya casually says his question:

“You’re the Revolutionary, aren’t you?”

My reaction allows Daiya to ascertain my Class beyond a shadow of a doubt. It seems he was already pretty certain who I was from my response when he said we need to find the Revolutionary.

That’s how I ended up under Daiya’s control.

But…I don’t think there’s any way around it. I’m positive none of the others would’ve been able to keep their Class hidden from him, either.

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