Daiya Oomine 09/11 FRI 10:00 PM

Aya Otonashi, the older sister of Maria Otonashi, is dead. At least, according to the family registry.

I learned about this before I was pulled into the Game of Indolence. I had been investigating Otonashi, hoping to find some clue on how to better use my Box.

Maria Otonashi.

She was the second daughter born to Michishige Otonashi, an executive at a major finance company. She belonged to a family of four—her father, Michishige; her mother, Yukari; an older sister, Aya; and Maria herself—who lived in a house in an upper-class neighborhood of Hamako Prefecture. Maria’s parents were quite a few years apart in age, with her father nearing a ripe sixty around the time she was fourteen, whereas her mother was still only thirty-five. It also turned out that Michishige had married three times, with Yukari being his third wife.

I can imagine that that alone would make for some complicated family relationships, but Maria’s relationship with Aya was especially so.

The two sisters had different mothers. The one who gave birth to Aya wasn’t Yukari but rather Michishige’s previous wife. What’s more, big sister Aya was still only three months older than Maria, so they were also in the same year of school.

That being the case, Michishige had Aya and Maria attend different elementary and middle schools to avoid causing a stir among their classmates.

The two were apparently polar opposites.

Aya, the elder sister, was a student who stood out at every turn. She was one of the best in her class in both study and athletics, and she was always the center of attention. Aya was entrusted with important roles like student council president almost as a matter of course, and there wasn’t a student in her school who didn’t know her name.

On the other hand, her younger sister, Maria, was a reserved and inconspicuous student. She was often picked on in elementary school, perhaps because she never fought back. This was probably why she frequently stayed home from school, claiming to have a headache or stomachache, and even when she did go, she would be holed up in the school infirmary instead of participating. Word has it her grades weren’t all that great, either, but I think that almost goes without saying.

But the one who proved to be a problem child for her teachers wasn’t Maria, the poor student who disliked going to school and kept to herself. Aya was a model pupil on the surface, but she was a handful.

When you are trying to guide a student, trouble can occur when she excels too much—all the more so when the student understands the situation and goes out of her way to show off her abilities rather than downplaying them.

Aya was more knowledgeable about each subject than her instructors and wouldn’t hesitate to point out any mistake they made. She would resolve incidents of bullying by suggesting a more effective method than those of her teachers. When an argument arose, Aya would shoot down the adults who were supposed to be the peacekeepers.

Thanks to all of this, it became evident that Aya’s teachers were not as smart as she was. It was so obvious, even the other students could tell.

Students don’t respect teachers who aren’t as intelligent as they are. Because of Aya, the teachers lost their authority as grown-ups, and any class with her in it was consistently unruly because no one would obey the instructor. It wasn’t a typical sort of unruliness, either, but something deeper and more unsettling. This much was plain from the severity of the problems that occurred.

For example, you could look at the injuries and attempted suicides in the classes to which Aya belonged.

There were also three teachers who quit after interacting with her. One began suffering mental illness, one became violent with a student and injured them, and one became so obsessed with his pupil Aya that he began borderline stalking her.

All the same, despite their different mothers and opposite symmetry, Aya and Maria were by all accounts on very good terms.

They apparently called each other regularly during breaks at school, and on days off, they were seen hanging out together hand in hand. A classmate of Aya’s, who had been around the two of them while they were together, had this to say:

“They were super-close. They looked totally different from friends or sisters… Maybe twins? That’s not quite it, either. I guess the closest thing would be…like they were lovers.”

As far as I could find, there wasn’t anything grave about their relationship. Considering the convoluted state of their family, they didn’t have any major problems at home, either. Aya’s mother had gotten a divorce because of Maria’s birth, but they had no real trouble with her, since they had been sure to make solid financial arrangements. Their father, Michishige, was well aware that their family was not normal and thus kept a watchful eye over the household.

Of course, these are answers I was able to find just by asking around. I won’t know the truth of things like what actually went on within the family unless I dig much deeper. But I’m confident in saying there wasn’t any familial breakdown that would have been readily apparent to someone on the outside, as in the case of Ryu Miyazaki and Riko Asami.

All the same, there is no denying that this family no longer exists.

In the end, the other three members aside from Maria met their untimely deaths in a car accident.

I don’t know much about the wreck. It was a head-on collision between two passenger vehicles, but the other driver is dead, and without any witnesses, no one knows the details of the incident.

Regardless, the rest of the family aside from Maria, who was at home alone, was killed. That is an incontrovertible fact.

Maria Otonashi was all on her own. As someone who struggled to open herself to anyone but her family, Maria Otonashi was utterly and truly alone.

After she received her inheritance and Michishige’s younger brother Kiyohiko became her legal guardian, Maria disappeared.

That’s pretty much everything I was able to dig up about Maria Otonashi.

I have no idea how Maria Otonashi came across the miracle of the Boxes. I also don’t know why she wanted to become someone who made wishes come true, or how she got ahold of the Misbegotten Happiness.

Nevertheless, there’s no way the loss of her family didn’t have some connection. The deaths of her loved ones drove Maria mad, planting the seeds of her abnormally self-sacrificing mentality. That in turn created the aloof and detached girl we know today.

What’s more, she was presented with an opportunity that would lead her to perfect this persona. Within the repeating world of the Rejecting Classroom, Maria had an entire life’s worth of time at her disposal. Maybe Maria believed that if she could become Aya, her all-too-perfect older sister, her wish would be granted. And indeed, she did transform in her attempt to assume Aya’s identity.

Yeah. I had all that figured out, so I suppose I should have discovered O’s true nature much sooner.

…Well, to be honest, I shouldn’t have discovered it at all. I was never meant to connect O with something so mundane as her family.

The thing about enigmas is that the more you understand them, the less enigmatic they become. You’ll never be able to use a Box to the fullest unless you keep it at arm’s length, accept it blindly, and give up on trying to comprehend it. For something inexplicable, you should never seek out any meaning beyond its inherent mystery.

But I despise that kind of unconditional acceptance. For me, it’s the most difficult thing to do.

Yep, it was as simple as that. Shutting off my brain ran contrary to my wish, so there’s no way I could do it.

That’s why I created limitations for my Box that left me unable to wield it properly. I suppose I should think about the trade-off: I was able to make Crime, Punishment, and the Shadow of Crime realistic for me.

At any rate, it was only a matter of time before I pieced together O’s true nature.

In a twist that’s almost too simple, the name O is just the initial for “Otonashi.” And considering how Maria started going by her older sister’s name, I’m sure I’ve interpreted things correctly.

O’s name is—

—Aya Otonashi.