Is it happening again? Am I going to find myself back in that scene I can remember only in dreams?

“Have you made your preparations?”

In this apartment that was once Maria’s, in this room where no one lives, I stand face-to-face with O, and I think.

The woman before me now is so terrifyingly beautiful that I almost lose myself as I look at her. Her long hair reminds me of Maria’s, and her slender face and long limbs are worthy of any top model. Her lips are fixed in a smile… Yes, “fixed” is the perfect way to describe it: that smile so perfect, it looks as if someone has taken the face of an exquisitely made doll and placed it there.

The uncanny expression stirs a primordial fear in me. I’ve seen it many times before, but I’ve always forgotten it outside my dreams.

…But I won’t be forgetting it anymore.

After all, O is no longer some unknown entity. I have come to understand that she was born of Maria’s Box, the Misbegotten Happiness.

If forgetting is the Box’s power, then I can resist it now that I’m aware that I hold the Empty Box.

That’s right. I have to keep this in mind!

—Aya Otonashi…

She is the enemy.

It’s okay.

I can think straight again, now that I’ve got it into my head that she’s my foe.

The room smells of the aromatic oil I sprinkled, and the scent of peppermint reminds me of my goal.

—To take back Maria.

—To make her a part of my normal life.

—To meet the zeroth Maria who knows nothing of Boxes.

I will do anything to accomplish what I’ve set out to do, and I’ve already sacrificed friends in the process. If murdering everyone in the world is what it takes, then I will. I’m not exaggerating; I mean exactly what I say.

I let loose a big breath, then glare up at O.

“Have you made your preparations?” She flashes that perfect, eerie smile. “To say your good-byes to this world.”

I scowl at her with as much loathing as I can muster. “And why should I have to do that?”

Yes, the Boxes have obliterated the normal life I cherished above all else.

Yuri Yanagi—forever tormented by the murders she committed in the Game of Indolence.

Iroha Shindo—lost her very self to her obsession with the false miracles of the Boxes.

Koudai Kamiuchi—lost his life.

Ryu Miyazaki—murdered his parents and went to prison.

Riko Asami—gone missing.

Kasumi Mogi—can no longer walk.

Kokone Kirino—deeply hurt in both body and soul, no longer able to make decisions normally.

Haruaki Usui—lost his friends, including me.

Daiya Oomine—most likely will never return.

And as for me, Kazuki Hoshino—

I gaze at my right hand, still freshly scarred from a self-inflicted wound. It symbolizes the horrible things I’ve done, the madness that’s overtaken me from which I can never truly recover.

“But—”

I clench my right hand closed, and a power that feels almost limitless wells up within me.

That’s right. No matter how hopeless the situation may be, I cannot give up on this world.

“You failed last time.” O doesn’t care as she taunts me. My angry glare doesn’t seem to bother her at all. “What you’re trying to do is get Maria Otonashi to hand over her Box of her own volition, right? You do realize your own actions have made that impossible?”

I bite down lightly on my lip. She’s right.

“You sacrificed Kokone Kirino to bring down Daiya Oomine, fully aware of Maria’s principles. You knew it would ensure she would never listen to another word you have to say. And you were right.”

“Urgh…”

I couldn’t come up with anything better at the time, but Maria will likely never forgive me. I screwed myself over.

I fall silent, and O carries on.

“Still, that doesn’t matter, either. Something even more disastrous is happening to you, after all.”

What’s she talking about?

O provides the answer before I can ask the question.

“Maria Otonashi has lost her memories of you.”

“Wha—?”

I’m trying to get Maria to cast aside her Box. All she wants is a Box to wish for the happiness of others, and my goal is to make her abandon it. As resolute as she is, I never truly imagined getting through to her for a second.

It was hopeless to begin with—and now she’s lost her memory?

I’m supposed to persuade her when she doesn’t even know me? …There’s no way. I mean, who’s going to even hear out a total stranger, much less care what they have to say? My words can’t reach her anymore.

I’m desperate.

No, I’m despairing.

And yet, there is another emotion that holds even greater sway over my heart.

“…She…forgot about me…? Forgot our time together…? That’s…”

No! I can’t accept that!

“Nh……”

I’ve become a stranger to Maria. We spent a lifetime together that bound us as one with a connection tighter than any other—and it’s gone.

Maria. Even if I do manage to see you again, will you not know who I am?

Maria. Even if I call out your name, will you not turn around and smile?

Maria. Is the Maria I know gone forever?

If so, then what am I fighting for? Maybe I can destroy her Misbegotten Happiness, but if she doesn’t remember anything about me, that will only widen the gulf between us.

“I can see your hope is fading.”

Of course it is. Even destroying the Box itself won’t give me what I’m truly after.

Still—

“But you won’t give up, right?”

No, I won’t. For some reason, she’s exactly right.

Despite the sadness weighing on me, I keep my gaze steady on O’s face.

Maria may no longer know who I am, but I will save her. She may not want me to, but I will.

I won’t give up… No, that’s not entirely accurate. Now that I have the Empty Box, giving up isn’t even on the table. I will keep pursuing her, even if it means losing myself in the process. To find her, I will dive into the suffocating, blinding darkness at the bottom of the sea. Giving up has never been an option.

O’s smile fades at my determination. I’ve never seen this intensity in her expression before, not during any of our previous confrontations within the Boxes.

“I’ll be honest with you. I find that part of you just a bit frightening.”

—I’m her enemy.

Unlike before, O now clearly regards me as a foe.

“There is no hope for you. It’s undeniable… And yet, you still can’t help but feel you will sway Maria Otonashi’s heart with the power you’ve been granted.”

The power of a “savior” who destroys Boxes.

Maria’s wish to make everyone’s wishes come true created the Misbegotten Happiness. However, a Box grants wishes with complete and utter thoroughness. When it granted hers, the Box also manifested her belief that such a thing could never be, and her unspoken desire for someone to stop her.

Maria’s conflicting wishes gave birth to two beings.

A being who grants wishes—and a “savior” who ruins them.

O—and Kazuki Hoshino.

I am the “knight,” the only one who can rescue her.

“Yeah.”

I gaze at my wounded right hand. It holds an enormous power, a power capable of eradicating even O.

The reason I don’t do away with O on the spot is that destroying her would be the equivalent of destroying the Misbegotten Happiness. If I were to destroy that Box forcibly, it would shatter Maria’s mind.

I know this because she rejected me. But it’s also true that the only reason I exist is because she wanted me to.

That’s why there has to be a way, no matter how hopeless things may seem. That’s what I believe, what I am able to believe.

Okay, let’s make one thing clear.

How am I going to go about saving Maria?

There’s only one answer. I must free her from the girl who stands before me.

I say “her” name.

“‘Aya Otonashi.’”

Aya Otonashi once again smiles at me without concern.

“Aya Otonashi, you say? It’s true that I look like her, and that I was in a sense born from her. However, I am not the actual Aya Otonashi.”

“I guess not. You’re Aya Otonashi as Maria sees her: an image come to life. Completely separate from the real one who actually existed. The real Aya Otonashi was probably incredible. But no matter how extraordinary she was, she was still human. She could never have been so otherworldly. Something within Maria led her to put the human Aya Otonashi up on a pedestal.”

Thinking of Maria’s situation, I grit my teeth.

“Maria can’t escape such an enormous presence. She will always be bound by this ‘Aya Otonashi,’ driven by her. ‘Aya Otonashi’ is the monster she wants to become, and to that end, Maria is disregarding and trying to erase her own self. So—”

I turn my right hand toward O threateningly.

“So release her, ‘Aya Otonashi,’” I tell her in no uncertain terms.

O is, naturally, unfazed. “You’re talking to the wrong person. I have no idea how to release her. I’m sure you don’t, either, of course… Yes, but still, I know exactly what action you will take.”

“What?”

I don’t have a clue what I should do next. O is saying she can read my next move when even I don’t know what it is.

“How do I know? You have only one move to make, and you’re going to take it, no matter how hesitant you may be, how foolhardy it may seem. It will be a vain struggle, a wasted effort—a dive into the abyss of the sea. It won’t offer you a shred of hope, but it is your one option.”

At that, I remember what O said before.

“…And that single option is what you were saying—”

“Yes, to leave this world.”

I can’t figure out exactly what she’s talking about.

But she’s right. For some reason, I’m positive she’s right.

“You will depart this world, most likely never to return. If my enemy vanishes forever, then it goes without saying that I win. Once that happens, Maria Otonashi will ceaselessly pursue her misbegotten, hopeless wish until she eventually consumes herself and reaches her end. All I need to do is wait.”

“I won’t let that happen, though.”

“True. If you did return to this world, it would mean you freed Maria Otonashi using some method I had not foreseen. That would be the moment of my defeat, and my disappearance. That moment would be when you free Maria Otonashi from her older sister—‘Aya Otonashi.’”

Okay, I get it.

In short, I need to make it back—to the normal life I’ve cherished all this time.

Do that—and I can meet her.

The Maria who was driven so far, far away, whom I never encountered even in the repeating world. Maria, bare and unadorned.

The Maria who will never experience a single loop.

—The zeroth Maria.

Yes—but how difficult is that going to be? My beloved normal life is already in ruins. How am I supposed to bring Maria back to a place that no longer exists?

Even so, I will continue to struggle no matter how foolish it may be, exactly as O says.

“So this is our final showdown, Kazuki Hoshino.”

O spreads her arms.

She sets her eyes firmly on me, and her beautiful, hideous face contorts.

“May you live in happiness in the misbegotten world.”

And O embraces me.

It’s revolting. But as much as I want to refuse, I can’t. I try to grab O by the shoulders and push her away, but my hands are pulled into her formless body. It’s like becoming entangled in a spiderweb. I slip in bit by bit, becoming a part of her.

I can’t breathe.

I’m drowning inside O.

Ever so slowly, I sink. It’s so gradual that it feels as if my senses aren’t working. But I can see the light pulling away from me, little by little. I sense faintly that I’m descending.

Sinking, sinking, sinking for eternity—

What is this place?

It’s like the bottom of the bottom of the bottom of the sea, but it’s bright, as if there is a sun.

An incessant noise worms its way into my hearing. There’s the sound of laughter coming from somewhere, but I can’t tell whether it’s near or far. Not even plugging my ears makes it go away. It’s so loud that I want to stop thinking.

Though my breathing has stopped, I don’t feel any pain. My form is melting into space, blending with the environment around me. This place is taking control of my body.

I’m losing myself.

I’m vanishing.

I don’t know what’s going to happen. But I am certain of one thing.

In the end, I will dissolve and be no more.