---

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The difference between the world and humans lies in whether or not they can affirm such contradictions.

Instead of ringing the doorbell at the Sakashita residence, I grabbed the doorknob and tried turning it. I didn't think it would open, and indeed it was locked, so the gash in my right arm, its edges pressing together, forced blood out.
`Bujuju`—a duet with the sound effect. Blood-colored bubbles overflowed from the bright red borderline. Maybe a Blood Master lives here. I meekly tried ringing the doorbell. Sensei is probably home, but I wonder if she'll answer. I hope she hasn't become a master of pretending not to be home. I rang it twice, just because.
Drip, drip, blood oozed out like the first wring of a wet rag and fell to the ground. *Ah, I've soiled the Sakashita residence*, I lamented, while pressing my ear to the door, trying to catch any sounds from inside. *Ton, ton*, I heard what sounded like footsteps coming down the stairs. The footsteps seemed to reach the first floor and then head towards the back of the hallway. Is she planning to answer via the intercom?

"Yes, what is it?!" A drawn-out, slovenly voice. It was far removed from the image of an adult named Sakashita Koibi-sensei that I had built up through my interactions with her, but this, too, had its own charm. Fundamentally, it seems I approve of Koibi-sensei. Maybe it’s because she’s someone I can admit I like without getting too embarrassed.
"It's meee," I announced my identity with an overly open attitude, as if to balance out Sensei's listless tone. Perhaps the rebound from losing Mayu was too strong; conversely, my spirits were actually rising. My heart's defense mechanisms were working harder than they should. They care more about me than I do.
"'Oh, how unusual... What's this, what's this? You came to see me—?'"
"No, I thought I'd observe your esteemed self to get some ideas for my own future."
"'What's that supposed to mean, huh?! Just a sec.'" The call cut off. I waited as instructed. Like an abandoned dog that had come back to see its owner, I stood waiting in front of the house. The blood wasn't behaving. It was cold. Only the wound burned me with a constant heat.

"Hellooo. My hikikomori career will be celebrating its glorious one-year anniversary next month, at the ripe old age of thir—..." Koibi-sensei, who had opened the door with a reckless cheerfulness, dressed in pajamas and with bedhead all over, froze. Ah, her hair's gotten longer.
"What's that?" she asked, pointing with a grim expression at the gaping wound on my right arm.
"This is—" I wasn't even given time to explain. Sensei grabbed my right arm and tried to pull me inside, but I quickly switched it to my left arm. Without even letting me take off my shoes, she pulled me up into the hallway and hurried me towards the living room. The other people in the house must have been out; we didn't run into anyone.
"Um, Sensei—"
"Quiet!" She silenced me, maximizing the effect of that sharp command, and made me sit on the blue sofa in the living room. Then, muttering, "I don't have a cell phone, dammit," Sensei pounced on the telephone that was set up about three large strides away from the sofa. I watched her back, wondering if she was so flustered that even that short distance felt too long, or if she was just being lazy.

Her back felt just as broad as it did when I was a child and she used to carry me.
The living room of the Sakashita residence was spacious, about forty percent larger than the living room in Mayu's apartment. A few drops of blood splattered onto the glass table that didn't look very practical, and I looked down, thinking, however inappropriately, how vibrant the color looked. When it touched something transparent, my blood seemed to become beautiful.
"...Oh?" A creature scurried out from under the table. A cat. It was white, but its tail wasn't long. Its blue eyes looked cool, and also sleepy. Paying no attention to me, the cat went to a corner of the room and curled up by the curtain. That cat wasn't here a few years ago, was it.

"Yes... that's right, please. It's an emergency." It seemed Sensei was calling the hospital and requesting an ambulance. This was bad. It would mess up my plans. The phone wouldn't ring unless I was at Mayu's apartment—ah, but I broke it, so it doesn't matter. Still, it feels like I could become a phone myself and receive calls, so I really want to go back, but...
Sensei slammed the receiver back down impatiently and exclaimed, "Where's the first-aid kit?!" She clicked her tongue and was about to run off, but then she braked with her heels, stopping suddenly, and clung to the phone once more.
"Phone numbers... speed dial... this one!" Operating some buttons, Sensei tapped her toes on the floor—*ton, ton-ton*—while waiting for the other person to answer. After a moment, "Maman, where's the first-aid kit? Uh-huh, uh-huh, got it, thanks." Again, she placed the receiver down as if to destroy it. Then, as if stamping her feet in frustration, she slammed the sole of her right foot onto the floor. Perhaps feeling awkward after almost slipping from the force, she turned to me and scratched her scalp with her fingers.
"And psychiatry isn't even my specialty! Ah, don't move! Just sit there—!" Her sentence endings are collapsing, Sensei, even though it's not a dialect. But man, this is bad. If I get taken to the hospital like this and end up admitted, the number of paragraphs due to scene changes today will be a total mess. That attack on the way home from school was a real disaster. But, well, it's an emergency, so maybe it can't be helped... "I see." So this *is* an emergency situation. No wonder Sensei's expression changed so drastically.
If this is an unusual progression of events, then daily life will probably accept some paragraph revisions and plot changes. Thinking that, I felt completely at ease and, as if I'd become Sensei's child, entrusted the whereabouts of my body and blood to her.

I was hospitalized. Of course, the name of my illness is Misono Mayu Disease. "Miso Cocoon" would also be acceptable. Though it's not. No matter how prevalent red miso culture is in this region, slathering Misono Mayu in it is just not on. She'd become Miso-Miso Mayu. And then, finding that insufficient, she'd become Miso-Miso Mayu-Mayu; I can see it now.
・ "Mayu-Mayu" actually has a surprisingly nice ring to it. I'll try calling her that next time. It sounds like a fluffy, downy, animal-like creature. If I explain it to her like that, she'll probably start speaking in cat language and scratch me with her claws. I'm looking forward to it.

The hardness of the bed I was lying on felt pleasant right now. Just like how you get sleepy right after donating blood, maybe the drowsiness I felt after the treatment, once the blood loss had stopped, was thanks to that. Just a little bit, but I had become "correct." At the very least, it had been proven that blood could gush from my body unrelated to any novelization phenomenon, and the mad dynamism of my heart had subsided. Until my blood is replenished, my inner lunatic probably won't act out. Conversely, I'm almost *too* calm, which I feel bad about towards Mayu-san. But well, that culprit probably has no intention of killing Misono Mayu. They wouldn't even harm her. Just like me. After all, Misono Mayu is a peerless beauty. No, um, Nagase is wonderful too, you know.
I averted my gaze from the spot where Nagase seemed to be drifting and glaring, and looked at my right arm. The arm was in one piece. Somehow, it was intact, not torn off. After being stitched up, my arm was thickly wrapped in bandages. However, it seems this latest blow was a fatal one, and the arm's function is ruined. My grip and arm strength had already been severely weakened, but this means its usage count has completely dropped to zero. Whether it's because of the surgery or if it'll be like this forever, I can't even bend my fingertips.
"My right arm, huh..." It's my dominant arm, after all. And my right hand. It was convenient for holding hands with left-handed people. That said, all my left-handed acquaintances have been wiped out. Especially acquaintances I was on hand-holding terms with, you know. It's not that I couldn't just hold hands with my left, but if I did that, I wouldn't be able to do anything *but* hold hands. If it were Misono Mayu, she'd probably affirm strongly, "Mii-kun is perfectly fine just like that-ar!" Ahaha, only my heart laughed.
What should I do about Misono Mayu? Rescue Misono Mayu from the culprit? I'm not sure if that's the right expression, but basically, it means Mii-kun making a comeback... Is that what's being asked of me?
What on earth am I really supposed to do?
The wound has sealed the mouth that would speak of it.

"Hey, how long are you going to ignore me?" I was knocked on the back of the head. I turned around.
Beside the bed was Koibi-sensei, who had accompanied me here and stayed by my side. Sensei was sitting with her knees hugged to her chest on a pipe chair, wearing a lab coat over her pale yellow pajamas. As I mentioned before, anything as stylish as "outdoor clothes" seemed to have its very existence gone out.
"A lab coat really suits you, Sensei," I said, intending for it not to be sarcastic, more or less.
"Hm, you think so? Then maybe 'Nii-bi Sensei' should aim to be a beautiful school nurse in a white coat, eh?" My nickname for her was officially recognized. "Memo, memo for job hunting," Koibi-sensei muttered, but her hands didn't move at all; only her bare big toes fidgeted. There was something about her that convinced me if her job-hunting activities were described in a short story, the content would just be a simple game diary.
"So, what have you injured yourself with this time, you damn fool?" Sensei glared, reproaching me. Hey, it's not like I *wanted* to get this wound, you know.
"I was just walking down the street, and *slash*."
"Did Misono cut you or something?" A prediction I almost nodded to, thinking, *Yeah, that happens.* "Speaking of which, where's Misono? Is she as indifferent as ever to you being hospitalized?"
I shook my head vaguely, as if to signal, *she's not here*, as Sensei was looking around. Perhaps from staring at LCD screens too much, Sensei's eyes were terribly bloodshot. However, she didn't look gaunt, and her healthy complexion was a relief. If she was living peacefully at her age without being bedridden, that was enough for me. It's fine even if she has a bandage wrapped around her right thumb from mashing buttons.
"Misono Mayu is sleeping at home," I lied, averting my eyes. Then, I tried to present myself as a fine young man who, though usually honest, occasionally tells a white lie for someone else's sake. It's probably better not to tell Sensei. She likely doesn't know about the gruesome murders happening in town.
"You're in your uniform, but Misono didn't go to school?" Sensei pointed out the inexplicable detail, as if she'd become a detective.
"Yeah, only I went today. And then I got cut on the roadside on my way home."
"A slasher?"
"Well, something like that." Actually, that's exactly what it was.
"Hmm, how dangerous," Sensei muttered, looking displeased. As I thought, the information hasn't reached her, not even through her family. I really hope it stays that way. She should just seriously give up on job hunting. If I said that, she'd probably scowl as if I were being sarcastic, so I kept my mouth shut.
"Come to think of it, Sensei, your birthday is soon, isn't it?"
"Hm? Ah, let's see! What's today's date?" she asked with a straight face. I wanted to retract my previous statement.
"It was a rude topic for a Sensei who's enjoying a solid thirty-day holiday even in September, wasn't it?"
"Whaddaya say— You're the rude one, bastard!" She delivered the line with maximum monotony. She looked incredibly bothered. As if to say, *It's been a while since I talked to someone, so my functions have atrophied, y'know~*.
I started making small talk with Sensei, who had begun to absorb herself in putting her right-hand fingers between her big toe and second toe. It was an attempt to cooperate with her conversational rehabilitation and strive for "Nii-bi Sensei's" escape. That's a lie, though (but just this once, it seemed Koibi-sensei might be thinking it too).
"What kind of games have you been into lately?"
"Hey now, do you think I'm such a homebody that I only ever hold a game controller?"
Without even knowing the date, where would she possibly go out? Besides, I knew. When getting into the ambulance, she'd fumbled looking for her own shoes and ended up just wearing some random rubber sandals.
Koibi-sensei changed her sitting position to squatting on the pipe chair as she began to speak.
"The other day, y'know, I had Maman buy me a PeeEssTwo."
"Wooow." She's the real Nii-bi Sensei. As authentic as genuine leather. Or rather, Mom, you're encouraging your daughter's chrysalis game. Her plans to metamorphose are receding further and further.
"Among the games we bought together, there was this simulation RPG, y'know. It's about leading your own troops and fighting for a hundred years, and it's actually pretty fun."
"Heeh..." I wanted to ask Koibi-sensei just how many more years she planned to fight with her family in her room, but I restrained myself.
"The difficulty in the latter half, y'know, it's high, or rather, tedious? But somehow, after playing for about fifty years, you just can't help but wonder what happens next. It's just that there aren't enough events in the mid-game, y'know—" She started grumbling her complaints about the game. I'd brought up the topic, but to get excited about this kind of subject, mutual prior knowledge is necessary. So naturally, I, knowing nothing, just nodded repeatedly with a know-it-all look, saying, "That's so true." As she spoke animatedly, I surprisingly got excited too. It was mostly a lie.
"So, in that game, you fight for a hundred years, so naturally, you go through generational changes. You hire new people, or the children of couples who married within the group grow up and join the knighthood, y'know."
"Haaah... It's like that thing, um, that thing." I couldn't think of a good analogy.
"Each character has ages for their growth period, peak, and decline phase. There are individual differences, like some have long growth periods, or some have really short peak periods, all sorts... Watching that, I started to worry, like, maybe my decline phase has already started," Sensei said, her shoulders slumping in the end. Come to think of it, there was also that teacher who lamented that games were too fun and reality had become unpleasant. Everyone was bewildered by the teacher holding their head in their hands in front of their students.
"This is irrelevant, but your finger skin peeled even though it's a simulation game?"
"Ah, this is, well, I have a habit of mashing buttons when things get dangerous."
Her life is also dangerous, so she must be mashing buttons all year round, how tough for her—if I said that, she'd probably pummel my Adam's apple with her trained thumb, so I kept quiet. Sensei lifted her slumped shoulders and face and resumed fiddling with her thumb.
"Even when throwing a monster capture sphere, you just end up mashing buttons until the result appears, right?"
"Ah, I get that feeling too. Me too."
Actually, I wanted to try saying "NEET-too" as a pun. *What am I doing, risking my life in the wrong place?* I reconsidered.
"Yeah, see, just watching passively isn't good enough. You gotta make a move yourself." Sensei nodded, satisfied. I started to feel like maybe it wasn't the wrong place to risk my life after all.
"So, anyway... Don't make me talk about that. We were talking about your injury, right?"
"Were we talking about that?" It's just a superficial injury with nothing more to discuss, though.
"I bet you got that wound by sticking your nose into something you shouldn't have, right?" Koibi-sensei poked her index finger into my side, pressing and grinding. It doesn't matter, but Sensei's fingertips are incredibly beautiful. Her nails are well-shaped and cherry-blossom pink, and her fingers themselves are long and slender. As for their true nature, she once proudly told me, "These are the hands of a lazy person who does absolutely no housework." I feel like, now, I understand the meaning behind her puffing out her chest and looking so smug back then.
Then and now, Sensei is my idol. That aside, I should probably deny it soon.
"No, no, I'm the one who got stabbed," with a knife. *Slash.* And my human relationships were also neatly dismantled, and I can no longer easily meet several acquaintances. Give me a break, please.
"Hoooh," Sensei said, approaching me, chair and all (she skillfully hopped on the chair, moving its legs), and peered into my face. When Sensei, in her lab coat, examines my face in a normal hospital room, I can't help but remember the past. My brain goes numb, and a bitter taste clings to the back of my front teeth.
"Mm, this doesn't seem to be a lie. That was unfortunate, wasn't it?" Saying that, Sensei reached out and stroked my hair. Just like in the old days. From Sensei's perspective, perhaps there's no difference between the me of now and the me of the past. To be honest, for me too, there's almost none.
For me, Sensei was always Sensei.
The only people I've probably kept in touch with ever since I met them are her and my aunt and uncle.
"What do you mean, 'this is'... I don't lie, usually."
"Ahaha, nice gag."
She genuinely didn't look amused. The late summer heat is still awful, so I guess I should be grateful she's cooling my heart; it's just as I planned. I'd better insist that it's not a lie. Only about three lines have passed since my declaration, after all. Hmm, I don't know what I'm saying, but is this also a harmful effect of my brain turning to paper due to the progression of the novelization phenomenon? What's the point of becoming even more paper-thin, though.
"You tell nothing but lies, but the fact that you never get any better at it is what makes you a good boy."
"...Haven't I gotten... better?"
"Nope. You're bad at lying." She looked happy.
"Haaah." Was I being praised? I receive an unclear evaluation, making it hard to tell if "You do nothing but sleep, huh?" is a compliment. But at least Sensei seems to like it, as she pinches a few strands of my hair with her fingers as if pecking at them. She rubs them with the pad of her finger and grins. "I'll give you some counseling."
"Since I'm an unlicensed doctor, I'd like to charge you tens of millions, but I'll do it for free, y'know."
*No, you still have your license, don't you? You just don't work.* As if to tell me to keep my retorts to myself, Sensei's palm covered my forehead. Placed there as if taking my temperature, her palm was pleasantly cool and seemed to solidify the white mist that had been hanging in front of my face.
"Alright, first question. You are currently a little tired."
"Sensei, this is a quiz, isn't it?"
"Just answer."
"Even if you ask me about my physical condition... Lately, I'm full of energy."
"Doubt. Second question. You've recently experienced something very painful."
"I'm full of happiness because I got to see you, Sensei."
"Doubt. Third question. You look like you're about to cry."
"Setting a new US record for bawling."
"Doubt... or is it? Hmm, borderline. Fourth question. The other day, you dug up the Tokugawa buried treasure."
"My little sister ordered me to become a dog, and while I was barking 'woof woof,' I accidentally discovered it."
"Doubt. I said counseling, who told you to play lie detector?!"
"Abyabya!"
Something on my body was pulled. That something hurt intensely. I wish they'd given me more anesthesia.
Preferably for my whole body. And while you're at it, for my brain too. So I could become a monkey, pacing in a zoo cage without a single thought. After Sensei finished pulling me, she finally seemed to open her mouth.
"So, what was the purpose of this counseling?" As for me, only questions were planted.
"...Just teasing," she answered, looking bored. It seems her attempt at teasing failed.
"Sorry for giving such boring answers. Maybe I should have been a bit more witty. No, that's not it."
"For now, I wanted to conclude that you seem depressed." Ah, a pouting face. How rare.
"...Yes."
"Alright, so that's the conclusion. What do we do after that?"
"This." Once again, my head was stroked. As if enveloping me, Sensei's hand looked large in my eyes. Peace and drowsiness seemed to take physical form and fan me.
Sensei spoke, peering into my face, her expression still soft.
"If you want to resolve fatigue and anxiety together, sometimes physical contact is effective."
[.........]
"Can my hands still calm you down?"
I calmed down. I had no choice but to fall. I couldn't resist at all; I was made to surrender.
Something else fell too. Something cold as the ground trickled down my face. It was the temperature of despair.
The despair that seemed ready to fall at any moment peeked out just a little. The moment my heart turned cold with astonishing speed, the main body was set to come crashing down entirely. This was probably just a test of that.
Drip, drip, the thing falling from me grew even colder. It contained a different kind of coldness from Sensei's hand, and honestly, I didn't like it one bit. If this became full-blown, it would be a little painful.
So, for now, I prayed that if I offered up a deadly cheerful topic, everything would just fly away.
"Um, Sensei."
"Hmm?"
"Won't you marry me?"
*Zashi*—came the sound of Koibi-sensei's neck and cheekbones cracking. The way she froze made me feel like I'd won. I had imagined that, being an adult, Sensei would just brush it off with something like, "Ah, yes, yes, if we get married, first you'll have to split yourself and diligently handle both housework and your job." But before such a reply, I got a whack on the head, as if for starters. Just as you'd expect from someone who's never done housework, her slapping method was careless. As a member of the beautification committee, I couldn't overlook it, but I prioritized the fact that it was a lie.
"Stop with those kinds of jokes."
"I'm serious."
*Mugu*, Sensei faltered. She pouted her lips, looking like a sulking child.
"You know, you might have forgotten, but you and I are currently not on speaking terms."
I had forgotten. We've broken off about four or five times, so I get confused whether our current relationship is "broken off" or "excellent." Not much difference either way, probably.
"Then let's make up and get engaged while we're at it."
"...What, are you desperate or something?"
"Seriously serious."
I got whacked on the head again. It resonated in my arm wound, but I didn't show it.
Sensei narrowed her eyes and sighed. I felt like she was exasperated, thinking, *What a hopeless child.* It was a very adult-big-sister-like reaction, and I found myself charmed, thinking how wonderful that was.
But what with this and the matter with Nimou, do I really want to live with someone? Even though I have Mayu. Well, she's absent now. But she was around at the time of Nimou. So, is it precognition? Am I inviting Nimou and Sensei on the premise that I'll lose Mayu? If I told them, they'd both probably hate it, somehow.
Well, for now, it seemed like this proposal wasn't one that would darken Sensei's mood too much, so I was secretly a little relieved. I was worried she'd be totally put off, y'know.
Sensei gazed at my right arm and, without changing her narrowed eyes, muttered.
"When you and I both get jobs, then."
"Huh, did I just get put on hold until I die?"
I was whacked on the head a third time. It was bliss.

『Hey, it's Dark Me.』
【Oh?】
『It's that thing, like, "I'm the Dark Me you raised."』
【Even if you suddenly go all Magicant on me... Ah, it's late, but is it the phone's turn?】
『Exactly. But phones are forbidden in the hospital, so I have no choice but to talk to myself.』
【Ah, that's dangerous. Also, my brackets look kind of weird. Unfamiliar, I mean.】
『Since the color is black, isn't it a contrast of our hearts? My (Dark Me's) and your (Original Me's) heart.』
【Normally, I'd think the more original-like me (Original Me) would be white, though.】
『It means I'm inherently evil. And I (Dark Me) am in a state purified by Maa-chan's light.』
【That's wonderful. But Maa-chan's light is kind of reddish, isn't it?】
『Mhm, it feels like being enveloped in a lustrous scarlet that could make living things perish.』
【But this is like those things you sometimes see in book afterwords, where characters from the story have a conversation.】
『Though, having yourself as the conversation partner, I wonder about the choice of personnel.』
【What are you talking about? Even with novels, the one writing is usually the same person, so isn't any exchange of dialogue, in a sense, a conversation with oneself?】
『You say such blunt things, even though you're Dark Me.』
【Talking to myself is an everyday occurrence for me (Original Me), so even if a special place is set up for it, well...】
『That's true, isn't it? It's not like they plan to make Dark Me take the place of the murderer, right?』
【Well then, there's nothing much to talk about, so shall we try predicting future developments? Wishful thinking is also acceptable.】
『Ah, then Dark Me will go first. I wish the Earth would be saved by having our brains taken over by parasitic organisms.』
【I wish the Earth of a parallel world and its representatives would fight with stuffed animals and lose.】
『I wish a meteorite would hit the Earth, destroying it, and only cryogenically preserved humans would go to the future.』
【I wish the moon would fall and the Earth would end.】
『I wish a comet's tail would graze the Earth's surface and humanity would end.』
【No more meteorite ideas from now on. I wish the wolf that swallowed Grandma had tried a little harder and swallowed humanity.】
『I wish a butterfly would flap its wings on the other side of the Earth and the world would sink in a tsunami.』
【I wish Nostradamus's prophecies would come true.】
『I wish Mt. Fuji would erupt, causing other volcanoes to chain-erupt, and Japan would sink.』
【I wish the planets' gravity would concentrate during a Grand Cross and the Earth would just perish for now.】
『I wish humanity would be brainwashed by subliminal messages.』
【That's enough of that theme. I wish a baby with a tail would invade the Earth.】
『I wish cat-shaped robots would destroy the Earth just to exterminate mice.』
【I wish Dreamland would sue us for copyright infringement.】
『I wish the Earth would burn up in a single fireball.』
【I wish someone would write the names of all humanity in a notebook that kills whoever's name is written in it.】
『I wish all animals except humans would move to paradise, leaving only humans on Earth.』
【I wish we'd fail to return Hyonhyoro and all humanity would be kidnapped.】
『I wish this was a dream I'm having while being processed into meat.』
【I wish all humans would become shadow people.】
『I wish the machines entrusted with managing humanity would go berserk and the world would fall into ruin.』
【I wish everything was the dream of a single human being.】
『I wish there was a real human city beyond the mountains, and this place was just an experimental site.』
【I wish the Earth would be destroyed by a misfired Kamehameha.】
『I wish it would be revealed that this is the world four billion years in the future, and the sun would burn out.』
【I wish I had been brutally murdered by Sugawara.】
『I wish I had been beaten to death by Watarai-san.』
【I wish I had been turned into monjayaki by Biwashima.】
『I wish Nimou had turned me into a hamburger steak.』
【I wish Natane-san had turned me into a steak.】
『I wish I'd been shot a bit more in the stomach with a gun and died.』
【I wish the group of four from the apartment had dismembered me instead of Tsurusato-san.】
『I wish I had committed suicide before Yamana-san.』
【I wish I had been drowned by Akaike.】
『I wish that weirdo had killed me with a shovel.』
【I wish only I (Original Me) had died in the basement.】
『No, this is turning into past regrets.』
【Ah, right. Well then, getting back on topic, I wish a mysterious biological weapon would leak and humanity would perish.】
『I wish we'd end up on the Planet of the Apes.』
【I wish the world would go through a full cycle and give birth to a parallel world.】
『Isn't that the ideal? Maybe Dark Me and my parents would be living decent lives.』
【Ah, well... But it seems like there'd be people I couldn't meet.】
『Is there anyone you'd regret that about?』
【The neighborhood's number one fulfilled NEET.】
『Yeah, I agree. Or rather, can I only agree, since it's about Dark Me? Uwah, it's scary when I realize it.』
【It means you seem to have a will but actually have none at all, huh.】
『But the scariest thing is when something you've been treating as having no will actually turns out to have one.』
【Also, if I (Original Me) were decent, I shouldn't have been indebted to Geronimo-san either.】
『The topic suddenly jumped back. I can't say I wouldn't miss that either.』
【Mom would be alive... and Nimou probably wouldn't exist. If Dad hadn't cheated.】
『But I feel like no unhappy people would emerge. At least regarding Dark Me's surroundings, it would be better than now. Though it's unknown where the negative consequences of that would go.』
【I'd like to experience that kind of story, just once.】
『Ah, well then, let's daydream about it next time. Endlessly, on a day when we can't sleep.』
【Today might be perfect, I'm sure I won't be able to sleep. Anyway, the closing words are already decided.】
『Ah, I get it, I get it! Then let's say it together, ready, set...』
『【That's a lie, though.】』
【I never thought the time would come when I'd use this on myself.】
『That common disclaimer, "This is a work of fiction," basically means "That's a lie, though," right?』
【Then most protagonists of first-person novels are all liars, aren't they!】
『Yay, so many comrades!』
【Third-person means the author is lying!】
『Yay, still so many comrades!』
【............Is it really okay to keep having such a pointless conversation endlessly?】
『Well, listening to a murderer talk about dismembering humans doesn't seem like a fruitful act either.』
【That's true too. But Misono Mayu is fine; she won't be killed.】
『You're strangely confident.』
【When I'm buried in the red miso cultivated with Misono Mayu, I feel like I can do anything!】
『By the way, do you intend to re-tie that red string with Maa-chan?』
【If I have the chance, by all means, again.】
『Do you intend to make one yourself?』
【By all means, if I have the chance again.】
『What, have you given up?』
【Then, what do you think I (Original Me) should do?】
『Decide for yourself.』
【You're myself too, aren't you!】
『A liar doesn't lie to himself. Therefore, Dark Me doesn't even need to answer.』
【All I can do is sigh.】
【...However, I (Original Me) got carried away talking to myself for so long.】
『Well, well, there are quite a few people who have these kinds of exchanges of soliloquies.』
『There might be one comrade in the neighborhood.』
【You say it as if you know who that is. Of course, I (Original Me) know too.】
『Ah, soliloquies are the best.』
【Truly the best. Why are people's mouths on the outside instead of the inside, I wonder?】

In the midst of my solo dialogue, I undid my restraints and left the hospital. To repeat a "that's all right" yesterday. Actually, it might have been an escape. But it was unavoidable. Hospital food, in a broad sense, is eating out, but when time, paragraphs, and plot developments have gone this haywire, I have to balance the books at the end. Besides, if I stayed in the hospital, the police, especially Gender Natsuki, might come for questioning, so I fled, killing two birds with one stone. No, it was a rare instance of a well-judged bolt.