“Is this your way of telling me that even if you’re a fake, it doesn’t matter?”
“Even if it’s all a lie, what’s important is that the ending satisfies him.”
“By him, you mean the Demon King. I thought the goal was to satisfy you, the Law of Identity. You’re going to save everyone, right?”
“No. Or I guess you could say, it’s both of us. You recorded the story of the Demon King. Which means that you understood the true nature of this world. So if you’re satisfied, that means he’s satisfied. And of course, I have to be satisfied too.”
The Law of Identity’s voice was strangely flat, like it was being altered by a machine.
“So we all need to be satisfied with the ending, is what you’re saying.”
“Yes. So please, show me. Show me the records you wrote.”
I did as I was asked, and sent my final file, that is, the last volume of my novel, over the internet. I heard the sound that indicated it had been received. And for a while, I waited. I couldn’t say a word until she spoke first.
The records were simply that, records. It was impossible to find meaning in them. But the “stories”, got involved whether you wanted them to or not. Right now, “heaviness” was winning.
“Do you think it was the mind that was infected by the virus? Or the body?”
That was the first thing the Law of Identity asked. I thought it was my duty to answer, even if I didn’t understand.
“Both... right? I think it was the body that was infected first, but it’s the mind that’s being controlled.”
There was a silence, and then another question.
“You believed that the truth he needed to know was the end of the story, and that by knowing it, people could be saved. Is that right?”
It was a strange question. What was she trying to learn from that?
“I can’t be sure, but... that’s what I was thinking. He tried to save the world. No, I think I believed that if the afterlife existed, and the Law of Identity existed, then there must be some salvation.”
“Since you know that much, I’ll share with you my last words.”
“Go ahead.”
I waited. But there was a silence like she was hesitating.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, I’ll tell them to you.”
The Law of Identity said.
“You have been made incarnate, and are trapped here. That is the role of the hero. The world will be saved, and those who lived there, and those who were able to entrust themselves to the lightness of stories, will someday come unto me.”
And then there were no more words.
“Hey! Hey!” I shouted. But there was no answer. Instead, her account had been deleted.
Maybe this was all a setup. Or maybe I’d really gone insane.
These words, and the despair they brought with them, echoed in my mind.
Something had ended, probably. No, not probably. Certainly. That much I knew. For sure. But I didn’t know what had ended. It felt like I knew for certain that tomorrow would come. The sun would come up, and before long, it would be deadline time.
But it was over. His story was over. What Akuto Sai wanted, the salvation of the people, was over.
Dawn came without me getting any sleep. I went outside. The town was the same as it ever was. I was able to go to the coffee shop and order a hot dog and coffee. The clerk at the counter was real.
I called Fujiko around noon. She didn’t remember what had happened yesterday, but she seemed very happy. Yes, just like when she’d been talking about her old memories.
Junko contacted me, asking me to join her gaming group. She’d gotten back in the mood to play. I didn’t bother trying to contact Yoshie.
No, all three of them were no longer Fujiko, Junko, or Yoshie. From now on I should call them by their names from this world. I started to walk to work. I felt something clink at my footsteps, and heard a metallic sound.
It was a ball and chain wrapped around my legs.
I could feel the heavy chains around me... at least, that’s how it felt. It was the “heavy” story. We believe these heavy stories that bind us are worthy of our praise, but sometimes, the “light” stories help us forget them, if only for a second. But they lack bodies, and so they “lightly” flew away from us, leaving just a hint as to how to escape from stories.
We, the ones with bodies, are the ones who circle endlessly. We fill this place, simply wandering forever.
6 - Evolution
Korone slowly awoke to the sound of someone calling her.
“Please wait until I’ve restored my memories. ...Excuse me. My body’s oil viscosity has increased. Can you hand me an oil can?”
Korone sat up out of her futon, took the oil can, and gulped it down like cola.
“I’d rather not waste time recounting the exact number, but it’s been over 10,000 years, Akuto.”
Korone smiled.
“Yeah, sorry about that. But in the dimension I was in, time didn’t matter,” Akuto said, looking apologetic.
“I don’t understand, but I’ll choose to assume that something has been resolved.”
She got out of bed and looked around. The passing of ten thousand years had caused the room to decay, but the facility was still functional. This was the station where Keena had gone to sleep.
“Is it just you?” she asked, still wearing her pajamas. Akuto was the only one in the room.
“That’s right. But if I call them, everyone will come.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” Korone replied, confused. She tried to read data from the gods and failed, so she simply tilted her head in confusion.
“The gods won’t answer. The teleportation circles won’t work. Humanity is gone.”
“How?”
“It’s fine. You’ll understand later. By the way...”
Akuto pointed out the window.
“Has the Earth always been like this?”
“Yes. It’s too early for the surviving life to flourish, still,” Korone said, looking down at the Earth below her. After the asteroid impact, there was nothing left of the Earth’s surface but a single small sea. The rest was just brown rubble.
“Hiroshi did his best, but he failed.”
“He tried to stop the asteroid?”
“Yes.”
“I see. That’s the kind of guy he was. He saved me, too. I think he’s the only one I can call a true friend. Oh, but when I said I could call everybody, that didn’t mean I could call him.”
His expression turned dark for a moment.
“You’ve been saying the strangest things since I woke up. What happened?”
Akuto nodded.
“It’s hard to explain. But it’s okay. We’ll have lots of time later. I think I can take you, too.”
Akuto winked at her.
“You’re not who you used to be, are you? Either way, if you have a plan, then shall we wake up the Empress?”
Korone looked towards the corner of the room. The coffin-shaped cryogenics device was there.
“Go ahead and do it.”
“I will, then. But if you can summon anyone, shouldn’t you summon someone to take care of her?”
Korone asked, but Akuto shook his head.
“If other people are here, it will ruin our touching reunion.”
“I see. But please give me a moment. It would be rude to do it in my pajamas, so I’m going to change.”
Korone went to take off her pajamas.
“Hurry up,” he said, as he began to operate the cold sleep device’s panel. The machine was working, but it would take a little time for it to wake her up.
“Oh...?”
Korone sounded vaguely impressed when she’d finished stripping down to her underwear.
“You’re not freaked out by the sight of a half-naked girl anymore. I thought something had changed. I guess you’re not a virgin anymore, then.”
“Come on now...”
; Akuto trailed off, but he didn’t deny it.
“What a boring, grown-up response. You are grown up now, though, aren’t you?”
Korone made a motion like she was wiping away sarcastic, invisible tears.
“So, who did you lose your virginity to?”
“Would you not ask that?” Akuto sighed.
Korone put on her uniform just as Akuto finished working at the console. The countdown to awaken Keena from cold sleep began.
“This is a very emotional moment. Life on Earth is about to begin again, right? Can you rebuild the Empire?” Korone asked.
Akuto shook his head.
“Nope. We’re not going to Earth.”
“But there aren’t any planets we can move to... There are no stars outside of this solar system...” Korone said, surprised. Akuto seemed to be trying to figure out how to explain.
“What is it? I wish you’d stop hiding things and explain...”
“No. We’re going to evolve.”
“Evolve? That’s a strange thing to say. The evolution of life, to begin with...” Korone started to explain, but Akuto cut her off.
“No, I know. But evolution is all I can call it. In other words, we’re going to shift to another universe.”
“... Shift?”
“That’s right. Essentially...”
Just as he began to explain, the cold sleep device began to emit a beeping sound. He cut off his explanation and pressed the button to open the lid. The heavy lid made a clanging noise as cold air poured out from it. The lid slid off to the side. What looked like a coffin now seemed like a bed.
It was an empress, not a princess, that was sleeping here, but she was still a snow-white beauty. She was sleeping peacefully in the cold. It was like she’d just dozed off a moment ago, but to Akuto, this was something he’d been longing for for a very long time.
“I guess you should wake her up with a kiss, shouldn’t you?”
Korone meant it as a joke, but Akuto said nothing as he leaned over Keena. But when he did, he could feel her breath tickling his cheek.
“She’s already awake,” he said. Keena almost burst out laughing, her eyes still closed, but he quickly pushed up his lips to hers. There was a long kiss. Her arms wrapped around his back, and the two of them stood up.
“I missed you.”
“For me, it’s barely been any time at all.”
“Then I guess I didn’t make things hard for you,” Akuto said, relieved.
“But...” Keena paused for a second. “I think I had a long dream. So I know a little about what happened over... there!”
Keena pinched Akuto’s side from above his clothes.
“Oww! Do you mean... Oh!”
Akuto realized that the Law of Identity knew what he was up to in the afterlife, and began to sweat. She was talking about Junko, Fujiko, and Yoshie.
“No, um... well...” he stammered, but Keena just smiled.
“But I forgive you. From now on, we’ll always be together, right?” Keena said, and held his hand tightly.
“I don’t know what our life will be like, though.”
“Hmm... We’re heading to where all stories end. Where humanity will always strive to go... That’s what she says.”
Keena must have heard this from the Law of Identity, because she seemed to not know what it meant.
“The place humanity always strives to go, huh?” Akuto whispered.
Humanity would dream an eternal dream through “light” stories, striving for a place where the weight of the stories would eventually become zero.
“We’re doing a ritual to create an imaginary body, is that right?” Akuto asked.
“I guess so. I don’t really think I could understand the details, but it’s basically our real marriage, right?”
Keena spoke excitedly, and began without even waiting for Akuto. It was a ritual where not only stories, but the body, would cross over zero and become imaginary. They would create a negative body, an imaginary body, the first step to becoming something not of this world. Data, existing as imaginary numbers.
A space without time.
A place where physical laws ended.
Beyond causality.
Beyond reality.
The salvation of all beings.
Keena took Akuto’s hand. All the whispering souls moved from Akuto to Keena in order to become negative. Voices were heard. Many voices filled them. Junko’s. Yoshie’s. Fujiko’s. Lily’s. Men. Women. So many feelings.
“What does it feel like to be saved?”
“I don’t know, ’cause I’ve never felt it. But, well, we’ll know when we do experience it.”
“It will feel like I’m truly connected to Akuto for the first time!”
“Life must be really easy when you’re that air-headed. I guess to me, it doesn’t matter.”
“President, you should get a little more greedy.”
“Greedy for food, gyah.”
“Gugah.”
“Will our desire for honor be fulfilled as well?”
“You barbarians only think of hem-hem when you think of salvation!”
“Silence, you tan-colored barbarian! It’s the Student Council President, not me, who lives life on easy street!”
“I just don’t stress, is all. Anyway, there’s a few more people who we should be seeing, right?”
“We won’t see them if the author’s forgotten about them.”
“That’s a pretty meta comment... is that okay?”
“But if we try to do everyone we’ll end up with rubbers, and then that fly-guy too.”
“That... would not be what I wanted.”
“Want to call the guy who ate all that ramen?”
“No!”
“It’s wrong to discriminate against male characters.”
“Headmaster!”
“But still, outside of me, most of the characters are basically the same as the author. They’re not here.”
“What about that black metal band who worshipped the Demon King? Those guys had names, right?”
“They get saved too, huh?”
“Anybody who’s got a soul gets saved, I think.”
“Hmph. Well, forget it then! Everybody, come on out!” Junko yelled.
All the souls gathered. Anger, sorrow, jealousy, envy, all of those feelings were spat out, to be left behind in this world. The universe began to contract. Space folded around Akuto, and closed.
“Are you taking me too?” Korone asked, as she was absorbed into Akuto.
“Just like Zero, a personality can affix itself to a liradan and gain a self. You have a self too.”
Akuto smiled. His body began to shrink as well. He was absorbed into Keena too.
Eventually Keena turned inside out, and disappeared into this new world — the anti-universe. All that was left was void was within void. Void without even words. In other words, a new void universe was born.
But just before that happened...
A conversation was held in a fraction of an instant, in the smallest possible amount of time that could be recorded. One thing was left behind in the void universe.
Just one thing.
“Am I... am I left behind?”
The voice of the hero. It was Hiroshi, and Boichiro, and Kento, and the author too.
“Yes. As you were told already, you will be left behind,” the Law of Identity answered.
She’d looked like a goddess of salvation, but she was a cruel goddess as well.
“Why?!”
A scream.
A scream of pain.
He’d half-expected it. But he’d hoped there would be salvation for him too. That hope was betrayed.
“You must leave behind stories as stories. So that the next souls can go to that place as well.”
He shook his head, as if he found this impossible to believe.
“That’s so cruel...!”
“The concept of ‘cruel’ is only something you feel because you view things thro
ugh stories. You will simply start over from the beginning. In the next instant, you’ll go to the void universe, and then you will shift to the faceless universe, and then the gravity universe. Though it may take tens of thousands of years.”
“Don’t say that! Am I starting the story over from scratch?”
“There’s nothing that can be done about it. Because you are you.”
“Because I am me? I can’t escape from that.”
“That is called the Law of Identity.”
“I’m going to become the Law of Identity?”
“You will be the next Law of Identity. If you are next to be saved, it will be when you become the guide for the next group of people. When you lead the stories that are trapped by gravity to lightness.”
“But that’s so sad... I have to leave everyone behind...”
“In the next moment, even sadness will no longer exist. This is not a goodbye. There were other souls besides you in this story, ‘Demon King Daimaou,’ that were not saved. So if you become the next Law of Identity, you won’t be alone.”
This conversation took place in the smallest amount of time possible, but in the hero’s next conscious moment, he was in the void universe, where time did not exist.
The hero thought for eternity. He would mumble to himself, thinking of who he would call as a witness to the fact that he was still sane. But the answer was the same. All he would do was speak.
“Anyone?”
He would search.
“I found someone!”
He would cry.
He couldn’t help but create stories.
Aiming for the greatest salvation, and heading for the worst.
But even so—
If he kept going—
Somewhere far away—
There was a faint vision he’d seen once, just for an instant—
Something he prayed wasn’t an illusion—
If he could—
If he could get there—
What would he do, again?
“Know that there is still more to come.”
He understood. He would begin again.
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 13 Page 10