He had been betrayed.

He was nailed to a great tree with countless stakes like a pitiable insect that had been pierced through. The pain had long gone, and he had no more blood left to shed. Slowly, he stopped feeling the coldness of the chains wrapped around his entire body.

This place, where cause and effect had been corroded, had forever ceased to change. The sun no longer gave it warmth, and even maggots and flies bypa.s.sed this land without noticing it. The air was stale as ever. Only time, meaningless time, crawled ever onward.

The poison named loneliness was dissolving him from within, crumbling him from within. After one hundred days of imprisonment, he swore to fulfill any wish of the person who freed him. After a hundred months, he swore to fulfill any three wishes of his liberator. After a hundred years, he swore to fulfill any number of wishes, whatever they may be.

“In conclusion, your idea is very inefficient, Kirigirisu.”

“Kudan, you seem to lack the talent to enjoy life.”

“So it’s best to call little Shinzō Ukako as Kako.”

“It’s more deceiving to call little Gankyū Eguriko as Guriko. Don’t you think that’s excellent?”

“Right. Is Guriko still following us?” “Looks like it.” “How troublesome.” “Very troublesome.”

After a hundred days, he almost succ.u.mbed to madness. After a hundred months, he became tired of madness. After a hundred years, his heart had already become as still as that of a plant.

Two mysterious travelers appeared when he had already fallen into despair, having even given up on thinking. Have been imprisoned here, immobile, for innumerable years, his mind was no longer working and he tottered on the edge of death.

“… Did you hear someone?” “Oh? We’re the only ones here apart from insects and birds – G.o.d is the only other person here.”

They were two very odd travelers and did not seem to be normal humans. They efficiently laid out wooden branches and lit their campfire in the deepest bowels of the verdant forest that refused human entry, and sat around the fire and chatted casually.

One of them was a man dressed in bright green from head to toe.

The other was a bold Buddhist nun with a giant eyeball on her forehead.

The mysterious duo who called each other Kirigirisu and Kudan did not notice his presence, just like every other organism.

The duo, whose figures were painted crimson by the light of the fire, were still conversing.

“Say, Kirigirisu, have you heard of something like this?”

“What? Kudan, you always sound so boring. Please get on with it.”

The man in green mocked the three-eyed nun. As if unwilling to ruin the moment, the nun closed her two human eyes and only kept the eye on her forehead open: “… This so-called world – ”

“Woah. It’s this kind of grandiose and boring topic again!”

“This so-called world – is me.”

The nun ignored the man and muttered. The Buddhist frock she wore was stained with something that could be either mud or blood and was rather dirty. Such an odd traveler. One couldn’t help but wonder if she was even human. Was she a G.o.d, a Buddha, an oni, a yōkai? Or was she an illusion that his mind, tired of this endless solitude, had conjured up?

The nun called Kudan slurred her words as if she were licking something: “People like us have lived a long time, and we are able to see all sorts of things. We have much knowledge and have met many people, and more or less understand the world. However, Kirigirisu – what is the World?”

“Oh? Aaa – it’s rather bothersome for us to consider such things. The world – isn’t it just this?”

Kirigirisu casually grabbed a handful of dirt from the earth and flung it at the nun.

Whoosh – incredibly, the dirt pa.s.sed right through the nun’s body. Did she dodge it? Or were they really just illusions?

“… hey, don’t dodge.”

“Of course I’ll dodge. It’d dirty my clothes otherwise… So the world that you speak of is only a part of the world. Is the world the ground? The sky? Nature? Or cities? If everything within this planet is the world, that is still only a part of the world. The World – is only what we can feel and manipulate. For example…”

In the blink of an eye, Kudan suddenly turned her head and stared at one location.

"For him, who was sealed there, the so-called world - is only the narrow s.p.a.ce around him."

"The world that you can recognize, the world that is centered on yourself - that seems to be what we consider as the world." He looked up, startled. Kudan continued nonchalantly and he couldn"t tell if she had noticed this. "The world is indestructible, an imperishable bastion guarded by G.o.d. It is perfect and invincible - that"s an illusion we often have. However, Kirigirisu, it"s simple for me to just erase your world." Kudan slowly stretched out her hand and covered up Kirigirisu"s eyes. "... I can"t see anything anymore." "See. The world disappeared." Kudan took back her hand, smiled as if she just pulled a prank, and recovered her original pose. "At the beginning, G.o.d said "Let there be light". Then there was light, and Heaven and Earth were created. Do you understand what that means? It"s not something incredible. It"s not something only G.o.d can accomplish. We are doing it all the time."

The giant eyeball on her forehead suddenly blinked forcibly.

"If you close your eyes, then the world will end. Although there is still sound and scent, those will also disappear when you fall asleep. Then, if you did this - if you open your eyes and say "let there be light", then light would come into your world."

Kudan stretched out her arms and continued to speak as if explaining something.

“Then we were able to understand the existence of heaven and earth. We could then feel the ocean, wind, animals, plants, learn to differentiate the people around us as parents, lovers… G.o.d said ‘let there be light’ at the beginning, then He created heaven and earth, and finally made humans.”

Kudan smiled silently and said this softly. She seemed to be recounting to someone, yet at the same time silently and meaninglessly muttering to herself.

“Do you understand? What G.o.d is doing is the same as what humans are doing. Every day that we wake up, we are creating heaven and earth, experiencing endless annihilations and rebirths. Then night falls, and we are enveloped by darkness – the world would then disappear. G.o.d is the same as me. The World is also the same as me.”

Then – Kudan once again pointed at him. “Then, exactly which part of our body created the world? It’s simple – it’s the brain. The brain is our core, just like the core of G.o.d is the core of the world. If the brain cannot comprehend the world, then the world would not be born even if there is light –”

As she threw more branches into the cracking fire, she looked at him with pity in her eyes.

"The brain of G.o.d - the World will disappear if you disappeared. Therefore, please bear with it a little longer, just a little longer. You are the organ with which G.o.d created everything. You are His brain."

He wanted very much to disappear. He was tired of living, and had enough of thinking. He didn"t want to stay in this world for even one second longer. However -

"Seven hundred more years."

The bizarre nun gently spoke to him of the existence of hope: "Seven hundred more years - then you will be released. Although we are travelers who are torn from the world and are not within the loop of cause and effect - but we also obtained the power to stand separate from such things and look down upon this world as a whole... Anyways, seven hundred years is only the blink of an eye. Pa.s.s that time with singing, if you wish."

She spoke these words with a smile. Kirigirisu, who was falling asleep and almost ignored her words, asked with incomprehension: "...Who have you been talking to all this time, Kudan? Someone who talks to herself will look gloomy and you won"t make friends."

"Idiot. If you don"t understand anything, then don"t say anything. I was saving the world just now without anyone knowing it."

"Oh, really - that"s awesome -"

Kirigirisu casually waved his hand and tilted his head a little upwards to look towards the other side of the forest. The sound of footsteps crunching against fallen leaves could be heard over there.

"... It"s Guriko. She"s catching up."

"If she"s so insistent on following us - then why doesn"t she just travel with us. Why can"t she be closer to us? Kako, really..."

"It"s Guriko!"

"..."

The two travelers stared at each other, then they shrugged and looked towards the burning campfire.

The crunching steps moved closer and closer, but stopped shyly not far from them. Then, perhaps to calm the person hiding over there, or perhaps just to pa.s.s the time -

Kirigirisu took out an instrument and started to play, while Kudan matched his rhythm and began to sing. The song was very simple, even somewhat crude, but it wasn"t unpleasant.

It was a song of love that could be heard anywhere, extremely simple, and with lyrics that anyone would have come up with.

...

"..."

His consciousness left him again.

How long did he sleep for? He remembered many memories in his dreams. Kudan and Kirigirisu - those two odd travelers, yes. He could no longer detect time. He had no idea how many years it had been since then. The world was perhaps constantly changing at a dazzling speed. Only the forest around him was the same as before.

How long - has it been since then?

Did he still - had to keep living?

His ears heard some music.

What a beautiful sound.

The clear sound of bells, the singing of birds, and the chime of expensive instruments - the sound of singing seemed to merge with these other sounds and yet far surpa.s.sed them all. This singing shook his empty, depleted heart.

But what exactly was this?

How interesting - the lyrics were very strange.

"I am tired of Pa and Ma, and left home with my elder brother~ Walking along the gloomy forest path, I"m not afraid as long as I follow my brother~ G.o.d of the forest, please don"t bother us. I don"t want to go home, don"t want to go back to my previous home~"

The singing was remarkably optimistic, very incongruous to the verdant and darkened forest.

As if the she sang to dispel the gloom and horror of the forest, her voice shook slightly with fear.

"We finally arrived to the home of sweets~ The paradise for me and brother~ But this is the witch"s home~ The witch is so scary when upset, and she was going to kill us~ Don"t be afraid, don"t be afraid, I will protect brother~"

The singing and the steps were getting closer and closer, moving towards the place where his rotten being was located. The happy singing of the intruder startled the beasts and birds in the forest, and caused them to stir.

"Ready - "

Perhaps suddenly becoming excited, the voice suddenly went up octaves, so high it was unbelievable.

"Let"s kill her with Chocolate ~ Let"s kill her with Lemon pie ~ Let"s kill her with Sugar candy ~ Let"s kill her with Ice cream ~ Let"s kill her with Funny jelly -"

Crunch. The steps on the fallen leaves was so close.

He lowered his head. His entire body was still secured in the thick bush, and only his head was hanging free. The owner of the voice perhaps discovered him - she gave out a disrespectable scream and backed away many steps. Then, she rudely picked up a short stick and poked at his head.

"... He"s really here. But - is he still alive?"

This long-forgotten feeling. This stimulus - coming from other people.

He lifted up his face slightly.

"You"re still alive. That"s wonderful."

That person smiled and showed a genuinely happy expression.

"Urk..."

That person - she took out a piece of paper from her pocket and read dryly from it:

"I am PoisonCatastrophe."

Then, she stared at him with her unique purple eyes.

"Are you - Single Room?"

His world once again begun to turn.

It had been exactly seven hundred years since the appearance of those two strange travelers.