Prologue

“Okay, pop quiz time! There’s a saying, ‘Good girls go to heaven’… What comes next?”

“Um…excuse me? We’re asking trivia questions now?”

The strange duo in front of Chika began talking among themselves. The girl’s name was Nozome, apparently. She had a flashy sense of style—she wore a neon-pink hoodie and had completely silver hair. Her right eye was covered by an eye patch with a crossed-through heart on it.

The man next to her, Nieno, was in a beaten-up old overcoat. His head was nothing but a mass of shadow. He had no facial features whatsoever, only a strange cloud of darkness hovering above his neck where his head should have been.

The two of them called themselves Inhumans. They were a kind of demon who sold humans products from special catalogs, offering people false hopes that inevitably led them to despair.

Chika was holding one of their catalogs right now. Nozome had handed it to her a moment ago.

“We’re just going to be waiting around while you read the catalog, so I thought a quiz might make things more interesting,” said Nozome. “What do you think, Nieno? Do you know what comes next?”

“Hmm, I wonder… Something like ‘Good boys do, too,’ perhaps?”

“Ah-ha-ha-ha! I guess that’s one way of looking at it.”

“I suppose that means I was wrong. Are you sure this isn’t something you made up, Nozome?”

“No, it’s a real saying. It’s not famous, exactly, and I’m only repeating what someone else told me, but it’s totally real! Chika’s school reminded me of it, that’s all.”

“Hmm… So what is the right answer?”

“Don’t be so glum. Your answer wasn’t bad; it was very you, Nieno!”

“I’ll take that as a compliment… But what about the right answer?”

“Okay, it’s your turn to ask a question.”

“I haven’t heard the answer to the last one yet…”

Letting the Inhumans’ conversation fade into the background, Chika ran her finger over the catalog’s cover. There was no title. At first glance, it looked like a regular book with a plain black cover.

“Read this. You’ll get a much better idea of what it means to be a demon.”

That’s what Nozome had said when she handed it to Chika. All Chika had to do now was open it and read. This was what would decide the path her future would take.

Would she continue to live as a human? Or would she become a demon instead?

She opened the book to find out…

Product Name: Just-What-I-Need Vending Machines

On the price label underneath the purchase button was a shiny butterfly symbol. It had neon-pink wings with a black pattern on them. Suguru couldn’t help feeling something about it was strange…

“Oh well. I should just be glad I was lucky enough to find it.”

He shrugged and downed the rest of the juice.

That was the start of it all.

After that, Suguru started seeing vending machines with the butterfly mark on them around more and more.

One day, he was walking along the street and said to himself, “Wow, I could really go for a gratin croquette burger right now.” And just like that, he found a vending machine with that same butterfly symbol and, above the button, an illustration of a gratin croquette burger.

“Wow, that’s lucky! Exactly what I wanted. Same as with the grape juice before…”

He cheerfully walked up to the machine and bought what it was selling. The croquette burger came out nice and fresh and warm. He took a big bite of it, swallowed, and basked in the glory of having his craving satisfied. After that moment had passed, though, he looked at the machine quizzically.

“Kind of weird… Aren’t hot food vending machines usually only at highway rest stops and places like that? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one on a regular town street before.”

It was strange, but he’d gotten what he wanted, and it had been really tasty, so it was all good. He really didn’t give it a second thought.

Not yet, anyway.

Another day, Suguru was caught in a sudden downpour. Even worse, he hadn’t brought an umbrella with him, and there was nowhere nearby to take shelter.

But then he spotted a vending machine with that same butterfly icon on it. And the picture on this one’s purchase button showed a plastic umbrella.

“Wow, what great timing… It’s…just what I need.”

This time, he was actually bewildered. There were all kinds of vending machines in the world. It wasn’t that weird to find one that sold umbrellas. Even so… He kept running into machines that just so happened to be selling the exact thing he wanted at that particular moment. For that to happen this many times couldn’t be a coincidence. He still bought the umbrella and avoided getting drenched in the rain, but he wasn’t so ready to shrug the whole episode off anymore.

“What’s with these machines…?” he muttered to himself, pacing around it. But of course, just looking didn’t tell him anything.

As the days went by, Suguru continued to encounter the strange vending machines. When his earphones suddenly broke, there was one selling earphones. When he felt a little colder than expected, there was one selling fall coats. When he had some spare time to kill, there was one selling manga.

And it didn’t stop there. One day, he was on his way to buy a new bike, and sure enough, he ran into a vending machine with a butterfly mark and an illustration of a bicycle on the purchase button.

“Wh-whoa… The stuff you can get out of vending machines these days is crazy.”

The illustration even showed the exact type of bike Suguru had wanted, and the price fit his budget perfectly.

“If I buy this here, I won’t have to go to the store and spend time thinking about which one to get… But how does something as big as a bike come out of a vending machine anyway?”

This machine didn’t have a drawer like most of them did, but Suguru decided to put his money in and press the button all the same. Then there was a clatter, and the whole front of the machine began to move. It opened up like a refrigerator door to reveal what was inside—a bike just like the one in the picture, shiny and new and ready to use.

And so it continued. The butterfly-marked vending machines kept showing up, selling exactly what he wanted, exactly when he wanted it. The size, the amount, the price—they were always a perfect fit, too. It was like somebody who knew Suguru’s tastes and needs inside and out was setting up these machines just for him.

“In a way, it’s kind of creepy… But it is pretty convenient to get all this stuff whenever I want it, too,” he mused.

That convenience won out over his unease, and he actually started to like these mysterious machines. At some point, he began calling them “Just-What-I-Need Vending Machines.” He wanted to give them a more formal name than just “those vending machines with the butterfly on them,” and this one seemed appropriate, given what they did.

Wherever he was, whatever the time of day, a Just-What-I-Need Vending Machine would materialize to offer Suguru whatever he wanted most in that moment. It was like he’d acquired a highly efficient personal assistant, always hovering around him just out of sight.

“I guess the only downside is that I’ve got to have cash on me to use them. But that’s okay for stuff like food, drinks, earphones, or umbrellas. None of those have cost more than I’d have to pay in a regular store, either.”

There was still something uncanny about how well the machines seemed to know him, but it wasn’t as if they’d done anything bad. And they couldn’t possibly pose any kind of threat to him.

“Maybe I’ll just make sure to carry a lot of cash on me from now on. It’d really suck if I had what I needed right in front of me but couldn’t afford to buy it…”

That, at least, was something he could take to heart going forward.

The days rolled by until Suguru was on his way to meet up with his girlfriend, Yuri. But then he suddenly remembered something really important—today was Yuri’s birthday!

“Oh no, I totally forgot to get her a present…”

He was almost at the spot where they’d agreed to meet. Yuri would be arriving any minute now. He had maybe five minutes—not nearly enough time to go to a store and figure out what would make the best gift.

Just as he was starting to panic, one of the vending machines with the butterfly icon came into view.

“A vending machine… Could it be…?!”

Suguru ran over to it. The button on this one had a picture of a stylish tie pin.

“Yeah, that’s perfect! Yuri’s always wearing fancy ties, and I think she collects these things, too. Okay, that settles it. Nice job, machine… Just like always, you’ve got exactly what I need.”

Suguru patted the machine affectionately. After so many positive experiences with these things, he now trusted them without question. No matter the time, place, or occasion, they always knew what was best for him. They’d be there to help him out whenever he was in trouble. He’d bought a ton of stuff from them already, and they’d never once let him down.

Naturally, he put his trust in the machines this time, too, and bought the tie pin. It came out packaged in a lovely little case. Even on its own, it looked sufficiently gift-like that he could hand it over as it was.

He hurried to his destination. There, he greeted his girlfriend with a bright “Happy birthday!” and handed her the box.

“Oh wow, thanks,” she told him. “I’ve got to say, I’m surprised. I thought you were the type to forget people’s birthdays until, like, five minutes beforehand.”

Suguru winced. Yuri couldn’t have known, but she was absolutely 100 percent right.

He did his best to laugh it off with a casual smile. “Come on, give me some credit. I might be like that with other people’s birthdays, but I’d never forget yours!”

“Oh really?”

“Besides, you gave me a great gift for my birthday six months ago. I’ve been thinking about what I could get you in return ever since.”

“You have, huh? Sounds fishy to me…”

Still teasing him, Yuri opened the box. Her eyes lit up. It turned out the pin was the exact style she liked.

Suguru didn’t say anything, but on the inside, he was pumping his fist in triumph. The Just-What-I-Need Vending Machine had come through for him again.

Yuri was happy, Suguru was happy, and the two of them enjoyed a lovely afternoon together. All the way home, he couldn’t stop grinning.

Those machines are so darn versatile. I could never have picked out something that perfect on my own.

It wasn’t the first time Suguru had walked away from a Just-What-I-Need Vending Machine a happy customer, and he was sure it wouldn’t be the last. From now on, it wouldn’t matter if he wasn’t prepared; he could handle anything life threw at him. With the Just-What-I-Need Vending Machines at his beck and call, things would always work out for the best.

Like, for example…if things between him and Yuri kept up the way they were now, and they wanted to take their relationship to the next level. That would be a perfect time to use one of the machines. He wouldn’t have to pick out an engagement ring on his own—the moment he made up his mind to propose, there would be a vending machine selling the perfect ring. No stress, no problems.

Heh-heh. Of course, it’s a little early for me to be thinking about marriage…

Then he had another thought.

Why think about it at all? I’ll leave that to the machines, too. If a machine with the perfect ring shows up while me and Yuri are together, that means that’s the right time to propose. If it doesn’t, I’ll just hold off until later.

It wasn’t just a matter of when to propose but also of whom to propose to. He didn’t even need to think about that anymore. Whatever happened, the vending machines would make the right choice for him. So long as he followed their advice, nothing would ever go wrong.

Time passed, and autumn was almost at its end. On one particular day, when the weather was still nice, Suguru felt like going somewhere. He reached out to his friends—including Yuri, of course—but it just so happened that everyone was busy. He’d have to go it alone. But simply wandering around on his own was sort of lacking.

“It’s the last days of fall; I don’t want to do the same thing as always. I feel like doing something a little more special…”

He wanted to go somewhere new, somewhere different…although he couldn’t come up with anywhere specific off the top of his head. Thinking for himself could be such a drag sometimes.

However, that thought had barely crossed his mind when he spotted a Just-What-I-Need Vending Machine a few feet away.

“Oh yeah, I knew you wouldn’t let me down!”

He hurried over to the machine to see what it was selling. The picture above the purchase button showed a train ticket bundled with a tourist information pamphlet. Suguru bought them without hesitation. Between the destination on the ticket and the places of interest listed in the pamphlet, he could already see where the machine was telling him to go. It was a mountain range famous for its spectacular fall scenery.

“I see, I see… I bet all the leaves there will look super nice today.”

Suguru nodded to himself and, taking the ticket and pamphlet in hand, made his way to the train station.

Just as he’d expected, the leaves on the trees across the mountains had turned vibrant shades of red, making the place look more beautiful than ever.

“All right, time to go for a hike!”

Without further ado, Suguru began walking, still wearing the same clothes he’d had on when he left the house. He hadn’t done anything to prepare for tackling mountainous terrain. All he had with him was a small fanny pack. Even that contained only the bare minimum—his phone, a large amount of cash, and a few other daily necessities. He had total faith that if he needed anything else, a Just-What-I-Need Vending Machine would be able to provide it.

And he was right—he found several of the machines dotted around as he made his way through the mountains. When his feet began to hurt from the rough ground, a machine selling hiking boots appeared. When he felt like taking a break, there was one selling boxed lunches and drinks. When he wondered if some berries he saw were safe to eat, there was a vending machine with a pocket encyclopedia of edible plants and how to identify them. As always, the machines offered him just what he needed, right when he needed it.

All around the mountain, maple, gingko, and oak trees were showing off their beautiful autumn colors. It was nice enough looking at them from a distance at the foot of the mountain, but trekking through the trail like this was a totally different experience. He could get close enough to consider each tree’s individual charms one by one.

He took in the leaves in their shades of red and orange and yellow, discovered little bridges, streams, and waterfalls, and marveled at the carpet of flame-colored leaves stretching out before him.

“Whoooa…”

As he walked deeper into the mountains, Suguru became engrossed in each new feature or scene he encountered. He had no particular route in mind; he just followed wherever his mood took him. Before he knew it, the sun had begun to go down, making his surroundings a little bit darker.

“Ooh, this place looks pretty in the twilight, too… But I guess I’d better head back now.”

He’d enjoyed the autumnal mountain landscape to his heart’s content. It was time to go home. Suguru turned around to retrace his steps.

The whole front of the vending machine suddenly opened with a clang, light flooding out from inside. And in that light, he saw…

…his name.

“Wh-what…?”

His eyes went wide, and he staggered backward.

Inside the vending machine was a tombstone…with Suguru’s name on it.

Product Name: Body Clock Pills

Tokio heaved a heavy sigh and went to wash his face, staggering toward the bathroom with exhausted resignation.

Why couldn’t I have woken up just half an hour earlier…?

Still groggy and tired, he made his way along the street, sighing again. His first class would be starting right around now. If he’d woken up half an hour earlier, he might have just barely made it. An hour earlier, and he’d have been able to spend a normal morning without panicking about being late. In his head, he knew that, but it wasn’t such a simple matter.

Urgh… No matter what I do, I can’t seem to get my body out of summer vacation mode…

With no school to worry about, he’d spent most of the summer staying up late and sleeping in the next morning. Thinking back on those days now, he felt more dejected than ever. Summer had ended; the cicadas had stopped buzzing in the trees ages ago. And yet, out of habit, he still found himself getting sleepy in the middle of the day and was wide awake when it was time to go to bed. His daily rhythm, his body’s sense of time, had been thrown off and wasn’t righting itself.

I guess my body’s clock isn’t keeping time like it should…

That was what a chaotic, unregulated lifestyle got you. And tardiness wasn’t the only problem it was causing. Even when Tokio got to school, he’d be so sleepy that he wouldn’t feel like himself again until lunchtime. At lunch, he’d have no appetite and end up hungry and unfocused later in the day. His body and his mind felt sluggish. He couldn’t go on like this. But what was he supposed to do?

“Early to bed, early to rise,” right? I wish I could lead that kind of regular, punctual lifestyle…

But again, how? How could he get his routine back on track?

As he pondered the problem, he found himself passing through a commercial area not too far from his school. Suddenly, a butterfly cut across his view. It was a kind he’d never seen before—it had black wings with an eye-popping neon-pink pattern. He watched where it was going and saw it flutter over to one particularly old-looking store. A clock store. Tokio stopped in his tracks.

“Clocks, huh…? I wonder if a new alarm clock would help me get up in the mornings.”

When it came to getting up early, his alarm clock was all he had. He couldn’t ask his parents to wake him. They both started work early and left the house long before he needed to wake up.

“I guess it’s no wonder I can’t wake up on time when I don’t get enough sleep… Hmm?”

Tokio’s gaze now fell on the store’s front door. There was a sheet of glossy paper pasted to it that said:

BODY CLOCK—NOW IN STOCK

He tilted his head to one side in confusion.

“Body Clock? I didn’t know there was such a thing…”

It sounded kind of strange, but it definitely got his attention. The name made it sound like if you used this thing—whatever it was—it would correct your body’s actual internal clock and allow you to live a much more regular, punctual lifestyle.

“Wouldn’t that be nice? I wonder what kind of clock it is, though.”

Just as Tokio was mumbling to himself, there was a ka-chak as the doorknob turned and the front door swung open.

Somebody from inside the store showed his face…although maybe that wasn’t the best way of putting it. Tokio couldn’t see a face. The man was wearing a wide-brimmed hat low over his eyes and a big scarf. Anything between that was cast in deep shadow. His whole head looked like a solid mass of darkness.

Tokio blinked several times, thinking maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he still couldn’t make out the strange man’s features.

“Ah, a customer. Welcome,” said the man. “Feel free to step inside and browse our wares.”

He looked incredibly suspicious at first glance, but apparently, he was just someone who worked in the store.

“Huh? O-oh, sorry, no, I’m not really…” Feeling flustered, Tokio shook his head, taking a step back. “I need to get to school…”

“I see you read our little flyer. Are you interested in a Body Clock of your own?”

Those words had Tokio stopping in his tracks.

I’m so late, I really shouldn’t let anything else slow me down. But then again…

He could at least stand outside the store and listen to what the man had to say. His eyes drifted to the flyer on the door.

“B-Body Clock… That’s an interesting name. Does it have some kind of special features?” Tokio asked.

The man’s hat bobbed up and down. “True to the name, our Body Clock goes inside your body. As for special features, what stands out most are its incredibly accurate alarms. Use this function, and you can guarantee you’ll wake up, get hungry, or go to sleep at the exact time you set, right down to the second.”

Tokio was astounded. That definitely wasn’t what he’d been expecting to hear.

“Wow… That doesn’t even sound like a clock anymore,” he said. “It’s more like something to do with your body’s natural sense of time.”

“Yes, but ours keep time far more accurately than your body’s natural clock.”

“That’s not really what I meant—”

“Would you like to see the real thing in person?”

The strange man retreated into the store without waiting for an answer. Tokio hesitated for only a moment before following him.

I might as well. What’s the worst that can happen?

A clock that went inside your body… And one with alarms to help you wake up, get hungry, or fall asleep right on time, too. It sounded so wonderful—unreal, even—that he let his curiosity get the better of him.

I’m already late. The teachers are gonna get mad at me anyway, so it’s not like it’ll do any harm to spend a little bit of time here.

Now that he’d made the decision, he was going to dig in his heels and see it through.

He entered the store’s dim, dingy interior. The ticking of countless clocks echoed throughout the place. A large grandfather clock in a corner of the store rang with a loud bong. A cuckoo flew out of a nearby cuckoo clock and chirped. An automaton clock’s face revolved, and the clock played a music box melody while the puppets inside it danced.

Finally, Tokio arrived at the back of the room to find an old-looking table with a small box on top of it.

“This is our Body Clock, as advertised in our flyer out front,” the strange man explained.

“This…?”

The shadowy shopkeeper motioned to the box, and Tokio looked down at it.

It was a fairly normal-looking plastic case with a clear lid. Inside it, however, was something more unexpected.

“Huh? You’re telling me this is a clock…?”

As far as Tokio could see, all the case contained were a pill the size of the nail on his pinkie finger and a capsule that was a little bigger.

“It looks more like cold medicine.”

“I suppose it does. This Body Clock has been made ingestible for extra convenience. You can take it with water, just like you do with cold medicine, nutritional supplements, or other pills and tablets.”

“So it is a pill? You have to swallow this thing?”

“That’s absolutely right,” the shopkeeper answered, as if what he was describing was the most natural thing in the world. “This capsule contains the main part of the Body Clock. Once you swallow it, it will automatically integrate itself into your body.”

“Wow, that does sound pretty convenient… What’s the little one for?”

“This is the Battery Lozenge that goes with it. It’s what powers the Body Clock.”

“O-oh. So you swallow the clock and the battery together?”

“That’s right. Once you take the lozenge, it will provide power to the Body Clock with no further action needed on your part.”

“Wow…”

Tokio had been rooted to the spot throughout this whole sales pitch, staring at the box so intently that he was practically leaning over it now. The man in the hat paid him no mind and continued talking.

“Simply swallow one of these, and you’ll never need an external clock again. As I said before, this clock has an incredibly accurate alarm function. Your sleep cycle and mealtimes can all be adjusted exactly as you want. It’s perfect for people who want to live a regular, punctual lifestyle.”

Tokio came back to his senses, his head snapping up to stare at the man. The more Tokio heard about this Body Clock, the more it sounded like just what he’d been looking for.

“Uh… How much does it cost?” he asked hesitantly.

If possible, he wanted to buy it then and there and try it out. But if everything the shopkeeper had told him was true, a rare item like this with such amazing features was probably really expensive. Or what if the strange man was making it all up, and this was just some cold medicine being sold at a high markup? Thinking about it realistically, that was the much more likely explanation. As Tokio waited for the shopkeeper to answer, he felt more and more uneasy.

“Well, now…,” the shopkeeper muttered, as if thinking things over. “Do you already have a clock or watch on you, young man?”

“Huh? Yeah, I think so. Hold on…”

Thrown off by the sudden question, Tokio fumbled with his belongings.

“This is the one I’m using right now…,” he said, showing the man the keychain-style watch he had attached to his schoolbag. “It’s the only watch that I carry around with me.”

“I see. In that case, how about a trade? The Body Clock in exchange for your old watch?”

“Huh? Are you sure? This isn’t anything particularly special or valuable…”

“Oh, that doesn’t matter… No, it doesn’t matter at all. You see, I am not in this business for the money.”

That statement had Tokio visibly confused. “Why would you open a store, other than to make money? Why are you doing this?”

“Naturally, all I desire”—the man seemed to falter for a moment before continuing—“is for my customers to be happy.”

His voice was filled with friendliness and warmth. Of course, Tokio couldn’t tell if the man was actually smiling. He even tried to check, but no matter how he squinted at the narrow gap between the shopkeeper’s hat and scarf, no facial features ever seemed to emerge from the darkness.

I guess it’s no big deal if I lose this old thing. It’s not like anyone would scam me just to get a cheap watch, either.

He still had some lingering doubts, but in the end, if his old watch was all he stood to lose, it was worth taking a chance. Especially if this Body Clock turned out to be the real thing…

“What do you say? Do we have a deal?” the shopkeeper asked.

“…Yes! I’ll take it!”

Tokio unfastened the keychain watch from his bag and handed it over.

“Thank you for your purchase. If you’d like to ingest the Body Clock here and now, I can get a glass of water for you.”

“O-oh, yeah, that’d be great…”

The strange man disappeared through a door at the back of the store, returning a few moments later with a glass of water. Who would’ve thought you could order clocks to eat just like fast food?

Still dazed by the bizarreness of the whole situation, Tokio took the glass. He reached out for the case on the table, but then he thought of something and stopped.

“Actually, there’s something I wanted to ask first,” he said.

“Certainly. What is it?”

“What should I do if this Body Clock breaks? Can I bring it here to get it repaired?”

“Oh, is that all? You needn’t worry about that.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“This Body Clock is guaranteed to never break down.”

The shopkeeper delivered this promise with absolute confidence. That was good enough for Tokio, and he once more reached for the case. He opened the clear lid and took out the Body Clock capsule and Battery Lozenge.

First, he put the capsule containing the clock itself in his mouth. Then he took a gulp of water to wash it down. He did the same with the battery.

“…”

Tokio set the glass on the table and put his hand over his stomach quizzically. He didn’t feel any different…

“It may take a while for the contents of the tablet to dissolve and work their way into your system,” the shopkeeper said.

“…Is that how it works?”

“Indeed. It will probably kick in around the time you get to school.”

Those words jogged Tokio’s memory. School! He was going to be late again!

“I, uh… I’d better get going…”

“Take care. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”

The strange man waved good-bye, and Tokio gave a little bow before exiting the store.

He arrived at the front gate of his school, still feeling gloomy. Naturally, there were no other students around—they’d all gone to class already. Standing here, alone, in front of this abandoned gate, made Tokio so nervous it was a little hard to breathe. He didn’t have the courage to look up at the school’s main clock. He knew he was late, but he was still afraid to see just how late, and how much trouble he was in.

Just then, a set of numbers appeared. Inside his head, Tokio saw six digits in three sets of two, separated by colons, like in a digital clock display.

“Nine twelve…?”

He read out the first two numbers. The last two kept changing, ticking away in a steady rhythm from 14 to 15 to 16 and so on. He looked up at the school clock. It said 9:12. And he knew all too well that this clock was never wrong.

“Wow… This must be the new Body Clock that’s inside me.”

Even as he stood there, the display kept changing. Minute by minute, second by second, it was keeping perfect time. It was really uncanny.

“Looks like that guy at the clock store was telling the truth after all…!”

He’d really gotten hold of something amazing here. His whole body trembled with excitement.

“So now… So long as I have this Body Clock…”

The numbers on the digital display advanced steadily forward, the seconds changing from 59 to 00. At the very same moment, the school clock’s hands swung forward. Tokio’s anxiety from before disappeared completely, and a smile spread across his face.

He looked at the display… Well, as much as anyone could really “look” behind their eyes.

Okay… To start, I’d better set when I want to get up tomorrow.

When that thought crossed his mind, something popped up underneath the time. It was a little icon showing a figure sitting up in bed and stretching their arms, looking like they were getting up from a good night’s sleep. That must have been the Wake-Up alarm.

Let’s see… I’ll say sevenAM! That’s when I’ll get up tomorrow. SevenAM, sevenAM, sevenAM…!

He focused on that time, and a little 07:00 appeared next to the Wake-Up icon.

“Wow! I guess that means the alarm’s set now.”

He was glad the controls were so intuitive.

Okay, what’s next?

Now that Tokio had figured out how to set the alarms, the rest went smoothly. He set alarms not just for waking up in the morning, but also for going to sleep at night, and for his meals throughout the day.

Wake up. Sleep. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner.

Out of those five alarms, the first to go off was the Dinner alarm, later that evening. At the stroke of seven PM, a mealtime icon appeared underneath the display behind his eyes and began blinking. At the same moment, Tokio’s stomach let out a long growl, and he found himself seized with a healthy feeling of hunger.

Next was the Sleep alarm.

He’d done his homework, taken a bath, and brushed his teeth. He turned out the lights, got into bed, and waited for the time he’d set—ten PM—to arrive. He was so excited, he couldn’t imagine how he’d ever get to sleep. Feeling a little nervous, he lay there in the dark, wide awake. When he forced himself to close his eyes, he saw the digital display clearly in his mind.

21:59:55

21:59:56

21:59:57…

Finally, the display changed to 22:00:00. The Sleep icon lit up, and Tokio instantly fell asleep.

Everything was blank until 07:00:00 the next morning, when the Wake-Up alarm kicked in. He could hear birds singing outside, and the morning sun was shining through the gap in his bedroom curtains.

“Wow, it feels like I’ve recovered all my HP… Getting enough sleep really is important.”

He was realizing that more than ever now.

Tokio sat up in bed and stretched his arms, looking just like the Wake-Up icon. Next would be the Breakfast alarm at seven fifteen AM. He’d have to go wash his face and get dressed before it got to that time and his stomach started growling.

He sprang out of bed to get started.

Once Tokio had mastered the Body Clock’s alarm function, his life changed practically in an instant. He no longer had trouble going to sleep at night or getting up in the morning. And of course, he was never late to school anymore. He ate his meals at the same time every day, and he actually felt hungry when he ate, which made the food taste even better. Soon enough, he felt healthier and more energized; his body’s natural vitality was coming back.

“This is great! I love not feeling sleepy in the middle of the day or having my body feel all sluggish in the morning!”

The Body Clock Pill truly was a wonderful thing. For Tokio, who’d had a habit of staying up too late before, the Sleep alarm was particularly useful. He no longer had to worry about those times when he needed to go to sleep but couldn’t seem to doze off. The pressure of going to bed early had made it so hard to relax, he’d lie awake in the dark, panicking about how little sleep he was getting.

But not anymore. He never had to experience that again.

“That man at the clock store said this will never break, either. If that’s really true, I’ll be able to lead a regular, punctual lifestyle for the rest of my life…!”

Of course, it wasn’t that simple. Even if Tokio’s internal sense of time was doing fine, there were still external factors that could throw off his schedule.

Sometimes a TV show would air at eleven PM, and he’d want to watch it live. Or his parents might come home late, meaning they’d make dinner later than usual.

But none of that was a problem, really. Changing the Body Clock’s alarm time or turning an alarm off were just as easy as setting them. He simply had to concentrate on that spot behind his eyes, visualize the settings he wanted to change, and voilà, they did change. If his schedule was a little behind, he’d adjust the Dinner alarm to a slightly later time. Once he did that, he wouldn’t get hungry until then. That was also what he did when he wanted to stay up late.

Sometimes he’d turn the Sleep alarm off completely. He couldn’t go to bed if he still had homework to do, after all. Or maybe he’d want to finish reading through several volumes of manga before calling it a night. On occasions like those, when there was no specific time Tokio wanted to go to sleep, he’d turn the alarm off. Then he’d get into bed when he felt sleepy and fall asleep naturally. Although now that he’d gotten into the habit of sleeping and waking up early, he found it hard to stay up late like he used to.

I probably shouldn’t use the Body Clock to stop me from sleeping, though. If I do it too much, I’ll be right back where I started with an irregular routine.

That was something he wanted to avoid at all costs.

Everything went well until one day, when a change took place in Tokio’s body. For some reason, he didn’t feel hungry when the time specified by his Lunch alarm arrived.

Huh? That’s weird. It’s gone right past when my alarm was set for…

Feeling a little confused, he put a hand on his stomach and closed his eyes and fixed his vision on a spot somewhere behind his eyeballs. He used to have to concentrate hard, but now that he’d gotten accustomed to using the Body Clock, it was a lot easier. He could even glance at the display during class without anyone noticing.

The six-digit display drifted up in Tokio’s head just like normal. But when he saw it, he was in for a surprise.

It wasn’t moving. The digital display was frozen on the same time. The Body Clock had stopped before it reached the Lunch alarm.

Wh-why…? Is it…broken? No, it can’t be. Can it…?

Tokio went pale and broke into a cold sweat.

The Body Clock would never break down. That’s what the man at the clock store had told him. So what was going on here?

That day, Tokio didn’t eat a single bite of his lunch. He never got hungry enough to want to, and he couldn’t eat if he wasn’t hungry. Even at the end of his afternoon classes, he didn’t get hungry on his own like he usually would.

C-come on… You’ve gotta be kidding me…

He’d skipped lunch and finished the school day without feeling even a little bit hungry. That wasn’t normal.

The Lunch alarm didn’t go off, so I didn’t get hungry… That means I won’t get tired if the Sleep alarm doesn’t go off, too, doesn’t it…?

Now he was really starting to panic. He’d had quite enough of sleepless nights. He didn’t want to go back to that way of life.

A-anyway, I’ll go back to the store where I bought the clock and ask what I should do.

And so he did.

He hurried over to the old, run-down store that he’d found on his way to school that day he bought the Body Clock. The store was still there, and the same strange man in the hat and scarf was inside. When Tokio asked him what was wrong with the Body Clock, the man calmly tried to reassure him.

“Oh, no, it isn’t broken. It’s simply out of batteries,” the man told Tokio.

“Huh…?”

It was such a basic explanation, Tokio was at a loss for words.

“If I recall correctly, you didn’t buy any extra batteries when you purchased this clock. I have plenty of Battery Lozenges still in stock, though. Just wait here while I get them.”

The man disappeared into the back room like this was a perfectly everyday occurrence. Once he was out of sight, Tokio slumped forward, covering his face with his hands.

Right, of course… The Body Clock uses batteries. It’ll stop when its batteries run out and won’t work again until it gets new ones. Just like a regular clock.

He was embarrassed he hadn’t thought of it himself. He’d rushed into the store like this was some kind of emergency, claiming his clock was broken when really it just needed new batteries… He felt like the worst customer ever.

The shopkeeper didn’t seem bothered by it, though. He didn’t make fun of Tokio for his mistake, either. Eventually, the man brought out his box of lozenges and placed it on the counter.

“Swallowing regular batteries can be dangerous, so I must ask that you use only these Battery Lozenges to replenish your Body Clock’s power. Ideally, you should take a new one once a month.”

Then he told Tokio how much they cost. Each battery was ¥500.

That was an expense Tokio hadn’t counted on, but it wasn’t a huge problem. He’d gotten the Body Clock itself basically for free. Five hundred yen a month was a small price to pay for getting to use something as great as this.

He took out his wallet and bought several Battery Lozenges right then and there. Back at home, he swallowed one of them, and his Body Clock once again started keeping perfect time.

Several months passed.

Tokio continued to use the Body Clock and its alarm function to live a regular, punctual lifestyle. He still liked to stay up late sometimes, though. On one such day, he’d just bought a new video game. It was such a cool game, and he’d gotten really caught up in playing it. It was getting close to ten PM, but he didn’t want to stop just yet.

That time already, huh…? Guess I’ll turn off my alarm for tonight and stay up a little longer.

Still staring at the TV screen, he blinked, bringing up the digital display behind his eyes. He was just about to deactivate the Sleep alarm when he remembered something important.

“Come to think of it, the clock’s probably going to need a new battery soon… I’ll take one before I go to bed.”

Tokio paused the game and went over to his desk. He opened the drawer where he kept the Battery Lozenges, took one out, and slipped it into his pocket. He’d wash it down with some water the next time he went to the bathroom, or when he was brushing his teeth before bed.

With that settled, he returned his attention to his game.

“Ooh, there’s an item here…? Oh, cool. If I use this, I can get past that door I couldn’t open before…”

Soon, Tokio was completely absorbed in the fictional world on the other side of the screen. He had so much fun that he lost track of time.

Then all of a sudden…

…his vision went dark. He could no longer see the screen.

His eyes would have opened wide in surprise…except they couldn’t open. His eyelids remained firmly closed as if they’d been glued in place. He couldn’t move them at all; that was why everything had gone dark.

And in that darkness, the digital display at the back of his eyes appeared:

22:00:00

Below that, the Sleep icon was lighting up.

Huh? Oh man, did I forget to turn the Sleep alarm off…?

A moment later, still sitting in front of his gaming console, he fell into a deep sleep.

And then:

Tokio didn’t wake up the next morning.

He’d fallen asleep without taking the Battery Lozenge. And by a stroke of bad luck, his Body Clock had run out of batteries while he was asleep. The clock wouldn’t work anymore, not until he woke up and took the lozenge.

His Wake-Up alarm was set for seven AM.

However, his clock had stopped in the middle of the night. No matter how much time passed, as far as Tokio’s body was concerned, his Wake-Up time would never arrive.

So long as his Body Clock was unable to advance to 07:00:00, he would never wake up again.

Product Name: Voice Changer Dials

Those classes had also included exercises to help increase her vocal range. She’d practiced them, but she wasn’t getting the results she wanted.

My teacher did say a narrow range shouldn’t be an obstacle to becoming a singer, so at least there’s that…

Her teacher wasn’t wrong…technically. Kon knew of plenty of professional singers who didn’t have a huge range. You didn’t have to sing in as wide a range as possible to be successful. Mastering the range you did have, picking the perfect songs to maximize your voice’s natural charm—that was an option, too. It might even be the better way to go about it.

But still! I’ve always admired singers who can flawlessly hit those really high notes and build a reputation around that.

It was an ideal that she just couldn’t give up. Reality, however, seemed to have other ideas.

The voice training I’m doing now won’t cut it on its own. Isn’t there a more effective way to train? Or maybe…

Could it be that no matter how much training she did, she’d never get the effects she wanted? Were the limits of her vocal range baked into her body? That possibility weighed heavily on Kon’s heart. Mixed in with it was the worry that she just wasn’t good enough.

Kon sighed, trying to push all those anxieties away as she left the store with new resolve. She couldn’t worry about that stuff right now. If she wanted to pass her auditions and kickstart her career, she had to focus on what she could do.

Okay, time to go to karaoke and practice, practice, practice!

Adopting a more positive outlook, she made her way to her favorite karaoke parlor.

After singing a couple dozen songs, Kon stepped out of her karaoke room and into the hallway to refill her drink.

Aw, it’s no use… I still can’t seem to get my voice to go as high as I want it to.

She put her hand on her throat and coughed lightly. Getting fired up and coming here to practice her singing was all well and good, but the more she sang, the more the difference between her current voice and the ideal she had in her head became painfully obvious. It was always like this. Whether practicing on her own or going to a coaching session, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to improve.

My voice sounds so plain. My pitch, tone, volume… None of them are anything to write home about. I wish I could project my voice better and have more presence and hit those high notes without having to strain.

Singing like that must feel amazing. To sing with a voice that was high, and clear, and powerful. A voice that could dispel people’s gloom and make an entire venue feel like a warmer place, filled with sweetness and light. If only she had a voice like that.

“Hmm…?”

On the way to the drinks bar, Kon heard something that made her stop and listen. Somebody’s voice was coming through from one of the other rooms. That was nothing special, except…

“Wow… What a beautiful voice…!”

She found it absolutely enchanting. The speakers in the hallway played background music at a fairly high volume to cancel out any noise that might leak out of the rooms. But this voice came through loud and clear over that, keeping the melody going the whole time.

Whoever it was, they were singing a song Kon knew well. It was an up-tempo song about fantastical nighttime scenery. It had some tricky high notes and changes in pitch and tone that needed a lot of skill to get right. And this person was doing it all perfectly.

“Is it a girl? She might be the same age as me… Singing must be so much fun when you can get your voice to do whatever you want it to.”

Kon wondered what kind of training this singer did. Or was it an innate talent that came to her naturally? Either way, it felt a little unfair. Why did people have to be born with such vast differences in their talents and abilities? And why could some people never close that gap, no matter how much effort they put in?

Just as she was thinking those petty thoughts, the singing stopped, and the door to that room opened.

The singer was indeed a girl about Kon’s own age. She had striking silver hair and wore a flashy neon-pink hoodie. Her right eye was covered by an eye patch with a crossed-through heart on it.

Kon found herself staring. The other girl must have noticed, because she turned to face her.

“What’s up?” the girl asked with a bright smile.

From the way she was dressed, Kon hadn’t expected her to be so friendly. What a relief she’d been wrong.

“Sorry, I just… I heard you singing from out here,” she replied.

“You did? Oh man, how embarrassing.”

“You sounded really good, though! You were singing that last song like a pro.”

“You think so?”

“For sure! I wish I could sing that song as perfectly as you did.”

“Oh…?” The girl’s one uncovered eye narrowed, as if Kon had said something very significant.

“Oh…?” What kind of response is that? Why not just say “Thank you,” or “It’s nothing, really”?

That was a little odd, but Kon was more interested in this girl than ever now. It wasn’t every day you met someone with a voice like that, even in Kon’s classes and coaching sessions. Maybe this girl knew some crazy secret to becoming a better singer that most people didn’t know about. Maybe that was what her weird “Oh…?” had been hinting at. It couldn’t hurt to ask anyway.

“Hey, where did you learn to sing like that? Did you do any kind of special training method?” said Kon.

“Nah, nothing like that.”

“O-oh… So you were always that good a singer, huh…?”

Kon’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. So much for the secret to good singing known to only a select few.

I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

Reality was rarely so kind. This was the perfect reminder of that. But then…

“No, I didn’t start out as a good singer. But I didn’t take lessons or train or anything, either. I mean, why do that when there’s an easy way to make anyone’s singing better?”

“Huh…?”

What did that mean? Kon looked at the girl again. She still had that bright, kind smile on her face.

“Since you seem so serious about getting better, I’ll tell you about it, okay?”

With that, the girl reached up to the black choker around her neck and pulled it down. There was something stuck to her neck underneath it—a set of some kind of mechanical-looking buttons. Three of them, all lined up in a row.

Looking closer, they seemed to have writing on them. And they weren’t buttons so much as knobs or dials. They had grooves on the side and looked like they could be turned in either direction.

“What in the world are those…?” Kon asked.

“They’re dials that change your voice. They’re a set of three—you can use them to adjust your voice’s pitch, tone, and volume however you want!”

“…What?”

Well, that came out of left field. Kon scowled. What’s with this girl? Is she making fun of me?

Kon really was serious about getting better, too. She didn’t appreciate this stranger taking her fondest desire and treating it like a joke.

The silver-haired girl just smiled. “You can get these from a machine over in that corner of the drinks bar.”

“You can…?”

Kon turned and looked in the direction the girl was pointing.

The drinks bar was an area of the karaoke parlor with vending machines selling tea, soda, and other beverages. At the end of that row of machines stood one that was smaller than the others. From the look of it, it was a capsule machine—the kind where you put a coin in, turned the lever, and got a toy or some other product in a plastic capsule. The label on that machine read VOICE CHANGER DIALS.

They’re actually real…? No, n-no way. There’s no such thing as a dial that can change your voice. But…but if there was, then…

Now standing in front of the machine, Kon gulped. That girl’s singing had sounded so wonderful. If there was even a chance these could make Kon sing like that… Yes, she’d take that chance.

She grabbed her wallet, inserted a ¥100 coin into the machine, and turned the lever.

Thunk!

There was a clatter as one of the capsules fell out of the little drawer at the front of the machine. Kon reached down and picked it up. For a moment, she just stared at it…and when she turned around again, the girl in pink had disappeared.

Back in her karaoke room, Kon opened the capsule, her heart pounding. Inside were three small dials. They looked the same as the ones that had been on the silver-haired girl’s neck. There was also a piece of paper folded up in there—probably the instructions.

Kon unfolded the paper to read what was on it.

Voice Changer Dials—Set of Three

Pitch Dial: Turn to the right to make your voice higher or to the left to make it lower.

Volume Dial: Turn to the right to make your voice louder or to the left to make it quieter.

Tone Dial: Turn to the right to raise the quality of your voice or to the left to lower it.

That was the only explanation needed, apparently. It sounded easy enough.

Kon took the dials out of the capsule, turning them over as she did. On the back of each dial was a small hexagonal protrusion, a little like the end of a screw or thumbtack. It really was small, though, and its surface was flat, so pressing it into her skin probably wouldn’t hurt.

I have to put these over my throat, right? There’s no glue or tape or anything, so how am I supposed to make them stick?

She decided to give it a try anyway and picked up the Pitch dial, holding it between her thumb and index finger. Gently, she pushed it into her neck, and—

Shck!

—she felt the part on the back sink into her skin.

“…!”

It didn’t hurt. There was no blood. But the dial was very firmly stuck in her neck now, and it wouldn’t come out even when she pulled on it. It was like it had become a part of her body.

This sure was a strange product… The instructions matched up with what the girl had said the dials did, though, so maybe it was true after all.

O-okay…!

Kon did the same thing with the other two dials, until all three were attached to her throat, just like they had been with the silver-haired girl.

She took a deep breath and began searching on the karaoke machine for the song she’d heard that girl singing. Once it was all queued up, the title appeared on the screen, and the music began playing. She picked up the mic, waited for the intro to finish, and started to sing.

She’d sung this song at karaoke plenty of times but had always stumbled over the trickier parts and never managed to keep the proper key and tone all the way through it.

Hmm… To start…

Still singing, Kon turned the Volume dial on her throat to the right.

Crk, crk, crk…

Suddenly, her voice was so loud that it filled the entire room all at once. She was so surprised she dropped the mic and quickly turned the dial back to the left. Then her voice shrank until it was even quieter than the accompanying music. She sang as hard as she could, but it didn’t get any louder.

She experimented a little, turning the dial back and forth until she reached a volume she was more comfortable with.

Next, the Tone dial.

Crk, crk, crk…

When she turned it all the way to the right, the voice filling the room instantly changed. There was no trace of her old voice anymore; this one was velvety smooth, beautiful, clear, and with real substance, too. The way it combined a powerful presence with a more delicate, sensitive quality was like fireworks lighting up the night sky. Kon found herself enamored with this new voice of hers.

Soon, she came to the hardest part of the song. The part where she’d always failed to hit the final high note. She turned the Pitch dial to the right, and…

Crk, crk, crk…

♪Like a rainbow casting shadows on a moonlit night

All that’s left…

She nailed it. She kept the melody going all the way through, never faltering even once. And she sang it in a high pitch unlike anything she’d been able to achieve; it seemed to fly right out of the back of her throat.

This is amazing! I’ve never been able to hit the high note on that “all that’s left” part before. My voice always ended up cracking on the “all”…

This felt good. No, this felt great. Finally getting to sing exactly the way she wanted felt even better than she’d imagined.

I can’t believe it… This is me! I’m singing like this…!

Eventually, the song came to an end, and the last, lingering notes of her singing faded away. Kon’s heart was so full it felt like it was going to burst.

If I use these dials to give myself a voice like this, I’ll be singing professionally in no time flat!

Not only that, but a voice like this had greater implications, too. Before, her dream of becoming a singer who built a reputation on her mastery of high notes had been just that—a dream. Despite all the effort she put in, she had never gotten any closer to making it a reality. But now it was practically within reach!

Except… Kon’s hand drifted toward her throat and the dials there. The smooth sensation of the plastic brought her back to reality.

Using these dials to get the voice I want and pass an audition… Wouldn’t that be cheating?

It was more of a rhetorical question, but she answered it anyway: No matter how you looked at it, it was cheating. Of course it was.

Yeah… An audition’s meant to be a fair fight. Everyone’s supposed to compete on ability alone.

Auditions were a chance to make your dream a reality by your own hard work. They were sacred. Using the Voice Changer Dials for something like that was out of the question. She felt dumb for even considering it.

“But then again…”

Even just mumbling to herself, the voice that the dials had given her sounded so pleasant to her ears.

“It’s not like I’ve taken somebody else’s voice. This is still my voice; the dials have just tuned it up a little. So I’m still singing in a way only I can, right?”

Kon continued to speak her thoughts out loud. With her new, beautiful voice, she sounded a lot more convincing than usual…

“Basically, this voice is mine, so it’s fair game. Sure, I used the Voice Changer Dials to achieve it. But I always had the potential to sing like this. I just had some help bringing it to the surface, that’s all.”

It was like she’d hypnotized her voice and brought out the potential slumbering deep in its subconscious. Thinking about it like that, the little thorn of anxiety in her heart melted away.

“Yeah, that’s right. All the dials did was awaken the voice that was already inside me. This is my own ability, boosted up to a hundred percent. This voice is mine, and mine alone!”

The words came spilling out of her mouth and wormed their way into her heart.

Her voice, and hers alone. She liked the sound of that. And it was true—this new voice was a legitimate part of her skill set. She could have brought it out with hard work; she’d just taken a tiny little shortcut.

“Ooh, I can’t wait for my next audition…!”

Kon hummed happily to herself. It was a random, wordless melody, but it sounded better than anything she could have done without the dials.

Finally, the day of the audition arrived. Kon was wearing a turtleneck sweater to hide the dials on her neck.

This audition was being held at the office of a major talent agency. They’d produced a ton of successful stars in the past. If she did well here, going pro was practically guaranteed. That’s what the ad she applied to had said, anyway.

I should have expected it for an agency like this, but there sure are a lot of people here…

The waiting room was packed full. She glanced around at the other singers who were auditioning today and fiddled with the neck of her sweater.

I’m going to be fine. No matter how many rivals I have, I can do this, because…

Because she had the Voice Changer Dials. No, her real singing voice that the dials had helped her bring out. She did her best to reassure herself, turning the dials back and forth. She had to get her tone, pitch, and volume just right before the audition started.

Eventually, the time came for Kon to take her turn.

The audition was divided into two sections—singing and self-promotion. There was no one song specified, so entrants could sing whatever they wanted. Kon had chosen the one she’d sung at karaoke that day when she first got the dials. The up-tempo song about fantastical nighttime scenery.

Here I go…!

At a cue from the judges, an instrumental version of the song began playing. As the intro neared its end, she took a deep breath and started to sing. She didn’t even need a mic—her voice reached right to the back of the room all on its own.

The judges gasped. As the song went on, their expressions softened, and they became more and more enchanted by Kon’s performance.

♪Like a rainbow casting shadows on a moonlit night

All that’s left are the echoes of our melody…

Even when she got to the hardest part of the song, she carried it off without a hitch. She continued singing perfectly through the final note.

I did it! That might just have been the best performance of my life…!

Kon clenched her fists in triumph. The judges’ eyes were sparkling.

Now for the finisher!

After the singing portion of the audition, she had a chance to promote herself in whatever way she wanted. And she knew exactly what she was going to do.

“My specialty is hitting high notes! I’m confident I can sing higher than anyone else. Here, I’ll demonstrate…”

She placed her hand on her throat and began singing that tricky line from her audition song again. But she didn’t just sing the same line over and over again—every time she repeated it, she sang it a little bit higher.

♪All that’s left are the echoes of our melody…

♪All that’s left are the echoes of our melody…

♪All that’s left are the echoes of our melody…

With each line, she turned the Pitch dial on her neck, taking the key of the song up higher and higher. Higher…and higher…and higher… Until suddenly, the dial wouldn’t turn any further to the right.

Oh no, what do I do now?

Kon weighed her options. The judges seemed pretty impressed already. But was that high enough? Was this really the highest the dials could make her voice? Was this enough to back up her claim that she could sing higher than anyone else?

Is this my voice’s natural limit, even with all its potential brought out? No, I won’t accept that!

She could do better than this! She just had to push herself even further. If she gave it her all, there was no limit to what she could do!

She yanked hard on the Pitch dial, and then…

Shwk!

There was a noise like something breaking, and Kon’s singing cut off abruptly.

Huh…?

Her lips were still moving, but no sound was coming out. Never mind singing, she couldn’t even speak anymore. She couldn’t so much as whisper.

Whichever way she turned it, the dial on her throat just spun in place. She desperately tried to fix her voice, but it was no good. The Tone and Volume dials didn’t do anything. Her voice had just…gone.

Kon had wanted to be able to sing higher than anybody else. Was this the end of that dream?

Not quite. Technically, her voice was higher than all the other singers’ now. Higher than any human’s voice. In fact, her voice was so high that it was now beyond the range of human hearing.

Product Name: Fatigue Catching Net

“I don’t need you to worry about me. Besides, at a strict cram school like this, it’s normal for everyone to look a little bit tired.”

“Oh, r-really? Sorry about that…”

Out of the corner of her eye, Hirono could see the girl looking down at the ground in disappointment. Hirono couldn’t help feeling like she’d been too harsh on her.

And yet, that was just the way things were. Studying day after day left her feeling worn-out and irritable. Even kind words from nice people got on her nerves when she was like this.

Hirono began putting away her textbooks and pencil case into her bag. Things had gotten awkward, and she didn’t want to stick around any longer than she had to. She stood up from her desk.

“You’re right, it is pretty strict here, huh? But I always manage my fatigue really well, so it’s no problem for me!” the girl in pink added.

That made Hirono stop and turn around. Their eyes met, and the girl flashed another of her bright smiles.

“So…,” she said, grasping Hirono’s hand, “…you just need to handle your fatigue, too! I’ll show you a really good way to do it!”

“H-huh?”

The girl began pulling on Hirono’s arm, leading her outside.

“W-wait a minute! Where are you taking me? I need to go home…”

“It’s fine, don’t worry. This won’t take long; it’s just around the corner.”

The silver-haired girl led her to a dim, abandoned alley. The cram school’s classes finished late in the day, so it was already dark out.

“I don’t think this is the kind of place two kids should be going to alone at night…”

“No, no, it’s fine! Look—it’s right there!”

The girl pointed toward the back of the alley. There, under the flickering light of an old streetlamp, was…something. Hirono couldn’t make it out very well, but there was definitely something there.

Straining her eyes, she could see one shadow that was deeper than the others, and it was shaped like a person. A person in a hat with a wide brim, sitting up against a large bag, at the end of a dark alley…

This looks…really sketchy…

She really wanted to turn back now, but the girl in pink dragged her toward the back of the alley.

“Mr. Merchant! I brought you a new customer!” the girl announced.

“…Ah, how kind. Welcome.”

The person—probably a man, by the sound of his voice—whom the girl called a “merchant” raised his head. Even then, Hirono couldn’t tell very much about him. He wasn’t just wearing a hat but a thick scarf, too. Between those two items, his face was almost completely concealed by shadows.

“H-hey, wait a minute! What do you mean, a customer?!” Hirono said a bit louder than she’d meant to once she came back to her senses.

What kind of joke was this? She had no idea what this person was selling, but she’d never buy anything from a weird-looking guy like him.

“I’ve had enough. I’m going home and—”

“No, c’mon, wait a sec,” the girl in pink insisted. “He’s got something really good. You’ll definitely find it super useful!”

Hirono paused. Come to think of it, this girl had said something interesting back at the cram school. “You just need to handle your fatigue, too,” wasn’t it?

“…What exactly are you selling?” Hirono asked the merchant in spite of herself, turning back to him.

The strange faceless man reached for his bag, and there was a metallic click as he undid the clasps. He brought it forward under the streetlight, revealing what was inside.

“Nets and…bug cages?” Hirono said, tilting her head in confusion.

Inside the case were several clear plastic cages, the type people usually used to store bugs they’d caught. And next to them were butterfly nets, just like the ones for catching flying insects.

But the nets were awfully small; they were only about a foot long.

“I, uh… I’m not really into bug catching…,” Hirono said.

Seeing her troubled expression, the merchant shook his head with a waggle of his hat and took out one of the nets.

“Oh, no, young lady. This net is not for bugs. This is a Fatigue Catching Net.”

“Fatigue…catching…?”

“Indeed. Just as the name suggests, this net allows you to simply pluck out any fatigue that has built up in your body. It’s a very convenient product, if I do say so myself.”

In one smooth motion, the merchant got to his feet. Before Hirono knew what was happening, he’d said “Pardon me,” pushed her glasses up onto her forehead, and swung the net at her face.

“Eep!” She gave a cry of surprise and flinched back. “Wh-wh-what do you think you’re—?”

“Behold. Doesn’t that spot between your eyes feel nice and refreshed now?”

“Huh…?”

Hirono slid her glasses back down and blinked several times.

The man was right. That heavy little knot of pressure in the middle of her eyebrows was completely gone. She turned to the merchant for an explanation.

“This is the Fatigue that I just took from you,” he said, holding up the net and emptying it into one of the cages with a fwump.

Hirono leaned in close to the cage, and her eyes went wide with shock. Inside it was a strange, doll-like figure. It was human-shaped but with exaggerated features, like some kind of cartoon character, and it was completely gray. It was almost like a plume of smoke had taken a solid form. The gray figure had no face, but it was pinching the front of its head—probably right where the middle of its eyebrows would have been.

“This…is my fatigue?”

“Yes, from between your eyes. Depending on where you use the net, fatigue can be extracted from other places, too.”

“…”

Still gazing at the strange little figure in the cage, Hirono cleared her throat. “If I buy one of these nets, can I use it on myself?”

“Of course. It’s designed so that anyone can use it with the greatest of ease.”

“And are there any…side effects?”

A hint of hesitation had crept into that last question. One swing of the net had dispelled the fatigue between her eyes instantly. That part of her body felt as relaxed and refreshed as if she’d just had a long night’s sleep.

It was nothing short of amazing. Too amazing. To the point that it made her uneasy.

“Like…if I keep using this to take away my fatigue, will I end up getting tired more easily? Or will the fatigue I take out come back all at once someday? Is there any kind of catch to it?”

“Please, put your mind at ease. This product has no such side effects. You can safely use it for years, even decades, as often as you want.”

“Really…?”

It sounded too good to be true. But if it really was safe and worked like the man said, it was just the kind of thing she could use. Hirono had built up a lot of fatigue in the course of her day.

“How much does it cost?” she asked.

“One Fatigue Catching Net and one Fatigue Cage, two hundred yen in total.”

“That’s so cheap…!”

Too cheap, maybe? Hirono still couldn’t shake the feeling that this was too good to be true. But she promptly took out her wallet and paid for it all the same.

“Thank you for your purchase. When you take a Fatigue out with the net, be sure to store it in the cage. We wouldn’t want it getting back inside your body, now, would we?”

With those final words of caution, the merchant handed her the net and cage. She hugged them close to her chest. Now that she had these, she’d be set free from all the tiredness that built up while she was studying.

Oh, that’s right…

Hirono looked to her side. The girl in the neon-pink hoodie, the one who’d brought her here in the first place, was still standing there.

“Uh… Thank you for telling me about this. It really does sound useful,” Hirono told the girl. “And I’m sorry for saying I didn’t need you to worry about me before!”

“Hee-hee, you’re welcome. And don’t worry about it. After all…” The girl flashed that bright smile again. “…I just want everyone in the world to be happy. That includes you, of course.”

Such a kind, sincere smile. What she was saying sounded pretty grandiose and theatrical, but the smile felt so genuine. Who would have thought anybody could talk about making everyone in the world happy while grinning like that? This girl would probably make a great actor.

“You’re such a nice person…,” said Hirono. “Uh, anyway, good luck with your studies.”

“Thanks! I’ll be sure to manage my fatigue, too, if you know what I mean.”

The silver-haired girl held out her hand. Hirono took it, and they shook hands, both of them smiling now.

Back at home, Hirono immediately went to her room to try the Fatigue Catching Net.

First off was her head. After she’d been studying awhile, her head always started to feel worn out, making it harder to focus. And she still had a lot she needed to do before bedtime. There was her regular homework from school, plus her homework and review work from cram school. Trying to study while she was this exhausted would only waste her precious time.

“All right… Let’s give this Fatigue Catching a test run!”

She took the net in her hand and looked at it dubiously. Would this really remove the fatigue from her body like it had in the alley? The merchant said it could be used safely and easily by anyone, even on herself. Was that true?

Hirono lifted the net above her head and gently swung it down.

“…”

Hirono lowered the net and took a peek. There was something inside it now—a human-shaped figure that looked like a doll made of gray smoke.

It worked!

“Wow… My head feels nice and refreshed! I should be able to get a lot more studying done!”

The whole thing felt just as amazing the second time. Who would have thought getting rid of fatigue could be so quick and so easy?

“Oh, that’s right… The man said to always put the Fatigue in the cage afterward.”

She grabbed the clear plastic cage and gently tipped the little gray creature into it. It joined the Fatigue that the merchant had taken out before. Now there were two Fatigues—one from between her eyes, and one from the top of her head. The new Fatigue was holding its head with both hands.

Hirono gave the cage a gentle shake. The figures tumbled over but got back up—like smoke slowly drifting upward—and resumed their previous poses.

“They move around like living things… Hmm, this feels kind of strange. What are these Fatigues, anyway? Well, at the end of the day, I guess it’s all just regular fatigue…”

Somewhat curious now, she sat and observed the Fatigues for a while longer.

As the evening went on, Hirono added Fatigues from her shoulders, neck, and right hand into the cage. Sitting in the same position all evening tended to make her shoulders and neck stiff. And of course, writing out so many notes and equations over and over again took its toll on her dominant hand. But now all that fatigue was gone, and she felt just as supple and refreshed as if she’d had a nice, long massage.

“Phew, I feel great!”

Stretching out both arms, Hirono let out a deep, satisfied breath from her very core. It felt like it’d been a long time since she’d breathed out in a way that wasn’t a frustrated sigh. Now that she was able to handle her fatigue so easily, she realized just how much of it had built up until now. And having a body free of all that tiredness felt incredible.

“All right! It’s still a while before I have to go to bed, so let’s keep going and study even more!”

Hirono clenched her fists in determination. She’d built up so much fatigue day after day. So much that she’d wanted to throw it all away and take a long break to recover.

Eating proper meals, relaxing in the bath, sleeping in just a little bit longer than usual… She’d no longer have to do any of that! With this Fatigue Catching Net, she’d never need to take another break again!

The man in the hat offered that final explanation, picking up the empty mug to put it away.

On the way home from the Fatigue Treatment Center, Hirono was in a daze.

So that was it. That was how it worked. That was how to get rid of Fatigues…

Basically, they do all the relaxing for me so I don’t have to do it myself.

The little gray Fatigues would rest and recover in her place. That was how the net and the cage and the treatment center worked.

Well, it’s what I always wanted… I can work hard without needing to rest now.

And hadn’t everyone always told her that was “a wonderful achievement”? Didn’t taking breaks mean wasting time you could be using to study? She’d be able to use her time so much more efficiently now.

So why don’t I feel good about it…?

Hirono thought back to how the Fatigues had looked at the treatment center. They’d seemed so happy in that nice, relaxing space, just lazing around and doing whatever they felt like.

To get rid of the fatigue I’ve built up, somebody has to rest like that…

But that somebody was no longer her. She’d purposely cut herself off from the need to rest—from the need to relax and enjoy herself.

A safe, reliable way to deal with fatigue, with no side effects whatsoever… Something that anyone can use for years, or even decades. I’ll admit it’s useful, but…

Was this really how she wanted to do things?

Still feeling conflicted, Hirono took the Fatigue Catching Net out of her bag. She stared at it for a moment…then brought it to her mouth and let out a limp, exasperated sigh. The sigh immediately transformed into a small gray Fatigue.

Hirono felt instantly refreshed, ready to head home and get back to studying. This net truly was a wonderful product to have around. She couldn’t imagine living without it anymore.

And yet…something was nagging at her. Part of her felt like she was doing something wrong, something irredeemably foolish.

“Is it…really okay for me to keep doing this?” Hirono mumbled to the creature in the net.

But the Fatigue said nothing. It just lay there, curled up in a tight little ball.

Product Name: Truthful Diary

Truth be told, she didn’t have any friends at school. She couldn’t make cakes, either. Her grades weren’t all that good, and she’d never even been inside a confectionery supply store, let alone talked to anyone about baking. The ideal world that she wrote about in her diary was just as far removed from reality as any other work of fiction.

Well, what else am I supposed to do? Nothing ever happens to me that would actually be worth writing about.

Writing a truthful diary about her life as it really was would be no fun at all. Why not get creative and make up some more interesting memories instead? At least the version of herself she wrote about was living her best life. However boring her real life may be, reading her diary and thinking about what might have been gave Asumi some small comfort.

“Looks like I’m already on the last page…”

She’d have to go and buy another one soon. With that final thought for the day, she closed the diary and put it away in her desk drawer.

Asumi visited a stationery store the very next day. It wasn’t one she’d been to before; apparently, it had opened up only recently.

She’d found a flyer advertising it in her mailbox that morning. Printed on the flyer—which had a cute neon-pink border around it—was the following:

WE GUARANTEE YOU’LL FIND WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR!

That gave her the impression that this was a store with a high-quality, varied lineup of goods. If she went there, she’d be sure to find a wonderful new diary.

Asumi had followed the map on the flyer and found the store. But now that she was here, it wasn’t anything like she’d expected.

It’s a lot smaller than I thought it would be… It looks kind of dark inside, too.

When the flyer claimed she’d find exactly what she was looking for, she’d imagined a big, fancy store holding a grand opening. Would she really find a nice new diary in a dingy little place like this? She was beginning to have second thoughts about the whole thing.

Then again, if they’re that confident about it, maybe it’s actually a better place than it looks from the outside.

Hoping that was the case, Asumi walked through the door.

The interior was even more dim and dingy than it had looked from the outside. She couldn’t see the goods on the shelves very well, and they were the whole reason she was here. As she glanced around, it still didn’t seem like this store’s lineup was anything special.

Guess this whole place is a bust… But now that I’m here, I should at least check out their diary section.

Making her way further into the store, Asumi heaved a sigh.

What a disappointment. She’d never find a good diary somewhere like this. At the same time, though, she’d feel uncomfortable leaving without buying anything.

Soon, she arrived at the section where the diaries were kept. It was also a pretty small section.

Yikes, there’s hardly any variety here…

One look at the sparse offerings, and Asumi’s face fell.

This is just the worst. What’s with this store? “We guarantee you’ll find what you’re looking for”? When this is all they’ve got? What a scam.

She felt like she’d been tricked, reeled in, and hung out to dry. It was not a good feeling.

Not that it really mattered, though. Today was sure to be another boring, tedious day when nothing particularly interesting happened. Same old, same old.

She still had to buy a new diary to write in. At times like this, she needed her Liar’s Diary more than ever.

October 14 (Monday)

I went to a new stationery store today and found a totally cute new diary. The moment I saw it, I knew I had to have it. And here I am, writing in it now! The store had such a great lineup, and there were lots of other cool diaries there besides this one. Who’d have thought there was a great store like that right here in my neighborhood? What a lucky find!

She’d probably write something like that later today. At least within the pages of her diary, she could forget about this boring old reality for a little while.

This one’s fine for now, I guess…

Asumi settled on one of the few diaries displayed and picked it up. The price fit her budget, and it had a white cover with the word Diary printed on it. A plain, functional kind of design. Plain, boring, unremarkable—

“I see you’re interested in our Truthful Diaries,” came a voice from behind her.

Asumi flinched and spun around.

Standing there was a very suspicious-looking man. He was wearing a hat with a wide brim, even though it wasn’t sunny out. Even if it had been, they were indoors, and it wasn’t exactly bright in here, either. He also had a thick scarf wrapped around his neck. The two accessories cast shadows across his face, making it all but impossible to see what he looked like.

“Wh-what did you say? A…Truthful Diary?” Asumi asked, taking an involuntary step back.

The man’s hat bobbed up and down as he nodded. “Indeed. That book you have picked up is known as a Truthful Diary. As you might guess from the name, it is a diary that despises falsehoods.”

From the way the man was talking, it sounded like he must’ve worked there. How fitting. A weird store run by weird people and selling weird products to boot.

A diary that “despises falsehoods”? Really?

The words almost seemed like an attack on Asumi and her Liar’s Diary. She bristled at the thought.

“You mean it doesn’t like lies? So this is a diary you can only write the truth in?” she asked.

Of course, that’s exactly what you would normally use a diary for—to write down things that had actually happened. There were all kinds of diaries in the world, though, so it was reasonable to assume that some were intended to be used in different ways.

The man in the hat shook his head in response to Asumi’s question, though.

“No, not quite,” he told her. “If you write things as they really happened in this diary, it will have no effect at all.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“This is a diary for you to write what you want to happen in the future.”

“What…?” Asumi’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You see,” the man continued, “this diary despises falsehoods so much that it will make anything written in it become the truth.”

“Y-you mean…?”

“Indeed. Whatever you write in there will come true.”

Her heart was pounding in her chest. Looking at the “unremarkable” book in her hands, she saw it in a whole new light.

Whatever I write…will come true? Wow… It doesn’t look like anything special, but this might actually be exactly what I’m looking for.

Of course, she wasn’t about to believe this story without question. It was probably meant to be a mindfulness exercise or something. She wasn’t enough of a dreamer or a child to believe a simple notebook had the power to alter the world around her.

Even so, there was something about the idea that she found charming. It was kind of exciting.

I need to buy a new diary anyway, so I might as well go with this one instead of a regular one. Also…

When she’d first heard the name “Truthful Diary,” it had sounded totally at odds with her own writing habits. But now that she knew how it was supposed to be used, it seemed like a perfect fit for her.

Writing what I want to happen… That’s basically the same thing I do with my Liar’s Diary.

And so Asumi bought a Truthful Diary and left the stationery store with a smile on her face. She had a feeling today was going to be a good day.

“Okay, here goes…”

That night, Asumi sat down at her desk and placed the diary she’d bought in front of her.

“Hee-hee… Unlike with my regular diaries, I’ll be writing about the future this time. That’s something a little different, at least. This could be fun.”

She opened the diary to the first page and wrote the date. Usually, she’d be writing today’s date, but this diary was for events she wanted to happen in the future. Instead, she wrote down tomorrow’s date.

“Hmm… Now I just have to think of something to write.”

She pondered for a little while, and then, still excited by the novelty of the whole thing, penned her entry for tomorrow.

October 15 (Tuesday)

I knew I had gym class today, so I was feeling a little gloomy all morning. We’re doing basketball right now, and I’m no good at ball games… But once we got started, it actually turned out to be a fun time! I ended up on the same team with a lot of my friends, so we were able to cut loose and really enjoy ourselves. It’s times like this when I really feel like I’m making the most of my youth!

Morning arrived, and Asumi made her way to school, the excitement from last night still lingering in her mind. As for the entry that she’d written for this day, the first few sentences were already true. She did have gym class, and she knew they’d be playing basketball. And because she was so bad at ball games, she was feeling less than stellar about it.

But what about what came after that? What about the wish that she’d written for how she wanted the day to turn out? As far as Asumi was concerned, it would never come true because she didn’t have any friends in her class. That diary entry was something that simply couldn’t happen in reality…wasn’t it?

Gym class began, and the students were divided into teams. That’s when things started to change.

“Hey, looks like we’re on the same team, Asumi.”

“Let’s do our best, Asumi!”

“You’re not so great at basketball, right, Asumi? Don’t worry. We’ll cover for you, so just take it at your own pace.”

The girls on her team were talking to her.

Huh…? Where’s this coming from? What’s going on here?!

Asumi was completely flustered. This was the first time any of her classmates had spoken to her like this. It didn’t feel like they were just being nice to the class loner out of pity, either.

They’re talking like we’re friends… Like we always have been…

What had gotten into them? Were they setting her up for some kind of practical joke?

It didn’t seem like these girls were teasing her, though. They were so natural and at ease around her. When they passed the ball around before the start of the match, they included Asumi in the conversation like it was totally normal. Up until now, they’d shut her out completely and just talk among themselves and their clique.

Then the match began. As usual, Asumi fumbled the ball whenever it came near her. Typically, the other girls would berate her for her mistakes, putting a real damper on the mood.

But not today.

What’s happening now is… It really is…

The mood during the match wasn’t especially serious, but everyone was pretty amped up. Any time somebody scored a point, the team that had scored would cheer, and the other team would groan. And if someone dropped the ball, they’d just laugh it off, and everybody would laugh along with them.

Before she knew it, Asumi had gotten caught up in the mood and become just one of the group.

This is so much fun! It’s times like this when I really feel like I’m making the most of my youth…!

There in the gymnasium, surrounded by friends and laughter on every side, that was when she knew: It was all true.

It’s exactly like I wrote in my diary last night! That Truthful Diary really does make anything you write in it come true…!

“No, I love them! Thank you, Kino!”

Asumi took out the box and placed it on her lap. The lid was clear, so she could see all the different cookies tastefully lined up against each other. Some had red or yellow jam on them, others were square with a checkerboard pattern, some had nuts and spices mixed in…

Each one looked absolutely delicious. A fragrant aroma rose from the bag, gently tickling Asumi’s nose.

I’m so happy…!

She’d always wanted to make professional-level cookies like these.

And receiving a whole box from a wonderful guy like Kino is a dream come true…!

Her heart was filled to the brim with excitement. She wanted to hug the box close to her, but she held back. The way she was now, she’d probably squeeze it so tight that she’d crush the cookies.

She turned back to Kino. “I’ve been wondering… Do you want to become a pastry chef someday?”

“Hmm… Not a pastry chef so much as a regular baker, I guess.”

“Oh, so you want to open your own store?”

“Yeah! Like…nothing too big or fancy, just a little place that everyone in the neighborhood knows. A simple, down-to-earth bakery with food that can bring comfort to my customers. It’s my dream to run a place like that.”

Kino smiled in a way that warmed Asumi’s heart and made her want to smile back at him.

Except…

They continued their conversation for a while longer, and eventually Kino left, waving good-bye with a casual “See you tomorrow!”

Now on her own in the courtyard, Asumi just sat there as happiness flowed through her. She was feeling so light and floaty that she almost let the cookies fall off her lap, but she caught them in time and put them on the bench, next to her.

I knew Kino was a wonderful guy… I really want to get closer to him now.

The more she’d spoken to him today, the more she’d gotten to like him.

Except…there was just one thing that was bothering her.

Kino said he wants to run a little neighborhood bakery when he grows up… But I’ve always dreamed of opening an exclusive luxury patisserie.

The conversation had revealed that small but important difference between the two of them.

If she started going out with Kino, and their relationship lasted into adulthood, and they decided to open their own store together, what was going to happen then? They each wanted to run a completely different kind of place.

Well…it shouldn’t be a problem. If worse comes to worst, I can use the diary to make it all work out.

That thought helped Asumi regain her composure.

Any aspect of reality that she didn’t like, she could just change. It would be a simple matter to use her Truthful Diary to change Kino’s dream, too. She’d probably feel a little bad doing that to him, but it wasn’t like he’d be unhappy. She could just write something like:

Kino decided he also wanted to become a first-rate pastry chef, and we decided to open our own store together. It’s a stylish cake shop that offers classy luxury confections. Now that the dream we share has come true, both of us are happy every single day!

And then Kino would be happy. So there was really no problem.

“Hee-hee… Now then, what should I write for tomorrow’s entry?”

Chuckling to herself, Asumi got up and left the courtyard.

When she reached the front gate of the school, she suddenly noticed something.

It was gone! She didn’t have the box of cookies that Kino had made for her!

“Oh no… I must have spaced out and left it behind in the courtyard!”

How could she have been so careless with something so important? She hurried back to the courtyard as fast as her legs would carry her.

When she got there, she saw a flock of crows pecking at the cookies she’d left on the bench.

“No way…”

The elegant paper bag had been torn to shreds, and the cookies had been pecked to pieces, littering the ground with crumbs.

“No…it can’t be…”

She could only stand there dumbfounded, silent among the cawing of the crows.

Asumi’s mind drifted back to the diary entry she’d written the night before. She never actually wrote I ate the cookies that Kino gave me. That had been where she’d gone wrong.

Why couldn’t I just add a little sentence like that? Why did I have to end the entry there…?

Ever since she got home, Asumi had been sobbing to herself, wallowing in sorrow and regret.

Using the Truthful Diary, it would be easy enough to get Kino to give her cookies again. But that wasn’t the point. Those were the first ones he’d ever made for her. There’d never be another first time. They were special.

The Truthful Diary might have been able to change the future, but it couldn’t do anything about the past…

Or could it?

Wait a minute… Why not?

Asumi raised her head and wiped away her tears. The Truthful Diary had the power to change reality, to make whatever was written in it true.

So then, why should it be limited to the future? If I write something different than what’s already happened, that’ll change to become true, too, won’t it?

In that case, she could absolutely use the diary to change the past.

Asumi immediately took the diary out of her desk drawer to try out this idea. Turning to the entry she’d written yesterday, she added an additional sentence to the end of it: I was so excited that I couldn’t help myself and ate the cookies then and there.

Asumi put her pen down, wondering if this would be enough.

Just then, a flash of blinding light shone from the diary.

“Urk…”

Asumi felt dizzy, and her head went fuzzy.

“Mnh…”

She slowly opened her eyes again and blinked.

What had just happened? It felt like she might have passed out for a moment.

“What was I doing just now…?”

Still feeling a little woozy, Asumi got to her feet and stepped away from her desk, where the diary still lay open. Her parents called to her from downstairs in the kitchen. Dinner was ready.

She put her hand to her stomach and mumbled to herself, “I’m not that hungry… I did eat those cookies Kino gave me at school, after all.”

She’d been so excited that she couldn’t help herself and had eaten his homemade treats then and there. Just remembering the taste brought a smile to her lips.

“Aaah… Those cookies were sooo delicious.”

Still basking in the blissful experience, she left her room and went downstairs.

Asumi watched the other Asumi walk out of the room in blank amazement.

“What’s going on?”

This didn’t make sense. The last thing she remembered was getting dizzy and passing out, and then…the next thing she knew, there was another her in her room.

Still confused, she tried following the other Asumi. But as she was walking past her window, she noticed something wasn’t right.

“Huh…?”

It was dark outside, and the surface of the window reflected her room back at her like a black mirror.

Except Asumi wasn’t in it.

Panicking now, she picked up the mirror on her desk, but it showed the same thing: She didn’t have a reflection.

“Wh-what is this? What’s happening to me…?!” she cried.

Nobody came forward to answer her.

Instead, the pages of the diary left open on her desk began to flutter and flap, turning themselves on their own until they reached the very end of the book. There, she saw a page that she could have sworn hadn’t been there before:

Asumi’s face went white as a sheet.

No… No, it can’t be…

The past that she had written in the diary had become reality. The diary had “corrected” reality to make the entry true. To do that, it had created a whole different Asumi—an Asumi who had eaten the cookies Kino gave her after school.

So then…what happens to the Asumi who didn’t eat them? What happens to me…?

The diary moved again, swinging shut.

And when it did, both the diary and the “false” version of Asumi disappeared…as if they had never existed in the first place.

Sample Product: Gap Entry Ticket

Going forward, Chika wanted to avoid getting downgraded to Minus again at all costs. She had five more years left until graduation. Even if she couldn’t become a Plus during that time, she wanted to at least keep on being a Zero. And to do that, she knew exactly what was expected of her…

After classes were done for the day, the students had cleaning duty. Or rather, Zero and Minus students did. Pluses were exempt from this duty, along with other menial tasks everyone else had to do. Cleaning the Plus classrooms after school, cleaning up after Plus students in the cafeteria, even setting up Plus classrooms for their next class—all that was done by Zero and Minus students.

It was a day like any other when Chika and two of her classmates made their way to the Plus classroom, ready to clean.

“Okay, we’d better get started.”

Once they were sure the Plus students had all left, the three of them began their tasks.

Plus classrooms were always a complete mess at the end of the school day. There’d be piles of empty food wrappers on the desks, eraser shavings all over the floor, even globs of chewed-up gum. The Pluses must have been making their classrooms extra messy on purpose—how else could they get like this?

But Chika and the others didn’t let it bother them. They just smiled grimly and got to work. They were a little envious that the Pluses got to eat in class. Zero and Minus students weren’t even allowed to bring their own snacks to school.

The rules were always stricter for the lower-status classes than for the Pluses. The rules that the Zero and Minus students had to follow were constantly changing, too. Sometimes, items or accessories that had been allowed the day before would be banned the next.

Lots of kids’ treasured possessions had been lost that way. Chika had a key ring she really liked that had gotten confiscated and thrown away not that long ago. Thinking back on that now gave her an uncomfortable gloomy feeling in her chest.

“Ah…!”

She’d been dusting the lockers at the back of the room when something made her cry out in surprise.

“What’s wrong?”

“What happened, Chika?”

The other two students turned around from where they’d been cleaning.

Chika hung her head, her face pale, and replied in a tiny, strained voice, “I…I knocked an eraser someone left here down behind the lockers.”

It had been sitting on top of one of the lockers, which were just below the blackboard. Chika had begun wiping them down and hadn’t noticed it until it was too late. There was a narrow gap between the back of the lockers and the wall, and she’d knocked that eraser right into that gap.

“Can’t you get it out?” one student asked.

“No way, the gap’s too small,” the other student said. “And these lockers are bolted to the wall, so you can’t move them aside, either.”

The two of them looked troubled for a moment, but their expressions hardened as they turned back to Chika.

“Let’s get one thing clear. You’re the one who knocked it down there, Chika.”

“Right, we had nothing to do with it. Make sure you tell that to the teacher.”

“Yeah, okay…,” Chika muttered, nodding and on the verge of tears.

A Zero student losing a Plus student’s personal property? She was going to get yelled at for sure. They’d probably come up with some other punishment for her, too.

And like the two students said, they’d had nothing to do with it. The responsibility was hers alone. She’d probably have acted the same if their roles were reversed…

For some reason, that thought made Chika very sad.

She tried hard to get the eraser out from that narrow gap after that. But it was no use. She had to own up to her mistake and tell one of the teachers.

The next day during homeroom, she’d been called into that classroom and made to formally apologize in front of all the Plus students.

“I’m truly sorry for losing an eraser that belongs to someone in this class,” she said, bowing her head.

Even without looking, she could feel the other students sneering at her. After her apology, the guidance counselor—who’d also come along for the ride—spoke up.

“Well then, Ms. Chika Itohi. As punishment for losing this eraser, you are forbidden from using an eraser for the next week. Not just in class, but for homework and independent study as well. If any traces of you having used one are found in your notebooks or worksheets, your test scores will be reduced as an additional penalty. See to it that you bear this in mind.”

“Okay…”

Chika apologized one last time and gave another deep bow. She had that weird gloomy feeling in her chest again, but apart from that, she actually felt pretty good about herself.

The old me would have gotten mad about this and caused a scene. But now I’m able to admit to my mistakes and accept the consequences. I’m making progress, in my own way.

Things were far from perfect, but at least that was something she could be proud of.

Several days later, the atmosphere at school was livelier than usual. That was because it was Bazaar Day, a special occasion that came only once a year.

Stalls were set up across the school, just like at a festival. They sold different kinds of food and drink, but also books, accessories, and much more. On Bazaar Day, all classes ended at lunch, and everyone spent the afternoon enjoying themselves. Every student looked forward to this event, and Chika was no exception.

I’d better get my cleaning done fast today. I can’t wait to go check out the bazaar…!

She headed to the Plus classroom with renewed enthusiasm.

However, when she arrived, the teacher in charge of that class was waiting for her.

“Ah, Ms. Itohi. I’ll need you to retrieve that eraser you lost. That means today. You may not leave until the eraser is back in its proper place. Is that understood?”

“O-okay…”

It was so sudden, so unexpected, Chika had no time to take it in or protest. She could only nod and accept it.

It is my fault for losing it, after all…

But even as she thought this, that strange gloomy feeling welled up in her chest again.

The students who were cleaning the classroom with her finished up and went to the bazaar. Chika was left behind to try and retrieve the eraser, just like she’d been told.

But like the last time, there was no way she could get it out from the tiny gap between the wall and the lockers. She tried using different objects to reach it, but the eraser was in such an awkward spot that it just rolled around in place, never moving any closer to her. Try as she might, time kept ticking by with nothing to show for it.

What am I going to do…? At this rate, the bazaar will be over soon…

Exhausted and frustrated, Chika felt a little like crying. But just then…

“Hey. Aren’t you mad?”

…somebody spoke up from behind her.

She turned around to see a girl she didn’t know standing there in the classroom. Her hair was completely silver, and she wore a neon-pink hoodie. Her right eye was covered by an eye patch in that same shade of pink, with a crossed-through heart on it.

This girl had a unique fashion sense, to put it mildly. She wasn’t wearing a uniform, so she probably wasn’t a student there. She must have been visiting the bazaar.

The girl spoke again.

“It’s only an eraser, but because of that, you’re not allowed to go the bazaar you’ve been looking forward to so much. They’re just being mean to you at this point. Doesn’t that make you angry? Don’t you want to say anything about it?”

“Well, I…”

How did this girl know about the eraser? Did she go to this school after all, and Chika just didn’t recognize her? That didn’t seem likely. Either way, there was something strange about this girl…

Putting that aside for the moment, Chika shook her head in response to the girl’s question. She took a deep breath and smiled before answering, “No, not at all. A harsh punishment like this might look mean at first, but that’s the way things are here. And it’s for our own good.”

“Your own good…?”

“Yes. I’m talking about us students who couldn’t make it into the Plus classes, of course. Students who don’t have anything special to commend them for.”

She still wasn’t sure who this girl was or how much she knew about the school’s rules. Maybe she should explain them to her so there were no misunderstandings.

“People without any talents or achievements basically have no value,” Chika said. “This school gives those people a chance to break free from that meaningless existence. Even if we can’t do well on tests or in sports or art or anything like that, we can still cultivate beautiful hearts. That’s why the rules are so hard on us—to help our hearts grow.”

The girl in pink took a moment to mull all this over. Then she smiled. “Oh, I get it. This really is a great school, huh? They don’t just test how good you are at studying; they decide how good a person you are, too.”

“Th-that’s right! You asked me if all this made me angry, right? But anger is an ugly, impure emotion. You have to throw it away if you want to have a beautiful heart. If a student who’s not a Plus gets angry, that’s a serious breach of the school rules.”

A heart that has discarded anger is beautiful.

Students with no talents or achievements must cultivate beautiful hearts.

Therefore, Zero and Minus students must never get angry.

Those were the principles the school’s rules were built on.

“I see… So what happens if you break those rules?” the girl asked Chika.

“Well…if a Minus student gets angry too often, they won’t make it into the Zero classes next year. Or if they’re already a Zero, they might get demoted to Minus. That’s the general idea.”

Chika had been an angry Minus before. But she’d discarded that ugly, impure emotion and finally worked her way up to Zero. She felt a renewed surge of pride at having achieved that.

She happened to glance at the silver-haired girl and suddenly froze. The girl was staring at Chika intently, her one uncovered eye giving her an ice-cold, piercing glare.

“…”

Chika found herself at a loss for words. But then the girl smiled like nothing had ever happened.

“Gotcha. So you’re a good girl who always follows the rules,” she said. “In that case, here. A present for you!”

“Huh…?”

The girl handed Chika something. It all happened so quickly, Chika didn’t have a chance to say no or even check what it was.

She gazed at her hands. There was a small, flat object, like a travel card or a coupon, with the words GAP ENTRY TICKET printed on it. That didn’t really tell her much.

Chika looked up to ask what this thing was…but the girl in pink wasn’t there anymore. Chika was alone.

“A Gap Entry Ticket, huh…?”

She still wasn’t quite sure what it was, or why the strange girl had given it to her.

“The ‘entry ticket’ part’s clear enough… What, can I use this to slip into any gap or something…?”

She didn’t believe that, but she walked over to the lockers by the wall anyway. With the ticket in one hand, she reached out the other toward the space between the lockers and the wall.

Suddenly, Chika’s hand slipped effortlessly into the narrow gap, disappearing up to the wrist.

“Huh…? Whaaat?!”

She jerked her hand away.

Chika shifted her gaze from it to the gap and back again, comparing their sizes. No matter how she looked at it, there was no way her hand could have fit into that gap.

“Was I just seeing things? Or, maybe…”

Chika’s gaze wandered to the ticket in her other hand. She reached out toward the gap again…

Swsh!

“…!”

She wasn’t seeing things. She could reach all the way in, and her arm fit into the gap effortlessly. The rest of her body still looked completely normal; it was just the part between the wall and the lockers that had somehow shrunk to be paper thin.

“Is it…because I’m holding this ticket?”

Again, she looked at the card-like object the silver-haired girl had given her. After a moment’s hesitation, Chika took off her shoes and climbed up on top of the lockers.

“It’s a little scary, but here goes…”

She gulped and, still holding on tight to the ticket, jumped toward the wall.

Slip… Thud!

She felt her feet touch the ground.

Chika’s body had slipped perfectly into the gap. The lockers came up to her waist, and above that point, she looked the same as ever. But below the waist, she was almost completely flat, more or less the same size as the space between the lockers and the wall.

She tried shifting her position. She’d been facing the wall before, but now she turned ninety degrees to the left. Sure enough, her lower body changed as well, making the part that was inside the gap perfectly flat.

Even when my body changes, it doesn’t hurt one bit. All right, in that case…

Chika crouched down, her whole body sinking into the gap. Her shoulders, her face, everything up to the very top of her head became as thin as a sheet of paper, fitting perfectly into the narrow space.

Now right up against the wall, she began to slowly crawl forward. It didn’t hurt, exactly, but it still felt a little cramped.

Huh…?

She felt funny. It was like a vague, long-buried memory was drifting up to the surface of her mind.

That’s weird… Did I do something like this before, a long time ago…?

This sensation of her body up against the wall, squeezed into a dark, narrow space with no room on either side, only able to move straight forward… It felt familiar. But the memory only drifted up for a split second. It was there one moment, and the next, she’d lost it.

Well, whatever. I’ve got more important things to worry about…

Lots of other stuff had fallen behind the lockers. Sticks of chalk, pens, folded-up worksheets, even some loose change. But none of that interested Chika.

…Aha! Here it is. The eraser!

She’d finally come far enough to find what she’d knocked into that gap a few days before. There was no mistaking it—this was what she’d been looking for.

Down there in that cramped space, Chika reached out and closed her thin, flat fingers around the eraser. With that done, she slowly stood up. Once her head and shoulders were above the top of the lockers, they returned to their original size. From there, she climbed back out into the classroom, none the worse for wear.

She immediately made her way to the faculty office to return the eraser. With permission from the teacher in charge, she was finally allowed to head out and see the bazaar.

Unfortunately, by the time she got there, everything was already starting to wind down. Most of the stalls—whether they were selling food, drinks, or something else—were putting away their wares and packing up. Even the few that were still open didn’t have anything very interesting on display, just the scattered remains of what they hadn’t been able to sell.

Disappointed but determined nonetheless, Chika decided to wander around for a little while longer.

Right at the edge of the campus, she noticed a strange man sitting in front of a large, ragged-looking old briefcase. He wore a hat with a wide brim and had a thick scarf wrapped around his neck. Chika could have sworn that he was looking at her…except the shadow cast by the hat and scarf meant she couldn’t see his face at all.

Is he one of the stall owners here today? Maybe he’s carrying his products in that big case.

As she walked past the strange man, Chika wondered what he could have been selling. In the end, though, she left the bazaar that day without finding anything interesting.

The bazaar had been a disappointment; there was no getting away from that. But there was something else on Chika’s mind now.

The way I felt when I was in that gap… Was I about to remember some other time when I was in a tight space like that?

She thought that was probably it. But she couldn’t clearly remember what kind of place it had been, or where it was, or why she’d been there.

Oh, but…I’m pretty sure it was somewhere in this school.

Yes, it hadn’t been at home or out around town, she was confident of that much. Somewhere on this campus, there was a narrow gap that she’d squeezed into once, years ago. And… And then…

And then what…? I feel like something really important happened, but…

If it was that important, why had she forgotten about it? She didn’t know what all this meant, but she didn’t like it.

Maybe I just have to find that place again… If I see it in person, it’ll probably jog my memory, and I’ll remember the whole thing.

And so, over the next few days, Chika searched high and low for the narrow gap from her past. There were gaps everywhere, of course, but it was surprisingly hard to find one big enough for a person to squeeze into.

The gaps between books on the shelves in the library… The gap between the raised storehouses and the ground… They were all too small. And she somehow knew it wasn’t something as simple as a door or window that had been left slightly ajar, either.

Every time Chika found a new gap, she’d peer into it, and she’d feel that old memory stirring. But it never quite came back to her. She extended her search beyond the inside of the school and began looking outside, even wandering around the little mountainous area on the edge of the campus.

It was while she was in that area that a curious incident occurred. She’d reached a place where the ground began to slope upward and was just taking a step forward. The moment before she put her foot down, a butterfly flew in front of her, so close it looked like it was going to collide with her face.

Chika stumbled backward. She’d never seen a butterfly like that before—its wings were a bright shade of pink. The same pink as the hoodie the girl who’d given her the Gap Entry Ticket had been wearing.

Now that I think about it, who was that girl, really…?

Then her gaze wandered down to her feet. Almost completely hidden from view by fallen leaves was a set of old, rusted metal bars.

Chika peered closer—on the other side of the bars was nothing but a deep, dark hole, leading underground.

“What is this…? A dried-up well, maybe?”

She’d never heard anything about a well out here. It must have been really old. The landscape around it had changed so much that the top of it was now at ground level, after all. The metal bars must have been put there at some point to keep people from falling in.

Chika glanced at the darkness on the other side of the bars again and felt a shiver run down her spine. If that butterfly hadn’t flown in front of her… If she’d put her foot down and stepped on this…

“That was a close one…”

She was walking around with the ticket in her hand. If she’d stepped on those metal bars, which were basically just one big series of gaps, she’d have slipped through them and ended up trapped on the other side. She’d have fallen right down to the bottom—however far down that was—with no way to climb back up again.

The days continued to roll by, with Chika checking out every narrow gap she could find. And then, finally, she found the one she’d been looking for.

It was behind the elementary school. Next to the main school building was another one that had been added in more recent years. Between those two buildings was a small gap about the width of a child’s head.

But how strange. It shouldn’t have been this hard to find this place. Why had this taken her so long?

Perhaps she’d been subconsciously avoiding it.

Oh… I think I’m starting to remember… On the other side of this gap is…

As Chika stood there, memories of the last time she’d peeked into that gap came flooding back. It must have been… That’s right, five years ago. She’d been in her second year of elementary school…

Back then, Chika hadn’t gotten used to the school rules yet. Things hadn’t been going well for her. Due to her lackluster grades and lack of achievements in her first year of elementary, she’d been placed in the Minus classes for her second year. She couldn’t raise her test scores, and she wouldn’t follow the rules. Unlike now, she used to get angry a lot.

The harsh, constantly changing rules, the mean-spirited punishments, the attitudes of the Plus students—all of it got on her nerves. “It’s not fair!” she’d say, and “Why should I have to do this?!” and “This is just mean!”

And of course, every time she acted out, she’d get scolded even more harshly. Not only by her teachers, but by her parents, too. Chika was unable to discard the ugly, impure emotion of anger. She was useless. A bad girl. She heard that so often that she’d started to believe it herself.

I can’t go on like this, she’d thought. I don’t get good grades,and if I keep being a bad girl, I’ll grow up to be completely useless. If I can at least cultivate a beautiful heart, I’ll have some value in this world…

That was the attitude that had been driven into her.

Despite her efforts, Chika seemed to find something new to get angry about every single day. Even if she didn’t want to, she couldn’t help it.

And then one day, something had called to her from this gap behind the school. Somewhere on the other side, someone with a faint, echoey voice had called out to her:

“COME HERE…COME TO ME…”

The voice had sounded so…nice. So kind. Chika felt that if she followed it, she’d find someone who would help her.

And so, she’d gently squeezed herself into the gap. It was so narrow she barely fit inside and had to shuffle along sideways to make her way forward.

Step by step, she inched along toward where the voice was coming from. Finally, she reached a dead end, blocked off by an old wooden fence that marked where the school grounds stopped. One of the fence boards was slightly askew, leaving a tiny space between it and the next board. Chika caught a momentary glimpse of somebody looking through from the other side. Then there was that voice again.

“GIVE IT…GIVE IT TO ME…”

It had such a strange, drawn-out inflection… Chika asked the voice what it wanted her to give it.

“GIVE ME…THE EMOTION…THAT DWELLS IN YOUR HEART…”

Emotion? Her heart…?

Before she could respond, the voice said more:

“JUST A TINY PIECE OF YOUR HEART…YOUR ANGER…YOU DON’T WANT IT, DO YOU? YOU WANT TO DISCARD IT, YES? SO LET ME TAKE IT FROM YOU…”

When she heard that, Chika’s heart almost skipped a beat.

Whoever this person on the other side of the wall was, they were right. She didn’t want her anger. She did want to get rid of it. If she didn’t have her anger holding her back, she could become a good girl who followed the rules…

Chika didn’t even have to stop and think about it.

“All right. I’ll give it to you.”

The moment she spoke, a strange red ball floated up out of her chest and was sucked into the gap between the fence boards, leaving a glowing trail in its wake.

The whole thing had been such a surreal experience, she must have just assumed it was a dream. And at some point, she’d forgotten about it altogether. But Chika was sure now—it really had happened.

Back then, I “gave” my anger to whoever was behind this fence… That must be why I never get mad anymore. No matter what anyone does to me, I just don’t get angry…

Thanks to that, she’d been able to get out of the Minus classes and become a Zero.

So then…why…?

Why had she remembered this now? Why had she found her way back here? What did that mean?

I became a Zero, just like I wanted… Shouldn’t that be enough?

Somehow, it wasn’t. There was a weird feeling lurking at the back of her mind…

Mustering her courage, Chika dived into the gap between the two buildings. Five years ago, she’d been just small enough to squeeze into it, and obviously, she’d grown a lot in that time. Normally, there’d be no way she could fit anymore. But with the Gap Entry Ticket, that wasn’t a problem. She shuffled along the inside of the gap, getting closer to the fence step by step.

It looked the same as it had five years ago, including the dilapidated wooden boards. And there was still a tiny gap between two of them, exactly like last time. As for the person who’d been on the other side back then…there was no sign of them now.

She put her eye to the gap between the boards and peeked through.

“…!”

Chika let out a silent gasp when she saw what was on the other side.

It was a garden full of beautiful flowers, all with bright, vibrant colors. But there were only wild mountains outside the school; there was no way a place like this could exist here, was there?

I’m starting to feel a little scared…

She jerked back from the fence and looked down at her feet. Five years ago, this fence had blocked her path, stopping her from going any further. But she had the ticket now. She could use that to easily slip through.

That meant she had a choice. Would she go through or turn around and leave? No one else could make this decision for her.

Thump, thump… Chika’s heart hammered in her chest.

Go!

No, don’t go!

Conflicting voices echoed back and forth in her head.

In the end, one side won out. She tightly grasped the Gap Entry Ticket and looked up again.

I’m going…!

She angled her head toward the hole between the boards and—shwsh!—slipped right through. First her head, then her torso, then her whole body became thin enough to fit through the tiny gap. Finally, her feet touched down on the ground on the other side, and she returned to her original size and shape.

“Phew…” She heaved a sigh, got to her feet, and looked around. “Wow… There really is a flower garden back here…”

That glimpse of it she’d gotten before hadn’t been some kind of hallucination. She was surrounded by brightly colored flowers, all of them in full bloom.

There was absolutely no way a place like this could exist so close to the school…but that didn’t matter right now. She began walking through the garden, glancing at the different flowers as she went.

Some flowers made Chika feel sad when she looked at them. Others made her uneasy. Others still made her feel jealous, or hateful, or angry. Each flower seemed to stir a different emotion in her chest.

I think I get it… All these flowers must be pieces of people’s hearts… They’re the emotions they didn’t want.

Finally, she stopped in front of one particular flower. Its petals were a mix of shimmering reds and yellows and oranges, making it look like it was made of fire. As soon as she saw it, Chika knew: This flower was the anger she’d given up five years ago.

She slowly reached out toward it…

The moment her fingertips touched one of the petals, the flower slowly began to melt away and flow into her. That was all the proof she needed. She could take it back. She could take this flower, this emotion, this rage, back into her and let it become a part of her again.

But what would happen if she did? She wouldn’t be a Zero much longer, that was for sure. Her teachers and parents would go back to calling her a useless bad girl. But even so…

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry I tried to get rid of you…”

Chika took the flower by the stem and gently plucked it.

This flower was the person she used to be. The girl who had fought the school rules with everything she had. She missed the person she was back then.

She held the flame-colored flower tighter and tighter.

“When I was that person…I called unfair things unfair… When people were mean to me, I said they were mean… That was…so amazing. I used to take care of myself… I actually acted like my feelings mattered.”

Once she’d discarded her anger, everything had become “nothing worth getting mad about.” All the unfair rules she was forced to follow, and the mean-spirited punishments she had to suffer… She didn’t get mad about them anymore, but that didn’t mean they’d stopped happening. Chika hadn’t noticed it, but her heart had been hurting that whole time.

Why would it do that? If something wasn’t worth getting mad about, it wasn’t important, right? So why did it still affect her?

That weird sense of disconnect had somehow turned into a kind of emotional pain. That weird gloomy feeling she’d felt in her chest so many times… That was pain. The pain of a heart that was slowly breaking.

That was the price of losing her anger. She’d lost the ability to recognize the pain in her heart for what it was. And if she couldn’t recognize it, she couldn’t protect herself from it.

Chika’s eyes were filled with tears now, but she could see the fiery flower in her hand as it continued to melt into her. She felt an intense, burning anger seeping into her heart. Finally, the last petal melted away and was part of her once more.

“GIVE IT BACK…”

A voice behind her made Chika spin around with a start.

She knew that voice. She recognized the strange, drawn-out cadence. It was the person who had called out to her from behind the fence five years ago. But nothing could have prepared her for what that “person” actually looked like.

“THAT’S MY FLOWER…I TOOK IT…I GREW IT…GIVE IT BACK TO ME…”

At first glance, the speaker appeared to be a girl in a kimono.

Except it definitely wasn’t. The thing’s overall body shape looked human enough, but its skin was the texture of glazed clay—smooth in some places, cracked in others, with an unnatural sheen. And in the middle of its face were two tiny clear orbs, more like something that had simply been painted on than real eyes.

“What…are you?”

“I AM THE OWNER OF THIS GARDEN…I THINK…YES, HUMANS CALL ME…THE FLOWER THIEF.”

Chika couldn’t move. She was paralyzed with fear. The thing in the kimono—the Flower Thief—made a dry, cackling keh-keh-keh noise from the back of its throat. It was laughing.

“SO CRUEL, DON’T YOU THINK…? I NEVER STOLE ANYTHING…HUMANS GIVE ME THEIR UNWANTED EMOTIONS…AND I TURN THEM INTO THESE BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS…”

It made that dry, scraping keh-keh-keh again. As the creature laughed, Chika gritted her teeth.

In a way, I guess she’s right… Five years ago, I didn’t want my anger. I wanted to get rid of it. That’s why I gave it to her when she asked. But…but still…

Chika clenched her fists and glared at the Flower Thief.

“You’ve got some nerve, taking advantage of desperate, vulnerable children. You make them feel like they have no choice but to get rid of their emotions. They’re not giving them away; you’re taking them! People are right to call you a thief!”

Her anger had been stolen from her five years ago. A part of herself had been ripped away, all to give this monster something pretty to look at. Thinking about that made Chika angrier than ever. This was her emotion, her anger. It wasn’t just some decoration for somebody else to enjoy!

“NEVER MIND THAT…GIVE IT BACK…!”

The Flower Thief shrugged off Chika’s argument completely.

She’s not going to listen to me, huh…?

In that case, there was no point trying to continue this conversation any further.

Chika turned around and ran. The flower garden was surrounded by the same weathered wooden fence she’d seen before. But after a few seconds, she found a door that seemed to lead outside. She sprinted toward it, threw it open, and scrambled out.

“Where am I now…?”

Outside the flower garden, she found herself among familiar scenery. A mountainous landscape full of plants and trees growing wild…

She was back outside the school!

Chika paused for a moment and looked behind her. The Flower Thief had lumbered out of the garden and was coming after her.

Darn it, Chika thought. I should have gone out through the gap in the fence instead.

The thief didn’t have a Gap Entry Ticket, so it would have been impossible for it to follow her that way.

Now that I’ve got her out here in the mountains…

Chika suddenly remembered something she’d found while exploring this area.

If I lure her over there… If I can just get there before her, then…

She took the ticket out of her pocket and, holding on tight so she wouldn’t drop it, ran for the place she had in mind. That gentle upward slope covered in fallen leaves… It wasn’t so far away from where she’d come out, and she managed to make it there before the Flower Thief caught up to her.

She leaped to the top of the slope with a quick jump, then stopped and turned around. The Flower Thief was still chasing her, scuttling forward on all fours like some kind of animal. It would catch up any second now.

The strange creature lunged at Chika. Its mouth was open, a deep red gash in the middle of its face. Its unnaturally long fingers reached out for her, their sharp nails glinting like knives. But just before they could touch her…

“Take this!” Chika screamed, shoving her Gap Entry Ticket into the monster’s kimono.

The next moment, there was a metallic clang. The Flower Thief’s feet had come down heavily on the metal bars hidden by the fallen leaves.

And then—shwsh!—the power of the ticket made the thief’s body shrink and slip through the bars. It plummeted down into the ink-black void of the old well, letting out a screech that sounded more insect-like than anything a human could make. The whole thing took just a few seconds.

Panting hard, Chika leaned over the bars and yelled into the darkness:

“That’s what you get!”

Clap, clap, clap…

Chika heard another sound close by. Was somebody applauding her?

She looked up to see two people standing in front of her. She had no idea where they’d come from, but she had seen them before. One of them was the girl in the neon-pink hoodie who had given her the Gap Entry Ticket. The other was the man in the hat and scarf whom she’d seen at the bazaar.

“Nice work, Chika. You didn’t just get your flower back, you also sealed the Flower Thief away. You’re really something!” the girl in pink said when she stopped clapping.

The eye patch over her right eye now had a butterfly illustration on it. Chika was sure that hadn’t been there the last time.

“Now that the thief is down that well, you should be fine. It doesn’t have the strength to climb out of there on its own.”

“You guys…knew about the Flower Thief?”

“A little. We knew it liked to collect human emotions and turn them into flowers. And since students at this school have a lot of unwanted emotions, it probably seemed like the perfect place to set up shop. We figured it might have created its own pocket dimension here. But that’s all.”

Perplexed, Chika stared at the strange girl in front of her. She’d known about the thief, and she went around with crazy stuff like the Gap Entry Ticket on her… Just who was she?

Then there was the guy next to her. Back at the bazaar, Chika had thought the shadow around his face was just a trick of the light. Now that they were out in the open, she could see the truth—he didn’t have a face. Underneath that hat, where his face should have been, there was only darkness.

“Are you two…not human?” Chika asked.

The man proceeded to remove his hat and scarf. Chika’s eyes went wide with surprise.

Underneath all that was…nothing.

It was just a solid mass of shadow, vaguely head-shaped, but with no facial features whatsoever. It was attached to his neck by thick, black threads that had been hidden by the scarf.

“Indeed,” the man said. “As you can see, we are not human. Not I, nor Nozome here.”

His voice was much gentler than Chika had expected. It was even stranger considering he didn’t actually have a mouth to form those words…

“But you’re not like that Flower Thief, are you? You’re not that thing’s friends…?” said Chika.

“Hmm, I dunno about that… You could say we are, but you could also say we’re not.” The girl—Nozome—gave her an evasive answer and snickered. “Both we and the Flower Thief are something called Inhumans. In that sense, I guess we’re the same. But ones like that have been Inhuman their whole lives. You could think of them like ‘wild’ Inhumans. But I’m the kind who used to be human. Nieno is too, I think.”

The silver-haired girl looked up at the shadow-headed figure standing next to her. The man she called Nieno nodded at her words.

“And we’re a special kind of Inhuman called demons!” Nozome added.

“Demons…?”

“You could say ‘daemons,’ too, if you wanna be fancy. And as for what we do…” The strange girl took a small black book from under her arm and showed it to Chika. “This is a catalog of wonderful items born from people’s desires. We get the items from this catalog and look for humans with desires to match them. Then we sell the items to those humans…and transform their hope into despair. That’s what demons are all about.”

Nozome paused and cleared her throat dramatically.

“Anyway. Let’s move on to the main event.” Her one uncovered eye fixed Chika with a piercing stare. She smiled wickedly. “How would you like to join us, Chika?”

“Huh…?” An invitation like that was probably the last thing she’d been expecting. “Wh-what? Why me…?”

Chika was still trying to make sense of things; that was all she could stammer out.

Nozome’s smile disappeared, and she looked away, her eyes downcast. “Okay, so… Us demons, right? All of us were denied happiness when we were human. Because of that, we don’t want other people to be happy, either.”

She practically spat this explanation out. But then she brought her head up again and smiled kindly.

“So I figured you might be like us… Now that you’ve got your anger back, you can see what kind of place your school really is, right? You know the world around you isn’t interested in your happiness, right?”

“…!”

Nozome’s words were like an arrow in Chika’s chest. The pain still felt raw.

“If you become a demon like us, you’ll get catalogs of your own. Then you can inflict despair on lots of humans! Oh, and one more thing… If you successfully use all the items in a catalog, you get a special perk—an all-new item to help you fulfill your own deepest desire!”

She delivered all this with an exuberant grin, as if what she was describing was the best thing in the whole world.

But Chika didn’t smile back. The harsh reality of her situation had suddenly become so much clearer to her. And that, combined with everything Nozome was saying, gave her a tight, squirming feeling in her chest.

Before Chika could say anything, though, Nozome extended her arm forward, offering Chika the little black book.

“Read this. It’s got the stories of humans we’ve sold these products to. Once you’ve read them, you’ll get a better idea of what it means to be a demon.”

“…”

Chika said nothing, but she took the book all the same. When her hands closed around the cover, the butterfly on Nozome’s eye patch fluttered into the air and came to rest on Chika’s shoulder. Up close, she could see that it had neon-pink wings with an elaborate black pattern on them.

“This is…”

“That butterfly is a part of me. These catalogs are only meant for Inhumans—regular humans aren’t allowed to read them. But as long as you have that butterfly on you, you’ll be fine.”

Chika stared for a moment at the butterfly. It looked familiar, somehow.

“Okay, pop quiz time! There’s a saying, ‘Good girls go to heaven’… What comes next?”

“Um…excuse me? We’re asking trivia questions now?”

Letting the Inhumans’ conversation fade into the background, Chika ran her finger over the catalog’s cover. There was no title. At first glance, it looked like a regular book with a plain black cover…

After the two demons had left, Chika stayed there a while longer, looking down at the school.

Now that she’d regained the ability to get angry, she probably wouldn’t be a Zero for long. She’d soon be a Minus again, somebody her teachers and parents said had no value in society. A bad girl.

And what’s so wrong with that?

Her value, her worth, wasn’t something for others to decide. From today onward, she would call out unfair things. When people were mean to her, she would tell them they were mean. She would fight the school’s unreasonable rules with everything she had.

Maybe that wouldn’t achieve anything. Maybe in the end, she’d have to give up and run away after all.

But if it comes to that, I’ll just find somewhere else to belong. Some place where people do want me to be happy.

Surely, the school would have labeled that an ugly, impure emotion. The behavior of a Minus.

But for Chika, it was the first step toward living her own life, for herself and no one else. From her point of view, it was a great big Plus.

Epilogue

“Aw man, we didn’t manage to get a Despair Mark on this sample product, either.”

Nozome let out a sigh as she gazed at the catalog’s contents page.

“Even so, Nozome, you don’t seem all that disappointed this time,” said Nieno.

“Hmm, you think? Maybe it’s because it was so satisfying to see Chika get her anger back. I seriously couldn’t stand her before.”

“I suppose somebody like that would be rather… incompatible with you.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” She closed the catalog and narrowed her eyes. “The old Chika was a lot like the old me… The me from when I was human. Maybe that’s why I found her so irritating.”

Nieno gulped awkwardly.

“I missed out on recruiting Chika and on getting my perk. Sheesh, this whole thing was a total wash…,” Nozome grumbled.

“What do you intend to use your perk for, Nozome?”

“I already said, didn’t I? I’ll only tell you that when you explain why your head is the way it is.”

“And I believe I told you this already, but even I don’t know the answer to that.”

“Yeah, that’s what you said when we first met. You still haven’t remembered after all this time? Nothing about your life as a human, or why you became an Inhuman?”

“Indeed… All I have is a hazy impression that I may have been human once.”

“Do you want to remember your past?”

“Well, it is a part of my story, so it would be nice to know.”

Nozome looked up at Nieno as he nodded. His shadowy head wasn’t actually a head, just a cloud of darkness stitched onto his neck. He must have had a real head once. What in the world had happened to make him like this?

“Even if you do remember, it’s probably not gonna be a very happy story,” Nozome said to Nieno.

“Yes, I’m well aware.”

Silence fell between them. The only sound was the rattling of the wheels on the suitcase Nozome was pulling behind her.

I really can’t tell him yet…

Nozome’s true desire was to erase her past. Her human memories, all traces of her life as a human, anything that might link her to the life she used to have and the person she used to be.

To be Inhuman and nothing else—that was what she wanted most.

Now that I know Nieno wants his memories of his time as a human back, I’d feel bad telling him I want to throw mine away.

She’d keep it a secret for the time being. At least until Nieno regained his human memories, or she finally got her perk. Either one would work.

“Well then, what should we sell to our unsuspecting customers next…?” Nozome wondered aloud.

She took out a new catalog from her suitcase—a fresh, clean catalog with no stories recorded in it yet. Then she ran a finger over the plain black cover and opened it to the contents page.