Prologue

Akuto Sai had always felt that he had trouble getting along with the rest of the world.

He was an orphan. That alone was enough to make it likely that he wouldn’t fit in, but in Akuto’s case, his problems stemmed from his deeper personality.

One day, a gentleman came to the orphanage he was staying at to make a donation. The gentleman was of noble birth, and it was clear from his appearance that he was financially well-off, but there was no sign that he felt this made him better than anyone else. His words were filled with a natural kindness, and donating to the orphans seemed, to him, to be a very natural act.

“I happened to pass by and realize that this place was an orphanage. Once I learned this, I felt I had to do something. If it’s not a bother, please accept this small donation.”

The gentleman took off his hat and smiled. It was Akuto who responded to him. Akuto was very smart for his age, and when the matron at the orphanage was busy, he would often be called upon to deal with guests.

“Thank you, sir. We are truly grateful. The appropriate person will come to take your donation, so please wait for a second.”

Akuto’s words were his own; there was no sign of flattery or falsehood in them at all. The gentleman seemed terribly impressed that young Akuto could say such a thing.

“I’m amazed. What a polite young boy! I’ll give this to you directly, then. You can see that it gets into the right hands.”

The gentleman took out a white envelope, which he must have prepared before even knocking on the door of the orphanage. It felt heavy in Akuto’s hands when he took it, so there must have been a good amount of money inside. The gentleman smiled kindly when he saw Akuto’s surprise.

“Thank you. There’s nothing we can do to repay you, but at least allow the orphans here the chance to thank you directly. If you’ll come inside and wait, I’ll call everyone.” Akuto bowed deeply.

“No, there’s no need for that. This is simply the duty of a servant of the god Ko-Roh. If you want to thank someone, thank the god,” the gentleman said humbly, and put his hat back on as he turned to go.

“Wait, I want to thank you, not the god,” Akuto said.

The gentleman stopped and rubbed the rim of his cap with a gentle expression.

“No, I haven’t done anything. It was the god’s compassion that led me here to this place.”

It was clear from the gentleman’s tone that these were no mere words, but the product of deep belief. If he’d been speaking to any other child, this would simply have ended as a pleasant story told among the orphans at the orphanage.

But he was talking to Akuto.

“The gods are a system. Thanking one of them instead of you would turn your kindness into an act of selfishness. So I cannot thank a god. Simply let me thank you instead,” Akuto said. He was too smart for his age.

In this era, the gods were a system which recorded the doings of humanity and provided them with social benefits in accordance with their behavior.

However, since everyone’s acts were being recorded, if you wanted to lead a better life, you needed to do the “right” thing. The result of this was to turn even the most educated into religiously fanatical believers. Perhaps the religious mind could not be controlled by reason, but that was something Akuto didn’t really understand.

“That’s blasphemy! The gods are real, and have their own wills, so it’s natural to thank them! That’s what creates cohesion between believers. Now apologize to God!” The gentleman stormed up to him angrily.

But what he was saying made no sense to Akuto.

“Impossible. I can’t apologize to something that doesn’t exist.”

“What a horrible child! How can you turn your back on God? That’s why you’re an orphan!” The gentleman looked at Akuto with disgust in his eyes.

Akuto was shocked. It wasn’t the disgust that shocked him, but the way that such an obviously good person could say something like that to him terrified him.

“Don’t you realize that your belief in a mere system that humans created is making you say something truly terrifying?” Akuto said in a shaking voice.

“Enough! Everyone believes in it, so that’s good enough, isn’t it? And how can you talk that way to someone who’s giving you money?”

By the time the gentleman started yelling, the teachers realized something was wrong and dragged Akuto out of the room. The teachers bowed repeatedly in apology, and managed to keep the donation and make the gentleman happy by having the orphans sing him songs.

One of the male teachers sighed and chuckled at Akuto.

“Listen, kiddo. Sometimes even when you’re right about something, you still have to apologize.”

The teacher probably assumed that Akuto wouldn’t understand what he meant. But Akuto understood perfectly, and shook his head anyway.

“I’m not ever going to do that. You don’t have to do that if you’re an important person, right? If you just have to be an important person, then there should be nothing simpler.”

The teacher’s eyes went wide.

“Fine, go be someone really important then. But it won’t be that easy...”

The teacher’s words started to seem distant, and only then did Akuto realize that he was dreaming. He was remembering the past.