Chapter 1: An Eventful Road to the 2nd Term

A girl of roughly elementary school age was hard at work on a plate of strawberry waffles.

They were sitting in a cafe with a modern atmosphere. It was evening, but the restaurant’s lighting kept things as bright as day. Yuichi was at a table by the window, gazing at the girl sitting across from him with a skeptical expression.

“You said you were in trouble, right?” Aiko Noro, a petite girl his age sitting in the seat beside him, looked confused.

It was a table with seating for four. The little girl was sitting across from Yuichi and Aiko.

“Looks like she’s given her snack first priority,” Yuichi commented.

The little girl’s white blouse, green butterfly necktie, and indigo skirt suggested an elementary school uniform. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail with a scrunchie. She was a dainty girl, with an aura of youthful innocence still about her.

This had been the first summer vacation of his high school career. Yuichi and the rest of their survival club, of which Mutsuko was the president, had gone to the suspicious Kurokami Island for a training camp. Various strange incidents had befallen them there, but they’d worked through them. Then, mere minutes after arriving back in the city, he had been confronted by this girl.

It would have looked very bad, from a societal perspective, to have an argument with a child in the middle of foot traffic. And what they had to talk about wasn’t something that should be discussed standing around, either. So they had gone to a cafe with a calming atmosphere, and taken the seat closest to the front window.

Through the window, he could see a dog sitting outside, faithfully. It was the wolfman, Nero. He was in dog form, so naturally he couldn’t enter the restaurant.

“Is Soul Reader a thing that can be given and returned?” Aiko asked Yuichi, referring back to what had started this whole conversation.

There you are! Hey! Give Soul Reader back! I’m gonna be in big trouble without it! the girl had said to him.

“Dunno,” he said. “I’ve never even thought about it.”

Soul Reader was the ability to see words over a person’s head. The labels seemed to reveal something about that person’s character.

Yuichi could still see those words, even now. Aiko beside him was “Love Interest,” and the people in the restaurant were “Housewife,” “Businessman,” “Waiter,” and the like. Outside, the label over Nero’s head was “Fenrir.” But alone out of all of them, the girl stuffing her face with sweets had no label.

Yuichi had seen a lot of different labels since the ability had first manifested, but this was the first time seeing someone with no label at all.

Yuichi had been trying to ignore the ability. If he could give it back, he’d be happy to. But he had no memory of ever taking it from someone, and he had no idea how to return it.

This isn’t going to involve gouging my eyes out, is it? Yuichi wondered, remembering something his big sister, Mutsuko had said.

He spoke up. “I don’t know you. But you know me, right? If you could explain the circumstances, I’d really appreciate it.”

This girl was clearly someone extraordinary. She knew about Soul Reader, and the fact that there was no label over her head made her even more suspicious.

“Juffacombum...” The girl sputtered through full cheeks. It looked like she wouldn’t be able to speak for a while. The girl had a rather mature air about her, despite her age, but she was clearly still a child when it came to her treats.

“You know, Sis would have picked a seat further to the back,” Yuichi said to Aiko to kill time. “Avoiding the window side.”

“Why?” Aiko asked back in confusion.

“To be on guard in case of an attack,” he replied. “It also lets her stake out a position where she can see the whole restaurant, and check everyone who comes in and leaves.”

“But you don’t do that, Sakaki?” Aiko asked.

“No way. It’s a pain in the butt. Who would even attack us, anyway?”

“Huh? Knowing you, lots of people...” Aiko said, looking surprised.

Yuichi decided not to say any more on the subject.

At last, the girl finished her waffle and patted her stomach in satisfaction. “That was delicious! Thank you!”

Apparently, dessert was on them. But it was hard to argue with an elementary schooler about money, so Yuichi just grimaced and accepted it.

“So? We have no idea what’s going on, by the way,” Yuichi addressed the girl once more.

“Listen, I just want to get Soul Reader back, so is there any way you can return it without any more questions and say goodbye?” the girl asked.

“I’d be all for it, personally,” Yuichi said. “But is it going to make trouble for me later down the line?”

Yuichi would certainly love to give Soul Reader back, and if she didn’t want to explain the reason why, he wouldn’t force her to talk. But he felt uneasy not knowing the circumstances around it. Just giving it back wouldn’t necessarily free him from what was going on.

“Good point,” the girl said. “Well, the parts I can tell definitely make for a strange story...” She folded her arms and scowled thoughtfully.

“I’ve been through a lot of weird stuff thanks to these eyes already. We’re pretty immunized to weird stories by now, right?” Yuichi cast a glance over at Aiko.

She nodded. There was an empathy between them, as two people who had been through a number of bizarre situations together.

“We haven’t introduced ourselves yet, have we?” the girl asked. “I’m Monika Sakurazaki. How about you guys?” Monika spoke plainly, perhaps relieved by their attitude.

“I’m Yuichi Sakaki.”

“I’m Aiko Noro, Sakaki’s classmate. Nice to meet you.”

“Yuichi and Aiko, huh?” Monika asked. “Nice to meet you!”

“Right to first names, huh?” Aiko scowled, apparently not fond of being addressed so informally by someone so much younger than her.

“Hey, chill out. You guys can call me Monika, too. Now, about the story... let me ask, do you know the term ‘Worldview Holder’?” the girl asked, experimentally.

“I know a fair bit.” Yuichi had heard a lot about worldviews and Worldview Holders from his classmate Tomomi. The idea was that everyone lived in their own world, and there were as many worlds as there were people. “Worldview” referred to the laws governing a given world.

While there were billions of worlds out there, they were fundamentally the same in most regards, which was why they could all come together to make a single, consistent world, despite minor differences.

But some worlds went far beyond “minor” differences. Those highly divergent worlds all had a central figure — that world’s personification — known as the Worldview Holder.

Aiko probably didn’t know any of this, but Yuichi decided he would explain after, and urged the girl too continue.

“That should speed things up,” Monika said. “I’m a Holder, too, and a slightly special one, because I’m aware of what I am. A Holder that becomes aware of its own nature can’t stay in their own world. They’re cast out. These special Holders are called Outers.”

“What do you mean, ‘cast out’?” Yuichi asked.

“There are a few different schools of thought in terms of how of worldviews are perceived, but I view them as stories,” she said. “If someone inside the story realizes they’re in a story, the story loses its metastructure and ceases to exist. So the world kicks anyone who becomes aware of the story out of the story. Out of their destiny. Or so it’s said.”

“Then the fact that I can’t use Soul Reader to see your label is...”

“Because I’m an Outer. Outers don’t have a role in any world.” There was venom in Monika’s voice as she said the words.

“It sounds like you really hate these Outer people...” Even though you’re one yourself, Yuichi thought.

“Yeah,” she said. “They’re rotten to the core. Hopelessly evil, and I’m afraid that I might turn out like that some day. That’s why... I want to go back to how things were. That’s how all this got started.”

“I don’t get it,” Yuichi said. “Why does existing outside of destiny make someone evil?”

From the way she was talking, they had originally all been human beings. It was hard to understand how you could go from that to “rotten to the core.”

“The minute an Outer is cast out of destiny, they become ageless and undying,” she said. “For example, how old do you think I am?”

“Ten or so?” Yuichi had pegged her as a fifth grader.

“I’m actually sixteen. I could be going to the same high school you are right now. But I became an Outer in fifth grade, and I’ve looked like this ever since. The trash Outers have been alive for hundreds of years, without ever changing how they look.”

It was hard to believe, but it was true that Monika didn’t sound very much like a child right now.

“At first, all they do is angst about being cast out. But soon enough, they get bored, and try to impose themselves on stories. They use the abilities they get from their worldview to alter other people’s worlds. They’re trash that style themselves as gods. And to humans on the inside, maybe that’s what they are. Looking down on humanity from their ivory towers, playing games with destiny... Unreachable to humans on the inside.” There was a distaste in Monika’s words, suggesting that she didn’t want to turn out that way herself.

“What do you mean, ‘abilities’?” Yuichi asked. “They have psychic powers or something?”

Just existing outside of destiny didn’t seem to make them a threat, but if they had other abilities, that could be a problem.

“They have the power, you could say, to structure their worldviews... to reinforce them, I guess. For instance, my world was ‘A Hopelessly Romantic Little World.’ My worldview’s all about love. My ability is called ‘That First Spark,’ To put it simply, I can manipulate affection.”

“H-How do you use that?” Aiko, who had been previously been staring out into space, suddenly inquired.

“I don’t know if you’re getting your hopes up, but it’s just the power to make someone’s heart race, more or less. And it doesn’t work on people who already know each other. Only people who’ve just met.”

“R-Right...” Aiko was clearly feigning idle curiosity, but she seemed disappointed by the answer.

“Aiko, are you having love troubles?” the girl asked. “We could talk about it sometime. Even without my powers, I’m a love expert. Despite how I look...”

“Huh? Um, well, I’m not sure I could consult with someone who looks like a child about romance...”

“You guys... is this really the time?” Yuichi sighed. It was true that women flourished when talking about romance, but he wished they would at least try to remember the situation they were in.

“Sorry, sorry,” the girl said. “We got off track. I was talking about how I want to be human again, right? And so ***** the $$$$$ to #####, and you @@@@@, and that’s how Soul Reader became yours.”

“What did you just say?” Aiko asked.

“Yeah, I didn’t really catch that,” Yuichi agreed. He could tell she was saying something, but the contents made no sense to him.

“Ah, I guess it’s no use. I’m caught by the restrictions of ‘Distant Memories.’” Monika slumped dejectedly.

She’d have to explain things in a more step-by-step fashion. Just as he was about to ask, Yuichi suddenly seized Aiko with his left arm.

“Huh?” she asked.

Then he reached across the table to grab Monika’s hand with his right, and pulled her away.

“Hey!”

Yuichi then picked both of them up, and kicked off the table to the back of the room. Through the window, he could see the headlights of a truck getting closer.

Right as Yuichi landed, it crashed through the wall of the cafe with a tremendous sound. The truck hit their table and kept on going, stopping only when it crashed into the far wall.

“Huh?” Aiko stared, apparently unable to process this development.

Monika winced, seeming to have some clue as to what was going on.

“It’s like a raid by the yakuza who caught up with me... is that what’s going on?” Yuichi murmured. “And I only noticed it because I was sitting by the window... Calls Sis’s theory into question, huh...”

“You’ve had yakuza after you, too?” Aiko murmured, held in his left arm.

“Does this have something to do with you?” Yuichi asked, scrutinizing Monika, even as he held her in his right arm.

“Um... oh, hey! Isn’t that always the way? You’re in the middle of explaining something important, and someone just has to interrupt!”

“Don’t try to change the subject!” he exclaimed.

“I don’t know how to put it exactly, but in the broad strokes, it’s, you know, that kind of story... One of those fights for a secret treasure that can grant any wish, but only one person can get the wish? That kind of thing.”

“And this is the form the fight takes?!”

The bent door of the truck flew out, and a man drenched in blood descended from it. He was a giant, with clothing that strained atop his bulging muscles. The extremely ordinary jeans and T-shirt he wore somehow seemed out of place on this bestial man.

Above his head was the label “Immortal (9).” Perhaps that immortality had enabled the recklessness of the attack. He had never put the brakes on the truck, just accelerated full speed.

“Lady Aiko!” Nero charged through the ruined wall of the cafe to arrive at Aiko’s side.

“Hey. Couldn’t you have done something about that?” Yuichi set the two down and pointed at the truck. Nero had been outside, so he should have realized it before Yuichi.

“I weighed what I knew of your capabilities against the demerits of revealing my true form,” he responded.

“And you decided to put it all on me, huh?” Yuichi asked. It seemed Nero wasn’t particularly powerful while in dog form.

“But, you know, you didn’t have to go out of your way to save me. I am immortal, after all...” Monika seemed sulky despite him having saved her.

“That’s what you claim, but I doubt you could survive a hit by something like that unscathed, right?” he asked.

“It’s not like that. Since I exist outside destiny, I’m unaffected by dramatic events like death,” she said. “In this case, the truck would have gone out of its way to miss me, or—”

Before Monika could finish her explanation, Yuichi dragged her towards him.

There was a sound of something breaking on the wall behind them, and a drop of blood trailed down Monika’s cheek.

The giant had thrown the broken side mirror at them. If Yuichi hadn’t drawn her to him, she would have been hit by it directly.

“There was no way it should have hit me, but...” Monika stared dumbfounded, as if she couldn’t believe it. “Um, I’m starting to think I might like it if you’d protect me... is that okay?”

She looked up at him with cute, upturned eyes.

“I won’t abandon you, but once this is over, I want a full explanation.” As he covered for the two girls’ escape, Yuichi started forming a plan for what to do next.

✽✽✽✽✽

It was morning, the first day of the second term.

Yuichi had made it safely through his stormy summer vacation. As he reached his classroom, his companion, the bespectacled Tomomi Hamasaki, leaned in to him.

“What happened next?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” Yuichi looked at Tomomi in surprise. He had assumed that arriving at the classroom meant that the story was over. Aiko, who had walked to school with him, was also looking at her in puzzlement.

“You went to training camp for summer vacation! Then when you got back, this elementary school girl confronted you! Then a guy crashed a truck into the cafe where you were talking! There’s gotta be more, right?”

“I told you, didn’t I?” he asked. “Stuff happened, summer vacation ended, and it didn’t feel like much of a vacation at all.”

“Elaborate on the ‘stuff happened’ part!” she exclaimed.

Tomomi had met up with them right as they entered the school building. Yuichi had been telling her all about his summer vacation on the walk to the classroom, but it was getting more and more troublesome to explain, so he had just glossed over the rest.

“Tomo, this really isn’t something we can talk about in the classroom.” Aiko gently admonished her, and Tomomi pulled back sulkily.

It certainly wouldn’t be a good thing to talk about in the classroom. That was why Yuichi had swiftly brought an end to it there and then. The part with the truck hadn’t even gotten them to the last third of the entire summer vacation.

“You’d better come by the restaurant later and explain everything!” Tomomi told him.

“Your restaurant? Are you gonna ask me to support your business again?” Yuichi asked.

Tomomi lived in a Chinese restaurant called Nihao the China. The restaurant’s owner, Tomomi’s father, also had the label “Nihao the China” floating over his head, and Tomomi acted as a waitress there. It was an extremely strange place.

The restaurant existed in a dimension that normal people couldn’t perceive, which made it a great place to talk about confidential information. But as a result, they apparently didn’t do much business.

“You come too, Aiko! Your club is always welcome, also!” Tomomi declared.

They entered the classroom. As usual, it was a chaotic sight. Various labels floated in the air, forming a jumble in the small classroom.

But Yuichi had grown accustomed to the sight, and he didn’t really mind it anymore.

He could still see all the bizarre labels, but after a few months’ time, he had grown capable of ignoring their contents.

“Hey. How was your summer vacation?” As he arrived at his desk, he was addressed by Shota Saeki, who sat in front of him. Above his head was the label “Ace Striker.”

“Just went to the beach for summer training camp,” Yuichi said. “You?”

“Soccer, soccer, and more soccer,” Shota muttered. He was tall and well-built, and all in all, seemed like your average high school soccer goon.

But Yuichi wasn’t letting his guard down. There was always a chance that Shota might start playing interdimensional soccer at some point. He wasn’t sure what he would do if that happened, but he had decided he should at least be mentally prepared in case it did.

“Hey, is she looking over here again?” Shota asked, with dread in his voice. “It’s freaky.”

“Witch” An Katagiri was glaring at Yuichi, and Shota was clearly remembering her introduction on the first day of school.

An, as usual, was clinging to Takuro Oda.

Takuro had been Yuichi’s friend since middle school. Originally the label above his head had been “Friend,” but now he had become “Witch’s Beloved,” receiving attention from “Witch.”

Yuichi thought that the labels he saw must have something to do with the concept of worldview.

In other words, they displayed the person’s role in the worldview they were associated with above their head. A person’s role might vary depending on which worldview they were involved with at the time. Thus, Takuro would still be “Friend” in the world where he was associated with Yuichi, but Soul Reader could only display one label, and he didn’t know how to swap between them.

Perhaps moved by pity, Takuro had apparently gone out with An a few times over summer vacation. Yuichi was a little worried, but as long as Takuro didn’t show interest in other women, he thought, he should be safe.

“Could we talk for a moment?”

Yuichi tore his eyes from An to look at the blonde girl standing in front of him. “What is it?”

It was Yuri Konishi, “Anthromorph.” This was his first time seeing her since their encounter on Kurokami Island during summer vacation. They had been enemies there, which had left Yuichi feeling uncertain about how he would face her when their second term began. But Yuri didn’t seem awkward about it at all, and Yuichi was relieved that he was apparently overthinking it.

“Meet me on the roof after class,” she said.

Perhaps she wanted to settle her grudge from the island. If so, Yuichi was happy to do it.

“Why was Konishi talking to you?” Shota asked, looking at him with his mouth agape. Before Yuichi could figure out how to explain, the warning bell for homeroom rang.

At the same time, the classroom door opened. Yuichi found it unusual. Usually their homeroom teacher, Hanako Nodayama, was just barely on time, or a little bit late.

The one who entered was a man named Hayashibara, a substitute homeroom teacher. Above his head was the label “Teacher,” implying he wasn’t caught up in any other, more troublesome worlds. He taught math, and had an easygoing attitude, and he was popular among the students because of it.

His presence caused whispers to run through the classroom. Why would they have a substitute on the first day of the new term?

“Okay, quiet down, everyone,” the man said. “I’m sure you’re all surprised by the suddenness of this, but Ms. Nodayama isn’t feeling well, and she’s taking today off.”

“That’s weird. Miss Hanako’s never taken off before, has she?” Shota asked dubiously.

Yuichi couldn’t remember her ever taking time off, either.

The substitute teacher led them all to the gym, where the student body was divided into seats by class to look up at the stage. The teachers up there talked business for a while, and then the principal launched into a long-winded speech.

This was Yuichi’s first term-opening speech since entering high school, but it seemed no different from the ones he’d had in middle school. After the principal’s opening remarks concluded, the vice principal took the podium.

“The teacher for Classroom 1-B, Nodayama, will be taking some time off for poor health. Let me introduce your new substitute teacher in the meantime, Ms. Shikitani.” The teacher appeared at the podium in response to the vice principal’s call.

Immediately, the gym burst into whispers.

She was a terrifyingly beautiful woman.

Stylish glasses, tall, and with a great figure. Her outfit, too — striped shirt, necktie, and miniskirt — clearly set her apart from the school’s usual, more modestly dressed teachers.

Like the rest of the students, Yuichi fixed his eyes on her. But it wasn’t because he was entranced by her beauty.

It was because she didn’t have a label over her head.

He thought back again to Monika. She hadn’t had a label, either. Which meant that this woman was an Outer, too.

“I am Makina Shikitani,” the woman said. “I’ll be 1-B’s homeroom teacher until Ms. Nodayama is back. I look forward to working with you all.”

Makina smiled faintly from atop the podium. Her gaze focused straight on Yuichi.

After the opening ceremony ended, Makina led the 1-B students back to their classroom. She gave a simple introduction back at the classroom, and that was the end of homeroom for that day. She departed immediately after.

“Wait!” Just as she was leaving the room, Yuichi flew out after her.

“Oh, you surprised me.” Makina turned back, not bothering to hide her surprise. “That’s no way to talk to your teacher, is it? It took me a moment to even realize that you were talking to me...”

“...Sorry. Miss Shikitani, could I have a moment of your time?” He had lost a bit of his cool, but they couldn’t talk about this out in the hall, so Yuichi decided to act more deferential.

“This certainly isn’t what I was expecting,” she said. “I didn’t think you’d make contact so quickly. Wouldn’t most people spend a lot of time weighing their options? You looked like an idiot, sitting there smiling knowingly, you know.”

“I don’t care about that,” he said.

“That’s fine. Let’s go to the student guidance room.” Makina issued the directive, then started walking. Even just walking down the hall, the beautiful woman drew stares from everyone around her. Yuichi felt uneasy walking behind her.

They quickly arrived at the guidance room on the first floor. Makina went inside. Yuichi followed, and shut the door.

An instant later, a chill went up his spine.

Feeling a sudden change in the atmosphere, Yuichi spun to face Makina.

“Oh-ho... despite finding me suspicious, you walked right into my trap. Yet you also noticed the trap the minute it was sprung. How very interesting.” Makina sat deep in her chair and looked at Yuichi with intense interest.

Yuichi tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. It was as if it had become part of the wall.

“Before you waste a lot of time struggling, let me tell you something,” she said. “You are trapped in this room. You can’t get out until you win the game. So for now, just come right over here, and we’ll have a little talk.”

Yuichi considered breaking down the door, but carelessly destroying school property would cause its own kind of trouble. He decided to do as Makina had said, and sat down across from her.

“What’s going on here?” he asked.

“The fact that you don’t know anything about my ability suggests you haven’t actually heard about me,” she said.

“Of course I don’t know your ability,” Yuichi replied. “I just assumed you were an Outer.”

“True. But when dealing with an Outer, you should always be on your guard,” she said. “For instance, I use an ability called ‘Sealed Room Game.’ It can be used in any closed space. In other words, all you had to do to prevent it was to not close the door.”

“I couldn’t have known that...” Yuichi responded, sulkily. How was he supposed to predict things like abilities and closed spaces?

“True. But had you collected information about Outers’ abilities in advance, you likely would have been able to foresee something. Let this be a learning experience.”

“But in that case, you could just have shut the door yourself,” he retorted.

“I wish it were that easy,” she said. “I cannot apply the ability to closed spaces that I myself have created, and while the ability is in use, I must remain within the space.”

Yuichi filed that information away, but it wouldn’t help him get out of the trap now that he was in it. “You said it was a game, right? So what are the rules?”

“You catch on quickly,” she said. “That’s good. It’s quite simple, really. Some time within the next thirty minutes, I will lie once, and only once. If you see through the lie, you win, and you’ll be able to leave the room. You’ll have only one chance to guess.”

Yuichi felt the atmosphere in the room change. Simply speaking the words had changed something. Words of power, perhaps?

“What guarantee do I have?” he asked. “Even if I saw through the lie, you could just pretend I didn’t.”

“Seeing as you’ve only just met me, I doubt you’ll be willing to go on trust,” she said. “But the rules of ‘Sealed Room Game’ are absolute, and they apply to me as well. So once you recognize the lie, it will be impossible for me to pretend that you haven’t. I can change, add, or delete rules, but when I do, I must tell you. And of course, I wouldn’t do anything that would break the game. I’m only doing this because I like games, you see. To violate that spirit would miss the point entirely.”

“And if I win, I can leave?” he asked.

“More precisely, there are three conditions under which my power will be nullified. The first is if you meet the victory conditions for the game. The second is if I leave this room. The third is if I lose consciousness — via death, fainting, sleep, etc. Of course, you know the third would be difficult to achieve, don’t you? It’s extremely hard for outside forces to affect Outers. On top of that, I have an ability called ‘Inviolable Domain.’ It protects the people, locations, and items necessary for the game’s completion from unmerited violence. In other words, you cannot simply lash out and knock me unconscious.” Makina triumphantly crossed her legs and her arms, emphasizing her chest. She looked at Yuichi with inviting eyes and smiled lasciviously.

“What happens if I lose?”