However, until this point, I didn’t know how the person in question saw this. Thinking back on it now, that had been worth a little more consideration. After all, living in a different world while occupying the same world as us...was no different from being born in the wrong world.
“It’s so boring. It doesn’t feel like living,” he said, the words coming from his mouth chillingly dry. “You know what? There’s one thing I always questioned. To those who know the truth about this place, the world is unstable. You can even say it’s incomplete and faulty. But can you say that the world we came from is any different?”
“What...?”
“Why did we come to this world? Just maybe, it’s because our world is also a failure. Without an organization like the Holy Church to struggle against ruin, we fell out of the failing world and into this one. Isn’t that entirely possible? If so...that world is even more of a failure than this one. Isn’t that why someone like me was born?”
The reason we’d come to this world was still a mystery. It was unlikely we would ever find out. There had been many opinions up to this point. For example, “There’s a summoner in this world,” or, “The world itself called us for salvation.” However, this was my first time hearing, “There’s a problem with the world we came from.”
Maybe that was why. I came across a truly terrifying thought. An extraordinary genius, an omnipotent hero—everyone saw Nakajima Kojirou that way. However, just maybe, the boy in front of me was far beyond such labels.
There was something repulsive within him. It was a bug that had been born within him in our old world. If that was the true nature of the monster named Nakajima Kojirou...
I didn’t know enough to deny it. I didn’t have anything to affirm it either. All I knew was that the monster before my eyes made me believe this was the case.
“That’s why I wanted to live in another world,” he said.
“Another...world?”
“A fantasy. That said, nothing with easy cheats for visitors, you get me? I mean, isn’t that way too boring? Hurdles that are impossible to find in reality, monsters blocking your path, putting in huge effort, gritting your teeth, and finally obtaining something worth having.”
Precisely because he could do anything, he yearned for something he could acquire by truly overcoming a great crisis.
“Aaah, no. I mean, I knew that’s impossible in reality. But I wished for it. I wished, and wished, and wished. And then, a miracle happened. Impossibility became reality. I came to another world.”
To the rest of us, teleporting to another world had been a disaster. As a result, I’d met Lily and the others, but that wasn’t the point here. The teleportation itself had been nothing short of a disaster. However, that wasn’t the case for the man in front of me. It was the opposite. It had been an unexpected stroke of luck. Or maybe, another possibility came to mind...
I was under the impression that our world wasn’t driven by a law where wishes come true as they did in this one, but just as he said, there was no guarantee that wasn’t the case. If so, just maybe, this monster’s wish to go to another world had triggered the mass teleportation. It had all been to make his impossible dream a reality.
“Yes. I came to another world. My adventure was going to begin. That’s what I believed.”
What had he gained as a result? Had his lifelong desire been fulfilled? Had he gained hope? No, not at all. After all, he’d come to a world where the strength of one’s wish granted power.
“Ha ha. Isn’t it laughable? The situation got worse. I ended up becoming a Conduit. Even though I didn’t need this power. So long as I could exert myself to the fullest to overcome hardship, I would’ve been fine with it.”
He was far too extraordinary by nature. Compounded with the enormous wish he’d continuously prayed for, it had ironically made him so omnipotent in this world that anyone and everyone was hopeless before him.
I understood him now, but I couldn’t sympathize. How could I? I was an ordinary person who was incapable of so many things. However, wishing for something from the bottom of one’s heart and having it all go to waste, finding only despair... That was one thing I could sympathize with. That said, such feelings weren’t necessary for the man before me. He was the hero who could overturn any situation no matter how hopeless it was. He lived up to that title—for both good and bad.
“That’s why I turned things around and thought of it like this instead. I can’t do anything about myself. I have no hope. But if there’s no hope, I can just create it. It’s simple.”
“Huh...?”
I went pale. I had a horrible premonition. I didn’t want to hear this, but he was going to tell me anyway.
“They all call me special, but I believe in everyone else. I’m not special. They’ll all reach this stage one day. Even if they show no potential, I won’t abandon that hope. Anyone can do it. I’m cheering them on. Find a goal, think about it seriously, make decisions, and move decisively. By doing so, anyone will reach this point one day. Anyone can do it. I believe it.”
He was saying something nice. He was supposed to be. And yet, it sounded so cruel.
“Naturally, living aimlessly isn’t good enough. To reach the summit, you have to climb the appropriate steps. The more severe it is, the more terrifying it is, the crueler it is, the higher those who overcome such hardships rise. That’s why I did it.”
His smile had nothing but goodwill and expectations of others. That was what made it all the more ominous.
“Those poor seven hundred students who didn’t manifest an ability. If I brought them all down to hell, one was sure to crawl back out and shine, right?”
Here was the mastermind behind everything.
“In truth, you overcame so many hardships. Majima, don’t you remember? I’m your fan. I’ve been watching you all this time. Every last second.”
“Y-You’re...”
My mind blanked out. My heart pounded, sending blood to my brain as my head seethed with anger. The memories of that tragedy came back like a surging wave, forcing up those images of a hell where humans were reduced to being less than human.
“You’re behind the Colony’s destruction!” I roared.