Just like animals. We’re just reacting to stimulus.
It won’t build your muscles in the least, or help you grow, nor will it yield any experience.
This game-like world seems to assert that.
“Just because you have knowledge doesn’t mean you have meaning. So, even if you can imagine something, that doesn’t give it meaning. You couldn’t go anywhere. You wanted to take me to all of these places — but in the end, we couldn’t go anywhere. That’s why you don’t know anything. You couldn’t see anything. You couldn’t accumulate anything, couldn’t grow, just remained empty. ♪”
The girl pulls my hand again and at the same time, the scenery changes once more.
This time, it feels like we’ve entered a comic book world.
It’s a pure-white world. And yet, it’s not a snowscape. It’s as if the color has been drained from everything, and the buildings and nature are simplistic, like everything’s been drawn with rough lines. A simple world, constructed only of white and black...... Every now and then, the sound of a page being turned reverberates.
Like someone is fervently reading a fascinating comic.
Absorbed in the world of a comic book, they forget themselves for just a moment. If one were to look at such a situation objectively, it might look like this.
These somewhat comical things, with parts of their bodies exaggerated, play about here and there. They’re abstract, like caricatures, and show no signs of interacting with me.
Movies and comics and games are not an extension of reality. We can’t interact with them — they exist far away from us. The cast of characters in a story won’t be your friends. They don’t exist. They’re blotches of ink. Your feelings won’t reach them, you can’t interfere, and there’s no love there.
Even so. No matter how much we play here, it’s all pointless.
You are here. You’re sitting in a corner in this place that looks like a comic drawn in black and white. Only you float above the scenery in full color. No matter how many comic books you might read, it’s not as if you could ever enter the world of comics.
You really seem like you don’t belong here.
Right next to you is a monochrome girl that looks like she is part of a comic. Her hair is parted, tied to the right and left, and she has a simple form that looks as if the artist hadn’t yet finished inking her. She has very simple eyes, nose, and mouth.
You’re hand-in-hand with a monochromatic girl and seem to be playing. Like you’re friends. However, this girl is a drawing, she’s no more than a daydream. Nothing will come of befriending her. It might bring your heart comfort for a brief time, but—
It’s no different than talking to yourself. It’s just like dreaming.
It won’t be of any use to you.
For some reason, I begin to feel disgust well up inside me.
“But this is also something you wanted. In dreams, your desires will occasionally appear in a symbolic form. You wanted to read comics and picture books aloud to me. You might have wanted to play with me in the world of daydreams, but that was impossible—”
The scenery shifts once more. Over and over again. Chasing you through the dream world, I have also visited several different places. But there are still some places I haven’t seen. But that feeling of excitement like we’re on an adventure or a journey doesn’t feel real.
“They’re all dreams you’ve imagined, where all you can do is stand and stare at their brilliance. Jung referred to these as daydreams and regarded them highly. An opportunity of only several seconds in which we can connect to the unconscious while still awake. Like dreams, they are also filled with major hints.”
It seems like she’s just spouting knowledge.
The girl’s pronunciation is strange.
“By the way, where did you learn the name ‘Jung’?”
Her laugh rings out as the world changes over and over again.
With just one step, the world undergoes a major shift.
I begin to feel awful, as if I have motion sickness, and I attempt to crouch down. But the girl won’t let go of my hand. She tugs my hand, repeating over and over again.
The same words. It’s more like I’m being attacked, like they’re being thrust at me.
Over and over and over and over again.
“But, you can’t go anywhere. You couldn’t go. You just imagined it, knew of it. Not moving a step forward, just dreaming. You wanted to go to so many different places, but you couldn’t go anywhere— Hey, why are you pretending like you don’t know?”
Sadness and anger are mixed into the girl’s voice.
Suddenly, the gentle touch of the girl’s hand disappears.
“As long as you pretend not to know, it doesn’t matter how far you walk. It’s all futile. If you aren’t walking in reality, then you haven’t taken a single step forward. No matter how far you go, no matter where you search, you’ll never find what you’re looking for. The distance will never close. You’ll be as far away as you’ve ever been. How sad it is. That — you — will — nev — er — catch — up — to — the — Red — Queen.”
My back is shoved.
When I realize it, I’m still on top of that tall building.
I’ve been pushed from a height so great, I can’t see the ground. I start to drop. I panic and flail about, but with nothing to grab onto, it feels as if I’m being pulled toward the ground.
I begin to fall.
I don’t want to fall.
“How pitiful. So pitiful—”
The girl with the hat and scarf is getting farther away.
That dyed girl seems so impatient.
“How very pitiful—”
Giving voice to that strange designation, I can only watch.
The ground draws nearer.
Immediately, the impact shoots through me.
My body makes a crunching sound.
I’m scattered about in pieces, my flesh, blood, and bones spilled about.
My vision is dyed in deep red.