"What are you…talking about?"
"Don't play dumb with me, Kumiko. We both know you can't lie to me. You've got a tell. You smile whenever you lie. It's eerie. And honestly, it grosses me out. You smile when you lie as if you're happy to be doing so. Are you happy when you lie, Kumiko?"
"I'm not—"
"Don't play games with me! I know you better than anyone. I'd argue I know you better than you know yourself.
That's why I'm able to love you—
That's why I'm able to hate you—"
"You…hate me?"
"Of course I do. There are plenty of things that I hate about you. And there are plenty of things that I love about you. But it isn't about balance.
"The only reason I can love you the way I do is that I hate you so much. To know someone is to learn all the filthy things that make them who they are. And trust me—I know how dirty you truly are."
"Like…what?"
"You're apathetic. What you feel toward other people isn't malice—it's indifference. As if they don't exist. Maybe they don't. You live your life as if you and I are the only two people in the world."
"That's not—"
"It is. You only ever make eye contact with me. When you're with your family, you look past them. Why is that? I've always wondered."
"I'm scared. If I look into their eyes, I have to let them see me. And I don't want to be seen.
"It's not that I believe no one exists except you and me. I believe the only people who don't exist are you and me.
"I pretend you don't exist alongside me—but I'm the one who truly doesn't.
"I don't feel like I belong in the world. No—that's not precise. I don't belong in it because I never make myself exist. I don't live. I don't appear.
"I'm not alive, and I'm not even absent. I'm just…nothing.
"You can't describe something that doesn't exist.
"You can't say, in good faith, that this exists and that doesn't. Maybe it isn't me that doesn't exist—maybe everything doesn't.
"What if this is a dream, and I'm only a fragment of it? A fraction of nothing.
"Zero divided by anything is zero. But zero divided by zero? Undefined.
"That's what this world feels like.
"And how can you be sure this isn't a dream?"
"You can't be. You can't know that the world before you is real. You can't know that you are."
"Then why would you ever believe that to be the truth of the world!?"
"You're right—we can't know anything. But belief doesn't require certainty.
"We can believe there are people who'll see past our masks.
"We can believe there are people who'll witness the worst of us and still stay.
"We can believe tomorrow won't be identical to today.
"We don't need constant joy. We don't need endless despair.
"There is more to life than what we can touch and taste.
"There is a sky that extends beyond what your eyes allow you to see.
"I hate you—
"I love you—
"I don't feel only good things—
"I don't feel only terrible ones—"
"No matter how disdainful you are.
"No matter how toxically obsessed you are with me.
"Your world will expand. It will include people who care about you.
"Me included—but not limited to me."
"But…how can you be sure such a world exists?"
"I'm not. I can't be.
"But I'll believe it anyway."
"But…I still want to kill you."
"Why?"
"Because I want to return to being the only one who doesn't exist.
"I love you. I love you so much.
"But if you're only a dream—a lie—a fabrication—
"I can't endure a world where the only person who loves me isn't real."
"Maybe I am a dream. Maybe I'm a lie. Maybe I'm fake.
"But the love I feel for you—and the hate too—they have weight.
"They're the weight of God—just not infinite."
"Just not infinite."
"That's right. One day, we'll fade. One day, we'll wake up.
"But until then, we walk forward and hope—
that when we finally wake, we forget this was ever a dream."
"Olympia… I love you. But it's so hard to keep living if this isn't real. How do you do it?"
"Because even if it is a dream, it's the one where I met you.
"That can't be a nightmare.
"I'll say it again and again until it sticks—
"I love you, Kumiko Kikunaga."
"We exist—
"We are matter—
"And because of that, we matter—
"Nothing else has to."
"So I'll say it once more."
"I.
Love.
You."
"Even if it hurts. Even if it's unbearable.
"I'll keep living in this cheap, fragile dream—
because I get to live in it with you.
"And maybe—just maybe—I'll find even more reasons to stay."
"I believe that when I wake up, I'll smile.
"And before I get out of bed, I'll think:
"Thank you—for letting someone like me dream at all."
And like that, this story comes to an end—