(Rozen) opened his eyes to a sky laden with clouds. Golden autumn leaves drifted down like sparks shaken loose from a burning forest. Two heads hovered above him, one belonging to (The Little Boy), the other to (The Little Girl). (Rozen) regarded them in bewilderment, then closed his eyes, shook his head, and said:
(Rozen): "My head was blown up, wasn't it?"
They did not answer. He kept watching them with tight irritation, then said:
(Rozen): "Do you pester everyone the way you pester me?"
(The Little Boy) smiled and closed his eyes.
(The Little Girl): "You are strange."
(The Little Boy): "Very strange…"
(The Little Girl): "You are not special…"
(The Little Boy), showing him a faint trace of sympathy: "Unfortunately… she is not lying about that."
(Rozen): "What are you rambling about?"
(The Little Girl): "You are not a hero. You are nothing exceptional. All of it… is that the Lady decided to look into your matter."
(The Little Boy): "It is alright, (Rozen). Your way of thinking is natural. Every human watches events as though they revolve around him alone, because he sees them only through his own eyes."
(The Little Girl) smiled for the first time.
(The Little Girl): "In truth, you are beneath even an ordinary person. When we read you, we found you painfully behind everything around you… and even those who were not granted success still possessed much more than you…"
(The Little Boy), lowering himself and patting his head: "That does not mean, of course, that you are the worst human who ever lived. But you carry certain strange negatives, and that gives you a kind of distinctness."
(The Little Girl), smiling a cruel smile: "A repulsive distinctness."
(Rozen) tried to rise, but his body was wholly paralyzed. He kept trying until the veins on his forehead stood out, to no avail.
(The Little Girl) sat to the left of his head, and (The Little Boy) leaned close to the right.
(Rozen): "What is it now? What is this garden? And where is the old man? Why do you speak like this? You, little boy… what is it?"
(The Little Boy), puzzled: "What is it? You mean what we just said? (Rozen), we have no purpose in it except to show you the truth of the matter."
(Rozen): "The truth of you bullying me?"
(The Little Girl) burst into laughter, twisting with it.
(The Little Girl): "Bullying? Do you think we are merely trying to annoy you?"
(The Little Boy), shooting her an angry glance before turning back to (Rozen) with a gentle face: "I fear her bluntness has suggested an intention that is not real. (Rozen)… you are a clever young man, but you were not, and you will not be, someone to be followed, nor someone spoken of when you are gone…"
(The Little Girl), sitting with a smile damp with tears: "There is no use in you. You are a mistake, an irritating accident to many. Most of your decisions fail. Your plans always lack positive results. Most of them do not even see light or darkness at all."
(Rozen) looked at her with eyes that were calmly terrified, lips parted, jaw locked. The smile slid from (The Little Girl)'s face, her eyes trembling as she looked to (The Little Boy), and he met her with a mild reproach.
(The Little Girl), rising: "How embarrassing that I wish to apologize, but truly, (Rozen)… there is no lie in what we said. Even the Lady cannot make us lie to you."
(Rozen) pressed his lips together and looked up at the sky in stillness. A fracture of relief, strangely sweet, spread through his chest, as though a towering wall had simply ceased to exist. He spoke in an even, quiet voice:
(Rozen): "I believe you."
(The Little Boy) smiled and straightened as well.
(Rozen): "You two… can I vanish entirely?"
Without any reply, (The Little Boy) and (The Little Girl) departed in silence.
(Rozen) drew in air, but it fell upon his surging chest with crushing weight, swelling him with a dreadful feeling that tore at his inner bonds for no clear reason. The young man believed what the two children had said, not because he was persuaded, but because he recognized it. He might not remember much, yet a far-removed part of his mind had borne witness to it.
His lower jaw trembled. A burning gathered in his eyes. He feared to close them, lest he…
(The Lady): "Oh… (Rozen)… do not cry, (Rozen). I will melt Snow Nexus if you wish, only do not cry…"
She laughed.
(Rozen) closed his eyes.
(Rozen): "I would wager you are living the best days of your life right now."
(The Lady), her voice stirred with interest: "And why would you wager? On what? On your existence? Do you want to wager on your existence? As you know… it may be the only chance for annihilation from this torment. What those two wretches said is true, and how I long to punish them for stealing the chance to warn you of something like that, but unfortunately I cannot harm them. In any case… do you wager your existence that I am living the happiest days of my life?"
(Rozen): "Yes. I wager my existence."
(The Lady) laughed.
(The Lady): "You have lost. You have lost. You will remain existing. Do you know why? Because your existence guarantees you more torment, and that gives me greater happiness. My happiest days have not come yet. You will help me reach the summit of happiness, won't you? You will make me the happiest in existence. Then, when I grow bored of you, I will throw you through the narrowest cracks, I will erase you. For you truly compete in the list of the vilest humans, you rotten, foul, ugly dullard."
(Rozen) looked at the grass curling around his arm, lying there without the power to move it. He cast a helpless gaze that could have scratched the hearts of ghouls, had they been present, and could have melted the aura of ghosts, had they existed.
(The Lady): "What is wrong with you, (Rozen), what is that look? Do you think I will see sadness in it? Your dull face cannot embody sorrow in my eyes. All I see is a swindler trying to imitate a feeling. That is true, (Rozen). You have no feelings. You have no identity. No moral presence is to be hoped for from you. This is an absolute truth. No one can see pain in you. Nothing you suffer will be recorded for you. All your endurance is wasted, like the falling leaves of autumn…"
(Rozen) opened his mouth with extreme difficulty and drew in thick air, his mouth trembling, his eyes defeated.