Chapter 11: Truth
On the empty stage, I picked up a suspicious letter that I’d seen glow and read it. Something very startling was written there. My hands trembled, and my pulse pounded loudly. By the time I’d finished reading, the uplifting feelings I’d had were blown clean away. If someone else were here, it would probably look to them like I was practicing for act two tomorrow.
“…No… This isn’t true, is it…?”
Everyone deeply admired that magnificent playwright, and surely became actors in the Burlet Company to perform his works. Everyone’s passion was the real deal… surely. And yet…
If what this letter said was the truth, couldn’t this be considered betrayal, sacrilege against Burlet? Not to mention, I… to them, I was only…! Sadness, anger, despair, hate - newly-budded emotions suddenly took root in my heart. Before I knew it, I was running with the intensity of those emotions.
I have to find out the truth quickly! I need them to tell me this letter is just a lie…!! I went off the stage, ran from the hall to the grand stairs, went up them and turned right, toward green room #1 at the far end. The backstage staff had all gone home to prepare for tomorrow, so no one was around but us, the cast. The only lights in the hallway were faint foot lights. I strained my eyes running through the dim halls, and forcefully opened the door to the green room emitting a slight light.
Slam - with the loud sound of me opening the door, the merrymaking people within the room slowly turned to face it. Meiko with beer mugs in both hands, redfaced but still drinking; Kaito engaging with her; Meg engrossed in conversation, eyes shining with excitement; Len pretending to listen to her; Rin singing, and Luka dancing; and lastly, Gack quietly tilting his glass.
Everyone was celebrating the wonderful success of tonight’s play in their own way. No one had even changed yet; they still wore their costumes. I could even see it as a continuation of the highly enjoyable party in act one of the play.
Gack, nearest to the door, who had been relaxing and sipping wine on a three-seater sofa all to himself, noticed my arrival and stood up to greet me.
“You’re late. Well, how about a toast to our first day? We’ve all already started, you see?”
“…”
Finding no fault in me emptying the glass before the toast, Kaito approached me with a drunken red face and a good-natured smile.
“Can we get a word from the lead role, too?”
Everyone turned toward me and gathered around. Act one had only just ended, but everyone was brimming with joy like they had the blessing of the Muses of the arts themselves, and had faces of relief. Not a hint of doubt, deep relief and delight… I would have to bring ruin to their fabricated happiness.
“…Won’t you tell me the truth?”
My first line, after much agonizing. No beating around the bush. I would get right into it.
“The truth…?”
Happy drunken Kaito smiling at me opened his eyes slightly, then blinked two or three times.
“This letter… tells about the truth of this play.”
As I said this, bringing the letter in my left hand up beside my face, the air in the room froze. Keeping the exact same smiles they’d had moments ago on their faces, everyone in the room stared at me. Not changing emotion, not even blinking, just holding their breaths, they remained still and questioned what my next action would be. After a considerable silence, Meiko slowly put her beer mugs down on the table and spoke.
“Tell me, whatever do you mean by… the truth?”
In contrast to the casual nature of her words, her lips stiffened slightly.
“It has to do with us… making this script into a play.”
“…Please, don’t play dumb. It’s all written in this letter.”
I suddenly turned left to glance at the white letter I held in my hand.
“Where exactly did you get it?”
“Well, then… Just what does it say? May I see that for a second?”
Kaito took on a stern look quite unlike before, put down his mug, and slowly approached me.
“I believe you’re familiar with it, so I shouldn’t need to show it to you! …If what this letter says is true, then isn’t this production considered "sacrilege” against him?“
“I don’t want your excuses! I don’t think it’s too late yet. Please, you have to announce the truth to the world! If we do it now, it might not be too late. I’m sure… No, I’m certain we can do it over!”
“…Really, won’t you reconsider? We’re all friends in this together, aren’t we? You’re no exception.”
Friends… To them, it was half a year at most. To me, it was an irreplaceable six months in the troupe and with the cast I had aspired to for so long as a fan. To stand on the same stage as them… Until just now, I thought a longtime dream had come true. But it was all make-believe, as this letter made me realize. I was little more than a marionette convenient for prolonging the company. I was scared to see Kaito’s face as he said “friends”… I remained silent, unable to look at them.
“Yeah! If you do something like that, it’ll be real bad… Hey, reconsider! Pleeease!”
Rin, worriedly looking between me and her friends speaking, spoke with a whine. Tears were faintly welling up in her eyes. The happy party mood was completely gone, and amid savage tension, attacks on me flew left and right. It rained terribly outside, and the heavy sound of raindrops echoed. I remained silent for a time, staring at the back window, listening but not listening to both the heavy rain and the conflict.
The storm of words passed, and silence drifted in. Everyone had fallen silent, determining that I had no response to their attacks and now pondering their next move. Even as they showered me with criticisms, I still wanted to believe in them. Surely they were just confused about this sudden situation… As was I. So if we could just talk it out, we’d understand how we felt. Having the tiniest hope it wasn’t too late, I started up another battle with them.
“Um… Please, listen! This is really… I really mean it, this will be for the good of the troupe. I thought of the perfect way to go about this! But there are reasons why I can’t tell you the details yet. But still… It’ll definitely work out okay!”
“That’s not true! Please just believe me… Please!”
Kaito, still looking concerned, folded his arms in thought and looked away from me.
“Weeell, can’t you tell us those details or whatnot? I wanna know, y'know, the chances of success.”
Meg went to push up her glasses, then blinking as she remembered she wasn’t wearing them currently, let her gaze waver around the room to hide her mistake.
“Well, I… I can’t do that yet…”
I gripped the bracelet on my left wrist with my hand. If this were really an antique of Burlet’s, like my grandmother said… maybe I could make do by selling it. It was one of Burlet’s possessions, and while the color had decayed over a century, it was one of his favorite accessories which he wore all the time. Even in the surviving portraits of him, this once-beautiful bracelet was depicted in a way that demonstrated its former brilliance. So no doubt, it would sell for quite a large amount.
But on the off chance it was a fake… I didn’t want to doubt my grandmother, but the bracelet I wore was very old, and I had no decisive proof of it really being Burlet’s. I couldn’t claim with certainty whether it was real or not until I had an expert on antiques examine it.
Besides, could I really let go of such an important memento of my grandmother…? No, I couldn’t afford to hesitate over that. I had to make up for the crime of profaning Burlet and deceiving the world. I had a duty to protect his history, too. On her deathbed, my grandmother left me this bracelet and a mission to preserve his legacy - at first, her parting words merely surprised me. But if they were true, then as one who carried his blood, I had to protect the history of my great predecessor.
My grandmother told me to use the bracelet whenever I was troubled. All right… this must be the real thing. But more importantly, I had to negotiate with the theater managers and sponsors to see if they would accept this plan I’d thought up. How would that fare, I wondered… I might be able to make it work on the money side, but it likely wouldn’t be happen overnight. At worst, it could take months.
Still, I had to take the risk. As long as we believed in the strength which got us this far, then this would be the only way to protect the Burlet Company in any truesense.
“Yet… So you mean, you’ll be able to someday?”, Gack questioned pointedly as I hectically pondered.
“Just a little time and you’re sure you’ll manage, eh?”
Meg added on another question. Her eyes told me they wouldn’t accept any answer without it being “certain.”
“W-Well… I won’t know until I try… I need to confirm some things… I can’t say it’s certain right now, but!”
Meg twisted her neck. “Uhh…” She looked doubtful of my answer.
“Well then, you can’t possibly ask us to believe you without reservation…”
”…True. It’s unfortunate, but if you can’t offer us anything worth trusting, there’s no way. We didn’t get this far on half-hearted resolve… This isn’t a game, you know?“
Meiko added on to Luka’s cross-examination, and I was overwhelmed by their threats. But I had to build up a tiny bit of courage and reply to them; I couldn’t lose here.
”…I understand. But I keep telling you, all I can say right now is to believe me!“
"It just figures a girl like you who’s hardly struggled in her life doesn’t know the meaning of "being cooperative.” No experience, ignorant to the true harshness of the world… What a pathetic softy!“
“We keep telling you, we’re not going to believe anything if all we have is your feelings! You’re a real blockhead, aren’t you?! Sounds like you just want to abandon us right at the end, hm? Traitor!!”
“You two, take the east stairs and cover the front and back entrances! The rest of you, split up and search the second floor. Call the others when you find her. The lights are down, so she couldn’t have gotten far!”
“We’ll go down!”
With Kaito’s directions, the chasers scattered. From the voices, it seemed Rin and Len were going down. If I went downstairs now, I’d surely be quickly caught by them, with their smarts and good reflexes. Everyone shouted my name loudly. Rin’s voice was slightly cracked; maybe she was crying. Even though I was the one who should have been pained and hurt. I glanced outside, and saw the light rain had become a torrential storm.
I opened the door to the storeroom on the edge of the second floor, went inside, and carefully shut it to not make any sound. My rapid breathing caused by the crying was hard to get back to normal. Holding in tears, I slid my hand down to my pocket, gripping the handkerchief tightly. I felt the soft cloth, and a hard metal.
Tap, tap. I sensed someone walking close to me. They came right up near the door.
“…Say, are you there?”
“I… It’s pointless! Disposing of that letter won’t change the truth!”
I tightened my grip on the knife by putting my empty right hand on it as well. No choice. I had to use this threat and run down there. Rin and Len… If I made a feint of pointing the knife at Rin, Len would likely panic and protect her… I’d use that opportunity. I turned the sharp point straight toward Rin downstairs. Her eyes widened, and she shuddered with fear.
“…!! Wait! Calm down! We can talk this out!”
Realizing my expectation, Kaito suddenly broke into a run and lept toward me. I was too slow to thrust the knife out, and he grabbed it in his large hands. But I couldn’t have the knife, my last defense, stolen from me now.
“Drop the knife!”
“Come now, just calm down!”
“It’s too dark to see a thing! Please, enough of this dangerous nonsense!”
He’s going to push me down at this rate! I temporarily weakened my struggles and stopped resisting. At the same time, Kaito slightly weakened his grip on me. I took the chance to forcefully swung my body left. Unintentionally released from my hand, the knife sliced through his right arm, spewing a parabolic line of fresh blood. His face contorted in pain, and he faltered. I shook him away -
“YAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Rin down below screamed. I turned to my right and looked down, and saw Len desperately holding to the hand of Rin trying to run up the stairs and help Kaito. Len was busy holding back a panicked Rin… Now was my only chance. I put out my right leg to run down the stairs, but a moment later, Kaito grabbed both my wrists. With only his unhurt left hand, he tried to again immobilize me.
The stairs behind, and Kaito in front one-handedly holding both my wrists, I couldn’t even budge my hands gripping the knife. We had a tug-of-war, but I found myself being slowly brought closer to Kaito. I saw Gack, Meg, Luka, and Meiko tensely and carefully approach Kaito from behind to provide him assistance.
“Give up… Come with us!”
“Why?! Let’s just talk… Then we’ll…”
Even after I’d pointed a knife at him and wounded him, those eyes I looked at head-on seemed to still trust me, and have deep sympathy. My heart raced. Why was he making such a face at a time like this…? Was this just another convincing act to tame me? I knew I couldn’t be swayed and tricked, but for some reason, once again I… My closed tear ducts flowed again.
“…Who’s the real traitor here?! I… I don’t want to trust any of you anymore!”
Kaito shook with surprise. For a moment, the force in his hands slackened. And my hands desperately pulling backward were left with nothing to be pulling back against.
“Miku…!”
His large hand reached out in front of me. Four more hands reached from behind.
I met eyes with Kaito, whose couldn’t be opened any wider. Reflexively, I thrust my hands, still holding the knife, out toward him. But I came just short of slicing anything but empty space.
The brief moment of falling down the stairs seemed to play out in slow motion, like being eternally subjected to a scene from an everlasting nightmare. I don’t know if I felt any pain or such. As my senses faded, I only heard the sound of applause.
She lay face-up at the bottom of the stairs. Her eyes were hollow, and the tears around them gleamed in the moonlight pouring through the window above her. Plunged deep in her chest was the golden knife she wouldn’t let go of to the very end.
Applause seemed to echo from somewhere, like it were a scene from a tragic play. Everyone stared at the horrible sight dumbfounded. There was a silence like the world had come to a halt around Miku’s unmoving body. The moment felt like eternity.
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”
“I-It can’t be… Miss Miku…”
“…!!”
Kaito looked at her frozen, at a loss for words. Behind them, Gack supported trembling Luka as they slowly went down the stairs.
“Quickly, we have to take her to a hospital! Her heart may be stopped, but maybe there’s still time!”
Rin’s head snapped up in response to Meiko, and she ran to the front door.
“I want to try CPR, but who knows what will happen when this knife is removed… But we have to try… It’s too dark in here!! Someone, turn on the lights! And someone help me stop the blood!!”
“I-I’ll help…!”
Len briskly nodded to Meiko’s instruction and ran down the hall. There was only the moonlight to go on in the dimly-lit building. Meg sat down beside Meiko, faltering slightly.
“It’s not your fault, Kaito… She lost balance… It was an accident…”
“And we can’t give up yet! Meg, there’s a handkerchief I don’t use in my pocket. When I pull the knife out, hold that firmly to the wound. I’ll take over right after.”
Meiko, who claimed to have a little bit of medical knowledge, nervously touched the knife in Miku’s chest. She took a deep breath and slowly removed it. Meg stooped over the body, averted her eyes slightly, and prepared for the blood that would pour out.
The knife smoothly came out all the way. But strangely, no blood came out of the left side of Miku’s chest. In fact, once the knife was fully removed, there wasn’t even a trace of the wound, nor her clothes being cut through.
“What’s going on…? No blood came out… Her clothes aren’t even damaged… This isn’t just a toy knife, is it?”
Kaito stood there stunned, and timidly grabbed the removed knife. To test, he touched the end of his pinky to the blade, and it faintly bled fresh blood.
“…Did we see it wrong? I’m sure I saw it stabbed near Miss Miku’s heart…”
“The lights in the hallway were out, so it was hard to see, but there’s no mistaking we’re in the theater! I could close my eyes and still make it to the room I was headed for!”, Luka yelled, her unrest very evident.
“So then when…?”, Kaito asked, regaining some of his composure and looking all around and behind.
“Well… I don’t know, but I’m sure that this isn’t the theater. Just look out the windows! The theater’s smack dab in the middle of West End, right? There’s noforest around it!”
Meg made everyone simultaneously look toward the large window above the landing. Outside, the wind howled through a dark forest of thick trees.
“Well, then where in the world are we…?”
“W-What’s the matter with you…?”
“Len! What’s wrong?!”
“………”
Len just kept shaking his head, still not able to talk from the shock. Rin started to put her hand to her chest like she was relieved, but her little hand stopped in air, and she slowly rolled up her black dress. The color visibly left her face.
“Me… too…”
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Rin’s scream echoed through the hall again. Rin and Len, both in bodily construction and in size, had been turned into dolls. The same size which they appeared to be via the trick of perspective used in act one… They reached up to about the hips of a normal-sized person. But everyone was too disoriented by Miku’s death to notice it right away. Once Miku fell, Rin and Len quickly ran off, and when they were upstairs, a similar perspective trick induced the illusion of them being normal size.
“Miss Rin! Calm down!”
“My… body…”
“Could, could this be a dream…? Is it the curse of Crazy ∞ nighT? Because of what we did…”
“"Prologue”…“
”“What a strange thing! They were inside the play, and made to act it out!”“
Now, we find ourselves at the entrance to a certain story’s world.
She lived together with her grandmother. From a young age, she had no father nor mother.
She distracted herself from her loneliness by filling her thoughts with imaginary worlds.
There, the dream worlds she had imagined all alone appeared before her with such realism.
Beginning that day, she became entranced by theater.
Now, she was left without a single relative.
No sooner had sadness come upon her than she left the village.
In the time between work, she daily went to the theater… to see the Burlet Company she so aspired to.
One day, a miracle happened in that troupe.
It was Crazy ∞ nighT, the script referred to as Burlet’s lost libretto.
The news spread like wildfire around the world, and an audition was held for the lead part.
What a miracle… She joined the troupe, and began practicing furiously.
After much difficult practice, it was finally time for the main event.
She assumed her lead role, became the Villager who wandered into an eerie forest one night…
A play that made a magnificent, celebratory night come true.
Act one was received superbly.
It was addressed to her.
There, it said something truly horrifying.
She felt resentment, sadness, anger, and despair.
And at the end of the letter…
In the event that the seven’s sacrilege were to be revealed to the world…
She did it all to ensure her name would echo across the globe as a miraculous breakout star.”
…When she finished reading the letter, she was deeply hurt by her friends’ betrayal.
After they performed the play to the end… They would earnestly apologize to the audience.
And her bracelet, a memento of her grandmother…
She thought they might be able to raise money for the vast expenses spent on the play, and pay back all those who bought tickets.
But she couldn’t know right away whether her idea would work.
They were unable to search inside each other… And thus never exchanged their respective truths…
Her meager hope crushed, in the depths of despair, her love and trust became hate and disgust…
The girl died.
Just like that… in the blink of an eye, the final curtain fell on the play she starred in.
Because the lead was dead…
The seven actors grieved the unhappy death of the lead actress.
Yes, if only this tragedy were just a scene in a play.
…And then, something strange happened.
The scene of her death was excised from reality.
At the same time, they noticed they were now in an entirely different world, one not their own.
The human roles became human… but the dolls became real living dolls.
The group was in a panic.
No, the book you are reading now.
This is a fictional world born from the event that took place on this night, “her death,” being buried away from reality.
The world inside the script of Crazy ∞ nighT which they profaned…
Oh, the cruelty…!
We must get back to reality…!
…However, it suddenly occurred to them.
Would the buried moment of “Miku’s death” not re-awaken and occur?
Time resuming would mean reverting the scene’s excision from reality.
If they stayed in this fictional world, the poor girl would escape the reality of her death.
The memory of her death was contrary to this world where she was alive.
In this world, she would repeatedly be reborn without her memories.
She could likely be appreciative for her fabricated life.
Do the actors return to reality, and accept the moment of her death?
You must choose one or the other…
But searching for one could be a bit of amusement.
In real time, it is only a brief moment.
When one writes “They spent an eternity there” in a book…
But in the world of the book, it causes that “eternity in a moment” to exist.
Do you understand, now?
All things… the world is bound by laws of cause and effect.
The connection between reality and fiction is not easily broken.
She is influenced by the reality… guided to the EndinG of death.
But can that influence be obstructed?
Because this is fiction; a world of lies.
Here, time in the play will pass.
You make the time of this play, where she dies in an accident eternally.
But even if a play follows the exact same lines and actions…
For this to be the case… is not inconceivable.
For how enormous a quantity of time must the same thing be repeated?
Because ∞ is not something humans can understand easily with just a glance at that symbol.
That is what makes it so beautiful…
That, too, would be a perfect finish to this magnificent tragedy.
I am a member of the audience, hopeful that Crazy ∞ nighT will be a magnificent, outrageous night.
The PagE describing it has already been ripped out, and sleeps in the coffins underground, along with your real bodies.
Your reality, too, is in an eternal sleep in the coffins.
To return to reality requires waking from that sleep and ending this world stopped in time.
And to take back the buried scene of her death.
So at the start of act two, let us make the End roLL a blank letter, and leave it with her.
To make time tick once more, you must use the clock hands.
Now, I have a piece of advice.
To better reward you for your brave will to put on this play for her… a suggestion from the playwright.
If she remembered the moment of her death from reality… that would be a very dangerous thing for this world.
She would notice the oddity of being alive when she recalls already dying…
Her becoming aware of her death would cause it to be confirmed as reality.
With order lost, the world would crumble…
Yes, the laws of cause and effect are very delicate.
The world is propped up by that single support known as cognizance.
Now, as for your memories of the nights you’re about to perform.
The events of tonight… First nighT.
This lost play that I never wrote…
I’ll be gladly observing, each and every night, to see what Crazy ∞ nighTs you put on.
Currently, we’re still in the waiting room during the intermission.
Have you come to an answer…?
Oh my, don’t you hear that applause, coming from nowhere?
As soon as you open my invitation, into the ∞ play world you will go… ∞
- from the Mastermind
Kaito finished reading the Prologue. Everyone’s mouths hung open, frozen like time had stopped. Meg was the first to recover from the shock.
“The "lost play that I never wrote”… the Mastermind…“
“Then… Then will we have to act in this play until we die?!”, Luka shouted in terror upon processing Rin’s line.
“…I don’t think that’s right. As long as we interpret this Prologue just the way it reads… Even our deaths in this world won’t end the play.”
“…”
Meiko held Miku’s head, still on her lap, with trembling hands and screamed. The unending stream of tears from her eyes wetted Miku’s immobile pale cheeks. Behind her, Luka standing there in a daze collapsed to the floor. Her hollow gaze looking out into space, she spoke through large tears.
“Ahaha… It’s my fault… I was heartless to her, called her a traitor… I…”
The air was heavy with sadness, regret, and repentance, and there was only the sound of wailing and the intense rain outside. After some time, Meg again managed to be the first to open her mouth and move things forward.
“…Um. So this is a fictional world, not reality, right? Even Miss Miku in front of us is in the play… so then, if reality starts up again…”
“Ahh… Finally.”
A neutral alto broke the silence. It came out listlessly, but with a hint of cheer. Len, who had been disoriented by the fact of becoming a doll, opened his mouth.
“Finally… we can perform the real Crazy ∞ nighT. The dream we always dreamt… as a genuine play made by Burlet himself.”
The others thought about it and looked up toward him. As their gazes landed on him one by one, he wore an intrepid grin. There was no trace of fear or despair left in his eyes.
“Ahh, geeeeez… Len always beating me to it again!”
Rin puffed her cheeks, like a little animal who had them stuffed full of food, and continued.
“It’s kind of embarrassing… But I’ve always really looked up to dolls. In this world, I can be a cute little girl forever! Isn’t that pretty great? I mean, anti-aging is an eternal problem for women. Oh, and miss crybaby Lady? You better stop worrying so much. The stress might add to your wrinkles.”
Rin winked at Luka with plenty of playfulness. Her lively voice called up a wind that blew away the heavy mood, and the despair slowly vanished from everyone’s faces.
“Rin…”
Luka, sobbing on the floor, quickly swept her hand to wipe her tears, and hid her eyes behind long eyelashes. Rin watched her closely with eyes of strong intent. Luka slowly stood up, put her right hand on her hip, and bending her head back slightly, looked down on her - her usual pose. With a bewitching smile on her lips, she shot a challenging gaze at Rin.
“Dear, isn’t it a bit too soon for a little doll to be speaking about anti-aging? Especially such a childish one who’s flat all over.”
“What’s that? Well, isn’t it true? And I don’t have a single wrinkle yet!!”
Meg intervened between Rin and Luka as they slid back into their usual attitudes.
“Aheeem, Miss Rin! I’ve always had the role of being the droll one who cheers the rest up! I feel like you keep snatching up the scenes where I’d have a chance to shine!”
“Huh?! Well, that’s because… You’re taking over Kaito’s job!”
“You two are just right back to normal, huh… How mean! Look, Mr. Kaito seems pretty glum right now, so I figured I had to be the one to seriously move things along! …In fact, I’ve been thinking, aren’t I the more charming character?”
Meg assumed a pose of slumped shoulders.
“We’ve returned to the usual hierarchy… Ah, this speedy recovery is truly magnificent!”
“…”
Rin folded her arms and turned toward Kaito with her eyes still closed, then turned to Len. Len sighed a little, then scratched his head and spoke.
“…We’ve basically made our lives on performing Burlet’s plays. For the Crazy ∞ nighT we created… we researched everything about where he lived, came up with an undeniably interesting script… thought of a perfectly dramatic way for it to be "found”… and almost miraculously, were able to select a lead that would paint it like a Cinderella story. We spared no expense creating a truly dramatic tale. We had regrets about it being sacrilege, and intended to carry the weight of that sin our whole lives… So we can’t regret this perfect story on which the troupe’s revival is riding. Except for one point… that we let her die.“
Len shot an aggressive glance, like an animal ready to jump at any moment, toward Kaito, whose eyes were still closed.
”…“
“You know, Kaito… None of us think you’re at fault. We chased after her in the first place because of that quarrel in the green room. And if you trace it back, it’s rooted in our forgi