Book 1: Chapter 2

The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria

1^st Time

“My name is Aya Otonashi. I’m very pleased to meet you,” the transfer student said with a small smile.

23^rd Time

“I’m Aya Otonashi… Nice to meet you,” the transfer student said, her voice uninterested and emotionless.

1,050^th Time

“I’m Aya Otonashi,” the transfer student spat, sounding jaded and refusing to meet the gazes of her new classmates.

13,118^th Time

I look at the platform in the front of the classroom and see a new transfer student named Aya Otonashi, whose name I’ve never learned. “I’m Aya Otonashi” is the only thing she mumbles as she faces her schoolmates.

Her voice is so quiet, it’s as if she doesn’t care if anyone can hear her. All the same, her clear tones carry well.

—Yeah. I know her name. But of course, this is the first time I’ve actually heard it.

The class can scarcely breathe. Not because her curt self-introduction could barely be called a greeting, but because there’s something unearthly about this girl and her matchless beauty.

Everyone is waiting to hear what she’ll say next. The girl opens her mouth.

“Kazuki Hoshino.”

“…Huh?”

Why did she say my name? Every gaze in the classroom settles on me as if I’m going to tell them why. They can look at me all they want, but I’m just as clueless as they are.

“I’m here to break you,” the girl says suddenly. “This is the 13,118th time I’ve transferred. After so many occasions, I have to say that this is all starting to grate on me, which is why this time I’m spicing things up with a proper declaration of war.”

She fixates on me, unconcerned by the blank astonishment gripping the rest of the class.

“Kazuki Hoshino, I will make you surrender. It would be best if you offered what you value most to me immediately. There’s no point in resisting. Why, you ask? The answer is simple…”

Aya Otonashi’s lips curl into a smile as she continues.

“No matter how much time passes, I will always be right there with you.”