I walk endlessly down the hall in search of the voice that called me. Any sane person would run away. Wouldn't look back. But maybe…there is a witch, and she's the one who's calling out to me. Then again, any person with a brain would hit the high tail if they were to cross paths with a witch.
But I can't let Olympia down.
She's done so much for me; becoming bewitched by a witch is the least I can do for her.
So I press onward down the hall, the halls that seem to contain entrances to…classrooms?
Oh, now I know where we are.
Of course, there isn't a better place to search.
I tried the first door to my right. Locked. Or maybe not. It opened anyway.
I searched everywhere for the witch.
I ripped the posters. Scattered the flyers. I tried to shout her name, but the silence swallowed me whole.
And when I was done with this current room, I moved on to the next.
Anywhere this witch can hide, I will search. I won't leave a single inch of this school building unchecked.
As I walk the halls and scour the classrooms, I realize that perhaps the witch, the witch who replied to me, is not hiding within a classroom, but also in the lockers on the walls.
Thus, I open the lockers and take a glance within them.
Lockers tend to have locks. Yet each one opened, as if it wanted me to look inside
Alas, what I was in search of, what we were in search of, was not hiding in them.
The first floor isn't my only victim. I also check the second and third floors.
Nothing.
No one.
Just me.
This can mean only one thing.
The witch is a master of hide-and-seek!
Or maybe...I'm just not good at finding things.
There's this idea—what is it called again?
The Devil's Proof. Yeah, that's it.
You can't prove something doesn't exist.
Olympia could say the devil is real. All she'd have to do is point and say, "There it is."
But me? I'd have to search the whole world to prove her wrong. And even if I searched every corner, what if it was hiding just behind me the whole time?
What if the witch is hiding like that? Always just out of sight. Always just around the bend.
The more I don't find her, the more real she becomes.
So I keep going.
Where was I going with this?
Oh, right!
This witch that I've been searching for.
Just because I haven't found her in this school building is not proof that she doesn't reside here.
All it means is that I haven't found her.
So I must continue searching.
Even if it means wrecking this school, top to bottom.
Who would care if a few tables are thrown about, chairs are stacked upon each other until the top one touches the ceiling, or if there are a few shards of glass scattered on the floor?
It's all to further find this witch.
It's all to further find this thing Olympia has been in search of.
It's all for Olympia to ask the question that she wants to ask.
It's all for—
"Kiyomi. Kiyomi Otonashi. That's your name, right?"
I can't respond.
I had lost track of what I've been doing, and during my search, I found my way to the rooftop. I needed a catch of fresh air. What I was doing was no light work.
I look around, but see no one. But how can this be? The rooftop, unlike the inside of the school building, is not shrouded in darkness. The moonlight acts as a sort of stage light. So then, why can't I see the one who called out to me?
"Kiyomi, what is it that you most desire? What is it that you are in search of?"
What am I in search of? I'm in search of a witch.
No—
That's what Olympia is in search of.
As for me, what am I looking for?
What am I looking for that is just for me?
I don't know.
I hadn't given the idea any thought.
"I know what it is," the voice continues. I can't tell the gender of this voice; it sounds neither masculine nor feminine. Neither young nor old.
The voice sounds like the one that lives in my head.
If someone were to ask you to describe the sound of your conscience, how would you respond?
If you're a man, would you say masculine?
If you're a woman, would you say feminine?
I don't know how I would respond. My conscience sounds like—No. It's not worth trying to explain something that I can't.
"Are you unaware of the answer? Or perhaps it is something that you refuse to acknowledge? Why would that be? Oh, that's right. Because you know you're undeserving of what you seek. You know you have no right to have it, so you keep it locked away within the place where a normal person has their heart.
"You, Kiyomi Otonashi, are an existence that lacks what we call a heart. You refuse to face the truth and chase something. Not something specific. Just something.
"That is what most people refer to as a pitiful existence. You have no goal in sight, but still, you run, run, run. Upon a road with no end."
I can't respond.
I don't respond.
I don't move.
I can't—
"People like you disgust me."