It was

over in an instant.

Let me

begin with an excuse. I tried to save him. My cla.s.smate was before my eyes,

descending into depravity, and I tried to enlighten him and set him back on the

right path.

But

Masato Yahara tried to kill me. I didn't understand why. I extended the helping

hand that he so desperately sought, but not only did he brush it away, he tried

to consume to sate his hunger. I had no idea that such a person could even

exist.

It was

over in an instant. I was versed in self-defence, so in an instant I reversed

the hand he was holding his knife in. Although I didn't mean for it to, the

blade struck his heart fatally.

The

scent of rusted iron, which already pervaded that abandoned factory, grew even

stronger. With a look of anguish on his face, Masato Yahara collapsed.

It was

the worst outcome imaginable.

—Why

did this happen?

—Such a

thing shouldn't happen, should it?

—What

will become of me now?

I

blocked off my sight.

I

rejected the world.

I

refused to accept reality.

White.

White.

White.

People

only hear what they want to hear. And every solution they come up with is

opportunistic.

I

simply decided to surrender myself to a world of opportunistic.

I would

simply forget all the inconvenient truths.

3, 2, 1

—— And lo, they're gone.

Now

then, why did I stab Masato Yahara to death?

It

wouldn't do for it to have simply been a coincidence. It had to have been

necessary, it had to have been just. I never made a mistake. I wasn't in the

wrong — which meant that Masato Yahara must have been. Masato Yahara's death

was necessary; killing him had been just.

It had

to be that way.

That's

right… I had called Masato Yahara a monster, hadn't I? That's right, that's

right! Just as he had tried to kill me, he was a monster who could only affirm

himself through killing others. If I hadn't killed him, innocent lives would

have been lost!

Was

there any problem with me killing a man like that? Of course not. It was an

unavoidable measure, like shooting a bear before it can eat people. Somebody

had to do it.

The

events before my eyes were moving in slow motion. In this closed world, the

concept of time was ambiguous, and all that thought could be accomplished in a

moment.

Now

then, time for the reception.

What I

accepted into my field of view was a world that was amiable to me.

I

looked down upon Masato Yahara.

"Now you can get out of here, hm… On that

point alone, we are of the same opinion."

He gazed at me with eyes full of hate.

"Your life has no value... or rather, you're

like a vermin that deserves to die."

Indeed. That was my reason for killing Masato

Yahara.

That would do fine.

But I probably realized it even then.

Such a world could be popped

more easily than a soap bubble.