Lonely Castle in the Mirror

by Mizuki Tsujimura

They want me to be how I was before

And what was so wrong with liking the rain?

School wasn’t a place where you could speak honestly.

schools, they’re regimented systems for people who prefer to go along with the crowd, and because everybody else is going.

If somebody manipulated your thoughts and feelings, would you still be the same person as before?

She’d done her best, in the hope of being granted a wish, but maybe she’d reached her limit. Maybe I’m just not cut out for it, she thought.

What made her happiest, and most relieved, was if they all left her alone. But she still wondered if it was going to be like this for ever.

We’re going to support each other. We’ll fight – together.

‘In the world where I’m playing, naturally I’m the hero, and nobody else is there, and in Aki and Subaru’s software I don’t appear. The same is true for everyone.

Some people would never understand each other.

The stronger ones could boldly attack her because they felt nothing they did was questionable.

She understood the fear. Not knowing what the future would be for her, not knowing how long she’d be like this. Seeing people who were moving on was enough to make her feel an excruciating pain in her chest.

I do have friends, she told herself. Even if I never make any more, I’ll know I did have friends. Right here. Right now. And I’ll have that for the rest of my life.

I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die – not yet. I haven’t done anything with my life.

Whether I have any talent or not – none of that makes any difference here. They’re all happy to know me.

Even I can see that if I stay here a moment longer, it’ll only cause you both more pain. And I feel the same way – I want to get away from you.

I kept well, but I wasn’t any use.

I can’t do this on my own any more. I’m sorry you got mixed up in this. I don’t want to go home. I don’t want to go on living. I just can’t bear it any more.

‘Whether you’re ordinary or not. It doesn’t matter.