"Luka? Is something wrong?"
"Huh? Oh... no. I just got a sudden headache..."
"Is that so? Are you not feeling well? I heard you were deeply focused on studying this morning..."
"Yes... I suppose so. I'm sorry."
"It's alright."
The nun closed the Bible with a gentle smile.
Thump, thump.
Luka could feel something beating violently inside her heart.
Her heartbeat...?
"Since it's your first day of class, we don't need to do anything in particular. Ah, this works out well. Shall we offer a prayer to God today?"
"Ah, yes...!"
Luka closed her eyes and offered her prayer.
"To the one and only God, the Great One, God ■■■■■, please bestow your mercy upon us today..."
The prayer words barely registered in her ears.
Even the name of God was unclear. It would be accurate to say that while she heard the sound with her ears, she couldn't comprehend what it was.
Due to the strange events happening one after another, Luka swallowed a dry gulp of nervousness.
Usually, that phenomenon would have seemed strange... but oddly enough, what was swirling in Luka's mind now was the single phrase from the Bible that seemed to shine alone.
After the prayer ended.
Fidgeting nervously, Luka eventually pointed to the Bible placed in front of the nun and asked.
"Um... Sister. Would it be alright if I took a look at this just once...?"
"Ah, you mean the Bible. You seem interested since it looks different from the one I gave you? This is the official version issued to nuns."
As she said, it looked much more elaborate than the one Luka received.
Honestly, that didn't matter at all. She just wanted to check the contents inside.
She thought there might be something different written in it than in hers.
However.
「You were not wrong」
No matter which page she opened, except for the first page, everything was blank.
Then what were the words the nun had been reciting... what was that?
"How is it?"
"Ah, um... y-yes, it's beautiful...!"
Though Luka couldn't hide her confusion, the nun paid no mind and smiled as she took back the Bible.
"The day will come when you'll understand too, Luka. That the true beauty of the Bible comes not from its appearance but from the contents it holds."
"I-is that so...?"
"Of course. Every single word in the Bible is―"
God is
―the word of God.
watching
you
"!!!!!!"
Huh?
What was that?
Just now, it seemed like a strange voice overlapped with the nun's voice...?
"Young lady? Is something wrong?"
"Huh? Ah... n-n-no..."
The nun stroked Luka's forehead with a worried expression.
"You seem to have a slight fever too... I suppose we should end here for today. We'll start memorizing Bible verses next week, so please be prepared by then. The real theology studies will begin after that. Understood?"
"Yes..."
* * *
For several days, Luka showed the Bible she received from the nun to various people.
The maids all recited the same verses the nun had spoken. As if it was perfectly normal.
Her parents asked if she wanted to become a nun when she grew up, saying they would support whatever she wanted to do. Of course, both parents also read the Bible verses normally.
Only.
Only I couldn't read the Bible.
No, I can read it. But― I read something different from everyone else. Only me.
Then one night.
It was a particularly sleepless night.
To begin with, Luka wasn't someone who fell asleep quickly. Whenever she lay in bed to sleep, something always felt empty.
This sensation of emptiness wouldn't go away no matter how much she stroked her head, even with her parents nearby.
Even considering that, tonight it felt especially overwhelming to meet the god of sleep.
The most dominant emotion Luka was feeling right now― anxiety.
The sensation that she might be thoroughly forgetting something.
The feeling that... she had forcibly hidden something wrong.
Compared to when she was younger and broke her father's precious pottery by accident, then hid it and locked herself in her room crying from guilt, this felt like forgetting something incomparably more important...
Thump, thump.
Her heart was beating violently.
Something kept shouting at her. Though she couldn't hear it.
Luka sat up in bed and checked the Bible again by the light of a small lantern.
The contents hadn't changed. You were not wrong.
"You were not wrong..."
The Bible's phrase manifests in the world through her lips.
And strangely enough― just by speaking it aloud, Luka could sense some mysterious power.
'The word of God.....'
Was what's written in the Bible from God... um... Lord ■■■■■...?
Anyway, if what's written in the Bible is God's word...
'Does "you were not wrong" mean... it's God's word?'
Then, what does it mean that I wasn't wrong...?
What am I right about?
―At that moment.
'...?'
Through the window that Luka had loved looking out of since childhood, an incredibly bright moonlight was seeping in.
At the end of the light was― a mirror. The mirror that had always been there.
Luka walked towards the mirror with heavy steps, as if being controlled by someone, without even realizing it herself.
And finally, when she arrived in front of the mirror.
"...huh?"
What greeted her was herself.
The mirror shows a reflection. Naturally, she should see her own image.
But it wasn't just that kind of thing.
Instead of the Luka standing here, wearing expensive pajamas and showing signs of growing up loved―
There was a Luka in shabby clothes, with a pained expression as if she hadn't eaten properly.
"!!!!!!"
At that moment.
Suddenly, the ground she was standing on began to shake.
Could it be... an earthquake?
Though it happened occasionally, Luka was just a 13-year-old child, too young to maintain composure.
"Wh-what is this...!! Mom!!! Dad!!!"
Her panicked calls for her parents lasted only briefly―
Luka realizes that something is fundamentally wrong.
Looking carefully, it's not the ground that's shaking.
The walls are shaking.
Everything except where she stands... is melting away.
The wallpaper. The dolls. The warm bed. The diary she had carefully written in, everything.
"Wh-what is this?! Help me! Help me!"
Though she screamed in terror looking everywhere... soon, the space became pitch dark.
The only thing remaining before Luka's eyes, the mirror.
And inside it, the unhappy-looking version of myself.
Before she could even think about what was happening―
'That voice' began to be heard.
<<
"!!!!"
From above... I hear a voice.
Someone from above... is watching me?
"Wh-who are you...?"
<<>>
―Nod nod.
All Luka could do was move her head while completely frozen-
'I-I shouldn't be scared...!'
I need to be brave. Dad said so. Courage is the virtue above all others...!
Luka lifted her head, and barely squeezing out the strength in her heart, said:
"If-if you're God's messanger... are you the representative of God ■■■■■?!"
<<
―That is not the name of God.
<<
'...!'
<<
I am, by God...?
<<
"God... wishes for my happiness?"
<<
Because God's will is your happiness.
"What...?"
Hearing those words, Luka froze, turning pale.
Wait a minute.
What do you mean you created a comfortable false paradise...?
Is the world I'm in... fake?
Instead of answering, God's representative only continued with what needed to be said.
<<
―are destined to never be happy, no matter what.
* * *
I want Luka to be happy― that is God's will.
The strong will of the real one and only God who watches over us.
Using the 「Omnipotent Power」 bestowed by God, we search and search again for every possibility of Luka becoming happy.
But it wasn't possible. It was like trying to resurrect someone who had already ascended to heaven after their life ended.
However, 'God's will' must be fulfilled no matter what. Therefore, the world's answer was derived―
―eternal promised happiness in a model garden.
A happy place without pain or sadness.
A loving father and wise mother, maid-sisters who are like family. A place where sad things never happen.
That was the only way for Luka to become 'happy'.
"Then that means..."
...everything is fake?
My mom and dad too?
The family I loved... were they all, all just illusory beings?
Luka collapsed right there.
Though it seemed nonsensical, somehow she could be certain.
That this being speaking to her now, God's representative, wasn't lying.
<<
"Yes...?"
<<
It's simple. If you wish, I'll send you back to the 'real world'. To that place where you cannot escape your harsh fate.
Of course, if you wish to remain in this world― at least your soul can find eternal peaceful rest in happiness, knowing nothing of the truth.
"You mean-"
<<
Luka bowed her head and pondered her answer.
Of course, she was thinking of going back. To where her parents were waiting.
If this was a dream, she planned to cry and cling to them, begging to sleep together.
But.
But, something kept.
The words 「You were not wrong」.
The constant feeling that she was forgetting something.
Luka slowly stroked her own head.
...No, this isn't right.
I was forgetting something.
Will I be able to know what it is if I go to the original world?
But... is that what's important?
'...Yes.'
Yes. This is a terrible nightmare.
When I wake up, I'll tell mom. That I had a dream about God's messenger.
Mom wasn't that religious, so she would worry about what kind of dream her child had this time. Luka really loved that warmth of her mother.
Dad is the same. Dad who always worries about me.
Always giving me his food even when we had nothing, constantly saying 'God is watching'――
'...Huh?'
Drip, drip.
Suddenly, tears like chicken droppings fall to the floor.
...Dad?
To me... to me...
Always saying that God is watching.
Saying that He sees all the choices I make... Dad.
Luka couldn't possibly find the confidence to properly explain her current feelings in proper sentences.
How could a 13-year-old girl explain feeling such intense longing when she didn't even know who she was longing for?
<<
"..."
Luka looked at her other self reflected in the mirror, then quietly closed her eyes.
Then stroked her head again.
Young miss, you always said that when I stroked your head, things like 'this doesn't feel right' or 'feels like I'm missing something.' I wondered if your long straight hair felt empty so I tried to help, how is it?
I...
Everything in the Bible, every single word is the word of God.
If what's in the Bible really is God's word―
Luka slowly stood up and directly faced the darkness above.
"...I want to return to the real world."
―I must not have been wrong.