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The PLAYGROUND stands still among the trees.
Birds chirp.
The wind blows gently.
And Mari stands by my side.
“You know, Omori, there are many things in life that shouldn’t be done.
Things that could change your life forever.
Lines that should never be crossed.”
Far off, the crashing of waves can just barely reach my ears.
The reverberating footsteps of decay’s endless march.
What would I know of that?
“Here. Come with me.
…
Life has a lot of those. The lines, I mean. Taboo which should never be infringed upon.
I mean, of course. Irreversible things are bad exactly for that reason. They’re irreversible.
So often have I dreamed that one day a genie comes around and blesses me with the ability to reverse time.
But I can’t.
And nor can you- or at least as far as I know~”
She giggles to herself.
Above, strangled between the tall trees, OTHERWORLD dangles gently above like the ornaments above a baby’s crib.
“But well…
Sometimes you don’t get a choice.
Or at least you don’t think you do.
I mean, we can’t always be perfect can we?
All that there is to be done is to try our best and fly as close to perfection as we can.
Though, the world isn’t perfect.
You can’t just tack on that dumb little phrase to everything.
And sometimes perfection can’t even be enough for you.
And everyone who seems completely perfect is obviously just lying.
Everyone has skeletons in their closet.
All the lines they’ve crossed.
So…
What makes some people more perfect than others?”
The starry sky is now smothered by the dense foliage.
It’s darker now.
I mean.
I wouldn’t know, really.
Maybe they’ve made less mistakes?
“Omori~ Don’t tell me you think it’s just because they make fewer mistakes!
Were you even listening~?”
Mari giggles again.
“Well, I guess an answer is an answer!
But anyways, the answer I was thinking of is that… Well…
Oof, this one’s gonna be a doozy.
Here, let's put it like this.
Come on Omori, hurry up! We don’t have all day!”
The forest turns to a blur as trees leisurely pass by.
Though soon, they open themselves up revealing a black and white tapestry hanging far above our heads.
And in the opening, a small pond lay with a statue sitting in the middle within it.
“Isn’t it beautiful, Omori?”
The sky changed.
“The view is just so beautiful… So much so you could maybe call it… Perfect?”
Standing just before the water, she winks.
“But even so… Somehow it’s not.”
A bloodstained, shattered clock.
“Do you remember how earlier, I said there are lines that should never be crossed?”
It ticks, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow.
“But what if… What if crossing those lines and making these mistakes are still worth it to try?”
One tick back, two ticks forward.
“It could lead to irreversible damage. Lives being destroyed. Relationships shattered. To you feeling the worst you ever have and could.
And yet. What if it’s still worth it to try?”
Not a march forward, but a great parade.
“Tell me, Sunny. Are you willing to try?”
Upon its strike of twelve, it might be right just twice.
“Not just for you, but for everyone else.”
Is twice not enough?
“And for me.”
Who need read the time more than twice?
“You know, if you go through with it you’ll never be able to go back, right?”
Hour, minute and second caught in an endless sonata.
“But you don’t care, right Sunny?
Of course not, you’re my little brother!”
Chipping away at all I could hope to know.
I reach out my hand, and the father touches it.
“That’s your key to this world, you know? If things go wrong, you won’t even be able to come back here.
Come back to me.”
The knife plummets blade first into the water.
“Oh who am I kidding, this place isn’t perfect.
Even here you know you can’t run away from it.
And anyways, when you do cross that line…
I’ll be right here.
Right by your side.
Shall we go then, little brother?”
She gives me a smile.
And in her embrace, we plunge into the glass between all and nothing.
The clock ticks forward.
Once.
Twice.
I open my eye.