PrologueEven at a young age, Sai Akuto had felt somehow out of sync with the world.
He was an orphan. That alone had a good chance of giving him a personality that did not adapt to his surroundings well, but with Akuto, it came from a more fundamental aspect of his personality.
A gentleman had once visited the orphanage he lived in. The gentleman’s appearance was more than enough to know he came from an excellent family and was financially wealthy, but he showed no hint of being prideful about it. His speech made it abundantly clear that he had a personality overflowing with kindness and it seemed that donating money for orphans was a natural thing for him.
“I just so happened to be pa.s.sing by when I learned this is an orphanage. I could hardly ignore it. If it is not a bother, I would like to make a donation.”
Akuto was the one receiving the gentleman who smiled and removed his hat. Akuto was a precocious child who was known for being too clever for his age, so the teachers would let him receive any visitors when they were busy.
“Thank you very much, mister. We truly thank you. I will call for someone who can handle that for you, so please wait here a moment.”
Akuto was not simply saying what he had been taught to say. His words of thanks were his own. The gentleman seemed incredibly moved to see someone as young as Akuto speaking so smoothly.
“This is a surprise. What a well-mannered child. How about I hand the donation to you? You can then pa.s.s it on to whoever is in charge.”
The gentleman must have prepared his donation before knocking on the orphanage door because he pulled a white envelope out of his inner coat pocket and handed it to Akuto. The envelope was heavy, so Akuto could tell it had a large sum of money inside. When the gentleman saw Akuto’s look of surprise, he smiled kindly and nodded.
“Thank you very much. We cannot give you anything in return, but at least give everyone the opportunity to thank you directly. If you can come in and wait, I will call for everyone,” said Akuto as he bowed deeply.
“No, that is not necessary. I have merely done what is completely natural for a follower of the G.o.d Ko Ro. Do not thank me; thank my G.o.d.”
With that humble comment, the gentleman put on his hat and began to leave.
“Please wait. I would rather thank you than your G.o.d,” said Akuto.
The gentleman stopped and stroked the edge of his hat with a gentle expression.
“You must not. I have done nothing. This is the benevolence of G.o.d. It was all thanks to my G.o.d leading me to this place.”
Those words were not an attempt to hide his embarra.s.sment. The gentleman’s tone of voice made it clear they were rooted in his deep piety.
If he had been speaking to a normal child, this would have ended as nothing but a good memory for the orphanage.
However, he was speaking with Akuto.
“The G.o.ds are nothing but systems, so thanking them would change your kindness into nothing but selfishness. That is why I cannot thank your G.o.d. I wish to simply thank your kindness,” said Akuto.
He truly was too clever for his age.
It was true that the G.o.ds of this age were nothing more than control systems that recorded people’s actions in order to provide social services.
However, since everyone had their everyday actions recorded, they were required to take actions in accordance with what was defined as “correct” in order to be given a better life. This had led to a situation where even very educated people fell into blind faith or religious zeal. It may have been that piety could not be controlled by reason, but Akuto did not fully understand that.
“Do not be so rude! G.o.d will punish you for this! The G.o.ds exist and have wills of their own, so it is only natural to thank and fear them! And that creates solidarity between believers. Now apologize to G.o.d!”
The gentleman approached Akuto while filled with emotion.
Akuto could not see how the gentleman’s thinking made any sense whatsoever.
“I cannot apologize to something that does not exist.”
“What a horrible child! I fear what will happen to you in the future! How can you even think of opposing the G.o.ds!? This is why you are an orphan.”
The gentleman looked at Akuto with a look of contempt.
Akuto was shocked. He was not so much shocked at the contempt as he was that a man he had thought was such a good person could say such discriminatory things.
“Have you fallen so far into your belief in a system created by humans that you have no idea what horrible things you are saying?” asked Akuto in a trembling voice.
“Give it a rest! Everyone believes in it, so what does it matter!? And are you really going to oppose someone who is willing to give you money!?”
At this point, the teachers noticed the gentleman’s shouting and dragged Akuto away. They bowed down to the gentleman, somehow managed to get the donation out of him, and had the other orphans sing for him. In the end, the gentleman left in a good mood.
One male teacher sighed, turned a bitter smile in Akuto’s direction, and spoke with a slight tone of amus.e.m.e.nt.
“You know, there are times when you need to bow down in apology even when you are right.”
The teacher did not expect Akuto to understand. However, Akuto fully understood yet still shook his head.
“I will make sure I never have to do that. I just have to be someone important, right? If I can do what is right at a time like this, nothing could be easier.”
The teacher’s eyes opened wide.
“Then I hope you become someone truly important. But it will not be that easy.”
The teacher’s words seemed to drift into the distance and Akuto finally realized this was a dream. He had been recalling something from the past.