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prologue
By Kouhei Kadono
Dengeki Bunko
publisher: Media Works
ISBN 4-8402-1035-7
550 yen
p. 9
......The sunset shines on the river running alongside the road. Two girls are talking as they walk home from school.
"Hm? Is that right?"
"It's true. There is not one single line in the Bible written about that."
"But isn't that what everyone's sort of saying is the theme of the whole thing?"
"Ms. Kirima-----wasn't it Seiichirou Kirima who said not to believe that sort of thing?"
"Well, that's true, but......Did Dad actually say that?"
"No, the professor didn't write that. I just read it in a book somewhere."
"Kazuko, you know, I think you are way smarter than my dad was, no question."
"......I, I'm not that smart. Anyway, so Cain killed his younger brother Abel, but he never felt guilty about it, and God forgave it......That's all that is written in the Bible. It doesn't have any of the lifelong shadow of inferiority like in the movie, East of Eden."
p. 10
"Wasn't it a symbol or something? That he was branded with?"
"Yes. At least that's how it was written."
"And so because of that, nobody gave him a hard time or anything?"
"That's where everybody is mistaken. The symbol God branded Cain with was so that 'no one shall harm him for the sin he committed. Whoever may cause injury to him shall receive in return retaliation sevenfold,' which basically means Cain was allowed to do whatever he wanted with the full permission of Heaven."
"So just like a vassal protected by the shogun."
"And what happened to Cain after that is also written down in the Bible. He built a town, lived happily with his family, and fostered huge growth in all the areas of the arts, agriculture, commerce, and industry. Or that basically, he was the pioneer of everything known as 'civilization'. So that would mean a guy who killed his younger brother out of jealousy, is our great founding father."
"......Is that, is that really true?"
"I'm telling you, that's all that was written."
"There's nothing about him being repentant? I know there was something said about him becoming a wanderer."
"All of that is an interpretation from later times. At any rate, even the whole 'everything in the Bible is holy' Church before the Middle Ages has interpreted in all sorts of ways that are now strictly prohibited, such 'God thought Cain should be made fully aware of his sin, and therefore made it so that he would come to no harm,' and other interpretations."
p. 11
"......Hm."
"But something about it just doesn't sound right......It just doesn't feel like it really happened."
"It doesn't, that's for sure. But, Kazuko, you're so, how do you say..."
"......Strange, maybe?"
"Yeah, very. You really like talking about this kind of stuff, don't you?"
"But I don't think I'm as strange as you? Ms. Fire Witch."
"Ha ha ha! That's true!"
"......Are there any other things, Doctor Suema, other worldwide misunderstandings that keep you awake at night?"
"Doctor......You know, I really don't like being called by that title."
"What do you expect? You're smarter than any average scholar. You're a goddess simply overflowing with intellect and knowledge."
p. 12
"......Are you making fun of me?"
"Yes."
"Stop it!"
"Ha ha, sorry, sorry. But seriously, is there anything else?"
"Hm, well......there is the story of that 'box'."
"Box? Is this a myth or something?"
"Yes. A story about a box that sealed away sin and misfortune."
"Oh, I've heard that one. In that story, the box was given to this girl, but because she was curious, she opened it and then afterwards everything was a mess, right?"
"Yes, that one. And when she panicked and closed the box, the last thing left in it was......"
"It was hope, wasn't it?"
"Don't you think that's strange? Why would hope be put together in a box with sin and misfortune?"
"That's true."
"Here too, there's that, how do you say, pattern of so many easy interpretations coming out that the true meaning has been misunderstood."
"Okay, so then what was the last misfortune left in the box?"
p. 13
"The future."
"--Huh?"
"Or to be more precise, it might be better to say premonitions or omens...... In short, the misfortune of knowing everything that's going to happen in the future."
"......Would that really be a misfortune?"
"But then that would mean you'd know everything that would happen, whether some hardship was awaiting you, or a sad farewell. If people could see everything, I don't think we could go on living."
"......"
"But, if we just seal away the future, then people could go on without losing the hope that 'something good will happen in the future.'"
"That's interesting."
"The name of the girl given the box was Pandora, which means 'one who was given everything'......"
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