"Are you… crying? Are you okay? Kiyomi, right? Kiyomi Otonashi. What's the matter? You seemed like you were in your head, having a daydream. I tend to daydream frequently, but not to the same extent as you were right before. You seemed so out of it, but once I crouched right before you, you burst into tears. I'm honestly a little scared right now.
"But I'm not scared of you. I'm scared for you. You seem like, at any second, you can break. What's the matter? No matter how embarrassing or troubling what you are struggling with is, you can open up to me. People tend to think I can give good advice, but that's not true. I'm crappy with words, but I'll do whatever I can to help.
"Not going to budge, huh? Well, how about this?
"Salty.
"That's something I made up. If you grab someone's tear and lick it, the emotion that brought about that tear will be strengthened. But that's what you do when someone cries due to joy.
"But if the emotion that brought about the tears was negative, once the tears are in your mouth, you must concentrate as hard as you can, wishing that that person will stop crying due to sadness, and become filled with happiness.
"Would you mind if I ramble? Maybe it'll distract you from whatever is troubling your mind. Oops—Maybe I shouldn't have said that out loud…
"Anyways, Kiyomi, do you wish to never get sad? Do you wish to experience nothing but happiness? Most people desire these things. But nothing lasts forever. That happiness that we experience is only for a brief moment. Conversely, the despair that we experience is only for a brief moment.
"Throughout life, we experience countless emotions. Some that are easy to describe. Some things that we are incapable of putting into words.
"But all in all, those emotions don't last forever. But we are constantly experiencing emotions, whether we're conscious of it or not. Our brain is always active. Even in sleep, it works. Our hearts may not be any different. Our hearts are pumping blood as long as we are alive. Our courage may not be any different. Living is frightening, petrifying even. Yet, we continue to take steps toward the future.
"Within the boundless sphere of eternity, everything dissipates into the endless void, but somewhere, where matter doesn't matter—and mind doesn't mind—-echoes a sound that rings for eternity.
"No matter how ephemeral it is, no matter how ephemeral we are, we matter.
"The Brain—is wider than the Sky—
"For—put them side by side—
"The one, the other will include—
"With ease—and you—beside—
"The Brain is deeper than the sea—
"For—hold them—Blue to Blue—
"The one, the other will absorb—
"As sponges—Buckets—do—
"The Brain is just the weight of God—
"For—Heft them—Pound for Pound—
"And they will differ—if they do—
"As Syllable from Sound—
"That's a poem that someone I hold dear shared with me. I tend to think about it whenever I'm feeling bad.
"Human beings are such fragile beings. We can die at any moment. The world can end at any moment. The universe can stop running at any moment. Humans aren't infinite like a God. But an all-powerful, all-mighty, and all-knowing God can never experience the beauty of life. That Strong God is perfect. That Strong God is incapable of understanding. That Strong God is unable to love others.
"But it is because we are flawed, finite, and fallible that we can absorb all that the world has to offer.
"My mind consumes the sky up above, with all the stars scattered throughout—
"My mind consumes the ocean right in front of me, with all the tiny droplets of water that make that ocean an ocean.
"My brain is just the weight of God, but not as infinite.
"Flawed.
"Finite.
"Fallible.
"There's so much I can learn. I'm not even sure if my brain can contain everything there is to know. But it doesn't have to do that; I don't have to do that. I don't need to know the number of droplets of water that make up the ocean. I don't need to know how many stars are sprinkled within the sky. I don't need to be God.
"What I have is tiny, dismissible. But it's all I have. I've accepted that, and I'm grateful for that. I can't imagine a world where what I have doesn't belong to me. I can't imagine a world where the person I consider to be Olympia Ventura isn't me. I don't have to. All I know is all I know, and that is everything.
"Sometimes, I'm uncertain whether or not I have a brain. I mean in a sense that I have something that belongs to me that decides what actions I take. It's as if what I'm experiencing, what I'm doing, isn't because of me, but because of some external force. Maybe I don't have any control over what I'm doing, and I'm blindly following along with fate. But fate doesn't matter. I chose to approach you because I wanted to, not because I was meant to. I wanted to get to know you, Kiyomi Otonashi. I'm happy with the number of friends I have, but I want to be selfish; I want to have more.
"So, Kiyomi, enough crying. We're going to fix your problem at the root. Tell me: what is troubling you? Did you do something bad? Did someone do something bad to you? Is someone going to do something bad to you?
"Hmm? No? That's not it. Is it something far worse than what I suggested? Well, whatever it is, let's tackle it facing forward together!
"The journey to live happily is treacherous. At times, you'll want to give up. At times, you will give up. But you can always get back up and begin to walk again. Until it's too late, it's never too late. We're too young to be thinking about things such as "too late" anyway. There's so much ahead waiting for us. Let's take that next step, towards our happy ending.
"Even if it hurts—
"Even if that peak at the end of the hill seems like an eternity away—
"We'll get there—
"Believe me!"
And like that, I get up off my ass—