Rintaro did his best to explain to the invisible listener.
“I think the power of books is that—that they teach us to care about others. It’s a power that gives people courage and also supports them in turn.”
Rintaro broke off for a moment, biting his lip.
“Because you seem to have forgotten,” he resumed with all the strength he could muster, “I’m going to say it as loud as I can. Empathy—that’s the power of books.”
His voice reverberated in the pitch-black space.
As the sound faded away, the air seemed to brighten, and before he knew it his vision was restored. Rintaro found himself back in the same strange replica of Natsuki Books. Beside him was the stool he’d been sitting on, and in front of him the sofa, the woman standing behind it as if she’d been there all along. The entrance door was still wide open, but the pitch-black passageway at the back of the shop was nowhere to be seen. There was nothing but a simple wooden wall. The three screens still showed the three men from the labyrinths and nothing had changed with them.
Was the walk through the passageway a dream? Rintaro could no longer tell for sure how much of this was true.
But one thing had changed. And that was Rintaro himself.
“I’m sorry,” he said with a bow of his head. “You told me to leave, but I can’t go yet. You haven’t given Sayo back.”
The woman didn’t answer. There was still no hint of any light or warmth in her eyes, just a chill enough to make anyone shudder.
And yet, Rintaro didn’t panic. His opponent was much greater than he was. And there was no way for him to express all his thoughts right away. But the fact that she had stopped and turned around to listen to him was significant.
“So many people are trying to destroy our precious books,” she said. “If books are destroyed, they lose their power. No matter how powerful they are, books are regularly locked away, cut up, sold off, and eventually die. And I’m sure in the future this will only continue.”
“Yes, but they won’t die out.”
At Rintaro’s gentle words, the woman’s hair seemed to quiver slightly.
“Even if you try to destroy a book, it doesn’t disappear that easily. Right now, in places all over the world, people have connections to books. The fact that you are here with me now is the best proof of that.”
The woman’s eyebrows moved ever so slightly in surprise. That was the first expression that had ever crossed her face.
There was a pause.
Then as if it had been waiting for a moment like this, a voice came out of nowhere.
“Well said, boy.”
It was a male voice, strong and confident.
Rintaro looked around the room, but there was no one there but the woman.
“I knew you had it in you! I’m impressed.”
Rintaro realized the voice was coming from his right and was startled to see the man on the screen smiling at him—the one from the first labyrinth. He was still sitting on his porch, sipping tea.
“You’ve nothing to lose, young man. Just be brave and shout it at her. Hey, you! You talk a big game, but you’re just sitting there looking down at the world and doing nothing about it. You’re the one resting on your laurels.”
The man looked amused at Rintaro’s shocked expression.
“Young man, it’s very difficult to get things to change. But you weren’t afraid to attack me with your best words. I owe you my thanks. Ever since, I’ve been discovering something new and surprising every day. As you said, I didn’t truly love books back then. Was surrounded by so many books that I’d failed to notice that within each one was a boundless world. That said, my biggest discovery has nothing to do with books at all.”