S1010B

I have personally confirmed her death 3 years ago. They will not hear any new Voice from her again.

... Did you really do it, Meursault?

As the manager and the rest were all present at the court for the trial and the sentencing, I don't suppose there is any need for further elaboration.

Hm... I don't feel the need to question him further. I'm sure he must've had a reason for committing such an act.

Correct.

<But we only heard that through the prosecutor's argument.>

<We'd like to hear your side of the story, Meursault.>

Strictly speaking, the prosecutor took no liberty with the truth of the matter.

Perhaps, but it was plain to see that she did take quite a bit of liberty with the interpretation of it. She painted a picture of a remorseless murderer who has committed the heinous sin of matricide.

If "matricide" is to be defined as an act of murdering one's own mother,

then there is no reason to deny her accusations.

…….

An awful incident. Awful.

It was what all N Corp. newspapers talked about for a good while.

Did you know? That incident even led to a total sales boom in the familicide genre of Canned Experiences.

It was around then that cracks appeared on the Grand Magasin's walls... when the customers stopped rising after they fell and hit rock bottom.

Though a Giant had disappeared, her appropriate replacement just could not be found.

Do you think any of them has caught on to the fact that, for almost several years now on the outside, the "Voice" they've been worshipping and longing for...

... was a corpse all along?

It's like people can't bear to live without believing in something, even in a place like this where the very idea of faith has next to no significance.

How about you? Look back on all those years you've lived outside the Grand Magasin, and tell me if you've ever held such faith in anything.

In the past, I had believed myself to be someone who would never take a step outside N Corp.

I once had faith in that idea.

Same here. But that's not exactly "faith," is it? It's just something that's been naturally ingrained in the residents of N Corp.