Questioning

"The King of Absurdity told me." Ron stirred his coffee with a teaspoon.

"He entrusted me with containing the prisoners who escaped from 'Paradise.' You are one of them."

"'Containing'..."

Norman put on his glasses and shook his head. "What a euphemism."

"Wouldn't 'arresting' be more accurate?"

He lifted his coffee cup and took a sip. "However, Associate Professor Ralph, you seem to have gotten one thing wrong."

"The first batch of us, strictly speaking, did not 'escape.'"

Norman looked out the window. "The 'End of Death' released us of its own accord."

"It left no compulsory orders on us, planted no hidden measures, and did not even make any demands..."

"It simply opened the prison door, then said: 'Go do what you want to do.'"

This information made Ron frown slightly.

The End of Death's intentions were perhaps far more complicated than he had imagined.

"Then..."

He slowly said, "What you want to do is reveal the historical truth?"

"No."

Norman shook his head. "What I want to do is complete my obsession."

"Is there a difference?"

"Of course there is."

Norman set the coffee cup back on the table, his fingers gently rubbing the rim.

"'Revealing the truth' is only the means. 'Completing my obsession' is the goal."

"Do you know what supports a person through survival in despair?"

His voice grew distant. "Hope."

"But after hope has been shattered too?"

Norman looked at Ron. "All that remains is obsession."

"I stayed in 'Paradise' for eight hundred and thirty-seven years."

"For the first three hundred years, I still held on to hope—hope that someone would discover the truth, hope that someone would clear my name, hope that one day I would see the light of day again..."

"But three hundred years passed, and nothing changed."

There was a