Who are you?

Part 38

It was the next day, and Shiori kept thinking about their conversation. After seeing Oni's reluctance to answer personal questions, Shiori changed the subject to a more general route.

She told him about herself, her travels, and her mission to find the meaning of peace. She didn't go into many details since she didn't want to bore him. Thankfully, Oni took immediate interest in the conversation and asked her a few questions that gave her something to think about.

"I'm just tired of seeing all the hurt. There are many natural causes for the hurt, such as sickness and accidents. It is inevitable for people to feel the pain and the hurt. People even hurt each other without meaning, too. But when there is so much of it already, why would people decide to actively hurt each other even more?" Shiori said.

She was tired of it, of all the pain and suffering. People were hurting so much. A thief steals some coins to survive, but it hurts the person who stole it from, who may have needed those coins just as much.

The world was a cruel place, and it was understandable. To survive, you had to be selfish. But how much pain was acceptable? Why those few coins may make a huge difference for someone who was barely making ends meet, it wouldn't even be noticed by a wealthy noble.

It wasn't a simple matter of wealth or deserving. It wasn't a matter of distributing the pain. There were many hard-working people who endured a lot of pain to get to a level of comfort, and it wouldn't be fair to them to lose their comfort just because others were in pain.

She really had no solution, and it frustrated her. Peace would not be as meaningful to her if only the wealthy thrived. But without wealth, many pains couldn't be prevented.

"Shiori-san. I want you to imagine being a god. A god who could enforce any rules on its subjects. Of course, people still have freedom of action, but they cannot break the rules you put in place and must endure it. What rules will you implement, and what would the world look like?" Oni asked, and as Shiori was thinking about the answer, he left.

Shiori had to head back to her room as well, but she didn't get much sleep. She had been thinking about it nonstop. It was certainly not an easy question to answer. Of course, if she were a god, she would enforce a lot of rules that were already laws.

Such as killing another person, harming others physically, and stealing. But she also knew there was much more to it than these basic rules. She could undoubtedly put a rule against lying, but would that be a good thing?

While it would certainly take a lot of hurt from people, there were situations where lies were necessary. A woman may be home alone at night and someone asks her where she lives. If she is not able to lie, that person will know exactly where she lives and stalk or harm her in some way.

Of course, one may say that she can simply not answer, but if omission is an option, people will just opt not to speak when they are asked questions, which can, in turn, cause more pain.

But lies were also a great source of hurt. So, shouldn't they be eliminated to have a better society?

She kept going through many scenarios of things she knew could cause pain. Still, the more she thought about it, the more complex it became, as many of the rules could affect each other.

It was frustrating for her, so she decided to go for a run around the temple to hopefully clear her mind. She grabbed some lighter clothes despite the colder weather.

Akira had recently given her some thicker clothing, but for this purpose, the lighter ones would do. She missed wearing her usual clothes but didn't want to stand out in the temple.