A Commonplace Book

Kiriyama: So, you save the whole forest. You're only doing it for yourself. Good for quiet walks in the woods? What good is that? People only think of themselves. So self-serving. It's a complete mess. My goal is to restore the rules of the forest. Which are probably the rules of the world. See what I mean? For that, you need force. Which is why I need you. Don't tell me you came to these woods looking for freedom.

Yabuike: No. Of course not.

Freedom's just another disease. A truly healthy human longs to obey. You understand. You're a cop.

Yabuike: If you had to choose between one special tree and the whole forest, which would you choose? It's a very difficult question. But there is really only one answer. Both have to survive. The will to live and the will to kill are the same. So your sister says. So, what to do? If one lives, the other dies. If both try to live, both may die. There is no right answer. Or rather, the problem is in the way the question is posed. Both are trying to live so both should live. That's the way things are. If each kills the other, it means extinction. That's also how things are. But that would mean chaos. Kiriyama says that rules and force can prevent that. That was my line of work. I did it without a second thought. But I finally understand. I'm fine just as I am, an average man. That's plenty. There weren't any special trees and there wasn't any whole forest. Just a lot of average trees, growing everywhere. That's all there ever was. [a tree falls over.]

Chizuru: Then, what is it that you're trying to do?

Yabuike: Letting some live, killing others. Just the way things are.