Vol 4 Chapter 3 (1/2)

Symphony 3: Crybaby Joker

Every child in the depths of the alley had a great name There were five children naton, even tere called Hitler These powerful na in poverty, na them happiness in the future

Joker was also born in the depth of the alleyway

There were countless abandoned children in the ghetto, which were taken for granted in the dark corners of the prosperous country At least Joker's , and money, and named her child Joker after the ot from divination However, contrary to the clown on the card, Joker rarely laughed and didn't irl named Moon was one of the rare children she had a cordial relationshi+p with

Moon said: ”I will become the happiest person in the world”

Joker ignored all the children in the alley except her

Moon had unique eyes Some said her eyes were full of hope, soht her eyes were dangerous – like those of a wolf

”What's your dream, Joker?”

Moon, this girl with a her soul at both ends every second, only got a nonchalant reply from Joker

” Nothing” Joker replied with a dry and low voice ”I just want to live quietly”

That was the kind of child she was

Her father died

In fact, Joker only knew of her father's identity when he died

Her prostitute mother was the only person who stayed beside her from the moment she was born She never realized she had other relatives apart from her mother

Apparently her parents started arguing before she was born Although they did not divorce, they were separated - or rather, her mother left the house in a childish fit and started to live in the ghetto

Whether because of the argument or because she didn't like Joker, even her mother only cauilty about it

As such, Joker never had

She always felt there was a thin veil between the world and her

Life in the ghetto was very hard and sad Joy and happiness – such beautiful e to do with this place Here, one could spend one’s entire life in sorrow and pain

Would it feel like death if one lived without emotions?

She never really lived, therefore she couldn’t die just yet It was a miracle to be born into this world, therefore she believed she must feel happy at least once Wouldn’t it be a waste to be born, otherwise?

She didn’t want to die, but she wasn’t alive either

That was how Joker was as a child

… Her late father, who had a complicated relationshi+p with her mother, was apparently a priest at the local church and used to live in the grandiose building

Joker’s ht her back to live in that place after Joker’s father died, back to that earded as the home of happiness

Her mother was unemployed and drowned herself in pleasure with men

The holy residence of God was only a playground for her mother

Joker wanted to escape froetable, and she learned to live in the shadows She taught herself to read fro the only book in that place – the Holy Bible

She learnt to write according to God’s coood life, she would certainly be called to the side of the Lord, right? She wasn’t particularly touched, but her tears would not stop flowing Even if she died, she would never be able to attain Heaven – that was her belief Live a good life – what did that even mean?

There were little cubicles in the church called ‘confessionals’ for people to confess their sins to God, with a priest sitting inside speaking words of absolution and forgiveness, granting salvation to the penitent

However, ever since her father died, the church had effectively stopped functioning Even so, there were still ard travellers andered in So in the vicinity would come to the church every day as if it were a job, old ladies in particular

People would come in almost every day to talk about their troubles

Some said that they had sinned Some said they had discovered their evil natures Some said they had hurt someone else

It wasn’t just confessions There were more questions from these lost souls than their desire to repent

Soo when they died Some asked whether their souls would be saved Soiven

Joker was just a little kid in the depth of the alley She was not a priest or a nun, and she didn’t understand

Perhaps even God Himself wouldn’t be able to understand Human lives had no value here People died every moment as if they were trash If there were really souls, then Heaven would have been filled up long ago

The confessional was soundproof so she couldn’t hear the disgusting sounds her o there But there were equally repulsive hu salvation

God, please help me

God, please save me

God, please bless me

Who were they praying to? God did not exist here Joker, who lived here, knew this better than anybody

However, as a prank and also as a duty, Joker so to the words her father left behind She s ords such as “I forgive your sins’, and the people would leave with satisfied expressions on their faces What exactly was God doing? People were in such pain, and where was God, as He doing? Why did God never save us? Joker prayed everyday with her hands held up high like a nun Although she felt those who came to confess were foolish, they would feel lonely if God never ever replied, right? She could at least let them hear a voice to prove that there was a God, that there was so out there

But the people were never going to be saved

Joker eventually ot the life she led in the depths of the alleyway That hen the most perfect and most lonely man in the world appeared The man who stepped into the church – the htforward question as soon as he opened his mouth

“I want to ask if God really exists”

This question was far too serious Joker answered without thinking: “Maybe not –”

Do you know of the Tower of Babel?

You come from an island nation from the Far East, so you may not have heard of it – then what about Christianity? The Bible?

Do you know about the legend of Genesis?

You walk into a church where God is said to reside, and you doubt the existence of the God that watches over this place Your answer showed that you know nothing of God – you have a personality that is ant, than your looks

You don’t see apart from yourself

Anyways, the Tower of Babel was created by huain God’s blessing, they created a very tall toith bricks and bitumen in order to return to the sky

Mmm?

No, this is a legend

Yes, even children know that those Apollo space shuttles left the atmosphere and went into the sky and there was no Heaven up there

Mmm – anyways, in order to reach the realm of God, that of Heaven, people created a very tall tower in the legends

People had a coe back then They could coether without conflicts That was a language ue in the current world People could connect with each other just through talking They could understand each other and lived co

That hy God disrupted that language

God refused to allow these foolish hudoe to fall into confusion, which caused in-fighting and the eventual collapse of the Tower

We lost our coe from that day forth None of us could ever really understand what others dom had been forever lost

Do you understand, ht now If you walk too close to God, you’ll only be destroyed yourself