VOLUME#1 - PROLOGUE

"Heroism was never a theme, my dear friend. The story, this storyteller dictated to you, is in, no way, meant to induce your heroic insides. But this dying corpse, who followed the Will, and has been able to pay off his debts, can give his assurance regarding a certain statement - That if you heard the tale, you know WHAT TO DO. Additionally, since you had the utmost displeasure of hearing me, in addition to this tale of humanity, XX-san, I also assure you, that you also certainly know – WHAT NOT TO DO."

How fortunate! How fortunate was I to be able to see that wonderful person, who now knows which path to walk on. Father, look at him, he is one of the many wonderful beings I ever had the pleasure of seeing. The cherry blossoms, showering behind him, how very beautiful! It is just as you taught me, dear father, it is just as you taught me! The world is filled with beauty, and filled with beauty are the beings who LIVE! Passionate are those brown sparrows flying towards the skies to fetch nutrition, as they move through the flying pink sakura petals. Admirable are those squirrels, roaming behind this human, and showing interest in the corpse which is me. How virtuous is this dog, who is trying to direct precious emotions at me, even though it will result in nothing.

"Shiroyama-san, can I ask something?", the man was wearing a blue shirt, tucked neatly inside his brown coloured trousers. It made him almost overlap with the portion of sky behind him. The metal railings were near to us, beyond which was the town of Karuizawa. It was made for security reasons.

"You can ask, XX-san. You can ask. And you can ask anything. Who am I to give you permission? Until I rot away, I am the storyteller, and am responsible to provide you with advice. But......."

It appeared to me that the "But" was rather intriguing to him......as the tears that were falling on my face which was facing the sky, suddenly stopped at the bottom of his eyes. He was still smiling, and that reassured me. Even lifeless me knows, that this person now KNOWS. He may have pretended not to know in the past, but now he doesn't. He now knows the value of humanity, he now knows the path of satisfaction, he now knows what to seek and he now knows, THIS TALE OF HUMANITY.

And along with him are many others whom I had the pleasure of interacting with, and all of them, each one of them, had felt it. All of those wonderful people realized their wonderful virtues and are now, giving shape to this magnificent world. And all of them, got affected by this tale.

********

"The tale of darkness, but also, of the brightness that lies beyond,

The tale of misjudgments, but also of amendments,

The tale of cruelty, but also of revolution,

The tale of eternal sufferings, but also of assurance,

The tale of derangement, but also of modification,

The tale of destruction, but also of construction,

The tale of eternal deterioration, but also of never ending improvement,

The tale of random decisions, but also of directed hardwork,

The tale of hierarchy, but also of true equality,

Welcome, to this tale of humanity's relationships,

Welcome, to the grand tale, of THE ANTONYM OF FRIENDSHIP."

-Shiroyama Seniichi, The AoF storyteller