Zero, a comics writer and artist who often conceived of his conscience as an armadillo, recalled the moment he first encountered Alice. They were seventeen then.

Zero had few memories of childhood, but he recalled, with a faint amusement, a brief period when he was favored by his teacher during his eleventh year. Now, en route to retrieve Secco, he found himself struggling with a flat tire.

The memory of his tutoring sessions clung to Zero like a persistent shadow. Each recollection was a fresh wave of dread. He shifted his weight, a nervous habit, as he waited for Secco. "You know," he began, his voice low, "my insistence on …

The train journey to Biella stirred in Zero a memory of his earlier, precarious days seeking employment. He recounted the experience with a detailedness that seemed almost to unfold like a series of carefully constructed narratives, describ…

Zero was keenly aware of his inadequacy in matters of emotional comfort; even so, he recalled attempting to soothe Alice after her heartbreak. A subsequent meeting with a former student left him deeply unsettled.

In Biella, Zero wrestled with the unfamiliar terrain of grief, struggling to find purchase in his sorrow while Sarah sharply rebuked him for centering the pain on himself. The harshness of her words only deepened his internal turmoil. Soon …