Momotaro story ~nihilism~

 I, who was given the name Momotaro, am a meaningless existence. Picked up by an old couple and celebrated as a hero, I don't understand what it means. Good and evil, justice, wickedness—such concepts are nothing more than illusions created by humans.

I set out on a journey to Demon Island. However, my purpose is not to vanquish demons. I travel to confirm my own nothingness. The dog, monkey, and pheasant I meet along the way say they will accompany me. But they, too, are existences of nothingness. There is no meaning in living.

Arriving at Demon Island, I stand still before the demons. They look at me and laugh. "You are the same as us. A meaningless existence," they say. I agree with them. The distinction between good and evil is nothing more than a human conceit. Both demons and humans live in the same nothingness.

I draw my sword. However, it is not to slay the demons. I draw my sword to behead myself. If there is no meaning in living, then death, too, is meaningless. However, I choose nothingness by my own will.

The demons silently stare at me. They seem to understand my actions. I raise my sword and behead myself. There is no pain. Only a deep nothingness envelops me.

My body crumbles and lies on the ground. The demons say nothing, only stare. They, too, are existences living in nothingness.

On the ground, my body decays. But my soul dissolves into nothingness. Life and death, good and evil, everything is meaningless. Only nothingness exists forever.

The old couple is probably waiting for me. However, I will not return. Born from nothingness, I return to nothingness. That is my fate. The name Momotaro and the title of hero are all meaningless.

I smile in the nothingness. Living, dying, everything is meaningless. But accepting that meaninglessness may be proof of my existence.

Born from a peach, disappearing into nothingness. That is my story. A meaningless story, but a story only of me.