The next day, that is, the morning of the third day since Kino entered the country.

Kino and Hermes were waiting by the hotel lobby when,

“Good morning. Thank you for waiting.”

A man came to them and said this softly.

He looked to be around forty. He wore a business suit and tie, a rather orderly appearance among the simply-garbed populace of this country. He carried with him a wooden box.

A hotel employee brought out tea for two, and left just as silently as he had come.

“I believe you found yesterday’s events surprising. I am grateful that you gave us a chance to explain.”

The man, with an unreadable expression on his face, began his explanation with these words.

Kino spoke, “It’s a pleasure, it saved us a great deal of trouble by coming here yourself to enlighten us. As we are outsiders, we really don’t have any say even if you make us leave the country without telling us anything.”

“That’s right. This country must have its own issues after all,” Hermes added, and the man, still as inexpressive as before, mildly refuted,

“And we, for that matter, can’t do anything even if you began to spread rumors that we are a barbaric country that sedates and abducts children. That is, if we do not clarify matters.”

“I see.”

Kino and Hermes answered at the same time.

“Now then,” the man began. “The actions the couple took yesterday must have been very baffling to you, Kino and Hermes. However, in this country, what they did was truly appropriate. That’s because…”

The man paused for a moment. And then,

“In our country, love is prohibited by law.”


—

“Love is… prohibited?”

“That’s right.”

“Why? And, how?”

“Of course. I’ll explain things as we go along.”

He answered Kino and Hermes’ questions without hesitation, and continued with his explanation.

“In our country, all acts of love are prohibited. Simply put, it is not allowed ‘to like or be fond of another person’. Now, is there any need for me to explain why people harbour this feeling called ‘love’ for another?”

“Um…”

While Kino pondered, Hermes flat out declared,

“That’s simple. Because humans are living things, they need to produce offspring. Males and females can’t be together if there’s no attraction between them.”

“Exactly. That’s very perceptive of you, Hermes.”

“Yay, I was praised!”

“Then… that makes it harder to understand why love would be outlawed.”

As Kino expressed her honest thoughts, Hermes once again remarked,

“Yeah. It’s really weird. —If that’s the case, how on earth could this country’s people have descendants?”

The man answered with a small nod.

“We’ll get to that later. —But first, let me tell you the reason why love is prohibited in our country.”


—

The man spoke in with utter composure.

“To begin with, love is a ‘condition that makes one deviate immensely from a composed state of mind.’ In order to leave behind offspring, animals are forced to work towards getting a partner of the opposite sex. It is a so-called instinct. But frankly speaking, it’s just barbarity.”

“Okay…”

“Uh-huh! And then?”

“About a hundred years ago, a certain scholar discovered a theory governing love. It was an event that catalysed an extensive reform in our country’s ways. That theory is called the ‘Four-Year Love Principle’.”

“Huh?” Kino who did not understand the man’s explanation, tilted her head.

“Four-year what?” Hermes asked, just as confused.

“To put it simply, the ‘Four-Year Love Principle’ states that love between human beings lasts for a mere four years. —Most animals, not just humans, reproduce through male-female interaction. And after copulation, animals protect their young until such time when they are ready to be separated from their parents. Am I making sense so far?”

“Yes.”

“Yup.”

“We can say that the interval of time wherein a male and female stay as a ‘couple’ in order to protect their offspring is an important phase. It is an instinct for animals; a behavior that is carved deep someplace in their being. And so, the ‘Four-Year Love Principle’ tells us an aspect of this instinct that, too, exists in humans. To be exact—”

To make his point clear, the man raised his fingers, counting as he explained.

“The encounter between a man and a woman, intercourse, and childbirth takes about one year. Then, rapid brain development is completed in about three years. That’s a total of four years—four years for human beings to efficiently leave behind excellent progeny. This period is that indispensable ‘couple’ phase for humans.”

“Ah, so this ‘four-year love principle’ is just saying that humans fall in love for four years in order to keep a man and a woman together during that period, right?” Kino said.

The man gave her a firm nod.

“Precisely. During this phase, an abnormal mental state kicks in that makes a couple desire each other so much that they consider even their partner’s shortcomings as virtues. It is from this behavior that sayings like ‘love is blind’ or ‘love makes pockmarks appear to be dimples’ originated. A simpler explanation would be, ‘love makes one go crazy’.”

“That’s a terrible way to put it,” Hermes mumbled. The man continued,

“And after four years, they return from their madness and regain their true selves. Sure enough, statistics show that majority of couples divorce after four years. The scholar advocated that there is a certain meaning to the fact that love between humans lasts no longer than four years. And that is gene diversity. Are you aware of the concept of ‘genetics’?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Kino answered.

“Gene diversity is higher between siblings from different fathers or mothers than between siblings born from the same parents. It only means that switching to different partners after a child reaches three years of age in order to produce another child with a different set of genes is the appropriate strategy for the survival of a species,” Hermes elaborated.

The man nodded.

“Yes. For thousands of years, human beings have lived—no, survived—by leaving offspring with diverse genes each time they are taken captive by this abnormal mental state called ‘love’ every four years.”

“I see.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Good. But in these modern times, there is no need to carry on with this practice anymore. I don’t know about other countries, but here, you can only have a child with the person you have married. Changing partners every four years is now pointless. Due to the advancement in the field of medicine, it is no longer necessary to pursue genetic diversity.”

“Well, I suppose so.”

“Divorcing every four years sure sounds troublesome.”

“Indeed. So if that’s the case, what should be done? How can we triumph over our instincts? After wracking our brains for the answer, the basic solution we came up with is, to outlaw love.”

“In short… to forcibly prohibit mutual attraction between men and women?” Kino asked.

“That’s right,” the man readily affirmed. And then,

“With this, all problems are solved. That barbaric way of humans losing their self-control to produce and raise children only to come back to their senses after four years, can become a mere remnant of the past.”

“That sounds great!” Hermes said, sounding pleasantly surprised.

“Okay…, but how?”

“The easiest way to put it would be, by giving them medicine,” the man answered. “I’ll make the explanation simpler. When a person is in love, the body produces a variety of chemicals in the brain. These are very potent substances. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to call them ‘drugs’. These chemicals distort a person’s judgment, making them desire a partner no matter what. And if one can’t attain this goal, all the more will the desire increase, creating a frightful mental state. The reason for the existence of those that chase around people, kill, or kill themselves because they cannot find love, are these chemicals.”

“So… you mean you stop the effects of these ‘brain drugs’? How…?”

“Poison to fight poison?”

The man nodded to Hermes’ words.

“Yes. Chemicals can deal with other chemicals. It took us thirty years to develop a medicine that can thoroughly counteract these drugs in the brain. By administering the medicine regularly, people can constantly preserve their stable mental state.”

“And you make everyone take this medicine?”

“Of course. And hence, just by taking this ‘poison’ like any other medicine, there’s not a single worry that the law will be violated. And not one ever went against this law. For several decades, there wasn’t a single person who was found guilty of violating it.”

“Aha! Now I get it!” Hermes’ exclaimed. “That girl yesterday was about to break the law! She was falling in love for the first time! She’s in her puppy love stage!”

“Oh,” Kino muttered inadvertently.

“That is indeed the case. I wouldn’t expect any less of you, Hermes. Truly impressive,” the man praised, his face still revealing no expression. And then,

“Most of our citizens know nothing about ‘love’. That’s because the medicine is usually administered as early as ten years of age. But in extremely rare cases, there are people who can overcome the medicine’s effect. The brain drugs are a little too active when one is young. This is a phenomenon that is more likely to occur during the so-called ‘first love’. It is certain that the girl yesterday has experienced this phenomenon.”

“To her, Kino must have seemed to be a knight in shining armor… erm, at least for four years. But is it really okay not to explain things from our side? Kino, she has mistaken you for a guy, you know?”

Kino only shrugged her shoulders quietly.

Finding no particular importance to this matter, the man only continued his explanation.

“It seems like the child only stared at Kino and kept quiet the entire time. During that interval, two chemicals must be fighting each other inside her head. And the evil chemical must have won that battle. Sedating the child was the most appropriate way of dealing with the situation. As long as one is prepared there is no need to worry.”

“So parents with children of marriageable age are supposed to carry something like that all the time, eh? That must be some work,” Hermes commented in amusement.

“Then—” Kino tilted her head. “We now know why and how love is prohibited here. And yet, there are still couples and children in this country. How did everyone manage to find their partners and get married?”

Before the man could answer, “Drawing lots?” Hermes quickly butted in. “Or, does the country decide for them?”

The man responded to Hermes, “That’s right. You sure know a lot.”

“Eh? I’m correct? Which one? Drawing lots?”

“No, it’s the latter. That is, the government decides who are going to get married to each other.”

Still silent, Kino waited for the man’s next words.

“Here, the government investigates all of its citizens, and makes everyone undergo counselling. Each person’s preferences, personality, and so on are completely examined. Using this information, we select the one who is suitable to stay with a person for his or her entire life. Men and women can get married as early as the age of sixteen. At that time, they are introduced to their future spouse.”

Hermes asked, “Aren’t there any problems arising from that? Well, not like there seems to be any.”

“It’s all right. That’s because we thoroughly investigate from the moment they are born,” the man readily answered.

“Er, that’s not what I mean. I was thinking more along the lines of complaints or objections?”

"There are none. The government finds the perfect partner for each person. The citizens never complained. The amount of information a single individual has about another cannot be compared to that of the government's. Also, unlike a mind destroyed by those brain chemicals, the government is able to make the choice calmly and rationally. And so a man and a woman, who in turn will be husband and wife, and eventually, parents, can do their responsibilities without fail. There's no such thing as an 'unhappy marriage' in this country. We do not force people who wish to stay single to marry, of course, but the possibility of that happening is less than one percent.”

“Well, the medicine must be stopping them from saying things like ‘I want to marry someone gorgeous!’ but what about other factors?”

“Factors, like?”

“Uhm, for instance, what if someone says ‘I want to marry someone rich!’”

“That is not possible. Our country frowns upon competition. Each one works and earns wages like everybody else. People who refuse to work are sent to prison for neglecting their obligation to render labor. We provide support only in cases when certain circumstances—health-related or otherwise—hinders a person to work. The costs of raising the children are also mostly shouldered by the government.”

“Oh.”

Having run out of questions to ask, Hermes kept quiet.

“I see. I understand it very well,” Kino said. And continued, “It’s just that I don’t think other people outside this country know about this yet. Is it really all right to tell outsiders about this? What if we spread it around?” she asked, making sure.

“Of course. You can even say that our country wishes for that to happen.”

As he answered, the man showed them a box. He placed it on top of the table, and opened its lid.

The sturdy-looking wooden box about the size of a book contained three tiny bottles filled with capsules, and a booklet.

“We would like you to accept this, Kino. This is a present from our country,” the man said.

Before the man could tell them about the contents,

“You don’t say…”

Kino, as well as Hermes, had already guessed.

“Ah! This must be the medicine that can suppress love! And that booklet must be the instructions on how to make it!”

The man nodded in assent, as he had done several times before.

“Correct. With a certain level of knowledge in pharmaceutics, this medicine is not at all difficult to produce. We then leave to you, Kino, to take this medicine and its formula to other countries and use it as you see fit. Give it away it for free or sell it for a fortune, it is your choice. You can even use it yourself if you like.”

The man closed the box and gently pushed it towards Kino.

“…”

Kino accepted the gift, an object which is both small and light.

“Great! Now that’s something we can take with us!”

Hermes gleefully noted.


—

Around noon, Kino and Hermes were in front of the gates where they have entered.

This time, they stood before the navel-like tunnel that will lead them outside the country.

“Traveler!”

A number of people were approaching them. It was the father, the mother and the daughter they met the previous day. Three men wearing business suits followed right behind them, to escort or perhaps to observe their actions.

Kino pushed down Hermes’ side stand, and removed her hat and goggles.

“Yes?”

Kino looked at the girl.

The girl spoke, but with a blank expression just like the day before.

“Traveler, I’m really sorry for the trouble I have caused. I thought it was embarrassing of me to say such weird things. I no longer feel anything like that anymore, so please don’t worry about it.”

Kino answered, “Thank you, you went all the way to tell me about it too. Don’t worry, it doesn’t bother me anymore.


—

While traversing the same road they used to reach the country,

“That was a pretty interesting country,” Hermes remarked happily while Kino drove him.

“Hey Kino, in the end all you bought was some fuel and portable rations. So what will you do? Will you sell that box in your bag to someone?”