Country of Despair



--Spoilers--

Country of Despair is a children's book written by Kurashina Ritsuko, mother of Kurashina Mizuki. It was published 13 years before the events of Real Account take place. Ritsuko wrote children's books but Country of Despair was markedly different than the rest of her books. The book features a boy named Pietro who's life is marked by misfortune. There aren't many details given about what specifically is so bad about Pietro's life, but at some point in the book the Country of Despair seems to be explained by God as a happy place where people who lived in despair will go.The book ends with Pietro stepping onto a table and killing himself. The last page of the book features a figure in the sky that is presumed to be God, but seemingly no hopeful ending to the story. The sales of the book tanked in the Real Account universe, and the author killed herself. However, there is a message of hope in the story; its just hidden. In chapter 39 of Real Account, Yuuma shows that the book has empty pages intended to allow the reader to see through the last two pages together. This causes the two pages to overlay on each other, presenting a different ending. This overlay turns the noose that originally hung from the ceiling into a sword being pointed at God. "God's invitation was for the country of despair. Pietro's unhappiness was the author's own" (from chapter 29 translated by BasedAnon) At the bottom of the overlayed pages is a bar code which was a message to the reader not to die, changing the story from one of despair, to one of hope.