[User] What meaning was there in living? What meaning was there in not dying? Perhaps the incoherent thought rose to the fore as a simple, instinctive means of protecting himself from fear and pain. It was disgusting how, even at that juncture, his self-pity was at work.

[Assistant] "—Ah?" As he berated himself to no end, the mist suddenly, and without the slightest fanfare, fell away. Subaru crumpled to the ground with an expression of disbelief at the abrupt end to the darkness that he thought would continue forever. Soft moonlight poured down on him as it sunk in that he had survived. Subaru, feeling blood flowing through his limbs once more, stretched both hands toward the night sky. What made him do so was not unbridled joy at grabbing hold of life.

[User] "I did it again…" He despaired at himself, having once more cheated death after another wretched struggle. Having obtained the life he had so craved, Subaru could take little joy in it. An unquenchable sense of guilt burned in his chest, and his shame at forgetting about her almost made him crave death again.

[Assistant] "Rem… Rem…!" Covering his face, he called her name as irrepressible hot tears continued pouring out from him. In so doing, Subaru sought her forgiveness so that his own soul might find comfort. He rubbed his head against the soil as he wept. He didn’t know how much time passed like that until he heard a slow creaking sound drawing closer to the hunched-over boy.

[User] "Y-you’re…" It was a land dragon, pulling the bloodstained remnants of what had once been its carriage. He remembered it. There was no mistake—it was Otto’s land dragon. But there was no sign of the young man who had shoved Subaru off.

[Assistant] "Why are you…? Where is he? Where’s Otto?" Though he voiced the question, he of course received no reply. The land dragon tottered closer; Subaru, in turn, rose and walked toward it. As Subaru looked up at the cruelly damaged animal, he realized it.


[User] The man and land dragon, having both lost someone precious, were licking each other’s wounds in a sense as they bathed in the soft, soft laughter of the moon and the stars.

[Assistant] Gently, gently, the land dragon continued to run. And kept running.


[User] Making creaking sounds, the land dragon continued moving forward. Subaru’s mind was hazy; leaning deep into the driver’s seat, he was the driver in name only. It was partly fatigue, partly the effects of his wounds, but it was chiefly the wearing down of his spirit. His broken bones and cut forehead had not healed; his dislocated left shoulder was crying out painfully. His broken teeth felt extremely unpleasant; his clothes, filthy from blood, mud, and urine, transferred the chill directly to his skin.

[Assistant] —Why had he survived? Protected by Rem only to lose her, abandoned by Otto, spurned even by the White Whale that had spared his pathetic life. He’d blundered his way along the highway through the night mist, breaking free of it and thus prolonging his life. Just where would this path lead him and the surviving land dragon? And once he arrived, would there be anything he could do? The desire to protect someone, to save someone—he’d trusted it was that feeling that had spurred him forward. Yet, having seen things he wished he hadn’t, he knew he had simply been consoling himself with pretty words.

[User] He’d come to realize that he needed his own life above all else; he was a lump of flesh wrapped up in self-pity. When they’d left Rem to face the White Whale, and Subaru had ordered Otto to turn around, maybe he’d only pretended his heart was broken by Otto’s rebuttal but was actually relieved deep down? If it was an opponent even someone like a Sword Saint could not defeat, going back meant only a dog’s death. Rem wouldn’t want that.

[Assistant] —So he’d told himself he didn’t need to go back. He didn’t need to die. As a matter of fact, Subaru hadn’t gone back to save Rem; he’d even begged the White Whale, the purported target of his hatred, for his own life. He’d shouted, I don’t wanna die, as he fled in a daze, peeing on himself all the while. At the time, Rem’s safety or lack thereof never entered the back of his mind even once. Rem had done a pretty stupid thing, throwing her life away for a man like him.

[User] “But…the stupidest thing is…”

[Assistant] There was no Rem anymore. Otto was gone, as were all the other traveling merchants. Subaru was alone, save for the land dragon silently continuing to advance along the well-maintained highway in search of human civilization. It didn’t matter where. Subaru just wanted it to bring him somewhere. Subaru grew apathetic, releasing his hand from the reins as he collapsed onto the driver’s seat. As he rolled onto his side, he could see the crucifixes still jabbed into a hard-to-see nook. It was evidence that Otto had been attacked by Witch Cult adherents he’d apparently encountered after slipping past the mist.


[User] Haltingly naming the object of his hatred, Subaru knew just how hollow his own heart was.

[Assistant] “What the hell’s wrong with me…?” The dragon carriage’s wheels creaked; an extremely high-pitched sound clawed at his eardrums. Almost in pain from the discordant sound, Subaru grimaced and sat up.

[User] “A forest…?” The land dragon had stopped its walking some time before. When he observed his surroundings, the land dragon was clawing at the ground of a woodland road surrounded by trees. Apparently the sun had risen some time ago, because white sun rays from above were baking Subaru’s body.

[Assistant] “…Ah, Subaru?” …he was surprised to hear an innocent, high-pitched voice call him by name.

[User] The children climbed onto the stopped dragon carriage, peering down at Subaru as he sat on the driver’s seat. They pointed at Subaru and began to laugh at the sorry state they’d found him in. "It really is Subaru."

[Assistant] “What’s wrong, Subaru?”

[User] “Subaru, you’re filthy.”

[Assistant] “You stink, Subaru.”

[User] “Y-you’re…” He knew their faces. He’d seen them several times in the last few days. He’d seen them contorted in pain and agony, never to smile again. These were the grinning faces of the children living in Earlham Village, on the outskirts of Roswaal Manor. In a daze, Subaru lifted his head and saw that there, ahead on the woodland path, was the human civilization he’d sought.

[Assistant] Subaru had made it back before he’d surrendered completely to despair and lost everything.

[User] “Subaru?”

[Assistant] “Er, what’s wrong?”

[User] “Ahh, look out!” The children’s voices rose.

[Assistant] Regardless, his head had already grown heavy, and he could no longer support his body. Something stretched taut made a sound as it snapped, and once again, Subaru’s mind fell toward a dark, quiet place, as if he were trying to shove all his troubles away.

[User] “Wait a— Don’t fall—”


[User] The plain room, adorned with only a crystal lamp. When he was here, he could feel at ease as the rank commoner he was. He looked around the room. "—Ah."

[Assistant] Under his head was one of the pillows so eternally soft that he could never get used to them. The fact that sheets had been meticulously pulled up to his shoulders made it clear that someone had tucked him in as he slept on the bed. It was Subaru’s nature to become alert as soon as he opened his eyes, no matter what the situation.

[User] There was a girl sitting near the side of the bed, her eyes quietly lowered upon a book. She wore a customized, very exposing maid outfit, with black as its chief color. She had a white flower hair ornament and a lovely face; the sharpness of her stiff, beautiful features displayed her inner refinement.

[Assistant] The instant Subaru realized she was there, he practically leaped up into a sitting position, taking her hand into his before she even realized he was awake. Her face registered surprise…

[User] "—Do not touch me so casually, Barusu." …as her cold, blunt words; the tone of her voice; and the feeling of his hand being shaken off shattered his illusion.

[Assistant] In that instant, he realized that the girl before his eyes had pink hair. His reunion with someone precious whom he had lost was nothing but an illusion. This was the older twin sister of the girl he longed for, two peas in a pod, differing only in hair color.

[User] "I can understand you are happy at seeing me after several days, but to leap at me by instinct is less like a man and more like a male. It is indecent." Ram glared reproachfully at Subaru, shifting her chair away as if to distance herself from the bed.

[Assistant] The frigidity of her gaze and voice drilled into him that this was not her look-alike younger sister. "Yeah……that’s right, I don’t have any right to that anymore…"

[User] Ram suspiciously lifted an eyebrow as Subaru clawed at his head, bit his lip, and hunched forward. From Ram’s point of view, she’d done nothing but greet his awakening with a suitably sharp tongue. The usual Subaru would make some sort of frivolous comeback, but he was falling silent with a grave expression. "…I really would rather you did not make me do something so atypical, but…" As Ram spoke, she drew near to Subaru and gently patted his head with her palm. The soft movement of her fingertips had a quiet, gentle rhythm that unsettled Subaru.

[Assistant] Your face says you are thinking something rude, Barusu.


[User] “You did not expect kindness from me?”

[Assistant] “No, I…didn’t… I thought you were the type to kick me when I’m down.”

[User] “I imagine there are few maids who have as much generosity and kindness as I. I’m too crafty to torment you in your current state, Barusu. I’ll save the kicking for another time and place.”


[User] "WaaaAAAHHHHHH—! !" He screamed and howled enough to tear his throat apart, as if that would let him forget everything.

[Assistant] Emilia’s limp body was still growing lighter within his arms. The blood wouldn’t stop flowing out of her. Subaru’s body turned redder. Redder. And redder.

[User] His determination, his resolve, his actions, his past, and his future had all been stomped down and mocked. His stubborn determination, the resolve that he had only just decided would never be broken, had been smashed to pieces, and Subaru Natsuki plunged into an abyss of despair. His scream reached higher and higher, never fading.

[Assistant] He had killed Emilia.

[User] This time, he surely had no more blood to cough up, no more tears to weep. He had been wrung dry. How much did he have to cry? How much did he have to suffer? Had he done something so unforgivable? His spirit had been wounded and trampled upon. He’d been robbed of someone precious. He couldn’t protect the people he needed to protect. And by his hand, the most important person to him in the world had cruelly lost her life.

[Assistant] He’d been wrong. He’d misunderstood. He’d gotten cocky. He’d become conceited after skillfully using the curse of the Witch on his soul to turn things around before. Encouraged by the thought that he’d come back even if he died, he’d dismissed the abominable being known as the Witch along with her evil hands, and this was the result. All those things, accumulated together, had produced the tragic spectacle now before him.

[User] Subaru fell to his knees, resting Emilia’s corpse atop them, as his hollow eyes wandered aimlessly about.

[Assistant] When he touched her cheek, it had gone cold. The heat had faded from the blood that poured from her mouth. Her soft limbs had begun turning stiff, leaving him with less and less with which to deny her death. Subaru, understanding that, remained unable to move from the spot.

[User] He was exhausted. He’d suffered so much. Surely it was all right for him to stop now? Was there any human being anywhere in that world who had undergone as much as he? He’d made efforts unthinkable for his old self, trying to manage somehow. Even so, he’d been unable to avert the worst case, the calamity had overtaken him, and he had lost everything.


[User] Then what more could—

[Assistant] "—Your face seems to say, ‘I am the unluckiest man in the whole world.’"

[User] Subaru doubted his own ears when he looked toward the entrance. As he sluggishly brought his head around, he saw a single girl standing in front of the door. She gazed at Subaru with disdain. Her long cream-colored hair was split into two beautiful rolls, and she wore an ornate dress fit for a Western doll. She had an adorable face, one Subaru had not seen upon his return to the mansion the last two times through the current series of loops. “Bea…trice…”

[Assistant] "In the time since I have last seen you, has your witless face grown even more foolish, I wonder?" Making that harsh declaration, Beatrice surveyed the tragic sight in the room. Then she said, “Well, now you’ve really done it…” With a sigh, Beatrice summed up the tragic spectacle with extreme bluntness.

[User] Seeing Emilia immobile in a pool of blood, eyes hollow in Subaru’s embrace, was Beatrice truly moved so little? But even if animosity was the obvious reaction, Subaru could no longer manage it. Indeed, in that moment, Subaru was grateful for Beatrice’s reaction, not asking him a single thing. He would have been more grateful still if she simply turned around and left Subaru there.

[Assistant] “Will Puckie not come out, I wonder?” As Beatrice spoke, she walked closer and kneeled right beside Subaru. “Even if I tell you to look, I doubt you would listen… I do so hate to get my hands dirty.” Speaking indifferently, Beatrice reached out toward Emilia. Subaru did not know what she meant to do with the deceased girl, but he made no reaction as her fingers touched Emilia’s neck. Subaru, feeling uncomfortable with the action in a way he couldn’t put into words, began rebuking her. “It’s disconnected, I suppose?”

[User] But Beatrice accomplished her objective before he’d even gotten a word in. As Beatrice’s hand moved away from Emilia, it held a beautiful, glimmering green crystal. This was the pendant that Emilia never took off—Puck’s abode, and the physical representation of the pact formed between Emilia and the spirit. But now, it was…

[Assistant] “Bro…ken…?”

[User] "A bold thing to say for the one who broke it… Though you seem to be unaware of the fact." Gazing desolately as the two pieces of the crystal rested on her palm, Beatrice tucked the ruined thing away. What had happened to Puck, the spirit who should have been inside the broken pendant? What had happened to the spirit who had loved Emilia, now resting in Subaru’s arms, so much that he had called her his daughter? Where had he gone? “Are you concerned, I wonder? Puckie is not dead. He has simply been returned to his true body for the moment.


[User] "It is only a matter of time until he comes… But it shall not be too long, I think.” Responding matter-of-factly to Subaru’s unstated question, Beatrice stood up with a slight flutter of her skirt.

[Assistant] Subaru watched the girl’s bouncing hair rolls as he took solace in her answer. If that spirit was alive, if he would be returning here, then he’d probably…

[User] "—Do you have something you wish to say, I wonder?” Seeing Subaru’s extremely inappropriate relief, Beatrice gazed at him evenly as she posed the question.

[Assistant] Kill me. He wanted someone to end his life, then and there.

[User] Kill…me… …putting an end to it all was Subaru’s only hope for salvation.

[Assistant] “Kill me here, please.” Subaru earnestly pleaded to Beatrice as he embraced Emilia’s remains.

[User] Subaru squeezed Emilia harder, closing his eyes as he waited for the end.

[Assistant] "…t to.”

[User] “—Eh?” Without thinking, Subaru let out the breath he had been holding and opened his eyelids to look up at her.

[Assistant] As before, Beatrice was standing in front of him, gazing down at him all the while.


[User] She embraced her tiny body with both arms, biting her trembling lips as if she were freezing. "To ask Betty to kill you… Is that not too cruel, I wonder…?" She said it with a tearful look and a choked voice, leaving Subaru completely at a loss.

[Assistant] No matter how many times he blinked, Beatrice’s thick sorrow would not vanish. The girl Subaru knew would never wear that expression.

[User] Even though she was always blunt, she’d put up with Subaru because she had some goodness in her, but he thought she was someone who could heartlessly lay into you by nature.

[Assistant] Even though he thought she might not readily accept, or might even turn him down, he expected it to be accompanied by disdain and mockery.

[User] "You don’t understand… You don’t understand anything…!"

[Assistant] Subaru had never dreamed she would refuse to kill him with such a sad expression. "B-Beatrice…?"

[User] "Shall I refuse every single thing you ask, I wonder? If you want to die so much, go die by yourself… I refuse to do it." Beatrice shook her head and covered her eyes with a hand, suppressing the emotion on her face.

[Assistant] Hiding her welling tears rather than letting them fall, she turned that hand toward Subaru. "What are you…? Everything is—? !" In that instant, the world began to distort. Everything around Subaru warped, and a crack appeared. These were preludes to the destruction of the world, or so he thought, instantly clutching the body in his arms close to him.

[User] Looking down at him, Beatrice spoke again with cold eyes. "If you’re going to be this useless, having you here is a bother— At the very least, perhaps I can protect this mansion, I suppose?"

[Assistant] "What are you say—? No, Beatrice, you’re…!"

[User] "—Do not think Betty is like Roswaal. Pain, anguish, suffering, sadness, fear… Perhaps Betty hates all these things?" She replied to the question that was not a question with an answer that was not an answer.

[Assistant] Space distorted, and the resulting fissure enveloping Subaru brought him beyond the reach of all known physical laws. It didn’t hurt. "If you are going to die, can you do it in a place where Betty will not see, I wonder?" Though her final murmur was cruel, she could not conceal even a tiny fragment of her desolation.

[User] He could say nothing. He understood nothing. But her emotions did tell him one thing. —Subaru’s decision and behavior had made Beatrice sad. The distortion reached its zenith, and then it snapped back to normal. Something like static ran across his field of vision as the world was instantly swept away; in the next moment, the distorted air succumbed without a trace and vanished.


[User] "Bwah!" Subaru spat out saliva that tasted like dirt, then lifted his head and looked around.

[Assistant] "A forest at night…? Somewhere in the mountains…?"

[User] "Teleportation…or something like it, I guess?"

[Assistant] "It’s as if…she…"

[User] "Man, I’m hopeless, aren’t I…?" A crooked smile came over Subaru as he slowly knelt up on the grass.


[Assistant] "Emi…lia…"

[User] "I’m sorry."


[User] "I’m so, so, so sorry…” As he looked down at Emilia’s face, droplets fell upon her pale cheek. He had thought his tears had run dry, but they flowed from a bottomless well as Subaru was racked with ceaseless torture. He heard voices—voices blaming him. The people Subaru had met were shouting down at him in frigid anger. There was a girl with silver hair and a girl with blue hair among them—

[Assistant] “Someone…someone, anyone…” —Please kill me. Under a hail of shouts that would not vanish, Subaru picked up Emilia and rose to his feet. From there, he stepped on the grass and broke branches as he began slowly walking into the forest. He could hear beasts howling in the distance. If he met those black demon beasts now, he felt like he’d greet them with a smile on his face. He wanted them to consume his flesh, his mana, his life—anything they pleased. For if they did not, if that did not happen, there would be no salvation for Subaru Natsuki.

[User] “—” Heading toward the howls, Subaru advanced into the dark depths of the forest. He no longer felt the weight of carrying Emilia, nor fatigue from walking along the cold mountain road with poor visibility. He wondered if it was because he had a clear goal and was earnestly working toward it. That would be pretty pathetic. Nor did the word pathetic begin to describe his fate.

[Assistant] “Here… Past this ravine…and then…” Carefully heading downhill, he climbed up the twisting tree roots as if they were stairs. Like a candle on the verge of burning out, he was exhausting the last strength his life had to offer. But that was not the only cause of the lack of hesitation in his steps. Put simply, he remembered the path. After all, this place was—

[User] “Yeah, there you are.” A thin, heartfelt smile came over his lips as if he was relieved not to have missed his mark. Mad laughter came over him—the sort only a man smeared with blood and free of his sanity was capable of. Subaru knew a man who laughed like that. If he looked in the mirror at that moment, he’d probably see the same smile on his own face. Seeing such an expression ate away at your mind, its sheer malevolence giving rise to a physiological sense of revulsion. But those to whom he turned that crazed smile were accustomed to the sight.


[User] "Same thing, huh…?"

[Assistant] Subaru recalls the black-robed figures all lowering their heads.

[User] Like marionettes lacking wills of their own, they showed Subaru “respect” for the first time. Subaru had no idea why they demonstrated admiration for him. All he knew for sure was that they were all devotees of the Witch Cult, and that the darkness enveloping Subaru had some relationship to the Witch they worshipped. "—Outta my way."

[Assistant] Really, there were many things that he wanted to ask them. If this had happened before he’d resigned himself to death, he’d have had a mountain of inquiries. But by then, even that sentiment was a mere worthless relic.

[User] At Subaru’s brief command, the black-robed figures did not voice a single sound of dissent as they melted into the darkness and vanished. As they disappeared from his sight, Subaru noticed that the world was filled with silence. He no longer heard the howls of the beasts he wanted to come after him, nor the ceaseless cries of insects—not even the wind.

[Assistant] It was as if all living creatures scorned the Witch Cult. Perhaps the reason wasn’t just the Witch Cult but Subaru’s presence, too. Perhaps the Cult and Subaru being together in one place painted so repulsive a picture that the world itself recoiled. —He thought that this latter assessment suited the current him far better. A faint laugh came over Subaru as he advanced past where the Witch Cultists had surrounded him. He passed beyond the roots, stepped across the soil, crushed the tree leaves with the bottoms of his shoes, and finally, the forest opened.


[User] A rocky, sheer precipice spread out before his eyes.

[Assistant] "Beloved acolyte, I have been waiting for you." Standing before the rock wall with a gaunt man bearing the same mad smile that Subaru did.

[User] "My, my, my? And furthermore, furthermore, furthermore, you carry in your arms… Could that be the half-demon girl?" When Subaru approached the rocky area, Petelgeuse cocked his head and looked at Emilia, whom Subaru held in his arms. The madman’s head remained parallel to the ground as his tongue slid out in amusement, dribbling spittle.

[Assistant] "Heavens, for her to lose her life before even undertaking our trial… What a tragic fate! What an untimely demise! Ahh! And, and, and…what diligence upon your part! On the verge of the trial, before I even act, you have stolen the half-demon’s body and life…!" Petelgeuse shouted, hailing Emilia’s death with exaggerated gestures, waving his arms around.

[User] Subaru then noticed that the Witch Cult adherents had gathered around Petelgeuse at some point, all of them on their knees as they devotedly listened to the madman’s ravings.

[Assistant] "Me, diligence…?" Hearing Subaru’s halting murmur.

[User] Petelgeuse rushed over with jubilant laughter. "Yes, that is right! Diligence! It is splendid!"


[User] "Unlike us, slow to decide, meager of wit, and lacking decisiveness, you made the Witch’s will manifest before any other!” Then he slid onto his knees and fell prostrate, virtually slamming his forehead against the rocky ground. “Compared to you! My fingers and I were so slow, so foolish, so lacking! Ahh, forgive me! For being unable to requite your love! Forgive this slothful, unfaithful flesh! Forgive this stupid man unable to respond to the love you bestow upon me!” A flood of tears poured from Petelgeuse as he pounded the rock with an arm, nearly splitting his forehead with the intensity of his apology. The fervent act of self harm was accompanied by a spray of blood. Subaru could see bone from where his wrist was cut. Despite that, Petelgeuse did not cease his violent action; indeed, each of the faithful kneeling all around rushed to emulate the madman’s self-destructive actions. It was a cacophony of blood and agony—and as he watched it all, Subaru felt nothing. Even with the man he had so hated right before him, his heart was unmoved whatsoever.

[Assistant] “Ahh, what can I do for you, who fulfilled the trial in my place while I failed to respond to Her feelings? Tell me, please. What may I do for you, so that I may prove that my love is not slothful?” Petelgeuse came close, the blood trickling from his head causing tears of blood to flow as he made his earnest plea.

[User] "Kill me."

[Assistant] "Are you sure about that?" Without a moment’s hesitation, he kicked Subaru away. The wind kicked out of him, Subaru sailed back as Petelgeuse watched him with an expression of ecstasy. “Ahh, splendid, splendid indeed…! With the trial fulfilled in search of salvation, my actions, and those of my believers seeking salvation, may have thus become diligent…! Ahh, we are spared from being slothful! Both you and I! You have my thanks! And my diligence has earned Her love!” Petelgeuse harbored no misgivings about the brooding Subaru’s reply, nor felt a single pang of conscience over his own actions, seeing neither as contrary to the laws of the world in any way. Under the guise of diligence, his bloodlust had been unleashed. Subaru, seeing this in the madman, closed his eyes, his heart hardly stirred. At the very least, it was what Subaru wanted to see just then.

[User] “Though I must say…” When he heard Petelgeuse mutter something, Subaru felt hostility press upon his skin. “Unable to even pass a single trial, not even facing a single Deadly Sin, bearing great expectations only to stumble over the first stone in her path…” The madman looked down at the sleeping Emilia, sighing. “—Ahh, you were lazy!” He had no greater words to demean Emilia’s death.


[User] Subaru knew this, because he recalled how the madman had disgraced the life of a girl precious to him in a world long past.

[Assistant] "—" Subaru opened his eyes. That instant, he saw a dark cloud approaching, taking the form of a hand. For a single moment, he recoiled from the painful memories rushing into the back of his mind. But this evil hand was different. His body could move. His feet could move. His arms could move. Hence, his body evaded it. As the black hand gently slid toward him, Subaru leaped to the side, holding Emilia in his arms. The hand slipped past, seeming perplexed as it vanished. Subaru’s breath was ragged as he watched it disappear.

[User] Petelgeuse stared at him, eyes wide with a fire raging in them, asking in a shaking voice, “…You. Just now, you saw my Unseen Hands, did you not?” The madman inserted his twig-like fingers into his mouth, crushing his fingertips with his teeth one by one. As each part of his flesh burst with the horrible sound of bones snapping and fresh blood seeping out, he continued, “That will not do, that will not do at all. It is strange, it is wrong. There is some error, some mistake. My power, the power of Sloth, the Unseen Hands, Her favor bestowed unto me…! That another has set eyes upon them is unforgivable! !” Spitting blood, Petelgeuse chewed on fragments of bone and nail as he glared at Subaru with bloodshot eyes.

[Assistant] In the next instant, black arms rose out from Petelgeuse’s back. Petelgeuse’s shadow exploded into seven black limbs that madly danced about. A chill ran up Subaru’s spine at the resemblance to the two evil hands that punished Subaru when he touched upon the taboo. “But if I can see them, and my body can move…” He could dodge them. The speed of the black hands was not all that fast. Though they boasted the power to rip a human limb from limb at a distance, their greatest menace was their power of Invisibility. Their greatest advantage no longer worked on Subaru. And with the last wisps of his life burning down, Subaru exhibited physical abilities beyond his limitations.

[User] “Whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhyyyyyyyyyy…? Why can you avoid them?! Do you see them?! This love belongs to me! To me alone! !”

[Assistant] “Deep down, there’s only one guy I don’t wanna be killed by, and that’s you.” Subaru twisted to evade one hand and leaped forward to dodge a different set of fingertips stretching up toward him. He crouched instantly to avoid the two coming at him from the left and right, practically falling forward and closing the distance with Petelgeuse. Seeing the insanity on Petelgeuse’s face twist into shock, a dark pleasure filled Subaru’s belly. He’d just remembered the fact that he had wanted to kill that madman.

[User] “—Bgah!” Taking the shortest possible route, Subaru slammed his head into the bridge of the madman’s nose, violently kicking his body as he rocked backward.


[User] The black hands flailed about, unable to strike precisely. Now blood was pouring from Subaru’s forehead, too, cut by Petelgeuse’s front teeth. The heavy bleeding got into his eyes, blotting out his vision on the right side.

[Assistant] A moment after he noticed something sliding under his feet, it grabbed Subaru’s legs and sent him flying. The instant before he slammed against a large tree, Subaru abandoned all thoughts of cushioning the blow, clutching Emilia’s remains even more strongly. Not to cling to her but to protect her.

[User] “—Gweh!” And so his back collided against the tree, making him feel a seemingly lethal crack in his spine. Several vertebrae broke, and his recently closed wounds opened all at once. Each one cried out in a chorus of ferocious pain as Subaru fell onto the ground, writhing, and bubbles appeared around his mouth.

[Assistant] “Disgraceful! Disgraceful, is it not?! Ahh, I am so relieved. Truly relieved! At that rate, I would have wallowed in idleness, all my actions rendered meaningless! But I am indeed diligent, exhausting my efforts for love…”

[User] “Shut up, dim…wit…!” His breathing sounded strange. He felt like he’d taken heavy damage to his lungs. Even so, he laughed and mocked Petelgeuse, bubbles of blood dripping from his lips all the while.

[Assistant] “What love, you moron? That so-called love you say you got… I can see it, too, can’t I…? She’s been cheatin’ on you, sucker.”

[User] “What…are you saying…?! Saying, saying, sa-sa-sa-sa-sayiiiing… My brain, my brain treeeeeembles!” Petelgeuse tore hair from his head as he raged, eyes wide open. He walked toward the fallen Subaru, violently kicking Emilia from his arms as if to deliberately distance her from Subaru. Emilia’s body rolled, slamming into the roots of various trees. Petelgeuse glanced sideways at it and laughed.

[Assistant] “Denigrating my love is impermissible! Ahh, I have decided. It is decided! Though the half-demon who should have undergone the trial perished beforehand, those sheltering her yet remain!” Petelgeuse ranted and raved as one of his black hands lifted Subaru by his neck. Subaru’s eyes snapped wide as the force threatened to rip his head off his shoulders; the brutal pain left him unable to speak.

[User] “First, I shall eradicate those associated with the mansion; next, I shall sacrifice the residents of the village nearby for Her affection. Nothing shall remain, for any survivors would be proof of Sloth. I, the pinnacle of diligence, and my fingers shall render judgment upon all—the highway is sealed by the mist, so there is no one to interfere with my love!” Shouting and spitting in his agitated state, Petelgeuse laid out his diabolical scheme.

[Assistant] “Before that, you seemed to clutch that half-demon’s flesh as if it was quite precious to you… If I destroy it, I wonder what wonderful sounds I will hear you make?” Petelgeuse’s head tilted, his lips twisted, and his eyes filled with inhuman curiosity.


[User] Five arms other than the one holding Subaru up crawled out from the madman’s back, each moving independently as they wriggled their way toward Emilia’s remains. One grasped each of her limbs, with the last hand wrapping around her slender neck. "Do you see them? Do you understand what is about to happen?"

[Assistant] “…S…top!” At that moment, Subaru was racked with fear precisely because he could see it. It made him remember every detail of what this man’s black hands did to Rem’s body when he couldn’t see them. And now, those same destructive impulses were directed toward Emilia’s flesh. He had no power to prevent the vile act.

[User] Subaru’s grief only deepened Petelgeuse’s crazed, amused smile. All that remained was for him to cruelly rip Emilia’s flesh asunder—

[Assistant] "—What are you doing?" Without warning, the voice poured down from the heavens, coldly thrumming in the ears of all present.

[User] “—!” Petelgeuse’s expression shifted, his gaze drifting around in search of the speaker. The voice had enough power in it—and well-honed anger—to make even his expression change. Finally, Petelgeuse’s gaze turned toward a single point in the sky and stopped.

[Assistant] Subaru, still held aloft by his neck, looked at the same point in the sky, too.

[User] "I repeat…" An incredible number of icicles poured down, filling their vision, seemingly blotting out the nighttime sky. A breath surged, dyed white; in the blink of an eye, a cold that threatened to chill the whole world spread throughout the forest. The black-robed figures still on their knees and Petelgeuse, with a crazed smile, over him, were at a loss for words. "What are you lowlifes doing to my daughter…?"


[User] Petelgeuse and the other members of the Witch Cult were silent before the supernatural being that spoke the language of men.

[Assistant] Subaru, who was with them, felt his throat closing up in shock for a different reason. He had never before seen that being, that spirit, shaking in anger like that. As one present in that place, feeling the overflow of his anger, he knew that death had come to the world. “…Puck.”

[User] “…Puck.” Under the white mist surrounding the floating spirit—Puck—the forest in their vicinity let out a crack-like sound as it was transformed. The trees turned white, as if the green had been sucked out of them; their mana absorbed, leaves, branches, and trunks froze over, dead as they fell. The ground itself displayed identical effects. First, the flowers died, then the cold crept over the soil, and finally, it reached Subaru, also on the earth, stabbing him all over with burning pain. He felt lethargy gradually rising from the depths of his body, causing his breathing to falter as his mind began to fade. Long before, Subaru had experienced being forcibly robbed of his mana at Beatrice’s hands. The angered Puck was employing that power on a global scale, turning the world’s power into his own.

[Assistant] Beside Subaru, holding back a whimper, Petelgeuse backed up a step with heavy sweat on his brow, and the kneeling Witch Cult was gasping for oxygen through their open mouths, almost like fish.

[User] “The Witch Cult—no matter how much time passes, you never change, do you? In every age, it is you who bring me the saddest things of all.” Puck spoke as if dealing with noxious insects as he trained his eyes on a single point in the forest. Subaru, following his gaze, saw that there was a single space left that Puck’s power was not affecting. Only the prone girl’s corpse was protected from the end of the world. “Ahh, my poor Lia… You died without understanding anything.”

[Assistant] After gazing longingly at Emilia, Puck turned his eyes toward those who still lived. “Depriving my daughter of her life is a grave crime. Do not think any of you will escape alive.”

[User] “How dare a mere spirit…! How, how, how, how, howww dare you speak?! A half-demon failing an ordeal is nothing but a filthy pretender! The blame is yours for your Sloth and inability to protect this fool! Ahh! Ahh! Ahhhhh! My brain is trembling! !” Petelgeuse responded to Puck’s threats by raising both hands to the sky, flying into a rage. The madman’s bloodshot eyeballs were unfocused as Petelgeuse’s welling bloodlust erupted in a geyser of froth. “All that shall transpire, all that must transpire, the proper course of history is recorded in my Gospel! The Witch loves me, and I must repay Her with diligence! Whereas you, lowly spirit, wallow in idleness!”


[User] “Death to half-demons! And you, too, must pay for your idleness! The Witch’s favor is the truth that lets my heart beat! All must be sacrificed for it!” Petelgeuse waved his arms, ranting, raving, and loudly stamping his foot.

[Assistant] Puck looked down upon Petelgeuse’s madness with eyes that were cold to their very core. They contained neither pity nor anger, only a lucid view of the low worth of the object before them.

[User] “My fingers! This fool must pay for his—”

[Assistant] “Die.” The descending icicles poured down on the Witch Cult adherents, skewering them and pinning them in place. The cultists’ bodies and limbs were impaled against the ground, pierced like bugs for study. The air creaked, and the flesh of the dead Witch Cult worshippers froze over, turning the rocky area into an ice sculpture exhibit.

[User] Puck had taken nearly twenty lives. During that time, his gaze did not waver in any way

[Assistant] Unmoved by the loss of the followers who obeyed his commands, who were now literal sacrificial pawns. “—My brain…is…trembling.” His lips twisted darkly, and a moment later, Petelgeuse’s shadow exploded.

[User] Subaru’s body was cast aside as a total of seven arms bore upon Puck, floating in the sky.

[Assistant] “Puck—!” When Subaru tried to raise his voice to warn of the danger, the voice and eyes Puck turned toward him made his blood run cold.

[User] “Be quiet, Subaru. I will deal with you la… Ngh?” But before the spirit finished speaking, the black hands trapped his tiny body, which vanished from Subaru’s view.

[Assistant] “Carelessness! Negligence! In other words, Sloth! You should have eliminated me immediately! You possessed such power, yet you neglected its proper use! And this is the result! This! Thisss! Thisthisthisthiiiisssss! !”. The Unseen Hands that only Subaru could detect enveloped Puck’s body and crushed it.


[User] Before Petelgeuse, who danced with mad delight, the Great Spirit was cruelly erased—

[Assistant] “Don’t make me laugh.” In the next moment, Subaru saw the converging black limbs being blown apart. “That’s all? You’re four hundred years too young to be invoking the Witch."


[User] The frozen trees, unable to bear their own weight, shattered into shards of ice with one flick of his tail. The corpses of the Witch Cult followers who had become ice sculptures were smashed to smithereens. The front paws responsible for this made the ground under them into an absolute-zero zone of death. Its softest breath rivaled a raging blizzard, and within that white mist, its eyes were like dazzling, glittering gold—eyes that mercilessly towered over a world of death. "Then stretch half of Satella’s Thousand Shadows, toward me." It was a four-legged, feline beast with gray fur, boasting such size that it stood above the forest. It was the Beast of the End that had destroyed the mansion and brought death to Subaru in a prior world. —It was indeed a grand manifestation of the End.

[Assistant] The intensity of the cold went up another level, and it hurt to even keep his eyes open to watch the world go white. Subaru endured the pain as he looked up at the beast, agape. "What…?" A shaking voice echoed from a tiny corner of that world of ultimate cold.

[User] "What is it you are telling me to bring?!"

[Assistant] Subaru feared that closing his eyes amid the blowing cold meant he would never open them again. He took in Petelgeuse’s final cry and looked up at the beast once more. "Puck, is that you…?"

[User] "I suppose it would be a little mean to say, ‘Isn’t it obvious?'" The gray-colored beast’s titanic mouth moved in reply to Subaru’s broken question. Each word came with a gale, but it was the enormous beast’s sarcasm that confirmed Subaru’s suspicions.

[Assistant] With that answer, Subaru came to accept the fact that in the previous world, and the world before that, Subaru had died at the end because— Subaru was compelled to stay silent.

[User] Petelgeuse glared at Puck and murmured, "Im…possible…" The madman thrust his intact hand into his mouth, crushing his fingers one by one, and they oozed blood. It was as if that pain was what tethered his perpetual madness to the world. "This is impossible; it cannot be! A mere! Spirit! A lowly spirit! Cannot possess such power! If that was possible, I—!"

[Assistant] "—Echidna."

[User] Petelgeuse’s movements stopped as bloody froth trickled from the corner of his lips, his eyes wide open.

[Assistant] Puck had whispered a word that had interrupted Petelgeuse’s denial. "As a man of the Cult, you understand what that name means, don’t you?"

[User] "Filthy…! !" Petelgeuse's reaction was nothing short of dramatic. Along with the sound of something hard, blood gushed from his mouth.


[User] It came from his molars. He was so angry, he’d bitten down on his teeth hard enough to break them. “It is repugnant to even speak that name! Ahh, you poor, lazy fool, ignorant of fear! You dare speak the name of a fallen witch, a witch other than Satella, before me…!” Petelgeuse’s eyes had gone from bloodshot to scarlet-dyed; maybe the arteries had burst open as tears of blood flowed from the corners. The madman turned his bitten and torn fingertips toward Puck. “My faith! My love! That is nothing less than an insult to everything I offer to Her!”

[Assistant] “—A human living mere decades has no business arguing time with a spirit.”

[User] Just like that, Petelgeuse ceased his mad writhing. No—this was not something he had done consciously as he had frozen from the feet up, and that had made him stop.

[Assistant] As Subaru lay on his side, his vision blurry and white, he saw his mortal enemy brought to the verge of death.

[User] Petelgeuse, too, knew that his freezing meant his death was not long in the offing. However, to the very end, his madness was directed not toward his own impending death but at Puck, towering before him. “The depth of one’s faith has nothing to do with time! You are a lazy beast, born with eternal time, yet exhausting most of it in idleness! Do not compare me with a fool such as you! Ahh! Ahh, ahh! My brain is treeeeeeeeeeeembling!” Even knowing his own end was near, Petelgeuse’s madness never wavered. To Subaru, who knew no phenomenon more absolute or terrifying than death, Petelgeuse’s behavior was truly deviant. Seeing him profess his faith at the moment before his demise was proof that he was a truly corrupt being. “Death is not punishment enough for you—that’s why I hate your kind.”

[Assistant] “The trial has been fulfilled! No matter what happens to this filthy body, so long as my feelings reach the Witch I revere, She shall grant Her favor… Ahh, it will be so good to see Her again!” Spreading both hands before the sky above, Petelgeuse let out a cackle as The snow blew with greater intensity, dyeing his gaunt body white. Subaru wasn’t sure whether his voice or his movements gently slowed first, yet even then, Petelgeuse’s laughter did not cease. He was one with his buoyant madness until his laughter finally ceased and, with it, his life.

[User] “—Quit while you were ahead, didn’t you?” The gray beast murmured as it thrust down its front paw, smashing the Petelgeuse ice sculpture into dust.

[Assistant] Even as Subaru watched the madman’s life expire, his shattered fragments carried away by the wind, no strong emotions stirred within him. He had hated the man so; he had so wished to kill him. Petelgeuse was where it had all started; Subaru had believed that killing him would make everything turn out all right. But was that truly the result?


[User] Though he had witnessed the death of his hated foe, Subaru had only hollow emptiness inside him. The defeat of Petelgeuse meant clearing away the threat posed by the Witch Cult. But Rem, who ought to have been there sharing his joy, had been erased from the world; Emilia, who should have been quietly waiting for him to bring good news upon his return, had died at Subaru’s own hands. The accumulated weight of both their deaths had made Subaru desire his own demise, but in the end, he could not even manage that, and a different avenger had claimed retribution— Subaru had nothing left. He’d done everything over and, as a result, achieved nothing.

[Assistant] “—Now, then.” Subaru felt his own powerlessness beaten into him as the beast quietly looked down upon him. He was reminded anew that the giant beast was Puck; the enormity of that truth made his body quake. He was reminded of how, previously, he’d watched with detached bemusement when the Knights and the Council of Elders at the royal palace had acted so terrified of fighting Puck when they heard his alias.

[User] “Let’s talk, shall we?”

[Assistant] —Now, he was painfully aware of just what they had felt back then. The cold was making it hard to think. Already, the pain tearing across his whole body had vanished. Subaru heard the gentle footsteps of his own death drawing near. And just as his body slackened from the sweet premonition that the end was nigh—

[User] “Oh, this won’t do. You’re bleeding out too much—I’ll put a stop to that.”

[Assistant] “—Dwah! !” He felt like he was being roasted alive, waking up his fading senses. With merciless pain blocking his throat, Subaru saw that each wound on his body was audibly freezing over. White steam rose as sharp ice connected, stitched, and tethered his wounds, even the ones inside his body. Through this act of treatment, abandoning all consideration for the human body, Subaru’s flesh was violently healed. Blood vessels exploded within his eyes, dyeing his vision scarlet. It was more than an ow, ow, ow. The hell that had erupted within his body transcended even pain.

[User] “Subaru, you have committed three sins.”

[Assistant] Subaru reeled, howling with a voiceless scream.

[User] The giant beast continued to speak as if nothing had happened. Though he had become enormous in size, his mouth lined with endless sharp fangs, and the tone of his voice had changed, the cadence was as gentle as always. That terrified him all the more. "First, you broke your promise with Lia. It seems you do not truly understand just how weighty a promise formed between two people is to a spirit mage. I suppose you truly do not know how much your rashly breaking that promise hurt Lia.” His mind rejected an understanding of what Puck was saying. No—his mind was dominated by pain. His internal organs were frozen, and his broken bones were connected to one another by ice gouging obstructed flesh.


[User] The crimson ice over his open wounds had been ripped away, the areas affected frozen to the core, violently stopping the bleeding. The freezing had spread farther. The pain had spread farther. Death was spreading. It hurts, hurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurtshurts…

[Assistant] "Second, you ignored Lia’s wishes and came back. Do you even know how much that drove her into a corner and made her suffer, when she didn’t want to see you again? Not only did you break your promise, you had to trample on Lia’s heart as you pleased." With Subaru on the white ground, limbs spread wide, Puck drew his face close and blew with his icy breath. Subaru’s flowing tears became needles stabbing his eyeballs. His brain convulsed from the intense agony.

[User] "And third, you let Lia die." It was like having his very soul filed down. The extreme pain made Subaru forget how to breathe. Amid that agony, like having every nerve in his body immersed in magma, Subaru cursed his own shallowness. He’d thought that pain was a lesser thing than death. He was wrong. He was wrong about everything. “Pain,” “Death,” “Fear”—these smashed the heart of the weakling named Subaru Natsuki in equal measure. The soul of Subaru Natsuki had been backed into a corner with nowhere to run. As Subaru’s sluggish mind began to appreciate that terrifying truth, Puck stated to him,

[Assistant] "—In accordance with the pact, I’ll be destroying the world now." Puck’s eyes had contained anger. Only at that juncture did a new emotion begin to come to the fore. "I will bury everything under ice and snow, as my parting gift to Lia."

[User] "...That won’t…"

[Assistant] "It has nothing to do with making her happy or not. No matter what the pact, I will not break what has been agreed upon." Puck’s eyes narrowed as he responded to Subaru’s incoherent voice. "But that act will end unfulfilled, I imagine. Even if I spread this world of ice to cover every land, like the forest where Lia and I dwelled…the Sword Saint will stand before me. That is a battle I will not win." Puck seemed to lament the disparity in strength when he brought up a certain red-haired hero’s other name.

[User] Subaru couldn’t believe he was hearing those words. Puck, wielding such overpowering might, had bluntly stated that he had no chance of defeating the Sword Saint. And if Puck knew he’d be struck down in the process, why would he sacrifice himself in such a battle? "Wh-why…?"

[Assistant] "—Lia was the entire reason for my existence." Puck responded to Subaru’s inquiry. The wind grew even colder, stabbing Subaru’s flesh, filling up his eyes, freezing his blood— The end was nigh.

[User] "It is meaningless for me to remain in a world without her. Now that I’ve lost her, I will not allow the world to move on. For me, everything ended when that girl died." When Puck finished speaking, the wind’s intensity suddenly spiked.


[User] “How long will it take for a person to die if he’s slowly, gradually frozen from the tips of his extremities on up? Have you ever wondered that, Subaru?”

[User] “I’ll take that as a yes. I want you to learn the answer.” Slowly, slowly, the chill consumed more and more of his flesh. His wounds and internal organs were already frozen, so they were exempt as the rest of Subaru’s flesh expired from the fingertips up. If pain could truly drive a person mad, his sanity would have been shattered long before. He wanted his mind to be ripped apart, smashed to bits, scattered in all directions. For if not…

[Assistant] “—Mist is coming. It seems you’ve lured quite a nasty one.” He couldn’t hear. Someone was saying something, but he couldn’t hear.

[User] “Gluttony’s… Ahh, nowadays they call it the White Whale, don’t they? Calling it over, letting Lia die, losing your own life… You truly are incorrigible, do you know that?” He couldn’t hear. He couldn’t hear. But even though he shouldn’t have heard it, he heard the voice. He heard laughter from somewhere. A mocking voice. Cackle, cackle. He knew that laughter. The voice of the man he hated to the point of death. Where is it coming from? With the end near, his consciousness sought an answer to that question. Then he realized it. The incessant cackling was coming from his own throat. Ecstasy began to rule his brain, drowning out his pain. He took his first steps into a spreading world of madness. The way it warped everything around him felt…good. The laughter wouldn’t stop. His own laughter was mocking him—the one who had let Rem die, who had killed Emilia, and who was dying like a dog himself. Ah yes. He was truly…how would you put it…

[Assistant] “—Subaru, you’re lazy.” With a sharp sound, he blacked out. It probably was not only his consciousness, and his life, that had been severed.


[User] Amid the white world, everything vanished. He couldn’t tell if his flesh had dissolved, if it had been smashed to pieces, or if it would remain as an ice sculpture for all eternity. No matter how terrible the end of the body he had left behind, it was all the same to him now. There was only one thing he understood with clarity. Over the course of repeating, repeating, repeating, he’d seen things end cruelly, with the situation growing worse with each repetition, and now, having destroyed with his own hands that which he most wanted to protect, he finally realized it. —No one expected anything of Subaru Natsuki. Not even him. No matter how many times he experienced it, he’d never get used to the feeling of the senses he had lost suddenly come rushing back. He no longer felt frozen to the core, or even cold at all, and he could tell that white world into which he had sunk deeper and deeper was gone. In the blink of an eye, all his dulled senses became clear, and every last thing was just as it had once been. Blood flowed through the limbs that had known so much pain. The agony of his nerves being immersed in ice was no more. The cold stabbing his skin had been peeled away, replaced by dazzling rays that could give him a sunburn.

[Assistant] “—aa.” Sounds from hustle and bustle to the left and right intermingled as his dead sense of hearing returned with a vengeance. Blocking out the meaningless noise, Subaru checked the condition of his body. His frozen limbs, his injured spine, and his internal organs that had been turned to sherbet were all functioning without any problems. Everything was back as it should be. Subaru felt relief that the body lost to him was under his control again. And what brought Subaru more tranquility than anything was…

[User] "Why are you staring into space like that, Subaru?" Behind the counter, Rem tilted her head slightly, gazing at him with concern.

[Assistant] “—Rem.”

[User] "Yes, it is me, your Rem… What might be the matter?" Rem responded to the call of his voice, slipping away from behind the counter and heading out of the shop. Subaru was rooted to the spot as Rem walked right in front of him, reaching out with her hand and touching him on the cheek. Her brows knit in worry, revealing a tinge of gloom on her noble face.

[Assistant] "I am sorry for not noticing. The crowd has worn you out, yes? I am a failure as a maid to have forgotten my most important duty of all."

[User] "Tired."


[User] Rem’s hand rested on his cheek as Subaru slowly lifted up his hand, pressing it down upon hers. The touch between them made Rem raise her eyebrows in surprise, but Subaru’s haggard voice and expression left her at a loss for words.

[Assistant] Rem looked like she was trying to say something.

[User] Subaru didn’t even look at her; instead, he felt Rem’s firm, solid presence against his hand—as if clinging to that warmth to keep it from running away. “I guess all that…falling and getting worn down…was exhausting…”

[Assistant] Yet in spite of all that, the Rem he had surely lost was right there with him at that very moment, so…

[User] "Subaru?"

[Assistant] Subaru resolved that, if nothing else, he would never let go of the girl right before his eyes.


[User] He ran rapidly through the crowd, heading down a gently descending slope. He scowled from the dust kicked up by a passing dragon carriage, but Subaru’s gaze was aimed straight in front of him. He knew where he was going. His running feet were sure. When he thought back, Subaru had harbored nothing but uncertainty during those repeated days: uncertainty about what he should be like, about what lay in Emilia’s heart, about whether his existence held any purpose, about whether he could bring out the best of all possible futures, all amid a vortex of madness. He was an unsure man lost in an uncertain, foreign world. But Subaru, unable to make a single manly step in one direction throughout, advanced with clarity of purpose he had never before known. Finally, he’d come to understand. Now that he’d arrived at that answer, the repeated days had not been in vain. Backed into a mental and physical corner, Subaru truly realized for the first time what he could do, what he must do.

[Assistant] “—ru!” His uncertainty lifted, his gaze was trained squarely on his objective, his legs powerfully thudding along the earth. His body was light. Relieved of the pressure on his heart, Subaru wasn’t afraid of anything anymore.

[User] Pulling his arm forward, he could see the main street at the end of the downward slope. Even in the royal capital, it boasted the greatest width, continuing all the way to the main gate through the stout walls that surrounded the capital. Everyone entering or leaving the royal capital had to pass through that gate. With the announcement of the royal selection, the main street was even busier with people coming and going; at that very moment, it was bustling with the numerous people along it. He cut past the shadow of a building. Abruptly, sun rays slid into his field of vision. Subaru used a hand to shield his eyes from the bright light as he raised his face up, looking at the symbols carved into the gate that read, LUGUNICA, THE ROYAL CAPITAL.

[Assistant] “Please, Subaru, listen to me!”


[User] “Subaru!” Having brought him all that way, his feet stopped when he felt a sharp tug on his arm. The unanticipated resistance made Subaru look back. As Rem stood still, her eyes wavered with bewilderment.

[Assistant] When Rem freed her hand from his grasp, she seemed to shrink as she pleaded with him. “What’s wrong? What has happened? If you do not explain, I…”

[User] Hearing those words, Subaru accepted that it was right for Rem to harbor misgivings. In her eyes, Subaru’s transformation had to look sudden, even unthinkable. It was natural for her to be angry with him for dragging her by the arm all that way without an explanation. “Ahh, my bad. I was in a bit of a hurry. I have a lot of things to think about. Sorry for cutting corners on explaining.”

[Assistant] “It troubles me, you know. Even I understand you have many things on your mind, Subaru, but you must speak to me about them… Though I do not mind you being assertive.” Rem put both hands to her very slightly reddened cheeks as she let out a sigh of relief.

[User] Observing Rem’s relief, Subaru thought his own lack of consideration was even more pathetic.

[Assistant] “Sorry for making you worry. I’m all right now. I feel like you’ve had to see me all pathetic and bent out of shape, but I understand finally.”

[User] “No, to me, time spent thinking about you is time well spent… You understand finally?” Subaru was speaking with unclouded eyes. There was a liveliness to Rem’s voice as she replied.


[User] She couldn’t hide her reserved delight at being able to converse with Subaru like that again.

[Assistant] "I really do feel more than a little sorry for the trouble I caused everyone running around and worrying like that, but I finally know how to put everything in order. Well, no, now that I think about it, I saw it from the start, and people mentioned it to me, too… I’m just bad at giving up." Subaru smiled shyly and nodded at the question Rem raised.

[User] "I think that is a marvelous thing about you, Subaru…" Subaru smiled weakly at Rem’s soft-spoken reply.

[Assistant] Subaru looked up at the sky. Its height and breadth gently made his chest feel lighter. The world had probably been looking down at Subaru in frustration all along. But with this, that oppressive time would finally come to an end. The answer had been under his nose all along. No matter where Subaru headed, no matter what challenges he recklessly faced, no matter how much he ran around doing stupid things, she’d followed him without a word of complaint.

[User] "Rem, I’ve decided." She stood close enough for him to reach out and touch as he looked straight into her eyes. Her short blue hair fluttered in the wind. Her pale, clear blue eyes held only Subaru within them. Her petite figure was clad in a modified black-themed apron dress. The overly serious way she carried herself projected her nobility and steadfastness. The vivid floral hair ornament delicately added to the loveliness of her small, refined visage.

[Assistant] "Yes, Subaru." Her pink lips formed a small smile. She narrowed her eyes, the benevolence in them piercing right through Subaru. The soft echo of her voice, full of affection, enchanted him; she seemed to be hanging on to his every word.

[User] "First, we’ll rent a dragon carriage. With the capital in such an uproar, hiring one seems to be rough, but we’ll play dirty if we have to. No intro from Anastasia, so it’s best to keep this on the up-and-up if possible." They needed a fast land dragon with plenty of endurance; if it was friendly on top of that, great. They’d need to keep running. They needed to travel light, to keep running without pause, day and night.

[Assistant] "A dragon carriage, you say…?" Rem cocked her head slightly and echoed Subaru. From the confusion welling in her eyes, Subaru’s rush to the conclusion meant his explanation had told her little.

[User] "We’ll have to kill some time while we pick out a dragon carriage, so we should go buy some food during the downtime. Ah, I’m no good with old-style rations, though. Plain water’s better than those things." But he pretended not to notice Rem’s natural misgivings and pointed at the huge front gate. He’d actually eaten simple rations and preserved foods on field trips and the like back in his old world.


[User] "Ah, wait, maybe there’s some nice magical power to preserve food here…? We managed to make mayonnaise, so maybe we can experiment and find something good…"

[Assistant] "Er, Subaru?"

[User] "Mm, ah, sorry. My thoughts started running in a weird direction. What’s wrong?" Realizing he’d gone off on a tangent, Subaru righted himself and smiled kindly as he looked at Rem.

[Assistant] That smile made Rem go briefly silent. Then she lifted her head, seemingly trying to set aside her doubts. "Er, I’m sorry. I am a poor guesser, so I do not understand what you are trying to do, Subaru. Er, what are…?"

[User] "Ahh! Right, my bad! Sorry, I didn’t realize at all! Er, just now I was completely caught up trying to make plans for stuff we’ve gotta do. So embarrassing!" Subaru slapped his knee, grinning in recognition of his mistake. "It took a whole lot of experiences for me to realize a few things, but the answer was obvious a good while ago." A wry smile, a truly wry smile, appeared. He’d tasted bitterness. He’d chewed on his regrets. He’d shed tears over the absurdity and irrationality of it all. He’d been toyed with by a cruel fate. He’d been smeared with the blood of others, dying an absurd number of times. All of it had led to a single answer, one he now keenly understood.

[Assistant] "Rem." Calling her name, Subaru slowly stretched a hand toward her.

[User] Rem watched his hand, waiting for his next words.

[Assistant] "Let’s run away together. As far as we can." His defeat at Fate’s hands was loud and clear.

[User] "…Huh?" Rem, unable to grasp the meaning of the words spoken to her, let out only a faint gasp from her throat.

[Assistant] "We’ll leave the royal capital and head west…that, or north. I’ve heard that we can’t get into the empire down south, so it’s one of those two… I’m not good with cold, so personally, I vote for west."

[User] "Er, um, excuse…"

[Assistant] "It’ll be a long journey with no clear end, and I don’t think we’ll have an easy time just ’cause it’s a good chance to start over. Besides, in the first place, if we rent a dragon carriage, I can’t see us ever getting a chance to hand it back. What should we do about that, huh…? Maybe buy a dragon carriage instead of renting one?" He’d left procuring dragon carriages to Rem. Subaru didn’t know if they had some rental car–like system in place. He didn’t even know where you’d buy one. He figured there had to be some means so that you couldn’t just grab one and run, but—

[User] "P-please wait!" Subaru was in the middle of that thought when Rem urged him to pause.


[User] She kept her palms pointed toward Subaru as a rare expression of nervousness came over her. "Er…what do you mean by ‘run’? Subaru, from the way you are speaking right now, you sound as if you are trying to go to a different nation, one that is not Lugunica…" Rem’s gaze wandered as if she half doubted her own words. Then her expression changed to an Ah! look as she clapped her hands together. "Since it is you we are talking about, you have another incredible idea, don’t you? Something that will aid Lady Emilia and Master Roswaal…"

[Assistant] "Nothin’ of the sort, Rem."

[User] "Eh…?" Rem seemed to be clinging to the best possible interpretation of the true intent behind Subaru’s words. But right in front of the girl who believed this of him,

[Assistant] Subaru decisively repudiated that thought. "I told you, we’ll run away. Even if I stay in the royal capital, I can’t do anything. But if I return to the mansion, that won’t change the fact that I can’t do anything—I understand that now." His powerlessness, his emptiness, the irrationality of the world—these weighed heavily on Subaru. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, the absurd would never leave him. But how light his heart had become, now that he had accepted it. Now, Subaru was free of the troubles he had endured, almost as if they had never existed. "So run away with me, Rem. Every last person’s told me that I can’t stay here. I didn’t want to accept it, so I kept on desperately denying it, but…ah, that’s right. I’m weak. No one’s ever told me, ‘I need you.’" He thought he’d been…too full of himself. He’d thought wrong. He’d been mistaken. He’d gotten carried away. Having arrived in another world and, through the power to rewind fate and just the tiniest bit of good fortune, he felt like he’d saved people on two separate occasions, but he’d been wrong. He didn’t even possess the power or feelings deserving of being saved by others.

[User] "That’s not…!"

[Assistant] "No one’s said it. And I have been told, loud and clear…over and over." No one needs the likes of you. The first time around, Subaru had ignored Emilia’s wishes and rushed out of the Crusch residence. He didn’t listen to Rem’s attempt to stop him, courting a massive tragedy as a result. The second time around, he’d been unable to change one iota of the result, everyone had died again, and through fleeing from reality, he’d caused Rem to lose her life; again, no one was saved. The third time around brought about the most despicable of all outcomes. He’d gotten even innocent merchants on the roadside involved, offered Rem up to the White Whale, and had robbed Emilia of her life with his own hands.


[User] Puck had slaughtered the Witch Cult, but if, after Subaru’s death, Puck had indeed destroyed the world as he had proclaimed, the damage was surely greater than any time that had come before. What about the time unrelated to the power of Return by Death that could not be rewound? When the candidates had assembled at the royal palace, Subaru had dragged down Emilia in epic fashion. Merely by standing at her side, let alone speaking his impertinent words, he’d tarnished her reputation, and his “duel” to save face had resulted only in even greater humiliation. As a result, he and Emilia had had a falling out, and he had hurt her heart with his emotional arguments, which had been little more than outbursts of anger.

[Assistant] "…Kha-ha-ha!" He laughed drily at the realization. Now that he thought back, it was a masterpiece. When he calmly reflected on his own actions, it was painfully clear that he’d been a pestilence. He wanted to lend Emilia his strength? There had to be people only he could save? There was no doubt everyone was done for if he wasn’t there? What thoughtlessness. What arrogance. Yes, what hubris. Subaru’s actions had only worsened Emilia’s standing. Even so, he’d betrayed her enormously generous heart, and his foolish undertakings had only dragged Rem with him to her death. Incredible. Just incredible. No doubt everyone knew that would be the result. That was why everyone had told Subaru, You need to behave, don’t do anything, your strength isn’t required, don’t butt in, just go away. Those around him who had told him so knew a great deal about the future. They were very different from Subaru, who ought to have known that he could do nothing, that he understood nothing, that he was able to comprehend nothing. Maybe they were the ones really doing things over?

[User] "If they aren’t, I’m the only one…screwing up like this." It was pathetic. There was no one lowlier, more unsalvageable, or more miserable than he.

[Assistant] What did you call a man who resigned himself to being laughed at by others and acted so as to make others laugh? You called him a clown. Subaru, who wasn’t even aware of the customers pointing at him and laughing, was unworthy of the title.

[User] —He was just a simple, irredeemable fool.

[Assistant] "So I’ve decided to go away. That’s best. I know that’s best. If someone like me tries to do something, it’ll just add one more corpse…and if I’m not lucky, a lot more than one." Corpses. Corpses. Corpses. Corpses. Corpses. Strangers. Acquaintances. People precious to him. Important people. People who believed in him. People he wanted to think believed in him— Endless corpses. He’d had it. Why did all those things have to happen to him? He’d suffered so much; didn’t he deserve some reward?


[User] Even Subaru knew that the idea that hard work was always rewarded, that any wish with a clear objective could come true so long as you gave it your all, was nothing but a pipe dream. But despite that, was it so wrong to have but one tiny wish—to avoid the worst of all worlds? Subaru had been wrong. That was why the results continued to betray his expectations.

[Assistant] "Let’s run away, Rem. You, me…we can’t stay here in this country.” Subaru had resolved to leave it all behind, flip the bird at everything, and run. And having decided to put so many things behind him as he fled, he wanted to take only one with him—Rem, the girl standing before him. He couldn’t bring himself to abandon everything in its entirety. He was afraid of being alone. He was terrified of solitude. Even in that vast world, that world of incomprehensible darkness, knowing that having nothing so that he would lose nothing was the right answer, Subaru couldn’t put aside his fear of being all by himself.

[User] As the days repeated themselves, Rem had been the only one who’d stayed with Subaru. She’d been right at his side, watching his disgraceful displays, unsightly words and deeds, and off-the-wall way of living. Subaru thought that made her worthy of one final gamble.

[Assistant] —Each of the three times, Subaru had let Rem die. To keep her from dying, he couldn’t return to the mansion. Even when he had arrived at the mansion, she had heroically offered up her life along the way, in the end. Nor could he say with certainty that he could save her by keeping her at the royal capital. Even if they were spending their time in peace and quiet here, if Ram conveyed news of the crisis at the mansion, Rem would probably rush out of the city. If it came to that, Subaru wouldn’t be able to stop her. And she would meet the same fate. He’d lose her again, and Subaru could clearly see how empty he would be without her. If he seriously wanted to save her, he had to get her out of the kingdom.

[User] "You are saying all this so suddenly, I do not know what to do…” Rem shook her head a little in the face of Subaru’s forceful plea. It wasn’t a gesture of rejection. Her expression projected the uncertainty that reigned inside her.

[Assistant] Rem couldn’t simply accept at face value what Subaru had suddenly said. He had cited far too few facts to make an informed decision.

[User] Subaru understood the irrationality of it, but even so, he could speak no further of the circumstances. He no longer knew how much information he could divulge with the Witch’s evil hands looming. He felt like he’d brush against the Witch’s curse no matter what he talked about. No matter what he did, he felt like it would lead to more sacrifices to the irrationalities of Fate.


[User] “—” —It was a stalemate. He was hemmed in on all sides. Fate had shut off every avenue of escape. Therefore, Subaru had no means left to him but that plea. He was earnestly appealing to Rem’s conscience, knowing that it was underhanded in every possible way, knowing that he was using the feelings for Subaru that Rem harbored in her heart.

[Assistant] “There’s no time. I’m sorry this is so sudden. Really, really I am. I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart… But please choose.”

[User] "Choose…”

[Assistant] “Me or everything except for me… Please choose.” Subaru hated the situation he’d put her in, saying all that and making her suddenly choose based on the little information he’d provided her. But it was also a fact that giving her time to calmly think it over worked against him. He couldn’t dismiss the notion that he was using the pressure of her predicament for his own benefit. Only in this situation, giving Rem little time to decide whether to leave Subaru there or not as he pled right before her eyes, did he have a shot at winning this. Or if not “winning,” then fulfilling a cherished desire more like hope—the selfish hope that Rem, at least, would forgive him for running away.

[User] “Let’s get a dragon carriage and head west. Let’s leave Lugunica and go all the way west of…Kararagi, was it? Let’s buy a little house and live there, just the two of us.” Rapid-fire, Subaru began sketching his vision of the future. It was an ordinary, tranquil future, one surely divorced from irrationality and cruelty.

[Assistant] “It means using the traveling funds, so I feel bad for Roswaal, but we can just borrow what we need and send the rest back. I’m gonna work hard to help set us up from the start, too… I’ve never worked at a proper job before, but it’ll probably be all right.” He was a delinquent who had dropped out of high school with only a middle school graduation under his belt. His work experience in this world consisted of nothing but a stint as an apprentice servant. Furthermore, though he didn’t like saying it, his current work as a subordinate was little better than that of a child helping out with the chores. It’d probably be hard doing a real job, but he’d find work, come hell or high water. Compared to pain, suffering, and death, it’d be a walk in the park. The more Subaru thought about it, the more his future opened up. Thinking back to how he’d aimed for a single future, spending day after day courting the worst calamities no matter how hard he tried, it was a happy thing indeed.

[User] “Even if it’s tough, if you’re there, I know I’ll try hard.


[User] "Even if I’m tired, just the thought of you waiting for me with a smile when I come home…!”

[Assistant] "Please choose me…!" Subaru offered his hand to petition her, almost like he was trying to drag a yes out of her.

[User] "If you pick me, I’ll give you everything I have. Every part of my life will be yours. I’ll spend my life for you. I’ll live only for you…so please." Even with Rem standing right in front of him, he couldn’t look at her face.

[Assistant] "Run away with me… Live with me, please…!" At least let me keep you from dying, he earnestly pled from the bottom of his heart. Putting all his feelings into his parched voice, Subaru felt his heart beat quickly, his breathing grow ragged.

[User] Rem made no reply, as the sounds of the crowd were distant now.

[Assistant] Subaru opened his firmly closed eyes to peek at Rem’s expression as she stood before him.

[User] "—" In silence, Rem pursed her lips, not realizing he was looking at her. Her expression struggled to remain neutral, but her brow and the corners of her eyes were faintly strained.

[Assistant] "—Subaru." Gently, she called his name with a voice that was full of affection.

[User] Then Subaru lifted his face—

[Assistant] "I cannot run away with you, Subaru." With a very sad face, Rem dashed his hopes.


[User] “After all…” “—” “When we talk about the future, we need to smile, don’t we?” Rem spoke with an expression resembling a tearful smile, the words that had once come from Subaru’s own mouth.

[Assistant] Subaru gambled and lost. Subaru's inner self was exhausted, overwhelmed by a feeling that he’d thrown everything into one match and lost when Rem threw his own words back at him with a tearful smile. Subaru had trusted—no, hoped—that Rem, with her strong dependence on him, just might say yes. That maybe, just maybe, even as he cast everything aside, she might choose him. It was a fleeting dream, a conceited thought. He should have understood that from the start. If his inability to find any worth in himself was the whole reason he’d chosen to run away, what business did he have expecting that?

[User] “Right now…I might not be smiling, but…I mean, if we actually did it I’m sure I’d be smiling… Yeah, that’s right. So, ah…” Even though the matter had already been settled, unconvincing arguments poured out of Subaru’s mouth in an attempt to smooth things over. He couldn’t think of an effective rebuttal to Rem’s words. But if he didn’t say something, his desires were over then and there. He might still have a chance to change her mind as long as they kept talking—though that might have been an exercise in wishful thinking. Subaru clung to that hope.

[Assistant] “…I have…thought of it as well.” Rem raised her shapely face up ever so slightly. “After arriving in Kararagi, first we would rent a room at an inn. Though a house is the foundation for building a life, we could not be reckless with the money at our disposal. First, we would need a stable income.” Rem lifted a finger up as she added to the image of the future Subaru had proposed earlier. “Fortunately, I received a proper education due to Master Roswaal’s good judgment. Even in Kararagi, I believe that finding employment would be a simple matter for me. As for Subaru…you would probably need to settle for physical labor, but perhaps you could work in close proximity to me.” Rem giggled a little as she made made light of Subaru’s inability to do anything. It was no doubt an accurate assessment of Subaru’s worth, as he was still largely ignorant of the culture and technology in that world.

[User] “Once our income is stable, we would look for a slightly better place to stay. During that time, you would need to study properly for future employment… It would take about a year before you could do real work, maybe. You can become independent even faster, but only through your own efforts, Subaru.” Rem laid out an unexpectedly brutal studying regimen. When she had instructed him in Ram’s place, her method of teaching was gentle, but her criticisms were merciless.


[User] “With both of us working, we could save some money… Perhaps enough to eventually buy a house. Maybe a store of some sort would be better. Kararagi is a land overflowing with commerce, so there will surely be a way to profit from your eccentric ideas, Subaru.” With an amused clap of her hands, Rem laid out a future that sounded too good to be true.

[Assistant] Subaru, too, felt like he could clearly picture the scene playing out in Rem’s head. As usual, Subaru would cause her lots of trouble, and she would indulge him. Of course he would feel responsible for that, so he’d end up working hard with plenty of sweat rolling off his brow for sure. That would be nice. An honest living, for her sake and hers alone—how happy a life would that be?

[User] “As our work progresses…ah, this is embarrassing, but maybe…children? As half-demon and half-human, they would most likely be very rambunctious. Boy or girl, twins or triplets, they are sure to be very cute children, too.” Rem’s cheeks reddened as she shyly let her thoughts run a little further ahead. She counted on her fingers one by one, and just as the number reached a terrifying ten, she continued. “It would not be all fun, and I do not think it would all go as well as I imagine. Perhaps we would have no sons and only daughters, and you might not be able to feel proud of your family.”

[Assistant] “…Rem.”

[User] “But, ah, even when the children get big enough to be mean to you, I will always be on your side, Subaru. We would be famous with the locals as the always happily married couple and slowly spend our days together, growing old together…”

[Assistant] “…Rem!”

[User] “Subaru, I am sorry to say this, but if possible, I would ask you to please let me pass away before you. I would like to lie upon a bed with you holding my hand, surrounded by our children and grandchildren, while I say, ‘I was happy,’ and you all would send me off—”

[Assistant] He couldn’t hold up his head. The future Rem was portraying with her words was quietly, gently wounding Subaru’s heart.

[User] “That would be a…happy, happy way to end my life.”

[Assistant] “If you’ve…!” Listening to the bittersweet future Rem had refused was like having an irrepressible itch deep inside his chest that made him want to scratch himself raw. By the time Subaru finished listening, there was nothing left filling his heart but a pathetic, indescribable storm of emotion. His throat trembled. Something heavy sank deep inside his lungs. His head hurt. He shook his head to try and ignore the relentless heat filling the depths of his eyes.


[User] "If you’ve…thought it through…!" Then she could run away with Subaru as far as their feet could take them—

[Assistant] "Subaru, if you could smile while wishing for that future…I truly believe I could be happy after a life like that." But filled with a sadness that exceeded even Subaru’s, the smiling girl did not answer his plea.

[User] Dumbfounded, Subaru stared at that small, painful smile when he finally understood. No matter how much he clung to hope, he could not get Rem to change her mind. He had truly, utterly lost the gamble, and he had no recourse.

[Assistant] "—" A sense of fatigue assailed him, as if he were carrying something very heavy on his shoulders. He was so disheartened that he could collapse on the spot. Subaru barely managed to avoid doing so, covering his face with his hands as he despaired. Rem had refused to go with him. That meant he was out of ways to save her. If he stayed by her side to protect her, all that awaited her upon their return to the mansion was a cruel future—an unchangeable tragedy and Fate’s pitiless dead end. Then perhaps it would be best to leave Rem behind and run away by himself…? If he did so, he could not escape loneliness, but he could at least flee from the despair in front of him. Of course, the fate of the people in and around the mansion would not change whether or not he was present. Subaru would simply be covering his eyes and ears, pretending not to know, spared from seeing reality for himself. In that moment, Subaru was so desperate for something to cling to that this paltry salvation would do. But even if he accepted that himself, would there be any salvation at all? Whether Subaru was challenging his foes, fleeing into madness, or putting everything on the line, Fate had not cut him the slightest slack. What, then, could he do—?

[User] "Subaru, that you thought of running away with me…that you thought of living your life with me…thrills me to the bottom of my heart. But it will not do." Even having spurned the hand Subaru had offered, Rem’s cheeks were still flush from the feelings swirling within her. She herself knew that they could flee, flee, flee and, eventually, make that fantasy a reality. She craved it. She’d stated firmly that the tale was a happy one—and yet, Rem had rejected it, because—

[Assistant] "I mean, if we did run away right now…I am certain that I would be leaving behind the Subaru I love most."

[User] "—" What was Rem saying? He didn’t get it. Trembling, Subaru lifted up his face and looked at her with blank eyes.

[Assistant] Rem was giving him a small, sad smile, but even so, her eyes projected her firm sentiments. Subaru felt overwhelmed by her gaze as she continued. "Subaru. Please tell me what has happened."

[User] He shook his head. He could not.


[User] “If you cannot talk about it, then please trust me. I will manage somehow.” He shook his head. He could not. If he left it at that, Rem would die.

[Assistant] “…But at the very least, can we go back now? If you settle down and think about it more calmly, you might be able to find a different answer.” He shook his head. He could not. If he waited, everyone would die.

[User] “I’ve…worried already. I’ve thought already. I’ve suffered already… That’s why I gave up.” No one believed Subaru. No one expected anything from him. If he told anyone he’d do something, they’d spoon-feed him his own foolishness. He’d ignored that, brushed it off, seen his own many stupidities, and thus arrived at his current state. To Subaru, that time, that wear and tear on his heart, was—

[Assistant] “—It is easy to give up. However.” Suddenly, Rem voiced a rebuttal to Subaru’s words of weakness.

[User] “It’s easy…to give up…?”

[Assistant] “Subaru?”

[User] “Don’t…tell me that…!” Subaru clenched his teeth, rasping with resentment at a perplexed Rem.

[Assistant] “There’s no way it’s easy to give up…! !” Subaru’s throat trembled from the unbearably dark emotions exploding within him. Surprised by Subaru’s angry outburst, Rem seemed to shrink. Even pedestrians traveling along the royal capital’s main street were wondering what was up as they shifted their eyes to the enraged Subaru. Heedless of the offended gazes, Subaru glared only at Rem, standing before him.

[User] “I didn’t do anything, I didn’t think of anything, I abandoned everything without a care, threw it all away just like that, and gave up—is that what you think? !” The decision was killing him. He’d cried tears of blood and yelled enough to rip his throat apart, and still he had gained nothing. Knowing that, he had made his decision. Giving up on everything. That was the only conclusion he could put into words, but just how many sacrifices had to be made for him to reach that conclusion? He wouldn’t let anyone diminish that.

[Assistant] “Giving up wasn’t easy at all…! Thinking you can fight, that you can manage somehow, that’s way easier…! But I couldn’t manage somehow! I had no choice! All the paths were blocked except for giving up…!” Fate was mocking Subaru, for every path available to him ended in a dead end.


[User] No matter how much he fought, how much he stood tall, plotted, schemed, begged, or even ran away— It was no longer possible for him to have it all. Even the people he wanted to save had slapped his hand away. He was supposed to keep trying, then? Who could tell Subaru that it was too soon to give up? If someone had been through the same experience, the same suffering, the same hell, would that person be able to say such a thing? "If I could do anything…I’d…I’d…!" He truly wanted to do something. To help people, to save people, to keep them from being stolen away. But he couldn’t. The world wouldn’t let him. Everything during those repeated days had come back around to bite him again. That’s why Subaru had—

[Assistant] "Subaru." As Subaru hung his head, drained of emotion, his voice petering out, Rem called to him.

[User] Subaru’s ears were ringing heavily. The pathetic revelation of his unsightly true feelings left him unable to even look her in the face.

[Assistant] And to that miserable, unsalvageable, hopeless man who had challenged Fate and lost, she said, "It is easy to give up."

[Assistant] "However…" Rem repeated once more the phrase that had sent Subaru into a rage just before. Sensing something almost incomprehensible in her words, Subaru lifted his face, dumbfounded.

[User] Why won’t she understand? Why, after all this, couldn’t she comprehend Subaru’s anguish? The gloom, the dissatisfaction, the wounds on what seemed like every corner inside his heart—

[Assistant] "—It does not suit you, Subaru." It all vanished as Rem stared directly into Subaru’s black eyes and spoke. Rem stated those words as if she truly believed them, as if they represented some kind of absolute truth. "I do not understand what painful thoughts, what knowledge is making you suffer, Subaru. I believe I cannot belittle it by saying that I understand."

[Assistant] "But even so, there is one thing that even I recognize."

[Assistant] "And that is, you are not someone who can give up on things before they’re done, Subaru." To the man lost in sorrow before her, who’d cast away everything, who had said he was giving up but a moment before, Rem said such a thing without shame, without fear, without hesitation. "I know this."

[Assistant] "When it is a future you want, you smile when you talk about it, Subaru." To the man who had spoken to her of running away to a world that was no doubt warm, peaceful, and tranquil, with guilt and regret on his face, Rem spoke plainly, without any disappointment. "I know this."

[Assistant] "I know that you are a man who does not give up on the future, Subaru." This, Rem declared to a young man hanging his head, seemingly gritting his teeth. There was only sincerity in her eyes. They conveyed nothing but trust to him. Subaru was overwhelmed by that powerful, intense light. After all, Rem was wrong about him.


[User] So wrong, this was a veritable farce. Her statements valued the human being called Subaru far too highly. He didn’t know how proud and noble the Subaru in her eyes must have been. But the real Subaru was nothing so fine a person as that. Spouting weakness, crushed from adversity, lamenting his own smallness and pathetic misery, defeated and beaten so hard that he was running away—that was Subaru Natsuki.

[Assistant] "You’re wro… I’m not that kind of person… I’m…"

[User] "I am not mistaken. Lady Emilia, Sister, Master Roswaal, Miss Beatrice, and everyone else… I know you have not given up on them, Subaru." She refuted him in a strong tone.

[Assistant] He’d thrown away all of them. "I gave up. I gave up! I can’t take them with me…my hands are too small, everything falls out of them, then I have nothing left…!"

[User] "No, that is not so. Subaru, you are—"

[Assistant] Just how far, how far, would Rem go in denying that Subaru had given up? Why, after he had suffered such humiliation, did she so deny that he was in the wrong? Just what did she see in Subaru? It was so disturbing that he couldn’t take it anymore.

[User] —Just what is it you’re trying to say? "—What! Do you! Think you know about me? !" He vented the flames smoldering inside his chest in an incandescent rage. Subaru shouted angrily, slamming a fist into the wall right beside him. With a hard sound, his knuckles broke; when he waved his fist around, blood splattered onto the wall.

[Assistant] "This is all I am! I have high hopes even though I’m powerless; I have all these dreams even though I’m dumb; I keep trying even though I can’t do anything…!" Everyone had at least one thing they could do right. And everyone pushed that one thing as far as they could to find a place suited to them. —But Subaru Natsuki didn’t even have that. The lofty heights he yearned for were far above his station. "I…! I hate myself! !" Faced with the truth that he’d smiled frivolously in an attempt to hide, making light of things as he kept running from them, never facing them seriously—for the first time, Subaru admitted what he really felt. More than anyone, Subaru Natsuki hated himself.

[User] "I’m always nothing but talk! I’m full of myself even though I can’t do anything! I’m worse than useless, but I’m still a world-class complainer! Who the hell do I think I am?! How dare I live such a shameful life this long?! Right? !" Because he was unable to raise himself higher, he’d tried to bring others down. Because he wouldn’t admit he was inferior to others, he tried to find fault in everyone else to protect his banal, paper-thin pride. "I’m empty. I’ve got nothing inside me. Of course I am… Yeah, it’s obvious. There’s no question!


[User] “Until I came here, until I met all of you, do you know what I was doing?!” Before he’d fallen into another world. What was he doing in his former world except living out his idle, boring, ordinary, unchanging days one at a time—?

[Assistant] “—I…wasn’t doing anything.” He’d wallowed in idleness, slumbered in indolence, spent his days far removed from studying and effort. It wasn’t that he’d given up on himself but rather, he’d held on to the convenient idea that if the time came, he could just roll up his sleeves and do it.

[User] “I didn’t do anything… I didn’t do one little thing! With all that time to do it! With all that freedom! I should have done lots of stuff, but I didn’t do any of it! And this is the result! The result is the man I am now!” If he’d properly used the time he had, even Subaru would surely have achieved something. But in reality, he had grandly squandered and wasted the time allotted to him, and as a result, he had gained nothing, and nothing had come from it. That was why, now that he actually wanted from the bottom of his heart to accomplish something, he lacked the strength, intelligence, and skill to achieve any of it.

[Assistant] “I’m powerless, talentless, and all of it, all of it, is because of my rotten personality…! I want to achieve something when I haven’t done anything before—conceited doesn’t even begin to describe it… I was lazy and imposed on other people; I wasted my whole life away; I killed you.” He was unsalvageable. He was hopeless. Even if he’d redone it all from birth, he’d probably go down the exact same path, waste his time in the exact same way, arrive there with the same feelings, and experience the same regrets. His rotten personality wouldn’t change. A shallow human nature was the only one suited to the human being called Subaru Natsuki. That fact would never change.

[User] “That’s right, my personality hasn’t… I thought I could live here, but not a single thing’s changed about me. That old man saw right through me, didn’t he?” When he’d remained in the royal capital, Wilhelm had instructed him in the sword at the Crusch residence. Watching Subaru be knocked down time and time again, all beat up while challenging him over and over, the old man had nonetheless seen through it all. During those days of training, the old man had spoken of those who wield the sword, but he had shaken his head and said, “There is little point lecturing someone about what it takes to become stronger when he has already abandoned the choice to do so.” At the time, Subaru hadn’t understood what Wilhelm was saying, so he’d denied the old man’s words—even though he knew deep down exactly what they meant.


[User] "It’s not like I really thought I’d get stronger or I’d be able to do anything… I just went through the motions…I was just a poser trying to justify myself…"

[Assistant] "I wanted to say, I couldn’t help it! I wanted other people to say it couldn’t be helped! That’s all it was! That’s the only reason I pretended to put myself on the line like that! Even when you were helping me study, I was just putting on a show to cover up the embarrassment! I’m a small, underhanded, filthy guy down to the bone, always worrying about what other people think of me, and none of that’s ever changed…!" His bluffs had been stripped away, and the hubris underneath had crumbled.

[User] "...Even I knew. I understood all of it was my fault, really.”

[Assistant] "I’m the worst… I—I hate me." Subaru was short of breath after venting all the gloomy darkness tearing him up inside.


[User] “I know this.”

[Assistant] “I know that Subaru is someone with the courage to reach out, even with impenetrable darkness all around him.”

[User] “I love it when you stroke my head, Subaru. I feel connected to you when your hand passes through my hair.” With Subaru fallen into silence, Rem began to express something unexpected in a soft, quiet voice.

[Assistant] “I love your voice, Subaru. I feel my heart getting warmer from every single word. I love your eyes, Subaru. They’re usually quite sharp, but I like how they become soft when you’re being kind to someone.” Subaru said nothing as Rem continued, showering him with her words.

[User] “I love your fingers, Subaru. They’re very pretty for a boy’s, but when they hold my hand, I always think to myself, ‘They really are a boy’s fingers.’ They are slender and strong. I love how you walk, Subaru. When someone is beside you, you always check once in a while to make sure you really are side by side. I love that you walk that way.” His heart was screaming. While Rem wove those words, Subaru’s chest cried out.

[Assistant] “…Stop it.”

[User] “I love your face when you sleep, Subaru. You’re as defenseless as a baby. Your eyelashes are just a little bit long. Your cheeks are so gentle when I touch them, and even if I touch your lips to tease you, you don’t notice… I love it so much that it makes my chest hurt.”

[Assistant] “Why…?” Why was she still talking? Why was she still able to toss out such compliments at Subaru, the useless fool that he was?

[User] “You said that you hated yourself, Subaru, so I wanted you to know that you have so much good in you.”

[Assistant] “None of that is real…!” Rem was looking at a convenient illusion. The real Subaru wasn’t that kind of person. The real him was filthier than that. His genuine self was ugly, the exact opposite of the one she viewed so favorably.

[User] “You just don’t understand!"