Intermittently, an intense heat obliterated existence.

The skull, limbs, torso, internal organs, flesh and blood.

Everything that constituted the physical body was crushed, shattered, twisted, and bent by a hard impact. The pain that arose from this tormented the brain, plucking at the nerves and scorching the soul until it burst into flames.

From that enormous sense of loss and heat, a scream escaped.

Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain.

There was only pain.

Pain was all that existed. Only pain remained. The world was filled with pain. Even the thought that the world was filled with pain was drowned in that very pain, and it hurt.

Thought, existence, were all overshadowed by pain.

Anxiety, confusion, tension, grief, wrath, despair—everything was worthless before pain.

Worthless.

Yes, worthless.

Thoughts, actions, deliberations, opinions, hopes, memories—equally worthless.

Such utter worthlessness, even if shattered, crushed, and ultimately lost—what is there to lament?

Only the endless pain etched the certainty of existence onto the soul.

That, pain that should have an end, abruptly relinquished existence—

“—UAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!”

I let out a scream and awakened.

The throat that screamed was crushed, and drowning in the rushing blood seemed a distant memory now.

“AAAAAAHHHH!! UAAAAAAAHHH!!”

Shouting, I flailed my limbs, trying to protect my broken body. My joints were askew, and yet my arms and legs, though forced into a helpless condition, moved.

They moved, but I lost my balance and my body was enveloped in a brief sensation of weightlessness as I crashed into the floor.

“—Ugh!”

I let out a sound that barely formed into a voice and rolled around on the ground.

The sensation of the floor felt strange. It felt as though thick ropes were laid out everywhere. As I tasted the sprawling sensation with my entire body, my throat, only able to scream, sought oxygen, and I instantly coughed at the sharp pain.

Unable to endure it, I vomited. There was nothing in my stomach. Yellow gastric fluid passed through my parched mouth with a sour smell and gushed out.

“Ugh, bleh! Gah! Hack! Gah!”

Coughing, desperately spewing out a small amount of gastric fluid, my face became a mess with tears and mucus. Crouching, covering my face, I repeatedly struck my forehead weakly against the floor.

After repeating this over and over, I finally realized.

—The relentless pain that mercilessly smashed my entire body was fading away.

“—Ah.”

As I was surprised by the sudden absence of pain, I was further late to notice something.

Someone was gently stroking my back.

“Feeling better?”

Turning around, through my tear-soaked vision, I caught sight of the face of the person stroking my back.

Even in my blurred sight, her beautiful silver hair and violet-indigo eyes stood out—she frowned with concern as she stroked my back, and I felt a lump rise in my throat.

“Suba…”

“UUAAAAAAAHHHH—!!”

I twisted my body violently, roughly brushing off the white hand that was touching my back.

The surprise made the astonished eyes of the girl flicker. But more than that, the one who felt serious damage to my spirit was none other than me.

My back.

It had been touched.

Even now, just moments ago, I had been touched on my back, and in the next moment, that agony—

“Hii!”

A shiver tingled at the nape of my neck, and I jumped back as if trying to escape. Of course, my legs wouldn’t support me, and I fell backward, landing awkwardly on my backside.

The coarse black sensation that caught my fallen body was—

“—”

Looking up in fear, I saw the glint of a reptilian gaze with sharp features. When I realized that the cluster of sharp teeth in its mouth could easily chew me to bits, it hit me—

“UUAAAAAAAHHHH—!!”

I screamed again, rolling forward this time. Just before me, I saw the feet of a person, and unable to lift my gaze to their face, I rolled to the side, shoving the small shadow that stood in my way.

“Beatrice!”

A high, ringing voice urgently shouted something, but it didn’t reach my ears that were already covered.

That’s how, aiming for the gap in the green wall, I urged my trembling legs to move and dashed out of the room. I stepped onto the stone corridor and crashed right into the wall ahead.

Crashing, pain shot through me. My vision turned crimson, and I heard the phantom sound of bones shattering.

“Hii!”

My right arm that had struck the wall was free to move. Confirming that it could indeed move freely, I smashed it against the wall. Pain answers back. My scream reversed itself.

I staggered along the wall, running forward with unreliable footing.

“Hah, hi, ah…!”

Breathless, drooling, and perspiring, I desperately ran through the corridor.

Behind me, I felt someone was chasing me, and I held back the urge to turn around multiple times. The moment I confirmed someone was behind me, my pounding heart would burst.

My heart felt like it would explode, and blood throughout my body rotted away. I sensed my body crumbling beneath me like fragile glass.

Was that intuition, or was it the truth? Either way, one thing was certain—if I continued like this, I would perish.

Humans are born to ruin.

Aging each second, moving toward death every second, falling toward an end every second.

Yet, such conceptual “death” meant nothing to my current self.

In a more extreme form, “death” drew near, steadily and surely. It toyed with my attempt to escape, approaching mockingly as I struggled.

I ran, escaped. Just kept running.

“Death” is chasing me. I’m going to be killed. Killed. If this continues, I’m going to be killed.

Even though I should have been killed, it seems I’m still going to die. Or perhaps, even after such pain, humans cannot die? It’s the mystery of life. That’s downright grotesque.

Such a phrase doesn’t fit the ugly nature of this. It’s horrid, a disgusting obsession.

I should have just died instead—

“—!”

The thundering heartbeat throbbed against my eardrums, and my vision flickered. With a rudimentary survival skill level below that of an infant, it was farcical to think I could escape the fear of death.

Even if it’s ridiculous, I couldn’t laugh. Everything became an object of fear.

“—”

Ahead, the drab stone corridor stretched endlessly, nearly causing me to lose sight of where I was running.

I understood that I could not return behind me. However, just attempting to continue escaping without any support would eventually lead me to lose my way.

If I lost my way, I’d get caught by someone. If I got caught, my life would be taken.

Why, why do I have to lose my life? Such concerns were utterly useless now.

I had no time to hesitate whether to go right or left.

I clung to the wall my right hand touched, desperately clawing for breath as “death” could close in on me at any moment.

It felt as if I was drowning.

Even with no water on the surface, I fought to grasp the surface as if it were there.

Drowning, drowning, just like the one who struggles toward the surface, flailing, flailing, flailing, and eventually—

“—Oi, what are you doing here so early in the morning, huh?”

“—”

The moment I sensed an ominous giant right in front of me, my feet stopped.

—No, it wasn’t just my feet that stopped.

My breath halted, the heartbeat that had been thundering became silent, and the tremors of my knees, shaking from exhaustion and fear, ceased, as if everything vital was being choked.

—Before me stood something that felt as colossal as a giant.

Yet, after several seconds, I slowly began to comprehend that while they were tall, they did not exceed the realm of a human.

Simultaneously, I understood the fact that beings such as humans could radiate such overwhelming ferocity.

“Only you, huh? This little fishy all alone doesn’t even make for a good story. A little fish, alone, isn’t even a single fish. Even as a fish, it doesn’t make for a good story. Bring me your subordinates from yesterday and some fine ladies, will you? You hear me? You, huh?”

Remarkably, the figure before me threw words at me fluidly as if they were pouring water.

Their words bore a violently intimidating presence, tinged with a hint of apathy, slamming into me, reigniting the breath that should have stopped, the heartbeat that had regained its pace, and once more shaking my knees.

—As if I had stumbled into a cage of a ferocious beast I should never have entered.

I had merely been desperately fleeing.

I dashed through the stone corridor, striving to distance myself from recognizable places. As a result, I found an unfamiliar room and clung to a staircase leading upward.

Perhaps I had heard of those stairs yesterday, or perhaps earlier—whenever it was, it faded into oblivion.

I climbed the long, long, excessively long stairs, panting, climbing, and then.

Finally, at the top, I found myself stared at by the most terrifying beast.

“You listening?”

“Hii!”

Before I realized it, the face of the person was so close I could feel their breath.

Long red hair, a black eye patch covering the left eye, a kimono worn in a way that exposed one shoulder, revealing a white wrapping—what is he doing, pushing a thin stick right at my nose?

It felt like that blunt end could very well be ‘death’ itself.

“—!”

“Hey, hey, don’t ignore me!”

“H, uh, huh?”

Without a second thought, I instinctively turned away to flee.

However, at the very moment I tried to run backward, I somehow collided head-on with the man’s chest. The impact forced my forehead back against the stick and I fell backward.

Hitting the back of my head on the floor made my vision burst with sparks. Pain flooded my senses, and tears spilled.

The pain of impact, the pain of collision, just reminded me of the easily breakable anguish.

“A, a, ahhh…”

“Hey, hey, are you really crying? Why are you suddenly starting to sob? Did you have a fight with someone down there? Did you lose an argument and now you’re crying?”

“Guh, hi, uuu, uuuuh!”

“Seriously, what a troublesome guy you are.”

While lying flat on my back, I began to shed tears from the reignited fear. The long-haired man, looking over me, scratched his head roughly.

Then, squatting right next to my head, he said,

“Alright, tell me what happened. If you want to be heard, I’ll listen.”

“…U, huh?”

“You came fleeing all the way up here. This must be something quite serious for you.”

The words revealed with a sigh didn’t quite settle in, making me blink repeatedly.

Suddenly, the entity that had appeared so fearsome began to slowly take on a clearer semblance. Not only was it in human form, but the humanity behind it gradually became tangible.

In my tear-blurred vision, the face looking down at me began to grow clearer—

“—Of course, there’s no way I would say that, idiot.”

“G, g, aaahhhhhh!?”

—With a ferocious shark-like visage that craved blood, the man shoved the stick into my chest.

The moment the tip slid between my ribs, it could be felt—it brushed against the delicately protected organs with a teasing softness, almost tenderly, making me acutely aware of the necessity of my insides.

That alone pierced my whole being with pain akin to coughing up blood.

“What are you running away for? And to think you fled right to me—what’s the big idea? I’m none of your caretaker, buddy. You choose your companions, right? Do you want to die?”

“Gah! Gah! Agh! Guhyaaaah!”

“Do you think you can resolve matters through a chat? If that were possible, there was no reason I’d be called here in the first place. Come at me with the intent to kill. Only then will I play with you. That’s how it should be.”

With clear irritation and negativity, his every word increased the intensity of his anger while his finger lingered delicately tormenting my insides.

I was painfully made aware of the importance of my own organs amidst the agony I endured.

Were he to show the slightest emotional reaction—maybe even if he displayed a brutality not suited for his evident skill—my organs would have already burst.

The fact that it hadn’t happened was due to his horrifying talent.

Endowed with violence and an overwhelming aptitude for wielding it, he embodied the essence of an oppressor.

Only with that did this barbarity align in its gruesome manner.

—No, this place was too different from any location I knew.

“Get lost, little fish.”

“Gah.”

The sensation prodding my insides faded, and next, I received a brutal kick to my side from the man’s foot.

It was less a kick and more like placing his foot on me, roughly tossing me aside. My body floated momentarily and tumbled helplessly as I was cast out of that vast room.

However, as I rolled, the sensation before me awaited me—

“N-no…!”

I envisioned myself tumbling down the staircase and instinctively clawed at the floor.

A strange sound arose as my middle and index fingers ripped off from their bases, exposing nerves and red blood that dripped onto the floor. Nevertheless, somehow, I narrowly avoided falling.

“Guh, guh…!”

Just as relief washed over me from evading the drop, the burning sensation began at my fingertips. Glancing at my hands, it seemed as if the lids had been peeled back, the nails on neighboring fingers halfway torn, and that visual pain spurred my brain into action.

“It hurts… It hurts, it really hurts…”

I squeezed the fingers of my right hand that had lost their nails with my left hand, applying pressure to alleviate even a little of the pain. The crimson droplets flowed from my wrists to the floor, leaving trails of blood as I stood again on the stairs.

Now, I had no courage left to look back.

I sensed that the beast behind me had shifted its focus toward me. If it even glanced my way, this time I would undoubtedly plummet down the stairs.

I stopped just one step before reaching the worst case, settling instead into the secondary worst possible outcome. What was to come next?

“Why…?”

Why am I in a place like this?

My escape reflex diminished, my heartbeat dulled by terror, and only then did it sink in how utterly meaningless and bizarre my existence in this place felt.

It felt like I had shattered yet remained here.

I had been engulfed in agony, yet there I still was.

How wonderful it would have been had this all been a dream, or a mirage.

“Premonition… dream…”

I had entertained such thoughts regarding what had befallen me.

The familiar sights, the familiar people, the conversations I recognized, the familiar events passed right before my eyes.

In an attempt to rationalize why this happened, I thought about it.

I surely felt as if I was observing it all from a distance, like it was a fire across a river, something akin to other people’s affairs.

Little did I know that the price of my shallow-mindedness and ignorance would be paid in excruciating agony.

“—”

Before I knew it, I crouched in that spot.

Dripping down was the incessant blood that soaked the stone steps red.

An overwhelming sense of futility, loss, and disappointment, thoughts of negativity began to circulate through my mind.

The circular logic led me to one salient conclusion—why did all of this happen to me? I just couldn’t understand it.

“—”

Until merely a few hours ago, I had been comfortably nestled in the languor of my day-to-day life.

There were no dangers, and all I worried about was the uncertain future ahead of me, with no one threatening me and nothing to take too seriously.

—I was in a place where I could simply avert my eyes from my parents’ gaze.

Was that the problem?

I had constantly caused trouble for my father and mother. I had continuously let them down. I hadn’t been a good child.

Thus, I was subjected to pain so severe I could hardly bear it, and despite that, I was still thrust into a situation where I couldn’t die, suffering from having my nails pulled off, tortured by a stranger, crying alone on the stairs.

If I had to undergo such suffering, wouldn’t it have been better to have been more responsible?

“…I should have said ‘I’m off.’”

Regrets clouded my life.

I had only known failure, it seemed everything went wrong, with more mistakes to look back on than I could count on both hands and feet, yet the first thing that sprang to mind was that.

As I left home, my mother called out, ‘Take care.’

Yet I didn’t respond.

Why?

—Because I hadn’t washed the cup I’d soaked in water in the kitchen.

“Guh, fu…”

The cup I didn’t wash.

After drinking cocoa, it was bothersome to clean off the stuck brown stains.

If I began a conversation by responding to my mother’s voice, she might tell me to wash the cup. So, I chose not to respond to her voice. I didn’t want to wash the cup.

Because I didn’t want to wash the cup, I ignored my mother’s words.

I said nothing. Leaving the house without a word, I turned toward the convenience store, spending money I hadn’t even earned myself, and before I knew it, I ended up in this place.

I had come here without saying a word to my mother or father, never washing the cup.

Now I find myself on the verge of death in this place, without having washed a single cup, without saying anything to my gentle mother.

“I’m going to die.”

I will die.

Every living thing will eventually meet death, but I will die here.

In this place where no one I know exists.

Surrounded by strangers, becoming a filthy mass of blood, I’ll perish.

“I will die. I will die. I will… die. I will die, die, die…”

I muttered. As I did, strangely, it felt as if that notion drifted just a little further away from me.

It was a comfort. A fleeting illusion. Even if I articulated it, nothing would change dramatically.

“Death” stood still, still smiling as it wove its net of fate around me.

Now it seemed solidly humanoid. A black shadow loomed, glaring at me, mocking my existence.

The black shadow had a face affixed to it, and as I pondered whose familiar face could be in a place like this, realization struck.

The “death” that wore my face was mocking my trembling self.

“Don’t laugh.”

I glared at the shadow radiating malice and uttered those words.

The shadow’s grin persisted. Its finger didn’t cease pointing at me.

“Don’t laugh. Stop grinning. I’m going to die! I’m not dying at your hands. I won’t allow it!”

The manifestation of “death” first distorted its expression.

It appeared incensed by its own self being unyielding to my challenge.

That phenomenon seemed to reveal its weakness, so I seized the opportunity to press on.

“I’m not going to be killed by you. I will die. Indeed, I will die! I have died! I have perished, but here I am—yet, I will not be—”

—Killed by you.

Just as I was about to state it clearly.

“—”

My lips ceased functioning at my whim. Then I realized the absence of my control over my eyeballs, the total loss of control over my physical body.

I could not question why, trapped in this sudden bewilderment, and could only expect the abnormal change.

My body did not move. —No, it wasn’t my body that was unmoving. The world itself had ground to a halt.

Even the black shadow before me paused, holding its furious expression frozen in place.

In such a world, with my immobility, there was only one moving entity.

That was—

“—I love you.”

—It was probably the black woman.

A slender figure, all clad in black.

Was it that the black took the shape of a woman, or the woman was cloaked in black? I couldn’t be certain, nor did it seem valuable to make that distinction.

Regardless, she was the black woman. Draped in what looked like a bridal gown of black, her face was obscured behind an impenetrable black veil.

“—I love you.”

Yet the words uttered by the black woman bore an unfathomably strong emotion.

How much emotion would need to be distilled for it to approach the words leaking from her lips?

It is a quality, a quantity, a moment, a weight, a value, a concept.

I do not know how many beings in the world have ever uttered the words “I love you,” but—if every “I love you” were to be encompassed by that, it would surely become this woman’s “I love you.”

The woman whispering love gradually extended her black arm toward my chest.

Her thin fingertips penetrated through my chest, skin, flesh, and bones to nestle against my pounding heart.

“—”

For just a few minutes, or perhaps a dozen, I didn’t comprehend the passage of time, but I had been aware of that heartbeat countless times since awakening—and yet, never had I thought so deeply about that moment.

I had never resented that existence.

Why?

“—I love you.”

With the same passion she whispered her love, the woman’s black fingers gently caressed my heart.

At the same time, a shocking thrust pierced through me, thoroughly surrendering this body, terrified of pain. Rending through my entirety, the impact of my fall shattered me to pieces, the unrelenting heat burned my soul, even the guilt toward my mother, which had worn down my heart, felt like mere dust before this pain.

If I could cry out, I would have wanted to.

If I could scream until my throat burst, perhaps I could have done something about the pain. Rather than facing the pain, I could shift my focus toward something else and escape the agony.

I could not do so. I was simply forced to confront pain.

“—I love you.”

The woman’s love did not relinquish my heart.

It was as if she would not allow any interests to shift away from me, possessing an unquenchable desire to monopolize.

—A jealousy of all things seemed to fuel that.

“—Hah.”

The release came all too suddenly.

“—”

Breathing out, I collapsed there.

Tears fell freely, and eventually, I lost control of my bladder. The warmth spread, soaking my groin as the trickle of warm liquid flowed down the stairs.

That pitiful display was pointed out by the now still black figure, who began to laugh loudly.

I realized I had been played.

By showing my weakness so plainly, I had easily been set up for failure, treading upon a tiger’s tail, having been taken in by the trick.

“You…”

The following words failed to coalesce.

I held my head. Blood continued to trickle from the wounds where my nails had been torn off. Tears and the small trickle of liquid flowing from me, all felt like punishment for my own weakness and foolishness.

—I wish they would just kill me.

Those words remained unheard.

Even if I were to be killed, would I really be able to be “killed”?

Until the sounds of footsteps and worried voices approached the stairs.

Soaked in muddy water and disappointment, I simply continued to cry like a foolish child.

It was—Natsuki Subaru’s remains, crying out.