“――――”

Meily, the girl, was wide-eyed with surprise as she nearly fell down the spiral staircase but was supported just in time.

With her large, round eyes so close to his, Subaru couldn’t help but feel a complex mix of emotions about the situation forming.

He was glad that he could utilize his “Return by Death” ability and ultimately prevent a tragedy. But it was also confirmed that this young girl had pushed him from behind twice before, in a different timeline.

The culprit who had forcibly shoved him and caused his death from above was Meily Portroot, who had vanished at Subaru’s hands just earlier.

“…You’re saying I’m responsible for trying to kill you, huh, big brother?”

For a moment, Meily’s wide eyes flickered with signs of panic, but she quickly relaxed her lips, tracing the arm Subaru had wrapped around her waist with her fingers, and smiled brightly.

Then she took a step back, distancing herself from the spiral staircase and facing Subaru.

“Maybe I lost a lot of my memories and other things, too? If not, there’s no way I would misunderstand this situation like that!”

“Misunderstanding?”

“Yeah, isn’t it obvious? —It’s such a terrible misunderstanding that I would try to kill you, big brother!”

With her hands clasped behind her back, Meily proclaimed this with an innocent smile. Seeing her brazenly deny it like that, even Subaru was caught off guard.

He never thought she would attempt to deny it even after being caught at the scene of the crime. However, such resistance was understandable if it was “her”—no, Meily.

She acted either resiliently or impulsively.

Choosing her own optimal response for each situation was her guiding principle.

To put it bluntly, it was truly the essence of a “beast.”

“It’s outrageous to be suspected like this. If I really wanted to kill you guys, it would have been easier to do it in the dunes outside than in this tower, right? Ah, you might not understand since you don’t remember, but…”

“That makes sense. It is indeed a strange story. If you had been planning to kill us for a while, there were plenty of chances for you to do it. But you didn’t.”

“See? So, if…”

“But if your motive to kill me suddenly came out of nowhere this morning, that changes things. It’s more accurate to say it started as a chain reaction from last night, right?”

“――――”

As Subaru said this, Meily’s expression changed. With her lips pressed together, she erased her relaxed smile and sighed deeply.

Then she shrugged with an attitude that contradicted her appearance, exuding a sense of world-weariness.

“Did I get framed or something?”

“Framed, in what sense?”

“Maybe it was a test? To see if I’d try to push you off after making up that story about losing my memories… If there’s an infiltrator among us, the norm would be to flush them out, right? With regard to the tower, I’ve outlived my usefulness, haven’t I? It’s the perfect time to cut me off…”

As she listed off the situation, confirming it with her fingers, the sorrowful sight of the girl seemed sad.

Even if there wasn’t that much malice involved, it was true that Subaru had tested Meily’s actions. Denying that point wouldn’t change Meily’s impression of the situation.

But one thing could be said clearly, and that was—

“So, how exactly do you plan on dealing with me? Would you like to push me off from here for a payback? Without that bad animal around, I could easily deal with you alone, big brother!”

“Don’t get the wrong idea, Meily. My amnesia isn’t a lie to deceive you. It’s the truth, so it’s serious, okay?”

“That itself feels like a problem, but… in the end, what do you want to do, big brother? Do you think you’ll feel satisfied if you go for revenge without a solid aftermath?”

“――Ugh.”

As she said that, the girl wrapped her slender hand around her neck and stuck out her tongue.

For a brief moment, Subaru’s heart raced in his chest at that action. But it wasn’t a taunt that Meily remembered her own way of dying; it was just a sarcastic metaphor for killing.

Looking at it that way, she was a little assassin who consistently triggered critical emotional moments for Subaru. So Subaru, without intending for karma, responded—

“I don’t really recommend dragging out a kill for a long time. Besides not wanting to suffer, I bet you’re pretty bad at hiding your feelings…”

“――I’m not planning to kill you or hurt you. I intend to keep treating you the same way from now on, just like before.”

“…Huh?”

At Subaru’s answer, Meily’s expression changed again.

This time, it wasn’t the immediate response she had when selecting the next best option. Her face reflected clear confusion as she looked at Subaru with eyes full of misunderstanding.

In response, Subaru nodded back.

“Fortunately, your crime was prevented, so as long as we the parties involved keep it a secret, we can pretend nothing ever happened. Just merely avoiding the situation might lead you to attempt to kill me through different means, so I needed to catch you in the act. If that’s in bad taste, I can’t deny it. Sorry.”

“W-What are you saying…?”

“But I think you get it with this incident, right? Trying to do something to me is pretty risky for you, too. And if that’s the case, let’s talk it out. If you have complaints, I’ll listen as much as I can…”

“Complaints? Complaints, you say…?”

Suddenly, Meily muttered in a small, trembling voice.

Then, she clenched her lips tightly and said,

“If I have any complaints, it’s that this situation right now is one! I can’t believe it!”

As Subaru desperately sought an amicable resolution, Meily barked at him with disbelief.

“I can’t believe it, can’t believe it, can’t believe it…!”

As she yelled, her hands busily touched her braid.

That was a reflection of her mental self-defense in confusion—a manifestation of her dependence on someone who shared the same hairstyle, or so it appeared to Subaru.

“Right now, you don’t understand what I was about to do, big brother! If that were the case, it would be strange! If that weren’t the case…!”

Her words became hesitant as Meily desperately expressed her unnatural feelings.

It was the first time Subaru had seen the flustered Meily like this—no, he had seen it once in the “Book of the Dead.”

Her actions last night, encountering Subaru at the Taygeta, and being flustered led her to decide to kill the memory-less Natsuki Subaru.

But that hastily made murder plan must also have been a double-edged sword for her.

Subaru had no way of knowing how she planned to evade suspicion after he fell to his death, but it was clear she must have had something in mind.

Of course, it could easily have been brushed aside as an accident. —But how about it?

Now that he knew Emilia, Beatrice, and Ram, Subaru was certain they wouldn’t let his “death,” the truth of it, slide under the rug.

In that case, Meily’s crime would inevitably be exposed.

If it were Ram, Julius, or Echidna, they would unravel the truth with much more finesse than Subaru, and he couldn’t imagine Meily wouldn’t have considered that.

So, this was—

“Your impulsive urges. You’ve simply gotten used to killing. You’re incapable of seeing any other option to solve problems. That’s not your fault.”

“――! Don’t act like you understand! What do you know about me, you!”

“――I understand.”

“――――”

Meily, filled with rage, seemed to freeze as if doused with cold water.

As Subaru kept his gaze firmly on Meily, he spoke strongly and decisively.

“Meily. I understand you. It might sound creepy, but maybe there are only two people in this world who understand you better than I do?”

Meily’s face turned incredibly fearful at Subaru’s words.

While he thought that was only natural, at the same time, Subaru struggled with how to convey this undeniable truth—his twisted sense of “self-love” deep inside.

He recalled the numerous temptations of “me.”

The whispers of his actions promoting murder to solve problems echoed in his heart, tempting Subaru to the worst, least complicated actions repeatedly, under the guise of expedience.

The temptations by the ghost of the deceased Meily Portroot, which had merged in Subaru through reading the Book of the Dead—

“—No, that’s not it.”

Shaking his head, Subaru condemned the shifting of responsibilities onto the girl he killed.

At this point, something was off. Look at the girl’s bewilderment and impatience in front of him. Especially, recall the Meily from the Book of the Dead that Subaru had seen.

When considering the pain Meily endured, there was no way she possessed a personality that would foster murder as a convenient option.

That wasn’t a merged Meily from the Book of the Dead.

That was but an illusion created by Subaru’s fragile heart.

Evidence to this fact was that, throughout all this, the girl’s voice had never appeared before him.

“――――”

In an extremely concise yet one-sided manner, Subaru did experience Meily’s life through the Book of the Dead. He witnessed her days from when she first became aware of herself—establishing her self-identity and way of being, until her life was irrationally cut short.

In those days, there lay a void within Meily that no one else could perceive, filled with experiences that brought her a fear so immense it equaled that gaping cavity, and yet, only one glimmering feeling shone through.

That feeling was—

“—Elsa Granhiert.”

“—What?”

“That’s why you tried to kill me, isn’t it?”

Upon this inquiry, Meily’s expression twisted with bitterness.

It was an anger at having stepped into a place she didn’t want touched by others—no, an anger at being intruded upon without permission.

However, Subaru boldly provoked that. Because—

“When entering someone else’s home, one removes their shoes; yet, when entering another’s heart, it’s the Natsuki family’s custom to stomp in without hesitation.”

As a member of that family, Natsuki Subaru boldly stepped into the mind of the young assassin.

The factors leading her to impulsively commit those heinous acts resided deep within her heart—the black killer she had once known, who felt incredibly near yet was unknown to him.

Thinking of her, Subaru felt a mix of relief and longing, sorrow and rage, and an emptiness—her feelings towards that person were as complex as they were simply profound.

—Meily had admired, loved, and longed for Elsa.

Thus, when that was taken from her, she felt sadness, suffering, hatred, and rage, as well as the murderous intent that came with despair.

But unlike a crafted actor, she was not graceful enough to seamlessly accompany Subaru on their journey, solely for the sake of revenge.

Instead, it was safe to say that Meily’s clumsiness reached its peak.

A sad girl who didn’t even know how deep her emotional wounds ran and was ignorant when it came to her feelings.

—She was a genetically manipulated killer molded by her environment, that was Meily Portroot.

“You wanted revenge, didn’t you?”

“…I don’t know.”

“Even if that were the case, Elsa doesn’t…”

“She doesn’t want that. I know that.”

Meily shook her head twice in response to Subaru’s questioning.

Subaru understood Meily’s feelings. Moreover, Meily knew that Subaru’s words hit the nail on the head.

In this situation, Meily and Subaru were both equal.

So, she was sad to find herself overwhelmed by her emotions, wandering down a dead end, with no outlet other than “murder.”

At the same time, she felt hatred towards a world that offered her no other choices.

Even the existence of Elsa, whom Meily longed for, could not change that.

While Elsa might have been a light for Meily, walking the path illuminated by that light was far too harsh for any ordinary human.

“I understand that you’re struggling with your feelings. But the answer you seek probably isn’t one you can find right here immediately. So—”

“――――”

“Leave this place to me. I won’t let it turn for the worse. At the very least, I promise to do my best not to let it get bad. If you want that too…”

“I… can’t believe it. Big brother, your words are just hot air!”

Even after hearing Subaru’s persuasion, Meily kept her head down, unwilling to easily nod in agreement.

That was only natural; it was a demand to discover a way of existence that hadn’t been present in the dictionary of her way of life, cultivated through her entire life.

On top of that, this proposal came from Natsuki Subaru, who spoke with an oddly familiar face, despite not knowing why she looked so agitated.

Considering that it was someone who had lured her to such a place with the readiness to be shoved, Subaru himself was startled by his own sketchy nature.

Still, anticipating that response, Subaru had prepared a second plan.

“When you say you can’t trust my words, I accept that as valid criticism. You know, apparently, I had a habit of breaking promises until yesterday. So…”

“So?”

“Rather than just our promise, let’s make it a promise between us and you.”

“――――”

Upon Subaru’s proclamation, Meily furrowed her brow with confusion.

However, her puzzled expression would soon become clarified.

That was—

“—Oh, don’t worry. I listened attentively, so I can serve as a witness to our promise.”

“――!”

At the sound, Meily jumped and turned around in surprise. There stood Emilia, adorned with silver hair that shimmered like moonlight, presenting a presence reminiscent of a myth.

As Meily widened her eyes in astonishment at her appearance, she trembled her lips.

“Sister… you heard that, didn’t you?”

“I was asked to be here for Subaru. …He told me to stop you if things got dangerous for you, Meily.”

Hearing Emilia’s words, Meily twisted her head in shock while still leaving her astonished expression.

“If I got into danger…? Not big brother…?”

“Yes, it’s about you getting into danger. That was okay, right, Subaru?”

“—Yeah, that’s the one thing I’m really worried about.”

“—? Why are you turning your face away? Subaru, is something wrong?”

“No, um, it’s just that you’re too cute to look directly at…”

As he muttered shyly in a small voice at Emilia’s tilting inquiry, she ended up not hearing him. Emilia deepened her head tilt, looking increasingly puzzled, while Subaru cleared his throat to cover his embarrassment before again turning his attention to the still confused Meily.

If he knew she was about to shove him, Subaru had enough confidence to prevent Meily’s crime. The problem lay in what would happen afterward—the movements of “Natsuki Subaru.”

In the hypothetical scenario, if the Natsuki Subaru from the loop where Meily had been killed had taken action out of self-defense against her, then just after catching her at the scene of the crime, “Natsuki Subaru” might not necessarily act as he wished.

Thus, Subaru resolved to hand that issue over to someone stronger than himself.

Even if his consciousness disappeared, and “Natsuki Subaru” emerged, he believed that Emilia—no, his allies would somehow manage to handle it.

“Heard that, Meily? I trust what Subaru said. If you can’t believe it, you can just keep an eye on him closely. If he breaks his promise, I’ll get angry together with you.”

“You’ll keep an eye on big brother…? That’s strange. It should be my job to watch over you two…”

“If Meily is about to do something bad, that’s when Subaru would be breaking the promise. So, shouldn’t it be Subaru who’s being watched over to see if he keeps that promise? That makes sense, right?”

“――――”

As Emilia leaned down, her eyes level with Meily’s, the latter appeared bewildered.

In her mind, facts, circumstances, responses, and solutions all jumbled together chaotically.

“You were about to do something wrong, but thanks to my and Emilia-chan’s nice save, we managed to prevent it just in time. So, this is a chance to learn what you could’ve done differently. Now the challenge is whether you can find a path other than killing me during this chance…”

“A challenge…?”

“When your jumbled emotions are finally organized, will you still think you have to kill me, or will you be able to think otherwise? …I’ll work hard on the ethics lessons too.”

Scratching his head, Subaru was indicating that path to clarify things for Meily.

To be honest, it might have been overstepping his bounds. Meily already had a way of life nurtured up until now, and Subaru was attempting to selfishly add new possibilities to that.

However, to reject that would mean that her path would close within this sandy tower. With the life she had lived up until now, she wouldn’t be able to cross this sandy tower alongside him.

And then—

“I won’t allow you to jump off the path early. I don’t know how old you are, but when I was around your age, I received a lot of help from the adults around me.”

“――――”

“So, even if you don’t want it, I’m going to try to help you. At your age, you’re far too lovely to refuse the help of those around you.”

As he said that, Subaru took a step closer to Meily.

Seeing that decrease in distance, Meily’s shoulders shook slightly. With those anxious eyes looking up at him, Subaru casually ruffled her hair.

He wasn’t going to choke her neck. Instead, he intended to offer a different solution to “Natsuki Subaru.”

Meily did not need to die, nor did—

“Please trust Subaru… and us, Meily.”

“—Ah.”

As Subaru patted Meily’s head, Emilia embraced the still motionless girl from behind. With Meily gently wrapped in her arms, Emilia leaned her cheek against Meily’s, who bit her lip softly.

“This sandy tower is too small a place for you to decide something grand.”

“――――”

“Let’s get out of here and find an answer in a broader space. We’ll do our absolute best, too.”

Holding onto her emotions that had no outlet in such a restrictive space wasn’t ideal for her mental growth.

Using all the right words, Subaru couldn’t think of any better way to express such thoughts, but Emilia sincerely spoke to Meily with warmth and sincerity.

“――――”

After receiving that, Meily seemed to gaze off into space for a long while before saying,

“I don’t want to forget about Elsa…”

“Ah, that’s fine. There’s no need to forget about someone you love. However, well…”

Cutting off there, Subaru recalled the mysterious impression of the black-clad beauty he had seen in the Book of the Dead.

With an oddly familiar feeling toward someone he had no connection with, Subaru unconsciously rubbed his stomach as he softly implored.

“—I just ask that you don’t imitate her methods, please.”

The weak plea left his lips.

—Meily, enervated and hesitant, nevertheless finally nodded after lingering in silent contemplation for several dozen seconds.