---

Since the day I lost everything, my life has become a hell.

Mirae said she killed Teacher Hop, but I couldn’t take the word of a demon at face value.

As soon as day broke, I returned to the kingdom to search for the teacher’s house, but all I found were bloodstains smeared on the floor.

The rehabilitation center, devoid of both the teacher and Mirae, was temporarily closed.

With nothing more to confirm, I stopped by home, taking only the ladybug-shaped plushie from my room, and left the kingdom behind once again.

Every time I pull out the sphere, the relic of Iris that has now become a relic of Teacher Hop, sorrow wells up inside me.

Sorrow is like a very heavy and hot lava erupting from my chest.

First, I feel a crushing sensation in my heart, and as the pain spreads, my whole body feels like it’s on fire, eventually hardening and rendering me immobile.

I make sure to check the sphere at least once a day, and at night, I hug the ladybug cushion the teacher gifted me and cry myself to sleep.

When Teacher Hop handed this to me, he mentioned that ladybugs sit on ailing individuals and then fly away with their illnesses.

Ah, Teacher Hop. You were my one and only lover, who sat with me for a moment before flying away while I lay broken on the ground.

The real Teacher Hop must be infinitely warmer than this cushion, but I can never again embrace him and feel that warmth.

I can’t even see that face that looked at me with a grumpy expression but filled with love.

I can no longer hear the voice that always called my name and reassured me he would always be here.

Without the Demon King coming, I can’t become a hero. And having lost my loved one, I can’t be someone’s lover either.

Soon enough, I’ll probably fall apart again.

But not yet. Right now, I may be nothing, but the things I must do are clearly left unfinished.

Mirae Aurora.

How did she know that the teacher was lying to me from the start?

If her goal was to kill us from the beginning, then why is she only acting on it now, when I’m not weak?

And what exactly does she plan to do after she kills me?

There are many troubling points, yet none of those things really matter to me.

Even if I find out, it won’t change the fact that I broke up with Teacher Hop and let him die.

It doesn’t mean he’ll come back to life.

Also, no matter what her ultimate goal is, if I kill her, it will never be realized.

Finding and killing Mirae.

That is the last reason left for my life.

Until I see her burn away in the light of the Holy Sword with my own eyes,

I must live this hellish life to pay my dues.

And after I erase her from this world…

I too will follow Teacher Hop out of this hell.

***

After finishing my recovery, the truth I heard from Hanamana was shocking.

No matter how much I tried to understand, it all seemed unbelievable.

What? “Recover” is actually time magic, and I’m a reincarnator who lost my memory?

Am I supposed to believe that?

Now I understand how Zion felt.

“So you need to regain your memories quickly. The clues to what’s happening now lie within your memories…”

Hanamana kept explaining to me, mumbling something, but it wasn’t getting through at all.

Me, a reincarnator? So Zion believed such nonsense?

For over a year and a half…

It really is foolishly naive to think that for someone like me to make ridiculous lies and have someone believe and like me in return…

“Zion…”

“Senpai?”

Hanamana looked bewildered.

Tears were streaming down my face as I listened quietly with my head down.

“By the way, where is Zion now? What happened while you’ve been in this state…”

“Hanamana.”

Keineu, who had been quietly listening from the side, interrupted Hanamana as I grasped her shoulders.

Did he feel something from me crying as I called out Zion’s name?

A heavy silence fell in the room.

After some time passed, Hanamana watched me closely, sensing my emotional turmoil, and cautiously began to speak again.

“Are you feeling a little better now?”

“I’m sorry, but not at all.”

Will this feeling get better with time?

Even after sleeping once, my desire to tear apart this pathetic shambles of my body remains. If I sleep a few more times, will I feel better?

Who was the idiot who thought people couldn’t feel sad for more than twenty minutes, no matter how much they hurt and suffered?

If I’m feeling this much pain, what level of sadness is Zion experiencing?

It feels like my heart is so tormented that it’s spewing out not blood but the heart itself, wishing to die on its own.

The two people in front of me had no way of knowing this, so they were exchanging bewildered looks.

In front of the benefactors who saved me, along with Serin, what am I even doing?

At the very least, I should be able to grasp the situation.

So finally, I said,

“I broke up with Zion.”

Even saying it myself, it felt like a reality I couldn’t grasp.

The two widened their eyes in disbelief.

A perfectly natural reaction, because it was a fact I couldn’t believe either.

“Senpai, you can’t be making such absurd jokes in this situation… I-I’m sorry, it’s just that I can’t believe it…”

Hanamana bowed her head deeply.

Hearing an apology from someone who did nothing wrong is not a pleasant experience.

It’s all my fault that Zion left and that the atmosphere in this room has become like this.

“It’s okay, Hanamana. Just continue with what you were saying. No matter how long it takes, I won’t get better.”

“…….”

Right now, any words of comfort hold no meaning for me.

Whatever Hanamana says, I’ll just let it slide.

Right, I’m a reincarnator. What a funny joke that is; at this rate, even the Demon King will show up.

But now, that doesn’t matter at all.

Zion has already left me, and the choice I made in my last moment is irreversible.

Even if I call Zion back, stating that I’m indeed a reincarnator and I never lied to him, it doesn’t mean he’ll return.

So whether I’m a reincarnator or whatever, it holds no meaning now…

“Senpai Hop, was the person who attacked you… Mirae Aurora?”

“?!”

I was prepared to dismiss Hanamana’s words, not paying much attention, but when that unexpected question flew at me, I couldn’t help but widen my eyes in surprise.

“How do you know that…?”

“My guess was correct. She’s also an Aptitude Holder of time magic that uses “Recover.” Just like you, she’s likely a reincarnator. The fact that she revealed her true self only now, when Zion has fully recovered, means that she too has recently regained her memories.”

“…….”

Not only me, but Mirae is also a reincarnator?

Come to think of it, back then Mirae definitely…

*** “I was faster, Hop Harvey. Now this tedious chase ends here. You will die without recalling anything.”

She had claimed to be faster.

Then does that mean, before I regained my memories, I was at odds with Mirae?

If “Recover,” as Hanamana described, is indeed a rehabilitation magic meant for reincarnators to regain their memories, then the frequency and amount of its use would have been roughly equal between Mirae and me, right?

Even though rehabilitation varies greatly from person to person, could it really be that I was outmatched in that regard?

No, if I think about it, Mirae must have used “Recover” quite a bit more.

After all, I had been on business trips, vacations, and even expeditions, and each time my fatigue accumulated, Mirae would make me rest and gradually increase her own workload.

She must have begun regaining some memory partway through.

Rehabilitation effects appear slowly, after all.

If Hanamana’s prediction that the properties of rehabilitation would apply to memory as well is right, it means that reaching a certain threshold could lead to a sudden recall of memories.

If that’s the case, then I too should have some semblance of memories from before my reincarnation.

My… memory?

‘Then, could it be that the dreams I’ve been having of being part of the hero party, suddenly using spatial magic, and learning the magic Keineu taught me in just one day were all…?’

I too had indeed kind of regained some memory.

And if my memories reflect this, then I truly…

***

After losing everything that day, I stopped attending to patients and fervently traveled around various centers, using “Recover” on as many patients as possible to recover all my memories.

And this is only a part of the memories I’ve recalled.

My story.

“Are you the mage who manipulates space?”

One day, I met a girl who reached out her hand to me alongside three companions.

“……”

A boy born with the ability to transcend time and space, who couldn’t grow up for several years.

This is the story of the most precious memory among countless memories that have been engraved and erased without meaning, and the only special moments from a long, boring, and meaningless life.

 

---