Subaru understood that he had posed a question that touched on the core of things.

　After uttering the question, just as it caused Garfiel’s eardrums to quiver, the expression on the blonde youth’s face changed. Seeing that, Subaru’s consciousness momentarily blanked out.

　The strong, sharp-faced Garfiel, who had always been wary of Subaru and kept his eyes narrowed, had a face that continued to maintain a solid exterior, never showing a hint of weakness.

　Now, that expression had distorted clearly.

　It was like that of a child on the verge of tears, having had something important they were hiding exposed.

“Y-you… what the hell did you just say?”

　But such a fleeting and ephemeral expression was only shown for an instant.

　Garfiel, who shut his eyes tightly for a moment, clicked his teeth to erase the momentary weakness and glared at Subaru with an overwhelming pressure akin to that of a beast.

　The gentle atmosphere that had been flowing through the forest, even somewhat melancholic, transformed entirely. An eerie shiver crawled up Subaru’s skin as he was glared at.

　All of it was simply Subaru’s own body expressing the danger it felt. And that excessive reaction was more than sufficient to convince Subaru that

“You seem pretty murderous.”

　That “something” was touchy enough to be a serious issue.

　At Subaru’s murmured words, Garfiel’s silent gaze intensified.

　His once momentarily weak demeanor had vanished, and now his gaze toward Subaru radiated the sharpness of someone viewing a target of hatred.

　Under the penetrating stare capable of shooting him down, Subaru’s whole body continued sounding the alarms of danger. However, Subaru consciously ignored it, maintaining an unruffled attitude and

“Don’t make me repeat myself. I saw a girl who looked exactly like Ryuzu wandering around the ‘Sanctuary.’ I’m sure that’s not Ryuzu, though.”

“…I don’t get what you mean. The old lady wandering around? That’s just a story, isn’t it? If she was loitering around at midnight, then that’s a problem in another sense, but that’s different from this…”

“—There were two.”

“Ha?”

　As Garfiel strove to respond logically to Subaru’s claim, Subaru raised two fingers from his right hand as if crushing Garfiel’s earnest attempt to cover for himself.

“What I saw were two doppelgangers of Ryuzu acting simultaneously. Even if one was Ryuzu, who was the other one…?”

　—The moment he said it, Subaru realized he had lost track of the world’s up and down.

“—Gah!”

　Slamming against something hard from behind, a hoarse cry escaped Subaru’s lips as oxygen was forcefully expelled from his lungs.

　What he felt against his back was a rough, bumpy sensation—he was being pressed against a tree trunk with considerable force. Moreover, his body was lifted to prevent him from escaping, lying parallel to the ground.

　The hand pressed against his abdomen served as a pivot point, pinning Subaru’s body in mid-air. Garfiel, having accomplished this feat with balance and strength, glared at Subaru’s alerted eyes from close range.

“—Where did you see that, huh?”

“W-well… It was in the middle of the forest…”

“No way, that can’t be. You think we’d be so careless that you could slip away with your nose in someone else’s business like you? Any less and it becomes a huge problem.”

　Garfiel’s pressing palm increased the pressure, squeezing Subaru’s insides to the point he drooled from the corner of his mouth. Struggling with his limbs didn’t even elicit a reaction.

　It was like a pin holding down a specimen insect. A chilling thought indeed.

“If it stays like this, your belly and back are gonna squish together, you know? It’d be nice if you could just tell me the truth before that happens.”

　With a sadistic grin creeping up his lips, Garfiel further increased the pressure against Subaru’s body, instilling a sense of finality that did not allow the moment to end in jest. Subaru felt the pressure crunching his bones and organs. Gasping, and with labored breaths, he managed to say,

“That…depends on your attitude…”

“Interesting, huh? You seriously think you’re on equal footing with me in a situation like this? I thought I made it clear from the start that it’s arrogant to think so.”

“Now… if you just dispose of me without asking anything, nothing’s gonna get resolved.”

“…”

　While Subaru struggled to piece together his words, he could see Garfiel starting to lend an ear to him.

　—To Subaru, this fierce reaction from Garfiel was both half expected and half unexpected.

　Throughout the previous loops, Subaru had only seen the ‘Replicas of Ryuzu’ during the final witch battle of the last loop.

　In any other scenario, there had been no hint or sight of a Cloner’s existence within the ‘Sanctuary.’ Now that he recalled memories from that time, some moments might have seemed out of place had one considered the existence of Clones, but that wasn’t relevant right now.

　In any case, those Clones had been excellently concealed within the ‘Sanctuary.’

　It was hard to believe that Garfiel alone was keeping the minimum of twenty of them hidden inside. It would likely be common knowledge among the inhabitants of the ‘Sanctuary.’

　If it were someone within their faction, it would be Roswaal and Ram, but who knew.

　Regardless, it was a subject that, if brought up, would definitely provoke Garfiel’s wrath. Confirming that was half of what Subaru had expected.

　And if there was something unexpected —

“…You’ve lost it, you bastard.”

　After Garfiel spat those words contemptuously, Subaru was released from the hold.

“Whoa!” Subaru exclaimed in surprise as he fell to the ground without even taking a protective stance, rolling in the grass and dirt while spitting out gravel and glaring at Garfiel.

“D-don’t just let go like that! You scared me!”

“Shut it, you lunatic. This ain’t a joke. You were testing me, weren’t you?”

“Testing?”

　Subaru tilted his head in confusion, causing Garfiel to click his tongue in annoyance.

　He glared up at the evasive Subaru as if trying to capture him from below.

“Just now, you thought you might get killed. Didn’t you?”

“…”

　—What was unexpected for Subaru was that Garfiel did not immediately try to kill him.

　He had now been given an opportunity to talk even after touching his reverse scale.

　Which meant Subaru had spoken while considering the possibility of death, and sensing that, Garfiel kicked the ground violently.

“This ain’t a joke. You’re betting your life on the line, acting as if it’s a given. You’re crazy, you know that?”

“That kinda hurts to hear… I’m not doing this carelessly, you know?”

　Subaru weakly laughed at Garfiel’s words, scratching his head.

　Yet even as he played it off, a slight trembling still ran through his fingertips.

　Even now, Garfiel had ceased to inflict harm but didn’t relent an ounce of the hostility he felt toward Subaru.

　That meant his body was still screaming with primal fear, and the anguish tightening around his insides remained.

　It was only natural. Standing right there to provoke Garfiel’s wrath was something he had willingly chosen to do.

　That meant he was inadvertently accepting the reality of standing against that golden tiger, who had rampaged through the night forest, slaughtering numerous villagers.

　Considering being trampled by those fangs, those claws, and that terror sent shivers throughout both his body and heart.

　Yet still—

“If my life is all that’s needed, then it balances out the outcome.”

　As long as the sacrifice would only wear down Subaru’s heart, how cheap that would be.

　It wasn’t often that one could obtain a happy ending at such a low cost.

　Subaru’s resolve felt like it could break at any moment—however, the foundation solid enough to support that meager resolve had hardened immeasurably.

　Garfiel must have grasped that too. He wrinkled his nose, making an unpleasant expression.

“That look on your face doesn’t sit well with me. If it were up to me, I’d crush it right now, but…”

“That’d be troublesome, so just for now, let’s have an open mind and try to overlook it. It somewhat ties into what I mentioned earlier… so—”

“…”

“Are you willing to answer my questions?”

　Brushing off the dirt from his body, Subaru continued to pile on the questions.

　Having the topic he had almost lost to violence brought back in front of him, Garfiel showed no signs of concealing his displeased face. He averted his gaze from Subaru, who refused to look away.

“I don’t want to say it.”

“Is that so? Then it can’t be helped.”

　Hearing Garfiel’s obstinate child-like response, Subaru shrugged and easily backed down.

　Garfiel had a face as if he had been caught off guard by Subaru’s reaction.

“You… wanted to know…”

“You don’t want to talk, right? I can force it out of you, but I know I don’t have the strength or the persuasiveness for it. I could cling onto you, but I get the feeling the risk wouldn’t match.”

“…What?”

“Don’t look so surprised, Garfiel. No matter how desperately you try to hide it, I will uncover it. It’s a necessity, after all.”

　As Garfiel’s face rose up as if he had been struck, Subaru looked straight back at him.

　The gazes crossed, but this time there was no overwhelming pressure from Garfiel. It was because Garfiel’s blazing strength was weaker than before and Subaru had set his resolve.

“Garfiel. I will uncover what you… what you all are hiding within the ‘Sanctuary.’ I have to do that, so it’s guaranteed.”

“…Shut up. If I closed that mouth of yours right now, there’d be no such ‘guarantee’ or ‘absolute,’ you know.”

“Sorry, but that is indeed an ‘absolute’ and ‘guarantee.’ As long as I don’t give up, the secret I’ve recognized isn’t a secret anymore. If you want to blame anyone, blame your own recklessness.”

　Garfiel’s eyes wavered with confusion at the meaning of Subaru’s words.

　Of course, he would not understand the meaning of the term “recklessness” that had been used against him, for it was a shortcoming of his that had not occurred yet.

“…It’s probably pointless to say anything else.”

　After observing Garfiel’s silence, Subaru concluded the conversation was at an end.

　Garfiel’s wariness had reached its peak, and now he had grown stubborn. This time, or perhaps in this loop, he probably would not be able to break down his heart.

　From the start, the chances of clearing this loop had been almost nonexistent, but it was tough to feel it completely dissolve now.

“However—”

　—Even so, he had to endure.

　Having decided to stake his life on this gamble, he would have to keep enduring this sense of loss over and over again from here on.

　He believed that he should neither become accustomed to this pain nor forget it.

　If he became entirely desensitized to the repeating ‘death’ and lost the genuine desire for the future ahead, Subaru’s heart would surely be engulfed by shadows and would never be able to return. That was what he felt.

“Do you still have the will to stop me, Garfiel?”

“…”

“If you do, it’ll only take longer to get there. Not having any is a relief.”

　Even if he were killed here, Subaru would return inside the graveyard from a few hours ago.

　The events that followed would carry the air of a mere formality, yet even if he had been dragged out by Garfiel like this, he could probably manage a more cautious response.

　Of course, it would be best to avoid the ‘return by death.’

　Garfiel had not replied to Subaru’s warning.

　Turning away from him, Subaru began to make his way back to the ‘Sanctuary’ from the woods where he had been led out. He had to organize the planned actions for tomorrow and make sure of a few things.

　Even if the chances depended solely on Subaru’s resolve, he couldn’t afford to waste them.

“You—”

　Garfield’s suppressed voice stopped Subaru in his tracks as he was drifting away.

　Though he stopped moving, Subaru didn’t turn back. Facing away from him, Garfiel continued.

“What do you want to do with the ‘Sanctuary’… this place? What do you plan to do with us? Hey, huh?”

“I told you my goal. I’m here to save Emilia. I don’t intend to bring any harm to the ‘Sanctuary’… I’m not planning anything against you guys either.”

　At the very least, he was aware of the calamity that loomed over the ‘Sanctuary.’

　He wanted to save Ryuzu and the other inhabitants from that calamity, and he intended to act in pursuit of that objective. Garfiel was included in that as a matter of course.

　But that was just the ultimate outcome, and

“Until we get there, I will surely make you uncomfortable many times. I apologize in advance for that… my bad.”

“…I dunno what you’re saying. Isn’t that the same as those other guys over there?”

　Garfiel’s attitude, of which he couldn’t understand, was to be expected, and Subaru thought this was reasonable.

　He wished to be understood. Still, he didn’t expect he could be.

“I don’t intend to clash. From tomorrow onward, let’s just keep it normal… at least try. Just don’t get in my way. You should keep warm and turn in early tonight. If you want, forget your morning routine and oversleep tomorrow. It’s okay to hit the snooze button sometimes—”

　As he tossed the last words while departing, Subaru suddenly trailed off.

　Just now, he recognized a discrepancy in his own words.

　And that, within Subaru, took an unexpected form—

“Is there a value in that?”

“…Huh?”

“Anyway, tonight is the end, Garfiel. Your worries and concerns, I will definitely do something about. So just endure and wait until then.”

“—! You bastard…!”

　Throughout this, Subaru had been looking at the present while holding the future in view, and at last, Garfiel’s head lifted.

　His face turned red with rage, revealed his fangs, spewing spittle as he shouted,

“Looking down on me, arrogantly spouting your mouth…! Who the hell asked you to do something about it? Don’t mess with things! Not here, not those old ladies… oh… you know nothing! You don’t know anything…!”

“I know that exactly because I don’t know. That’s why I’m doing this.”

“Just knowing the surface, the superficial stuff doesn’t mean you can understand it! You laugh and act like you’re in a dream, masking everything with sweet words while being a damn fraud!”

“—”

“Don’t talk like you understand anything when you’ve never felt pain or hardship—!!”

　Garfiel screamed at Subaru, launching into rapid-fire words as if each of them were bullets.

　The insults dissolved into the night sky of the forest as if they were being sucked away.

　Looking down from above, speaking in a know-it-all tone while knowing nothing, meddling in everything.

　—Indeed, it was true, every bit of it, and there wasn’t anything that could be rebutted.

　However,

“…I know.”

“—”

“I know what ‘hell’ is. —I’ve seen it many times over.”

　If there is a hell in this world, then it is the universe that Subaru has seen.

　Time and again, he has visited that world, not wanting to turn away, witnessing hell multiple times over, burnt into his eyes, forcibly made to understand it, and arrived here.

　That’s why,

“Only I should know ‘hell.’ That’s what I’m here for.”

　—Right now, that’s what he believed.