For Subaru, waking up badly was something far removed from his experience.

As soon as he opened his eyelids, an artificial white brilliance flooded his vision. An unfamiliar ceiling, and the crystals installed there emitted a soft glow, illuminating the room by some unknown principle.

He was well-known for waking up smoothly; once awake, Subaru’s consciousness would snap to attention instantly.

“…This pillow feels different.”

As he turned over, he noticed that the sensation under his head wasn’t what he was used to.

Moreover, the fluffy bedding felt nothing like the familiar old futon. The floor beneath it was discolored from being left unrolled too long.

“And to top it off, it smells amazing. Sniff, sniff… it smells like sunshine! Though, you know, it’s really the scent of dust mites that got baked in the sun.”

A piece of knowledge he never wanted to know suddenly ranked high on his list.

Indulging in a sort of death odor, Subaru finally managed to get his body up. As he half-sat up and looked around, he realized immediately that he was in a room that screamed high class.

The bed could easily accommodate five Subarus, and the room seemed to span twenty tatami mats.

Having a twenty-tatami room is quite the waste of space for a rental, but—

“According to the typical grand estate setup, that’s highly unlikely.”

Now fully awake, Subaru hopped off the bed and lightly turned around to check his condition.

First, he checked his shoulders and limbs for various joints, performed some thigh raises and squats for cardio and endurance, and while already out of breath, he hiked up his shirt.

“My stomach wound… none. No bruises and no signs of seppuku either. No stitches either; the surgery in this world seems pretty top-notch. If there were scars, I’d never find a marriage partner.”

Cooking, cleaning, sewing, and all kinds of domestic functions were entirely unacquired.

Being durable and having an “I eat anything” trait was his selling point. Now, the question is, are there any ministers out there willing to take him as a spouse?

“I’d definitely say no if I were in their shoes… But anyway.”

The room was as plain as he had concluded earlier, with just a bed, a potted plant near the window, and some simple decor and paintings on the walls.

It was unclear if there were any clocks in this world, nor could he find a calendar.

“The only question is how long I was out… Hmm, probably about five hours?”

Touching his chin, he roughly gauged the time by feeling the stubble.

Even without a clock, this was a relatively accurate technique. Judging by the stubbly findings, approximately five or six hours had passed since his last conscious moment. In other words, the first day since being summoned to this other world was coming to an end.

With that thought, Subaru touched his stomach again.

“So anyway… does this mean I’ve managed to avoid ‘Return by Death’ this time?”

He voiced the conclusion he had hesitated to express until now, finally steeling himself to confront the undeniable reality before him.

※※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

Just before losing consciousness, he recalled all the events that led up to this point.

“I died pathetically once, then confidently died a second time, performed a rather perfect death on the third occasion, and on the fourth, met my end from a stray bullet after spectating a deadly battle—the plot was something like that, but here I am, lucky to have survived. Otherwise, I’d be on the path to being a mere mob character.”

It was a charming way for all his causes of death to be linked together like that.

Regardless, the bed in this overwhelmingly large room was turned into a mess as Subaru sat cross-legged, deep in thought.

Since he had managed to avoid ‘Return by Death,’ it was certain that this wasn’t the same restart location. There was a one-in-a-million chance that this was the shopkeeper’s house he always restarted at, but the current possibilities looked more like—

“It could belong to Reinhardt or Emilia.”

Only these two characters, who had shown him kindness and seemed like they could own such a grand estate, came to mind.

Subaru pondered, mingling his hopes with realism, that it was perhaps the latter. The healing of his stomach wound—most likely, it was done by Emilia’s magic. If the treatment hadn’t been carried out immediately at that moment, Subaru’s DEAD END would have been unavoidable, and more than anything, a man likes to believe he was healed by a girl’s hands.

“Of course, it wouldn’t be awful if that pretty boy could heal as well… but hey, it’s okay to dream a little. After all, this is another world.”

He poked at the sheets with his fingers in a somewhat feminine gesture, expressing his straightforward thoughts.

Then Subaru bounced off of the bed springs onto the floor. He wanted to determine where he was.

“Well then, it’s the start of a new adventure… Uh-oh, what’s going on with me? I feel more annoyed than excited. Is my intent to revert back to my old hermit days!? Spending my time just eating, gaming, watching anime, and scrolling online… I want to go back.”

It’s not like he had wished to be summoned to another world.

In fact, he hadn’t really had any complaints about his hermit lifestyle. He never felt that the mundane passage of his days was wasted, and the fact that he could sleep as much as he wanted was the essence of that NEET life.

“Sure, I felt a little bad for my parents, but… in a way, you could say my lifestyle was allowed as long as I didn’t cause any trouble.”

Regularly working out, eating at the dining table, going out casually to ask for pocket money—besides not going to school, there was nothing about his life that was particularly problematic, so he should probably be categorized as a truant rather than a recluse.

“What a shocking realization. If I hadn’t had this opportunity to self-reflect in this other world, I might’ve lived my entire life without realizing I wasn’t a recluse… Wait, maybe that’s why I’m here…?”

From now on, he resolved to be careful with how he defined himself. He didn’t want to be easily labeled a recluse and earn the ire of the “World Recluse Certification Association.”

“Surely, all the association members must be recluses, right? Then how the heck do they coordinate…?”

A puzzling cycle of thoughts surrounded him as he scratched his head. Shrugging off his extensive musings with a dismissive “whatever,” Subaru silently crept towards the door.

Ideally, during the time spent stalling, he wanted to encounter someone who came to check on him—an explanation of the circumstances to grasp the current situation would be desirable.

“Or maybe when I wake up, a girl will be by my bedside nursing me back to health? I mean, that should be normal, right? Summoning me to this world and not having a beautiful girl by my side just makes the whole summoning feel so off…”

If there was one point worth appreciating, it was that, as a cliché of the fantasy genre, everyone he met would undoubtedly be a good-looking person.

Still, he only knew five named people, and while a clueless fellow was clearly a mob, one was an old guy with wrinkles aplenty.

“Felt has that glow if polished, and of course there’s Emilia and Reinhardt. Then there’s Elsa… whoa, my fingers are trembling just thinking about her—never mind!”

After all, his trauma meter shot up, so he concluded that she was out of the evaluation standards.

He could acknowledge that she was a beauty at first glance, but with her being addicted to killing, he couldn’t reach a positive conclusion saying, “That’s the gap moe!”

“Alright, with that conclusion made, let’s say goodbye to the delay and kick off this adventure… Starting something new is super thrilling!”

Muttering that quietly, he cautiously turned the door handle and pushed it open.

Outside, a cool air slipped into the room, and his bare feet overreacted to the cold floor with a little “fuwau!”

Upon stepping out into the hallway, he was met with a long corridor all painted in warm tones. It stretched endlessly on both sides, with similar doors sprinkled throughout. All of them presumably bore the same construction as the room Subaru had just awoken in—three or four pairs of these twenty-tatami rooms would indicate an estate way larger than he had imagined. Subaru couldn’t help but swallow at the thought of its owner.

“Wow, there’s really no other way to say it… it’s super spacious, actually vast. And despite all this room… there’s not a single soul around?”

As he walked barefoot along the polished corridor—smooth and shiny like a school floor—Subaru couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the eerie silence.

While “the absence of people” is a metaphorical expression, in this case, it referred to the complete lack of any life sounds, or any signals of life in the corridor whatsoever.

“It’s just as quiet as that last room… too quiet; it’s almost unsettling.”

Ordinarily, he would have been shouting at the top of his lungs, “Is anyone there!?” given Subaru’s personality, but in the current situation, that seemed like too much of a risk.

After all, he didn’t yet have a clue about what his actual predicament was.

He had presumed it was a mansion of someone who was kind to him, but there was a chance that after losing consciousness, Elsa might have assembled an army of ten thousand to come for revenge.

If that were the case, then it would mean Elsa’s side held him captive, and what had been a gentle, rich man’s home would have transformed into the lair of a thieving assassin organization.

“Did I really wait too long for them to make a move? Maybe I should go back to my room and sit shivering with my knees up, praying to God…”

Glancing at the decor displayed along the corridor walls, Subaru began planning the routes for his retreat while humming a tune.

The paintings hung in the rooms were landscape scenes, but more abstract art was found in the hallway. Looking at the geometric patterns, he’d half-heartedly muse about, “Hmm, this brushwork really has something,” while pretending to be knowledgeable.

“Well, there’s no time for such weak-minded thoughts if I want to avoid escaping the plot. I said I’d be more positive about this, didn’t I? Though I can’t recall making that decision or promising anyone, I’ll just pretend.”

He eliminated the option of turning back and instead targeted searching for people.

Right or left, he chose right without much hesitation, recalling some dialogue from a manga he’d read before about “Left being filled with traps, hehehe.”

Upon calm reflection, he realized that depending on which room he exited from, right or left could significantly sway his outcome, but he tucked that thought away after a moment of walking.

“Still, these similar doors just keep going… and the place has been deserted as ever.”

Reaching the end of the corridor offered no respite; after about five doors, Subaru found himself perplexed.

There must be a limit to how wide a space can be. While he could be chastised for complaining about a stretch he hadn’t even seen after a mere minute or two, it was a distance he’d undoubtedly covered of over three hundred meters.

Under ordinary circumstances, can a corridor that does not reveal its end exist over three hundred meters?

Scratching his head, Subaru stared vacantly behind him. Worst-case scenario, he’d have to return to the original room and admit being lost—and that’s when—

“Huh?”

He uttered a surprise sound, further deepening his confusion.

Behind him, the path he’d just walked—the same conditions still applied; what puzzled him, however, was—

“Didn’t I see this painting… in front of the room I first set out from?”

“I’m sure I made a comment about ‘this brushwork’ before.”

It could be argued that it was purely a coincidence for the same artwork to be displayed, but it would be extraordinarily poor taste to line a single corridor with similar rooms, all showcasing the same picture.

“To put it simply… I’m looping, aren’t I?”

It seemed that after moving a distance down the corridor, he was transported to the opposite side of the map. Alternately, it could be that this world had some magical mechanism subtly in play, far surpassing the conventional fantasy setting, making him completely unaware of the shifting floor.

“Speaking of moving floors, that would throw the timeline into chaos… but really, between this and ‘Return by Death,’ this afterlife business is filled with loops, huh?”

He directed that thought to the void, then opened the nearby door to a room. Inside was a simplistic 20-tatami room with only a bed, exactly like the one he had first woken in.

“So basically, the implication is that whatever I do is pointless, and I should just sit still, huh?”

Was it to ensure that the reawakened Subaru couldn’t act out recklessly that they placed such restrictions on his path? It felt like a complete waste of effort and magical energy, but perhaps it was a strategy to showcase their strength and sap the will to resist.

“Well, it makes sense that with such a bizarre space, there’s no way I wouldn’t be shocked. In a traditional sense, anyway.”

Stretching with a “hmm,” he flexed and extended his legs. Placing a hand against the wall, he loosened his Achilles’ tendon and warmed up his muscles to get ready for action.

“Normally, I’d just charge right into bed with this excitement and remain dormant until someone arrived, but…”

With that, he squatted in the middle of the corridor, taking a crouching start position.

Get set, ready—

“After half a day of sleeping, I’m definitely not sleepy any longer!!”

He spat out that not-so-cool declaration as Subaru sprinted forward with all his might.

His speed fell below Felt’s level and honestly was less than Rom’s.

His endurance was poor, giving out at around seventy meters, but that moment of movement was more than sufficient.

Run, run, run. —He kept running forward over and over.

The corridor’s end remained elusively hidden, and no matter how far he went, the same scenery repeatedly washed back. It was futile; such a fruitless act only served to mock Subaru’s desperation.

Yet he refused to stop running.

He was stubborn, straight and determined; it was the only thing an average man like him could exhibit, and that was evident in his posture.

The fact that the corridor was devoid of people, that it was someone else’s mansion, that he had just gone through a serious injury half a day ago, and that he was starting to feel the urge to pee—it was all irrelevant.

“No, no, that’s a terrible finale! That’s not good! I just realized I really need to pee! Both big and small are coming at me at once!”

Subaru’s boy parts began to make pained noises, and suddenly the smooth form he had maintained collapsed. His sprint morphed, wobbling into a gait more reminiscent of a young girl skipping, as he struggled to keep it together.

But no matter how he ran, those slight changes in his movements were trivial, and the world continued to taunt him for his efforts.

As the repetitive nature of it all dulled his speed, he found himself panting heavily, shoulders shaking. There, alone in this hopeless battle, he fell to his knees. And then—

“I guess there’s no choice but to do it here.”

Completely giving in, he reached for his clothing that covered his lower abdomen.

He might lose all dignity entirely. Not being able to relieve himself in the proper place could lead him to be worse than an untrained animal.

Yet, he was ready to accept any insults thrown his way. His spirit wouldn’t break.

“Besides, for a guy like me who’s discovered a new kink, those insults might just induce pleasure—”

For the first time since being summoned, he beamed a refreshing smile and sat down right there. At least moving to the side of the corridor was a small sign of the faintest remnant of reason left within him.

—And then.

“Natsuki Subaru, here goes—huh?”

Just as he was about to brace himself, something shifted right in front of his eyes.

The scenery that had looped endlessly and looked the same began to twist and distort right before him.

It was a shift in the fabric of reality that resembled crumpling and then immediately smoothing out, like paper.

Subaru blinked to confirm this sight, and while suppressing the sudden urge to pee that had sneaked back up on him, he stood.

“I don’t really get what’s going on… but… is this good news?”

Upon looking, the corridor’s end appeared, revealing a world that finally broke the cycle.

In front of Subaru stood the repeatedly seen abstract painting, and right before it was the very room he had been laid in.

It was undeniable that he had returned to his initial position—yet it seemed he had escaped the looping after that.

While the criteria for this wasn’t particularly clear—

“Simply put, the key to victory was the need to pee. That’s a complicated flag. Normally, you wouldn’t notice that kind of condition if you didn’t think of it… whoever came up with this is a real genius.”

The phrase “on fire” was a unique expression suggesting someone had been blessed with divine favor.

More of an impromptu phrase that Subaru had spontaneously devised just then.

“Well then, since I’ve managed to escape the loop, I think I’ll head back to the room and sleep…”

Scratching his head, he glanced back at the first door. Oddly enough, he felt a chill in the air in the corridor. Even though nothing was said aloud, the feelings embedded in the atmosphere came across pretty clearly. It seemed he might have attracted some disapproval.

“It feels like the one who was wishing for me to go back has thrown everything back in my face—oh, I see it is! I’ll go!”

Throwing a furious gaze towards the unseen cause of the looping, Subaru set out to walk.

While it could have been tempting to subvert their plan outright, that would leave him at a standstill and, more importantly, the urge still lingered.

“So to protect my dignity, I must move forward. —They know full well that I can’t just back down!”

Pronouncing that with a determined expression, Subaru resolved to fight. For the sake of his bladder.

The corridor might have ended its looping, but it had evolved into a distinctly odd atmosphere. That particular sensation felt eerily similar to when Emilia was about to cast magic.

It was a very amateurish intuition, but it seemed like this corridor was laden with magical energy.

Unlike when he had moved through the loops, this current situation didn’t hide any of that power. The person pulling the strings was likely quite confident, boldly asserting, “There are traps here,” as if it posed no danger.

“Rushing in blindly would be unsafe. But if I overly cautious, that would make me cowardly. And above all else, I have a time limit…”

The tide was currently receding, but it was a known fact that it would eventually return as an even greater wave.

Holding his breath, wiping away the sweat from his forehead, Subaru steeled himself and took his first step.

He turned the knob to the door before him.

“A hallway filled with traps after an endless loop… typical dungeon events often mean the first door is the goal, right?”

In a thought akin to that, he opened the door—

“…What an utterly infuriating person this is.”

Inside the unfamiliar library, he was met with the resentful gaze of a curly-haired girl staring back at him.