The flying stingers shattered the stone-paved corridor, clouds of dust rising and destruction spreading everywhere.

Amidst this scene that felt like it was unfolding in slow motion, Subaru saw a small girl in a dress leap straight into the center of the incredible destructive whirlwind.

With her ringlet hair trailing behind her, diving headfirst into the chaos of destruction was Beatrice.

Courage—no, reckless bravery. It’s obvious, but the fragile body of the small girl was far less durable than the stone tower crushed by the stinger’s first strike. Even if she tried to act as a shield on a whim, her height wouldn’t cover Subaru’s upper body at all.

In other words, it was nothing more than an impulsive act that would only lead to a pointless death.

Just as Subaru had grasped Echidna’s sleeve with a face smeared with tears and snot.

Just as he had reflexively called out to Julius, who would have been burned by the hellfire had he done nothing.

Just as he had almost slammed Ram against the wall but could not heed the ghostly girl’s warning.

Beatrice too, disregarding the “impossible,” sought to take the blow of the stinger—

“Waa!?”

“—It’s an ‘Incomplete E.M.T.’!!”

In that moment, Beatrice stepped forward, grabbed Subaru’s hand, and raised the other hand in front of her.

As the girl shouted, something unseen, energy-like, surged out of Subaru’s body all at once. It left him, and in a moment of his spinning vision, before Beatrice’s forward-facing palm, the stinger’s attack was repelled as if a wall of light had unfolded.

“———”

The shockwave, which was expected to shatter like the buildings did, was blocked by Beatrice’s palm-centered protective barrier, spreading destruction around them instead.

The stingers did not only strike once, but rain down in a barrage. However, every single one of them was blocked by the shield in the form of the young girl known as Beatrice, preventing any damage from reaching behind her.

A tremendous shockwave roared, and debris from the shattered corridor grazed Subaru’s cheek.

As sounds faded and his vision blurred white, Subaru narrowed his eyes at the sharp pain across his cheek while his gaze was drawn to Beatrice’s back.

For just an instant, he caught sight of the massive scorpion, and if this rainstorm was indeed made from its stinger, its destructive power could easily turn a human being to dust like an artillery cannon.

Having this small girl’s back shielding him, Subaru was being kept alive.

Just moments prior, he had prayed to the gods for salvation, and while still recovering from that sentiment, he pondered just what hell he had been thrown into.

Lacking the luxury to curse his own misfortune, Subaru caught a different presence out of the corner of his eye—one that did not resemble either Beatrice or the scorpion.

It was Echidna, caught in the crossfire, facing similar danger.

Having previously declared to act independently and attempted to part ways with Subaru, she found herself tangled in this dire situation as he had halted her just before the attack commenced.

Fortunately, she was also situated in a position where Beatrice could defend her, so the damage from the stinger did not reach her, blocked by the barrier of light. However, that was as far as it went.

All Beatrice could defend against was the direct damage of the stinger.

She had no way to prevent the secondary damages that resulted from its destruction.

In other words—

“—Nnh, a!”

With a faint cry, Echidna lost her balance and began to fall backward. She took a step back to stabilize herself, but the floor to support her retreated was gone.

The corridor was partially collapsed due to the stinger’s attack. As a result, the tower’s corridor lost its form, causing the floors, ceilings, and walls to crumble, causing Echidna to lose her footing. Should she be thrown into an unknown void, falling to her death would be unavoidable.

Sensing that fear instinctively, a sense of crisis flashed in Echidna’s eyes.

“—!?”

Just then, Subaru stepped forward and grabbed Echidna’s hand, preventing her fall.

“Natsuki-kun…?!”

Beatrice’s hand clasped Subaru’s right hand, while his left hand grabbed Echidna.

Although his shoulder was dislocated from Raid’s rough treatment, the pain ran deep, and overexerting himself could cause his shoulder to dislocate again. Unable to burden Beatrice who was desperately taking the stinger’s hits, Subaru gritted his teeth and strained with all his might to hold back Echidna’s weight.

“Guh, ooooh…!”

Although she was small, Echidna weighed as much as a full-grown human. Easily lifting a human was no simple task; let alone when considering the situation of a non-cooperative casualty.

It was clear such a thought would be unreasonable. Why was he taking such a reckless risk?

“… Don’t do something so difficult to measure.”

“I—how would I know!? It was reflex!”

“That answer… seems like something Natsuki-kun would say!”

Ongoing self-questioning turned into reflexive rebuttal against Echidna’s retorts. Despite being clumsy, she managed to use Subaru’s arm as support and somehow returned to the collapsed floor.

In the end, Subaru sustained her actions until the last moment and glanced down at his own arms.

—The scars were etched into his flesh, not to mention covering him with unfamiliar blemishes, gruesome white scars visible everywhere.

“Am I… moving better than my limits of memory?”

Beneath his hand were inexplicably new calluses and countless scratches. Barely having developed some bulging muscles was just enough to keep Echidna from falling to her death.

The body had its limits, potentially inadequate to implement the goal of “The Book of the Dead” without killing anyone.

“Somehow, climbed back up… Beatrice! What’s your status?!”

“Is it finally reaching its limit, I wonder! About time…”

In stark contrast to the misplaced sentiment, Echidna called out to Beatrice with a strained expression. At her call, Beatrice stiffened her delicate cheeks and responded mere moments later—

“—!!”

The scorpion that had been firing stingers at them now clung to the ceiling, letting out a silent shriek as its massive pincers came crashing down toward them.

“—!”

Facing down the sweeping pincers with a sharp approach, Subaru’s thoughts sluggishly flowed.

In general perception, scorpions were strongly associated with venomous stingers, but in reality, of over a thousand species of scorpions, only a few dozen have venomous varieties. So, what of scorpions that hunt without poisonous stings? —Naturally, their pincers became their weapons.

Should it be sharpness or the strength of the grip? Compared to the poison stinger, it might appear less dangerous, but once it reaches the massive size of this scorpion, either of their lethality should not be underestimated.

Evidence could be found in how even the tower’s walls and floors maintained some semblance of form but were now cut as if slicing tofu.

“—Murak!”

Such a scene, dripping with destruction and slaughter, was countered by Beatrice as she took to the air with unbelievable jumping power—no, it was an unnatural leap, as if abusing the laws of inertia to avoid the attack.

Centered around Beatrice was a bizarre sensation as if having escaped the influence of gravity. She grasped Subaru and Echidna by their waists, creating a large distance from the scorpion’s fierce assaults.

After generating that distance, Echidna readied her right hand toward the scorpion’s face.

“El Jiwald—!!”

From each of her five fingers burst forth white heat rays, five streams of light that sliced through the corridor like giant claws, scorching the face of the scorpion and its right pincers.

Perhaps unable to withstand such power and damage, the scorpion wildly swung its stinger and left pincers, crushing the corridor and retreating while spewing up clouds of dust.

“Jiwald! Jiwald! Jiwald!”

“Wait! Calm down, Echidna! It’s retreated! It ran away!”

Subaru, grabbing Echidna from behind, as she continued her relentless assault, protested as she desperately glared at the retreating dust cloud, eventually slumping her weight down onto him.

“Hah, hah, hah… Did we do it…?”

“No, that’s not it. It probably just got away.”

As Echidna breathed heavily, staring in disbelief, Subaru shook his head. Although the dust hadn’t cleared yet, he couldn’t believe that the massive corpse of the scorpion lay there.

Rather, he was anxious if another counterattack from its stinger wouldn’t come forth from behind the haze.

“But, isn’t that impossible…? That last thing was…”

“—A Beast, I suppose? It’s the rude creature that suddenly appeared on this fourth layer. The tremors of the lower floors, the beasts on the fourth layer. Then you have the disturbances from the upper floors.”

“Up, down, mid… Problems are popping up in all places?”

At Beatrice’s serious report, Subaru turned back with a pallid expression.

Indeed, Julius was still fighting below, and now the existence of the scorpion—beast was made clear. The disturbances from the upper floors also made sense since Raid had come down.

“… One of those problems happens to be you, but you seem to be unaware.”

“——”

With this thought from Subaru, his mind was blown when he turned to see Echidna standing independently at his side. She wiped the sweat off her forehead, gazing at Subaru with lingering wariness.

In her ashen-colored eyes were caution, suspicion, and concurrently anxiety and confusion.

“Just what are you? What do you want, and where do you stand?”

“I don’t know the details. I told you. I’m also in the same boat—don’t know what’s happening or how it’s led to this. That’s because I…”

“—Amnesia.”

Subaru could only murmur weakly in response to Echidna’s inquiry, just as uncertain as before. The one to pick up the end of that thought was Beatrice, who had been pondering with a serious expression.

Amnesia—within this loop, the only people Subaru had confessed this fact to were Emilia and Ram. This meant Beatrice and the others were aware of both the cage and Subaru’s excuses.

Knowing this, Beatrice’s attitude had been as such.

Echidna, too, appeared deep in thought, trying to choose her words.

“So how did you get out of the cage?”

“…I woke up, and my shoulder was dislocated, collapsed outside the cage.”

Though Subaru answered truthfully, he didn’t think anyone would believe it. However, piling one lie on top of another had led him to the current situation of being unable to explain himself.

Having begged the gods while dripping snot, he had reached a point where he had no pride or decorum left to maintain.

In that mindset, when Subaru gave his answer without deceit, Echidna hesitated for a moment but quickly closed her eyes, continuing without looking at him.

“…Why did you help me just now?”

“——”

“Had you not extended a hand, I would surely have died. I would have met a grievous end with Anna’s body.”

An inquiry that felt distanced as if it were someone else’s business.

However, the reason she chose to pose such a question was the same reason she was not looking Subaru in the eye. That is, from a desire not to make an irrational judgment based on emotion.

Faced with Echidna’s reasoning, Subaru pondered. Just why had he reached out to Echidna?—Was it because of Julius’s final words?

Had those words caused Subaru to extend a hand?

“…It was impulsive, I don’t get it.”

However, Subaru reluctantly shook his head, denying that thought.

Certainly, there was an instance where he recalled Julius’s words and acted to prevent Echidna from acting independently. But when it truly came to the point where her life was in danger, there was no rationale behind the actions Subaru took.

He did not understand why he acted like that.

“Not everything has to have a reason, right? It came out of nowhere. It was all so sudden; that’s why I…”

Determined to brace for disappointment, Subaru began to awkwardly express the emotions within him. Assuming such an admission would evoke a chilly response from Echidna, he was left speechless when she unexpectedly breathed out.

“—That might be the essence of who you are.”

“Eh…?”

Just then, Echidna, who had been stiffly poised in front of him, let her shoulders relax as she muttered such words. As she heard this, Subaru stared wide-eyed, bewildered.

Subaru found himself at a loss as to what had occurred.

The awkward heaviness in Echidna’s expression seemed to dissolve a little.

“It won’t help to argue here. It’s foolish to stay around and be caught again by the beast. Let’s move. I want to rendezvous with Julius.”

“Ah, um…”

“I agree. For now, let’s leave this place.”

Leaving a bewildered Subaru behind, Echidna and Beatrice remained calm as they came to their decision. Echidna glanced behind them while Beatrice lightly squeezed Subaru’s hand.

Upon seeing that small gesture, Beatrice nodded gravely and said:

“Aren’t you going to forget, for the fact you brought Betty out of that place?”

“…S-sorry. I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“—It’s all right.”

Hearing Beatrice’s voice, Subaru felt an almost unbearable sensation as if he had committed the most terrible sin in this world.

However, even while facing that unfathomable dread, Beatrice shook her head. She concealed her lonely feelings and etched a bold smile onto her lips.

“Even if Subaru forgets, it’ll remain within Betty. What you etched cannot fade from within Betty. So right now, it’s all right.”

“Beatrice…”

“Even if Subaru forgets, Betty won’t. She will always remember. And she’ll make Subaru remember too. I’ll do whatever I can for that.”

“————”

That was a dazzlingly bright answer for Natsuki Subaru, who stood alone in this place.

How could such a young girl possess such a will, having overcome so many hardships and hardened her heart into steel?

“—Ah.”

In that moment, feeling saved, Subaru choked on his breath. It was as though something welled up behind his eyelids, threatening to suffocate him, and he desperately tried to hold back that heat.

Silently, Beatrice supported Subaru with nothing more than her grasp.

Just holding his hand was enough to give him strength.

“After that beast’s attack, I don’t think we can trace back the path Natsuki-kun came by. While danger is undeniable, we’ll have to move using the intact corridor where the beast fled.”

“Echidna, you too…”

“Whether to forgive or not, whether to doubt or trust is not worth discussing now. Regardless of how, my doubt within has not cleared. The situation simply doesn’t allow for it. Prioritization is an essential skill for trade. I’ve seen Anna do it up close.”

Thus, they would not engage in further disputes here.

That seemed to be Echidna’s conclusion. Subaru too decided to follow Beatrice and Echidna’s judgment, avoiding countering Echidna’s hesitance.

He still felt the urge to flee. However, he wanted to believe there were surely better moments to plead for help than to huddle down alone in despair and pray to the gods.

“———”

Behind him, the corridor Subaru had just run through was in a dreadful state. Just like Echidna had said, it had taken a storm-like hit from the beast’s stinger, almost becoming a pile of rubble that could not be crossed.

Beatrice’s magical defense had only safeguarded their lives. To head toward Julius, fighting against the fifth layer, or the Emilia party in differing actions, they would still have to go toward the corridor the scorpion retreated.

“Ugh…”

Leaping over the hole from which Echidna nearly fell to her death, the moment the dust cleared from the corridor, Subaru gasped as he saw the cause of his moan lying there.

—It was the tail of that beast, which appeared to have fallen away nearly from its root.

“I see, so that’s why there was no counterattack. That the means of offense was diminished is at least some minor good news.”

“It looks like it. …The floor isn’t going to collapse, is it? Let’s jump over.”

Glancing at the tail of the beast that had fallen along with its stinger, Echidna and Beatrice nodded in agreement. Overwhelmed by its grotesque appearance, they understood that now this beast had lost the means for long-range attacks.

Naturally, the layer below was currently teeming with flaming Centaurs. The threat from that single beast had diminished but did not lessen the overall danger in the tower.

“—Hup!”

With a little spring in his step, Subaru leaped over the hole while still carrying Beatrice. The girl’s body was light, almost unreal compared to girls of her age. That same lightness seemed unrelated to the outcomes of the year of memories Subaru lacked.

“———”

Setting that thought aside, Subaru aimed his gaze again at the fallen tail of the scorpion.

Though it had fired stingers like a storm, the mechanism of that projectile was on a level that was different from the ecology of scorpions Subaru knew. All things considered, a scorpion’s poisonous sting doesn’t get shot out, nor does it regenerate in multiples.

Most importantly, by observing the destruction around the corridor, it became clear that the object of the tail itself was not simply shot off. —That was a force resembling a stinger being cast.

Simply put, just like Beatrice’s light barrier and Echidna’s white heat rays, the scorpion had released something akin to magical needles.

Of course, hoping that since they handled it like a stinger, the loss of the tail meant it couldn’t activate again, that was what Subaru wanted to believe. However—

“—?”

At that point in thought, Subaru felt a sense of unease.

Upon closely examining the fallen tail, he noticed that although it was nearly severed from its base, the wound appeared strange.

Had it been cut by Echidna’s heat rays, there would surely be burn marks, no matter the sharpness of the cut. In reality, there were singed marks that coincided with that.

Yet the fallen tail of the scorpion bore none of those marks and had an exceptionally clean cut—

“—B-bea—”

Something felt wrong—Subaru picked up on it. It was too late.

The tail that lay on the floor twitched.

—In the next instant, light exploded.

※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

—There exists a mechanism known as autotomy.

This phenomenon, primarily seen in arthropods and lizards, is termed “tail shedding” and refers to the behavior of autonomously discarding a part of their body to evade a predator.

It is present in creatures like crab claws, and in short, it means that this beast shaped like a scorpion must have done something similar.

In the case of lizards that shed their tails, the severed part flops around for a short time, acting to distract the enemy and allow the main body to make an escape.

Of course, the detached tail doesn’t possess such intent; it’s just a reflexive action. But it’s an example of how such a reflex can be ingrained into the process of autotomy.

If that’s the case, could something like this not also occur?

—When a severed tail nears prey, it could be rigged like a “landmine” to explode and inflict damage at that moment.

“Ugh, grr…”

A groan escaped from Subaru. As he dragged his feet, it wasn’t due to fatigue.

The issue was physical. He had suffered a significant gash on his left leg that was oozing blood, rendering it impossible to run.

Moreover, what Subaru dragged wasn’t merely his own body.

“…It’s fine. Leave me behind.”

Making such a declaration, what Subaru dragged along was the nearly lifeless form of Echidna.

He inserted his arms beneath her armpits and pulled her from behind, with no choice but to attempt to get away from the scene. If they didn’t flee from the site of the explosive remnants, that beast would return.

—Having left behind a parting gift of explosives, the scorpion beast had torn Subaru and the others to shreds.

“—Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

Subaru had let his guard down. He’d been entirely too complacent.

Between Beatrice’s parting words to him and Echidna’s slightly softened stance, a moment of vulnerability formed in his heart, allowing this to happen.

He felt pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. Tears came to his eyes at how genuinely pitiful he felt.

Why, when faced with such hardships, could he not grow? Why could he not change? Were trials and tribulations not meant to provide opportunities for growth by divine means?

If all they did was leave him bruised, bleeding, broken bones, shattered soul, and snatched life, then what purpose does it serve for a human to suffer?

“Natsuki-kun… that’s enough already…”

“It’s not enough! Not a single thing is enough!”

“…It’s about me, not about Beatrice, right?”

With her eyes closed, Echidna weakly murmured, and Subaru barked in return louder than he should have, choking on the subsequent words.

Echidna’s words were painfully rational. When asked whom he prioritized, either Beatrice or Echidna, the unfortunate truth for Subaru was that he would choose Beatrice.

While a life holds equal value, the worth of individuals is not equal. Relationships have their own hierarchies. If a choice needed to be made, he would follow that order.

—Yet, Beatrice was gone. She hadn’t existed. She had vanished.

The moment the scorpion beast’s severed tail detonated, Subaru trembled with fear and pulled Beatrice closer. He had merely wanted to protect her.

Yet, tragically slow in his actions, Subaru’s wish had not come true.

Light erupted and scattered countless needles around them. Subaru would end up bearing the brunt of that explosion, but thanks to Beatrice’s protection, he had survived.

The moment Subaru pulled her in, she had shielded his body, attempting to protect vital areas. As she had taken in the brunt of the blinding light—

“—!”

“…I see. That child really is such a loss.”

The words left unsaid trailed off, but even Echidna seemed to grasp the sentiment. Subaru couldn’t deny the resigned sound of her exhale.

Bathed in blood and moaning in pain, Subaru realized he hadn’t even gotten to exchange final words with the girl who was melting away. —Only her final expression remained in his memory.

An expression that showed both relief and affection toward Subaru.

That was Beatrice’s last look, too good to be true for Subaru.

If that were the case, the Natsuki Subaru who could invoke such an expression from a vanishing girl might as well disappear without leaving a trace in this world.

Now that Beatrice was gone, Subaru dragged Echidna, still alive, away.

As if doing so to atone, as if seeking redemption, or like a convicted sinner seeking punishment.

Seeing Subaru’s desperate actions, Echidna, gasping for breath, tried to halt him. Even after all the fervor with which she had declared to return her body to Anastasia.

Yet it was hardly surprising. —Her body was rendered nearly weightless, both legs blown off from the base.

“———”

There was nearly no blood flowing anymore.

Dragging a body that felt even lighter than what Beatrice had felt, keeping Echidna from suffering even basic treatment, just what sort of future awaited her?

“Ugh, ah!”

The moment that thought coiled into his mind, Subaru stumbled on the rubble and fell. Instantly, Echidna was thrown to the ground beside him.

The two of them lay there, moaning like cursed souls in a universe of despair.

“It hurts… Ah, it truly does hurt. The human body… it really does come with pain…”

“I-I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to… It wasn’t like that, I was—”

“Don’t go apologizing so diligently, Natsuki-kun. Moreover… I don’t even have a face left to show Anna, but… this pain is my only way to repay her.”

“Pay back…?”

Crawling toward the motionless Echidna, Subaru’s eyes flickered with confusion at her words.

What did she mean by repayment? Upon hearing Subaru’s perplexed expression, Echidna smirked slightly and said:

“You see, if I return my body to Anna now… she would experience pain like the world is ending, alongside the fear of death. …Something like that, would be hell for her. I can bear through it, so let it be me.”

“A-a…”

“Being unable to return my body to Anna, I can’t even assist Julius. …I’m suited to fall into hell like this.”

Subaru could see the self-reproach and self-doubt scorching both his and Echidna’s faces.

He understood that the empty depths of Echidna’s gaze were each inching toward her impending “death.”

Doing nothing, filled with helplessness and irresponsibility, he felt the guilt of being nothing short of useless.

While lamenting over that fact, Echidna would leave this world. —Leave this world without Subaru.

“W-wait…”

“Let’s make this easy; don’t think of it that way, okay? I can, um, surely endure this…”

Afraid of losing Echidna’s fading life, Subaru was rendered speechless. Yet in the face of her fading voice, new possibilities were offered to him.

—To make her death easier. Though the idea of euthanasia was at this point long overdue, he could still shorten her time in suffering and hasten her “death.”

“———”

Glancing at Echidna, who repeated shallow, low breaths, Subaru pressed through the pain to stand, picked up rubble, and verified its weight.

It was small enough to be held in his palm, only the size of a fist. Yet, should it claim the fragile life of a nearly-dying girl, even this ordinary weapon could be potent enough.

“…Echidna.”

“———”

While holding the rubble, Subaru took a step closer to Echidna and called out her name.

There was no response, and her eyes remained closed. However, he understood that she wasn’t entirely unconscious from the faint tightening of her cheek and the clasp of her lips.

She had likely exhausted all willpower to put an end to this.

If Subaru swung the rubble with all his might down upon her skull, her life would extinguish easily.

“I’ve never even split anyone’s head with a rock,” echoed a sweet voice in Subaru’s mind as he clutched the rubble. But this action was not meant to read “The Book of the Dead.”

Even if it might lead to that outcome, in that moment, that thought never crossed his mind.

This was a form of mercy. A way to send someone on the verge of death toward a slightly easier end.

If someone had merit in claiming that life, surely that merciful instant would be the only honorable one.

This was the singular opportunity for Natsuki Subaru and a chance fraught with aversion.

The only opportunity, and yet—

“———”

His hand trembled. Pain radiated from behind his eyelids, and his throat grew rigid, forgetting to breathe.

Lift, and slash downward. Such a simple action. And yet now, Subaru couldn’t perform it. It was as if he had forgotten how to move his body altogether.

“…Huh.”

A strangled sigh escaped; only then did the rubble clatter to the ground.

With the sound and his collapsing knees, Subaru stumbled again, collapsing to the floor.

“…How base.”

That he was unable to perform such an easy task.

Natsuki Subaru should be capable of swinging a weapon to ease another’s suffering.

Yet, unable to even wield a deadly instrument, this was nothing more than deception.

A mere verbal claim to atone, guilt wrapped in convenience, but how could he let it remain like this.

“…Natsuki-kun.”

“I…”

“You cannot even hold a stone for the sake of mercy……”

With her eyelids barely fluttering open, Echidna’s lifeless azure eyes found Subaru kneeling nearby. That feeble whisper felt more like an indictment against Subaru’s weakness, causing him to choke.

Yet even as Subaru shrank back, Echidna smiled weakly as if against the odds.

“…I was wrong to doubt you.”

“———”

“———”

Breathing out lightly, she offered her apology.

Echidna apologized. She apologized for doubting Natsuki Subaru.

—And before he had the chance to ascertain the sincerity of her words, she breathed her last.

Having killed Meily and hidden her body, not revealing her amnesia while pretending, he had incurred doubts, trapped within an icy cage and failed to fulfill his entrusted wishes, and in all of it, he had been shielded by the girl who tried to save his soul. In the end, he couldn’t even sully his hands for the wounded girl teetering on death; he resorted to kneeling before his own pitifulness as Echidna departed.

“———”

He wanted to die.

He wished to forget everything that had happened and die.

Natsuki Subaru wanted to be pointed at by every person in this world, to have a sentence for death pronounced upon him. He believed he had committed a sin worthy of such a fate, plunging him into despair.

Despair.

※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

Despair consumed Natsuki Subaru.

“———”

He could not move. He had no right to move. Even if he did, nothing would come of it.

He had proven this. Natsuki Subaru had demonstrated his own helplessness——No, it would have been better if he were simply incompetent. He went far beyond that, proving himself to be a dreadful plague.

“———”

When despair nests in the heart and kills the spirit, the soul erodes ahead of life.

At that point, standing up was impossible. No one could resist, including himself, realizing he was nothing but a true blight without the ability to rationalize.

He wanted to disappear. He wanted to vanish.

He should have made that decision far earlier. Before coming to this other world; before falling into such a situation.

Why did he burden others with his existence?

Did he have even the slightest qualification to occupy a portion of another’s heart? Just a stain on the filthy wall. An accumulation of dust in a room corner, maggots feeding on leftover garbage, a scar lingering in plain sight without disappearing.

Natsuki Subaru, why won’t you die?

Even in death would you merely start over? Who determined this? Who guaranteed that it would continue eternally? If once was insufficient, then die ten times, a hundred times, or even a thousand.

Disappear until you are no more.

Until you are erased from everyone’s memories, vanishing completely without impacting anything, until no trace remains of your name, your existence, or your very being.

—I love you.

You’re noisy. Get lost. Erase me.

—I love you, I love you, I love you.

Be quiet. Don’t talk to me. Don’t obstruct my desire to fade. I want to disappear; I want to vanish.

—I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.

I want to die. I want to vanish. I want to be shattered into pieces. I don’t even want a trace left behind. I want to have been nothing. I want to be erased from history. I want to disappear from memories. I want to be gone from recollections. I want to be gone even from the girl who promised never to forget me. I hold no value. I’m devoid of meaning. I leave behind nothing. I shouldn’t leave anything. Therefore, everything, all of it, should disappear from this world.

—I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.

The dominion of despair overrode Subaru’s heart, leaving the world and everything draped in dark shadows, and a ceaselessly flowing confession of hollow love pressed towards the garbage in the shape of a person crumpled beneath despair.

Would being swallowed within it allow him to disappear?

Would it let him sink into an abyss further than death? Would it dump him into a conveniently empty place, a dark vacuum where no one’s gaze reaches?

If therein he could die, then I shall—.

I shall—

Natsuki Subaru, into that overwhelming despair—,

“—That’s enough.”

—A voice spoke.

A voice denying this end of the world; a voice reminiscent of silver bells, spoke.