The world was about to be painted in darkness.

Towards a slumped and immobile Subaru, countless shadows stretched out their hands.

Like a spiral, swirling, the pitch-black magical hands aimed to envelop Natsuki Subaru along with his very soul.

From the points of contact, he felt as if he was melting, collapsing, unraveling, the perception of his existence fading.

However, strangely enough, he felt no sense of disgust at all.

“――――”

His body crumbled within his visible range, existence overwritten, his soul being stirred.

Such a thing, perhaps the greatest blasphemy to the living, yet Natsuki Subaru’s heart was rather tranquil to the point of calling it peace.

The effect of having genuinely disappointed himself just before this event played a major role.

But it wasn’t just that. It was that—the shadows, the magical hands were sincere.

Only this shadow cared for Subaru’s feelings, yearning to disappear.

I want to die. I want to vanish. I want to be crushed, trampled, obliterated, turned to ash.

If I were revived, let it be countless times, just let me be erased into ashes.

This black shadow granted Subaru’s desperate cries, his true wish.

――I love you.

There it was, the only annoying thing was the repetition that was so overwhelming.

Even if I covered my ears, tried to close my heart, it would slip through the cracks in my tightly shut heart and whisper love directly.

――I love you. I love you. I love you.

“Shut up, I’m sick of this.”

No matter how many times it was repeated, I couldn’t care less. I don’t love. I don’t love myself. I knew I was loved. I knew it well.

Those parents of mine. Both father and mother truly loved Subaru from the depths of their hearts.

I knew it. There was no way I wouldn’t know. That’s why I wanted to disappear.

Even though my parents loved me, I couldn’t love myself, a person not worth loving.

――I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.

“Stop it, spare me. Enough already.”

No matter how many times it’s piled on, I can’t pull out anything more. The conclusion has long since been reached within me. I understood. I understood but only turned my eyes away.

Those who were so desperately concerned for Subaru can’t be bad people.

I knew that. There was no way I couldn’t know. That’s why Subaru should have died.

He should have strived not to cast a shadow on those who cared for his existence.

――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.

“Enough! I know!”

If I endure this torment, will you grant my wish? Are you going to swallow, crush, pulverize, and make me disappear into the void, so I don’t need to wish for anything from anyone ever again?

If so—then I’ll accept it. I want to accept. If this is the end.

If this can be the last, even if Natsuki Subaru vanishes—.

――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.

“――That’s enough.”

A voice echoed.

It was a silver bell-like voice that cut through the endless declaration of love as if to pierce the deluge of love that threatened to erase Natsuki Subaru’s existence.

“――――”

Light burst forth.

It struck the pitch-black magical hands that sought to swallow Subaru. A shockwave erupted; the hands that took direct hits burst apart, but that was but one of the myriad writhing hands.

What was gained by erasing one out of a thousand wasn’t worth the hatred from the vast swath of shadow. Yet the one who launched that attack stepped forward boldly, skillfully dodging the shadowy hands directed at him, evasions upon evasion, and then—

“――Subaru!”

“――!”

Calling out to the slumped Subaru, the owner of the silver bell voice gripped his weak hand tightly. Subaru was pulled up with force and dragged away from that place.

The shadows extended their arms before and behind him, blocking his advance and retreat.

But even faced with that interference, the girl in front did not stop.

“Riyaah!!”

She thrust out the hand not holding Subaru’s, a dazzling light erupted there.

In an instant, a beautifully radiant ice crystal emerged—an ice cage that enclosed Subaru, along with a beautifully fierce ice attack birthed from the same source.

That created a wall that shattered the dark magical hands barring their path, forcefully breaking through.

Having believed in the overwhelming shadow that consumed everything, Subaru felt his previously motionless heart tremble slightly as the sight of it being instantly scattered came into view.

And as his frozen heart began to move, his gaze turned towards the beautiful figure beside him.

Holding Subaru’s hand, staring straight forward, her long, shining silver hair flowing—Emilia was running, bringing Subaru along.

Even seeing her safe did not stir his heart.

On the contrary, Subaru was haunted by a sound that felt like something cracking deep inside his skull.

He couldn’t be happy about her survival. And rightfully so.

The person confirmed to be alive with him, Julius, Beatrice, Echidna—they all were left to die.

Though he hadn’t seen the decisive scene, his imagination ran towards terrible conclusions about what became of Julius, who was left behind in the midst of Raid and the beast’s quantity. Beatrice had vanished protecting Subaru, and he couldn’t even relieve Echidna, who was on the brink of death.

Natsuki Subaru was a bearer of calamity. Death, gravely entwined with his existence.

Rather than nullifying his own death, he was offloading that misfortune onto those around him—such an absurd hypothesis hung over him, like a child of dark fate—.

“――That’s enough.”

“Eh?”

“I told you, it’s pointless to struggle anymore.”

Defying Emilia, who forced his arm, Subaru came to a halt. Emilia tried pulling his arm again, but this time, with resolute determination, Subaru wouldn’t budge.

The disparity in strength between the two was evident, yet Subaru’s will was equally strong. She gasped, perhaps having discerned that dark impulse in his black eyes, and stopped trying to pull him with force.

“――――”

Subaru and Emilia faced each other directly, gazing into one another’s eyes.

As he realized it, the presence of shadows that had attempted to envelop Subaru had vanished. Perhaps they’d shaken them off while escaping with Emilia. If that’s the case, he might encounter them again if he returned down the path.

To erase Natsuki Subaru’s existence, that must have been the most appropriate way, he thought.

“Why did you come to save me? That doesn’t make any sense. You thought I was a fake… so you tried to trap me in an ice cage to kill me, right?”

Words of deception, distorting the facts intentionally, hurting with malign intent.

He wanted to make sure Emilia never thought to reach for his hand again.

Yet, Subaru’s vile intentions held no power against Emilia, who gazed straightforwardly at the truth.

She grew angry, her sharp eyes flaring, raising her voice to Subaru.

“I wasn’t trying to kill you! I only wanted to understand what was wrong with you! And you told me! You said you have no memory! So…”

“That could just be a convenience! You believed it so easily? That’s ridiculous. You’re out of your mind! You, Julius, Beatrice—all of you!”

Locked in the ice cage, Subaru finally confessed his amnesia in a moment of desperation.

Yet, if he had a rational thought, he shouldn’t believe such a tale. Ram and Echidna’s responses were correct. Yet Emilia and the others were mostly fools.

“No, you’re wrong! Everyone’s an idiot! In the end… at the last moment, even Echidna, apologized to me… I just don’t get it!”

“Echidna apologized… What happened to you, Subaru? What about Echidna and…?”

Emilia asked the questioning Subaru, who covered his face with his hands, groaning as his memories surfaced.

If it meant hurting such a beautiful face, he would bare his own glass-like wounds.

Given that blood ceased to flow, a frail expression, relieved not to inflict pain on those important to him—that painful, cold wish of his repeated in his thoughts.

The image of the girl whose life extinguished sprang back into his mind, and Subaru forced the wounds within his heart open as he cried out.

“She’s dead! Echidna’s dead! Her legs were blown off, she was in so much pain, and she bled out… she suffered painfully and died! Beatrice too!”

“――!”

“That child protected me… What a foolish system of self-sacrifice… if only I had realized it sooner. If I could have, she might not have died. She swore she wouldn’t forget me, so…”

Even if Subaru forgot, Beatrice wouldn’t.

She had declared firmly that she would help Subaru regain his memories.

Yet right after uttering that declaration, she’d vanished.

This served as a bitter truth. Empty words of grandeur only to die immediately afterward, leaving Subaru alone.

“Such a way to disappear? Then perhaps, she should have just stayed gone. Did you save me? Did you take me somewhere else? It’s irrelevant. If I were dragged from somewhere else, it would have been better for her to have just let it be. If that’s how it would end—”

He wouldn’t need to witness her looking that way as she disappeared.

“Julius is the same. Currently, he’s likely… in a place crawling with dangerous beasts, where Raid interferes, thinking, ‘go on, please’… how foolish.”

Everyone’s foolish. What do they expect?

Begging and wanting to take things back, apologizing for doubt—what is even going on?

What’s the use of begging, even if you can take things back, what does that accomplish? Of course, being doubted was justified.

Everything that was thrown at him resulted in Natsuki Subaru being here.

The one who survived alone in peace wanted to disappear.

The most foolish, most helpless, totally irredeemable—that is—

What else could be Natsuki Subaru—

“Our first meeting, it was in the Royal Capital, in the Thieves’ Repository.”

“――.”

“――――.”

“――――――――.”

The self-reproach and questioning sank Subaru into an endless pit of despair, leaving him unable to move.

What shook Subaru’s eardrum was suddenly Emilia’s confession—like a fond, loving recollection, it stirred memories warmly.

“… Huh.”

Receiving those abrupt and nonsensical words, Subaru was left agape, exhaling only the air trapped in his lungs.

What had she just said? There was no nuance of ridicule or mockery in her actions. Subaru’s consciousness simply couldn’t keep up. He was genuinely and utterly dumbfounded.

While Subaru stood stunned, Emilia continued counting, drawing her memories back.

“At that time, I had a very important badge stolen by Felt. I was in a panic, needing to get it back with Pack. … So, when chasing after it, I ended up in a fight with Meily’s big sister, it was dangerous, but Reinhardt helped me. Just as I felt relieved, Meily’s big sister then targeted me… and Subaru saved me.”

“――――”

“That was the first time Subaru and I met. … Remember?”

At her question, Subaru shook his head sideways.

The memory was shared in detail, yet he didn’t hold a single hint of recognition.

Naturally, it belonged to Emilia’s recollection of “Natsuki Subaru.” There was no way he could relate to the actions that formed just a fragment of “Natsuki Subaru’s” memories.

“I mean, because you protected me from getting seriously hurt, I brought you back with me to Roswaal’s mansion. There, Beatrice treated you while complaining, and you more than got along with Ram…and surely with Rem too.”

“――――”

“Then, instead of the big sister, Meily unleashed beasts, which you and Ram stopped, and Roswaal took care of the beasts while I stayed behind… The ‘date’ promise I made was during this time. … Remember?”

“――――”

He shook his head again.

He didn’t remember. He hadn’t done anything like that. ―I didn’t do it.

“Various things happened at the mansion. We made mayonnaise, drank alcohol together, Pack made it snow, we played ‘King’s Game’… And then we were called to the Royal Capital for the Royal Selection, you see.”

“――――”

“That was also the first time we had a really big fight. I didn’t want Subaru to hurt himself unnecessarily anymore, and I was scared not knowing why you were so kind. So I thought it would all end when we fought…”

Emilia’s voice, recalling those memories, trembled lightly.

That was a mixture of joy, sadness, anxiety, and expectation—various conflicting emotions, and it gripped Subaru with an overwhelming thirst.

Yearning, yearning—his chest burned with longing.

Burning for everything that brought such a look to Emilia’s face—no, for just one single factor.

“When I was clueless and just swept away by an uncertain situation and my heart was the most muddled, Subaru rushed in and then…”

“――――”

“And what did you say to me? … Remember?”

“Remember…”

He couldn’t summon it.

It wouldn’t come forth. How could it?

Emilia’s trembling voice, her call, wrapped in a supplicative tone clarified it instantaneously.

Subaru realized that he wasn’t the “Natsuki Subaru” she was looking for.

Faced with an evident truth, jealousy and envy burned within him.

Why you? Why is there such a gap between you and me, “Natsuki Subaru”?

They all think it too, even Emilia.

Return the real “Natsuki Subaru.” May you die, “Natsuki Subaru.”

If only you were here—how much better it would be.

Thinking this, hurt and suffering, he yearned to lament.

Yet still,

“――but I remember everything. What you told me, what you did for me, the promises you made. I remember it all.”

Turning sadness and anxiety into something that might equate joy, expectations gleamed within her smile.

Having witnessed Emilia’s smile, Subaru’s lips trembled.

There was nothing. Nowhere.

He hadn’t said anything, done anything, or made any promises.

In the depths of his body, mind, heart, and soul, there was nothing at all.

So—

“I don’t remember. I can’t recall. Who… who are you all talking about!?”

An explosion.

With the roar of his emotions igniting, he bellowed as he had done before in front of Beatrice and Echidna.

“――――”

Emilia turned her violet eyes wide at his bellow.

Glaring at her, Subaru blinked away the warm drops he had to halt and shouted with as much malice as he could muster.

“Can you really put your life on the line for someone? Can you really act instinctively for someone? Can you run in your all for someone? Can you really achieve something risking your life for someone!? How can that even happen!? Can anyone actually do that!?”

When told he was remembered, he had responded that he couldn’t recall.

While he hadn’t managed to reciprocate Beatrice’s statements, she vanished, and without wiping away the regret left behind, Emilia lovingly spoke and shared memories with him.

Julius entrusted, Beatrice believed, Echidna forgave, and Emilia wished.

That… is “Natsuki Subaru.” The real one called to another world—

“――You’re joking! No way that kind of guy is “Natsuki Subaru!””

Natsuki Subaru does not have the luxury of having someone place their hope in him.

“I know! How pathetic, how useless, how utterly hopeless! How rotten that bastard is!”

Natsuki Subaru never had the right to have someone believe in him.

“Who are you even looking at!? What are you even talking about!? No such person exists! It’s all lies! Everything that guy showed, everything said, it’s all just hot air! There’s no value in believing it!”

Natsuki Subaru doesn’t deserve forgiveness from anyone.

“Does Natsuki Subaru have any worth!? Natsuki Subaru is scum! A worthless piece of trash! I know that better than anyone!!”

Natsuki Subaru should never be wished to have anyone by his side.

“――――”

There is no such worth. There’s no worth that could inspire those wishes.

Natsuki Subaru is a bringer of pestilence. Even when with others, he merely inflicts hurt, loss, and death upon them.

So let’s stop.

There’s no need for Emilia or anyone else to get hurt for that kind of man.

“… It doesn’t have to be me.”

Murmuring softly.

Even not being himself—no, being someone other than Natsuki Subaru would be so much better.

Why bestow him the responsibility? Why believe? Why forgive? Why wish?

There must be a better way. There should have been someone who could do it better.

Even if that was the “Natsuki Subaru” that everyone sought, he no longer existed.

He never existed from the start; he was a mere illusion. A facade of vanity.

“Please, just ignore me, strip it away. Someone stronger, someone smarter will take care of it. As for me…”

He was crushed by a sense of powerlessness.

Everyone has their place. Everyone has their worth. He wanted that to be understood. Subaru did not have the right to walk beside Emilia and the others. He had no right to be desired by them.

He wasn’t strong or smart. There was no need to desire someone like him.

So—

“――My name is Emilia. Just Emilia.”

“――Huh?”

Spitting out powerlessness, now overwhelmed by what he had expelled, Subaru was gripped by the unexpectedly ringing silver bell voice.

“――――”

He didn’t understand the meaning behind it. No, not the meaning. He did not comprehend the intention.

Lifting his face, Subaru gazed forward at Emilia, who had introduced herself. She placed a hand on her ample chest, and within her large violet eyes, reflected Subaru’s figure.

To see those shining eyes made him gasp. Standing before Subaru, Emilia continued.

“There are many things I need to tell you, things you have to hear. There’s so much, so much. But right now, there’s one thing I want to ask.”

“――――”

“Julius, Beatrice, Echidna. And now, while holding your hand, running together, it is because you became someone I truly wanted to protect. I never wanted you to die, so…”

With a heart full of feelings, Emilia closed her eyes.

For a few seconds, she paused her words. In that brief silence, it was clear that various emotions had passed through her heart concerning those who were not present.

Carrying those feelings, Emilia’s cherry-pink lips trembled as she continued speaking.

“And who are you that made us feel this way?”

“――――”

“Please. —I want to hear your name.”

At Emilia’s question, something in Subaru’s heart began to tremble.

It wasn’t a display of denying the Natsuki Subaru before her, nor an intention to recover the past Subaru.

――It was an affirmation of Natsuki Subaru.

“――――”

To be told that the figure before him was a fake and asking for the real “Natsuki Subaru” would have been better.

Because that’s what Natsuki Subaru had longed for.

Because he longed to deny that he could not become what everyone wanted.

But Emilia—no, it wasn’t only her.

Everyone who spoke to Natsuki Subaru up to this point had wished for the same thing.

Regardless of strength or weakness.

Even if they forgot everything and displayed pure foolishness, they still needed Natsuki Subaru, both with their attitudes, words, and lives.

“… Why?”

“――――”

“Why is Natsuki Subaru here? What could he possibly do? What do they expect from him…?”

It made no sense.

In such overwhelming despair, inescapable disadvantage, what could Natsuki Subaru change? How could it possibly get better? How could it be resolved?

“What can a weak, foolish, pathetic coward like that do…?”

“—You may be right.”

Shaking his head as if in denial, Emilia cast her gaze down.

Those long lashes framed her eyes, and her voice, soothing to the heart, felt like a tether connecting Natsuki Subaru to existence.

Such an inappropriate sentiment tethered him firmly to the world.

Yet, Emilia continued.

“There are people stronger than Subaru, and there are certainly many who are smarter. But no matter the time, I want to be with Subaru. I believe he will do so, and I wish for it. Because…”

“――――”

“Because if you’re the one who is there to help, and if you’re the one who stands there, then being helped by the one I love brings so much more joy.”

With a smile, Emilia said.

While smiling, her cheeks colored faintly, as she spoke.

“――――”

Breathing out, Subaru felt the moment where all time within him halted.

He felt the throbbing of his heart echo endlessly.

At the same time, unfolding from inside him was derision for “Natsuki Subaru.”

“—I see, “Natsuki Subaru.” So you’re infatuated with that beautiful girl.”

The absurdity of it was beyond measure. How could someone like him attract her attention?

A sublime knight, a seemingly intelligent woman, a charming young girl.

And right in front of him, that utterly beautiful girl.

They placed their hopes in him, believing in him, forgiving him, and wishing for him to be who he was.

Not just asking for him to be their salvation, but rather wishing he would be, yearning for him to overcome the walls before them—instead of someone who could achieve it, they wanted him.

“――My name is Emilia. Just Emilia.”

Again, Emilia declared her name to the silent Subaru.

The violet eyes looked toward him. His black eyes met her while staring straight at hers.

And then—

“——Please, tell me your name.”

“I…”

At Emilia’s repeated question, he hesitated to respond.

He had continuously denied his nature.

He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t be that way. He wasn’t that person evidenced by everything he had said.

Therefore, this must be merely a game of convenient words.

――To be entrusted, believed in, forgiven, wished for.

If someone here in the Tower of the Desert has the qualifications to do that—if someone had the ability to rescue Emilia and the others.

If that “Natsuki Subaru” didn’t exist.

“——My name is Natsuki Subaru.”

“――――”

“Entrusted by Julius, believed by Beatrice, forgiven by Echidna, and wished by you… if that name of the man they all sought is Natsuki Subaru.”

He answered the girl with shimmering silver hair gazing at him through his violet eyes with his black ones.

Returning her question, his bloodstained lips responded in kind.

“——I am Natsuki Subaru.”

Now, with a weak, powerless body and mind ravaged by despair, yet declaring it firmly.

He yearned for the safety and peace of Emilia, of Emilia and the others, you, and all of them.

“――――”

Natsuki Subaru asserted strongly.

Deep inside him, doubts about “Natsuki Subaru” had yet to fade away.

The voice and visage of the wicked man who had caused Meily to die remained burned into Subaru’s mind, and perhaps that would never be erased.

But that was fine. That’s okay.

He wasn’t asking to be saved. He wasn’t clinging for salvation.

He wished for the salvation of others.

He hoped to help.

――If “Natsuki Subaru” could do that, he would do it himself.

He prayed that the catalyst to run would lead to the same destination.

If the path envisaged remained unchanged, no matter how much he disliked it, he bore no grudge.

——Allow me, “Natsuki Subaru,” to save Emilia and the others.

“Thank you, Emilia. —For making me feel this way.”

“——Subaru, I…”

In the wake of Subaru’s reply, ripples formed within Emilia’s violet eyes.

Her lips trembled, and she attempted to weave words to define Subaru.

But then, it happened.

“——!”

The once-silent surroundings, as if the world cared not to intervene, shattered in an instant.

“——Emilia!”

The corridor where the two had interacted was instantly crushed by the shadows.

The corridor lost its shape, and Emilia, devoid of balance, began to fall. Subaru, who had retained grip of the floor, kicked up with strength towards her.

In a moment, the tower lost its form, collapsing into fragments of ancient stone, filled with the scent of sand.

Towards falling Emilia, Subaru dove with force. The distance closed, catching up with her flowing silver hair, he finally enveloped her small body in his arms.

“Subaru…”

Once again, she called his name, her slender, soft, warm body pressed against him, shifting as she sought to secure her position beneath him.

That would switch their roles of rescuer and rescuee.

Emilia and everyone else were truly out of their minds. Yet, regrettably, Emilia’s efforts would be in vain in this situation.

With her back to the ground, Emilia would not realize what awaited them was not the hard floor of the tower, nor even the sand dune outside but the pitch-black shadow that enveloped everything, leading to an end.

So the two, wrapped in each other’s embrace, would succumb to the shadow, that would be their end.

——No, it is the opposite.

This would surely become a beginning.

Once started, now again here, anew from the end, they would start over.

Let us exchange promises.

Here, in this world, at this place, the words spoken with Emilia would become real.

The act of being saved, of wishing to save.

Let’s begin anew with all of it. The smoldering time shall end.

It’s fine if it’s an obsession akin to a curse. That’s what I wish for.

Whether Natsuki Subaru has the qualification to be loved remains uncertain.

But he does have the right to be loved by Emilia, by the others.

Even if in this ending world, in this beginning world, if you forget the words you spoke to me, or if you allow them to slip away.

Even in this ending world, in this beginning world, if you forget and are unable to recall the words you hurled at me.

I will remember. I will remember it all. This time, I will cling to it and not forget.

“Even if you forget— I will never forget you!”

——Always remember, Natsuki Subaru.

The shadows drew closer, swallowing Subaru and Emilia in utter darkness.

Just like that, Natsuki Subaru, and Emilia sank deeper into the shadow, further, until they vanished completely.

A cycle continued, everything lost, all reset to zero, just as intended, the end arrived.

And then in a place where nothing existed, it will begin.

——The battle to kill Natsuki Subaru and reclaim “Natsuki Subaru.”