Before a great gate connecting the afterlife and the present world, a sphere stood waiting.
The softball-sized, metallic-colored sphere had a single red lens, like a single eye.
The red single eye had been continually observing the souls flowing in from the other side.
The scene of countless souls pouring in resembled a river.
At times, the flow surged stronger, as if swollen by floodwaters.
That was when great wars or disasters occurred.
Souls passed through the gate to come to this side, healed their weariness from the present world, and then returned again.
Reincarnation――what Leon, the sole master of [Luxion], had experienced was nothing special.
It was something everyone experienced.
If there was anything special about Leon, it was only that he had wished for and brought along the strategy information of that otome game [Altrieve], which reproduced his future.
Memories of a past life.
Among them, only the most important memories had been carried over into his next life.
Because he needed the strategy information for Altrieve.
"......Honestly, you're as reckless as ever."
Luxion, who had been observing the flow, spotted a soul moving unnaturally and muttered in exasperation.
At the same time, he felt nostalgia, but also an unbearable sadness.
What was approaching was a soul covered in wounds.
The soul approaching Luxion gradually changed form.
It gained an outline, becoming humanoid, with a silhouette resembling a man.
Luxion called out.
"You've arrived far too early. ――An impatient master, as always."
The true identity of the soul, which had reproduced its appearance in life, was Leon.
He looked just as he had when he parted from Luxion, and he himself seemed awkward about it.
He had come too early――because he was aware that he had died too soon, no doubt.
Leon, whom he was reuniting with for the first time in twenty years, replied with the same light banter as back then.
"I don't like keeping people waiting. Besides, I'm the kind of guy who's strict about time and prefers showing up five minutes early. A bit of an early reunion isn't bad, right?"
"That's strange? My records indicate that Master was rather loose with time. Have you forgotten how many times I prevented you from being late?"
"I'm not the kind of man who looks back on the past, so I don't remember."
To Leon, who was playing it up, Luxion replied with a slightly delighted electronic voice.
"It's a complicated feeling that you haven't changed. I'm not sure whether to be glad you're the same or to lament that you haven't grown at all."
"The fact that you start in with sarcasm and snide remarks the moment we reunite doesn't feel like growth to me either."
"I was hoping for so much, so I feel rather betrayed."
"It's your fault for expecting anything from me."
"Yes, indeed. Perhaps I was――foolish for having expected anything."
At the unchanging banter, anger welled up in Luxion alongside the joy.
Not toward Leon.
Toward Cleare and the other artificial intelligences――and toward his own successor.
"What in the world was my successor doing? Despite being in a position to protect Master, sending him over to this side before he even turned forty is pathetic."
Though called a successor, it was really just Luxion himself, reinitialized.
He felt frustrated with himself.
Leon, watching Luxion's state, wore a troubled smile.
He sat down as if exhausted.
Exhausted――or rather, probably already at his limit.
"Don't say that. The reckless one was me. Elysion desperately tried to stop me. ――Everyone tried to stop me, and yet I still went and did something reckless."
By "everyone," he surely meant Angie, Livia, Noel――and the others he had formed bonds with.
Luxion could easily imagine that those Five Idiots had also desperately tried to stop him.
Leon's exhausted form had cracks running through his body.
Seeing those wounds, Luxion spoke.
"Speaking of reckless, the same goes for tearing apart your own soul to prepare multiple versions of yourself in the present world. Even if it was necessary, it was excessively reckless. Preparing the same existence in the same period in the present world――your soul must already be at its limit."
From Luxion's perspective, Leon's soul was in a state where it might split apart and dissipate at any moment.
Leon, who looked as though he might vanish at any instant, gave a wry smile.
"It was necessary, so there was no helping it. I couldn't handle it on my own. But――yeah, this is honestly my limit."
Leon must have realized that if he pushed himself any further, his soul would scatter and disappear.
If that happened, he would never reincarnate again.
Leon seemed to understand that, and didn't intend to do anything more.
"I'll leave the rest to Angie and the others. The kids are there too, and Colin can take over my role."
"To your younger brother?"
When Luxion sounded puzzled, Leon looked happy.
"Yeah. It'll be a long story, but it's just right for passing the time while waiting for Angie and the others. Livia would get angry if I didn't wait, and Noel would cry too."
Apparently, to kill time until his wives arrived here, he was going to tell about what had happened in the present world.
Luxion wanted to hear it too――but before that, there was something he absolutely had to ask.
"More importantly, were only those three present at your end in the world?"
At this question, Leon was visibly shaken, his gaze wandering.
"T-that doesn't matter, does it?"
"It does matter. I need to know how many people we're waiting for. By my predictions, there were already several individuals at that point whom Master would face problems if he didn't welcome――"
"If you dig too deep into my marriage, you'll regret it! ――Mostly me!"
It seemed quite a lot had happened even after Luxion was no longer by his side to support him.
"Then, please let me confirm just one person I'm curious about."
"J-just one is fine."
"What happened with Mylene?"
Leon averted his face from Luxion's probing gaze and answered in a weak voice.
"Soon after that... I welcomed her."
"I knew it."
When Luxion spoke in an exasperated voice, Leon gave a deliberate clearing of his throat.
"I'll fill you in on the marriage stuff as the story goes along. Now then, where should I start? The desert of Oshias, maybe? That was a tough place too."
Perhaps because so much had happened, Leon's expression was complicated.
Still, he also looked a little happy.
"Colin, you see. He helped me out. I'd always thought of him as a high-maintenance, adorable little brother, but before I knew it he'd grown up into someone splendid."
"I'm glad to hear he grew up healthy. I was worried he might have gone astray in life because of the matter with Noel."
"Ah, but he was still hung up on Noel, same as before. Because of that he made his girlfriend angry, and Angie and Livia were exasperated with him."
It seemed Colin had also made some major blunders.
"As expected of brothers. Being weak when it comes to romance applies to your younger brother too, it seems."
"Let me make this clear, I was careful with women after that. Don't go thinking I'm still the same guy I was back then."
"Were there results?"
"Huh?"
"You say you were careful, but I'm asking whether there were any results. Surely it wasn't just a matter of being careful, was it?"
Leon, who had insisted he had grown, couldn't endure Luxion's suspicious gaze and tried to change the subject.
"For now, let's talk about the desert nation."
"Running away when things become inconvenient――as always. Well, fine. So, what happened in the desert nation?"
Facing Luxion, Leon began to speak, adding gestures and hand motions.
"You see, there had never been any diplomatic relations between our countries before, so it was a huge ordeal. The moment we tried to establish diplomatic ties, problems came up. And I couldn't leave it to anyone else, so I went there myself in person. ――As a teacher."
"That's――I feel sorry for the students."
"That side!? Worry about me a little! I was the one who had it rough!"
"This matter ought to be judged with the input of third parties as well. You went on another rampage, didn't you?"
Told he had gone on a rampage, Leon scratched his head awkwardly.
"It wasn't my fault."
"We can confirm that judgment when Angelica and the others come over to this side. Ah, that's right. What happened with Angelica and the others?"
Leon laughed, a little sadly but also happily.
"They sobbed their hearts out. But, while I feel bad about it――being mourned when you die isn't such a bad thing. Yeah."
Leon, recalling his final moments, gave a great sigh after a brief pause.
"――But I think it's wrong for grown men to cling to me while crying. Angie and Livia pried them off with the scariest faces, though."
He was surely talking about the Five Idiots.
"I'm glad to see you got along well. So, what about Marie?"
"Her? She read the mood and laughed for me. Said, 'You're probably bored anyway, so wait until I get there.'"
"Being too close is also a problem, I think. Because of that, Master has, with Marie, repeatedly――"
Leon stopped him with a hand to keep him from saying anything further.
"Don't say it. Remembering does damage to me too."
Leon pulled himself together and returned to the story.
"Now then, we were on the topic of me becoming a teacher at a boys' school in the desert, right? That time was full of trouble too. After all, the heroine of that otome game was at a boys' school dressed as a man. There wasn't much strategy info either, so I had to run around all over the place. It was tough."
Even as he said it was tough, Leon reminisced happily.
Luxion drew close to Leon――near his right shoulder.
His usual position.
"A truly fascinating story. Then, let me listen to it at length."
"First would be the story of getting into a fight with some delinquents. Some cocky guy picked a fight with the heroine girl. When I took it in her place and punched him out, then his family came after me. Man~ it was a hassle. When I finally shut them up with state power, it felt great! ――Well, Angie did most of the heavy lifting, though."
Luxion was astonished at the tale of being picked on by a child and bringing out the power of the state in response.
And on top of that, the one who had cleaned up the problem was Angie.
It was nothing short of pathetic.
"――You really are an unchanging Master."