Subaru managed to keep himself from collapsing to his knees on the spot, but only just—he let out a ragged breath.
Around him,
Bathed in their concerned voices and gazes, his consciousness gradually began to regain its sense of reality.
And as he felt his thoughts slowly accelerate, Subaru began to piece together, bit by bit, just what he had experienced.
The scenery shifted abruptly, like someone flipping a TV channel.
The smells, the tastes, the sights he'd been perceiving just moments ago—all of it shattered to pieces and was replaced by something entirely different. That sensation of losing reality—no, of reality's suddenness.
His eyes, ears, nose, skin—every part of him had already adapted to this new world, but only his consciousness was still dragging behind from the previous channel. That disconnect.
He gnashed it down, crushed it, chewed it, swallowed it—and only then did the switch complete.
"———"
Clenching his teeth, Subaru stood up.
He shook his head and looked around. It was a park bathed in pleasant sunlight—a fountain, green lawns, and colorful flowerbeds creating a place of leisure.
And surrounding him were four beautiful girls—Emilia, Beatrice, Liliana, and Priscilla. Moreover, something Liliana had said earlier nagged at him. The word "twice" rang a familiar bell.
"Are you okay, Subaru? You were looking really pale just now."
"……Emilia-tan. Did you, by any chance, just say something about Liliana singing the song we missed again or something like that?"
"That's where you start!?! This Liliana cannot hide the agitation, shock, and hurt heart that comes from being ignored all the way back to that point in the conversation! Compensation! Compensate me!"
Subaru brushed off Liliana, who was grabbing his sleeve and trying to launch a lawsuit, ignoring the diva as she went tumbling away with a cry of "Whaaa," and looked to Emilia for confirmation. Emilia seemed to sense from his demeanor that this wasn't a joke question.
"That's right. Liliana's going to sing the song we missed hearing again, right now. But then you went and started whispering secrets with Liliana…"
"So it's this moment. Got it, thanks. ……Thank you."
The instant the word "thank you" left his mouth, an indescribable revulsion welled up inside him.
Subaru instinctively pressed a hand to his mouth. Emilia furrowed her brows in confusion.
It wasn't Emilia's fault. There was no reason for words of gratitude to taste bitter. It was just that those words reminded him of that world just moments ago—that nameless malice.
"So… I…"
He didn't say "Did I die?" out loud, but thinking that far was enough for reality to finally sink in.
—
He had died, and returned from the point where he'd lost this world once more.
Even as he felt relief at having come back, frustration surged through him like heat.
He had been so prepared. He had steeled himself so thoroughly.
A year ago, in that forest, at the
And yet he'd died. So effortlessly. Without even putting up a fight—without even noticing anything was wrong.
What had that been? The abnormality was undeniable, but even Subaru couldn't understand what had happened. He'd felt it, experienced it, but couldn't understand it. An inexplicable catastrophe.
That clearly abnormal space—and Subaru hadn't felt anything was off. Not just Subaru. Everyone else there had been equally wrapped in the same madness.
Watching a boy bound in chains, screaming and crying—and cheering him on with smiles. That alone was insane. Applauding as the boy was dropped to his death—that was so far beyond madness that calling it "crazy" felt inadequate.
What would even have to happen for that kind of scenario to occur?
And Subaru had died at some point while witnessing it all.
There had been no sign of death right up until the end. No—actually, he couldn't say that for certain anymore. There might have been one, and he simply hadn't recognized it as dangerous.
His own senses couldn't be trusted. The abnormal events leading up to death and what had actually happened—those facts were clear enough. But the explanation for how he got there was completely opaque.
How had he died?
Had explosives or something been attached to the body of the boy who fell to his death? Had they detonated the instant he hit the ground, blowing everything away? The instant记忆 of instantaneous death felt something like that.
But it wasn't vivid. The memories of his death were heavily influenced by his mental state at the time. Even if he tried to sort through them calmly, the haziness of memories formed while he wasn't calm was something he couldn't do anything about.
If Subaru had truly been insane at that moment, then perfectly reconstructing those mad memories at the time of death was practically impossible.
"Are you really okay, Subaru? And Liliana, you look reaaally sulky."
"I'm not sulking at all! Not one bit! I couldn't care less what Natsuki-sama thinks of me! I-I'm not sad or anything, so don't go getting the wrong idea!"
"See? She cares way more than she's letting on."
Even the airheaded Emilia could see through Liliana's tough front, but through that exchange, Subaru remembered the role he was expected to play.
At this point, Subaru and Liliana had run off to get sweets for reconciliation while Liliana was stalling with her song. And just after finishing that errand, they'd encountered that monster of Wrath.
—There were less than fifteen minutes left before that nightmare of a speech began.
"No way…"
He had no memory of Return by Death ever being this close to his death time before.
Previously, he'd been given hours to days between his death and his return. But this time was far too short. Extreme.
What could Subaru do in just fifteen minutes?
Time passed even while he agonized.
In this case, simply avoiding death would be easy enough. All Subaru had to do was stay away from wherever that speech would reach. If the abnormality—his death—had been caused by a bomb or whatever, he just needed to not be there.
They surely hadn't used a bomb capable of wiping out an entire city.
So if his priority was his own survival, all he had to do was not go there. Sirius hadn't appeared there specifically targeting Subaru.
It was pure, indiscriminate malice—and Subaru had simply been in the wrong place.
Therefore, even if Subaru wasn't there, Sirius's crime scene wouldn't change. The speech would begin and end regardless of Subaru's presence.
No matter what the outcome, that boy would certainly die.
"I have to stop it… Damn it, I have to stop it…!"
Subaru made his decision, tearing at his own hair.
There was no way he could abandon that boy. Rusbelt had done nothing wrong. He was a pitiful kid who'd been looking forward to having a sibling, only to be placed in that position as a substitute for a girl he'd grown up with. How could Subaru save only himself and be that much of a coward?
"Beatrice, with me—!"
Just before asking her to come along, Subaru hesitated.
"What is it, with Subaru?"
Beatrice asked with a serious face, reading the urgency in his voice and expression.
With a crisis looming right in front of them, bringing Beatrice along was the natural choice for bolstering his combat strength.
Not bringing her meant his fighting ability would be cut in half. And yet Subaru still hesitated.
It wasn't some sentimental reason like not wanting Beatrice to fight.
Of course, there was a part of him that did feel that way, but that wasn't the reason in this moment.
—It was Emilia. Emilia was here.
"———"
The
Those people—he didn't know how many, but at least the Sin Archbishop of Wrath was here. Whether the Sin Archbishop operated alone or not, the true nature of the Witch Cult was impossible to know.
But the anxiety of leaving Emilia behind in a city where he knew the Witch Cult was lurking refused to leave his mind.
The terror of leaving someone precious behind in a place where he wasn't.
The terror of the Witch Cult's evil reaching someone dear while he couldn't see it happening.
That was a terror that remained, deeply murky, in the very depths of Natsuki Subaru's heart.
So should he bring Emilia with him to confront Wrath? Out of the question. Encountering the Witch Cult could only lead to tragedy for Emilia. That much was certain.
He only had to think back to Petelgeuse. Subaru must never bring Emilia and the Witch Cult close to each other. It wasn't a question of why—it simply was.
"Beatrice, with me—"
"With Subaru?"
"Is it okay if it's the same kind of sweet thing?"
"…?"
Beatrice knit her brows at Subaru's words. He'd said it with such urgency that she couldn't fathom the content warranted it. Subaru gave the dramatically deflating Liliana a nod, then turned to Emilia.
"I'm going to run out real quick and grab some light sweets. Emilia-tan, just wait here gracefully and calmly and listen to Liliana's song."
"Um, okay. But shouldn't I go with you?"
"It's fine. Trust me. I'll protect you."
Emilia blinked her large eyes, then blushed and nodded at Subaru's words. After that, Subaru beckoned Beatrice, who was watching him with suspicion, leaned close to her ear, and whispered.
"Protect Emilia. If you need my help, call me immediately."
"……So it's something you can't tell Betty again, is it."
"If I call you, it means things are bad no matter what—just think of it that way."
Subaru poked the pouting Beatrice on the nose, gave a casual wave, and took off running. Feeling the gazes of the four watching him from behind, Subaru broke into a full sprint without looking back.
He ran along the road and reached the plaza in less than five minutes.
But he'd started a bit later than before. With so little time allowed this time, even that small difference in timing could be fatal.
"Even so, I didn't have to shop this time, so I should still have close to ten minutes…!"
Sliding to a stop on the cobblestones, Subaru scanned the plaza he'd arrived at.
Last time he'd been too busy looking up to check his surroundings, but at least there were no suspicious figures in black robes visible in obvious positions.
Could he interpret it as the Sin Archbishop acting alone?
"The problem is what to do from here. Once that speech starts, there's a high chance I'll be pushed into that incomprehensible situation again."
Until he understood the principle behind that abnormal space, there was no telling whether he could keep his sanity the next time he was pulled in. It was precisely because he'd been unable to perceive the abnormal as abnormal that the mind-control space was so terrifying, Subaru thought.
"Evacuate everyone from here…? Like with Petelgeuse… No, I don't have enough hands, and if I cause a scene, Sirius might move early."
Should he evacuate the crowd to avoid collateral damage? But how? For that matter, if he wasn't looking for special meaning in Sirius's speech, maybe Sirius didn't even need to restrict the location.
If no one was here to hear the speech, she could just do it somewhere else. Moving the victims would only create a new set of victims.
"Then I've got no choice but to take out the source…!"
Actually, knowing that Sirius would appear here was his chance.
This aligned with what he'd thought when they subjugated Petelgeuse. The Witch Cult couldn't be left alone. It wasn't just about preventing their harm before it happened—the root cause had to be eradicated, or they'd simply repeat themselves.
It had taken him too long to reach this conclusion.
If he'd reached it sooner, Subaru never would have come here alone. No—returning to the park in the first place had been the wrong move.
If only he'd gone back to the inn, he could have borrowed Wilhelm's and Julius's strength…
"Wishing for things that aren't there won't help. Right now, I'm all there is! Once the speech starts, my location will definitely be exposed, but no—there's a faster way than that!"
Having reached his conclusion, Subaru fixed his gaze on the Clock Tower—the white tower where that wretched speech would take place. Sirius had entered the building and given her speech from a window.
If so, she was likely already inside in preparation for the speech that would happen in just a few minutes. Even if she wasn't yet, he might be able to save the restrained Rusbelt.
Subaru ran while checking for any eyes watching him, and reached the base of the Clock Tower. He found the unobtrusive door built into the side of an alley, placed his hand on it, and pushed the iron door open, slipping his body inside.
The interior of the Clock Tower was dim, filled with cold, dusty air.
There was no sound whatsoever—unlike a typical clock tower, the Clock Tower didn't need any internal gear mechanisms. Its timekeeping relied entirely on the glow of the magic crystals, which naturally reflected the minute variations in the ambient mana concentration caused by the passage of time.
—Which meant that any sound heard from inside the Clock Tower was necessarily produced intentionally by someone.
"……Nnh…"
"Don't cry, don't scream, don't make a fuss. You're such a good boy. Such a strong boy. Musu-ran Papa and Iina Mama, and even the little brother or sister you haven't met yet, are surely happy to have such a brave big brother. It's wonderful."
That disgusting voice drifting down.
That pitiful sound of a boy trembling in fear of that disgust.
From the upper floors of the spiral staircase, the sound of sobbing filtered down. It sounded like resentment, like a blessing, like hatred, and like love.
It was warped. Something was terribly wrong. It was the sound of something that could not remain sane.
"———"
The moment he confirmed their presence, Subaru let out a deep breath and killed his breathing.
Pressing a hand to his chest, right over his pounding heart, counting his heartbeat, Subaru extended his foot toward the staircase. Fortunately, the stairs were stone. With extreme care, he could avoid making a sound. Besides, the other party was presumably focused on the child in their grasp.
Keeping himself ready to summon Beatrice at any moment, Subaru slowly climbed the stairs, suppressing his footsteps. The voices from above grew closer by degrees, and his tension climbed with them.
The Clock Tower was tall enough to require looking up, but the interior up to that height held nothing remarkable. A large pillar at the center served as support, and the spiral staircase hugged the walls on its way to the top.
And at the staircase's end—the voices of the devil and the young victim. A single window connecting to the exterior wall—probably an access point for adjusting and inspecting the magic crystals installed on the Clock Tower. The voices came from the space before that window.
It had more the feel of a loft—or perhaps an attic.
Peering up carefully from the bottom of the stairs, Subaru could make out two figures moving about in the darkness at the far end of the space, exchanging words.
No other figures. No lurking Witch Cult followers in silence. No horror-movie twist, thankfully.
—All that remained was to wait for an opening and strike.
"———"
He shouldn't even think about taking her alive.
There was a world of difference between someone surviving in the end versus trying to capture them from the start. Especially when the enemy was someone whose actions if left alive were impossible to predict.
Subaru crouched, reaching behind his waist.
He gripped the handle firmly and detached the weapon from its holder at his hip.
In Subaru's hand was a weapon with a handle long enough to be slightly unwieldy even with two hands, tipped with a flexible lash woven from special fibers—a whip.
The common variety was known as a cattleman's whip, and this particular piece was famous worldwide as the one used by a certain renowned film archaeologist when raiding ruins.
Subaru's whip had even greater reach than the professor's, and was a more difficult type to wield. Over the course of a year, Subaru had refined his skill with it to the point of earning full mastery certification from Kurindo.
Of all possible weapons, Subaru had chosen the whip as his primary armament for one simple reason.
Unlike swords, maces, spears, or bows, it offered a variety of different applications. And above all, Subaru was painfully aware that in the realm of the sword, there was only so far he could reach in a few years.
Having witnessed battles between those who had already ascended to extraordinary heights on the path of the blade, Subaru fully grasped that he couldn't force his way in with half-baked skills.
That was why he'd chosen a whip instead of a sword or spear.
At the end of the day, Subaru could only fight with cunning, footwork, and ingenuity.
If that was the case, he might as well arm himself with something that suited him perfectly.
And with a whip—mid-range attacks were possible.
"———"
From the top of the stairs to the squirming figures ahead—roughly four meters. That was the limit of Subaru's reach. To land a sure hit, he'd need one more step. No—half a step forward as he swung would do.
Either way, a whip's lethality wasn't enough for a one-hit kill. To achieve that with this weapon, other factors were required.
In this case, the obvious choice was to use the height difference.
—In that case, the only option was to strike from a distance where a hit was guaranteed.
"———"
He took a small breath, let it out faintly. Then, held his breath.
Rising, Subaru pulled his right hand—the one holding the whip—back as he climbed the stairs. The instant he reached the upper floor, the figure ahead still hadn't noticed him. He had the initiative.
Half a step in. He whipped his arm in a circular motion overhead.
The wind split. The tip of the whip cracked through the air as it lunged toward its prey.
A sidearm swing that prioritized speed and purpose over raw power—the attack aimed at the exposed back.
The head of a writhing snake, ready to sink its fangs into the defenseless back. To coil around that neck and drag the embodiment of malice into the abyss.
But— "Why are you so angry?"
Without turning around, a hollow voice was released.
In the next instant, the shadow swung its right arm at tremendous speed, and chains wrapped around that arm intercepted the force of Subaru's whip.
A silver snake intercepting the writhing serpent—for a single instant, Subaru was stunned by the sight. But the moment he felt solid contact at the tip, he wrenched his arm diagonally with all his strength.
"Oh my?"
The figure—Sirius—staggered and stumbled backward.
The chains dangling from her right arm had indeed neutralized the blow from Subaru's whip, but the tip of the whip had caught in one of the chain links. Yanked by it, Sirius lost her posture.
"Uraa!"
Against the retreating Sirius, Subaru pressed further, closing the distance in one burst. Driving his shoulder forward, he slammed his full body weight into the half-recoiled, half-spinning bandaged figure. Sirius's surprisingly light body went flying easily under the impact.
"U-kyaa!"
With a thin scream, Sirius bounced off the floor, cleared the ledge, and was hurled downstairs—exactly as Subaru had planned. From this height to the ground floor was over ten meters—easily enough for a child to be crushed like fruit if they hit headfirst.
"Are you okay, Rusbelt!?"
Without waiting to see what became of Sirius's fall, Subaru rushed to the other figure in the back. The small silhouette was indeed Rusbelt—he looked up at Subaru with a terrified face, chains still in both hands.
The chains he held appeared to be connected to the ones wrapped around the boy's lower body. That alone told Subaru all he needed to know about Sirius's sick tastes.
"That bastard…! She had him chain himself up…!"
Gradually—literally made to tighten the noose around his own neck—Rusbelt must have endured unimaginable terror. Even now, interrupted halfway through, his expression bore the indelible imprint of that fear.
Sensing that malice, Subaru was overcome with a raw, furious anger. He immediately patted the boy's shoulder and forcibly tore the chains from his grasp.
"That's enough! It's over now! There's no need for this! I'm getting you out of here!"
"Bu-but… I have to keep my promise or Tyna… Tyna…!"
With tears in his eyes, Rusbelt's lips trembled.
Seeing that, Subaru felt his throat clench.
This boy had taken the devil's deal in exchange for his childhood friend's safety. Even while enduring such terror, Rusbelt worried more about the girl than himself.
His legs were shaking, his teeth chattering, his vision blurred with tears, and even his words wouldn't come out straight— "It's okay. Right now, this town has… so many people you can rely on… and…"
Raspy breath interfered, and the words wouldn't come as he wanted.
To reassure the boy, he needed to deliver strong words. Right now, this town had the Sword Saint. It had the finest knight. It had the kingdom's greatest healing mage. They even had a lineup that could apparently destroy a small city on their side.
So there was nothing to be afraid of. Evil never triumphed in the end. Right. Exactly.
There was nothing—absolutely nothing to be afraid of. So— "SO… STOP SHAKING, DAMN LEGS—!!"
In front of Rusbelt, whose eyes had lost focus from sheer terror, Subaru slapped at his own buckling knees and screamed with everything he had.
His voice cracked and came out in a pained wail that was frightening in itself. An indescribable revulsion—as though he was carrying something unknowable—wrapped around his entire body and refused to let go.
"—Gu…"
Right before his eyes, a bubble burst with a wet sound, and Rusbelt vomited yellow bile. His body convulsed as if struck by a seizure, and he collapsed into his own vomit. As Subaru moved to lift the boy up, he too was overcome by a sickening sensation—like every internal organ being scraped and churned—and retched up the contents of his stomach.
The Daisukiyaki he'd stuffed down that morning, its original form long gone, now overflowed with the sour smell of stomach acid and viscera. Gurgling, choking on his own vomit, Subaru simply kept heaving.
No matter how much he threw up, his vision spun, his teeth rattled, and the trembling across his entire body wouldn't stop. He wasn't cold. He knew this feeling—of an invisible hand clenching around his stomach, shuffling every organ without pause.
This was, unmistakably— "You being so frightened is proof of how kind you are."
A gentle voice sounded from behind him, and Subaru vomited again.
On the verge of drowning in his own overflowing stomach acid, Subaru collapsed face-first onto the vomit-stained floor. The sticky touch of the liquid against his cheek. With each shallow breath, yellow bubbles popped against the filth pooled on the ground.
Sirius gazed upon this sight—too wretched to even look at—with a tender smile.
The two of them lay side by side, desperately breathing in a puddle of their own vomit, their entire bodies wracked with unstoppable trembling.
"People can understand one another. People can become one. Kindness is not for your own sake—it is for the sake of others! Kindness shines precisely because it is given to others! Being kind to yourself is mere selfishness, nothing like true kindness! And so, the kindness you show now—a kindness born of concern for another—is the genuine radiance of the heart! Ah, it is… 'Love'!"
"U…agh…be…"
"Feel it to your heart's content. Show me everything. Your 'Love.' Your boundless kindness! The nobility of wanting to save Rusbelt!"
In front of the two wallowing in vomit, eyes rolled back, Sirius lightly tapped her heel on the ground.
Then the madwoman crossed both her arms, pointing alternately at Subaru and Rusbelt with opposite hands, and swayed her hips. As though dancing—as though praising.
"Rusbelt's fear, you feel together with him, kind as you are. The fear you feel of Rusbelt's fear, Rusbelt in turn feels through you. The fear Rusbelt felt through you, now you feel once more from Rusbelt. The fear you felt again, Rusbelt piles atop his own fear anew. The fear Rusbelt felt by piling yours on top, you feel by adding all that was layered beneath before to what's been added on top. The terror you felt all bundled together, Rusbelt feels anew alongside fresh terror, and the overflowing freshness of Rusbelt's terror you inherit and feel as true terror. The true terror you feel, Rusbelt absorbs, and so the second and third terrors are born, terrifying Rusbelt, and the next terror born within him you envelope with your own terror, making it the greatest terror of all and…"
He felt like someone was whispering something right next to his ear. Delusions, ravings, bearing down with overwhelming force. He had no capacity to process them now. Right now, everything Subaru could hear and see had become nothing but objects of fear. Breathing was terrifying, and even blinking should have been terrifying, but if he didn't blink his eyes would dry out and the pain from that—no, that pain too was nothing more than a symbol of terror, for feeling that pain meant contemplating the possibility of feeling the next pain, and that meant an endless, infinite cascade of terror—so he had to blink, but the moment he did the world plunged into darkness for an instant, and in that blackness where nothing could be seen there was no way to know what was happening—surely nothing was happening, but there was absolutely no means of confirming that, and not being able to confirm it was terror itself, and if the inability to understand was the factor that triggered primal fear in one's instincts, then living meant overcoming fear through understanding, and fear itself was an emotion born from the weakness that emerged only when a living creature faced a life-threatening extreme, and possessing that emotion meant possessing something that could threaten one's existence, and this function of feeling fear was connected to the function of feeling pain, and ultimately, the instinct to detect danger could never be severed from the mechanism that sustains life— "Oh my? It seems you've gone mad. People with deep affection and strong sensitivity sometimes become terribly fragile. Ah, it is because of 'Love' that people suffer. But it is because of 'Love' that people can live. How difficult. Well then, let's have Tyna-chan help us. Rusbelt-kun, you've worked hard."
—to be insensitive to fear was to be insensitive to the value of life, which meant going against the very biological function of surviving, and therefore fear was necessary, and feeling fear now was nothing to be ashamed of, though of course such reasoning was nothing more than an attempt to comfort himself in the moment, but by repeating this reasoning, by fighting back against the terror that was conquering him right here and now, by resisting and striving to break through—wasn't that the final and greatest act of defiance against the very essence of this condition? Subaru thought. Before his eyes, Rusbelt's convulsions were gradually subsiding, and looking at the boy's face, Subaru could see the light of life slowly fading despite his desperate wish to never lose heart—never—keep fighting—that was what Subaru had decided. Even in that terrible, painful, sorrowful trial a year ago, it had been the same. Otherwise, why would he have come back from death and kept on living this hard? Scary, scary—everything was scary—everything was terrifying—living was terrifying—blinking was terrifying—breathing was terrifying—sounds were terrifying—feelings were revolting—ubebebebebebebebebebabababababababa— ※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ "When we're chatting after the song, wouldn't it be lovely if Natsuki-sama had some snacks prepared? I think if you got some sweet treats ready, everyone's spirits would lift and we'd all come so much closer together, don't you? Don't you think?"
In the instant after he blinked, the world swapped back, and Subaru heard a voice as he lost his balance. A girl's face—the one who'd been trying to do a clumsy wink—loomed closer, and his forehead collided with hers.
"Gah!?"
"What the—?"
A hard crack rang out, and sparks scattered before his eyes.
Reeling from the sharp pain, Subaru stumbled backward. There was a thud of something collapsing onto the grass in front of him, but Subaru was too busy clutching his forehead to register it.
"What… what happened…?"
"What do you mean 'what happened'? Subaru, you just headbutted Liliana out of nowhere. That's not okay—if you don't like what someone's doing, you tell them with words first."
"That's right. Before resorting to violence, maybe you should have warned her to stop making that awful wink first. 'Do that again and I'll knock you out'—that should have come first."
"Was it really that awful!?!"
Liliana sprang to her feet with an offended expression.
At Liliana's words, Emilia and Beatrice exchanged indescribable glances. Liliana, devastated, collapsed to the ground.
"What a ridiculous farce. Commoner, do not lay hands on my little bird so carelessly. There will not be a next time."
Seething that violence had been committed against Liliana, Priscilla—with rare directness—took issue with Subaru's behavior.
Subaru gave a noncommittal nod while reconfirming where he was.
"……Disgusting."
Having returned twice now, he let the words tumble out—an assessment of the maniac that had not changed in the slightest.