The familiar male voice from behind him made Subaru forget how to breathe.
In that moment alone, even the pain of his dislocated left shoulder ceased to register.
What dominated his mind was a parade of terror, cowardice, and negative emotions, along with a storm of despair so overwhelming it obliterated thought with a single word: *why.* Why? The questions were endless.
Why was his left shoulder dislocated? Why were the words "
—Why was a man who should have been unable to descend to this floor standing right here?
"—!"
He noticed an edge of irritation creeping into the other's voice, and Subaru frantically spun around.
The fear of looking directly at the person behind him was real. In most cases, the source of such fear lay in the unpredictability of the entity's actions.
But in this man's case, the fear of not seeing him in the flesh outweighed even the risk of direct eye contact.
With this particular individual, the purpose of his actions wasn't to stoke Subaru's fear.
It was, more simply, to hurt him—or take his life. That was what it felt like.
"Oh? What's with that face? Scared witless, are you? About to cry? What a sickening guy, holed up in a room like this."
The man in the tattered kimono laughed openly at Subaru's resolve, baring his white teeth for all to see.
Long red hair, an eyepatch covering his right eye, a bare torso wrapped in white cloth bandages—his powerful, steel-hard body looked down at the pitiful Subaru with undisguised contempt.
The guardian of the second floor of the
"..."
"So you can't talk, huh? Can't hear me? Or are you showing me with that attitude that you've got no intention of speaking to me? Fine by me if that's the case, but at least look a bit more dignified about it."
Reid sneered at Subaru, his words dripping with mockery, and glared at him with a look ready to bite. Feeling the weight of that oppressive presence pressing down on him, Subaru mumbled through trembling lips: "Eye... patch..."
"Huh?"
"You had it on... your left eye. Why is it on your right...?"
It was far from the question he should have been asking.
Reid's blue eyes flickered ever so slightly at those words. Then the man bared his teeth with a sharp *clack*— "It's a mood thing! A mood! Whether it's left or right, I don't give a damn, you. It's nothing more than a toy I wear when the mood strikes me. If I don't wear it, I see too much. That's all there is to it."
With that, Reid lifted the eyepatch on his right eye with a finger. Underneath was an unblemished eye—healthy, exactly as he'd claimed.
His exposed left eye, naturally, was equally unharmed. In short, there wasn't a shred of dishonesty in his words. The eyepatch really was nothing more than something he wore "because he felt like it."
And for him, that too was merely a game to bridge the gap in power between himself and others— "What's with you? Your shoulder's dislocated—that's sloppy as hell, man."
"—!?"
Right after that thought, a sudden impact sent searing pain blazing through the back of Subaru's skull.
"Gah...!"
The agony locked his throat, and his vision flickered as a piercing pain shot through him.
He looked down to see that Reid's right hand had seized his dislocated left shoulder without a shred of consideration or hesitation. With a careless twist of the joint and the wrist, Reid shoved the bone back into place.
The displaced bone ground back into alignment with a dull, sickening crack, and freedom returned to Subaru's left shoulder.
Though the pain that had momentarily faded flared back with a vengeance, tears streamed down Subaru's cheeks from the sheer agony.
"Don't make a fuss, you. It looks like I'm bullying you or something. But honestly, the one who bullied you was that bombshell, wasn't it?"
"Bombshell...?"
"That gorgeous silver-haired bombshell, obviously. Just look at the ice cage behind you and your dislocated shoulder, and you can figure out most of it. Did you have a falling out? That's rich."
Reid snorted through his nose, responding to Subaru, who clutched his left shoulder and groaned. At those words, Subaru understood that "bombshell" referred to Emilia.
At the same time, he felt a chill of fear at Reid's powers of observation—the man had already grasped the rift between Subaru and the others based solely on the state of the room.
"How can you know that...?"
"In a shitty tower like this, all a man and woman can do is either get along too well or become enemies. I just figured you were the type to piss her off. It's nothing special."
A conclusion far too blunt to be called sound reasoning. Subaru had nothing to counter it with. Reid averted his gaze and looked toward the ice cage Emilia had left behind.
Reid tilted his head, then walked past Subaru with an air of boredom. He studied the ice cage intently, then stepped onto the icy lattice and pressed down with force.
In an instant, a cracking sound echoed through the room. The next moment, destruction rippled through the entire sturdy ice cage in a cascade, and the lattice shattered into fragments.
The cage that hadn't so much as budged when Subaru put his strength into it—the whole thing crumbled like it was made of glass.
Whether it was magic or physical ability, the difference between them was so stark it left Subaru speechless. Paying no mind to Subaru's reaction, Reid limbered up his arms and legs casually— "Well, seems like I can move around a bit. Not bad, not bad."
Muttering to himself as though testing the feel of his body, he slowly walked out of the room.
His attitude screamed that Subaru was no longer worth noticing, and Subaru panicked. His confusion hadn't subsided—he still couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening—but even he understood that letting Reid out of his sight here couldn't possibly lead to anything good.
More importantly— "Wait! You... weren't you supposed to be unable to come down from the upper floors? Then why are you wandering around this floor like it's nothing!?"
Subaru dashed out of the room, following Reid, who walked nonchalantly down the fourth-floor corridor. Staring down the broad back of the red-haired swordsman who stepped so boldly without a hint of reservation, Subaru hurled one of the first questions that had filled his mind.
Without turning around, Reid waved his hand dismissively.
"Did I ever say I couldn't leave the second floor? ...Actually, yeah, bringing that up would be a bit cowardly on my part. Don't worry about it. The premise that I can't leave isn't wrong. It's just that, right now, I can."
"Just that... I'm asking how that premise broke down."
"I've no intention of being that kind and thorough in my explanations. I can leave. You're wetting yourself in fear. That's the whole story. —No, wait, it's not the whole story."
When Subaru caught up and drew alongside him, Reid's tone shifted, and his eyes narrowed. He fixed Subaru with a sharp gaze, and Subaru flinched, his cheeks twisting.
The unarmed, weaponless red-haired swordsman—a man whose gaze alone could kill—all Subaru could do was swallow hard under that stare.
"What...?"
"Sure, keep up the bravado, you. That too—once a man loses that, he's done for. And speaking of a man on the verge of flunking out, let me ask you: I'm planning to leave this shitty tower, so where'd the rest of your little group go?"
"Huh?"
With the weight of Reid's proximity pressing on his heart, Subaru's eyes went wide in surprise. In response, Reid said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world— "I'm heading out of here, but I'll need food, water, and booze. If a woman happens to come along, even better. Among your companions, the candidates are the bombshell and the one in the sexy outfit. The bombshell gives me pangs of guilt, so the sexy one's the frontrunner."
"Leaving... this tower? But if you do that... the 'trials,' or, no—there's all sorts of other stuff, right? This whole situation—what happens to all of it!?"
"Why would I know everything about you? Handle your own mess. It's got nothing to do with me. Oh, wait. There is one thing I can't just leave be."
"One thing you can't leave... what—!? Gah!"
Reid's expression shifted, and before Subaru could react, a finger flicked him square in the forehead. The force of the flick sent Subaru's body flying backward until he smashed into the corridor wall. Looking down at Subaru crumpling to the ground in pain, Reid snorted— "I told you. Don't go thinking you'll get answers to everything. What are you, a hatchling? Fry or hatchling—either way, get your footing, you."
"That's just your definition—"
"Don't use me as a crutch for your anxieties, your doubts, your regrets. Handle your own problems. Don't come crying to me for comfort."
"..."
It couldn't be called annoyed—that wasn't quite the right word.
Annoyance required emotional investment, but Reid didn't care about Subaru's existence one way or another. He wouldn't move emotionally for someone he didn't care about. So there wasn't even irritation in his voice.
But those words, tossed off with nothing more than a passing gesture, drove the blade deep enough into Subaru's heart.
Groaning under that pain, Subaru felt the questions he'd abandoned surging back to fill the void in his chest once more. But just then— "Oh. Found them."
Reid tilted his head toward the end of the corridor and murmured as if satisfied.
Subaru looked up and followed his gaze, but he saw nothing unusual. Only after a moment did he realize.
He'd been crouching on the ground—that was why he'd noticed.
A faint vibration. The tower was trembling. A low tremor—less than an earthquake, but unmistakable.
*Clack.* Reid grinned, his eyes lighting up. He planted his sandaled feet firmly and strode forward. Subaru caught the resolve in that movement from the corner of his eye and hurried to follow.
Reid had told him not to use him as a crutch for his torment.
That was, without question, a blow aimed straight at Subaru's weak heart. Subaru's problems wouldn't be solved by appealing to Reid.
But that aside, Subaru had a duty right now—to figure out why Reid was moving through the fourth floor, and what was happening to the tower as a whole.
"Reid!"
"..."
"Hey, wait! Wait! At least tell me what you're planning to do—"
The broad back, striding forward in long, unhurried steps with no reason to stop, offered Subaru no answer.
Shoulder aching, mind filled with hesitation, driven not by initiative but by a reluctant sense of obligation, Subaru had no choice but to desperately chase after the figure ahead.
And then, the back advancing beneath flowing red hair suddenly stopped.
Reid halted at the open spiral staircase beyond the corridor—the place where Natsuki Subaru, stripped of his memories, had been pushed to his death not once but twice.
Subaru had been so frantic in his pursuit of Reid that he'd been slow to register where they were. He swallowed hard.
But the desire to break through the current stalemate overpowered his revulsion for the place that had brought him death, giving Subaru the strength to move forward.
—The place hadn't killed him. Malice had killed him. What he should have recoiled from wasn't the location, but the cause and the culprit.
The beating of his heart and the sound of blood rushing through his veins seemed unbearably loud. Stepping over that noise, Subaru wiped away the cold sweat clinging to his skin and pressed forward until he stood beside Reid.
Only then did he notice that Reid was standing at the edge of a precipice, looking down at the scene below. *No matter where you are, this man always looks good staring down from a height,* Subaru thought absently, then followed Reid's line of sight.
And finally, he noticed.
Beneath the clamor of his own heartbeat, a sound he hadn't been able to hear.
"—!"
Below—the fifth floor, the terminus of the grand staircase—was engulfed by a swarm of nightmarish fire beasts that had poured in from somewhere, presenting a vision of hell itself.
* * * The scene below was so far beyond anything Subaru had anticipated that his mind went completely blank.
"...Huh?"
The writhing, vivid flames. The countless screams echoing through the tower—shrieks like those of wailing infants.
Those phenomena were connected, converging on a single answer: the violent flood of nightmarish, flame-maned beasts, swarming in a tide of destruction.
Horse-like bodies on four legs, with human-like arms and upper bodies growing from them. The human upper halves had gaping maws lined with fangs, unleashing fire of terrible intensity that threatened to consume every trace of oxygen in the tower.
Twenty or more of these beasts could be seen circling the fifth floor below.
Immense waves of heat rose from dozens of meters below, so intense that Subaru felt his exposed eyeballs would dry out in an instant.
What—what in the world was going on?
"There are some nasty-looking beasts down there, huh? You got any idea what those are, you?"
"...No. I've never seen any monsters besides the giant worms—huh!?"
Subaru couldn't tear his eyes from the scene below. Beside him, Reid gazed at the same spectacle and posed the question. Subaru shook his head, then suddenly choked at a shift in his field of vision.
The monsters cloaked in flame, circling the tower—with their centaur-like appearance, they could loosely be called centaurs. And those centaurs raised a deafening roar.
From their distorted mouths running from chest to abdomen came violent screams—not of rage or passion, but of pure agony.
And the reason they screamed like that was because of a lone knight fighting within the swarm, wielding a slender sword.
"—Hah!"
Holding his breath, a graceful slash slipped through a gap in the ring of flame-wielding beasts.
Blood scattered. The beasts' arms and limbs were severed. A heartbeat later, screams thundered outward. With those screams at his back, the knight—overwhelmed by sheer numbers—dodged and wove, then lunged at the next enemy.
That figure was— "—Julius!"
Without thinking, Subaru's lips called his name. There was the joy of finding a survivor.
Whether that feeling was more joy or more sorrow, even he couldn't tell.
But just before losing consciousness and acting on impulses he couldn't understand, he had once been faced with Meili's corpse. There was no guarantee that the next reunion wouldn't end the same way—that fear had always been with him. So having that fear shattered was, undeniably, good news.
"—!"
While Subaru reeled from the shock above, Julius below continued to fight, his sword cleaving through the beasts.
He was outnumbered, but individually, the beasts couldn't match his skill. That said, with the creatures generating flame at will and swarming in force, a swordsman with no ranged options like Julius would eventually hit his limit.
—and if he were burned to death, his 'Book of the Dead' should be added to the library.
"The others are nowhere to be seen. Well, that works out conveniently."
"—!"
At that moment, as a dark thought—the wish for an acquaintance's death—rose in Subaru's heart, Reid's murmur yanked his consciousness back to reality.
But Reid, seemingly oblivious to Subaru's internal struggle, bared his teeth and took one more step forward—onto the very edge of the precipice.
"W-What are you going to do?"
"All you do is ask questions, you. Don't just keep asking me—try doing something unexpected for once. Talking to you is boring. You're not fun to watch, and you're not interesting to talk to. Why are you even talking to me?"
"..."
"If you ask me, you're the one who should be doing something. Your people are down there, surrounded by those nasty beasts, and you're just standing there frozen? The weak have fewer options, don't they? All they get good at is making excuses."
Like a carnivore toying with its prey, Reid's words were built on the logic of the strong.
The reason Subaru couldn't deny it was that his argument simply didn't apply—there was an unbridgeable gulf between the strong and the weak.
"Hmph."
Without once looking back at Subaru, Reid leaned forward.
There was no time to stop him. Reid's body tilted slowly over the edge, toppled into empty air, and traced the same path Subaru's death had taken—straight into the void.
Straight, straight, straight down, Reid's body plummeted.
In Subaru's case, consciousness would have faded before impact—he couldn't even look his own death in the face.
But the red-haired swordsman, Reid, fell, and fell, and fell— "—!!"
From directly above, a sandal struck the back of one centaur with such force from that dizzying height that its horse-like torso crumpled and snapped. Its four limbs shattered under the impact, and the massive creature was crushed flat as though it had never existed, spilling dark blood as it became nothing more than a stain on the fifth floor.
The one who accomplished this was
"—!"
The beasts, which appeared to lack intelligence, froze. At the sudden intrusion of the red-haired man, the infant-like cries they emitted ceased all at once.
Looking closely, the headless monsters seemed to detect their surroundings not through sight, but through their other senses.
Even with that limited array of remaining organs, Reid's abnormality came through loud and clear.
And it was the same for the knight who had been putting on an impressive show against the beasts—a man with all his senses fully intact: Julius.
"Why are you... here?"
"Why this, why that, why this again. Same damn question from both of you. Isn't there anything else to ask? Like how to get girls, or a good brand of booze, or 'why are you so strong?'"
In front of the dumbfounded Julius, whose eyes had gone wide, Reid flicked the meat scraps from the sole of his sandal with a finger. Then he turned to the other centaur standing nearby.
In his hand—was it a joke?—he held what appeared to be a thin wooden stick. Chopsticks.
"The secret to getting girls is a good face. Good booze is the shochu 'Granhilt.' And as for why I'm the strongest in the world—because I'm me."
With those words delivered in clipped sentences, Reid made a small wagging motion with the chopsticks.
In the next instant, cracks raced across the centaur's entire body, and blood sprayed. The beast belatedly realized its own body was disintegrating, and it screamed—a sound that brought the agony of death.
That scream sounding like an infant clinging desperately to life was in terrible taste.
But the man who brought it about didn't crack a smile. Bloodless weapon still in hand, he now turned the chopsticks not toward a beast, but toward Julius.
As Julius's golden eyes widened in alarm at the sight of those unassuming chopsticks, Reid bared his teeth— "Now then—time to continue the 'trials.' Try and rip it away before I get bored, you."