The white world peeled away, and beyond it, a world taking shape in color was reconstructed piece by piece.
As if a massive, rough, overwhelming divine paintbrush were coloring the world in.
It was a surreal feeling—as though he'd been trapped in a colorless void, watching from the inside as the world was painted in from within.
He'd heard the story of how God created the world in seven days, but seeing this spectacle made him wonder whether God hadn't so much assembled the world like building blocks over the seven days, but rather taken brush to blank canvas and painted it into existence.
The Cradle of Od Laguna. Or—the Corridor of Memories.
From that extradimensional otherworld so named,
Leaving behind a space that did not belong to this world, his fragmented consciousness gradually began to piece itself together—slowly, bit by bit, the sense of self that was him was being reformed— "——Subaru."
"Mm..."
He groaned at the voice calling his name, and Subaru opened his eyelids with a parched throat.
His vision was blurry. After several blinks, the world came into focus, and he realized he was resting his back and rear against something hard and cold. He must have been propped up against a wall somewhere.
And soon after, he became aware of a presence right in front of him.
"......"
Leaning in to peer at his face from directly ahead was a girl whose distinctive patterned eyes brimmed with worry—a girl whose adorable features paired perfectly with an extravagant dress.
Meeting that deeply concerned gaze, Subaru felt it settle in: he had returned from the Corridor of Memories to the real world, back inside the
"Ah—"
"Are you conscious? You're alright, I trust? We ought to make sure you haven't gone and dropped your memories. For starters—do you know who Betty is?"
Pat, pat—Beatrice poked at Subaru's face and chest, attempting a rough examination.
He didn't think poking was going to tell her much, but being fussed over was equal parts embarrassing and heartwarming. Resigning himself to it, Subaru had his cheeks kneaded and squished as he answered, "Raijoubu, raijoubu. I'm fine."
"No problems here. I remember everything. My memories are intact, and you... Beatrice, I haven't forgotten you either. And of course, everyone else too."
"...Well, I suppose I'll give you credit for calling Betty's name first."
With that, Beatrice, who had been kneading his cheeks, softened at the corners of her eyes with relief upon hearing her name called. Subaru's own lips relaxed in response, and he gently patted Beatrice on the head.
Feeling through his palm that Beatrice narrowed her eyes in acceptance of the gesture, Subaru took a deep breath and set about verifying the state of his own memories.
He had declared to Beatrice that he "remembered," but arriving at true certainty was another matter entirely.
The Archbishop of Gluttony he had encountered just prior—Lui Arneb.
She was undoubtedly a monster who devoured the "memories" and "names" of countless people, but what form that memory-eating power took was still unknown to Subaru.
Whether she needed to physically bite her target, whether declaring "I eat" was sufficient, or whether a more elaborate procedure was required—none of it was clear. The more complex the restrictions and covenants, the greater the power gained. That was the unwritten rule of such abilities. He'd rather not dwell on it.
In any case, Subaru had no way of knowing whether those conditions had been fulfilled within the Corridor of Memories. Physical contact had occurred—he'd had his arms bitten, been licked. If that was the condition, then he'd been played perfectly, swept along by the atmosphere.
Thus, the possibility that his memories were being eaten away without any symptoms was entirely real— "...But probably, it's fine. My promises, my feelings of love—all of it is right here in my chest."
Thinking of
If he could hold onto even this much, he could at least avoid making a fool of himself like last time.
"—Natsuki-kun, you're back, are you?"
That voice slipped into the eardrums of Subaru, who was verifying within himself that no memories were missing.
Looking up, approaching Subaru—Beatrice still at his side—was
"...What about Emilia's camp?"
"Good—it seems you haven't lost the ability to look around you. Do you remember what you were doing just before this?"
Echidna asked in her characteristically coy manner. Subaru stared back into her aqua-colored eyes and searched for the figures beyond them—several people, several comrades, were missing.
It would be a stretch to imagine they were hiding behind the numerous bookshelves scattered throughout the library. He touched the closed, thick black binding on his lap and exhaled.
The members who had remained with him here and now were— "Beatrice, Echidna, and... Meili?"
"You're finally awake, Onii-chan? You made me awfully worried, so how about you quit sleeping in already."
"Sleeping in..."
Hands on her hips, Meili put on an indignant show that made Subaru grab his head in exasperation.
Managing to compose himself, Subaru tried to assess exactly what was going on.
In the room, Emilia,
Only the three aforementioned people and Subaru were present—four noncombatants, if he was being blunt. That situation alone was more than strange enough, but what was stranger was— "This isn't the scene right after I opened the book, is it? How long was I out?"
"......About an hour, I'd say. Given that the other books only took a few seconds, I was worried something had happened to you."
"An hour..."
Accepting Beatrice's answer, Subaru understood that the time he'd spent in the Corridor of Memories didn't deviate significantly from real time.
Everything about this was fundamentally different from his previous attempts at the Book of the Dead. That Corridor of Memories definitely existed somewhere, and the time spent there was no illusion.
He had encountered Lui, had his mind toyed with, been licked, and then—attempting to strangle her—had denied himself as "Natsuki Subaru"... only to have that rejection rebuffed by words both gentle and stern.
Being able to believe that those moments were not merely a convenient dream he'd experienced was not a bad thing. But as a fact, he couldn't ignore that a finite amount of time had been cut away.
"Why isn't Emilia's camp here with us?"
"While you were quite literally absorbed in that book, various disturbances have been occurring on our end. The four who aren't here have been running around dealing with them."
"Disturbances...?"
"The first to notice the disturbance was Schaula. Credit where it's due—perhaps that reflects her role as the Watchtower's guardian."
Her tone was light on the surface, but her voice carried less composure than the words suggested. Echidna replied to Subaru while letting a restrained urgency seep through.
Gesturing toward the room's entrance—toward the stairs leading downstairs— "Schaula said something was approaching the tower from outside. After that, she moved fast. Before anyone could stop her, she flew off to investigate the source of the disturbance..."
"And then that cool big brother went chasing after her. While they were gone, the silver-haired big sister and the maid big sister went to pick up their sleeping little sister."
"So all four of them left. ...Honestly, I'm a little lonely, but that was the right call. Especially in this situation—I don't want anyone going missing."
Taking in the reports from Echidna and Meili, Subaru untangled the confused situation and exhaled.
He was anxious about what Schaula had detected, but he was grateful for Julius stepping up to support her, and for Emilia and Ram's actions.
If the blue-haired girl—
—Especially with the emergency that could be about to unfold.
"—That reaction... Natsuki-kun, do you know something about this?"
"......"
Noticing Subaru's pensive expression, Echidna raised one eyebrow and probed. Bathed in that intellectual gaze, Subaru faltered for an instant—then shook his head.
There was no need to hedge or cover up. He could just fumble through the words and puzzle it out together with his friends.
"I'll cut to the chase. The plan to read Reid's book and dig into his past—it failed. I couldn't see the past. Worse, things went sideways fast."
"Couldn't see the past? What exactly do you mean?"
"I was interrupted. By the Archbishop of Gluttony."
"—!"
He paused for a beat, then delivered the name with full weight.
Hearing that word from Subaru's mouth, Beatrice and the others widened their eyes in shock. The title "Archbishop" had been something Subaru first heard from Lui herself, but for them, that was presumably not the case.
"I find it hard to believe, but you're saying the Archbishop of Gluttony was inside the book... Well, whether 'inside the book' is the right way to put it is debatable, but she was in there?"
Echidna furrowed her brow pensively and crossed her arms, a troubled look on her face. What gleamed in her eyes was doubt—and beyond that, anxiety. And that anxiety was directed at Subaru himself.
Where exactly that anxiety was aimed—at Subaru's memories—was obvious beyond words.
"I told Beatrice already, but I haven't lost any memories... as far as I can tell. I haven't forgotten anyone's face, and my love for
"I have no idea why you'd bring up the earth dragon's name right now..."
Puffing out her cheeks, Meili was irritated by Subaru's particular way of phrasing things.
Her irritation was understandable. Subaru did, after all, have a prior record of losing his memories. The state of one's memories was an ambiguous thing, and memory loss without symptoms couldn't be proven to anyone.
However, in this precise moment, Subaru could say with certainty that it wasn't the case.
"I appreciate the concern, but I haven't forgotten anything. I can stamp that with my seal."
"I'm actually questioning whether that seal has any value... But if you're that confident, you must have some basis for it, right?"
"Because Rem saved me when the Archbishop of Gluttony had me on the ropes."
"......"
Only Beatrice felt the full impact of the name that followed.
So while Echidna and Meili maintained their skeptical expressions, it was Beatrice—completely blindsided—who widened her eyes.
Subaru nodded deeply to Beatrice. The reason Subaru could boast that not even the slightest memory had been stolen by Lui came down solely to her existence.
The girl who, in that place, had encouraged Subaru when his heart was about to break and helped him back on his feet.
He believed that her very presence had denied the Archbishop of Gluttony any such opening.
"Subaru, I'd like to hear the details. And also..."
Beatrice looked straight into Subaru's dark eyes, demanding an explanation of what had happened. But at the tail end of the girl's words—that trailing, unfinished part—a faint tremor overlapped: the sensation of the tower shaking.
Strangely, the bookshelves showed no sign of swaying, but there was no mistaking the unnatural vibration that ran through the tower as a whole. This was likely whatever disturbance had spurred Schaula into action.
Therefore, Beatrice blinked once and continued.
"As briefly as you can manage."
*** "The moment I dove into the Book of the Dead, instead of Reid's past, I was taken to a white, empty place. The Archbishop of Gluttony... a girl, was there. She called herself Lui. According to her, that place was something called the Cradle of Od Laguna... or the Corridor of Memories."
Inside the tower, with a faint rumbling tremor transmitting through the soles of his feet, Subaru began explaining what he had witnessed within the Book of the Dead.
The girl he'd encountered in the white space. The fact that the place was called the Corridor of Memories. The involvement of an overwhelmingly powerful supernatural entity called Od Laguna.
To Subaru, these were just collections of words and events he couldn't make sense of. But for those who knew both the common knowledge and the uncommon truths of this world, they should have been valuable information.
Sure enough, upon hearing Subaru's explanation, Beatrice murmured, "Od Laguna..." with a deep, knowing tone.
"Lui said something about it being a mechanism to keep the world from being destroyed. Does that ring a bell?"
"Betty doesn't know the details either. But I do know it's considered this world's central point... the place to which all Mana returns."
Shaking her head at his question, Beatrice explained. She twirled a finger through one of her vertical ringlets, toying with the soft hair as she continued.
"All Mana returns to Od Laguna, where it circulates... In other words, Od Laguna is also an existence deeply tied to the death and rebirth of Spirits. So it's not something we can say has no connection to Betty and the others."
"However, we're special in terms of our origins. Our existences don't pass through Od Laguna. In that sense, we may be able to maintain a more objective perspective toward Od Laguna than ordinary Spirits."
"More objective than ordinary Spirits... I see. So that's where the story of you lot living longer than you look comes from."
Echidna picked up where Beatrice left off, and Subaru nodded in understanding.
It had come up casually as an aside, but it seemed to be true that both Beatrice and Echidna were beings who lived for centuries.
The secret to their longevity was probably nothing other than their nature as Spirits.
"Personally, I think Beatrice's cuteness leans more toward fairy than Spirit."
"...You've said that to me before, Subaru. You may not know this in your ignorance, but in this world, 'fairy' is not a compliment. So, well, while I can't exactly be happy about it or get angry at being mocked, it does leave me feeling somewhat put out."
"Hm, is that so? My apologies, then."
He'd heard that in foreign lands—the heartland of fantasy, so to speak—creatures resembling fairies were strongly associated with misleading and harming humans.
If that belief applied in this world too, it made sense that "fairy" wasn't a compliment.
"Sorry. To rephrase—I meant you were so cute I could eat you up."
"It's not normal to put the feeling of wanting to eat something on the same level as the feeling of finding something cute!"
"Oh, really? Don't you ever just sort of put cute things in your mouth without thinking?"
"Come to think of it, certain bad animal mommy types do accidentally put their own babies in their mouths and bite them to death, don't they?"
Meili's unnecessary annotation made Beatrice shudder with fear.
In any case, they'd once again veered off topic. What was important here was— "That... Cradle of Od Laguna. What exactly the Corridor of Memories is."
"They even gave it the tagline 'the place where souls are filtered,' didn't they?"
"The place where souls are filtered... meaning purified, cleansed. Considering Od Laguna's role in Mana circulation, that's not necessarily something to laugh off."
Echidna's opinion—Subaru shared it.
Having seen that space for real, Subaru couldn't dismiss it as an exaggeration.
The souls of all the dead reached the Corridor of Memories and were recycled.
There, the soul washed away the stains of memory and history accumulated over the long journey of life, becoming a blank slate and obtaining a new life once more.
"I think that's a pretty convincing explanation. The mechanism by which dead souls are recycled... and the 'memories' washed away there become the Book of the Dead in this library."
The dead didn't simply vanish—fact was, the world remembered its dead. Looking at these shelves, the quip "that makes you a poet" wasn't something you'd say lightly.
The shelves recorded everything that had been born into this world and arrived at the Corridor of Memories.
In other words, the Corridor of Memories was the compilation room for creating the Book of the Dead. Memories tidied into the form of books there were shelved as the Book of the Dead—such was the system.
And the Archbishop of Gluttony wreaked havoc by interfering with the individual memories and histories that should have remained as they were.
—That, precisely, was the true nature of the power wielded by the Archbishop of Gluttony.
"In truth, she's been doing the soul-filtration work that Od Laguna should be doing, all on her own. She stuffs the 'memories' she's shaved off into her own stomach—literally devouring other people's 'lives.'"
Putting it into words made it crystal clear just how vile the act was.
What's more, Lui had declared it "trial and error in pursuit of happiness"—sampling every life there was, searching within them for a happy life befitting herself.
It was tantamount to drawing lottery tickets until you hit the winner.
Having obtained the right to draw an infinite number of tickets, Lui—and her siblings—chose to seize happiness by feeding on others. That was what Subaru found terrifying.
Not their judgment itself, but the fact that he couldn't see it as exceptional or aberrant thinking.
Given the right to draw an infinite number of tickets, anyone would choose to keep drawing until they won.
And so, Lui Arneb's actions were driven by an entirely ordinary human desire— "Even so, normally, people shouldn't be able to keep drawing tickets knowing that others are paying the price."
"Beatrice..."
"Knowing there's a sacrifice and continuing to draw regardless—that's not the behavior of a sane person. So there is no room for sympathy toward the Archbishop."
Reading Subaru's thoughts, Beatrice delivered her verdict in no uncertain terms.
To call that a cold, heartless dismissal would itself be heartless. Beatrice was standing by Subaru's feelings, giving voice to what he couldn't say.
Yes—there was no room for sympathy.
The circumstances she'd been placed in, the lack of a place to belong—those might not have been her fault. But taking that first wrong step and continuing to stray from the path of humanity was her own choice.
Whoever you were, you had to face the consequences.
"But it's strange, isn't it? How did a book that tells you about a person's life end up connected to such an incomprehensible place?"
"That's because... dead souls get recycled in the Corridor of Memories, so the books dispensed from there led back to the source...? No, that doesn't explain it."
Meili raised a question that Subaru couldn't give a clear answer to.
Why had Reid's Book of the Dead ended up connected to the Corridor of Memories?
At the very least, before losing his memories, Subaru had read the Book of the Dead once. He'd heard that Julius had read it at the same time, and in a loop that had already passed, he'd even read Meili's book.
Yet among those experiences, there was no record of a reader's consciousness being transported to that space.
In that case, what if Lui's intervention was the key?
"But the Archbishop of Gluttony didn't seem to have any plan to lure me in. My arrival seemed to catch her off guard too... There shouldn't have been any tampering with Reid's Book of the Dead."
"I have one hypothesis."
In front of the pondering Subaru, Beatrice raised a single finger.
Staring at that fingertip, Subaru prodded her with, "A hypothesis?"
"Let's hear it. What possibility can you think of?"
"Suppose the library's Book of the Dead is a record book that copied what was shaved from souls in the Corridor of Memories. Normally, the library's function is to read those in book form... But what do you think would happen if that record were put to some other use?"
"The dead's memories... used for something else? But other than the Book of the Dead, what else could..."
"Ah, I see. So that's it. You're sharp, Beatrice."
Hearing Beatrice's words, Subaru furrowed his brow in puzzlement. But ignoring the confused Subaru, it was Echidna who slapped her hands together in understanding. Moreover, following Echidna, Meili also put a hand to her mouth and said "Ohhh,"— "Could it be that that's what it is?"
"Wait, wait—don't go acting like you figured it out. You're so competitive. It's fine to discover a new side of yourself, but it's perfectly acceptable for a kid to just honestly say she doesn't understand."
"The competitive one is you, Onii-chan. If I think hard enough, I do end up saying I understand too. ...It's the red-haired big brother up there who's like that, right?"
Pushing away the approaching Subaru with a hand, Meili confirmed with Beatrice. Beatrice let out a sigh and said: "Meili's guess is on the mark. ...It's Reid."
"So, in other words?"
"You couldn't reference Reid's past from the Book of the Dead. That's because the book currently contains no record of
"Ah!"
Hearing Echidna's broken-down explanation, Subaru finally reached understanding.
If that was the case, it all made sense. It was perfectly consistent with the events that occurred after Subaru read the Book of the Dead.
"Reid's memories are being used for recreation rather than viewing. That's why we can deduce that the Subaru from just now couldn't read them."
"And it also explains why yesterday's me had memories devoured by Lui in the Corridor of Memories."
The Subaru of yesterday had undoubtedly arrived at the same strategy for handling Reid as the Subaru of now. Having attempted it, he'd read Reid's book in the library and gone to that white world.
In fact, Lui had said their encounter the previous night was their second meeting. She'd devoured his memories during the first contact, and during the second meeting, she'd tried to consume even the leftovers.
"But thinking about it that way, this book is absolutely no guide for getting past Reid. ...No, worse—it's a dangerous book that could pit you against the Archbishop of Gluttony against your will."
"Indeed. That said, even if it was in an unexpected form, being able to pin down the cause of Natsuki-kun's memory loss is a stroke of luck. The memory loss was not part of the tower's functions... The trap of exposing you to the Archbishop of Gluttony is, for the time being, probably not the tower's intention."
"That's... yeah, you're right."
Whether the tower's creator had anticipated being transported to the threshold of an instant-death trap was uncertain. He preferred to believe this was an unintended occurrence.
Otherwise, the person who had furnished this tower would either possess apocalyptic thinking or be someone of demonic malevolence.
Subaru had no idea who it was, but Schaula spoke of them as her Master—as though they were the same person as Subaru—so he was all the more concerned about potential reputational damage.
"Reid was recreated, and the book was a blank, empty shell. So that Book of the Dead was directly connected to Od Laguna's doorstep... is that right?"
"For now, I can't come up with any further hypotheses. Why one of the Gluttony Archbishops was hiding there is still a mystery. But there's one thing I can say..."
The series of inexplicable events surrounding Reid's Book of the Dead.
One hypothesis had clicked into place. Of course, unanswered questions remained. But unfortunately, they didn't have the time to deliberate over every one of them.
The evidence being— "—Echidna! Is everyone safe?!"
A single knight bounded up the stairs as though flying and appeared in the Taygeta library. Seeing this person, Echidna turned around and widened her eyes.
"Julius, you look quite flustered?"
"Unexpected developments are underway. I'd like to gather everyone's thoughts immediately... Hm."
Answering Echidna while approaching was the handsome man—Julius.
His cheeks were taut with faint tension and vigilance, but when his eyes met Subaru's—who was sitting cross-legged on the floor—his golden twin pupils widened slightly.
"You're awake, Subaru. That's fortunate. Do you know who I am?"
"Right—that'd be the first thing to check. Um, you are...?"
"As I feared."
"I'm kidding! It was a joke! You're Julius Euclius! Don't say 'as I feared' with a straight face! I'm back to normal!"
"Heh. Mine was a joke too. Consider it payback for your incurable childishness. —After this, I'll have something rather grim to discuss."
"Guu"—Subaru slumped, looking troubled. Julius snorted at Subaru's reaction, then immediately tightened his expression.
True to his words, there was apparently a grim report coming.
"I'd like to hear Subaru's report from the Book of the Dead, but there's an urgent matter. —I've confirmed the exterior of the tower regarding the disturbance Dame Schaula detected."
"I don't see Schaula, though..."
"She's on the tower's outer wall, responding to the threat. But she's severely undermanned."
Finding this a roundabout way of putting it, Subaru glared hard at Julius. Receiving that sharp look, Julius let out a small breath, prefaced with "Forgive me," and— "You must all have felt the faint tremors. Those are footsteps."
"Footsteps?"
"Yes."
Subaru and the others cocked their heads at the unexpected word. Julius lowered his chin, paused for a beat, and delivered the news: "The Mabeasts that were scattered across the