——Confronted with a scene beyond his expectations, Subaru could do nothing but stand there, struck dumb.
It was a night of one strange occurrence after another.
It began with an unintentional nap, led to a frantic search for
The quip that slipped out contributed nothing whatsoever to explaining the bizarre scene before him.
What Subaru had crawled through was a wall, not a tunnel, and what spread out before him was no snowy land, but a nighttime desert of sand swept by frigid winds.
Stars glittered in the black sky, and from the observation tower's balcony, the sight of sand dunes stretching like a dark sea could be seen far into the distance.
Everything about it was far too grand for Subaru's little joke. In its place — ——"…Natsuki-kun?"
Hearing Subaru's hoarse murmur, a silhouetted figure with hair billowing in the wind turned toward him.
A girl with wavy, light-purple hair gently pressing it down with one hand — she had round, pale-blue eyes and skin so fair it seemed to float against the darkness. A delicate, lovely-looking young woman.
It was Anastasia, the very person he had been searching for. Hearing her call, Subaru hesitated for just a moment, then — "…This is a killer spot for a nighttime stroll."
He swallowed his initial surprise and gave Anastasia a shrug. At his casual gesture and offhand remark, Anastasia let out a small "That's right" smile.
"The view really is lovely, isn't it? But it's a shame — for all this great vantage point, the scenery itself is pitch-black. If only you could see the town from here, it'd be a whole different story."
"It's got its own charm, like watching a nighttime sea. Besides, no matter what anyone says…"
As he spoke, Subaru pointed upward instead of gesturing at the panoramic view. Anastasia's gaze followed his finger to the sky above — where a canopy of stars glittered.
"The air is cold and clear, so the stars look amazing. Romantic, right?"
"The stars really are beautiful, and I agree the air is clear… but wouldn't you say there's something more noteworthy than just how pretty the stars look?"
"Something more noteworthy?"
"The fact that you can see the stars at all. Has there been a single night in the sand sea where stars were visible like this?"
Chided in that exasperated tone, Subaru slapped his palm. "Aah—"
Just as she pointed out, being able to see the star-filled sky from this balcony was remarkable given everything they had endured crossing the sand sea. Around the
Because— "The miasma was so thick it must have covered the sky like clouds, right?"
"Since it's not here, this tower is either completely free of miasma… or we're above the miasma layer. One of those."
"At this height, I can't rule that out either."
He had noticed it only upon gazing out from the balcony, but their current altitude — corresponding to the fourth floor of the observation tower — was not merely dozens of meters above ground. It was hundreds of meters up. He hadn't realized it, but the staircase from the fifth floor to the fourth must have covered that much elevation.
"…Even so, we still haven't reached the middle of the tower from this position."
Subaru looked up along the outer wall, not outward from the balcony, and let out a breath.
If his reasoning was correct, even though they had risen above the miasma layer, the tower's cloud-piercing summit was nowhere in sight. That had nothing to do with the darkness — there was still far more above.
The staircase to the second floor alone had over four hundred steps. That alone was proof enough of how much the tower still had in reserve.
In any case— —— With the stargazing and the tower's height sufficiently discussed, Subaru turned his attention to Anastasia. She stood with her lips slightly parted in a gentle smile, hands clasped behind her back — nothing suspicious about her movements at all.
Not the slightest hint of vigilance or intent to spring any trap.
At the very least, she showed no sign of suddenly baring hostility. Having confirmed that much— "So — what's your excuse for this situation?"
"My excuse?"
"Sneaking out of your room in the dead of night, slipping through a secret passage nobody knows about, standing around in a place like this enjoying the night breeze while playing with a flock of birds… Suspicious, don't you think?"
Facing Anastasia's puzzled expression, Subaru jabbed his chin forward and pressed the point.
Birds — yes, birds.
While Subaru and Anastasia were the only two people face-to-face here, the balcony was packed with an audience far beyond the two of them.
They were birds, motionless, silently watching the scene unfold — like crafted replicas.
—— Not just one or two. Far from it.
Perched along the outer edge of the balcony, resting their wings, there were no fewer than fifty birds. The number bordered on flock-level, yet calling it a flock felt wrong, because the gathered birds were all different species.
White birds, blue birds, black birds, mottled birds, large birds, small birds, thin birds, plump birds — a motley assortment with no sense of unity whatsoever, all gathered in one place.
That fact alone was already bizarre, but what unsettled Subaru even more was the behavior of these birds that made up the scene.
——Despite there being this many birds, not a single cry, not even the sound of a wing-beat, could be heard.
Whether each bird possessed the intelligence for communication was uncertain.
But at the very least, these birds with no unifying characteristics were unified in one thing — their intent.
"Natsuki-kun, there's no need to be so anxious…"
In response to Subaru's suspicions, Anastasia placed a hand against her own cheek.
"A 'secret passage' is a bit of an overstatement, isn't it? I mean, here you are, right here with me."
"That's… the bird guided me here, more or less."
"Then we're the same. I was wandering around the tower at night, just strolling about. Then I saw a bird flying by, and I wondered 'huh, what's that?' — and followed it here."
—— "…You really don't believe me, do you?"
Anastasia narrowed her eyes, her hands making a bird-shape gliding through the air.
Of course — it was far from a convincing explanation. He had no grounds to outright deny it, but could anything that convenient really be true? Setting himself aside for the moment, Subaru reached that conclusion.
"These birds…"
"What are they, I wonder?"
"…That's exactly what I want to ask."
It wasn't just Anastasia's evasive manner that unnerved him — the birds' gaze, watching their exchange from a distance, was deeply uncomfortable.
It was difficult to read emotion in a bird's eyes, and they seemed to convey such a gulf that one could almost believe they truly possessed no emotions at all.
What were these birds thinking? What was the balcony thinking? What was Anastasia thinking?
"There's no way I can just take your word that you're as clueless as me…"
"I'd like to say you know nothing as well, Natsuki-kun, but… I really am in a bind. Ever since arriving here, it's been nothing but chaos."
Anastasia pressed her hand to her forehead in a show of weary lament. Watching her with guarded eyes, Subaru suddenly recalled something about the birds.
——That birds flew over the
He'd heard that story at a tavern in the town where they had stopped to prepare for the sand-sea crossing. The innkeeper had said that if they ever got lost in the sand, they should look for birds.
Fortunately, Subaru's group had managed to avoid getting stranded in the sand sea, so the warning had nearly slipped his mind — but — "Seeing this, maybe that wasn't just a rumor after all…"
Even after Subaru's murmur, there was no reaction from the birds.
They simply folded their wings quietly, as if unwilling to fly through the night, and rested.
Exposed to the cold wind, they huddled neither close together nor shared warmth. They merely directed their doll-like eyes at Subaru and Anastasia.
"These ones have been like this the whole time. I was at my wit's end too."
"I can't bring myself to believe that, based on experience."
"Experience?"
"In my experience, stumbling into a scene like this out of the blue almost always means your life is in danger."
Subaru's track record of near-death experiences from reckless behavior was quite impressive.
It started back at the mansion, when his nighttime wandering led to being beaten to death by
Skipping over the many incidents that followed, Subaru's rule of thumb was that reckless action equated to death.
By that logic, the current situation seemed rather dangerous — "Then that's a new pattern to add to your rulebook. It won't be like that this time."
—— "Because for a timid boy like you, the worst possibility is that I'm plotting something — luring you to this tower, cooking up some terrible scheme, trying to get you and
The arrow struck home, and Subaru's cheeks stiffened slightly.
Seeing that, Anastasia laughed and said, "You're so easy to read."
"Relax. I'm not thinking of anything so convoluted. I have no hostility toward you, Natsuki-kun — or toward anyone else in this tower. Well, except the examiners."
"
—— The moment those names left his mouth, Anastasia fell silent with a bitter expression.
Seeing that reaction, Subaru went, "Ah."
"You were asleep, so you didn't hear — on the second floor, during the 'trial,' a new opponent showed up… That was
"The designs of this tower are just outrageous… I wonder what its creator was thinking."
After hearing Subaru's explanation, Anastasia's final comment carried that exasperated tone — but the faint
Up until now, he had treated her and interacted with her almost entirely as Anastasia. But still, the essence of the person before his eyes was — "——Right now, it's just the two of us here. Why don't we have an honest conversation?"
"Hmm…"
"Honestly, talking to you while you're wearing someone else's face gets us nowhere. No matter what you say, I can't trust you from the roots up. So…"
"——You'd like to talk not with 'Ana' the character, but with me directly."
The instant those words left Subaru's mouth, something in Anastasia's presence shifted.
The atmosphere surrounding her was transformed entirely. Her appearance had not changed, yet the presence she projected was unmistakably altered. The emotions dwelling in her eyes, the expression woven by her thoughts — it had all switched.
—— And before Subaru, frozen by that change, Anastasia — no, the artificial spirit
There was no railing to prevent a fall, only a low, barely-adequate wall along the perimeter. She settled herself lightly atop it and gently stroked the head of a small white bird perched beside her.
Then — "——This is the first time we've ever spoken like this, just the two of us, isn't it?"
She accepted Subaru's offer, and smiled — faintly, almost ephemeral.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ "Aren't you coming over?"
"No way. There's no railing, the safety measures are way too half-baked for my taste."
"It's not like I'd shove you off if you approached without your guard up, you know."
"That phrasing is exactly why I can't trust you. You really are like the original in that regard."
Echidna sat in a perilously dangerous spot, beckoning him over with an innocent expression, and Subaru's mouth twisted. But apparently dissatisfied with his refusal, she furrowed her brows quite visibly.
Then, raising one finger as though delivering a lecture, she said: "I've said it before, but could you please avoid lumping me together with this 'original
"That tone of voice aside… You're right. My bad. I'll be more careful."
"Please do."
Still outwardly and vocally Anastasia, Echidna made that appeal to Subaru.
Honestly, even that remark sounded just like the wicked Witch Subaru knew — but her point contained something he genuinely had to concede. After all, if someone told Subaru he resembled an entity like Echidna, he'd be strongly inclined to file a defamation claim.
"That said, your suspicion is entirely justified. Coming here night after night, alone, to a place nobody knows about — being doubted is only natural. However, I accept that suspicion for what it is, and on top of that, I ask you to allow me to deny your further misgivings."
"You sure are casual about touching those birds."
"…Were you listening to what I just said?"
"I was, but still."
Right away, there was a mismatch between the points each was trying to make.
But more than Echidna's argument, what truly baffled Subaru was how she could stroke the small bird's head — a creature as eerily uncanny as a crafted replica.
This might be a different story if they were in a sunny afternoon park and the birds displayed something resembling living responses.
"What if they swarmed you and pecked you all over and killed you? Doesn't that scare you?"
"That imagination of yours is far more terrifying. Please don't tell me that's also from your experience."
"A cute-looking rabbit once charged at me energetically… and that's what happened."
So ever since, he had been wary of any scene involving many animals gathered in one place.
Having endured countless cycles of "Return by Death," he could say with absolute conviction that no death had ever been easy — but that particular memory was among the worst.
"…Seeing as you've gone pale, I won't push the matter. I don't feel particularly fond of these birds either."
Either Subaru's complexion had gone terribly white, or something else — Echidna promptly withdrew her hand from the bird. Then she placed both hands on her lap, said "Well then," and looked at Subaru afresh.
"You proposed we speak frankly… Now that I've dropped the act of being Ana, what exactly would you like to talk about?"
"For starters, this place — and its connection to the birds."
"On that, I can only give the same answer I gave as Ana. I was led here by a bird, just like you. I had absolutely no prior knowledge of this place. However…"
"However?"
He was on the verge of disappointment at the same unvarying answer, but the subtle hesitation in that trailing word raised his eyebrows. Echidna paused briefly, then continued.
"To be honest, I had been wanting to ask you the same thing."
"Me? The same thing?"
"Because I was fully immersed in playing Ana, it may have sounded like a joke — but I was led here as if drawn by an unseen hand. And now, in this place, I stand facing you. …Right in front of the entrance that leads back into the tower."
—— "You were already acquainted with Shaula, the administrator of this tower. At the very least, she treated you as though she absolutely knew you. Considering that, and the fact that we've ended up alone here together — I realize this may seem underhanded, but…"
Subaru was swallowed up by Echidna's words, unable to interject. After a deliberate pause, Echidna — still wearing Anastasia's face — posed her question.
It was — "——
"Nobody. Nothing…"
"Let's go back before the
What Echidna revealed was likely part of the Anastasia camp's election strategy.
Investigating a rival candidate — Emilia — and her newly ennobled knight was standard practice in this kind of contest.
But even for Anastasia Hoshin, the great merchant who led the Hoshin Commerce Guild— "We couldn't determine your origins. Ana complained that even gathering the bare minimum of information was extraordinarily difficult. I suspect that had less to do with you and more to do with certain people around you pulling strings."
Information control on Subaru's behalf — if anyone in camp was involved in that, the top candidate would be Roswaal, followed by Otto and Crusch.
Either way, it was unsurprising behavior. And they were the sort who either lacked the kindness to inform Subaru of the fact, or considered it an inelegant thing to do.
"At any rate, the earliest thing we could trace was a minor incident in the capital that occurred just before the Royal Selection began. We obtained testimony from Sir Reinhard that he had spotted you when he first encountered
Records from before that point simply could not exist.
Which meant that Echidna — in this case, Anastasia — had investigated Subaru's trail almost perfectly completely.
That is, if one set aside the fact that the result was, by their standards, woefully insufficient.
—— Echidna's eyes narrowed, and Subaru found himself at a loss for words.
He had suffered many times from being unable to share information about "Return by Death" and being unable to build understanding on that foundation. But this was the first time for something like this.
The first time the mystery of who Natsuki Subaru was — an individual of unknown origin — became the chain that bound him.
"I…"
"So, having laid all that out at length…"
"…Huh?"
As Subaru, face deadly serious, struggled to wring out his next words, Echidna opened both hands wide. Her tone was so lighthearted that Subaru was left dumbstruck.
Seeing his reaction, Echidna nodded with satisfaction, then — "Ana's and my impression of you was: a person of unknown origins who had accumulated tremendous achievements as a new knight — that was our view up through Priestella. I won't elaborate on how that impression shifted during the battle against the
—— "Even if you feel anxious and on guard about the two of us being alone together like this in the dead of night, in a space with no eyes on us — I ask you to understand that it can't be helped."
She folded her outstretched arms, tilted her head, and smiled.
Listening to all of that in a daze, Subaru moved his dry lips, seriously weighing how to respond.
But in the middle of that deliberation, he noticed something.
——The hands in Echidna's lap, her fingertips white with the force of her grip.
"…Are you actually genuinely scared?"
"That's a rather insensitive remark. For example — what is your real relationship with Shaula?"
To Subaru's question, Echidna answered not with a response but with another question.
"I only met Shaula here. I know nothing about her."
"The trial on the third floor — you solved that awfully quickly. Was that a coincidence?"
"…It was."
"And then — what about the fact that you slipped through a hidden passage disguised to be invisible to the casual eye, and called out to me when by chance I was the only one around?"
—— The relentless stream of questions was an interrogation directed from Echidna to Subaru.
Through each question, she was telling him — "Turn the tables and put yourself in my shoes, huh…"
"Still, I estimate the likelihood of you being a hostile entity to be low, based on various factors. I've laid my heart bare to demonstrate that sincerity."
She placed a hand over her chest and conveyed, through her manner, that she was speaking from the heart.
As for Subaru, he truly wanted to accept her goodwill, and given his own murky origins and suspicious behavior, he wanted nothing more than to nod along.
He wanted to — but — "——It seems my creator left quite the wound in your heart."
The more Echidna's behavior as an artificial spirit resembled that of Echidna, the Witch of Greed, the harder it was to believe her sincerity — no matter how genuine she appeared.
This was the lingering fragrance of the Witch, if ever there was one.
"I understand your position. I'm convinced. Whether I believe it is another matter…"
"Your inner conflict really comes across loud and clear."
"Let's say the two of us meeting here was a coincidence. Fine. But what about this place? This balcony-like spot — what do you think it's here for?"
As a matter of fact, even if this Echidna had been plotting something, there was no evidence to compel a confession here. It wasn't trust that made him listen — it was circumstance.
But that was a separate matter from the fact that this place was a hidden space. If someone had gone to the trouble of concealing it, there had to be some value in its existence.
"I have a hypothesis. Three days ago — do you remember what happened in the sand sea?"
"Three days ago — that would be before we reached the tower. All I can picture is the utter chaos…"
"During that ruckus, a white light struck at Echidna — that is, me — while we were being chased by that bear. It appears that was Shaula's doing. If that's the case, then this place is—"
"——Her vantage point for monitoring the sand sea?"
Subaru snapped his fingers at where Echidna's hypothesis led.
Her reasoning made sense. After all, Shaula had been sniping at targets approaching the tower from long range with what she called the "Hellsnipe." Come to think of it, he had been wondering how she managed that inside a tower with no windows and no way to observe the outside — but — "This kind of space probably exists at intervals all around the tower's circumference. From the looks of it, this one faces a different direction from the approach we originally took."
"What about the birds?"
"The birds are a mystery. They don't respond even when touched. However, they do seem to have body temperature, so they're not entirely artificial. I'd like to dissect one if possible, but…"
Echidna looked down at the nearby bird and narrowed her round eyes with a cruel precision. But she withdrew the hand she had been extending, and stared at her own fingertip.
"Unfortunately, I'd rather not put any more strain on Ana's body. If you could wring a bird's neck for me, that would save time…"
"If it's really necessary, then fine…"
Having been summoned to this other world for just over a year, Subaru had some experience hunting birds and wild rabbits. Of course, killing for food and killing for experimentation felt vastly different— "After killing them, I'd eat the meat, at least…"
"Right — and there's also the matter of leftover food. In that case, I'd like about twenty of them."
"You've got to be kidding me! Have you never played The Legend of Zelda!?"
Nonchalantly requesting a mass bird slaughter, Subaru shouted in outrage. Echidna, who had no way of knowing that reference, stared at him with wide eyes.
Setting that aside, killing even one bird felt wrong, let alone twenty.
"And besides — if we actually killed them, wouldn't the rest of these countless birds finally react?"
"…I can't deny that possibility."
At Subaru's concern, Echidna also pressed her hand to her mouth, unable to dismiss it.
The birds remained indifferent to the two people having this alarming conversation, but their gaze remained fixed on the outsiders — Subaru and Echidna — who had intruded upon their space.
The word "sky burial" flashed through Subaru's mind, and he stopped Echidna from making a snap decision.
"If we're going to do it, let's prepare first. For now, it can wait."
"No sign of you running away, I see. Understood, that works. …Honestly, I doubt investigating these birds would yield anything useful anyway."
"Could you maybe dial back that vibe of obsessive curiosity and thirst for knowledge?"
"…?"
Echidna — who genuinely did not seem to know the Witch's true nature — nonetheless maintained behavioral patterns remarkably close to the original, and Subaru didn't dare let his guard down.
So he ignored that and directed a question at the part of her that was the spirit Echidna rather than the Witch.
"I haven't really checked properly — but how's Anastasia doing?"
"…Unchanged, as before. Ana continues to sleep deep within this body. Since she's never been inhabited for this long, I won't pretend I'm not anxious."
"Anxious?"
He meant about whether she couldn't return to her original body, but Echidna shook her head. "That's not it."
"Echidna and Ana are, nominally, in a spirit–master contract relationship. An incomplete spirit and an incomplete master — it's an incomplete bond, to be sure. I've told you about Ana's body, haven't I?"
"Yeah — something about a defect in her Gate."
"That part is similar to your current relationship with
"Od — the soul itself, or so they say… Which means—"
"Ana took my hand knowing full well the risks of contracting with me. The fact that it would eventually end was always part of the equation… but now, it will come sooner."
——Which meant they had to return this body to Anastasia as quickly as possible.
Echidna summarized the predicament they were in with that conclusion. Hearing it, Subaru realized he had been taking their circumstances far too lightly.
"In that condition… in that falling-apart state, how could she possibly become king?"
"Are you suggesting, for your own mistress's sake, that Ana should give up her claim?"
"——Don't be ridiculous! That's not what I'm talking about! I…"
"Ana will never back down. She will never give up. I know that."
When Subaru stepped forward, voice rising, Echidna cut him off with a sharp, firm tone.
Overwhelmed by her force, Subaru blinked. Then, hesitantly, his lips trembling— "…Does Anastasia want her own country that badly? Even knowing she might have to relinquish it almost immediately after obtaining it?"
"Her life may be shorter than others', but Ana herself uses that time with more skill than most could manage in several lifetimes. Besides — there is a reason Ana cannot abandon the throne."
With a voice devoid of force, Echidna spoke with trust in Anastasia.
And the reason she could not abandon the throne — was this: "——Because she was wanted."
Without realizing it, Echidna had risen to her feet and walked to the center of the balcony, standing face to face with Subaru.
Gazing straight into his black eyes with her pale-blue ones, the words she spoke left Subaru unable to move.
A weight different from the watchtower, different from the "trials," bore down upon him.
—— He couldn't move. Words wouldn't come. Echidna, too, said nothing.
In their place, only the sound of wings sliced through the cold night. It passed behind them and joined the flock of birds resting their wings.
One more bird had arrived at the balcony — new to the scene.
——From behind.
—— Subaru had remained standing with his back to the observation tower's outer wall. If a bird was fluttering its wings behind him, it could only have come from the interior of the observation tower.
Echidna had been led here. Subaru had been led here. Both guided by the beating of a bird's wings.
If that was the case, then naturally, the third bird's wings would lead— "…What does that conversation just now mean?"
The voice that echoed across the balcony was distant, shaken — as though the very foundation of belief had been jarred loose.
At the frozen man's words, the birds unfurled their wings in unison. And with a tremendous sound of wings — as torrential as a downpour — the birds took flight without hesitation.
Into the night sky. Into the sea of dunes wrapped in darkness.
Left behind were Subaru and Echidna — feeling as though they had been abandoned on a vast ocean— ——And