4
“Stand up!”
The voice hammered the shattered Subaru Natsuki. Those words pummeled and battered him. The merciless, unflinching shout cracked Subaru Natsuki, accelerating the shattering. It clawed at his bare heart without hesitation.
“Stand up!”
The blue-haired girl raised her voice at Subaru.
Glaring at him, she roared. Then she roared again. At Subaru Natsuki, who was still kneeling there, pinning the girl down, as cracks formed on his stunned face.
“Stand up!”
The same bellow.
Over and over again, it cruelly, unreservedly hammered Subaru’s heart.
Why do I have to suffer this?
It hurts. It’s painful. It’s miserable. It’s sad. My heart feels like it’s going to break.
Having to suffer this sort of painful decision. You don’t often get hit with one after the other with no time to prepare like this. —At least I managed to stop regretting being in this awful place.
I already gave my answer. Isn’t that enough?
“Stand up!”
The girl in front of him refused to accept his complaints, his stubborn conclusion, his heart cowering in fear of loss, his shrinking back. She forcefully, steadfastly rejected it all.
I made a decision. You could just accept that. At least act like you’re a little troubled. Isn’t it fine? I’ve worried enough. So why are…?
“Stand up!”
Even as his heart broke, she refused to accept Subaru’s decision.
“Stand up!”
Still?
Why is her voice, why is she…? Even though it hurts so much…
“Stand…! Stand! Stand! Stand up!”
Who is she? She’s somewhere in my memory.
He had never talked to her before. She wasn’t even in the current Subaru’s memory. He didn’t know who she was. Only what she looked like. That wasn’t enough of a connection to make him stay his hand.
And yet.
Why? Why is my heart so hot? Why is there so much heat welling in my chest?
“Stand up, Subaru Natsuki! Stand up! My hero!”
His heart quivered as the tearful voice of a girl he couldn’t remember yelled at him to be a hero.
Subaru’s heart wavered even as he wanted to laugh at such a stupid story.
The cracks and fault lines accelerated.
It was Subaru Natsuki breaking free from the shell of Subaru Natsuki.
But what emerged was only slightly different from what had been there before.
—No, if anything is different, then it’ll be starting now.
Swallowing his fearful heart, as the voice telling him to stand wished, he stood.
“If you can stand, then go. Go and save everything.”
Everything as in what? What’s everything?
It was too vague. What was everything?
“Everything is everything. Every single thing. Every single person. Yourself. And even the stranger most familiar to you, too!”
What is this?
Who can do that? Does she really think I can do that?
I don’t have what it takes. I can’t even save myself.
For the sake of the people he cared about, for the sake of the people who cared about him, for the people he wanted to hold dear, for the sake of his memories with them that he didn’t want to lose.
I was about to let go of something just now. Do you really think I can?
“You can. After all…”
What?
Because of what?
Give me strength, give me an answer. If you can, then—
Please, blue-haired girl, tell—
“—You’re my hero.”
“ ”
Something fell with a thud in his chest.
A dark, stagnant thing. As if it was purified by her voice that sounded almost like a confession of love. —No, it wasn’t like a confession of love. That’s exactly what it was.
He had one more reason why he didn’t want to give this place back to Subaru Natsuki.
“—Ha.”
But that wasn’t the only thing that increased.
Purified by her words, the dark, stagnant thing started to glow and change shape.
There was a pulse inside Subaru Natsuki, at his most covetous core.
“ ”
It pulsated. It lost everything, was left behind by everything. But even so, it wanted to hold everything down, not wanting to let a single thing slip from his fingers, not wanting to let go even of himself.
As he begged for that, his cowardly Greed bloomed into the strength to fulfill that wish.
—The fickle Factor connected with his being.
“Come, Cor Leonis.”
The seed of Greed that had lost its place blossomed inside Subaru.
And as it took a more defined form—
“ ”
The blue-haired girl’s smile alone celebrated that moment.
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