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“So, did you see what you wanted to see, Louis Arneb?”
“Huh?”
Louis’s eyes opened wide when she suddenly realized she was being addressed.
Blinking repeatedly, she confirmed where she had woken up. A white world, a white floor, and a white sky. Standing upright in that pure white space, Louis touched her own face in a daze.
“ ”
She patted her face all over to confirm it.
There was no mirror here, so she couldn’t say for sure, but there was no mistaking that feeling. It was her own face. This wasn’t a place where any sort of entertainment could be found, and the only things she could really touch were her own face and body. It only took her an instant to confirm the shape of her own face. This was, without a doubt, Louis’s body.
In a daze, she slowly checked herself. Right about the time she finished, that question came again.
“Did you see what you wanted to see?”
Looking up, Louis saw the shabby boy with short black hair, a long torso and short legs, and menacing eyes.
His name was Natsuki Subaru, and until moments ago, Louis had been him, too…
“…Ah.”
And he was the holder of Return by Death, making him a nightmarish being beyond imagination.
“Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!”
She screamed.
She screamed with all her might, raising her voice with all her being.
If she didn’t do that, she would be crushed by it—the fear, the dread, the despair.
She was trapped in the madness of the constant deaths repeating over and over and over.
“Nooo! We don’t want to die! No no no no no no no no no no no! Noooo!!!”
Clutching her head, she fell to the ground and pleaded desperately.
Once she transformed into that being, Louis had experienced death at last. She had savored its taste. By allowing herself to be taken into a soul that could come back from death, she was able to experience an ability that could even go against the flow of time.
The fresh, new stimulation that she so desired…she had wanted to know what sort of flavor death had.
Even if it wasn’t as great as she expected, using the authority to Return by Death, the right to live a life with redos, was more than enough as a consolation prize.
That was what she had thought—until she experienced death herself.
“That’s…that’s unbearable! That suffering! That loss! There’s no way we can bear it! It’s impossible! We don’t wanna! Nooo!”
There was no easy way to die.
There was no sweetness in death.
Not once had she wished for her own death.
Those were her experiences through more than twenty loops as Natsuki Subaru.
“No human could endure that! Monster! You’re a monster!”
No one could. It was impossible.
Louis had gorged on countless lives, violating every sort of soul in search of a life for herself. Because she believed that she had the right, the unique privilege to do so. So she had also indulged herself with Natsuki Subaru’s soul—and as a result, her naive ■■■■■ shattered.
Because…
“A human heart can’t endure its own death!!!”
We want to be happy.
We want to be happy. We want to be happy. We want to be happy. We want to be happy.
We want to be happy. We want to be happy. We want to be happy. We want…ed to be happy.
We wanted to be happy.
That was what Louis Arneb had always pictured, and what she had wished for all this time.
She had the right to use her power to trample anything and everything to attain the ultimate life for herself. Because she had believed that without any moral qualms, that was how she had lived to this day.
But the foundation of that assumption had crumbled.
She had wanted to be happy. But now her wish was different.
“We don’t want to die.”
We don’t want to die.
We don’t want to die. We don’t want to die. We don’t want to die.
We don’t wanna die. We don’t wanna die. We don’t wanna die. We don’t wanna die. We don’t wanna die. We don’t wanna die. We don’t wanna die. We don’t wanna die. We don’t wanna die…
“I told you when you tried to eat me.”
Slumping over and holding her head, Louis desperately tried to protect herself.
Someone stood over her, and the same voice from before reached her ears. She didn’t want to hear it. She was scared to hear it. But it was horrifying to think what might befall her if she didn’t listen.
So, terrified of dying, Louis had to listen as the voice continued.
“Like I warned you…you’ll definitely regret it.”
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