Chapter 4: What Supports You When Hope Changes to Despair

I waited alone for Kult in the empty wastes some distance from the white clayman base. And sure enough, I eventually saw him flying high up in the sky.

“Ngh... You, huh?”

He was still flying in his Battle Kult Ship, but he stopped when he saw me.

“Where’s the girl?”

He looked across the empty plains. There was no grass to duck down in, and there were no rocks to crouch behind. There was nowhere for Hibiki to hide.

“Hibiki’s not here. She’s in that base over there.”

“I see. Then I don’t need to waste any time on you. Off I...” he began.

“Bad idea,” I said.

Kult froze.

“Why’s that?”

“Did you see the people of this world? They look like dolls made out of clay. Every one of them was identical, right?”

“Hmph. What about it?”

“You got confused when there were just two Hibikis on monster mountain, right? That was because I used a certain method to transform into her. Long story short, we have a way to change our appearances.”

Hearing that, Kult started to frown and then grimaced.

“There are close to a thousand claymen just in that base. Do you have a way to pick her out of a thousand others that look just like her?”

The dowsing pendulum would only tell him the general direction of what he was looking for. It would be impossible to find Hibiki among the claymen.

“So then why wait here for me when you’ve got a way to trick me? I might take you hostage if I need to.”

Kult’s eye narrowed behind his monocle.

“I want to make a deal,” I said.

“A deal?”

“There’s a perpetual motion machine in this world called ‘Eternal Death Before Defeat.’ If you’re capable of modifying a hero’s suit of armor to make the Infinity Reviver, you should be able to use this machine of theirs to invent something to stop the heat death of your world, right?”

A perpetual motion machine was a device designed to create energy forever, so I figured Kult would be able to do something with it.

“...Is that true?”

Just as I suspected, Kult was suspicious but took the bait.

“If you think I’m lying, use your crystal ball to see for yourself.”

If “Eternal Death Before Defeat” was a real perpetual motion machine, it would be what Kult wanted. It should show up in his crystal ball.

Kult took out his crystal ball and chanted a spell.

“‘Eternal Death Before Defeat’ is a huge wooden box with a dragon motif?”

“Yeah, that’s it,” I nodded. “If you’re willing to steal it, we’ll help you. With our help, you can turn into a clayman and get close to it, for one thing.”

“I see,” he said. “And what do you want in return?”

“Glad to see you understand. We want two things. One is to wake up Harissa, the girl you put to sleep with one of your capsules. The other is to lend us the Infinity Reviver for a while.”

With the perpetual motion machine, Kult could stop the imminent heat death of his world. And by stealing it, we could stop the claymen from destroying their world. Infinity Reviver was originally intended to turn one’s Fate Ratio into power. We’d use it to fight the giant nine-tailed fox, and Kokomo could seal it once it was weakened.

That was the plan I’d come up with to solve all three stories. But if we couldn’t get Kult on board, the whole plan was doomed.

He glared at me with stern eyes.

“I don’t need to go through all the trouble of stealing the perpetual motion machine. I can just take you hostage. There’s nothing in this deal for me.”

Of course. That’s how this was going to go down.

I wanted to save all three stories, but Kult was only interested in his own world. There was no point in him agreeing to help us.

But...

“There is,” I said.

“Oh? And what’s that?”

“You won’t have to sacrifice Hibiki.”

“...?”

Kult titled his head in confusion.

“You’re not a bad person.” I spoke with certainty. “You were upset when you hit Harissa with the sleep capsule. You didn’t mean to do it. That’s what left you vulnerable then.”

Without that opening, the bottle of spices I threw wouldn’t have hit him.

“...”

Kult still said nothing.

He’d tried to sacrifice Hibiki because, at that point, there was no other way to save his world. He thought the Infinity Reviver was his last hope.

“If you’ve got a way to avoid sacrificing anyone, you should be willing to do what it takes,” I continued. “We’ll help you get the perpetual motion machine first. Once you’ve seen for sure that you can use it to save your world, you can lend us the Infinity Reviver. There’s no risk for you.”

After I said my piece, I fell silent.

Now it was up to Kult to make the decision.

Honestly, it was easier for him to use me as bait to catch Hibiki than to steal that huge engine. Even if he wasn’t risking anything, it was still extra work. And all he’d get for his trouble was Hibiki’s life. The life of a girl who had nothing to do with him at all.

Just looking objectively at what he had to lose versus what he stood to gain, this was a bad bet for him. I was just counting on Kult’s conscience. But still, I decided to trust my intuition. Based on the tiny glimpses of what I’d seen, Kult wasn’t a bad guy.

“...Very well.”

And my trust paid off.

“I see... Thanks.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I just decided it was faster than chasing you around everywhere. If I can’t get my hands on that perpetual motion machine, I’ll be after you again.”

“I know.”

I asked Kult to wait while I went to the base to get Hibiki. Step one was a success. I’d convinced Kult, but that didn’t mean we were out of the woods yet.

“Rekka, is it really okay to solve the stories like this?” R asked as she followed behind me. Her face was probably more expressionless than usual.

“...”

But I didn’t have an answer for her.

▽

Kult fiddled with his ring to summon the blue door.

“First, I will make the preparations to steal the perpetual motion machine.”

“Roger that.”

“Yeah.”

Hibiki and I nodded, and Kult reached for the blue door... or actually, for a small, red button on its side.

“Kult, what’s that button?”

“It’s a compressed memory button. It can recall the locations of the last three worlds visited. It will also return you to my lab.”

“Huh...”

So I guess the door had more functionality than just the dial on the knob. Well, that made sense. It would be a pain to have to mess with the dial each time he wanted to go to the same world.

Wait. Did that mean...?

“If you’d noticed that button, we could’ve gone right back to Earth,” Hibiki said, narrowing her eyes at me.

“...Sorry.” I bowed my head in embarrassment.

“All right, let’s go,” Kult said as he stepped through the door.

We followed suit. After the usual vertigo, I landed gloriously on the lab floor.

“Gwah!”

And by gloriously, I mean face first.

Why were the two of them looking at me like I was an idiot? And why was I the only one who couldn’t stick the landing?!

“You’re hopeless, huh, Rekka?” Even R was on my case about it.

...I was starting to think she might be right.

I stood up, feeling self-conscious.

“S-So, what preparations do we have to make?”

“Hmm, first I need to make the inventions I need in the workshop on the second floor, and then...”

BEEEEEP! BEEEEEP!

A loud noise echoed through the whole laboratory, drowning out Kult’s voice.

“Hey, what’s that sound?” Hibiki shouted as she covered her ears.

“The alarm from the first floor...?” Kult gasped and went pale. “Meifa!”

Kult yelled his lover’s name as he frantically ran to the capsule on the first floor where she slept.

Hibiki and I nodded at each other and followed after him again. I headed to the big room where I knew the sleeping pod was. Hibiki entered right behind me.

We both froze.

“Meifa! Meifa! Don’t die on me!”

Kult was in the middle of the room, clutching his sleeping lover in his arms. Looming over them was a demon perched atop the broken sleeping capsule.

“Heh. New guests.” The demon spoke more fluidly than I expected.

But despite his human speech, there was depravity in his smile. His mouth split his face from ear to ear, and I could see red gums and fangs inside. His lidless eyes shone with a red light. Rock-like horns grew out of either side of his head, and thick, armored skin covered his whole body. On his back were enormous, leathery wings.

I didn’t even need to ask. This was the guy who’d almost destroyed Kult’s world.

“The Demon Who Eats Darkness... Zolphiakd.”

“Oh? You’re not even from this world, and you know my name?”

“How did you know we’re from another world?!” I yelled.

“That is a trivial matter.” Zolphiakd’s lips curled up in a grin as he fiddled with something in his hand.

It was the pendant that Meifa had been wearing. The last time I saw it, the jewel was white, but now it was foggy and black with a big crack in it.

“Oh!”

I suddenly remembered how I’d seen a dark smoke swirling over Meifa’s chest while Hibiki and I were fighting here before. Grr... Even if Kult was on our case then, how could I have seen such an obvious sign and not even considered that possibility?

“It was quite the challenge, breaking this seal... But it was good entertainment, Kult Graphimore,” the demon said as he tossed the necklace to Kult’s feet.

The black jewel bounced off the floor and shattered.

“How... How did you break the seal?” Kult glared at the demon as he spoke.

“Simple. The mind of the woman you used as the vessel was linked with my own via dreams. I just used that connection to feed her nightmares.”

“Nightmares...?”

“Indeed. I devoured the darkness energy that was born of those nightmares and used that to destroy the seal.”

Kult had said that darkness energy was the source of misery and disaster, but apparently it could even be produced from dreams. So even negative emotions had a “darkness” to them that he could consume?

“Then you made Meifa suffer even as she slept?”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. Being sealed away diminished my power significantly. I simply took the darkness already within that girl’s heart and turned it into nightmares.”

“Meifa’s darkness...?”

“Do you really think that she became the sealing vessel and fell into eternal sleep without the slightest bit of regret?”

“That’s impossible... Meifa... Meifa chose to protect this world!”

“When humans wish to ignore what they don’t want to see, they hide behind meaningless words like ‘resolve.’ There is darkness everywhere, which means despair and misery are always there, lurking under the surface. Mankind—the very world itself—is overshadowed with anguish. In the face of such overwhelming darkness, how does a hollow word like ‘resolve’ have any meaning at all?”

Kult went pale when he heard the demon’s whisper.

“In her dream, she spoke endlessly of her hatred for you.”

“N-No...!”

I could see the strength drain from Kult’s body. His eyes, which had once shone with a strong desire to save the world, were now as bleak and empty as a dead fish’s.

The demon saw this and laughed, and then turned to us.

“Now then, visitors from another world. Will you entertain me too?” Zolphiakd asked joyfully, the red light gleaming in his dark eyes.

“Tch...!”

Just seeing him look at me made my skin crawl. It was the same terror I’d felt when I stood against the Demon King and Bahamut. If I let my guard down, he’d crush me like an insect in an instant.

“Hibiki... Run to the Infinity Reviver.”

The modified suit of hero’s armor from another world, the Infinity Reviver, still stood in the corner of the room. If there was any way for us to survive this, it probably involved Hibiki getting inside of it.

“But what if he tries to stop us?”

“I’ll distract him.”

“But...!”

“There’s no other way,” I insisted.

Hibiki looked bitter.

“It’s too dangerous! If you die...”

“I won’t die. I promised, right?” I managed a smile for her. “Go!”

At my signal, we both broke into a run. I went for Zolphiakd, and Hibiki went for the Infinity Reviver.

“So you would fight me?” The demon laughed.

“Hyaaahh!” I forced myself to scream and formed a fist with all my might.

“Have you steeled yourself with your ‘resolve’ to die?” Zolphiakd grinned.

In that instant, a terrifying chill ran down my spine.

I could barely stand. My fist almost came undone. My body froze.

“...Gah!”

I forced my hand into a fist again. This was all I had. I clenched both hands hard now and screamed at my shaking knees. There was no way I could win, but I had to go forward.

Zolphiakd just stood there. Grinning. Unmoving. I forced all my strength into my arms and threw my fist at him.

“—!”

I missed.

“Heh. I told you. Even if you’re willing to die, your petty resolve means nothing.”

I heard that ominous whisper in my ears, then the cold terror I’d felt emanating from Zolphiakd disappeared. I fell forward and slammed headlong into the sleeping capsule. The shattered glass dug into my body, and I was instantly drenched in my own blood.

“Damn it!”

I ignored the blood and jumped up. But by that time, it was too late.

“Hibiki!”

She was in Zolphiakd’s arms. She wasn’t moving, but she looked unharmed. Evidently he’d just knocked her out, but...!

“This is what despair means, child.”

“You bastard... Gwah!”

As I tried to run forward, there was a horrible pain in my thigh.

Damn it, the glass must’ve cut deeper than I’d thought! It was stuck in my leg. I reached down to pull it out, but...

I felt something unpleasant deep within my flesh.

“Gwaaahh! Aaah!”

A cold sensation shot up through the lower half of my body and welled up in my gut. It made me want to throw up. I yanked the glass shard out with a nasty noise, and blood started to flow freely from the gaping wound.

I couldn’t... stand up!

“Look at yourself.” Zolphiakd stared down at me from a position of absolute power. And then his gaze fell on Hibiki. “Hmph. I suppose she’ll entertain me until I find my next game.”

“Game? Entertain you?”

“Indeed. This whole world only exists to amuse me.”

“You... You tried to destroy this world just for fun?!”

“That’s a small matter... compared to the sin of boring me,” he said in the same creepy whisper. “I certainly hope this girl can provide me some source of amusement. Once I’m bored of her, I’ll just kill her.”

“You asshole!” I screamed. But I still couldn’t stand. “Damn it...!”

Was this the end?

“Heheh. Now then, I think it’s time to go outside. I’m free now, after all.” Zolphiakd cracked his knuckles as he spoke.

Instantly, he was shrouded in a massive explosion.

“What?”

There was a flash of black light as I was blown back.

“Gwah!”

After a few seconds of an odd floating sensation, my back hit the ground hard.

What just happened...?

For a moment, the shock blinded me, and it was difficult to hear anything. It sounded like something was collapsing far away.

“...Oh.”

The blackness finally started to recede from my vision. The first thing I saw was scorched grass.

My throat was hot. It hurt to breathe.

The wind on my skin told me that I’d been blown outside. I craned my neck to see that Kult’s lab was mostly destroyed. The building looked like it had been split in two from inside, and flames were rising out of it. Here and there I could see rubble on the ground.

“Gaah...”

Kult was lying right next to me, bleeding from his face. He must’ve tried to protect Meifa during the blast. His monocle was cracked, and half of the lens was missing. Even in his despair, he’d defended the woman he loved while I hadn’t been able to protect Hibiki, my partner, at all.

I bit my lip hard, feeling useless. The taste of a loser’s blood spread across my tongue.

Zolphiakd came waltzing out of the burning lab at a slow, leisurely pace. Hibiki was still in his arms, thankfully unhurt.

“Oh? What’s this?” Zolphiakd seemed confused when he saw the walls of light. “Hmm, I see. I thought something seemed strange. So this world is already doomed, then? How boring.”

His confusion didn’t last for long. As soon as he understood the state the world was in, he started to look around.

“Hmm? And what’s that?”

Zolphiakd gestured in the air with his fingers, and the red door slid over to him from the wreckage of the lab.

“Hmm... I can feel faint traces of otherworldly energy from beyond this door. It’s connected, then?”

He quickly realized what the red door was for. Since he was an energy-eating demon, maybe he was sensitive to subtle differences in energy? Come to think of it, he’d instantly been able to tell that Hibiki and I were from another world too.

He reached out for the red door, and I heard a crunching sound. The dial along with the doorknob were crushed in his hands.

Zolphiakd clicked his tongue in frustration and threw aside the damaged parts. He then tried pressing the recall button on the side of the door, but crushed that as well.

“Hmm... It’s been so long since I’ve had a body that it’s hard to control my strength,” he whispered calmly.

Unexpectedly, however, the red door crackled with electricity. The air around it started to twist and bend. Three holes, something like wormholes, appeared in the distorted space. They converged over the door, and the door itself started to crack. The cracks became bigger and bigger until...

SNAP!

There was a sound like space itself was splitting, and the warped area around the door burst, rapidly covering everything in sight.

▽

At this point, I’d lost count of how many times today my body had gone through this weird sensation, but this time was the worst by far.

“Gwaaaaahh!”

It felt like a giant had grabbed my head and my feet, and was trying to wring my body out like a rag. There was no pain; it just felt like my insides were being shaken out. But the feeling didn’t last long.

“Gaah!”

I hit the back of my head. Hard. Once again, I’d screwed up the landing.

I opened my eyes to find myself staring into a clear blue sky. I turned my head a little. I could still see the ruins of Kult’s lab.

“Huh?”

I hadn’t switched worlds after all? That was impossible. The sensation of passing through the door was so unique. I was sure that’s what I’d felt.

What was going on?

I looked around and saw Kult nearby, lying on top of Meifa to shield her. At least he was safe. The Infinity Reviver was lying next to him too.

“Oh, right! Where’s Hibiki?!”

...And where had Zolphiakd gone?

“Heh. Who are you looking for?”

“You—Gah!” I screamed.

I stood up, ignoring the burning pain in my back, and gritted my teeth as I looked up at the sky. Zolphiakd was flapping the wings on his back as he hovered in the air above me, still holding Hibiki. He was looking to the left and right.

“This is quite an interesting world, isn’t it? Is that a skirmish going on over there? What curious creatures. And they’re fighting over there too... Hmm, the creatures of this world are all very different.”

“...?”

What was he talking about? We hadn’t gone anywhere. We were still at Kult’s lab. I looked up at Zolphiakd and tried as hard as I could to figure out what he meant... and then I realized something was wrong.

A blue sky? That was impossible. Kult’s world was covered with a dome of light. There was no way I could be seeing the sky.

And Kult’s world was really tiny, so why could I see so far into the distance? Not to mention that the neat, green lawns and bushes suddenly cut off, disappearing into a barren wasteland. But then I heard what sounded like people yelling from beyond the wasteland...

“No way!”

I could see a flash of something on the horizon, like it was reflecting light... The claymen!

“Then are we in the claymen’s world?”

Had Zolphiakd destroying the door moved Kult’s whole world to the clayman world? Is that why there was grass in the wasteland? Just as the thought crossed my mind, I was interrupted by the sound of another explosion from the opposite direction.

“Now what?!”

I turned around and was astonished all over again.

There was a mountain. Of course, Kult’s perfectly manicured garden world didn’t have any mountains.

Then I could hear the familiar, creepy laughter of nuts. I could see pillars of flame and localized blizzards rising up from the tree line, as well as huge gouges out of the mountainside that looked like they were made by massive, invisible blades.

It was the Japanese monsters again, and I could see what they were fighting even from where I was standing. It was a huge beast—the crazed nine-tailed fox.

“Monster mountain’s here too...”

There was no doubt about it.

“Three worlds have gathered into one?”

It was the only explanation.

No, wait. There was something I still hadn’t considered, but it was because my mind was refusing to acknowledge the possibility. Because it... It just wasn’t fair...

I’d left everyone to keep something like this from happening. So... why?!

“...”

I looked up at R, as if entrusting her with my last hope. I wished with all my heart that she’d deny it. But...

“Yeah, it’s exactly what you’re thinking, Rekka. It appears that the door’s recall function, well, malfunctioned. Now all three worlds have appeared on Earth.” R’s voice was as calm as ever.

She went on to explain a little more. I caught bits and pieces of things like “probably in the Pacific” and “the door was small, so it only took a portion of each world.” But none of that mattered.

Compared to the despair before me, I...

“I...”

The nine-tailed fox was still on a rampage. The “Eternal Death Before Defeat” device was still threatening to blow up and destroy the world. And then there was Zolphiakd, the darkness-eating demon.

I’d brought all three of these calamities home to Earth.

“Why... Why did this happen?!” I screamed.

I wasn’t even sure what I was feeling, but it was threatening to drive me crazy, so I just kept screaming. Maybe I was crying. Or maybe that was just the blood dripping from my forehead.

“I think it’s time for me to go,” Zolphiakd said coldly.

“W-Wait!” I yelled.

But the demon only laughed at me.

“I refuse. There are all kinds of spectacles around here to entertain me. I’m going to watch. You may do as you’d like, though I doubt you’ll last long with those wounds.”

With the blood in my eyes, I literally saw red as I watched Zolphiakd fly away.

“Damn it all...!”

I stretched out my hand as if to reach out and catch him, but before I could take two steps, the pain in my leg caused me to stumble to the ground. Blood was still pouring out.

My legs were getting heavier and colder...

Come to think of it, I read something in a manga once about an important artery in your thigh...

Was I... going to die...? Everything was slowly... going black...

“Rekka. Are you still alive?”

God, was she ever casual about it...

“I’m still alive... somehow...”

“Oh, glad to hear it,” R said as she looked down at me.

“You need something?” I asked bitterly.

“Rekka, you’re not going to run?”

“...You mean you want me to just give up on all this and run away?”

“No, I’m neutral. I’m just asking, you know?”

“Ugh...”

At least she was the same as ever.

But... what was she really saying? That I should run? After dragging three different potential cataclysms to Earth?

I didn’t have anyone to help me this time. I was all alone and nearly dead.

Did she really think there was anything I could do now? Or that if there wasn’t, I should just run? Yeah... That would be the normal thing to do, wouldn’t it?

“Hell no... I’m not running.”

But instead, the words that came out of my mouth were the exact opposite.

Even if running was, objectively, the common-sense thing to do, there was no way I was going to. That wasn’t the kind of “normal” I wanted!

“I see. But the plan you came up with earlier didn’t include saving Kokomo’s mother or the white claymen, did it?”

“...!”

She had a point.

I’d only planned on sealing away the nine-tailed fox, and I had no way of ending the war or the discrimination against the white claymen. My plan was just an attempt to avoid the worst possible outcome.

That was my limit. It was all I could think of.

But it didn’t matter now. I was at death’s door, and Hibiki was gone. I wasn’t going to be able to keep my promise to her after all.

Damn it all...

I couldn’t move my legs. I could hardly even see. There was nothing I could do.

Nothing...

Not a thing...

I couldn’t do anything on my own...

“Oh, looks like they made it in time,” R suddenly whispered. “Hmph. I guess maybe it was worth buying time with that meaningless conversation. It would’ve been bad if you were unconscious by the time they got here.”

What was she saying now?

I moved my head just a bit, and I could see a light through my closed eyelids... Dawn had long since broken on Earth, and the morning sun was climbing high into the sky.

Then I could sense what felt like someone landing right beside me.

“Rekka.”

At first, I couldn’t believe the voice saying my name was real.

“Huh?”

I looked up, but the blood and tears kept me from seeing what was right in front of me.

I did my best to wipe them away. When my vision started to clear, I saw Satsuki, Iris, Harissa, Tetra, and Lea... all standing there in the sun.

“What are you doing here...?”

“Did you forget what kind of magic I have?”

She meant the great Magic of Omniscience, which let her search through all the information in the universe.

“It’s the easiest thing in the world for me to find you,” she said.

“Aww, Sir Rekka, yer all beat up! L-Lemme take a looksee!”

Harissa panicked and ran over to me, then quickly began casting a spell. A warm light came out of her staff and started to heal the wound on my leg.

“Harissa... you’re okay?”

“Yes! Satsuki broke the spell on me!” she said happily.

“Satsuki did?”

I looked over at my childhood friend.

“That’s right. If you’d come to me for help from the start, you never would’ve gotten hurt like this,” Satsuki said, trying her best to look annoyed.

She was probably talking about how I’d left her behind to chase after Kult. Given the state I was in right now, I could see why she’d feel that way.

“Rekka, so what’s going on here? Why are a bunch of identical people on white and gold teams fighting each other? There’s all kinds of what look like space monsters fighting over there, too.”

“Yeah. Satsuki told me to come, so I did, but what’s going on here?”

Iris and Tsumiki both had the same question. On their way here, they must’ve seen all the carnage.

“...It’s my fault,” I said.

“What does that mean?” Tetra asked. I could hear her concern for me in her voice.

...I had to tell them.

“They’re all stories I got caught up in... and I brought them all to Earth...”

I could hear someone gasp. I flinched, waiting to hear the words that would follow: “What have you done?!”

“...Is that why you disappeared on your own?” Lea asked in an unexpectedly gentle voice, although she looked a little sad as she spoke. “Remember what you said when you saved me? When you can’t solve something on your own, it’s only natural to go to someone else for help.”

“Yeah... I did say that,” I replied. “I know it’s lame not to live up to my own words, but...”

I looked down, afraid to see how disappointed she must be in me.

“But... me getting caught up in stories like this is going to get all of you hurt. The blood of the Namidare means there’s nothing I can do about it... and it’s not something that just stops if I beat the bad guy, like with Bahamut. So...”

“So you disappeared on us to try and protect us?” Satsuki cut me off and glared at me.

I nodded meekly, afraid of her piercing gaze.

“That’s right... Like what happened to Harissa...”

“Harissa was fine. If you’d just talked to me before you ran off, there was an easy solution,” she said.

“Th-That’s right! I’m just fine!” Harissa said, waving both her hands at me as if to prove it.

“Rekka, do you think there’s anybody in this world who doesn’t cause trouble for other people? You’re constantly involved with other people, so of course you’re going to do the same.”

“...”

I gradually started to understand what Satsuki was trying to say. Her words began to soak in to my wounded heart. But...

I stood up on my freshly healed legs and looked back at Satsuki as firmly as I could.

“You’re ignoring the point. Somebody like me... Somebody who puts people in danger just by being around them doesn’t have the right to be with anyone at all!”

I finally said what I’d really been thinking in the back of my mind this whole time. I shouldn’t be allowed to be around other people. Especially not the people I love.

I wasn’t some saint. I wanted to be rid of this stupid bloodline. I didn’t think I could endure it... but I had to force myself to. Even if it destroyed me, I couldn’t bear to see everyone else get hurt.

But Satsuki didn’t look away, even when I screamed.

“I don’t care. You probably came to that conclusion out of selflessness, didn’t you? But you still haven’t asked us the most important thing.”

“The most important thing? What’s that?” I asked.

“Let’s say you do put us in danger just by being around us. Let’s just say you invite disaster wherever you go... That still has nothing to do with whether or not we want to be with you.”

“...!”

“Now come on. Ask us. Say ‘I’m putting you all in danger. Will you stay with me anyway?’”

“......”

I just stood there.

I didn’t even need to ask. When I looked at their faces, I could tell what kind of answer each of them would give me.

“Think about it. We knew you were caught up in something awful again, and we came here anyway. We knew it was dangerous, but we still came to help you. Tsumiki even said yes before I told her what was going on.”

“Y-You didn’t have to tell him that!” Tsumiki yelled. Her face was bright red.

But Satsuki ignored her and kept staring at me. Her eyes made me waver. I didn’t want to involve them... That’s what I’d decided... But...

“Even with the bloodline of the Namidare, I’m still just a normal kid. The day might come when I really can’t protect you.”

“I don’t care about hypotheticals,” Satsuki cut me off. “Not even the Magic of Omniscience can tell me the future. The future is something we make together, Rekka. And we all want a future where we’re with you. What about you?”

“I...”

What I wanted...? That was obvious. I knew what I wanted. I wanted to be with everybody.

That’s what I wanted to say... but when I thought about what might happen, my voice got caught in my throat. Even if I made it through this one, what about the next one? And what about the one after that? Or the one after that?

As I stood there clenching my jaw, R did an aerial flip in front of me.

“You got yourself into this, you know...”

She was now floating upside down like when we first met.

“You can run from your bloodline and all, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’ve saved them, right? Even when you grow up and lose the power of your bloodline, that’s not gonna change how they feel, now is it?”

For a brief moment, I thought I saw the tiniest sliver of emotion in R’s eyes. Was it... anger?

“Rekka, didn’t you just say you weren’t going to run? If you really meant that, then why are you running away from how they feel?”

Running away...? I hadn’t left everyone because I wanted to keep them from getting hurt... I was just running away?

“Now, why not do what Satsuki suggested and ask them?”

Was I going to run away again rather than ask them if they would stay with me? Even though I wanted to be with them?

When everybody found out how dangerous I really was, they might scorn me. They might be disappointed in me. They might tell me to stay away from them... Was that really what I’d been running from? Had I pushed them away first so that they couldn’t push me away?

“Rekka,” Satsuki said with a serious look on her face.

“Rekka.” Iris had a big smile on hers.

“Sir Rekka.” Harissa was holding her staff tightly to her chest.

“Rekka.” Tsumiki was glaring at me.

“Rekka.” Tetra was smiling.

“Rekka.” Lea gently smiled with her eyes.

But they were all looking at me.

“...You’re okay with that?”

I’m just a kid! I don’t have any power! I’m not a real hero! I might not always be able to save you! And I’m going to whine and complain along the way! Can you all accept that? Will you still stay by my side?

“It’s really okay for me to stay with all of you?”

“It is.”

The girls’ answer came back like it was the most natural thing in the world. I could feel a weight being lifted off my shoulders.

“Then...”

If everyone was going to stay by my side and protect me...

“I’ll become strong enough to protect you too!”

I balled my hands into fists again.

I was still scared. My hands and legs were still shaking. The fear of losing the things I cared about was still there. But if everyone was there to support me through my weakness...

I balled my fists up even tighter.

I was going to work for the best possible future—for me and for them. I wasn’t going to let my bloodline get the better of me. I would fight. For the sake of the people who were going to be with me. For the stories that needed my help. And right now, what I needed to fight for was...

“Hibiki...”

I looked up at the distant sky in the direction that Zolphiakd had taken her.

Hibiki Banjo, the girl with a bloodline just like mine... She was the reason that I’d left everyone behind in the first place, but now I was back together with them.

That meant Hibiki was alone again. That wasn’t okay. She was a normal kid, just like me. She needed someone by her side too. And if that was my job, then... world-ending weapons of mass destruction, insane monsters, wars, terrifying demons... I would defeat them all.

I looked around, taking in for a moment how much everything had changed. That’s when I saw the Infinity Reviver again.

“...!”

In an instant, everything clicked.

There were limits to the plan I had come up with on my own, but if everyone would help me, we could smash through those limits together.

The story of Kult and Meifa... The story of the nine-tailed foxes... The story of the claymen... If we worked together, we could save them all!

“Please, everyone, help me!”