There was something I confirmed during the earlier fight.

When space melts or shatters, everything within that space meets the same fate.

If it shatters like glass, everything inside breaks too. When it melts, everything inside fuses together like metal in a furnace.

That's why I grabbed Nirras's neck with my wounded hand and collapsed the space around us.

What happens when two people are in the same space, like a collapsing building?

Though they're completely separate entities, if crushed by something heavy falling from above, they become indistinguishable.

Blood, flesh, all mixed together randomly, bones shattered and scattered everywhere. Internal organs, being much softer than the exterior, would become even harder to distinguish.

In reality, even then, you couldn't say two beings had become one entity. They'd just be different objects mixed together in the same space.

But what if the space itself containing them were to be crushed?

Not just two objects overlapping and grinding together, but the very concept of space itself collapsing.

"I see," Nirras said with a smile.

"Planning to fight me for influence?"

I didn't bother answering.

Or rather, I had no time to answer. Nirras was greedily sucking me in, more intensely than I had anticipated.

I could hear the screams of the other personalities maintaining my body.

Parts of me not touching Nirras were slowly splitting apart. Areas that should be flesh and bone were slowly separating, becoming like strands of hair.

"Kotone!"

Yuka shouted and tried to swing her sword, but Nirras moved my body to block her.

"Excellent."

Then she spoke to me.

The mouth on her sideways-twisted head grinned.

"I wonder how far your thoughts extend. I'd like to see them through to the end."

Whether she knew my thoughts or not...

Whether she was deliberately limiting herself, or if I was somehow at the level of an Outer God and she couldn't read my mind, I wasn't sure.

Even if I knew whether she could read my thoughts or not, my options were extremely limited.

Simply cutting her wouldn't defeat Nirras, who kept regenerating endlessly. So I had to bet on the option that wasn't zero, however small the probability.

"Kotone!"

I heard Koko's scream.

Koko's body was partially collapsing. She was swinging her arm, which she had allowed to collapse while maintaining the rest of herself.

But Nirras couldn't be completely blocked even with blue flames. She wasn't an opponent Koko could handle with her body.

"Koko."

I turned my body around.

My right hand was still caught by Nirras, so I could barely look back.

But still, I could reach out.

Koko, who had stepped in front of Yuka, continued to cry.

"Kotone..."

Could she sense what was about to happen?

Koko pleaded tearfully.

Could she escape being pulled in if she got away now?

Parts of her body were collapsing, but still...

"..."

But I only touched Koko's face with my left hand.

I gently wiped away her flowing tears.

Then I turned my gaze to Yuka.

"Yuka. Please take care of Koko."

"Kotone!"

Who shouted at the end—was it Koko or Yuka?

No, judging by the overlapping voices, it seems both of them cried out.

I saw Yuka rush to Koko and embrace her waist, and then my consciousness collapsed.

*

No, it hadn't completely collapsed.

Light still flickered before my eyes. Like fireflies glowing in the dark night, they wavered, guiding me forward little by little.

Without a body, I followed.

Light moved toward light, and slowly my surroundings brightened.

There was a door.

A wide-open door.

Was this a door Nirras had opened to lure me?

Or was it a memory my mind had conjured to maintain sanity, thanks to the Sasaki siblings' blood?

Either way, it was excruciating.

That memory I had tried so hard to avoid was unfolding before me.

The warning sound from the car was blaring loudly. The horn wouldn't stop. It wasn't someone deliberately honking, but the sound of something heavy pressing down on it continuously.

"..."

People were rushing around.

Someone who had stopped their car and opened the door to see what was happening.

Someone running with a stretcher to transport the injured as quickly as possible.

Someone taking out a fire hose from a fire truck to extinguish the flames on a car, and someone controlling the onlookers who had stopped to watch.

The memory of that day was terribly vivid.

I walked forward slowly. There was nothing else I could do.

I was still afraid to recall what I would see.

But—this was just a memory, wasn't it? What was happening outside was reality.

Whatever happened to me here, if I couldn't do what needed to be done, I would regret it even in death.

As long as my mind remained, I would.

Thinking that, I tried to run forward when someone suddenly blocked my path.

"Wait. Not that way."

It was just like in my dream—

No, it was a little different from then.

My colleague and I were almost the same height. When we stood face to face, our eyes were at nearly the same level.

But now I was looking up at my colleague.

I raised my hand and examined it.

I wasn't wearing firefighter gear, but a black sailor uniform.

The uniform of the high school I attended.

My body wasn't that of an adult male, but of a somewhat youthful girl.

"This way."

My colleague guided me as if unaware of my transformation.

I followed behind in a somewhat dazed state.

"...Don't think too deeply about it right now."

As I followed, my colleague spoke.

It was a very concerned voice.

This is a bit different from my memory then. Why?

"Listen carefully."

After walking for a while, my colleague suddenly turned to me with a serious expression.

"So, don't think too deeply. Right now... just think about the people who are left. Understand?"

My colleague placed a hand on my shoulder.

Slightly bending at the waist and looking at me with a serious expression, he seemed unaware that my body had changed.

Well, this is a scene from my memory.

Perhaps it's what I wish had happened.

Pat, pat.

After gently patting my shoulder, my colleague ran off.

Probably going to rescue people.

I watched his retreating figure, then continued on my way.

An ambulance was parked some distance from the accident scene.

This wasn't much different from my memory.

But what had my colleague wanted to tell me? What was here?

At the time, I was in shock. Even though my family was in that state, I had a job to do, so I ran around frantically.

The grief and despair came later.

Now I felt calmer.

Because I had gained as much as I had lost in that world. In that world, I was living quite happily.

"..."

My footsteps halted.

I could clearly see what was in the ambulance.

There was... naturally, a person.

A rescued person.

A young woman, who could have just started university, sitting at the entrance of the ambulance with a hospital blanket over her shoulders and soot on her face.

She was nodding as she briefly spoke with a rescue worker, then she saw me.

And her eyes widened in surprise.

I couldn't say anything.

I walked toward the ambulance with slightly staggering steps.

I hadn't looked at photos for a long time. After the accident, looking at pictures was so painful it felt like my heart was being torn apart, so I hid them deep in a desk drawer and rarely took them out.

Naturally, it was even more so after moving to another world. There weren't even any photos to look at.

As I approached, my younger sister stared at me.

Would she recognize me despite my appearance?

Maybe it's natural since this is my memory.

"..."

But what should I say?

This scene wasn't in the dream I had.

My sister's... face was fine. Of course it was. She was properly rescued here. Maybe the car was a little less crushed.

Dad? Mom?

I started to speak but closed my mouth.

My colleague had said earlier to think only about the people who remained.

So... even in this memory, my parents...

"...I'm sorry."

In the end, that was all I could say.

My memories are still too vivid. Is Nirras showing me this scene to deceive me, or is my subconscious trying to protect me?

"Sorry for what?"

My sister asked as if she didn't understand.

"I..."

"It couldn't be helped."

At my sister's words, I raised my gaze.

My sister was looking at me steadily.

"There was nothing you could have done."

Is she talking to me?

"It was just bad luck. Like all other unfortunate people."

My sister had quite a serious expression.

I'd seen this expression often. My sister usually made this face when talking about grades. It was incredibly annoying when she was in high school.

"What are you thinking, looking at someone's face like that?"

"..."

"By the way, that outfit suits you well."

When my sister said that, I felt strangely deflated.

This is strange.

I hadn't seen her for years, and while I wanted to meet her again, I always felt depressed and sad about my family, but now that we're actually talking... I felt odd.

"Girls' high school?"

"...Yeah, something like that."

I answered.

A strange flatness.

Was it because she was my "little sister"?

The guilt, sadness, and despair I felt just moments ago were strangely faint.

Even this situation didn't feel particularly serious.

My sister, with a playful smile, looked at me and said:

"That's impressive. You read manga so diligently that you ended up inside one."

"...It's not manga."

I glared at my sister and said:

"It's a novel."

"The covers are basically the same as manga. The content was probably similar too."

"..."

I couldn't deny it.

I ended up smiling a little.

And belatedly, my heart ached.

Yes, this kind of conversation was something only my sister and I could have.

Neither Koko, nor Yuka, nor anyone else I'd met could replace my sister. This child had shared my childhood.

We knew so much about each other.

When I bought my sister a watch, it was actually partly to tease her.

Despite complaining, my sister had a kind heart and couldn't bring herself to throw away gifts, so she used it. She never once called me "big brother," but I often felt that she considered me an important family member.

So I had prepared two gifts for my sister's college entrance. One was a wristwatch that had little meaning beyond telling time.

The other was a laptop my sister had been eagerly looking at even before entering college.

...Though I never got to give her the laptop.

Somewhat ridiculously, my sister liked the wristwatch I gave her. She was wearing it even in her final moments, so she must have found it useful.

"..."

She was wearing it on her wrist now, too.

"Why do you look so pained?"

"I—"

"What, are you planning to follow me?"

My sister frowned.

It was the expression she made whenever I did something she disliked. Seeing it now, I remembered each detail vividly.

"It's not time for that yet, is it?"

My sister said as she put the blanket she had been wearing over her shoulders back in the car and jumped down.

"You..."

"What?"

"No, it's just..."

Was it because she was my sister from my memories?

Looking at that strangely vivid face, I felt odd.

It didn't feel like I was recalling a memory, but rather like I was seeing a "scene that evoked memories."

"Don't tell me—"

As I was about to speak, my sister's lips curled into a slightly playful smile.

This too was an expression my sister used to make.

"Not yet."

My sister said firmly.

"You still want to be there, don't you?"

I couldn't say anything.

It really felt like my sister was speaking to me.

I remembered a bit late.

Kosuzu, who had absorbed Nirras's body, had become a bridge between the world of the living and the dead.

There were many spirits who had crossed over through that body.

How many yokai had I cut down? Because of that battle, Yuka, Koko, and I had become too exhausted to move—

"W-wait, wait a minute."

I called out urgently.

Now I was beginning to understand.

The reason my body was different from my past life's body,

The reason I now had "Kurosawa Kotone's body."

Now I—

"No."

My sister cut me off.

And she held out one hand.

"Not yet. Let's talk later. Be honest. Do we have anything worth talking about right now?"

At my sister's words, I recalled countless memories.

"I—"

"Stories about how you locked yourself in your room and wallowed in misery after Mom, Dad, and I died? Seriously? You're planning to go on about such depressing things after meeting again after so long? Isn't that a bit much?"

Tears welled up in my eyes.

"And it's not like you have many new stories to tell yet... They'd probably run out after an hour or two of sitting face to face."

My sister came up to me and slowly placed both her hands on my shoulders.

"So, go."

Her hands gently applied pressure.

"It's not time to come yet."

My body was pushed slightly.

I felt a floating sensation, and I was slowly pushed backward.

"And you know what, honestly, I already know most of those stories. I've been watching."

"Ah..."

My sister laughed playfully.

Her face grew more distant little by little.

"Don't worry too much. It wasn't painful. Just... a bit boring here."

My sister said.

Koko's body contained countless memories.

Many consciousnesses torn apart, from somewhere other than this world—

"You mean, all this time!?"

I shouted.

But my sister was already beyond my reach.

"No!"

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

My sister said as if bewildered.

"We've been together! I haven't been able to say anything until now!"

"That's why I'm telling you to go."

My sister took a step back.

The surrounding scenery began to distort slightly. And one by one, it slowly started to collapse.

Just like the scene of space collapsing that I had witnessed earlier.

"From now on, we'll be far apart. We're used to it anyway. We were always far apart."

That's right.

Separated by the realms of life and death.

"So... let's meet next time. That would be better."

"Please...!"

I struggled to reach out, but the distance only grew.

The scenery had completely collapsed and distorted, turning black.

All I could see was my sister.

Just my sister, growing more distant.

"...So, let's meet much later. In the distant future. You need to bring lots of stories then."

"I still have things I couldn't give you—"

"I know."

My sister said.

"But I already received them."

She raised her hand to show me. There was a small wristwatch.

"This was enough."

My sister said.

"I've received plenty. This time, I'm giving to you."

My sister, waving to me as I drifted away, was smiling.

No, she also looked like she was crying.

Am I losing her again, this time too?

Even if I reached out, even if I tried to go there, I couldn't go back.

I was drifting away too quickly, like falling from a great height.

"It was nice to see you after so long."

In a small voice, barely audible as her face grew too distant, my sister said:

"This time, please just be happy."

With those playful words, I regained consciousness.

*

The first thing I felt was pain.

Various parts of my body felt hot and stuck together.

"How strange."

Nirras said in a puzzled voice.

"That you could emerge from within, I wonder what went wrong."

"Nothing went wrong."

I said.

My hand stretched out.

Though it hurt as if my entire body was on fire, I could move.

We probably didn't look very normal right now.

My body was on fire.

It was the blue fire I had seen many times before.

It probably didn't ignite immediately when my body was absorbed.

It must have reignited as my consciousness returned.

"Kotone!"

I heard a voice filled with complex emotions.

I moved forward.

Nirras was resisting as if she didn't want to move.

My face. My body.

And Nirras connected to the back.

"Yuka! Koko!"

When I called, Yuka got up and ran over.

Koko rose from her place a little later.

Injured all over, she seemed to be struggling.

I "felt" Nirras trying to get up. As if our two bodies had become one—

No, they were already one. The fact that my consciousness was moving separately was itself an anomaly.

I looked up at the sky.

The distorted space was gradually returning to its original form.

"Hahaha!"

Nirras laughed.

"I see, so that was your thought!"

She was still trying to go in the opposite direction as if unwilling to let me go easily, but at the same time, I could feel her joy.

Not joy that I felt, but joy that Nirras felt.

"Yes, this was the 'narrative'!"

With Nirras's cheerful laughter in the background, Yuka ran to me.

Yes, this was the narrative.

—You will die.

I died. Twice. Both times by someone I trusted.

And so, the world came to this situation.

Despite preparing so many weapons, a horrific future where time freezes and space melts away without a chance to use them.

All because I died.

So.

To prevent the worst in such a situation, what was needed?

—Think again.

The prophecy left by another Kudan.

To prevent future calamity, that was the way, he said.

Who would be the one to think again?

I had heard those words many times already.

But in the end, the future didn't change, and we ended up in this situation.

...The person who needed to change their thinking had to be someone who could definitively resolve this situation now.

In the distance, I saw Kagami barely managing to get up.

Was it because she saw my expression?

She even threw aside the mirror she had been preciously holding and staggered toward me.

She looked so desperate.

I barely held onto my melting body and consciousness.

How would I look to Yuka?

Wouldn't it be too horrific?

...I was so sorry to show her such a sight.

I stabbed my chest with my hand.

And forcibly pulled it apart sideways.

Nirras's laughter grew louder. How could she make such a laughing sound when she must be in pain too?

Earlier, Nirras had been fine even with her neck half-severed.

That's probably because her vital points are different from what ordinary people would think.

"...!"

Groaning in pain, I widened the wound further.

There was some kind of "center" there.

It looked different from a human heart. But it was beating as if circulating blood.

Perhaps this was the source of the heartbeat I felt even after our bodies had fused.

It was possible because the body was amorphous.

Yuka's expression darkened.

As if shocked by my actions, her pace slowed a little.

"Yuka, please."

I said.

There wasn't much time left to maintain this state.

Yes.

The person who needed to change their thinking had to be someone who had never changed their mind.

Whenever the topic of my life came up, Yuka always said she had "thought again."

But even so, her thoughts never changed.

Yuka had never once thought about killing me.

So—

"Yuka."

"...Kotone."

As if she didn't understand what I was saying, Yuka stopped with a blank expression.

The sword in her hand still gleamed emptily.

"...Yuka. Please."

I looked straight at Yuka and said:

"...Just think once more."