"That must have been a dream, right?"
Subaru Natsuki clutched his head in terror. Everything just now had been far too real—so real that he kept denying it was a dream in his heart, completely forgetting to wonder why he would have such a dream in the first place.
"I still need to find the beautiful girl who summoned me."
Thinking of this, Subaru Natsuki regained his spirit. Ignoring the gazes of the people around him, he walked forward.
"Watch out!"
A shout suddenly came from behind him. Subaru Natsuki stopped; the voice seemed to be calling him. He subconsciously looked back, and then he lost consciousness.
"Is it a dream again!?"
Seeing the familiar scenery before him, Subaru Natsuki's face became even more terrified. Once was one thing, but what was going on with this second time!
Someone called out to me earlier—was it a warning?!
Is someone really trying to kill me?! Is it those maids? The pair of maids who appeared in what he first thought was a dream flashed through his mind. Subaru Natsuki clutched his face in pain, his brain racing to figure out what to do. He couldn't take that path again; he would die!
With that thought, Subaru Natsuki didn't stay in place. He hurriedly ran in the opposite direction. Along the way, he bumped into many people, but he paid no heed to the curses reaching his ears. He just kept running. He didn't know if those maids were chasing him, and he didn't dare look back to check; he just ran with all his might.
"Huff... No... huff... I can't run anymore."
Drenched in sweat, Subaru Natsuki leaned against a dilapidated, shady wall. The intense exercise had quickly overtaxed his body, which had grown weak from being a shut-in for so long.
"They haven't caught up, have they?"
Subaru Natsuki carefully peered from around the wall...
With his body and mind finally relaxing, Subaru Natsuki's body, which was already near its limit, slid down the wall and sat on the ground.
"Why do they want to kill me?" Subaru Natsuki stared at the floor, which was covered in a bit of moss, his mind racing as he tried to figure something out, but in the end, he had no clue.
Instead, Subaru Natsuki began to think about why he, who should have been killed by those twin maids, was alive again.
"Could it be that my superpower is the ability to resurrect? Like saving and loading in a game? But why would it be an ability like this?"
Subaru Natsuki's expression immediately turned bitter. At the thought of his ability requiring death as a prerequisite—even if it was a type of superpower—he really couldn't bring himself to be happy about it. After all, he had already been killed twice in the time up until now.
"Damn it!"
Frustratedly clutching his hair, Subaru Natsuki was in a terrible mood.
"Was this ability given to me by the beautiful girl who summoned me? Can't I get something powerful right away?!"
Whiz!
The sound of whistling wind reached him. Before Subaru Natsuki could see what was happening, a surge of intense pain spread through his body. He didn't even have time to scream before everything before his eyes plunged into boundless darkness.
"That's three times. It's your turn, Sister."
Rem looked at Subaru Natsuki, who had been turned into mangled flesh, her eyes showing no ripple of emotion, as if she had just done something perfectly ordinary.
"Mhm, let's change locations. Lady Fujino said not to let this person break too soon," Ram said with a flat expression from the side, not even glancing at the thoroughly dead Subaru Natsuki.
"Alright, Sister."
"I died again."
Before his eyes was that familiar scenery. Although it was still just as beautiful, in Subaru Natsuki's eyes at this moment, it was a terrifying sight; it meant he had died once more.
Why?! Why?!
How did those twin maids find me again?! No! I have to escape!
Subaru Natsuki's eyes were now bloodshot. Death is undoubtedly terrifying to anyone, and for Subaru Natsuki, who had now died three times, it was becoming something he could almost no longer bear.
Subaru Natsuki's current appearance was seen perfectly by Fujino from a distance. Seeing that Subaru Natsuki's mind was nearing its limit, Fujino sent another message to Ram and Rem.
The corners of Fujino's mouth curled up into a charming smile as her gaze remained fixed on Subaru Natsuki.
"It's not over yet. Enjoy it slowly."
Hum!
A ripple suddenly came from the surrounding space. Fujino's expression remained unchanged as she waved her hand and struck at a patch of space, causing the fluctuating space to immediately return to normal.
"Satella, don't meddle in things that don't concern you."
Fujino's voice traveled through layers of space into the one where Satella was. Satella fell silent instantly, and the magic power radiating around her was withdrawn back into her body.
"A child in need of a lesson."
Fujino shook her head and laughed. In Fujino's view, Satella was exactly like that. If she didn't still have to torment Subaru Natsuki for a while, she would have gone to Satella's space right now to give her a proper education. To Fujino, Satella, who was hailed by the world as the Witch, didn't look like a Witch at all.
"I'll come back to educate you properly later."
With a wave of her hand, Fujino completely blocked Satella's interference with the world. This way, even as half of the world will, Satella could only watch helplessly and would be unable to interfere with this world again until Fujino lifted the seal.
Next, Subaru Natsuki played out a story similar to Temple Run. With Fujino's warning, Ram and Rem didn't finish off Subaru Natsuki too early. Every time he restarted, the two would give Subaru Natsuki a sense of hope that he could escape being killed, and then they would finish him off, so as not to cause him to break prematurely.
Five times, eight times, ten times, fifteen times, twenty times...
As time went on, Subaru Natsuki survived for longer and longer, and the hope in his heart grew greater. He believed he could escape the outcome of being killed, yet he was completely unaware that this was merely a conspiracy to keep the game from ending too early.
What kind of scene would it be when a person full of hope learns that all that hope was nothing more than a prelude to even greater despair? Fujino was very curious.
"This fellow isn't hiding properly; he actually dares to come out?"
Fujino discovered something interesting: the world will that had been hiding from her had appeared again. Although it was very stealthy, how could it escape Fujino's eyes?
"Is the target this guy? It wants to take a gamble. It seems the matter with Teresa still hasn't taught this fool a lesson; it's truly tired of living!"
A cold smile appeared on Fujino's lips. She sent another voice transmission to Ram and Rem, telling them to stop this activity, and then she disappeared from the spot.
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