Natsuki Subaru raised his eyebrow slightly.
Although the other party didn't say her name, Subaru already had a guess in his heart. The one appearing before him was likely the Witch from another world. Echidna, who was crowned with the name of Greed.
Why would Echidna appear in this place? Could it be that this was a dream? No.
Subaru immediately judged that he was not in a dream. When he became the Purge King, Subaru had browsed through various books, including methods to deal with illusions. It was precisely because he used Return by Death to learn a vast amount of knowledge that he was able to create an existence like Pandemonium. So, Subaru could be certain that everything happening in this world seemed real.
But why would Echidna appear in this place? Could it be that a link still existed between the two worlds?
And what Subaru cared about most were the words Echidna had spoken earlier. Become that person again?
"The other world is still waiting for you. This is the last message I can convey to you. After all, even if I research various forbidden arts, this is the extent of what I can do."
After saying these words, a smile appeared on Echidna's face—
In the next instant, the face appearing before Subaru was a completely unfamiliar one.
"Student, what do you want to have told? Love, academics... or... wait a minute, why do you look a bit ominous... wait!"
Without waiting for the real fortune teller to finish speaking, Subaru directly reached out and snapped his own neck.
Return by Death.
Subaru quickly returned to the place of fortune telling. Only this time, the person before him was not Echidna, but the original fortune teller. He had to admit, this fortune teller seemed to have some skill.
He could feel that Subaru seemed to be carrying something, and that a rugged road awaited him. But that was the extent of it. Seemingly afraid of something, the fortune teller hurriedly waved his hand after looking at Subaru, stopping the reading.
Subaru, however, was somewhat indifferent. After Return by Death, he did not see Echidna again. Anyway. It didn't matter anymore. Anyway, the world he was in previously had been more or less destroyed. Of course, that was his doing. As the Purge King.
Witches were ultimately just existences that should have been buried in history. What did "become that person" mean? Forget it, it didn't matter. It was impossible to go back anyway. That world was already devastated.
How ironic.
"Subaru-kun?"
Hiyori Shiina's voice interrupted his thoughts. She stood not far away, tilting her head and looking at him, her clear eyes holding a trace of concern and curiosity.
"How was the fortune telling?" Hiyori asked curiously.
Watching her silver-white long hair glow with a soft luster in the sunlight, watching the quiet and gentle smile at the corner of her mouth.
Unlike Echidna. Unlike Emilia. She was just her. Hiyori Shiina. A person who, in this world, observed him, understood him, and accompanied him in her own way.
"...It was nothing," he said.
Hiyori didn't press further. Although she was somewhat curious about whether Subaru had asked about love or academics, since Subaru said it was nothing, she chose not to pursue it. She simply curved her eyes slightly, quietly accepting his silence as usual.
"Then shall we go?" she said. "It's almost lunch time. Do you want to go read some books this afternoon?"
"Mn."
The two left the plaza side by side. Behind them, the fortune teller was scrambling to pack up the stall, muttering something. He occasionally looked up at Subaru's retreating figure, his eyes filled with fear and confusion.
Subaru didn't look back. But he knew that from this moment on, some things were different. What did Echidna's appearance mean? What did the "other world" she spoke of mean? And how would that promise of "waiting for you in a dream" be fulfilled?
He didn't know. Nor did he want to know. At least not right now.
Currently, this world was perhaps slightly more vivid than the previous one. Perhaps, it wasn't the world that had changed. It was he himself who had changed.
"Subaru-kun."
Hiyori Shiina's voice rang out again.
"Mn?"
"Today's sky," she pointed to the horizon, "seems especially beautiful."
Subaru looked in the direction of her finger. The azure sky held white clouds like cotton candy. It was indeed beautiful.
"Mn," he responded.
The two stood on the tree-lined path, watching the sunset slowly descend. The wind was very light, blowing her silver-white hair strands.
Subaru suddenly remembered Echidna's last sentence.
"Perhaps, we will meet again soon. I will wait for you in a dream. Of course, the me at that time might not necessarily be me—"
In a dream? He never dreamed. After all, he didn't even sleep. Since becoming the Purge King, sleep for him was just a blankness of consciousness, without any images, without any sound, without any temperature.
But if Echidna could really wait for him in a dream... What kind of dream would that be?
He looked at Hiyori Shiina beside him. She was looking at the sky intently, her side profile dyed snow-white by the light. There were still a few days left of summer vacation. The new semester was about to begin. Those undercurrents that had been temporarily shelved were about to surge again.
And that Witch from another world was perhaps waiting for his arrival in some unknown place. Subaru withdrew his gaze.
"Let's go."
"Mn."
Subaru and Hiyori were just preparing to leave the plaza when a rush of footsteps came from behind.
"Hey, wait a minute!"
It was Mio Ibuki. She trotted to catch up, her cheeks slightly flushed from the exercise. The line she had occupied earlier had reached her, but she seemed to have just taken a hurried glance and left, not really getting a fortune told.
Subaru had performed a Return by Death. In the second loop, to confirm Echidna's identity, he had entered the line earlier. He was ahead of Mio Ibuki—in this timeline, they hadn't spoken earlier.
"Ibuki-san?" Hiyori turned around, somewhat surprised. "Did you come here to get a fortune telling too?"
"No... didn't do it." Mio Ibuki turned her face away, her tone somewhat awkward. "That kind of stuff, I don't believe in it."
In reality, Mio Ibuki was just curious about fortune telling, which was why she came to this place. However, she didn't expect that shortly after joining the line, she would see Subaru, who had just finished his fortune telling and was preparing to leave.
Mio Ibuki hadn't expected Subaru to also come here for a fortune telling. Her gaze lingered on Subaru's face for an instant, then quickly shifted away, as if confirming something, or as if afraid to look directly.
Subaru didn't speak, just watching her quietly. After Hiyori said those words, he had begun to subconsciously observe others in another way—not to find "colors." But to see those subtle things that might have been ignored by him.
Mio Ibuki's expression at this moment was very complex. Guarded, awkward, and a trace of... hesitation she was trying hard to conceal. He couldn't tell. Besides color, what other existences were there?
"Um," Mio Ibuki suddenly spoke, her voice lower than usual. "Ryuen he... seems to have regained his fighting spirit recently."
Subaru raised his eyebrow slightly.
"He gets up very early every morning to run, and goes to the gym at night. Although he still doesn't talk much, and doesn't pay attention to people..." She paused. "But he at least... has started moving."
Hiyori nodded gently, seemingly not surprised.
"Ryuen-kun isn't someone who would stay depressed forever," she said, her voice gentle. "He just needs time."
"I know." Mio Ibuki pursed her lips. "So..."
She looked at Subaru, her eyes mixed with complex emotions—guardedness, unwillingness, and a trace of something indistinguishable, similar to "gratitude" yet absolutely not gratitude.
"So I said just now, thank you."
"Although I can never forgive what you did to the class, and can never treat you as a good person."
"But..." She took a deep breath, as if mustering courage. "If you... encounter any trouble in the future, you can find me. Consider it repaying this favor."
After speaking, she turned and walked away, her pace fast, as if escaping something. After walking a few steps, she stopped again and said without looking back:
"Don't misunderstand! I'm not wanting to be friends with you! Just... just don't want to owe you!"
Then she ran far away, her back figure quickly disappearing around the corner of the tree-lined path.
Hiyori watched the direction where Mio Ibuki disappeared and curved her eyes slightly.
"Ibuki-san is actually a very gentle person, isn't she."
Subaru didn't speak. He remembered those eyes of Mio Ibuki just now—deep within the guardedness, something different was indeed hidden. Not color. At least not the intense, extreme color he had always been searching for. But that was a kind of... warmth?
Subaru didn't know what that was. Just like she said, "don't want to owe you." This kind of stubborn, awkward, yet truly existing goodwill. Perhaps it was also something that should be seen.
"Let's go," he said.
"Mn."
The two continued walking forward.
"Subaru-kun."
"Mn?"
"Those words Ibuki-san said," Hiyori tilted her head slightly, "what do you think?"
Subaru was silent for a few seconds.
"No special thoughts," he said. "However..." He paused. "She is indeed somewhat different from my imagination."
Hiyori curved her eyes slightly.
"People are originally like this," she said. "Everyone has many sides. It's just that they don't necessarily reveal them usually."
Subaru didn't speak. But he knew she was right. Just like she said before—people are not one-way mirrors. Some faces face outward, some face inward, and some faces even they themselves cannot see.
And he, always searching for those most intense, most extreme colors, might have ignored those subtle, gentle, yet equally real... People change. Perhaps the ones who change are people.
"Subaru-kun."
"Mn?"
"Tomorrow," Hiyori curved her eyes slightly, "can we meet again?"
Subaru looked at her. Looking at her clear eyes that held no demands. Looking at that quiet and gentle smile at the corner of her mouth.
"...We can," he said.
Hiyori's smile deepened a little.
"Then it's a promise."
The two continued walking forward.
"After school starts, I'm afraid a more intense battle will unfold between our two classes."
"Mn, probably."
Subaru nodded and did not deny it. The light and shadow on the tree-lined path were dappled; sunlight spilled down through the gaps in the leaves, paving a flowing gold on the ground. From the distance came a few cicada chirps, sparse and languid, like the final farewell of summer.
"After school starts, I'm afraid a more intense battle will unfold between our two classes."
"Mn, probably. Perhaps there will be other people interfering as well."
Subaru nodded once again. After all, he was clear that there were still some unrelated personnel eyeing him.
His tone remained flat, but Hiyori could detect that this flatness was somewhat different from before—no longer a coldness that kept people a thousand miles away, but something closer to acceptance.
"How will Subaru-kun treat other classes?" Hiyori tilted her head slightly, that pair of clear eyes holding a trace of curiosity, yet without the slightest guardedness or probing. "Will it be like the Uninhabited Island Exam... using that kind of method?"
Subaru was silent for a few seconds, seeming to think, and only spoke after a few seconds.
"Not necessarily," he said. "It depends on the situation."
"What situation?"
"Depends on what method the opponent uses."
Subaru's gaze landed ahead. "If it's just ordinary competition, then deal with it ordinarily. If..." He paused. "If they use some special methods, then respond with special methods."
Hiyori nodded gently.
"Sakayanagi-san..." she said softly. "She is very smart. Although she doesn't show her face much usually, I've heard some things about her. She won't be as direct as Ryuen-kun, nor will she clash head-on like Katsuragi-kun. She will use more complex methods."
Subaru didn't deny it. Arisu Sakayanagi. The girl he judged to have "no color." An exquisite empty shell. But an empty shell also had an empty shell's use—she could occupy a position on the chessboard, and could become a force that drove other chess pieces. He just didn't know in what way she would make her debut in the new semester.
"Subaru-kun."
"Mn?"
"If one day," Hiyori's voice was very light, carrying a trace of careful probing, "we really face each other in an exam, how will you treat me, Subaru-kun?"
Subaru stopped his footsteps. He turned his head and looked at Hiyori Shiina. She stood in the dappled light and shadow, her silver-white long hair seeming to be dyed a warm gold by the sunlight.
Those clear eyes were full of gentleness, just quietly gazing at him, waiting for his answer.
"...I don't know," he said.
This was the truth. He hadn't thought about this question. Before meeting Hiyori Shiina, everyone in his eyes was just a sample—some interesting, some boring, some worth observing, some not worth wasting time on. But Hiyori Shiina was different. She was not a sample.
And just at this moment, Hiyori Shiina spoke—
"Treating Subaru-kun as an opponent would be very interesting, I suppose."
____
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