"Then there's the other one. He fell in love with his own teacher."
"To be with that teacher, he personally arranged the deaths of countless descendants from his own bloodline."
"..."
Satoru Gojo spoke as casually as if he were discussing the weather.
When he mentioned Natsuki Subaru, Enju Aihara's expression remained fairly normal.
But the moment she heard about Roswaal's story, she couldn't keep a straight face anymore.
"Is that guy insane or just a complete psychopath? How could anyone do something like that? Even if his teacher found out, there's no way she'd stay with a murderer like him."
"I couldn't tell you."
Gojo shrugged. Then again, the Witch of Greed wasn't exactly a normal person either.
Betty, standing beside him, made no effort to dispute his explanation.
Even she thought Roswaal's actions were excessive, and the two of them had been good friends.
After hearing about Roswaal, the way Enju looked at the pair changed completely.
Anyone who could be friends with a lunatic was probably one too.
With that thought in mind, the group arrived at the apartment where Rentaro Satomi currently lived.
Calling it an apartment was generous. It was a simple two-story building divided into tiny dormitory-style rooms.
The environment wasn't particularly pleasant, but the rent reflected that. At this price, comfort wasn't something anyone expected.
The landlord was already waiting outside. The first thing he said when he saw Rentaro made Gojo chuckle.
"Rentaro, I appreciate you bringing someone to look at the room, but don't you think it's time you paid all that overdue rent?"
Having something like that exposed in front of everyone made Rentaro's face burn with embarrassment.
"I'll settle all the rent today."
After exchanging the ten-pound gold bar for cash, he finally had enough confidence to say those words.
It was still nowhere near enough to repair his prosthetic limbs, but covering his basic living expenses was no longer a problem.
He opened his wallet, pulled out a thick stack of bills, and handed them over.
The rent was twenty thousand yen a month.
Including everything he owed, Rentaro paid three hundred thousand yen, clearing his debt and even covering the next year's rent in advance.
The landlord's face immediately lit up. His attitude became far warmer as he unlocked the neighboring room and invited everyone inside.
The apartment wasn't large, but it was spotlessly clean. It was obvious the landlord maintained it well.
For Gojo and Betty, the size was perfect.
They always rested together anyway.
As Betty liked to put it, it was simply more efficient for restoring mana.
After a quick inspection, Gojo found nothing worth complaining about. He promptly signed a one-year lease.
Having collected two unexpected windfalls in a row, the landlord couldn't have been happier.
With the housing issue settled, Gojo and Betty headed off to buy daily necessities.
Since the generous benefactors wanted to shop, Rentaro naturally came along.
After all, Gojo and Betty were still Unregistered Citizens. They didn't even have legal identities.
Having a local like Rentaro made almost everything easier.
Now that the rent had been paid, Enju also stopped picking fights with Betty.
There was no helping it.
Gojo and Betty had paid far too much.
Even if she didn't think about herself, she had to think about Rentaro.
Life had finally become a little easier for him, and she didn't want to ruin that by driving away the people who'd made it possible.
Led by Rentaro, the four of them headed to a nearby supermarket.
Even though his apartment was cheap, Gojo had no intention of living cheaply now that money wasn't an issue.
He and Betty didn't even bother checking prices. If something caught their eye, it went straight into the cart.
Rentaro and Enju, on the other hand, were the complete opposite.
They compared prices over and over without buying much and spent most of their time circling the discount shelves.
"It's still a little early," Rentaro said while looking over the meat section. "If we come later, they might mark down the meat. Then we can have a proper feast tonight."
"Yeah! I hope they discount the beef. It feels like forever since I've had any."
Enju stared longingly at the shelves, swallowing repeatedly as she spoke.
Watching the pair, Gojo smiled.
"Rentaro, can you cook?"
Before Rentaro could answer, Enju eagerly cut in.
"He's amazing! Even if he quit Civil Security and became a chef instead, he'd definitely be a top-class one!"
Gojo laughed.
"Then let's do this. Since we're the new neighbors and today is moving day, dinner's on us."
"We'll pay for the ingredients, but the cooking is all yours."
Rentaro instinctively opened his mouth to refuse.
Gojo had already given him an incredible bargain with the gold bar. Asking them to treat him to dinner on top of that felt wrong.
Before he could say anything, Gojo clapped him on the shoulder.
"Settled. Come on, Enju. Go pick whatever you want to eat. Don't hold back."
He tilted his chin toward Betty, who immediately understood.
"Come on. Unless your fragile little pride can't handle it."
"Huh?"
"What did you say?"
"You think I'd get provoked by that? Keep dreaming! Today I'll show you what a real big eater looks like!"
"Hmph. How laughable."
The two girls disappeared almost instantly.
Watching them go, Rentaro gave Gojo a helpless smile.
"It's a day worth celebrating, isn't it?"
Gojo grinned.
"So don't sweat the small stuff. Come on, let's pick out a few things too."
With no way to argue, Rentaro simply followed him around the store.
Thanks to Gojo and Betty's enthusiasm, it didn't take long before both shopping carts were overflowing.
If carrying everything hadn't been such a hassle, they probably would've needed a third.
On the way back, Gojo casually brought up another matter.
This wasn't the Re:Zero world.
In modern society, being an Unregistered Citizen made life almost impossible.
Even buying a phone was troublesome.
"Rentaro, do you think you could help me with getting an identity?"
"An identity?"
"Yeah. Betty and I are basically Unregistered Citizens."
Rentaro frowned.
Although he worked in Civil Security, he was only an outside contractor. He had a firearms license and the authority to enter crime scenes, but there was still a considerable gap between him and an actual police officer.
Something like arranging legal identities was well beyond what he could normally do.
If he were still living with the Tendo family, though, it would've been easy.
"Let me think. I probably can't help directly, but I'll ask around and see if anyone knows a way."
"That works."
Gojo nodded.
If there was a solution, all the better.
After returning to the apartment, Rentaro and Enju helped Gojo and Betty finish organizing their new home.
Once everything was in place, Gojo picked up the groceries.
"Let's cook at your place. We don't even have seasonings over here."
At that point, Rentaro could only accept.
The rest was simple.
As the guests, Gojo and Betty relaxed in the living room. One buried himself in a book Rentaro had recommended, while the other watched television with obvious curiosity.
The book wasn't very thick.
Gojo flipped through it at remarkable speed.
Before long, he'd finished nearly the entire thing.
By the time he closed the cover, he finally had a clear understanding of the world.
Although it was a modern society, the living environment was appalling.
In some ways, it was no better than the world of Re:Zero.
Because this was a world ruled by monsters.
In 2020, the Gastrea Virus spread across the globe.
Countless Gastrea appeared, and humanity went to war.
Humanity lost in 2021.
Their final refuge was the construction of Varanium Monoliths, enormous barriers erected every ten kilometers to encircle the cities like giant walls.
From that moment onward, humanity became little more than livestock penned inside enclosures, surrounded on all sides by Gastrea.
Life within the Monoliths still looked relatively normal on the surface.
But the territory available to humanity had shrunk dramatically.
Food alone was already an overwhelming problem.
The reason Rentaro had been so poor that he could barely afford to eat wasn't simply because he lacked money.
Prices themselves were outrageously high.
Gojo had noticed it during their shopping trip.
Everything cost several times more than it did in his own world.
Even accounting for the difference in time periods, that kind of inflation wasn't remotely normal.
Raising livestock, growing crops, maintaining industry, supporting a massive population, and defending against endless Gastrea attacks, all within a fraction of humanity's former territory.
Just thinking about it was exhausting.
"What a troublesome world."
Gojo scratched his head.
After his previous experience in the Re:Zero world, he had no intention of spending the rest of his life here.
Once this season ended, he'd probably return to his own world.
The real question was what he should do until then.
Should he actively involve himself in events?
Or simply follow Rentaro, the protagonist of this world, and see where things led?
Beside him, Betty remained completely absorbed in the television.
Time passed quietly.
Before long, the aroma of cooking drifted through the apartment.
Just as Gojo was still considering his plans for this world, the doorbell rang.
"Ding dong. Ding dong."
Without looking up from the kitchen, Rentaro called out,
"Enju, could you get the door?"
"I can't!"
Enju answered with a miserable cry while wrestling with a king crab.
"It's got my clothes caught in its claws! I can't get free!"
Seeing her predicament, Rentaro called toward the living room instead.
"Gojo, could you answer it?"
"Coming."
Gojo lazily stood, stretched, and wandered toward the entrance.
He opened the front door.
A slender young woman immediately walked inside on her own.
"Ugh, I'm starving."
"But I'm not here to mooch dinner today. The supermarket had beef on an incredible sale, so tonight we're finally going to have a proper feast..."
Wearing a high school uniform and carrying several shopping bags, the black-haired girl continued talking as she squeezed past him.
"Come on, help me carry these. Aren't you excited when you see cheap beef?"
She bent down to change her shoes.
When the person beside her didn't move, she finally looked up.
Standing before her was a tall, handsome white-haired man wearing sunglasses and an immaculate outfit.
The instant she saw Gojo, Kisara Tendo's brain completely froze.
Wasn't this supposed to be Rentaro's apartment?
She'd been here countless times. There was no way she'd mistaken the place.
Then who was this man?
"Um... are you... the new tenant?"
Even Kisara had no idea why those words came out of her mouth.
"Yep. I'm Satoru Gojo, your new neighbor."
Gojo smiled.
From what Enju had said before, he already had a pretty good guess who she was.
If he was right, this was Rentaro's childhood friend and Enju's so-called romantic rival, Kisara Tendo.
"Ah! S-sorry! I'm so sorry!"
Realizing what had happened, Kisara's face turned bright red as she hurriedly bowed.
"I came to see a friend. He lives here too. I must've knocked on the wrong door by mistake. I'm really sorry!"
Gojo had just opened his mouth to explain that she hadn't made a mistake and that this really was Rentaro's place.
Before he could say a word, Kisara spun around like a gust of wind, yanked the door open, and fled.
Gojo stared silently at the closed door after she'd disappeared.
"..."
From the kitchen, Rentaro called out,
"Gojo, who was it?"
"A girl. She said she'd come to the wrong place and left."
Since he wasn't completely certain of her identity, Gojo simply told the truth.
"A girl?"
The moment Rentaro heard that, he immediately knew who it had to be.