"Stinky." Yimi couldn't help covering her nose again, because this time the smell on Subaru had gotten even more pungent.
Once again, rejected by a little loli like some aging middle-aged man…
"Hey kid, what are you standing around staring at? Made up your mind on what to buy?"
Having just experienced a slow death—stomach sliced open, blood draining out, body growing colder and colder as life seeped away—and having watched a child who'd been somewhat kind to him, completely innocent, die right before his eyes, Subaru staggered back a step. The mental shock nearly made him faint on the spot, but the small hand that grabbed his sleeve steadied him like a crutch, propping up the psyche that wanted nothing more than to shut down for a while.
This was the child he'd seen before death, the one who should have faced that woman's blade. The killer had changed her method from her usual "slicing stomachs open" to slitting the throat instead—but in Subaru's eyes, that kind of attack on an innocent child couldn't remotely be called gentle.
"You alright there, kid? Too hungry to walk?" The fruit stall owner picked out a good appa and held it out. "Here, take this for now. On the house."
Subaru accepted it in a daze. "Mister, how many times have you seen me now?"
His reaction time was terrible—so terrible that even when the previous loop had jumped from nighttime to daytime he hadn't figured out what was happening. But by now, even he had pieced it together. After he died, time seemed to rewind.
Even the dialogue was identical. No little girl should corner the same old man three times in a row for the same routine, and no old man should respond with the exact same brand of generosity all three times, right?
"Testing whether I remember my regulars? Sorry, kid, but I genuinely don't have much of an impression of you."
That was impossible. After parting ways with the old man and the cat-eared girl upon first arriving in this world, Subaru had stumbled upon a silver-haired girl whose belongings had been stolen. The two of them had then come across a crying, lost little girl—who happened to be this old man's daughter.
No amount of face-blindness should make someone forget that.
It seemed like, just as in light novels, this isekai traveler had been given a cheat skill: the ability to return to a certain point in time upon death. Sounded overpowered on paper, yet required the miserable trigger of actually dying to activate. Classic him. No instruction manual, and the kind of power you'd never dare test on purpose—who knew if there was a use limit?
"Anyway—time to pull myself together! Everything can still start over!"
Subaru thrust one finger toward the sky in a somewhat silly pose, successfully tricking the old man into glancing up.
He quickly lowered his hand and patted Yimi's head. "Mister, you've got a daughter, right?"
"I do indeed, but my daughter's definitely not this little girl here."
Subaru nodded. A flicker of guilt crossed his gaze as he looked at Yimi.
Having failed to buy himself a mental shutdown by fainting, the act of pulling himself together on his own had actually left his thoughts sharper than ever. In a way, he really did owe this kid—so he absolutely had to save her.
Subaru launched into a fabrication. "Actually, just a moment ago I saw this child playing with a girl who looks a lot like you. Green hair, pink clothes—is that your daughter?"
Yimi: "?"
"That's right, but why were you paying attention to a little girl's appearance?" The fruit stall owner gave Subaru an unfriendly look.
"No no, don't treat me like a suspicious person." Subaru waved his hands, steeling himself with a deep breath for the terrible thing he was about to do. "See, this cat-eared girl snatched your daughter's toy, and right now your daughter's over there bawling her eyes out. I just came to give you a heads-up."
Yimi: "?"
"What did you say?" The fruit stall owner raised an eyebrow, pressing a hand on Yimi's head. "This little lady here—she wouldn't happen to be sent by the fruit stall across the street to stir up trouble, would she? How many candies did he give you?"
The little cat stood with her hands tucked, looking at the old man, then at Subaru who wouldn't meet her eyes, then back at the old man, then at Subaru again—her gaze brimming with the disbelief of an innocent child confronted with a despicable adult.
Cats are so good, and this cat had even offered this person Fish Soup earlier—and this was how he repaid her!
The last person this despicable was Kyoko!
"Anyway, a misbehaving kid like that definitely needs to be taught a proper lesson." Subaru waved dismissively and took off running in the direction stored in his memory.
Maybe there was a better way, but he didn't have time for one. This should keep her from having the chance to wander to that shack, right? It might cause some psychological trauma, but that beat losing her life for nothing. Sorry, little loli—this sin is mine to bear.
He had to race against the clock and get to the shack first. If he could stop that killer from going on her rampage, all the better.
"He's lying!" Yimi pointed indignantly at Subaru's retreating figure.
The fruit stall owner looked down at Yimi, then it dawned on him: "Come to think of it, I've never actually bought my daughter any toys… Uh, sorry about that, little lady. Do you know that guy?"
He held out another appa as consolation.
The little cat didn't take it. The little cat was going to find that liar and settle the score!
But before she could get very far, that awful smell surged back crystal clear. Following the trail of it, she found herself sitting in front of her Fish Soup once again.
This time the loop had reset in a flash, because Subaru had taken a shortcut to save time and gotten accidentally stabbed to death by muggers in an alley.
"Ugh…"
Subaru felt his own back. This time he didn't have the same breakdown as before. He glanced at Yimi, then looked up at the fruit stall owner. "Mister, you've got a daughter, right?"
…
Twice. This person had framed Yimi twice!
Hampered by her own childish, inarticulate speech, Yimi couldn't defend herself on the spot. She could only march toward Subaru's direction with a sour little face, stomping extra hard with each step to demonstrate just how angry she was.
The clever cat had roughly figured it out. For some reason, whenever she followed that awful smell, she'd end up back in front of her Fish Soup—and then she'd have one more portion.
Having sorted out that much, Yimi had something more important to do first.
She crept cat-like to a corner, looking extremely sneaky as she poked half her head out to peek.
Because she hadn't been detected early this time, Mimi was joyfully spreading her arms like a little airplane, zooming around with her brothers in tow.
Emboldened by sheer spite, Yimi charged straight in and planted a kick square on Mimi's rear.
"Ah! You again!"
Run, run, run!
Revenge complete, Yimi spun around and bolted—only to slam headfirst into a tall figure who'd walked over at some point. Outweighed and knocked back a step, she instinctively grabbed forward to steady herself, and happened to pull the sword at his hip partway out of its scabbard.
"The Dragon Sword Reid?" The red-haired young man froze, momentarily forgetting to help Yimi up.
"I'm sorry." The little cat apologized like a good child.
Yimi pushed the sword back in for him, glanced back at the three little cats giving chase, then swerved around the redhead and pumped her little legs as hard as she could toward Subaru's direction so she wouldn't get kicked back.