"Takumi! Takumi!"
Maki's voice rang out beside him.
The surrounding scene became a little clearer again.
Takumi opened his eyes and looked around at the wrecked living room—devastated as if by a level-10 typhoon—and at Kaguya, wounded and sitting against the wall in the corner, and at Maki, kneeling before him on the floor. Gradually, his awareness returned.
"Tanaka… is he dead?"
Takumi asked hoarsely.
"He was dragged away by those rescue team members and vanished into the water."
Maki, covered in injuries with a wooden splinter stuck in her shoulder, nodded slightly, looking utterly exhausted.
"This is… a lap pillow? Isn't that a bit too high-class for me?"
Now that his mind was clearing, Takumi finally noticed he was lying on Maki's lap. He couldn't help but smile as he spoke.
"Well, if you hadn't come when you did, Oba-san and I wouldn't have been able to handle that man. He had some really strange abilities—we couldn't defeat him. As a reward for the hero of the day, a lap pillow isn't too much to ask. But don't get the wrong idea, okay? It's just a reward."
Maki let out a small sigh, wiped the blood trickling down her forehead, then lifted her chin again, showing her usual tsundere expression.
"I see. Still, I kind of do want to get the wrong idea."
Takumi smiled softly. Feeling the gradually tightening weight of the life jacket on his body, he looked up again at Maki—staring at her fixedly until the girl's face turned slightly red in embarrassment.
"Hey, what are you doing? Staring at someone like that is really rude, you know."
Maki muttered softly, averting her gaze from Takumi as she spoke.
Her face was even redder than before.
Giving a lap pillow to someone of the opposite sex was clearly not as easy for this girl as she made it sound. It was only because she had finally managed to find a chance to tear off the badge on Takumi's chest, and seeing the terrible state he was in, with the room too ruined to find anywhere suitable for him to rest, that she reluctantly decided to offer her lap as a pillow.
At least, in Maki's own mind, that was how she justified it to herself.
But now, seeing that strange expression on his face, her heartbeat began to quicken, and she couldn't help but wonder if the atmosphere between them was getting a little too strange.
'Idiot, why am I even thinking about this?'
'Just because he knows the "me" from the last recall, and knows some things that I don't right now—does that mean I have to treat him differently? To give him some kind of special favor? Obviously, this is just a reward from a superior to a subordinate. Mm, yes—a reward… Though, wait, would a superior really give a subordinate a lap pillow as a reward?'
"My time is running out…"
Her jumbled thoughts were abruptly cut off by Takumi's next words.
Maki turned her head sharply toward him, only to find that half of his body was now showing severe burn marks, as though all his flesh and skin were melting away, while the other half was beginning to twist into a different form—as if it were transforming into another person.
"What… what's happening?"
Not far away, Kaguya clutched her injured arm as she stood, cautiously stepping closer, while Maki spoke in panic.
"I entered a place I shouldn't have, and suffered a severe curse. To endure it, I had to borrow a dangerous item. My time is already short. Soon, I'll die—and when I do, I'll become a member of the rescue team. When that happens, I should automatically head for the first floor. These Obsession Items will remain here."
Takumi knew that he would soon revert to an earlier point, but of course, the two girls before him couldn't know that. So he chose to act as though these were his final moments and give them his last instructions. Given his current physical and mental condition, that wasn't far from the truth anyway.
"How could this be… You finally made it back…"
Unprepared for this, Maki's voice trembled slightly.
"That woman destroyed all the wall clocks on the second floor before she made her move. If you die here, we won't be able to save you. So if there's anything you still need to say, you'd better say it all now while you can."
Standing to the side, Shinomiya Kaguya's expression also shifted slightly, but in the end, her calm nature prevailed. She merely closed her eyes, then spoke in a flat tone.
"…Mm. I suppose this was inevitable. This so-called game really is merciless when it comes to choosing teammates."
Takumi let out a sigh. He had already suspected that the woman disguised as Maeda Miwa wouldn't have dared to strike at that moment without being fully prepared. The fact that no recall had occurred afterward confirmed his suspicion. Before revealing her true face, she had destroyed every wall clock on the second floor, and during the attack where she killed Green and severed Takumi's right hand, she had also destroyed the clock in the room—ensuring that Takumi and the others could no longer use recall.
That was easy enough to figure out—after all, the other party wasn't an idiot. Since she knew the existence of the recall mechanic, how could she possibly take action without making countermeasures? Precisely for that reason, Takumi had quickly realized it was impossible to catch up with her through ordinary means, which was why he had chosen a mutual destruction approach.
Looking at the final result, both of those troublemaking veteran players—Maeda Miwa and Tanaka—had, in the end, been killed by his hand. He had to admit, it felt pretty damn satisfying.
He now more or less understood both of their trump cards. When it came to the next recall, though… they would still be difficult opponents. The woman disguised as Maeda Miwa possessed two incredibly sharp scalpels, a doll with an unknown function, and that uncanny ability—whether through acting skill or the effect of some anomalous item—to completely impersonate another person. As for Tanaka, the Obsession Items he had revealed so far included a man-eating head, a flesh puppet, a strange box of ashes, and a blood-red key. Besides those, he also had firearms and explosives. On Takumi's side, the only usable countermeasure he could find was a rescue team badge taken from the first floor—but that badge came with massive side effects.
If only there were some way to take those Obsession Items away from them…
Takumi gazed at the blood-colored key lying in the puddle and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
His consciousness began to fade once again.
He knew his second cycle was coming to an end here.
"Do you have any last words you want to say?"
Maki asked softly at the end.
Takumi turned his head with difficulty and looked toward the girl before him—her face already so blurred that he could no longer make it out.
Her voice seemed to tremble slightly. Was she crying?
'What a sentimental girl… even though, to her, I'm really just a stranger she's known for less than three days.'
In this final moment, a mischievous thought suddenly crossed Takumi's mind.
"Last words… should I call it a wish—or maybe a luxury?"
He spoke slowly.
"What is it? If it's something I can do, I'll do my best to make it happen."
Maki hurriedly replied upon hearing that.
"Well… how should I put it—my whole life, I've never been kissed by a girl before. If I just die alone like this, honestly, it feels kind of lonely. So… if possible, could you kiss me? I really like you, Maki. So if it's a kind and cute girl like you, I think I'd have no regrets."
Then, struggling, Takumi managed to lift his left hand and gently tapped the side of his own cheek.
"Eh?"
As expected, he heard Maki's startled gasp.
'Haha… I guess that was a bit of a low move. But considering the state I'm in, even if I tease her a little, she probably won't treat me too harshly, right?'
His vision was already fading to darkness—he couldn't see anything anymore. Lying there quietly, he braced himself, ready for the flustered Maki to punch him in embarrassment or shove him off her lap.
But in the end, what he heard was the sound of the girl taking a deep breath, followed by a soft whisper: "I understand, Takumi."
That delicate voice sounded as if it were right beside his ear.
No, that sound really was right by his ear—he could even faintly hear her breathing, feel that breath fall against the raw, blistered skin of his face.
The girl leaned down, showing not the slightest trace of disgust toward Takumi's face, hideously disfigured as if scalded by boiling water. At his ear, she spoke softly, her voice gentle and slow.
"Thank you for liking me, Takumi. Thank you."
"If I had gotten to know you a little more… if we hadn't met in a place like this…"
Then came a light touch, resting upon Takumi's lips.
By now, Takumi had already lost his final senses, unable to feel her touch at all.
Yet in that instant, he thought he could truly reach it—reach the warmth of the breath she was sending to him.
It captivated him.
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