After that, with Yutsuki's help, Kurumi once again began that short yet endless loop.
The ti span was only six days.
But within those six days, Kurumi and Yutsuki protected Shido more tis than they could count, and lost Shido more tis than they could rember.
And every ti Shido died, Kurumi would retrieve Vav from him, return to the past, and begin everything all over again.
Fortunately, although the Sixth Bullet consud quite a large amount of spirit power, only her consciousness crossed through ti. So every ti she returned to the past, the spirit power she had spent would reset as well.
Of course, that was only a small rcy inside a sea of misfortune.
The enemy was the vicious DEM.
Ellen Mathers, Artemisia Bell Ashcroft, Ai Mulian—Wizards whose strength could rival Spirits—were already bad enough.
But in every loop, Westcott, who possessed the Demon King Beelzebub, could use the information he gained to set up all kinds of unbelievable traps and sches, taking Shido's life again and again.
One hundred and forty-three tis.
That was the number of loops Kurumi went through.
It was also the number of tis she watched Shido be killed.
Saving one person was tens of thousands of tis harder than killing one person.
Kurumi deeply understood that fact now.
During those one hundred and more loops, Kurumi had felt anger. She had gone mad. She had lost heart. She had been exhausted. She had grown numb.
There had even been tis when she could not endure the tornt anymore and broke down completely.
Even so, in the end, she still picked up her gun and returned here.
'I promise you, Kurumi. No matter what the result is, the future will never be despair.'
"...Hah."
Rembering what Yutsuki had said back then, Kurumi let out a sigh filled with many mixed feelings. Her heart could not calm down for a long ti.
Standing on a building bathed in moonlight, Kurumi walked to the edge of the rooftop. She leaned her back against the railing, raised her head, and stared blankly at the clear, lonely moon in the night sky.
When the stars glittered across the night sky, the moon would not compete with them. It would quietly hide its own light.
But when the stars lost their shine, when the sky fell into darkness, only the moon chose to face that darkness and leave behind a gentle ray of light for the world.
(Maybe Yutsuki-san is soone like the moon.)
"I'm back."
Just then, a voice by her ear interrupted Kurumi's thoughts.
Under the moonlight, her shadow slowly spread like spilled ink.
A Kurumi in a gothic lolita dress and an eyepatch stepped out of the shadow.
"...Have Shido-san and Yutsuki-san already been told?"
After adjusting herself from her sentintal mood, Kurumi asked "herself."
"Yes. As you requested, I told them about Shido-san being killed, and about the loops."
Kurumi gently nodded.
"...You didn't tell them anything you shouldn't have, did you?"
"Ara ara, which thing are you talking about? The fact that you kissed Shido-san goodbye in every loop? Or the fact that you soaked yourself in Yutsuki-san's gentle embrace like a child?"
With a aningful smile, Kurumi said that.
"..."
"Just a joke,a joke. Of course, I only told them the necessary parts. I did not say anything about the kissing, the hugging, or that matter. Don't get so worked up, ''."
Feeling the silent pressure coming from the original body, Kurumi quickly waved her hands and clarified with an awkward smile.
"...How did Shido-san and Yutsuki-san react?"
Kurumi let out a breath and asked, feeling a little tired.
"Well, Shido-san never expected that he had died before, so he looked quite shocked. Yutsuki-san was very calm. She accepted the explanation, but she did not fully believe it."
After answering the original body's question, Kurumi shrugged and said with a speechless expression,
"Honestly, if you care so much about their reaction, why not explain it clearly to them yourself?"
Faced with herself teasing her, Kurumi hesitated for a mont before muttering softly.
"...It's embarrassing."
"?! Pfft——hahahahahahaha!"
Kurumi widened her eyes in surprise, as if she had seen so unknown creature she had never t before. Then she could not hold back and burst into laughter.
"Hey! What is that reaction? What is so funny?!"
Kurumi shouted in anger and embarrassnt.
"No... nothing at all. It really is just as 'I' said. Saying those things out loud is, in a certain sense, the sa as confessing your crush... so of course it is normal to feel embarrassed... pfft..."
As she spoke, Kurumi could not help laughing again.
"Are you treating like an idiot...?"
Kurumi felt the corner of her eye twitching nonstop. But after struggling with it for a while, she decided not to argue with her own clone and let out a long breath to release her frustration.
"...Then, what should I do next?"
Kurumi could not help murmuring in distress.
The matter of the loops had already been revealed. Naturally, the fact that she had fallen in love with Shido had also been exposed.
That ant this match was, without doubt, Kurumi's defeat.
Shido himself had also refused to entrust his spirit power to Kurumi.
Now, unless she took it by force, she would no longer be able to return to thirty years ago and kill the Origin Spirit.
But the current her—
Could she really kill Itsuka Shido?
[...You seem troubled.]
(——!?)
Suddenly, a voice that did not belong to her clones rang out in the darkness, making Kurumi hold her breath.
It was a vague voice that made it impossible to tell whether the speaker was young or old, male or female. It sounded as if it had been processed through a voice changer.
But it was also a voice Kurumi had heard before.
In an instant, Kurumi summoned her clones and raised both guns toward the direction of the voice.
It was a figure that could not be identified.
Just like its voice, even though it was standing right in front of her, Kurumi could not see its appearance clearly. It was as if she were looking through a rough screen, or a layer of mosaic.
"...Phantom."
Kurumi spoke the other party's na in a low voice.
[...Oh my. It seems I am not very welco. I only ca here to give you advice.]
"Hmph——advice? What an amusing joke."
Kurumi showed a cold, mocking smile.
[Hmm... a joke? I thought my advice would be quite useful to you. Wasn't I the one who told you about the existence of Itsuka Shido?]
Phantom said, puzzled.
"That was only because you wanted to use for your own purpose, wasn't it? Packaging lies as kindness and using others as if it were only natural—you really haven't changed at all, have you, Takamiya Mio!!"
After hearing Kurumi's words, Phantom fell silent for a mont before speaking.
[...Hah. I do not know who you have mistaken for. But if you dislike that much, then I should know when to leave.]
"Don't think you can run!"
At Kurumi's command, the clones all pulled their triggers together. Countless bullets tore through the night toward Phantom.
To avoid the bullets from the clones, Phantom flew upward.
And as if she had been waiting for that exact mont, Kurumi pulled Zafkiel's trigger.
"Zafkiel——Zayin!"
The path of the shot and Phantom's rising route t at a single point.
Like that, under the cover of darkness, the black bullet accurately struck Phantom, who had been led right into its path.
Then, under the ti-stopping power of Zayin, Phantom was fixed in midair.
"Us!"
In the next mont, Kurumi's clones surrounded Phantom from all sides and fired at her wildly.
The sound of dense gunfire rang out like a storm.
If it had been any other Spirit, they would probably have beco a corpse that could no longer speak.
But Kurumi saw a figure separate from Phantom's mosaic-like shell, as if shedding an outer layer, before landing on the rooftop of the building.
It was a woman around twenty years old, with her hair tied up.
She had a sickly pale face, with deep dark circles beneath her eyes. In the pocket of her top was a small teddy bear that had been sewn back together many tis.
"It has been a long ti, Mio. No——or should I call you this now?"
Kurumi pointed her gun at the other person and spoke coldly.
"Murasa Reine."
"...I was careless. Once I knew you were working with Yutsuki, I should have realized this was possible."
With a soft sigh, Reine raised her head and spoke to Kurumi in a tone like she was greeting an old friend.
"...It has been a long ti, Kurumi."
"Ah——ah——finally! I finally found you!"
The instant she heard those words, Kurumi let out a roar from deep in her throat. The spirit power inside her boiled with rage.
Perhaps intimidated by Kurumi's terrifying killing intent, Reine slightly furrowed her brows and took a step back, preparing to retreat.
However, Kurumi moved one step faster.
The black shadow silently wrapped around Reine's feet. Countless hands stretched out from the shadow and bound her limbs and neck, turning her into an immobile target.
"Soone like you! Soone like you——doesn't even deserve to fall into hell!"
Aiming Zafkiel between Reine's brows, Kurumi said with hatred.
But—
[Holding on to revenge will not change anything. You should understand that better than I do.]
[...Even if you really succeed... Kurumi, you still will not be saved.]
Yutsuki's and Shido's words echoed by her ears, causing Kurumi's expression to twist.
—Bang!
"...Why didn't you kill ?"
Looking at the smoking muzzle pointed at the floor in front of her, Reine asked in confusion.
"Hmph. If you could be killed that easily... I would not have had to co this far... You were only planning to fake your death and make lower my guard anyway, weren't you?"
Kurumi took several quick breaths. Her anger gradually settled, and she spoke calmly.
"...You do not want to kill ?"
After thinking for a mont, Reine changed her way of asking.
"I do! Of course I do. If I could, I would cut you into ten thousand pieces right now. But——if this were thirty years ago, it would be different. Killing the current you... would be nothing more than simple revenge."
Kurumi clenched her teeth.
After struggling inside for a long ti, she finally lowered the guns in her hands and had her clones move away from Reine.
"To achieve my own goal, I have already killed more than ten thousand people... Although none of them were good people, most of them did not deserve death... In other words, I am a sinner, just like you. A villain cannot judge another villain. Your opponent... is not ."
"I see..."
After giving a simple reply, Reine fell silent, as if thinking about sothing.
"All right. I have said what I wanted to say. Next, if you want to leave, I will not stop you. Of course, if you think I know too much and want to silence , I do not mind continuing the fight."
"One last question..."
Hearing Kurumi's dismissal, Reine raised her head and asked Kurumi with a little curiosity.
"Tokisaki Kurumi... what did you see in the future?"
"I have nothing to tell you!"
Kurumi said with a cold face.
"..."
Perhaps knowing that asking further would not get her an answer, Reine silently turned around and left the building.
Only after confirming that the other party had left did Kurumi finally let out a breath. Her face was filled with bitterness.
"Hey... 'us'... have I changed? Have I beco weaker?"
In response to Kurumi's question, the voices of her clones ca one after another from within the shadows.
"Well, if you ask whether you changed, then you definitely have."
"If it were the old 'us', even knowing we could not win and could not kill her, we would still risk our lives and keep fighting."
"But if you ask whether that ans you have beco weaker... 'I' cannot really judge."
"I see."
After murmuring that, Kurumi closed her eyes.
She thought for a long ti before finally speaking.
"I'm sorry, 'us'... Maybe from now on, I will throw away everything we have built over more than ten years. If you are unhappy, then please hate as much as you want."
After hearing Kurumi's words, the Kurumi only let out soft laughter.
"Hehe, what are you saying, ?"
"Didn't we already give our answer to this question long ago?"
"We are you, the you of the past."
"You are what we have built up, and also the end point that the future us will reach."
"Therefore, every choice you make, every decision you choose. Whether it is sacrifice or escape, we will accept it gladly."
"I see... thank you."
Hearing the answers from her clones, Kurumi showed a faint look of relief.
Stepping over the railing, Kurumi sat on the outside edge and felt the cold night wind brush against her body as she looked out over the night view of Tengu City.
Looking at that peaceful night view, Kurumi's eyes held a trace of emotion.
In the future, she had seen this city turn into a sea of flas.
She had seen it beco an ice city.
She had seen it reduced to ruins by a hurricane, twisted out of shape like ruined clay, and even turned directly into an empty crater where nothing remained.
But among those countless destroyed futures, she had also seen people living just like they did now.
A normal and peaceful world, like a miracle.
"Then——since I have the chance, let properly taste the chocolate Shido-san made by hand."
After stretching hard, Kurumi took out Shido's chocolate and opened the wrapping with great anticipation.
It was a mature flavor, made with honey-soaked orange peel and dark chocolate, carrying a slight bitterness.
She placed the chocolate into her mouth.
The perfect mix of sweetness and bitterness made Kurumi show a happy smile.
It felt as if her heart were being filled.
With every bite, she could clearly feel the passion inside it.
Just like Shido had said, this was Valentine's chocolate he had made while thinking of Kurumi, completely for Kurumi's sake.
"It is delicious. As expected of Shido-san... this young lady has lost completely."
Kurumi said, fully convinced.
—Drip.
However, at the sa ti, tears spilled uncontrollably from Kurumi's eyes and fell onto the chocolate.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Sawa... I... could not save you..."
(Kurumi Reset — End)
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