Myrcella’s POV
After the attack on the village, the castle ca to a decision rather quickly. It wasn’t safe anymore, not for the heroes, not after what they had seen, and definitely not after what they had gone through. So the order was given, firm and unquestioned, that they were to return to the castle.
There was no argunt. There was no resistance. Everyone knew it was the right call.
So of the heroes ca back carrying visible injuries. There were scratches, bruises, bandages hastily wrapped around arms and legs, even though they were already healed. But those weren’t the ones that worried the most. What lingered far longer were the things you couldn’t see. The distant looks in their eyes. The way their shoulders stayed tense even when they were finally safe. The way so of them flinched at sudden noises.
They weren’t bleeding anymore, but sothing inside them had cracked.
I asked Leon if he could talk to them. Not imdiately, not aggressively, but just... talk. Give them so kind of psychological support, sothing to help them process what they experienced. He agreed without hesitation, but we both knew it couldn’t happen right away.
Right now, they needed to breathe. To settle. To rest.
What they experienced wasn’t sothing you could just brush off and move past. It had shaken them to their core. Forcing them to confront it too soon would only make things worse.
They needed ti.
Leon and I were speaking in a secluded part of the castle, far from the busy halls and echoing footsteps. The stone walls here felt colder sohow with the air quieter. It was the kind of place where words didn’t carry far, where secrets felt safer being spoken.
I stole a glance at him while we talked.
He looked... different.
Just like the heroes, he was shaken too. Not in an obvious way—Leon was good at hiding things—but I could tell. I’d known him long enough to notice the subtle changes. The slight stiffness in his posture. The way his eyes lingered just a second too long, as if sothing was replaying in his mind.
It was the first ti I had ever seen him like this.
And there was sothing else weighing on my thoughts. Sothing I hadn’t brought up yet.
How he knew Miss Chiaki’s na.
"Do you know them?" I finally asked.
He didn’t answer imdiately.
"Well, I do," he said after a mont. "You might not know this, but... this isn’t my first life. I lived in a world called Earth. I lived there for eighteen years. And those people—" his voice lowered slightly, "—they’re people I knew."
I paused, letting his words settle.
I wasn’t sure if he had told this before. I knew he had shared that truth with many won in his life. Amon knew. Gabrielle. Irene. Rose. And plenty of others. It wasn’t exactly a secret, but it wasn’t sothing he brought up lightly either.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized—I had heard this already.
"I know," I said, smiling faintly. "You told before."
His eyes flickered toward .
"So that’s why you reacted imdiately when Miss Chiaki arrived," I continued. "I thought it was strange at first. You don’t usually react like that. But now it makes sense."
I watched him closely.
"Leon," I said gently, "your previous na... it was Tsubasa, wasn’t it?"
He took a deep breath. A slow one. Like he was grounding himself.
Being called that na clearly unsettled him. It wasn’t anger or fear—it was sothing quieter. Sothing heavier. Like being pulled backward into a place he had already left behind.
It must have felt strange. Like standing between two worlds at once.
"Are you going to introduce yourself to them?" I asked.
"No," he said firmly. "I don’t think that’s necessary."
I raised an eyebrow slightly, inviting him to continue.
"Even if I knew them in my past life, and they knew ," he said, "they don’t need to know again. This is a new life. I don’t need to drag the past into it."
"Are you sure?" I asked, just to be certain.
"Yeah," he replied without hesitation. "They don’t need to know who I am. They don’t need to think of as soone they used to know. It’s better if they see as nothing more than an acquaintance. That’s enough."
He was right.
There was no need for him to involve himself with them more than necessary. No need to reopen doors that had already been closed.
"Well," I said softly, "if that’s what you want, I’ll keep quiet about it too."
He seed relieved.
I didn’t push further. Aside from acknowledging that he knew them, I didn’t ask any more questions. I could tell where his boundaries were, and I respected them.
"I hope they’ll be able to go ho," I said.
"They will," he answered imdiately. "I’ll make sure of it."
There was no hesitation in his voice. No doubt.
They weren’t supposed to be in this world. They didn’t belong here. They were anomalies. They were people pulled into sothing that wasn’t ant for them.
And because of that...
He would do whatever it took to send them back ho. And make sure they would never return to this world again.
***
Kaori’s POV
I woke up in a room.
For a mont, everything felt blurry and distant, like my thoughts were still catching up with my body.
Then recognition settled in.
This room.
I knew it.
This was the room that had been assigned to .
The realization felt strange. I couldn’t believe I had been here long enough for it to feel familiar. Long enough for it to feel... almost like mine.
"Kaori?" soone asked softly beside .
I turned my head and saw Ayaka.
She was sitting close, closer than I expected. There were several books stacked near her, so opened, so closed. Judging by the way they were scattered, she had been there for a while.
Knowing her, she might have been reading the entire ti I was unconscious.
Had she already gone through most of the castle’s library? Honestly, it wouldn’t have surprised .
"Thank goodness..." she said, adjusting her glasses. "I thought you weren’t going to wake up."
She stood up quickly and hugged .
I hugged her back without thinking, my hand moving to rub her back gently.
I had worried her.
I had worried my classmates.
That experience made one thing painfully clear. That death existed here. It wasn’t theoretical. It wasn’t distant. Sotis, it was unavoidable. No matter how careful you were.
No one was truly safe.
"Co to think of it," I said after a mont, "where’s the man who saved ?"
Ayaka smiled, but it wasn’t a fully happy one. There was sothing sad behind it.
"He already left," she said.
"Oh," I murmured. I gave a small, sad smile. "I wanted to thank him too. That’s unfortunate."
My mory of that mont was fragnted. Blurred. But there were things I rembered clearly.
Being in his arms.
They were soft. Warm. Steady.
I felt safe there. Completely safe.
There was also this strange feeling—like déjà vu. Like I had seen him before, sowhere, or soti. But no matter how I tried to place it, nothing ca up.
I was sure it was the first ti I had ever t him.
Maybe it was just sothing my mind made up after being saved from sothing so terrifying.
Whatever it was, it didn’t matter.
What mattered was—
"I’ll thank him when I et him again," I said.
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