Chapter 123: Another World Life Starting from Wrath (1)

["Betty... why?"

Gazing at the small figure before him, Natsuki Subaru's eyes were filled with confusion.

The repeated resets, Rem's death, being hunted down by Ram... all of it had already pushed him to the brink of a mental breakdown.

Under these successive blows, he had lost the courage to load a save and start over, because he no longer dared to face the two sisters, Rem and Ram, ever again.

He couldn't even imagine what sort of expression would appear on his face when he woke up and had to confront those two once more.

Guilt, sorrow, grievance—or... coldness, resentment?

No matter how he had gotten along with Rem and Ram in the previous loops, no matter how much goodwill and harmlessness he had tried to give off... in the end, none of it had done any good.

When all was said and done—

humans were creatures like this. No matter how well they got along on the surface, deep down they remained strangers forever, and one day they would betray you.

Yet even as he thought this in his heart, Natsuki Subaru's gaze went blank, spinning round and round inside the labyrinth called memory, unable to find his way out no matter what...

He remembered Rem, who had gone with him to the village to buy supplies.

On the road back, that smile of hers he had happened to catch sight of—was it fake?

Ram, sharp-tongued on the surface but gentle at heart, who taught him to read every night, who when tired would fall asleep on his bed without a shred of defenselessness—was that trust fake too?

Why?! When I clearly...

When I clearly gave you both everything...!

Natsuki Subaru's eyes brimmed with tears, his teeth nearly grinding to pieces from anger and incomprehension, and the scene before him blurred as well.

But it was at that moment that a crisp, questioning voice rang out beside his ear.

"Why? And what exactly is that supposed to mean, I suppose?"

Betty calmly threw the question back at this man before her who seemed abandoned by the entire world, an almost imperceptible flicker of heartache—and a sigh—passing through her eyes.

Natsuki Subaru's gaze, which had been fixed on some point in the sky, dumbly followed the voice and turned onto Betty.

And when he saw clearly the sight before him, his pupils suddenly contracted, and his mind went blank for an instant.

The forest wind swept withered leaves brushing past his ears, and Betty, standing not far directly opposite him, was like a single fragile, lonely boat in a raging storm.

It was as if this were the first time he had ever truly looked at Betty—looked at her appearance, looked at her expression.

At this moment the reddish shawl draped over Betty snapped and rustled in the wind, and her pale-cream, double-curled twin tails were blown to one side, making her already petite frame seem all the more frail and slight.

As for the faint expression on her face, the one she seemed to be desperately trying to hide...

Confusion, sorrow, desolation.

She looked as if she had a great many things she wanted to say, but in the end it all condensed into a single soft sigh.

Having also witnessed Rem's death, what was she thinking?

Natsuki Subaru's mind was a tangle of chaos as he pondered blindly.

And why was she so sorrowful—was it for Rem?

Perhaps, but Natsuki Subaru's instincts told him there was another reason.

As if, apart from Rem's death, there was another matter that made Betty equally grieved.

And that matter—could it have something to do with him?

Natsuki Subaru thought dazedly.

But before he could ponder it carefully, Betty went on speaking, picking up from her previous words all on her own.

"Forget it. There's no meaning in it anymore. It seems you've already made your choice."

"But if you keep running like this, you'll be caught by Ram in no time."

"So now I'll send you away from here. After all... a contract, once made, must be upheld, I suppose."

Betty said this to Natsuki Subaru, though it also seemed like she was talking to herself. At the same time she calmly stretched one hand forward, making a gesture of splaying all five fingers.

Seeing this, Natsuki Subaru instinctively flinched, his whole body giving a shudder.

The many experiences of being blasted by Betty's magic into the bushes below had drilled a conditioned reflex into him.

He had developed a condition where the sight of Betty raising her hand made him unable to keep every muscle in his body from tensing up, bracing himself for takeoff.

However, contrary to his expectations, in the very next second his body suddenly lost its balance and pitched backward, while his mind felt the world spin dizzily around him.

"Betty, I..."

Only then grasping the meaning of what Betty had just said, Natsuki Subaru reached out toward the Betty before him, as if wanting to grab hold of something.

But it was futile.

Before he lost consciousness entirely, the last thing he saw was Betty, her head turned slightly aside as if she couldn't bear to look this way, murmuring something under her breath.

And also...

Ram, who had just rushed onto the scene, her eyes already filled to the brim with anger and hatred.

"...Don't run away!!!"

Suddenly a furious roar rang out, one that could pierce through a person's eardrums, as though it had crossed both time and space.

That, too, was Ram's lament—the anger and regret of once again brushing past the chance to avenge her little sister.

This emotion, even Natsuki Subaru—his mind in utter chaos, about to be teleported away the very next second—could feel it. And at the same time, he found it laughable.

Heh, so you're just going to decide it must be me?

Am I really so detestable in your eyes... Ram!

At last, a mocking smile curled at the corner of Natsuki Subaru's mouth.

Only anger remained, suppressed within his heart...]

"Gave up? I just gave up on Subaru like that?"

"It can't be like this. It shouldn't be like this...!"

Outside the screen, Betty, seated in her chair, unconsciously clenched fistfuls of her skirt, her face turning pale.

She tried with all her might to imagine—if she were the one standing in the situation of the self on the screen right now, would she make the same choice as she had...

Betty's very nose crinkled with tension as she agonized over this question, and then she arrived at a conclusion—

Of course, absolutely, without a doubt it would be impossible, I suppose!

How could she ever be so heartless toward Subaru—toward the one she had decided to accompany for a lifetime as his contractor?!

Betty rose to stand up on her seat, planting both hands on her hips in a huff, and shouted furiously at the other self on the screen.

"If it's a contract, then you'd better protect Subaru properly and not let him be hurt, I suppose!"

"What 'upholding the contract'? You just didn't want to watch someone you'd grown familiar with die before your eyes, so you deliberately sent him away! You rotten little loli brat, aaaahh, you infuriate me!"

Betty squeezed her eyes shut, and with one little finger jabbed at the screen and started unloading on that useless Betty, clearly at the end of her patience.

And this adorable display of hers made everyone else in the viewing area unable to hold back their laughter, momentarily dispelling much of the heavy atmosphere the viewing had brought.

"Pff... pffhahaha, Meili's starting to see you in a new light, you little shorty!"

"Never thought you could be so honest sometimes—it's way more pleasant than the you up on the bright screen. Meili could totally be friends with a you like this."

Meili clutched her belly and burst out laughing, while Elsa, seated beside her, didn't say much of anything.

She merely gently rested her leg beneath Meili's lolling, tumbling head, stroking Meili's hair over and over with her hand, no one knowing what she was thinking.

"Who wants to be friends with you... hmph! Betty was only telling the truth, I suppose!"

Betty muttered under her breath.

"All right, all right, everyone understands your feelings, Lady Betty... Hm? Look at the screen, quick—the scene seems to have suddenly jumped into a snowfield? What happened?"

Frederica chose this moment to step in with a light laugh to smooth things over, at the same time reminding everyone to turn their attention back to the viewing.

Since the turning point had already passed, then what came next was probably the so-called world of another possibility...

____

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