The Lion King's words exposed Fujimaru Tachibana's hidden identity and clearly revealed that she knew the events of the first timeline.
After a brief moment of surprise, the people in the real world accepted it as only natural.
After all, this was the Lion King. It was hardly surprising that she knew certain things. There were not many extraordinary beings who knew of these matters now, but neither was it shocking whenever one appeared.
However, those words carried far more implications for Fujimaru Tachibana and the others in the Light Screen.
Especially the line, "This time, you are alone."
What did she mean, alone?
Were Mash and Bedivere not people?
Wasn't that a little too blatant an act of disregard?
Fujimaru Tachibana felt that the Lion King was terribly rude. To so completely ignore Mash and Bedivere made her instantly feel like she had a complaint lodged in her throat.
Yet she did not realize that her subconscious had always been overlooking something: when the Lion King spoke of "Fujimaru Ritsuka," there was actually a deeper meaning to it, as though there had been someone else beside her.
In fact, it was not only the Lion King. The others they had encountered before, those who had spoken of these matters, had all left things unsaid with meaningful undertones. By all rights, Fujimaru Tachibana should have sensed that something was wrong with her Instinct.
But her subconscious always involuntarily overlooked those issues, as if her body—her soul—would actively disregard such details.
Perhaps this was a safeguard left behind by the real Fujimaru Ritsuka, one that caused Fujimaru Tachibana's crucial Instinct to fail at such moments, while her subconscious also actively ignored those flaws.
Unless someone deliberately spelled it out, no one would ever learn the truth.
Yet whether it was those