Interlude

"What even is this..." Ranpo Edogawa bit down on his lower lip. "Why would something this unfair happen?"

He clutched his head, feeling a headache worse than any he had ever known. "The great Ranpo doesn't understand. Why? Why do the people in that world have to face the apocalypse for no reason at all?!"

Ranpo's words echoed the confusion and anger of those facing the end of the world.

Why? This apocalypse came without reason, without explanation, without a care, yet it was so cruel, so terrifying, effortlessly shattering humanity's resistance and efforts.

Without a doubt, since An Xinyi had already reset, that loop must have ended in failure.

In the end, even the utopia that "Ranpo Edogawa" would rather deceive himself to protect had been mercilessly crushed.

Yes, how could something so utterly unreasonable exist?

Perhaps you were eating with your family, working diligently, reading, or studying when, without any warning, disaster descended indiscriminately upon everyone. Everything they loved and cherished, including their own lives, ended in meaningless death.

When human lives became numbers, it inspired a terror that came from the depths of the heart.

Because lives could never be equated with numbers.

Yet such senseless things had happened to An Xinyi again and again.

"For everyone else, the chance of an apocalypse is only one in a hundred billion. For him, it's actually one hundred percent?!" Osamu Dazai murmured. A horrifying thought suddenly occurred to him. Could this be the price of possessing an ability as outrageously powerful as Regret?

No! Osamu Dazai shook his head, as though trying to shake the thought away. It was too cruel. Even thinking about it made him wish he could die.

Has An Xinyi ever thought that? Osamu Dazai could not stop his thoughts from wandering further. If he really believes that... how strong must his heart be to endure all of this?

At that moment, Osamu Dazai truly felt inferior.

Even more astonishing was this: when everything was already so tragic, so hopeless, why... could he still live like a human being?

Osamu Dazai, the bearer of No Longer Human, was bewildered by this, and drawn to it.

Ayatsuji Yukito's and Fyodor's gazes were also shadowed and unreadable. Everything Ranpo and Dazai could think of, they could too.

Ayatsuji Yukito lowered his eyes. It was precisely this-this extraordinary resilience and persistence-that made it impossible for him to remain indifferent, even knowing they were not the same person and did not inhabit the same world.

Admit it. Ayatsuji Yukito closed his eyes. In the end, he could not truly remain uninvolved.

Satoru Gojo, meanwhile, did not know what to say. True, he did not possess the mastermind contingent's absurd intellect, but the advantages granted by the Six Eyes were unparalleled. Precisely because of that, what he "saw" surpassed everyone else from Jujutsu Kaisen, second only to the masterminds from Bungo Stray Dogs.

"Honestly." Satoru Gojo pulled down his blindfold and rubbed his temple. "Someone this difficult to deal with would probably move even you."

Wouldn't he, Geto?

"Something seems odd, sir." Even DD's electronic voice carried doubt. "Building an Eden doesn't seem like your style."

Because, deep down, An Xinyi was not someone who ran away. He would fight, he would resist, with unparalleled stubbornness and endurance.

An Xinyi 144 shook his head and said helplessly, "You really are the one who understands me best, DD."

Even though a new DD was born in every loop, only DD could accompany An Xinyi through each one. Humans, after all, were creatures far too changeable, their relationships dependent on chance.

"All right, I'll tell you the truth." An Xinyi's hands were steady. Even as he recounted what he called his memories, he did not stop working, and his voice was almost casual. "Because I actually only exploited a small loophole in the paranormal game. But the person the paranormal game truly possessed wasn't me. It was... Ranpo."

This was an extremely rare case among paranormal entities: an entity had chosen a human as its host, continuously growing stronger through human intelligence. At the same time, the human could also use some of the entity's powers. In fact, everyone in that loop had believed An Xinyi was the paranormal game's host.

An Xinyi had deliberately encouraged that misunderstanding. After all, so many lives... Ranpo could not bear that burden, nor should he have been made to.

Ultimately, this was his failure as a guardian.

Besides, even if Ranpo died, the paranormal game would not disappear. It had already grown into an entity that threatened the world. To maintain balance, An Xinyi could only keep capturing paranormal entities and placing them inside the paranormal game to suppress one another, while keeping Ranpo, its core, stable.

Of course, he sincerely hoped Ranpo could spend his whole life in a beautiful fairy-tale world, growing up happy, content, and safe.

Even though he understood what an extravagant wish that was during an apocalypse.

"What? How could that be?" Atsushi Nakajima cried out. Without a doubt, all of them watching had been misled. He could not help looking at Ranpo. The great detective had bitten his lower lip bloody.

"Let go, Ranpo!" Alarmed, Yukichi Fukuzawa pinched Ranpo's cheeks, forcing him to release his lip.

"President, An'an is an idiot!" Ranpo was on the verge of tears. "How could she be so cruel to herself? She could have just left me alone!"

Unlike Fyodor and Ayatsuji Yukito, Ranpo empathized far too deeply with his other self. Perhaps he was instinctively afraid. Every threat that world had faced so far was too terrifying. It was easy to imagine that, if the same thing happened in their world, they would be utterly powerless to stop it. And their world did not even have An Xinyi.

"Ranpo." Yukichi Fukuzawa embraced his child. No matter how impressive the renowned detective and heart of the Armed Detective Agency might seem to others, to Yukichi Fukuzawa, Ranpo was still that bewildered child who had latched onto him all those years ago.

"I understand how he feels, Ranpo." A trace of gentleness entered Yukichi Fukuzawa's stern voice. "We're both guardians. I know."

"He must blame himself too, for failing to take proper care of you and allowing you to make such a terrible mistake. The fault isn't yours. It's ours." Yukichi Fukuzawa spoke each word distinctly. "If it were me, I would do the same. I'm responsible for you, and I would help you shoulder it. That is our duty and promise as guardians, and our love for you."

"No matter what happens, we'll bear it together."

Ranpo Edogawa froze. His emotions were easily soothed. Perhaps embarrassed that he had cried, he tugged down the brim of his cap to hide his reddened eyes. "What was that? Since when did you learn to say so many sentimental things, President?"

"It's all true." Yukichi Fukuzawa was as dependable as ever.

Tch-someone's getting jealous. Why does that overgrown child get all the good things? He always manages to find a dependable caretaker.

"He really is a responsible guardian." Even Nobara Kugisaki, on the Jujutsu Kaisen side, could not help sighing. By comparison, thinking about her own teacher... Fuck. Now I want to swear.

Look at Yukichi Fukuzawa, then look at Satoru Gojo. That was a sheer drop off a cliff. Even a stock market crash was not that severe.

Megumi Fushiguro nodded earnestly. He had also remembered a certain utterly incompetent father... Now he wanted to curse even more.

Mai, Inumaki, and Okkotsu had clearly thought of it too, their faces filled with disdain. Panda was better off, since his guardian was Masamichi Yaga. Yuji Itadori was simply too good-natured to hold it against Satoru Gojo.

"I get the feeling you're all thinking something very rude..." Satoru Gojo said in a faintly aggrieved voice.

"Heh." ×5

"You're all so mean! Am I not your darling teacher anymore~?"

"Get lost!" ×n

Seriously, couldn't this shameless teacher reflect on why everyone found him so unbearable? He deserved every accusing finger.

"I see." DD was also shocked by the truth. "That fairy tale might have been beautiful, but the truth behind it was far too cruel."

"Ranpo is only a child." An Xinyi smiled and shook his head. "All the hardship and pain should be mine to bear as his guardian. If I pushed it onto a child instead, I would be utterly unfit to call myself an adult."

He stopped working. His deep eyes lost focus, his expression distant. "Wanting your child to be safe and happy is only what every guardian wishes for. Ultimately, I'm selfish too. Even knowing that fully developing Ranpo's talents and letting him grow would be the best choice for fighting the paranormal, I still couldn't bring myself to do it."

"If I could, I would rather Ranpo never grew up, that he stayed a silly child forever, living under my protection... It's just that I'm too weak. In the end, I couldn't manage it."

At that moment, a trace of desolation showed on An Xinyi's face.

DD seemed affected too, its electronic voice full of pessimism. "Sir, can we really do it?"

"We've already tried so hard, but we haven't succeeded even once, have we?"

Fate was that cruel. If An Xinyi had succeeded, he would have ended this hopeless cycle long ago and stopped resetting.

But An Xinyi shook his head, speaking with rare solemnity. "DD, that's not how it is."

"I know."

"Human strength is incredibly small. No matter what, there is a limit to what human effort can achieve."

"Faced with overwhelming power, humanity's destruction is inevitable."

"But humanity has never given up, and 'An Xinyi' will never give up either."

A blazing light shone in An Xinyi's usually deep, somber eyes.

No one had experienced more disasters than he had. No one had experienced more despair.

He had struggled through countless different apocalypses, ultimately becoming An Xinyi.

"'An Xinyi's' strength is incredibly weak. Humanity's strength is insignificant. I understand that better than anyone."

"But-"

"No matter how terrifying the apocalypse we face, we must draw the swords in our hands, dare to resist, and dare to fight."

"Because we don't want to perish. Humanity doesn't want to perish!"

Even if it was no more than a mantis raising its forelegs to block an oncoming vehicle, this was An Xinyi's indomitable spirit and courage in the face of disaster. It was also humanity's struggle throughout its vast history, refusing to admit defeat in the face of calamity and hardship.

"All we can do is keep fighting, keep resisting. As long as we do that, humanity still has hope."

Yes, An Xinyi had never succeeded even once. But equally, An Xinyi and humanity had never failed even once! Because they had not conceded defeat! They had not begged for mercy! They had not resigned themselves to fate!

"May humanity endure forever."