Chapter 39

How could this be so devastating!!!

At that moment, everyone's feelings were in sync. Even a human computer like Mori Ougai felt his heart seize. Even though they had seen it coming, watching it happen before their eyes still brought an irrepressible sorrow.

They had clearly seen humanity's efforts, humanity's defiance, humanity's sacrifices, yet every last bit of it had been overwritten just like that.

Overwritten, with no one but An Xinyi left to know.

"I finally understand why he called 'Regret' the cruelest ability in the world." Mori Ougai couldn't help pressing a hand to his forehead. Regret could change everything, but it could also turn everything meaningful into dregs and grind them down until nothing remained.

Even Mori Ougai couldn't help feeling that this was far too cruel to An Xinyi.

"Perhaps not dying when humanity first went extinct is what An Xinyi should 'regret' most of all." Mori Ougai delivered his conclusion with utter coldness.

"That's..." At Mori Ougai's words, Chūya Nakahara tugged irritably at the Choker around his neck, yet he couldn't find anything to refute them with. The chance to start over might be humanity's good fortune, but for An Xinyi, it was undoubtedly the greatest misfortune.

"He's already trapped in this vicious cycle." Pity filled Chūya Nakahara's eyes. He was gentle by nature, and An Xinyi's will and determination had moved him all the more. "He doesn't want to 'regret,' but he has no choice but to keep 'regretting.' This world is too cruel to him."

Eternal, unchanging time had abandoned only An Xinyi.

All of humanity had abandoned only An Xinyi, too.

Chūya Nakahara began to understand why An Xinyi had no companions.

Granted, he should find companions, because the enemy he faced could destroy humanity.

But... that was too cruel to him personally. Meeting again and again, going from intimacy to estrangement, from mutual reliance to hostility-the cycles were painful enough without having to face the complexities of the human heart as well.

Even Chūya Nakahara himself couldn't guarantee that he would believe An Xinyi in every cycle.

After all, sometimes he really did seem far too suspicious.

"He's only protecting himself, too." Chūya Nakahara let out a deep sigh.

"Ranpo..." Yukichi Fukuzawa looked at Ranpo Edogawa beside him, unable to conceal his concern.

"It's nothing, President... the great Ranpo didn't see it. Didn't see it..." Ranpo Edogawa's voice grew quieter and quieter, thick with tears. Even if he hadn't seen it, how could the world's greatest detective fail to imagine that scene just from the sounds?

The hat covering his face was already soaked. Yukichi Fukuzawa didn't expose Ranpo's self-deception. He simply held him quietly and comforted him.

"Mr. Dazai..." Atsushi Nakajima spoke, but he didn't know how to comfort that man.

That man, who always seemed so strong that nothing could defeat him-even Ranpo had said he couldn't imagine him losing to a mere Mafia-had failed to hide his emotions as he usually did.

He looks as if he's about to cry, Atsushi Nakajima thought.

"It hurts so much, Yiyi." Osamu Dazai paid no attention to Atsushi Nakajima. His voice was barely audible, meant only for himself. "It's my fault..."

If it weren't for Osamu Dazai, would you never have awakened this ability? Would you never have fallen into this hopeless trap?

And when you have no choice but to use 'Regret,' the first thing you face is 'Osamu Dazai's' coldness and withdrawal. That must be an immense pain for you, too.

At that thought, Osamu Dazai felt every organ in his body throb with pain.

But Osamu Dazai forcibly suppressed it. He wondered whether An Xinyi existed in his world.

What if he doesn't, or if we lose our memories after leaving... As if sensing something, Osamu Dazai raised his head and met Fyodor's gaze, which held the same look as his own.

The Book...

I've never been interested in that thing, but this screening probably has something to do with the Book. In that case...

Fyodor smiled at Osamu Dazai. As expected, my greatest enemy is Dazai.

Ayatsuji Yukito kept toying with the doll in his hands, completely ignoring Mizuki Tsujimura's anguished wails beside him. A bloody hue gathered in his reddish-brown eyes; only his occasional movements betrayed his unrest.

Reason told him that this was merely something that had nothing to do with him.

But... a bloodthirsty curve rose at the corner of Ayatsuji Yukito's mouth. Even he couldn't remain rational forever.

"Mr. An Xinyi, Mr. An Xinyi." DD's electronic voice interrupted An Xinyi's recollections. He blinked, revealing not the slightest trace of even his most searing grief.

"What were you thinking about just now?" DD had still noticed something.

An Xinyi's eyes trembled slightly. "I was just thinking that giving up would be easier."

"What?" DD was startled.

"Because then it wouldn't hurt anymore." An Xinyi was merely murmuring to himself. "But this pain is the one thing we cannot abandon."

An Xinyi's gaze was empty. He seemed to see countless An Xinyis collapsing in despair amid their pain, yet he also seemed to see nothing at all.

"I know."

"Humanity has many flaws.

Laziness, avoidance, greed, arrogance...

But humanity also has many virtues.

Courage, resilience, restraint, devotion..."

"I have never denied humanity's flaws, but what I love more are the bright spots in human nature."

"Humanity is neither stupid and ugly nor radiant and glorious, but human history is a history of resistance. As long as we haven't stopped resisting, humanity's continued existence has value."

"Does a person's life truly have meaning? Meaning doesn't matter at all. What matters most is that our lives should have value."

Just as An Xinyi had told Osamu Dazai back then, this was what An Xinyi had always believed.

"I won't regret it, and neither will An Xinyi. Certainly, with an ability like this, we could treat the world as an enormous amusement park. Even if the world is destroyed, our cycles will not end."

"A person whose ability is called 'Regret' never regrets anything. You have to admit, that's a wonderful irony."

At that moment, a hint of mockery seemed to linger on An Xinyi's lips.

"But we can't do that."

He clenched his fist.

"Even if we've become aberrations, even if our minds have long since twisted, even if we've already become villains who impose our own will on others."

"This is our original sin, the original sin we should have borne from the very first reset."

"But after experiencing so much pain and so much despair, we still cannot remain indifferent to those innocent lives lost. We still cannot ignore those people fighting with everything they have. Even if these feelings have long since mutated and twisted, we still feel pain. I know that once many people learn everything about us, they will see us only as monsters. But in the end, we haven't discarded this pain. Even Zero is no different."

An Xinyi smiled. As an artificial intelligence, DD couldn't describe that smile. She only felt that, at that moment, even her logical processing seemed to stall for a second.

"This pain is the greatest proof that we were once human."

Yes, even though they had become inhuman, they still retained that final trace of a human heart.

This was An Xinyi's greatest misfortune, because it made them suffer. It was also An Xinyi's greatest good fortune, because they could still feel pain.

"When it comes to willpower, I'd gladly call him the strongest." Satoru Gojo rested a hand against his forehead, his Heavenly Eyes narrowing slightly. "I'm serious. I'm not joking."

This time, no one was surprised, and no one argued.

"What do you mean, 'once human'?" Shoko Ieiri shook her head. "As far as I'm concerned, you're clearly human."

This doctor from Jujutsu High had seen far too many partings and deaths. Hardly any Jujutsu Sorcerers were normal, so even if An Xinyi had become something alien, even if he had become twisted, in Shoko Ieiri's eyes, as long as he still possessed that humanity, he was still human.

"An'an is human to begin with!" Ranpo Edogawa declared loudly. "That's the judgment of the world's greatest detective, and it can't possibly be wrong."

"Still human, from beginning to end?" Osamu Dazai smiled bitterly. "Yiyi, my big brother, you're incredible."

Osamu Dazai knew he could never do that.

A coward like him would undoubtedly choose to flee, choose death. That was Osamu Dazai's nature, and it could not be changed.

Unless...

"Of course we aren't indestructible. Not even An Xinyi can manage that."

An Xinyi 144 shook his head. "If I had to put it into words, we've simply moved past that time. The period of greatest pain, greatest conflict, greatest hatred has already passed."

An Xinyi 144 lifted his gaze. Those eyes, beautiful as black jade, held a fathomless lake, and no one could see what lay hidden beneath its surface.

Just as no one could truly understand An Xinyi himself.

"Back then, we didn't exist yet. There was only Zero, bearing the ever-deepening pain and the despair of seeing no future, all alone."

"But even at his most desperate, Zero was far too gentle."

He hadn't taken revenge on this world, hadn't hated this world, hadn't given up on this world.

"At that time, he was only a little colder than before."

If I never open my heart to anyone in this world, will I no longer have to bear the sorrow of becoming strangers?

An Xinyi had once thought that way.

"It's just that he met a real troublemaker."

The strongest, who was self-righteous, refused to listen, and was utterly willful.

Everyone silently looked at a certain person. "The strongest" alone might not have made the reference obvious, but the strongest who was self-righteous, refused to listen, and was utterly willful could only be one particular person.

That particular strongest pointed at the tip of his own nose and blinked innocently.

[The next group of viewers will be entering shortly-]