Betty stood beside him, her fingers gripping his sleeve.
"Subaru."
Natsuki Subaru looked down at her.
Betty pressed her lips together and stared at him without blinking.
"This time, Subaru has to come back."
Natsuki Subaru fell silent for a moment, then nodded gently.
"Yeah."
Emilia came to his side as well and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"We'll wait for you here."
"Master."
Shaula called out softly too.
Natsuki Subaru looked at her.
Shaula stood very close, but instead of throwing herself at him as she usually did, she simply looked at him earnestly.
"Shaula will be watching over Master."
Natsuki Subaru smiled.
"Then I'm counting on you."
Ram stood a short distance away, her tone as calm as ever.
"Barusu had better not make anyone worry again."
"Miss Ram, can't you say something gentle at a time like this?"
"Come back soon."
Natsuki Subaru froze for a moment.
Ram did not look at him, merely turning her head aside.
"That's as gentle as Ram can be."
Natsuki Subaru chuckled softly.
Her words seemed to ease the heavy atmosphere in the library a little.
He looked back at the book in his hands.
Inside this book was the Natsuki Subaru of the past.
The people he had forgotten.
Every death he had experienced.
Natsuki Subaru slowly drew a breath.
"Then I'm off."
With that, he opened the Book of the Dead bearing his own name.
The next instant, the world sank away.
Pain came flooding in first.
Death that struck his body with unmistakable reality.
The agonizing pain of his abdomen being torn open.
Blood welling up in his throat.
The feeling of wind pressing against his body as he fell from a great height, leaving him unable to breathe.
The sound of bones shattering in a demon beast's jaws.
Cold.
Suffocation.
Darkness.
Once.
And again.
Natsuki Subaru knelt in the white space, both hands braced against the ground, his fingertips trembling from the force he exerted.
He turned back through the pain and joy he had forgotten, book by book.
What the hell? Why was the hero everyone saw in Natsuki Subaru like this?
Wasn't he just a complete and utterly hopeless idiot?
Natsuki Subaru suddenly realized that, somehow, he had returned to that white space.
A voice sounded from ahead.
Natsuki Subaru raised his head with difficulty.
At the far end of the white space stood another version of himself.
Black hair, black eyes.
The same face, the same voice.
Only those eyes held a weariness his current self had yet to fully remember, along with a resolve honed by death after death.
Natsuki Subaru looked at him, his throat dry.
"You're... Natsuki Subaru?"
The other fell silent for a moment.
Then he gave a slightly helpless smile.
"That sounds really awkward."
The amnesiac Natsuki Subaru did not smile.
He simply looked at the "self" before him.
Both his earlier self and the version of him in the Gluttony Route had been chasing this person.
The hero in the screen of light.
The Natsuki Subaru in other people's memories.
The target Louis had called the main course.
He had feared that once this person returned, he would disappear.
He had also feared that he had no right to go on living under this name at all.
The amnesiac Natsuki Subaru opened his mouth.
"But I never found what made you become this hero."
"Haven't you already seen it? You saw everything."
The amnesiac Natsuki Subaru could not believe it. He could not understand why the Natsuki Subaru everyone praised and acknowledged was an utterly ordinary person.
The other reached out and pointed at his chest.
"Because I love everyone so much."
"Whether it was being suspected, being pushed off, wanting to save them, or forcing myself to make it this far even though I was scared to death."
"An ordinary person did all of that."
The amnesiac Natsuki Subaru lowered his head. He had desperately searched for an answer, never imagining that the answer did not exist at all. How he wished Natsuki Subaru were someone extraordinary.
Then he could have accepted his own defeat, fear, and cowardice.
But he understood that no matter how many excuses he made, he could not deny that the Natsuki Subaru before him was the genuine Natsuki Subaru.
Because-
"You're me."
Natsuki Subaru crouched in front of the amnesiac Natsuki Subaru.
"The only reason you died over and over was that you couldn't do it."
"The only reason you kept trying to save everyone was that you loved them."
The amnesiac Natsuki Subaru spoke loudly.
"You bastard, why aren't you superhuman? Why are you just an ordinary person, Natsuki Subaru?! You idiot!"
The amnesiac Natsuki Subaru took a moment to compose himself.
"But you're really something, Natsuki Subaru."
Natsuki Subaru and Natsuki Subaru talked in that space and poured out a great deal to each other, finally reaching a reconciliation.
"There's still a little more I want to say."
"First, Meili. That girl may go to extremes when she runs into trouble, but she's also a child who can listen to reason."
"Then there's Shaula. Please don't let her stay here all alone, and please make sure you save her too."
"Also, when I was talking to Louis, I met Rem."
"I didn't remember Rem then, but she gave me a helping hand."
The Natsuki Subaru before him nodded.
"Yeah, that's my Rem for you."
"She's mine."
"Mine."
"..."
"Ram doesn't seem quite so aggressive anymore either. She seems to have changed a lot too."
"That Julius guy seems really dependable, doesn't he? He'll manage without me saying much, right?"
"Thank you for apologizing to Mom and Dad."
"Thank you for saving Otto and Garfiel."
"Thank you for saving Petra and Frederica, and everyone in the village."
"Thank you for bringing Betty out. She used to be lonely, didn't she?"
"Thank you for falling in love with Emilia."
"Natsuki Subaru, you're really something. I understand that perfectly now."
The amnesiac Natsuki Subaru spoke slowly.
"If it's you, everything will be fine."
But Natsuki Subaru corrected him.
"If it's us, we can definitely do it."
Both of them laughed, and then they gradually merged.
In the distance, Louis's shrill voice suddenly rang out as she lay collapsed on the ground.
Natsuki Subaru spoke to her without mercy. "Well? You saw everything you wanted to see, didn't you?"
Louis merely clutched her head and bawled on the ground, repeating the same words over and over.
"No! I don't want to die! I don't want to die! It hurts! Aaaah!"
The Louis inside him had experienced several deaths along with Natsuki Subaru, and her mind had begun to break down.
The white space began to distort.
"Go away, go away! I don't want to die!"
She controlled the Corridor of Memories and drove Natsuki Subaru out.
In the distance, Louis clutched her head, the innocent smile she had worn before gone from her face. She looked as though she had finally tasted the dish she had always dreamed of, only for its flavor to drive her to a breakdown the instant it entered her mouth.
In the library, the Book of the Dead bearing the name "Natsuki Subaru" slipped from his hands.
Betty's voice was the first to ring out.
"Subaru?"
Emilia steadied him by the shoulders, her voice trembling.
"Subaru, can you hear me?"
Shaula stood before him, watching him without moving, even her breathing seemingly softer.
Natsuki Subaru slowly opened his eyes.
The bewilderment that had filled those black eyes after his memory loss was gone.
He saw Betty, Emilia, Ram, Julius, Anastasia, and Shaula.
He also saw the name he had finally managed not to lose.
Natsuki Subaru smiled softly.
"Sorry."
His voice was a little hoarse, yet utterly clear.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting."
He raised his head, his expression returning to its familiar look.
"I'm back."