After the white space shattered, Natsuki Subaru vanished.
Louis stood motionless in the corridor, the smile slowly fading from her face.
"...Why? What is the other one doing? Wasn't she supposed to keep him here?"
She spoke under her breath.
"Why did it turn out like this?"
This was wrong.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
The present Natsuki Subaru should have feared the past Natsuki Subaru. The past Natsuki Subaru should have swallowed the present Natsuki Subaru. Then the main course, separated from him, would have landed before her.
All she had to do was open her mouth, and she could devour the Authority that let him return even after dying.
That was how it was supposed to go.
Louis lowered her head, suddenly remembering her other self.
The self who had entered Natsuki Subaru's body.
That self had already died with Natsuki Subaru, returned with him, and tasted Return by Death with him. In other words, that self should have tasted the main course before she did.
Louis's eyes lit up again.
"That's right."
She smiled.
"There's still the us over there."
"The us over there has already tasted it, hasn't she?"
"Return by Death."
She began walking deeper into the white space.
Soon, she saw her other self.
It was a Louis identical to her.
Long golden hair lay strewn across the floor. Her small body curled into a ball, she clutched her head with both hands and rolled endlessly across the pure white ground.
"No, no, nonononono-!"
"No!"
"It hurts!"
"I don't want to die!"
"I don't want to die again!"
The Louis from the corridor stopped.
The smile on her face stiffened for a moment.
Her other self neither raised her head nor looked at her. She just kept shouting those words, over and over, as though broken.
"Don't bite me."
"Don't let me freeze to death."
"Don't..."
"Ah-why does it have to keep going?"
"Why does it keep going even after I die?"
That voice didn't sound like Gluttony.
It didn't sound like a Sin Archbishop.
It sounded more like a child who had been locked in the dark for so long that she no longer even knew how to cry.
The Louis from the corridor watched her, her gaze slowly changing.
"You tasted it, didn't you?"
She took a step closer.
"You've already tasted Return by Death, haven't you?"
The Louis on the ground abruptly raised her head.
On that face identical to hers, there was no satisfaction, no ecstasy, and no triumph at having obtained a treasure.
Only terror.
"Don't come any closer."
She shrank back, trembling.
"Don't touch me."
The Louis from the corridor frowned.
"Why?"
"You got it, didn't you?"
Her voice grew sharper and sharper.
"You've already tasted it, so why won't you tell me?"
"Do you want it all to yourself?"
"Do you want to take Return by Death for yourself?"
The Louis on the ground shook her head frantically.
"No."
"No, no, no!"
"I don't want that thing!"
"I don't want that life!"
"It isn't delicious!"
"What lies ahead is hell!"
The expression on the corridor Louis's face darkened completely.
She didn't believe it.
How could she possibly believe it?
She had waited so long, planned so long, split herself apart, and hidden inside Natsuki Subaru, all to taste that Authority that let him start over even after dying.
And now, the self who had tasted it said she didn't want it.
How was that possible?
"You're lying."
She advanced, step by step.
"You're lying."
"You want to hide the best flavor."
"You want Return by Death all to yourself."
The Louis on the ground desperately backed away, but she had nowhere left to go.
The Louis from the corridor lunged at her.
"Give it to me."
She seized her other self's wrist, a greedy smile returning to her face.
"Give me what you tasted."
"Give me the taste of Return by Death."
"We were one to begin with."
"So come on, let's become one."
The next instant, her voice cut off.
The two Louises overlapped.
Golden hair, tiny bodies, identical faces-it was as though the white space forcibly kneaded them into a single mass. The two voices that had been separate were squeezed into the same throat at that moment.
"Give it to me..."
"No!"
Louis's body gave a violent shudder.
Death flooded in.
Her abdomen was torn open.
Her throat was bitten to pieces.
Her body fell.
Cold poured into her lungs.
Bones broke.
Blood choked off her breath.
Then her eyes opened.
She died again.
Her eyes opened again.
She died again.
The smile vanished from Louis's face.
Her eyes widened. At first, it seemed she had finally swallowed what she had always dreamed of. But the next moment, all the greed and anticipation on that face were torn to shreds.
"No."
She staggered backward, clutching her head tightly with both hands.
"No."
"No, no, no, no!"
Another voice squeezed out of the same throat.
"You're lying."
"This is Return by Death."
"This is what we wanted."
"This is the best life."
"It's not!"
Louis abruptly collapsed to her knees, her forehead striking the pure white ground.
"It's not, it's not, it's not!"
She clawed at her hair as though trying to dig the images that had just flooded in out of her head.
But she couldn't dig them out.
Couldn't tear them away.
Couldn't forget them.
These were no longer someone else's memories laid out on a dining table.
In that instant, she had touched it, tasted it, and begun to understand everything.
"Don't bite me!"
"Don't let me fall!"
"Don't make me do it again!"
"I don't want to die!"
"I don't want to die again!"
Her cries shook the white space until it warped.
Louis rolled across the ground, her fingers clawing wildly at its pure white surface. She seemed to be trying to crawl out of this space, or to escape her own mind.
"No more."
"I don't want Return by Death anymore."
"I don't want to be Natsuki Subaru."
Within the same throat, the two voices still tore at each other.
"It's ours."
"It's not ours!"
"Eat him."
"Don't go near him!"
"Return by Death is the best."
"It's hell!"
The voices grew more and more chaotic.
In the end, it was impossible to tell which was the Louis who had stayed in the corridor and which was the Louis who had entered Natsuki Subaru's body.
They fused together.
And broke together, too.
Natsuki Subaru had already left.
But the feeling he left behind could not be swallowed, thrown away, or forgotten.
Louis Arneb curled up on the ground, her cries and sobs gradually growing quieter.
"No more..."
"Don't make me die again..."
"Someone..."
"Someone, please save me..."