Outside the screen of light, Otto clamped a hand over his mouth as nausea welled up inside him.
In just a few seconds, two beams of white light had shot through, and his younger brother was dead. The confusion on Reikin's face had yet to fade. He had not even had time to feel afraid before the ground dragon fell as well.
For a moment, what played on the screen of light left Otto unable to breathe. His mind went blank, as though he simply could not believe what had happened.
Was that really my brother? No, no, he just looked like him, just sounded like him, just had the same name...
There couldn't be that many coincidences. But that face, that way of speaking, and his tone when he mentioned his older brother...
"My older brother, Otto Suwen, has always been in your care." Those words resurfaced before Otto's eyes.
Otto could no longer pretend he had not recognized him. Even knowing that this was not happening now, that it might be a branching future, that this future might be avoidable, seeing his own family die right before his eyes still made grief well up unbidden.
[Otto: That was Reikin, wasn't it?]
No one answered.
[Otto: He just said he was my younger brother, right?]
Still, no one answered.
[Otto: Why? What exactly happened?]
After those words appeared, the room only grew quieter.
Emilia opened her mouth. She wanted to say that was not the Subaru of the present.
But before she could send those words, Otto's next line had already appeared.
[Otto: I know that isn't the present Mr. Natsuki.]
[Otto: But the person who died was Reikin. He died right in front of me, just like that.]
Emilia's fingers stiffened.
She was holding Natsuki Subaru's hand and could feel how frighteningly cold his fingertips were. She wanted to protect Subaru, wanted to tell everyone he would never become like that, but Otto was not wrong.
The person who had died was not some shadow in the footage. He was Otto's younger brother.
Betty's expression darkened as well.
She had wanted to say that he was not allowed to interrogate Subaru in that tone. But the words reached her lips, and she swallowed them back.
Otto was not pressuring him. He was only asking why.
Natsuki Subaru lowered his head and said softly, "I'm sorry."
He did not know why he was apologizing.
Was he apologizing for his future self? Or for the person who had been killed? Or for his present self, who knew nothing at all?
But beyond those words, he could say nothing.
The silence seemed to last a long time. Everyone was sorting through their thoughts. The scene had been too much of a shock to them all.
[Otto: I'm sorry. I lost my composure.]
Otto's reply came quickly.
[Otto: Let's think about why he had to die. What exactly did Mr. Natsuki go through?]
The moments they had overlooked earlier resurfaced, little by little.
Natsuki Subaru had first asked the little girl whether she knew him, then asked the boy whether he knew his name.
Finally, Reikin had called him "Mr. Natsuki Subaru."
Then he had died.
Ram's expression turned cold.
[Ram: Barusu was looking for people who knew him.]
[Ram: In other words, anyone who knew him would die.]
[Ram: At least in that footage, Barusu was singling out people who knew him.]
[Ram: And Regen Suwen recognized him, so he died.]
Betty looked at Natsuki Subaru. "Subaru is not some killing machine."
[Betty: Don't talk as though this is something to be taken for granted.]
[Betty: Subaru wouldn't kill people just because they knew him.]
[Ram: Ram never said the present Barusu would. Ram is saying that the Barusu in the screen of light has already done so.]
Betty did not immediately argue back, because she, too, had seen Natsuki Subaru's strange behavior on the screen of light.
The little girl did not know Natsuki Subaru, so he had left. The boy did not know his name, so Natsuki Subaru had left as well.
Only Regen Suwen had called him "Mr. Natsuki Subaru."
He had given his own name, mentioned Otto, and said he had met Natsuki Subaru before.
Then he had died.
In the room, Natsuki Subaru kept his head lowered. His expression was strange, and his entire body was rigid. Even his breathing had slowed.
Only as Emilia held his hand did she realize just how cold his fingers were.
"Subaru..."
She called to him softly.
Natsuki Subaru did not respond right away.
It took him a long while to react.
"I..."
He opened his mouth.
"I wouldn't do that, would I?"
Even he froze for a moment as those words left his mouth, because he was considering a terrifying possibility: if this screen of light did not exist, if no one laid all this out before him in advance, would his future self really reach that point, one step at a time? And so, when the words reached his lips, all that remained was a "would I?" that could not even reassure himself.
Just then, Anastasia suddenly spoke.
[Anastasia: Wait. If the Subaru on the screen of light is looking for people who know him, did you notice what he asked earlier?]
Her tone was no longer as steady as before.
[Anastasia: The Subaru on the screen of light asked Mr. Reikin something before he died.]
[Julius: The village.]
Julius seemed to have remembered as well.
[Julius: He asked whether Mr. Reikin's village was up ahead.]
[Anastasia: There was another question.]
[Anastasia: Whether he had been there before.]
At first, everyone had thought he was simply asking for directions.
Natsuki Subaru was feeling unwell and happened to run into Regen Suwen, who knew Otto, so he had asked whether there was a village up ahead and whether he had been there before.
That had sounded perfectly normal. At least, before Reikin died, no one had thought there was anything wrong with the question.
But things were different now.
Now they knew that the Natsuki Subaru on the screen of light was not simply making casual inquiries.
In the room, Natsuki Subaru's breathing slowly stopped. He understood as well, but he wished he had not.
[Julius: If Mr. Reikin knew Natsuki Subaru, then there might be others in that village who know him as well.]
Julius did not go on to voice his conjecture. It was something everyone could more or less guess, but as though trying to avoid it, none of them dared put that suspicion into words.
Otto froze.
That's right. If this reasoning was correct, then the people in the village, too...
Otto's fingers abruptly clenched.
Reikin had come from the village.
He had his own home, his own clinic, and villagers he regularly dealt with. Perhaps some had met Natsuki Subaru, some had heard Reikin mention his name, and others remembered how Otto and Natsuki Subaru had helped them before.
If Reikin would die because he remembered Natsuki Subaru...
Then what about the village behind Reikin?
[Otto: No way...]