I couldn't afford to fail.

  This case had been consuming me for months since it was assigned to me.

  My superiors had recommended I reject it... file it away, pass it on to someone else.

  But I couldn't.

  Not after what I saw in that place.

  Closing my eyes... pretending nothing had happened...

  ...was not an option.

  —Akechi...

  The voice jolted me out of my trance.

  "...Hm? What's happening?" I replied, my voice rough and heavy with exhaustion.

  "Wake up, kid. You'll get sick if you keep sleeping in the office."

  I clicked my tongue as I slowly pushed myself up from the desk.

  My muscles protested as I stretched.

  "How many times have I told you not to come in without knocking...?"

  A yawn cut me off.

  We were in the company's central apartment.

  A private organization that collaborated with the police when things became... unmanageable for ordinary people.

  She didn't respond immediately. Instead, she walked around the room, turning off the lights and closing the curtains.

  Darkness enveloped everything.

  "It's a beautiful night out there," she murmured. "You should be out drinking, having fun with some girl, not rotting here like a hermit."

  His words dissolved into the air; I didn't want to hear them.

  "It could be... if I could catch him."

  I turned on my phone almost by reflex. The screen illuminated my face in the dim light.

  "The new DLC on your wishlist has been released."

  It lifted my spirits a little, but for a few seconds... I found myself staring at my reflection.

  Brown, disheveled hair.

  Deep dark circles under her eyes.

  A vacant look in her eyes.

  She had lost weight.

  Not for lack of time.

  Not out of neglect.

  Simply... she had stopped caring.

  I put my phone in my trench coat and took out a cigarette. I lit it with the matches on the table, and the first drag burned more than usual.

  "Hmm..." she commented. "You're too young for this kind of habit."

  "Don't bother me; smoking relaxes me."

  Smoke drifted slowly from my lips as I brought the ashtray closer.

  Her heels clicked rhythmically against the floor as she approached.

  "Do you have any left?"

  "No, this was the last one for today."

  I took another, deeper drag, the burning becoming a familiar habit, then... a refuge.

  "Then I'll take this one."

  Without asking, she slid the cigarette from my lips with two fingers and took a natural drag.

  I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye, but said nothing.

  "What do you hope to gain from this, Makoto?" I murmured, leaning back in my chair and placing a damp cloth on my forehead. "You know I won't leave until I get some kind of lead."

  The cold helped keep me awake.

  "I've been assigned to this case as your supervisor, Akechi," she said, exhaling smoke directly at me, "so I'm responsible for what happens to you and how you're doing."

  "You know I don't care about orders from headquarters... or the higher-ups."

  I slid into my chair, spinning it around to face the whiteboard.

  Photos.

  Threads.

  Crossed-out names.

  Incomplete patterns.

  And at the center...

  That place, that damned pier, that demonic place, and this damned guilt that was born there... that also took root in the depths of my heart.

  "How about we go out for dinner?" she insisted. "My treat, of course. You need to clear your head, Akechi. Even for a little while, this isn't healthy for your mind."

  I didn't respond.

  My eyes scanned the connections again and again.

  "Hm..."

  Nothing.

  Again.

  Nothing.

  I frowned, deeply annoyed, and occasionally tapped my forehead with my finger. No matter how I connected the cases, the victims, the days, dates, years, minutes, and hours, I got nothing. Simply nothing.

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  "Nothing fits... nothing makes sense."

  Images overlapped in my head.

  The bodies, the marks, the weapons used—he intentionally left clues for us to catch him, yet he hid like a slippery rat. I simply couldn't connect it all to get anything concrete.

  "I can't connect anything..."

  The reflection in the glass of the whiteboard showed me my own face.

  Tired, obsessive, sunken.

  And yet...

  I was unable to let go of this damn case, not after what had happened...

  "It's clear you need to clear your head..." She said that in a voice that was surprisingly sweet, which was very strange for her. "Let me help you, Akechi. You know this isn't healthy for you."

  "I don't need your pity, Makoto, or your body."

  I felt a warm embrace, and a breath on my neck that carried desire... but nothing more.

  "You know I don't like it when you act like this," I murmured, offering slight resistance.

  "But you're not leaving," she whispered again. "Forget the case, at least for this morning, even if just for a few hours... Just let yourself be consumed, Akechi."

  His lips on my neck felt like a caress that sent shivers down my spine... but I couldn't refuse him. I didn't even care, I didn't have the energy to deny him.

  And then there was only silence.

  But my vision remained blurred, so suddenly I felt like I was falling from the sky, crashing to the ground, and waking up.

  "Ah!!!" I screamed with all my might.

  The first thing I saw was a blue sky, with leaves falling around me.

  "W-what the hell...?" I clutched my head, dizzy, and struggled to stand. "A post-death memory...?" I muttered, feeling nauseous.

  My left arm was bandaged and cleaned, splinted with a branch that straightened the bone... but before it was shattered... What the hell, what the fuck happened to me?

  But before I could even react, I just shot up, terrified and trembling.

  "I-is it true I'm..." I muttered, clutching my head, feeling quite dizzy.

  "You woke up sooner than expected," a voice I didn't recognize said from in front of me.

  "Hm?!" I looked up and saw him.

  A man of wild appearance, his blonde hair billowing in the wind, sat on a rock staring at me. His red tunic covered his back, but he rested his hand on his left knee. His sharp features and hawk-like gaze devoured me with their intensity. He radiated danger, too much danger...

  "Calm down. I'm not your enemy, at least not yet," he said, his voice as wild as his appearance. "I'll be brief. I hate wasting time." He leaped forward, landing directly in front of me. "How did you know we'd pass through here?"

  "We'd pass through...?"

  "That's not important. Answer before I incinerate you." He snapped his fingers.

  My heart stopped for a moment, and I instinctively leaped backward.

  His hand burned with a fierce red that completely distorted the visibility of his limb.

  "Good instincts," he said with a satisfied smile. "Now answer me, child."

  I'll use the lie I had prepared.

  "Queen Seraphindra of the Red Empire," I said, kneeling before Leon, "entrusted me with this super-duper, ultra-secret mission... to rescue you, my lord..."

  Tch... He seemed annoyed, but his hand faded and he gripped his cross-shaped necklace. How did that stupid girl know I'd be passing through here...? He tapped his forehead lightly in frustration and sighed. Maria, you can come out of hiding now.

  A smiling woman emerged from between the trees, carrying a child... and yes, it was the very child I'd come to find in the first place.

  Everything's resolved now, my love, right? she said, approaching Leon and cuddling against him.

  "Don't get too sweet on me," Leon said, gently pushing her aside with his right hand to show the ring on his ring finger.

  "Yes..." she replied firmly and confidently, the child asleep in her arms.

  The woman had black hair and brown eyes, her appearance quite modest, as if she were a peasant girl. She was slender and short, especially compared to the man, who, as one could see...

  "So, why the hell did my cousin call us, huh?" the servant answered, clearly annoyed.

  Cousin? Wait, what?

  My gaze focused on the child in the woman's arms.

  Kaelion has the blood of the Red Dragon? That explains why he only caused disasters when he was on the villains' side in the game!

  "If I may add..." I stood up, trying to hide my surprise. "I don't know if you saw the beating I took just a moment ago..."

  What do you mean, REAL blood?!

  I still couldn't believe it.

  "Moments? You were asleep for days, servant. My dear wife took care of you and healed you until your slave body had completely recovered." He grabbed my neck. "Do you know how jealous I was watching her have to care for you?"

  "Wait, days? I was unconscious for days?"

  "Exactly three days. You took too long to regenerate for a useless slave."

  Wait, I was unconscious for days? DAYS?!

  "Enough, don't be an idiot, Leon. He helped us."

  Pang! A sharp smack to Leon's head from his wife instantly loosened his grip.

  "Tch... Fine then..."

  "Forgive my husband's explosive temper. He's just like that... but he's not a bad person." Maria smiled as she stroked the child's hair. "Let me say it for him, alright? Thank you."

  "Hm...?"

  "Well, Leon used a rather... questionable tactic."

  "He's Sera's slave anyway, so I guess it didn't matter." The boy sighed as he sat back down on the stone.

  "I use you to gauge the strength of the woman who left you in that state, which is why I then cast a spell to conceal us from her presence..."

  "I hate to admit it, but that woman could have easily killed me..." Leon growled, crushing a stone in his hand with a furious squeeze. "It makes my blood boil!"

  "Don't shout," Maria said firmly, and Leon fell silent abruptly.

  "Tch..."

  "As I mentioned, I used a spell to hide us from the Dragoness, but..." She shook her head. "She showed you mercy by not finishing you off."

  "Huh?"

  "I was about to stab a branch through your head to end it all, but something made her change her mind. Instead, she used it to support your broken arm."

  "So she was the one... wait, she showed me mercy...?"

  "I suppose so. I didn't get a clear look, but Leon..."

  "It was mercy," Leon said seriously. "You whispered, 'Forgive me, Mother,' and something in her stopped her. She chose to spare your life." He averted his gaze. "She even hid you with the leaves, and before she left, she said, 'We'll meet again, little Naerun.'"

  "How come you didn't detect me?"

  "Who do you think I am, child?" Leon sighed. "But enough about you. Answer me now—what does my cousin want?"

  I shook my head, still agitated. It was hard to believe a mercenary hadn't killed me on the spot.

  "I don't know the exact details, sir. It's a secret mission," I replied. I nodded. "The only thing I was tasked with was dying so that you all could be saved and reach the top if necessary."

  Maria smiled at her husband.

  "It's... an annoyance that Seraphindra is in power, but what can you do?" She jumped again and stretched. "I'm following you, servant."

  "So, we're returning to the empire?"

  "Tch... my original itinerary was accelerated thanks to this servant." Leon smiled, watching his sleeping son. "But if Maria was already planning to return to the empire and settle down, so Kaelion could develop there..."

  "Then please follow me." I nodded, standing up and pointing down a forest path. "Our transport is this way."

  So that was the original fate...

  Kaelion wasn't meant to become that monster.

  He wasn't a tyrant.

  He was just a child... with parents who wanted to see him grow.

  But fate...

  always finds a way to twist itself.

  "Not this time," I murmured, clenching my fists.

  If this world intended to repeat history...

  then I would be the one to break it.

  The hooded woman... Leon... Maria...

  Characters who originally didn't exist in the game... at least from the protagonist's perspective. Especially the hooded woman... that damn woman is probably the one who's going to cause me trouble in the future.

  For now, I only need to focus on one thing.

  As Maria and Leon walked behind me, watching their son, I whispered softly

  "I need to become stronger... so this never happens again..."

  I got lucky today, but in the future, I won't find someone who spares my life again...