by Okina Baba
Katia sits down next to Fei with a grave expression.
Looks like she’s expecting this conversation to take a while.
I sit across from her and get ready to listen.
“I didn’t tell you guys at the time, but I asked Ms. Oka about the other reincarnations a few times before. She told me that there are eleven of them being protected in the elf village. She’s succeeded in contacting eight more, including us. The other six people’s whereabouts are apparently unknown.”
I vaguely remember her saying something about this when we first met.
“We know the eight she’s contacted must include us three, plus Hugo and Yuri. I’m not sure about the other three. You with me so far?”
“Sure.”
“The real problem is the last six who are missing. Ms. Oka said that four of them are dead.”
At Katia’s words, my breath catches in my throat for a moment.
It’s not like that hadn’t ever occurred to me, of course.
But hearing it become reality is still a shock.
I often wondered whether all the reincarnations had survived in a world full of threats like demons and monsters.
From what little I’ve been told, I gathered that Ms. Oka went through all kinds of difficulties to gather us reincarnations and keep us safe.
That can only mean that some of us were in enough danger to justify all that.
Which means she couldn’t get to some reincarnations in time to help them?
Now we know the answer, straight from Katia’s mouth.
“The ones who died are Kouta Hayashi, Naofumi Kogure, Issei Sakurazaki, and Hiiro Wakaba.”
At that last name, Fei sits up with a jolt.
Fei and Wakaba had an intense relationship.
Essentially, Fei did things to Wakaba that bordered on bullying.
In her previous life as Mirei Shinohara, Fei was an eye-catchingly beautiful girl, just as she is in her current human form.
However, the only person whose looks drew more attention than hers was Wakaba.
If that were the whole story, Fei probably wouldn’t have bullied her.
But an upperclassman whom Fei had a crush on at the time apparently liked Wakaba, so she ended up bullying the girl out of a one-sided feeling of envy.
Most of what she did was fairly tame for bullying, like spreading rumors or hiding her things.
And since Wakaba rarely showed much reaction, it never turned into anything more serious.
Still, bullying is bullying.
Fei once told me that she’d come to regret her actions once she was reborn.
I can’t imagine how she feels knowing that the other person involved is dead.
“Oh, sorry. I kinda…can’t quite put it into words…”
Even Fei herself seems unable to express her complicated emotions.
As I keep an eye on her, I look over at Katia as well.
Fei isn’t the only one who had a connection with Wakaba.
Katia once confessed to Wakaba, only to be met with an honorable defeat.
I think Katia half expected this to happen, and after the fact, she just smiled and said, “I got shut down,” so I don’t think it upset her too deeply.
But still, how must Katia feel knowing that someone she used to like is gone now?
“Katia, didn’t you…?”
“Me? I mean, yeah, it’s a shock. But I dunno, it doesn’t really feel real, I guess.”
That makes sense.
We weren’t there to witness the moment of her death or anything.
It was simply relayed as secondhand information from Ms. Oka.
It’s probably natural that it doesn’t feel real.
Besides, we’ve already been in this world almost as long as we were in our previous lives.
To be honest, my memories of my classmates’ faces are starting to get cloudy.
I still remember the friends I was close with pretty well, but other than that, I’m starting to forget people who never left a strong impact on me.
Of the four dead, I wouldn’t say I was close with Wakaba or Sakurazaki, but they left enough of an impression that I still remember them.
However, I can barely even remember Hayashi’s face.
“Kogure, huh? I can only picture him crying.”
Out of those four people, I was closest with Kogure.
He was a crybaby even as a high school student, someone who would freak out over just about anything.
“Oh yeah. Just being called on in class was enough to make him burst into tears, right? That takes me back.”
Like me, Fei probably doesn’t remember much about the classmates she rarely interacted with.
I could never forget Kogure, but Fei probably hadn’t given him much thought until his name came up just now.
I can’t help feeling a little sad about that.
“When do you think he cried the hardest? When he got put in charge of taking care of the animals, maybe?”
“Right, right. He was all, ‘I can’t do iiiit!’ Or maybe that time when the teacher took away his handheld game?”
We took a moment to reminisce about Kogure’s biggest crying episodes.
“Ah…if Icchi were alive, that stupid Natsume probably wouldn’t have gone this far.”
Fei sighs.
“Icchi” is probably Issei Sakurazaki.
He was a childhood friend of Natsume, Hugo’s former self, and tended to keep him in check.
Even in our previous lives, Natsume had a pretty violent personality, but he was never as bad as he is now.
He never caused any major incidents, because Sakurazaki was there to stop him.
If he were by Hugo’s side in this world, too, our future might have been very different.
“D’you think Natsume knows that Icchi’s dead?”
“No idea. I guess it’s possible he found out from Ms. Oka somehow.”
“Maybe he did, and that’s why he went crazy. Honestly, I’m pretty sure Natsume thought Icchi was his only real friend.”
Fei was quite close to Natsume and Sakurazaki.
She must have some thoughts about the way Natsume is rampaging now.
“I wonder why. How did it come to this? I thought we all got along well enough back in Japan.”
“Being reborn in a different world would change anybody. And Hugo happened to change for the worse. That’s all there is to it.”
“But you haven’t changed, Katia.”
“Do you really believe that?”
Katia’s sudden intense gaze startles me a little.
“Look, how exactly do you see me anyway?”
“How do I see you?”
“I mean, am I Katia in your eyes? Or am I Kanata?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Katia and Kanata are one and the same.
I don’t know what she’s trying to ask me.
This time Katia sighs. “Oh, forget it. I just don’t know if you really think I haven’t changed or if that’s just what you want to believe.”
“Erm…I’m sorry?”
Katia seems to be in a bad mood now, so I try to make it better.
However, she only looks more annoyed that I apologized without knowing what I did wrong.
Unable to meet her glare any longer, I look away.
Instead, my eyes fall on Fei, who’s clearly stifling a laugh.
“What are you laughing at?”
Katia turns her glower on Fei.
“Oh, nothing! I’m just a spectator in this whole affair.”
Fei smirks, and Katia’s scowl deepens.
This is getting uncomfortable.
“But…that’s not all you came here to say, right?”
I change the subject, trying to clear the air.
If Katia wanted only to tell us about the four students who died, she wouldn’t have waited until Ms. Oka wasn’t around.
I’m sure there’s something she doesn’t want our teacher to hear.
<
br /> “Right. How much of Ms. Oka’s story do you guys believe?”
Though she still looks a little frustrated, Katia cuts to the main question.
Is she asking whether we think the administrators are real?
“How much? I don’t think she’s lying to us. She said herself that all the stuff about the administrators is objectively just something that the elves have always believed.”
Ms. Oka asserted that the godlike beings called administrators really do exist.
However, she didn’t seem entirely convinced that they’re using this world to gain power, like the elves believe.
“It definitely sounds like a conspiracy theory to me.”
Fei seems to feel the same way I do.
“You’re saying you believe Ms. Oka but not the elves’ story about the administrators. Right?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
For one thing, if these so-called administrators can steal strength from the dead, I don’t see how the elves can possibly fight back against them.
Elves aren’t that much stronger than humans. If such a godlike power really exists, there’s probably nothing they can do about it.
Sure, elves live longer than humans and are very proficient in magic.
But frankly, that’s the only difference.
They’re not exponentially stronger than humans or anything.
How could they possibly compete with beings so far beyond human comprehension?
“But we do know that there are beings who call themselves ‘administrators.’ Even if they aren’t as all-powerful as the elves say, they’re strong enough to give people a reason to fear them.”
That’s my conclusion, at least.
Ms. Oka says that they’re real, and then there’s Sophia, who’s apparently one of their underlings.
Sophia’s power is beyond my reckoning.
If there’s something even stronger than she is, that would certainly be something to fear.
“Do you feel the same way as Shun, Fei?”
“Yeah, more or less.”
“I see.”
Katia closes her eyes and thinks for a moment.
As if she’s trying to decide whether to keep going on this subject.
Finally, she seems to make a decision.
“Shun, Fei, do you both trust Ms. Oka?”
“You don’t, Katia?”
Silence.
However, Katia’s complicated expression says more about her inner feelings than any words could.
“Can I ask why?”
I don’t think Katia would distrust Ms. Oka without a good reason.
The look on her face says that this thought has been weighing on her heavily.
I don’t think Katia really wants to be suspicious of our teacher.
There must be some grounds that would motivate her to bring up this topic now.
“Ms. Oka is hiding something. She’s not lying, but she’s not telling us the whole truth, either. That’s the impression I get.”
I was expecting Katia to have a more concrete explanation, but her words are surprisingly vague.
From the tone of her voice, she seems to know that, too.
“What d’you think she’s hiding, then?” Fei presses.
“If I knew that, it wouldn’t be a problem. But I definitely think there’s something that she can’t tell us. I mean, she said she was going to tell us everything, but there’s still so much she hasn’t explained.”
This did occur to me, too.
For instance, she hasn’t said who the reincarnations being protected in the elf village are or what their situations are like.
Or what the other reincarnations she couldn’t shelter in the elf village are doing now.
Ms. Oka has still hardly told us anything about our fellow reincarnations.
“If she’s hiding something from us, of course I want to believe she has a good reason. But facts are facts. We all know that being a fellow reincarnation doesn’t mean someone can be trusted, right?”
I know what Katia’s trying to say.
Hugo and Sophia, for instance, are reincarnations, but they’re working with the enemy.
And it’s possible that Katia is also referring to herself.
Hugo brainwashed Katia in the past.
And turned her against us.
She’s hinting that even people you think you can trust can turn against you.
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t believe her. Just…don’t trust her too much. I think we should be prepared that she might betray us.”
Katia’s words hit me like stones.
Who knew it would hurt this much to have to suspect even the people you thought you could trust?
Even knowing that Hugo was behind it, being attacked by close allies like Sue and Katia was still painful.
Sue and Yuri are still in Hugo’s hands, too.
Just thinking about that is depressing enough. If Ms. Oka betrayed us on top of that…
The only response I can muster to Karnatia’s warning is a heavy sigh and a silent nod.
RETURNING MONSTER OF THE WEEK ALWAYS GETS KILLED RIGHT AWAY
When my eyes open, I’m floating in the ocean.
And also, I’m nothing but a head.
You might not know what that means, but honestly, I don’t know what’s going on, either.
I mean, seriously.
What’s up with this situation?
What happened?
I mean, how can I even be alive with only a head?
Everything from the neck down is gone.
Although I don’t think spiders really have necks.
Now all that’s left is to stick a pin through me and put me on display.
Ugh. Unreal.
Oh wait. I guess I’m probably still alive in this state because of that Immortality skill I got when I evolved.
I bet that demon lord blew my body away, and what’s left of me landed in the ocean.
Since all I’ve got is a head, does that mean my body was destroyed by the Demon Lord’s attack?
This is just a guess, but my theory is that while I was unconscious, my HP Auto-Recovery skill started putting me back together from the particles that were left over.
Even with the Immortality skill, I wasn’t exactly gonna have the ability to have conscious thoughts if my head was smashed to pieces.
In which case, if someone has Immortality but their head is destroyed with no way to put it back together, wouldn’t they still basically be dead?
Yikes!
Is it just me, or is being alive yet dead kind of scarier than death?
It’s literally a living hell.
Thank goodness for HP Auto-Recovery.
Without it, I might’ve been screwed.
Really, the fact that I’ve regained consciousness now is a miracle on a number of levels.
First of all, it’s actually pretty lucky that I got smashed to bits and thrown into the ocean by that attack.
If I had been left intact, she might’ve noticed that I wasn’t really dead, and if I hadn’t gotten thrown into the ocean, she might have even taken my remains home.
Alternatively, if my regeneration had started right there on the spot, she probably would’ve seen it.
And if she knew I couldn’t die, then she could really have come up with a fate worse than death for me.
Like sealing me in concrete and sinking me to the ocean floor, or having carnivorous monsters eat me every time I come back to life.
Although I guess I technically could have experienced the latter while I was floating in the ocean.
Oh, gross. What if I’ve actually been eaten by something and come out the other end already?
And I don’t even know the extent of how well Immortality works.
This isn’t exactly likely, but if I were split apart at a molecular level, I doubt I could come back from that.
I mean, clearly I can survive as just a head, which is pretty good, but I don’t want to get
overconfident.
What if I got eaten and digested into molecules? Then I probably wouldn’t be able to regenerate.
Well, either way, I said I don’t want to get overconfident, but it’s not like being careful is going to change the outcome of Immortality much.
I mean, did you see that demon lord’s status?
Mother was already the kind of boss who’d show up only in an impossible game, but now there’s something several times worse?
And like, saying “several times” isn’t even an exaggeration.
Stats that average 90,000? What the hell?!
Get outta here!
Even power creep should have its limits!
And that’s only her stats. Once you factor in the skills, well, it’s beyond hopeless.
Like, maxed-out skills across the board? Who does that?
The worst part was those resistance skills.
Most of her attributes were all the way up to Nullification.
So she just doesn’t take damage, huh?
What am I supposed to do about that?
Pretty sure there’s nothing I can do.
Hang on—why would a demon lord come to kill me anyway?
No, I guess I already know.
The Demon Lord’s species name was origin taratect.
That means she was the original taratect monster.
The zenith of all taratects, who even Mother would have to obey.
Just like my Parallel Mind told me in that emergency contact, she’s even stronger than Mother, the monster we thought was the strongest of all.
She must have gotten some kind of distress signal from Mother and come to eliminate me.
Well, I guess my victory was only a matter of time, so it makes sense that Mother would request backup.
Although it doesn’t explain why her “backup” was that…thing.
I mean, I don’t even get how that could exist.
What the hell is that?!
That’s gotta be against the rules!
Uuugh.
Seriously, what am I gonna do?
Just when I thought I’d finally escaped the Great Elroe Labyrinth, Mother’s attacks have kept me too busy to enjoy the outdoors.
I thought I had a faint glimmer of hope to conquer her somehow, but then an even worse monstrosity showed up.
What kind of crappy game is this?
No waaay.
Seriously, no waaay…
Argh. Ugh. Bleeegh.
Mm’kay! Guess I should start figuring out my next move.