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“…You’re serious, nya?”
“Sufi…”

Sufi comes close and presses her forehead lightly against mine.

“Alice, I love you… stay safe, okay?”
“Sufi! No, Sufi! I’ll figure something out, I definitely will!”

Words won’t reach her, won’t change her. The resolve of someone strong isn’t so flimsy that it can be broken with such shallow words..

The words of someone powerless like me, someone weak, mean nothing.

*—Make the right call.*

Sufi, wearing a grown-up expression, forced a crude smile.

The calm voice in my head told me that, from how it looked, the monster wouldn’t kill her right away— we’d have time. We’d get out, fetch help, and come back, that’s the best chance for all of us.

*—Your job is to be protected, pipsqueak. Survive at all costs, even if others must be sacrificed.*

My memories and experiences from my past life were giving me the “correct answer.”

*—No matter what happens, stay calm and make the right call. You can do it.*

The chance that all four of us surviving was 0%. The chance of escaping, bringing help, and returning before Sufi is killed was 1%. As long as that 1% is there, then it’s “the right call.”

If we sacrificed either Noche or Filia instead, the group would break apart.

That’s why I decided I’d trust Sufi’s resolution here and leave—

“—Filia, take the younger wolf nya.”
“Y-you too, Noche!?”

While the sickeningly correct logic still echoed in my head, Noche stepped up beside Sufi.

But that voice in my mind kept insisting on what was right.

That’s the wrong answer—the time allocated for escape wouldn’t increase even if you add one more sacrifice to the mix. On the contrary, with more prey, each one’s value drops.

So if anyone stays behind, it should be only one. That’s the right answer. That’s the truth.

“…Noche, why?”
“Elder wolf, you think I’d let you steal the spotlight, nya?”
“I told you, name’s Sufi! …Geez”

Their exchange cut straight through my spiraling thoughts.

Sufi, taken aback, protested with a sullen reply, and then—

And then… she smiled, like she couldn’t help it.

I’d seen it before—soldiers who, in the middle of danger, stayed behind to help when they could’ve escaped, throwing away their saved lives just to fight alongside.

The ones who’d try to show off and become the rearguard would scold, lament, and mock the comrade who chose to remain with them. And in the end, they’d all laugh together.

With that helpless smile that said, “Can’t be helped,” they’d laugh just like that.

But I—I could never do it. I was the one meant to be protected. If I tried something like that, everything would fall apart.

I couldn’t do anything, wasn’t allowed to do anything. I had to stay calm, avoid mistakes, keep my heart steady, discipline myself. Kill my emotions, simply be protected, and live quietly—that was my duty.

“Filia, the rest is up to you, nya.”
“Take care of my little sister, okay!”
“…U-ugh, sniff, why, why both of you?”
“It’s fine, nya. If I ran away using my friends as decoys, Mom would scold me, nya.”
“Noche, you’re putting on airs.”
“Hmph!”

It wasn’t that I hated it. That easygoing life really was comfortable.

But still—I envied them.

If we’re going to die together, then so be it— to have comrades who can think like that in the face of extremity. They live with their emotions blazing, burning so fiercely they won’t lose even to hellfire.

What “reincarnation,” what “memories of a past life”? In the end, nothing has changed. I haven’t changed at all from my previous life. Here I am again, shutting my heart away, just a sheltered thing to be protected.

Before I realized it, the weasel had stepped into the plaza, staring down Sufi and Noche like it was appraising its prey.

The two of them, trembling with courage and their tails bristling, seemed so far away.

I wanted to be beside them. Even if I was useless, even if I was a burden— I wanted to be with them until the very end.

“Filia! Go now, nya!”
“Hurry, go!”

It’s always the same, even all the way from my previous life. The moment I think I’ve finally gotten close to someone, they all disappear. Why is it only me who has to leave everyone behind and move forward first?

The weasel’s eyes are brimming with delight as it stares at the two of them—
eyes wondering just how it should torment these brave children.

They’re my first real family, the first human friends I might truly have. Don’t look at Sufi and Noche like that.

The emotions I’ve been holding back overflow. Even though I try to stay calm, blood rushes to my head.

“Stop… cough stop—”

I scream as hard as I can with my ruined throat. As if answering me, the ground begins to shake.

“W-what!? Kyaaah!?”
“Now what’s happening, nya!?”
“Hyah!?”

Suddenly, without any warning, darkness gushes up as the ground splits apart. Not just the pedestal—the entire floor of the plaza cracks and shatters with a loud crackle.

It all happens in an instant. In a single moment the ground begins to collapse, swallowing up the shocked weasel and us all the same.

Am I falling? A powerful sense of weightlessness assaults me. In the darkness where I can’t tell up from down, only the screams of Sufi and the others are clear.

“Alice!”
“S—…”

My throat hurts. I can’t answer the voices calling me.

With no real plan, still in confusion, we plummet into a bottomless abyss.

I hear rubble splashing water far below— the only bit of salvation being that there seems to be a deep pool waiting at the bottom.