Reeling from the shock, Subaru stared wide-eyed at the blonde girl bearing down on him, who had instinctively dug in her heels.
Her cerulean eyes blazed with incomprehensible fury, her beautiful face flushed red — the
She pierced the frozen Subaru with a fierce glare, then turned her gaze to
"I'll say it again — I'm putting my foot down. That contract? I won't allow it."
"...Hm. I suppose you could call this an unexpected turn of events, from my perspective."
An emotion too familiar to be called hostility, too savage to be called anger. Directing it squarely at Echidna, Minerva folded her arms within the crater her fist had created, biting her lip as her ample chest heaved.
"A Witch's contract — you, of all people, should understand what that means. And yet you're interrupting... Could it be that you, too, want to form a contract with him? Perhaps you're feeling a little jealous?"
"You can see I'm this angry — do you seriously think it's for something that trivial? I'm furious! I'm outraged! I'm so mad my hair could pierce the heavens!"
At Echidna's attempt to brush off the confrontation with a quip, Minerva's face flushed an even deeper shade of crimson. Her mounting emotion welled up as tears at the corners of her eyes, lending her delicate profile the stubbornness of a small child.
Her voluptuous body and her youthful profile were hopelessly incongruous — and the sheer impossibility of her existence was something Subaru could only accept alongside his shock.
Because — "Why are you here?"
"What's that supposed to mean? I can't be here?"
"That's not — well, that's not it, but... Echidna's right there."
Pointing at Echidna, Subaru spoke to Minerva, who puffed her cheeks in displeasure. Minerva tilted her head, still confused, but Echidna seemed to understand what Subaru was getting at. She clapped her hands lightly and nodded.
"Ah, I understand what your concern is. You find it puzzling that other Witches are manifesting here, while I'm already present."
"Th-that's right! Every time I've met with the other Witches, it was one-on-one... It was always you appearing in someone else's place. So why..."
"Nobody said they can't appear together. It's this wicked Witch's way of doing things — pulling pointless little tricks just because she can."
Minerva dismissed Subaru's objection with a shrug, her shoulders raised in irritation. At her answer, Subaru mouthed "No way..." under his breath and looked at Echidna. But Echidna showed no particular inclination to deny either Subaru's gaze or Minerva's words.
"I'd like you not to misunderstand. Summoning Witches other than myself places a considerable burden and risk on me. There's a possibility that another Witch could seize control of this space, and even setting that aside, giving form to powerful beings like them requires a great deal of effort."
"That doesn't mean — no, but, you..."
"I don't believe I've told a single lie. That much, I can say with certainty."
Echidna cut through Subaru's stammering with a single sharp remark.
It was true. Looking back on his memories, Echidna had never made any statements on this matter that he could definitively call lies.
Confronted with the phenomena and facts presented, Subaru had simply convinced himself that it was so.
In the extreme, Echidna had nothing to lose by deceiving Subaru — but still.
"I didn't want you to realize that other Witches could appear so easily, and have you taken away by one of them."
"H-What?"
"You are, for me, a truly long-awaited guest. In life or death, my heart has seldom raced like this during conversation. Would you call me despicable for wanting to monopolize you — even if only in this place?"
"————"
"I'll say it again and again — I find you quite appealing. That's why I wanted to avoid bringing out Witches who might be more charming than I, or more cooperative, for fear that your interest would shift to them. — You may laugh at that, if you like."
Because it was a terrible, ugly possessiveness — so Echidna explained the circumstances of her concealment.
Listening in silence to what sounded like an excuse from Echidna, Subaru contemplated the possessiveness directed at him — and wondered what on earth he possessed that could warrant it.
The same was true of the Witch of Envy. And Echidna too — why would she go so far for Subaru — "Don't you go getting talked into this so easily!"
"Wha—!?"
A soft fist rapped against the back of Subaru's head just as he was about to fall into contemplation.
Clutching his head and turning around, he found Minerva right behind him. She took the hand he'd placed on his head, flowed smoothly into a joint lock, and dragged him down to the ground.
"Ow—! Hey, that hurts, that hurts, that hurts... Wait, it doesn't?"
"When I make direct contact with a living being, it turns into healing no matter what I do. Punch with full force and the wound closes up. Take them down with a chokehold and their chronic illness gets cured. Hold this joint lock and your shoulder tension disappears!"
"N-No wonder all the aches and pains in my body have... That's not the point!"
Experiencing the true power of the Witch of Wrath firsthand, Subaru desperately craned his neck to look up at Minerva, who had him locked in a joint hold.
Despite his bones creaking and being forced in the direction his body screamed was painful, warmth spread gently throughout his entire body instead of pain — an overwhelming sense of wrongness. The Witch who wielded a mysterious authority that converted all her actions upon the human body into positive effects — he had never once harbored negative feelings toward her, but "What exactly are you trying to accomplish by this..."
"If I don't do something like this, you'll just go along with Echidna's sweet talk and sign that contract! That reckless judgment and that mindless attitude — it really ticks me off!"
"That's an unkind way to put it. I believe I was explaining the benefits of entering into a contract with me, and attempting to reach a mutual understanding..."
"That's exactly the kind of attitude I'm talking about — like you've fulfilled your duty to explain. You did explain the benefits. You did. But you didn't say a single thing about the disadvantages that would come with the contract!"
Minerva let her anger carry her foot downward. Subaru's rear happened to be beneath her heel, and he experienced the bizarre sensation of a heel being driven into his glute and the ground caving in from the impact transmitted through his backside.
Sensing that the impact to his rear had somehow improved his digestion, Subaru grasped the meaning of Minerva's words and was struck dumb.
The fact that during his conversation with Echidna, no mention had been made of any drawbacks. He understood his own carelessness in not having noticed this.
"No, but... even if there are drawbacks... they can't be that serious..."
"You think they won't be? You're taking this contract far too lightly. Especially when your partner is a Witch — among the seven Witches bearing the names of the Deadly Sins, the one who formed the most contracts, interacted with the most humans, and influenced history the most forcefully: the Witch of Greed."
"It is true that not everything about my life was glorious... or honorable, shall we say. It is also true that not all who entered into contracts with me were saved."
Minerva confronted Subaru with facts he hadn't known. Echidna, meanwhile, continued in apparent elaboration while maintaining that she harbored no ill will toward Subaru.
Listening to both of their arguments, Subaru's mind, caught in between, was in a state of utter confusion.
He couldn't determine whose words to trust.
Ever since he'd become entangled with the Trials in the tomb, Echidna was someone with whom he'd met face to face repeatedly, who had shared in his worries — someone he thought of as a kind of comrade-in-arms.
That was precisely why, when she proposed forming a cooperative relationship through a contract, Subaru had felt something close to relief and was prepared to accept.
Minerva, on the other hand, was someone he had met fewer times, for shorter durations, and exchanged fewer words with than Echidna. But each time, she had healed him from crisis with the restorative power of her mighty arms and passed through like a typhoon of compassion without even seeking thanks.
Minerva had no reason to trap Subaru, and the fact that she had gone out of her way to manifest and interject deserved serious consideration.
No — before agonizing over this, there was something he needed to ask.
That was — "Echidna. If we enter into a contract, there must be a price."
"...Yes, that's right. A contract requires it. Just as I provide knowledge in response to your requests, you must offer payment in response to mine."
"That's right. It is. — Then what do you want from me? If I contract with you, what will I need to offer?"
What would he need to pay so that when he hit a wall, when he reached a dead end with no way forward, this being called Echidna would lend him her strength?
At Subaru's question, Echidna's cheeks softened into a smile.
"There's no need to be so wary. What I ask of you isn't so difficult. If anything, you could say I'm quite conscientious, since I don't demand tangible goods or intangible treasures as payment."
"What... do you want?"
"Something simple. — I want you to let me savor, for as long as possible, what you feel, what you think, what lingers in your heart, what you come to know, what you accomplish, what is born from you — the fruit of the 'unknown' that springs from your very existence."
Echidna's cheeks flushed, and she spoke with the expression of a lovestruck maiden.
The fruit of the unknown — at this poetic phrasing, Subaru furrowed his brow.
"What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying you'll extract my feelings, my memories, my recollections — things like that — from me? Because if so..."
"Didn't I say it wasn't anything that dramatic? I simply want to watch from the best seat in the house — the scenery you see, the melodies you hear, the stories you weave. I want to feel them all. I want to be in a position to know the 'unknown' that is born from you. That alone is enough to satisfy me."
As if to dispel Subaru's concerns, Echidna made her desires clear.
Simply to witness the path Subaru walked. To see the scenery along the way together. To learn what he felt, what he learned, and the consequences of his actions.
The incarnation of curiosity, the Witch who bore the name of Greed — that was all she desired.
"You're not lying, are you?"
"Lying in a contract is out of the question. For the sake of remaining myself, I swear I will never go against these words. I'd stake my life on it."
Placing a hand on her own chest, Echidna closed with a lighthearted quip: "Though I suppose I'm already dead."
Her manner and her words felt genuine to Subaru. Or perhaps he simply wanted to believe they were.
"Minerva. Echidna has said her piece. If that's the case, then I..."
"N-Not everything... she said is true... she didn't tell you... everything..."
Just as Subaru was about to demand his release from Minerva, yet another person's voice reached him. It was one he had heard just a dozen or so minutes ago — and one that was decidedly unpleasant to his ears.
"
"D-Don't look at me... with such scary eyes... I'm... telling you I didn't do... anything... That's so... mean..."
"I've just got a mean-looking face. I'm not making a special effort to look angry."
Subaru, pinned to the ground; Echidna, standing before him; and Minerva, aligned in a straight line behind — and at a slight remove, sitting in the grass, the red-haired girl: Carmilla.
She fidgeted, hiding her face from Subaru's gaze while stealing glances at the situation. Her manner was as irritating as ever, but by consciously averting his attention from her, he could avoid the danger of having his heart overwhelmed to the point of mortal peril.
Over that, he pressed further.
"More to the point — what did you just say? I don't mind another Witch showing up at this point, but what's going on..."
"E-Echidna-chan is... hiding... lots of things... She hasn't lied... but she's hidden... a lot..."
"Hidden things...?"
As Subaru pondered Carmilla's words, he looked at Echidna imploringly. Meanwhile, Echidna turned her gaze toward Carmilla's sudden appearance, closing one eye.
"Suddenly appearing out of nowhere and then saying such disgraceful things. For starters, why would you draw his attention to this? Unlike Minerva, you have no reason to take his side. You were supposed to dislike him."
"L-Like Minerva-chan... a r-reason? I don't really... have one. But Echidna-chan... d-deceived me... didn't she?"
In contrast to Echidna's composed manner, Carmilla averted her eyes and replied in a halting, feeble voice. Yet despite the weakness of her tone, there was nothing remotely spineless about the substance of her words.
Carmilla's restless gaze wandered as she stared at Echidna time and again.
"I-I don't... like this boy... but Echidna-chan... d-deceived me... I won't... take her side either? Anyone who deceives me... who hurts me... who does... cruel things... to me... I will 'never forgive.'"
Only those final words rang out with startling clarity.
And for that reason, it took Subaru a moment to absorb the fact that they had just been spoken by the girl beside him.
Those final words alone were so thoroughly divorced from the girl's demeanor until now.
However — Silently, yet without ever breaking her gaze, Carmilla stared at Echidna.
In those eyes swirled an indescribable vortex of emotion — a dark, resentful maelstrom that would never forgive anyone who directed hostility toward her, or anything akin to it.
A mass of self-love — the phrase flickered briefly through his mind.
"I suppose, despite being a necessary measure, going against Carmilla's wishes was a misstep. Making an enemy of you would be the most troublesome thing imaginable."
"Ev-Everyone... is on my side... so if I hate you... it'll be bad... Ah... even if you apologize... I won't forgive you..."
Timidity and pugnacity are not equivalent.
Carmilla was introverted, so meek she could barely convey her thoughts to others — but that had nothing to do with her resilience against hostility.
"Since a while ago — since a while ago, what the hell have you people been talking about?!"
And caught amidst the hostile atmosphere between the Witches, Subaru — who until now had been denied the freedom to speak — raised his voice.
Feeling three pairs of Witch's eyes bearing down on him, Subaru craned his neck desperately.
"Stop talking behind my back like I'm not even here! This is my choice! So explain it to me in terms I can understand! What is Echidna hiding?! What do you two know that you're trying to stop me?!"
"Even if you're feeling vulnerable, reaching out and grabbing the first hand extended to you is just naive... I suppose that's what makes you so calculating — orchestrating things to lead me right to that point!"
"That's a terrible thing to say. You might give him the wrong impression. If he enters into a contract, I will cooperate with him and undoubtedly guide him to the best place he seeks. All I ask is to be able to learn what he sees, hears, and comes to know along the way. I haven't said a single false thing."
Subaru shouted, and Minerva unleashed a voice trembling with anger in return. Between the two of them and their clumsy words, Echidna alone maintained her composure.
And in Echidna's voice — cold to the core — Subaru too began to sense a dissonance. Rising above the feverish haze of the preceding moments, he reexamined Echidna's words. Her manner. And the reason the two Witches were trying to stop him.
What was wrong? Nothing she said was untrue. Even the two Witches admitted she wasn't lying. Then where was the problem — "I'll say it once more,
"'— in the end.' There's always that little qualifier tacked on, isn't there..."
A languid voice overlapped Echidna's words as she reached out her hand and spoke with conviction.
Looking over, he saw that across from Carmilla, a specter with red-purple hair had appeared — sitting on the ground, half-buried in her own impossibly long hair: the Witch of Sloth.
Subaru was beyond surprise at more Witches appearing. What caught his attention, however, "...In the end...?"
"Echidna... hah... will certainly fulfill the contract. However... hah... only the fact that she fulfilled it... hah... If she keeps that much... hah... what she does along the way... hah... is anyone's guess."
"Whatever she wants..."
The words
But that hypothesis was far too difficult to accept. Subaru's face froze in shock, and seeing Echidna turn a blind eye to the three Witches' attitudes, he spoke.
"Echidna. You said that if we contract... you will undoubtedly lead me to the best future."
"Indeed, I did. It's a fact. Without question, I will fulfill that contract. With my knowledge and your ability, it will certainly be achieved."
That was right — that was surely how a properly fulfilled contract should work.
Echidna's words were free of lies. With her cooperation, Subaru could surely save everyone and reach the future. However — "With your help, I'll reach the best future — but will I have taken the best path to get there?"
"————"
"Will you truly spare no effort to get me to the place I wish to be?"
"————"
"Why won't you answer me?! Say something, Echidna... no — Witch of Greed!"
Throwing his head back, Subaru screamed with all the force his throat could muster.
Still pinned to the ground with his joints locked, Subaru paid it no mind, fixing Echidna with an unrelenting glare.
And Echidna, upon receiving that piercing gaze, let out a small sigh.
"— If you can reach the best future, then you accept the sacrifices along the way. Wasn't that your resolve, Natsuki Subaru?"
"———!"
It was an answer that neither directly affirmed nor denied Subaru's question.
But Subaru understood.
That Echidna's words were by no means intended to dispel his earlier doubts.
On the contrary, spreading her arms as if she wanted him to understand her thinking — "The ability you possess — 'Return by Death' — is a staggering authority. You haven't truly grasped its usefulness. Refusing unacceptable endings, starting over as many times as you like, reaching for the future again and again — for a seeker of knowledge, it's an ideal approaching the ultimate. Because, isn't it? In principle, once a result is produced, it cannot be changed. During the process leading to that result, however, numerous hypotheses can be formed about what the outcome might be — try this approach, or set these conditions, and various hypotheses and verifications become possible. But when you actually set out to experiment and produce that result, the outcome, the testable hypotheses, and the verification all converge into one. You truly cannot create identical conditions — no matter how carefully you set everything up, you can never replicate the exact same conditions as that moment. What result would have emerged if you had acted differently back then — for seekers like us, it is nothing more than a dream beyond our grasp. I, who possess the 'memories of the world,' certainly do have the means to 'know' that answer. I do. But I do not choose to use it. I want to 'know,' not to 'have known.' A terribly contradictory, detestable object, you might say. But I digress... For those of us who can only accept one outcome, who possess only one means of observation — your existence, that authority, is something we want with every fiber of our being. The ultimate ability to conduct 'different verifications' under 'identical conditions' and witness 'different outcomes' from the 'original result' — could anyone resist desiring it? Could anyone stand before it and refrain from testing everything? Of course, I have no intention of forcing you into this. You should use 'Return by Death' freely for your own purposes. I, too, will do my utmost to help you reach the future you seek. And if possible, I'd like you to contribute greatly to satisfying my own curiosity along the way. That much I think I'm entitled to hope for. You get to see answers. I get to satisfy my curiosity. Our interests align. I don't know the answers either, so there's no way I would deliberately steer you toward the wrong choice just to witness a tragic outcome. In the sense that neither of us begins with the correct answer to the problems we face, we are equals. In the sense that we both struggle and strain to find answers to the same problems, we are true comrades. On that point, I can state clearly and without shame. Because having more means of verification makes me view you very favorably, I swear I will never treat you with contempt. Of course, there will inevitably be problems that even with my help cannot be easily overcome. I can lend knowledge, but I can never directly interfere with reality. If the obstacle requires physical, material force, I cannot help you. Again and again — perhaps hundreds, thousands of times — you may be shattered in heart and body. Even so, I genuinely wish to care for your heart. I cannot claim with certainty that there isn't a shred of self-interested curiosity — the desire not to lose such a useful being — mixed in with that. But it is also true that I find you appealing and wish to be of help to you. So please, don't think ill of me. I'll say it again: I can proudly declare that I am useful to your cause. Just as I consider using your existence to satisfy my own curiosity — my greed, if you will — you should feel free to use my existence for your purpose of 'reaching the best future.' Being treated as a convenient woman — that would suit me perfectly. If that motivates you, I'll gladly offer up my existence. Though whether you'd want this frail, already-dead body is another matter entirely. Oh — saying all this might be unfair to your beloved. Your beloved — the silver-haired half-elf, and the blue-haired oni girl. The ones you've sworn in your heart and demonstrated through your actions that you will undoubtedly save and protect. What I think about the way you harbor such strong feelings toward those two, I shall refrain from stating here. But I will say this with certainty: the height of the walls standing before you is beyond imagination. Looking only at the obstacles already known, how many insurmountable things stand in your way? Your resolve to overcome them alone is noble, and profoundly tragic. My desire to be of help on your path — to become such — is by no means false. And you should use that desire of mine. You must use everything you have, everything you can leverage, to save the people you've formed bonds with through nothing more than your own will. That is the oath you made to yourself, the conviction you arrived at along the path of pain. So I ask you, I press you, I think of you. That you've spent your life as disposable currency, walking the path you've walked — that was just proven moments ago in the form of the second Trial. In fact, that Trial was so necessary that it could almost make you believe it existed solely to help you understand the path you've walked until now. It was, admittedly, a sight you didn't need to see — one that only wears away at the soul once recognized. But between not knowing and knowing, I would always consider the latter more precious, no matter how tragic the truth. You have been, and will continue to be, sacrificing your life as the price of 'Return by Death,' drawing the future closer. It was necessary for you to keep in mind that the things sacrificed for that — that the world — 'might be' in this form. Eventually, you may become detached from the sentiment of paying with your life, your human emotions may fade, you may become unmoved even by the 'deaths' of those precious to you, sinking into days of apathy, emotion, and lethargy — and even upon reaching the best future, arriving there without yourself present. To prevent reaching such a future where only futility remains, this was necessary. Yes — nothing in this world is wasted. Everything is a necessary journey, a necessary piece of the puzzle. The Trial existed for you to understand that. If you need to attribute a plausible meaning to why you've stopped in your tracks like this, think of it this way. And I will affirm that thinking. If words can give you the strength to move forward, I will speak whatever words are needed. Whether they be comfort, encouragement, whispered love, or something that stirs hatred — if it empowers you, I will not hesitate to use it. You may resent it, but the path ahead of you will inevitably require the strength of someone like me. If you are to walk a lonely road where pain cannot be avoided, you will certainly need someone who can walk beside you without looking away from that journey. And if that role is me — no one else, but me — I can walk alongside you without any trouble at all. I'll say it again, I'll repeat it, I'll tell you as many times as it takes for it to reach you. — You need me. And I need you. Your existence is necessary. My curiosity can never be satisfied without you. Only you can fulfill me. Only you can satisfy my insatiable 'Greed.' Your existence is now indispensable to me — to this being who dwells in this closed world. If you wish to be someone's hope, if you wield your power to carve open the world, might this wretched being be permitted to benefit from the spoils? If you would extend your kindness to me, I will not hesitate for a moment to offer this body, this knowledge, this soul. So please — I want you to trust me. The reason I haven't revealed my true feelings until now was never because I intended to deceive you or keep secrets. I was simply waiting for the right moment. If I had revealed even a fragment of my true heart at that instant, you surely would have turned away from me. That would be an unbearable loss for me. Of course, it would also be a loss for you — in the sense of pushing the future you seek further away. Given your 'Return by Death,' you will surely reach the future you desire someday. But the price you pay for that future should be as low as possible. I — only I — can reduce that price. Please don't misunderstand — I'm not the kind of person who would dismiss minor objectives in pursuit of the grand goal of simply reaching the final result. I confess that I cannot suppress my own desires to the point of never being tempted to withhold necessary elements from the best path, just to see what would happen in such a scenario. I admit that. But I will never cover it up. If I ever betray your trust in that way, I will absolutely not conceal it. I will confess everything. And I will do everything in my power, again and again, to repay the trust I've lost. No matter what happens, I will absolutely, undoubtedly send you to the best future you desire. Absolutely, without fail. So won't you accept me, having understood that this is a necessary means to that end? What I ask of you, what I demand, is exactly what I stated at the time of the contract. The rest comes down to how far you're willing to sacrifice yourself for the wish you desire. My resolve is as I've described. Now I want to hear yours. Prove to me that you have the spirit to enter into a contract with me, receive my help, and then undoubtedly reach the future. Only when you accomplish that can you truly say you've conquered the second Trial. Advance to the third Trial, overcome it, and achieve the liberation of the
— And with that, Echidna smiled sweetly.
Her white, snow-like hair swaying, her cheeks faintly flushed with passion, she looked up at him with upturned eyes, awaiting his answer.
Her trembling lashes flinched with every reaction, and her fingertips pressed against her chest moved restlessly as though consumed by anxiety. Her lips parted and faltered several times as she tried to form words, only to be moistened by the tip of her tongue.
He looked up. His eyes met Minerva's, who still held him in his grip.
When their eyes met, Minerva let out a small sigh. And then — releasing the arms she had shown no intention of letting go until now. Freed from the restraint on his shoulders, Subaru rotated his arms and rose to his feet.
Just as Minerva had said, the stiffness in his shoulders was gone. Not only that — he felt as though the tension in his hips and other parts had been relieved too. The authority of the Witch of Wrath — its terrifying healing power.
"————"
Rolling his limbs and checking his senses, Subaru organized his thoughts.
The truth — the unvarnished truth — he had just heard from Echidna.
"Echidna."
"Yes?"
"Are you... going to use me?"
Use. Be used. Those were words Echidna had repeated many times in her speech. Receiving this, Echidna nodded without hesitation.
"I will. And you should do the same to me. The contract is a safeguard to ensure neither of us betrays that principle. If you wish to condemn my thinking — that I will use whatever I can to hold onto your existence — then I'll accept that."
"I didn't fail to think about it. Put bluntly, I know that mutual interest is just how things work. That you'd help me out of a hundred percent pure goodwill... even if I hoped for that, I was prepared to accept the reality that it wasn't the case. But..."
Before Echidna, Subaru covered his face with his palm and looked upward.
"Even so... this is too much..."
"Too much, as in?"
"Everything you've done up until now — it all looks faded to me now. Every kind thing you did for me, all the ways you treated me favorably, the feeling I was starting to have that maybe you weren't a bad person... it's all... lost its color."
Everything he had built up from their first meeting until this very moment came crashing down with a sound.
The tea party where they first met, the moment he faced the Trial, and the times when reality blocked his path and he clung again and again to her wisdom and her words. The times he was prepared to enter into a contract, thinking he wouldn't regret it.
— All of it mocked Natsuki Subaru's foolishness with ruthless cruelty.
"Did you plan this from the very beginning?"
"I'm not entirely sure what your issue is. If you can reach the best outcome in the end, then you accept the journey it takes to get there — wasn't that what you decided? You yourself affirmed it, and I supported you in that..."
"What you made me accept... I haven't even accepted it, but isn't steering me in that direction exactly what you planned all along?... That's what I'm saying."
"I'd like you not to misunderstand — that conclusion is entirely your own. All I did was give your conclusion the slightest nudge. Seeking to place the responsibility for your own words and conclusions on someone else — that's hardly admirable. And I'm not nice enough to simply accept the blame."
Pouting her lips and arguing with a petulant expression — Echidna's childishness of emotional expression, or rather its inappropriateness, made Subaru feel the dissonance he had sensed before even more acutely.
What should he call it — an inconsistency in the depth of her emotions.
Echidna's emotional expression wasn't wrong. When suspected, she showed indignation. When something pleased her, she smiled. When something was sad, she let a sorrowful expression show. It was correct. It wasn't wrong.
And yet, the sense of wrongness persisted, the distrust grew. The answer was — "Your attitude — everything about it — it's all shallow. Lacking any real sincerity."
"————"
"Even when you're happy, even when you're angry — your emotional expression is childish and thin. Just now, rather than flying into a rage, you just made a sulky face. It's not a matter of being magnanimous. Your attitude... your attitude up until now has been wrong. I used to think you were easygoing and easy to be around, someone I could get along with..."
"————"
"The truth is, that's not it at all. You're — you're someone who can't understand other people's emotions."
Echidna's behavior until now flashed through his mind, and everything turned sepia.
Every manner he had once found appealing turned out to be the product of thin, superficial emotional performance — and once he felt that way, all their past interactions seemed to lose their color.
And despite being subjected to such harsh words, Echidna's expression was unchanged from her earlier pout — as if she knew no emotional expression beyond that.
"You're allowed to be angry here, you know."
"...Is that so? Here, I should raise my voice and shower you with insults. I see. That's instructive. If there's a next time, perhaps I'll do just that."
At Subaru's words, expression vanished from Echidna's face.
Expressionless — it was something Subaru, who had known Echidna until now, had never seen before. The first time he had witnessed the Witch of Greed in this state.
Before the silent Subaru, Echidna raised her hand and snapped her fingers. The hill that had been destroyed restored itself, and the shattered table and blown-away chairs reformed.
Echidna took one of the chairs and sat down, gesturing with her hand toward the one across from her.
"Why don't you sit? I'd like to fine-tune the details of the contract."
"...In this situation, do you really think I'd still approach a contract with you willingly?"
"Surely you're not going to reject me over a minor disagreement? What meaning would that serve? Being swept away by momentary emotions and losing sight of the right choice — that's hardly wise. I advise you to look at reality and choose the rational path."
At Echidna's frigid words, Subaru closed his eyes and held his breath.
Echidna's words were correct. If someone said Subaru was the one throwing a tantrum, they wouldn't be wrong. Her logic held. She hadn't lied.
Echidna had simply kept her true intentions hidden. About Subaru's journey, about the benefits she would gain along the way — she had merely maintained silence.
If they contracted, Subaru would probably reach the right answer. And it was certainly true that Echidna would not begrudge her cooperation.
"There's one thing I've wanted to ask you, if I ever met you again."
"— Hmm, and what might that be?"
"If I can hear the answer to that, I think I'll be able to choose."
Echidna waited for the question Subaru would pose.
And to her, Subaru brought forth his touchstone question. It was one answer he had yet to find even a fragment of within the loop born from this Sanctuary — and a question that was by no means unrelated to her.
"— You know
"...Yes, of course I know her. I was deeply involved in the process of her creation. Has something happened to her?"
An innocent reply from Echidna. An answer devoid of any hidden meaning, filled with genuine puzzlement.
Subaru closed his eyes and pictured the young girl with ringlet curls in his mind.
For Subaru, the girl's final image was the moment she was pierced from behind and vanished.
And even before that — when the long, long loneliness she had harbored, and the darkness born from it, had been hurled at him — it had left a heavy scar on his heart.
She had shoved Subaru out of the way, protected him from the blade, and in that final instant, her expression — it was still seared into his eyes, unable to be released. And so — "Beatrice has been waiting by contract for 'that person' to come. Was that contract made with you? Are you the one who bound her to the mansion?"
"I don't remember specifying a location... but it was certainly I who made her promise to guard the Forbidden Library and wait until her escort arrived."
"Then who is 'that person'? How can I set her free?"
In four hundred years of solitude, Beatrice had been waiting for the existence of 'someone.' Who that 'someone' was — even Beatrice herself didn't know. Subaru hadn't been able to find so much as a clue.
But if he could hear the answer from Echidna herself — the one who had arranged that promise with 'someone' — "Who could it possibly be, I wonder?"
"— Wha—?"
"No, I'm being entirely serious. Who do you think 'that person' that Beatrice is waiting for might be?"
Echidna responded as though she had been asked a question to which she genuinely didn't know the answer. At this, Subaru was stunned. Then he shook his head.
"You mean even you don't know who Beatrice's awaited person is?"
"Mm, I don't. Who 'that person' is that Beatrice is waiting for — I don't know."
"Why not? You're the one who told Beatrice to wait in the Forbidden Library, aren't you? And you don't know... Could it be..."
Was the Echidna who had instructed Beatrice to wait in the Forbidden Library a different person from the one who had set a deadline for 'that person's' arrival?
If so, then the person who knew the answer was somewhere else entirely — "No, that's wrong."
"————"
"I was the one who instructed Beatrice to wait for 'that person.' That much is correct. What's wrong is something far more fundamental."
"Something fundamental?"
"You're mistaken about why I had Beatrice enter into such a contract in the first place. You think I had Beatrice guard the library so that its contents could be handed over to 'that person,' don't you?"
Subaru didn't understand what Echidna meant.
It was the natural way to think. When you instructed someone to hand something over, it was only natural that the handover was the true intent behind the instruction.
But Echidna shook her head at Subaru's perfectly ordinary reasoning.
"My instruction to Beatrice was nothing like that. I made a contract with that child to wait for 'that person'... and I've been waiting to see who she would choose as 'that person.'"
"————"
————.
——————.
——————.
——What?
"You see, that child was created for a certain purpose. But it became necessary to use her in a way that diverged from that original purpose... For that reason, she was removed from here, but I needed to give her a purpose at the same time. To give this empty child a reason to live — for that meaning alone, it was necessary. That's why I made a contract with her."
"That... contract?"
"Maintenance of the Forbidden Library, and the transfer of everything to 'that person' when they eventually arrive. I set no limitations. The conditions were ones for which there was no right answer to begin with. That child lived as planned, and I was able to find answers to a different line of inquiry. Isn't that quite rational?"
"————"
"Of course, spending four hundred years without choosing anyone is one outcome as well. Not easily choosing 'that person' from among the people she met day after day. Even agonizing over whether to break the contract and ultimately wishing for her own 'death' — that, too, is one outcome."
"What do you think... about that?"
"— ? I think it's wonderful."
As if she had been asked something obvious, Echidna tilted her head without a hint of guilt.
That answer, that manner, and the expression of the girl that surfaced in Subaru's mind — they gave him his answer.
He decided. He understood. Clearly, unmistakably.
— Where he was, who stood before him — his misunderstanding had been corrected.
"Echidna... you are a Witch."
"————"
"An incomprehensible, unknowable monster that transcends human understanding."
"————"
He spoke. From within his heart, the answer that had emerged.
Withdrawing the hand he had almost reached out, he decided — this time for certain — toward whom he would extend it.
"I... I can't take your hand. I've already decided whose hand I'll take."
"————"
"There is a child who had four hundred years stolen from her by words you bound her with — innocently, without malice. — I've decided. I'll take that child's hand. I'm not going with you."
He declared his parting.
He shook off the hand of someone he had once believed he could walk alongside.
He raised his head. He looked forward.
Behind Subaru's eyelids, the girl's expression from that final moment floated before him.
— The girl who feared disappearing, feared dying, whose face was twisted as though about to cry — yet whose eyes held relief at having been able to protect Subaru after all.
Subaru decided to take the hand of the girl who had mourned his 'death.' "————"
Echidna narrowed her eyes.
Her thoughts raced across her eyes, as though she intended to say something in response to Subaru's decision.
But before she could, a change arrived.
"———— She's here."
"Oh no, again... I have... nothing to do with this... you know..."
"Someone troublesome, showing up at the most troublesome time, coming to cause trouble... hah..."
The three Witches who had been observing each voiced their own sentiments.
And from behind, a crushing pressure.
From the front, Echidna — who had been looking past Subaru to what lay behind him — widened her eyes slightly. Following her gaze, Subaru turned around