—What pervades his mind is the violent HEAT at his stomach.
"Ghhgg! Hot!"
With his face suffering the hard surface of the floor, Subaru knows that he has fallen prone. But his limbs won't get him to his feet, and lie motionless.
It's as if he's no longer himself, as if his body has been stolen from him.
And still the inferno burns Subaru persistently. So nothing about the situation is fallacious.
—Hot, hot hot hot hot hot hot hot hot.
He opens his mouth, and instead of a shriek out flows rivulets of blood.
In pain and in anguish, almost drowning in his own blood as he is subjected to the pinnacle of agony.
—What on earth did he do?
He pleads escapist pleas as means to flee from the suffering, the whiny complaint repeating through his head.
What on earth did he do?
He knew that his life was not one meriting unabashed praise. But that statement applied to more than just Subaru. Nobody could live a life so pure that they could brag about it to all of humanity.
People felt guilt, people felt remorse, people feigned ignorance, and people made compromises.
So why did he alone have to suffer this?
Why was the fate that all other people could ignore forcing itself onto only him?
"Ahh, fuck..."
Spills the whisper from between streams of blood.
It carries his remorse, his loathing for his powerlessness, his hatred for fate—
—and his exasperation with himself.
"—"
Even with all this injury, even with all this agony, even with all this deathly suffering.
Even if the fire scorches him, even if the pain breaks him, even if it threatens his life.
The girl ingrained in his mind will, smiling, face inexorable repeats of woesome death. So,
"I," One again, he voices his resolve. Voices his resolution. Voices his rue, and his regret.
While seeking a future that, with innumerable attempts, innumerable scrambles, and innumerable wishes, he will regardless never reach.
The PAIN and the HEAT and totality all grow distant, and like the simpering dog he is, he howls.
"No matter what,"
The flourish of a blade looms heartlessly down on his last dying ember of life.
But not even that blade enters his view. He has already reached his decision.
—Will save you.
The instant he renewed that wish, Natsuki Subaru lost his life.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
—Witnessing the familiar scene makes Subaru feel strangely relieved, and exhausted.
"You have safely made it back, there is no need to fear, I guess."
While gazing at the traffic of the Royal Capital, Subaru draws multiple tallies of '||||' in the ground with a stick. He continues doing this until he is satisfied, then erases them with his foot and sighs.
Natsuki Subaru hails from the Third Planet From The Sun What Is Earth, his station being a run-ofthe-mill third-year high school truant.
Should anyone observe his casual getup of track suit and sneakers, and the plastic convenience storebag in his hand, surely they would not doubt the fact.
However, that principle only applies to those from regions familiar with such concepts as 'track suits' and 'sneakers' and 'conveniencestores'.
So, getting to what he was truly trying to say—
"—This whole 'summoned to a parallel world' thing's rougher than I thought it'd be."
A carriage drawn by a horse-sized lizard kicks up dust as it zooms past Subaru.
Such a sight was of course impossible in the world Subaru knew. So you could suggest that it had been a horse dolled up in special cosmetics, like some kind of theme park character. But Subaru would not agree. Because the lizards amounted to more than one—the city's streets teemed with them—and the people commanding those lizards also presented a massive demographic of special cosmetics.
Anthropomorphic animals—people wearing the trappings of so-called beastmen or demihumans.
Perhaps twenty or thirty of them were present Subaru's visual field. Naturally, there were also many others around who shared Subaru's make, but the mayhem inflicted on the 'individual' half of 'individualappearance' drowned them out and generally blocked them from Subaru's attention.
But he can't stay here trying to escape from reality forever.
Neither the beastmen nor the lizards are any part of a movie shoot or production. This scene is an ordinary one in this place, and the alien here isn't them, it's Subaru.
—After the ten-or-so days Subaru has spent experiencing this, he understands that fact to a painful extent.
"...Time to go."
Done with his useless contemplations, Subaru pats his rear and stands up.
He keeps the stick in his right hand as he meanders down to the street—not the main street where he'll disappear into the crowd, but into the backstreets.
Unlike the bustling main street, the backstreet is unpopulated as it rests crammed between tall buildings. The place could aptly be called a back alley, simply a single lane isolated from the outside world with its silence.
Put short, something could happen here, and the screams would not reach the main road.
So if a blatant outsider like Subaru wandered into here, villains targeting him would naturally appear.
"Hey, buddy. You come play with us for a second."
Subaru turns toward the voice, to find three silhouettes blocking the alley.
They come in a neat all-purpose set of a big, medium, and little guy, and Subaru can sense their abilities of examination. No idea what they're examining though.
"—"
Subaru tilts his head to look at the path opposite the three. The alley hits a dead end behind Subaru, so the only exit from this backstreet means having the trio let him pass by.
And if we're asking whether or not the trio have any intention to let Subaru back onto the main street—
"Hell're you looking so spaced out for?"
"He don't understand what's goin' on. Say we make 'im find out."
Subaru's remiss behaviour prompts the three to smile obscenely, ideas for abusing him clicking into place in their heads. From their perspective, Subaru is an obvious rookie.
You can't fault someone for licking their lips when faced with such easy pickings. But they are absolutely and utterly wrong.
True, Subaru lacks any real experience with fighting, and he has no secret history where he learned martial arts. Rookie, was the part of their estimations where they weren't wrong.
But if we're talking in terms of fighting these three people specifically, then Subaru is already a veteran.
"—Huh?"
At the inattentive giant—Tom of the Tom Dick and Larry trio—Subaru thrusts out his arm.
In Subaru's grasp remains the stick he picked up before, and although it lacks any sharp point, it wedges into a soft portion of Tom's throat and with only minor resistance spears into his neck.
"Wha?"
Tom's eyes shoot open at the instantaneous affair, while Dick and Larry freeze rigid.
Tom can no longer fight. While the others are still petrified, Subaru's free hand shoots for the medium one—Dick. He grasps him by the hair and the ear, swings him. Subaru allows no resistance. Riding the momentum, he smashes Dick's head against the wall.
Something solid crunches, cracks, and Dick draws a trail of blood down the wall as he crumples.
Simultaneously, Subaru jabs his knee into the impaled Tom, whose eyes bulge open as he topples over. The direction he falls in is poor. He falls forward, and so the stick plunges into him deeper.
Now two of them can no longer fight. Only one left—
"Eep."
The small one, Larry, pales as he watches the instantaneous defeat of his two allies.
If he proceeded to abandon the others and sprint for the streets, it'd turn into a contest of his leg strength against Subaru's and he might have a chance of surviving.
Instead he looks at the fallen duo and hesitates on whether to flee. Unaware that it is already too latefor them, he wastes the single second of time he has.
Idiot. Imbecile. He'd get his reward for that moronic decision.
"Ghau, ghhg..."
Subaru closes his hands around Larry's skinny neck, squeezing down as he presses Larry's back against the wall. Larry struggles as he is lifted up against the wall, the force on his neck compounding as Subaru strangles him.
He is raised until he is on even eye level with Subaru. Larry's eyes bulge as he is choked, his mouth flapping open and shut in search of oxygen. But his windpipe has been forcibly blocked, and Larry will not be saved.
"Now do you realise how many times I've met you guys total?"
"Khhg, hgh..."
"Eighty-eight. Good for you how your share's always increasing. You're meant to laugh."
Says Subaru as he glares at Larry's face—growing bloodier, and running with spit and tears.
Larry has no leeway to say anything, of course. Actually forget about leeway—having lost any capacity to resist, his body falls limp and Subaru dumps him to the ground.
After looking down at the defeated trio, Subaru starts stomping their necks just in case. Once he feels the crunch of something breaking beneath his sneaker's heel, he can relax.
Tom has such a big neck that it takes five good stomps to do it. Subaru just can't get the trick down for this guy. Though every so often his luck is good and he does get them all in one go.
"Wasn't smart to strangle him. ...Feels gross too, won't do it again."
After having that moment of reflection, Subaru loots two knives from Dick. Then he drags their corpses to the end of the alley, leaves them there, and exits the backstreets as if nothing happened.
Both entering the alley and encountering Tom Dick and Larry happened rather quickly. Taking care of the trio did take a little time, but still ultimately less than a minute.
Subaru hurriedly travels down the main street in pursuit of his destination.
"—"
After observing the street, he puts his hand to his chest in relief. Made it in time.
This is a primary street called the Shopper's Lane, chaotic and bustling with people just as the rest, tasked with the job of demonstrating the Capital's health and prosperity.
You can just stand on this street doing nothing, and it'll be more than enough to earn your ears a flood of cacophonous noise.
But a shift comes to this bustling scene.
"—Wait! Ah! Please wait!!"
It is the enchanting voice of a silver bell which shreds through the market's din.
Although teeming with desperation, the voice cannot conceal the kindness of its owner, its addressee being a small silhouette which dashes out of the crowd.
"Hehehee."
Laughs the blonde girl as she weaves through the mob, grinning like a feline. In her hand she clutches something sparkling, and her demeanour clearly attests that she has completed her job.
Aiming at that girl, a shimmering blue light—a spear of ice—soars down the street.
"—!!"
Surprised by the unanticipated attack, the girl hops and bounds to avoid the icicle.
That magic attack had been cast in a street teeming with people. The sudden happening creates chaos as the people of the Capital instantly open a path, raising their arms to show that they do not want to get involved in the fight.
It's the predominant response. Getting caught up in tussles is an everyday thing in the Capital—would be one hell of a statement, but perhaps it's not too far from the truth.
Regardless. Sprinting down the path opened by the crowd is the person Subaru has been looking for.
"—"
The instant he lays eyes on HER, Subaru feels that the whole world has frozen.
The wind, people's voices, even time falls out of his perception as absolutely all of his focus is redirected onto her.
Her long, silver hair flutters behind her and her amethyst eyes gleam with strong volition. Her slender, pale arms and legs come donned in white attire so mythical it could have been crafted for a pixie—
In this world stopped of time, she alone is permitted motion, as she utterly passes Subaru by.
Her objective is the blonde girl who just ran past, Felt.
Felt has stolen something from her, and now she is sprinting around the Capital in an effort to retrieve it. Which will lead her onto a track of nigh unavoidable doom.
But Subaru will not let that happen.
He will never let a fate of DEATH ensnare her.
"I, no matter what, will save you."
As he watches her grow distant, Subaru swears his pledge for the eighty-eighth time.
Being that he's broken the pledge so many times, it's unclear exactly how persuasive it is.
Unclear. But if keeps on without surrender, if keeps fighting, if he keeps wishing to save her—
"Be waiting for me. —Satella."
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
RETURN BY DEATH. The power to reverse time upon death.
Subaru has used this power to redo the world eighty-eight times now.
He's already getting close to breaking one hundred attempts, and all of it has been spent on saving
the silver-haired girl, Satella, from the dead end of fate.
"I mean I've done some trial and error on this one... but it's not going to work like with Tom Dick and Larry."
Is Subaru's conclusion regarding his greatest adversary in this fate: Elsa Granhiert.
The person who commissioned Felt to steal Satella's insignia is this shadowy woman named Elsa.
She is a hazard who has brought Satella to her death countless times.
Subaru has tried inordinate times during these past eighty-seven attempts to remove Elsa and secure Satella's safety, but he always suffered the loss when confronted with Elsa's transcendental combat prowess, and has died with his belly slashed open over fifty times.
This sadist who enjoys disembowelling people is not someone Subaru can beat in a fight.
When the opponent is someone like Tom Dick and Larry, Subaru can figure some degree of a pattern in their movements and devise plans for absolute victory. But when they're as strong as Elsa, it's rather reasonable that Subaru's head be lopped off the second he tries to do anything.
And although it's not his head, he truly has been instantaneously disembowelled many times.
Subaru cannot fight her and win. Neither can Felt, or Rom, or Satella.
Having reached that conclusion, the strategy that Subaru chooses is—
"Wonderful! Beautiful! Although I'd be happier if you could let me enjoy myself more!"
"GhhhaaaaAAH!!"
Every time the blades slice though the air, blood spouts.
Too many fallen bodies litter the streets to count on your fingers as bloodsoaked Elsa transcendsecstasy, seeming to be relishing in steady doses of rapture.
Although in such a gruesome situation, Elsa's sensuality only compounds the more blood she bathes in.
There are anecdotes about women who bathed in virgin's blood to maintain their own youth who were called vampires, and Elsa presently does appear exactly like such a VAMPIRE.
"...Another failure, huh."
Sighing, Subaru narrows his eyes as he observes the grisly scene from a rooftop.
He's in a ward of the slums which is particularly run-down and abandoned. The stage for the conflict is a space you could maybe call a square, where the massacre escalates unilaterally.
Those trading blades with Elsa, and consistently being felled by her knives, are the Capital's guardsmen.
Information from a virtuous citysperson led them to detect the dangerous Elsa Granhiert, and following their attempts to arrest her their lives lay scattered and slaughtered—being that he is the virtuous citysperson, the sight does pain Subaru's heart.
"Didn't think there'd be this big of a power gap between normal guards and Elsa..."
This was just presenting Elsa with lambs to gleefully slaughter.
Subaru had expected that, being that they are guardsmen who protect the Capital, they would empower themselves with some kind of magic first and then fight on even par with Elsa. But it looks like his hopes were too high.
So yes. Elsa is overwhelmingly powerful even by the standards of this world.
Subaru's resentment for Elsa compounds. But no matter how furious he is, Subaru will never be strong enough to stop this wicked woman.
He doesn't think for an instant that the guards will get a lucky hit in and defeat her either.
"Pointless to just keep watching."
He does feel bad for the sacrificed guards, but Subaru will be ending this experiment here.
He has no intention to hold back, but if Subaru ultimately fails and loses his life, those who died here will resurrect in the reset world.
For now Subaru will swallow his tears and let the sacrifices stay dead. Next time he won't expect the slightest thing from them, so they can go back to preserving the Capital's harmony without worries.
Having reached that conclusion, Subaru moves to start leaving the scene—when.
"—Oh my."
Freezing still with her kukri raised high, Elsa licks her bloody lips.
The crazed delight and bloodlust overflowing from her proves best that Elsa, having grown bored of slaughtering the guardsmen, has found new prey. The identity of this hapless victim is—
"—Go no further."
A pillar of fire is standing there, hallucinates Subaru.
"—"
Swallowing his breath, straining his eyes, taking a closer look, Subaru finally recognizes that it is not flame but a person standing there.
A young man with fiery red hair and eyes as blue as pristine sky.
He may look lean, but his frame is muscled and limber beneath his white regalia. At his waist sits a sword which is probably larger than what is custom.
One hundred out of one hundred people would turn to glance if he walked by, and his looks are so attractive that this work of god would charm any beholder. Chaos resultant from beauty transcendent of gender—is not what he produces, perhaps because of his calm bearing.
Just one glance is enough for Subaru's soul to inform: this man is different from the usual riffraff.
"Sir Reinhardt!"
"Everyone, please withdraw. That woman is the GUTHUNTER. The sacrifices already number far too many. I don't want that count to increase."
Says Reinhardt, his eyes lowered, in response to the trembling voice of a surviving guardsman.
It sounds like he's pitying lives that were butchered like rats, and like he's indignant at the murderer, Elsa, who did it.
Even Subaru as he watches from afar can perceive the nature of this young man, Reinhardt.
His reasoning is just, his conceptions are just, his mentality is just, hence he is angry.
Mourned death, detested murder, lamented failure, overwrote his remorse with his conviction.
That was this man Reinhardt's—this knight's—way of being.
"Reinhardt Van Astrea. From the SWORDSAINT bloodline. Wonderful, excellent!"
"I often feel crushed by the expectations. And you are the GUTHUNTER?"
"Yes, I certainly am. Oh, goodness. What am I to do? I need to be doing my work, but now I've come face to face with you."
With a fevered, passionate breath, Elsa looks ardently at Reinhardt.
But Reinhardt's expression is the definition of serious, his eyes filled with duty, not a speck of frivolity in him.
Both are facing the other with antithetical stances, but their hearts lead them to the same answer.
They must slay each other and achieve their goal.
"Fundamentally speaking, this is where I would advise you to surrender, but..."
"You're faced with this slaughter, and you're telling me this? Very kind of you. So kind that it's cruel both to me and to them."
"—No, I share your opinion. It is impious to their deaths if I am lenient on you. I cannot ask for you to surrender."
Elsa cheerfully kicks one of the fallen corpses as Reinhardt slowly shakes his head.
He reaches out to the guardsman at his side and promptly states, "A sword, please."
"Please do accept it."
The guard presents a sword, which Reinhardt takes. He confirms its feel in his hands while Elsa furrows her brows, looking to have qualms about this.
"You're not using the sword on your hip? But I wanted to feel the cut of the fabled Dragonblade."
"Unfortunately, this sword ascertains which opponents it ought to be drawn for. It's a rather troublesome trait, and it doesn't seem that you've earned its graces. Instead, I will oppose you with this."
"Hrmpf."
Elsa sighs at Reinhardt, who has readied not the sword at his waist, but the one he accepted.
But Elsa's displeasure only lasts for an instant. She immediately changes gears, and feeling premonitions of battle and bloodshed, licks her lips.
"Elsa Granhiert, Guthunter."
"Reinhardt van Astrea of the Sword Saint bloodline."
They introduce themselves, both becoming wind as they charge at the other.
The fight concludes with this one bout alone.
A completely banal slash births a maelstrom of light, the shockwaves destroying this section of the slums.
The slash from the man called the SWORD SAINT isthe exact definition of POWER.
Natsuki Subaru, eyes wide, observed this scene.
With a tear on his cheek, his knees shaking, and utterly ignorant as to why.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Things went a different way from what Subaru arranged and expected, but it's safe to say that the primary goal of defeating Elsa has been accomplished.
He didn't predict Reinhardt's participation, but being that it granted his wish he's more than fine with it.
Now the trouble surrounding Satella's insignia will be safely resolved. And so long as Felt and Romfail to reconvene with their hirer, Elsa, it shouldn't be asking the impossible for them to keep Satella's insignia stored. Subaru doubts that Satella will succumb to rage and kill them.
This story revolving around the Loot House will be completed using the bare minimum of characters.
It's a desirable outcome for Subaru as well.
And so—
"—Why could you be helping me?"
"I mean you don't need to trust me. If you're fine with being surrounded by guards and losing all possible chance of revenge, just kill me and run away."
"—"
Spits Subaru as he leans against a wall, speaking to a crouching Elsa.
She is covered in blood, her black outfit torn in places and her white skin exposed. That said, her flesh is coated with horrible wounds which leave Subaru no room to feel the slightest bit bashful.
And Subaru has no sexual interest in Elsa anyway.
He just thought she could be useful, and wanted to capitalize on the opportunity.
"The guards' eyes're bloodshot looking for you. I misdirected them to be somewhere else, so it'll be a little while before they notice us. Your wounds?"
"Hurt very much. Very, very much, I could die. Huhu, it's wonderful."
"There's a sentiment I don't understand. Gonna be a problem if you die on me, kinda looking to do something here."
Subaru has gone out of his way, risking danger to misdirect them so that Elsa may live.
If he is felled here, or gets wrapped up in the guards' search for Elsa, this spontaneous route where Satella survived will turn to dust.
Though, if that happens, it just means more rolls of the dice to get these events to unfold again.
"Can you make a path to the southeastern section of the slums? I'll be able to reunite with my younger sister if you do. She'll treat my wounds and prepare an escape route."
"Sister! Hah, you have a sister, that's both on point and a complete tragedy."
It's probably not that she trusts him, and if she does trust him that's still disgusting, but either way Elsa's information means Subaru can calculate ways to overcome this predicament.
Their flight has already brought them rather considerably south. It shouldn't take them too long to relocate to this place Elsa's talking about.
Using the holy golden coins in Elsa's possession, Subaru bribes residents of the slums to interfere with the guards' search and lead them on an incorrect course. No problems.
"What I don't understand is your goal in this."
"Just wanted to put you in my debt. It might be helpful to have you around one day."
"A debt. How strange. —When you are so eager to kill me."
Is what Subaru has to hear while lending Elsa his shoulder and helping her run away. Elsa's dark eyes look up at Subaru, trying to peer into his emotions.
But she already nailed it and there's no need to peer. The answer Elsa gets from Subaru's dark eyes is exactly what she stated.
Subaru would like to kill Elsa right now if possible. But he will not manage to beat even a dying Elsa if he fails to consider the possible branches, and besides that it's a hasty idea.
Subaru feels that he's been placed on a hideously lopsided side of the board.
It's a battle which presupposes that he consider every method possible, undergo trial and error, and make the optimum moves.
Think of it like shogi, where no amount of randomly moving pieces around will procure you any victory.
If it's possible, swap out foes and allies. If there's opportunity, don't hesitate to alter your circumstances. For this he must utilize even those he abhors and would rather murder.
"I do want to kill you. And I will kill you one day. But not now."
"I see."
It's not even worth hiding. Subaru reveals his true feelings to Elsa.
If Elsa were someone more prudent, she would kill Subaru right here to quell some future anxieties.
But Subaru is confident that she will not do that.
It's a blood-soaked confidence, which Subaru gained through more than eighty deaths to Elsa.
"Wonderful. You and I are bound by loathing. One day, yes. You will prove yourself right. And it's very, very lovely."
"—"
Elsa's bloodsoaked lips relax, smiling like a girl with a crush.
With her smile right beside him, from the very depths of his heart, Subaru thinks: repulsive.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
"Let us meet again, yes?"
"See you, mister. Thanks for helping Elsa."
The blue-haired girl they meet up with takes charge of Elsa, and Subaru breathes a sigh of relief.
This girl waiting in the hovel Elsa mentioned is very young, in her tweens. Though her age shocks Subaru at first, she does tend to Elsa's wounds in a practised manner, promptly completes arrangements for them to flee the Capital, and speedily vacates the shack.
He just barely manages to secure means to contact Elsa, which serves as his payment.
Though it's not clear whether that payment truly compensates for the danger he risked.
"Guess what happens from this point on depends on how I move."
Subaru takes off his bloodstained tracksuit jersey, ties it around his waist, and starts walking.
His course leads him away from the slums and towards the Loot House. Elsa had failed to ever reach the place, but had Satella managed to safely reclaim her insignia? The question plagued him.
"—"
After some time, Subaru reaches the Loot House. His eyes go wide at what he sees.
"Didn't expect that."
What unfolds before him is the sight of a frozen Loot House. Or rather, 'sealed inside ice' is a more accurate description than 'frozen'. What on earth happened here? Subaru quickly interrogates a nearby resident, and:
"The loot house's old-guy boss and his granddaughter got nicked by the guards. Something about them making enemies with a scary magician... don't wanna stick my nose in it."
"Are the old man and his granddaughter safe? The magician?"
"They're saying no one's hurt, but I didn't get a good look at either of them. Look, enough, okay?"
Perhaps unnerved by Subaru's eerie intensity, the man pushes Subaru's arms away and briskly escapes into an alleyway's darkness.
Subaru ruminates on the man's words as he watches him go, then puts his hand to chest in relief.
He doesn't know how accurate the man's statements were, but at very least his account couldn't be confused with a hypothetical situation where people died.
That the guards arrested Felt and Rom is inevitable considering what they do for a living. They ought to enjoy prison for a while, and reflect on their occupations.
And now that Subaru knows Satella is safe, as he hoped—
"—Alright. What do I do now?"
Subaru scratches his head, aware that he has completely exhausted himself of goals.
He was summoned to a parallel world, given RETURN BY DEATH [RBD], utilized it, and saved an adorable kindhearted silver-haired half-elf.
Though it took him eighty-seven deaths to achieve it.
"Ah, crap. Maybe I better've died, reset, and had Elsa tell me why she was trying to steal Satella's insignia...?"
He really ought to have asked this while transporting the wounded Elsa, but lapsed.
However, if Subaru asked questions deeply involved with Elsa's affairs, and that led her to discover that Subaru was sentimentally on Satella's side, he'd have no idea how Elsa would react.
In the end, both Subaru and Satella are alive now. We'll assume it's the correct solution.
"Though really, I'd like to know more about Satella if I could..."
Where did Satella come from? Where was she going? Would he meet her again? He didn't know.
Though, he could always repeat things until he did know.
But assuming there were some other method—
"—So, could you guys teach me?"
Standing before the frozen loot house, Subaru shoves his hands in his pockets and turns around.
No one feels present. But Subaru's eyes see the several silhouettes standing there. All mundane looking people, with a moderate jumbling of ages and sexes, an incoherent group.
If there was anything about these people that did cohere, it'd be their eyes.
All of their eyes were dead. Good for being steeped with madness, and pursuing crazed ecstasy.
And Subaru suspected that, if he looked in a mirror, his eyes would be the same.
"—"
His cheeks relax at the sentiment. And he looks to the sky.
An eerily lustrous moon gazes down, at the frozen loot house, and the madmen.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※