Shiori Kobayakawa – or rather, the shadow disguised as Shiori Kobayakawa – stared at Hizuru Minakata with that little girl's face, murmuring softly.
"Mother said this didn't happen last time. Is it because we encountered each other two days earlier... or was our movement pattern predicted?"
Hearing this, Hizuru Minakata's eyes flickered involuntarily.
So that's how it is...
Since Hiruko could retain memories through time reversals, any event inconsistent with the previous timeline after a reset would make the other side suspect that someone on her side might also possess the special ability to retain memories, thus causing such changes.
"Damn it..."
Hizuru Minakata clenched her teeth tightly. The body controlled by Ryunosuke's consciousness quickly pulled a nail gun from her pocket and fired at the shadows cast on the floor by the Kobayakawa mother and daughter.
When the nails pierced Asako Kobayakawa's shadow, she suddenly let out a distorted cry of pain. Though only her shadow had been hit, several bloody holes appeared on her body.
"Hizuru Minakata..."
Shiori Kobayakawa reacted more swiftly, having already submerged into the floor's shadow before the nail gun could hit her, escaping to the side.
"You're exactly as Mother described – the one who needs to be eliminated first."
Just then, footsteps echoed from the staircase.
A young man in a blood-stained white shirt walked down expressionlessly.
"Discovered already..."
He walked directly to Asako Kobayakawa's side, apparently intending to remove the nails pinning her shadow essence.
"Fighting three shadows alone..."
Hizuru Minakata – or rather, Ryunosuke Minakata, who currently controlled this body – gritted his teeth, thinking that facing three shadows alone in such a confined space was an almost certain death situation.
Retreat was the wiser choice.
But at this moment, he remembered the message his sister Hizuru Minakata had conveyed to him through a phone recording last night.
"I've already backed up the phone files. Before going to any location, Mr Nezu will know my whereabouts."
"If you encounter any situation, don't run away. Fight with all your might - even death has value."
After hearing Ye Xing's plan last night, Hizuru Minakata had already made up her mind.
Even death didn't matter.
After all, in five days, time would rewind, and her death state would be erased, as if nothing had happened. She wouldn't even retain the memory of dying.
But as long as Ye Xing - this special person who could retain memories - existed, even if she died, when and where she died would essentially tell him at which time and location events would occur on Hitogashima Island.
By recording all these potential occurrences in the intelligence, the final perfect ending would be achieved in the last timeline that would become reality.
Originally, this was what Hizuru Minakata had thought. The hand wearing black gloves had already tightened around the nail gun in her grasp, and her eyes behind her glasses revealed a determined expression.
But the next second, a tremendous crash suddenly came from above the residence.
Boom!
Amidst the sudden noise and cloud of dust, even the three shadow monsters disguised as the Kobayakawa family instinctively took two steps back.
"Hero... no, it seems... I'm more like the villain this time."
"You... why are you here?"
Just like before, Ryunosuke Minakata's precognitive ability had failed to work this time, too. Like the three shadows, he had been startled.
Ryunosuke couldn't distinguish whether it was because Ye Xing's movements were too fast, exceeding the trajectory of precognition, or... whether his ability simply couldn't work on him?
Perhaps it was the latter.
After all, this was a special person who could retain memories even during time regression. Being immune to his two-second future prediction ability wasn't particularly strange.
"Of course I came to save you."
Ye Xing shook his head and spoke with a careless smile.
"If you die here, then for the next three days, I'll have one less person collecting intelligence for me. Within the limited save/load attempts, I still hope to have complete knowledge of every minute and second during these five days, and everything happening in every location on Hitogashima Island."
Before Hizuru Minakata could react to Ye Xing's words, the shadow playing Shiori Kobayakawa instantly changed expression and slowly spoke to the shadows behind her, who were supposedly her parents but now acted like subordinates.
"You two, go inform Mother about this."
"Trying to run?"
As soon as Shiori Kobayakawa finished speaking, she saw Ye Xing's figure flash. The Onimaru Kunitsuna, in his right hand, left afterimages as he reversed it and stabbed into the shadow of Asako Kobayakawa, while his left foot directly and fiercely stomped on the head of Kobayakawa's father's shadow.
Thud.
With a heavy sound, the head of the shadow of Kobayakawa's father burst like a watermelon hitting the ground, while a penetrating wound appeared between Asako Kobayakawa's eyebrows.
These two didn't even have time to scream before their bodies turned into ink-like shadows and dissipated into the air.
"And you..."
Seeing Ye Xing's pitiless eyes fixed upon her, Shiori Kobayakawa collapsed to the floor, her face trembling with tearful terror.
"No... don't kill me, big brother, please don't kill me... I... I'll do anything..."
Witnessing this scene, Hizuru Minakata, who had regained her original personality, couldn't help but change expression.
She thought that even if Ye Xing understood the nature of shadows, the other party appeared so young and didn't seem like someone with a violent temperament. Even knowing this body contained a complete monster, facing a pleading little girl would likely make it difficult for him to strike.
Just as Hizuru Minakata prepared to take action herself, resolving Shiori Kobayakawa before Ye Xing could soften, she heard him chuckle lightly.
"You, calling me big brother? Hmm?"
Ye Xing directly grabbed Shiori Kobayakawa's neck with one hand, lifting her small frame into the air. Watching her struggle painfully to break free, he showed no hesitation, even revealing a faint smile.
"I'll give you a special death."
A dark blade flash passed, and Hizuru Minakata saw the small shadow on the ground bloom with a fine crack from the waist.
When she looked up, she saw two ghost hands of contrasting colours - one pale and one pitch-black - appear behind Ye Xing. The black ghost hand gripped Shiori Kobayakawa's head while the pale ghost hand seized her legs.
"One, two, pull."
As Ye Xing's words fell, Shiori Kobayakawa emitted screams far beyond human imagination, chilling to the bone just from hearing them. Her body was torn in two, dissipating into shadow.
"That... what are those things..."
Looking at the two enormous ghost hands floating in the air, even the well-travelled Hizuru Minakata, who believed nothing could frighten her anymore, was scared enough to retreat two steps, nearly collapsing to the ground.
"Hmm? Oh, you mean this."
Ye Xing waved his hand, and the black and white ghost hands instantly vanished.
He looked thoughtfully at Hizuru Minakata standing there.
"Indeed... you have talent for spiritual power. Let me ask you, outside Hitogashima Island, have you ever seen things like evil spirits and spectres?"
"Evil spirits and spectres..."
Hizuru Minakata frowned slightly at this, then responded noncommittally.
"If I had to say... occasionally, when walking at night, I'd see some vague shadows, but whenever I looked closely, they'd disappear again. I always thought they were hallucinations caused by excessive mental stress, which is why I returned to Hitogashima Island, intending to settle matters from the incident twelve... no, thirteen years ago..."
Ye Xing shook his head, speaking slowly.
"This isn't an illusion, merely the first step in awakening spiritual power. However, this topic isn't important right now. I'll explain it when we reach the final timeline; otherwise, I'd have to repeat everything after the time reset - too troublesome."
"Alright."
Hizuru Minakata nodded first, then gradually emerged from her shock at the ghost hand's appearance. Recalling the previous scene, she looked at Ye Xing with a complex expression and spoke softly.
"The way you killed those shadows... was extremely cruel and merciless..."
"That's always been my attitude toward creatures that want to harm humans."
Ye Xing casually replied before turning toward the staircase leading to the second floor and walking directly toward it.
Although Hizuru could roughly guess the situation on the second floor from the smell in the air, she still forced herself to follow him upstairs to confirm the scene, suppressing her discomfort.
The sight that greeted her was unbearable to behold.
The ceiling, floor, and walls of the second-floor corridor were all covered in dark red blood.
On the ground lay broken limbs still oozing fresh blood.
Two adults, one child.
The Kobayakawa family - confirmed deceased.
"Asako..."
"No need to feel sad."
Unlike Hizuru's reaction, Ye Xing crouched down to examine the wounds, even taking a photo, which he sent to L and Light Yagami, before speaking calmly.
"This timeline will be reset. They may appear dead now, but as long as they're alive in the final timeline, that's what matters. Your current grief and sorrow are completely unnecessary - emotions that won't even be preserved after the reset."
Although Hizuru found this difficult to accept emotionally, she knew rationally that his perspective wasn't wrong.
But still...
"Witnessing their deaths firsthand, carrying their lives with you... into the next reset... Don't you feel any pressure at all?"
"Pressure?"
Hearing this word, Ye Xing just shook his head and replied with a light laugh.
"Without me, without the people around me, this world would have already declared GG long ago. Let me think... right, without me, this world would have already produced a new world god who stops at nothing, sweeps away all obstacles, and cannot be stopped by anyone."
"Or perhaps Kyoto would have become ruins of a ghost realm, triggering chain reactions where the entire world begins experiencing supernatural resurgence, with humans surviving in the cracks... no, over 99.9% of humanity would die, with only a small portion of psychics qualifying to abandon all dignity and live like rats."
"There's another possibility - the world completely destroyed under some madman's control."
"And so far, I've prevented all these worldline changes."
"Acting while carrying the weight of innocent lives has become commonplace for me. I just don't let such things become mental restraints, since I'm not a hero - just a free person who acts according to my will."
After speaking these words, Ye Xing glanced at the text message replies from Light Yagami and L, murmuring softly as if to etch the deaths of the Kobayakawa family deeply into his memory.
"Time of death... approximately half an hour ago... That would be... February 6th, around 9:00 AM. Kobayakawa family, confirmed deceased."
...
Meanwhile, in the underground cave, Hiruko sensed the shadows' disappearance, and her expression changed again as she looked towards Shide beside her.
"Another shadow... disappeared... No, it was destroyed."
Standing nearby, Shide frowned slightly at her words.
"Hmm? Did this happen in the previous timeline?"
"No... but..."
"I see."
Without needing further explanation from Hiruko, Shide had already recalled the altered plan himself.
It was to have the shadows replace the Kobayakawa family's time.
Originally, they had only copied the little girl Shiori first, planning to kill her while she was swimming in the sea. They might even have completed the copying of anyone attempting a rescue in the seawater, ultimately having two shadows replace them simultaneously.
"Were they attacked during the process of replacing the Kobayakawa family..."
Shide murmured to himself, then looked at Hiruko and issued a command.
"Split off more shadows and wait for three days from now."
Hearing this, Hiruko hesitated and spoke uncertainly.
"But if there are too many shadows... and they fail to replace their originals, not only will many shadows die, but... the residents of Hitogashima Island might notice something abnormal..."
Shadows were parasitic creatures that fed on the information humans carried.
If something happened on Hitogashima Island causing the residents to leave, Hiruko - who was a shadow herself - and the shadows split from her would face certain death. After all, if they moved to a large city, killing the originals and replacing them wouldn't be so easy.
"I don't care."
The black armour on Shide's head retracted as he stared directly at Hiruko, who sat there with an IV drip still attached to her hand, his disgust completely unconcealed.
"You can't even give birth properly now. My life might end with this generation - who cares about the survival of shadows? Listen well, no matter what kind of deformed monsters you create, you must have enough power to resist our enemies three days from now. Understood?"
"I... I understand..."
...
Meanwhile, inside Hitogashima Shrine, where several shadows were monitoring her, Rikka Sakuragawa's lips curved into a barely noticeable smile.
She had roughly guessed Shide's - that is, Masahito Karikiri's - desire.
The question now was...
Should she bet all her hopes on this timeline, or wait for Hiruko to use her time regression ability more times, becoming physically weaker, while risking losing her own memories from before the regression and being unable to identify Masahito Karikiri's identity and the desire he pursued?
If only there were some way to preserve memories through time regression...
Just as Rikka Sakuragawa was thinking this, she suddenly saw Masahito Karikiri emerge from inside the shrine.
Her eyes flickered briefly, her face maintaining an expressionless mask while her mind worked furiously.
If Masahito Karikiri and Hiruko had already finished their conversation, then Izanami—her soul's true form capable of penetrating cave walls to return directly to the surface—should have arrived faster than the others.
Yet Izanami hadn't returned.
Childbirth... mother...
So that's how it is.
Rikka Sakuragawa instantly deduced the truth. Combining this with what she'd previously overheard through Izanami—that when Mask attacked, their intention wasn't to kill Hiruko directly but to extract one of her eyes—a plan began forming in her mind.
...
Three days later, at dawn.
"It's almost time."
At Ye Xing's words, Hizuru Minakata, Ginjiro Nezu, and the sisters Ushio and Mio Kofune all showed complex expressions.
Ushio Kofune pressed her lips together, appearing somewhat sorrowful.
"Well... see you next time."
Noticing Ushio's expression, Ye Xing couldn't help but comment.
"Wait, it's just time rewinding, not me dying. What's with all your expressions?"
"I just think... this must be so hard for you," Ushio said with sorrowful tones.
Ye Xing merely laughed carelessly. "You still don't understand me."
"Time rewinding? Having to kill enemies dozens of times?"
"This isn't torture for me—it's the ultimate pleasure."
As his words faded, dark flames enveloped Ye Xing's body. The black mask formed over his face while that familiar black coat materialised instantly. With a flash of movement, he was gone, leaving only a trail of dark flames hanging in the air.
...
One minute later, inside the underground cave.
Compared to last time, the number of shadows gathered in the cave had significantly increased. Rikka Sakuragawa was among them, accompanied by a man in police uniform who appeared somewhat frivolous—a man Izanami had transformed into a psychic.
"He's here."
As a psychic, Rikka Sakuragawa's perception of spiritual power was more acute than Hiruko and Shide's.
The moment she spoke, she saw a pair of flame-like black pupils in the distance, locking onto her face from the cave entrance.
This moment...
Marked the first true meeting between Rikka Sakuragawa and Mask.
"Found you, Rikka Saguragawa."