Kanjuro did not look at him, nor did he look again at the stiffly standing Mrs. Hikitani with the knife.
He seemed to have instantly lost all interest in everything before him and walked straight to the sofa, which was stained with the scent of despair, and slowly sat down.
He lowered his head and remained silent for a moment. Then, he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took one out, and lit it with slow, elegant movements. The crimson glow of the fire flickered in the dim light.
He took a deep drag and slowly exhaled the white smoke, blurring his handsome yet cold profile.
In the entire living room, only the faint sound of the burning cigarette remained, along with Hachiman Hikigaya's coughing and Komachi's stifled sobs.
A long time passed.
Kanjuro looked up, his gaze passing through the curling smoke, finally landing on the face of Komachi Hikigaya, who was slumped on the floor, tearful, yet with a gaze that still carried a trace of an unextinguished light.
He looked at that innocent, tear-stained face, which after undergoing such inhuman torture, could still say she "didn't want to hate him."
Suddenly.
Kanjuro smiled.
It was not a mocking sneer, not a playful smirk, nor an arrogant smile of total control.
It was a... very complex smile, carrying a trace of unspeakable fatigue, a trace of shock as if seeing some absurd miracle, and a trace of a faint, almost imperceptible touch buried deep within the endless darkness that even he might not have noticed, all finally mixing into a very faint but real smile.
This smile appearing on his face was more unsettling and... baffling than any cruel expression.
He said nothing.
He just quietly watched Komachi, watching that final glimmer of humanity that stubbornly shone in the absolute darkness.
At this moment, the game seemed to enter a new stage that no one could understand. Kanjuro's inscrutable smile slowly faded, and he let out a deep sigh. In that sigh, there seemed to be a certain relief of things being settled, as well as an imperceptible... lack of interest. He reached out his arms and gently picked up Komachi Hikigaya, who was slumped on the floor with teary eyes, and let her sit sideways on his lap.
Komachi's body was stiff, and she looked up at Kanjuro in confusion as he was so close. This face, handsome enough to make any girl's heart flutter, was now like it was covered by the deepest mist in her eyes. She could feel the strength of his embrace, neither light nor heavy, but carrying an unquestionable control.
"Komachi," Kanjuro lowered his head and gazed into her eyes, which still held tears but were even more confused by his current unusual gentleness. His voice was calm and clear. "In the end... you really didn't disappoint me."
He paused, as if recalling the rules he had originally set, his tone carrying a guiding reminder:
"I said that the ending of the game isn't necessarily bad; it depends on you. I also said not to despair until the very end... the only one who can truly change things is yourself."
Komachi Hikigaya's mind was still in a state of chaos. She could not understand what connection there was between this bloody tragedy and "not being disappointed" or "changing yourself."
"Kanjuro! You're a fucking lunatic!! You treat human lives and ethics as tests for your bullshit game?! You'll die a horrible death!!" Hachiman Hikigaya, slumped on the ground, could no longer restrain his fury upon hearing this and screamed curses. He had seen through it; Kanjuro was simply enjoying the perverted pleasure of putting humanity through such an ordeal!
Kanjuro did not care at all about Hachiman Hikigaya's curses. He even smiled faintly, a smile that carried a trace of condescending pity. His gaze turned toward Hachiman Hikigaya as he spoke as if delivering a final verdict:
"Hachiman Hikigaya, you should thank your sister."
His tone was very flat, yet it carried the weight of a final judgment.
"It is precisely because of Komachi, at this final moment, after I have done all the unforgivable, evil things in your eyes... she still did not choose to face me with pure hatred, and even... still has a trace of ridiculous 'belief' remaining."
He seemed to be stating an interesting experimental conclusion:
"I was just thinking, if in the end, when everything is settled and the crimes are too many to count, this little girl is still willing to keep that little bit of almost stupid trust... then I might be able to... show a bit of mercy."
His gaze returned to the face of the dazed Komachi in his arms, his finger gently brushing her wet cheek.
"So, you get to live, Hachiman Hikigaya. Only because of Komachi's final choice."
Komachi Hikigaya's eyes snapped open as if a bolt of lightning had split through her chaotic mind!
So... these were the true rules of the game?!
It wasn't testing whether she was smart or strong; it was testing whether her initial, almost instinctive 'trust' and 'kindness' would be completely obliterated under the crushing weight of the most extreme darkness and pain.
She remembered Kanjuro's initial words—"Whether the ending is good or bad depends on you."
She remembered his repeated reminders—"Do not despair until the very end."
She even remembered his fleeting, disappointed sigh... All the clues connected at this moment, pointing toward this absurd and cruel answer!
After the initial shock, an indescribably complex surge of emotion flooded her heart. She didn't know whether to be relieved that her brother survived or to feel endless sorrow for everything she and her family had endured.
She suddenly slid off Kanjuro's lap and knelt before him, her hands tightly clutching his trouser legs. She looked up and pleaded with the last shred of hope:
"Then... what about Papa? Brother Kanjuro! Can you... bring Papa back to life? And Mama's memories... can they be restored? I beg of you! Since the game... since the game is like this..."
Looking at the humble light of supplication reigniting in her eyes, Kanjuro slowly and firmly shook his head. There was no trace of emotion on his face, only a near-cold tranquility.
"That won't work, Komachi." His voice was gentle, yet it carried an unquestionable decisiveness. "You... shouldn't be too greedy."
He looked down at the girl kneeling at his feet, like a deity pronouncing a predetermined fate:
"From the moment your brother, Hachiman Hikigaya, chose to doubt me, fear me, and even tried to unite others to 'persuade' me... it was destined that your family could not remain intact."
"What I can guarantee, and the only thing I am willing to bestow..."
His gaze swept over Hachiman Hikigaya, who had escaped death but whose eyes were now ashen. His tone was as indifferent as ice:
"Is that I will not kill the person known as Hachiman Hikigaya. That is all."
"As for your father's life and your mother's cognition... those are the... prices that they, and Hachiman Hikigaya, must pay for their 'distrust' and 'resistance.'"
The final verdict of the game had fallen.
Using a father's life and a mother's soul to trade for a brother's survival.
Using extreme pain and despair to verify a 'trust' that, though faint as a firefly, had not completely extinguished in the darkness.
Komachi Hikigaya slumped to the ground, her last hope completely shattered. She had gained her brother's life but had forever lost her father and the mother she once knew. The fruit of this 'victory' was so bitter that she didn't even have the strength left to cry.
Meanwhile, Kanjuro sat quietly on the sofa, looking at the fragmented 'ending' he had personally shaped. His eyes remained deep, and no one could glimpse what he was truly thinking, hidden in the depths of endless darkness. Kanjuro's voice echoed like the final judgment, coldly resonating in the deathly silent living room. Before Komachi Hikigaya could even catch her breath from the faint, high-priced relief of 'her brother surviving,' a deeper chill instantly froze her.
Kanjuro slowly raised his hand and pointed a finger lightly at Hachiman Hikigaya, who had just recovered from suffocation, his eyes still harboring a mix of post-disaster daze and bone-deep hatred.
[Constitution Alteration Authority]— Activated!
An invisible yet incredibly evil force instantly enveloped Hachiman Hikigaya. There were no earth-shattering sounds or scenes of flying flesh, but Hachiman's body was being carved by an invisible blade. His eyes dimmed at a speed visible to the naked eye; all spirit, all emotion, and all light of wisdom were extinguished in an instant, becoming hollow and dull like dusty glass beads. The intense hatred and painful distortion on his face also vanished like a smoothed sand painting, leaving only a lifeless, wooden calm.
His body twitched slightly before relaxing completely, slumping to the ground like a pile of mud. Saliva flowed uncontrollably from the corner of his mouth, and meaningless 'he-he' sounds came from his throat.
He could still breathe, and his heart was still beating, but he was no longer himself. His thoughts, his memories, his emotions—everything that made him human... had been completely stripped away and crushed. He had become a hollow shell imprisoned in a body, a living... vegetable, a walking corpse.
"No... NO!!!!" Komachi Hikigaya let out a shrill, distorted scream. She lunged to her brother's side, shaking his unresponsive body with all her might. "Brother!! Brother, wake up!! Look at me!!" But Hachiman Hikigaya only stared at the ceiling with hollow eyes, completely oblivious to her calls and tears.
She suddenly turned her head to look at Kanjuro, her eyes bloodshot, her voice trembling with extreme pain and anger: "Kanjuro!!! Why... why are you being so cruel?! You promised not to kill him!! You promised!!"
Kanjuro looked at her breakdown calmly, his tone indifferent: "I did promise not to kill him. Isn't he still alive? Heartbeat, breathing—it's all there. I have fulfilled my promise."
"But this is crueler than killing him!!" Komachi wailed. "You stripped him of everything! You turned him into a... a monster!!"
"Cruel?" Kanjuro tilted his head slightly as if savoring the word. Then he looked at Komachi and asked a soul-piercing question: "Komachi, so now, tell me... what kind of feelings do you have for me?"
Komachi Hikigaya was stunned by his question. She looked at this demon before her, as beautiful as a god yet the one who had manufactured all these tragedies. She felt her brother's hollow body in her arms and heard her mother's gentle, dependent calls for Kanjuro behind her... Extreme pain, boundless hatred, immense fear, and a kind of... numb, twisted... acceptance that arose after experiencing all the darkness and stimulation, and witnessing all resistance being ruthlessly crushed, mixed together like venom, eroding her heart...
She was silent for a long time. Finally, as if she had exhausted all her strength, or as if something that had been tightly wound finally snapped, she let out a long, deep sigh. That sigh was filled with endless fatigue and a bizarre calm.
"It seems... when a person reaches the darkest, most desperate point... suddenly, it... it feels like nothing in the heart matters anymore, as if... it's become twisted..." Her voice was very soft, carrying a hollow echo. "I seem to... be starting to... be able to accept your actions... to accept all of this..."
She looked up, tears falling silently, but her gaze was no longer intense. Instead, it held a heart-palpitating deadness.
"Of course... the fact that I want to kill you... is also true."
Hearing her contradictory and twisted answer, Kanjuro did not get angry. On the contrary, he laughed as if he had heard the most satisfying answer.
"Heh... Hahaha..." His laughter sounded exceptionally clear in the empty living room. "That's right... Komachi. Your reaction is correct. Hatred and acceptance existing together—that is the most real, and most... interesting reaction."
He nodded with satisfaction and glanced at Hachiman Hikigaya on the floor, who was like a doll that had lost all consciousness.
"See, at least your brother doesn't have to die, right? I kept my promise."
Then, he ignored the empty shell named 'Hachiman Hikigaya.' He stood up, one hand pulling the hollow-eyed Mrs. Hikigaya, who knew only to depend on him, back into his embrace, while his other hand reached out to Komachi Hikigaya, who was kneeling on the floor with dead eyes.
"Let's go," his voice carried a twisted 'tenderness,' as if he were calling his real family. "My daughter, and my dear wife... let's go into the room and enjoy our 'family happiness.'"
Komachi Hikigaya's body stiffened for a moment, but in the end, she did not resist, nor were there any more tears. She silently, like a puppet on a string, allowed Kanjuro to pull her up and lean against his side.
Kanjuro embraced his 'wife' and 'daughter' like a true head of the household and walked toward that bedroom once again.
Before stepping through the door, he paused slightly and glanced back at the drooling, hollow-eyed 'brother' on the living room floor. His tone was casual, as if speaking of a trivial matter:
"As for him... from tomorrow on, this world will simply have... one more foolish, mentally disabled child who needs someone to take care of him."
The bedroom door slowly closed on the Hikigaya family once more, and for the last time.
Sealing the soulless husk in the living room, along with all the former warmth, hope, and humanity of this family, outside the door, sinking into eternal, silent darkness.
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