Episode 11 "The Day the Sea Was Folded We Reunite"
Have you ever heard the sound of the world being folded up?
It was a dry sound‚ like folding a huge sheet of paper‚ or like an old movie film burning out.
The sky cracked‚ and the outline of the city where we lived became gradually blurred‚ like pencil writing being erased with an eraser.
What rushed in was an orange sea.
It was too beautiful to be called a tsunami‚ like honey melted with sunset‚ heavy and a sweet premonition of death.
「……Sorry‚ Rui. It's because I'm selfish」
Next to me‚ a girl with silver hair fluttering――Serina was crying.
Every time her fingertips traced the air‚ the physical laws screamed‚ and the world was painted over with the distortion called her "wish".
（……I'm going to die. No‚ maybe I'm already dead. The final episode of my life seems to be the world collapse due to this beautiful girl's 'selfishness'. If I say it's not bad‚ would she cry more?）
The words I wanted to tell her‚ the uneaten chocolate bar in my pocket‚ everything is disappearing into this sweet muddy stream.
「Next time‚ absolutely. I'll make a world where Rui…… where Rui can smile」
Just before my consciousness faded‚ her lips whispered that into my ear.
Was it a curse or a prayer?
There is no longer any way in my brain's archive to confirm that.
――.
When I woke up‚ it was a forest that smelled of vanilla.
「……Haa‚ haa……」
What jumped into the eyes of me who jumped up was a clear blue sky like never before seen‚ and white clouds swollen like huge marshmallows.
If I touched the ground‚ the grass broke with a small "pariri" sound at the fingertips‚ like thin green candy crafts.
（……I'm alive. Survival. Is this survival...? I feel like the physical laws have completely lost to sugar content）
And right next to it.
「Faa…… Rui‚ good morning. You're sleeping a bit too much?」
As if nothing had happened‚ Serina was there. Moreover‚ using my thigh as a pillow.
My childhood friend who seemed a little younger than in the previous life‚ but with overwhelming beauty that captivates viewers in an instant‚ was rubbing her eyes defenselessly‚ and staring at my face "jiー" at close range.
（……I'm going to die. My heart rate pierces the magic barrier. This sense of distance was bugged in the previous life‚ but it seems it wasn't corrected at all even after reincarnation）
「Hey‚ Rui. Where is this place? More than that…… I'm super hungry!」
It was the moment Serina made a "guu" sound that wasn't cute.
Behind her‚ the space warped like candy craft‚ "gunyari".
Reacting to her trivial emotion of "hunger"‚ the surrounding broadleaf trees pulsed‚ and their branch tips quickly transformed into fresh 'donuts'.
――It's a bug.
Her power far exceeds this world's capacity.
If this continues‚ just by her wishing "I want to eat lots of delicious sweets"‚ this world will be crushed by sugar and collapse.
『――《Announcement》. Concept pollution by the individual named "Serina" detected. Remaining time until the world's expiration date (collapse): 600 seconds』
Suddenly‚ a cold female voice echoed in my brain.
「Who is it……？」
『I am "Ciel". The navigator for you‚ mixed with your regrets and her divinity』
The voice was extremely inorganic‚ yet somehow had a sticky heat.
『……Rui-sama‚ decide. Will you let her die alone as a "god"‚ or will you use your memories as compensation to "fix (sweets)" that rampage』
At the edge of my vision‚ a translucent system window floated up.
《Warning》. Serina has reached out to the tree that grows donuts. 3 seconds remaining until contact.
【Do you activate the Observer's authority?】
【Compensation: Erase previous life's memory (the 'exact address of my family home')】
（……I'll do it. I'm her battery‚ a consumable. I've decided that since the time I sank into the sea in my previous life）
「――『Infinite Seal・Sweets Conversion (Sweets Seal)』！！」
In an instant‚ my right eye glowed blue.
The violent magical power overflowing from Serina was entangled and condensed by my gaze.
The warped space was forcibly fixed by the weight of the memory of my 'address'‚ converging with cracking sounds like sweets freezing.
Dosadosadosa!!
What fell from the sky was thousands of chocolate bars.
They were wrapped in silver packaging paper‚ engraved with the same logo as the one sold at the "convenience store near my family home" that I had just forgotten.
「Waaa! Amazing‚ Rui! It's chocolate rain! Chomp‚ munch munch…… m‚ delicious!」
Serina raised a voice of delight and dove into the mountain of chocolate.
The sign of collapse disappeared from the world‚ and once again a gentle vanilla wind blew through.
「……Haa‚ haa‚ haa……」
Strength drained from my whole body‚ and I knelt on the spot.
A terrible sense of weakness. And the back of my brain numb as if ice was pressed against it.
（……Huh? What did I throw away just now? Something very important‚ but a place I can never return to again……）
「Rui? What's wrong? Here‚ aah!」
Serina pushed the half-eaten chocolate bar forcefully to my mouth.
Her fingertips touched my lips. (This girl‚ did she even leave behind the concept of indirect kiss……！)
I bite into the offered one with one bite.
Sweet. However‚ deep in that sweetness‚ there was a taste of "loss" like a hole opened.
The depths of my chest felt empty as if I had dropped something important.
（……My chest feels empty. Like something has fallen out）
I desperately searched the drawers of my memory for something to fill that "cavity".
However.
No matter how much I searched‚ the "landscape" that should be there couldn't be found‚ as if wrapped in fog.
「……Serina. Where did we live again?」
「Eh? What are you saying Rui‚ over there…… um……」
Serina moved her mouth munching‚ and slightly lowered her eyebrows as if a bit troubled.
For just a moment‚ only the sound of the wind was heard.
「……I forgot. Ah‚ can I eat another one of this chocolate?」
I see. In this world she rewove‚ our "home" didn't exist from the beginning.
And from my brain as well‚ the memory of the "family home's address" where I spent those days had cleanly disappeared like fog.
『……Compensation execution completed. Rui-sama‚ this is the path you chose』
Ciel's voice echoed‚ as if mocking‚ yet terribly lovingly.
『Every time you protect her‚ you lose yourself. Congratulations. The beginning of the world's most cruel and sweet love. ……I will record the entire process of you disappearing without missing anything』
I took out the student notebook and short mechanical pencil left in my uniform pocket‚ and wrote characters on the pure white page.
Still not forgotten‚ mixed with kanji‚ beautiful Japanese.
『Today‚ I decided to deceive the world in order to save her』
This is the only countermeasure left to me.
It's the first page of the exchange diary until the day I am no longer myself.
「Rui‚ what is this? Weird shape! Can you eat it?」
Serina put her chin on my shoulder‚ peering at my hand with moist eyes. Too close.
The intense sweet scent drifting from her mixed with the scent of my shaved soul‚ burning my brain.
「……It's nothing. Just a spell」
I hid the notebook in my pocket and took the hand of her innocently munching on chocolate.
What stung my nose was the vanilla scent that was too sweet and nauseating.
My memory became the sweets you eat today.
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【Episode 1: The memory that Rui lost this time: 『The exact address of my family home』】
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