Reunion? (1)

Han Yura and Lim Yeonwoo.

What had split the two of them was not an accident, and it was not a fight.

The first time Yura learned where Yeonwoo had gone, she thought it was a cruel joke. Another world—and of all places, the inside of a novel she had read long ago. And yet that truth was welcome to her beyond words. She had found a way to go and meet him again. She could finally keep the resolve she had made on the day he vanished. By whatever means it took, she had come looking for him, all the way to this farce of another world.

In Anais's body.

"Nnngh……."

Yura listened in silence to the sounds he made in his sleep. She wanted to wake him that very moment and pull him tight against her. She held herself back only because he might not be Yeonwoo yet.

What had he gone through in the future? How many regressions had he endured? She knew the cruel rules of the world that had caged him. She did not know what turns his path had taken. The one thing she could be sure of was that he had not given up. If Yeonwoo had chosen to forget Yura and be happy, this world would already have closed.

Yura brushed the sweat-damp hair from his brow. She was so grateful. He was so dear to her.

What was she supposed to say when he opened his eyes? Have you been well? Do you remember me? Has life here been all right? It was really hard without you, Oppa. It's okay. You don't have to worry. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠made it through. …I came to see you.

"Don't!!"

"Eek…!"

Yeonwoo lurched awake without warning, and a thin scream tore out of Yura. She was genuinely startled, and glad in the same breath. Even back then, Yeonwoo had always loved his pranks.

"Ah, seriously. You scared me……. I was startled."

But where she was already sinking into relief, Yeonwoo could not so much as turn toward her. He stared into empty air.

"Uh… a-are you okay?"

He did not look back at that, either. His eyes would not focus. All he did was mutter to himself.

"…What was that?"

By the rules, Yeonwoo ought to have met a bad ending and returned to the past. Had something awful happened?

Fortunately, his gaze began to come back, little by little. Yura pressed a hand over her startled heart and spoke.

"Oppa… have you come to?"

"Oppa… have you come to?"

I had never suffered backlash or side effects right after a regression. But now my head felt ready to split. The hangover throb was bad enough on its own.

What is this… no. How did this happen?

The moment I was dragged into this romance fantasy. The moments I hit an ending, or died, and regressed. Every one of them fell on my twentieth birthday. I was supposed to open my eyes under the same conditions, in the same place, every time.

This time, things were different.

"Why are you here??"

"……."

In front of me stood that saintess I was sick to death of. Silver hair spilling like silk, features small and neat. A chest so aggressively impossible that I had no idea where to put my eyes—something armor had always spared me. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Pale skin was the least of it. Her height, just sitting there, was about the same as mine, and those legs were still fucking endless. Right down to the Holy Church's insignia on her forehead.

Look at her sideways and it was still Anais.

Why was this woman here on the first day of a regression?

I clutched my head and pushed myself upright.

"And where is this, anyway…?"

Anais caught my wrist as I tried to get off the bed.

"An inn. You didn't look well. Are you okay?"

An inn?

Inn or stable, why the hell wasn't this the dorm where Lux lived?

Did I not regress? Did I drink myself stupid, pass out, and imagine the whole thing?

No. Every memory from right before the regression seemed to be gone.

"I can't make heads or tails of this. What are you doing here?"

"Uh, well……. Oppa, do you remember me??"

Oppa?

Is she trying to call me her brother?

"What is this even supposed to— ghk!"

In a single instant, a vicious pain surged up from the center of my skull. Just like the first time I had possessed a body. Days of the past wrote themselves into me in the span of a moment.

I had no idea what had happened right before the regression, but one thing was clear. This loop's past had changed. Anais had come looking for Lux first, before I possessed him. She had been waiting ahead of me.

…………Yeah. I think I'm fucked.

"Hm? Oppa? Pull yourself together. I asked if you remember me."

"……."

There was no time to pick apart how things had ended up like this. Judge fast. The loops behind me, everything I had been through with her, flashed past like a spinning lantern.

…Run.

"Ahaha…! S-so how'd you know to come find ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me? I'm caught, huh?"

"Huh…? Caught? You remember?"

"Aigoo…!! I'm spilling the secrets of fate over here, look at this…. Ahaha…!!"

She stared at me, suspicion plain in her eyes. Over a body that was already clammy, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cold sweat broke and ran again. First I had to get out of this room.

"How could I not know you. I— I'm really sorry, but could you wait just a little?"

"……."

"I'll be right back. I sweated so much I'm thirsty."

I tried, carefully, to shake off the hand clasped around mine. The more I did, the harder the grip binding me closed.

"……That can't be. You didn't come here because you wanted to, Oppa."

"…What?"

Anais clutched my hand and spoke like she was begging.

"Is this a joke? Caught? What is that supposed to mean?"

Why. Why is she doing this to me.

I hated it. Hated being shoved into a scene where I had to act like I had no sense of responsibility, like I was guilty of something. Right—every loop, the one who approached her first was me. Why? Because she was the protagonist. Because she held the key to this shitty world. And had I ever given her so much as an opening? From her side, maybe she could call it a precious bond. To me it was a vicious, ill-fated tie. Why should I have to hand my heart over to the protagonist?

……You think I liked it any better?

"Haa……."

The rims of her eyes had gone red. She was waiting for my answer.

"Huh…? Please tell me that's not it. There's no way you ran from me…"

"Yeah. I didn't run. I didn't, but…"

"Right? Sit down, Oppa. Let's just talk a little first…"

"That doesn't mean I ever liked you. Not once."

Anais's mouth opened and closed and never quite made a word. Fair enough, I supposed. Across more loops than I could count, it hadn't been once or twice that Anais fell for me. Even the first happy ending I ever reached, she had wanted to end up with me. So why had I pushed her away again…?

Wait. I can't remember the most important reason.

Ah. Right.

If I bound myself to her, the regression would close. The end of regression meant the chance to attempt an escape would vanish. So—

"…I regret that you got involved with me."

I turned my back on Anais, sitting there in a daze, and stepped outside.

Clank. Clank.

Ah, fuck.

The door leading out was locked. I was about to be stripped of whatever composure I had left.

"…Are you kidding? What the hell is this?"

I sighed and kindled my mana. Now she meant to lock me in, too? Absurd.

The instant I moved to undo the lock, a rebuke cracked out of her.

"Ah!! God, you are seriously impossible! You don't recognize me!"

"…?"

But the shouting was not the problem. The mana I had drawn up vanished in a heartbeat—a phenomenon that could not be explained by anything but Divine Power. And a power only Anais at her peak could use.

"Damn it…."

"Didn't you hear me? Do you know who I am?!"

"Know what?"

"I'm Han Yura. Not Anais. Ugh, honestly!!"

"……?"

Han Yura… who's that.

No way.

It felt like a hammer had come down on my skull. That name could only mean one thing.

"Crazy."

That's a Korean name.

"Did you possess her??"

"Aah…."

Insane. Completely fucking insane, past anything I could put into words. Anais had not awakened to the regressions. She was a possessor. A new face.

Wound tight with excitement, I turned back to her and shouted.

"For real? You—Korea, you came from Korea? You just dropped in here, right? Back there these days—"

"That's not it. Oppa…"

"What?"

"Do you even know who Han Yura is??"

I had been too drunk on the excitement to see it, but her expression had gone cold. Sheepish in an instant, I felt a hot wash of shame. I couldn't get a hold of myself, like a castaway who had just sighted a rescue ship.

"Uh, Yura? It's good to see you. I'm—"

I couldn't finish, like an idiot. I couldn't remember who I had been.

"Sorry, but I forgot my name. I'd tell you if I could remember… mph—"

This time, though, it wasn't that I failed to finish. In the space of a blink she pulled me in and stole my lips. Her breath clung, light as a stray sigh, and it tickled. My mouth had been open, so for a moment even our tongues met.

"Pah—! What are you—"

"You forgot. Me, too. Even you, Oppa."

"Th…at's true, but……?"

Anais—no, Yura—looked dark in the face. Where the first joy and worry had been, her eyes held only sorrow. I thought I understood what this was. The feelings showing through were telling me what she and I had been to each other.

Even so, a kiss at first meeting was not okay. I might not remember, but for me, this was the first time.

"Hey. First, just back up a little. I don't know who you are, but I can roughly tell what we—"

She kept aiming for my mouth, so I had to turn my head.

…Fuck. Let me talk.

"Hey. I get it, so stop. You're not even Anais."

"…What?"

"Calm down. Things are uncomfortable enough with that saintess already, and your body is… that body."

I was the precedent myself, but possession is a seriously fucked-up thing when you're the one standing next to it. Even now, this was awkward as hell.

"Do I still look like Anais to you…?"

"I'm not wrong."

I was called Lux in this place, too.

But instead of backing off, Yura seized me and lifted me clean off the ground.

"What's with you? Where do you keep—"

She had been crossing the line since the start, and my irritation was finally boiling over. I drew up my mana to throw her off. That attempt died the same way as the last, the mana burning off into nothing.

Goddamn it….

Take away the magic and Lux was a corpse. She was the strongest saintess in this world. Against that overwhelming gap in build I was hauled along without a chance—

Thump.

—and forced down onto the bed. Yura, folded over me, looked down with a gaze that could not have been colder.