Collapse Into Rest
We collapsed onto the edge of the bed in a tangled heap. My hands were tightly gripping Adelia’s breasts, which strained prominently beneath her thin shirt.
“......Eek!”
A small, delicate scream burst from her lips. Her face flushed crimson like an erupting volcano.
“You… right now… where… are you touching…?”
Her voice trembled. Shame, confusion, and… unmistakable murderous intent. Her hand shot reflexively toward my throat.
Squeeze.
“......Urk!” My breath cut off instantly. Another tenth of a second of pressure and my neck would snap. Instinctively, I thought, I’m dead.
But.
“......!”
Her hand shook with microscopic tremors. Her mind screamed that she had to kill me, yet her soul refused to obey.
Crackle.
Observer’s Eye
Trait: ‘Soul Engraving’ has activated.
“Why… why is this happening…” she muttered, sobbing. Like a child who couldn’t bear to break something precious, no strength would enter her fingers.
Thud.
The power drained from her hand. She staggered off me and crumpled to the floor.
“......”
“Cough… cough…!” I clutched my throat and hacked violently. I had nearly been beaten to death before the assassination even began.
An awkward silence settled over the room. To shift the mood and soothe my burning throat, I reached for the water cup on the desk.
“Haa… Let me at least drink some water…”
The moment I brought the cup to my lips—
Whiiiing— A skin-crawling buzz of wings. A single pitch-black mosquito slipped through the vent.
The same unidentified poisonous insect that had bitten me to death in the second round.
“......!”
I had no time to dodge. The insect was already aiming for the nape of my neck.
Crackle!
A massive golden wave exploded from my body like a bursting shockwave.
Yuriel’s faith has surpassed 20%, activating Automatic Danger Defense.
Skill: Sanctuary Deployment has activated.
The mosquito turned to white ash before it could even touch my skin, exactly like a bug hitting an electric flyswatter.
“......Huh?”
I stared blankly at the pile of ash on the floor. This wasn’t some simple blessing. It was Sanctuary—a power only high-ranking clergy could use. Senior Yuriel… I didn’t know what she was doing outside, but her fanatical faith had apparently turned me into the master of a Sanctuary.
But it wasn’t over.
Hiss— White steam suddenly rose from the cup in my hand. The once-clear water turned pitch black, then purified back into clean holy water that began to boil.
Toxin detected within the Sanctuary. Automatic Purification has been performed.
The poisonous insect. The poisoned water. My death in the second round hadn’t been caused by just one of them.
Fuck… So it was both?
Goosebumps prickled across my skin as I set the cup down. If I avoided the bug, I would drink the poison. If I didn’t drink, I’d get bitten. Whoever was behind this had planned my death with ruthless precision.
That was when it happened.
Knock, knock.
A knock shattered the silence, followed by a deep, gravelly voice.
“Ahem, Roy? It sounds rather noisy in there.”
It was the dormitory supervisor. I froze. An unauthorized female student—moreover, the hero—was currently in my room. If we were caught, it would mean immediate expulsion.
“H-Hide!” I mouthed a silent scream and whipped around.
But Adelia, who had been sitting on the bed just moments ago, was nowhere to be seen.
Huh?
The curtain by the open window fluttered.
As expected of the hero. She already jumped out the window.
Thank goodness. With her monstrous physical abilities, leaping from the third floor would be nothing.
Clank. Click.
The old key turned in the lock. The door opened and the stern-faced supervisor stepped inside.
“......Not sleeping? What are you doing?”
I sat awkwardly on the bed and forced a smile.
“Ah, Supervisor. What brings you here?”
He swept the room with hawk-like eyes. Fortunately, there was no trace of Adelia. All he saw was the pile of mosquito ash on the floor, the steaming cup on the desk, and me drenched in cold sweat.
“I heard a loud thud. What happened?”
“Ah… I slipped and fell. Haha…”
His eyes narrowed.
“Roy. I noticed it back when we met at the old school building.”
He pushed up his glasses.
“You’re a rather strange student.”
“......I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful.”
“It’s late. Go to sleep. Lights-out and bedtime at the Academy is ten o’clock.”
“Yes, understood. Good night!”
Bang.
The door slammed shut. I didn’t dare breathe until the supervisor’s footsteps faded far down the corridor.
“Haa……”
I sprawled across the bed.
“Did he leave? That was fast.”
Assuming Adelia had escaped through the window, I muttered to myself.
“She really is impatient. Leaving without even saying goodbye.”
That was when—
“......Hey.”
A muffled voice came from directly beneath my butt—precisely from under the mattress.
“......???”
I jerked in shock and peered under the bed.
“Extra… get me out of here…”
In the dark space beneath the bed, Adelia was curled up in a pile of dust—the same Adelia I thought had fled through the window.
“Why are you there? Didn’t you go out the window?”
“I was going to… but the supervisor came in too fast. I panicked and hid here instead…”
Her voice was tearful.
“I’m stuck.”
“......What?”
“My butt… is jammed in the frame.”
......Ha. The greatest hero in the world was stuck by her ass in a bed frame.
Now that the tension had broken, a helpless laugh escaped me.
“Wow, you really do everything.”
I reached under the bed and grabbed her ankle.
“Relax. I’m pulling.”
“W-Wait! Hey! Hold on! My clothes are caught—”
“No waiting. We need to get you out. One, two!”
I yanked with all my strength.
Shluuup—!
At that moment—
Riiip—!
With a tearing sound, her uniform skirt, which had been caught on the frame, slid down completely.
“......Eh?”
An utterly bare sight unfolded before my eyes.
Thighs wrapped in black knee socks. Smooth, elastic curves revealed through the stockings. And above them, the absolute territory where the socks ended—about ten centimeters of pale skin. Covering that was a pure-white lace panty. Delicate lace patterns traced her hips, and a tiny ribbon in the center sparkled in the moonlight.
“......!”
My breath stopped.
“......Kyaaa!!!”
Adelia screamed and shot out from under the bed. She frantically yanked her fallen skirt back up. But it was already too late. Her hands were shaking so badly she couldn’t even grip the fabric properly. Platinum hair covered in dust, a face burning scarlet, and tears welling in her eyes. She glared at me with murderous fury.
“You… you……!”
Tears brimmed in her red eyes. Shame 100%. Murderous intent 100%.
“I’ll… I’ll kill you……!”
“Wait, that’s not— You were the one stuck! I was helping!”
“Shut up! You perverted bastard! A mere extra! You even saw my… my underwear…!”
She hurled a pillow at my face.
“Haa… Haa…”
Only after her rampage did her movements finally stop. She sat in the corner of the bed, hugging her knees, staring at me with trembling eyes.
“......It’s strange.”
She murmured.
“When I look at you… I want to kill you. Like it’s instinct. My brain recognizes you as an enemy.”
Her hand clutched her own chest tightly.
“But… when I look at you, it hurts here.”
“......”
“You’re just an F-class extra. In a month you’ll die on some mountain or meet a dog’s death somewhere.”
Her red eyes shook. Confusion, fear, and an unknown sorrow swirled within them.
“Why do you bother me so much? Why does the me who wants to kill you… feel so horrifying?”
Adelia’s gaze trembled. The ‘murderous intent’ injected by the system and the ‘love’ her soul remembered from before the regressions were colliding, tormenting her.
I slowly approached her. Once again, I spoke with genuine sincerity.
“I had a dream.”
“......That again?”
“Listen. It’s both a dream and my memory.”
I looked straight into her eyes.
“First round, winter. You bit your lip in front of your parents’ gravestones so you wouldn’t cry. Snow was falling, and you thought, ‘It’s white.’ ‘I wish the whole world would be erased in white.’”
“......”
Adelia’s hand trembled faintly.
“Fiftieth round. The person you loved died in front of you. You couldn’t do anything. You just held his hand and kept repeating, ‘I’m sorry.’”
“......Stop.”
Her voice cracked.
“Ninetieth round. The Demon King’s invasion. You stayed alone on the castle wall to protect the empire. You sent your comrades away first. Then beneath the collapsing wall… you muttered, ‘I’m sorry, I failed again.’”
“Stop… I said stop…”
“The battlefield of the hundredth round. Alone among your comrades’ corpses, you looked at the sky and screamed.”
“......”
“And during all nine hundred and ninety-nine deaths.”
I took one more step toward her.
“You never once told anyone that it was hard.”
My quiet voice filled the room. It wasn’t mere information. It was a confession only someone who had shared her pain, her time, and the people she loved could make.
“I saw everything.”
I looked at her.
“How desperately you endured.”
“......”
Adelia’s eyes shook. Her hands trembled. She bit her lip. But the tears still refused to fall. She was holding them back—just like she had for nine hundred and ninety-nine regressions.
Then.
“I was… alone.”
She whispered softly.
“Nine hundred and ninety-nine times… alone…”
Her voice shook.
“No one… ever knew…”
At last.
Plop.
A single tear fell.
Observer’s Eye has activated.
The protagonist’s rapid emotional assimilation is altering causality.
Warning: Main story collapse has progressed by 10%.
The system window flashed red, but I didn’t see it. All I could see was her—smiling with the corners of her mouth lifted even as tears streamed down her face.
“......Ha.”
She laughed. It was the mask of a cold-blooded killer peeling away, revealing a smile so tragically beautiful it hurt to look at.
“You really… are the worst.”
She wiped her tears roughly with the back of her hand.
“If you stole my nine hundred and ninety-nine lives, then take responsibility.”
Sniffling, she patted the inner side of my bed.
“Tonight, stick right next to me.”
Her red eyes shone straight at me.
“I’ll protect you. So don’t you dare die without my permission, you extra.”
It was the declaration of the world’s strongest, an SS-class hero. She gave up half of the narrow single bed, creating the safest spot with a grumpy yet undeniably caring gesture.
03:15
That was how our strange cohabitation began.
Adelia sat leaning against the headboard, dagger in hand, pointed in my direction.
Creak.
The window I had locked slid open by itself. There was no wind.
“......!”
Whoosh—!
Like a silenced gunshot, a sharp burst of air accompanied a dagger flying straight at my forehead.
“What?!”
Clang—!
The sound of metal rang through the room. The dagger stopped one centimeter from my face. Adelia’s aura-clad hand had caught the flying blade bare-handed.
“......What the hell is this now.”
Her red eyes flashed toward the window. On the roof outside, a figure in black clothes froze in shock, then immediately fled.
“Stay right there, you rat…!”
Adelia stepped onto the windowsill, ready to leap out. But instead of stopping her, I pointed outside.
“Wait, look over there.”
“......?”
Behind the fleeing assassin, someone emerged from the darkness.
Golden eyes. It was Saintess Yuriel. She glanced at us by the window, winked playfully, then chased after the assassin at terrifying speed and vanished.
“......Ha.”
Adelia let out a dumbfounded laugh.
“What’s with that crazy bitch?”
“......Who knows.”
I smiled bitterly, realizing that the line between stalking and guarding was thinner than a sheet of paper.
03:57.
I checked the clock.
Fifteen minutes…
Fifteen minutes until the time of death from the first round. Adelia stared at the window. Sweat beaded on the hand holding the dagger. I was tense too. My whole body felt stiff.
03:58. My heart pounded. Fast. Rough. Sweat slicked my palms. My breathing grew ragged. Adelia looked at me.
“Are you okay?”
“......Yeah.”
It was a lie. I was anything but okay.
03:59. Only the ticking of the second hand filled the room.
Tick. Tock. Tick.
Each second felt like a minute. I looked at the door. The window. The ceiling. Where would it come from? How would I die?
Please…
04:00. Nothing happened. I held my breath.
04:01. Still safe.
04:05. Just a little longer.
04:10. We’re almost there.
04:11. Adelia took my hand. It was warm.
“You’ll live,” she said. “Both of us.”
04:12. The times of death from the first and second rounds both passed. The window, the door, and the ceiling remained intact.
“......We survived.”
All strength left my body and I flopped onto the bed. The moment the tension released, sleep hit me like a lead weight.
What an insanely hard day…
“Hey, don’t sleep. I said I’d protect you, not that you could sleep…”
Sorry… I’m too sleepy…
Adelia’s voice grew distant. Without the strength to answer, I was sucked into deep sleep.
. . . . .
“Hey, wake up. Roy.”
Someone tapped my shoulder.
“Dear new students! Welcome to the Imperial Academy!”
“Waaaaah!!”
Bang! Boom! Fireworks exploded. Deafening cheers. The dazzling light of a chandelier stabbed my eyes, numbing my senses.
“......Huk!”
I gasped violently and opened my eyes. My heart hammered against my ribs. A familiar voice—the one I had heard at the start of the first, second, and third rounds.
I stared blankly at my own hands.
......Ah.
No way.
My hands shook. I had made it past dawn. Adelia had said she would protect me. Yet I had been assassinated in my sleep and returned to the starting point again?
No… I don’t want this…
Despair crashed over me like a wave. The pain Adelia had endured through nine hundred and ninety-nine regressions pierced my bones. The thought of starting this hellish loop again made me clutch my head and scream.
“Uwaaaaaaaaagh!!!”
At my scream, the world before me cracked open.
My eyes snapped open.
“Huk… Huk…!” My heart raced madly. Slowly, I looked upward.
“......?”
There was no murmur of the entrance ceremony. Instead, brilliant morning sunlight poured through the window, painting my vision white. And the sensation behind my head—it wasn’t a hard pillow. It was warm, soft, and had a pleasant springy elasticity. The feeling of a thigh.
I slowly raised my gaze. Platinum hair sparkling in the sunlight. Adelia, leaning against the headboard with my head resting on her lap, was dozing off.
The moment I saw her peaceful face—
Thump—!
Something deep inside my chest exploded with a roar. It was the fear I had suppressed, the sorrow, and at the same time, an overwhelming sense of relief.
“Ugh……”
My eyes grew hot, and unstoppable tears poured out like a broken dam. I hadn’t regressed. The nightmare was over. We had reached ‘tomorrow.’
At my sobbing, the dozing Adelia flinched and opened her eyes. She looked down at me—face covered in tears—with sleepy eyes. She didn’t panic. Instead, with a half-awake face, she smiled like a child.
“Why are you crying, you extra?”
Her fingers wiped away my tears.
“We lived, right?”
At those simple words, at her calm and warm voice, a smile spread across my lips. It was the brightest, happiest smile I had worn since falling into this other world.
“......Yeah!”
At that moment, a system message floated into the air.
Survival Success
Entering Day 2
Target: Adelia
Job: Hero (999th Round)
SAN: -99% → -80% (▲19%)
Status: Murderous Intent, Favorability, Empathy, Obsession
Faith: 0% → 5% (Awakening)
The Repose of the Shared Soul
Adelia looked down at me and gave a small smile. Then she whispered softly.
“My… Roy.”