I'm Counting on You, Sapi

Black blood streamed down the giant monster's corpse like a river. Wheezing for breath, I shook the gore from my body.

"The damage was lighter this time."

This was the loop where I finally managed to kill the monster — the twenty-second. And this time, without so much as a scratch, I had severed even the tendons connected to the monster's eye. Something the original me could never have done.

So what had been the variable?

Right... it must have been that blond man.

In every loop, even as everyone around him died off, he was the one man who survived alone. What if I dragged him into the fight, even by force? Would the future change? It was a gamble thrown out on that very thought — and with that gamble, I brought the monster down. A result that deserved to be called a massive jackpot.

I looked around.

"Where did he go?"

The man who had been covering my back mere moments ago had vanished without a trace. Still, why he'd gone wasn't hard to guess.

"Take your pay and vanish — that the deal?"

I muttered under my breath. He'd probably finished his part and bolted. Last loop, too, he'd done everything he could to stay clear of anything dangerous. Exactly the kind of move you'd expect from him.

Meanwhile, Sapi stood on a hilltop a good distance from the ruined village.

"They lived..."

I stared down at my trembling fingertips. Those words weren't about me. The villagers, and Lebetri... had survived. People who, by all rights, should have died had lived on — fate itself bent around them.

The trembling only worsened. My breathing turned ragged and my heart hammered like it wanted out of my chest. It felt as if a gear had been wrenched clean out of my head.

"Fate can never be changed..."

That's what I believed. No — it's what I had to believe. I had tried to change it countless times. I'd done cowardly things. I hadn't flinched from filthy, cruel methods, either. And still, nothing changed. No matter how desperately I thrashed, the future always circled back to the shape I had already seen. So I accepted it. That was simply what fate was. Something no mere human could rewrite.

And yet.

"...Lebetri."

That woman had changed it. She had shattered the common sense I'd long since surrendered to — so easily it was almost cruel.

Which meant that, truly, just maybe—

"If it's her... she could kill even the Hero."

The corner of my mouth crept slowly upward.

"And then... I could see my family again..."

Countless futures flickered before my eyes. A future traveling at Lebetri's side. A future where Lebetri is sacrificed in my place. A future where Lebetri turns her blade on me. Dozens. Hundreds. An endless stream of possibilities poured through my mind. And yet in not one of those futures did Lebetri ever learn the truth — that I could see what was coming.

"Good..."

My secret stays buried. At least in every future visible to me right now...

The instant that thought took shape—

"There you are."

A voice sounded behind me. My body went rigid. I turned my head slowly, and there stood Lebetri — a bloodstained jacket over her shoulders, a faint smile on her lips.

"I was sure you'd run off."

"..."

Instinctively, I looked into the future. And my eyes narrowed. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Something was wrong. By all rights, there was no future in which Lebetri came here. And yet now there was.

Lebetri walked toward me, unhurried. An ordinary, unremarkable gait. But I could not tear my eyes from those footsteps, not for a single instant.

One step. The future changed. Another step. It changed again. Lebetri smiles. Lebetri asks something. Lebetri walks away. Futures that had not existed until this very moment — as if each step she took spun a brand-new destiny into being.

My eyes wavered. And yet the corner of my mouth climbed higher all the same.

"What, that happy to see me?"

"No. Just surprised you made it back alive."

I smoothed my expression into something suitably indifferent.

"Hmph. Somehow or other, I survive to the end."

I met her eyes. Not a shred of doubt in them. The eyes of someone who simply knew she would survive.

"Ha... you're a strange one, miss."

"'Strange one' — the very first thing a man has ever said to me? I'm a little hurt."

Silence held for a while. Wind swept through the ashes of the ruined village. And just as the wind stilled, Lebetri spoke.

"What's your name?"

For an instant, I reflexively reached for the future — what would happen if I told her, what would unfold if I spoke my true name. But.

I shut my eyes tight.

"Sapi."

This once, I didn't look. I simply trusted my gut and gave her my real name.

"Sapi? That's your name?"

"Yeah. That's right."

Lebetri studied me in silence for a long moment. As if — Sapi. — she were etching the name into her mind, over and over. Then, before long, she smiled faintly.

"It's a good name."

"Thanks."

"I'm Lebetri."

"I know."

Lebetri turned her gaze toward the ruined village. More than half the buildings had caved in. The monster's black blood ran through every street, and here and there, weeping and screams still rose into the air. Survivors clung to one another and cried. Some wandered the wreckage, searching for family they'd lost. Some kept vigil beside the ones left behind. One person might fill the empty space another leaves — but no one can stand in for the warmth of the one who's gone.

Watching it all, Lebetri murmured, so quietly the wind nearly swallowed it.

"Was it right... to save as many as I did?"

Faint guilt was written across her face.

I had seen plenty of humans like this. The excessively righteous kind — people who saved scores of lives, then stood staring at the dead, agonizing over whether there might have been another way. Whether Lebetri truly belonged to that breed, I couldn't yet say. Even so, I walked to her side and spoke.

"You can't change an outcome that's already happened."

"..."

Lebetri looked at me.

"So don't dwell on the dead alone. Think about the people you saved, too."

Her expression stiffened, just slightly. Apparently my words weren't much of a comfort. If anything, they may have fed the guilt. Even so, I had no regrets. That advice came straight from my own experience, after all.

A few minutes passed — an interval somehow endless and gone in a heartbeat. Then, as if none of it had happened, Lebetri called my name.

"Sapi."

"What?"

"Why did you help me?"

"For the money."

It wasn't a lie. Helping her had been a play to shake money loose from her from the very start.

"You shoot a gun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pretty well."

"So?"

"That, and..."

"What else is there?"

She stared at me, hard, for a moment.

"You just don't die. Isn't that odd?"

"..."

"So I figure you'd be useful."

For a split second my heart lurched — but I let nothing show.

"So you're offering to hire me, properly?"

"Something like that."

"And the pay?"

"There isn't any..."

Lebetri let her eyes slide away. I could only stare at her, dumbfounded.

I always choose whatever path benefits me. That is why I look into the future. Traveling with Lebetri was dangerous. I didn't know the reason, but plenty of people wanted her dead — and no mere rabble, either. Some were strong enough that their names alone carried weight. She would go on crossing them, again and again, from here on out. Any rational judgment said refuse. Simply walking beside her bordered on suicide.

But that logic only applied to ordinary humans. I had just witnessed it with my own eyes. Lebetri had changed fate. She had done the very thing I had attempted countless times and failed to do. Which meant — perhaps. Perhaps even the fate that barred the way back to Utopia could be rewritten. Perhaps I could return to my family.

That single possibility was enough.

"I don't need money."

"...What?"

"Let's travel together, Lebetri."

She just blinked at me.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"And you don't need money either?"

"Don't need it."

Her face set into something strange, as if she'd just heard pure nonsense.

"Weren't you the guy who practically lived in the gambling dens?"

"..."

This time, I was the one who froze.

"And now you're telling me you don't need money?"

"Forget the money."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Really."

"Then what do you need?"

I regarded her for a moment. For this one question, I decided to tell the truth. Though, of course — I had no intention of giving her all of it.

"Can't tell you yet."

She just looked back at me, silent.

"Is it something you actually need me for?"

"Yeah."

I answered with more conviction than I ever had in my life.

Lebetri held my gaze a moment longer, then stuck out her hand. No — before I could even take it, she had already seized mine.

"I'm counting on you, Sapi."

"Yeah. Lebetri."

I took her hand. And I remembered a past I had once believed I no longer needed.

"Sapi."

A warm voice brushed past my ear. When I opened my eyes, light from the artificial sun, slanting through the gap in the curtains, stung them sharp.

Laughter drifted up from outside the window. Those familiar sounds, mingling together, were what woke me.

Coming out to the living room, I found breakfast steaming on the table. I picked up a single piece of bread and headed for the door.

"Sapi, have some more. You can't get by on one little piece of bread."

"You and my sister can have the rest. This is plenty for me."

And just like that, I stepped out of the house. Past the surface tier, bathed in the artificial sun's glow, I made my way down.

The Void. The place where those who had tasted the miracle of entering Utopia, only to be judged useless by it, had gathered to scrape out their lives. It was also where I came, time and again, to gamble.

The moment I appeared, the crowd closed in like hyenas. A comparatively well-off human from the surface tiers had come down to gamble — naturally, they meant to strip off their share of him. Unbothered, I took a seat. And the games began. With a little flashy sleight of hand, I won myself a modest sum. Precisely as much as would keep suspicion at bay. Win too much, and you invite unwanted scrutiny — along with the ugly consequences that follow it.

— Bang! Bang! Bang!

Sudden gunfire tore through the gambling den. Every movement in the room stopped dead. Inside Utopia, the sound of gunfire could mean only one thing: the Public Safety Bureau had come to carry out its duty.

"Tsk."

I rose from my seat and made to slip quietly away. But then—

"Don't move, Sapi."

Gun muzzles swung to bear on me in unison. A voice, quiet yet unnervingly distinct, bored into my ear.

"Haha... it seems there's been some misunderstanding."

"..."

"If it's about the gambling, I'll pay the fine."

The soldier answered without a flicker of expression.

"You are under arrest on suspicion of aiding rebel forces."

In an instant, the air in that underground den froze over. Every gaze in the room nailed itself to me.

"Aiding rebels...? There's been some mistake."

"Quiet."

The soldier held out a single document.

"The evidence is sufficient."

Then he flung it down at my feet.

"Read it for yourself."

I looked at the paper lying on the floor.

"...What is this?"

Not one of the charges rang a single bell in my memory. No — it wasn't a matter of memory. These were things I had never done.

"I've never done anything like that."

"Protesting your innocence will get you nowhere."

"No — I mean it."

Two soldiers seized me by the arms.

"Wait! Let go!"

And just like that, I was hauled away — to somewhere even deeper than the underground. Stairs without end. How far down did I go? At last, the footsteps stopped. A soldier shoved me roughly between the shoulders.

"You're exiled."

"...What?"

"Exiled."

"Where to?"

The soldier replied as if the answer were self-evident.

"Humanity abandoned the ruined world and evacuated to Utopia."

And then he smiled, cold.

"So rebels are exiled back to that ruined world."

A chill slid down my spine.

"Wait. What about my family?"

"..."

"What happens to me?"

"You will simply be registered as missing."

"Then my family?"

The soldier looked at me with nothing at all behind his eyes.

"Family?"

"..."

"Rebels have no family."

And then he added:

"No."

His voice carried with a clarity that felt almost unnatural.

"..."

For a heartbeat, I couldn't grasp what those words meant. No — I didn't want to grasp it. If ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I became someone who had never been... What about Mom? What about my little sister? What would I even be to them?

— Vwooom.

A colossal mechanical drone thundered at my back. Space warped, and a portal tore open.

"Wait—"

The soldier pushed my back.

"Just hold on—"

I was shoved a single step forward.

"At least tell my family something—"

"You are exiled, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rebel."

Those were the last words I heard. I fell into a world I had never seen. Into a world already ruined.

Lebetri's hand was warm. A warmth I had forgotten I'd ever known.

Suddenly, my mother's voice came back to me — the way she called my name every morning. My little sister's face, too, the last thing I had seen before walking out that door.

I looked down at our joined hands. Strange, but as long as I didn't let go of this hand, it felt as though I could still make it back. To Utopia. To my family. To that place I had given up on, believing I would never lay eyes on it again.

Slowly, I lifted my gaze to Lebetri.

Who on earth are you...

Something even I, who can see fate itself, had never once managed. The thing that never changed, no matter how desperately I thrashed against it — and this woman was rewriting it, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

You're rewriting fate, aren't you?