Chapter 20: The Fifth Playthrough (1)

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You have started your fifth playthrough.

"Hey! You blond bastard! Let's fight!"

This is... the fifth time.

Rei Furuya was dazed for less than a second before regaining his composure, clenching his fists, reciting familiar lines, and charging forward to fight Jinpei Matsuda.

Actually, he really wanted to run back to the dorm to find Hiro right away, to see how he was doing, and to apologize to him.

But he couldn't. This time, he was determined to perfectly replicate the original world's trajectory and would not allow any butterfly to have the chance to be born in this world again.

Rei Furuya now sincerely feels that it's wonderful that everyone doesn't remember their past memories.

He didn't want anyone to remember those sad, painful, and desperate memories, even without the butterfly effect.

They shouldn't have to go through those painful things; they should have a wonderful life.

"...Tsk." Matsuda Jinpei tilted his head and spat out the denture that had been knocked out, then grinned maliciously and rushed over to punch the blond youth opposite him in the face.

He didn't know why, but he disliked this guy even more now, and he felt he couldn't get over it without punching him a few more times.

"Blonde bastard!"

"Curly-haired bastard!"

"Bang--"

The falling cherry blossom rain was scattered by the fists of the two hot-blooded young men.

After the fight ended, both of them were seriously injured.

Rei Furuya was finally able to relax a little. Even if his emotions were a little unstable and his body was trembling a little, it was still within the normal range.

In fact, it's impossible to say that he wasn't in pain after falling to his death twice in a row, and it would be a joke to say that it had no impact on him at all.

It hurts. Falling off a cliff hurts, jumping off a building hurts, and the feeling of death is terrible.

But none of that can compare to the pain he felt watching others die, or the agony he felt alone after everyone else had died.

Rei Furuya leaned against a cherry blossom tree and rested for two minutes.

It will only take two minutes.

Two minutes later, he started walking towards the dormitory building.

【144】

[All Hidden Formations]

As Rei Furuya stood before the door, the scene he had witnessed not long ago flashed through his mind again.

He fell headfirst from the rooftop, his eyes meeting those of his childhood friend who was standing right by the window.

In that instant, Rei Furuya's heart and lungs stopped, his eyes widened suddenly, and regret instantly overwhelmed him.

He ultimately lacked composure, failing to consider that Hiro might wake up from a nightmare at this moment, and not realizing that this was precisely where Hiro's window was located, allowing Hiro to witness such a scene...

But it doesn't matter, because Hiro doesn't remember; he won't have any memory of that time.

Rei Furuya took a deep breath and knocked on the door in front of him.

"Zero?!" Morofushi Kagemitsu was shocked by his childhood friend's disheveled appearance when he opened the door.

“Sorry, Hiro.” Rei Furuya smiled at him. “I’m out of band-aids, so…”

I'm sorry, Hiro, for making you go through so much pain and sorrow.

I'm sorry for always making you see me die, even though I know better than anyone how painful that is...

However, unless everything finally settles down, I won't be able to give you a real reason for my apology.

I'm sorry, Hiro.

*

I've returned to April 1st.

This is my fifth playthrough.

Rei Furuya sat down at the table and took out his brand new notebook to organize his thoughts.

He wrote 23 pages last time, but this time he wrote 33 pages, organizing everything in his mind with pen and paper.

This took him more than two hours, and by the time he finished, his hands were sore, it was already 4:30 a.m.

Rei Furuya has no intention of sleeping anymore.

He put down his pen, prepared himself, and then set the entire notebook on fire.

Thirty-three pages was no small amount, and to avoid arousing suspicion from others about why he had torn so many pages from the notebook, he decided to burn the entire thing.

Rei Furuya has absolutely zero tolerance for the possibility of the scarlet butterfly appearing.

He stared blankly at the flickering firelight, and suddenly thought, April 1st, April Fool's Day, is truly an ironic day.

Is it a cruel joke of fate to let him be reborn on this day and experience it again and again?

After finishing the follow-up work, Furuya Rei sat back on the bed and entered the group chat with his phone.

It had become his habit to check the group member list as soon as he entered the chat.

[1. Subaru Natsuki: From *Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-*, currently on his thirteenth playthrough, and has died thirteen times.]

[2. Shinpei Ami: From "Summer Revisited," currently on his seventh playthrough, and has died seven times.]

[3. Rei Furuya: From "Detective Conan," currently on his fifth playthrough, and has died five times.]

[4. Homura Akemi: From "Puella Magi Madoka Magica", currently in her fourth playthrough, has died 0 times.]

During the two rollbacks after Furuya's zero deaths, Subaru Natsuki died and rolled back once more, Shinpei Ami died and rolled back twice, and Homura Akemi went through two loops.

The world's malice seems to have undergone a second escalation from a certain point.

As a result, the group members were caught off guard and experienced frequent rollbacks in a short period of time. Only now can they barely catch their breath and fully understand the malice of the world. They began to think about things frantically yet calmly.

The idea behind Rei Furuya's decision to commit suicide by jumping off a building in his fourth playthrough and then start from scratch in his fifth playthrough, erasing the memories of everyone except himself, is a way to prevent the butterfly effect.

Subaru Natsuki and Homura Akemi, who also chose to keep it a secret and work hard on their own, expressed their agreement, while Shinpei Amishiro, who chose to be honest and fight alongside his comrades, seemed a little worried.

[Shinpei Netdai: What Mr. Furuya said is indeed the best solution I can think of right now.]

[Shinpei Ameshiro: But is this really okay? Is Furuya-san going to bear all of this alone? I don't doubt that Furuya-san's mental strength can handle it, it's just... isn't this too exhausting? Unlike us, Furuya-san still has such a long road ahead of him. Can he really keep hiding this forever? And all the things he experienced with his companions have been forgotten, it's like a part of him has been forgotten. It's really heartbreaking.]

Rei Furuya thanked him for his concern but did not intend to change his mind.

[Natsuki Subaru: It's alright. In the cycle of reincarnation, even if everyone forgets us, we will remember. We will change everyone's predetermined fate! For that, I don't care how many times I die!]

[Natsuki Subaru: If anyone knows about hell, I'm enough.]

Rei Furuya posted an "agree" emoji.

[Homura Akemi: I no longer need to rely on anyone, nor do I need to be understood by anyone.]

So many things have happened, and the once lively girl has gradually become silent. Although she still talks in the group, she is far less active than before.

Rei Furuya thought he needed to find an opportunity to have a good talk with that child; among the current members of the group, Homura Akemi's mental state was the one that worried him the most.

But there are more important things to do now.

As things have progressed to this point, they have each gathered nearly all the intelligence they need about the world.

Now that we've calmed down and talked things over, some things are crystal clear.

What concerned Rei Furuya the most was something that happened to Homura Akemi.

The creature that made contracts with them, turning them into magical girls and then ultimately transforming them into witches, is called Kyubey, whose true name is "Incubator." They are products from another universe. They seem to be immortal beings, possessing countless clones, which Homura Akemi simply cannot kill.

To prevent the increase of entropy in their universe and avoid heat death and destruction, the Kyubey developed a technology to convert "emotions" into "energy."

But they themselves have no feelings, and they are even incredulous when they discover that humans on Earth possess such a rich range of emotions.

The Cupids were rarely shocked; they were utterly astonished.

For them, emotions are essentially equated with "illness" or "virus," and are considered extremely terrifying, which is why that technology was developed.

After discovering humans on Earth, they quickly launched an investigation, eventually identifying a group of human girls as their target.

According to research, humans are divided into two main categories: men and women, with women's emotional development far exceeding that of men.

Among women, teenage girls who have left childhood but are not yet adults are the most emotionally complex group.

Thus, the "Magical Girl" project was launched.

They only want one thing: the immense energy generated in the instant when magical girls finally transform into witches, their rich emotions and hopes turning into overwhelming despair.

The moment Furuya Rei heard this information, he thought of their group and the four people in the group who, although in different worlds, had experienced the same thing.

What he kept thinking about but couldn't figure out was who had brought them together, and what they wanted to do.

Now he understands a little.

Perhaps it was something similar to Kyubey that brought the four of them together, causing them to struggle time and again in the cycle of hope and despair, thereby drawing energy from their world and from the vast emotions of their repeated cycles.

By continuing to analyze this point step by step, we can quickly answer another question he had.

"Detective Conan," "Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-," ​​"Summer Resurrection," and "Puella Magi Madoka Magica"—these are the names of the worlds they represent.

So what's the deal with these names that look similar to those in comics, novels, or games?

Reloading saves, unlocking side endings, unlocking bad endings... Do these game terms mean that the world he's in is a detective game where Shinichi Kudo, under the alias Conan Edogawa, is the protagonist?

So the villains are the Black Organization?

And what about him? What role did he play in all of this?

And then there's the last thing.

[Rei Furuya: Do you all understand now why you keep starting new cycles?]

Homura Akemi: My ability to reincarnate repeatedly stems from the time magic I created after making a contract with Kyubey, which was born from my wish.

[Shinpei Amagi: Yes, I can rewind time after death, it seems to be because of this eye that turned blue. The enemy can also rewind time with me because of the eye, because these are a pair, and it used to be her eye.]

[Natsuki Subaru: Although the reason is unclear, it seems that my death rewinding is due to the witch's...favor? Each time I rewind, the witch's aura on me becomes stronger. The madmen of the Witch Cult all say that this is the favor of the strongest witch, which is why she's clinging to me.]

Rei Furuya's expression gradually darkened, and he gripped his phone tightly.

The answer is confirmed.

The reason why the four people in the group can keep reincarnating is entirely due to the power of the "enemy".

Yes, so is Furuya Zero.

He could never forget the words that voice said to him when he first loaded the save file.

We are both God and the devil, for we seek to reverse the flow of time and bring the dead back to life.

Vermouth once said the same thing.

Moreover, what she was implying was what the organization was doing and its ultimate goal.

The location where Rei Furuya died was indeed the organization's core base, which he also destroyed.

The blond youth let out a long breath, relaxed his fist, then reached out and flicked his hair hard before falling back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling with a dark look in his eyes, lost in thought.

Therefore, the worst-case scenario is that the power that allows him to be reborn and even repeatedly die and rewind actually belongs to the Black Organization.

It was ironic that his only hope came from his greatest enemy.

This is truly the worst possible guess.

Oh wait, there's an even worse possibility.

...I hope Gin didn't get reborn with him.