Chapter 27: Seven Playthroughs (1)

Save file loaded successfully.

You have started your seventh playthrough.

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

It's still under that cherry blossom tree.

It's still the same person.

I'll say it again.

This is the seventh time.

Will he be able to save everyone this time?

Furuya Rei was unaware that he was gradually losing confidence as well.

The only thing that's certain is that he will never give up.

“Then let’s go.” Furuya Rei said to Matsuda Jinpei with a smile, and not just to him.

*

I've returned to April 1st.

This is my seventh reincarnation, the seventh cycle I've started since being reborn.

[I failed on my fifth playthrough, but I survived for five months. I only need seventeen days left to graduate and unlock my second save file.]

The most troublesome thing is that even after learning what happened in the fifth playthrough from Hiro, I still can't be sure where the problem lies. Maybe the problem is everywhere. I can't figure it out anymore. I guess I'll have to try everything to find out the answer.

...

However, while killing the butterflies is feasible, attempting to eliminate all of them is impossible; therefore, selective control is necessary.

[I can't tell everyone everything like I did in the second playthrough, nor can I be as obsessed with killing all the butterflies as I was in the fifth playthrough, ignoring the potential dangers.]

Let's try again.

Rei Furuya put down his pen and burned the notebook.

He glanced at his watch; it was four in the morning, two hours to go.

Next is...

Rei Furuya opened a group chat on his phone.

Perhaps due to the time difference, the group chat is still very quiet, and the chat history is still the same as before. Natsuki Subaru greeted everyone again, and left when no one else was around.

He opened the group member history.

[1. Subaru Natsuki: From *Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-*, currently on his 18th playthrough, and has died 18 times.]

[2. Homura Akemi: From *Puella Magi Madoka Magica*, currently on her thirteenth playthrough, has died zero times.]

[3. Shinpei Ami: From "Summer Revisited," currently on his ninth playthrough, and has died nine times.]

4. Rei Furuya: From "Detective Conan," currently on his seventh playthrough, and has died seven times.

Furuya Rei was taken aback. When he was looking at the chat history just now, the number on the profile picture of the boy with heterochromatic eyes and a half-long bun was still eight.

In the two seconds it took him to open the group member list, Shinpei died again?

Furuya Rei immediately left the member list and quickly typed in the group chat, tagging NetEase's Shinpei and asking him what had happened.

However, the other party did not reply. Instead, Homura Akemi and Subaru Natsuki were alarmed, and the three of them chatted anxiously, waiting for Shinpei to come online.

While waiting, Rei Furuya also gave a brief explanation of his two playthroughs.

He never brought his negative emotions into the group chat and affected the three teenagers. In addition, his world was indeed the safest and most controllable among the four of them. Ignoring some invisible malice in the world, it was easy to gloss over it.

Fifteen minutes later, Shenping, the online agent, finally logged on.

[Online Agent Shenping: Teacher Nanyun]

[Net Agent Shinpei: Dead]

[Shinpei Net: My teacher is dead, but I can't go back to before she died. The save point has been updated, so I can't rewind to save her. She's really dead.]

[Shinpei Net: The teacher shouldn't have died. The teacher was about to win. The teacher used his biggest trump card, but I didn't know it. I reloaded my save, and then Bodao reloaded his save too, but the teacher didn't... So, knowing the teacher's trump card and backup plan, they turned the tables and killed the teacher, but I was too late.]

[Online agent Shenping: My teacher is dead, my teacher is really dead, I can't go back.]

[Shinpei Net: I'm the one who killed her. I reloaded the save file to save everyone, but the truth is, I killed the teacher.]

[Shinpei Akai: Ushio is dead, and Nagumo-sensei is dead too. Can I really lead everyone to survive and reach the end? Should I not have dragged everyone into this fight? But if I were alone, it would be absolutely impossible to succeed, right? Without everyone's help, I might have already failed completely. But if I really fail, there really won't be anyone left on this island...]

[Shenping, the online agent: I'm sorry, I'm a little out of control right now. Please give me another day to calm down, and I'll pull myself together.]

[Shinpei Net Agent: Ms. Nagumo entrusted her younger brother to me. She hopes I can lead everyone to a dramatic turnaround, and everyone is still anxiously waiting for me... Don't worry, giving up is absolutely out of the question. I won't let everyone's sacrifices go to waste.]

Nagumo-sensei… was probably the first person to believe Shinpei had been reincarnated and returned from a previous life, right? And yet, he was one of Shinpei's most important comrades and strongest fighters to date, and...

Such a huge blow cannot be easily relieved by others offering words of comfort.

Neither Rei Furuya, nor Subaru Natsuki, nor Homura Akemi could imagine the terrible thing that would happen if someone important to them died and they were unable to rewind time to save them. They didn't even dare to think about it anymore, telling themselves that it was absolutely impossible and that they would never let such a thing happen. If they failed, they would immediately rewind time.

In reality, Shinpei Neto is already very rational. He just needs some time to calm himself down and readjust his mindset before starting the fight again.

Rei Furuya took a deep breath to calm himself down and told his brain not to keep thinking about the worst-case scenarios.

Unlike the other three, the information he could obtain by reloading saves was not very useful, so he wouldn't stay in a failed playthrough for too long, causing the save point to suddenly update.

Because the reasons for his failures were all minor or even unlucky issues. The world changes in an instant. Even if he had acquired a lot of information and power in the previous cycle, it would be almost all wasted once he reloaded the save. The world could not possibly develop exactly the same way it did last time.

At most, it only eliminates one path of failure, but there are countless other paths of failure at this starting point, and no one knows which way things will go.

Even the omniscient and omnipotent gods and powerful demons probably don't know this, otherwise they wouldn't have started this game with such relish.

Therefore, Rei Furuya no longer obsessively kills all the butterflies; he wants to learn to control the number and size of the butterflies, and understand what kind of butterflies might cause what kind of consequences.

He shouldn't run away from the butterflies; he'll have to face those scarlet butterflies sooner or later. What he needs to do isn't to kill them, but to use those unavoidable butterflies to find the path to success.

It's difficult, but the chances of success are not zero.

Unlike Shen Ping, who clearly has a limited number of save/load attempts, the three of them seem to be able to reincarnate indefinitely, at least for now.

As long as there is a chance and hope, they will never give up, no matter how many times they experience despair and reincarnation.

*

"The cherry blossoms are blooming beautifully this year," exclaimed Morofushi Kagemitsu.

“Yes, it’s said that these cherry blossom trees existed when the police academy was established, so they must be several decades old now.” Furuya Rei said, reaching out to catch a five-petaled cherry blossom that was slowly drifting down, and then opening his hand for the curious cat-eyed youth to see.

"Complete? That's rare. Why don't we just make it into a bookmark?" Morofushi Hiromitsu smiled at his childhood friend. "Just like we made when we were kids, as a memento of our successful entry into the police academy together."

“Okay.” Rei Furuya tilted his head and thought for a moment. “A bookmark or a pendant would be fine. I’ll give it to Hiro when it’s done, as a talisman.”

He has now caught the cherry blossom, but he doesn't intend to gamble Hiro's safety again on whether the cherry blossom flag can catch Hiro.

This time, he will try to prevent Tomokazu and Hiro from rushing into the fire again with minimal changes.

He probably couldn't bear to see that person rush into the fire for the third time.

Rei Furuya eventually turned that cherry blossom into an amber pendant and gave it to his childhood friend. However, since jewelry is not allowed at the police academy, the young man with the blue cat-eye eyes happily smiled and said he would keep it safe.

In this loop, apart from Rei Furuya, no one else has the memories from before, and things are basically proceeding as before.

However, some minor differences have also emerged.

But it's okay, all those dangers were detected and successfully prevented by Rei Furuya in time.

They relied on those trackers and listening devices.

He even installed listening devices on Wai Shouyi's body and in the shop; everything was ready.

Things seem to be going very well.

Sure enough, just as he thought, as long as the butterflies weren't too big or too numerous, even if some butterflies were created, as long as he discovered and controlled them in time, he could nip the tornadoes they stirred up in the bud before they took shape.

Until the day of September 13th arrived.

At 4:29 PM, Furuya Rei silently counted down in his mind. When the explosion on the second floor rang out, almost simultaneously, before anyone could react, he grabbed Tomoichi, who was suddenly turning around and preparing to rush into the sea of ​​fire, and slammed him directly to the ground outside.

The excessive force caused the astonished man to cry out in pain, curling up and unable to get up, let alone rush into the sea of ​​fire.

Morofushi Kagemitsu, who was responsible for watching over the outer guard at the end, was stunned for a moment, and then the blond youth grabbed his wrist and pulled out the fire snake that was gradually spreading.

Date Wataru held the weak and frightened little girl in his arms. Both of them had just been startled by the flying object that had passed over their heads and crashed hard to the ground.

The little girl, in particular, was already terrified. The explosion and the fact that the face of the person who had just brushed against her at close range made her burst into tears.

Date Wataru quickly tried to comfort the little girl, but he wasn't really good at it, so he could only wink at Morofushi Kagemitsu for help.

Morofushi Kagemitsu finally came to his senses and prepared to pull his hand away to comfort the child who looked just like his childhood playmate who had died.

However, he couldn't free his hand on his first attempt.

Morofushi Kagemitsu turned around in confusion: "Zero?"

"Ah..." The blond youth seemed to have just come to his senses and quickly let go, smiling a little embarrassedly, as if he simply hadn't quite processed what had just happened.

"Was this guy just about to run back to his death?" Matsuda Jinpei said with a dark face, pressing down on the ground again, not allowing him any chance to move.

"They even planted a time bomb on the second floor? I thought there were only bombs on the first floor, after all, there are already so many..." Kenji Hagiwara looked up in shock at the house that was being quickly engulfed by flames. This kind of bomb is not small. How did Moriichi manage to get so many?

However, the subsequent processing was not up to the police academy students; at most, they were given a statement and then sent back to school.

Although the little girl was rescued and the criminal was caught, they were still severely scolded by the instructor.

But Morofushi Kagemitsu's inner conflict was finally resolved, which was ultimately a good thing, and everyone was very happy.

Oh, but cleaning a dirty bathhouse is really unpleasant.

*

Late at night, Rei Furuya picked up a pen and ticked September 13th on the calendar.

The incident involving the outer guard has passed safely, but it's not time to relax yet.

Although he has chosen the method with the least impact, the largest butterfly to date will probably still be born in the future.

He now has a somewhat uncertain guess, and if that guess is true, then...

Even setting aside that speculation, the malice of the world and the difficulty of this game all indicate that he won't be able to complete it easily; it's experience built up through countless bloody battles.

He cannot afford to be careless until the next save point is updated; he must be vigilant and prevent any tornadoes that butterflies might stir up from forming.

*

[Morokushō Kagemitsu has died.]

In the corridor of the hospital's emergency room, Rei Furuya's hand, which was tightly gripping a blood-stained cherry blossom pendant, suddenly trembled.

[Side ending unlocked: Cherry Blossoms Fall - Death of Morofushi Kagemitsu]

The faint glimmer of light in his eyes gradually disappeared, and the last glimmer of hope in his heart was completely extinguished.

He failed again; he lost once more.

It's time to roll back from the death; he's already investigated the cause.

We need to quickly revert to the previous state after death, otherwise what if the save point suddenly refreshes at this moment?

No, that won't do. We need to find a place where no one will find us before we can revert to our previous state. We need to avoid not only Matsuda and the others, but also Hiro, who should be haunting the corpses as a ghost.

Even if no one remembers everything in the end, he doesn't want to leave them with any bad memories.

Rei Furuya glanced at the time.

It is now September 15th, 9:29 AM.

An hour earlier, Morofushi Kagemitsu encountered a little girl on the street being led by her mother to school.

Because she was rescued and comforted, the little girl developed a great fondness for Morofushi Kagemitsu, and her mother was extremely grateful to him.

Morofushi Kagemitsu was also quite concerned about the child who had been dragged into danger because of him and who looked just like his childhood friend. So he smiled and walked a little further with them, wanting to take the little girl to school together. Her mother also wanted to treat Morofushi Kagemitsu to a meal to express her gratitude.

Then they encountered a madman wielding a kitchen knife who stormed into the kindergarten, intending to attack people.

While waiting for his childhood friend to arrive, Furuya Rei noticed something was wrong through the listening device and immediately rushed over based on the locator, but he was still too late.

Morofushi Kagemitsu was slashed three times while protecting children and suppressing prisoners, and died despite attempts to save him.

The bright red operating room light suddenly went out, and the doctor came out, shaking his head regretfully at the several nervous and frightened young people outside.

Please accept my condolences...

Kenji Hagiwara froze for two seconds in disbelief, then instinctively looked at Rei Furuya's expression with concern, only to find that the blond youth was nowhere to be seen in the corridor.

*

You are dead.

[Seventh playthrough completed]

[A Bad Ending: Unavoidable]

[Load save/load]

【yes】

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