Chapter 13: Third Playthrough (1)
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"Hey! You blond bastard! Let's fight!"
The familiar cherry blossom tree, the familiar curly-haired youth, and that familiar phrase.
And that look in his eyes, like he was looking at a stranger.
Rei Furuya suddenly felt tired.
He had lost all his strength. He didn't want to fight Matsuda Jinpei anymore. He wanted to lie on the ground right now.
Returning to the cherry blossom tree where we first started, everything must begin anew.
This was certainly a good thing; he had another chance, and he vowed that this time he would not let anyone die.
However, he is a little tired now and wants to rest for a while before continuing.
But no, from this moment on, he couldn't afford to make a single wrong step.
A new round has begun.
"Fine." Furuya Rei flashed an impeccable smile, raised his fist, and charged forward. "I don't know why you hate me so much, but I'm determined to become a police officer, so... don't get in my way, you curly-haired bastard!"
"Ugh! That's it!" Matsuda Jinpei raised his fist even more angrily and charged forward. "Your serious, stubborn attitude, which makes you love police officers the most, is exactly what I dislike!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
At two o'clock in the morning, at the police academy under the cherry blossoms, two freshmen were fighting fiercely, going back and forth.
Rei Furuya felt it was about time to end things, but Jinpei Matsuda's denture hadn't been knocked out, which was different from what had happened before and made him a little uneasy.
So he deliberately knocked out the curly-haired youth's dentures with his last punch before he felt at ease.
Matsuda Jinpei: "?"
Matsuda Jinpei roared in anger: "Did you do this on purpose?!"
Rei Furuya's expression remained unchanged: "What do you mean, intentional?"
Matsuda Jinpei looked at him suspiciously for a few moments, but then, because the patrolmen who had been alerted gave up on continuing the pursuit, he said a few harsh words and ran away.
After the curly-haired youth's figure completely disappeared, the blond youth's straight back slumped instantly.
Rei Furuya wiped the blood from his mouth, looked up at the moon and the cherry blossoms fluttering in the night sky for a few seconds, and then slowly walked back to his dormitory.
【144】
[All Hidden Formations]
The blond, dark-skinned youth stood stiffly in front of the familiar door for a full minute.
No one knows what he was thinking in that one minute.
But he eventually knocked on the door, then slowly slid down to sit by the door, leaned against the wall to adjust his expression, and began to pant heavily.
“Zero?” The black-haired youth with blue, upturned cat-like eyes opened the door and stared at him in shock.
"Hiro." Rei Furuya smiled and winked at him. "Sorry, I'm out of band-aids. Could you share some with me if you have any?"
A familiar band-aid.
The familiar bandaging.
It's like an endless cycle and a vicious cycle.
However, seeing Hiro alive is more important than anything else.
*
April 1st
2:30 AM
I have returned to this day, beginning the third cycle of reincarnation.
In the single dormitory room, only a small desk lamp was on. The blond youth sat at his desk, expressionless, and wrote this opening on a piece of paper.
In the quiet night, the only sound was the soft rustling of paper and pen.
Furuya Rei focused intently on organizing all the information he had gathered so far, filling 23 pages this time—one-fifth of his notebook.
Since there were far too many this time, he chose another method of destruction.
Even though it was late at night at the police academy, burning a small notebook was not a problem if the doors and windows were closed.
The flames gradually engulfed the notebook that contained unspeakable secrets, and the writing on the last remaining intact half of the tattered page became increasingly clear under the approaching firelight.
To minimize the danger, the best approach is to do nothing and let the world continue on its original trajectory. This way, everyone can at least survive until graduation.
I can handle all the problems on my own. There's no need for everyone to worry about me, and I shouldn't let them know anything about the future.
From this moment forward, I am Rei Furuya at 22 years old, simply Rei Furuya at 22 years old.
*
Rei Furuya's emotions completely calmed down after he finished writing in that notebook.
His goal remains steadfast, just as he told Hiro in the previous playthrough: as long as there is a chance, he will not fall into true despair.
The only thing that's hard to accept in a short time is that they've been through so much together before—there were painful and sad things, but also so many happy and joyful things, so many important feelings—but all of that has been forgotten by everyone after starting over.
But it doesn't matter. Even if everyone else forgets, he will never forget. Those precious memories are all the driving force that propels him forward.
As long as everyone is here, we can create new memories.
As dawn approached, Furuya Rei was exhausted but couldn't fall asleep. Lying in bed, he took out his phone and entered the group chat, intending to check on everyone's situation and think about how to comfort the children.
Surprisingly, the three young teenagers had already composed themselves. By the time Furuya Rei entered the group chat, they had already cheered themselves up and even asked him with concern how he was doing.
Rei Furuya paused for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh at the concern of the three children.
"What? Rei Furuya, you're not as easygoing as three kids. How embarrassing..."
As Furuya Rei replied to them, he thought of Conan Edogawa, or rather, Shinichi Kudo.
That child was the same; no matter what happened, his eyes were always full of light, and he would still rush into the darkness without hesitation for his beliefs and justice.
The courage and purity of these young boys and girls are truly admirable.
[Shenping, the online agent: It's okay, it's okay, there's still a chance. We can still salvage the situation. At this point, we need to calmly review the situation and learn from our previous failure. It's definitely not normal for all four of us to have such a big problem at the same time. The most important thing now is to find the problem and solve it, and not make the same mistake again.]
[Homura Akemi: No matter how many times I can start over, for my only friend, I don't care if I'm forever trapped in the labyrinth of time.]
[Natsuki Subaru: That's right. Getting used to death and then getting used to giving up is just too lame. Seeing them fight so hard to keep me alive has completely woken me up. So, no matter how humiliating it is, I'm going to fight tooth and nail this time. Let's have a showdown where the chessboard is turned upside down! After all, I survived all that misery before... Alright, let's have the final showdown! Bring it on, Fate!!!]
As Furuya Rei looked at their chat history, a smile of relief and happiness gradually spread across his face.
Although it's unclear what the group behind it is trying to achieve, it has undoubtedly provided significant help to the four of them.
Without a few companions to share those unbearable burdens, without everyone's help and support, they might really go crazy at any time.
Because they had companions who knew everything, and because everyone else was still working hard, they were able to quickly recover after a brief emotional breakdown.
Because there are still people they want to save, they will never give up.
Rei Furuya took one last look at the group member list.
[1. Subaru Natsuki: From *Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-*, currently in his twelfth playthrough, and has died twelve times.]
[2. Shinpei Ami: From "Summer Revisited," currently on his fifth playthrough, and has died five times.]
[3. Rei Furuya: From "Detective Conan," currently on his third playthrough, and has died three times.]
[4. Homura Akemi: From *Puella Magi Madoka Magica*, currently on her second playthrough, has died 0 times.]
The number of cycles recorded on this list may continue to increase, and the number of members on this list may also continue to increase.
But now is not the time to give up.
Let's all keep working hard and moving forward.
However, while an optimistic and steadfast mindset is indeed important, calm and rational analysis is also crucial for them.
Rei Furuya and Shinpei Furuya are responsible for this important task.
They began to analyze the whole thing from the beginning, finding every detail that had been overlooked before and discussing them together to make new plans for the new cycle.
This time, they are determined to save everyone.
*
"Zero, good morning."
"Hiro, good morning."
What is Zero planning to have for breakfast today?
"Hmm... how's the curry?"
"Huh? But you'll definitely add a lot of spice, which is bad for the wound."
A familiar morning.
A familiar conversation.
The familiar road.
Familiar cherry blossoms.
This cycle may continue several more times, but Rei Furuya is prepared to face anything.
"Wow, a complete five-petaled cherry blossom! That's very rare. Was it blown down by the wind? It didn't even scatter. That's amazing." Morofushi Kagemitsu stared wide-eyed at the cherry blossom he was holding.
"Does Hiro know about cherry blossom magic?" Furuya Rei suddenly asked.
"Cherry blossom magic?" Morofushi Kagemitsu tilted his head.
Rei Furuya smiled and nodded: "It's said that if you catch three petals before landing, you can have a wish granted."
"Is that so?" Morofushi Kagemitsu became interested. "Then what wish does Zero want to make?"
"Me?" Furuya Rei clasped his hands together, firmly protecting the five-petaled cherry blossom that was swaying precariously in the spring breeze.
“I might be a little greedy; I want to save everyone,” he said.
Morofushi Kagemitsu was taken aback, thinking he meant that he was saving everyone as a policeman.
But how can ordinary humans save everyone? Even police officers are just ordinary humans, not gods, and their abilities are ultimately limited.
Slightly worried that his childhood friend might take things too seriously and be unable to handle the blow when he fails, Morofushi Kagemitsu carefully chose his tone and smiled, "But Zero, everything has a price. If there really is such powerful magic, then the price must be enormous."
“Yes, it’s a very simple truth,” Rei Furuya sighed. “Miracles don’t come for free. If we pray for hope, we also experience an equal amount of despair.”
It seems that Hiro didn't "dream" of having the memories of the previous timeline like Matsuda did in the last time loop, and Matsuda didn't knock on his door this morning.
Although he didn't know why, it was a good thing; he didn't even need to pretend he knew nothing to deceive them.
Reason celebrates the success of things, while emotion laments its own loneliness.
"So naturally, the greater our hopes, the greater the accompanying despair," he said.
Such miraculous magic as rebirth, and such grand hope as saving everyone, naturally give rise to immense despair.
However, none of them will give up.
Despair and hope coexist; despair is indeed despair, but hope will always exist.
This is a battle between despair and hope.
However, their chances of winning are not zero.
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