Chapter 152, Fifty-Seventh Cycle (24)
Rei Furuya had been watching surveillance footage near Air Force Date.
There were both inside and outside the house, and Ida and Natalie were also informed.
Moreover, Noah's Ark was always in Ida's phone.
So when Date Wataru picked up his phone to write his will in the memo app, both Noah's Ark and Furuya Rei saw it.
When Furuya Rei and Noah's Ark discovered that he was writing a suicide note, they paused for a moment, but ultimately looked away without saying anything.
It was probably a last message left for her father, just in case, and to prevent Natalie from committing suicide with him.
For that one in a thousand chance that the world won't restart and that he might actually die.
Rei Furuya pursed his lips and shifted his gaze to one of the stacks of documents on the table.
That is the number of people who died or were injured in the traffic accidents in the past few days, and their life information.
Even though those were just accidental traffic accidents, and no one would think it was Date's fault, and in fact, he was the one who encountered the accident and rushed to save people, only to be implicated himself, Date, who knew everything, still couldn't help but take the responsibility upon himself.
Ida Kou is a person full of justice and kindness, even a bit too upright and pure. He is quite stubborn and passionate, believing that he is constantly becoming stronger in order to protect others. He has always been a policeman who gives people a great sense of security.
Therefore, these human lives were the most unbearable thing for him, but also a cruel reality he had to accept.
Therefore, he was unwilling to be protected by the police, unwilling to go out, and even asked Furuya Rei to find an excuse to make the neighbors leave temporarily. However, he couldn't do anything about his friends and lovers who insisted on staying.
He asked Rei Furuya for information on those people, intending to give most of his personal assets to the families of the victims, and leave the remainder to his father and Natalie.
Rei Furuya was reluctant to give him this information, fearing that these concrete, vivid lives and the sorrows and regrets they left behind would cause Wataru Date even more pain.
However, he could not refuse Date Wataru.
Rei Furuya watched as Wataru Date wrote his suicide note on the monitor, his elbows resting on the table, his fingers interlaced and pressing hard against the lower half of his face, revealing a pair of dark purple eyes.
Even if the squad leader survives, it will have a huge psychological impact on him now.
So, as expected...
The phone on the table suddenly vibrated. Rei Furuya snapped out of his daze and saw that the caller ID was [Hiro]. He immediately answered the call.
"What's wrong? Is there anything unusual?" he asked anxiously, while simultaneously switching the surveillance camera to the location across from Date Wataru's house, where Morofushi Kagemitsu was crouching with a sniper rifle.
"It's nothing, I was just bored and wanted to talk to you. Is that bothering you?" Morofushi Kagemitsu asked with a smile.
Jianggu Ling: "..."
Rei Furuya hesitated, knowing full well that just as the squad leader couldn't hide his thoughts no matter how well he concealed them, he couldn't hide his own thoughts from them either.
He could only sigh helplessly, "Of course not."
February was still a bit chilly. The night wind ruffled Morofushi Kagemitsu's black bangs as he slowly exhaled a breath of white air, his blue eyes filled with unwavering determination.
“Zero, don’t overthink it. Our class monitor isn’t that fragile. He hasn’t given up yet,” he said. “None of us have given up. We still have two days left. We’ll definitely find a way to pass this level.”
“Yes, I know,” Furuya Rei said softly. “I haven’t given up yet either.”
Morofushi Kagemitsu smiled, softened his tone, and said softly, "I don't want Zero to go through another two years of reincarnation."
Rei Furuya paused for a moment.
“It’s been the same two years, then three years, then another two years, and only Zero can keep a complete memory. It must be very sad,” he said. “If it were me, I would feel very lonely.”
Rei Furuya looked down at his childhood friend, whose face was filled with sadness, on the monitor and explained earnestly, "No, you are all by my side. You know everything I've been through. I have been working hard and fighting together with everyone. I don't feel lonely."
Because of the comparison, he doesn't feel too sad. Compared to his previous life when he lost everyone and struggled alone in the dark, he is now very happy.
“I know Zero is strong, but that’s not right.” Morofushi Kagemitsu refuted his statement. “Zero, it’s not that you’re not sad or lonely. You’ve just been too sad and lonely in the past, so now when you face a relatively weaker sadness, you feel that you’re not actually in pain anymore. But that’s not right. And Zero, even if you think that the emotion is nothing, with the accumulation of year after year and one thing after another, sooner or later you will completely break down.”
“Zero, do you know how terrified I am that your number of reincarnations will keep increasing? This is what I worry about and fear the most right now.” Morofushi Kagemitsu’s fingers gripped the railing tightly in front of him, the veins on the back of his hand bulging. “You’ve already reincarnated fifty-seven times, and the person with the highest number of reincarnations in the group has already reincarnated more than a hundred times, and it’s still going on. So how many times will you eventually reincarnate? A thousand times? Ten thousand times? A hundred million times?”
“Zero,” he said softly. “I really can’t imagine it. That’s something no human being could endure.”
Rei Furuya frowned slightly, his expression grave, but his tone on the phone was firm: "No, Hiro, trust me, I won't let myself get to that point. Besides, we already know most of the game's details, and we'll succeed soon. Even with this class president's death challenge, I feel like I've already grasped some clues, and I'll find the answer soon and clear the game."
"I know, and I believe in Zero, so even though I'm worried and scared, I still think that if we all work together, we'll definitely succeed. Even if we fail this time, we can learn from the experience and succeed next time."
Morofushi Kagemitsu gently stroked the cherry blossom pendant hanging around his neck with his fingertips.
“But,” he sighed, “Zero, I really don’t want to forget.”
Rei Furuya froze, his mouth opened and then closed, falling silent.
Morofushi Kagemitsu tightened his grip on the cherry blossom pendant.
"I don't want to forget the important conversation I had with Zero on the rooftop watching the sunrise that day, I don't want to forget the daily three hugs plan, I don't want to forget the chats we had in the group chat to keep an eye on Zero, I don't want to forget our Five-Colored Mazda Team chat group, I don't want to forget the jokes and embarrassing moments we made in front of the organization members while trying to disguise our identities, I don't want to forget the fireworks I watched with Zero and Lai on New Year's Eve and Zero's hilarious wish that I wouldn't have a happy New Year, I don't want to forget the shot Lai accidentally fired when he defected and the ensuing events, I don't want to forget Noah's Ark and Hiroki, I don't want to forget the Christmas the five of us spent together and that strange group photo, I don't want to forget our vows and promises, I don't want to forget all the efforts we made together for our class monitor's death..."
"Whether it's good or bad, whether it's sadness or happiness, I don't want to forget it."
Morofushi Kagemitsu could not suppress his sadness and revealed a sorrowful expression.
"But this isn't a matter of whether I want to or not. When Zero reincarnates again, all memories will disappear, and I will forget everything."
“I believe Zero will keep his promise and tell us, but what we experience firsthand and what others say are completely different for those of us who have lost our memories.”
"I really don't want to forget everything we went through, the feelings that arose from those experiences, or how I felt at the time," he said sadly.
Rei Furuya couldn't say what he had planned to say and could only remain silent.
"Am I being too greedy?" Morofushi Kagemitsu's voice was actually very calm, even gentle. "When Zero was keeping things from me, I just wanted Zero to tell me what happened, just like you used to share with me after you finished reading a book. But now that Zero has promised to tell me every time, I'm very unwilling to accept that I want to keep all the memories, not even the vague memories of dreams."
“No, no, it’s normal. I would feel the same way if I were in your shoes,” Furuya Rei said immediately. “Complete memories are the foundation of a complete person. Of course, you would be unwilling to have them taken away.”
After saying that, he paused for two seconds, then finally sighed silently and gave in completely.
"Hiro, I promise you, unless it's a complete failure, I won't activate the death rollback again," Furuya Rei promised.
*
February 6th.
At six o'clock in the morning, Hiroki Sawada and Noah's Ark noticed with alarm that a plane in the sky seemed to be in trouble and was crashing towards Date Wataru's home.
Because it was discovered early, Date Aircraft immediately fled, and Noah's Ark also hacked into the aircraft's system. With Rei Furuya's calm command, the plane eventually made a dramatic landing with no casualties.
In the end, Date Wataru agreed to go to the Public Security Bureau's underground shelter, but he made Furuya Rei drive away everyone around him. Only Hagiwara Kenji, Matsuda Jinpei, Morofushi Hiromitsu, Furuya Rei, and Natalie could not be driven away.
Yes, Natalie was there too.
Natalie knew very well what Date had been going through recently, and even if it was unscientific, she knew that he was being targeted by Death. So no matter what Date said, she refused to leave him, even if it meant dying together.
Nine o'clock in the evening.
In Hokkaido, Natalie's hometown was destroyed by a car that lost control of its brakes while her parents were at home.
When he heard the news, Date Wataru's heart almost stopped. But when Furuya Rei explained that Natalie's parents were still alive, he felt like he had come back to life. He then hugged the crying Natalie and fell silent.
Of course, Natalie's parents were also protected by guards. Noah's Ark noticed something was wrong from the surveillance and immediately notified Furuya Rei. Furuya Rei instantly ordered the police officers guarding the area to rush in and rescue Natalie's parents.
Although they had detected the problem early and reacted in time, the situation was urgent and dangerous, and both of them were still injured. Their condition was quite serious, and they were being rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment.
Ida Kou decides to tell Natalie part of the truth.
He didn't talk much about Rei Furuya, but he roughly told her the truth about this world, explained why he was being hunted by the Grim Reaper, and the future in which they would all die.
Natalie is also considered "dead" to the world. Her tentatively revealing the truth about the world little by little will not affect Rei Furuya.
Natalie froze, holding her lover's hand as she slowly processed this enormous information for a long time. After trying to understand the current situation, she hugged Date tightly and refused to let go, even more unwilling to leave her dying lover.
It's 11 p.m.
After the successful rescue, Rei Furuya arranged for Natalie's parents and Wataru Date's father to temporarily enter two other underground shelters for equal protection.
Then, Rei Furuya gritted his teeth and tried to find an excuse to get Wataru Takagi to come and stay above the underground shelter where Wataru Date was.
The world's program is protecting Takagi Wataru from getting into trouble; whenever Takagi Wataru was around, there were always close calls but no real danger.
Moreover, unlike the Kudo family before, he was already deeply involved with Date Wataru's current affairs, so Furuya Rei did not feel any heartache when he made this decision.
Rei Furuya still believed that the key lay with Wataru Takagi, so he kept a close watch on him and even planted a listening device on him long ago.
Takagi Wataru has a very good personality. Even though he was called over late at night to do a strange task and was even kicked out of the shelter to be exposed to the cold wind, he didn't complain or show any impatience. When he was squatting at the door chatting with Date Wataru on the phone, he was very concerned about his condition.
Ida Kou brushed off his own situation and began asking about his.
Although he didn't know why Date Wataru was so overly concerned about his future work and relationships at this time, Takagi Wataru still felt embarrassed but replied to each question seriously and made a promise.
11:59 PM.
"I'll definitely work hard to become stronger and become a police officer as good as Mr. Date, but... well, I really can't catch up when it comes to romance." The thin police officer scratched the back of his head sheepishly, chuckled twice, and said helplessly, "Officer Sato is too popular. Someone as capable and outstanding as Officer Sato has absolutely no chance with me..."
Rei Furuya suddenly froze, a thought flashing through his mind. He abruptly slammed his hand on the table and stood up, the chair scraping against the floor with a piercing, sharp sound.
He immediately switched the surveillance footage to look at Date Wataru and Natalie, who were embracing tightly in the basement, and then at Takagi Wataru, who was shyly talking about his relationship.
Rei Furuya rapidly recalls the romance between Wataru Takagi and Miwako Sato in the future storyline, including the case involving Natalie Date. In the end, Miwako Sato finds Wataru Takagi who has been kidnapped, rescues him, and they kiss in front of countless people...
He also thought of the romance between the protagonist Shinichi Kudo and Ran Mouri, as well as almost all the important characters around Shinichi Kudo who had romantic storylines. Images of those couples and countless cases related to love flashed through his mind...
The power of love is truly amazing.
Does Mr. Amuro have someone he likes?
No, he didn't have anyone he loved. He dedicated everything to his country, and his lover was the country itself. Given his serious and meticulous nature, such a thing wouldn't exist in his dangerous and tense undercover life. He never included love in his life plans or considerations, so he never even thought about it.
Rei Furuya slammed his fist on the table, gritted his teeth, and began typing rapidly in the group chat to tell them about his new discovery.
So he was wrong. His thinking was wrong from the very beginning, and completely wrong.
The main storyline of the game is wrong.
This is more than just a suspenseful mystery game.
A key theme of the game is also romance.
This is a mystery-driven love story.
But now that the real reason has been discovered, it's too late.
*
February 7th.
It started raining at midnight.
The rain was unusually heavy. Within an hour, many parts of the city began to flood, and within three hours, many roads in the city were submerged.
The final convergence of world lines has begun; it's a flood.
The underground shelter is no longer safe; we'll drown inside.
The flood was sudden and dangerous, but most people were unharmed except for Date and Natalie.
Just like the protagonists in the famous love story "Titanic", in the end, Ida gave up the chance to survive to Natalie.
But unlike in the movie, after Ida Kou's death, Natalie also followed him in a suicide pact.
[Ida Aircraft is defunct]
[Achieve the Bad Ending Side Story: World Line Convergence - The Death of Date Wataru]
Natalie Leyen is dead.
[Achieve the Bad Ending Side Story: World Line Convergence - The Death of Natalie Reiji]
[Morokushō Kagemitsu has died.]
[Achieve the Bad Ending: The Butterfly Effect - The Death of Morofushi Hiromitsu]
You are dead.
[Fifty-seventh playthrough completed]
[Resulting in a Bad Ending: A Vow of Life and Death]
[Load save/load]
【yes】
[Loading save file...]
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