Otto Suwen could feel the tide of the war shifting, primarily because the sheer volume of screams inside his head was changing direction.
He had forced the channels of his Divine Protection open as wide as he dared, granting him a terrifying, fragmented omniscience over the Vollachian capital.
Millions of voices painted a chaotic map of the battlefield in his mind.
But the one place he desperately needed eyes on remained a blinding static of sheer terror.
Once again, Natsuki Subaru had completely defied common sense, somehow wrangling the Empire's First Divine General, Cecilus Segmunt, to act as his personal sword against Satoru Gojo.
However, the resulting clash between those two monstrosities was more like a natural disaster than an actual battle.
Any bird or insect Otto tried to listen for a bird's-eye view, was either instantly vaporized by stray shockwaves or blinded by the sheer, incomprehensible speed of the combatants.
The airspace around the outskirts was simply a dead zone.
A soft, glowing hand suddenly pressed against his back, accompanied by a handkerchief being shoved unceremoniously against his face.
"You look absolutely awful, Otto-san. Please wipe your nose before you bleed out on your collar." Petra said in a strict and chiding tone, expertly masking the deep layer of worry in her eyes.
"Yeah! You gotta listen to Petra-chan, Otto-chin!" a bright, booming voice chimed in from right above them.
Medium O'Connell stood with her hands on her hips. Despite the apocalyptic sky—the clouds in the distance turning crimson—and the shaking earth, her sunny, energetic smile was completely undaunted.
"If you push yourself too hard and your head pops, I will be super sad! So you just focus on resting, and leave the guarding to me!"
Otto let out a ragged breath, taking the cloth and dabbing at his upper lip.
It came away soaked completely crimson.
His complexion was likely ghostly pale, which was saying something given his usual pallor.
He was bleeding from the sheer, agonizing strain of pushing the Soul of Language far beyond its natural limits.
In truth, the only reason his brain hadn't completely short-circuited from the sensory overload was the steady, warming pulse of Petra.
As a non-combatant, Otto had no way to reinforce his own physical limits, making him entirely reliant on the young maid's freshly learned Yang magic.
She was manually forcing his bodily systems to stay active, serving as his absolute lifeline.
Inhaling the cooler outside air, Otto felt a brief, desperate relief at the feeling of actual grass beneath his boots.
"I was just trying to dive a little deeper into the outskirts," Otto wheezed, "But... perhaps pushing it any further right now would be suicidal."
Petra frowned, her brow furrowing in frustration. "Am I not being of enough use to you right now, Otto-san? Should I increase the output?"
"No, no, you're doing perfectly," Otto said quickly, shaking his head before wincing as a vicious spike of pain shot through his skull. "If it weren't for you, I would have collapsed a while ago."
"He's right, Petra-chan!" Medium reassured, crouching down slightly to peer into Otto's pale face, her twin tails bouncing. "You're doing amazing! Otto-chin just needs to stop trying to peek at the scary stuff happening in the distance!"
Otto managed a weak, appreciative nod toward the towering blonde girl. "It's just... the battlefield is too chaotic to read."
He closed his eyes, mentally sifting through the remaining noise of the capital.
The First Bastion was entirely silent——burnt to the ground.
The Second Bastion, where Emilia was stationed, had also gone completely dead, but for a different reason.
No birds flew overhead, and the insects in the ground had gone dormant.
The temperature had dropped so severely that the wildlife had either frozen solid or fled.
So, she's going all out and has frozen the entire surrounding area. Listening in is impossible.
But amidst the headache, a thread of clear, victorious noise filtered through from another sector.
"The Fifth Bastion..." Otto muttered, wiping another drop of blood from his chin, a faint, exhausted smile breaking through his pale face. "The sheer chaos from Gojo and Cecilus's fight has shifted elsewhere... Garfiel won. He actually defeated the warrior stationed there. And next... if everything goes as planned... we should get our friend back."
Medium pumped her free fist into the air, her grin widening.
"See? I knew the spiky-teeth guy could do it! Now we just gotta hold the line and wait for Subaru-chin to do his thing!"
——————————————————————
Todd watched from the suffocating shadows of a collapsed archway, the iron grip on his one-handed axe so tight his knuckles had turned white.
There they are...
His sharp, predatory eyes meticulously dissected the scene in the courtyard below.
The grey-haired slender man, bleeding from the nose and looking completely defenseless. The little maid frantically pumping magic into his body. And the towering, blonde woman with the twin swords, acting as their physical shield.
Todd's military instincts, honed through years of bloody, pragmatic survival, screamed at him to act.
That grey-haired man... he's the reason this entire siege is so perfectly coordinated... he's the root of all evil.
It was sickeningly obvious. The man was using some sort of reconnaissance ability, acting as the eyes, ears, and mouth of the enemy army.
He was the root of all evil for the Empire's defense... and all it would take was one throw of Todd's axe. One clean, silent strike to the man's exposed throat, and the enemy's communication network would instantly shatter into a million useless pieces.
The Imperial army would gain the upper hand.
Todd's muscles tensed with hesitation. Then, he shifted his weight, calculating the wind resistance, and prepared to strike.
But then, a chill crawled violently up his spine.
No.
Todd froze. His breath hitched in his throat as the memory of a dark, ruined office on Gladiator Island flashed behind his eyes. He saw the black-haired boy dropping through a solid ceiling. He saw those cold, omniscient, deeply mocking eyes that always seemed to be watching him from the shadows.
If Todd killed this man... Natsuki Subaru would know.
Natsuki Subaru would find out.
And he would find Todd.
That plague of a boy defied the very laws of cause and effect. He wasn't a tacticianMedium—Medium—he was a walking natural disaster wrapped in human skin. Todd had well and truly learned his lesson.
You do not touch what belongs to the monster, lest the monster turn its full, undivided attention onto you.
Besides, Todd's pragmatic eyes re-evaluated the targets in the courtyard.
The blonde woman was radiating a ridiculous amount of physical strength.
Her center of gravity, the casual way she hefted those massive blades... she was far too strong to defeat in a quick, head-on skirmish.
If his axe didn't kill her instantly, she would chop him in half before he could draw his knife.
And the grey-haired man himself... Todd narrowed his eyes.
He looked pathetic at a glance, bleeding and wheezing. But Todd knew better now. In Natsuki Subaru's orbit, weak was just camouflage for impossibly unpredictable.
If Todd threw that axe, the man would probably trip over his own feet and accidentally dodge it, ultimately sealing Todd's fate.
It simply wasn't worth the risk.
Let the Empire burn if I must...
Todd decided, slowly easing his hand away from his weapon and melting backward into the safety of the shadows with his Divine Protection.
I just need to make it to Berstetz's mansion. Sneak in, retrieve Katya, and leave through the northern gates before the siege lines close.
He turned his back on the trio entirely, slipping into the labyrinth of Lupugana's backstreets like a ghost.
He kept to the isolated paths, navigating the winding corridors of the capital's inner rings.
The chaotic roar of the countless battles between monsters outside was slightly muffled here, replaced by the eerie, breathless silence of a city waiting for its execution.
There was no one around. The guards had all been drafted to the outer bastions. It was a perfect, unobstructed route to the Prime Minister's estate.
Or so he thought.
Todd rounded a corner into a narrow, high-walled alleyway, and his boots ground to an abrupt halt against the cobblestones.
His hand snapped down to his axe in a flash.
Standing at the opposite end of the alley, leaning casually against the stone wall, was a lone figure. He wore a ragged, mismatched gladiator's outfit and a heavy, ridiculous metal helmet that obscured his entire face, as well as completely lacking a left arm.
Todd's memory snapped into violent focus when he realized... he has seen this same man before!
This was one of the men who had been running with Natsuki Subaru during the siege of the fortified city.
Not yet, did the elmeted man move to draw the single, thick sword strapped to his waist.
Rather, in response to Todd's realization, he simply tilted his metal head and gave a lazy shrug of his shoulder.
"The stars really aren't in your favor today, are they?"
——————————————————————
The air above the ruined area was eerily still.
Gojo stood in the center of the crater, chest heaving and clothes shredded, a lone figure locked in dust and ruin.
Blood oozed from a fresh gash on his shoulder, but he wiped it away with a trembling hand, refusing to collapse.
Across from him, Cecilus Segmunt stood amidst the destruction, legs trembling and hair whipped by the fading gale. His starry eyes were alight with infectious thrill as he beheld Gojo.
Since the ultimate climax of the battle, where Cecilus himself had become a falling star, there had been no words spoken between the two of them.
Gojo felt terrible; although the worst of his injuries, except for his arm, had been healed, the reverse cursed technique was far from all-powerful.
Its efficiency heavily declined the more the high-speed battle progressed; the excess utility of Acceleration and having to push the Six Eyes far beyond their limits to even perceive Cecilus had left his brain bleeding.
His arm would heal, but not for some time yet.
Though... Cecilus wasn't exactly unharmed either.
While his wounds couldn't compare to Gojo's own before he'd healed them, he still had blood oozing from his nose as well as bruises covering multiple parts of his body.
But funnily, the worst of the damage done to him... was done by himself.
Gojo could understand it; after all, his own arsenal injured him too, but...
Did that mean they were... the same?
Both were overwhelmingly powerful forces of nature that were infantilized. If that was the case... how did it happen to Cecilus?
Suddenly, Cecilus Segmunt threw his head back and laughed.
A loud, joyous, completely unhinged roar of pure delight had escaped his mouth before he placed the destroyed blade back into its scabbard.
"Magnificent. Truly, utterly magnificent. I knew you'd had what it takes the moment I laid eyes upon you; the boss's character just gets more and more interesting the more information about him and his friends gets revealed."
Cecilus clasped his hands together to clap once, a grin on his face.
Gojo just rolled his eyes. "Can you really say it was magnificent when we were both limited by our bodies?"
"Hmmm...?" The starry-eyed look on the boy's face shifted into confusion for a moment. "I'm not sure I understand what you mean, although I do admit having to destroy my own body to move at top speed is quite the challenge."
So, he doesn't know...? That or he's the best liar I've ever seen.
Unaware of Gojo's thoughts, Cecilus stretched out a hand toward him and went on. "Tell me, Sato-san, doesn't the air taste a lot sweeter from the top?"
Gojo blinked. "Hah? And who said you could give me a nickname?"
Cecilus didn't answer; rather, he just kept looking at him with that same smile.
The look said more than enough on its own.
Gojo scratched the back of his neck and gave a short laugh. "Yeah. Turns out playing by someone else's rules is pretty damn exhausting. I think I like this better."
"As you should!" Cecilus said, planting his hands on his hips. "The world is our canvas, and we are the——"
He suddenly paused and tilted his neck.
His starry eyes shifted slightly to the side. The smile on his face didn't go away, but it changed into something sharper.
Gojo felt it a second later.
Something was wrong.
He snapped his head back to where Cecilus had been looking, but——
There was nothing there.
Then what——
"Oh my. It seems our scene has ended, haha~" Cecilus hummed, taking a light step backward. "The supporting cast is finally ready."
The shadows beneath Gojo's feet moved unnaturally, but he noticed it much too late.
Before he could even try to force Infinity back on, a huge black hand burst from the stone and wrapped around his remaining arm, yanking him off balance.
"What the——?!" Gojo gasped.
"NOW, BEAKO!"
Subaru's voice cut through the dust.
He burst out from the rubble, sprinting straight toward Gojo, his dark eyes locked on him.
Right behind him stepped a tiny girl in a red dress, her butterfly-patterned eyes focused and calm.
She raised both hands forth, straight toward him.
"Al Shamak, in fact!"
Gojo tried to move, but it was already too late.
Darkness swallowed everything to the point where not even the Six Eyes could make sense of whatever was being visualized.
The burning capital, the magma, the noise——it all vanished.
Rather, the last thing he saw was Cecilus giving him a small, cheerful wave.
Then a fist immediately slammed into his face.
Gojo staggered from the impact, blood running from his nose as he stumbled backward into the absolute void.
"Ugh... what?!"
He wiped the blood away with his single remaining hand and grabbed the side of his head, blinking hard against the sensory deprivation.
"...What do you think, Gojo? Pretty nice little pocket dimension, right?"
He knew that voice anywhere... after all, how could he forget it again?
He looked up and found Subaru standing right in front of him, the only identifiable thing in this seemingly infinite, writhing void of black.
Gojo let out a shuddery breath. Rising upright, he ran a bloody hand through his now-soaked white hair, his chest heaving.
"So... you took my advice, huh?"
"...Yeah," Subaru said, his expression hard and completely focused. "There's no point calling a completely different person 'sensei.'"
Sighing, Gojo dragged the same hand back down his face before he started to walk.
"It took you long enough. I was really starting to wonder when you'd see realistically."
Subaru raised an eyebrow before chuckling. "Yeah, I guess so. But that doesn't really matter anymore... because I'm not just here to save my teacher..."
Scoffing, Gojo instantly raised his hand and aimed it forth.
From his outstretched palm, a crimson blast of Reversal: Red detonated instantly, tearing through the void to engulf the boy.
"Ha...?"
The blast hit, but the explosion was entirely contained. After a long moment of silence, the smoke cleared to reveal Subaru's childish self unscathed. A veil of writhing, pitch-black shadows quickly retracted into the nonexistent ground, having formed a perfect shield around him.
Subaru had one hand on his chest, letting out a long sigh of relief.
"I really thought that wasn't going to work for a second... but Ceci really did his job way better than I would've hoped for. He's a damn monster," Subaru smirked, placing his hands on his hips. "I bet you reaaaally crapped your pants for a sec there, huh, Gojo? Thought this trick was a domain expansion at first?"
Gojo rolled his eyes, though his breathing was ragged. "Ha. Ha. Funny, but not really... it took only a glance to know it was made of mana, not Cursed Energy. Of course you can't cast domain expansion."
"Awee... I really thought I got you nervous for a second... well, at least I got a good punch."
Reflecting Subaru's smile like a mirror, Gojo too chuckled softly.
Though that sight was only something that caused Subaru's amusement to quickly collapse into understanding.
As did Gojo's.
"Why... do you care so much about Satoru Gojo?" Gojo asked, his voice dropping its playful cadence, turning cold and defensive. "I just don't see what makes him such a great guy, to the point of chasing him across the world, in the end... I've already given up caring or trying to run away anymore, for that matter."
Gojo's expression hardened.
Following the shift in emotion, he raised his hand in front of his face, the blue sparks of cursed energy reflecting the intensity in his gaze as it crackled violently around his fingertips.
"I accept you, Natsuki Subaru——that I do. You got me there, really... but beyond that, I am who I am... I am who I want to be... and I refuse to be used by people who I can't remember. So stay... away from me!"
Gojo didn't wait for an answer beyond his own words——instead, he suddenly swung his arm, unleashing a raw, unrefined wave of cursed energy.
Subaru didn't flinch in the face of the attack. Instead, an invisible, shadowy hand erupted from the ground, crossing in front of him to block the blast. The force was immense, naturally, sending Subaru skidding backward across the invisible floor, his boots scraping against the void.
But the moment the momentum died, Subaru took a step forward.
"Stay back!" Gojo roared, his Six Eyes throbbing with agonizing pain.
He fired another blast, this one infused with the magnetic pull of Blue.
The shift in gravity caught Subaru violently yanking him forward.
Gojo quickly stepped into the pull, driving his knee squarely into Subaru's stomach as he coughed up a spray of saliva and blood, the breath knocked completely out of his lungs.
Thrown backwards, Subaru tumbled head over heels into the dark.
Gojo stood panting, his severed shoulder burning, his brain practically bleeding from the excess use of everything that has happened in the past several minutes.
Just stay down, just leave me alone.
But a second later, a bruised, bloody hand planted itself on the void's floor.
Subaru pushed himself back up and wiped the blood from his chin, his dark eyes locking onto Gojo with a terrifying, unrelenting warmth.
And he took another step forward.
"I said stay away!" Gojo screamed, his voice cracking.
He lunged forward once more, throwing an exhausted punch that Subaru didn't even try to dodge.
Instead, the black-haired boy expertly raised his arms to take the blow against his forearms.
The impact cracked Subaru's forearms, dropping him to one knee, but Subaru instantly shot his shadow hands into the ground, anchoring himself before he could be sent flying back.
He pushed back up once again and took another step forward.
Gojo couldn't make sense of it.
Why? Why won't he stop? Does he think I won't kill him?!
Gojo swung again, despite the pain it brought, despite how futile it would be against a person of such immense will likNatsuki Subaru.
This time around, Subaru slipped under the wild swing and planted his foot, utilizing the opening he saw as he dashed to close the final gap between them both.
Gojo's eyes widened, and he braced himself for a devastating, revenge-fueled blow.
He expected Subaru to strike him down, to beat the hero back into him.
Naturally, of course, that was the only thing he could think would happen; after everything he's done... it's precisely what he deserves.
But... the heavy blow he was waiting for never came.
Instead, Subaru's fist uncurled and reached out to lightly jab Gojo right in the center of his chest.
Gojo froze mid-motion in shock; the Six Eyes stared down at Subaru's bruised knuckles resting gently against his torn shirt, completely and utterly bewildered.
Subaru stood there, panting heavily before he looked up at Gojo, and instead of screaming in despair or crying... he groaned.
Subaru dragged his hands down his face in exaggerated, theatrical frustration.
"I mean, I knew you were going to be a pain in the ass about this, but come on!" Subaru complained, throwing his arms wide. "You're standing in a pitch-black void, missing an arm, covered in your own blood, and you're still trying to act like some untouchable, edgy anime villain! I know you can barely even fight right now, you bastard... 'I refuse to be used by people I can't remember.' Really?! That's the line you're going with?"
Gojo's brow twitched. A spark of genuine, irritated anger flared in his chest, cutting through the panic. "I'm not acting! I'm telling you the truth! I don't care about your memories of me! I don't care about the Empire, or this world, or anything else about it! I am Satoru Gojo, and I decide what I do!"
"Yeah, yeah, you're Satoru Gojo, the strongest, the coolest, the guy who decides everything~" Subaru mocked, rolling his eyes so hard it looked painful.
He took a step forward, completely ignoring the faint sparks of blue cursed energy that tried to surge around Gojo's remaining hand. "But you know what you're deciding to be right now? An idiot."
"Watch your mouth," Gojo warned, his voice dropping into a lower, dangerous tone. "I'll get out of here and destroy this place. You think your little shadow trick is going to stop me from doing the same to you?"
"My shadow trick already stopped your Red, didn't it?" Subaru shot back, taking another step. "You're too exhausted to do something like that... I could probably take you down myself right now if I really wanted to."
He was close now. Close enough that Gojo could see the absolute, terrifying lack of fear in his posture.
He was looking at Gojo, not as a monster or as a catastrophe or a Disaster that could destroy the nation, but as something else.
"You think I'm trying to use you?" Subaru asked, his voice dropping the mocking tone, replaced by a quiet, heavy sincerity. "You think I chased you across the biggest nation in the world, fought through a gladiator island, and marched an army to the capital just so I could put a leash on you?"
Gojo's jaw tightened. "Everyone wants a leash on the strongest."
"I don't give a damn about the strongest, you asshole!" Subaru yelled, his voice echoing in the empty void. "I don't care if you can blow up a city! I don't care if you can teleport! Do you honestly think that's why I was crying back in Guaral? Because I lost my favorite weapon?!"
Gojo flinched. The raw, unfiltered emotion in Subaru's voice seemed to hit him harder than Cecilus's blade.
"Then why?!" Gojo roared back, the manic, desperate panic returning to his eyes. "Why do you care so much?! I don't know you! I don't remember you! I don't have the heart of the guy you're looking for! I can't even be considered the same guy!"
Subaru stopped and stood right in front of Gojo, looking on an even level with the shrunken white-haired boy.
Slowly, Subaru reached out... and despite all of Gojo's tenseness, he just placed his small, bruised hand flat against the center of Gojo's chest, right over his heart.
Gojo froze at the touch. He kne he could have blasted Subaru away or just crushed the space between them.
But... he didn't... he just stood there, his breath hitching, staring at the boy.
"You're not empty," Subaru said softly. "You're just scared."
Gojo's lips parted, but no sound came out.
"You think the 'old' Gojo was some perfect, unshakeable god who always knew what to do?" Subaru let out a nostalgic chuckle. "Gojo... you were a mess and a half. You were lazy. You were arrogant. You stole my snacks, you complained about the weather, and you made the worst jokes I've ever heard in my life."
Subaru looked up, his dark eyes shining with unshed tears.
"You didn't protect us because you were following a script. You didn't do it because you were a tool. You did it because you're really just a softie. You did it because you liked hanging out with us. You chose us, Satoru Gojo. Not because you had to, but because you wanted to."
For once, the words didn't feel like a cage.
They didn't feel like the heavy, suffocating expectations of Berstetz or Abel or any other person that looked at him like a monster.
"I... I chose you?" Gojo whispered, his voice trembling.
"Yeah," Subaru smiled, a single tear finally spilling over his cheek. "And now, I'm choosing you. I don't care if you don't remember. We'll just make new memories. We'll eat what we wanna eat, we'll complain about the heat, and we'll make terrible jokes until Garfiel or Otto yells at us."
Subaru's hand tightened slightly against Gojo's shirt.
"You don't have to be the hero, Satoru. You don't have to be the monster. You can be what you want to be, and I know you don't want to be the villain. So please... stop running. Let's just go home."
Gojo stood in the absolute silence of the void. The frantic, burning static in his brain—the constant, agonizing noise that had plagued him since he woke up in this world—finally, truly, went quiet.
He looked at Subaru. He looked at the tears on the boy's face and the unwavering, stubborn warmth in his eyes.
Slowly, Gojo's remaining hand lowered. The blue spark of cursed energy flickered out, leaving them in the dark.
Gojo let out a long, shuddering breath. He closed his eyes, and for the first time in what felt like an eternity, he didn't force a smile.
He just let his head drop, resting his forehead gently against Subaru's shoulder.
"You're really... so damn annoying..." Gojo whispered, his voice thick with a quiet, exhausted relief.
Subaru let out a watery laugh, wrapping his arms around Gojo in a tight, fierce hug.
"I know," Subaru said, his voice thick with emotion as he held onto the trembling, exhausted boy. "I know."
For a long time, neither of them moved.
The absolute darkness of the Al Shamak was indeed still wrapped around them, but it no longer felt like a suffocating void.
Instead, it felt like a sanctuary.
A quiet, isolated room where the war, the Empire, and the crushing expectations of the world couldn't reach them.
Slowly, Gojo pulled back. He let out a long, ragged breath, his single remaining hand coming up to wipe the mixture of blood and tears from his pale face.
His legs finally gave out, and he dropped heavily onto the invisible floor of the pocket dimension, crossing his legs with a tired, heavy groan.
"It reminds me of the night sky, a little bit... just without the stars."
Subaru didn't hesitate. He dropped down right beside him, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in the dark.
"You like to stargaze?" Subaru asked.
"My knowledge of stars isn't really that good... I just found it peaceful. Before all this... I mean."
"...I know what you mean." Subaru responded, not averting his eyes away from the starless sky.
Then, there was silence.
Gojo stared out into the pitch-black expanse, the brilliant, starlike glow of his Six Eyes finally resting.
"I'm sorry, Subaru..."
He didn't understand the willpower and mental fortitude that must be required for Subaru to continue chasing after him, even after everything he did... and to not hate him in the end... It was ridiculous; it was absurd.
Was the old Satoru Gojo truly that incredible?
"Don't even worry about it..." Subaru sighed.
The desperation was gone.
The emptiness was gone.
He was just... exhausted.
"Hey, Subaru..." Gojo murmured, his voice quiet in the vastness of the void.
"Yeah?"
"Tell me about... the past," Gojo said, turning his head slightly to look at the bruised, dark-haired boy beside him. "About everything before I lost my memories. Who was I to you guys? What did we do?"
Subaru blinked, wiping his own eyes with the back of his sleeve.
A soft, nostalgic smile slowly spread across his face, shifting into something incredibly warm and deeply relieved.
"Heh, well..." Subaru chuckled, leaning back slightly on his hands. "It's quite the story, you know. It's long, it's messy, it's full of a lot of crying, and it's probably going to take a while to get through."
Gojo let out a dry, breathy laugh. A familiar, arrogant smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
"Obviously, it's a masterpiece," Gojo said, leaning his head back. "It's about me, isn't it?"
Subaru rolled his eyes, but the smile on his face only grew wider.
It was the most familiar, annoying response he could have possibly asked for.
"Yeah. Yeah, I suppose in a way, yeah... it is." Subaru said softly.
He looked out into the dark.
For the first time since he had been summoned to this brutal, unforgiving world in quite some time, Subaru felt a familiar... yet nostalgic sense of safety.
He was sitting next to the strongest sorcerer in the world, a person who had just torn himself apart to find his own humanity.
Gojo, despite all the anguish, all the torment, and all the suffering he'd gone through, had trusted him enough to drop his absolute barrier.
Now, it was Subaru's turn to drop his once again.
Subaru took a deep, steadying breath.
"Well..." Subaru began, his voice echoing quietly in the dark. "It all started when a... regular guy... honestly, a total loser of a guy on his way home from the convenience store... suddenly got dropped into a fantasy world... crazy, right?"
Gojo tilted his head, listening intently, the glow of his eyes illuminating the space between them.
Subaru met his gaze, his dark eyes carrying the weight of a thousand lifetimes, yet shining with an unbreakable, stubborn hope.
"...And from there, he learned that he could... Return by Death."