"Hm, let's go, it is time to go."
Takumi supported himself against the wall, smiled at Maki, took a step forward, and the three of them walked toward the direction of the door.
Below the door outside, Maeda Miwa suddenly let out a miserable scream at this moment, as if she had seen something extremely terrifying.
A faint sense of foreboding struck at this moment. Takumi turned his head and saw black arms suddenly thrusting in from outside the door, attacking toward Kaguya's direction at high speed.
[Click—]
It seemed that the sound of the clock being turned rang out.
Those who turn the pointer and rewind time will receive the curse of the apartment's power and establish a connection with the apartment.
That connection causes the one who turns the clock to see the wall clock as a human head, but apart from that, what other problems existed, Takumi had always been unable to know.
But now, seeing these black arms, seeing these black arms that had previously taken him and Maki away, he suddenly realized it.
That was the resentment of the dead who had never been able to leave the apartment, combined with the rules of the apartment, giving rise to some kind of thing.
In the first loop, Maki had shallowly interacted with the dead through the letter, and thus was attacked and taken to the third floor. At that time, he had turned the clock, and turning the clock was something that the vast majority of the dead in the Shirakawa Apartments had done, allowing Takumi to also become a target and thus be taken together to the third floor.
And in this loop, the ones who turned the clock were that Maeda Miwa and Kaguya.
These black arms seemingly could not directly kill, but they could move people to extremely dangerous places—such as moving him and Maki to the third floor, or taking Maeda and Kaguya away from the escape route.
Takumi stretched out his hand and pushed Maki's body, pushing the unprepared girl into the glowing small bedroom door.
In the next instant, he reached out to grab Kaguya's arm, and then with his other hand smoothly grabbed Kaguya's collar. Then his entire body, together with Kaguya, was grabbed out of the door by the black arms, thrown out of Room 309, and hurled toward the ruins below, which were shrinking further and had already been reduced to about one hundred meters in size.
"Are you an idiot? It was obvious you could ignore that Maeda's life or death, so why are you coming to save me now?!"
This unexpected development caused Kaguya's expression to change drastically, and she could not help berating Takumi.
"Isn't this a very simple reason? She has no favor toward me, while you are someone who truly helped me and advanced together with me. I can be cold-hearted toward a stranger I've only met once, but if I can't even save someone who genuinely helped me, then what meaning is there even if I clear the game?"
Takumi grinned as he spoke, and then the two fell to the ground, landing just right on a dust-covered bed.
On the other side, Maeda, who had also been thrown down, likewise landed on a bed. She was howling as she crawled off it, wanting to run again toward the door of Room 309, yet she despairingly discovered that at this moment she was already separated by more than ten meters of height difference from the curtain hanging down from the door, making it absolutely impossible to climb up again.
"Completely incomprehensible… utterly meaningless…"
On the bed on the other side, Kaguya, who had propped herself up from Takumi's arms, took somewhat angry deep breaths, staring at him as she spoke in a low voice, her tone sounding quite teeth-gritting.
Unable to understand.
She truly could not understand this man.
Was there really any meaning in doing this?
Following the teachings of the Shinomiya family, always believing that one must absolutely use others and never give true feelings, Kaguya could not understand at all Takumi's action of clearly being able to survive by himself, yet choosing to die here together with her.
Was there really any meaning in doing something like this?
"Just take me as an idiot who uses his life to flirt with girls, though I haven't yet decided whether I should simply go hang myself on Maki's tree. Anyway, cough, cough, things are slightly exposed, so pay a little attention to your image, Shinomiya-san."
Takumi lightly coughed and shifted his gaze away.
Only then did Kaguya notice that because Takumi had pulled too hard on her collar just now when grabbing her, her clothing's neckline had been torn open in a section, revealing her collarbone area and one shoulder, as well as…
"Shameless creature!"
Kaguya sharply pulled her collar closed and cursed in a low voice.
"Hey, hey, is that attitude really necessary? It's not like I did it on purpose, okay?"
Having already expected these words, Takumi grinned and complained, then got off the bed and looked around.
This final piece of ruins was about to completely collapse.
The door of Room 309 above, faintly glowing, had already shrunk to the point where almost only a speck of light remained.
Still failed, huh.
Originally he had wanted to end everything in the third loop.
But it didn't matter; in the next round, it should be the time for a perfect clear.
Takumi lightly clenched his fist, looked at the darkness gradually closing in around him, and, feeling his own heartbeat, he had no choice but to admit that he was still somewhat afraid now, feeling a sincere dread toward the completely unknown death that was about to arrive.
"Is it actually going to end in a place like this?"
Kaguya, who had walked to his side, held the torn collar with one hand and, facing the darkness ahead, spoke softly with a sigh.
"Yeah, what a pity. Speaking of which, in my whole life up to now I've never even been kissed by a girl. Since we're both going to die now, how about we try and see what kissing feels like?"
Takumi, struck by a sudden thought, turned his head and spoke to Kaguya.
"You already had Maki kiss you in the last loop, and now you're saying this to me. Actually, you can start over again, right? Your restart is actually different from the wall clock, which is why you're not afraid."
In the next moment, Kaguya spoke in a quiet voice, making Takumi freeze.
Maki had actually told Kaguya even that.
Speaking of which, this girl really was smart. She had actually figured out that point. How should he put it—she was truly the complete opposite extreme from that lovesick idiot in the anime.
"So I've been found out, huh. That's right, but pain will still hurt, so I actually am still very scared right now. These words are sincere."
Takumi nodded lightly as he spoke, collecting his expression and becoming solemn.
"So, in your view, in order to let me be saved, enduring the pain of one death is worth it?"
This sentence made Kaguya hesitate; after a moment of silence, she then opened her mouth again. Only this time, Kaguya did not lift her head, did not meet Takumi's gaze, yet her tone was still calm, sounding seemingly no different from usual.
"Mm, it's worth it. You saved my life, and when the hopeless dead-end arrived, you still used your last strength to leave us a message to help us escape. To me, such a kindness and the bond of advancing hand in hand are things that cannot be betrayed. If I left you behind and walked away, I could never forgive myself."
Facing Kaguya's question, Takumi once again nodded, answering without any hesitation.
"I see, then come a little closer, I have something to say."
"Ah?"
And next was Takumi slightly lowering his head, and the Kaguya who lifted her head rose on tiptoe; her lips lightly touched Takumi's cheek, then separated.
"A kiss is left for lovers. For you, just use this as encouragement, as the reward for you being willing to go through hardship with this me until the very end, Takumi-kun."
Different from the "Takumi-kun" that Maki shouted out with full enthusiasm, the current Kaguya, when speaking the address "Takumi-kun," still had a calm tone, carrying a slight feeling of polite distance. It gave people a sense that seemed like a friend, yet also seemed shifted slightly higher than a friend.
'This me, huh?'
Takumi realized that the girl before his eyes already understood that when the next loop arrived, she would be unable to retain her memory and could only start over in getting to know Takumi.
'Because she knew that this self was destined to die, she gave me a kiss, huh? Even so, she only wanted to kiss the cheek—should I call it the pride of the Ice Kaguya-hime or the last bit of girlish reserve? But well, this feeling was also quite nice; she and Maki really were two completely different directions.'
Not far behind, Maeda Miwa still sat on the ground wailing.
And Takumi and Kaguya simply stood where they were, together watching the front, that gradually collapsing, gradually approaching darkness.
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