"He and Arisu Sakayanagi are cooperating."
Subaru's voice remained flat.
"Sakayanagi is responsible for attacking you, making you waver. He is responsible for—taking advantage of the void to enter."
"That is their plan."
"Kikyo Kushida, previously in our class, used a similar method. She attempted to destroy the class using an anonymous account to spread rumors, and the provider of that account was Miyabi Nagumo. I imagine your situation is the same."
Honami Ichinose's face turned pale.
She recalled everything she had endured over the past few days. Those rumors, those doubts, those distant gazes.
If she hadn't spoken those words to Subaru tonight, she might have truly wavered.
She might have truly felt lonely, helpless, and in need of someone to rely on.
Then, Miyabi Nagumo would have appeared...
However, there was no possibility of Nagumo succeeding. Even if Nagumo came, she couldn't possibly open her heart to him.
On the contrary, it was someone like Subaru, who seemed not to care about anything, who could make Honami Ichinose share her thoughts.
She didn't know why herself.
"...Natsuki-kun."
Her voice trembled slightly.
"You... how do you know these things?"
Subaru looked at her.
"Because I am also observing."
"Observing?"
"Yeah. Observing those with 'color', and also observing those without 'color'."
Subaru spoke slowly.
"Miyabi Nagumo has no color. He is just a tool."
"The same goes for Sakayanagi."
Ichinose fell silent. She recalled the view of Nagumo's back as he left just now. Those hurried footsteps, those trembling hands, that pale complexion.
Ichinose suddenly understood.
That wasn't anger.
That was fear.
Bone-deep fear.
Fear of Subaru.
"He... seems very afraid of you."
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"It's better if you don't know," Subaru answered.
After all, Ichinose probably wouldn't be able to accept what happened that day.
"Natsuki-kun."
"Hm?"
"The 'color' you always talk about... do I have color?"
Ichinose raised her head, looking at Subaru, her heart seeming to hold some expectation for his answer.
This was the first time Ichinose had made eye contact with a member of the opposite sex like this; her face turned even redder. She saw her own reflection in Subaru's eyes.
Subaru also looked at Ichinose.
The other party indeed displayed a kind of hazy existence. But it was still far from being 'color'.
Should he say she didn't have it directly?
Forget it.
Subaru recalled a sentence Hiyori Shiina had said to him. Perhaps it was better to answer with those words.
"This question isn't for me to answer, but for you to see for yourself," Subaru said.
At the end of the corridor, Miyabi Nagumo leaned against the wall, gasping for breath.
His hands were still trembling.
The scene from just now played repeatedly in his mind.
Ichinose and Subaru hugging.
The blush on Ichinose's face.
The look in Ichinose's eyes when she looked at Subaru.
That gentle look.
And the gaze Subaru gave him. That gaze, as if looking at a jumping clown.
Everything he had meticulously planned. The opportunity he had waited so long for. The plan he thought would allow him to swoop in and obtain Ichinose.
Ruined.
Ruined by that person.
Ruined by that person he could never defeat.
"Damn it... Damn it... Damn..."
He cursed in a low voice, his tone full of despair and madness.
Why?
Why was it always him?
Why did he get ahead every single time?
When Arisu Sakayanagi asked him to help attack Ichinose, he thought he had finally waited for his chance. He thought Subaru's attention definitely wouldn't be on this.
As long as Ichinose wavered, as long as she felt lonely and helpless, he could take advantage of the void to enter.
He could give her care, give her warmth, give her reliance.
Then—
Then she would slowly, unknowingly, become his thing.
What Nagumo wanted was to rebuild his own self-esteem, which had already been destroyed. Only when dominating others could he feel that way.
What a perfect plan.
But now...
All ruined.
Subaru... could he predict his actions?!
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
He slammed his fist violently against the wall.
Pain shot through him.
But he didn't care. Because the pain in his fingers couldn't compare to the pain in his heart. That pain of having everything snatched away.
"Ahhhhh!"
He let out a hysterical roar.
After leaving Honami Ichinose's room, Subaru did not return to his own dormitory.
He crossed the corridor, went down the stairs, and left the dormitory building.
His footsteps stopped in front of a bench.
A person sat on the bench.
Short silver-white hair glowed with a soft luster under the moonlight, a slender figure wrapped in a dark coat. She held that iconic cane in her hand, her head tilted up, watching the moon in the sky.
Arisu Sakayanagi.
She seemed to have known he would come.
"Natsuki-kun."
She didn't look back, a trace of a faint smile in her voice.
"Still out for a walk so late? You're really in high spirits."
Subaru didn't speak.
He simply walked to the other end of the bench and sat down. There was a distance of one person between them.
Moonlight fell quietly, casting their shadows on the ground—one long, one short.
"On Ichinose-san's side," Sakayanagi spoke, her tone as relaxed as if discussing today's weather, "the chat must have gone well, right?"
"You knew."
"Of course I knew. I have my own methods too. It was that person named Masayoshi Hashimoto from your class who has been stalking Ichinose, right."
"So you noticed? As expected of you."
"My mood is quite good today; the coin toss also came up heads. He was very lucky."
"Sorry, I didn't understand that sentence."
"Don't mind it."
She turned her head, looking at Subaru.
Moonlight fell on her face, making those purple eyes look exceptionally bright.
"Nagumo-kun was going to comfort her tonight; that was his plan."
She paused, appreciating Subaru's unchanging expression.
"First, let the rumors ferment, letting Ichinose-san fall into isolation and pain. Then, at the most suitable moment, let a person who cares about her appear, giving her warmth, giving her reliance."
"She would be moved, she would become dependent, she would..."
She tilted her head slightly.
"She would become the way Nagumo-kun wanted."
Subaru didn't speak.
Sakayanagi continued, her tone carrying a trace of showy delight.
"Those rumors, you know about them, right? About those things in her past."
"I investigated for a long time. Really a long time."
"Ichinose-san hid those things very well, so well that almost no one knew. But did you know, Natsuki-kun—secrets, as long as they exist, always have the possibility of being discovered."
"I just... used a few little tricks."
She extended her hand, slender fingers moving gently in the moonlight, as if playing an invisible tune.
"Stealing things in junior high. Single-parent family. Mother fell ill. Little sister wanted a birthday gift. She had no way out and did something wrong."
"Then she was discovered, was forgiven, yet could never forgive herself."
"What perfect material."
Her smile deepened.
"Spread these matters out just right, letting everyone know—that perfect, warm, forever-good-to-others Honami Ichinose actually has a shameful past."
"She would waver, would fear, would doubt if she was still worthy of possessing everything she has now."
"Those people who used to surround her would look at her with strange eyes. Those relationships she thought were solid would become fragile."
"She would be lonely."
"She would be helpless."
"She would... need a reliance."
Sakayanagi turned her head, looking at Subaru.
"Then, Honami Ichinose would no longer be Honami Ichinose."
"She would become Nagumo-kun's thing."
"A person who was once so dazzling, crushed just like that, reshaped, and taken as one's own."
She narrowed her eyes slightly, as if savoring a delicious dessert.
"Don't you think... it's very interesting?"
Subaru looked at her.
In those eyes, there was still no fluctuation.
"Interesting?"
"Yes. Very interesting."
Sakayanagi's smile held a trace of madness, and also a trace of pure, child-like innocence.
"I want to know, when a person's past is dug up, when her fragility is exposed in front of everyone, when those relationships she thought were unbreakable begin to collapse... what will she become?"
"Will it be a breakdown? Will it be depravity? Or—will she stubbornly stand up?"
"No matter which one, it's very interesting."
She looked at Subaru.
"Aren't you the same, Natsuki-kun?"
"You are also observing, also waiting, also watching what kind of expressions those people will show under extreme conditions."
"We are the same."
Subaru was silent for a few seconds.
Then he spoke.
"Different."
Sakayanagi raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Oh?"
"You are toying."
Subaru's voice remained flat.
"I am searching."
"Searching?"
"Searching for 'color'."
Sakayanagi froze for a moment.
Then she laughed.
"Color... that word again. You really are persistent, Natsuki-kun."
She stood up, leaning on her cane, and walked in front of Subaru.
Looking down at him.
"Then have you found it?"
"In Honami Ichinose, did you find the color you wanted?"
Subaru raised his head, looking at her.
Moonlight shone from behind her, shrouding her face in shadow.
Only those purple eyes sparkled in the darkness.
"I found it."
He said.
Sakayanagi's smile solidified for an instant.
"Found it?"
"Yeah."
"What color?"
Subaru was silent for a few seconds.
"It's not color."
Sakayanagi frowned.
"Not color? You just said—"
"I said I was searching for color."
Subaru interrupted her.
"But in Honami Ichinose, what I saw was not color."
"Then what is it?"
Subaru looked at her.
"It's something more important than color."
Sakayanagi fell silent.
She stared at Subaru; in those purple eyes, for the first time, a certain... confusion appeared.
"More important than color?"
"Yeah."
"What is that?"
Subaru didn't answer.
He simply stood up, standing face-to-face with her.
"You will never understand."
He said.
Sakayanagi's brows furrowed even tighter.
"What do you mean?"
"Because you have no color, no more possibilities have appeared yet, and you have never seen—something more important than color."
Sakayanagi froze.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know what to say.
Because she discovered that the look in Subaru's eyes when he looked at her—
Was different from how he looked at others.
It wasn't indifference, it wasn't alienation, nor was it that "observation" that made her uncomfortable.
But a kind of... emptiness.
Just like looking at an empty thing.
"Natsuki-kun..."
"Your plan failed."
Subaru interrupted her.
"Ichinose is different from what you imagined."
"She doesn't need Miyabi Nagumo's care."
"She has already stood up."
Sakayanagi stood in place, motionless.
Moonlight fell on her face, making that exquisite countenance look somewhat pale.
Everything she had meticulously planned.
Those rumors, those schemes, those perfect timings—
All of it...
"And Miyabi Nagumo."
Subaru continued speaking.
"He should be somewhere right now, clutching his once-broken fingers, trembling."
Sakayanagi's breathing stagnated for an instant.
"Broken fingers? What do you mean?"
Sakayanagi had heard some rumors previously. Nagumo hurt his finger during the vacation.
Could it be?!
She shuddered.
Not because of the cold.
But because she suddenly realized one thing.
Subaru was much more terrifying than she imagined.
Not because of how strong he was, nor because of how smart he was.
But because—
He wasn't on her chessboard at all.
She thought she was controlling everything.
Thought she was observing him, probing him, waiting for him to enter her game.
But the fact was—
He had always been in another dimension.
Looking at her.
Like looking at an... ant.
"Natsuki-kun..."
Her voice was somewhat dry.
"What exactly... do you want?"
Subaru looked at her.
In those eyes, there was still no emotion.
But beneath that calm, Sakayanagi seemed to see something.
Not anger, not ridicule, not any emotion she was familiar with.
But a deeper, more terrible...
Nothingness.
"I don't want anything."
He said.
"I am just watching."
Sakayanagi fell silent.
She suddenly felt that she seemed to have never truly known him.
"Then..."
She spoke, her voice very light.
"What did you see?"
Subaru was silent for a few seconds.
Then he turned to leave, took two steps, and stopped again.
But he didn't look back.
"I saw an empty shell."
"Thinking oneself very smart, thinking oneself able to control everything."
"Sakayanagi, you are nothing more than this. If you come to challenge me holding such thoughts, you will regret it."
"Stop talking big! This time, I was just playing with Ichinose a little bit!"
Sakayanagi tapped her cane on the ground, but her tone already sounded somewhat anxious.
Subaru took a step again, no longer staying.
"I've already killed a few times."
He muttered to himself.
Sakayanagi thought she could manipulate human hearts.
Roswaal also thought so.
So Roswaal died.
____
👻🔥Whant more?: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Reincarnated as Mahito, Watch Me Manipulate Everyone
✅ Read 40 chapters ahead on every series!
✅ Unlock supporter-only perks and news!
Let's reach these milestones together:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 free chapter for all readers
🚀 140 MEMBERS = +5 bonus chapters for all series!
👻 Walnut-chan on P...