"Well, this is kinda embarrassing; basically, I am lashing out at Touch Me just because he gave me words of comfort after overhearing my conversation with Ulbert that I am about to die."
Shame welled up in him as he remembered that incident.
Thinking back on it, Touch Me just said it out of his good intentions, but he was so consumed with fury and anger that he would die soon that he perceived his words as something condescending.
After all, compared to Touch Me, his life in the 22nd century is like the difference between mortal and divine.
As an orphan who lived on the street, just trying to survive was almost impossible.
There were a lot of threats and dangers when you had no support in that dystopian world, like unpredictable weather pouring out acidic rain, fellow humans with malicious intent, and the lack of food and clean water, just to name a few.
He threw most of his morals away so he could survive for another day, like stealing from people or even killing if he deemed it necessary.
Thankfully or unfortunately, with the memory of his first life, he can grow to adulthood and have a normal job. Normal, in this case, is slaving away in a black company; still, it is far better than scurrying around on the street like a rat.
Although it is thanks to his memory that he can survive, because of that memory, he feels like he is living in hell.
After all, unlike people who were born in the 22nd century, who consider it normal to have acidic rain, to someone who has the memory of the previous century, which still had breathable air, just living is a kind of torture.
And when he works for the black company as usual, he meets him, Ulbert.
At first, we are just co-workers working together on an absurd project that needs to be finished on a tight deadline, but after continuously meeting him and talking to each other, we become close friends.
Then one day, as he finished his work and was about to go home, Ulbert approached him and showed him the new game he was excited about. He opened his eyes wide and felt like his body was struck by electricity when he saw the title.
Yggdrasil.
That revelation made him finally realize what kind of world he lived in, and he finally could live not just for the sake of living, but for a future where he would become an all-powerful being.
With a new purpose driving him, he played Yggdrasil almost every single day and poured some of his hard-earned money into the game, which even made Ulbert feel puzzled by his sudden change in behavior.
It couldn't be helped, given the fact that the game was enjoyable and fun to play, allowing him to forget the hardships of real life.
Then one day, when he was going back home from work with Ulbert while excitedly talking about the latest update of Yggdrasil, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest as he staggered back unsteadily and then passed out.
Once he opened his eyes again, he was already inside the hospital, and from what the doctor said, it seemed Ulbert was the one who brought him there and he had been sleeping for three days.
As he thanked his friend in his head, the doctor then said something that made him despair.
"You only have five days to live."
According to the doctor, he had an incurable disease related to his respiratory system; it seemed the cause was too much exposure to toxic materials when he was a kid.
Knowing that he only had five days to live, he felt like his world was falling apart.
Just when he finally had hope in this accursed world, it struck him down and plunged him into the abyss. Nothing mattered to him anymore, as all his plans to become a powerful being in the new world were now useless.
After paying his medical expenses and then going to Ulbert's house with depression, he told him everything about his situation.
Hearing that he is going to die soon, Ulbert hugged him while crying as he told him that he didn't want another important person in his life to leave him.
The only thing he could do was just hug him back while hearing his painful sobs about the unfairness of the world.
After dealing with the emotional part for two days, he then wrote a document to give everything he owned to Ulbert, including the earnings from the manga he made in his spare time.
At first, he refused it, but after he said that he had no one else to give it to and that it would just be taken by a mega corporation, he finally accepted it.
He and Ulbert then spent their last moments together playing Yggdrasil as his body grew weaker and weaker by the day, to the point that sometimes he coughed up blood.
And on the final day when he said his final farewell to Ulbert, suddenly Touch Me came out of nowhere and gave him words of comfort.
Hearing that from someone who has everything handed to him from birth makes his thoughts blur and his field of vision turn red. He then screams a lot of profanities and insults, which surprises him, as he has the energy to do that when his body is weakened.
After several minutes of rage, he can't stand his presence anymore. He runs away while Ulbert chases after him, shouting for him to stop, but with his higher speed stat, he easily leaves him in the dust.
He doesn't know where he ran to, but before he realizes it, he is already at the Lake of Life, one of the few beautiful spots in Helheim.
He watches the dead spirits happily dancing on top of the lake while he feels his life slowly slipping away.
He then hears someone breathing heavily behind him while slowly approaching, but he doesn't turn around and keeps watching the beautiful lake in silence.
After several minutes just standing around with Ulbert beside him, he said.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
"Hmm."
"It's been fun meeting you, Ulbert. No, Takahashi, let's meet again on the other side."
"Haruto..."
Hearing his strained and sad voice, he turned toward him and then laughed loudly.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! What with that tone! Demon of Great Disaster! You look so pathetic! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
"Haaah!? What about you, the Great Demon King!? You are moping around like a loser!"
"Hmph! At the very least, I am not crying like a little kid!"
"What!? How dare you mention that!? You want to fight!?"
We glare at each other as he can see sparks flying around between us, but after several moments, we both then laugh together.
"Anyway, t-thank you for everything, Takahashi. I h-have a fun life."
"Haaah... that is my word; you even give all your wealth toward me."
"D-Don't mention it, use it so you can have a b-better life."
"Haruto, I..."
"I-I am sorry, Takahashi, i-it seems I don't have much t-time. I n-need to do something."
He feels his body slowly getting colder, and he can feel the cold hand of death grasping his slowly beating heart as he puts a lot of effort just to talk.
He then took something from his inventory and equipped it on his finger as he heard Ulbert gasp beside him when he did that.
"That ring, don't tell me Ouroboros? How did you get it?"
"H-ha-ha-ha-ha, t-that's a secret, a-anyway I Wish."
When he said that, a large circle of light, so big that it encompassed half of the lake, surrounded them, as the ring on his finger suddenly transformed into a large snake and then flew above him while continuously making an infinity symbol.
As he watched the cool animation, he turned to Ulbert with a smile on his face.
"I g-guess this is a good b-bye."
"Sob... I-I wish you could live longer."
"Y-Yeah, that would be g-good. A-also, can you say s-sorry to T-Touch for m-me?"
"... Why would you say sorry to him? That fucking bastard?"
Hearing the hatred and malice in his tone when he talked about Touch Me, he smiled wryly.
After calming himself from his rage, he realized that Touch Me just stood there and listened silently to his insults.
While he thought that his rage was justified, it made him somewhat ashamed to lash out at someone innocent.
After all, his relationship with Touch Me was not that bad; in fact, he was often the one who mediated arguments between Ulbert and Touch Me.
Unlike Ulbert, who hated upper-class people like Touch Me, he was just indifferent, as he felt it was a waste of time and productivity to hold hatred in his heart.
Besides, with his knowledge that he was going to be transported to another world, something as insignificant as a difference in status was not bothering him.
But when his last hope was extinguished, and Touch Me suddenly offered words of comfort out of pity, he felt like he was being slapped and told that lowly people like him should stay at the bottom.
All his negativity since his reincarnation in the 22nd century suddenly resurfaced, and he lashed out with all the profanity he knew toward him.
But now he just gives up and accepts his fate that he is going to die; after all, this is not his first time dying.
Who knows if he can be reincarnated again? But first, he is going to execute his final plan; thankfully, he has an Ouroboros to do that.
"J-Just say it f-for me, p-please."
"... alright, if it's for you, I will hold my hatred toward him."
"T-Thank."
The light surrounding us gets bigger as he slowly pulls upward into the sky while waving his hand toward Ulbert in goodbye.
"The Great Demon King Enkvaros!! I won't forget about you!!"
Hearing the sadness in Ulbert voice, he can't help but feel warm in his chest as he smiles in peace, but then he remembers something and hurriedly says it.
"U-Ulbert! P-Please come at the e-end of this g-game!"
"I will!!"
He feels happy that Ulbert is going to come at the end of Yggdrasil. Despite not elaborating further, he just hopes that he can escape from here, as he is pretty sure the nearby Player should have noticed the big animation Ouroboros makes.
After a big flash of light, he is teleported into space, and he is floating in the void while surrounded by stars and galaxies.
[WHAT DO YOU WISH FOR?]
A deep and majestic voice echoes in the space as he opens his mouth to say his wish.
"I-I wish—"
After he says his wish, he can't hold it anymore as he succumbs to his death.
He doesn't know whether the shitty dev really does what he said, but considering that he is reborn in a new world, his plan is successful.