Beatrice's wish, a part of her character that had been quietly built up since the very first season, finally revealed its full weight. She was the Great Spirit artificially created by Echidna, the Witch of Greed, and for four hundred years she had continued waiting for one thing alone: that after Echidna's death, the book left behind for her would one day show new words, a new command, some reason to keep living.
But Echidna was dead, and the book had remained blank for centuries.
The person Echidna told her to wait for had never come.
And even now, with Subaru Natsuki finally standing before her… what did that really change?
For all those long years, Beatrice had treated "that person" as the one and only hope that justified her existence, the first and only thing she ever allowed herself to long for. Yet in Subaru's heart, first place belonged to Emilia. Second place belonged to Rem.
So even if he really was the person Echidna had told her to wait for, what of it?
Subaru Natsuki would never place her first.
That was why, when Beatrice - already carrying the desire to die - faced the Bowel Hunter's attack, the only thing she did before her death was send Subaru back to the Sanctuary.
And the latter half of episode eleven delivered an even crueler revelation. Roswaal had already seen through Subaru's Return by Death.
After sacrificing Ram and eliminating Garfiel, who loved her, he finally laid bare his true purpose.
Roswaal intended to use Subaru's absolute, all-purpose power to fulfill his own wish.
The snow in the Sanctuary had been summoned by him.
The Great Rabbit, the monstrous beast that devoured everything, had also been his doing.
Episode eleven of the Re:Zero anime painted the tragedy of the entire story in colors so vivid they were almost unbearable.
After four hundred years of loneliness, Beatrice no longer held any hope for the world.
And Subaru Natsuki, "that person" who could never place her first, could never save her.
As for Roswaal in the Sanctuary, he was even more terrifying. In order to fulfill the desire he had clung to for so long, he was willing to let himself be devoured by the Great Rabbit, and all for one reason alone: to force Subaru onto the path he had prepared for him.
"Even if you start over, the me in this world will already be dead. But that doesn't matter. As long as the me in the restarted world reaches my goal, that is enough."
Those words, spoken by Roswaal with a smile on his face as the Great Rabbit consumed him, left countless Re:Zero fans shaken to the core that night.
The villain of this arc was horrifying.
And yet, irresistibly compelling.
On the very night episode eleven aired, the number of new discussion threads among Re:Zero fans rose sharply compared to the previous weeks.
"So even a villain can have this kind of resolve?"
"Roswaal isn't wrong. Even if Subaru can reset and return on the fifth loop, the Roswaal from the fourth loop really did die in the Great Rabbit's jaws. Even so, he still wants to force the protagonist to restart and steer the world toward the route he wants."
"I still have no idea what Roswaal actually wants."
"He's probably trying to revive Echidna."
"But right now, the only people in the Sanctuary who can take the trial are Emilia and Subaru. Emilia obviously can't clear it, so Roswaal is forcing Subaru to do it."
"That still feels off. If that were his only goal, he wouldn't need to go this far."
"This episode honestly depressed me. Ram trusted him so much, cared about him so deeply, and when she stepped forward to protect him, he stabbed her in the back and killed both Ram and Garfiel. He's unbelievably cold."
"I don't even care that much about Roswaal's side of the story. The one I feel sorry for is Beatrice. The moment she cried and asked Subaru whether, if he were that person, he would be willing to place her first in his heart… I completely switched sides."
"Wasn't Sora supposed to be someone who's never even been in love? Then how is he this good at writing female characters? I've watched plenty of isekai harem anime before, but this is the first time I've seen every girl written with this much life."
"Rem, Emilia, Beatrice… am I the only one here on the all-of-them route?"
"Same."
"Me too. I seriously don't understand what people online are fighting about. Do we really need faction wars? Wouldn't the best route for this anime just be having all of them?"
"Sigh… it's already the fifth loop. I just hope Sora stops tormenting us and lets Subaru solve all of this already."
"Honestly, though, I feel like Kantoku Sora made the worldbuilding for this series way too huge. I'm not sure season two can wrap it all up properly. It might even need a third season."
"Who knows? Depends on how Kantoku Sora decides to arrange things."
If the first season of Re:Zero had been an introduction to its world, then the second season was where all the forces within that world truly converged and became the ultimate trial for Subaru Natsuki.
The story grew more painful with every episode.
But its pull also became stronger with every episode.
After episode eleven aired, Beatrice's popularity surged so dramatically that, for a time, she even overtook the official heroine, Emilia.
The anime's ratings also reached 5.81%.
That winter anime season had gradually come to resemble a brutally lopsided battlefield: one undisputed king, four struggling headliners, and a pile of deadweight barely managing to stay afloat.
The king, naturally, was Re:Zero.
The four stragglers were the major flagship anime pushed that quarter by the capital's four biggest television networks.
The highest among them stood at 4.73%.
The lowest had dropped to 4.41%.
As for the rest, they were simply the seasonal original anime produced by regional stations across the country, all buried beneath the same overwhelming shadow.
Popularity and influence do not spread overnight.
Since Re:Zero had begun airing in July of the previous year, and it was now already mid-March, more than half a year had passed. It was only natural that the series had now entered the height of its fame.
The clearest proof came from its Blu-ray sales. The first volume, released again alongside the fifth, surpassed 140,000 copies in its first week.
At the same time, as the undeniable core of the phenomenon, Sora's personal account broke past the ten million follower mark that very week.
And one after another, advertising agencies from across Japan began reaching out to him on their own initiative, hoping to negotiate product placements in the remaining episodes before Re:Zero season two finished airing.
The animation media, meanwhile, had practically become a chorus of praise for Sora and Re:Zero.
On another front, Southern Alliance TV's listing plan officially entered motion, and because of the astonishing performance of its animation division, negotiations over its nationwide broadcasting qualification had also entered their most critical phase.
The cake of the anime industry does not magically grow larger on its own.
The profits Sora and Southern Alliance TV were earning through Re:Zero's popularity were, in essence, profits taken back from the mouths of the capital's four major networks.
After Sora won a string of major awards the previous year thanks to Re:Zero's first season, all four of those networks had sent people to approach him, hoping to recruit him to their side.
He refused all of them.
And because of that, the relationship between Sora and those four networks had become rather delicate.
Trying to suppress Re:Zero season two now was clearly unrealistic. Its popularity had already reached such a level that even if they brought out legendary Kantokus who had not released anything in years, there was no guarantee they could hold Sora down.
But the threat posed by Sora and Southern Alliance TV working together was very real, and the losses those four networks were suffering were equally real.
So in truth, all five sides understood the same thing.
Whatever TV anime Sora made after Re:Zero would absolutely face a united assault from the four major networks.
There was no way they would sit by and watch a genius Kantoku like him continue carving away such a massive share of the industry's profits.
He had to be brought down now, while his foundation was not yet fully stable, while his body of work was still small, while his fans had not yet become unshakably loyal.
Two years after debuting.
Three anime works.
And he had already risen to the top tier of the animation industry.
For many people, the anime world simply did not allow someone that absurd to exist.
During the final two weeks of March, episodes twelve and thirteen - the last two episodes of the first half of Re:Zero season two - aired one after another.
Subaru Natsuki met the Witch once again, for the third time in the world after death.
And the true horror of Echidna was finally revealed.
Four hundred years ago, she had told Beatrice to wait for "that person."
But in truth, it had only been an experiment.
She never knew who that person would be. The reason she said those words to Beatrice was simply because she wanted to see how many years an immortal spirit like her could endure loneliness. If "that person" never appeared, then at what point would Beatrice finally choose to end her own life?
Or else, after how much suffering would she choose someone of her own accord, someone she herself acknowledged as "that person," and finally step out of the Forbidden Library that had trapped her for centuries not with chains, but with the prison of her own heart?
For nothing more than amusement, Echidna had condemned the daughter she herself created, Beatrice, to four hundred years of loneliness with a single sentence.
After that episode aired, Echidna's reputation among the fans plummeted violently.
Then, in episode thirteen, Roswaal openly admitted that the Bowel Hunter who attacked the mansion had been sent by him. His goal was to make Subaru, the one who possessed Return by Death, understand that the desire to save everyone was mistaken - arrogant, even. He could only save the one person who mattered most.
Emilia in the Sanctuary.
Rem in the mansion.
Choose one.
That was the trial Roswaal had prepared for the protagonist.
And so the first half of the season ended on the image of Subaru with his expression completely falling apart, having exhausted all of his wisdom and still unable to think of any way to break the deadlock before him.
And in the end, it was Otto Suwen who appeared before Subaru at the very moment he was on the verge of collapse.
Winter season ended just like that.
April arrived.
The weather in Tokyo had finally begun to warm.
In his office, Sora was going over the usual work matters with Sumire.
"Next week, volumes five and six of the Re:Zero Blu-ray will be released together. The distributor suggested holding a signing event for you in Tokyo, Kantoku Sora."
"I don't have time for that. Five Centimeters per Second is already in the middle-to-late phase of production, and there's still a lot that needs to be handled. Forget the signing event."
"Also, part of the overseas broadcasting rights fees for Re:Zero season one has already come in. About that money - "
"Starting next month, the promotional campaign for Five Centimeters per Second begins. Put it into that."
"Southern Alliance TV is also hoping you'll appear in one of their variety programs. What do you plan to do?"
Hearing that, Sora fell silent for a moment before replying.
"Fine, I'll go. Re:Zero wouldn't have reached its current popularity without Kantoku Ryo Yukishiro and Southern Alliance TV. I can't just leave people behind completely after becoming successful."
Sumire nodded, then continued.
"There's one more thing. Someone from Southern Alliance came to ask whether you have any ideas or plans at all for Re:Zero season three. If you do, they're still willing to invest a large amount in advance, just like they did with season two."
As she spoke, curiosity showed plainly on her face.
"At least for the near future, there won't be a third season," Sora said with a smile.
"I haven't fully worked out my ideas for the continuation yet. We'll talk about it again when the script details for season three are actually complete."
"I see…" Sumire's expression tightened a little.
In truth, Yume Animation had established its foothold in the Japanese anime industry almost entirely through Re:Zero alone.
The fact that Sora had no intention of making season three yet was both good news and bad news.
From the positive side, an animation studio with several hundred employees could not possibly survive on a single title forever. Sooner or later, it had to diversify.
But from the negative side, if Sora released a brand-new work, catching up to Re:Zero's level of popularity again would be incredibly difficult.
Southern Alliance TV obviously wanted Sora to keep making Re:Zero forever, until the seas dried up and the rocks crumbled.
But for Sora, who had more than one path open to him now, that was no longer the most profitable option.
After all, the emotional value he had earned through Re:Zero over the past half year was already enough to exchange for many works with even greater commercial potential.
"By the way, how is the trailer editing for Five Centimeters per Second coming along?" Sora asked.
"If it's just the trailer, it'll be finished in three days. But as for the final film itself… with the current schedule, things are still pretty tight," Sumire replied.
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