Akatsuki Translations

“Don’t make me laugh. What do you mean by ‘perfect score’?” Harold spat out with as much contempt as he could muster. He knew full well it was pointless, but showing a meek attitude wouldn’t improve the situation either.

Even though Justus had the appearance of a cute little girl, Harold felt he had to deliberately stir up his rebellious spirit or risk being swallowed by Justus’s madness. Whether aware of Harold’s inner turmoil or not, Justus’s smile never faltered.

“Still so sharp-tongued even in this situation,” Justus mused. “Ah, perhaps your precognition predicts you’ll escape this predicament?”

“Hah, who knows?” Harold retorted.

“You’re not denying it, I see. Well, it doesn’t matter either way,” Justus said.

With a creak of the chair, Justus sat down, facing Harold who was on his knees. Unlike the previous cell, there were no bars separating them. Yet Justus crossed his legs right in front of Harold, seemingly without a care in the world.

The posture, unbecoming of a young girl, created a sense of dissonance. The smile from earlier had faded, replaced by an unreadable expression as Justus looked down at Harold.

Harold couldn’t fathom what Justus was thinking. He knew the objectives, methods, and motivations depicted in the game, but that was merely information he had been given. He had never truly understood the logic behind Justus’s thoughts and emotions.

“Harold, I find your existence interesting. Do you know why?” Justus asked.

“It’s none of my business. I don’t care to know,” Harold replied.

“Hmm, that doesn’t seem to be a lie. Come to think of it, you’ve never directly lied to me before,” Justus observed.

Harold’s face twisted slightly with bitterness at Justus’s words. The observation was true, and it was terrifying to realize just how much Justus had seen through him.

“You thought if you lied to my face, I’d see through it. Isn’t that right?” Justus pressed.

Harold remained silent.

“That implies you have secrets you don’t want me to know. Your power of precognition being one of them,” Justus continued, no longer phrasing it as a question. His tone suggested he had already reached this conclusion, as if proving a mathematical equation.

“Precognition is nonsense,” Harold scoffed.

“Your actions have been too suspicious for that statement to hold water,” Justus countered.

Harold had to admit Justus had a point. Especially his recent movements—Justus must have been aware of them, likely anticipating Harold’s eventual betrayal and preparing countermeasures accordingly.

“After eliminating impossible possibilities, whatever remains, however improbable, must be closest to the truth. It’s elementary,” Justus stated.

“And that conclusion is precognition? Even if that’s true, what do you intend to do about it?” Harold asked.

“Nothing at all. Even if there were a way to obtain such power, it’s not of interest to me,” Justus declared.

Harold could tell this wasn’t a lie or bravado. That very certainty sent a chill down his spine. Precognition was undeniably powerful—Harold had relied on it to survive thus far. Normally, one would be extremely cautious of an enemy possessing such an ability.

“I know you’re indifferent to others, but if you’re not even interested in the power to foresee the future, I don’t see why you’d be interested in me,” Harold said.

“Well, to put it simply, your very existence is what intrigues me,” Justus replied.

Harold’s very existence. While the exact implications weren’t clear, an ominous feeling crept over him. This feeling solidified into near certainty with Justus’s next words.

“The various anomalies you embody—including precognition, if we’re to count that. Considering these factors, you are an existence that deviates from the laws of this world,” Justus explained.

“…What are you getting at?” Harold asked warily.

“It’s still a hypothesis, but allow me to ask this: Harold Stokes, who are you?”

While the question might seem philosophical on the surface, it was clear that wasn’t Justus’s intent.

Justus was seeing something in Harold beyond just Harold Stokes. Though he didn’t seem to fully grasp the principle or true identity, he had a vague sense of Kazuki Hirasawa’s existence.

Faced with that emotionless voice and piercing cold gaze, Harold couldn’t help but feel this way.

“…I don’t understand your question. I am who I am,” Harold replied.

“You really are bad at lying, aren’t you? Well, I suppose I’d have gotten a similar answer whether my hypothesis was correct or not,” Justus mused.

“Hmph, did your guess miss the mark?” Harold retorted.

“Not necessarily. The fact that we’re having this conversation is, in a way, a small proof of my hypothesis,” Justus said.

Harold couldn’t read Justus’s thoughts at all. Why would just talking like this prove his hypothesis?

Now that events had diverged significantly from the original story, Harold’s knowledge of the plot was becoming less useful. It was terrifying to think that even a single word or reaction might be giving away clues without him realizing it.

Facing this man, Harold felt his suppressed fear of death threatening to resurface.

“That’s great for you… So, what do you intend to do with me?” Harold asked.

“If prioritizing the success of my plan, you’d be considered the most dangerous obstacle. It would undoubtedly be safer to kill you, but…” Justus trailed off.

Justus’s eyes, usually lifeless and aptly described as “dead fish eyes,” now gleamed with an eerie light, perhaps due to his possession of Sarah’s body. Those eyes, tainted with madness, seemed to be looking at Harold yet seeing something else entirely.

“Harold, you represent possibility for both me and her,” Justus said.

“Possibility…?” Harold echoed.

“Yes, indeed. You hold the potential to render my plan worthless.”

Harold had no idea what Justus was talking about.

Justus’s plan was to resurrect his lost love, Estelle—or more precisely, to recover her astral body and affix it to a Star Child’s base, creating a pseudo-resurrection.

To achieve this, he needed to expose the planet’s core and synchronize himself with it, a reckless act that could cause the core to collapse and continents to sink.

While Harold was indeed trying to stop this plan, he wouldn’t describe it as “rendering the plan worthless.” By talking about possibility, Justus seemed to be implying that Harold possessed something that surpassed his existing plan.

However, no matter how much he thought about it, Harold couldn’t imagine holding such a trump card.

“Have you finally lost your mind?” Harold asked.

“Shall we find out? Is it me who’s insane, or is it this world?” Justus challenged.

Harold swallowed the urge to say, “No, you’re definitely the crazy one.” There was no point in throwing insults or sarcasm at Justus.

Instead, his priority was to gather as much information as possible from this bewildering situation and find a way out. So he closely observed Justus, who wore Sarah’s appearance and spoke with enthusiasm.

“Well, either way, it’s a trivial matter,” Justus continued. “As long as I can achieve my sole purpose, I don’t care if everything in this world goes mad.”

This was undoubtedly a sincere statement from the depths of his heart.

For Justus, the only thing that mattered was Estelle’s existence. If he could reclaim her, he didn’t care if he or the world went insane. It could truly be called a manic love.

“Let’s return to our discussion,” Justus said. “Harold, I believe you harbor an existence within you that differs from yourself, don’t you?”

Without any pretense, Justus casually uttered these words that cut straight to the core.

Harold couldn’t fathom how Justus had arrived at this conclusion, but he had always had a near-certain feeling that it would be discovered someday. That’s why he had been most wary of this very situation.

“I believe your abnormality is completely different from multiple personality disorder or dissociative symptoms,” Justus explained. “It’s not a case of a single self splitting, but rather two separate selves existing within one physical body.”

Kazuki, who was currently controlling Harold’s body and thoughts, indeed possessed a self clearly distinct from the original Harold sleeping within. From Kazuki’s perspective, they had existed in entirely different dimensions to begin with.

If even Justus described it as deviating from the laws of this world, it must be an exceptionally rare phenomenon, likely unique to Harold in this world. Justus seemed to see some kind of potential in this.

“I took the liberty of investigating while you were asleep,” Justus continued.

While asleep? Had it been days since the battle in Baston? To Harold, who had been unconscious, it felt like only a few hours ago, or at most yesterday. Perhaps the situation was even more dire than he had realized.

“That’s quite belated,” Harold remarked.

“It shows how cautious I was. One can never be too careful when unsure what traps might be set,” Justus replied.

It seemed unlikely that Justus had orchestrated the entire Baston incident just for this, but perhaps he had used part of his plan to exhaust Harold and capture him safely. If so, Harold had fallen right into the trap.

Harold hadn’t actually set any traps. At most, he had thought, “If attacked, I’ll just knock everyone out and escape.” If this simple mindset had appeared eerie to Justus, perhaps he wasn’t as omniscient as he seemed.

“But as a result, I discovered that your body houses two astral bodies. Two astral bodies in one human body… this is theoretically impossible,” Justus said.

“…Like precognition?” Harold asked.

“Indeed, this too symbolizes your abnormality. To conclude, I was utterly unable to unravel the principle behind the phenomenon occurring within you.”

“Admitting defeat doesn’t seem like you,” Harold scoffed.

“I merely can’t unravel it ‘yet.’ Given enough time, that limitation won’t apply,” Justus countered.

The idea of a real-world human possessing a game character, or a person from a world eerily similar to a game, seemed like an act of god. Yet Harold felt that if anyone could reach that realm, it might be Justus.

“So rest assured. I won’t kill you until I’ve unraveled this phenomenon,” Justus said.

“…Why? Why are you so—”

“Fixated on you, on this phenomenon, you mean?”

Justus’s smile deepened, the madness in it intensifying.

“Because if I can just solve this mystery! Estelle and I could be together in the same body, the same world, closer than anyone or anything else! Literally becoming one might not be just a dream!”

Justus spoke of sharing the same body, being together, and potentially becoming one. He called it a dream-like possibility.

For Justus, achieving this with Estelle must seem wonderful. It was fitting for a man who would accept the world’s destruction to reclaim her.

But…

“That’s laughable,” Harold spat, his words colder than usual. The reason was the intense anger welling up from the depths of his stomach.

Justus had called Harold’s current situation wonderful, dream-like. He had no idea how much Harold had suffered, worried, and experienced fear and sorrow over these eight years.

Moreover, Kazuki Hirasawa had lost his hometown and even his own physical body, unsure if he could ever reclaim them. Yet driven by the desperate desire to live, he had struggled and fought his way through.

All of this was to live and reach the story’s ending, to thwart this man’s plans.

“Utterly ridiculous. But if that’s what you want, I’ll never let you fulfill that wish,” Harold declared coldly.

“Your tone suggests you understand to some extent what’s happening to you,” Justus observed.

“Even if that’s true, I have nothing to tell you.”

“I see. As I predicted, the truth serum seems to have no effect.”

Apparently, Harold had been administered a truth serum before waking up. Perhaps the earlier conversation itself was proof of the hypothesis because the ineffectiveness of the truth serum was related to Harold possessing two astral bodies.

If it were similar to the substance from Harold’s original world, it should have clouded his consciousness and made quick responses difficult. Justus was as thorough as ever.

Justus snapped his fingers.

The door opened, revealing more than ten men who had apparently been waiting outside. Among them were some familiar faces, the most prominent being Cody.

They had two things in common: their attire indicated they were all members of the knighthood, and their eyes were the same “sky blue” as Justus’s.

“Did you foresee this future, Harold?” Justus asked.

As he spoke, the Justus wearing Cody’s appearance drew his sword. The other knights followed suit, each wearing a faint, lifeless smile.

Unbelievable as it seemed, not just Sarah and Cody, but all of them were likely manifestations of Justus’s split consciousness.

“Well then, shall we begin the next experiment?” Justus announced in the girl’s voice.

The space around them was the very embodiment of madness.