Chapter 4: Resurgence

“—Sen… sei! Sen… sei…!”

Noisy.

“—Sensei! Sensei! Sensei, come on, Sensei!”

…Extremely noisy.

Being repeatedly shouted at with that shrill voice, the sticky sleep clinging stubbornly to Glenn’s brain was being forcibly peeled away from his consciousness.

“Ugh! Come on, just wake up already, Sensei!”

“…Wha… what’s that…?”

As if giving in, Glenn lifted his head from where it was slumped over the teacher’s desk and rubbed his sleepy eyes.

“Give me a break… I’ve been insanely busy lately, you know…?”

“I know you’ve been busy, Sensei! But you’re slacking off way too much!”

A delicate finger was thrust right in front of Glenn’s nose. Raising his gaze, he was met with silver hair sparkling as it caught the sunlight and vivid emerald eyes that pierced through both his vision and his soul.

It was Sistine. Her fairy-like, lovely features were twisted into an expression of displeasure.

“Now, now, Sistie. Sensei has a big role to play from here on out, so…”

“Mm. Glenn, poor thing.”

And there was Rumia, offering a wry smile as she tried to calm Sistine down, while Re=L, standing behind her, mumbled sleepily.

Glancing around with a foggy mind, Glenn realized he was in the classroom of Year Two, Class Two.

Kash, Wendy, Gibul, Teresa, Cecil, Lynn, Rodd, and Kai… the usual group, staring at Glenn and the others as always, with their usual mix of exasperation and wry smiles. Truly, a perfectly ordinary scene.

“Haha, come on, Sensei, pull it together!”

“Honestly, Kash-san is absolutely right! People from other schools will be arriving soon, you know! You need to pull yourself together!”

To Kash and Wendy’s words,

“…Huh? Uh, wait… was there something happening today?”

Glenn blinked in confusion.

At that, Sistine immediately flared up.

“Seriously, how long are you going to stay half-asleep!? The selection tournament for the empire’s representative at the Magic Festival, held at this academy, starts today with students from St. Lily Magic Girls’ Academy and Kleitos Magic Academy arriving! The battle begins today, you know!?”

His groggy, sleep-addled consciousness slowly began to piece together his memories.

“…Oh, right. That’s what it was. Ugh, what a pain.”

Thud! Glenn let his forehead slam onto the desk with an exaggerated slump of exhaustion—

From then on, time passed in a whirlwind.

Sistine scolded Glenn for slacking off.

Through a chance conversation, Glenn learned that Sistine aimed to become the Main Wizard to catch up to her revered grandfather, and he found himself wanting to cheer her on.

Soon after, they welcomed the representative candidates from St. Lily Magic Girls’ Academy and Kleitos Magic Academy, who had traveled a long way, to Alzano Imperial Magic Academy as planned.

And so began the welcome exchange party.

At the venue, Sistine, Gibul, Kash, Wendy, and others shared their determination for the selection tournament, while the Class Two students cheered them on.

Amidst all this, Colette and Francine, reunited after a long time, caused a bit of a commotion.

In the midst of that uproar, a sudden appearance by a formidable rival—Levin Kleitos—sparked a fiery competitive spirit in Sistine.

Eventually, the banquet reached its peak—

“Ugh, it’s freezing. Finally get to head home… that damn fox Rize, working me to the bone…”

The cleanup after the banquet didn’t finish until late at night. With full-fledged winter approaching, the biting chill unique to Fejite’s nights gnawed at their bodies as Glenn and the others finally set off for home.

They walked through the streets of Fejite at night, where the shadows of buildings danced like specters.

“Haha… just how many weaknesses does President Rize have on you, Sensei?”

Rumia responded with a wry smile to Glenn, who was grumbling with his robe’s collar turned up.

Behind them, Sistine and Re=L walked side by side.

“I’m glad I got to see Elsa today.”

“Y-yeah, that’s great, Re=L… But, how do I put this… you might want to avoid getting too close to Elsa-san…”

“…? Why not?”

“Well… it’s just… it might be a bit too soon for you, Re=L? Like, it’s a different world…?”

Sistine’s half-lidded, twitching expression met Re=L’s curious head tilt.

“By the way, what was that, White Cat? You were acting pretty out of character today, huh?”

Glenn turned around, teasing Sistine with a grin.

“Who’d have thought you’d get so fired up against Levin, showing off your skills like that?”

“Ugh… it’s not like that… I mean, well… I’m sorry…”

Sistine, seemingly aware of some truth in his words, averted her gaze with an awkward expression.

“Heh. You really want to be the Main Wizard, don’t you?”

“Huh? Oh… Yes… But was that, maybe, too arrogant… Was I out of line?”

“Don’t be stupid. There’s no such thing as a magician who isn’t arrogant.”

Glenn said, shrugging his shoulders.

“Magic itself is an arrogant art, overstepping the boundaries of human limits—…”

He went on, parroting Celica’s words to Sistine, continuing their banter.

Then, in the midst of it all,

(But… about that welcome exchange party earlier…)

Glenn suddenly recalled something that had been nagging at him, glancing toward the depths of a nearby alley.

(That blonde girl with braids sitting next to Gaysorn, the headmaster of Kleitos Magic Academy… why was she eyeing me so warily? Did I do something to her?)

Indeed, while Sistine and Levin were locked in their staring contest, Glenn had noticed a piercing gaze directed at him.

A blonde girl with braids, dressed in the Kleitos Academy uniform—Glenn had no recollection of ever doing anything to earn such a glare from her.

In fact, it was the first time he’d ever seen her.

(Well, since she was there, she’s probably a representative candidate from Kleitos. I’ll likely run into her again. Maybe I’ll ask her about it if I get the chance…)

As Glenn pondered this, he glanced once more at the depths of another alley they passed.

Noticing his odd behavior, Sistine spoke up.

“By the way, Sensei… you’ve been strangely fixated on the alleys around here… Is something wrong?”

“Hm? …Huh? Really?”

Now that she mentioned it, Glenn realized he had been unconsciously checking the alleys… for some reason.

“Uh, is someone in the alley?”

“No… not really?”

That was all Glenn could say.

But what was it? He’d felt like something was about to happen. Like someone was about to emerge from an alley and pick a fight with Sistine—that kind of hunch.

“Haa… ridiculous.”

Glenn let out a deep sigh.

Why he’d felt that way was completely beyond him.

(Guess I’m really worn out…)

Thinking this, Glenn couldn’t help but peek one last time into the entrance of an alley as they passed. And then—

“—!?”

His heart nearly screamed.

There, deep in the alley, stood the figure of a girl.

She was like a ghost. A faintly glowing, translucent body. In the pitch-black void of the alley, only her form vaguely emerged from the darkness.

I’ve seen something I shouldn’t have—a chilling sensation, like ice water running down his spine, surged through Glenn, but…

Upon closer inspection, he recognized the face of the ghostly girl and the strange wings on her back.

“You’re Nameless!?”

Yes. The girl staring at Glenn from the depths of the alley was none other than Nameless, the mysterious, elusive girl who occasionally aided Glenn and the others—a girl who looked exactly like Rumia.

“Having lost my physical body, I now exist as a spiritual being”—that was Nameless’s claim, but she usually appeared in a more solid, tangible form.

Why she now appeared in such an unmistakably ghostly form was unclear, but—

“Nameless!? Oi, what the heck are you doing in a place like that!?”

“Huh!? She’s here!? Nameless-san!”

Reacting to Glenn’s voice, Sistine, Rumia, and Re=L peered into the alley where Glenn was looking.

But—

“Uh, Sensei? Where’s Nameless-san?”

“Come on, Sensei… stop with the weird jokes…”

Rumia and Sistine said, looking up at Glenn.

“Huh!? Are you guys blind!? She’s right there!”

Glenn pointed at the ghostly Nameless standing in the alley.

“…!?”

At that moment, Glenn noticed. Nameless had raised her index finger to her lips, staring at him with eyes that seemed to convey something urgent.

That universally famous gesture could only mean one thing.

(…Stay quiet?)

Glenn tilted his head slightly, and Nameless gave a small nod.

Then, she beckoned with her finger, tilting it toward herself.

That was simple too. In other words, “Follow me.”

With that, Nameless turned and slowly drifted deeper into the alley.

“Hey, come on, Sensei… where’s Nameless-san supposed to be?”

After a brief silence, Sistine, growing irritated, pressed him.

“…J-just a joke! Gotcha! Did I scare you!?”

“Hah!? You idiot! Ugh, seriously!”

“Haha…”

“?”

As Glenn played the fool, Sistine puffed up and snapped at him, Rumia gave a wry laugh, and Re=L blinked, not quite understanding.

Leaving the three girls behind, Glenn dashed toward the alley.

“By the way, I just remembered something urgent! Crap, crap, gotta hurry!”

“H-hey, Sensei!? Where are you—!?”

Ignoring Sistine’s panicked attempt to stop him, Glenn pressed on.

“So, Re=L! I’m counting on you to look after Sistine and Rumia!”

“Mm, I don’t really get it, but leave it to me. I’ll protect Rumia and Sistine.”

Confirming Re=L’s expressionless nod out of the corner of his eye, Glenn chased after Nameless, who had vanished into the alley.

Glenn raced through the complex maze of back alleys, sprinting forward.

Chasing the fleeting glimpses of Nameless at each fork, he pressed deeper.

Soon, he was led to a small plaza hidden deep within the alleys.

Surrounded by buildings on all sides, it framed the starry sky above in a perfect square.

“Finally, you’re here, Glenn… Took you long enough.”

Nameless was waiting in the center of that space.

“Yo, long time no see, Nameless. Man, between the St. Lily crew and you, why’s today such a reunion of old faces…? Whatever.”

Catching his breath, Glenn approached Nameless.

“Why’d you go out of your way to make sure only I could see you? What’s this about? Every time you show up, it’s usually bad news, so honestly, I’d rather you spare me. And what’s with that ghostly, about-to-vanish look? Normally, you’re way more… solid.”

“Don’t rush me. I’ll explain step by step. Let’s see… first, what I need to tell you urgently is…”

With a sigh and a slightly sulky gesture, Nameless said,

“5,045 times.”

“Huh? Five thousand… what?”

“5,045 times. That’s how many times you’ve repeated this week… uh, what was it, that representative selection tournament thing?”

The sheer absurdity of Nameless’s words gave Glenn a headache.

“Sorry, I don’t follow at all. Can you make it clearer—?”

“It’s exactly what I said!”

Nameless shouted, clearly exasperated.

“I’m saying you’ve been repeating this week over and over! Think about how I’ve had to watch the same monotonous scenes for nearly a hundred years!”

“Oi, Nameless… you sure your head’s okay?”

Glenn gave her a skeptical, mocking look, clearly unconvinced.

“Even if I buy this whole ‘repeating’ thing, where’s the proof—?”

“Ugh, fine! We’re out of time, so just shut up!”

In a hurry, Nameless reached out her translucent hand and touched Glenn’s forehead with her finger.

“Oi… Nameless?”

“Finally… I don’t know why, but I’ve finally managed to make contact with you. I’m not letting this chance slip away…!”

With that, Nameless closed her eyes.

“Glenn, dumping thousands of loops’ worth of memories back into you at once would overload your brain and psyche. So, I’ll limit it to the most recent dozen or so to restore your memories.”

“Huh? What are you—?”

Crack!

In the next instant, a jolt like lightning shot through Glenn’s brain.

“Ugh, uoooooooh—!?”

They came flooding back. Memories surged into Glenn’s mind, one after another. Like a carousel of images, they returned.

An endlessly repeating week, the memories of that closed loop—

“Wha— this is—…!?”

The first dozen or so loops were nearly identical in their progression.

On the first day, Sistine woke him up, and he attended the welcome exchange party.

The second day held the first test, the Mana Measurement. The third day brought the second test, the Written Exam.

While sensing something off about Ellen, the selection tournament proceeded smoothly…

Then, from the fourth day, the third test began: the All-Out Magic Duel Battle.

As the name implied, sixty representative candidates faced off in one-on-one duels, competing for scores in the most heavily weighted test of the selection tournament.

Among them, Sistine and Ellen dominated, racking up victories with overwhelming strength—

But in the end, Sistine defeated Ellen, claiming the top spot.

No matter how many times the week repeated, despite slight variations along the way, the outcome was always the same.

(And right after that, the closing ceremony for the selection tournament was held… with old man Edward’s tedious, long-winded speech. Then, the Main Wizard’s name was announced. Naturally, it was—)

Sistine. Having won every match in the heavily weighted duel battle, it was only natural.

Ellen had put up a good fight, to be sure.

In the Mana Measurement, she came close to Sistine, and in the Written Exam, she even surpassed her.

And in the duel battle, Ellen held her own against Sistine—but she could never beat her. No matter how many times it played out, that result never changed.

Ellen, in the end, couldn’t reach Sistine.

(And—that’s the end—Ω (Omega). It immediately connects back to the beginning—A (Alpha) .)

Yes.

The moment Sistine’s name was announced as the Main Wizard, everything went dark—

Everything was swallowed into darkness—

—Sen… sei! Sen… sei…!

—Sensei! Sensei! Sensei, come on, Sensei!

—Ugh! Come on, just wake up already, Sensei!

—Sistine waking him up marked the start of the loop’s beginning (A).

Glenn—no, everyone gathered at the academy—had been unknowingly trapped, endlessly repeating the same unchanging week.

And—Glenn had remembered.

“Ugh…”

The loops had been monotonously identical, but the last one was different.

It was a development that had never happened before.

After the Written Exam on the third day, Glenn had gone to investigate Ellen.

The reason was the unease and suspicion triggered by Ellen solving Celica’s problem. It had compelled him to probe her.

Now, with the memories of the loops restored and the ability to view them objectively, it was clear.

In all the loops prior, Ellen had been unable to solve Celica’s problem, tying with Sistine at 950 points on the Written Exam.

Because of this, despite his suspicions about Ellen’s abilities, Glenn hadn’t acted.

But in the last loop, Ellen had finally grasped the solution, solving Celica’s problem and surpassing Sistine with the highest score.

This was the trigger that caused Glenn to take a different action than before.

And so, Glenn had confronted the suspicious Ellen, pressing her for answers—

—And was killed by a bizarre monster. A mysterious method had torn a massive hole through his chest.

That was the Ω— end of the previous loop from Glenn’s perspective.

Not all memories had returned, but as Nameless had said, this was likely a miraculous divergence—a development “different” from the thousands of loops that had occurred thus far.

“Ugh… O-oegh!?”

Recalling the visceral sensation of death, Glenn instinctively clutched his mouth and crouched down.

“…It seems you’ve remembered, haven’t you?”

Nameless gazed down at Glenn with cold eyes as she spoke.

“What… what the hell!? What kind of situation is this!?”

He didn’t understand. His head throbbed. Chills and nausea wouldn’t stop.

Whether aware of Glenn’s turmoil or not, Nameless spoke with a hint of amusement.

“Heh heh heh, Glenn. The last time, after you died, it was quite the masterpiece! The reactions of your students when they found your blood-soaked body collapsed on the rooftop! ‘Sensei, why!?’ ‘How could this happen!? Who did this!?’… They were all bawling their eyes out!”

“…!?”

“Especially Sistine, Rumia, and Re=L—the way they wailed and their tear-streaked faces! Even that incompetent… what was her name, Eve? Even she went pale, barely holding back tears, trembling as she muttered, ‘It’s my fault.’ Hahahahaha!”

Nameless laughed hysterically, almost recklessly, as if it were the funniest thing.

“Truly ridiculous! It’s a loop, so everything resets anyway! And yet they make such a fuss without realizing it! Sure enough, the loop started again right after—”

Then, Nameless noticed Glenn glaring at her with a demonic expression.

Overwhelmed, she fell silent.

“…Hey, stop it.”

“…Sorry.”

At Glenn’s words, resonating as if from the depths of hell, Nameless obediently backed down.

“I was a bit out of line too. …After all, from my subjective perspective, nearly a hundred years have passed with no change in the situation… the same thing over and over… and for some reason, I couldn’t even interact with you all… I couldn’t talk to anyone, always alone…”

Her earlier irreverent behavior seemed to stem from a rather childish tantrum. Nameless turned away, her expression a mix of bitterness and frustration, complex and unreadable.

“…Anyway, I get this damned situation now. But why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Because I couldn’t interfere until now… This one-week spatiotemporal loop was severed from the normal flow of the timeline… isolated from the branching worlds.”

“…?”

“I’ll reveal a sliver of the truth. I once told you I lost my physical body and became a thoughtform clinging to this world’s Ley Lines, right?”

More precisely, my fundamental essence exists in a different world—an outer cosmos. From there, I project a part of my existence through the Ley Lines… the Amara meridians, using it as an interface to interact with you all.

Why go through such a convoluted process? Because my true essence is something humans could never comprehend. If you tried, your sanity would shatter. So, I appeared in a form humans could still understand—as Nameless. That’s the gist of it.

It felt like incredibly crucial information was being revealed, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.

“Hm? …So, you’re like a fragment of a conceptual entity or something?”

“Well, not exactly, but you can think of it that way. Anyway, the real me exists ‘outside’ this world. Since this repeating week was completely cut off from that ‘outside,’ I couldn’t interact with you.”

“Hold on. That doesn’t add up. The one-week loop is still ongoing, right? So it should still be cut off from the ‘outside.’ How are you able to contact me now?”

Nameless pouted slightly as she responded.

“How should I know!? I’d love to know why I can suddenly contact you… why this world reconnected to mine!”

“…Hey.”

“Sure, there’s always been a certain ‘strong bond’ between you and me. Probably because of that bond, I can now interact with you alone… though the reason for that is unclear.”

“Come to think of it, Sistie and Rumia didn’t seem to notice you…”

“Even so, I couldn’t interact with you until now. The disconnection was that severe. Listen, Glenn. I’ve been observing this repeating week from the ‘outside’ endlessly, but occasionally, there were parts I couldn’t see for some reason. And then, finally, a change occurred… an exception among exceptions in this repeating week. The last loop… on the third day, you were killed by someone. I couldn’t ‘see’ who killed you.”

“!?”

“And somehow, that event acted as a trigger, temporarily connecting our lines, however faintly. …What exactly did you do in the last loop, Glenn?”

“You ask me what I did… I don’t know.”

“Try to remember. It’s important.”

“I don’t know what I don’t know. I don’t recall doing anything special that could’ve caused a change in this loop. But…”

Glenn clapped his hands together with a loud smack.

“I know who’s behind this. It’s Ellen.”

“Ellen? Oh, that loser?”

“You’ve got a sharp tongue. Anyway, Ellen… she’s definitely the mastermind behind this loop. No doubt about it—she’s looping while retaining her memories of each cycle.”

If you repeat something thousands of times, even Celica’s problem could be resolved. Plus, mana refinement… spiritual sensory training, unlike physical training, depends on awareness. If you can carry over the experience of mana refinement as memories, a hundred years of it would naturally enhance your mana. The body remains at its peak growth age too. That’s the secret behind Ellen’s absurdly high abilities.

“Why is that loser looping? Methods aside, what’s her motive?”

At Nameless’s question, Glenn recalled the conversation between Gaysorn and Ellen on the rooftop.

“Probably… Ellen carries the heavy burden of her family’s expectations. She absolutely has to win this selection battle. So, she keeps repeating until she can win—that’s her motive.”

“I see. That’s ironic, then. To go that far and still not beat Sistine even once.”

“It’s the fundamental difference in their potential. It’s harsh, but that’s how the world works sometimes… ‘There are people you can never surpass, no matter how hard you try.’”

Even with extreme training, Ellen, an ordinary person, couldn’t match the genius Sistine.

That was Ellen’s limit—her wall.

To overcome that wall, she’d need a breakthrough, an epiphany… but in this closed-off world and time, such a thing was unattainable.

It’s like an ordinary person practicing swordsmanship on their own, never able to match a genius swordsman.

For an ordinary person to defeat a genius, they’d need to study refined swordsmanship, honed by generations of masters, under a skilled teacher—otherwise, it’s impossible.

Against a singular, transcendent talent, only the weight of history can stand a chance.

“The problem is how Ellen’s managing to loop this week… but either way, the key is Ellen. I need to probe her.”

“I see…”

As Glenn shared his plan with Nameless… it happened.

Nameless’s form suddenly began to waver like a mirage.

“H-Hey…? Nameless?”

“Looks like time’s up.”

Nameless’s flickering form gradually faded into the dark void.

“Glenn, listen. The world doesn’t tolerate contradictions, you know that, right?”

“Y-Yeah… it’s a basic principle of magic.”

“This spatiotemporal loop, repeated thousands of times… it’s already reaching its limit. If it loops any further, the timeline will be completely severed from the original flow and isolated… Look.”

“—!?”

As Nameless focused her will, Glenn’s world abruptly transformed. The world—the space—twisted and contorted, with countless cracks weaving through the void like a net.

It felt as though everything in the world was on the verge of collapsing, crumbling into ruin.

“W-What is this…!?”

“I showed you the distortion of spacetime in a way human senses can comprehend. As you can see, your world is on the brink of collapse, caused by the unnatural repetition of this loop.”

Nameless snapped her fingers, and the world’s distortions became invisible again.

Yet, faced with the truth of a world warped beyond repair, Glenn could only swallow hard.

“If it’s completely severed, you’ll no longer ‘go anywhere.’ You’ll be trapped, repeating the same week for eternity… Yes, forever.”

“…Eternity…”

“Glenn, escape this loop, please. You have a role to play. You can’t stay trapped in this birdcage, treading in place. …For the future, and for the past. And above all, for yourself. So—”

As Nameless pleaded, weaving her words with desperation, her presence grew fainter—

—and soon, she vanished completely.

“…For the future and the past, huh?”

For a while, Glenn stared blankly at the void where Nameless had disappeared, murmuring to himself.

“Honestly, I don’t really get this ‘role’ stuff.”

Glenn fell into quiet contemplation.

Naturally, his thoughts turned to his students. Sistine, Rumia, Re=L.

Images of his students, who would surely seize a brilliant future he could never reach, their smiling faces, flickered in and out of his mind.

So—

“—I can’t let their futures be sealed away.”

With resolve in his heart, Glenn turned on his heel and left the scene.

The next day. Today, the second day, was the day of the first test: mana measurement.

With the morning’s arrival, Glenn headed to the mana measurement venue, as he had in every loop.

At this time, Sistine was already at the venue, so Glenn led Rumia and Re=L toward it.

“A dreadful routine of monotonous tasks begins… or it would’ve been nice if that’s all it was.”

“Huh? Sensei, is something wrong?”

“Nah, it’s nothing.”

Glenn shook his head at Rumia, who tilted her head curiously.

(Here it comes…)

As they approached the mana measurement venue, the Magic Arena—

Whoosh! Suddenly, someone blocked Glenn’s path.

“Hmph. I’ve been waiting for you.”

As always, Fossil, the academy’s magical archaeology professor, appeared before Glenn.

(Tch, what a predictable guy…)

Having inherited some of the loop’s memories, Glenn knew Fossil always showed up at this exact moment.

So—

“I’ve heard about you, you’re Glenn, right? Come on, hurry up and follow m—”

“Take thaaaat!”

“—Daaaaaaaahhh!?”

As Fossil approached, Glenn unceremoniously threw him.

“Guhm!?”

Slammed hard onto the ground, Fossil promptly passed out.

“…Sorry, but I don’t have time to deal with idiots.”

Without sparing Fossil a glance, Glenn continued toward the venue.

“…S-Sensei…?”

Rumia gazed at Glenn’s unusual behavior with a hint of unease.

Upon arriving at the mana measurement venue, a large crowd of students had already gathered.

Students from Alzano Imperial Magic Academy, St. Lily Magic Girls’ Academy, and Kleitos Academy. Everything seemed perfectly prepared.

As usual, three glass cylindrical magical devices stood at the center of the venue.

The students from the three schools were gathered around these cylinders.

And, as always, some students were discussing their enthusiasm for the measurement, while others performed light mana refinement as a warm-up—

“…Now, where’s Ellen?”

Glenn scanned the crowd, searching for Ellen.

“Sensei, what’s wrong? Aren’t we starting the mana measurement? It’s time.”

“Hold on, that comes later.”

Brushing off Sistine’s curious question with a wave of his hand, Glenn continued looking for Ellen.

—There she was. He found her soon enough. Ellen stood at the edge of the venue, her expression unreadable.

Glenn pushed through the crowd of students and strode toward her.

“Sensei? Wait, what…? That Kleitos student over there… No way, is that Ellen? Ellen!?”

Perhaps because Ellen hadn’t appeared on the way back from last night’s welcome party, Sistine hadn’t recognized her in this loop until now. She let out a surprised exclamation, but it didn’t matter.

Glenn marched straight toward Ellen without hesitation.

“Ellen!”

Ellen noticed Glenn approaching.

“…Glenn-sensei? Do you need something from me?”

Ellen responded coolly, but then she froze, as if realizing something.

“…Wait. I haven’t made contact with you this time…”

“I’ve got a lot of questions for you.”

Instantly, Ellen’s face went pale.

“No way… You’re retaining memories too? That’s never happened before… Damn…”

Panicking, Ellen spun around and bolted.

“Wait!”

But Glenn kicked off the ground, closing the distance swiftly and grabbing her arm.

“Kuh!? Let go! Please, let me go!”

“Idiot! Like I’d let you escape!”

As the surrounding students exchanged confused glances, the two shouted at each other.

“I’ve told you over and over! Leave me alone!”

“Like I could do that! Do you even understand the situation!?”

“I understand, I understand! Just a little more! Just a little more, and I can beat Sistine! So—don’t ask me anything now! Please!”

This is bad. She doesn’t get it at all… Suppressing the rush of anger, Glenn yanked the arm of Ellen, who was thrashing like a tantruming child.

“This isn’t the place. Come with me. You’re going to tell me everything.”

“No, I said no! That’s completely out of bounds! Let me go right now! Stay out of my business! Do you want to die that badly!?”

Ellen let out a piercing scream of rejection—at that moment.

Boom! A shock, one Glenn had recently experienced, struck his chest again.

Instantly, the surrounding clamor fell silent, as if doused with water.

Everyone froze, stunned, staring at Glenn in disbelief.

Trembling, Glenn looked down at his chest…

“Guh!? Damn… Again…!?”

As expected, a gaping hole had opened there, blood gushing out like a fountain.

“…Wha…?”

“…S-Sensei…?”

Sistine, Rumia, Re=L, and all the other students.

Faced with this abrupt, incomprehensible phenomenon, they stood rigid as statues, unable to speak or move. Time itself seemed to have stopped.

And then—Glenn, on the verge of death, widened his eyes.

At some point… something stood beside Ellen. Something inhuman, something horrific.

It was a half-mechanized girl, bound with restraints, wings sprouting from her back—the same blasphemous, otherworldly figure from the last loop.

“Th… that thing…!? What the hell… is—gah!?”

Spitting blood, his body trembling like a fevered patient, Glenn barely managed to speak.

Ellen leaned close to him, whispering so only he could hear.

“It’s the Ruler. The guardian of this closed week.”

“…Ruler…? Cough, cough…!”

“I don’t know why you’re retaining memories from the last loop… but it’s futile. This series of loops has several rules. ‘Eliminate anyone who interferes with me or obstructs my goal’… that’s one of the set rules.”

“…R-Rules…!?”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m not some murderer. So, within this closed week’s loop, a death caused by the Ruler acts as a ‘trigger for a special loop.’ That’s another rule… Look.”

At that moment.

Click. A faint sound, like a clock ticking, echoed softly.

The grotesque mechanical girl beside Ellen began to transform.

Her body folded in half, then into quarters. Her arms collapsed, her legs retracted, her neck and torso spun like screws, pulling inward… Her form shrank rapidly.

What kind of mechanism or structure was this? Defying the law of conservation of mass, the grotesque girl folded smaller and smaller and smaller—

Seconds later, she had become a pocket watch, ticking in Ellen’s hand.

Glenn recognized it. That strange, crownless watch.

Ellen turned the watch’s face toward Glenn.

Its hands spun counterclockwise at a ferocious speed.

“Look, see this. This clock is functioning perfectly. The time in this worldline ends here at Ω, rewinds, and returns to the point set as the beginning, A.”

“W-What… is that… watch…!?”

Glenn, coughing up blood, demanded.

But Ellen didn’t answer. She turned away and stepped back from him.

“As long as this watch exists, no one can interfere with me. Well, it’ll be quite painful until the next loop begins… but take your time.”

As everyone stood frozen in shock, Ellen walked away calmly.

Naturally, Glenn, in his current state, had neither the strength nor the energy to pursue her—

“Damn… it…!”

Once again, Glenn collapsed forward into a pool of blood.

And with that as the trigger, the frozen time in the venue finally began to move…

Kyaaaaaaa—!

Screams, wails, and chaos dominated the scene.

Amid his fading consciousness, the pandemonium assaulted the collapsed Glenn.

“S-Sensei!? W-Why!? How!?”

Sistine, the first to rush to him, cradled the dying Glenn, sobbing.

“No… Healing Spells aren’t working at all… Sensei… N-No… No…!”

Rumia, too, wept in shock, pressing on Glenn’s wound.

“Glenn…? No… No! Don’t die… Don’t die, Glenn!”

Even Re=L, usually expressionless, wore a grief-stricken, tearful face.

“Sensei!? Hey, hang in there! What happened!?”

“Y-You’re kidding, right!? Come on! It’s just your usual joke, isn’t it!?”

“Sensei! It’s a lie, it has to be… Sensei—!”

Kash, Colette, Wendy, Francine, even Gibul.

Suddenly, without understanding why, they surrounded the dying Glenn, losing their composure, wailing, screaming, sobbing uncontrollably—the scene was utterly chaotic, far beyond any hope of control.

(…Ugh, these guys are so loud…)

As his consciousness began to fade, Glenn, with eyes growing dim, took one last fleeting glance at the expressions of the students looking down at him. Their faces were—

(Ha, haha… Nameless, you idiot… what’s that supposed to mean?)

Glenn let out a self-deprecating chuckle.

(These faces are a ‘masterpiece,’ huh? That’s a laughable joke… are you out of your mind?)

At that moment, that was the only thought swirling in Glenn’s mind.

Pressing a trembling, blood-soaked hand to the gaping hole in his chest, Glenn thought to himself,

(…My chest hurts…)

And with that,

Glenn’s consciousness sank into the deep, dark abyss—

—This is where it ends—Ω.

And from Ω, it flows back to Α—