Hey, guys! In case you aren't already aware, I've adopted this story from my friend Panic Abandon. She stopped working on Redemption of Service a couple years ago for her own personal reasons, but we've both agreed that it has far too much delicious potential to simply rot on her account. This will be the first story I've ever adopted and I'm really excited about it! I vow to do my best to honor the plot and direction of RoS that Panic originally had planned.

I hope you will continue to enjoy it, even in the event that it is being passed off to another author.

Summary: Time is reset and Mur Mur grants Akise Aru the opportunity to experience a love he could never have. How strong is it truly, and will it be enough to get Yukiteru through this third and final Survival Game?

Note: The prologue (or the beginning) of this story references Paradox, jumps to the Second world for a recap, and then kicks off in the Third world. Because Paradox does not seem to contradict or conflict with any of the three worlds, it could easily be considered canon. In this story, the events of Paradox take place just before the start of the survival game in the Second world. This is the kind of set-up Panic was going for. It's nice and clean.

I think that should clear up a lot of things for those who may have been confused during their first read.

Here we go!

"What are you saying...?"

Darkness frames the exposed memory as Akise Aru leans further into the crevice and peers inside. He can't understand what he is seeing or what significance it holds for him, but he is certain of one thing: it is something important; something Mur Mur doesn't want him to see.

"Akise Aru! No one is supposed to see that!" The little demon is frantic, but Akise is too submersed in the unfolding revelation to hear her.

Recollections as fresh as today begin to vacate his mind—his very is essence eroding away at an alarming rate—but he concentrates on the playback presented on the wide screen operated by wheels and cogs from within the robotic 'Mur Mur' contraption.

He has promised himself that he will see this whole thing to the end, this...whatever it is he has gotten involved with. It is much too late to look away now.

Aru turns the knob on the volume and listens. The Mur Mur addressing the girl inside the memory world hands over a familiar device. Her next words are muttered in a guarded voice, but the young sleuth hears them all too clearly. A rush of cold dread spreads through his chest as the demon provides clear instructions for Gasai Yuno.

"...Take this phone and become God."

Shortly after this scene, the screen dims and then switches off completely, leaving the compartment dark and quiet. The detective's diary owner tilts his head to stare at his female companion who has been watching along side him, light brows furrowed with confused anticipation and mouth slightly agape.

But the lost look on the priestess' face is telling: Neither of them can make sense of the discovery they have just made.

Second is God…?

But—

"You're out of time…" Tsubaki softly interrupts his train of thought, a somber, reluctant look claiming her lovely features. Her voice sounds frail, tired, but there is a sense of urgency in her jewel-like eyes that brings him back. Entranced despite himself, Akise watches her for a moment before leaning over to kiss the side of her raven crown. Her pale hands fall away from his own, dainty fingers brushing over his wrist before leaving completely, knowing that if she holds onto him any longer she will suffer the absence of his comfort greatly when he is gone.

Aru looks down at the phone in his hand, watching the text on the screen transform with a tell-tale, digital sound.

Dead End, it reads in the usual, bold and grim font.

It's over, he snaps the device closed with quiet confirmation. His shoulders slump as he lets loose a sigh. This case—if he can even call it that—will have to go cold, but to what end? Nothing makes sense...He now has questions about his original questions.

The whole thing is entirely unsettling.

Something metallic flashes in Aru's peripheral vision. With his eyes, he follows the short height of a figure poised on a platform above him, ruby gaze intensifying as it slowly travels upward...

It is a boy wielding a sword.

His gestures seem tight and mechanical as he hunches forward and points the sharp end in Aru's direction. Though his face is obscured by the shadows of his brunet hair and hat, the detective is overwhelmed by a sense of familiarity that causes him to stiffen, even as the assailant begins to move.

...Who is that?

Something tells him he should know—that he does know. The boy with the orange hat drops down onto the platform just below him and lifts his head as he straightens his body, sizing the detective up with an impassive stare. Akise returns the look with an apprehensive one. Staring into the boy's glazed over blue eyes evokes a strange calm within him.

Certainly, he must be insane to feel this relieved that his demise lay in the hands of a person he can't seem to recall...

"Kill him, Amano Yukiteru!" Mur Mur demands, cackling like a villain out of one of her exaggerated comics. Her eyes shine with a prospect of something...

Something only known to her.

This world—this accidental space—will get a reset. She made an unwise decision when choosing Akise Aru her partner after putting a hole in the Cause and Effect, but she promises the next world will certainly make up for it.

Though he was her ultimate error, she understands that she would have been in a heap of trouble if the silver-haired boy had not agreed to help her out…

For that, she has him to thank.

Mur Mur bites down on her lip and shut her eyes as Yukiteru runs the sword through the detective's throat.

Time is up.

The trance set to control the First lifts as he draws the sword. Yukiteru can't remember where he is or what he was doing, but the result of one unconscious effort gleams scarlet against the end of the blade in his hand.

What had he just done?

Aru feels the blood pooling in his throat and fails to stifle a choked cough, resulting in a thin trail of crimson that dribbles from his mouth and down his chin. The look of recognition in the brunet's eyes is baffling, but it also makes his heart swell with relief.

He can faintly remember.

"Yukiteru-kun..."

You may never know my feelings for you, however…

At least he can see the boy he had saved is alive and well again; he can see him one last time.

Mur Mur cannot not fully understand what is transpiring. Akise's body goes lax and he falls limp into a pair of arms that open automatically to catch him.

What was this? Why is First reacting, when…

"It doesn't have to be love at first sight, you know."

"...It's not like that. It's just love."

An unidentifiable sentiment threatens to overwhelm her as Mur Mur watches the diary owner's shoulders shake, and his body wrack with unrestrained sobs.

It's kind of like something out of a shoujo manga…Is this really love?

The feeling is so foreign that it troubles her and she represses the urge to let it conquer the resolve she has established for the second and final time. Akise Aru had been nothing but a pawn instigated to recover the evidence in her mistake. He doesn't mean anything.

He is expendable; he is nothing at all.

But, something tells her that this isn't true.

Mur Mur reminds herself that the pale-haired detective has been nothing short of contemptible and ignorant, foiling all of her plans in this world for the sake of his foolish feelings. She had thought they were petty and that they would never come to mean anything in the end, but had she been wrong?

The next world created would give her the answer, she decides.

Akise Aru, just how strong is your 'love'?