Chapter 5:

"Gh..." Subaru didn't fall over this time. He tried to breathe, but rising vomit in his throat stopped him from doing so. He stumbled forward and placed a hand against the wall in front of him, and vomited. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.

"How… am I supposed to live..."

Subaru slammed his head against the wall in front of him.

Tears welled in his eyes at the helplessness of the situation.

He took a deep breath and said, "So… that makes four deaths..."

He began thinking.

Even though that woman had been strong, she had killed Hans way too late. He might be able to get her to kill him faster if he were to warn her beforehand that he was going to attack. If only he hadn't been frozen in fear when she had answered the door. He might not be here right now.

He shook his head and decided that that idea was as good as he was going to come up with. Subaru checked his phone before he began to run to that woman's house again. Subaru's phone read 21:01.

I'll make sure to get as much information as possible, just if this loop fails.

Subaru made it to the stairs about five to seven minutes later. Every second counted, so he checked his phone regularly.

Subaru walked down the stairs, using his phone for light, and not being nearly as careful as last time.

He reached the bottom after a minute or so. This time he ignored the papers and instead went right over to the door.

He knocked three times.

He heard a click from behind the door, and it opened, revealing Hans' sister.

Before she could even speak, Subaru said, "I'm Natsuki Subaru, I'm being hunted down by your brother 'Hans' right now. Could you please help?"

She narrowed her eyes, and spoke. "Hmm… Ignoring how you knew where I am, and even how you know I'm that monster's sister, isn't it incredibly rude not to let me, the person you've come to see, even introduce themself~?"

"I'm Selena, with no family name~."

Subaru nodded, "Yeah, sorry about that. It's just that I'm in a bit of a hurry right now. Hans is probably heading down those stairs as we speak. Oh, and he can use magic, I think. Something like Shamak? Anyways, I just thought you should know that so you can fight him properly, you know?"

Subaru rushed through the dialogue. His heart pounded in his chest. Hans could come at any moment, and last time he had died because he hesitated, so this time he absolutely wanted Selena to be prepared to fight Hans.

Selena glared at him. "Have I ever said that I was going to fight him~? Hm… I don't even want to see that monster right now. Please tell him to clean up your corpse when he's finished with you."

With that, she stepped back inside and began closing the door. In a panic, Subaru reached out and grabbed her dress. "Please. Help me. I-I'll die if you don't… so..."

"Of course you will. Haven't I already acknowledged that?"

Dropping her usual tone of voice, she glared at him and tore his hand away from her dress. She shut the door, and a soft click came from behind it.

"W-wait, Selena… H-Hey!"

Subaru grabbed the door handle and threw it open. It was only then that he realized his mistake. Some sort of projectile flew out from behind the door, the same one that had killed him in his first loop.

Subaru fell to the ground, dropping his phone, as blood poured out of a large hole in his chest. Blood began pouring into his throat.

"Ah. I thought you knew about the trap, considering how you knew how to get me to answer."

Selena shut the door again.

Subaru writhed in pain, coughing up blood and cursing his own stupidity to hell.

Then, a green-haired man walked over to him. "Oh… My sister's already gotten to you."

Hans clenched his fist around the dagger he was holding.

Subaru glared at the man and spat out more blood.

Hans looked down at Subaru, "Disgusting."

"That aura you have…"

The man shook his head.

And so, there Subaru lay, all alone, surrounded and covered in his blood.

Subaru tried to hold onto life for as long as he could, though eventually he couldn't hold on any longer.

Then, it all stopped.

Subaru stood in the alleyway again. He grimaced and grabbed at his chest. "Ghk-'' His legs felt weak and he almost fell. He shook his head and replaced his fear and nausea with anger.

Subaru stepped forward and forcefully banged his head against the wall again, as he yelled, "I'm so stupid!"

He had been way too panicky in explaining the situation to Selena, and then he opened the door that had a trap rigged behind it.

He clenched his jaw tight and began walking towards Selena's house.

He knocked on the door three times. Once again it opened, and Selena stepped out. "Hmm~ What is it?"

"I need your help."

"Hmm… with what?"

"Someone… is hunting me down. I need your strength to win."

"Fufu, so what payment do you have for me?"

Subaru held up his phone. "This."

"It's a piece of technology from the future. It's-"

"Not interested~. I don't want anything that isn't straight money."

"Hk-"

"If that was all~, then goodbye."

Subaru grabbed her arm. "W-wait… I need you!"

"Don't touch me!"

His arm exploded in pain. He stumbled back, grabbing at his arm, or what was left of it. She had chopped his lower arm off. He screamed in pain and glared at her. "Damn you..."

Then, pain washed over his back. He stumbled and fell facedown. I can't die here. I have to… live a little longer.

Subaru rolled on the floor, blood pouring out of the wound. He bit down and through his lower lip. Blood poured out of his lip. He screamed in pain again.

He heard footsteps walk over towards him.

"Sister."

"Don't call me that, you monster."

Subaru barely noticed their conversation.

Subaru's consciousness was already fading. Ah…

I'm dead.

He took a deep breath, pushing the horrendous feelings inside him down deep.

"So, that's six…"

Just how much longer will this last?

He fell, blood rushing out of his slit neck. He stared at Hans standing above him. This loop had been similar to the last, with him making a mistake and ending up dead. He had messed up while talking with Selena and had been left alone in the dark room.

Blood began filling his mouth.

WhyWhyWhyWhyWhyWhyWhy?

The young man dove to the side, avoiding a slash from his green-haired assailant. He landed on the ground and sprung up, a second of the man's daggers pierced his arm as he got up.

The young man ran over to the desk with papers piled up on top of it. He grabbed the chair near it with his non-injured arm and threw it across the room at the green-haired man. It hit the man, however, he didn't even flinch.

Instead, everything went dark as the man cast an incantation, "Shamak."

The boy reached next to him and grabbed some of the papers off of the desk, which he had his hand nearby when the spell was cast. He threw them forward into the darkness, and ran to the side, with his hand on the wall. He stumbled a few times in the void, but eventually, he got to the stairway. Of course, this was all useless, and he was just doing anything to try to prolong his life.

The spell had left the boy in a pitch-black, absolutely quiet void. Even if he tried he would just fall down the stairs and be killed.

So this is it…

He braced himself for the pain of death again.

I'll have to… to do better next time.

A young man stood in the center of a crowded street. He stood still, and many people, both human and demihuman walked past him. He pulled out his phone and looked at it. "Just a minute or two left."

The young man looked up, and at the sun.

I want to live this time. After all, this is my ninth life. If I die again, I'll have used up all my spare lives.

Chuckling at his morbid joke, the man waited for his killer to appear again.

And appear he did. Subaru was alerted to Hans in a strange way. He heard a voice, though far too quiet for him to hear, in the back of his mind. A moment later he realized that Hans was behind him. He turned around, jumping backward away from a green-haired man who held a dagger. This man had another two daggers hidden somewhere on his person.

"Alright. You've finally decided to appear, Hans."

"Hmph."

Hans leaped forward, in the blink of an eye, he was right in front of where the boy had just been. However, the young man had anticipated his charge and stepped to the side. The boy swung his leg and hit the man's back, causing him to stumble forward.

People around them had begun moving away and forming a circle around the two.

Not good! I need them to use as cover.

Subaru ran back towards the crowd and dove inside. He pushed and shoved people out of his way as he ran.

Subaru heard the man's footsteps following after him. The boy swung around, landing a sucker punch on the man's cheek.

This loop seemed to be going pretty well for him until the assassin stabbed a dagger into the boy's outstretched arm.

Subaru bit his lip, his tooth tore through it, and blood ran down his chin.

Just keep going…

The boy leapt back before the man could remove his dagger.

Ripping the dagger out of his arm, the boy said, "What's wrong Hans? Not used to your victims being able to anticipate your-"

The man threw a dagger towards the boy. It impaled his abdomen. The boy stumbled, and the dagger fell out of him, along with a torrent of blood.

People had once again moved away from them, some were screaming at the sight of the boy.

"Hey Hans… you haven't even used your magic this time…"

"Hey, Hans… why do you hate me so much?"

"Hey Hans… what would your sister think of this? I bet she'd call you a monster."

Subaru wasn't entirely sure of what he was doing. These past couple of loops his mind was starting to get fuzzy from exhaustion.

None of the boy's remarks had gotten any reaction out of the man. However, the last one caused him to grit his teeth. "Don't you talk about her!"

He leaped forward, stabbing another dagger into the boy's chest.

"You can't ever beat me, Hans! After all, I can return by-"

Shadows surrounded the boy as time froze.

Eh- This isn't like Shamak, it's different somehow.

Subaru watched as a shadowy hand made its way out from the shadows and towards his body.

He could tell that it was bad. He tried to move, to get far away from it, but he was completely frozen in this world of shadows.

It slithered up to him and caressed his heart, before grabbing it and squeezing it as if to say that his power was a secret between the two of them.

Pure fear filled the young man, permanently scarring his heart with itself.

Then, time started again, and the shadows left.

"Ghah!"

Subaru fell to his knees and coughed as he grabbed his chest. Sweat dripped down his face.

Hans' eyes widened. His heart rate sped up as his hate towards this young man multiplied.

The man kicked the boy, and he fell onto his face.

Hans stepped over Subaru, pulling out his daggers.

The boy's heart rate was speeding as he shivered, barely even feeling the horrifying things that were happening to him.

I won't ever be able to tell anyone…

And with that, the boy fell unconscious.