"What are you so frustrated about, Michinaga? Sure, that job was cancelled... but we can always get some other job—"
"Yeah, but doesn't it strike odd to you? It was a big job since it was a really oversized house, but suddenly we lost contact with the people in charge and the renovation was cancelled without prior notice."
Keiwa turned his head towards the two young men sitting a few tables from him as he took his time to enjoy his tanuki ramen. The two looked like they worked at some construction sites nearby. But well, that shouldn't be strange. Even construction workers have to eat to regain their strength. Keiwa resumed eating before the people from the other table started to exclaim in a very loud voice again.
"Cut that out, Michinaga! Are you always this excited over some kitsune udon? You haven't really changed—"
The guy called 'Michinaga' glanced up at his friend before making a sour face at him. "Shut up, Tohru! I just liked it a lot, okay? Plus, the tofu skins here are the bomb!"
That comment made 'Tohru' laugh aloud as Keiwa shook his head over the light banter. But as he was about to finish drinking his udon soup, something about the earlier conversation topic made him pause.
Wait... kitsune?
Was there something he needed to remember about a fox?
.
He had just come out from a meeting about a charity drive their organization was supposed to help out with, in a week. It was a small orphanage that he happened to be familiar with, which currently had been struggling with raising some funds to manage the upkeep of the place as well as taking care of the orphans living there. So he thought about suggesting that they organize a small event to raise some funds for the orphanage while also inviting some celebrities to promote the charity drive. His team leader was quick to take in his suggestion and praised him for his good idea. So the only thing left now was to choose which celebrity who might be interested in working with them...
Keiwa glanced up towards the billboard on the building right across the street from where he was standing. It was an advertisement featuring an idol promoting a cafe outlet. Should he try finding some kind of idol to help out with his event? He hastily shot down the idea. He's still just a newbie in this field, how could he suddenly want to rope in some famous idol for his first assignment? He passed by another billboard featuring a young male model promoting his new photobook. The young model was referred to as an up-and-coming star who recently had taken the industry by storm.
Should he try to look for some models or social media influencers for his event instead? One with a decent following but wouldn't be too expensive for him to request their service?
But then suddenly Keiwa let out a frown. He glanced back at the billboard that he just saw. A star? Shouldn't that catchphrase be a "Star of the—"? Wait... what was that catchphrase again? And something about that male model... it wasn't the face that he thought he remembered? Was there some other famous model whom he used to know?
Why did it feel as if there was someone important that he seemed to have forgotten suddenly?
xxx
"Where is Ace?"
Suddenly everything starts to make sense! The reason why he kept feeling that something—no, someone—had been missing in his life. It was because of Ace! It's because Ace had disappeared! And THAT doesn't make any sense!
Because Ace should have won the last Desire Royale. Ace should have had his wish granted. Ace should now have saved his mother and be reunited with her and ended the Desire Grand Prix altogether! But that was not what was happening right now. And it was giving him a very bad feeling about it.
Because it felt that instead of Ace getting his deepest wish granted, it was Ace who made HIS wish come true instead.
.
Everything started to come together inside his mind right now. While his parents were still very much dead, there were still a few other things that have turned out differently since the last time he fought in the DGP. For one, he recalled the fireman whom he saw earlier and realised the reason why that person had felt somewhat familiar to him. It was the same fireman who once fought in the DGP prior to him joining the game! And then the child that that fireman had saved earlier, it didn't really hit him before... but the mother of the child had looked like Taira-san's wife! And he might have imagined it, but he might have seen Taira-san himself amongst the people in the crowd looking so relieved when the child had been taken down from the tree.
The DGP players whom he knew had died in the previous DGP games had been revived. And if he wasn't wrong about it—the two guys whom he happened to encounter at the soba restaurant before—those two people must really be Michinaga-san and his friend Tohru! Those people were now alive and living their lives happily! As much as the realisation should have made him happy, THAT was his wish, not Ace's. He didn't win the last Desire Royale so he could not get his wish for the DGP to continue (in order to save the players that have been sacrificed) granted. And Ace would've made sure to stop the admins from continuing to use his mother!
Yet why was his wish the one that had been granted?
Keiwa shook his head hastily. No, it wasn't JUST his wish that had been granted. He thought about the things his sister had told him about Neon in the morning. As much as Neon didn't exactly have her wish about finding true love granted, she was still on her way to reaching out to make that dream come true. And Neon herself seemed to be happy as well. But since she had been eliminated from the game in the last Desire Royale, she should have lost the memory of wanting to find someone who genuinely loved her... but that didn't happen. And he himself, somehow found himself already securing a proper job instead of working part-time here and there.
How could all these things be happening to all of them? Ace must have done something, for sure. How could... all three of them—Michinaga-san, Neon-san, him—seem to have received their 'happy ending' yet Ace...
Somehow Ace had disappeared as if he had never existed!
.
A stray tear started to streak down his cheek as he realised the reason why he suddenly felt sorrowful just from looking at random billboards and NOT finding any hint of the person who referred to himself as the 'Star of the Stars of the Stars'. How could he be happy if the happy ending he received right now was only made possible by someone else's sacrifice? How could he be happy... if Ace was gone?
Keiwa turned his glance towards Tsumuri again.
"Tell me... Tsumuri-san. What had Ace done in the last Desire Royale?"
Tsumuri stared back at him silently, before stepping back without a word. "I cannot tell you—" she started to say before continuing, "—is what I would have said usually. But since your sponsor had also insisted that you be told of the answer to your question, I will tell you what Ace has done."
Keiwa frowned. "Sponsor? You mean, Kekera-san? What else did that scheming frog planning right now?"
Tsumuri just shrugged at him. Without another word, Tsumuri took out a small board that Keiwa immediately recognized as a Desire card. Or more specifically, Ace's most recent Desire card entry.
[Give me the option to take my mother's place so that the DGP will resume in this world and grant my friend's wish.]
As he read the words written on the Desire card, Keiwa had to painfully acknowledge the red [DONE] stamp on the card that reinforced the fact to him that Ace's wish had already been granted. Keiwa felt his legs suddenly losing strength as he collapsed to the ground.
.
How could Ace have chosen to make this wish? How could he think that SACRIFICING himself could make anyone happy?
Even as the thoughts started to form inside his mind, Keiwa already knew the answer to his questions already. It was because of him. It was because of the harsh things he had said to Ace before...
"My dad and my mum—our whole family—just living life together was enough for us to be happy. And yet, the Goddess took even that from us... all to grant someone else's happiness."
Keiwa started sobbing as soon as the full realization hit him. It was his fault. It was his fault that Ace was gone from this world. It was because of his THOUGHTLESS, CRUEL words!
It had never been Ace's fault for the things that had happened during the course of the Desire Grand Prix's run. It was never Ace's mother's fault for the things that happened to his own parents! Ace's mother... had never wanted to be made into the Goddess of Creation for the people running the DGP. He shouldn't have placed all the blame on Ace and his mother!
And now because of him, Ace had turned himself into a 'tool' for the people of the future to continue running the Desire Grand Prix.