"I wish to be able to enjoy a good piece of meat every day."

Michinaga stared down at his plate filled with a generous amount of meat cooked to perfection. What a very expensive dish—the kind that he usually couldn't afford with the kind of allowance he had working manual labour or any other small jobs he could get his hands on in the past. Yet today, as soon as he was pronounced the new Desaity some random guy came over to his small business to deliver a plate of perfectly cooked steak for him. And it was all free of charge!

To think that such a simple trivial wish could be fulfilled like this, just because you won the Desire Grand Prix and became the new Desaity. Then as the new Desaity, he was entitled to get his wish—

Michinaga frowned as he realised something. 'A trivial wish'? Wasn't that what he usually said to Ace in the past?

Recalling all of the 'nonsense' wishes that he knew Ace had made, he belatedly noted how those wishes barely affected much of the world they were living in. At least, not in the way Keiwa's wish as well as his own (during the JGP) affected their world before. He never realised how much thought Ace must have put into every wish they had made during all of the past DGP that they've taken part in. Somehow... now, Michinaga couldn't help thinking about it.

He never realised it before, but could it be possible that the other reason why Ace had always strived to be the final winner was to prevent any other dangerous wishes from being fulfilled? After all, they did witness how Keiwa's seemingly noble wish ended up leading to a disaster. And who knows what other ridiculous wishes had been granted by the DGP in the past?

"The DGP only exist because people won't stop clamouring for their own happiness..."

He sighed. Back then, he used to accuse Ace of only wanting to secure his own happiness (by continuing to win the DGP) at the cost of other people's suffering. Yet it never crossed his mind before to consider the burden Ace must have carried all these times as they tried to keep the title of Desaity from falling into the wrong hands while also trying to search for Mitsume...

So what should they do now? The DGP he just recently won had barely ended without much fiasco. Then, the next one after...

Michinaga turned his head towards the lady sitting on the couch next to him.

"So, when will the next DGP start after this?"

The lady let out a soft sigh. "The next Desire Grand Prix will start once every player receives their Desire Drivers and confirms their entry," said Tsumuri calmly. Michinaga cocked his head at her.

"Tsumuri, aren't you tired of doing this all over? Why couldn't you leave the management and quit becoming the DesiGra's Game Navigator?" he asked as he noticed a slight change in Tsumuri's smile. He could tell that Tsumuri didn't want to be part of the DGP anymore but he didn't get why she wouldn't leave.

Tsumuri just shook her head at him.

"Where else should I go to—?" she started to say. "—And what right do I have to claim my own freedom?"

Tsumuri bit her lips.

"Suel was the one who designed me and... I was the reason why Ace-sama died."

"Eh?"

.

Tsumuri let out a long sigh before resuming her duty as Game Navigator to distribute the remaining boxes to the chosen new players. Michinaga's earlier words came back to mind as she pondered about her future fate. As much as the management has found a replacement for her as the new Goddess in the form of her other 'black' copy, there was no telling how stable the new Goddess really was. It was likely that Suel still intended to turn her into a new 'power source' for the DGP, because why else was she still being kept as a Game Navigator?

And there was still the issue of why Suel hadn't moved on from this world yet despite planning to do so after defeating Ace last time. As if that person was still aiming to reclaim the power that Ace had inherited from her predecessor.

Tsumuri frowned as she recalled the things that she had done in the past. Even if Ace had forgiven her for killing him, she still couldn't reconcile the thought that she wasn't able to stop herself from pulling the trigger that took Ace's life away. And now the Desire Grand Prix had resumed again in this world.

A voice inside her heart told her that she should do something to rebel against Suel. But with her creation powers gone, what else could she do? She didn't even have any way to try to recover Girori and Niram from Suel.

"Tsumuri-san!"

She gasped as a familiar voice suddenly called her from behind. Tsumuri turned around as Ziin walked up to greet her again...

xxx

Neon held her core ID in her hand as she thought about the outcome of the last DesiGra. She didn't manage to win the final round, though she did come close to snatching a win from Michinaga. But it was still a pity that she couldn't become the new Desaity.

She thought that she wouldn't be able to rejoin the DGP again after the last game, but turned out she was still given another chance to participate in the DGP. Could it be that Kyuun had done something to keep her here? If only she could see him again...

Neon thought about the wish she wrote on her last Desire card. A wish to gain power to protect her important people.

If only she was able to get her win... as well as her wish granted, she might be able to regain something that she lost 15 years ago. As in, a certain specific power that she had once received courtesy of her father's wish and Ace's power. Her Fantasy buckle.

If she could recover that buckle... perhaps she could do something to put a stop to the DGP for good and protect her world. If she could do that... perhaps there wouldn't ever be a need for either Keisuke or Eisuke to be dragged into the DGP. But that aside...

What kind of wish should she write on her Desire card this time?

Because once she confirms her entrance into the DGP again, she won't be given a long time to decide on what to write on her Desire card.

.

Just as she was thinking about it, Neon's phone suddenly rang. And then a voice that she thought she wouldn't be able to hear again spoke out from the other end of the call...

xxx

"Inugami... Eisuke-kun?"

Ace turned around towards the two strangers before calling out to his friends to tell them to head home without him. He frowned as he eyed the two strangers; one, a young man in a simple suit and very short hair, and the other one, a very pretty lady in a black-white dress and long hair. For some reason, he could sense something familiar about the pair, despite their strange appearances. The young man had an odd white and blue streak of hair on his head... and the pretty lady was wearing a mismatched pair of tall boots. He frowned at them.

"Is there... something that I can help you?" asked Ace immediately. Especially considering... how the person who called out to him earlier had addressed him by name.

"About that—!" the young man started to say as the pretty lady suddenly stopped the guy.

"Ziin-sama! Umm... I changed my mind, perhaps there's no need for us to do this—!" said the lady as she grabbed the man's arm.

Ziin... what kind of name was that supposed to be?

The young man called Ziin turned their attention towards the lady.

"No need? Tsumuri-san, are you telling me that we shouldn't try to do anything about this matter?"

Ziin pulled his arm from the lady's grasp putting his hand inside his jacket, looking as if he was searching for something inside his pocket. Ace thought that he saw something shiny flashing before Ziin turned around to face him.

"There's no time for a proper explanation, Ace! You'll understand everything once—!"

Ace hastily backed away from the older (?) man when Ziin tried to grab his hand. He couldn't help becoming wary about the guy—how on earth could Ziin know about the nickname that only his mum and his twin (and some very few close friends) used to call him?

"Wh-who... ARE you guys?" Eisuke asked again. Because if he had met these guys before... he would've remembered them. And these people... seemed to act as if they knew him well. And he couldn't help feeling the same way as well. It might just be him getting influenced by his older twin, but at times he also occasionally gets these Deja Vu feelings about stuff.

The man didn't answer as Ziin grabbed his arm and placed something cold into his palm.

.

Before Eisuke could react, he suddenly felt a rush of electricity running through his body and he was hit with an onslaught of memories from various lifetimes! Eisuke let out a strangled gasp before looking down at his palm to see the thing that Ziin had forcibly given him...

...it was the old Caesar coin that he once had with him before he'd given it to Ziin as a parting gift. Back when he used to be called Ukiyo Ace.

xxx

"I think Ziin was going to try to make Inugami Eisuke recall the memories of his past lives..."

Neon and Michinaga immediately hurried towards Sakuranomiya High School to look for Tsumuri and Ziin. Since Kyuun had informed them about Ziin's plan, they figured that Ziin would try to contact Eisuke at school. It took a while for them to locate the school... and by the time they reached the place, the bell had already rung as students started to come out and head home. But luckily they managed to locate Eisuke at the school field area as they saw Eisuke standing face-to-face with Ziin and Tsumuri...

.

"Kojirou... was Ace with you guys?"

"No, but I saw him with some other people earlier..."

He couldn't help feeling that something bad might happen today, so he rushed over to the sports field behind the school to look for his twin. And that's where Keisuke was able to spot Eisuke. Yet before he could call out to his twin, he saw the suited man grab Ace's arm as if trying to take his twin away. Keisuke quickly sped up to come to his younger twin's rescue...

.

"What're you doing to my brother—?"

Ace felt a strange flutter in his heart as he heard that voice calling out towards him from behind. Turning around, Ace felt his heart beating fast as he saw his older twin—a much younger Keiwa than he used to remember—running up towards him with concern painted all over their face. The thought of having Keiwa as his family... somehow gave him a very warm feeling inside his chest.

Keiwa came up to him before pulling his arm from Ziin's hold.

"Ace, are you all right? These people didn't hurt you, did they?"

Ace found himself unable to stop smiling for some reason. Of course, how could someone like Ziin ever hurt him? And Tsumuri—there's no way she would ever harm him. Even though last time Suel had forced her to kill him by making use of the Black Tsumuri to make her shoot him dead.

And he had a big brother who constantly worried about him like this, how could he not be okay?

Ace heard the soft sound of something falling onto the ground as he stared dumbly at the golden coin lying on the grassy field...

.

"What's this?"

As Ace snapped out of his reverie, he stood still as he watched Keiwa kneel down to pick up the golden coin that he dropped.

Nothing should happen to Keiwa if he touched that Caesar coin... right? After all, Keiwa was not like him who had lived countless cycles of life and death since the day he came into being. So nothing should happen to Keiwa if they touched the coin.

But then Ace recalled that Keiwa had also reincarnated into this current life after being killed by Suel last time and reborn as his twin brother...

"Big brother, wait—!" Ace cried out as his older twin's body suddenly tensed up like a wound spring—

xxx

It was as if he had been hit by a big jolt of lightning. Right away, the memories belonging to 'Sakurai Keiwa' started to rush into Keisuke's mind like a strong waterfall. From the early years of 'his' childhood... up to the very last moment of being held by the scruff of 'his' neck by a formidable enemy. It was the same sensation he felt last time every time he touched his core ID or when Ace had restored everyone's memories after the last Grand End. But instead of just the memories of his time when he took part in the DesiGra as Sakurai Keiwa, he recovered all of the memories of his past self as Sakurai Keiwa—no! That's not true! That's—!

Without warning, Keiwa scampered hurriedly towards a nearby ditch as he was suddenly hit with a strong urge to vomit.

.

"Big brother!"

Ace hurriedly rushed to his twin's side as Keiwa started hurling out his lunch and whatever was left of their stomach content. He placed a hand on his brother's back and rubbed it gently to ease Keiwa's discomfort.

Ace bit his lips. Did Keiwa regain the memories of their previous life after touching the gold coin? Nothing like this had ever happened before—Ace used to have other people touch his coin in the past but none of them had any reaction to it—so he always thought that the coin only ever affected him due to his wish not to forget his mother. So why was it different for Keiwa now?

Keiwa finally stopped trying to empty his stomach as his older twin leaned back towards Ace. Ace pulled out his handkerchief to help wipe Keiwa's mouth clean.

"Are you... feeling better now, Kei—niichan?" Ace started to say as Keiwa raised his head towards him, looking very pale.

Keiwa let out a soft moan before grasping Ace's arm tightly.

"Ace, I feel sick—!"

Before Ace could say anything, Keiwa suddenly fainted in his arms...