Rewrite Note: (25/03/2025) 2k to 2k

With the changes to the last chapters of the first arc comes the changes to this one.

Not much to say as this is a what if, but I want to mention that I will also be writing a side story for this Arc. This what if is actually shorter than the original I'm pretty sure.

(This is non canon to the main storyline. This is an AU based on Arc 1)

Quest #9

Memento Mori

Condition: Kill Sayori

Failure: You don't kill Sayori

Looking at the notification, Issei could only feel dread reading those words in front of him.

He had killed Monika, and he was now going to kill Sayori.

Was Sayori destined to die no matter what?

No… this curse was passed onto her because he killed Monika, if only he told her about his actual powers or perhaps decided to talk with her… none of this would have happened.

With Monika dead, it meant that the Sacred Gear was given to Sayori, Yuri, Natsuki or Cordis.

But… What about her? Where was Monika in all this then?

According to Sayori, she never met Monika, this meant that she had been freed from this curse.

He needed to know something.

"Sayori… have you perhaps tried finding Monika?" He asked.

"Monika… while you've talked about her, we never were able to find or discover any clue about her." She responded.

"That's… weird." Issei muttered as he frowned. "She was the original holder of Delayed Eschaton, and even after all of you tried to transfer the Sacred Gear… it never went back to her…"

"... It's as if she had been deleted from this world…"

Issei seemed a bit worried. Could she have already removed her past self?

He didn't know, but he wanted to know, yet there were no clues to follow.

Accepting it, he then decided to follow the current situation.

He declared with a sorrowful look. "... Sayori, I'm sorry, but I can't just kill you, it's cruel of me to decline you… but I really can't."

"It's alright." She gently smiled. "This was a hard request for you, but I wanted it to be you, as I am sick of dying just when it was close to graduation."

With that out of the way, there was nothing much to talk about left.

"So… will you be spending the next few years waiting for you to meet your demise?" Issei asked.

Sayori nodded. "Unfortunately so, however, it is a reality that I've long accepted… yet still fear."

"Being met with death would do that for anyone." Issei pointed out.

"...If I were to be selfish… would it be alright for us to spend the rest of what's left together?" Requested Issei.

"Even if you told me that it would be bad in the long run… I don't care, I have all the time in the world with you." He smiled.

"It is what would make me happy." He declared. "No, rather, I would be willing to walk down the same path with you."

Sayori downcasted her gaze. "I suppose I can't change your mind… though I also believe spending an eternity together repeating time is better than doing it alone."

"Would it be alright if we did that?" Requested Issei.

"We could, I never tried it, as it felt too cruel… but if that were the case… wouldn't there be finally a point where we got sick of one another?" She asked.

"Never, no matter how much time passes, I will be by your side." He said with the utmost confidence.

"If it weren't for you, if I hadn't bumped into you down the halls the first time we met… I wouldn't have changed, I would have still been the same perverted teenager wasting his youth." Said Issei.

"I would have never been able to meet such wonderful people, or my passion for literature."

Even though Sayori was his first love, he also acknowledged Natsuki being someone he also loved a lot.

Did he truly love Natsuki? Of course, he was no scum, he truly felt like those days together meant the world to him, but he needed to accept that those days would never come again.

Could he move on by killing Sayori? It would take time but he feared it to not be the case.

He feared that it would be the worst mistake of his life.

"I wish to continue with the Literature Club, together, writing poems, talking to one another and sharing the present." He said as he looked out the window, the set slowly setting.

"As such… would you accompany me in living in the moment?" He then looked at Sayori. "Not caring for the past or future… just having each other, making sure we both keep one another sane."

She softly smiled, accepting that there was nothing else she could do.

She didn't want to die, but living forever didn't seem like a good thing either…

But… with someone by her side… someone who could share the memories…

It sounded like a good deal. Yet…

It was what she feared at the same time. To have someone have to give their lives for her.

"All of this… you'd do all of this for me?" She muttered. "Would you go through all this suffering… for me?"

"Yes, out of my own selfish desire to be happy, and to not regret anything." Issei spoke. "I don't pity you, I don't do this to comfort you, I do this because it is what I want."

Sayori's gaze softened. "Wasting your time… no, wasting limitless time… I suppose that's what you want to do."

"I'll gladly do it." Repeated Issei. "Never in my life would I leave people I cherish suffer, I know how you feel about people helping you, but this is my own personality responding, this is the way I am."

"So nothing would make me happier than staying by your side, Sayori."

"...Then I accept." She smiled. "Because it is what you want."

Joyed to hear that, Issei then declared. "From this point onward, you are also a member of the Literature Club, just make sure to transfer to the academy during the summer break."

"Where would I live though?" She asked.

"With me, Natsuki did so, and I believe my parents would allow you to do so as well." Issei mentioned.

"Plus, this summer we could finally catch up, there is much I want to know." He smiled.

He thought about this entire journey, it was… eventful and eye opening.

He could see a clear difference between him in the present and him from the past.

He had this dream, of finally having a harem when he joined the academy, before any of this ever happened.

A perverted dream, but one in which is merely wished to be loved unconditionally by others.

And he'd be fine with trading it if it meant that he would forever stay with a girl who loved him just as much as he loved her.

"Oh… also…" He realized. "How much do you know about my abilities?" He asked.

"Not much, I know that you can go back in time, though only if you die…" She recalled as she hummed. "I still don't quite understand how that works, as we both technically have two different forms of going back in time and it might be possible that we both may not actually know what happened while traveling back in time."

"Yeah, it's quite confusing." He laughed. "But it doesn't matter, not when I'm probably never going to use it anymore."

"As far as I can tell, I can only remember one time I did go back in time through my powers." He mentioned.

"And when would that be?" Sayori asked, curious.

Issei's smile disappeared upon the question.

He sighed. "Back when... You committed suicide, when Monika still had her Sacred Gear, I tried to go back in time by stabbing myself with a knife, but there seemed to have been a checkpoint that did not let me go back before your death."

Sayori clenched her fists. "I'm... sorry for making you do that..."

Issei responded immediately after. "No, don't be sorry, I was the one who did it, because I wished for you to be alive... And look at you, you're here." He smiled, he put his hand on the side of her face as he rubbed her cheek, the gentle smile he had as he felt calm over the fact that he could talk to her again.

Sayori giggled. "I guess so..." She knew her cheeks were starting to go red, but she did not care nor did she show any sort of embarrassment. "So how did you get this ability?"

She then explained. "Most of the times we talked weren't about your powers, but rather what happened in each loop."

She was curious, after all, who wouldn't when someone had a similar power to yours?

"One day I got something called Writer's System, and it basically made me do stuff to continue with the story. Currently, there is a quest where I need to kill you, but there is a failure condition in which I don't kill you, I don't believe it would immediately punish me, as it would have done so the moment it realized I was not going to do it." He said as he pointed at the system, which Sayori could not see.

"If I were to guess, it means that if you die at the hands of someone else, that would mean that I failed." He assumed.

Sayori looked quite intrigued. "If it wants you to kill me, why didn't you follow it? It seems as if it is the only way to continue onward for you?"

Issei then responded. "Because I am sick of following it, I was starting to feel as if my life was being completely controlled by it, in the end I had the choice to follow it or not, and right now is the best moment to not follow it."

"I found out that... Maybe doing my own thing, by my own decisions would be better... I wished to help everyone in the club, be it by helping Yuri, Natsuki or Cordis... Or by making you the happiest girl I would ever meet."

"After all, you were the first person I ever tried to actively help each time I saw, because I believed you deserved to be happy, a reward for helping others."

In response Sayori smiled at his reasoning. "Very well then, I guess we should prepare for my debut in the academy?"

Issei nodded as he no longer felt like he was alone again.

"And... About Natsuki... Are you truly sure you can move on from her?" She asked.

Issei sighed in response, he wasn't truly sure. "You never know in life… but with you by my side, I am confident that I will." He smiled.

"You're here Sayori, and that's all that matters in this moment"

"Sayori... being stuck in an endless loop together… Will that matter when we have one another for support?" He wondered.

"I think not." She blushed. "If anything, this is our selfishness to reject fate, don't you think?"

"I believe so, I've supposedly changed my fate once, and I am willing to do it once again." He said with resolution

"Rest assured, I am doing this because I love you." He reassured. "I'd do anything for you."

Sayori in response leaned forward, and she kissed him on the lips. Issei on the other hand accepted it, the kiss felt right to both of them, it was an action that both wished to do, and finally, it was conceived.

Both of them finally separated as Sayori proceeded to answer. "Then… will you lead me to your house and introduce me to your parents?"

"Gladly." He chuckled.

"Then…"

"Til death do us part"

(A/N)

This is a What If similar to the ones in Re:Zero, in this case, the variable that made this happen was the quest not having a failure condition. This is non canon, and so could be thought of as nothing, but there are a few things said here that foreshadow future arcs.

This short story is meant to be filler so that the wait between the next arc isn't as wide. It is also a way for me to write something much less sad, because holy shit, what I wrote for the last chapter of the first part of the arc is something I am hella proud yet sad about. It is also a way for me to ask the next question.

Would you guys rather I release the first part of the third arc earlier or post everything as a whole?

Once it becomes 1 of December, I could post the first part of the arc, which is a total of 6 chapters, and then have another break and then post the second part.

I'll put a poll on Fanfiction, in Wattpad I'll see in the comments, same goes for AO3.

Until then I'll see y'all in the next update.