Chapter 363. The Relieved Bystanders
「"—"」
「In this moment, all was deathly silent.」
「Rem first stared blankly at this future, then looked down at her sister, then up at Hachiman's bifurcated corpse, and finally turned to look at her equally bewildered sister.」
「"Sister..."」
「She was on the verge of tears.」
「Up until that point, things had been fine; even if the future Ram had conflicts with Hachiman, they were minor.」
「"Rem's... Rem's sister killed Hachiman!"」
「Rem trembled violently. The moment she realized this, her world seemed to turn upside down. Although she had killed Hachiman once herself before, because it was her, it could be resolved—if Hachiman came over and wanted her to commit suicide to pay with her life, Rem would have done so without hesitation.」
「But her sister was different!」
「Whether it was Hachiman or her sister, Rem viewed them both as the most important people in the world. Hachiman couldn't be harmed, and neither could her sister. But now, now...」
「"To insult the amnesiac Hachiman like that, and even cause his death... You've gone too far, you've truly gone too far, Sister!"」
「Ram immediately hugged her sister, who was crying in distress. Her own face was also pale; she truly hadn't expected her future self to do something so extreme.」
「However, Ram could understand it.」
「Just as Puck would destroy the world if he lost Emilia, she lived for Rem. When she discovered that the only person in the world who still remembered Rem had also forgotten her, that rage was bound to be immense.」
「Even though Hikigaya Hachiman was completely innocent, since she couldn't find Ley Batenkaitos, she naturally directed the vast majority of her accumulated fury toward him.」
「"It wasn't me—look, Rem, it's all Crusch's fault. If she hadn't suddenly interfered, Hachiman certainly wouldn't have argued back after I said that, and the conflict would have stopped."」
「"The result happened half because of Crusch's interference, and half because of the miasma underground. Rem, don't be afraid, this has nothing to do with me!"」
「She spun lies out of guilt. While those two factors certainly played a large role in how things developed, the root cause was the dissatisfaction toward Hikigaya Hachiman that Ram had been harboring for a long time.」
「But this lie was capable of deceiving someone—Rem, the sister who believed in Ram with her whole heart, would believe it.」
「"Ugh..." Rem bit her lower lip, her attitude indeed softening considerably. "But... even so, Sister shouldn't have..."」
「"I will apologize to him. I'll apologize to Hachiman when we meet. Forgive me, Rem?"」
「Under her sister's repeated offensive, Rem remained silent and eventually gave up her resistance. She had no choice; she couldn't bring herself to say harsher words to her sister.」
「"Rem will take on Sister's guilt. When Hachiman comes over, no matter what he demands, Rem will fulfill it twofold!" Rem murmured with determination, her voice thick with remorse.」
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At the same time, in the Hoshin Trading Company, Anastasia looked away. She didn't want to see her Prime Minister's tragic death at all.
What she wanted to see, to obtain, and to possess was a safe and sound Prime Minister.
"Dead again... and dying right in front of me..."
Anastasia's gaze was sharp. "The miasma is just like Sirius's Authority—it amplifies the emotions hidden in people's hearts and drags them out; it doesn't create them out of nothing. Miss Ram really hides quite a lot of dissatisfaction toward my Prime Minister."
If she could, she really wanted to dispatch Ricardo to assassinate Ram right now.
But unfortunately, Anastasia knew the Prime Minister would absolutely hate it if she did that.
If it were someone like Echidna or the Archbishops, it would be one thing, but for someone like Ram—who was inherently kind and only made a momentary mistake—her Prime Minister would definitely not want her killed, even if he was the victim.
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In the Karsten mansion and on the streets of the Royal Capital, Crusch and Emilia were thinking almost exactly the same thing as Anastasia.
The difference was that neither of them had thought about assassinating Ram from the start; they only thought she should be taught a lesson.
Puck, knowing full well that Ram was a rival as formidable as himself who would use any means for her sister's sake, had been fanning the flames, trying to persuade Emilia to take action against Ram, though it wasn't very effective.
In the Karsten mansion, Crusch looked utterly miserable.
"I would rather have been killed myself than have Sir Hachiman die once more just to protect me! And that look... isn't that just like the mentally broken Emilia in the Sanctuary? So terrifying—how could Sir Hachiman ever like that?"
Never mind Sir Hachiman; she herself felt that her blackened, yandere self was too horrifying. It was only scary, without a single shred of charm.
"And after that display, even someone as dense as Sir Hachiman would be certain that I truly love him and have 'nefarious' designs on him. It's all bad news!"
Slumping into her chair, the dejected Crusch gave a cold, hollow laugh, knowing she was "completely cooked."
Ferris and Wilhelm exchanged a glance and reached a consensus: 'It's hopeless. We can't save this. The future Lady Crusch is a guaranteed loser; better prepare to snatch the current Hachiman instead.'
"With that kind of performance from Lady Crusch, Ferris can't even find a way to comfort her, nyan. You did a terrible job, nyan~"
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"Whoa..."
In the Astrea mansion, Felt swallowed hard in fear, shrinking toward Reinhard, who had already returned. "Good thing I'm not interested in that guy, otherwise, it would be way too scary."
To snatch a man, they've even turned on "life-burning" mode, literally trying to kill each other.
While it wasn't strictly true that she had no interest, after witnessing Crusch and the other two trying to murder each other over Hikigaya Hachiman, Felt didn't dare to have any interest anymore.
Felt wasn't the only one frightened senseless.
In the other world, Garfiel, Julius, and Otto all shuddered. But unlike the timid Felt, after the initial shock, they remained unswervingly supportive of their respective factions.
Garfiel hoped the General would marry Lady Emilia and Rem; Otto didn't hate Rem but hoped Hachiman-san would only marry Lady Emilia; Julius, once a "servant of three masters," was now single-mindedly and unshakably supporting the Anastasia faction.
As for Reinhard, his thoughts were simple: as long as it was voluntary, Hachiman could marry as many as he wanted. His responsibility was to protect his best friend Hachiman from being killed by the crossfire of the various women fighting over him.
And back on Earth, in the convenience store, Yukinoshita's face was pale.
In terms of combat power, she wasn't even a match for Anastasia! Even though Anastasia had a frail constitution, she had been an orphan struggling on her own since childhood; her physical fitness was bound to be better than Yukinoshita's.
"I'm not lacking in feelings at all, but from start to finish, what I've lacked is the strength to back them up."
If she had Crusch's power, she could ignore these "vixens" and "third wheels" and travel to the other world with Hikigaya-kun.
She wasn't satisfied.
Yukinoshita was so frustrated her teeth were nearly grinding to dust!
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