I'll kill you after I finish this game!

She wanted to know which bastard was doing this.

But Skadi just stared at her silently, her eyes turning cold and deep, which made Fujii Ren's body stiffen.

Unable to understand the meaning behind the other person's gaze, Skadi looked at Fujii Ren and said in a deep voice:

"The person who orchestrated this war is undoubtedly my enemy, and you have a significant connection to him..."

What? I have a connection with that person?

Upon hearing this, Fujii Ren's eyes widened slightly, and she began to understand Skadi's gaze and silence earlier.

"I made a promise with him to temporarily protect you until you grow up, so are you ready to detach yourself from reality?"

"I......"

"By the way, your good friend Yuza Shirou has already gotten himself involved."

Upon hearing the name and news of Yuza Shirou, Fujii Ren was shocked. He never expected that his childhood friend would be involved in such an absurd matter.

But considering Yuzashiro's recent disappearance and hearing the current information about Skadi, everything made sense.

"...What can I do?" Fujii Ren responded after a moment of silence. She didn't know what she could do, or rather, she was confused about the future.

This absurd thing should be stopped, but does she have the ability to stop it?

I placed a small amount of hope on Skadi, my senior. Since she said that the person who orchestrated this absurd war was the enemy, I figured the other side would intervene to stop it.

And just now he mentioned making a promise with someone to protect her as she grows up. What does "growing up" mean...?

"Heh, come with me after school today. It just so happens that some of these guys should all be gathered here."

Seeing that Fujii Ren's eyes did not evade her, Skadi chuckled, then stood up from the bench, slowly walked past Fujii Ren, and disappeared from the rooftop.

Watching Skadi's departing figure, Fujii Ren slumped onto the bench as if all her strength had been drained, her head bowed, her eyes filled with sorrow and confusion.

By agreeing to the senior's request, I had voluntarily and formally made a choice, a choice detached from reality.

Although she had some hesitation before, when she heard that Shirou had taken the initiative to get involved, Fujii Ren thought of Kasumi again.

Since it was in this city, and it was related to her, Fujii Ren was certain that she couldn't escape.

It's not that I don't want to escape, but that I have no choice but to escape.

Because I've had a premonition since I was a child that a terrible drama will unfold in the future, I don't want to move forward and I crave time to stand still.

She harbored a desire and aspiration to escape reality, or rather... escape from fate.

Even with a sense of déjà vu, Fujii Ren felt no peace or reassurance at making this choice.

........

After school in the afternoon, Fujii Ren was so confused that she had no interest in attending class and skipped it.

Afterwards, it seemed that the bench where Skadi had been sitting was so comfortable, with a temperature like springtime, that the troubled Fujii Ren temporarily fell asleep.

"...Ugh, no way..."

Somewhat groggy, Fujii Ren opened her eyes, slightly startled, surrounded by the darkness of night.

Fortunately, this area was affected by Skadi, otherwise we might have caught a cold.

While secretly mocking herself, thinking of Skadi's earlier words, Fujii Ren stood up from the bench.

I glanced at my phone; it was 6:30—not too late, but at this time of year, the streets should already be pitch black.

Fujii Ren glanced at the annex building and saw that the office lights were still on.

If the teacher finds out, she might get scolded for skipping class.

Fujii Ren, who immediately returned to the classroom to pack his things, found a note left by Ayase Kasumi on his desk.

"【You idiot, you'll be repeating a year, ptooey!】"

Looking at the note stuck on the table, Fujii Ren smiled helplessly, thinking to herself, "My grades are much better than yours."

Because this school values ​​college entrance rates highly, you can get most things done as long as you have good grades.

That being said, Fujii Ren got into something that wasn't exactly "most of the stuff," but...

Anyway, let's leave it at that for now.

After crumpling the note containing Kaori's resentment into a ball, Fujii Ren accurately tossed it into the trash can and left.

Thinking about the important things that happened yesterday and today, Fujii Ren, walking down the dimly lit corridor, inadvertently glanced out the window.

"Kendo dojo..."

A light shone from somewhere there; according to the homeroom teacher at school, club activities should have been temporarily suspended...

It must be Kaori. She wants to go see the other person, but she has other important things to do right now.

Someone was still waiting for him. Fujii Ren took one last look in the direction of the kendo dojo, and immediately headed towards the school gate.

As he was leaving the school, Fujii Ren looked towards the kendo dojo one last time and noticed that the lights there were off, giving it an indescribable sense of mystery.

A ghost? No, how could that be?

"So slow."

"Wow——"

Suddenly, a cold voice came from behind his shoulder, as if whispered in his ear. Fujii Ren, who was thinking about ghosts, was startled by the familiar voice and turned around...

Are you still afraid of ghosts?

As if she knew what Fujii Ren was thinking, Skadi, who possessed a certain radiant quality even in the darkness of night, looked at the girl with a blank expression.

How dare this guy who scared you from behind ask such a question! At this moment, Fujii Ren's heart was truly pounding faster.

"Thanks to my senior, I was almost scared away."

Fujii Ren, equally expressionless and annoyed, retorted to the other party.

"I hope you don't have a heart attack next. You actually dared to keep me waiting. You're surprisingly arrogant."

After saying that, Skadi walked ahead of Fujii Ren, gesturing for him to catch up quickly.

Although Skadi's words sounded like she was just saying things out of anger, Fujii Ren could tell that she wasn't actually angry.

Although she wasn't angry, Fujii Ren felt she couldn't remain silent, so she scratched the back of her head and explained:

"Sorry, I've been dealing with too many messy things lately, and I had too many thoughts on my mind, so I slept on the rooftop until now."

"It's understandable. After all, you live a normal life, but you experienced something mysterious that most people can't accept in a short period of time. It's normal for your mind to be confused."

Skadi glanced at Fujii Ren beside her, expressing her understanding of her situation, but understanding was one thing, and the other person still had to adapt to what she needed to adapt to.

Now that we've made up our minds, we can only try to accept it no matter how chaotic things get.

"Senior, why did you get involved in this kind of thing? After all, you're not like me..."

Unable to leave like me, and having transferred here a few months ago, Fujii Ren wondered what role Skadi played in this matter.

Skadi paused for a moment upon hearing this, her eyelids lowered slightly, and a sense of vicissitude and antiquity appeared in her deep eyes. She then said:

"You're wrong, Fujii Ren. We're the same in that we're not in control of our own destiny. The difference is that I'm just your 'senior.' My involvement was also predetermined. If this war didn't exist, I wouldn't have been born or exist..."

Senior? Does that mean you've already experienced something like this?

Fujii Ren felt a strange sense of resonance and closeness to Skadi, which was different from the initial rejection he felt when he saw Skadi again after meeting the guillotine girl yesterday.

Furthermore, Skadi said that without what happened in Suwahara, she herself would not exist.

What is this...

"Suwahara City is a large-scale ritual site built for war, but the so-called war is not the kind you know. It is a place where beings with inhuman power fight each other."

Suddenly, before Fujii Ren could continue thinking, Skadi, who was leading her to an unknown location, began to explain some of the true situation in Suwahara City.

Fujii Ren was immediately drawn in and listened carefully to Skadi's explanation.

"Someone set up a sacrificial site here, which is also a huge transmutation circle. There are eight locations in total, which also represent eight battlefields. Each one is a key point that must be activated. To fully activate the transmutation circle, one must fight on the battlefield, that is, seek the death of a large number of people and sacrifice their souls."

Suwahara is a designated city with a population of around 80... Come to think of it, that number seems to have remained unchanged for over a decade.

The combined ratio of annual occupancy to vacancy, and of deaths to births, is zero.

This is because the altar of the altar, which had been preparing to open, was contaminated by spiritual energy. Ordinary people could not tolerate the hundreds of turbid souls and avoided it.

Only long-term residents are unaware of it.

The more Fujii Ren listened and thought about it, the more horrified he became. Skadi's explanation seemed outrageous, but if you carefully compared everything that happened in Suwahara City with it, you would find that what she said was very true and matched these strange phenomena.

Even the audience began to feel that the veil of mystery was about to be lifted step by step, but when they heard that someone was going to sacrifice the lives and souls of tens of thousands of people in the city, they all felt that the guy who planned this was a ruthless guy.

"Heh, interesting." Dio, the savior of villains, swirled his wine glass as he watched the scene, finding it quite amusing. So many deaths were necessary, and what were the souls supposed to do?

Anyway, Dio had a feeling that the guy behind this plan, who was preparing to step over the corpses and bones of so many people, was bound to accomplish something earth-shattering.

It might be even more outrageous than his secret plans to go to heaven!

"Ugh, this is quite a crazy and treacherous plan." Jotaro Kujo, who was on his way to Egypt to beat up some guy, reached up and pressed down his hat when he saw this.

There are always evil people in the world who do unforgivable things, destroying entire cities to achieve their ulterior motives.

Hopefully, this extraordinary and mysterious girl, Fujii Ren, can prevent such a thing from happening.

"Sacrificing the souls of an entire city's population—what exactly is the mastermind behind this? And what about the transmutation circle this woman mentioned..." Aizen, in Hueco Mundo's Las Noches Palace, was very sensitive to the word "soul."

Or rather, anyone watching the Bleach world will find it very interesting.

Even Aizen himself didn't commit the insane act of sacrificing the souls of an entire city with tens of thousands of inhabitants.

As someone who is very good at planning before acting, Aizen is also very good at guessing and analyzing other people's schemes.

The transmutation circle Skadi mentioned must be something that needs to be used to achieve some kind of miracle.

Countless people from different dimensions who have been behind the scenes have this premonition, and those who have fought against such people are also very familiar with the fact that someone is causing trouble behind the scenes.

And now, the night is about to unveil the first layer of Suwahara City for Fujii Ren.

Wild animals are nocturnal, meaning that hunting also occurs at night.

Therefore, the night will turn crimson.

With blood.

With meat.