The Witch Trial Begins with the OO Buckethead Zombie

'—All wrong!!!'

Before I could even react, before I could finish thinking, the moment the time on my phone screen jumped from 5:59 to 6:00...

A jumble of memories flooded into Hiro Nikaido's mind like a tidal wave.

Chaos, crowding, and a cacophony of emotions.

The same sense of self-loathing quickly coalesced, and a chaotic mix of new emotions surged within them.

The phone in his hand fell to the ground with a thud, and Nikaido Hiro couldn't help but curl up, clutching his chest tightly.

Memory, memory, memory.

He only has memories of being alone, memories of mistakenly perceiving Utsunomiya Hoshino, memories of publicly accusing Utsunomiya Hoshino of spreading rumors about him, memories of following Utsunomiya Hoshino, and memories of watching Meruru's knife pierce Utsunomiya Hoshino's chest.

They overlapped.

It was repeated.

But things are different now.

Eh?

"Ugh... Guh... Ugh..."

The unpleasant sound impacted my brain, causing my thoughts to become jumbled.

The memories are few, only less than a day's worth of memories, only less than a day's worth of experiences.

Yet this memory carries a strong sense of conflict.

"......I."

Time seemed to have jumped several minutes at that moment.

When I came to my senses, my clothes were soaked with sweat, the painful cries had stopped, and the chaotic memories were gradually being sorted out by my brain.

Two parallel memories, spanning different times, both begin in this prison.

One starting point was questioning Hoshino Utsunomiya, and the other was trusting him.

But no matter what, in the end, it all turned into trust in Hoshino Utsunomiya.

He is right.

He is dead.

The one who died twice before his eyes was Hoshino Utsunomiya.

I can't understand why there are two sets of memories, why the events in the two sets of memories are so different, or why the regression started both times when there seemed to be no clear death.

But there was only one thing that Nikaido Hiro's memory of was the clearest.

That was the last scene.

Hoshino Utsunomiya died before his eyes once by being stabbed and once by being strangled.

"..."

Outside the cell, someone called out, and the screen on the wall lit up.

Just as I remembered, the owl who called himself the warden spoke in human language.

The door opened.

Nikaido Hiro sat up, pushed open the door, and his gaze lingered for a moment on the underground passage...

It stopped at Hoshino Utsunomiya's door.

The legs started moving.

The legs, which were so heavy last time, moved with incredible agility.

He stormed the door, acting with absolute decisiveness, following his instincts.

Nikaido Hiro rushed through that door.

"Utsunomiya——"

They called out his name.

He was there, standing there, carrying a bucket in one hand, soaking wet, with a calm expression, but a lingering melancholy in his eyes, and wet droplets clinging to his eyebrows and sliding down his collarbone.

Almost instantly, Nikaido Hiro's gaze shifted from his face to his chest.

I need to confirm, I must confirm...

A voice echoed in her heart, urging her to stride toward Hoshino Utsunomiya.

Within a few steps, her hand touched his chest.

Pushing the retreating Hoshino Utsunomiya, she pressed him back onto the bed in the blink of an eye.

Clang—

As he released his grip on the empty bucket, the metal bucket slipped from Utsunomiya Hoshino's hand.

The iron bucket spun around in the air, crashed to the ground with a thud, bounced a few times, and then went completely silent.

Nikaido Hiro didn't hear the voice at all; at that moment, she only had one thought in her mind.

'Confirm, confirm, confirm'

She instinctively wanted to tear open her clothes to check what was underneath her chest.

However, the pulling motion was hindered by the resilient clothing; even the wet shirt under the tuxedo was not so easy to tear.

Left with no other choice, without much hesitation, Nikaido Hiro's hand moved upwards along the hem of his clothes.

Her delicate hand traveled up from her lower abdomen to her chest.

The girl groped the man's chest haphazardly, completely disregarding the fact that her body was now almost pressing down on him in an unimaginably intimate and ambiguous way.

She just kept touching it, kept touching it.

With one hand on his chest, and the other hand, as if remembering something, climbed up a bit and touched his neck.

Her little hands stroked and wiped it very hard.

My body was pressing down on me heavily.

It's okay, it's okay, it's okay...

There were no purple or blue marks on his neck, and the skin on his chest was intact, without any wounds or even scars.

He's still alive. Yes, he's alive.

Ultimately, he should still be alive, since he had already traveled back in time, so he shouldn't still be injured.

So what am I doing right now?

Nikaido Hiro's brain went blank for a moment.

I rewound, the door opened, I remembered Utsunomiya Hoshino was dead, but then I saw him alive, so I rushed over calling his name, pinned him to the bed, and fumbled around to confirm he was alive...

—Isn't that a female hooligan?!

"...If you've had enough touching, get off me." The man pinned down by her said helplessly, "I need to change my clothes."

I have no idea what's gotten into Nikaido Hiro this time.

But having already experienced a completely different situation after a rewind, Hoshino Utsunomiya wouldn't find it strange to go through it again.

Well, if it's Nikaido Hiro, touching his body probably isn't for taking advantage of him, but rather for some unique reason, right?

It really startled him; hopefully next time he can tell me in advance.

"Waaaaaahh ...

As soon as Hoshino Utsunomiya spoke, Hiro Nikaido fully woke up. She suddenly jumped back off Hoshino like a frog, uttering incoherent words in a panic.

"This, no, that, this is..."

She waved her hands as if trying to explain something, but couldn't find the words to say.

"—What is it, Hiro-chan?"

The girl stood at the doorway at that moment, asking in a calm yet cold tone with incredible gentleness.

Her name is Sakura Emma.

It belongs to Hoshino Utsunomiya and Hiro Nikaido.

good friend.

Chapter 101 Shameless!

"--sorry!"

Nikaido Hiro gave up on arguing, bowed straight down, and loudly expressed his apologies to Utsunomiya Hoshino.

I've never apologized to anyone before, but for some reason, this is the only time I've apologized.

Nikaido Hiro spoke very fluently.

What came out of my mouth was the apology I felt I should express.

I shouldn't have done such inappropriate things to you, I shouldn't have misunderstood your lies and rumors, I shouldn't have forced you to deliver that final blow to the witch, I shouldn't have...

Nikaido Hiro wanted to add one by one, listing all his countless crimes to Utsunomiya Hoshino, apologizing for each and every one of them separately.

After all, it seems too good to be true that they just want to get rid of the matter with a simple and insincere apology.

Trying to gain forgiveness from others with such a flimsy apology is essentially a form of moral blackmail.

But just as he was about to say more, Nikaido Hiro suddenly remembered, and remembered again...

It has now been regressed.

Many things had not yet happened. She did not loudly accuse Utsunomiya Hoshino of being repressed, nor did she personally push Utsunomiya Hoshino into the hands of the witch.

This is certainly not her reason for 'I don't have to apologize because these things didn't happen'.

However, if he were to apologize like that, Hoshino Utsunomiya would definitely be very confused.

More importantly...

Nikaido Hiro hadn't forgotten that there was a witch in this prison.