Purpose

Late in the evening, as the sun had fully set, we arrived in Lumia.

What followed wasn't much different from before the Regression.

"Hehehe…. The new Commander has finally arrived, he has~!"

"Welcome… to Lumia…."

"Oh my, this one's unexpectedly easy on the eyes…."

"Ehehehe…."

There was our first meeting with the Rabbit Hole Squad, who had been waiting for us.

After a boisterous round of introductions, we were given a tour of each facility.

It had already been a week ago, so I didn't remember the finer details all that well.

But pretending not to know things I already knew wasn't particularly difficult.

There was one thing nagging at me, though….

*This Commander… does he have no intention of hiding the fact that he regressed?*

I suppressed the urge to sigh.

His behavior had been grating on me for a while now.

"Oh my? Commander. That locking mechanism — it's a bit tricky the first time you use it…. You've already figured it out?"

"…Ah. Well, I've used something similar at the military academy."

Handling unfamiliar facilities with practiced ease.

"Wha?! Why are you suddenly touching my hair, you are~?!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Force of habit…. My apologies."

"N-no, I don't really mind, I don't~…. It is my proudest feature, after all…. If anything, I'd love it if you touched it more~!"

The strangely familiar distance he kept with the Rabbit Hole Squad.

"Hmm, where did I put the key to Break Room 3…."

"It's probably next to the flowerpot."

"…How did you know the key was there, Commander?"

"Ah, that's…."

Knowing things he had no business knowing at this point in time.

He was practically broadcasting the fact that he was a Regressor.

Of course, he seemed to be trying to hide it.

He just had absolutely no talent for deception.

No matter how he tried to explain himself, he only came across as more suspicious.

*If you're going to do it, do it perfectly — like me. Is this your first time regressing?*

Then again, he didn't have the same desperate reason to hide it that I did.

In truth, it wouldn't be much of a problem if it came out that the Commander was a Regressor.

If anything, it could serve as a convenient explanation for where his information came from.

But unlike him, I couldn't afford to be found out.

Death is irreversible — that's precisely what makes it so intoxicating.

If everyone knew I'd come back anyway, there'd be no reason for anyone to grieve.

Call it the preservation of death's value.

*Especially if the Commander finds out — that would be the worst. I need to be careful. Absolutely cannot let him know.*

After the full tour of the Lumia Branch facilities was complete,

I had dinner alone with the Commander, just as I had in the previous loop.

Unlike when we'd first met on the train, he seemed to have collected himself somewhat.

He'd returned to that unreadable, taciturn expression that gave nothing away.

He seemed particularly lost in thought about something.

When dinner ended and we went our separate ways back to our rooms,

the Commander suddenly reached out and stopped me as I was saying goodnight.

"Um, Leila."

"What is it, Commander?"

"That's… well…."

I looked at him quizzically, as if to say, *go on, then.*

But the Commander furrowed his brow slightly, as if wrestling with something,

and then, avoiding my eyes, continued awkwardly.

"It's… nothing. Good night."

"Hm-hm. Yes. Sweet dreams, Commander."

What on earth had he been trying to say.

Doesn't he know that starting to say something and then stopping is the most aggravating thing possible?

A flicker of irritation rose in me, but I forced a smile and waved.

As Adjutant, I'd been assigned one of the better single rooms in the dormitory.

My own space, where I didn't have to worry about anyone else's eyes.

I stripped off my clothes and stepped straight into the bathroom.

"Ahhhh… that's refreshing. Good thing the water pressure is decent."

Freshly dried and fluffy, I slipped into my sleepwear.

The negligée I'd been wearing on the first day I'd possessed Leila.

An absolutely depraved little thing that tickled softly against the skin.

Part of me wanted to throw myself straight into bed —

but I picked up a pen and notebook and sat down at the desk.

Things were complicated on multiple fronts. I wanted to sort through them.

"First… let me organize the situation."

Scratch, scratch.

The pen moved smoothly across the open notebook.

I was planning to burn it with electricity once I was done, anyway.

No need to waste effort on neat handwriting.

The first word I wrote was *Regression.*

Next to it, I wrote my name and the Commander's.

"The Commander knows about my death. Which means… after I died, he turned back time by some means."

Then, at a slight distance, I wrote *Rabbit Hole Squad.*

Above it, I drew an X.

"The Rabbit Hole Squad… didn't regress."

I'd briefly wondered if they might have regressed along with us,

but they had no memories of before.

If they'd hidden it so thoroughly that even I couldn't tell, there was nothing to be done — but from everything I'd observed, none of them had that kind of skill.

In other words, only two people had regressed: me and the Commander.

"Why only the two of us? Because I'm special? Or is there some other reason…."

Something flashed through my mind as I sat there, deep in thought.

I pulled up my sleepwear and looked at the Stigma below my navel.

The difference between me and the Rabbit Hole Squad.

The difference between me and other Valkyries.

Could it be that this Regression… was the result of the Contract?

*If that's the case… it makes a little more sense why I didn't grow stronger despite forming the Contract. The Commander's artificial Stigma must have held the ability to regress.*

Of course, it was still in the realm of hypothesis.

There were Erosion Species that could send consciousness back in time.

There was also the possibility it was a Valkyrie's unique ability.

But none of those explanations could account for why I — who had died — came back.

The Contract is a special ritual that links one Stigma to another.

It was most reasonable to assume I'd been carried along by the Commander's Regression.

*Hmm…. In that case, I should probably interfere with anyone else trying to form a Contract carelessly.*

Another Regressor appearing here would only complicate things unnecessarily.

And it could expose the fact that I'd regressed, too.

If I sensed any sign of that, I'd deal with it quietly.

Scratch, scratch.

After filling the white notebook until it was nearly black,

I turned to the next page and wrote the word *Purpose* in the center.

"Why did the Commander regress?"

If this Regression was something the Commander had triggered intentionally,

what was his reason for turning back time?

Tap, tap.

Lost in thought, I drummed the end of my pen against the notebook.

Before long, I arrived at a plausible conclusion.

*To prevent my death?*

Pause.

The pen that had been tapping the notebook went still.

It was still just one hypothesis among many.

But if that really was the reason….

"Heh, heh-heh. Heheh…. So that's how it is…."

No wonder he'd pulled me into his arms the moment he saw me.

So I was precious enough to him that he'd wanted to turn back time.

Gnaw. Gnaw.

Without realizing it, I'd started chewing on the back end of my pen.

Was this how a spider felt upon spotting prey caught in its web?

The smirk simply would not leave my face.

Would he turn back time every single time I died?

*This time I'll definitely save her. This time, for certain….*

Would he keep thinking that, and never give up?

"Haaa…. That would be… wonderful, but…."

I took a deep breath and reined in my excitement.

My rational mind was insisting it wasn't time to celebrate yet.

Naturally, this was still nothing more than simple speculation.

I had no idea what had happened after my death.

There was a real possibility the Commander had regressed unintentionally, just as I had.

In fact, thinking about it sensibly, that was probably the more likely scenario.

The Commander and I had only built up a week's worth of relationship.

Turning back time for that alone was… a bit of a leap.

*He regressed unintentionally. And now that he's back, he's trying to save me. For now, I'll work from that assumption and plan accordingly.*

I moved my pen across the notebook without pause.

What actions would the Commander take going forward?

I intended to anticipate the possibilities and keep the situation under control.

Then, by chance, my eyes landed on the plan I'd made before.

One week from today, I would lose my life to Midir.

The Commander would know that, too.

"He'll definitely try to interfere, won't he? Stop Morka from going after the victim. Request rapid support from Central Headquarters…."

That meant I couldn't use the same death as last time.

Did I now have to die while breaking through the Commander's interference?

And do it all without letting him find out I was a Regressor — the more I thought about it, the more formidable a challenge it became.

*Still… it sounds fun. No matter how desperately he struggles, he can't save Leila. What kind of expression will the Commander make when he realizes that….*

Gulp.

I swallowed without meaning to.

My body felt a little warm from the surge of emotion.

It seemed the switch had been flipped again.

*…Let's hold off on that for now.*

I ran my fingertips over the red marks left on my forearm.

I wasn't some monkey just discovering what arousal felt like.

Getting too absorbed in self-indulgence wasn't good for me.

Besides, there were still things I needed to think through.

"Next… would be the Leila performance, I suppose."

I'd sorted things out well enough on the Regression side.

Now I wanted to flesh out Leila's character more concretely.

*I hadn't expected to regress, after all. I'd been adding to the character vaguely, on the fly. If that keeps up, gaps will inevitably appear. So I need to solidify the characterization.*

This very Regression was proof of that.

Before the Regression, I'd been someone who had even kissed the Commander.

But right now, he and I were nothing more than people who'd met for the first time today.

This kind of discrepancy would keep appearing with every Regression.

What if I got confused about the gap and said something I shouldn't?

There was a real risk of him finding out I'd regressed alongside him.

On top of that, there was no guarantee Regression would always send me back to the train.

It might be worth creating a dedicated journal and setting save points by date.

"Leila is always earnest, but occasionally playful — a girl who speaks formally. Her defining trait is that she can't bear to lose anyone. That selfless spirit runs deep enough that she'd throw away her own life…."

I reconstructed the basic foundation by recalling the previous loop.

I didn't remember exactly what the original Leila had been like,

but summarizing my actions up to this point, that felt about right.

Next, I listed out the events of the first timeline in sequence.

Then, comparing them against what had happened in this timeline,

I made fine adjustments to the personality so nothing would feel off.

"Oh, right — I mentioned at some point that she had an interest in romance."

Then I remembered something I'd thrown out casually right before dying.

The Commander's expression hadn't come out the way I'd wanted,

so I'd just said whatever came to mind and ended up kissing him.

It had been a hastily improvised detail in every sense,

but thinking about it now, it seemed like something I could actually use.

*Leila — respected by everyone as a dependable older-sister figure. But secretly, she reads romance comics in private and dreams of falling in love…. Good. Not bad at all.*

It was an utterly predictable character type.

But that was precisely why it had so many uses.

"So when she was pulled into the Commander's arms, she found herself suddenly aware of him as a man, without even meaning to… how does that sound as a setup?"

I thought back to the moment I'd been pulled into the Commander's embrace out of nowhere.

At the time, my reaction had been something along the lines of *what the hell is wrong with you,*

and as a result I'd been genuinely flustered for a moment, and my performance had slipped.

If the Commander thought back to that moment, wouldn't he notice something was off?

So instead, I'd use it as an opportunity to advance the relationship.

If the Leila and Commander of the previous timeline had been comrades who trusted each other,

this time I'd put a little more emphasis on the feeling of a romance between a man and a woman.

Of course, a heroine who falls too quickly isn't any fun.

The feeling that she hasn't quite realized it herself yet….

"Perfect. Character complete."

This loop would be a tragic love that never came to fruition.

I smiled with satisfaction and closed the notebook.

Right. All done.

I threw myself onto the bed.

*

The next day.

Refreshed in every sense, I made my appearance at the Commander's office.

The Commander came straight up to me and said:

"Leila. I need to consult with you for a moment."

"Oh? About what?"

He met my eyes with an expression of unmistakable gravity and spoke.

"Are you familiar with the concept of… Regression?"

A fastball, dead center, no wind-up.

I was so caught off guard that, for just a moment, the words died in my throat.