Intention

The Commander had finally revealed that he was a Regressor.

But the conversation didn't continue right away.

That was because I had suggested we move somewhere else.

*He's in a rush. Which means he's that desperate, I suppose.*

If we kept talking here and there, time would slip away before we knew it.

And the fact of his Regression wasn't the kind of thing that should carelessly leak out.

On those grounds, I invited the Commander to my room.

"I'll be changing for a moment. Would you like to change as well, Commander, and come by after?"

"Yes. I'll come find you shortly."

I returned to my room and went straight to the bathroom.

After washing my face lightly, I looked into the mirror above the sink.

On the other side of the glass was a girl with a bashful flush on her cheeks.

Adorably reddened ears, dewy eyes, an expression gone soft and loose.

Through slightly parted lips, a yearning little breath escaped.

By any measure, from any angle, it was the picture of someone falling in love.

But the moment I exhaled one long, slow breath—

Every trace of that tender feeling vanished in an instant.

What remained was a cold face with flat, emotionless eyes — the kind one might turn on an insect.

It was an icy atmosphere that didn't suit the Leila who always smiled.

"First time doing it in a real situation. Not bad."

Of course, my emotions hadn't actually swung to such extremes.

This was another possibility I'd discovered while researching Trance.

The technique of manipulating the body's responses at will — Sentiment.

I touched up my slightly tired face, then slowly began to undress.

I slipped off my jacket, undid the buttons of my shirt, and bared my shoulder.

Then I swept my hand lightly across that pale white shoulder.

At my fingertips, I felt a faint, delicate sensation — tap, tap.

"Still in there nicely. I nearly cried when I first put them in…."

What had pierced through the skin and muscle on the inside of my shoulder were needles.

More precisely, they were the nails used as ammunition, shaved down thin.

Why on earth had I put such things inside my own body?

The reason was simple. I had felt the limits of emotional expression.

*When I died in the Commander's arms, I was a little disappointed. It would have been so much better if I'd shed tears.*

So I had continued my research over the past few days.

Like electrodes jabbed into a frog at various points across its body.

I had inserted needles all over myself and run electricity through them.

And through the night, I had explored what reactions each position produced.

What I had brought close to completion was precisely this — Sentiment.

By running a current of a specific wavelength through the needles embedded in my body,

I could stimulate the nervous system and trigger whatever physical response I desired.

If Trance could replicate the effects of an externally administered drug,

then Sentiment was the ability to manipulate the body's own workings directly.

Now I could make my face flush red,

bring tears to my eyes, or move specific muscles on command.

"I'd like to finish it as soon as possible…. I can't exactly hammer needles into myself every time I regress."

Of course, it was still closer to an experimental stage.

The number of needles embedded in my body already exceeded fifty,

and drawing out a response with them required considerable concentration.

In other words, Sentiment was utterly useless in a fight.

Well, I had Trance for that, so it didn't really matter.

After confirming that nothing looked outwardly wrong,

I left the bathroom and changed into light, casual clothes.

Just when I thought he might be arriving soon, someone knocked at the door.

"Commander. Please, come in."

"Yes. Pardon the intrusion."

I opened the door to greet him, and sure enough, the Commander was standing there.

He seemed quite uncomfortable about entering my room.

But given the circumstances, he didn't let it show too much.

I had him sit in the chair, then settled myself on the edge of the nearby bed.

Perhaps because the room was sufficient for one person but could hardly be called spacious —

with just two people inside, it felt oddly stifling.

I suppose I need to ease the atmosphere a little.

I cleared my throat lightly and said to the Commander with a playful lilt,

"You know, this is the first time I've invited a man to my room. You're not getting any ideas, are you, Commander?"

"…I am not."

"Heheh, of course not. You're not that kind of person. I'm joking."

"…."

He answered my words with silence instead of a reply.

A rigid expression that gave nothing away about what he was thinking.

Seizing the moment, I let a slightly deflated look creep into my manner, playing at timidity.

"…D-did I offend you? I'm sorry. I think I got a little nervous without realizing it. It really was just a joke!"

"It's fine. I don't take offense at something like that. My head is just… cluttered right now."

"Well, that's a relief then…."

Good. That should have read as the reaction of a guileless young woman.

After wringing out a suitably romance-flustered response — the kind Leila, who was a little weak to these things, would give —

I let a faint blush touch my cheeks and gave a small, composed cough.

"Ahem. Then let's pick up where we left off. You were saying that in three days, I'll be killed by an Erosion Species?"

"…Yes. That's correct."

"Could you explain the circumstances in detail?"

I listened quietly as the Commander recounted the first loop from his perspective.

It was a story I already knew, so it was a little dull —

but my expression held the grave attentiveness of someone who couldn't afford to miss a single word.

And after hearing the full account of my death in the first loop,

I furrowed my brow slightly, as though deep in troubled thought.

"My life…. It must be a formidable enemy, then."

"No. Without question, Leila is stronger than that Erosion Species."

"Then why did I go down with it…?"

"That's… entirely my fault. You were trying to protect me, and—"

Perhaps even the act of retracing the memory was painful.

The Commander bit his lip, his clenched fist trembling.

Leila's death had its cause in the fact that he had lost his arm.

The expression on his face as he said it was one of profound regret.

"Hek…."

But I was only half-listening to his words.

Because the expression he had suddenly shown made my heart give a heavy thud.

*This bastard, making me feel things out of nowhere…!*

Sensing the danger, I sent an electric pulse through the needles embedded inside my body.

The surge of excitement dropped sharply, and my reason came flooding back.

*No — it hurts! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!*

*It feels like my whole body is being stabbed with thorns! My bones… my bones are aching…!*

*Wait, there's no reason for it to hurt this much! Just enough to kill the excitement should be plenty…!*

I somehow managed to hold back the grimace trying to twist across my face.

I couldn't afford to have the Commander looking at me strangely right now.

That desperate urgency was somehow enough to let me keep performing calm.

Let's not use Sentiment to suppress excitement if I can help it.

I made that resolution and turned my gaze back to the Commander.

Given the flow of the conversation, there was something I needed to ask.

Namely, the conditions for Regression.

"…Commander, may I ask you something?"

"Yes."

"I understand that I died alongside the Erosion Species. But what happened after that? Was everything resolved safely?"

The Erosion Species had been held back by the wildfire,

and I had blown Midir's head apart and killed it.

With a little more time in that state, reinforcements would arrive —

so it was fair to say the problem had essentially been solved.

And yet — why had the Commander regressed?

Had he regressed on the strength of his will alone, to save me?

That would be genuinely delightful, but… somehow I doubted it.

The Commander hesitated briefly at my question.

Then, with a complicated expression, he answered.

"That is…. I also died, like Leila."

"What? You died too, Commander?"

"Yes. Not long after, a heavy rain fell and weakened the flames. The Erosion Species horde kept advancing without stopping, and… that is my last memory."

"Heavy rain…."

It seemed that after I had dealt with Midir, a heavy rain had come and extinguished the fire.

Which meant he had been swept away by the advancing Erosion Species horde.

*That means… the trigger for Regression is the Commander's death…!*

This was useful information.

I had been curious about what process allowed for Regression —

so killing him could forcibly send him back? That's how it works?

For a moment, wicked little thoughts began bubbling up in my mind,

but I tucked them all neatly away into the box labeled *ways to torment the Commander*. Yes. I'll take them out someday.

Oh, I can't wait. I suppressed a smile and crossed my arms.

Then I looked at the Commander with a thoroughly serious expression.

"Commander. There are a few things that don't quite add up to me."

"I'm sorry. I suppose it's not a very believable story—"

"No. I believe you, Commander. Because I know I would have done exactly the same. The incident three days from now will certainly happen. But… we can't take everything at face value, can we?"

He wore an expression full of questions.

His manner said: *what exactly are you trying to say?*

I met his gaze steadily, as if to say: *think it through carefully.*

"You said just now that you saw the black Erosion Species crossing through space, didn't you?"

"Yes. It kept disappearing and reappearing in midair."

"And using that ability, it slipped through the city's outer walls. Victims appeared without anyone knowing. But that's strange."

"In what way?"

"Erosion Species can't think like humans. So the idea of one sneaking into a city and going undetected — isn't that fundamentally difficult to make sense of?"

"That's…."

The Commander nodded, clearly conceding the point.

In the decades of war against the Erosion Species, not a single intelligent one had ever been sighted.

The doubt I had raised was entirely reasonable by common sense.

Of course, Midir truly was the first intelligent Erosion Species to appear —

but knowing that, I calmly twisted the truth anyway.

"Was it really something the Erosion Species did entirely on its own?"

"What… do you mean by that?"

"I can't help but think there may have been outside interference."

My argument must have sounded fairly reasonable to his ears.

The Commander's expression turned markedly grave.

He had thought that dealing with Midir would be the end of it —

and now his face said his worries had multiplied. *Heh. Headache, isn't it?*

"Outside interference, you say…."

"Of course, it's only speculation."

I was careful not to forget leaving myself a way out.

After all, it would eventually come to light that all of it was a misreading.

It was enough simply to plant the thought that such a possibility existed.

*This isn't a problem the two of us can solve alone.*

Having quietly etched that notion into him, I said to the Commander,

"I think we're going to need someone besides just the two of us to help."

Here was where the real purpose began.

The hand pulling toward the bad ending.