Where... is this place?
The last thing I remember is endless pain, despair so intense it nearly drove me mad.
And when the pain finally ended, there was only falling.
An endless fall through infinite darkness, plummeting toward some unfathomable abyss.
Until my body hit something.
The ground?
Another nightmare?
Until my consciousness stirred once more from the chaos.
Until I opened my eyes again and looked around.
What I saw was a brightly lit city.
People walked to and fro on the streets, wearing all kinds of clothes, making all kinds of expressions.
Cars passed by silently, stopping at traffic lights, then moving forward again.
Giant billboards lit up in colorful displays, projecting an almost psychedelic atmosphere.
Under the night sky, everything seemed orderly.
This appeared to be a bustling metropolis—an utterly ordinary, unremarkable big city.
Except... I couldn't hear anything.
Standing in the central plaza, Takakai heard nothing.
People's mouths moved, smiling, speaking.
Car headlights flashed—maybe horns honked too?
The billboard visuals changed—was there accompanying sound?
None of it reached him.
This was a silent city.
A city so quiet it felt lifeless, devoid of any noise whatsoever.
What is this place?
Why can't I hear anything?
"Ah..."
In his dazed state, Takakai reflexively made a sound.
Clear and sharp—his own voice, perfectly audible to himself.
So he understood.
He could still hear.
He just couldn't hear the city's sounds. That was all.
[...]
Every person on the street froze.
Every moving car halted instantly.
Even the figures on the billboards stopped mid-action, turning to look at him.
"This isn't a city..."
As he murmured, Takakai's awareness sharpened, and he looked around again.
Corpses littered the ground, their horrified expressions not yet stiff, dark red blood already pooling across the pavement.
The crimson hue spread to the sky, as if the heavens were mirroring the earth, staining everything in that foul, bloody light.
The shattered city burned. Amid the ruins, no signs of life remained.
This place's vitality had long since been extinguished.
Everything had already been sacrificed.
Everything was already over.
It was all over.
They were just... waiting for the next target...
DONG!
A crisp bell toll echoed from somewhere in the dead city.
Takakai looked up toward the sound and saw it—a massive clocktower, its black hands slowly moving from 12 to 1.
In that instant, he felt something being taken from him. Like fingers, like eyes, like his heart and veins—things that had once been his no longer wholly belonged to him.
DONG!!
At the second toll, Takakai raised his hands and covered his ears.
He was beginning to understand.
Understanding what had happened to him.
Understanding what he would face.
"Eleven... more times?"
Before the clock's hand completed its circle, he was permitted eleven more lives.
I see. So that's how it is.
Even in death, he could return.
Even when all seemed lost, he could reset everything and start anew.
Eleven remaining chances. Before the count reached zero, before the clock completed its cycle, he had eleven opportunities to overturn fate.
And when those chances were exhausted...
This phantom city of horrors would cease to be an illusion.
It would become his grave—his final destination—with no escape left.
DONG!!!
The third bell rang loud and clear.
But Takakai was already looking around, watching the "people" resume their strolls as if alive, observing this city—this place that had long since died but still pretended otherwise.
"Seriously? My protagonist cheat is locked behind a death requirement?"
Takakai chuckled softly.
After struggling so desperately for so long...
Only to meet annihilation in the end...
Yet at the last possible moment, being granted a chance to start over.
How cliché.
"Honestly, I've never been a fan of 'last-second turnaround' stories. But since it's happening to me, I'll take it."
"After all, even cruel hope is still hope."
He couldn't help but feel a bit like Subaru from Re:Zero.
Though even Subaru didn't have a hard limit on his retries—running out meant game over.
Not that it mattered now.
All he had to do was change what had already happened.
The blood-drenched city began melting away.
Everything returned to darkness.
And he knew—this was the sign of his new beginning.
"I don't like edgy nihilism or pretentious dark storytelling."
Takakai spoke to himself, as if etching these words into his mind.
"Especially that 'kill-your-darlings' crap where characters die just for shock value. It's all garbage."
"Why not keep it simple? Bad guys get punished, good guys get happy endings. Even if it feels unrealistic, what's wrong with wanting to enjoy yourself?"
"Damn it all—so what if it's a cursed game? Bring it on! I'll create a world free of Urobuchi and 4chan edgelords!!"
The darkness receded.
A familiar musty smell filled the air.
Takakai sat up from the tattered bed, next to a freshly awakened Kaguya, who immediately assumed a guarded stance.
This was the very beginning—right after the eerie voice's instructions in the Shirakawa Apartments scenario.
No one had used the clock yet.
No one had died, turned into monsters, or been frozen solid.
"Yo."
Takakai struck a JoJo-esque pose—back turned, torso twisted, one hand dramatically covering his nose while the other pointed at Kaguya between the fingers, one leg lifted.
Cringe? Absolutely. But he'd waited his whole life for this moment.
"Not bad. You're the best of this batch of newcomers."
God, that felt good.
Meanwhile, Kaguya—still mid-defensive stance—could only stare blankly.
*...Did I get kidnapped by a lunatic?