But what was happening to them was entirely beyond their control. Moreover, it occurred without the slightest warning, happening with jarring abruptness.
Who could endure that?
"Yeah, I did discover a few things," Gojo Satoru nodded.
"Last night, I went to the Forbidden Library to find Beatrice, wanting to ask her about the time rewinding. But as a result, when I told her I had experienced a time loop..."
As Gojo spoke, that strange sensation from before manifested once again. The moment he sensed the shift in the environment, Gojo knew that the scene from the Forbidden Library last night was about to repeat itself.
Sure enough.
Accompanying a bizarre ripple, a pitch-black, slender hand—resembling a woman's palm—materialized inside his chest cavity.
With the previous experience under his belt, Gojo didn't bother activating his Domain or anything similar this time. Instead, he remained as still as possible, silently observing the phenomenon.
If one observation yielded no results, what about two? Or three? As long as this hand appeared enough times, he would eventually find a clue and dissect its secrets.
Under Gojo's silent gaze, the black palm once again crushed his heart.
"Pffft."
Spitting out another mouthful of blood, Gojo began manipulating his Reversed Cursed Technique to invert his cursed energy and heal the wound.
Beside him, Natsuki Subaru was startled by Gojo's sudden coughing up of blood.
"Satoru! What's wrong? Are you okay?"
Having done it once before, Gojo was quite fast at repairing his heart. By the time Subaru finished speaking, it was already fixed.
"This is what I experienced last night. There's a force that seems to be preventing me from speaking about what's happening to us."
"You mean the time rewind we went through, repeating everything we're experiencing now—"
Thump.
Subaru heard a dull sound echoing from inside Gojo's body and watched as his companion spat out blood yet again. He stood there, utterly at a loss.
In contrast, Gojo felt like he was about to laugh out of sheer frustration.
Fine, he could accept not being allowed to tell others about the time loop. He could even understand having his heart crushed—it was a literal "gag order," after all.
But why was it that when Subaru said the words, it was still Gojo's heart that got crushed?
Wasn't this a blatant double standard? Even for "special treatment," this was crossing a line. Was this the difference in treatment between a protagonist and a supporting character?
Gojo reached out to stop Subaru from speaking further. After repairing his heart once more, he looked at Subaru with a complicated expression.
"Be honest with me. Do you have some kind of connection with the Witch Cult? Or are you involved with some shady character?"
"What are you even talking about?" Subaru replied, looking baffled. "The first person I saw when I crossed over was you, and I've been with you ever since. How could I possibly be involved with the Witch Cult?"
Subaru's genuine confusion left Gojo speechless. Everything Subaru said was true; there were no holes in his story. Gojo had personally witnessed Subaru appearing out of thin air in the plaza in an instant. Since then, they had been together constantly.
There had been zero opportunity for contact with the Witch Cult or any similar entity.
Gojo remained silent, beginning the process of repairing his heart yet again. Once finished, he immediately dragged Subaru to the Forbidden Library to find Beatrice.
Opening the door with practiced ease, he found Beatrice still sitting by the entrance, reading. Upon seeing Gojo and Subaru again, she immediately covered her nose.
"Trespassing again without even knocking. What a rude fellow. And what exactly are the two of you trying to do? Turn Betty's Forbidden Library into the Witch's backyard? Charging in with such a heavy stench... it's absolutely foul."
Beatrice reached out, ready to expel them both immediately.
"Wait, Beatrice. I'm just here to ask a few questions, and then I'll leave."
Gojo pulled Subaru forward. "He has the scent of the Witch on him too, right?"
"Correct. Although it's not as dense as yours, it's still very obvious." Beatrice kept her nose pinched; she clearly had no intention of letting go until they left.
"Eh? The Witch of Envy?" Subaru pointed to himself, sounding shocked.
"Who else is there that people would call a Witch these days?" Beatrice said coldly.
"You know very well why the scent on me is so thick," Gojo said. "But he hasn't been attacked. Why is the scent on him so heavy as well—and why did he have it even earlier than I did?"
Gojo briefly summarized Subaru's situation, hoping to hear Beatrice's analysis.
There was no helping it. If this were a matter of Cursed Energy, he would be the ultimate authority. But when it came to Witches, he was walking blind. He had only recently encountered magic, and since Witches were beings that only existed in history books, he had no better way to gain deeper insight.
"Who knows what he did to earn such 'special treatment' from a Witch," Beatrice scoffed. "Being the focus of a Witch's attention... the two of you are nothing but big trouble. However, if everything you've said is true, analyzing your experiences suggests that the scent might thicken due to 'death.' Haven't you experienced that yourself?"
Death?
True. For an ordinary person, having their heart crushed several times would mean being dead several times over. It was easy to understand why the scent would thicken each time that hand appeared.
But on that night during the "first loop," Gojo was certain he hadn't been attacked by anything strange.
And Subaru...
Gojo turned to Subaru and said seriously, "Think hard. That night before, were you really not attacked by anything?"
Subaru frowned, thinking desperately. "I really don't think so. Everything was the same as usual. It was normal right up until I went to sleep. I didn't feel any pain or anything during the night; I just woke up and everything had changed."
Hearing this, Beatrice shrugged. "Then Betty doesn't know. You two can go research the rest yourselves. Honestly, you've made the air quite unpleasant. And it's not like the Forbidden Library is easy to ventilate..."
The doors behind them slammed open; Beatrice's eviction notice had been served.
"Let's go."
This time, Gojo didn't linger. There wasn't much point in staying. They had to figure out what was happening within their limited time, otherwise, being stuck in this cycle forever was going to be a problem.
"Satoru, what do we do now?" Subaru asked as they left the library. Compared to himself, Subaru clearly viewed Gojo—who was stronger and more mature—as the pillar of their group.
"For now, let's not change anything from the first loop. Since something we don't know about happened that night and led to our current situation, we'll keep things exactly as they were until that day. That night, we'll stay alert together and see exactly what's going on."
Since they had been in a dreamless sleep the first time and the loop happened without them knowing, they would simply let history repeat itself—except this time, they wouldn't sleep. They would wait to see what happened.
Responding to all changes by remaining unchanged—that was Gojo's choice.
Though the method sounded "foolish," it was the most direct and effective way. They would confront the events of that pivotal night head-on.
"You mean, I should still go on the date with Emilia and everything?"
"Yeah. Exactly. Change as little as possible. You know about the Butterfly Effect, right? If we change too much, things might spiral beyond what we experienced in the first loop."
"I got it," Subaru nodded. Simply maintaining the status quo wasn't difficult. Besides, going on a date with Emilia... forget doing it once more, even a thousand or ten thousand times would be something to get excited about.
"Leave it to me!" Subaru thumped his chest, promising confidently.
With the plan settled, they let things take their natural course.
Gojo didn't need to worry about Subaru; the guy didn't seem to have a care in the world—or rather, for the time being, he didn't see the loop as a bad thing. To Subaru, having more time to spend with Emilia, to get to know her better, and to build a foundation for their future relationship was actually a happy turn of events.
Gojo, on the other hand, stayed busy. He spent the vast majority of his time soaking in the Forbidden Library, focused entirely on searching for clues. It wasn't much different from his behavior in the previous loop—his main activity was still annoying Beatrice.
"Hey, I'm asking you, how long do you plan to stay here? Coming here every day like clockwork... did I have some kind of grudge against you in the past?"
On the second morning, under Rem's watchful eye, Gojo finished breakfast and headed straight to the Forbidden Library.
Just like before, Beatrice had tried her best to resist the uninvited Gojo, but it was useless. Faced with this rogue, the only thing Beatrice could do was grow accustomed to it and accept it. What else could she do? It wasn't as if she could unleash grand magic inside the library.
"Of course not! In the past, my favorite person was Beatrice, and it's the same now," Gojo said with a squinting smile, not hesitating for a second.
"If you like me, then stay away from me! This kind of one-sided affection is basically just being a pervert, okay?" Beatrice barked at him, disgruntled.
She had been used to being alone for so many years. Now, this guy Gojo was simply camping out in her space, and she couldn't drive him away. What truly bothered Beatrice wasn't Gojo reading books or pestering her with questions; it was the fear that once she got used to this lifestyle, she would one day suddenly return to being alone. If that happened, she would truly break down.
"By the way, Rem seems to really hate the scent of the Witch. Do you know what that's about?" Rem's reaction and attitude had actually been weighing on Gojo's mind.
"Those two children," Beatrice said casually while flipping through a book, "are the last two of the Oni tribe. And the Oni were slaughtered to near-extinction by the Witch Cult. On the night of their clan's destruction, Ram even had her horn—the source of an Oni's power—severed by the Cult to protect Rem. How do you think she feels about anyone related to the Witch Cult?"
"I see." Gojo nodded in understanding.
Her family and friends murdered by the Cult, and even her sister's power stripped away... it truly qualified as a deep-seated blood feud. It was understandable why Rem cared so much.
"But for you, that shouldn't be a concern at all, right? You can recover even from a crushed heart. Even if Rem poisoned you, you probably wouldn't be afraid, would you?"
"I never said Rem would do that. Actually, I quite like Rem too. After all, she makes some very delicious desserts." Gojo shook his head. As Beatrice said, he really wasn't worried about Rem harming him. The gap in their strength was too wide for it to matter.
"Fickle pervert," Beatrice muttered in disgust before closing her book. "So, you've decided to just stay here until that day arrives?"
"Yeah. Keeping everything the same is the best way. When that day finally comes, I'll observe closely to see exactly where things go wrong." Gojo stretched and leaned lazily against a bookshelf.
"A foolish method," Beatrice said mercilessly.
"But effective, isn't it? Or does the cute Beatrice have a better idea?"
"Why should I think of a way for you? You're just a guy with only a few days to live anyway."
Gojo wasn't sure if his words had triggered her or what, but the little girl seemed to be in a bad mood.
"That's so heartbreaking. In my limited time, I'm spending my final moments accompanying you, and yet you say things like that." Gojo put on a look of profound sadness.
"Betty never asked you to do that. If you had any sense, you'd vanish from my sight."
"As harsh as always, I see."
After a few days of soaking in the library, Gojo hadn't made any other breakthroughs. He hadn't asked anyone else besides Beatrice about the time loop. Although having his heart crushed didn't actually damage him, the sensation was still quite unpleasant.
Besides, if it was something even Beatrice—who had lived for centuries as a Great Spirit—didn't know...