Beatrice didn't have time to ask questions.
She pressed her palm directly against Natsuki Subaru's chest, her brow furrowed as she sensed his condition.
"It's a curse."
With her vast knowledge, Beatrice instantly identified what had turned Subaru into this state. However, after confirming the curse, she looked at Gojo Satoru and shook her head.
"You came too late. He's already beyond sav—"
Beatrice's voice was still echoing in his ears, but everything before his eyes seemed to freeze, then abruptly shattered and changed.
"Mr. Gojo, is it alright to board? We are preparing to set off."
The familiar scene, the familiar figures, the familiar words.
Gojo Satoru stood in the courtyard of the Mathers family's Royal Capital mansion. Looking at Rem and the others sitting on the ground dragon carriage, he suddenly burst into laughter.
Inside the carriage, Natsuki Subaru looked at his surroundings with a look of daze. When he saw Gojo walking toward him, it finally clicked—everything had started over once again.
Having experienced the time rewind before, Subaru was clearly no longer as panicked or lost as he had been initially. To him, the experience of being able to repeatedly learn more about Emilia wasn't exactly a form of torture. Gaining a deeper understanding of her, going on dates—it was practically a dream come true.
Gojo stepped into the carriage. This time, Subaru didn't need any prompting or help; he sat directly next to Emilia.
"Satoru."
Subaru looked at Gojo, about to say something, but Gojo simply waved his hand, signaling that he wasn't in the mood for talk. Seeing this, Subaru knew it wasn't the right time and turned to chat with Emilia instead.
During the journey, Gojo spent the entire time reflecting on the events of the second loop. The issues from the first loop were basically clear now.
When Natsuki Subaru dies, time rewinds. After the rewind, he carries a heavy scent of the Witch. As for Gojo himself, whenever he tried to tell others about the time loop, he would be attacked; that attack also caused him to be tainted by the Witch's thick scent.
Connecting these dots, it wasn't hard to see the pattern.
Compared to a supporting character like himself, the so-called Witch of Envy truly cared about the protagonist, Natsuki Subaru. Whether it was granting him the chance to start over after death, or the fact that Subaru remained unharmed while Gojo was targeted for speaking about the loop—everything pointed toward the Witch's blatant bias.
Thinking of this, Gojo's gaze toward Subaru became somewhat peculiar. If before he had felt Subaru was a bit "unqualified" as a protagonist due to his lack of any abilities, he now realized that wasn't the case at all.
Setting everything else aside, the ability to constantly restart was staggering. Even if Subaru was just an ordinary human, as long as he died enough times, he could eventually find a solution to any problem—provided his mind could withstand the mental pressure of repeated deaths.
Gojo watched Subaru laughing and talking with Emilia. He could only say the guy's luck was decent. His first two deaths occurred in his sleep and were caused by Mana depletion—a relatively "gentle" way to go. He died before he could even notice, largely without pain. If he had experienced death in battle, it might be a different story.
The dragon carriage traveled on. Finally, after arriving at the Tree of Flugel, Gojo used the excuse of taking a stroll to pull Subaru away.
"Satoru, what exactly happened? I remember telling you I wanted to sleep for a bit. Why is it that as soon as I wake up, it's like this again?"
Having learned from last time, Subaru didn't explicitly mention the "restart" but used a different phrasing to avoid Gojo getting his heart crushed again.
"Because you died," Gojo said with a shrug and a helpless look.
"Huh? You're not joking, are you? I died? How? Why didn't I know?" Subaru pointed to himself, his eyes filled with deep confusion.
Gojo briefly explained the events of the previous night.
"Think carefully. Who would have placed a curse on you that constantly drains your life force? There shouldn't be many in the mansion with that capability. Roswaal, Puck, Beatrice... As for the village, did you come into contact with anyone unusual?"
As he spoke, Gojo was also analyzing the situation. Among the three he mentioned, Roswaal was the most likely candidate. He was the Kingdom's strongest magic caster; it wouldn't be surprising if he possessed some bizarre methods. Plus, he had a "prior record" of conspiring with the Bowel Hunter, Elsa, to harm Emilia. Moving against Subaru wasn't out of the question.
As for Puck and Beatrice, they had the power, but lacked a clear motive. Puck was usually with Emilia and likely wouldn't do such a thing in front of her. According to Gojo's observations, Puck didn't seem to dislike Subaru; if anything, he seemed to find him quite likable.
Beatrice was even less likely. She was the person Gojo had interacted with most over these two loops (the second most being Rem, who frequently brought him sweets). In the last loop, Gojo had been with Beatrice almost every day except for the nights; she didn't have the time to make a move. Furthermore, based on his understanding of her, she wasn't the type to take lives on a whim. Even as much as he annoyed her in the library, she only ever tried to kick him out. When his heart was crushed, she had rushed over to help without hesitation, willing to buy him time for his final words even when she knew it was futile.
These actions proved that Beatrice was a very kind-hearted little girl—she was just a bit of a tsundere with a sharp tongue.
"The village? I don't think so..." Subaru thought it over and spoke with certainty. "I was with everyone, and I didn't see anything special. Everyone was nice and simple."
Gojo ran a hand through his hair, lifting the hanging strands as he looked up at the distant night sky.
"In that case, our objective needs to shift slightly. The primary goal now is to ensure you survive the day of your date. Only then can we investigate who is trying to kill you. Once we know who it is, everything becomes simple."
"Is there anything I need to do? Just go on the date with Emilia again?" Subaru asked, rubbing his hands together.
"It's fine. Just do the date. Leave the rest to me. I don't know how many times you can restart, but as it stands, it gives us a massive window for trial and error."
"Then Satoru, go ahead and try whatever you want!" Subaru gave him a thumbs up. "Even though you said I died, I didn't feel a thing—no pain at all. I don't mind this sort of thing."
What people fear most about death isn't the state of being dead, but the pain that leads to it. Since Subaru hadn't felt any pain, he naturally didn't see it as a big deal.
"Come to think of it, you really are receiving special treatment from the Witch. To give you an ability like this—starting over after death. If I ever get the chance to meet her, I really ought to thank her. If it weren't for her, I'd probably be dead too, and I'd never get another chance to date Emilia."
Subaru spoke with a grin. He didn't find the revelation upsetting; on the contrary, he was a little thrilled. First, because this ability meant he could restart if things got dangerous. Second, he finally felt like he wasn't just a "useless" secondary character anymore—he had a special power too!
"Thinking about it, I'm like the guy in a light novel hero's party who looks useless and has no presence normally, but shows up at the most critical moment to turn the tide! If we fail to slay the Demon King, as long as I'm here, we get a do-over!"
Gojo looked at Subaru's smug expression and said with a squinting smile, "This ability clearly has something to do with the Witch of Envy. You want to use it to slay her?"
"Uh..." Subaru rubbed his head and gave a sheepish laugh. "I guess that's true. But maybe the one we have to slay isn't the Witch of Envy? Otherwise, she wouldn't give me this power, right?"
"Let's hope so," Gojo shrugged. "It makes no difference to me. Though you might end up being toyed with by her because of this power—living and dying over and over again."
Subaru's expression changed instantly. He looked at Gojo with dead seriousness. "Satoru, you can definitely beat her, right?!"
Gojo's lips curled into an arc. He arrogantly brushed his hair back, revealing his forehead, looking every bit the picture of supreme confidence and flair. However, his next words made Subaru feel quite unwell.
"I can't win."
Gojo spoke bluntly, instantly shattering Subaru's expectations. If he were in his original world, Gojo could say without hesitation that no one was his match. But here... though he didn't like to admit it, he wasn't someone who was blinded by arrogance or would lie to himself. He hadn't even met the Witch and had already had his heart crushed several times without being able to do a thing about it.
In that situation, claiming he could "take care of her" would be a joke.
"It's fine! Even if you can't win now, I believe you'll surpass her one day!" Subaru tried his best to cheer Gojo up. If even the vastly stronger Gojo couldn't do it, what was he supposed to do?
"No worries. At worst, you'll just have to die a couple more times, Subaru. As long as we try enough times, we'll find an opening. Don't worry—if you're afraid of the pain, leave it to me. I'll make sure you don't feel a thing. I'll make you disappear in an instant without even leaving ashes!"
Looking at Gojo's brilliant smile, Subaru's mouth twitched. "Don't talk about killing your teammate so casually, you bastard!"
The morning sun of the second day rose, and the dragon carriage continued its journey. Just like the previous two loops, they arrived smoothly at Roswaal's mansion.
The moment they arrived, after some brief pleasantries with Roswaal and the others, Gojo found the Forbidden Library door with practiced ease and walked in.
"Long time no see, Beatrice."
As soon as he entered, Gojo raised an index finger to his lips. "Shh! Don't say anything irritating, or tell me I'm rude for entering without knocking. And don't say that only those close to you can call you Beatrice. The relationship between the two of us is much more intimate than you think."
Gojo's opening lines effectively choked back the words Beatrice was about to say.
"And don't bother trying to kick me out. It's pointless, and you can't do it anyway. After all, you've tried many times and haven't succeeded once."
Gojo continued talking to himself as he walked over to Beatrice's side. Under her hostile gaze, he poured himself a cup of tea from the pot.
"As expected, the tea here tastes better. The tea Miss Rem brews always feels like it's missing something."
Watching Gojo's actions, an "anger vein" symbol practically pulsed on Beatrice's forehead. Just as she was about to speak, Gojo beat her to it.
"Don't say you don't want to see me, and don't feel angry. As I've told you many times, you just need to get used to it."
Beatrice looked at this guy whose name she didn't even know, hearing him spout these inexplicable things, and felt a surge of fury. But strangely enough, although this rude guy who appeared out of nowhere was incredibly annoying, the words coming out of his mouth were exactly what she had been about to say.
"Did Roswaal send you? Does he want to use a protection that can sense others' thoughts to 'care' for me?"
Beatrice's small, palm-sized face remained expressionless. But Gojo, who had interacted with her many times, knew this was a sign she was truly angry. When she was noisy and argumentative, she usually wasn't actually mad yet.