VOLUME 1

Prologue—Leftover heat from the beginning

—This is really bad.

Feeling the bare hard ground against his face, he realized he had fallen, face flat onto the ground. All his strength left him, and he lost all sensation in his hands. All he felt throughout his body was heat.

—Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot

Coughing violently, he vomited blood like the spring of life rising from his throat, to the point where it flowed out of his mouth like water, and bubbles of blood arose from the edge of his lips.

With his blurred vision, he could see the floor stained bright red.

—Ahh. Is this all my blood?

Mistakenly thinking that all the blood had spilled out of his body, he reached out with his quivering hand, searching for the source of the heat that was engulfing his body. And he realized his finger was caught by a gash in his abdomen.

No wonder it felt so hot. It seemed that he had mistaken "pain" for "heat". A deep gash had almost split his torso into two, with a piece of skin barely connecting them together.

In short, it seemed he was faced with what was called a 'dire situation'.

As soon as he realized it, his consciousness immediately faded.

In front of his eyes was a black shoe stepping onto the slowly spreading carpet of blood, creating ripples.

Someone's there. And that someone most likely killed him.

But even so, he did not think of looking at his face. Something like that didn't matter.

What he only wished was for her to be safe.

"……baru?"

He thought he heard a voice sounding like a bell. He remembered. To hear that voice… to be able to hear that voice… it was his salvation. Which is why—

"—……"

A short cry, and the culprit was once again welcomed by a carpet of blood— the fallen body lay next to him. And there was his hand, stretched out loosely.

The white hand that fell limply slightly entwined with my blood-smeared hand, and he thought he felt its faintly moving fingers squeeze back.

"……for me"

Holding onto his far flown consciousness, he grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and forcefully turned it around in an attempt to buy some time.

"I… will definitely—"

—save you

In the next instant, he—Natsuki Subaru—lost his life.