However, when he raised his head, he found that behind Takeru, who was concentrating on treating him, an exceptionally vicious-looking person had appeared.
"Watch out!" Without thinking, Subaru loudly warned Takeru.
But it was too late. Takeru was directly ambushed by the suddenly appearing person and sent flying.
The immense power caused Takeru's body to collide with a wall, even causing the wall to collapse. Takeru was thus severely injured and fell unconscious.
After sending Takeru flying, the vicious-looking person looked at the terrified Subaru, then, under his horrified gaze, threw a punch. The immense power directly shattered his chest.
Feeling the intense agony in his chest, Subaru just stared at the person with a ferocious expression before him, then his consciousness gradually faded.
With Subaru's death, the world seemed to reset. Many things were reverting, and time went back over ten minutes earlier.
"Little brother, what's wrong? Suddenly looking so bewildered." Inside a fruit stall, a burly man holding an apple asked Subaru.
"Huh?" Facing the burly man's inquiry, Subaru only felt his consciousness blurry and ears somewhat deafened… aftereffects since he hadn't adapted to Return by Death.
"Want to buy an appa? Appa. Little brother, do you have money?" Seeing Subaru's dumbfounded look, the uncle felt impatient.
"Huh what huh? Appa, are you buying or not?" Hearing his words, the uncle's anger rose.
"No, I already said I'm penniless!" This time, Subaru finally recovered and quickly spoke.
"What's this? Just looking without buying? Move along. I have to do business. No time for customers who don't pay." Hearing him say this, the uncle showed a disdainful expression.
After leaving the stall, Subaru looked around in utter confusion. "What's going on? Wasn't I just... by that weirdo?"
Thinking this, Subaru looked at his chest area, finding everything intact, no signs of injury. However, the previous pain remained vividly etched in his memory.
"If it was a dream, it felt too intense." Murmuring, Subaru was extremely frightened.
As for Takeru, after Subaru was killed, the 'corpse' lying in the alley was brought back to over ten minutes earlier by a special power. However, Takeru's memory didn't change, and the memory of saving Subaru remained very clear in his mind.
Besides Takeru, Mai, who was investigating world information, and Yuya and the others were also brought back by this power to their positions from over ten minutes earlier.
"What is going on?" The three had no idea what happened. Why were they back here when they were clearly somewhere else? And the people and things around seemed very familiar. Things that had just happened were happening again.
For a moment, they thought they were being played with and warily looked around but couldn't detect any abnormality...
Takeru naturally didn't know their reactions. After confirming that Subaru's death would reset the world line, Takeru began considering Subaru's placement issue.
To avoid Subaru suddenly dying and rendering all efforts in vain, Takeru needed to place him where he could be monitored.
Also, after Subaru's death, Takeru detected a special aura emanating from Subaru. Takeru soon realized it must be the so-called [Witch's scent].
While Subaru was confused, he once again unconsciously came to the same alley.
Then, as before, he encountered the three thugs.
"Hey hey, what are you staring blankly at?" The short one directly mocked Subaru.
"If you don't want to suffer, hand over your stuff!" The tall, skinny one also mocked.
"Hmph, you guys recovered so quickly?" Looking at the three, Subaru frowned.
"Huh? What nonsense are you spouting?"
"Crazy?"
"It's fine, kid. Just hand over everything you have, and we'll let you go."
The three thugs directly took Subaru's words as insanity.
Subaru, seeing their unfeigned gazes, was baffled, 'Could that earlier really have been a dream?'
"Alright, don't try to stall. Hand over the valuable stuff." Looking at Subaru, the tall, skinny one frowned.
"Someone, anyone, save me! Please!" Seeing this, Subaru directly shouted loudly.
"Darn it, kid, you're asking for death!" Hearing Subaru's shout, the three became somewhat nervous and wanted to attack him.
"Stop right there!" At that moment, Takeru followed the sound and appeared behind Subaru.
"It's you!" Seeing Takeru's appearance, Subaru showed a delighted expression.
"Do we know each other?" Seeing his excited expression, Takeru also frowned and spoke.
"You just saved me earlier and treated my injuries!" Hearing Takeru's inquiry, Subaru said excitedly.
"Don't joke. I didn't save anyone earlier, nor treated anyone." Hearing his words, Takeru directly shook his head.
"Is that so?" Hearing Takeru's denial, Subaru's excited expression calmed. He regarded the earlier events as a precognitive dream.
"Um, could you please save me?" Hearing Takeru's words, Subaru stopped dwelling on it and directly asked.
"Hmph, you want to meddle?" Seeing Takeru and Subaru talking, the three angrily spoke.
"I just can't stand you bullying the weak." Hearing his words, Takeru spoke directly.
"Hmph, kid, since you want to meddle, then don't blame us for not being polite!" Saying this, the three charged at Takeru. However, facing the huge power gap, they were directly taken down by Takeru.
Seeing this, Subaru showed a smile. But he seemed to remember something and hurriedly spoke to Takeru nervously: "Really, thank you so much! But let's leave here first!"
"Eh? Why?" Takeru asked puzzled.
"You might not believe it, but a weirdo will appear here soon. He'll attack you and me. So, let's escape quickly!" Hearing Takeru's question, Subaru said excitedly.
"Mhmm, a weirdo? I'd like to see him. But how do you know?" Hearing his words, Takeru pretended to be very interested.
"I just had a special dream. Everything here happened in my dream." Hearing Takeru's inquiry, Subaru hesitated, then spoke.
"Oh, is that so? Then in your dream, was I defeated by the weirdo?" Hearing his words, Takeru asked further.
"At that time, because you were treating me, you were ambushed by the weirdo, then sent flying." Hearing Takeru's question, Subaru could only tell Takeru what happened earlier.
"Is that so? Since you weren't injured, it must have just been an ordinary dream. And as you said, he only defeated me by ambushing, right?" Hearing his words, Takeru spoke calmly.
"Although that's true... but..." Hearing Takeru's words, Subaru wanted to refute but didn't know how.
"Move it, move it! Don't block the way!" At that moment, a figure appeared in the alley… the same Felt who had just stolen the insignia.
Watching Felt quickly pass by, Takeru calmly watched her. She also curiously looked at the exceptionally handsome Takeru but didn't linger. Takeru just stood there watching her leave.
"It's her! Time's running out. Let's leave quickly!" Seeing Felt's arrival and departure, Subaru panicked.
"Alright." Seeing Subaru's anxious expression, Takeru calmly nodded, then followed him out of the alley.
After returning to the bustling streets, Subaru felt a bit relieved.
"By the way, I'm Natsuki Subaru. I don't know your name yet!" After getting far from the alley, Subaru gratefully spoke to Takeru.
"Me? I'm Nara Takeru." Hearing his words, Takeru spoke calmly.
"Thank you, Takeru!" Hearing Takeru's words, Subaru spoke familiarly.
"That's nothing. Just felt we hit it off." Hearing his words, Takeru spoke calmly.
"Is that so? Since I just arrived here and am not familiar, you've really helped me a lot!" Hearing Takeru's words, Subaru directly said.
"No wonder. Your attire doesn't look local. So, you mean you haven't found a place to stay yet?" Hearing his words, Takeru followed his words and spoke.