Chapter 391. Unable to Speak
Shirogane Kei held her breath. "What... do you mean?"
"With Hachiman's intellect, he must have inferred from Louis's words that his Return by Death is a borrowed power—that it essentially belongs to Satella. Think about it: now that his 'existence' has vanished, would Satella still remember him, focus on him, and help him Return by Death?"
Shirogane Miyuki took a deep breath. "This is an experiment that simply cannot be conducted. Without knowing the truth, committing suicide now is gambling with his life. If he loses that gamble, it's over!"
Kei shook her head. She hadn't considered this angle. After pondering for a long while, she suddenly found a loophole: "Then Senpai can go to Sister Emilia and the others and say 'I can Return by Death' to test it!"
"The fact that mentioning Return by Death causes the heart to be crushed is information the amnesiac Hachiman doesn't have. Since losing his memory, he has never told anyone about it."
Refuting his sister with the facts, Miyuki sighed. "Furthermore, the intel Louis gave him—by peeking into his Sanctuary memories—stating that 'discussing Return by Death outside might lead to the world's destruction' will make him hesitate to act out of caution."
"Even if that's not a pure lie... it's precisely because of it that Hachiman doesn't dare test the consequences by mentioning it to others just to see if he still has the power."
Therefore, for the time being, Hachiman is stuck in a state of uncertainty where he cannot confirm if he can still Return by Death. He cannot test if he can reclaim his existence through it.
By the time he eventually dies again, significant time will have passed. Even if he could still Return by Death, the checkpoint would likely have updated to a point after this event. Gluttony's conspiracy would be complete.
Miyuki wasn't the only one to see through this chain of events.
In the Karsten Mansion, Ferris looked bewildered and asked for guidance: "So, can he actually Return by Death right now or not?"
"I don't know."
Crusch shook her head gloomily. "Whether he can or not, even the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony doesn't know. Her leaking information about Satella was also because she's afraid Hachiman might try to Return by Death and actually end up truly dead. She's avoiding that outcome too."
Until this unknown result is revealed, no one except Satella can provide the answer.
Ferris became even more confused. "If he really can't, wouldn't the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony's plan to steal Return by Death end up being for nothing?"
"Once Hachiman collapses and is completely swallowed and assimilated, the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony can spit his 'existence' back out. At that point, regardless of whether he was disconnected from Satella before, he can be noticed and gifted the power once again."
Having fully analyzed Louis's memories, Crusch clenched her fists so hard her fingers turned red.
The Sin Archbishop of Gluttony's intelligence and planning aren't actually god-tier; they simply stand on the high ground of information. Having eaten Hachiman's memories, she has a profound understanding of his personality. She knows he won't risk destroying the world just for the sake of his own existence.
After all, he doesn't know that his pre-amnesia self spoke of Return by Death without the world ending. He doesn't know if the lack of destruction was a "first warning, second strike" pattern, or if the destruction was avoided because of Return by Death.
Satella is the one who gifted him the power, and Satella is the one who restricts him from speaking of it. Therefore, the one who would destroy the world must be Satella... Using Return by Death to stop its own source from destroying the world sounds unreliable no matter how you look at it.
Hachiman is just that kind of gentle person. He will place the importance of his own existence below the safety of the world, so he won't test it.
Having tasted his memories and knowing he would think and act this way, targeting him with such a restriction is the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony's winning strategy. It's not because Louis is exceptionally brilliant; it's simply because she knows exactly how Hachiman thinks.
"But this is too much... how is it possible..."
At the Kousaka house, Kirino was incoherent, unable to accept it. "It's not like there weren't high-intelligence enemies with more info before, but even people like Roswaal and Echidna couldn't scheme against Senpai to this extent. Is this Louis really that amazing?"
"It's not that Louis is amazing; it's that she's lucky."
Kyousuke's refutation wasn't to comfort his shaken sister, but to state the facts.
"According to the Gluttony siblings' original plan, after eating Hachiman's memories, they first had to escape Priscilla's pursuit. Then in reality, Ley and Roy would look for a chance to go to Roswaal's domain and launch a sneak attack to eat Hachiman's existence."
"In that scenario, the uncertainty would actually be quite high. The Hachiman in reality has a huge advantage. If things went wrong, Ley and Roy might not only fail but be counter-killed in one go."
"But—an accident occurred."
There was actually a chance for a Book of the Dead to link to the Corridor of Memories in Od Lagna, and it just so happened that Louis lived there. No one could have predicted such an accident. Hachiman flipping through the Book of the Dead was a perfectly normal, blameless action. He lost because of an accidental information gap.
What was an accident for Hachiman was a massive surprise for Louis. Taking advantage of Hachiman's isolation in the Corridor of Memories, Louis directly ate his existence. Then, based on her thorough understanding of his personality, she set a plan in motion to break his spirit.
That is the full picture of the situation.
"You can't even call this 'a landmine at every step' anymore; this is a nuclear bomb at every step in this other world."
In the Sakura-sou dormitory, everyone was watching with fear and trepidation, feeling despair on Hachiman's behalf. Under these circumstances, how could he turn the tables?
Even people like Kanda Sorata, who worked in manga and anime and had some chuunibyou fantasies, had long since discarded any beautiful illusions about the other world since the Petelgeuse arc. Now, they were somewhat terrified of it.
The only one who still thought the other world was a beautiful paradise was Aki Tomoya, who lived entirely in his own head.
In the Classic Literature Club, Oreki Houtarou and Chitanda Eru were both well aware.
"This is truly the greatest predicament so far. Even for Hachiman, crossing this will be difficult... perhaps in the original future, he would have fallen here."
Among those thinking this was Hachiman himself. He was not very optimistic.
"The future me has a small chance... I dare not say that a good development will follow."
A pessimistic Hachiman and a pessimistic Yukinoshita looked at each other and sighed in unison.
Yukinoshita was incredibly distressed, tears nearly falling from her eyes. However, she had long since become unable to say the words: "Hikigaya-kun, for your own sake, please don't go to that world to save Emilia."
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