Part 1: Fate
Marin and Ryuk looked at Haruto.
Their eyes were filled with suspicion.
It was as if they already knew there was something far deeper hiding behind Haruto's calm expression.
"You know last night around twenty-five travellers disappeared."
"And we still do not know who did it."
"And the people reported that the person who was probably hunting had red eyes."
"Golden brown hair."
"But they could not remember the face properly."
"Due to the darkness last night."
"And during the time when Marin and I were cleaning trash…"
"You were not with us."
"What were you doing then?"
Ryuk asked.
Haruto had red eyes.
And golden brown hair.
At that moment, Ryuk and Marin connected everything together.
The hunter they were talking about…
Was none other than Haruto himself.
"Although last night I could have hidden my face by simply wearing a mask…"
"But I did not."
"Because after all, we are going to leave this place eventually."
"And buying a mask costs a pretty high amount of money."
"Around one hundred Reo."
"It is not only because of money that I did not wear one."
"But because I simply did not care."
"Because even if someone saw me, they would not understand who I really was."
"During the night everything is dark."
"So even if someone saw me, they would never properly recognize me."
"Ryuk and Marin know me personally."
"That is why they were able to figure it out."
"But on the other hand…"
"I walk normally among regular people."
"People would think a hunter would try to hide himself."
"And because of that…"
"People do not get enough time to properly notice me."
"That is how I can easily escape through the crowd."
"But even so… Ryuk and Marin still figured it out."
Haruto thought silently.
"I guess you understand now," Haruto said.
"You killed them?" Ryuk asked.
"I suppose… maybe he did," Marin said quietly.
Suddenly, Ryuk rushed toward Haruto and grabbed his collar tightly.
"Why?"
"Why did you kill them?"
"What did they ever do to you?"
Ryuk shouted loudly.
Haruto stayed silent for a moment.
Then he slowly looked toward Marin.
"Marin… can you leave this room for a moment?"
"I need to have a private conversation with him."
Marin quietly accepted his request.
Then she left the room.
Haruto removed Ryuk's hand from his collar.
Then he began speaking calmly.
"You want to know why I killed them, right?"
"Yes," Ryuk replied immediately.
Haruto then explained everything.
About Eiji.
About the lack of money.
About his goal of hunting Eiji down.
Ryuk listened silently.
Then he spoke again.
"If Eiji is truly a bad person, then I do not have a problem with killing him."
"But why did you kill innocent travellers who never even did anything to you?"
Haruto looked directly into Ryuk's eyes.
"Who even are they?"
"Ryuk… did you forget where we came from?"
"We are from Earth."
"Not from Tenzu."
"In this world, nobody knows us."
"Nobody supports us."
"We became trapped here."
"And nobody is going to help us."
"We have to survive on our own."
"We can make friends."
"At first, they may act kind."
"But when the time comes to truly help us…"
"And if helping us puts them in danger…"
"They will abandon us."
"People only want to use others for their own benefit."
"And if it becomes their loss…"
"They will never help."
"That is how the world works."
"You have lived in Tenzu for nearly two years."
"But I already understand the logic of this world."
"This world looks like a land of dreams."
"It looks peaceful."
"But once you truly understand the danger hidden inside this world…"
"You realize nobody will save us."
"So before others can use us…"
"We should use them first."
"And even if they die…"
"We should not feel sad."
"Because we are not from this world."
After hearing those words, Ryuk's expression twisted with frustration.
"So you are really that selfish."
"You use people for your own benefit."
Ryuk said angrily.
Haruto stared at him without emotion.
"You know…"
"You already did everything I wanted."
"Did you notice those trash bags falling from nowhere?"
Haruto asked.
"No," Ryuk replied.
"Because inside those trash bags…"
"There were human bodies."
"I never went to personally claim the bounty."
"So nobody could understand who I really was."
"And every single action you took…"
"Every decision you made…"
"Went exactly according to my plan."
"We earned five hundred more Reo than we would have by simply claiming the bounty normally."
"And Leo also did a very good job."
Haruto said calmly.
Ryuk's eyes widened.
At that moment, disgust filled his expression.
His own friend had manipulated everyone around him like puppets for the sake of achieving his goal.
Unable to endure it any longer, Ryuk threw a punch toward Haruto.
Haruto instantly blocked the attack.
Then countered immediately.
A direct punch struck Ryuk in the stomach.
Ryuk's eyes widened before his body collapsed onto the floor unconscious.
"Nobody can stop me from fulfilling my goal."
Haruto said coldly.
After that, Haruto turned around and walked toward the door.
"You can come with me if you want."
"You already heard everything."
"So I guess you now understand what kind of person I really am."
"Although… I cannot do anything about it."
Haruto said to Leo before leaving the room.
Leo slowly sat down on the floor.
For the first time, he fully understood something terrifying.
Haruto had been using everyone according to his own will.
A few moments later, Marin entered the room again.
She did not hear the conversation about Earth.
But she did hear enough to understand that Haruto had manipulated all of them for his own benefit.
And because of that…
She also became upset.
Meanwhile, Haruto walked silently through the streets.
It was now a full moon night.
At the mountain gate, Eiji slowly entered the entrance area.
Then he took a single step forward.
Suddenly—
A stone drill fell directly toward him.
Eiji instantly stepped backward.
But the moment he moved—
Another trap activated.
A giant fireball rushed toward him.
Eiji jumped high into the sky to dodge it.
But at that exact moment—
Two Lam Papers attached to nearby trees detected his movement.
Instantly, a giant sphere of water trapped Eiji inside.
A Water Prison.
Then suddenly—
A violent electric shock exploded inside the prison.
The trap shattered apart.
A powerful paralysis spread through Eiji's body.
His body fell onto the ground.
For a brief moment…
He could not move.
Eiji's eyes narrowed.
He did not understand what had just happened.
Then—
Haruto slowly appeared from the darkness.
This entire thing had been a trap created by Haruto.
The Lam Papers attached to the trees had been specially engineered by him.
Haruto had transformed the Water Prison Lam Papers into motion-detection traps.
And he had almost perfectly predicted Eiji's movement path beforehand.
Everything activated exactly according to Haruto's calculations.
And because Eiji possessed electric-type abilities…
The moment he jumped, he instinctively prepared electricity around his body.
But once the Water Prison trapped him—
The water amplified the electric shock tremendously.
Because of that sudden amplified shock…
Eiji became temporarily paralyzed on the ground.
Haruto slowly looked at him and spoke calmly.
"I cannot defeat you directly…"
"But I can defeat you through my plans."