The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

If I had to pick the phrase I saw the most in the anime I watched as a child, it would undoubtedly be:

"Same time next week."

I wasn’t sure how it worked in Japan, but the anime I grew up watching often had their openings and endings cut short so the network could squeeze in more advertisements.

They never cut the main episode, of course. But the opening sequence would be reduced to just the title screen before jumping straight into the episode. And instead of playing the ending, there would just be a commercial break, followed by the words:

"Same time next week."

And seeing that phrase always reassured me.

It meant exactly what it said. That the same time next week, the show would still be airing here.

I would sit in front of the TV, watching the latest episode, feeling a pang of disappointment when it ended—only to be comforted when those words appeared. Then, I would spend the entire week looking forward to that next episode, filled with anticipation.

But even that had an end.

No matter how long an anime ran, the final episode always arrived. Even for episodic series with no overarching plot.

When the scheduled episodes for the year were over, the words on the screen no longer read, "Same time next week."

Instead, they said:

"Thank you for watching."

And every time I saw those words, I felt an emptiness in my heart.

It always felt like, after that moment, something was gone forever. That nothing would ever quite be the same again.

Strange, isn’t it?

This wasn’t an anime.

But that was exactly how I felt right now.

"Feeling empty?"

"That’s what I should be asking you."

I responded that way because I didn’t want to lose to Lucas.

It felt like something I had to do, so I came to see him.

Not just Lucas, either. I had already met with Bella, Jayden, and even Damien.

I hadn’t met the emperor yet.

Surprisingly, none of the three seemed to hold any particular grudge against me.

Damien, being the cold and indifferent man he was, didn’t show any emotion. Bella greeted me with ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) a somewhat lazy expression. And Jayden... well, Jayden had looked uncomfortably happy to see me.

Sitting and making idle conversation with them had almost made me question whether they were actually prisoners.

The reason I had left Lucas and the emperor for last was deliberate.

I had felt... hesitant about facing them. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

If I had to choose the people whose lives had changed the most because of me, it would be those two.

In the worst way possible.

"So, you’ve decided to take off your mask?"

Lucas sat with his feet propped up on the table between us, leaning his chair back on two legs. His arms were folded behind his head, his posture the perfect picture of arrogance.

"I don’t need it anymore."

"Really? It’s not just because people told you to do it?"

"It’s not."

I answered firmly.

"Hah. Well, if you bothered coming here, then I guess no one forced you. You’ve always done what you wanted, after all."

"You remember everything, don’t you?"

"Of course."

Lucas frowned.

"Funny. You acted like I was cheating the system back then."

I met his gaze.

Lucas was silent for a long moment before scoffing, as if none of it mattered anymore.

"Hey."

"What?"

"...I’m sorry."

"......."

That was about as abrupt as a TV network cutting off an anime’s opening and ending just to cram in more ads.

"What exactly are you sorry for?"

I asked, watching him closely.

Lucas wasn’t surprised that I was speaking casually to him now. Not at all.

"You don’t resent me?"

"For what?"

"For putting you through death. Over and over again."

"......."

Ah.

I had thought Lucas would only remember losing to me.

But now that I considered it, that wasn’t the only thing he must have recalled.

He probably remembered killing me far more times than I had beaten him.

"So you do remember everything."

Before Lucas knew about my ability, he hadn’t hated me.

In fact, when he first attacked me with his sword, I was pretty sure it wasn’t entirely serious.

It had been more like a game to him.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Like Baldur. The Norse god whose body was invulnerable, so the other gods threw things at him for fun.

Lucas had always swung his sword at me with the assumption that I would dodge or survive.

If he had been serious, if he had truly wanted to kill me, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. Back then, I had been just a child. He could have sliced my head off, cut me in half, and ended it in an instant.

But Lucas had considered me an amusing opponent.

And that was why, when he struck me, it had never been clean.

Instead, I was left bleeding out, impaled by his blade, missing an arm or a leg, or nearly severed in half.

And every single time, Lucas panicked.

Yes—that Lucas.

His face would go pale. His hands would tremble. His body would lock up. He wouldn’t even be able to speak properly.

"I—I didn’t mean to—"

That was the phrase I had heard the most in those moments.

The emperor’s children had never truly considered themselves siblings, but there had been some level of camaraderie.

Even though we rarely saw each other, we had at least exchanged greetings when we crossed paths.

And maybe, to Lucas, I had been like a little sister to him.

Because whenever we met, he always messed with me.

Like an older brother playfully pushing his sister—only for her to fall, break her neck, and die.

What would that brother’s reaction be?

Lucas had always only remembered the outcome.

He had never understood the process in between.

"...Did it hurt a lot?"

"What do you think it was like?"

At my question, Lucas was struck silent.

And honestly, watching him react like this was surprisingly refreshing. The Lucas I had known was someone who swung his sword at his own sister, decided I was cheating just because I rewound time and won, and then resolved to kill me out of sheer stubbornness. He was a man who was dangerously simple.

Maybe we had never truly understood each other at all.

"I don’t even remember how many times you cut me down. Every time we met, it was the same. Even when I dodged, I still got hit. If I managed to avoid getting slashed right after the first strike, I was lucky. Most of the time, I had to rewind over and over just to get that lucky moment."

"...I know."

Lucas’s expression was strangely vacant.

"That old man told me not to underestimate how many times you rewound and tried again. At the time, I thought I understood what he meant. But looking back now, I was a hell of a lot more short-sighted than I realized."

"......."

I stared at Lucas for a long moment before finally speaking.

"Are you really Lucas?"

"I am Lucas. Even I can learn a thing or two after going through all that."

"Hah."

Should I be praising him for this or not?

I thought about it for a moment before exhaling deeply.

"Well, at this point, none of it matters anymore. And I did kill you once, so I’ll call it even."

"...Huh?"

"Hm?"

Lucas turned to look at me properly.

"You killed me?"

"And?"

"You killed me?"

"That’s right."

"How? Did you try over and over with time rewinds? Did you deliberately plan an assassination?"

"No, nothing like that."

I sighed.

"I just turned around and fired a warning shot, but the bullet hit too accurately and went straight through your forehead."

"......."

Lucas’s face went completely pale.

"I died?"

"Looks like you don’t remember the deaths very clearly. That’s a relief."

"What do you mean, ‘That’s a relief’?"

At least the people who had died in that illusory world wouldn’t be stuck suffering PTSD from it for the rest of their lives.

"...Whatever."

Lucas looked like he wanted to ask me a million questions, but when he saw that I had no intention of answering any more, he let out a deep sigh.

"Fine. Let’s just call it even, like you said."

"I was the one who suffered more, though."

"...Yeah. You were the one who suffered more."

Lucas nodded at my added remark.

"How’s the Sword Saint doing?"

"Too well, honestly."

"Before he dies of old age, do me a favor and get me out of here. We still haven’t settled who won."

"I would, but I have a feeling you’d try to kill me the second you got out. Besides, the reason you’re locked up is because of what you and the former emperor did. It’s not something I can do anything about. Try writing a petition to the Crown Princess or something."

At my words, Lucas let out another deep sigh.

...Even if he was saying things like "I’m sorry," people didn’t change so easily.

Well, to be fair, I had just been saying all that, but it’s not like all my resentment had disappeared either.

Maybe I’d take my time thinking it over.