"F-Frey?"
Ruby, who had just returned from the bathroom, was surprised to see Frey staring blankly at the pendant with wide eyes, and she took a step back in shock.
“W-When did you open your eyes?”
"..."
“Uh, uhm... I wanted to recreate that moment as perfectly as possible...”
Ruby, who had approached Frey until she was right in front of him, grasped the pendant around his neck with a pitiful expression and mumbled.
"I-It's my last chance... If I fail this time, in the next cycle my soul will..."
Her tone did not contain any resentment towards Frey for breaking his promise to her.
Only worry, fear, and anxiety were evident in her voice.
"Um."
Ruby hesitated and just stared at Frey for a while.
It was because Frey gazed at her with a completely different eyes than before
"What's this pendant... about?"
"Huh?"
"How did you... No, I’m a little concerned.”
"S, so?"
At his calm words, Ruby immediately responded with a smile on her lips.
"Th, that's a relief. I was worried you wouldn't recognize it because it's too crudely made. Hehe."
"What do you mean..."
"This is a gift I gave you in the past."
"..."
After Ruby finished speaking, there was a moment of silence.
"I don't remember receiving something like this."
"Yeah, that's right. You don't have any memories now, right? This journey is to find your memories..."
"No, I really never receive it."
"...?"
Ruby, who had been holding Frey's hand with a gentle touch, looked at him with a puzzled expression as he broke out in a cold sweat.
"This... was given by that damned place’s master."
"Frey?"
"... Where did you see this? When did you find it?"
"W-what are you talking about? I gave this to you."
In response to Frey's cautious questioning, Ruby scratched her head and replied.
"T-That's impossible. I'm sure I saw it somewhere..."
"O, oh, did you remember something!?"
"..."
Frey quietly closed his mouth in response to Ruby's hopeful voice.
... What on earth is happening here?
He already knew.
Ruby never had the chance to see the 'pendant' he possessed.
Until entering the Fourth Ordeal, he had never shown the pendant to her, and it was the same even after entering the ordeal.
During the Fourth Ordeal, Frey was in the state of a soul bead.
Therefore, he did not directly experience the passage of time like Ruby did.
But the memories he shared with her were recorded in his soul.
And in those memories, there was no record of Ruby checking his pendant during the Fourth Ordeal.
"You remember something, right? You’re not messing around right?"
And looking at Ruby now, who was staring directly into his eyes, there was no trace of falsehood behind those eyes.
"I-If you’re messing with me, I'll get mad, you know?"
And why?
From Ruby, he could no longer see the terrifying figure of the Demon King that had once haunted him.
"If... I get angry, you know it's scary, right?"
In front of Frey's eyes, there was just a girl looking at a boy.
"Got it?"
A nostalgic feeling washed over him, a girl he missed somehow.
"...Uh, yeah."
"I knew it! I knew this would work! I knew it would be effective, right?"
As Frey nodded his head, Ruby hugged him tightly and vigorously rubbed her head against his.
"Then..."
As they continued, Ruby suddenly lifted her head and glanced into the air.
"..."
Her expression quickly twisted.
"Why, why isn't it clearing...?"
"...?"
"We did everything right... to recover memories. We recovered the memory of the pendant, so why isn't it working?"
Eventually, Ruby, for the first time in front of Frey, began to mutter in despair.
"I don't want to... I don't want to disappear..."
"Ruby?"
"I don't want to leave you behind... please..."
As Ruby buried her head in Frey's chest, tears began to stream down her face.
- Shaaa....
At that moment, a shooting star shone unusually brightly in the night sky before slowly descending.
"..."
Frey, unknowingly comforting Ruby's back as she cried, began to break out in a cold sweat as he watched the bizarre scene.
"...What's... really going on."
Memories he had never experienced before were flooding back to him.
.
.
.
.
.
"Frey, today we're camping in the Ashen Forest."
"But there are monsters..."
"Monsters? I'll take care of them. Don't worry."
Since the day Frey received the pendant from Ruby as a gift, her advances had become even more intense.
"Today, let's go to the Eastern Continent. You always liked Eastern Continent food, right?"
"Today, let's go to the Unicorn Farm on the Western Continent... Oh, if they see you, the unicorns will cause a commotion. Then how about the Bicorn Farm... No, then I'll be attacked."
"Today, let's go to the beach, okay? The sea we watched together was so beautiful..."
"Today..."
No, it wasn't just an increase in intensity.
It was as if she were a person who had received a death sentence.
She began to travel with Frey as if she had decided to enjoy life in anticipation of her impending doom, crazily traversing the world with him.
"...That's impossible."
"Hmm?"
As Ruby spoke with a vague gaze, she looked at Frey, who seemed pale with confusion.
"I... I've always liked rye bread. I've never liked wheat bread even once..."
"Before this endless cycle started, did you ever lose your memory like you do now?"
While gently stroking Frey's confused head, she whispered.
"Right now, you can't remember, but... When you were completely reset back then, you couldn't even bring yourself to eat rye bread and potato soup."
"...Ah."
With that revelation, Frey's expression was momentarily shocked.
"Come to think of it..."
Ruby's words were true.
He used Gugu to observe her in his soul state.
As he intentionally reset himself to corrupt, the vivid memory of himself, who had been completely reset, despising the rye bread and potato soup Ruby had prepared so earnestly, came back to him.
Why? Why did that happen?
Surely he would have liked buttered rye bread since he was very young.
Why did the 'reset' Frey dislike rye bread?
Why?
Could it be... we really did have a connection in the past...?
As the assumptions he had been denying began to become more and more real, Frey's face began to turn pale blue.
Retry Quest
[2 - 01]
[Recover Frey’s Memories (0/1)]
"Anyway, Frey."
Meanwhile, Ruby, who hadn't seen Frey’s expression and had been staring into space, opened her mouth with a sad smile.
"Now, it's time to say goodbye."
"What?"
Feeling an inexplicable sense of unease, Frey turned his gaze.
- Thud...!
At that moment...
"Haaa, Huff..."
Quietly collapsing to the side like a doll, Ruby began to breathe heavily.
"Ruby?"
In a sudden turn of events, Frey reached out to her in bewilderment.
"W-Why are you like this?"
"I, I just went somewhere for a moment."
"This... blood?"
Eventually, Frey's hand covering Ruby's chest became stained with her blood.
"I went to see Aria, who possesses the Hero’s Armament... I revealed that I am the Demon King and got pierced in the heart."
"What did you say?"
As Frey stared in shock, Ruby's declaration stunned him.
"I've been using magic to stop the bleeding until now, but it's reached its limit."
"What is this...?"
"It's goodbye, Frey."
"What kind of madness is this?"
Frantically pouring stellar mana into Ruby's heart, Frey only witnessed smoke rising from the wound as it worsened.
"I've been trying so hard to recover your memories. But... it seems impossible."
"..."
"Today, you almost became the Demon King. If you go into a rampage one more time, you'll be completely corrupted, won't you?"
Ruby slowly reached out and touched Frey's cheek.
"I could have saved you if I had a few more days... But before that, I'm afraid my soul will shatter, or you'll be corrupted."
"..."
"So I'll use my last chance to regress. Even though my soul will be shattered into pieces, there's still a possibility for you to regain your memories."
"Wait..."
"Your memories will remain. I practiced manipulating souls a lot, you know? I even learned the ability to preserve memories from one cycle to the next from Ferloche."
Tears streamed down Ruby's eyes as she stroked Frey's cheek.
"She said it was a technique that allowed the five main heroines to retain memories from the previous cycle... I'm not sure if it'll work..."
"Wait."
"If your memories are preserved, go to Serena. Explain the situation, and she'll help you find the rest of your memories..."
"Wait!!"
Realizing that something was terribly wrong, Frey shouted.
Retry Quest
[2 - 01]
[Recover Frey's Memories (0/1)]
"But still, I'm grateful that I can spend this last moment... with you under the starry night sky like that time..."
Until then, Ruby, who had been desperately staring at the quest window, began her final speech with tears in her eyes.
"You know, Frey. Will you remember?"
With those words, she gently touched the Ruby embedded in the pendant around Frey's neck and whispered.
"I am Ruby. Your precious gem."
"Wait, I don't understand–"
"I’ll forever love–"
Before the boy and girl could finish their conversation...
- Crack...!
The world turned upside down in silence.
.
.
.
.
.
Thus began the final chapter.
"Gahh...!"
As Frey opened his eyes, carrying memories from the previous cycle, what he saw was...
"What in the world..."
Himself, bound to a chair after accepting the Corruption quest, and...
"..."
Ruby, sitting weakly on the floor of the secret base of the Hero Party, her head bowed with empty eyes.
- Drip...
A tear fell from Ruby's eyes as her soul shattered in real-time.
"Ruby?"
Frey's complexion rapidly paled as he watched her.