"I'm… back…?"

My voice sounded brittle, my previous descend to insanity coming to an abrupt halt.

"What…? No… No, this is still inside the Limit Break."

I took a couple of deep breaths and I tried to calm myself down as I looked around.

Then I spotted the people.

There were people!

I froze completely and was about to call out to a guy walking across the street when I noticed something.

He had no face.

I whipped my head around at everyone else casually walking or standing in my field of view.

None of them had a face.

My heart fell.

They were all dungeon monsters… or something similar, at least.

Would I have to fight them all? Would I have to kill beings that looked like regular people form Earth in a place that looked like Earth?!

I had been concerned about becoming a complete murderhobo before.

I… feared it.

So what? Did this fucking trial want me to overcome it by… becoming what I had been fearing?!

No.

Fuck no!

I didn't–

I couldn't–

There was a red door right next to me.

…

Fuck you, Fate Weaver!

I let out a frustrated growl and then clenched my fists and began stomping my way down the street to the nearest faceless person.

"Hey, you!" I rudely called out to him.

He completely ignored me and kept walking.

"Hey!" I shouted and got up to his non-existent face.

He kept walking and bumped into me.

Both of us bounced back and I was about to shout at him again but then… I saw him looking around in confusion.

As if he genuinely hadn't seen me.

Ice suddenly flooded my veins and I finally looked at chat again.

KaiEbikoOfficial: anyone on that street? KaiEbikoOfficial: is that real?

The guy in front of me continued to walk while still glancing from side to side.

This time, I stepped aside and let him walk.

"...Chat. Is… Is this real? Am I…?"

For a brief moment, I completely disabled the blocks on my forks and let everything flow into my brain again.

Uilogger: yyes efemeraeal: no baeblead: wtf y u bump into me jioeus00: noob 54153144: where is that?

I quickly blocked it out again, but the conclusion was that… I had no idea.

Some people said yes, some said no, some pretended to be the guy I'd bumped into, some called me slurs or posted spam… and so on.

There was no useful information to glean from the chat as a whole. I still had no idea whether this Limit Break was somehow connected to Earth or whatever, but…

I took a deep breath.

"Okay… Okay… Okay, calm down. I… I have to… I need…"

My mind was a scramble, but I didn't dare try to harm or even touch anyone anymore. If my actions truly had an actual effect on the real Earth – despite me apparently being outside of space and time at the moment?! – then I didn't want to do anything I would regret.

Still feeling utterly baffled at this development, I decided to start walking.

I didn't really have a direction… Actually, part of me wanted to try heading toward… toward my apartment.

But that kinda felt wrong. I was still streaming and didn't want to dox myself…

What the hell was I even thinking about in this situation? Wasn't I way past the point of doxing myself anyway? What with the whole… my original body being turned to magical ash and being investigated by the police?

I violently shook my head and then marched my way over to the crosswalk.

The traffic lights were actually working and cars were driving by here and there.

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It felt… so weird. Uncanny in a way I couldn't describe.

Was it because this wasn't actually real? Or maybe because my body and my senses were now different from the last time I'd been here. Or maybe–

The lights turned green and the cars stopped, letting me – and all the other people – cross.

Now, with my current capabilities, I could have probably just… jumped over the crossroad or launched myself using a number of different things, but…

I didn't want to.

It felt wrong to use my superhuman and magical capabilities for something as simple as crossing the road. It felt like… I shouldn't do it.

My breaths were shaky as I crossed the street like a normal Earthling and continued to walk down the street as if casually walking through a city… like a normal non-isekai'd person.

I didn't even realize when I'd started crying, but I quickly wiped it away – with my hand, not my hydrokinesis – and kept slowly walking.

Part of me thought this was quite possibly the cruelest trial yet. Seeing this, experiencing this, yet knowing that once I passed this trial, I wouldn't be able to return here…

I once again cursed the Fate Weaver in my mind, but then shook away that feeling to focus on the present.

There was a park. One I used to play in as a kid. It was across the street and a bit out of the way of my path to my apartment building.

I didn't care.

I crossed the street and walked into the park.

There was that one tree I used to climb every day… the swing I would sit on while my… my mom would push me… the narrow path between the trees I would walk down as an adult after I'd moved back into this city to get away from my family…

I found myself sitting on a random bench, watching all the faceless children run around, gesturing at their faceless parents, the faceless elderly people sitting on benches, and faceless birds fluttering about.

It felt both calming and unnerving. I didn't know how to feel.

An elderly woman then walked by and made to sit on the spot I was sitting on. I quickly moved out of the way to the other side of the bench.

She sat down and I couldn't help but look at her.

I recognized her.

Even without her face, even though it's been at least a decade since I'd last seen her…

I gripped my wrist to stop my hands from shaking – unsuccessfully – and forced myself to look away from her.

"…Hello, Mrs. Jettington," I murmured. "You probably don't recognize me, but uh… You used to teach me biology… Back in elementary school…"

The faceless woman turned her head in my direction and I froze.

Could she actually hear me? Unlike that other guy on the street? Or was this just a coincidence?

There was a moment of silence, where I expected her to say or do something, but nothing. It was as if she was patiently waiting for me.

Just like back when I'd have to give a presentation in front of the class.

"I… Well, I got into a pretty crazy situation. Reincarnated into another world… empty, dead world. It really sucks, you know? But, well… I guess I still have chat, at least."

I glanced over to chat, who only kept trying to figure out whether I could affect the real world with my actions.

"But, well… Umm, I don't really know what to do, to be honest," I confessed. "I've been just kind of winging it. Almost got myself killed dozens of times and… I just… I feel like I don't really have a choice? I feel like I have to keep going. Because what else would I do? Build a house in a forest and live there till I grew old and died? That sounded like giving up! I didn't want to do that. But at the same time…"

I sighed and looked down on my hands.

"This Limit Break has been… way too much. I guess that's the point, but still… I feel like… I feel like this one is going to be the toughest yet. I mean…" I let out a self-deprecating laugh as I wiped more tears from my face. "I haven't even been attacked yet… haven't had to face anything that would try to kill me or anything… and I'm already like this."

I shook my head.

"What exactly is this trial about? Do you know where the stairs are? It's weird that I've only seen a single red door so far. I guess it would be pointless to show me one since I don't want to leave yet, huh?"

I kept rambling about this and that and maybe it was just my delusions, but it felt like she was genuinely listening.

It… eased my heart a little. Even if I couldn't be sure whether she was a real person or capable of hearing me in the first place, just saying it all out loud to someone I knew – kinda – really helped. Sure, the sessions with Jane helped too but… This felt different, somehow.

More meaningful.

…Despite me not even being sure whether she was real.

"Okay, I think… I think I should get going," I declared after a couple of minutes of rambling and stood up while turning to face her. Her head moved in my direction and I paused in surprise for a moment.

Then I shook the surprise off and continued.

"I… have no idea where I'm supposed to go, but… I'll go to my apartment. Maybe a stupid idea, but honestly? I feel like this is the only option. Nowhere else makes sense, since… you know. This has been pretty personal so far. So… yeah." I sighed and gave Mrs. Jettington a small smile. "I'm rambling again. Probably should stop now." I let out a small self-deprecating laugh. "Well, thanks for listening to my nonsense. See you later."

Then I turned around and marched away. A few seconds later, I glanced back at the bench, only to find that Mrs. Jettington was no longer there. A quick look around revealed that she had seemingly vanished.

I stared for a moment, before half-scoffing half-chuckling and then turning back to keep walking.

"Was that your work, Fate Weaver?…" I murmured under my breath. "What exactly is your goal, here…?"

Nobody answered.

I didn't expect it, though.

I made my way out of the park and back on the path to my apartment.

The trip was slow. I stopped to take in the sights, waited for traffic lights to turn on, reminisced about various places and buildings I knew.

Nothing ever tried to kill me. No giant centipedes waiting above me, no bridges turning into needle-filled hell, no non-euclidean mazes.

Just… a peaceful, yet unnerving trip.

At some point, Ebiko informed me that… back on Earth, the real Mrs. Jettington had actually passed away a year ago.

That… I…

"I see…" I said with a faint tone a wiped away the tears gathering in my eyes again.

I had no idea who I'd been speaking to, in that case, but… oddly enough, part of me felt like it didn't even matter. Maybe a little shitty, considering the real one was dead, but…

I sighed and continued my trip.

About an hour later, I finally arrived.

It looked very unassuming. Just one apartment building among a cluster of four, lined up next to each other.

I walked past the supermarket, then the bus stop, and then finally took the path leading to the building.

Oddly enough, I'd seen less and less 'people' the closer I'd gotten here. And when I looked around now, I couldn't see anyone at all.

If I had still been doubting that this was the right destination, then I was sure now. Something was going to happen here.

I began to feel nervous as I passed by the first entrance, then the second… and then headed toward the third.

Something was about to happen. I could feel it in my bones.

Sure enough, as soon as I took a few steps toward the entrance door, it suddenly opened.

I immediately jumped back, summoned my gun self to my hands, and had my axe self float behind me.

Someone emerged from the building and my eyes went wide, because I recognized this person.

It was a demon with white leathery skin, two horns on top of his head, and a pair of golden wings.

This was… that one demon from the city dungeon. What the hell?

But that wasn't all. Unlike his armor-clad dungeon counterpart, this demon wore pants and a furry jacket… and most importantly, he had a face.

He spotted me and stopped as well as his expression changed into… awe? What?

"Ohh…" he let out a quiet sound.

I was completely flabbergasted by this and couldn't help but speak up.

"...Hello?"

I didn't relax my stance, however.

He gave me a warm smile that radiated pure fondness.

"Ah… Hello, Nana. It's been a while."

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