Interlude 21
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The Wish Orb
It’s said to be an item that can grant any wish.
Using this orb with its unprecedented effects, even someone summoned to another world could return to their original world and original timeline.
Due to this orb’s extraordinary power, a unique timeline was created in an unusual way.
Only one was created.
It was the timeline where Yamada couldn’t return from the other world.
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Yamada Ichiro faces the Crystal Doll in the Mirror Dungeon.
He fights valiantly, but in the endless cycle of recovery and fatal wounds, his mind suffers severe damage, and he goes insane.
His mana explodes, and he perishes along with the boss monster.
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Yamada Ichiro faces the Angel in the Light Dungeon.
He continues to guard against the Angel’s endless barrage of attacks, but Angelica’s Thunder Claw doesn’t make it in time, and he dies when his heart is pierced by a fist.
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Yamada Ichiro faces the Reverse Dead in the Immortality Dungeon without finding the Resurrection Orb.
After 1,080 battles, in a moment of carelessness, his heart is destroyed by a surprise attack from behind, and he dies.
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Yamada Ichiro faces the Ice Concept alone in the Ice Dungeon. He receives an unexpected conceptual attack, becomes trapped in pseudo-permafrost, and his mind slowly dies first, followed by his body much later, resulting in complete death.
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Yamada Ichiro faces the Fairy Queen.
Sacrificing himself to save everyone, he scatters his life.
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Yamada Ichiro confronts the Flame Body in the Flame Dungeon.
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In the Hidden Mountain, the white girl doesn’t make it in time, and Yamada Ichiro dies alone from poison.
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The event of Yamada Ichiro’s death.
While the number of death patterns could be counted on both hands, it was never zero, and the probability was high enough to make one hesitate to ignore it.
Regardless of which death pattern occurred, it always led to the event where a boy named Yamada Ichiro disappeared on his way to school on the day of the opening ceremony.
And in this case, he would never return.
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It was as if the light had gone out in his family.
Some time had passed since that day.
When the family received a call that the boy hadn’t shown up at school, they initially didn’t realize the gravity of the situation, saying things like 「Where did he go?」 and 「He’s messing up already on the first day of school.」
They called him multiple times to scold him, but each time it was out of service area.
As dinner time approached, the sun set, and street lights began to turn on, they finally realized something might have happened to the boy they couldn’t contact, and rushed to the police.
The grandmother, who was already in poor health, deteriorated rapidly from that day on. The grandfather, who spent most of his days searching for his grandson, overexerted himself, collapsed, and was hospitalized.
The mother developed dark circles under her eyes and left the house every day to care for her in-laws and distribute flyers with her son’s photo printed on them.
The father joined his wife as soon as work finished, and they continued searching until past midnight.
This morning, before leaving the house, the mother, with a pale face, said to Hikaru, 「After school, go to the station three stops away and hand out these flyers.」
The once-warm dining table was no longer set with meals, but instead piled high with stacks of flyers bearing her brother’s photo.
Hikaru, the sister, intuitively knew that doing this wouldn’t bring her brother back.
With her brother gone, everyone in the family was exhausted.
It was clear as day that the family would soon fall apart.
The flyer she picked up showed her brother smiling and making a peace sign.
Hikaru couldn’t stand anymore and collapsed on the spot, hugging her knees and crying alone.
It was always her brother who had been on her side, always helping her.
When Hikaru dreamed of a path different from the norm, it was her brother who gently pushed her forward.
It was also her brother who somehow persuaded their parents who insisted on a stable path.
Big brother, come back.
Big brother, help me.
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The young man wakes up with a scream.
He realizes he’s crying.
「What is this?」 he says, wiping his eyes with his sleeve, but the tears won’t stop.
Soon, his chest begins to hurt, and he lets out a sob.
He can’t suppress the 「uh, uh, uuu」 sounds coming from his throat.
The white girl wakes up and embraces the young man. She feels his trembling where she touches him.
The girl gently pats his back over and over again.
「It’s okay, Ichiro, it’s okay.」
The white girl continues to comfort him tirelessly until he cries himself to sleep.
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