A man wearing a tattered robe is sitting on the chair.
An old man.
Deep wrinkles mark his face. His hair is completely white.
His unshaven face gave him a slovenly look.
This impression quickly disappeared.
He had the pressure of a man who has weathered countless battles.
Sharp, slightly mismatched eyes.
His mouth trembled in surprise.
"I...succeeded?..."
The old man fondly surveyed his surrounding with squinting eyes, deep in emotion and thought.
But, as he looked at his hands, touched the area around his abdomen, his expression changed to a self-mocking smile.
"No... I failed. There was no way I could succeed..."
He looks familiar somehow.
But, I can't remember.
Strange.
Who is he?
Paul? No, he's not.
Sauros? But he doesn't have the same presence as Sauros.
This old man is much more cowardly.
"Who...who are you? Unless... Hitogami?"
Upon hearing that name, the man stared daggers at me.
I remember this reaction.
Orsted.
Orsted reacted in the same way.
This part is the same.
But, this man doesn't look anything like Orsted.
"No."
The man shook his head and met my gaze.
A powerful gaze.
I can't turn away.
It's like I'm being pulled in.
Like looking into a mirror, but searching...
Staring at the door behind me, he made an expression as if he wanted to ask something.
He pointed his bony finger behind me.
In the short time it took to move his finger, the door behind me moved.
"!"
Suddenly, I heard a "bam".
What did this guy just do?
As his blinding gaze returned to the still confused me, he said.
"Don't go to the basement. You've been deceived by Hitogami."
"Eh?"
Deceived?
What's going on?
"Wait, before that, who are you? Where did you come from?"
"I am..."
The old man opens his mouth to reply, but quickly shuts his mouth.
He ponders for a moment and then begins to speak again.
"My name is '────'"
Hearing this name, I receive the biggest shock I've ever felt.
The name the man used.
In this world, the only one who knows that name is me.
The name that I will one day take with me to the grave.
A name that I don't want to remember.
A name that doesn't exist in this world.
My name from my previous life.
"I come from the future."