Where... is this place?
The last thing I remember is endless pain, a despair that nearly drove me mad.
And when the pain ended, I felt an unending fall, plummeting through infinite darkness toward some unknown bottom.
Until my body touched something.
The ground, maybe?
Or perhaps another nightmare?
Until consciousness reawakened from the chaos.
Until I opened my eyes once more and looked around.
What I saw was a brightly lit city.
Pedestrians walked to and fro on the streets, wearing all sorts of clothes, showing all sorts of expressions.
Cars drove by silently, stopping at traffic lights or moving forward.
Tall billboards lit up with multicolored lights, projecting a somewhat psychedelic charm.
Under the night sky, everything seemed to be in perfect order.
This seemed to be a bustling metropolis, an ordinary big city with nothing special about it.
Except, I couldn't hear a thing.
Standing in the middle of the city square, I, Gao Hai, couldn't hear a sound.
People opened their mouths, smiling and speaking.
Car headlights turned on, flashing. Were they honking, too?
The images on the billboards kept changing; I had no idea if they were accompanied by sound.
But Gao Hai couldn't hear any of it.
This was a silent city.
A city so silent it was nearly dead, completely devoid of sound.
Where in the world is this place?
Why can't I hear anything?
"Ah..."
In his hazy state of consciousness, Gao Hai subconsciously made a sound.
It was perfectly clear—he could instantly hear it. His own voice.
And so he understood. He could still hear.
He just couldn't hear the city's sounds. That was all.
[...]
Every single person on the street stopped in their tracks.
All the moving cars came to a halt.
Even the figures on the billboards froze, all turning their heads to look at him.
"This isn't a city..."
Gao Hai murmured as his mind gradually cleared, looking around once more.
The ground was littered with bodies. Their terrified expressions hadn't yet stiffened, but dark red blood already covered the ground.
A crimson hue gradually spread across the sky, as if it were reflecting the color of the ground, casting a foul, bloody glow.
The broken city was on fire. Amidst the ruins, there were no sounds of any living thing struggling.
All life here had long been extinguished.
Everything had been sacrificed.
It was all over.
It was all long over.
They were merely... waiting for the next target.
DONG!
The clear toll of a bell rang out from one side of the dead city.
Gao Hai looked up toward the source of the sound and saw a giant clock tower. He saw its black hand move slowly from the 12 o'clock position to point at 1.
In that instant, Gao Hai suddenly felt something being stripped away from him. It was as if something that had originally belonged to him—like his fingers and eyeballs, his heart and blood vessels—was no longer entirely his from this moment on.
DONG!!
With the second clear toll of the bell, Gao Hai raised his hands and lightly covered his ears.
He was beginning to understand.
To understand what was happening to him, and what he was about to face.
"So... 11 more times?"
Before that hand reached its end, he was allowed 11 more lives.
I see... so that's how it is?
Even if I die, I can come back.
Even if everything is beyond saving, he can reverse it all and start over.
He had 11 chances remaining. Before the number reached zero, before the hand completed its circle, he had 11 opportunities to reset everything and start again.
And when he used up all his chances, this phantom-like, spectral city would cease to be a phantom. It would become his tomb, trapping him forever with no chance of escape, his final destination.
DONG!!!
The third bell chimed, loud and resonant.
But Gao Hai had already raised his head, looking around at the people who had resumed their strolling as if they were still alive, looking at this city—a city that was actually long dead but still pretended to live on, in a place he didn't recognize.
"So, after all that, my protagonist power-up only activates after I die once?"
Gao Hai chuckled softly.
He had struggled so desperately for so long.
Only to helplessly arrive at a total party wipe.
And yet, at the very last moment, he was given a chance to start over.
What's with this? Don't you think this plot development is a bit cliché?
"To be honest, I'm not a fan of stories with these desperate turnarounds, but since it's happening to me, I guess I'll graciously accept it."
"After all, even a cruel hope is still hope."
I can't help but feel a bit like 486.
But even a protagonist like 486 didn't have a strict limit on his retries, where he'd be screwed for good once they ran out, right?
Of course, that doesn't really matter now.
All he had to do was change everything that had happened before.
The blood-red city gradually dissolved.
Everything faded into darkness.
And he knew this was the sign that he was about to begin again.
"I don't like deep and depressing stories, nor do I like pretentious, dark, or cruel styles."
Gao Hai said to himself, as if branding the words into his very consciousness.
"Especially that stuff where characters die for the sake of dying, or those 'kill your sister to prove your convictions' tropes. I find them all disgusting."
"Why not just have some simple, happy, healing plotlines? The bad guys get the punishment they deserve, the good guys get the happy ending they deserve. So what if it sounds a little fake? What's wrong with making yourself a little happier?"
"Dammit, it's just some rules-based horror story, isn't it? Bring it on! I'm going to create a happy world without any Urobuchis or Heba bros!!!"
The darkness receded at that moment.
The familiar, musty smell spread through the air.
Gao Hai sat up on the tattered bed. Beside him, Kaguya's eyes shot open at the same time, and she immediately assumed a defensive posture.
This was the very beginning, the moment after everyone in the Shirakawa Apartments had heard the strange voice's instructions and the game had just started.
No one had used the wall clocks yet.
No one had died, turned into a monster, or been frozen.
"Yo."
Getting up from the bed, Gao Hai struck a slightly embarrassing pose like a member of the Joestar family. With his back to Kaguya, he twisted his upper body around, tilted his head back, propped up his nose with one hand at a slightly contorted angle, and thrust his other hand through the gap to point at her, all while lifting one leg.
"Not bad. You're the most promising newcomer we've had this time. Mm, I've wanted to say that line for a long time."
Having satisfied his desire to act cool, Gao Hai wore a look of contentment.
Meanwhile, Kaguya, who had just been on high alert, was completely stunned, unable to make sense of the situation.
Had she... been kidnapped by a lunatic?
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