"Finally completed the mission. Too bad that Kobayashi guy can't see it. We were supposed to head to China next."
"China? Don't they already have several teams there?"
"Their Devil Hunters are too fierce. The warriors active on the front lines have almost all contracted with major devils. They give the price like their lives don't matter."
"A bunch of lunatics. They don't rest at all." A burly man looked at the white-haired host beside him:
"Lord Blizzard, we might need to trouble you and..."
The Blizzard Fiend watched the couple fight while answering with a smile:
"I'll go. My boss doesn't get along well with 'that person.'"
"Understood, understood." The burly man didn't dare say more. Lord Blizzard might always be smiling, but his strength was formidable, especially in snow.
Between official and private organizations, they'd sent 24 Devil Hunters to Okura Village. Paired with another, he'd killed half of them.
"Oh, they're coming this way." The burly man smiled and changed the subject.
"That brat had no sense. Deserved to die. Could've lived, but chose death instead."
"That's what makes it interesting." Blizzard's smile was radiant.
Suddenly, his expression changed.
"Retreat."
"Huh?" The big man was confused.
The next instant, the big man's consciousness vanished.
Only his lower half remained, planted in the snow.
The people and devils laughing and chatting around him fell silent simultaneously, their hearts still pounding from this final desperate counterattack.
The primal devil saw the time had come and fired another blue beam.
Memories flickered again.
Unlike the previous fall into pain, this time Kobeni returned to the original point of happiness, or rather:
Her initial state.
In the span of a blink, her pupils dilated. The hand gripping the dagger began to tremble.
"...Don't shake... it, it hurts..." Hoshino grimaced.
The dagger that had stabbed in vertically now lay horizontal in his chest.
The heart inside had been shredded.
A low-level devil's regeneration couldn't possibly repair a heart.
He was done for.
"Wh-wh-why?" Kobeni was already crying.
She'd lost feeling, not memory.
In that final moment, Hoshino had changed his target. Otherwise, she would've been the one to die.
"P-please, Kobeni-san... no one... keeps failing... the same test... cough..."
Hoshino tried to smile naturally, making his life's final joke:
"...Hurting you... I can't... do that... urgh..."
He vomited a mouthful of blood, all of it spilling onto his chin and chest.
Unlike the thick, dark red blood in TV dramas.
This was blindingly bright, with occasional bubbles bursting inside.
Kobeni kept wiping, but couldn't clean it off.
It kept flowing.
Hoshino's gaze grew unfocused.
No longer able to support his body, he leaned gently against Kobeni's slender shoulder.
Mixed with Kobeni's violent sobbing.
He spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear:
"...Izu's... c..cherry blossom..."
"...Go see it... for me..."
He opened his mouth wanting to say more, but couldn't get it out.
His five days as the protagonist had expired.
Endless darkness closed in from all sides.
His body had already lost sensation.
Kobeni-san, with you twisted sense of humor and your luck ability, you won't die. Live well for me.
I didn't lose out. Five days gained for free, enjoying devil powers that only exist in novels, and going on a fanservice-filled date trip with such a cute girl like you. I didn't lose out...
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Hoshino, Hoshino! This is what real love looks like, you piece of trash! Keep your filthy hands off it!"
Primal Devil! As a side character, have some self-awareness! Just stand there obediently and wait for the protagonist to slap you in the face, you bastard!
Don't let me meet you again! Otherwise... I'll... make... you... pay...
Consciousness was completely swallowed by darkness.
Hoshino died.
He died in an obscure village in northeastern Japan.
---
Regarding fire.
Legends recorded that ten thousand years ago, China's Suiren drilled wood to make fire—fire taken by humans themselves.
The West said that after the Titanomachy ended, Prometheus pitied humanity—fire stolen by a god for humans.
Hoshino thought they were all full of shit.
He believed fire originally came from lighters.
[Lifespan: Five Days]
Flames from a cheap lighter's nozzle pushed back the cold darkness.
Small, unstable, yet carrying incomparable power.
Sand dyed orange-yellow by the flames gradually fell.
Reflected on the hourglass's glass surface were Hoshino staring blankly with tears streaming down, and behind him, Kobeni wrapped in giant arms, sleeping peacefully.
[Sands of Time: Reverses time within a certain enclosed space five times, triggered upon host death]
[Note 1: If once doesn't work, try twice! If twice doesn't work, try five times!]
[Note 2: ...]
[Welcome to our turn]