Celeste’s breakdown stunned the crowd at the park, especially my parents and brother, who had just been scolding her for not being a loving eno-
ugh sister.
Chapter 2.
“Dead? What are you talking about? Celeste, have you lost your mind, spouting the same nonsense as Noah?!”
【The System has no reason to lie to its Host.)
11:35
【And this was my first mission. Now that you’ve screwed it up, I’m going to die too.] The System sounded surprisingly calm, as if resigned to its fate. [You got what you wanted. Why don’t you seem happy?]
【After all, with the protagonist Noah dead in Julian’s place, it means fate has accepted your arrangement. Your Julian won’t die a tragic death like in the original story.)
“No… no… it’s not possible!”
My sister, forgetting she was in a public place, her eyes shot with blood, screamed at the System. “Noah is the protagonist! You said so! He’s the
star of a doted–on–hero story! How could he die at the hands of some nobodies? There aren’t even any powerful villains in this world!”
【There weren’t in the original story. Even the one person who was a nuisance to him, Julian, was written out early on.]
【But in your past life, in the years after his death, he gradually became the untouchable ‘white moonlight‘ in your heart. And not just for you. For
your parents and brother, too, before their memories were awakened. I suppose what you can’t have becomes a lifelong obsession.]
The System paused, then added, [Strictly speaking, Celeste, you are the main villain of this story.]
[You were the one who pushed him to his death, time and time again.]
【…And in his final moments, he believed that even you had abandoned him. He saw no reason to keep fighting.】
My sister gasped for air, a choked, laughing sob escaping her lips. “No! It was just a small thing, just closing a door! How could he give up on life
over that?”
The System was also puzzled. Logically, the protagonist should have been able to withstand far greater blows. Was there a bug in the program?
It theorized, 【Perhaps, from Noah’s perspective, you didn’t even give him a chance to explain, even as a mute. You showed him you had no faith
in him. And so, his heart died.]
Celeste trembled, collapsing to the ground, tears streaming down her face, speechless.
“What’s with this family? Are they all crazy? As disgusting as that Noah kid,” a passerby muttered, pulling their child away.
My parents‘ and brother’s faces were grim. “Celeste, what the hell are you doing? You’re ruining Julian’s good mood!” my brother snarled, pulling
her to her feet. He recoiled when he saw her deathly pale face and her eyes red and rolling back in her head.
My sister’s lips trembled, her body shaking violently. “My brother… your real brother, Noah… he’s dead. He died in Julian’s place…”
Julian watched the family a nervous tension in his eyes.
But my parents just sneered. “Don’t you have a better excuse? With his vicious nature, we’d be lucky if he didn’t push Julian in front of a bus. Him,
die for someone else? As if!”
Celeste wanted to tell them everything. “It was always Noah who saved you from those crises! Julian just took the credit!”
But the System warned her: [You must not intentionally and actively reveal the truth to the uninformed 】
A jolt of electricity, the System’s punishment, shot through her. She convulsed and collapsed, and Julian and my family abandoned her there like a piece of trash.
My sister stared up at the sky, tears streaming down her face,
“Noah. Noah… you’re not really dead, are you?”
“Your birthday present this year, your graduation gift… I haven’t even given them to you yet…”
The battle–damaged panda soaked up her tears.
I don’t know if, in that moment, Celeste felt any regret.
By the time she rushed back to the hospital, Julian had already had my body disposed of.
The signatory on the release form: a man named Z.
My sister held my urn. From the nurses, she obtained the gruesome, uncensored crime scene photos from before my death.
Chapter 2
11.35
[Julian lied to you. It wasn’t an act for sympathy.]】
【It was the real, living history of Noah’s suffering.]
