Shibuya Hal was the leader of Neo-Porte and a man who kept protecting his friends. But his kindness was slowly shaving away his own life. One day, overwhelmed by a relentless streaming schedule and mental exhaustion, he collapsed. When he woke up, he found himself in a strange, pure-white space. There, a self-proclaimed 'Manager of Fate,' a girl named Chloe, appeared. She told him, 'You were supposed to die three months from now. But I want to give you a chance to do it over.' Hal laughed it off
Neo-Porte Regret: Shibuya Hal Dies Twice - Broadcast of Life: The Future Chosen by Comrades
There was the taste of blood.
Iron. Rust. It clung to his tongue. He spat, but it wouldn't go away.
Shibuya Haru had collapsed in front of Streaming Studio Unit 3 on the second floor.
He'd crawled all the way here from the executive office on the fifth floor.
He'd tumbled down the stairs. Left bloody handprints on the walls. His nails had peeled off.
Even so, his fingers still moved.
With trembling hands, he pulled his phone from his pocket.
The screen was cracked. Slick with blood. He nearly dropped it.
He gripped it with both hands.
Opened his own account.
Placed his thumb on the live stream button.
(Listen, everyone.)
Haru pressed the button.
—Stream started.
In the darkness of the studio, the monitor's pale blue light floated up.
The camera lens captured Haru.
A blood-soaked face. A swollen right cheek. Split lips. A broken nose.
Even so, Haru tried to smile.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
Blood spilled through the gaps between his teeth.
Comments began to flow.
'Wait, Haru-san?'
'What's going on!?'
'Blood!? That's blood!?'
'Is this a bit?'
'No, that's real!'
'Haru-san, what happened!?'
'Someone call an ambulance!'
'His face... his face is messed up'
'What happened!?'
The comments accelerated.
A thousand. Two thousand. Five thousand. Ten thousand.
The numbers spiked.
Haru looked straight into the camera.
His amber eyes glittered beneath the blood.
"...Listen, everyone."
His voice was hoarse.
Deep in his throat, blood gurgled.
"I... was attacked by Mitsurugi Rei."
The comments stopped. For just a moment.
The next instant, they exploded.
'What?'
'Rei-san?'
'What do you mean?'
'Rei-san did?'
'You're lying, right?'
Haru drew a breath.
His ribs screamed.
The broken bones stabbed his lungs.
Pain burst white across his vision.
But he didn't stop.
"Rei... two years ago, he made founding member Sakura disappear."
The words spilled out along with the blood.
"Last week, he erased Takase Mina."
'Sakura... you mean the one who suddenly quit?'
'Mina-chan... I was wondering why I hadn't seen her...'
'Erased? You mean killed?'
'Scary'
'What are you saying, Haru-san'
'Did you lose your mind?'
The comments split into for and against.
Voices that believed. Voices that doubted.
Haru continued.
"The one who wiped the streaming equipment data... that was Rei too."
"The equipment failures... all of it... was Rei's doing."
"That bastard... is trying to take over Neo-Porte."
His breathing was ragged.
His lungs wheezed.
Even so, the words didn't stop.
"And... I..."
Haru closed his eyes for a moment.
(Is it okay to say this?)
(Who would believe something like this?)
(But I can't hide it anymore.)
Haru opened his eyes.
"I... was destined to die in three months."
The comment section froze.
'What?'
'Die?'
'What are you talking about?'
'Haru-san, did you really lose your mind?'
'Should we get you to a hospital?'
Haru laughed.
With his blood-soaked face, he laughed.
"You don't have to believe me. But listen."
"To rewrite my fate of death... I came back to this world one month ago."
"The Administrator of Fate made me time leap."
'Time leap?'
'Administrator of Fate?'
'Yeah, he's definitely lost it'
'But this blood is real'
'Haru-san, where are you right now?'
'Neo-Porte's studio?'
'Someone go help him!'
Haru's phone vibrated.
An incoming call.
Tachibana Hinata.
Her name appeared on the screen.
Haru pressed the call button.
"Haru-kun! I'm watching the stream! Where are you!? The studio!? I'm coming! I'll be right there!"
Hinata's voice burst from the speaker, tearful.
"Hinata... don't come."
"What are you saying!? Of course I'm coming! Wait for me! Don't move, absolutely!"
The call cut off.
Haru dropped his phone to the floor.
His fingers wouldn't move anymore.
His vision blurred double.
His consciousness faded.
(No... not yet... I can't end here.)
Haru, still face-down on the floor, looked up at the camera.
"Everyone... I wanted to protect all of you."
"But I... carried too much alone."
"I'm sorry... everyone... I'm sorry."
Tears mixed with blood, falling to the floor.
The comment section filled with prayers.
'Don't apologize!'
'Haru-san, it's not your fault!'
'We'll protect you!'
'Neo-Porte, everyone, move!'
'Don't forgive Rei!'
'Haru-san, don't die!'
—Bang!
The studio door flew open.
"Haru-kun!!"
Tachibana Hinata rushed in.
Behind her, Tanaka Yoshiaki, Suzuki Kenta, Yamada Hanako.
And more talents followed.
Hinata ran to Haru.
She dropped to her knees in the pool of blood.
"Haru-kun! This is awful... this is so awful...!"
Hinata's hand touched Haru's cheek.
Warm.
"Why... why did you carry this alone...!"
Hinata held Haru's body.
Blood soaked into her clothes.
"Don't carry it alone! We're here! We're your comrades!"
Hinata's tears rained down on Haru's face.
Warm.
(Ah...)
(I... wasn't alone.)
Deep in Haru's chest, something crumbled.
Everything he'd carried alone all this time.
The secret he couldn't tell anyone.
His fate of death.
The time leap.
Rei's betrayal.
All of it, all of it, he'd carried alone.
And now, it crumbled with a sound.
"Protect Haru-san!"
Yamada shouted.
"Someone call an ambulance! And the police too!"
Suzuki gripped his phone.
"I'll guard the entrance. No one gets in here."
Tanaka stood blocking the studio entrance.
The talents gathered around Haru.
They became a wall.
Surrounding the blood-soaked Haru.
"Haru-san, we're here."
"You're not alone anymore."
"We won't lose to someone like Rei-san."
Haru's vision blurred with tears.
(Everyone...)
(Thank you.)
He couldn't speak.
His throat was clogged with blood.
But in his heart, he repeated it over and over.
(Thank you, everyone.)
—Then.
Footsteps echoed from outside the studio.
Slowly approaching.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
The sound of leather shoes.
Tanaka braced himself.
"Who's there?"
The footsteps stopped.
A silhouette behind the door.
"Hey, everyone. Having fun?"
Mitsurugi Rei stood there.
Black hair in a seven-three part.
Stiff with hair product.
Cold gray eyes.
A small piercing in his left ear.
He pushed up his glasses with his right hand.
"This little farce... it's pathetic to watch."
Rei stepped into the studio.
"Don't come any closer!"
Tanaka spread both arms, blocking the way.
"Step aside, Tanaka-san. I have no business with you."
Rei's voice was cold as ice.
"You... what did you do to Haru-san!"
Suzuki closed in on Rei.
"What did I do? You can see for yourself. I just gave him a little discipline."
Rei looked down at the blood-soaked Haru.
"It's because you did unnecessary things. You should have just died quietly."
"Stop! Don't hurt Haru-kun anymore!"
Hinata stepped forward, shielding Haru.
"Tachibana Hinata. You've been brainwashed by him too. How pitiful."
Rei looked at Hinata.
"Your 'benefactor' is just an incompetent fool. It was my management that brought out your talent. You should be grateful to me."
"That's wrong! Haru-kun reached out to me when I was at my lowest! Haru-kun's words saved me!"
Hinata shouted.
"Saved you? Don't make me laugh. How about you realize you were just a pawn?"
Rei stepped forward.
"Don't come any closer."
Yamada stood in Rei's path.
"We heard everything. Everything you did."
"Heard? Ah, that farce? You believed it? You're serious?"
Rei sneered.
"Time leap? Fate of death? I can only think he's lost his mind. You're all going along with such delusions?"
"Haru-san's blood is real."
Suzuki glared at Rei.
"You drove Haru-san to this point. That much is fact."
"Fact? You don't understand anything."
Rei's eyes narrowed.
"I built Neo-Porte. Forty-five percent of the funding was mine. And yet, the one on stage was always you. I endured it for three years."
Rei's voice grew heated.
"You're just a man with nothing inside, someone people happen to like. And yet everyone gathers around you. They're fooled by your smile. I couldn't stand it."
"So I erased them. One by one, from around you. Sakura, Mina... they all disappeared because of you."
"You bastard!"
Tanaka tried to lunge at Rei.
"Stop, Tanaka-san!"
Suzuki held Tanaka back.
"A wise decision, Suzuki-san. Violence solves nothing."
Rei straightened his suit collar.
"Now then, won't you step aside? I've come to finish you off."
Rei pointed at Haru.
"We won't let you!"
Hinata stood in front of Haru.
"We'll protect Haru-kun! We will never let you have your way!"
"That's right. We protect our representative."
"I can't let you through either."
"The editorial department is on Haru-san's side too. All of us."
The talents raised their voices as one.
"Protect Haru-san!"
"Rei-san, we won't let you do as you please anymore!"
"Haru-san, we're with you!"
The studio filled with the voices of his comrades.
Rei faltered for a moment.
"...What is this... this worthless solidarity."
Rei's voice trembled slightly.
"You're seriously going to protect this incompetent fool?"
"He's not incompetent."
Suzuki looked straight at Rei.
"Haru-san always protected us. He pushed himself, pushed himself, even shaving away his own life. Don't you dare call someone like that incompetent."
"Haru-kun is my benefactor. He's my hero."
Hinata said, wiping her tears.
"The representative is the heart of Neo-Porte."
"I've been saved by this man countless times. When equipment broke, when staff quit, he always stood at the front and found a way."
Tanaka looked at Haru.
"So this time, it's our turn to protect him."
—Then.
"...Rei."
Haru's voice was heard.
Hoarse, barely audible.
But he had certainly called Rei's name.
Everyone looked at Haru.
Haru, supported by Hinata's arms, raised himself up.
His blood-soaked face.
His broken nose.
His split lips.
Even so, his amber eyes looked straight at Rei.
"Rei... you were my comrade too."
Rei's movement stopped.
"The feeling of wanting to be acknowledged... I never noticed it."
Haru's voice trembled.
"I'm sorry."
Haru bowed his head.
Blood dripped onto the floor.
"Your three years of endurance... I never noticed any of it."
"That you held both admiration and jealousy toward me... I knew nothing."
"So... I'm sorry."
Rei didn't move.
His cold gray eyes stared at Haru.
"But... that still doesn't justify erasing your comrades."
Haru raised his head.
"Sakura, Mina... they were your comrades too, weren't they."
"If you wanted to be acknowledged... there had to have been a different way."
Haru's eyes glistened with tears.
"I... can't forgive you."
"But... I won't forget that you were my comrade."
Rei's face twisted.
"...It's too late."
Rei's voice resonated low, like a growl.
"Telling me that now... it's too late!!"
Rei lunged at Haru.
Something glinted in his right hand.
A stun gun.
"Haru-kun!"
Hinata screamed.
—In that instant.
"I won't let you!"
Tanaka body-slammed Rei.
Thud.
The two of them crashed to the floor.
"You're finished!"
Suzuki pinned Rei's arm.
"Give it up!"
Yamada kicked the stun gun away.
The talents piled onto Rei all at once.
"We won't let you hurt Haru-san anymore!"
"You won't get your way!"
"Give Haru-san back!"
Rei was pinned to the floor.
"Let go! Let go of me! You'll all regret this!"
Rei thrashed.
But he couldn't move anymore.
Not against the solidarity of his comrades.
"I... I...!"
Rei's voice turned tearful.
"I... just wanted to be acknowledged... that's all it was..."
Strength drained from Rei's body.
"...I hated you. You were dazzling. Those straight eyes of yours... I hated them more than anything."
Rei looked at Haru.
"...But you stayed yourself until the very end."
The corner of Rei's mouth twitched into a faint smile.
"...Serves you right, Haru."
—The sound of sirens approached.
The police.
Suzuki had called them.
"Police. Don't move."
Officers poured into the studio.
Rei didn't resist.
He was pulled up from the
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