Princess Connect Regret: Journey to Reclaim Lost Smiles
Time is a thief that always collects its due.
Yuuki watched the ones he loved—Pecorine, Kokkoro, Kyaru—dissolve into a black haze he could not stop. So he broke the world's oldest law to undo it: he touched the forbidden crystal beneath the Tower of Time and turned back the clock itself, trading his memories for a second chance. Now he stands once more in the sunlit plaza where it all began, watching a silver-haired girl scramble to collect her spilled coins—the first meeting, the first smile,
Princess Connect Regret: Journey to Reclaim Lost Smiles - Even if memories fade—the final blow, and the story that begins
Dawn. The sky had only just begun to pale over Landosol's lower district. The cobblestones were cold, and each breath came out faintly white.
Yuuki pressed a hand to his chest and drew a slow breath. Beneath the bandages, the wound still throbbed. The gash where Chronophage's tentacle had pierced him in that battle. Kokkoro had stitched it, but a wound that deep doesn't heal easily.
Still, he stood.
(Who... am I?)
The back of his mind was hazy, white. A name wouldn't surface. His own name.
"I'm... who am I..."
The voice was so small it seemed about to vanish.
"You're Yuuki!"
The blonde girl shouted. Her big red ribbon swayed in the dawn wind. Her sky-blue eyes were wet with tears. Even so, she stared straight at him.
"Yuuki is Yuuki! You're my precious comrade!"
—Yuuki.
The sound echoed inside his head.
That's right. I'm Yuuki.
The name came back. Pecorine's voice hauled up the anchor of a memory on the verge of sinking.
"...Yeah. I'm Yuuki."
Yuuki clenched his fist.
Then.
The air trembled.
In the center of the lower district's plaza, black mist began to swirl over the cobblestones.
Chronophage.
The price of changing the past. A monster born of time's distortion, one that devours memories.
"Again...!"
The girl with jade hair tied back opened her golden eyes wide. Her long elf ears stood stiff with tension. Her small body trembled, but the hand gripping her staff was steady.
"Master, please step back. I will handle this."
"No. I'll do it."
Yuuki stepped forward.
(Protect what must be protected.)
That alone moved him now.
In place of memory, heat remained in his chest.
"Going off on your own again? Don't be an idiot."
Kyaru swung her silver twin-tails and fell in beside him. The purple streaks in her hair caught the morning light. Her violet eyes shot him a glare.
"Your chest wound hasn't healed yet, has it? Push yourself and you'll die."
"I won't die. I decided to protect everyone."
"...You really are an idiot."
Kyaru muttered under her breath.
The Chronophage took shape.
The black mist became a humanoid figure about three meters tall. Countless tentacles sprouted from its back. No eyes. No mouth. And yet he could tell it was watching them.
"KISHAAAAAAA!!!"
A scream that split the ears.
"This one's bigger than the last...!"
Pecorine raised her sword. Both hands on the grip, hips low. Her usual bright expression was gone, replaced by a swordsman's sharpness.
"Only one of them. But its power is on another level. Likely an entity that has absorbed every Chronophage until now."
Kokkoro's analysis rang across the battlefield.
"You three, stay back! I'll use my memory magic to find its core!"
Kyaru raised both hands.
Purple light swirled around her. Her silver twin-tails lifted softly, though there was no wind.
"Memory Magic — Deep Analysis."
The light shot toward the Chronophage.
The monster lashed its tentacles, trying to deflect it. But Kyaru's magic wove through the gaps and seeped into its body.
"...I see it."
Kyaru's violet eyes glowed red. A sign of her evil eye.
"Its core isn't multiple chunks. It's a single memory crystal. All the Chronophages so far have gathered and formed one core."
"A single... crystal."
"Right. So if we gather the memory of our bonds and hit it at one point, we can shatter the core!"
Kyaru shouted.
"But... that means pouring in every memory you have left."
Silence.
Wind blew through the four of them.
(Pour in every memory.)
Yuuki looked at the back of his left hand.
A birthmark like a clock hand. The brand of memory's price.
This brand told how much memory had been lost.
He'd already lost so much.
He'd nearly lost even his own name.
Even so.
(I want to protect them.)
This feeling alone wouldn't fade.
"Idiot, don't you dare die."
Kyaru murmured softly at Yuuki's back.
That voice was the truth leaking out from beneath her tsundere mask.
"I won't die. I promise."
Yuuki answered without turning around.
"Master."
Kokkoro took Yuuki's hand.
"Please use my memories too. The memories I share with you are all recorded in my notebook. So... even if you lose them, we can remember them again."
Kokkoro's golden eyes gazed straight up at him.
"Kokkoro..."
"Me too! Use my memories too! I've got tons of fun memories with Yuuki!"
Pecorine put a hand on Yuuki's shoulder.
"...I suppose I'll let you use mine too. Not like it's for your sake or anything."
Kyaru turned her face away and grabbed Yuuki's sleeve.
Warmth spread slowly through Yuuki's chest.
(Everyone...)
He wanted to say thank you.
But the words wouldn't come.
So instead.
"Pecorine. Kokkoro. Kyaru."
He called the three names.
"Thank you. I'm glad I met you all."
Yuuki gripped the Twilight Memoria emblem at his chest.
A small metal badge engraved with four smiling faces.
"Yuuki... don't. Don't say it like it's a goodbye."
Pecorine's voice trembled.
"It's okay. This isn't a goodbye. It's a beginning."
Yuuki smiled.
"A new beginning, to protect everyone's smiles."
The Chronophage moved.
Countless tentacles shot toward Yuuki all at once.
"Like I'd let you!"
Yuuki kicked off the ground.
The wound in his chest screamed.
He ignored it.
(Pain weighs less than what I have to protect.)
Light gathered in Yuuki's right hand.
The light of memory.
The taste of the food he'd shared with Pecorine.
The warmth of Kokkoro's healing hands.
The sound of Kyaru's worried voice, tsundere and all.
They became particles of light and settled into Yuuki's fist.
"This is my bond with all of you."
Still gripping the emblem, Yuuki thrust out his fist.
"Take this—!!"
The light exploded.
DOOOOOON!!!
A shockwave tore across the plaza.
The cobblestones cracked.
Windows shattered to pieces all around.
Yuuki's fist drove into the Chronophage's core — the single memory crystal.
"KISHAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
The monster let out a death scream.
The black mist burned in the light and faded away.
"We did it...!"
"Master!"
"...Is it over?"
The three started to run toward him.
Then.
Yuuki's body swayed.
"Yuuki!?"
Pecorine caught him.
"...I'm... Yuuki. Pecorine... I remember your name too."
Yuuki spoke in a hoarse voice.
His own name, and Pecorine's.
Those alone had surely remained.
But.
Everything else was hazy, white.
The first time he met Kokkoro.
The time he fought with Kyaru.
Most of the precious time he'd spent with the three of them was gone.
"Yuuki... Yuuki...!"
Pecorine held him tight.
"Master... do you... remember me...?"
Kokkoro asked fearfully.
Yuuki looked at Kokkoro's face.
Jade hair. Golden eyes. Long ears.
...He knew her.
But he couldn't remember.
"...Sorry. Your name is... Kokkoro, right. But... the details..."
Yuuki answered honestly.
Kokkoro's eyes filled with tears.
"Even so... just calling my name is enough. Master."
Kokkoro wiped her tears and smiled.
"...You really are an idiot. You've forgotten me anyway, haven't you."
Kyaru said, looking down.
"Kyaru. I remember your name too. That you're good at magic, that you're a tsundere, and that you're actually kind."
"...!? Who's a tsundere!?"
Kyaru's face went bright red.
"Ahaha, Kyaru, your face is all red!"
"Oh, shut up!"
The four of them laughed, and the sound rang through the dawn-lit lower district.
The battle was over.
The memories were lost.
But the bonds remained.
—
The lower district plaza.
The morning sun began to paint the cobblestones gold.
The four gathered in the center of the plaza.
"There's something I want to tell you all."
Yuuki looked at each of their faces.
"I'm fighting while losing my memories. I may lose even more from here. There may come a day I can't even remember my own name."
The three listened in silence.
"But I want to stay with all of you. In place of the memories I've lost, I want to make new ones from now on."
Yuuki took off the emblem at his chest.
"Today, right here, I'm officially forming a guild."
"A guild...?"
"Yeah. Its name is Twilight Memoria. The memory of dusk. A guild to protect our memories."
"Twilight Memoria! What a wonderful name!"
Pecorine's eyes sparkled.
"Yes. Please let me accompany you in that guild as well."
Kokkoro nodded deeply.
"...I suppose it can't be helped. You lot clearly can't do anything on your own. I'll join you."
Kyaru said, fiddling with her twin-tails, looking embarrassed.
"Everyone... thank you."
Yuuki gripped the emblem.
"This is our beginning."
"I'm so happy I get to be with Yuuki! Let's keep eating together forever, okay!"
Pecorine hugged Yuuki.
"I too will do my utmost to be of use to you, Master. I'll record today in my notebook."
Kokkoro pulled out a small notebook and began writing in neat handwriting.
"...I'll enchant the emblem with magic too. So that even if you lose your memories again, this emblem will help you remember us."
Kyaru took the emblem from Yuuki's hand and poured purple light into it.
"There... done."
The emblem glowed faintly purple.
"Amazing... it's warm."
"I-it's not like I did it for you or anything. It's for the guild. The guild."
Kyaru turned her face away.
The four of them laughed, and the sound echoed through the morning lower district.
—
Night.
A small hideout in Landosol's lower district.
A building that used to be a warehouse.
The four cleaned it up and set out a table and chairs.
On the wall hung the emblem of Twilight Memoria.
"Today's the guild founding party!"
Pecorine laid out food on the table.
"There's soup made with Kokkoro's herbs, bread from the market, and I grilled some meat too! Yuuki, eat lots, okay!"
"Pecorine, you're a wonderful cook. This soup smells lovely."
"You're eating too much. Even for a celebration, you'll get fat."
"It's fine! If I move around, I'll burn it off!"
Yuuki quietly watched the three of them.
(...This is nice.)
He didn't want to forget this scene.
But he might forget it anyway.
Even so.
(Right now, this moment is definitely mine.)
"Yuuki, what's wrong? Aren't you eating?"
"Yeah, I'm eating. Thanks for the food."
Yuuki took a sip of soup.
"...It's delicious."
"Right!? Kokkoro's herbs are amazing!"
"No, it's only because of your skill at cooking, Pecorine."
"...Well, it's not bad."
Kyaru sipped her soup too and muttered quietly.
"Kyaru, you're never honest!"
"Oh, shut up!"
The four of them laughed, and the hideout filled with the sound.
Yuuki put a hand to the emblem at his chest.
It was warm.
The magic Kyaru had enchanted into it was still there.
(Even if my memories fade, my feelings won't.)
Yuuki etched it into his heart once more.
—Then.
Outside the window, a pale blue light glowed.
"...?"
Yuuki looked out the window.
Toward Landosol's central district.
The Tower of Time, about a hundred and twenty meters tall.
From its summit, a pillar of pale blue light stretched into the sky.
The pillar of light was slowly moving toward the lower district.
"What... is that."
Yuuki stood and approached the window.
"...The Tower of Time is glowing."
Kokkoro looked outside too.
"The Tower of Time is the headquarters of the Chronos Guardians, right? Why would it shine like that..."
Kyaru furrowed her brow.
"That light is... a search spell. It's looking for someone."
Kokkoro's voice trembled.
"Searching...?"
"Master... that light is searching for you."
Kokkoro took Yuuki's hand.
"It's trying to find the contractor of the Time Crystal."
Yuuki's heart gave a heavy thud.
The Time Crystal.
The great crystal that had granted him the power to rewind time.
"...What happens if they find me?"
"I don't know. But the Chronos Guardians exist to monitor time magic. For those who use it without permission... even a life sentence is possible."
"A life sentence..."
Yuuki stared at the pale blue light.
The light drew slowly, steadily closer to the lower district.
—
Deep beneath Landosol.
The Nocturne Cult's secret base.
A stone hall.
On the
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