Leon looked back.

Silence....

A small bird landed on a branch above Leon and chirped once, and then it flew away.

"...Did I.... Did I just shout that out loud?"

Leon could not answer.

Irene’s eyes widened slowly as the realization hit her.

"Oh no."

She covered her face with both hands.

"Oh no oh no oh no."

She turned around in the water. The water rippled between her feet before it settled still as Irene squatted down while burying her face between her knees.

She turned her head slightly.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"No.... Well, Yes. A little."

"Mhhhhhhhh!!"

Her face visibly turned beat red again.

Leon saw her acting like a child who had just confessed to her crush.

Well in this case, that was exactly what it was.

Leon’s brain had already moved past the initial shock.

The confession which she just did had been her way of making Leon feel better, after what he told him about Shin and Lumina, her feelings which she kept stored for decades for him had just poured out in that instant.

In his past life he never actually received a confession this bold.

Sure there were always women who tried to flaunt themselves over him, but he never mend them a hair.

Compared to them, Irene’s confession felt genuine.

Now the real problem was.

’What do I say to her?’

In his school life he had seen people confessing to others, it was either they accept or they reject at the moment.

Ripple... ripple...

"Mm?"

Irene walked out of the water holding all the fishes she had just caught.

Leon was about to stop and reply but before then Irene tossed the fishes to Leon’s hand.

"You can hold onto them, my...uh, my hands are getting dizzy."

With that she walked past her, hiding her face.

Leon’s mouth wide opened, simply looking at her.

’How would someone’s hand get dizzy?’

"Pfttt—haha."

He let out a chuckle which Irene couldn’t hear.

Leon didn’t hate her, well he kind of already knew about her feelings, she was really bad at hiding it.

’Or... did she not want to hide it and wanted me to know?’

Leon kept walking behind her with the bucket of fish in his hand.

He could only see her back.

The platinum hair clinging to her wet shoulders, and the straight posture she was trying so hard to maintain.

She was walking like she had everything under control.

Irene tilted her head slightly to the right, just enough for him to catch the corner of her face.

And he saw a small, sly, pleased smirk over it.

Leon froze mid-step.

"This girl!"

He was right, she had been faking the embarrassment.

She had been playing him.

She had wanted him to notice.

She had wanted him to follow.

Leon shook his head slowly, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Hey now."

He walked a bit faster behind her, but still kept his distance.

"Don’t want to hear my reply?"

"Nope." She replied immediately, without even slowing down.

"Irene"

"I cannot hear you."

"You just answered me."

"I cannot hear you for the second time."

Leon’s lips twitched.

"Irene."

"Nope nope nope."

She walked a bit faster.

Leon’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"You cannot just kiss me, then confess to me. And then walk away from me without giving me a chance to say anything."

Irene’s pace slowed for just a moment, before she sped up again.

"Yes I can."

"That is not how this works."

"That is exactly how this works."

"By whose rules?"

"Mine."

Leon could not see her face, but he could hear it in her voice.

She was smiling.

And Leon....?

Leon was glad.

Walking behind Irene with the morning light filtering through the trees and her teasing voice carrying back to him.

He felt something he had not felt in a very, very long time.

He felt blissful.... it was a weird sensation.

But he liked it.

He liked the warmth in his chest.

He liked the small ache at the corners of his lips that came from holding back a smile.

He liked the sound of her bare feet on the dirt path.

He liked her.

Leon thought about that for a long moment.

Then quietly to himself.

’Maybe this is what mine feels like?’

Loud was Shin’s, and the quiet was his.

If someone were to ask what he felt just now.

Then he would gladly answer.

Following this girl through the forest after she had shouted "I love you!" loud enough to scatter the birds. It was the quietest, warmest, most undeniable thing he had felt since waking up.

720 Loops, and ten years of coma. It was twelve whole years.

Leon didn’t even spend this much time with anyone after transmigrating in this world.

[Back at the Cave]

Anise sat cross legged in front of the fire.

She had been preparing the wooden skewers for the fish when Leon and Irene had walked back into the cave.

"...."

"...."

"...."

She noticed it immediately.

"Did something happen between you two?"

"Nothing." Irene said immediately.

Anise tilted her head further.

Irene was strangely smiling, even though she was looking down at the ground.

And Leon... he was not even pretending to hide it. He shrugged his shoulders as she looked back at Anise.

’Oh my... oh my.’

Anise’s lips slowly curled into a smile.

"...Did you guys kiss?"

"Huh?!"

Both Leon and Irene flinched at the same time.

"You did huh." She clapped both her hands.

"D-Doctor!" Irene gasped. "What kind of question is that?!"

"A very simple one." Anise said calmly. She picked up another wooden skewer and started sharpening its tip with a small knife. "Did you?"

"N-no!"

"Mhm."

"We did not!"

"Mhm hm."

"Doctor, I am serious!"

Anise turned her gaze to Leon.

"What about you, Leon? Did anything... happen at the pond?"

Leon was usually the master of keeping his expression neutral, he could face down a Calamity without flinching, and he could lie to a god without breaking eye contact.

But right now, with Anise smiling at him like a knowing older sister and Irene looking at him with pleading eyes from across the fire to not tell her what happened.

Leon coughed.

"Uh... Nothing important."

Anise with her side eye saw Leon keeping eye contact with Irene.

Irene buried her face in her hands.

Anise let out a small giggle and went back to sharpening her skewers.

"You two are adorable."

. . .

After they ate, Leon laid out the following next phase of plan for them.

He told Anise to teach Irene how she used the Time Device to get in contact with Veronica.

Then Leon taught Irene a technique prepared by him and Rumi which could use Astral Matter to store memories in an array format.

These memories are then encoded with Irene’s mana signature and the same Astral Matter configuration which was used in the Akashic Record built by Anise.

Anise had helped to perfect the configuration in Leon’s technique.

This will help Irene to attain her memories even after Leon turned back time.

Her job was the main one here.

She needs to be the anchor of everything. Because Leon had calculated that turning back time would erase his and everyone else’s memories.

Now the question was, why Irene of all people?

Why not himself? And why not Anise?

The answer was simple, and Leon had thought about it for a very long time.

Evana’s original looping mechanism worked in a way that Leon could not predict the exact loop in which he, Cyan, and Ethan would step foot into the city.

Even with his calculations, he could not pin it down to a single moment.

So if Irene had to receive the memories, it would be better if she got them much, much earlier than before any of them arrived.

That way, by the time Leon walked into Evana for the first time in the rewound timeline, Irene would already have everything ready.

She would be the one waiting for him this time.

Leon would make sure of that.

He would set the conditions so that Irene received her memories during a specific point in her life. Long before the loops ever started, and long before Leon transmigrated into this world.

She would have centuries to prepare. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

That was the plan.

As for Anise, Leon had a different reason for not including her.

He had a suspicion that Dreamweaver might have ways to keep tabs on the former Queen.

He would not underestimate the calamity again.

If Anise carried her memories into the new timeline, Dreamweaver might somehow sense the inconsistency.

Leon was not willing to take that risk.

It was safer to leave Anise out of it.

She would experience the rewound timeline fresh. In a sense she would be free from the burden of remembering Lillian’s death again and again in her dreams.

In a way, it was a gift.

As for Leon himself.

He had thought about giving himself the memory transfer too.

But he chose not to.

The reason was simple.

Irene’s memories were the important ones here.

Maintaining his own memories on top of all that would unnecessarily increase Creator’s penalty.

Higher penalty meant longer coma.

And he had already promised Irene he would not waste her time.

So he chose to forget.

He would step into the rewound timeline as the same Leon Valentine he was the day he first arrived here.

And Irene would be there to find him.

She would carry the truth across time so he could live without the weight of it.

That was the deal.

She would be the keeper.

He would be the boy who got to start over.

. . .

With everything explained, the plan was now set.

There was nothing left to discuss more.

Leon looked between Anise and Irene.

Both of them were quiet.

The weight of what was about to happen settled over the cave.

It was cosmic.

"Alright then." Leon finally said.

He flexed his fingers slowly.

"It is time."

Time to rewrite Creator’s penalty.

To make the coma come first, and execute the command come after.

But before he proceed with his skill, he said to Irene.

"Sorry you have to wait a few more years."

Irene bit her lips.

She knew what he meant, a few more years was an understatement.

She would be waiting centuries.

Leon would have to execute two consecutive Creators, one after the other.

And the next time he opened his eyes after this, would be the day he first stepped foot in Evana in the rewound timeline.

But for Irene.

She would have her memories long before that.

Maybe long before Leon existed.

She would carry these memories alone for an unimaginable amount of time.

A few years... or a few centuries.

The math did not matter.

What mattered was that she had said yes.

"I will wait."

She had already done it once.

She could do it again.

And she would do it once again if she had to.

Leon flashed her one last small smile.

Then he turned to Anise.

"Doctor."

"Leon." Anise said. "You still have time. You can stop if—"

"Doctor. It will be fine."

Anise pressed her lips together.

She just nodded.

"We will be waiting."

Leon rested his back against the cave wall.

Leon closed his eyes for a moment.

He took a slow breath.

"Everything will be fine." He said again, this time to himself.

[Creator]

[Skill Configuration: Override. Set penalty trigger = pre execution. Persistence trigger: one time.]

[World Manipulation: Reverse time flow, destination point set to: The first moment I stepped into Evana City.]

AlN: Image of Irene is uploaded in Character tab.