petitioning the gods to make the least popular vote count. The person ranked last should

definitely face a harsh penalty. How about sending them straight to hell?> , die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die—hurry up and suffer and die as soon as

possible.>

How does it feel to be the most hated person in human history? You did that much. Understand it. Understand it, then end your life.

Every message was filled with hostility toward me.

The righteous hammer of justice against the worst murderer I couldn't even touch.

I couldn't understand it.

I thought someone would support me.

Maybe some were just watching for fun, but I still believed that even so, people would be glad I survived.

"Nanami... is she... dead...? Was she like that...? She hasn't come to this world...? Uncle... Auntie... are they gone too...?"

I murmured it, not to anyone in particular.

Just as I, who should be dead, ended up in another world, Nanami must also be in another world.

That's what I believed.

That's what I wished.

In this foreign world where I knew no one, meeting Nanaomi again was the only goal I had.

So, the old man and the old woman never came out that day because they were already dead?

...But once I saw the message,

I realized it.

It should have been immediately clear that Nanaomi hadn't come to this world.

Whether I broke into the house or called the police, it would have been obvious right away.

And there, the bodies of Nanaomi and her parents lay.

Only my shoes remained at the front door.

The real culprit must have either escaped skillfully or framed me.

"Hah...!"

My stomach heaved.

The direct cruelty of it, the fact that Nanaomi and her parents were dead.

Before those two facts, I was struck with a shock so intense it felt like the ground itself was trembling.

I couldn't even stand, collapsing right where I stood.

I couldn't breathe properly.

I had known, deep down...

that Nanami had died.

I had seen her motionless, lifeless.

But I had wanted to believe otherwise.

I had no choice but to believe.

Believing that Nanami had made it to this side kept me going, gave me the strength to push through this forest.

I was barely managing to keep myself together.

I could only move forward by refusing to look back.

and your twin sister couldn't stay in Japan and had to move overseas. Well, they'll probably be found out there too, you know. Maybe you should just die and apologize? >

Your twin sisters are said to be incredibly smart. Well, they probably don’t have a future anymore anyway.

Your family’s house burned down physically.

"Why… what’s going on…? What the hell is this?!"

Tears wouldn’t stop.

I was so focused on just surviving myself that I hadn’t even thought about what was happening to Earth.

But what could I do?

I was suddenly sent to another world too, you know!

I was killed!

The only reason I’m here now is either luck—or bad luck.

I didn’t ask to come here…!

I had so much I wanted to say.

But those words never made it to my voice.

Emotions poured out, and on top of that, new feelings kept rewriting the old ones.I wouldn't kill Nanami... I couldn't possibly do something like that...! She's my childhood friend...! How could I kill someone who's been with me since birth, someone I've always been with...! I died too, Nanami died! I never meant to end up here like this!"

I didn't even realize I was shouting at no one in particular.

"I went to say my final goodbye to Nanami...! But then some unknown classmate appeared and stabbed me from behind! By the time I got there, Nanami was already dead...!"

It was meaningless justification.

Somewhere in my mind, I understood that perfectly.

I've seen internet outrage countless times before.

There are only two ways to stop an online firestorm: cut off the fuel supply.

What I'm doing now is like endlessly feeding fuel into the fire.

It'll only escalate further, probably."...Family? Family has nothing to do with this...! What did my family even do...!"

In the end, this otherworldly transfer that dragged the entire world into it wasn't unrelated to me.

It destroyed two families—mine and Nanami's.

The number of messages keeps growing.

Could some of them be from my parents or my sisters?

I didn't have the courage to open them.

"Damn it..."

I just wanted to vanish.

But I couldn't die.

No matter how much malice I was exposed to, the fact that I'd survived over 370 kilometers kept me from even considering death.

"An announcement from the deity: It appears a few individuals who have been transferred to another world have not noticed the location where their imported items are stored. Please tap on the 'Carried Items' section of your status board to materialize them. Please note that any items not materialized within the next five days will be permanently erased."

It was an additional announcement from the deity.

Right, that's true—items could be brought over during the transfer to the other world.

I hadn’t had time to prepare due to the sudden transfer, so I hadn’t brought anything. Naturally, that section would be empty.

Yet I still opened it—perhaps because I had a hunch.

Tapping the "Carried Items" section on my status board caused a photo album to materialize and fall softly onto the ground.

"…………huh……"

A pastel-colored photo album.

The very one Nanami had last held tightly against her chest—

And it was the last thing I touched.

I picked it up with trembling fingers and opened the cover.

"Nanami... idiot... what were you planning to do with something like this in another world...?"

A photo taken when we were both in elementary school, standing side by side with our parents.

A photo from the time I fell into the pond at Destiny Land.

A photo of the time when Nanami and my younger sisters fell asleep after playing games until we were exhausted.

A photo taken when we stood together in our oversized middle school uniforms.

A photo taken when she playfully snapped a picture of me through the window while talking to me.

A photo taken when she was borrowed as my "childhood friend" during a costume race.

A photo from the day we all went together to check the high school admission results.

In the photo, Nanami was smiling.

I was smiling too, in the photo.

"Guh... damn it..."

I lost it.

Looking at the photo, I felt the truth become clearer.

It was as if everything about Earth had been a lie.

Being in a completely different world—the so-called alternate world—I couldn’t deny that I felt this way.

But the fact that this album, which should have been taken by Nanami, was here proved that Nanami had died and never came over.

―Ahaha

―Kusku

Someone was laughing at me, crying uncontrollably.

They were staring at me with curious eyes.

Laughing at me for pretending to grieve when I was the one who killed her.

Laughing at me for being the one who killed her.

Laughing at me, just an ordinary, unremarkable high school student with no special talents.

Nanami in the photo was laughing too.

Me in the photo was laughing as well.

―Ahaha

――Kya kya kya

A mocking voice comes from far away.

Right next to my ear, a mocking voice comes.

――I must have broken at that moment.

In bright places, I began to feel stares.

Stares filled with hostility and — malice — and curiosity.

"Darkness... Fog."

Live viewers: 1 billion.

On Earth, a billion people are sending me hostility.

They're eagerly waiting for me to fail.

Waiting for me to fall helplessly to the ground and die a wretched death —

I blocked those stares with darkness.

Even in this deep, deep darkness, those stares cannot reach me.

I closed the status board and began walking.

I couldn't bring myself to head toward the fortress.

I wanted to sink into some deep, endless darkness.

I'd hide my breath in a place beyond anyone's sight.

So I couldn't be hurt by anyone anymore.