She realized there was something she definitely needed to say to him.

"Hey… Ken."

"Wh-what?"

It was a foolish thought.

Despite bothering him because of her feelings, she almost confessed without apologizing just because she couldn’t hold back anymore.

Suddenly, she found herself pathetic.

Surely, someone who hasn’t even apologized doesn’t have the right to do this.

"…I’m sorry."

But thanks to that.

She was able to easily say something hard to bring up.

"…Oh? Wh-why all of a sudden?"

Ken stammered, clearly startled by Emily’s sudden apology.

Surely he should have immediately recalled all the times he was tormented.

Yet he reacted as if he didn’t care about what Emily had done.

‘Is it because I suddenly hugged him? But no, saying sorry for that wouldn’t quite make sense.’

Ken was confused.

There was no reason for him to receive an apology.

"The fact that I've been bothering you all this time, I'm really sorry. It shouldn't have been like that."

However, as Emily began to cry and spoke with difficulty, Ken realized.

‘Now that I think about it, with the past having changed, the apology never happened.’

Only then did he understand why Emily was apologizing to him.

For Ken, it was something that had ended long ago, but for the current Emily, it was still a burden on her heart.

So Ken gently smiled and wiped away her tears.

"Sobbing, I'm sorry, sob, I'm sorry."

Even though she apologized, she didn't ask for forgiveness.

‘She was like this back then too.’

Ken recalled a past that now felt so long ago.

‘It's not about asking for forgiveness. What I did isn't something that can be forgiven with just a simple apology.’

He remembered how she had apologized, burdened by guilt toward Ken more than relieved from the pain of death after that event had ended.

So Ken patted her head and replied.

"It's enough that you apologized. I'm okay."

"But... you can't just get over it so easily..."

"You don't do those things anymore, right? So it's okay."

Emily, just like that day, couldn't easily accept Ken's response.

Ken recalled how he had answered back then.

"Then how about this?"

He spoke to her with a playful smile, just like that day.

"Treat me to a delicious meal next time. I really love eating."

Just like that day, it smoothly passed by.

And with Ken's final words.

Both of them suddenly experienced a dizzy spell.

‘...Huh?’

‘...This definitely happened before.’

Emily, who had been crying, stared blankly at Ken.

Ken also looked at Emily in surprise.

‘What is this strange sensation? ...Deja vu?’

It felt like information that wasn’t there before was suddenly pouring into their minds.

This sudden sense of familiarity created a small gap in their memories.

Memories that had disappeared due to changes in the past started flowing in through that small gap without stopping.

And Ken realized.

This was what it felt like for Raphne to recover her lost memories.

‘But I don’t have any lost memories?’

That’s why Ken was so confused.

He hadn't lost his memories because he wasn’t affected by the changes in the past.

However, the answer to his confusion emerged from the flood of returning memories.

‘Sorry, Ken. I didn’t mean to trouble you. ...But even so, it’s okay! It will become something that never happened anyway. So, just this once, please understand. When today ends and today comes again, I won't trouble you anymore, Ken…’ (From the looping death episode)

Faces and words of Emily that Ken hadn’t experienced before began to surface in his mind.

‘I'm… scared of dying. I'm… scared of suffering.’

The image of Emily, trembling in fear and clinging to him, gripped by despair.

And he remembered his firm response to her.

‘It’s okay, Emily. I'll die with you.’

That was a story from a world that had ceased to exist, something he had forgotten.

‘Yes, that's right, because I existed in that time loop too.’

Memories started flooding back, triggered by Emily’s apology.

The memories were from the sixth time Emily repeated the time loop.

They were from the moment she confessed the truth about the time loop to Ken.

And then.

‘Ken, I have a request.’

A forgotten memory came back forcefully.

‘If I die this time... Ken, your memories will disappear anyway, right?’

It was etched firmly in Ken's mind.

'...Kiss me.'

With everything coming back to him, Ken could only shut his mouth and blush.

'Me... with Emily.'

He recalled the memory of kissing her while tears streamed down her face.

He now fully understood the events that had led to that moment.

Emily, trembling with the fear of death.

The catalyst for realizing the truth about her loop was her sudden confession.

'...Ken, you know! I like you! Actually, I like you. I like you as a man. Because I like you, ...that's why I troubled you.'

This was something that happened after Ken found Emily drowning in despair.

With everything resurfacing, Ken looked at the Emily before him.

She was staring back at him with wide, teary eyes, appearing just as shocked as he was.

"Ken..."

Seeing her expression, Ken immediately understood.

'...Emily's memories have returned.'

Her gaze was filled with the same warmth as before.

Surely, even just a moment ago, Emily had been looking at Ken kindly.

But now, the way she looked at him was noticeably different.

He felt the longing in her heart.

And faced with Emily like this…

Ken realized the true nature of his own turbulent emotions.

‘It wasn’t because of something like the Monkey Stele.’

Even if the past disappears and memories fade, the emotions from that time remain.

Raphne, Mary, and Emily had all proven this.

All this time, Ken was filled with questions.

Why did his heart race so much when he was with Emily?

He had brushed it off as simply a result of the Monkey Stele's affection event.

‘…Ha, could you grant me just one more request? Tell me… that you love me.’

As the forgotten loop memories resurfaced, Ken understood.

From that moment onward, he had held romantic feelings for Emily.

And those feelings had continued to grow, fueled by the many incidents since.

Ken looked at the flustered Emily, her eyes trembling with confusion.

Clearly, the sudden flood of memories had left her bewildered.

But Ken couldn’t concern himself with her confusion amidst the turmoil in his own heart.

“Because you like me.”

At Ken's sudden words, Emily's eyes widened.

“…Because you like me, you troubled me?”

His blushing words referenced the story of a vanished loop, one he shouldn’t remember.

“…Ken.”

Even though Emily was overwhelmed by the barrage of returning memories.

She understood.

Just as her own forgotten memories were coming back to her.

Ken also recalled the loop memories he had forgotten.

And he didn’t miss the flustered reaction of Emily to his words.

“I like you too.”

“…What?”

Ken remembered.

‘Please… tell me you like me.’

Before her death, Emily had whispered her plea to him.

Recalling this, Ken responded to the Emily standing before him.

However, this confession was not simply fulfilling her past request.

It was a heartfelt statement, encompassing all the emotions he had experienced until now.

Upon hearing Ken’s sincere reply, accompanied by his intense gaze, Emily’s face quickly flushed.

“…Uh, uh…”

Overwhelmed to the point of overload, she fainted.

“Oh.”

Ken realized that he had made the same mistake again, something he had already experienced with Raphne before.

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