The Death Mage that doesn't want a fourth time

Side Chapter 7 Thinking about him from a faraway place

TLN: Reminder that many Japanese names can be pronounced in multiple different ways. I'm not sure on the pronunciation on any new Japanese names appearing in this chapter. I'm basically just picking the coolest-sounding among the possible readings! In fact, sometimes I have to guess the gender of the character solely based on their names, too.

The Metamorph, Shihouin Mari, gave a small laugh as she looked at the place she had been taken to, a special cell that had been made for detaining her. "How generous of you to give me a custom-made room," she said.

Her voice had no sign of bitterness or sarcasm, but a special microchip and explosives had been embedded inside her body.

This was a step to prevent even the smallest chance of Mari escaping, as she was capable of taking on any appearance.

"... I'm sorry for being so incapable," said Amemiya Hiroto, apologizing to her without responding to her words.

He was wearing a pained expression as if he was the criminal, not her. The other reincarnated individuals who had been working with him and Mari were wearing similar expressions.

But Mari gave Hiroto a small, bitter smile. "Don't apologize," she said. "I know you worked hard to solve things without having to kill me."

Mari had killed another person who had been reincarnated from Earth, Kaidou Kanata. Although she hadn't worked with the terrorists, she had exploited them, led the government and her companions on a wild goose chase with false information and set things up so that her target, Kanata, would be sent on a mission on his own.

Kaidou Kanata's death had a great impact on the other reincarnated individuals. They had been working in disaster relief and counter-terrorism, so they had come into contact with people's deaths... even other than the civilians and terrorists killed in disasters, they experienced the deaths of allied military personnel and helpers that they should have saved.

But the death of Kanata, one of their own, had a different level of impact.

They had been given new lives by a god and reincarnated in this foreign world called Origin from Earth with magical talent and special "cheat-like abilities." But they had been stared in the eyes by the reality that even they could die and be killed.

This event had caused cracks to form between the reincarnated individuals who had come together to form the organization known as the Bravers.

No, to be more precise, the cracks had already been there, but they had simply been invisible. It was Mari's murder of Kanata that had made these cracks impossible to ignore any longer.

But there were some among them who thought that everything was Mari's fault. Even the governments and armies of every nation considered Mari, who possessed the Metamorph power that allowed her to perfectly replicate her target's fingerprints, retinas and even their vein patterns, to be a dangerous individual.

And there were also those who felt distrust for Hiroto, who had advocated for her to be confined rather than erased.

"You killed Kaidou Kanata, a single person," said Hiroto. "You ensured that the president's daughter remained protected. I can understand your motives. This is your first crime, and normally you would be given life imprisonment or maybe even a definite term depending on the country, not a death penalty. And the nation you killed Kanata in has already abolished capital punishment. It would be too selfish to erase you out of convenience and emotion."

"A stiff way of thinking as usual," said Mari.

"It's better than being soft," said Hiroto. "At least, it makes it easier for others to tell what I am thinking."