"Th-that's...! It’s a lie! I am—I am—!!"
"You are... what? Were you about to declare that you're the 'protagonist' again?"
"!? !?"
Writhing in agony, unable to accept the reality that he had been utterly crushed, Egos lay prostrate on the ground. He trembled violently at the sound of the voice questioning him.
Looking down at him with a look of genuine exasperation, Lost threw out his words.
"It isn't just you. None of the people reincarnated into this world have anything else to be proud of. That is why you all cling so desperately to the special status of 'Protagonist' granted by God. I suppose it’s only natural, in a way."
Lost let out a long, heavy sigh and continued, his gaze drifting away from Egos.
"A picture-perfect corporate slave working for a black company is suddenly reincarnated into another world—one that just happens to be the setting of a game he played to death. Of course you had expectations. You thought that by using your cheat abilities and knowledge, you could lead a successful, happy life. You thought you could say goodbye to your pathetic previous life and do whatever you wanted... Isn't that right?"
"Ugh... ah..."
Egos could only groan as Lost saw through his every thought.
Lost finally looked back at him, his lips curling with contempt.
"I can understand how you feel. But you should have thought about it more. I don’t mean how you acted after you were reincarnated... I mean before that. You should have considered why you ended up leading such a miserable life in the first place."
"A-ah..."
"The reason you ended up at that terrible company was because you were lazy. That laziness was a product of the personality you built as a child. A character formed over nearly forty years cannot be changed so easily. You were reincarnated into this world with that same hollow interior. Naturally, you were destined to lead another miserable life where nothing truly changed."
"Sh-shut up! Shut up! I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear it!!"
"...Good grief. You’re nearly forty, aren't you? An adult like you shouldn't be throwing a tantrum like a child."
"A—aaaaaaaaaaagh!?"
Egos let out a strangled cry as he watched his own body begin to transform.
His healthy, youthful teenage hands withered into the sickly, ashen, and frail hands he remembered all too well. His face, once the handsome ideal he had claimed for himself, morphed into that of an unhealthy middle-aged man, marked with deep dark circles born of chronic fatigue and lack of sleep.
His hair fell out in clumps, thinning and receding until his scalp was bare and pathetic. The Luminous Academy uniform, stained with blood, shifted into a tattered, gray business suit. Watching every stage of the regression, Egos—no, Kirio Egoshi—shook his head frantically, tears welling in his eyes as he screamed.
"No! This isn't me! I was reborn! I’m going to find happiness in this world!!"
"Ah... what a wonderful expression. This is exactly what I wanted to see. The look on your face as you taste absolute misfortune, swallowed by deep Despair...!"
Defeat. Humiliation. Despair. Fear.
A flood of negative emotions rushed into Kirio at once. Lost murmured with satisfaction as he watched the broken man’s spirit tear to shreds.
No longer the protagonist Egos, but returned to the state of a miserable former corporate slave, Kirio reached out to cling to Lost's leg, pleading desperately.
"Please, I beg you! Change me back! Make me the protagonist again! I want to go back! Change me back!!"
"Ah, impossible. I can’t do it, and I have no reason to help you even if I could. Besides, I told you, didn't I? You’re going to die here. You will meet a miserable end, known to no one."
"A-aaaaah...!? No! I don't want this!! Stop!!"
The hands he had reached out toward Lost began to crumble.
Feeling his fingers—and soon his entire body—disintegrating into fine particles, Kirio continued to wail in terror.
"No! Stop! I don't want to die in a place like this! I was going to be happy as the protagonist—!!"
"...Happiness, huh? There was never any such thing for you from the start. Because, you see—"
"A-eh...?"
Kirio groaned, his eyes glazed with shock at the words Lost whispered.
In that instant, his face twisted into an expression of such absolute despair it was as if all light in the universe had been extinguished. Facing an unthinkable truth, he let out a final, agonizing death rattle.
"That... it’s a lie...! My happiness... the happiness I was finally going to grab... a-ah... aaaaaaaaaagh!?"
It was a guttural, hollow scream that sounded as if it were being dragged from the bottom of hell. It was the shriek of a soul being crushed by a weight of misfortune far too great for any human to bear.
Lost watched until the man who had been standing there seconds ago vanished without a trace. He let out a satisfied hum and spoke to the empty air.
"A borrowed happiness, manufactured by another, is a fragile thing that shatters easily. As the end for a fool who chased a glass happiness that disappears at a touch, you met a most beautiful conclusion... Egos Cutman."
Having delivered his final word, Lost deactivated his silver armor. He let out a single breath and collapsed backward where he stood.
As he lay there, staring up at the leaden sky and unable to move a muscle, a figure approached and spoke.
"Good work. Still, that really is a stupid skill."
"Ah, Drop... it certainly might not be the most practical, but I don't regret it. I was able to get a little closer to the one I yearn for."
"I don't care about your hobbies. Let's get moving. Your 'Hero' has finally woken up. The battle between Ryuga and Zaraki has already started, and you don't want to miss this climax, do you?"
"Of course not. But I can't move. I’d appreciate a hand..."
Drop let out a heavy sigh at Lost's request and grabbed him by the leg.
She dragged him into a pool of darkness she had manifested. As soon as his body was fully submerged, the shadows vanished without a sound.
And so, Egos was erased from the world without leaving a single trace behind.
No one would ever know what had happened to him. Soon, his existence would fade even from the memories of the people of this world. Even the Masterminds themselves—the very people who had orchestrated his erasure—had already lost all interest in him.
The life of a man who reached for a happiness far beyond his station had ended, unseen and unremembered.