I sit hugging my knees on the high platform, back leaning against the freezing stone, staring blankly at the bizarre arena below where Itsuki-sama is still enthusiastically beating the living daylights out of Snow-Itsuki as usual. How many times has it been? Twenty? Thirty? Since the tenth loop, I stopped counting.

  With every sigh, the cold air rushes into my lungs, chilling me to the bone. Despair crushes my mind, making me want to give up everything.

  "What do I do... What am I supposed to do now?"

  "Yo, kid."

  A familiar voice rings out right next to me, making me jump out of my skin.

  Kujo-sensei.

  He stands there, still with that rugged look, messy platinum hair, and flashy floral shirt, looking terribly out of place in this deathly space. But the slight smile on his lips brings a strangely warm feeling, like morning sunlight piercing through the fog.

  "Sensei!" I scream, overjoyed like a drowning man clutching a straw. "When... when did you get here?"

  "Ah, so you still remember my name?" He smirks, flopping down next to me and lightly kicking an invisible pebble at his feet. "I thought coming down here would have turned your mush for brains into soup by now."

  "I'm not sure..." I shake my head, clutching it tight. "Since appearing here, I only recall the memories in the snowy mountains, about Itsuki-sama and Snow-Itsuki. Anything deeper feels like someone surgically removed it."

  "So do you remember why you are here?"

  I shake my head. The image of Itsuki-sama raining thunderous punches on Snow-Itsuki, then the giant blue fire sword descending... Everything keeps playing in my head like an endless horror movie.

  "You're still here... but why did you only come now?"

  "Because only now do you actually want help," He replies, his tone mysterious. "As long as you stubbornly want to solve it yourself, no matter how hard I try, I can't butt in."

  I look at him, then down at my palm, where the scar from the Blade of Justice is still oozing blood.

  "What should I do, Sensei?" I whisper, voice cracking. "Every time I try to help Snow-Itsuki and Itsuki-sama get along, everything gets worse. This cursed space won't let me go."

  I sigh, my breath cold. "I hoped this loop had a correct answer to save all three. But the more I think, the more I fear that... there is no answer."

  "Hmm," Kujo-sensei rests his chin on his hand, eyes narrowing. "You remind me of an old fable the Sea Gods often tell."

  "What story is it?" I look up, curious.

  "There was a man," he begins, his storytelling voice rising and falling like the sound of ocean waves. "He accidentally dropped a precious gem into the depths of the ocean. Consumed by regret, he spent his entire life, day and night, using a tiny ladle to scoop sand and water, trying to fill up the ocean to reclaim his gem."

  "So... so did he get the gem back?" I ask urgently, heart pounding.

  "Of course not, you idiot. He spent his whole life trying to fill the abyss in vain, finally dying without peace. His soul turned into a sand crab. Legend has it that the tiny crabs you see on the beach, rolling little balls of sand forever, are his descendants. They are still trying to fill the ocean. A tragic, pointless existence."

  He turns to look at me, his eyes deep as the abyss.

  "Does this... have anything to do with me?" I feel a chill run down my spine.

  "Oh, I just find it an interesting story," he replies, shrugging. "Imagine it. That guy spent his whole life toiling away, but in return only got covered in dust. Just like that, a life wasted. Truly a pitiful fool."

  "Stop beating around the bush!" I snap, feeling like my chest is about to explode from pent-up frustration. The cold wind whips my face, stinging, but it is nothing compared to the confusion inside me right now. "Just say it straight out, will it kill you? What do I need to do to save those two and escape this hellhole?"

  Kujo-sensei sighs, slicking back his messy platinum hair, looking bored as if he just had to grade a failing test paper.

  "Drop the first part, kid," he says, voice icy. "Stop dreaming about that rosy future where those two shake hands and make up or hug affectionately. Both are one. There is no villain here, and no victim for you to rescue either."

  "But..." I start to argue, but the words are stopped in my throat.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "Have you taken care of yourself yet, that you demand to take care of others' business?" Sensei cuts in, his gaze boring into my soul. "Otherwise, you are just like that crazy crab trying to fill the ocean."

  "That comparison is too lame!" I clench my fist, stretching my neck to argue. "Saving others is a noble act, how can it be compared to a meaningless task like filling the sea?"

  "Who are you trying to save, Kaito? The mind of a god? Who do you think you are? Do you have the right?"

  Every word of his feels like needles pricking my self-esteem.

  "Don't say such heartless things!" I scream, voice cracking with indignation. "It is just... just because I don't have enough strength, not enough perseverance yet..."

  "So do both of them actually need you to save them?"

  A sudden and somewhat sarcastic question makes me freeze for a moment. However, those provoking words aren't enough to discourage me.

  "A true hero doesn't wait for a cry for help to act!" I declare loudly.

  "Right, right, okay," Sensei nods, offering a slow, mocking clap. "So tell me, those two have been 'saved' so enthusiastically by you just now, they must be very grateful, right? Correct? Just try hard enough and the universe will just hand it to you, right?"

  Immediately, the horrific images I just experienced come rushing back, squeezing my heart.

  The scene of Itsuki-sama with desperate empty eyes, creating a giant fire sword with his own hands and plunging it into his own head. The earth-shattering explosion. And Snow-Itsuki's heart-rending, miserable cry witnessing the other entity vanish into the void. Those maddening images repeat over and over in my head countless times.

  I shudder, trying to shake the nightmare from my head. Turning to look at the teacher standing with arms crossed indifferently, a wave of disappointment rises.

  "So will you help?" I look at him with accusing eyes. "I don't understand... why are you such a coward? Seeing death and not saving, running away from responsibility like that is acceptable?"

  Kujo-sensei shows no anger at my accusation. He just shrugs, looking strangely calm.

  "Yeah, that's me," he replies curtly. "If someone asks for help, I will do it. Didn't you want me to help you? I'm helping you. But that old fox didn't ask me to interfere in his internal affairs, did he?"

  He shoves his hands in his pockets, turning his back on the chaotic arena.

  "I'm just a humble math teacher, kid."

  "So when you encounter a difficult math problem you can't solve forever, what then?" I retort, voice trembling as I hold back anger. "Do you choose to give up? Is that what a teacher should teach students?"

  Kujo-sensei laughs, a dry and abrupt laugh like chalk breaking on a blackboard.

  "Yeah, that's right," he replies, cool as a cucumber. "If it's too hard and I can't do it, I drop it. Go home and study again, train more until I am skilled enough, or take the book to ask someone better. I am not stupid enough to keep banging my head against a stone wall forever. Not capable enough but still trying to brute-force it will only break your head, kid."

  His logic is pragmatic to the point of cruelty, cutting off every counterargument. I stand rooted to the spot, mouth agape but unable to utter a word.

  And not letting me recover, Sensei immediately launches a relentless attack.

  "So let me ask you," he steps forward, closing in on me, his tall shadow looming over my vision. "In all this mess, who is in the wrong?"

  "Both... both are at fault!" I stammer. "Itsuki-sama is too dictatorial, and Snow-Itsuki is too weak. That is why they need to understand each other, need to..."

  "What about you?" Sensei cuts in, voice cold. "You yourself must be absolutely pure, right?"

  "Huh?" I'm dumbfounded.

  Kujo-sensei suddenly grabs my wrist, holding it high in front of my face. His finger points straight at the hammer of justice glowing with brilliant golden light in my hand.

  "Look," he says, eyes drilling deep into my soul. "If you dare to hold this, then surely from the beginning until now, you must have lived a pristine, spotless life, without a single mistake, right?"

  I shudder, wanting to pull my hand back, but his grip is too tight.

  "If that is true," his voice drops lower. "Then in your eyes, those two struggling over there must be pathetic, dirty, and very pitiful. You stand on high, looking down on them with pitying eyes, don't you?"

  "No... I don't..."

  "Kid," Sensei lets go of my hand, taking a step back and waving his hand. "If you are truly that perfect, then go ahead and continue going out there to dispense salvation to those two lowly servants. A flawed mortal like me isn't qualified to give you advice anymore."

  Every sentence, every word of his hits my self-esteem like sledgehammers.

  "Why..." Tears well up, hot and salty. "Why do you try to corner me like this? I just want to help! I just want everyone to be happy!"

  "I just want to help you too." Sensei replies.

  My knees slam against the cold stone floor, a dry sound ringing out, ending all remaining resistance in my body. The hammer in my hand falls, rolling pathetically and vanishing into the void.

  It seems from the very beginning, the core of the problem never lay in the fight between Itsuki-sama and Snow-Itsuki.

  Right... Why was I stupid enough not to realize? I myself am no better.

  Itsuki-sama, even if he claws at his own heart until it bleeds, can curse his weak alter ego with the most vicious words, but... he has never once touched me.

  Yet, why am I so stubborn? Why do I insist on forcing him to live according to my own thoughts?

  "I just want what's best for... hi..."

  That thought barely sparks before I immediately strangle it.

  "No."

  "I don't want what's best for him at all."

  The truth is naked and repulsive.

  I am doing all this just because I want to stand on the right side, want to be intoxicated in the feeling of "being the good guy".

  "Itsuki-sama... I'm sorry."

  "I have no right... I have absolutely no right to tell you what to do with your life."

  Turns out all this time, I was just a selfish brat, hiding behind the shadow of justice to impose my thoughts on others.

  "I am no one. Not a hero, nor a saint saving the world. I... am just a shallow, aggressive, and stupid child."

  My throat is bitter. Belated regret surges, drowning me in guilt.

  "Please forgive me... forgive this rudeness and arrogance of mine."

  Kujo-sensei's words echo in my ears, now more poignant than ever. The image of the small, foolish sand crab endlessly rolling tiny grains of sand hoping to fill the vast ocean appears before my eyes, vivid and clear.

  "Truly... a sand crab trying to fill the ocean."

  I close my eyes, letting go of all resistance.

  "Toiling endlessly... for absolutely nothing."