Then came Shinshou .

Miyako elbowed him lightly. "No. It's our world. Took you long enough to stay in it."

Not merely a sequel, but a key. A New Episode that cracked open the closed loop of destiny.

"So this is the real world," Kakeru said.

In that space, 9-nine- Shinshou did what no other episode could. It gave them a future without a reset button. It turned fragments into a whole.

The final battle was not fought with explosions, but with affirmations. Kakeru closed his eyes and merged every version of himself—the hero, the coward, the brother, the lover. He reached into the void where the true enemy lay: the despair of being forgotten.