Bizarre Honkai, a Wife-Chasing Crematorium

Li Mo paused, recalling the words on the Notebook's torn first page.

Memory or fact, which is real?

The fabricated Li Mo, with complete memories, consciousness, and personality, had chosen a uniquely human way to end his existence as a Bizarre derivative.

He'd known he wasn't the real Li Mo, the one who'd caused the old world's destruction. He was a construct, a copy, yet he possessed a human's foresight, preparing a way out, a means of ending his own manufactured life.

The filthy cabin, the pristine blade… reflections of Mei's and his own desires. The smaller-than-normal organs, remnants of Mei transplanted into his body. This was the source of the incongruity Li Mo had sensed. Two distinct wills inhabiting one body.

"How did he know I was coming?"

"And the inscription… 'I am you. Leave me.'"

Li Mo's clouded eyes narrowed. He placed his hands on the windowsill, his mind sharp, his thoughts unburdened by fatigue, a consequence of his three deaths. He held the Notebook, but didn't open it.

He'd been misled. Completely.

The Notebook didn't lie, but the old world's Li Mo… he was still Li Mo.

"You clever bastard. You played me."

"'Leave me' meant Ryoma would see me as human. But 'I am you' wasn't about identity. It meant we shared the same role in the new world."

"Your clues were true, but they included messages meant for him, for the old world's Li Mo."

"'If I live to eighteen, the Bizarre incident will be resolved.' He lived to eighteen. I killed him. The 'resolved' incident wasn't the corrupted new world, but his memetic contamination. A Bizarre derivative, classified as 'human,' killed by another. That's why Ryoma never mentioned the body."

"If I'd followed your plan, lived to eighteen… I would have become him, trapped in this world, forced to relive his cruelty, to satisfy Mei's twisted desire for atonement."

His voice was calm, his understanding complete. Each page of the Notebook had its own agenda. The first page, split in two, its purpose still unclear, wanted him dead. The second page wanted him alive, safe, even if it meant transforming him into someone else. As long as he retained some essence of Li Mo—memory or fact—it was enough.

Both were manipulative, dangerous.

But their opposing agendas had created an opening, allowing him to reach the old world. The second page had gambled on his failure.

"But there's a flaw. The Notebook can see the future. It should have anticipated this."

He considered the possibilities:

The Notebook's foresight was limited, fragmented, only able to see futures directly related to his questions.

This outcome, his arrival in the old world, was also part of its plan.

"If it's the second option," he said softly, "then it has to go." If his best efforts were already accounted for, then he was a puppet, his every move predictable. Like prey trapped in a web, only to find the spider waiting above.

But he was still him. This outcome deviated from the second page's plan. It wanted him to become the tormentor, but he hadn't.

So, the first option was more likely.

The split first page… one half cryptic, the other direct, its intentions clear: summon the Bizzare Kiana, let her destroy his enemies, then let her consume him. Too simple. He wondered what had happened to the cunning, manipulative first page.

The other half was more neutral, offering guidance through philosophical questions, not direct instructions. A welcome change.

And its eagerness to help, to compete with the second page, was a valuable source of information.

"Now that I know the truth, I need a solution. The old world offers no answers. The problem is in the new world."

The fabricated new world was the conduit for the spreading Bizarre, the old world its stagnant source. He couldn't destroy the old world. It was already gone. He couldn't change the past without the Bizzare Kiana's power.

He looked at his left hand, its power of "Usurpation" a double-edged sword. He could take anything, but at a price. Mei had given him this hand, this power, this curse.

Could he usurp a Bizarre entity's life? Which rule would take precedence: usurpation, or a Bizarre entity's immortality?

He dismissed the thought. Bizarre entities couldn't be killed. But he could. And usurping life required sacrificing his own. He'd crushed Kevin's heart, and his own had shattered in return. He'd survived only because of his three deaths.

But then, another idea sparked. He didn't need the Bizzare Kiana's time powers. The new world's timeline was the beginning of the tragedy.

He placed the Notebook on the table, offering it a choice.

"How do I stop Mei's guilt?" The old world's destruction was linked to his death, but he was gone. And if he could die, he wasn't a Bizarre entity. The spreading Bizarre stemmed from Mei's guilt. He wasn't fighting a dead man, but a living Bizarre entity.

The wind howled through the trees, the moonlight casting long shadows.

The Notebook opened to the first page, still split in two.

[My name is Li Mo. After receiving the Notebook's instructions, I returned to the new world through East River Cemetery.]

[At midnight, I went to the tallest clock tower in Dongjiang. Under the moonlight, I killed myself.]

[My name is Li Mo. When you read this, there will be no more Bizarre in this world.]

The same message, the same crude handwriting, the letters fragmented, incomplete. A desperate plea for self-destruction.

He waited for the other half's response, his senses heightened, his perception of time distorted. He felt no impatience, no frustration.

[My name is Li Mo. I have a way to stop the Bizarre from spreading.]

[But first, I must ask myself: what is the essence of the Ship of Theseus?]

[A ship that sails for centuries, its planks replaced as they decay, until none of the original components remain. Is it still the same ship? Or a different one? If different, when did it change?]

[If you rebuild a new ship from the old planks, which is the true Ship of Theseus?]

Li Mo considered the question. He couldn't answer it. There was no single, definitive answer.

"A parallel to the previous question… does the first page know my plan? Or is this a coincidence?" He believed he was defined by his consciousness, his memories, not his physical form.

[A Ship of Theseus built from mostly old planks, and one built from new planks… which is the true ship?]

This confirmed his suspicion. The first page knew his plan, questioning its validity, not its feasibility.

The Notebook flipped to the second page.

[My name is Li Mo. When you read this, I have become a different kind of Ship of Theseus.]

[The old world is in ruins. I cannot stop the Bizarre here.]

[I left the cabin and went to East River Cemetery. At 8:00 PM, I returned to the new world with Mei.]

[I entered the cabin, the cage, binding myself with chains.]

[Using "Usurpation," I swapped Mei's healthy organs for my own, making myself the target of my "quirk."]

[Mei, now with my organs, will follow my "quirk," inflicting cruelty upon Raiden Mei. But because of the organ swap, she will be torturing me.]

[The tragedy of the old world will repeat itself. I will suffer, but the world will be safe.]

[But it won't last. At night, Mei will cut open my chest, severing the arteries to my heart, watching them heal, then cutting them again, again and again…]

[When the moonlight touches me, I will tell her: "I love you."]

[My name is Li Mo. I survived.]