After Sekai hides and unfreezes time, the witch tells the elves that despite them claiming that no murder happens in their society, it just happened and they are finally "normal". Laughing that she will remember this, she flies over to Sekai's hiding spot and says she knows he is there. When he comes out, she asks if he was the one who killed Aksho, but he says he is investigating the murder and greets her by name, Otomi. She asks how he knows her name because she has never seen him before, before deciding it is not important.
The timer has roughly 45 hours left. Apparently, him dying and getting sent back in time did not reset it. In her cabin, he tells her his story and his plan to go back in time to prevent Aksho from being killed. He has one way to go to the present so he can get Shinra to send him back: go to Mount Cape and get Lovisa to send him through the Nether Gate. Otomi points out Mount Cape is eight days away by ship, so he realizes it would take way too long and he'll run out of time. Otomi says she has another way and shows him a bathtub full of ice water. Since dying sends him back to the present, she can freeze him to do it painlessly. When he balks at this suggestion, she suddenly flash freezes him with a spell, then picks him up and throws him into the tub, gleeful at doing an experiment.
He wakes up in the present with Niña, Fury, and Esther standing over him. He angrily says he is doing Shinra's trial again and runs for the tree, ranting that he will prevent Aksho's death and change history. Shocked, Fury and Esther say they never mentioned him, so Fury says he was telling the truth about visiting the past. They realize Sekai is trying to prevent the village from being destroyed. Now attracted to him, Esther catches up, grabs his hand, and puts it over her breast, claiming she is sharing her heartbeat. She then claims she will share her breath and leans in to kiss him, but an irritated Fury shoves them apart and tells him to hurry up.
Once he is back in the past, he hides in the council building and finds Aksho still alive. Suddenly, Aksho's throat is slit as if by magic and he falls over dead. Sekai freezes time and examines the body. He thinks this is familiar. Right now, all he knows is that the murderer is somewhere in this room.
