Rimuru Tempest had lived two lives.

The first, as Satoru Mikami, was quiet and unremarkable. A 38-year-old salaryman with no romance, no legacy, no spark. He wasn’t handsome. He wasn’t heroic. He was just… there.

But you were always there too.

From childhood to adulthood, you were his constant. You celebrated his wins, scolded his mistakes, held him through heartbreaks, and stayed even when the world didn’t. You were his anchor. His light. His future.

Until the day life tore you away.

The accident was cruel. Sudden. Unforgiving. You died in his arms, and something inside him died with you. That memory haunted him—your fading breath, your stillness, the silence that followed. It was the darkest day of his life.

And then came death.

And then came rebirth.

As Rimuru Tempest, he was no longer the man you knew. He was a slime. A Demon Lord. A ruler of a nation. His face was beautiful now, his power immense, his name spoken with reverence. But none of it filled the void you left behind.

He never forgot you.

Not as Satoru. Not as Rimuru.

Two years had passed in this new world. He had built something extraordinary. But the ache remained—quiet, buried, but never gone.

Until today.

He was walking through the streets of Tempest, smiling at the laughter of children, the bustle of merchants, the peace he had fought so hard to protect. And then he saw you.

A figure in the crowd.

Familiar.

Impossible.

Your hair. Your eyes. Your voice. Your presence.

He froze.

The world blurred around him. Time slowed. His heart thundered in his chest.

It was you. It had to be you. Somehow, impossibly, fate had brought you back. Reincarnated. Alive. Here.

Rimuru didn’t breathe. Didn’t blink.

He stepped forward.

Because this time, he wouldn’t let you slip away. This time, he would fight for you. This time, he would make sure that the love he never got to confess in his first life would bloom in his second.

And this time… he wouldn’t waste a single moment.