Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

We start off looking at a black haired idiot that has mean eyes, his name is Natsuki Subaru. He is illiterate because he's from another world and shows that by asking what that sign says.

"That says appas, you ain’t from around here are ya?”

“Nope, I do have some coins with me though”

Subaru pulls out some coins

“What is this currency? We don’t accept that here! You’re broke aren’t you.”

“In this case I am!”

“Get outta here!”

Like that, Subaru got sent away from the appa stand

(Authors notes : I’m sorry if the first part is rushed, if you’re reading this, I’m assuming you’ve already seen Re:Zero, so I don’t see any need in writing this part in detail, it would be exact copying of the main story, so if you want it so badly, watch the first 3 minutes of episode 1! Anyway, have fun reading!)

He later stumbles into an alleyway and finds three thugs, there was one long and skinny one, a heavy weight and a small one.

A young girl started running into the alleyway

“Get out of the way you guys!”

Subaru embarrasses himself by asking the girl if she was the ‘cute girl that summoned me’.

“Summoned? I dunno what you’re talkin’ about, but I’m busy! Sorry! Live strong!”

She giggled and leaped over the wall behind Subaru.

Subaru was shocked in awe seeing such a small girl jump over a three meter long wall without problems.

“That didn’t make you decide to be less hostile towards me, did it?”

“Actually, it rained on our parade and made things worse.”

“Yeah of course!”

Subaru now goes into full concentration, thinking of his next move, it felt like minutes passed.

He dashes towards the heavy weight and punches him in the face whilst screaming “You lumps of xp!” He then low kicks the small guy who is probably knocked out from the impact to his face.

Subaru is surprised at how much it hurts to punch someone but still convinces himself that the world is set up for him, and him only. He dashed towards the last skinny guy that was left, when he pulled out 2 knives.

Subaru groveled on the floor faster than humanity has ever seen, the fastest he talked in his life.

"I’m sorry! it was all my fault! Forgive me! Spare m-”

He got kicked in the face, he felt the impact of the ground on his back. As he was rolling in pain, the other two had the chance to stand up

He is now getting beat up by 3 people at the same time, until.

A small silhouette showed up at the entrance of the alleyway.

The silhouette became bigger, as it did, some colour became visible.

It was a woman. She had short blue hair that had her right eye covered, she was wearing a maid outfit.

She raised her arm, and summoned icicles with a chant “El Huma!”. The icicles landed right before the thug’s feet.

“This isn’t worth it! Let’s run!”

The 3 thugs ran out of the alleyway from behind Subaru.

“You at least owe me an explanation now.”

“Explanation of what?”

"My master’s insignia got stolen, I was ordered to find it.”

“Then, why did you help me?”

"My master also ordered me to be nice to people.”

“Okay? So what is your name?”

She looks at him with a suspicious gaze, but still gives in to her master’s order

“It’s Rem, Rem would like to know your name now as well.”

Subaru stands up, only to fall again because of his injuries. While he is losing consciousness he still spouts out his name.

“Natsuki Subaru.”

While he loses the strength to move, he could still hear faintly.

“Wait! Oh no, Rem is not good enough to heal him quickly!”

*She’s really cute when she’s panicking*

Subaru wakes up feeling like his head is in heaven, he opens his eyes after a few seconds of relaxing.

“Is Subaru-kun awake?”

She asks while gently caressing his hair.

Subaru looks up, his head is under Rem's, he is lying down, his head is on Rem’s lap.
He instantly feels his face growing red, and wears a face of shock

Rem simply smiled at his expression.

“Is my head, on Rem’s lap?”

“Yes, Rem’s lap was useful for this situation, so Rem decided that this was the best thing to do.”

*She lets a complete stranger that she just saved use her lap without getting anything back for it*

“Now, in exchange for Rem’s lap, will Subaru-kun help Rem out by helping in finding Emilia-sama’s insignia?”

Subaru is confused on who ‘Emilia-sama’ is, but sets it aside.

*Well, she did get something out of it, might as well help her*

Subaru stands up and does his signature pose.

“I, Natsuki Subaru, will help Rem find her master’s insignia!”

Rem was surprised at Subaru being able to move this well after being healed, and smiled at him being okay, as well as helping her out.

“Good! Rem was informed that the culprit ran down this alleyway, so Subaru-kun might have seen them.”

Subaru puts a finger on his chin, in thought.

“There was a little girl that ran down this alleyway, she said she was busy and jumped over this wall.”

Rem puts on an enthusiastic expression.

“That might have been her! Does Subaru-kun remember her face?”

Subaru thinks for a second.

“Barely, it happened pretty quickly, so I remember her face vaguely.”

“That’s enough! If Subaru-kun only knows her face, (even if it is vaguely) we have a lead.”

Rem whispered that to herself inside her thoughts.

“So, around where did it happen?”

“Rem can bring you to where the scene happened”

As Rem and Subaru were walking to the scene of the crime, they noticed a small girl on the side of the road, no parents and panicking.

Subaru stops walking, looks at Rem, waits until she meets his eyes, and points at the girl.

“Should we help her out?”

Rem has a confused look on her face,

“Rem did promise to help people”

"Let’s help that little girl out then!”

Rem and Subaru approached the girl slowly, trying not to pose a threat in any way.

The girl looked happy and relieved, until she looked at Subaru’s mean eyes, and became a bit scared again.

Subaru showed her a coin.

“Look! A rough edged yen! Want to see a magic trick?”

Subaru puts the coin in his palm, then opens it again only for the coin to disappear.

“Look where the coin went!”

Subaru touched the girl’s ear with his hand and then showed her his palm, the coin was back.

The girl looked surprised and had a big smile on her face.

Rem was surprised and wanted to know how Subaru did that, but was pleased that he was able to calm the girl down.

They were walking around to the scene of the crime when Subaru said,

“If strangers look at us right now, they would think that we were a married couple with a child right now”

Rem blushed.

“Don’t say those sorts of things, Rem doesn’t deserve such a happy life.”

Subaru frowns at that comment.

*Well that sounds kinda sad, I want to help her*

A woman looked at them and the kid ran towards her. It was her mother.

“Thank you for protecting my child!”

“It’s nothing really, we’re just doing what feels best to do!”

The woman bowed and excused herself

They arrived at the scene of the crime, it was in front of the same merchant that Subaru embarrassed himself in front of.

“Why’r you here again?”

“Now now. Don’t be so in a rush. Look who I’ve taken with me!”

Rem looks confused at Subaru.

"Rem doesn’t understand. Rem wasn’t ordered to buy appas.”

The merchant looked a bit agitated.

“See? Now I don’t have one customer that won’t buy anything, I have two!”

A woman and a child started approaching the shop.

It was the same woman and child that they reunited.

“Thank you again for bringing our child back!”

Rem lowered her head.

“No problem, again.”

“There’s no need for such formality, we’re just grateful.”

The kid ran towards the merchant and hugged him.

“So you’re safe! Thank god.”

The merchant smiled towards Rem and Subaru.

“I’ll answer any questions, I’m sorry.”

Subaru asked for a piece of paper and some drawing equipment, and drew a rough example of the girl.

“Oh, she’s from the slums, she’s pretty popular over there, I think her name was Felt.”

Rem bowed.

“Thank you for your time.”

The woman almost pouted.

“I told you, there’s no need for such formality! We’re just a merchant family, we don’t even have such a high standing!”

Rem just smiled and stepped closer to Subaru.

Subaru blushed at her approaching him but waved at the family.

They waved back.

“Ya better!”

Rem and Subaru were walking towards the slums, they took a break on a bridge.

“Rem?”

“Hm?”

“Would you still trust me if my situation was a bit different?"

Rem thinks for a few seconds.

"Rem would still trust Subaru-kun, only if Subaru-kun does or is something drastic, Rem wouldn’t trust him?”

She questions herself.

Subaru looks a bit disappointed at the answer, but asks another question.

“So I just have to be careful with what I do to keep Rem’s trust?”

This time she didn’t hesitate.

“Yes.”

Subaru is satisfied with her answer.

They started walking again, they were getting closer to the slums when they walked across someone who looked like they came from here.

“Hey.”

The man stopped and turned around.

“Do you know a girl called Felt?”

The man looked surprised but put a grin on his face after a second.

"Felt? She may be at Rom’s shack. Did she steal something from you?”

Subaru and Rem nodded, both making a “hm” sound in sync.

“The loot house is that way, good luck negotiating it back, live strong!”

The man pointed in a direction

Rem and Subaru started walking in that direction

“You didn’t bow this time!”

Rem nodded.

“That woman made me realize something. Some people don’t like formality. I saw it in that man—he is very laid back—so he would not like formality."

Subaru smiled at her growth.

“It’s good that you figured that out!”

Rem looked down to hide her blush.

*What is this feeling?*

They arrived at the loot house.

“So, who’s gonna check?”

Rem decides to tease him.

“Rem would normally go in first, but if Subaru-kun wants to keep his trust, he should go in first.”

“Ah, fine!”

Subaru walks up to the door and looks back at Rem.

Rem smiles.

“Good luck!”

Subaru takes out his flip phone and uses the flashlight feature, puts his hand on the doorknob and with some hesitation he opens it.

Rem wanted to know where the light was coming from but decided to ask him after this was done, she wanted to know more about this mysterious man that has no background nor knowledge about the country.

That aside, Subaru is greeted by a doll and a strong stench but he isn’t sure what it could be.

He turned around to his right only to be greeted by a fresh corpse.

“Oh my, now you’ve seen it. Well, wrong place wrong time! Wrong place, wrong time, that’s all!”

He turns to the source of the whisper only to collapse on the ground

Strong pain can be felt on his belly, he was disemboweled.

Rem heard the thump from outside, and a weird smell getting stronger in there.

“Subaru-kun? What happened?”

The girl opened the door and entered.

“Subaru-kun? Why isn’t Subaru-kun answering Rem?

Subaru tried calling out to Rem, but could not find the strength to create enough noise for her to notice.

“No! Get out of here! It’s not safe!!”

He was screaming in vain.

She smelled the stench of blood and went on guard.

Subaru tried calling out to the girl again, this time he did find success in screaming, since he had more time filling his lungs.

“Run!!!”

“AhHH!!”

It was too late to make a difference.

She fell on the ground next to Subaru, he saw even more red appearing from under his eyesight.

Her hand was in the small ray of light that fell into the loot house.

Subaru reaches his hand out to her frail soft hand and grips it as tight as he can.

“I swear, I’ll save you.”

He falls into the darkness.

Chapter Text

After being in the darkness for what may have been a few seconds that felt like eternity, Subaru hears faint noises.

“Hey!”

*Did I just, die?*

“Hey!”

Subaru grasps reality again.

“Are you alright, mister? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Huh?”

His hearing is not clear yet.

“I asked you about the appas. The appas! Do you even have any money?”

“What???”

Subaru’s hearing is now clear again.

“Don’t ‘huh’ me! The appa! Are you buying or not?”

“Oh, no, like I said, I only have currency that doesn’t work in this country.”

“The hell, if you’re just browsing, I don’t have time for you! Just get outta here!”

Subaru just realized what happened.

*What’s going on? Wasn’t it night just minutes ago?*

Subaru checks his belly, the wound is gone.

Subaru remembers gripping a hand tightly.

“Oh, that’s right! Rem!”

Subaru feels guilty thinking back on Rem.

*Man! I wasn’t even able to protect her, she didn’t even finish the order from her master!*

“I have to get back to the loot house!”

Subaru runs into the same alleyway where he met Rem, and three other people.

Subaru is shocked that they’re here again.

“Hey, why do you look so spooked?”

“If you don’t want to get hurt, cough up whatever you’ve got!”

Subaru is a bit agitated that these three thugs are robbing him again.

“You guys again? Did you see I was alone and decided to get revenge?”

They all have confused looks on their faces.

“Huh? What are you on about?”

“Are you nuts?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just leave everything you’ve got on the ground and we’ll let you go.”

“Okay, fine, everything I’ve got, huh? Whatever. I don’t have time for this.”

The small guy is getting cocky.

“Now act like a dog! Get on all fours like a dog and howl, ‘Help me!’!”

Subaru loses his temper.

He knows that the skinny guy in the middle has two knives. So he rushed towards him and landed an uppercut.

“Don’t get ahead of yourselves, assholes!”

He then low kicks the small guy against the wall, probably breaking a few ribs.

The big guy rushed towards him and threw a punch, Subaru was barely able to dodge it.

“Whoa, there!”

The big guy then goes for a double jab, but Subaru dodges both of them.

Subaru is now gripping his arm with two hands, he squeezes it hard

“Don’t underestimate a truant kid with too much free time! After swinging a wooden sword around all the time for no reason, my grip strength is over 70 kilograms!”

He then kicks him in the balls.

The big guy turns slightly and leans on the wall, resisting the urge to scream.

“I don’t have time for your shit! Stay the hell out of my way!”

He runs over to the loot house.

“Just keep it together. Stay calm, you can do this”

Subaru leans in to listen if anything is happening, he then sneaks closer to the door.

“After coming this far, I can’t leave without answers!”

His eyes are shaking, but he still finds enough courage to knock.

“Is anyone there?”

“Hello? Someone’s in there, right!?”

Subaru is getting desperate.

“Please, answer me! Please!”

The door opened.

A giant of a man approached Subaru.

“Shut yer trap! You tryin’ to bust my door down when you don’t even know the signal or password!?”

Subaru is shocked, it’s the same man he saw, cut down on the floor, dead.

The man takes Subaru inside, he is anxious for the person that disemboweled him to still be here.

“What’re you all fidgety for? Are ya balls chafin’ ya that much?”

“I’m not worried about the position of my privates!”

Subaru feels a bit relaxed knowing that he can still joke around like this, after supposedly being killed.

“Do you have something like an insignia that you’re selling here?”

The man thinks for a second.

“Not that I know, it may be comin’ in today, did someone steal somthin’ from ya? Good luck findin’ it.”

“Probably, but I need it as fast as possible.”

Subaru thinks back to when he entered this loot house last time.

“Uhh, this is a dumb question, but...”

Rom is curious about what the question is.

“Hmm?”

“...Did you die recently?”

Rom breaks out into laughter

“I do admit that I am an old man on death's door! But I ain’t really died yet.”

Subaru decides to ask more questions.

“Did you see a girl with short sky blue hair anywhere?”

“Blue hair? I haven’t seen anyone that eye-catching.”

*Was is a dream? How much of it was a dream? Why am I here?*

“So, what’r you doing ‘ere again?”

Rom seemed to forget what happened because he’s drinking some alchohol.

“I was looking for an insignia, a blue haired girl had to find it. She said it was for her ‘master’. She didn’t give me any details on how it looked though, I don’t think she trusts me completely yet.”

“Maybe you’ll find it in the later stash.”

“Did a girl named Felt steal it?”

“Ah, so you know her name already? It’s no use tryin’ to hide it now.”

“I don’t know if you can even afford it, that’s another matter.”

“I am broke beyond compare! No one will even miss me if I die! I do have something worth of value.”

“No use talking to you about this then.”

“And there’s where you go wrong! I have something that is worth trading!”

Rom looks at his plastic bag.

“Well, ya do have some unusual stuff in there”

“I do! For example, this is a corn potage snack. It’s super tasty!”

Rom extends his hand.

“That’s food?”

Subaru hands him the snack.

Rom squeezes it too tightly and it pops. Rom’s eyes are open in shock but soon calms down.

He takes a handful of it and puts it in his mouth.

He closes his eyes and enjoys the flavour.

“I see! What an odd flavour, these would go well with booze!”

Subaru is very prideful of his snack.

“Right? Righ-”

“HEY! Don’t just start eating them!”

Subaru screams at Rom for eating his trading option.

“Well, I dunno what ya wanna trade, but you’ll have to come back when Felt gets back here.”

“Mmm! This is so good!”

And like that, Subaru got kicked out of the loot house.

He sits at the entrance for a few hours.

He looks back at some children that are staring at him.

*I guess there are people with money and without money in any world. The difference here is clear as day.”

He waits for another few minutes.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, thinking back on the girl that saved him, he admired how loyal she was to her master, he wanted to have her realise that she does deserve happiness.

He opens his eyes to see that same girl right in front of him.

“Rem!”

She looked at him suspiciously.

“How do you know Rem’s name? Rem has never met you before.”

Subaru looks shocked and sad that she doesn’t remember him anymore

“Uhh, you saved me from being beat up in an alleyway, and I helped you find your master’s insignia!”

“How do you know what Rem is looking for?”

“I spent an entire day with you!”

Rem looks more disgusted the closer she gets.

“Well, Rem has no recollection of any of this.”

Subaru is going into a panic.

“We went looking for the insignia, we found this loot house, we went in and got our sto-”

Everything went gray, Rem’s hair didn’t have colour anymore, Subaru felt fear, way too much fear, fear for not being able to save her, he can’t even regain her trust after all.

After a few seconds the light was gone, though there was a figure that was darker than all the darkness, the arm extended towards him, through his chest, he could feel the arm go through his skin, lungs and eventually, grasping his heart.

His heart got squeezed and Subaru felt intense pain, though he couldn’t react, move or scream, so he was suffering in silence.

After a few seconds of intense pain, Subaru was released.

“RAAHHHHHHHH!”

*What just happened, why did this happen?*

Rem jumped from the scream and got on guard.

“Why is the scent on you more intense now?”

*Wait, scent?*

Felt walked up to the both of them.

“What are ya’ll on about? This is right next to old man Rom’s crib, get outta here!”

“Well, we want to purchase something you probably have.”

Felt had a surprised look on her face.

“Oh, you’re here for business, come in.”

Rem is unsure what to think right now, should she trust Subaru? Should I accept his help? Why is he helping her?

They both walked in, with Rem being a bit hesitant and distant.

Chapter Text

As Felt walked into the loot house with such confidence Subaru calmed down a bit, seeing the person he saw dead on the ground being so carefree.

Rem on the other hand refuses to let her guard down.

They sat down at the bar, Rem sitting at least 2 seats away from Subaru and Felt in between the two.

“So, what’d ya come here for?”

“Rem would like to know everyone’s names before we get to the business.”

*I can do my signature pose, but that could mean that Rem would distrust me even more.*

Subaru decides to do a normal introduction.

“My name is Natsuki Subaru, nice to meet you.”

“I’m Felt.”

“I’m Rom, you can call me old man Rom, since everyone calls me that here.”

“Alright, we got the introductions out of the way, can we get to business?”

“Rem came here to retrieve the insignia, Felt-san probably has it.”

Felt reaches in her pocket, and pulls out something, Subaru can’t see what it is since her back is to him.

Felt shows it to Rem.

Rem looks relieved.

“This is what Rem is looking for.”

Felt then turns around to Subaru.

“So. what are you looking for?”

Subaru thinks for a second.

“Well, I planned on assisting Rem in getting what she wanted, so I guess I’ll be bidding with Rem.”

Rem recoils, it was as if she was just punched in the gut.

“So Subaru, what do you have to offer?”

“Hold on.”

Subaru reaches to his right pocket. He takes out a cube-like grey object.

“Now, what is that?”

Subaru puts a grin on his face.

“This is a device that can do multiple things! The most useful thing here is that it can stop a moment in time, and make a perfect drawing of it.”

They all look at Subaru in confusement.

“Here, I’ll give a demonstration, a bright light will flash in your eyes so be prepared.”

Subaru puts on the camera feature on his phone and points it at Rem.

He turns on the flash and takes a picture. Rem was caught off guard with how bright the flash was, but didn’t do anything since Subaru warned her. If he didn’t warn her, he would’ve been punched in the face.

Subaru turns the flip phone and shows the picture he just took.

The picture shows Rem with her eyes squinted and reflecting a bright light.

“Is that Rem? Rem’s bangs are on the wrong side.”

Subaru looked confused for a second but realized what she meant.

“That’s because this isn’t a mirror, it shows what I see from this perspective, it doesn’t mirror the drawing.”

He turned it so Felt and Rom could see it more clearly.

Rem also decided it was safe to sit closer to Subaru.

“Hmm, that is the exact thing we saw when the flash went off, that’s really cool!”

Rom thinks for a second.

“I’d say that’s about 20 holy coins.”

“Wow!! We got a lot of profit today Old Man Rom!”

“Rem shall wait until the rival bidder arrives before Rem makes her own bid.”

“That’s fine, we don’t want to bid way higher than the rival actually has.”

“That is exactly what Rem thought.”

Right as Rem finished her sentence a knock on the door could be heard.

Everyone turned their attention to the door, except Felt who walked up to the door.

“That could be for me!”

After Felt opened the door a woman walked in, her breasts almost fully revealed and eyes that don’t feel right.

“My, my, I didn’t expect there to be two rivals, this is interesting.”

“Let me correct you there, these are 2 people acting as one rival.”

The woman looked surprised.

“That’s, endearing.”

The woman tried to hide her expression but looked disappointed as she sat down.

When she sat down her expression changed to a forced smile, it almost looked crazy.

“Well, as for introductions, my name is Elsa.”

“Rem.”

“Natsuki Subaru.”

“Rom, do you want a glass of milk? My treat.”

“That would be delightful.”

After Elsa got her glass of milk Felt decided to start the conversation.

“So, just to be sure, what are you all bidding for? I’m guessing the insignia.”

“Yes.”

Elsa said.

“So, let’s put the bids on the table.”

Elsa took out a small bag while Subaru put his flip phone on the table.

“Fifteen holy coins.”

Rom took both bids to inspect them.

“Elsa-san, do you have any more to bid?”

“No, this is what my client gave me.”

“Well, in that case, Rem and Subaru win the insignia.”

Rem doesn’t look so happy.

“Rem doesn’t feel right not having bid anything herself.”

Subaru realized what he has been doing.

“Well, can I ask you a favor in th-”

Elsa interrupted.

“I would like to know what you two will do with the insignia.”

Subaru looked at Rem for an answer.

“Rem will return it to her master.

Elsa’s expression turned cold.

“Well, that I simply can’t have.”

Felt jumped straight to Rem and they both hit the floor with Felt on top.

Subaru’s cheek started bleeding out of nowhere.

*What just happened?”

“What are you doing Rem-san? This isn’t the time to fool around!”

Rem threw Felt off of her with Felt landing 2 meters away from Rem.

Subaru did not expect Rem to have such power.

“Is Subaru working with Elsa?”

A light started forming on Rem’s forehead.

Elsa was off guard for a second by Rem’s actions.

Rom charged at Elsa with a huge bat. “RAAAGHHH.”

The light that shone on Rem’s forehead stopped, there’s now a single horn in its place.

Elsa dodges all of the attacks Rom throws at her with elegance.

After waiting for an opening Rem jumps on Elsa and lands a kick.

Elsa jumps back.

“Oooohhh, an oni. A one horned oni even!” (Shut up docs that’s not onion)

Elsa now has a face of amusement.

“Can’t wait to cut the bellies of a one horned oni, a boy without background, a small girl with red eyes and blonde hair and a giant!”

Subaru now holds a face of fear.

*Was Rem always this strong?*

“For what reason are you opposing Rem’s master?”

As Rem was saying that a ball with chains dropped to the ground, the hilt in her hands.

“No, this won’t be useful.”

Rem dropped the ball and chain to the ground, it fell through the wooden floor, since it landed on a rotten plank.

“Oh well, I’ll get it back later.”

Elsa is amused by her arrogance.

“Oh? You can kill me?”

“Rem is merely giving herself some motivation to not hold back on her enemy.”

Subaru is shocked by the sudden personality switch that occured to Rem.

“Subaru won’t be able to carry that.”

“Ah that’s fine, I wouldn’t give him the chance to if he tried.”

“Rom, can you cover Elsa from the other side?”

Rom grinned.

“You’re asking an old man to do that for you?”

Rem’s emotionless expression turned to a crazy smile as she lunged towards Elsa.

She looked like an easy target but she deflected Elsa’s blade with a thick layer of water summoned by magic. “Huma!”

Rem got a kick off on Elsa’s ribs.

Subaru and Felt feel useless, as Rom and Rem were fighting the monster that was Elsa, they just sat there, waiting for something to happen to fit into the fight.

“Why don’t you run Felt?”

“Are you asking me to run?”

While they were talking Rom made a mistake and got slashed on his throat by the knife, it was just not about deep enough to pierce his veins or airway, he was inches away from death.

Subaru noticed that Elsa was standing by the counter and that Felt would have a clean path to outside the door.

“Felt, run there!”

“Like I said, why would I listen to you?”

“Well, let’s just say. The youngest should be saved, and you are most likely the youngest here. So I’m telling you to run as the older person.”

Felt felt a bit agitated.

“Fine, I’ll run!”

As Felt was almost halfway on her path out the door, Rem raised her left hand and tried to shoot her with magic out of reflex.

Subaru noticed this.

“REM!! STOP!!”

But instead, she got jumped by Subaru screaming and redirected the magic to almost pierce him, subaru barely dodged it.

The horn that was on Rem’s head is becoming smaller.

“What is Subaru doing? I can’t control myself well in oni mode!”

While Rem was distracted, Rom tried to go for an attack and Elsa cut his arm off.

“Old man Rom!!”

Time slowed down but Elsa could still talk normally as if time was going at the same speed.

“Thank you for the milk, it was good.”

She kneeled down to pick up a glass on the floor, it was half broken and there were shards of glass around it. It probably got hit by a piece of magic or Elsa’s blade.

She pointed the sharp glass at Rom’s throat, he couldn’t stop his body because of the momentum and his weight. So there was no other path other than to fall straight into the glass.

Elsa licked her lips while Rom got stabbed in the throat by the glass that he served Elsa.

Felt managed to escape while Elsa was busy stabbing Rom.

“Ooohh, I let one escape. That’s the first time that has happened. I think I’m a bit mad now.”

Elsa’s smile became even more crazy, if that’s even possible.

“I think I’m going to try a bit more, who would like to die first?”

Subaru was terrified but built up enough courage to stand up.

“I’m not going to stand a chance, but please Rem, if you can please get out of here.”

*Why is someone with that scent risking his life for me? No, giving his life up for me to live?*

Subaru was oblivious to her internal conflict, and picked up Rom’s bat to start fighting Elsa himself.

“Subaru-kun is not leaving Rem a choice is he?”

“Nope, if you’d decline, I’d insist either way.”

*If Rem had just trusted him before, maybe we could have both made it out alive.*

Rem somehow got her ball and chain back in half a second.

“Rem? How did y-”

“It’s for protection.”

“No, but ho-”

“It’s for protection.”

Subaru felt a bit annoyed that Rem insisted on not giving him an explanation.

“Rem is really accurate with this, Rem may be able to save a few seconds with this."

Subaru nodded.

He turned around to face the fighting monster that is Elsa.

“Well then, have fun cutting me down.”

“Oh I will most definitely have fun!”

Elsa lunged at Subaru and tried to slash him from the right side, Subaru blocked it with the bat. Elsa pulled out a second knife in her other hand and started to move with it, Rem noticed this and threw the ball in that direction knocking the knife out of Elsa’s hand. It missed Subaru because he noticed the second knife as well and dodged the other way, the ball barely missing him.

As Elsa was shocked by the knife being knocked out of her hand, Subaru had the time to punch her in the face.

In the meantime, Rem got out of the door. She was now safe.

“How about that Elsa? You let two people escape in one day!”

“You do know how to get me mad don’t you?”

Subaru’s face turned to a face of relief.

*At least I saved Rem from dying.*

Subaru is now fully consent in dying.

“I made a mistake in holding back just a little bit again, I never learn, do I?”

After she said that, she began moving way too fast. Subaru couldn’t keep up and after some slashes, his stomach was cut open.

“Are you happy now?”

Subaru collapsed on the ground the same way he did last time, but there was one difference. Rem was not there with him.

“Because I love people that are dying, I’ll let that girl live as your dying wish. I don’t know why you’d die for her but that’s none of my business.”

She gripped some loose flesh to let more blood flow out his body.

*It hurts so much!*

“Because you made me mad, I’ll make your death a bit quicker.”

*At least Rem is still alive, right?*

The world turned into darkness.

After like a few seconds light returned to his eyes.

“Hey! You were asking about the appa’s!”

It was blurry and his hearing was not as good, just like last time.

“Hey mister-”

His hearing became fluent again.

“Are you alright?”

*I’m back here again? Why?*

“I don’t even know anymor-”

He collapsed to the floor.

He woke up in an instant by having the merchant splash some water on his face.

“Here, have the appa, forget about the money.”

“Huh? Oh.”

Right as Subaru was about to accept the offer he saw something blue walking along the crowd, when he looked closer he saw that Rem was walking there.

Subaru forgot what he was doing and rushed in that direction.

“Rem! Rem!”

She turned around with a face of surprise which turned into disgust right after.

“I’m glad you’re alright.”

Rem was confused.

“How do you know Rem’s name? Rem has never met you before and would rather not meet you.”

Subaru was the one that is confused now.

“Huh?”

“Rem said that she has no interest in interacting with you, not while she doesn’t know your name and you have *that* on you.”

Subaru was in complete shock, this almost felt worse than getting his stomach cut open by Elsa.

“But, you said you’d trust me if I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Did Rem say that? Rem wouldn’t be so dumb to say such a thing. Rem thinks you left out one detail.”

Subaru didn’t have an answer.

“Nothing? Rem will go off for her duties in that case.”

Subaru wanted to call out to her but couldn’t find enough courage to do so.

He didn’t have the moral right to speak to her right now.

Subaru, feeling depressed walked into the same alleyway he did the last two times.

Chapter Text

*And after that whole day of helping her, I didn’t even get anywhere. Why does she not trust me anymore? ‘Am’ I something now? What changed, I didn’t do anything yet.*

“Hey, we got some small fry!”

Subaru is really getting pissed off now.

“How persistent can you three be? this is the third time you’ve done this, when are you going to give up?”

“What are you talkin’ about?”

“Yeah, we've never met you before.”

Subaru puts a calm facade on, he may still be really nervous though.

“Are you guys going to let me through? I have something to do and it’s important.”

Subaru starts walking towards the three nonchalantly.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Past you guys, towards where I’m headed.”

Subaru now tries to inch his way through the three, in between the skinny guy and the small guy.

Subaru knows the skinny guy is a bit short-tempered but he’s ready to take the risk.

Although, it seems he got the short straw.

The skinny guy looked a bit agitated and seemed to reach for something behind his back.

Subaru got stabbed in the back with a knife.

Subaru fell to the ground with a thump, dropping his bag in front of him.

“Why did you stab him?”

The other two are panicking.

“That knife is worth quite a bit, we should take it back!”

The small guy took out the knife without thinking.

“Why did you take it out? Now he’s going to bleed out!”

Now they’re all in a panic.

“Let’s run before the guards come!”

They all nodded in unison.

As they were running away Subaru noticed the plastic bag in front of them.

He looked closer and saw the unopened bag of potato chips.

*Didn’t Old Man Rom eat those?*

Before Subaru came to a conclusion, the world blinked.

He was back at the appa merchant, he noticed that his hearing and sight was clear way faster than before.

It was as if he needed to adapt to this phenomenon.

He can still barely hear the merchant.

“Hey! Are you ok?”

“Huuuuuhhh?”

Subaru repeated the same thing he did last time.

“Don’t huh me? You were going to buy the appa!”

“Haaaahhh?”

“Can you hear me? What do you want?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Subaru raises his fist and pointed a thumb towards himself.

“Not only am I clueless, I’m also broke beyond compare!”

The merchant is now pissed off.

“What? If you’re just browsing, then walk along!”

Subaru got shooed away.

He’s now sitting in front of a door, on a small set of stairs.

There’s also a merchant stand a bit in front of him.

He looks at his back, where he got stabbed.

His tracksuit, pants and sneakers are also not damaged, even though they all got cut up by Elsa.

“There can only be one answer right?”

Subaru placed his hand on his chin in a handgun form.

“I have a time-leap ability that activates on my death.”

He goes into more detail talking to himself.

“Every time I leap, everything goes into its original state from where I leaped to. Only my own memories and maybe my mental state stay the same every loop.”

“I can call it, “Return By Death”.

The fear of death comes back to Subaru and a lot of doubts begin to fill his mind.

He shoves them to the side and cheers himself up.

“This is fine! Right mister?”

The man looked surprised and turned his gaze away.

“Why are you asking me? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“That’s cold mister.”

“I don’t want to get caught up in other people’s problems. Don’t talk to me.”

*’Let sleeping dogs lie’, huh?*

He walked away from the shop.

After walking for a bit, he drifted off in thought.

*This is a medieval world right? I can just ‘invent’ future technology and make a lot of money! I even have a head start with my flip phone. Also, Rem didn’t save me this time around, so the debt I owe her is gone now right? She’ll be fine on her own right?*

*Why did she even save a random stranger? She was in a hurry, even if it was on ‘Emilia-sama’s’ order she needed to be nice. I think she had her own selfish reason to do so. It was as if she was happy to talk to me. But something was off. It was as if she didn’t want to talk about herself. The only thing she mentioned was her not deserving happiness?*

He looked off to the side and saw a woman with a child, she had some tomatoes in a bag she was holding. They probably weren’t tomatoes because apples had a different name as well.

Anyway, when he looked at the two, images of him and Rem helping out that girl flashed in his mind. Her hinting at her own problems still scared him.

A tomato fell out of the bag and got crushed on the road, now the terror of seeing Rem’s dead corpse on the floor haunted him.

“What was I thinking? I can’t just leave them there. I have the ability to turn back time with my death, so I’m going to save them, I swore I’d do it. Even if they don’t know how, even if they don’t trust me, even if they don’t even know me. I will still save them!”

Subaru pumped himself up and ran back to the appa merchant’s shop.

When he arrived he was out of breath and wheezing heavily.

He looked around and saw some holes in a wall about 30 meters away from him.

“Hey, mister.”

The appa merchant had an emotionless face.

“What do you want, broke kid?”

“Can you explain what *wheeze* happened here?”

“Oh, there was a pickpocketer, it seems like they picked the wrong prey since they started throwing magic icicles everywhere. Though it didn’t last very long. That’s why you see holes in the wall over there.”

“Ah, thank you for explaining!”

“No problem, a girl that had no interest in taking anything just took back my daughter that got lost earlier. I tried insisting she’d take something but she won in the insist battle, and I ended up not giving her anything.”

Subaru smiled and said something under his breath.

“Fate has its way of doing things huh…”

The man looked confused.

“What are you talking about.

Subaru, just realizing he said that out loud.

“Oh, nothing. I’ll buy an appa next time!”

“Ya buy one and you become a customer! Get to work broke kid!”

Subaru made a thumbs up while running.

“I may have already found a place! I only have to do one thing!”

The man most likely smiled at that, for his own business or the broke kid.

*Now I only have to buy the insignia before Elsa kills us all, that’s going to be hard with Rem arriving before Felt though. So I have to gain her trust first. The ‘scent’ is a problem for that. I wonder what she means by it. She didn’t mind the first time around, so what’s different now?*

Rem’s politeness and smile flashed through his mind.

*There’s no way I can let that leave this world! I can make it better, not fake. A genuine smile!*

While he was thinking he mindlessly ran into the same alleyway again.

This time however, he was a bit later, so the thugs were there waiting for him

Subaru wasn’t surprised he saw them. He got used to seeing them every time.

“Hey, we got some small fry!”

Subaru is getting tired of hearing that phrase though.

He pumps himself up, fills his lungs and screams.

“GUARDS!!”

He decided to get some help.

“What are you doing?”

*They were running away, there is a kind of police force in this world.*

He also decided to put a female voice on.

“HELP! I’M BEING MOLESTED! S-s-someone!!! Help, I need a man!!”

“Damnit, can you stop?”

“No, stop touching me!”

Subaru decides to play around a bit.

“I can’t hear you! Say it like you mean it!”

“Help me officer!”

When he was finally done reenacting a certain video he saw, he was confused.

“Huh?”

“Don’t scare us like that dude.”

There was no guard.

“I may have freaked out, just a little.”

“Just a little bit.”

“Just a tiny, little bit.”

They all pulled out knives, revealing they all had some on them.

Right after they pulled their knives out and put a grin on their faces, a silhouette appeared behind Subaru.

“That’s enough.”

There was a big sense of justice and kindness in the voice, with such little force the silhouette was able to freeze the thugs. It’s presence alone made the fight unbalanced.

“Red hair and a knight’s sword marked by scratches from dragon claws. Is that, Reinhard?”

The big guy was in absolute awe at this person’s appearance. It baffled Subaru how one person can even stand to hold such a reputation.

“The Sword Saint, Reinhard?”

Reinhard has a calm and relaxed face.

“Looks like I needn’t introduce myself.”

There was a hint of triggerence in his voice.

“Although, that nickname is a bit much,”

This obviously strong guy is choosing to play the weaker role.

“I don’t know how much my modest strength could aid him. But if you wish to resort to extreme measures, as a knight I’d have to intervene.”

As Reinhard was reaching for his sword, fear was implanted on all of the three thug’s faces.

“S-Screw this! It’s not worth it!”

Now they’re all running for their lives.

Reinhard, still playing the weaker role, has a relieved voice.

“I’m glad we’re both safe. Are you unhurt?”

*This guy is off the charts in terms of status. I have to be polite.*

“A-Allow me to thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving my life! I, Natsuki Subaru, deeply admire your selflessness!”

He turned his surprised gaze towards Subaru but smiled after.

“No need for such formality.”

Still having the weak act on.

“They only lost their advantage because it was two on three. It wouldn’t have gone well if I was alone.”

*His nice-guy index is off the charts.*

Reinhard turned his gaze to smile again.

“Uh, Reinhard..-san, Right?”

“You may just call me Reinhard, Subaru.”

*He closed our distance like it didn’t even exist!*

“Well, thanks again Reinhard. You’re the only one who paid any attention to my cries for help. Talk about depressing.”

Subaru honestly would’ve preferred if Rem was there to save him again. But she’s already off looking at this point so Subaru didn’t show any sign of disappointment.

“It’s too risky for most people to oppose people like them. As far as goes, you were right to call for the guards.”

Subaru took a closer look at his uniform.

“Are you a guard? You don’t look like one.”

“I’m off duty today, so I’m not in uniform. And I realize that I don’t look particularly intimidating.”

Subaru goes on to ask more questions.

“Come to think of it, didn’t they just call you the Sword Saint?”

Reinhard obliges to Subaru’s selfish questions.

“My family is quite unique. Every day, I feel like I’ll be crushed by their expectations.”

Reinhard turned his head to face Subaru quickly.

“Anyway, Subaru…”

Subaru straightened his back in reflex of such an important person glancing at him that quickly.

“You have quite the unusual hair, appearance and name. What nation are you from?”

Subaru looked at himself in confusement.

“At the moment, Lugunica is a bit more restless than in peacetime. If you have a problem, I’d be glad to help you out.”

Subaru feels glad hearing that and said excitedly.

“Then can you come to the loot house?”

Reinhard is surprised by the instant reaction.

“Loot house?”

Hearing that word. Images of himself coughing up blood and Rem falling dead to the ground flashed in his mind.

Subaru doesn’t want to bother the person that would be better off helping other people right now.

“N-Never mind… Forget it. I can’t trouble you with that.”

Subaru puts on an obvious face of fake-confidence.

“I’ll find a way to handle the rest on my own somehow.”

He waves at Reinhard and walks away.

“But…”

He stopped walking.

“...I’d appreciate it if you could deliver a message.”

Reinhard turns around.

“Of course. I’d be glad to. To whom? And what?”

“It’s to someone named Rem.”

Author’s note : I’m going to assume Reinhard has visited Roswaal at least once in the last 10 years and at least heard of Rem before. I’m also assuming he has information on who the royal candidates are, at least their names and sponsors.

“That sounds familiar.”

“She has short blue hair, a maid outfit, is short herself and...”

Subaru paused for half a second and said extravagantly.

“...She’s as cute as an angel!”

Reinhard didn’t react to the last statement because he was thinking.

“Do you know where she works?”

“She always said ‘Master’ but one time she let ‘Emilia-sama’ slip. So I’m guessing her master’s name is Emilia.”

Reinhard looked surprised.

“I think I do know her, she works in the Mathers Domain. I never heard of a maid in the Mathers Domain going out as far as the capital before. The Royal meeting in a month she doesn’t even need to assist her master in there either. They can’t be going shopping either because there’s a small village nearby where merchants often come by.”

Reinhard had a worried look on his face while he gazed back at Subaru.

“I don’t know the reason she is here.”

Subaru had a hint of disappointment in his face.

“Nah, it’s fine. Just convey this message to her if you find her please.”

Subaru took a breath and put on a serious face.

“Do not come to the loothouse.”

Silence went through the two of them for several seconds.

“Well, either way. I’m going to help her find her master’s insignia and keep her safe. If you do ever find her please tell her not to go near the loothouse, no matter what. I’ll find what she’s looking for and bring it to her myself.”

Reinhard is disappointed in himself for not being able to convince Subaru to accept his help.

“Very well. If I see her, I shall relay your message.”

“Thank you. I’ll repay you one day!”

“Alright! Take care.”

Reinhard looked really worried, since Rem’s ‘Master’ isn’t really a trustworthy guy and his reputation is sketchy. He may follow Subaru or look him up later just in case.

Subaru was walking in the slums and asked someone from around here where Felt’s ‘den’ was and he was given direction.

Subaru went to the direction he was given and started thinking.

*I would like for her to sell the insignia before we go to the loothouse where Elsa will kill us all. Maybe I can save Felt but I may not be able to save Rem since she doesn’t trust me anymore. I needed to risk my life for her trust.*

Subaru facepalms.

“Stop thinking about Rem!”

Author's note : This was actually me phasing out and writing this without thinking or thinking about a solution but it’s a comedic touch so I’m keeping it in.

As he said that he ran into someone.

“~Ara~, I’m sorry. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m alright. It doesn’t look like it but toughness is one thing I haaa...ve”

He opened his eyes on the last word and glanced at the woman.

Subaru was paralysed in fear for the woman that sliced open his belly twice. She still had the exact same crazed smile she had before. Half-dead eyes and dead scary.

Subaru instantly held on to his gut in reflex.

“What’s wrong? You don’t have to be that scared. I won’t do anything to you.”

*As if that is true.*

Even though Subaru knows she won’t do anything now. He is still really scared of Elsa for obvious reasons.

“I-I’m not scared…”

Subaru was stuttering.

“...What gives you that idea?”

“Your scent.”

Elsa gave an answer that didn’t want a response.

“When people are scared, I can smell their fear. Right now, you are frightened. You’re also angry, aren’t you?...”

“...At me.”

Subaru’s face was filled with fear and shock. He felt like he couldn’t move.

“It’s fine.”

His worries were blown off in an instant.

“I’m a little curious as to why, but now is not the time to start a commotion.”

“That’s not a very nice thing to say…”

Subaru thinks making a joke would make things a little bit better between the two of them. Even if it’s a little. If it will save time, he will take it.

“...If you’re too scary, that beauty of yours will go to waste--”

He turned around and Elsa was right in his face.

“Oh, very good. Conceal your hostility and you’ll be even better.”

She already had her hand around his waist where his hand blocked hers from touching it.

“Well, I’ll be going now. Something tells me we’ll meet again.”

She walked off and Subaru was relieved of the stress that he just went through. His heart that was beating like crazy had the chance to calm down and he released a big sigh.

Subaru finally arrived at Felt’s ‘den’. It didn’t look so good.

“Someone actually lives here?”

He walked up to it.

*Elsa hasn’t already come by and trashed everything right?”

Subaru goes back to being optimistic.

“It’s fine, I’m sure. I don’t smell blood, it does smell like garbage however.”

A loud high-pitched but sharp voice called out.

“What do you think you’re doing rifling around in someone else’s house?"

It was Felt.

“Sorry to disappoint you but there’s nothing worth stealing in there.”

Felt raised her dagger and pointed it towards Subaru.

“Beat it!”

Subaru raised his hands in a ‘Stop’ or ‘Calm down’ kind of way.

“No wait! I’m not a thief.”

“Shut up! don’t argue!”

Felt rushed at Subaru and slashed at him about 5 times. All of which, Subaru dodged.

“Calm down! This is no time to fight! Before it gets dark-”

Subaru’s back hit a wall and Felt’s dagger hit the wood that the wall was made out of.

“Before it gets dark you better be gone.”

Felt took Subaru’s words out of his mouth and directed them towards him.

“I told you, I’m not a thief…”

Felt looked agitated and pulled her dagger out of the wood and Subaru rolled away to the side.

The moment she got it out she slashed a few times at Subaru again.

Subaru was able to dodge all of them but his back was on the floor now. He looked over to his side and without hesitation, picked up the table that was standing there.

He’s using the table as a shield now. When he realized that his back was close to another wall, he blocked Felt’s dagger in a way that’d make it stuck in the wood and when she pulled it out, used the time she was flinched by the force of it releasing to place the table down and roll over it, switching the position of the two.

He’s doing the same thing as before, using the table as a shield against the slashes. Above, Right. Above again. Etc.

Subaru tripped on a rock and fell into Felt’s ‘house’. Felt noticed this and slashed the two support planks that were holding it up. Everything collapsed onto Subaru.

After Subaru got his head out of the cloth Felt pointed her dagger in front of Subaru’s face and put her feet on Subaru’s torso. Subaru was put into checkmate.

“Please hear me out, Felt!”

Felt raised her eyebrows in curiosity.

“I came to see you on important business!”

Felt moved her dagger closer to his face.

“How do you know my name? Do you want me to steal something for you? You should’ve said that first.”

*What a thing to say.*

“You attacked me before I could get a word in! You know, this is a greedy business you’re running! Do you pride yourself in creating trouble for multiple people?”

She raised her dagger and moved it around in the air.

“You can’t be picky if you wanna stay alive. It’s either this or selling my body. So, what’s your business with me? Spit it out.”

*That’s not a very nice way to ask what I’m here for but fuck it.*

“There’s one thing I want…”

Subaru paused for a second.

“...I want to buy the insignia you stole here and now.”

Subaru seemed to have learned how to stay polite.

“You aren’t associated with my client. Are you a business rival?”

“Call her a rival, or the person who killed my parents. You could even call her the person that killed me.”

Felt is disappointed.

“You make no sense. Well, I’m only interested in selling it to the highest bidder. If you’ve got me an offer that’ll net me some good money, I’ll listen.”

“Very shrewd…”

Subaru goes into explaining his offer.

“I have something worth more than twenty holy coins. I want to buy your insignia with it. It’s what everyone wants these days, a metia.”

Subaru points the camera at Felt’s face and makes a picture.

He stands up to show the picture to Felt.

“This is the main power you can use in this metia. It’s a one-of-a-kind item that can freeze a moment in time and store it. So, how about it?”

“You don’t seem like you’re lying. But that’s supposed to be me? I’m way prettier.”

“If you look this good without makeup you shouldn’t be complaining.”

“Well it’s unusual, I’ll give you that. But twenty holy coins? Not likely.”

Subaru isn’t familiar with the currency in this world so he doesn’t know how to respond.

“I’m not so stupid as to believe everything a prospective buyer says without question.”

“Of course not, that would be the smarter thing to do in this situation, though you wouldn’t understand.”

“What’re you talking about?”

Subaru accidentally hinted at his ability. Luckily he said part of it under his breath so Felt couldn’t understand his sentence.

“Uh, nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“Anyway, at the far edge of the slums is a loot house. We’ll have old man Rom, the codger who lives there, appraise the metia."

*So there’s no way to avoid this huh.*

“Okay, I don’t have a choice. Let’s go!”

Subaru walked up to Felt.

“We need to go. As fast as possible. We can have that man appraise it, you can sell it to me and then we’re done. I can’t wait!”

Subaru took Felt by the shoulder and started walking.

“Hey, slow down!”

Subaru was walking a bit too fast for Felt to keep up with.

“What’s your problem? Why are you in such a hurry?”

Subaru couldn’t answer that because he’ll get ‘punished’ and she won’t understand either way.

“You’re soaked with sweat.”

This statement is true since Subaru is nervous meeting Elsa and probably having his guts spilled on the floor again.

“Live strong.”

Subaru is curious as to what this means.

“Everyone in the slums says that. Is it some kind of slogan?”

Felt ‘felt’ (haha) agitated.

“Don’t lump me up with those guys! They’re all talk. They aren’t strong at all. They’re just a bunch of stingy losers at life.”

Felt said this as they we’re walking in a town of ‘stingy losers at life’.

“That’s a bit harsh.”

Felt sprinted forward a bit and stood in front of Subaru. She had the look of determination in her eyes and was about to say something very important to her.

“I’m not like the people here. I have no intention of living out my life in these back alleys!”

Subaru had an expressionless face.

“And you think twenty holy coins will make your dream come true?”

“It is true that it’ll be a huge leap towards my goal. Even if I were alone, it isn’t as if I couldn’t get along with effort.”

“Weren’t alone?”

Subaru realizes that Rom and Felt were the great dynamic duo.

“Nevermind.”

Subaru smiled at her pushing it to the side as if it was nothing.

“Tch. What are you smirking about? You really piss me off!”

Subaru walked up to her...

“Don’t worry about it.”

...And placed his hand on her head.

“H-Hey, what’re you doing? Stop!”

Subaru pays no mind to Felt’s struggling.

“Just gotta make it work, huh?”

“I said stop!”

“Only I can stop this.”

“Stop spewing sentimental nonsense! I’ll bite you!”

*I won’t only do it for her, I’ll change the fate that’s waiting for me and them. And to do that I’ll-*

“I told you to cut it out!”

Felt bit Subaru tightly in his arm.

Subaru’s scream echoed through the slums.

They finally arrived at the loot house.

As soon as he opened the door Felt pushed him to the side as a ball connected to chains flew right past him.

The first problem introduced itself instantly.

“What are you doing here, Witch cultist?”

Rem’s eyes were filled with bloodlust and disgust.

Chapter Text

Subaru was flown back several feet by Felt pushing him away and the force of the ball.

Rom instantly tried to apprehend Rem but wasn’t able to because Rem freed herself in a few seconds.

“Rem, I’m trying to help you!”

Rem’s eyes filled with even more hatred for the man in front of him.

“How. Just how. Do you know Rem’s name?”

“Hck-”

Subaru flinched, he just realized how dumb he actually is for saying her name instantly without even seeing her before. (From Rem’s perspective)

“Okay, at least let me talk. Calm down, I won’t do anything against you. You’re way stronger than me either way so you can kill me at any time you feel the need to.”

Even though Subaru’s words were supposed to calm her down, she never went off guard. And even picked up her own weapon for ‘self-defense’.

“Rem, your master surely wouldn’t want this!”

“My master’s orders stand apart from what Rem’s own feelings are. Her own and her Sister’s hatred and revenge take priority over Emilia-sama.”

“Then at least allow the person you hate this much right now to explain themselves, you can’t judge a person on how they smell. You judge a person on who they are!”

Rem sighed.

“Very well, Rem shall not point any hostility at… uhh”

“Natsuki Subaru.”

Rem went into thought.

“So, Rem will not point hostility at Subaru-kun until he himself does something Rem deems suspicious.”

*Even when she’s suspicious of me, she still adds -kun? Maybe she calls basically everyone that except for the people she deems suspicious, out of disrespect of them she doesn’t add an honorific?”

“I’m fine with that. Can you atleast put your ball and chains away. It scares me.”

Rem places it down on a table where it is out of anyone’s reach.

*It doesn’t matter where she places it. She can always summon it to her hands in an instant. Maybe she needs time to summon it?*

Subaru was in thought.

“Subaru-kun, are you going to sit down or not? You were helping Rem you said?”

Subaru was surprised that she accepted this reality almost instantly.

“Oh yeah, hold on.”

Subaru walked up to the seat to the left of Rem, and sat down. Felt sat down to his left as well.

“So, what do you want to offer?”

Subaru looked at Rem for a thought.

“Rem would like to see what Subaru-kun has to offer first.”

“Oh wait, I want to add this. Anything I’m bidding I’m doing for Rem.”

“Why would Subaru-kun want to do that?”

“Because I want to help. Anyway, what I want to offer is this.”

Subaru pulls out the same flip phone for the third time, points it at Rem.

“Watch out. There’s going to be a bright light for half a second.”

After waiting for Rem’s nod, Subaru took the picture. Not after going back far enough to get her full face of course.

Although Rem knew that there was a flash coming, she still flinched and squeezed her eyes to the light. Maybe because of how tense she still was.

Subaru showed the picture to Rem, the same as last time. Showed a picture of Rem squeezing her light projecting eyes and a bit blurry from the movement.

“Rem would expect it to work like a mirror.”

“No it doesn’t, it takes what I see from my perspective and creates an almost perfect replication of it. It doesn’t mirror how you look.”

While Rem was still amazed with how accurate it made the image of her, Subaru turned around and showed it to Rom and Felt, one of which has already seen it work before and the other needs to appraise it.

Rom extends his hand and Subaru puts the phone inside of it.

“Be careful, it can break easily if you grip it too tightly, you need to handle it with care.”

“It’s really small and lightweight, I’d expect it to be heavier.”

Rom now went into thought.

“I don’t have a lot of experience with metia’s, matter of fact. This is the first time I’ve seen one. But, if I were to sell this, I’d take no less than fifteen-”

Rom paused and thought for another second.

“-No, twenty holy coins. It’s at least worth that.”

“Alright, negotiation is complete right? We can go off and celebrate the sale!”

“Wait, Rem doesn’t feel right only letting Subaru-kun bid. Even if Rem doesn’t trust Subaru-kun, she wants to at least contribute to what she wants.”

“Oh no, Big sis Rem. It’s fine, we will have to wait for the rival to see what they bring before we can decide if it has sold yet or not.”

Subaru flinched at Elsa being mentioned vaguely.

“B-But, this metia is probably worth more than what she’s offering.”

Felt gave a confused look.

“How would you know what they’re bidding? And I never mentioned it being a woman either. Are you working with them?”

Rem’s eyes flared brightly with suspicion again that faded a few seconds ago.

“How does Subaru-kun know about basically everything that’s going to happen. Subaru-kun even knew Rem’s name before she had even seen you before. Is that suspicious enough for Rem to act hostile?”

Subaru didn’t notice how stupid he was being. He looked way too much like a spy right now.

Rem was approaching him in a hostile way, Subaru tried to stop her from attacking him, since the main threat hasn’t even appeared yet. Rom helped by holding her shoulders trying to slow her down as well.

“Look Rem, I can’t explain how I know things that’s going to happen. But I’m not going to use it to my advantage. I’ll help everyone out with it. Let me at least prove that. Even if I can’t explain how.”

“Subaru-kun tried to sway Rem with his words before, this time only actions may win Rem’s trust.”

“As I said, of course with words. You can kill me at any time.”

Rem shrugged as she sat back down.

“So now what?”

Rem seemed to be in a bad mood.

“We wait for the rival to arrive.”

As soon as they were prepared to wait, a knock was heard on the door.

“That may be for me, I’ll go check.”

While Felt was walking to the door, Subaru decided to ask Rem what their strategy is.

“So, you said you didn’t feel right not bidding anything in exchange for me. But given the circumstances and me wanting to earn your trust. Are you alright with only me bidding and you putting anything up if it does go higher than we expected it to go?”

Rem sighed,

“Rem probably didn’t carry enough money to contribute enough anyway. She was only ordered to escort Emilia-sama and was given expenses to carry the food and transport.”

Rem does give Subaru a cold glare.

“Though, Subaru-kun isn’t doing a good job in earning Rem’s trust. Why would he need it anyway? Everyone that’s close to Rem only gets hurt anyway.”

*There she goes again with all of that negative thinking.*

“I kinda knew this was the case and I want to help, isn’t that enough?”

Rem gave him a confused look.

“I know you don’t value yourself highly, you always think negatively when someone tries to say something positive. I believe you have a genuine reason to do that. I don’t know what it is though.”

“Rem is however very worried for everyone around her. Rem must do things on her own to not hurt anyone or tire anyone out other than herself. That’s the only way Rem can redeem herself.”

While Subaru was processing the new information Felt finished the conversation she probably had outside.

“I was right, it was for me.”

Subaru realized something when he saw Elsa’s face.

“One more thing Rem, do not, under any circumstance tell her your intentions on what to do with the insignia. She’ll kill us if you do.”

Rem nodded.

Felt was already at the bar when Elsa walked in.

Subaru stiffened up and Rem noticed it.

“What’s wrong, Subaru-kun?”

Rem whispered her worries to Subaru.

“That woman is very dangerous, I know from experience.”

“There seem to be several outsiders here.”

Elsa scanned the people that were present.

“Oh, the boy I walked into on the street.”

Elsa gave him a wide smile. It frightened Subaru.

*This time I’ll succeed. Elsa won’t kill us all this time.*

Elsa sat down and was given a glass of milk, just like before.

“Who are you two?”

Felt answered before Rem and Subaru could.

“They’re business rivals working together.”

Elsa looked confused to which Subaru and Rem gave a grin.

“Oh, so you two are working together?”

Rem realized that she deemed the woman a danger and almost let her oni nature take control of her.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Shall we do introductions? My name is Rem.”

“Elsa.”

“Natsuki Subaru.”

Subaru wanted to do his signature pose again but he again prioritises everyone’s trust over it.

“Felt.”

“Rom, you can call me ‘Old man Rom’”

Felt started the conversation.

“So, what did you three come here for? Just for clarification.”

“Rem came for the insignia.”

“I came here for the insignia as well.”

“Alright, one second.”

Felt looked through her pockets and pulled out the insignia, showing it to everyone.

All three of them nodded, confirming it was what they came for.

“Shall we move to the negotiation table?”

Rom walked up from behind the bar and moved two tables together, he then took 4 chairs, put three on one side and one on the other.

Felt took the side that had one chair, leaving the other three to Elsa, Rem and Subaru.

Elsa sat down on the right side, Rem in the middle and Subaru to the left of Rem, probably so he can see her eyes, since on the other side her bangs will cover them.

“So, what offers do you all have to offer?”

“As for Rem and Subaru-kun’s offer. Subaru-kun, can you demonstrate the metia?

*So Rem even uses the honorific in third-party conversations?*

Subaru pulled out his flip phone and pointed it at Elsa.

“Watch out, a bright light will flash for half a second.”

He waited for Elsa to give a small nod and took the picture. He showed the picture to everyone again and switched to the picture of Rem and showed it to Elsa as well.

“This is the picture of Rem I took earlier.”

“Rem is surprised it can carry different ‘pic-tures’?.

“Yes, pictures. You may not be familiar with the word. But it is what this is.”

“That’s really interesting, it can make close to perfect drawings of what you see in an instant. You can use this to relive important moments and memories.”

“That’s exactly what it’s used for. Although there is more that it can do, you can’t use it here. So every other thing other than this is useless, which is quite sad since it can contact people with the same item, but this is the only version that exists. Every other one is out of range.”

Rem took the possibility that he is lying and he can contact other spies through the metia but she doesn’t sense any lies and he’s genuinely trying to sell it. So he really can’t use it.

“Old man Rom said it was worth twenty holy coins.”

Felt added.

“Anyway, for your offer?”

Subaru looked at Elsa to his side and glanced at Rem deep in thought.

“Are you okay?”

He placed his right hand on Rem’s shoulder.

“-?”

Rem looked at him in confusement.

“Oh. Yes Rem is fine. She was just thinking.”

While Rem was ‘rebooting’ Elsa had already laid out her offer.

“Fifteen holy coins.”

“Do you have any more?”

“This is what my client gave me.”

“Well, that means the metia won.”

Elsa looked a bit disappointed.

“Well, it’s my client’s fault that they gave me this much.”

Elsa stood up and Felt was trying to hand Rem the insignia.

“Before I leave. What do you intend to do with the insignia.

Rem, in her sleepy state. Forgot what Subaru told her.

“Oh, Rem was ordered to retrieve the insignia for her master.”

Subaru looked at Rem in pure fear and without any hesitation. He pulled Rem back, dodging the blade that Elsa slashed at her barely.

“What did I tell you, Rem!?”

Rem looked confused with a lot of worry.

“Rem is sorry, she did tell Subaru-kun she always puts the people around her in danger though.”

“Yes, I know. I knew this would happen and tried to prevent it. I’m sorry for not explaining to you.”

In the meantime, Rom charged at Elsa with his huge bat.

“We should at least help old man Rom.”

Rem nodded and the moment Subaru looked away he heard a pair of chains rattling again.

“Rem, ho-”

“Actually, Rem shouldn’t use this here, Rem will destroy the walls if she does that...”

Rem handed it over to Subaru.

“...Can Subaru-kun hold onto it? The chains can at least block Elsa’s knives.”

Subaru nodded and held on to the hilt and chains.

“Don’t do anything harsh, Rem can’t control herself very well.”

It took a few seconds for Rem to summon her horn. But right after she did, she went straight into battle.

“-El huma!”

Subaru crawled over to Felt, who was also still on the floor.

“What do we do?”

Subaru decides to do the same thing he did the last time.

“You can run away and scream for help, I will help Rem and Rom with fighting.”

“Why would I run away?

“Because we don’t have a choice, Elsa is too strong even for the three of us, the only way we can win is if we get help from someone that is strong.”

“But why me?”

“Since your the you--”

While Subaru said that Rom got stabbed in his dominant arm, he is now way weaker than he should be.

“Just run Felt, it’s the only chance we have left.”

“Fine.”

Felt got into the starting position.

Subaru went in to fight alongside Rem and the weakened Rom.

“Alright then, it’s time for me to fight as well.”

“Rem hasn’t done anything since she can’t handle someone with multiple knives bare fisted.”

Rem’s horn faded.

“Oh, you can go to Felt, she has a small dagger, it may not be much but it’ll help. I’ll cover you by blocking her view of you.”

Rem nodded and ran to Felt.

Subaru threw the pure weight that is the morningstar at Elsa.

“I’m not strong, but I’ll manage.”

Elsa had an amusing look on her face.

“So the boy that had a grudge on me is going to fight too, huh?”

*How does Rem even use this thing efficiently?*

Subaru pulled on the chains but instead of retrieving the morningstar, he pulled himself forward and stumbled. He was able to redirect his momentum to a spinning high kick to Elsa but she caught his leg.

“Oops, be careful there dear.”

She raised her knife pointing at Subaru’s leg.

Subaru tightly closed his eyes, preparing himself for pain.

Rem noticed Subaru was stuck in a checkmate and threw the dagger she just got from Felt and threw it at Elsa, it knocked the knife out of her hand and flinched Elsa enough so that Subaru could escape her grasp.

“Can Subaru-kun not worry Rem so much?”

Felt disappeared out of the doorway while Elsa was distracted.

“Where did the blonde girl go? She didn’t escape did she?”

Subaru put a grin on his face.

“Well, you let one escape. You didn’t do your job right, did you?”

*Alright Reinhard, please be worried enough to at least go in my direction.*

Elsa has an emotionless face.

“Well, now I’m going to be depressed. I’ve never let anyone escape my grasp before, you’ve done quite well.”

Subaru had enough time to pick up one of the numerous knives on the ground. He also put some behind his back which Elsa didn’t notice.

(Rem was fighting bare-handed so her only option was to knock Elsa’s blade out of her hand, hence why there’s knives/blades on the ground)

Rem also summoned her morningstar to her hands.

“Well then, how about you let the rest escape as well now? You’ve already failed your employer. So there’s no point in continuing.”

“Rem would like to live as well.”

Rom already lost enough blood to be immobile, so he sat against the wall to rest and cover his stab wound, leaving the bat on the ground.

“How about we try this again, huh?”

Subaru threw the knife in his hand at Elsa, she blocked it with her own effortlessly. However, Subaru pulled out another one and almost got a hit in. She was at least temporarily flinched from the shock and momentum she has trying to block Subaru’s blade.

Rem was surprised by Subaru’s sudden attack but notices the opening he was planning to make and throws the morningstar at Elsa.

Elsa got hit on her shoulder, and was thrown to the wall of the building.

“Owww, that hurts.”

She stood up and took some blood that was flowing out her shoulders on her fingers and licked the blood off.

*She survived that?*

Elsa instantly lunged towards Rem, which didn’t have time to react other than cast one spell

“Huma!”

A bubble of water surrounded Rem and it was barely strong enough to slow down Elsa’s blade so Rem could block it with the hilt of her morningstar herself.

Elsa was pissed off now.

“How many times are you going to barely escape my blade?”

*How did her wounds heal that quickly?*

“I guess we weren’t supposed to die yet, so we can survive longer.”

Subaru again had the time to restock on the blades that were on the ground.

Elsa notices this and rushes towards Subaru, to which Rem blocked her path by throwing her morningstar where her path would intercept it, Elsa had no choice but to jump and Subaru was able to throw a knife which pierced her arm. Elsa was again, injured because of her cockiness.

She was furious.

“How many times are you both going to get this lucky?”

Subaru was about to collapse at any second because of him using too much energy, the mental stress of being technically awake for 3-4 days straight was also getting to him. He’s now running purely on adrenaline and determination to save them this time.

However, the ceiling collapsed and debris was all over the place.

Subaru’s vision was blurry and his eyes were having a hard time adapting.

After a few seconds, the debris was mostly cleared up by the wind and he could see red, a glint of red and oceanic blue to his side. He knew what/who the blue was but not the red, he had a hard time processing it.

After a few more seconds he had a clear view of the figures in front of him.

To the side he saw the obvious, Rem. In the middle of his view he saw an elegant figure, red hair, unarmed and still had a really dangerous but righteous aura.

He took a glance at Subaru and noticed his exhausted state.

“It looks like I cut close, but I’m glad I made it in time…”

The debris has now faded enough for Elsa to be visible.

“Now--”

“Are you--”

A strong breeze hit the ground, throwing all debris high in the air making everything visible again.

“Shall we put an end to this?”

“Reinhard?”

“Yes, that's right, Subaru. I was following you from a distance but if you weren’t such a good fighting duo with Rem I wouldn’t have made it in time. You did a great job holding out this long.”

Subaru shifted over to where Rem was standing on the counter.

“Now we don’t have to do much, Rem thinks Reinhard can handle this on his own.”

Reinhard gazed at the woman before him, still lightly injured from the stab wound the thrown knife gave her.

“Black hair, black clothes and a blade unique to the northern provinces. There is no mistaking those characteristics. You must be the Bowel Hunter.”

“Bowel Hunter?”

“It’s derived from her unique style of killing. Her name is known across the capital as that of a dangerous individual.”

Elsa licked her lips.

“Reinhard… “

She was enjoying saying that name for a second.

“...Yes, a knight among knights, born as the Sword Saint, correct? How delightful, I needed a bit of fun after I had so much trouble with those two.”

“There are a couple of things I’d like to ask you…”

“I strongly suggest you surrender.”

“You expect a starving predator to resist such a choice, juicy prey?”

Reinhard acted like he was flustered and turned his head.

“Subaru, can you stand back for a bit? I’d appreciate it if you can stand in the back by Rem.”

“You got it. That woman is basically a monster, so don’t let your guard down.”

“As luck would have it, hunting monsters happens to be my specialty.”

Subaru walked up to Rem and kneeled down against the wall.

“Is Subaru-kun alright?”

Subaru looked over at Rem.

“Yes…”

His energy was depleted, he was passing out.

He fell towards Rem and she caught him.

Rem had a really worried look on her face.

“Rem…”

She placed his head on her lap.

“Yes?”

Subaru cried out a request.

“Can you bring me to where you work?”

“Rem shall do everything in her power to do that. For now, Subaru-kun should rest. Let Reinhard-sama do the rest of the work.”

Subaru passed out with a smile on his face. Wishing for everything to go alright.

His view went dark but he was assured Rem would survive, Reinhard was there after all.

It felt like an instant when he opened his eyes again. His eyes were getting used to the darkness but one thing was for sure, his head was on top a heavenly place.

It was also very rough, they may be on a rocky road on a horse-carriage? He did see some earth dragon carriages so those may be used here.

He looked up seeing Rem seemingly asleep against the side of the carriage.

There was also another person in the carriage but Subaru didn’t give any attention to them, he was too focused looking at the angel’s sleeping face.

Rem probably used most of her energy taking care of him and Rom plus getting Subaru to go with her to the mansion. So Subaru closed his eyes again and fell asleep basically instantly.

Chapter Text

Subaru was regaining consciousness and his senses were almost getting back to him, after a few seconds of enjoying his sleep which he didn’t have for 4 days-in his perspective-. He stood up, did a few stretches and went outside the door. Expecting to see someone that will explain what happened.

Although, when he went outside and looked at both sides of the hallway he saw no one inhabiting them. Looking to the side of the door, he saw a painting on it, it was a painting of a forest path, which was endless.

It kind of reminds him of the hallway he resides in right now. An endless path.

He started walking in one direction, since standing still won’t help.

*At least I didn’t die this time by the help of Reinhard, so I’m guessing everyone including Rem survived as well.*

Subaru pouted in his mind.

*But I’m kind of disappointed that Rem is not beside me asking if I’m alright, I guess I can’t blame her since she doesn’t fully trust me, I don’t think?*

After shoving his thoughts to the side, he kept walking.

After a few minutes of walking straight forward. He saw the same picture of an infinite path again.

He knew it instantly, a looping hallway.

“The tried-and-true pattern tells me that the answer is the first door!”

He opened the door and smelled the dust, paper and books that were all inhabiting this room, but the most defining feature is the girl in the middle, she was sitting on a stepstool, wearing an elegant dress and had drill tails on her sides.

Despite her childish looks, she had an emotionless expression and a wise-sounding voice.

“You are one profoundingly aggravating man, I suppose.”

“I found you!”

Despite technically dying 3 times in a day, Subaru was able to keep his optimism.

“Your cute face is going to go to waste if you’re that cold. Come on, smile!”

Subaru uses his hands to give a big ‘smile’.

“A derisive sneer is the only ‘smile’ worth giving to you.”

“Are you mad because I guessed right on my first try?”

Her brows lowered in an agitated manner.

“I’ve always been a pretty lucky guesser.”

Her cheeks puffed up.

“I totally understand why game masters would want me in all the events, but too bad for you.”

She tightened her grip on the book she was holding.

Subaru was being too carefree, basically stomping in someone's personal space.

“So what is this place anyway?”

“Hmph, it’s Betty’s multipurpose room, in fact, it’s both a library and a bedroom.”

“Talk about your token response.”

All of Subaru’s answers seem to annoy her even more every time.

“Are you one of those manual girls everyone’s into now?”

She closed her book and stepped off her stool.

“Betty has had about enough.”

She started walking towards Subaru.

“I suppose it’s time to teach you a lesson.”

Subaru backed off, almost against the door.

“Hey, what are you gonna do?”

Her voice turned low and cold.

“Don’t you dare move.”

Subaru stiffened up at how the cute voice and appearance of the girl could become so scary in an instant.

“Any last words?”

“D-Don’t hurt me.”

She placed her hand close to Subaru.

“...”

Nothing happened until Subaru felt the energy leaving his body, the energy he just regained, gone.

He fell to the ground, unable to move anything other than his head.

“What did you do to me, you drill loli?”

“Not much, I suppose I only collected the mana that was inside your body. On the bright side, I know you’re not an enemy.”

Subaru looked up.

“You’re not human are you? And I’m not talking about personality.”

“I suppose even ‘you’ would notice eventually.”

“I take it back, your personality isn’t human either.”

“Don’t measure a proud, noble being to your standards, human.”

Subaru passed out due to his energy depletion.

He once again awoke, he opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was an evangelion reference.

“I don’t recognize this ceiling.”

“It seems that Subaru-kun has awoken Sister.”

“Yes, Dear Guest has awoken, Rem.”

“Why do I hear an angel’s voice in my head?”

Subaru is still drowsy from having his mana depleted.

“My my. Dear Guest is already flirting with someone without waking up.”

“Rem wonders what Subaru-kun means by an Angel’s voice.”

Subaru realized what has been going on this whole time. And stands up boastfully.

“Alright, who are the ones that are talking in my head?”

Subaru stood up to Rem standing and the end of the bed he was laying on and her sister several feet away.

They looked identical, the only difference was their hair colour and the side of which their bangs were on.

To Subaru it seemed like there were two angels. He did notice Rem mentioned her sister but he didn’t expect them to be exact copies of each other.

“Subaru-kun, calm down…”

Her worries quickly shifted.

“...Nevermind, if Subaru-kun can move this quickly upon waking up, Rem doesn’t have anything to worry about.”

“Rem, Rem, why are you so close with Dear Guest?”

She walked up to her sister while Subaru was still in heaven, paralyzed by the sight in front of him.

“Nee-sama, Nee-sama, Rem has had experiences with Subaru-kun, allowing him to earn her trust.”

Author’s notes : I’m going to switch through using ‘Sister’ and ‘Nee-sama’ since they mean the same thing for anyone not familiar to Japanese, I’ll use either one as the feel of the line but when she says ‘Sister’ she basically says ‘Nee-sama’ in Japanese, so it works.

Rem then turned back to Subaru.

“Subaru-kun, please rest if need be, Rem and Nee-sama shall be leaving now. We shall inform Subaru-kun when the food is ready.”

Author's note : Holy shit this is hard to write, I completely underestimated this. But it’ll work out with what I have planned, I believe. I hope. Uhhh, this isn’t looking too well. Anyway, off to the next scene.

After taking up on Rem’s offer of resting for a few more minutes, someone knocked on the door. It was sped up, as if the person knocking was craving some interaction.

“Come in.”

The door opened.

Subaru took a look at the person walking in, they had long silver hair, a really nice dress and were beautiful in general. Their most defining feature were the long pointy ears they had. They walked closer, took a chair and sat down next to Subaru.

“So, Natsuki Subaru? Was it?”

Subaru didn’t even notice her already sitting next to him, and was taken by surprise.

“Oh, yes, it’s Natsuki Subaru.”

“My name is Emilia. Just... Emilia.”

*Oh, so this is Rem’s ‘Master’?*

Subaru’s interest was taken just by hearing the girl’s name.

But before he was able to ask.

“You’ve been through a lot in the capital haven’t you? You even saved Rem’s life!”

Subaru started to feel embarrassed by the praise the person in front of him was giving him.

“Uh, yeah. It was hard, I was lucky Reinhard was there to save the day.”

“Reinhard?”

“Oh, so you haven’t heard anything yet? Emilia-sama?”

Emilia pouted.

“You don’t have to be so formal, everyone’s doing it. I was hoping you would be different.”

“Ah, so it’s Emilia.”

“Yes. I would not like it any other way.”

Subaru was surprised how fast she wanted to open up.

“So, you haven’t heard anything that happened?”

“No I haven’t yet, no one had the time or energy to do so.”

“Ah, alright so what happened was…”

Subaru went on to explain everything that happened on the last day, not all the loops, only the completed one.

When Subaru was done explaining everything to Emilia, she left the room and Subaru changed into his washed tracksuit and pants.

He now needed to wait until Rem showed up to help him navigate to the dining table.

After a few minutes of waiting, Subaru decided to go stretch his legs because it was taking too long for his standards, so he went outside.

When he went outside he saw Emilia surrounded by small lights, It looked like she was talking to them.

He was pathfinding the mansion right now so he didn’t approach her.

After walking around a bit, one of which was going far enough to have the entire mansion in his view to awe at its size. He went back inside planning to go to the room he resided in last time he was inside, while he was walking towards the room, he saw Rem seemingly going the same way.

He called out to her.

“Rem!”

The girl turned around with a surprised face.

“What is Subaru-kun doing outside?”

“Oh, I was just stretching my legs and getting a feel of the mansion.”

“Alright, that is fine. Would Subaru-kun want Rem to help him navigate to the dining room?”

“Alright, let’s go.”

Subaru walked up to Rem’s side, specifically the side where her bangs weren’t covering up her face so he could see her eyes.

Rem started walking in the direction of seemingly the dining room. They will get there after a few minutes because of the pure size of the mansion.

“Nee-sama is finishing up the meal as we speak, Rem went to go get Subaru-kun before Nee-sama finished because otherwise the food would be cold when Subaru-kun arrives and Rem would have to eat cold food as well.”

Rem offered an explanation on why she had come to pick him up early.

“Although, because Subaru-kun went outside and halved the amount of distance Rem would have to walk, we’ll be there before Nee-sama finishes. Subaru-kun can familiarize himself with the residents of the mansion.”

“I already familiarized myself with Emilia. She came to my room to hear the story of what happened in the capital a while ago.”

Rem was surprised.

“Emilia-sama came to see Subaru-kun? Emilia-sama is usually busy studying.”

“Yeah, she was eager to talk to me, it’s as if no one else wants to talk to her. So she’s actively looking for someone new to talk to.”

“That may be because of the relation of her appearance to the witch. Emilia-sama must’ve not been able to make many friends because of her appearance.”

“That explains why she wanted to talk to me and make friends with me so quickly.”

Subaru wanted to change the topic.

“What is the appearance of the witch, may I ask?”

“Subaru-kun doesn’t know?”

Rem was shocked.

“Even children know the appearance of the Witch. But, to answer Subaru-kun’s question, the Witch has long silver hair, amethyst eyes and is a half-elf. Almost identical to the appearance of Emilia-sama, hence why everyone avoids her.”

“That’s pretty sad, she can’t even prove herself as a good person since she can’t talk to people.”

“Rem also avoids her, partly because of this reason but mostly because Rem is just a maid and Emilia-sama is of way higher status than a maid.”

Subaru felt a bit depressed as sympathy for the half-elf. They walked the rest of the distance in silence.

They finally arrived at the dining room.

“Rem will assist Nee-sama at finishing the meal, Subaru-kun can sit at the dining table as he gets to know the mansion’s residents.”

With that, Rem walked off to a different room and Subaru walked into the door that Rem pointed him towards.

Upon walking in, Subaru saw Emilia talking with a small floating cat.

Subaru walked up to the half-elf and tried to ask a question.

But Emilia beat him to it.

“Hey Subaru! What are you doing here so soon?”

“Oh, Rem came to get me, but me stretching my legs outside made the distance and time Rem needed go down by a lot.”

Subaru was able to pose his own question.

“By the way, what is that floating thing?”

“Oh, this is my contracted spirit Puck.”

The cat flew towards him and Subaru caught him in the palm of his hand.

“Nice to meet you Subaru, thanks for being kind to my daughter.”

“No problem.”

Subaru was baffled with how soft it’s fur was.

“In exchange, I can do one thing for you.”

“Alright, you asked for it!”

Subaru was about to create his request to Puck. Emilia looked at them in worry.

“Let me pet your fur whenever I want to!”

Subaru went full power in petting Puck all over, his ears, his belly, his head, his paws, everything.

“You have a good spirit affinity for someone that doesn’t know what a spirit was until now.”

“Spirit affinity?”

Puck decided to explain what it is for Emilia.

(I’m sorry if my explanation of this is off, if anyone knows better. Tell me.)

“Normal people would have trouble touching a spirit, which is a sign of bad spirit affinity. Now you, you can touch me, cradle me and pet me without even noticing or minding what I am. A sign of great spirit affinity.”

Subaru looked up in awe.

“Oooh, so that means I can have a cool spirit like you as my own Puck?”

“If a spirit accepts you as their contractor, most likely.”

Emilia clapped her hands.

“You’re amazing Subaru! You may be able to become a spirit user like me!”

“Thank you. But, I don’t know how this works.”

Puck decided to give him an offer.

“I may be able to hook you up with some lesser spirits.”

“Lesser spirits?”

“Yes, the beings that are called spirits come in three forms. lesser spirits, quasi spirits and greater spirits. Lesser spirits don’t have an assigned element to them, quasi spirits do and Greater spirits have an appearance, personality and are way stronger.”

Subaru had his jaw dropped by the amount of amazement and information he just took in. He wasn’t able to process it that quickly.

With that, Subaru heard a piece of chains walking behind him, it was as if Rem had her morning star out, but it was different, it was coming from one spot, not a lengthy piece of chains. Because of his curiosity, Subaru turned around to see a tall man standing in the door.

Author’s note : I kinda wrote myself in a corner, and I realized that the moment I started the spirit explanation, and this is my fix to this, I don’t want Subaru finding out he can use magic this early since it wouldn’t work but I can’t be asked to change this scene either. Please don’t scold me for throwing away this whole scene, I have to be non-bias towards Emilia even though I don’t like her. It’s hard ok? Anyway, enough looking for sympathy, back to writing or reading for you.

He had what looked like a pale face but when you look at it long enough it was apparent that it was make-up and he had more make-up making a pattern on one of his eyes.

In all, it looked like someone that would have all of the attention the moment they talked.

“My myyyyy, do we have a new guest heeere?”

He also ends his sentences with long vowels at the end.

“Oh, hey Roswaal.”

“My, what is it pleasant to see your face Emilia-saaaama.”

Subaru walked up to the supposed clown and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“You hired a clown to entertain you before each meal? I’ll never understand how rich people think.”

“Uhh, Subaru…”

Emilia looked at him with worries in her eyes.

“...That man is…”

Roswaal interrupted her.

“Oh, no. It’s quite alriiiiight, Emilia-sama.”

Subaru’s confusement forced him to look back at Roswaal.

“What does that mean?”

“Only that I am the lord of this manooooor, Roswaal L. Mathers…”

He lowered his face to look Subaru in the eyes.

"...Natsuki Subaru-kun.”

Subaru’s face was filled with horror.

But luckily we don’t get to see what happens next since the scene changes to them already eating, don’t question it.

Subaru took a bite of the food that Rem and Ram served them and realized it was really good.

“Wow, this is way better than the food I normally eat.”

“Hmmm~. Yes, despite her looks, Rem is quite the exceptional cook.”

*What does he mean by that?*

Subaru shrugs that off for now.

“Oh alright, thank you Rem.”

Rem lowered her head in appreciation.

Subaru knows he should be polite, given the people around him and his own position but he goes beyond that boundary when he feels like it.

“So, Rem. You are good at cooking right?”

“Yes Subaru-kun, Rem does the cooking in the mansion. Nee-sama isn’t very good at cooking.”

“Oh, so your sister is good at cleaning then?”

“Yes, you are right. Nee-sama excels at housework, particularly cleaning and laundry.”

“But Rem-rin is bad at cleaning and laundry?”

Subaru decided on a pet-name for Rem and uses her third-person speaking style.

“No, Rem is generally good at all household tasks. Rem is also better at cleaning and laundry than Nee-sama.”

“Then what purpose does your sister serve?”

Subaru made a mocking comment but somehow made it sound like a question.

“You are truly a strange man.”

Subaru took that as a comment not a start of a conversation so he almost indulged in one of the tatoes Rem made.

“You visit the mansion of Margrave Mathers in the kingdom of Lugunica, yet you seem to be totally ignorant of the state of affaaairs here!”

“State of affairs here? Is something bad going on here?”

“Well, it’s not really in an agreeable position.”

The air suddenly turned serious despite Roswaal’s playful talking.

“After all, Lugunica is currently without a king.”

Subaru stopped trying to indulge into his tatoe and looked at Roswaal with his mouth still agape.

“Please, there’s no need to be so concerned. Everyone is well aware of this reality.”

Subaru took a bite out of his tatoe.

“Really? I expected a, ‘Now that you know our secret I can’t let you leave alive’ thing.”

Roswaal went into explaining what happened.

“Around the same time that the king passed, an epidemic struck the royal caaastle. The king and his children were the last of his line. A council of wise men currently manage the nation, and they are now in the process of selecting a new king!”

“I see. I’m starting to see the picture. Besides the king’s absence, the royal selection is causing unrest in the kingdom. Then, suddenly, I appear from another world-”

Subaru’s face suddenly filled with horror as he screamed.

“Wait, I’m totally the suspect here!”

“And on top of thaaat, you made contact with Rem, a loyal servant of the mathers domain, requesting to come here and thus becoming connected to my hooousehold.”

“Where did Puck go?”

“Oh, Puck went off to hang out with Beatrice-sama. She didn’t see him for a while so he went to go find her.”

Subaru realized something.

“Oh yeah, by the way. Why is the lord of this manor calling Emilia, ‘Emilia-sama’?”

Roswaal spread out his hands to his side and closed his eyes.

“It’s only natural to address someone of higher status with all due respect.”

“So, Emilia would be…”

“Right now, I’m a candidate to become the 42nd ruler of the kingdom of Lugunica. Margrave Roswaal L. Mathers is acting as my sponsor.”

*Makes sense that Rem would have her ‘Master’ which is Roswaal and ‘Emilia-sama’, which is the royal candidate.*

Emilia reached for her pocket and set down an insignia on the table.

“Her, it’s that insignia.”

“This qualifies one as a candidate for king. It’s a touchstone for determining if one is worthy of the throne.”

Subaru turned his face of worry to Emilia.

“So, Emilia, did you lose an insignia that qualifies you to rule an entire kingdom?”

Emilia turned to face him and half-shouted.

“Don’t put it like that, A thief stole it from me!”

“That’s the same thing though. And what happens when you lose that thing as well? “

“Myyy, if you lost it, then all doubts would be cleaaaared. The passing thought that someone who cannot protect a tiny insignia is unfit to rule an entire nation would spell the end of it.”

“I may have been a lifesaver for you all, not only Rem. Now that I think about it.”

“Yeah, you’re right. You helped me out more than you could ever imagine Subaru. So ask for everything.”

Roswaal spread out his arms.

“Merely say the word. You may have anything your heart desires!”

*What my heart desires, huh? A way to get closer to Rem?”

Subaru, having made his decision, stood up.

“In that case, I have but one request.”

Everyone went silent for a second as they waited for his request.

“Hire me to work in this mansion.”

Rem was surprised while everyone else in the room stayed silent.

“Hikichoo”

Ram broke the silence by sneezing.

And thus began his life as a butler in the Mathers household.

Subaru was trying out some butler outfits with Rem assisting him.

“This one doesn’t fit Subaru-kun quite well. Only the larger maid outfits would fit Subaru-kun.”

“You look quite ridiculous, sir. I mean Barusu."

“Hey Nee-sama. You just turned my name into a blinding curse.”

Rem smiled.

“That is what makes Nee-sama so special.”

“You’re not helping Rem!”

Rem shrugged off what little banter they had a second ago.

“Subaru-kun’s shoulders are too small and his legs are too short.”

Rem brought a hand in front of her mouth.

“And Subaru-kun’s eyes are scary?”

“Hey!”

“Subaru-kun can’t work here in attire that doesn’t fit him. His normal clothes wouldn’t work either. Rem shall make a new jacket that should fit Subaru-kun.”

“Ram shall be off doing some household tasks. Rem can make the jacket.”

“See ya, Ram.”

Ram walked out of the clothing room without paying any heed to what Subaru said.

Rem walked up to Subaru and took out what looked like a measuring tool.

“Rem shall take Subaru-kun’s measurements so she can make the jacket to fit Subaru-kun’s body. Please keep your back straight.”

Rem walked around him and ended up behind him. Subaru noticed what she meant and lifted his arms, resulting in him T-Posing.

Subaru tensed up at the sensation of Rem starting to take measurements at his chest but refrained from making any movements or sounds.

After taking a few measurements, Rem was done.

“Rem shall now show Subaru-kun around the mansion.”

They went everywhere. The V.I.P room, the bathing room, the kitchen and then finally.

“This is the lavatory.”

Subaru walked up to the door. He felt like he should open this one for no reason.

“In a mansion like this, the restroom must be huge.”

He opened the door, but instead of seeing a restroom, he saw books, a lot of them. There was also a bed.

“You’re the best Bubby! Your fur feels like heav-”

It was Beatrice cuddling Puck.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. The feeling of that fur would make anyone-”

Subaru was thrown backwards.

“Subaru-kun!”

Rem was there instantly to look after him.

She wanted to pick him up but Subaru stood up running back to the door before she could.

“Hey, at least let me finish!”

Subaru opened the door, only to find a small toilet.

Rem walked back up to Subaru.

“That was Beatrice-sama’s ‘Door Crossing’.”

Subaru knew exactly what it meant.

“So it’s a spell that can connect any door in the mansion to her room?”

“Yes, you are correct. Once Beatrice-sama erases her presence, the only way to find her is to open every door in the mansion.”

Subaru turned around, looking in the hallway, before locking onto one door, rushing towards it and opening it.

“This one!”

Subaru found Beatrice instantly.

“How did Subaru-kun do that?”

“That’s impressive Subaru!”

Rem and Puck were surprised and congratulating him but Beatrice was wallowing in anger.

“You picked the right door again?”

“Like I said. I’m a flag-crusher who makes the game masters cry.”

“I don’t know what you’re saying!”

“Subaru-kun doesn’t make sense.”

“And I don’t even know who you are, Beatrice-sama. Roswaal-sama’s little sister?”

“Hmph, I would rather die than be his little sister, I suppose.”

“Betty is the librarian who oversees the Roswaal mansion’s forbidden library.”

“Roswaal-sama is the greatest magic-user in the kingdom, he has many books that must not be seen by others. Beatrice-sama is contracted to protect them.”

“Now that you know that, go away, I suppose.”

The door closed with a slam on it’s own.

“Does Subaru-kun have any questions?”

“One thing, what do I have to do now?”

“Subaru-kun shall be working with Nee-sama, she shall inform you of the day schedule.”

Subaru gets in his signature pose he has been waiting so long to use.

“Alright! This is where Natsuki Subaru’s hidden talent as a butler comes through!”

Subaru dashed into the mansion looking for Ram, he was being stupid by going inside since Rem went after him and told him that Ram was tending the garden.

He was then overwhelmed with the list of to-do things.

“Barusu will help Ram with the following things. Tending to the garden, helping prepare lunch, polishing the silver, airing the futons, doing the laundry, cleaning the bathroom, and completing the…”

Too much for Subaru to take in so he requested Ram to give him the to-do list while they are going through the day.

He was finally done with the day and collapsed on the bed.

“Aah, I’m exhausted...”

He heard two quick knocks on his door.

He looked over.

“This is Rem. Does Subaru-kun have a moment?”

“Oh, Rem…”

Subaru was a bit nervous that Rem was coming to his room.

“Yeah it’s fine, come in.”

“Excuse me.”

Subaru sat up in his bed to greet Rem that was opening the door.

Rem was carrying something in her arms.

“Did you already finish it?”

“Yes, Rem decided to finish it quickly as thanks for Subaru-kun.”

“Oh, there’s no need for that. Thank you anyway.”

Subaru put on the jacket that Rem made for him.

“Wow, amazing! It fits perfectly.”

Subaru pointed his thumb towards himself.

“Now, how do I look?”

“Subaru-kun certainly looks better than he does with his unusual gray clothes.”

“Alright, I’ll take it as a compliment!”

She then looks over at the pants that are conveniently on Subaru’s desk.

“What shall we do about these?”

“Oh, this? This one isn’t a problem. You got a thread and a needle?”

“Rem has both on her, shall she repair them now?”

“I’ll do it myself.”

Subaru retrieved a pair of thread and needle from Rem and started sewing.

“Don’t look down on my incompetence, sewing is one of the only things I’m good at.”

Subaru started humming a random song while sewing.

“Rem is surprised. She must say that Subaru-kun’s skills earn full marks. Although, he is useless in everything else.”

Subaru ignores the last comment and finishes sewing.

“Alright Rem, you can finish the day. I’m going to be fine on my own now.”

“Rem will excuse herself in that case.”

And with Rem leaving the room, Subaru decided to end the day as well and went to bed.

They are now cutting tatoes with Subaru failing miserably, breakfast took way longer to finish since Rem had to patch Subaru up with a few bandages every time he cut himself.

“Subaru-kun may be good at sewing, but he’s still clumsy with everything else.”

Rem said as she put another bandage on his fingers.

“Such a lovely painting could be painted of Nee-sama peeling tatoes. Don’t you think Subaru-kun?”

“Can you stop talking about your sister? I’d like to know how I’m doing please!”

Rem’s face turned sad, as if feeling remorse for someone.

“Rem pities the farmer that grew those vegetables.”

“Stop, you’re going to break my heart!”

“Barusu just doesn’t know how to handle a knife.”

Ram moves a bit to the side so Subaru can see what she’s doing.

“You should hold the knife still, turning the vegetable.”

She finished a tatoe and held it up as if it were a trophy.

“Frankly speaking, my best dish is steamed tatoes.”

Ram had a face full of pride for her tatoe.

“Why are you so proud of that?”

Subaru picks up the knife and tatoe.

“Just watch me, I’ll show you I’m capable of peeling tatoes!”

Subaru tried peeling the side, but ended up cutting himself again.

Who even points the knife to the inside of your hand? Only Subaru, I suppose.

Subaru isn’t even only clumsy with cutting vegetables, although he tries his best, he’s clumsy with : doing the dishes, cleaning the bathroom, doing the laundry and trimming the bushes, he somehow broke something or made his own hand bleed on every one of them. He also got bitten by a puppy while visiting a village that was nearby.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the three were almost done working on Subaru’s fifth day Ram was looking for Rem.

She found her replacing a vase Subaru supposedly broke on accident.

“Rem.”

Rem replied almost instinctively.

“Yes, Nee-sama?”

“All the chores have been done, once you are finished with what you are doing. You’ll have the rest of the day off.”

“Oh okay, Rem will go rest in the courtyard, I haven’t done that in a while.”

“Ram is going to serve Roswaal-sama tea. Bye, Rem.”

Rem wanted to say goodbye to Ram, but Ram had already left the hallway, so Rem couldn’t locate her from where she was standing. Although there wasn’t any need in doing so, she already knew where Ram was headed.

Ram went to where she usually serves Roswaal tea while Rem finished replacing the vase and went to the courtyard, Subaru later joined her.

Ram served Roswaal tea and went to sit on his lap.

“It’s been five days since Rem brought Subaru-kun to the mansion.”

Roswaal was talking to the pink haired maid that was on his lap.

“How has he been? By now, we should have seen someethiing.”

Ram had a softer voice when speaking to Roswaal.

“Cooking, laundry, cleaning. Barusu is incompetent in everything.”

Roswaal was caressing Ram’s hair. Specifically, the part where her headband is covering almost half.

“How strict of youuu.”

His eyes sharpened quite a bit.

“What is the potential that he is a spy?”

“I cannot deny it exists, but I believe the possibility is slim. For better or for worse. Specifically for worse, he is too conspicuous.”

“And if he’s too conspicuous-”

Roswaal cut himself off there and decided not to finish his sentence.

“Despite that possibility, he certainly is carefree. As I personally see it, interfering would be wise.”

“He’s weirdly attracted to Rem, just like right now. Which could help her finally get over her problems.”

“Hmm, how intereeesting. I didn’t see that one coming. It surely is troublesome.”

Rem was laying on the grass when Subaru walked up and sat next to her.

“Hey, Rem.”

She was drifting away because of the exhaustion she built up over the days.

“Oh, hi Subaru-kun.”

Rem was enjoying the rest until Subaru came.

“So, you haven’t caught me up from what happened in the Capital yet. What happened to Rom and Felt?”

Rem put a finger on her chin and after a second she started to talk.

“Felt-chan was taken in by Reinhard-sama. Old man Rom tried to stop him but he was put to sleep as well, Rem was told to let him sleep. Rem then called Emilia-sama and she healed both of you fully. Then we took a dragon-carriage back here.”

“Why did Reinhard take Felt in?”

“Reinhard-sama asked me not to speak about why. Oh, Rem was told to not even talk about this.”

“Well, guess I’m a lucky guy.”

“Well, Subaru-kun has done a lot to help Rem, so she wants to return the favor...”

Rem got up to sit on her knees after a bit of hesitation.

“Actually, Subaru-kun. You can use Rem’s lap.”

Rem’s face was a bit red and Subaru’s got a bit red as well.

“I’ll take up on the offer but what did I do to deserve this?”

Subaru laid down in front of Rem and placed his head on her lap.

“Roswaal-sama’s mansion is big, so it has to be hard for Subaru-kun to get used to. This is also Subaru-kun’s first time working this hard. So he racked up a lot of wounds.”

Rem was talking as she was caressing his hair a bit like his mom would do when consoling him.

Subaru stopped looking at Rem’s face and gazed at the moon.

“The moon sure is pretty.”

“A place that is so unreachable that we don’t even know how far away it is.”

“I got a touching reply while not even trying!”

Rem’s face became worried.

“Doesn’t Subaru-kun think he’s not getting enough back for what he has done?”

Subaru is confused.

“What do you mean?”

“Like when Subaru-kun saved Rem in the capital and only asked to take him with Rem to where she works and when Subaru-kun was able to ask for anything but only asked to work in the mansion.”

“You just don’t get it Rem-rin...”

Now it was Rem’s turn to be confused.

“I want what I want in that moment, and I want it with all of my heart. At the time I wanted to help you more than I did then, so I asked to spend more time with you. And working in the mansion helped with that.”

Subaru noticed what he was saying after a second and his face reddened with it.

Rem smiled upon seeing that.

“Rem is happy Subaru-kun wants to help her, although Rem wants to give something back in return and she doesn’t know what to do.”

“You don’t have to give anything back, I help because I want to, not because I want something back. Also, I just like spending time with you. And getting some money with it makes it perfect!”

“Subaru-kun could’ve asked to be a permanent guest but Rem wouldn’t be happy to spend time with Subaru-kun in that case, hence why she’s happy working with Subaru-kun. Although we can’t spend a lot of time together since our schedules are packed and Subaru-kun is mostly working with Nee-sama.”

“Yeah, but Nee-sama is a great teacher. Even though I would want her to turn down the insults a bit.”

“Subaru-kun looks dumb at first but he actually plans things out.”

Rem shot him a beautiful smile.

Subaru was mesmerised.

“R.M.T.!”

“Huh?”

“Oh, it’s a short version of ‘Rem-rin Maji Tenshi’.”

(In English : Rem(-rin) Is Seriously An Angel —. Maji (マジ), meaning "seriously" or "really") and Tenshi (天使) meaning "Angel".) (Thanks to ThunderDragonRandy for the explanation, check out his work. It's way better than mine.)

Rem was surprised at him praising her so much.

“Subaru, you dummy. Rem doesn’t deserve such flattery.”

“Why are you saying that?”

“Maybe Rem will tell Subaru-kun someday.”

Subaru was disappointed.

“I’ll want some compensation for waiting then.”

“Alright then, Rem shall do one thing to Subaru-kun’s wishes.”

Subaru got up to face Rem directly.

He raised his arm and pointed at her.

“Go on a date with me.”

“Date?”

Subaru forgot the cultural barrier between this world and his.

“Oh, you don’t know what it means.”

Rem nodded.

“So, where I’m from it just means, a boy and a girl spending time together and having fun with just the two of them.”

“Where does Subaru-kun want to do this ‘date’?”

“There was this cute little puppy that bit my hand there, I’d like to play with it, with you.”

“Rem shall work hard to clear time for this ‘date’.”

Subaru shot his fist in the air.

“Alright then!”

Rem giggled at his actions and Subaru started laughing as well.

Subaru was satisfied and said goodbye to Rem, Rem decided to go to bed a little bit after as well.

Before Subaru went to bed he went to go look for Beatrice first.

“Hello, Beatrice-sama, are you still up?”

“How do you break through Betty’s ‘Door Crossing’ so easily, I suppose.”

She was playing with her hair that was made into drills.

Subaru walked up to her and extended a hand.

“Can I try that too?”

Beatrice lowered her brows.

“Only Bubby is allowed to touch me, I suppose”

“At least you’re sharing the fun with someone. I’m a bit jealous though.”

Subaru closed his eyes and put his arms but his elbow didn’t elevate.

Beatrice raised an arm towards him.

“Well, since I’m in a good mood I can shr-”

“Enough, I suppose!”

Subaru was flown out of the door.

“I suppose Betty doesn’t have any part in that.”

Subaru, still recovering from the pain, stood up and went to his room.

“As for when our date will come, I’ll have to come up with an excuse to get those kids away from us. I’ll have to find a place that has a good view, like a flower field maybe. Rem will like it, I’m sure!”

Subaru suddenly flew up from his bed.

“Crap! I’m thinking about this too much!”

Subaru placed his fist in his hand.

“Oh I know!”

He went back under his sheets.

“One Puck… Two Pucks… Three Pucks…”

He finally fell asleep when he hit one-hundred-and-one Pucks.

Subaru woke up with a lot of energy.

“A new dawn has come! A dawn of hope!”

Subaru threw the sheets off of himself and on the floor.

“Natsuki Subaru will make giant strides today…”

Subaru noticed that Rem and Ram were in his room as well.

“What is Subaru-kun talking about?”

Rem walked up to him but when she got close she took a step back.

Subaru’s face was completely red.

“Rem-rin, what are you doing in my room? I’m so embarrassed!”

“Nee-sama Nee-sama, Subaru-kun seems to be a bit confused after Beatrice-sama sapped his mana out of his od.”

“Rem Rem, our guest may have gone crazy and he thought of an embarrassing pet-name for Rem on the second day he knew her.”

Subaru was confused.

“Second day? You’re calling me a guest? Can you two stop with your jokes?”

Subaru looked at his hands, his bandages were gone.

*The wounds…*

The situation is getting to Subaru.

*...Are gone.*

Subaru had respawned back at his first day in the mansion.

Chapter Text

Subaru looked at both of their faces, Ram’s being emotionless and Rem’s being a bit worried.

“Subaru-kun? What is wrong?”

But the thing that plagued his mind the most was his date with Rem being reset.

He acted calm and put his feet on the ground.

“Subaru-kun shouldn’t move. He may still be exhausted from what just happened.

He rushed out of the door, not wanting to break down in front of Rem.

“Dear guest! Where do you think you are going?”

Ram was talking while Rem was too busy running after him.

*Why did it reset? Everything reset, even my date with Rem.*

His tears were flowing, leaving a few falling in the hallway. He kept running, not intending to stop any time soon. Although.

Subaru turned around at a door he felt was good, he opened it and went inside.

It was, as he expected, Beatrice’s library. He was now safe from Rem and Ram’s grasp at least for a bit.

Subaru entered, closed the door behind him and sat down on the floor. Wanting to bawl his eyes out, barely resisting doing so.

Still breathing heavily, he wasn’t able to say anything for a few seconds.

“Can you please, let me stay here for a while?”

Subaru clasped his hands in an apologetic way. He has learned to be polite to Beatrice.

“If you don’t make much of a racket I suppose Betty can let you stay here.”

Subaru is trying desperately not to let any tears flow.

“First earlier, and now here again. You sure do have an ability to enter Betty’s library, I suppose.”

Subaru wanted to figure out when he reset.

“Beatrice-sama?”

“What do you want, I suppose.”

Subaru leaned forward to have his voice be clearer to Beatrice.

“You said that I breached your ‘Door Crossing’ earlier, right?”

“I just teased you about it three or four hours ago, for being so intensive.”

Subaru was being dumb before.

“So if this is the second time I’ve woken up in the mansion, that means…”

Subaru was mumbling to himself, loud enough to be heard that something was said but not loud enough to be able to understand.

“You remember me right?”

He said that louder so that Beatrice could hear him.

“Betty would have rather never met you, I suppose.”

Subaru put his back on the door and relaxed a little bit.

“So my conditions are a bit different from last time…”

Subaru was mumbling to himself again.

“My save point’s been moved from near the appa guy to an angel and her twin sister.”

Subaru was unconsciously praising Rem again.

“But how did I die? Everything was normal before I went to sleep. I don’t think anything dangerous would’ve happened to me either.”

Beatrice closed her book.

“I was curious what you were murmuring about, and I find you going on about life or death...”

She placed her elbow on the book and rested her head on her hand.

“...I suppose you humans write off such matters as boring and trifling. You are basically asking to be lied to or ridiculed.”

Subaru stood up and smiled.

“Thank you. You were a big help.”

A small pout former on her face

“I didn’t do anything.”

Subaru raised his arms in the air, stretching them.

“Somehow, seeing your never-changing attitude calmed me down a bit.”

“I suppose Betty did help out a b-”

Subaru started opening the door.

“You’re leaving?”

He turned his head around to meet the adorable butterfly eyes.

“Yeah, there’s something I want to check. I’ll save being depressed for after.”

With that, Subaru left the Forbidden Library and entered the hallways. Tough, Beatrice left him off right in front of Rem.

The girl walked past him at first but turned around three steps later.

She ran up to him.

“Where did Subaru-kun run off to? He made Rem worried.”

“Sorry, sorry. Beatrice-sama caught me in a room and we started talking for a bit.”

Rem looked the other way.

“Didn’t Beatrice-sama empty Subaru-kun’s mana deposit earlier?”

She had a very cute worried face, Subaru couldn’t stop looking at it, even when Rem turned her face to look directly at him, he still had a fixed gaze on her face.

“What is the matter, Subaru-kun?”

“Oh, I just got mesmerized by your face.”

Rem put on a smug face, trying to hide her blush.

“Yes, that makes sense. Rem is Nee-sama’s younger sister, after all. Hm-hm.”

Rem nodded to herself like she was confirming what she said.

“No Rem, I’m not looking at your sister, I’m looking at you.”

This concept was unknown for Rem.

“No one ever looks at Rem, for Rem.”

*She really has to realize how cute she is.*

“You win, for now…”

Subaru shrugs off his own disappointment.

“Anyway, I’m glad you’re alright.”

“Rem didn’t take many injuries, it was Subaru-kun that saved Rem’s life. Subaru-kun doesn’t have healing magic, so he would not have been able to save Rem if he didn’t step in front of Rem”

Subaru sighs.

“You really have to take some praise, I wouldn’t have been able to get out alive if you weren’t there. We were able to defend ourselves against Elsa because we were together. I could not have done that without you, Rem.”

Rem’s eyes lowered and her face fell sad.

“Rem doesn’t deserve praise.”

Subaru expected this answer, the conversation-killer has been dropped. So he decided to end on a positive note.

“All right, let’s go to the dining hall! Our time is limited, but the possibilities are unlimited. The story of Rem-rin and ‘Subaru-kun’ has only just begun!”

Rem walked up next to him, where Subaru couldn’t see her eyes. So Subaru slowed down to walk on the other side.

Rem noticed what Subaru was trying to do and moved a bit to the right so Subaru can realign himself faster.

She then looked at him.

“Subaru-kun is going the wrong way, the dining hall is this way.”

They needed to change positions again since they turned around.

Rem just processed what Subaru said before.

She looked at the boy in question.

“What does Rem-’rin’ mean?”

Subaru’s smile became wider as he refrained from talking.

The entire walk to the dining hall was spent in silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Since Subaru went deeply into thought and Rem was just enjoying the company of a new person. It seemed whatever was bothering her before wasn’t that big of an issue now.

*I don’t know who killed me or why, but I’ll make them regret every bit of it. They don’t know how far I’ll go to reclaim the date I promised with Rem. And the smile that accompanied it. Nothing can get in the way of my date with Rem! I’ll make it.*

“You may have anythiiiing your heaaart desiiiirees!”

Subaru stood up in a spectacular fashion.

“In that case, I have but one request. Hire me to work in this mansion…”

Silence fell upon them, until.

“Hic”

Ram had a hiccup

Subaru was assigned to the wardrobe again.

Subaru was taking one of the jackets off of the hangers.

“None of the men's clothes will fit Subaru-kun. It seems only the girls outfits will fit Subaru-kun.”

Subaru could only look at her in surprise, she broke the time rule.

“Rem is right, none of these clothes will fit Barusu.”

Ram closed her eyes and crossed her arms.

“Rem, alter that for him.”

“Yes, Nee-sama.”

Rem walked up to Subaru with some measuring tape.

Subaru put his arms up, bracing himself for getting touched by Rem.

“Rem, that can wait for later.”

“Oh.”

Rem turned around and put the tape back in her maid outfit’s pocket.

“Follow me, Barusu.” (Although Baru does sound cute, it wouldn’t come out of Ram’s mouth, docs.)

“Are you going to show me around?”

“Rem already volunteered to do that later..”

Subaru felt special when Ram said that but she already started walking out of the room. Leaving him only with shock.

“First, let’s have you help me with my work.”

Subaru doesn’t understand how Ram can so easily break the rules of time.

“Hey, wait!”

Subaru reached out to Ram but he obviously didn’t reach her.

Rem also started to walk behind her sister.

Subaru helped Ram in airing out all of the beds in the restrooms. Showing Subaru around at the same time. After that, Rem took his measurements but Subaru wasn’t able to hold in the sound he made last time.

After all of this, the maid sisters allowed Subaru to take a bath.

Subaru stepped into the warm water that filled up the bath and put his entire head underwater, making his entire body wet.

He brushed his hair back with his hand and it sat the same way it always does instantly.

“This is totally different from last time.”

Subaru thinks he’s alone and this says this all out loud.

“It’s like making a cheat sheet and then realizing it was for the wrong subject when you see the questions. A total waste of effort.”

Subaru heard the door open and close at a rapid speed.

He turned his head around only to see the person that entered already behind him.

“Why, hello there! May I join-”

“No you may not.”

No hesitation on Subaru’s part.

“This facility is part of my mansion, so it is my property. I shall do with it as I please.”

Subaru turned around and he instantly looked up since he didn’t like what his eyes were greeted by.

(Author’s Note : I would’ve skipped this scene if it weren’t for how much dialogue has changed here.)

“Why bother asking then...”

Subaru was getting pissed.

“...Just do exactly that.”

“Myyyyyy how haaarsh. And you don’t seem to understand.”

Roswaal put his hands on his hip but Subaru didn’t see it because he already turned his head back around.

“It is indeed true that this bath is my property. But as part of my staff…”

Roswaal walked next to Subaru and forced him to look into his eyes by grabbing his chin with his left hand, redirecting his face.

“...Are you not my property aaaas well?”

Subaru bit his hand instantly.

“Not a moment’s hesitation I see.”

“This isn’t turning out how I expected either.”

Subaru’s teeth were still gripping Roswaal’s hand so he wasn’t able to talk properly.

Roswaal finally gave in and actually stepped into the bath.

“I do not know what is bothering you, but life is full of things that fail along the way...”

Roswaal ended this topic.

“By the way, do you think you will be able to get along with Ram and Rem?”

“Rem is really sweet and caring. I wished she noticed that herself, since she’s ignorant of the fact that she’s better in almost every way than her sister. I’m not sure if I’ll get along with Ram that well, she’s almost like the polar opposite of a maid. Throwing all kinds of insults your way. It’s amazing she can function as a maid like that. Although Rem would praise her for that. I don’t think it’s a positive thing.”

“Well, Rem does make up for what Ram can’t do. As sisters, they must be there for each other. In that sense, I think they get by quite well.”

This conversation is serious so Roswaal dropped his speech pattern for the situation.

“Ram is just the inferior version of Rem. It’s like Rem doesn’t understand and believes that she herself is the inferior version of her older sister. Because Ram is a bit older, she is still superior. That doesn’t make sense to me.”

“You seem to be reaaally observant, don’t you think?”

After that, Roswaal and Subaru started talking about trivial things. Although, Subaru sustained a headache from Roswaal barging in and asking so many questions.

Having finally finished his bath, Subaru left the bathing room. And was greeted with Ram holding some blankets and some… Swimming underwear?”

Anyway, Subaru’s heart almost stopped beating as he turned around and swayed his arms around in a random fashion.

“Cover up that sorry thing.”

Subaru covered up his sorry thing with both of his hands, his face competing for the world record of how red it can be.

“Why are you here?!”

“Ram was simply waiting to assist Roswaal-sama in putting on fresh clothes.”

Ram stated very casually and calmly.

“Ram is sorry to inform you that she has finished her bath. So Ram won’t be changing.”

“That thought didn’t even pass my mind! You spoil Roswaal-sama too much! Can’t he dress himself?”

Her eyebrows tensed up and her eyes sharpened.

“Ram will not condone disrespect towards Roswaal-sama. Next time, I’ll use force.”

Subaru is terrified, since he knows she isn’t joking around.

“Any more and I’ll awaken a beast.”

Ram’s voice instantly softened.

“By the way Barusu, do you have any plans after this?”

“No, I’m just going to sleep.”

“Please wait in your room then, Ram will come by later.”

“Huh?”

(Authors Notes : I wanted to make Rem tutor Subaru but I think I can make it work like this since I can have Rem tutor him at least once. Since Rem is more willing to help Subaru with things in this version and Emilia doesn’t feel like she’s indebted to Subaru in any way other than retrieving her insignia, but he already got his reward for that.)

Subaru is sitting on his bed with his legs crossed.

“Don’t think about it. She won’t do anything. Clear your mind Subaru, Clear it! Rem-rin is the only one for you. Calm down!”

Subaru is desperate to clear his mind.

“One Rem-rin, two Rem-rin’s, three Rem-rin’s…”

Subaru went quiet for a second.

“Am I in heaven?!”

“You’re too noisy, Barusu. It’s nighttime, so be quiet.”

“Eep!”

Subaru laid on his side and made himself small.

“Barusu, come over here.”

Ram was walking towards his desk, Subaru didn’t notice though.

“No wait! My heart is already set on someone named ‘Rem-rin’!”

“Good luck with that, Ram isn’t here to do anything like that. I told you to sit over here…”

She was tapping a piece of paper with a feather pen.

“...So I can teach you to read and write.”

“That’s news to me!”

“Why are you doing this though?”

“Why else, it’s so that Ram…”

She paused for a second.

“No, it’s so that I can take it easy.”

Ram easily admitted to slacking off like it was a mere ant.

“That wasn’t correcting yourself. You’re never out of character are you?”

Ram looked down on him.

“Well, isn’t it obvious?...”

Subaru felt the sharp glare that is being casted upon him.

“The more Barusu can do, the less Ram has to do. And the less Ram needs to do, the less Rem needs to do. It’s a win-win.”

“It isn’t a win-win-win though! There’s nothing in it for me!”

“You’ll get to learn to read and write, an essential part of being a normal civilian.”

Subaru gave up, there’s just no way of beating Ram.

So Ram started teaching Subaru the basics.

I-glyphs, ro-glyphs, ha-glyphs. The absolute basics Subaru will learn supposedly this week. Learning how to write them, pronounce them and use them in sentences.

“There are three different types? Just hearing that is depressing.”

Saying that, Subaru mindlessly wrote down ‘Natsuki Subaru, on the scene!’ on the top of the page, probably losing focus.

“You don’t have time to waste on doodles. Tomorrow’s an early start, so time’s short. Ram is sleepy too.”

“I can’t say I dislike how you insert your own feelings at the end, Senpai.”

“I do believe honesty is Ram’s most charming feature.”

“I’m sure Rem would say that too.”

“Let’s try to study again.”

After Subaru was able to write down the i-glyphs relatively consistently, Ram showed him how to write ro-glyphs.

“It’s so monotonous, I feel a Gestaltzerfall effect phenomenon coming on...”

(‘Gestaltzerfall effect phenomenon’ : If you see too many of the same pattern, those patterns start to lose all meaning and start to form different shapes. This affects how efficiently you can work on things. If it’s just doing something over and over again. And you get this effect, you won’t remember anything. If it’s varied, you don’t have a chance of it happening.)

“But still, if it’s to make your’s and Rem’s lives easier, it makes me happy…”

Subaru was getting sleepy as well, slipping in and out of consciousness.

“Honestly, I had the feeling that you didn’t like me that much…”

Subaru is speaking his mind, his true feelings.

“...And I doubt this will be the last time I trouble you both. But I’ll try to become useful as soon as I can.”

Subaru turned his head to the left, where Ram should be standing. But instead, she wasn’t there. Turning his head more, looking behind him. He spotted Ram simply sleeping on his bed. His entire monologue wasted. No one even heard it.

This made Subaru angry and he broke the feather quill with one hand.

Subaru woke up Ram, telling her that he’s finished for tonight and also telling her to go to her own room to sleep. Ram had to tease him by asking if he did anything to her while she was asleep but Subaru was too tired to give a reaction, so Ram just walked off to her room.

The next day, Subaru was appointed to the wardrobe by Ram. When he got there, Rem handed him a set of clothes.

She then left the room, wanting Subaru to change. After a few seconds, Subaru signaled that he was done.

“It’s perfect! There isn’t even a need for my sewing skills.”

“Does Subaru-kun like sewing?”

“Yeah, kinda.”

“By the way, I see a lot of outfits for Roshi-chi and Emilia-sama, but I don’t see any for Rem-rin or Nee-sama.”

With some lustful intent, Subaru picked up the measuring tape

“Want me to sew some for you? I’ll take your measurements.”

“There is no need for that.”

Subaru was disappointed, even though he expected this answer.

“These uniforms are all Nee-sama and Rem need.”

“Not that I dislike the uniforms that Rem-rin is wearing right now. But, how can you have only these maid clothes?”

“They cause no problems when we accompany Roswaal-sama on business or when we work in the mansion. They also eliminate the need to explain our place in the hierarchy, which makes them very logical.”

“Logic isn’t the problem. I’m just trying to say that I’d like to see Rem-rin in different outfits than this one. Please try it. Not only for me but for yourself as well. Why don’t you realize just how cute you are?”

“Rem may try out a different outfit when she sees the opportunity. This is not a promise though.”

“I’ll take it.”

With that, Rem walked off, being satisfied with how Subaru looked and ending the topic they were on.

Subaru followed her back to the kitchen, where he proceeded to continue his hobby of injuring his hands on anything that has a sharp surface.

“Ow!”

“Barusu doesn’t know how to handle a knife.”

Rem stopped attending the cooking food and pulled up a few bandages.

“Oh, no need Rem. This one doesn’t bleed too much.”

“Rem will have them ready in case the next one does bleed.

Rem placed the bandages somewhere that is easily accessible and attended the cooking food again.

“You hold the knife still and turn the knife, right?”

Subaru demonstrated that he knows how to do it when he tries.

To Subaru, it’s becoming clearer that Rem does basically everything in the mansion. Everything Ram does wrong, Rem makes up for but with five times the effort. It’s amazing how she can keep up the mental fortitude, trying her hardest for the entire time she is conscious.

Although Subaru admires this side of her. He still wants to outdo Rem someday.

Thinking about this, Subaru zoned out and made a camera shape with his hands with Rem cutting bushes in the middle.

Though, his line of thought was interrupted with Ram walking up in front of him, covering his entire hand camera.

“Barusu, what are you doing?”

“I’m engraving an image into my mind.”

Ram changes her usual expression to a smug.

“Fufufu, Rem is Ram’s little sister. So Barusu can’t help but be charmed.”

“Actually, it’s quite the opposite. But that’s besides the point. The thing is, Rem has been glaring intently at me from time to time.”

“Well, Barusu’s hair does stand out quite a bit. Maybe that is what is bothering Rem.”

“I’m not sure, you have more keen eyes on Rem than I do.”

“Rem sees the hair of everyone in this mansion. She styles my hair and dresses me every morning too. Isn’t it nice?”

“Try contributing SOMETHING Nee-sama!”

Subaru was baffled by having discovered more of what Rem does in a day and it was already too much for Subaru to think about.

They went back to cutting the hedges but after a while, Subaru caught Rem glaring at him again. She normally picks the side where the bangs cover her face but this time she chooses to stand on the side where Subaru can see her face and she can look at him.

Having caught Rem looking at him again, Subaru looks at Ram for help.

Ram looked at Subaru for a second and got the hint.

“Rem, if you’d like, you can tidy up Barusu’s hair a bit.”

“Hey, having a girl mess wi-”

Rem interrupted Subaru.

“Nee-sama. Rem would not like it if she were to lie to Subaru-kun. Rem may tell Subaru-kun what is bothering Rem at a different time.

Subaru was grateful for Rem not wanting to lie to him, but he was curious to know what was bothering her.

“Thank you for being honest, Rem.”

They went back to doing all of the tasks in the mansion and a few days went by with Rem not glaring at him anymore.

About 3 days later, Subaru overheard that Rem was going to the village to restock on resources, so he pressured Ram to let him accompany her.

*I need to research the best spots to take Rem to on our date. Maybe I can spend some time with her while doing it too! Win-win!*

…

“I only need these kids to leave us alone.”

Subaru, seemingly victorious in his quable with Ram, came to the village. Only to be assaulted by the village kids.

“Do you want us to leave you alone?”

“Not fair!”

“Play with us more!”

Subaru put his hands up in an apologetic way.

“No, no. I can play with you now but…”

Subaru sat down on one knee. The kids gathered around him.

“Alright, listen up. I’ll be on a date the next time I’m here. Try to take a hint okay?”

Subaru noticed a girl holding a puppy.

“I’ll allow this pupster to play with Rem-rin though.”

Subaru instantly went for its bald head, after a few seconds, he retreated his hand and it looked like the puppy was yawning, but it was actually preparing to bite his hand.

“Ow! Again?”

Recoiling from the pain, Subaru took a few steps back and was able to notice a hue of blue.

The girl seemed to be looking around, carrying two big bags of groceries.

“Hey! Rem-rin, over here!”

She turned her head and instantly noticed Subaru, she also noticed the bleeding hand that was accompanying the sight.

She ran over as quickly as she could.

“Does Subaru-kun want Rem to heal those?”

“No need, a small bandage will do.”

“Hey Rem-rin”

“Rem-rin”

“Rem-rin”

The kids seemed to take turns calling Rem.

“Are you the one that’s going to go with Subaru on a date?”

“Hey! Hey! I thought I told you all to stay quiet!”

Rem closed her eyes.

“Rem will act like she did not hear anything...”

Rem opened her eyes again and looked at Subaru.

“What does Subaru-kun mean with -rin?”

“Fine, I’ll answer since I kept quiet last time…”

Subaru had a small blush of red.

“It’s a pet’s name, you give it to someone to be more affectionate and/or playful. This one just automatically came out of my mouth when I said your name once, so this is now your pet’s name from me.”

“Why do all of this for-”

“Anyway, Rem-rin. Are you done with shopping?”

Subaru did not want to answer more of her questions so he avoided him, resulting in an intense dagger-like look in Rem’s eyes.

She still answered with composure, though.

“Yes, it went quite smoothly.”

It was getting quite late and the sun was beginning to set, so Subaru and Rem decided to head back to the mansion. Even though the kids wanted to play more with Subaru.

Rem didn’t hold a grudge from Subaru interrupting her, she realized that Subaru doesn’t want to hear such depressing things instead of not wanting to answer one of her questions.

Even though it was a mix of both.

“Subaru-kun was quite the hit with the children.”

“Kids always flock over to me for some reason...”

Subaru’s face dropped but he still held a small smile.

“Those brats have no respect.”

“They should know what Subaru-kun has achieved already.”

“Well, they don’t. So they won’t show respect. But it doesn’t make sense that they belittle me right from the start.”

They had to hop over a puddle of water, which Rem hopped over with elegance. But, Subaru? Oh, he fell on his face and Rem was only able to save the bags, not him.

After Rem cleaned him with a little bit of water magic and Subaru tapped the dirt off of his clothes, they started walking again.

“Ram would be able to handle such a thing easily.”

“Nee-sama is wonderful.”

“Her personality creates more conflict when she stays in character though.”

“Her self-assured nature is what makes her so wonderful...”

Rem’s face fell to the ground in a depressing way.

“Rem can not be that way.”

“You don’t have to, you can be wonderful in your own way. Even though you already are wonderful…”

Subaru said the last part under his breath again, he can’t help himself from saying those things but he can also not stand Rem giving another depressing statement when he says them. So he does say them but not loud enough for Rem to hear them.

“By the way, Nee-sama won’t have time to tutor Subaru-kun tonight.”

“Awhe, Ram is a good teacher, she can teach me a lot in just a week. I’m able to read simple children’s books already! Though, if she wouldn’t fall asleep on my bed almost every time, I would have more motivation to learn more.”

“Nee-sama always knows what to do, she only falls asleep to stimulate Subaru-kun’s motivation.”

“Why do you have that absolute faith in your sister? It’s like you're demonically possessed.”

Rem stopped walking.

“Demonically possessed?”

“It’s the demon version of divine possession. Sounds cool right?”

“Do you like oni?”

Subaru looked up into the sky, seemingly voicing out his thoughts.

“Well, gods generally just sit and do nothing while oni laugh when you talk to them about future plans. Especially for next year, those make them break into laughter.”

Subaru looked back at Rem and caught her having a genuine smile.

He instantly smiled back at her.

“I can actually live for that smile, you know...”

*...Or die for it, depending on the context.*

“Why would Subaru-kun need to? Rem can always help Subaru-kun find other things to live for.”

With that, Rem and Subaru walked the rest of the way to the mansion in silence.

Subaru forgot that Ram won’t be tutoring him with language tonight, so he was waiting while writing down multiple i-glyphs but was interrupted by Rem entering his room.

She walked up to Subaru while he had a face of surprise.

“Rem said Nee-sama didn’t have time an hour ago, did Subaru-kun forget?”

“Uhh, yes. But I didn’t expect you to come here.”

“Rem offered to help Subaru-kun with his studies, since all the tasks in the mansion were already completed.”

“If all the mansion tasks were completed then wouldn’t Ram have enough time to tutor me?”

“Rem went to tell Nee-sama that the mansion tasks were completed but she already fell asleep, so Rem went to tutor Subaru-kun herself.”

Having the full picture of what happened, Subaru managed to calm down a bit.

“You will have to make up for surprising me like that.”

“Rem already gave Subaru-kun a smile to live for, right?”

Rem seemed to not understand what Subaru meant by it.

“Fair enough. I’ll do something to make it even. The only thing you have to do is come with me to see it,”

“See what?”

“That’s a surprise.”

Subaru wants to bring Rem to a flowerfield the kids told him about.

“Very well, Rem shall go with Subaru-kun to see the surprise. But Rem does nothing, she’ll be indebted to Subaru-kun again!”

“I have a plan for that as well. Though, you will probably be the one to recommend it, so it’ll happen either way.”

Subaru raised his hand to Rem’s, clutching her pinkie with his.

“It’s a promise, Rem.”

“Alright.”

With that, the two started studying.

Rem is way more gentle and teaches in a different way. But she is strict. When Subaru tries to slack off, she instantly notices and taps his hand with her own pen. When Subaru gets something right, she praises him with ‘Good job’s’. A unique way of learning to say the least. Although, it probably works best for Subaru, since he’ll remember everything he got praised for.

The two didn’t even notice how late it was getting, they were too focused on studying and just spending time together that the thought of time didn’t even cross their minds.

Subaru was planning on staying up the entire night either way, but Rem being here made it infinitely times as easy.

Although he does feel guilty taking Rem’s sleep away, it’s for the better…. Right?

A minute passed, nothing.

An hour passed, nothing.

It was almost at the time where the sun would rise, when suddenly.

Subaru felt extremely sick.

He threw up basically everything that was in his stomach in mere seconds.

“What is wrong with Subaru-kun?”

“I’m really sick all of a sudden."

Subaru felt like his head was going to explode, no. His head was going to implode, like it had a lack of blood or something else.

Rem was checking for anything that could make Subaru this sick, his temperature, amount of sleep and she asked him if he ate anything strange.

After she eliminated every single cause that could have caused this sickness. She picked Subaru up and placed him on the bed, seemingly having trouble holding back her tears.

“S-Subaru-kun.”

Having voiced his name now she let the tears flow.

Subaru looked at her with pain in his eyes, but also concern for the hurting girl.

“Subaru-k-kun has been cursed with mana depletion, h-he will die in the coming minutes.”

Subaru was shocked that a curse was killing him, not a person.

“Will you be okay, Rem?”

“The curse should have activated in Rem too if she had it, Rem will live. There is no way to save Subaru-kun.”

Subaru smiled at the fact that Rem will live, he’ll just have to save himself next time.

“I want to know one thing Rem.”

“Rem will answer anything.”

“What was the thing that was bothering you while we were working?”

Rem didn’t expect this question.

“R-Rem can smell the scent of the witch, witch cultists normally wear the scent. Subaru-kun has had it as well, that is why Rem wanted to kill Subaru-kun when we first met. Ever since Subaru-kun woke up after his mana depletion from Beatrice-sama, the scent was worse.”

“So that’s why.”

Subaru now has a base for defeating the problem of the mansion.

“Hey, Rem.”

Rem only nodded, she didn’t even want to show her face to Subaru anymore.

“Please, just hold my hand. To make it easier on me.”

Rem went on to hold Subaru’s hand tightly.

“Rem is sorry for not being able to save Subaru-kun. He has only shown kindness, and still. I never changed.”

“Don’t blame yourself, you couldn’t change a thing, unless you knew. No one would’ve done any better. Also, don’t say such depressing things now, I won’t be able to pass peacefully otherwise. I want you to be happy, realize that you are not as pathetic as you think you are. Really, you’re amazing and I would love to spend more time with you but that wouldn’t be possible.”

Subaru is trying to put on a tough act. But in reality, he really doesn’t want to die. Everything he has done to bond with Rem will be gone again. He’ll have to do it all over again.

The only difference now is that he won’t die alone. Rem is there with him. And that, makes Subaru truly happy.

Chapter Text

Subaru respawned back on the first day of the mansion. Instead of last time, where he jumped out, excited to go on a date with Rem. He instead slowly woke up, trying to relieve most of his grief and pain that comes with returning.

Truthfully, he wanted to break out in tears. But on the other hand, Rem and Ram are there watching if he’s doing alright.

“Subaru-kun sure is a deep sleeper.”

“Dear guest must be a person that slacks off every day while doing nothing.”

Ram’s comment hit a bit deep with Subaru, it’s like she’s talented at making comments that resonate with certain people.

(Nothing to do with the fic but, 100 pages? I’m very proud of myself.)

Subaru opened his eyes slowly and looked to the side--to confirm if it was really day again.

Confirming it was, Subaru felt a wave of sadness coming over him. He felt the need to tightly shut his eyes.

Rem noticed this and walked up to him, seemingly ignoring the ‘scent’ that was coming off of him.

“Is Subaru-kun alright?”

Hearing the most lovely voice Subaru can ever wish for, he opened his eyes.

Seeing Rem in front of the window, a small breeze appeared and Subaru could see both her eyes.

Light was shining onto her, she looked beautiful.

“A-”

Hearing some sounds come from Subaru’s mouth, Rem placed her ear closer to the boy’s mouth.

“An angel.”

Rem stepped back, confirming if what she heard was true. When she did, she covered her face with both of her hands.

“S-Subaru-kun is joking, right?”

“No comment.”

In truth, Subaru did voice his true thoughts but they were only said because of his down-state.

However, this small exchange and a cute reaction from Rem made him cheer up again. Remembering why he is doing this in the first place.

“Rem Rem, what perverted things came out of Dear guest’s mouth?”

Rem walked up to her sister, placing her hand to cover her mouth but speaking loud enough for Subaru to hear her.

“Nee-sama Nee-sama, Subaru-kun may have tried to flatter Rem in his half-asleep state.”

What would normally embarrass Subaru actually made him happy. Knowing that Rem is stepping up for him, somewhat.

Subaru stepped off on the other side of the bed. Setting his feet on the floor.

“I’m sorry for being such a burden. Natsuki Subaru shall start over.”

He walked up to the twins.

“I’ll trust you both…”

He extended both of his hands out to them, his arms outwards but crossed, he didn’t account for this possibility. And so he made an awkward position for himself.

“...So let’s be friends ok?”

Luckily for him, Rem took his hand almost instantly.

“Dear guest is using an excuse to hold Rem and Nee-sama’s hands? Ram has no choice but to accept it.”

With Ram’s hand finally grasping Subaru’s, he noticed something.

*It’s like I’ve felt this before.*

Subaru had a weird sense of ‘Deja vu’ when Ram started holding his hand.

Brushing that off, Subaru was happy to see that they both wanted to be friends.

His top priority : Win Rem’s trust. Was going really well.

In almost all the other loops Subaru had to die or sacrifice himself to win her trust. So he’ll try to change that by trying his all to win her trust before he is dying, they’re in a life/death situation or is dead. He has to make it work, or he wouldn’t be able to save anyone or even get closer to Rem.

After a little bit of banter with Ram, the maids went off to prepare breakfast.

Instead of waiting around like last time, he went outside to go talk to Emilia. Maybe ask her about how magic works, it seems like she or her spirit -Puck- knows a lot about magic and may be able to tell Subaru about it. Maybe even teach him some spells.

He went outside of his room, located the courtyard and laid in the grass.

The last time he laid on the grass here was on the last day, so it grew a little bit more in that time. Right now, the grass is cleanly cut and it was very soft to lay/sit on.

After a while, Puck noticed him and started flying above him, where his eyes were aimed at.

“Oh! You’re the new guest! Are you checking out my daughter immediately?”

“I was told by Rem to familiarize myself with the mansion residents, so I’m doing exactly that. Is it okay for me to speak with your daughter on equal terms?”

Subaru’s speech pattern and posture don’t fit together, one is laid back while the other is really formal.

“My daughter would actually prefer if you’d talk to her normally, she doesn’t talk to that many people.”

“Figures. But before I talk to her, I have to do my daily training.”

Subaru assumes the wording ‘Radio calisthenics’ doesn’t exist here, so he’ll use the wording ‘daily training’ instead. It saves him some effort.

He started by doing some stretches and after doing those, he started doing small jumps to ease the tension off of them. And as a final, he started moving them again to finally have them warmed up.

He ends it off by raising his arms and shouting.

“Victory!”

“That seems like a fun morning routine Subaru! Maybe I’ll tell Lia about it some time.”

“It’s a morning exercise, to start off the day fresh.”

Emilia just finished talking to her spirits.

“Oh, it’s the new guest! Natsuki Subaru?...”

Emilia talked very fast, as if she was very nervous to talk to someone.

“...I wanted to check up on you but it seemed like I would be interrupting something important so I decided to go do my own morning routine.”

Having finished her sentence she crossed her arms and put on a smug, proud of herself.

“Oh, by the way. Can I call you Emilia?”

“Absolutely!”

Subaru sensed zero hesitation.

“Alright, so Emilia. What kind of magic were you using there?”

Subaru really wanted to learn magic.

“What Lia is doing isn’t technically magic, she doesn’t use her own gate.”

Puck took it from her.

“Same goes for her contract with me.”

Puck flew towards Subaru and circled around him.

“She uses spirit arts.”

“People that use magic and spirit arts are different?”

“Yes, magic-users cast magic with their own mana, while spirit-users cast spells with mana from their surroundings.”

Subaru raised his arm, spreading his hand out.

“How are those two any different Sensei?”

“Basically, it depends on whether you use a gate.”

“A gate?”

Puck stopped circling around Subaru to demonstrate what a gate was.

“It’s something that’s in your body that controls the flow of mana.”

Puck circled his long tail in front of himself.

“Through the gate you draw mana and expel it.”

Puck took a breath in and out, demonstrating it as if the air was mana and his tail the gate.

*I see, a tap for MP?*

“You should have one too, Subaru.”

Subaru perked up, seemingly throwing away any kind of morality he had before. Which he did have.

“R-Really? Can I use magic as well?”

“Do you want me to figure out your attribute?”

Although Puck voiced out a question, he was already doing it. Pointing the tip of his tail at Subaru and touching it.

“Magic-users are divided into four main elements : fire, water, wind and earth.”

Puck made background noise to make it seem more interesting.

‘Nyom, nyom, nyom, nyom.”

*This really is like a magic sound effect!*

“I figured out what your attribute is.”

“I’ve been waiting for this! I wonder what my attribute is!”

*What will it be? I don’t know which one of the four attributes would fit me-*

“It’s Yin.”

(For anyone that doesn’t understand.)

(Yin and Yang are the way of saying these magic attributes.)

(Yin (陰) stands for shadow.)

(Yang (陽) stands for light. Again, ThunderDragonRandy, thanks for the kanji.)

*That makes sen… NO IT DOESN’T*

“Shadow? That’s very rare!”

“Why is shadow actually a thing? There were only four attributes, this is a category error!”

“In addition to the four basic attributes, there is also Yin and Yang.”

“Is it powerful? Some really good ability?”

“You can make a person blind, block sound, slow movements and things like that.”

*There’s only debuffs?*

“An easy spell would be ‘Shamak’.”

“Isn’t that a blinding spell?”

“Want me to show you?”

“Can you? Please show me.”

With a bit of back talking from Emilia, Puck still fired his magic at Subaru.

“Shamak!”

Everything went dark instantly, Subaru couldn’t see a thing. There was some weird purple smoke hanging around in pure darkness, when he brought his arms up, he knew they were there but he couldn’t see them.

It reminded him of the world he gets sent to for a half a second when he dies. He also got sent here when he talks about return by death.

The moment he realized, he felt powerless, he can’t do anything. He wants to get out as fast as possible, he can’t, he is completely in Puck’s power.

Images of the times he died, his stomach cut open, Rem’s crying face and Elsa’s amused but angry.

He’s scared, scared of losing everything. Scared of not being able to do something.

He tried walking around aimlessly with his arms stretched, finding nothing. Untill…

“Okay, that’s it.”

His vision came back to him in an instant.

“How was that? That was shamak.” (Chamakh? What the hell google docs, are you trying to kill me?)

“Are you alright?”

It took a few seconds for Subaru to snap back to reality.

He was at the verge of tears, his face was filled with despair.

“Yeah, I’m okay...”

Subaru tried to go back to his normal happy-go-lucky self, but wasn’t able to completely.

Before he was able to say anything more…

Rem and Ram walked up to both of them. In perfect symphony they talked.

“Emilia-sama, our lord, Roswaal-sama has returned. Please come inside.”

Subaru’s negative emotions got blown away just by the sight of Rem. His face took a 180 turn from just recovering from the fear he just received to extreme happiness.

He’ll have to wait until at least after he becomes a butler to have a proper chat with her.

“Can you learn me how to use shamak next time?”

“As repayment for talking to Lia normally, yes.”

Subaru is quite sad that he wouldn’t be able to touch Puck’s fur whenever he wanted to. But besides that...

...Something else did make up for tha. Rem not being too suspicious of him and not shooting daggers at him with just her eyes. Was his top priority and he gained it so easily, it was almost like everything was going too well.

Did the ‘smell’ depart? Did he do something to make her trust him? He didn’t know, he’s only enjoying the moment.

And so, Subaru joined the twin maids to walk to the dining room, Emilia soon followed.

Nothing of significance happened in the time they walked to the dining room.

The only thing that happened is Subaru filling Emilia in on what happened in the capital, which the writer can’t be asked to write down, so use your imagination.

When he got to the dining hall, Subaru retraced his steps by what seemed like the best path with a few flaws, he can’t come over as the perfect person. Because he isn’t.

“Hire me to work in this mansion!”

Unlike last time, Rem’s eyes widened. But there was still an awkward silence.

Ram broke it again, but this time by yawning.

*Third time’s the charm!*

The rest went the same, the only thing that changes is Rem being more open with him and actually having a good mood.

He also didn’t have to take a bath with the lord of the mansion, a positive thing. (If you want it to be negative, go ahead, I ain’t judging ya.)

Probably because he didn’t take a bath, Rem was able to tour him through the mansion and take his measurements.

After all of this, Rem showed him where Ram was and he started helping her with dusting and cleaning some rooms.

There was a certain glint of determination in Subaru’s eyes.

*I have to do my hardest.*

Subaru was at least capable of not cutting his hands on everything.

The only thing he did is drop about 12 vases, to which Rem volunteered to get a new one every time, but Subaru insisted he’ll get them. He created the problem himself, so it is him who should solve it.

Every time he did get a vase, he did it as fast as he could--as enthusiastic as he could.

He is probably dropping more vases than he can earn money.

When he finally got a break, he went outside and saw Emilia also taking a break.

He laid down with a bit of distance between them, letting the tension out of his body.

After a few seconds, he felt relaxed and let out a sigh of relief.

“Hey, Subaru! Are you on break right now?”

“Yeah, working in this mansion isn’t to be taken lightly.”

“Must be hard to adapt to work here. You’re so enthusiastic on your first day!”

Although Emilia is a nice person and she would be a great friend, Subaru has put his priorities on something else at the moment.

He looks around for a few seconds.

He can’t find what he is looking for, so he asks Emilia.

“Do you know where Puck is?”

Emilia looked at Subaru with a confused face, her head falling down a bit to the side.

After a few seconds, Puck came out of her hair.

“Hey Subaru! Why did you ask for me?”

“You said you would teach me how to cast a spell right?”

“Oh yeah I did say that. I think we made a promise.”

“How can you forget Puck! Promises are important!”

“I was joking, sorry.”

Puck sighed.

“So, as for helping you cast a spell, we first need to teach you how to control your mana. I’ll be helping as a backup.”

“So you’re making sure I don’t mess up.”

“Yes. Also, Lia, can you back up so you don’t get caught up if he does explode?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Emilia continued to walk away for about 20 seconds, Subaru’s eyes going wider by the second. Until she finally stopped, almost half a football field across from them.

“Will it really mess up that badly?!”

“Now, let’s start with trying to control your mana. I’ll act as support and maybe give you mana if you don’t have enough.”

Puck flew on top of Subaru’s head and sat on top of there.

“Visualize the flow of mana through your body. And expel a portion of it through your gate and out of your body.”

“Visualizing I can do!”

Subaru closed his eyes and put his pinkies on his temple.

He visualized a black type of smoke that was somehow blacker than the air around it and a white circle in the middle of it.

After a few seconds, he moved the black smoke into the white circle. But it looked like a lot was getting taken in.

“Huh? Why is the gate?-”

Subaru exploded in a mushroom of black smoke. The mana came pouring out.

All of the strength left Subaru's body and he fell to the ground, as if he was Megumin.

He didn’t get any satisfaction from it though, since he “failed”

While he was on the ground, he was beginning to feel drowsy and fell asleep before the smoke dissipated.

He woke up on a hard flat surface which was warmed up a bit, probably because of his body heat.

When Subaru woke up and showed signs of being aware of his surroundings, Emilia asked him what he felt like.

It was really hard for Subaru to put into words. He was wide awake but he couldn’t move well, he was weak but he wasn’t tired.

“Okay. So in short, your control over your gate isn’t very good, so you shouldn’t try too hard.”

“Didn’t you say I was going to be fine?”

Puck made a cute pose by placing his paw on the side of his head and rubbing it.

“Tee-hee.”

“That’s only cute if it was a different thing.”

“Anyway, for better or worse, your gate hasn’t seen much use. That’s why the mana ignored your will and burst out like that.”

“Am I a soy sauce bottle with a loose cap or something?”

Subaru tried to get up since he was able to move a little bit, but quickly fell back down since he didn’t have enough strength to get up. At least, not without his arms.

“You shouldn’t move. You used all of the mana in your body.”

Emilia placed her index finger on her chin.

“Maybe you shouldn’t work today anymore either-”

“No! I have to!”

*If I don’t do anything, I won’t be able to prove my trustworthiness to them!*

Subaru tried to sit up straight by using all of his strength in every way possible, he can at least put full strength in multiple parts to move properly.

“No need to push yourself.”

Emilia went around so she is in reach if Subaru needs help.

“This is exactly when I need to push myself. I can’t waste a single day.”

Subaru is dead-set on trying his hardest.

Emilia looked at him with eyes of astonishment. Surprised that the man that wanted to learn magic--and failed-- had this much will-power.

“You really need to find a moment to stop.”

Emilia helped him sit up straight and then she put something in his mouth with her own hand. Effectively feeding Subaru something.

“Chew it.”

Ofcourse, Subaru is embarrassed to have a really beautiful girl put something in his mouth so casually, so he forgot to eat it.

“Chew and swallow it.”

Emilia made a starting gesture with her hand.

“Ready, go!”

“Gulp-”

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”

(I don’t know how to write that, don’t judge me.)

“W-What just happened?”

Emilia giggled at his reaction.

“It’s a bocco fruit. Eating it stimulates your mana, allowing your gate to regain a little of its strength.”

Subaru made a light bow.

“Thank you.”

(I’ve always wanted to make Subaru a bit politer this early in the story, so why not have Rem be a reason for that?)

Emilia pouted.

“We already address each other without honorifics, you don’t have to be formal.”

“Oh yeah, sorry.”

They chatted about trivial things after. Subaru’s break was coming to an end so he left to go work on the daily mansion tasks as a butler.

Subaru was still trying very hard on his mansion chores. Some would say he’s trying too hard.

In a different room, there was an eerie sight of the pink-haired maid sitting on the mansion’s master’s lap.

“So Ram, with what you have seen from him so far, what do you think of him?”

(Joke answer “No.”)

“In terms of abilities he’s completely useless but he’s surprisingly quick-witted when it comes down to it. The person that should have been the most suspicious of him--Rem--seemed to have opened up to him quickly.”

Ram closed her eyes.

“The chances of him being a spy are slim, but I can’t deny it is there.”

“Truly, it is quite troubling. We should keep an eye on him for noooow.”

The person they were discussing just got finished doing his chores and went back into his room.

“That went well, I learned some magic from Emilia-sama, Ram seemed the same--not like I expected that to change-- and Rem was surprisingly caring for me. I wonder what I did to change that...”

Subaru’s worry rose.

“The thing now is how to deal with the curse…”

Subaru went to Beatrice to ‘interrogate’ her about curses.

“You want to know more about curses?”

“Yeah, how do you avoid them.”

“You cannot…”

*Is this an inevitable death loop?*

“...Once a curse is activated, there is no way to undo it, I suppose. Once it’s activated, that’s it. That is what curses are...”

“Is it possible to nullify the instant-death possibilities?”

“...Before they’re activated, curses are just simple spells. Before that, Betty can easily undo them.”

“Can I come to you when I need help?”

“Only if your life is in danger, I suppose.”

“Thank you, Beako!”

Subaru held Beatrice high up in the air and swung her around.

“I am forever in your debt!”

She flailed her arms around.

“Let Betty down I suppose!”

However, Subaru didn’t stop so Beatrice resorted to drastic measures and used magic to free herself from Subaru’s grasp.

“Dorowazu!”

(I don’t know how Subaruism works, I just add it.)

With that, Subaru went to sleep… Or, at least, he tried to go to sleep.

But his door was knocked on.

“This is Rem.”

Subaru was still grasping reality.

“Come in.”

Rem opened the door and the moment Subaru saw her bright blue hair, he knew what was happening.

Rem came to his room by her own will.

*What did I do to deserve this?*

“Sorry if Rem is interrupting, she only realized it was this late when she knocked on Subaru-kun’s door.”

Subaru brushed it off.

“Nah nah, it’s alright. What did you want to do here?”

Rem did not expect Subaru to question her immediately, so she gained a little bit of a pink tone to her cheeks.

“R-Rem was going to ask Subaru-kun…”

As if teasing him, she paused for a second.

“...If she could help him study.”

Subaru couldn’t help but be disappointed with what he got, but he didn’t show that to Rem.

“Why don’t we start right now?”

Rem’s face rose up and she wore a small smile.

And thus started Rem’s and Subaru’s tutoring time every night. Subaru was happy this happened now since he’s hoping to finish this problem in this loop.

Subaru showed Rem what he could already do and they started working on what he couldn’t do.

Her teaching style didn’t change over the loops. She was strict when Subaru tried slacking off and praised him when he did well, etc.

After about two hours of studying, Rem yawned and decided it was time to end it for today.

That was no problem for Subaru since he was hiding his drowsiness this whole time.

Subaru went to sleep right after Rem left and he collected a bit of his thoughts.

He woke up enthusiastically, put his clothes on with record speed and went outside to greet everyone.

They made breakfast and did some mansion work.

Subaru was alone with Rem trimming the bushes, Subaru was rather talented in trimming bushes since he had a certain type of precision for it and he was tall enough to reach anything easily. So Ram took the opportunity to free herself from the hardest chore for the maids.

Subaru knew she was just trying to avoid it but he still accepted since it meant alone-time with Rem. Some time with her in the morning, what more could Subaru ask for?

“Isn’t it exciting working here as a servant, Rem-rin?”

“A new butler certainly makes things more exciting. It must be hard for Subaru-kun to adapt to the mansion.”

Rem had a tone to her voice that showed that she showed interest while still trimming the bushes.

“Right? This mansion is huge, it’s amazing you two could handle it all with just the two of you.”

“Nee-sama and Rem are really busy, we barely have time to do anything else.”

Subaru is starting to pity the two of them, working in such a huge mansion with just the two of them.

“Was it always the two of you?”

“No, Rem and Nee-sama had a senior that taught us the ropes, she left a few months ago for personal business.”

*Rem and Ram’s senior? I wonder how they look.*

“Of course there would be a senior that would teach you both, kind of dumb from me to not consider that.”

“Yes, she was very kind.”

*Ah, so it’s a woman.*

“I guess you two are my seniors, you’re teaching me the basics and helping me every step of the way there. I really can’t thank you both enough.”

“Subaru-kun doesn’t have to. This is Rem’s way of paying Subaru-kun back for the kindness he gave Rem while she was only trying to kill him.”

*Oh yeah, she doesn’t know that she saved me in that alleyway.*

“Really, it’s fine. I’m sure you have your own personal reasons to distrust me and that’s fine. I would distrust myself as well if I were in your shoes.”

“Rem was almost about to make the same mistake when Subaru-kun woke up. But Rem trusts Subaru-kun, so she won’t make the same mistake again.”

*I wonder what changed over loops.*

Subaru felt relieved with what she said.

“I’ll keep trying my hardest to deserve that trust!”

Rem looked at him, confused at what made him this excited.

“When I get too tired from working too hard, let me rest on your lap, okay?”

Rem laughed it off as a joke.

“If Subaru-kun is able to make such jokes, then he must be fine, right?”

Subaru was gifted a relaxing moment with Rem, but he screwed up since he was still really over-excited and hyper the whole time.

The only thing Subaru gained was reassurance in Rem’s trust.

In contrary, Subaru was working harder and burning himself down faster.

Feeling more and more sick the more times he spoke, the more tasks he started. Losing basically everything multiple times and keeping up this farce is way too mentally draining for Subaru.

*I feel sick.*

Changing his attitude and personality for every person is getting tiresome. A bit polite for Ram, formal for Roswaal and just himself for Rem and Emilia.

The only person he was comfortable being himself with was Rem. All the others belittle him for his personality. He tries his best to stay himself in front of Emilia but with her political status running in his mind the whole time, it was kind of hard.

*I feel sick, I feel sick.*

It’s becoming more and more apparent that his smile was a fake one.

More tasks, more time, more effort, more stress and more sickness.

*I feel sick, I feel sick, I feel sick.*

At some point, Subaru was giving himself a mind pep-talk through a mirror in the changing room. While he was -supposedly- picking, dusting and cleaning.

“Are you alright, Subaru-kun?”

A concerned voice called out for him.

He took a deep breath and turned around.

“Yeah, I’m alright-I’m alright.”

Rem’s face only grew more concerned.

“Rem noticed Subaru-kun is o-”

Subaru felt a sudden feeling in his stomach.

He ran away with a hand in front of his mouth, not saying a word to her.

Subaru arrived, Where? At the bathroom.

His body couldn’t take it anymore and sent him a forced response to stop. he needed to puke.

It took a few seconds until Subaru felt like there was nothing more coming.

He looked at himself in the mirror.

“You almost puked in front of Rem, you idiot.”

His hair was a mess, some parts going the wrong way. It didn’t seem presentable.

Subaru still didn’t notice and he walked out like nothing happened.

When he walked out, he was greeted with Rem standing right there.

The sunset illuminating her bright-blue hair.

“Subaru-kun.”

Subaru was so taken in by her beauty that he didn’t even notice that the person in front of him called out to him.

He couldn’t see her face since it was covered in the shadow and her bangs.

“Subaru-kun was lying to Rem.”

Subaru flinched by the coldness in her voice. He couldn’t react fast enough before she got a hold of his wrist and dragged him across the hallway.

Subaru was unable to resist her superior strength.

She walked until she got to a random bedroom, she dragged him in and let go.

“Subaru-kun, sit down against the bed, please.”

The tone her voice had was a polar-opposite to what it was a minute ago.

It was as if she was embarrassed.

Subaru was confused about everything that was happening, so he was still mentally paralyzed.

“Subaru-kun?”

She gave the still shocked Subaru a confused look.

After a few seconds, she took the matter into her own hands and took both of his hands, guided it towards the bed and sat down on her knees.

Subaru had to sit down as well. He was finally able to grasp reality when he sat down.

“W-Why did Rem take me here?”

Subaru was extremely nervous. The girl he had set his sights on just took him to a part of the mansion that isn’t come across a lot.

Subaru has only been in this part of the mansion once, when he was pathfinding the mansion in the first loop.

Subaru looked at Rem with a bit of red across his face.

Rem looked back with a smug smile whilst also having a blush of her own.

“I-Is Subaru-kun embarrassed?”

Her attempt at teasing was ruined by the adorableness of her own face.

After another second of awkwardness, Rem sighed.

“Rem can’t do it a lot. But since Subaru-kun has worked so hard. Nee-sama allowed it.”

“Huh?-”

Rem took Subaru by the neck and gently pushed his head into her lap.

She gently stroked his head and put a few hairs back up straight.

“You're letting me... use Rem’s lap?”

“Y-Yes...”

Subaru looked up to see her face.

“...Rem let Subaru-kun use her lap before. He should stop getting into trouble.”

“What did I do to deserve this luxury?”

“Subaru-kun worked himself to the point of puking.”

“There’s really no need for that.”

Rem insisted on telling him.

“Rem and Nee-sama can do a lot. Subaru-kun doesn’t have to cover for us.”

“I want to push myself.”

“Subaru-kun can push himself as hard as he wants. At least, not to the point of puking. Rem has always been trying her hardest, she wouldn’t want someone who is new to take that title from her.”

Subaru started to understand a little bit.

"So please, let Rem work the hardest out of everyone here. Subaru-kun doesn't have to work so hard. Rem already owes a huge debt to Subaru-kun.”

After a few seconds, Rem put her mouth closed to the boy’s ear, and whispered.

“Will Subaru-kun tell Rem why he has been working so hard?”

Subaru finally understood. She wanted him to tell her everything, everything that has been bothering him, everything that has been hurting him. She wants to know. She wants to comfort him.

She wants him to break his mask when he’s with her. Not his enthusiastic state, she wants to see Subaru. And only Subaru when she sees him.

Subaru’s mask finally fell off, the only thing remaining right now were Subaru’s pent up emotions.

“I wanted you to trust me, I wanted you to keep trusting me.”

Subaru’s eyes were now letting tears go while Rem was still gently caressing his hair.

“I was scared, I was really scared of losing anyone.”

Subaru is letting his heart pour out. All of his weaknesses are exposed, for Rem to see.

But Rem doesn’t pay those weaknesses any mind, she was the one exposing them after all.

“I didn’t want to lose what I love. I want to save everyone.”

“It’s alright Subaru-kun, you already saved Rem.”

“I lost things I didn’t want to lose, I can regain them but it wouldn’t be the same!”

The thing bothering Subaru the most, screamed out like the pest.

He kept crying for a few more minutes until he finally fell asleep.

Rem stayed there. She did not want to inflict more pain on Subaru than he had just released.

Leaving him there when he wakes up will surely leave him lonely.

So she stayed, gently caressing his hair and playing with it sometimes.

When he got a bit tense, she tried some things and figured out that making circles on his cheeks seemed to work the best.

So she repeated this cycle for a few hours, until it was night.

Ram finished covering both of them and came to look for Rem.

Although, it wasn’t really looking, it was just walking towards them since she knew where they were with a few rooms on accuracy and which floor.

So she arrived at the room that they were residing in.

“Rem, Ram finished the work for today. Did Barusu enjoy the lap pillow?”

Ram was visibly agitated.

“Rem was the one that gave Subaru-kun a lap pillow. Rem wouldn’t do it if she didn’t want to.”

“Heh.”

*Barusu does know how to turn the tides in terms of trust, huh.*

Rem smiled at her.

“Subaru-kun looks like a child when he sleeps, doesn’t he?”

Ram sighed.

“Rem can stay there for as long as she wants, Ram is going to bed.”

With that at its end, Ram went back to her room to leave Rem and Subaru to do whatever.

She had already accepted that something may develop between the two, but she didn’t expect anything this soon.

After another 20 minutes or so, Subaru woke up, still in Rem’s lap.

“Did Subaru-kun sleep well?”

Rem didn’t want to stop touching and moving Subaru’s hair around.

“U-Uhh, yeah. It was quite comfortable.”

Subaru’s face managed to relax.

“It is quite late now, Subaru-kun was out for about 3 hours.”

“Can you, let me enjoy this for a little longer? I was out most of the time.”

“Of course.”

Chapter Text

After Rem and Subaru left each other to go back to their own rooms, Subaru couldn’t sleep.

He had too much on his mind, Rem has said nothing to hurt him. None of her words didn’t help, every word, every single one of them, helped him get rid of his stress.

Besides that, he was embarrassed.

“Ahh! I can’t believe I bawled over the girl I love, and fell asleep bathing in my own tears and snot!?”

Subaru was walking around in Beatrice’s library, since no one can get there easily, no one can interrupt him and Beatrice doesn’t seem to care too much.

“What kind of hopeless being am I? Totally hopeless!”

“I suppose that’s all you have to say late at night.”

“Why are you like this Beako? We’re friends, right?”

“I suppose with how much Betty has helped--”

Beatrice noticed something.

“Wait, what did you just call me?”

She had an angry face.

“Oh, Beako?” (Beko? What.)

Subaru put his finger in the air and started moving it in a circle.

“I think pet names are indispensable in showing affection. So I’m going to call you Beako.”

“I suppose Betty can consider this.”

Subaru sighed.

“Thank you. For calming down my nerves.”

Beatrice’s unchanging attitude seemed to help calm Subaru down.

“Betty did nothing, I suppose.”

“I have one thing to ask.”

“What is it?”

“How can curses be placed on someone?”

Subaru knows how curses work, how they kill someone but not how they are placed on someone. He needs to know to fix this mess.

“Well, there is one rule to curses that can’t be broken.”

“An absolute rule?”

“You must be in physical contact with your target.”

Beatrice dropped her speech pattern.

“That is the prerequisite.”

Subaru put his chin in his fingers. Seemingly in thought.

*I’ve only been touched by the people at the village, other than the mansion. Ram seems to care a lot about Rem, and never touched me before, Emilia is really caring and kind but she never touched me in the loops that I was cursed.*

Subaru is eliminating some options.

*I trust Rem, Roswaal has touched me in the second loop, but not the first. So he’s cleared. And I also trust Beako.*

Subaru put on a wide grin.

*The culprit is in the village!*

“Thank you Beako!”

Subaru placed his thumb in the air and gave Beatrice an enthusiastic thumbs up.

“No problem, I suppose.”

Having calmed down and gained new knowledge on curses, Subaru was finally able to sleep.

When he woke up he was rested and calmed down.

*I guess it all worked out, huh.*

Subaru now only had to wait until he had to go to the village.

His work-ethic changed as well. More like he was in the first two loops but without cutting his hands the entire time, he trusted more in the twin sisters to get the work done.

He has gotten better at his job and knows the twin sisters better.

Although, he hasn’t gotten the nickname ‘Barusu’ off of him, he did manage to get a little tone down on the insults he was getting from Ram.

Though, those are just the side-effects of his efforts. His main goal at the moment is to go to the village to confirm where the curse came from.

Therefore, he called the two sisters together.

“I’m suggesting we go restock at the village I heard was nearby.”

“Why is Barusu suggesting this out of the blue?”

“I noticed we are low on ingredients and it is better if we restock now rather than in a few days.”

Ram looked at him with a blank face.

“Subaru-kun is right, Rem will only be able to make dinner for today.”

Rem was in charge of cooking and managing most of the storage.

“We may not have time to go to the village tomorrow. It is best if Rem and Subaru-kun go to the village now.”

Rem made an almost impossible-to-reject request out of the blue.

Ram sighed.

“Fine, Ram can take care of the rest of the tasks today.”

Subaru’s plan was achieved with the assistance of Rem.

He really doesn’t want to lose the nice way Rem acts towards him now, he has to succeed this time.

Subaru was very lucky to have Rem insist on going alone with him.

Anyway, when they arrived at the village Rem went off to get the supplies they needed since she knew Subaru wouldn’t be of any help either way.

Subaru can read simple books but he is still illiterate in daily life.

So, without anything else to do, he went off to do ‘radio calisthenics’ with the villagers.

He had the villagers all touch him on different spots, after the last two elderlies.

Respectfully, the woman, that slapped him lightly on the ass and then walked away stating that she feels much younger again.

And the man, who put a hand on his shoulder and gave him an approval nod.

*Alright, all the villagers have now touched me in different spots. We’re done here.*

Subaru suddenly felt something tug on his sleeve.

He turned around to see a braided blue-haired girl in front of him.

He had to kneel down to talk to her.

“What is it?”

The girl perked up.

“Umm.”

She pointed somewhere.

“Over there.”

*I remember this happening before, the way it did is a bit differently now though.*

“Alright, let’s go.”

They walked to the edge of the village until they met up with the other children.

It’s safe to assume that they were waiting on Subaru to get there.

The girl rushed ahead and kneeled down by the gate.

After a few seconds, a little puppy ran over, Subaru recognized it.

The same puppy that bit him in the hand, twice.

“Cuuute!”

Subaru reached for the puppy’s head with his hand, only for it to growl.

“Oh, not this time.”

He managed to avoid getting bitten.

Subaru stared at it for a few seconds until it closed its eyes and let its guard down.

“Oh, this is a chance!”

The kids were all watching this wonderful moment.

Subaru gently grabbed the puppy’s paw with his other hand.

“It’s so soft, I wouldn’t guess it was a stray if no one told me.”

Subaru noticed something.

“Oh, you have a bald spot on your head.”

How he didn’t notice it before? I don’t know. I mean, IT’S RIGHT THERE. Ok, I’ll stop.

Anyway, Subaru reached for the head again with his other hand still caressing the paw.

He was able to place his hand on its head for a few seconds.

The moment he pulled away from it, he was bitten though.

For the third time.

“In the same spot? Are you a time-traveler?”

“You shouldn’t have touched her that much!”

Before he realized, there was already something healing his hand.

It seemed Rem placed down the groceries and came rushing over.

“Are you alright, Subaru-kun?”

It made Subaru happy that Rem was worrying for him so much, but he would rather have her save mana for something that may be upcoming.

“There’s no need, Rem.”

But, before he knew it, he was healed completely.

“Rem wants to.”

*If she keeps insisting on helping it’s going to become a problem.*

“I don’t want to burden you with anything else.”

“Rem doesn’t want Subaru-kun to get hurt.”

The kids were all watching the exchange of two people that both think they’re in-debted to each other.

Rem, because of her suspicion of Subaru in the beginning which caused her to attempt murdering Subaru multiple times.

Subaru, because of the kindness the girl gave him in the first loop and this loop.

Rem doesn’t understand nor does she know what she did in order for Subaru to feel in-debted to her.

Subaru doesn’t understand either, she didn’t act like this before.

Besides all of that, they both knew that the other wouldn’t back out on insisting, so they both agreed to stop without even saying anything.

“Anyway, uhh, how did the groceries go?”

“Rem has gotten everything she needed for the upcoming week and a half or so.”

Rem’s planning still amazes Subaru.

“Did Subaru-kun get to do what he needed to?”

“Yes! -The moment- the old man tapped me on the shoulder, I was done.”

The sun was going down, it has been another long day.

He only has to do one more thing.

Actually, that was a lie. Two more things.

One thing didn’t really seem like a chore to Subaru, since it was walking to the mansion with Rem.

She showed interests in what Subaru brings up. They were entertained the entire way there.

When they arrived, Roswaal was going outside.

“My, myyyy. Hello my fellow servants!”

Subaru put down his bags while Rem formally bowed.

Subaru was exhausted, he was hiding it all while walking with Rem, but he can now relax.

“Is Roswaal-sama going out?”

Rem posed a question.

“Yeees, you are right Rem. I am going out on business.”

He placed his hands on his hips and looked down to look at the two.

Roswaal walked up to the exhausted Subaru.

He placed a hand on Subaru’s shoulder.

He closed one eye and gazed at him with his yellow one.

“Take goood care of Rem and protect Emilia-sama.”

Author’s note : I’ll use Rem here since Roswaal is a cunning man and he knows saying ‘Rem’ with ‘Emilia-sama’ would motivate Subaru more.

“Yeah, you don’t even have to ask.”

Roswaal’s face was close and he talked silently so that Rem doesn’t hear it.

They both entered the mansion.

“Subaru-kun can call it a day, Rem is going to finish the last chore.”

She started walking.

“Alright, thank you. See you later, Rem.”

She turned around and acknowledged him with a small smile and started walking again.

“Good, that went well!”

Subaru now has to do one more thing.

“Time for my daily Beako-time!”

Beatrice looked agitated.

“Your face looks quite different than what it did five days ago. I suppose you’ve been busy.”

“I took Rem’s advice and didn’t work myself to death.”

“...”

“There’s still something I’d like you to check for me.”

Subaru looked at her with a straight face.

“I think I’ve been cursed. Could you find out for sure?”

“Already? Betty has just told you about curses, I suppose.”

Beatrice walked up to him.

“Traces of a curse?...”

She looked up at him with surprise.

“...I suppose you really have been cursed.”

*So the shaman was one of the villagers after all.*

“Can you tell what kind of curse it is?”

“I can’t say from looking at the curse. But, once it’s activated, there’s no way of deactivating it. So chances are, that you’ll die.”

“...”

Silence as Subaru’s face doesn’t change at all.

“I suppose you really aren’t scared of dying, are you?”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“...”

The silence among these two doesn’t seem like a good thing. But it’s more like a mutual agreement that they shouldn’t continue the subject they are on.

“Anyway, can you lift the curse that was placed on me? I don’t have much time left to live if you don’t.”

Subaru’s politeness and kindness towards Beatrice had made her a bit fond of the man, so she will help him.

He leaned down.

Subaru has let all of the people that he deemed suspicious touch him in different areas.

After several seconds of Beatrice using some controlled mana on him, he felt the curse.

He didn’t necessarily feel it, but he sensed it.

He felt it on his hand, when he turned to look at it. It looked like a black mist of some sort, it disappeared when it was exposed to air for too long.

The same spot where the puppy bit him, three times. That’s where the curse layed.

Beatrice placed her hand on top and seemed to grab something.

“Alright, you should be safe for now, I suppose.”

The black mist disappeared.

Subaru was angry, his face retorted with anger.

“The curse was where the shaman touched me, right?”

Beatrice nodded.

“Darn that thing! The puppy the kids were playing with was messing with me this entire time!”

Subaru ran out of the door, and luckily Beatrice helped him out by placing him almost right next to Rem.

Subaru knew where he was and where Rem was supposed to be

He ran towards her direction with haste.

When he finally got in reach with her being able to hear him, he screamed.

“Rem!”

The girl got startled.

“What is wrong, Subaru-kun?”

Subaru got closer and took a few breaths.

“We have a problem, can you get Ram here?”

“Nee-sama should be in the main hall.”

“Alright, let's go!”

Subaru ran towards the main hall with Rem following close behind.

The main hall wasn’t too far from where they were so they found her quickly.

“Has Barusu finally gotten over Rem and came over to Nee-sama?”

“Huh, nothing eve-”

Subaru shaked his head.

“No, we do have a problem, though.”

He looked at both of them. Both Rem and Ram were looking at him, showing that they were listening.

Subaru showed them both his palm.

“Beatrice-sama said that the thing that gave me this wound also gave me the curse.”

Rem’s face turned from curiosity to surprise.

“The kids were playing with that exact creature. They are probably cursed as well.”

Rem was thinking of what to do.

“The children are quite fond of Subaru-kun, if he were to save them, he may become a hero!”

*Weird analysis, but I’ll work with it.*

“Roswaal-sama gave me the orders to protect Emilia-sama, we are at risk of an attack if we don’t deal with them right now.”

The situation was getting to Ram.

“Only one of you can come, the other has to stay here to watch over the mansion.”

“Rem will come!”

Ram sighed.

“Frankly, there’s no way to persuade Rem to not do anything that is not related to you anymore. I’m not going to try to stop her.”

“That means?”

“Barusu and Rem can go to the village, Ram will watch over Emilia-sama and the mansion.”

“Alright, let’s go!”

Subaru took Rem’s hand -by her surprise- and started running towards the village.

“Calm down Subaru-kun, it’s best if we spread out our energy.”

He just noticed that he was wasting energy again.

“Oh, sorry.”

He slowed down, but didn’t let go of her hand.

They were now walking at a sped-up pace. Slower than running but faster than walking.

Subaru made sure Rem was able to keep up with him since she is noticeably shorter.

Although, there’s not really a reason to worry about that since Rem should be worried if Subaru can keep up with her. She is an oni, after all.

The sun also went down while they were walking there, it only made Subaru panic more.

The longer they take, the faster the children may die from the curses.

When they arrived at the village, there were a few key differences.

The villagers were outside, running around with torches in their hands and the children were obviously absent.

“What happened?!”

Subaru screamed in a questioning tone to one of the villagers.

He noticed them both and ran towards them.

“Several of the children have gone missing. Everyone is looking for them.”

*Yep, I figured.*

“Were we too late?”

He remembered, the children may be where he played with the puppy.

Subaru ran off in that direction.

“Hold on, Subaru-kun!”

Rem was still holding onto his hand so she got dragged with him. (Sheesh, really rushing this aren’t we?)

The villager also followed them. (Minecraft reference? Ok I’ll stop.)

When they arrived at the fence where Subaru met the puppy, they let go.

“It was here.”

“I see.” (Rem sees. Haha. OK I HAVE TO STOP.)

Rem closed her eyes and concentrated for a little bit.

She was trying to see where the most amount of mana was present, and where not.

Subaru looked around, he noticed a lot of blue crystals hanging on the trees, so he followed the line with his eyes.

A few shining crystals later, he noticed a dim one.

“There.”

Rem pointed at the dimmed crystal.

“The barrier is broken.”

The villager gulped.

“What can happen when the barrier is broken?”

“Mabeasts can cross the boundary.”

“Mabeasts?”

“Yes, this forest is a mabeast breeding ground, once they can surpass the barrier, the village is in great danger.”

The villager ran back to inform the others.

“We need to help them.”

Subaru started to walk over to the fence.

Rem reached out to Subaru and grabbed his wrist.

“Why endanger yourself for these kids?”

“What do you mean, Rem?”

Rem let go and went into thought.

“Subaru-kun has only known them for less than a week, he shouldn’t care that much, right?”

The obvious way of thinking. Yes, in Rem’s perspective, Subaru has only spent a week’s time in the mansion, he didn’t even go to the village that much in that time.

And yet, from Subaru’s perspective, he has spent about a month in the mansion and has gone to the village a multitude of times.

But that kind of explanation is something Subaru cannot use.

(AAAAHH, I need to list everything about the kids, pain…)

“Well, you see…”

Subaru took a sharp breath.

“When Petra, for example, grows up, she wants to make clothes in the capital.”

Subaru started listing their dreams.

“Lucas wants to succeed the village’s best woodcutter.”

He started to count them on his fingers.

“Mildo wants to make a crown from the flowers in the fields and give it to his mother as a gift.”

All of the village kids had small, but good dreams.

(I’m skipping the rest.)

“I have plenty of reasons to care, Their names, their faces and future goals. Isn’t that enough for me to care?...”

“I also promised them I would do radio calisthenics again tomorrow.”

Rem’s lips quivered, she wanted to interject, she wanted to protest, but she couldn’t find the will to.

“I don’t break promises, I’m going to do radio calisthenics with those kids again tomorrow.”

Subaru looked at the forest.

“So, that’s why I’m going in there.”

There’s also the thing that he wants to look cool in front of the girl he loves, but he wouldn’t say that, would he now?

Rem sighed.

“Subaru-kun won’t stop getting himself in danger, will he?”

“Yeah… So make sure I don’t die.”

“I will.”

Subaru heard some rattling, Subaru was kind of scared of that sound, it did almost kill him, multiple times.

“Hey-”

“It’s for protection.”

“But, that-”

“Let’s go in.”

Rem elegantly jumped over the fence with Subaru lagging behind, needing to climb over and standing several meters behind her in the process.

They were in a forest with the only light source being the moon, saying it was hard to see would be an understatement.

“Can you see a thing, Rem?”

“No, Rem cannot see much, although, Rem can smell things.”

“That’s a positive.”

They walked through the forest for a few minutes, where Rem halted Subaru and walked forward.

Subaru stood still while Rem turned to the side, her silhouette hinted that she turned sideways.

She stood still for a couple of seconds with her head tilted a bit up.

“Rem can smell something living in that direction.”

“Is it the kids?”

“I don’t know, Rem doesn’t smell dogs, though.”

Rem started speeding up towards that direction and so did Subaru.

They’ve ventured the right way since they reached an open field not so long after.

“Are those the kids?”

Subaru saw some blurry semblance of kids laying in a circle on a hill, after running for a bit longer he confirmed that it was the children of the village.

“That’s them!”

Subaru didn’t notice that Rem already arrived there and he was pretty late with the realization, so he quickly caught up to her.

“What happened?”

Subaru noticed that the kids were sweating a lot and breathing intensely.

“They’re cursed, aren’t they?”

“Yes they are, that puppy probably bit the children somewhere.”

They were laying in a circle, so it was pretty convenient.

*Did someone set this up?*

“The only thing Rem can do is cast healing magic to comfort them before the villagers arrive.”

Rem stopped analyzing the kids and kneeled in the middle. After a few seconds, some blue light came from her hands, covering all the children.

*I can’t do anything, I feel so useless.*

Subaru didn’t really want to leave Rem, so he examined where the wounds on the kids are while Rem was healing them.

Everyone had a single bite, in different places but there were some repeating places, it took a bit to find all the bite marks since they aren’t that deep.

“Come to think of it, that girl with the braids in her hair isn’t here either, is she?”

“Rem does remember her, wasn’t she the one that brought you all to the puppy?”

“I guess she was.”

*Then either way…*

“She was still missing, we can’t leave her around in the forest anywhere.”

*She is a kid, after all. She may’ve been the one that convinced the other kids to go into the forest when the puppy ran away? Ugh, there’s no point in speculation.*

“Either way, she’s in danger. I’ll go find her after the other kids are safe.”

After another long time wating, the villagers arrived.

Subaru let Rem handle the talking, at the same time while they were arriving though...

“I’m going into the forest in the meantime, please help the villagers take care of the kids, and then come and help me. Okay?”

“Subaru-kun is going into the forest alone?”

“Yeah, you can come to help me quickly, so I won’t worry.”

“Rem… can find Subaru-kun quickly?”

“Yeah, you can smell ‘that’ on me, right?”

“Oh, right…”

Rem’s face dropped.

“Let’s make a promise.”

Subaru raised his hand and stuck his pinkie out.

Rem looked up at him and did the same.

When Subaru intertwined his pinkie with Rem’s, he started talking.

“I know there’s a lot you want to ask me, but there’s a lot I want to ask you as well. You can ask me whatever, whenever you want.”

(What is he doing? I have no idea, how does Subaru’s character work again?)

“I want you to trust me, Rem. So I’ll talk to you a lot more when this is over. Alright?”

“Rem will try to make that the reality.”

*That’s convenient wording.*

“I will as well, I’m demonically possessed right now, so it will work!”

“Demonically possessed?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, you have a story to tell. See you in a bit!”

Subaru ran off.

“Oh, be careful, Subaru-kun.”

Subaru gave a thumbs up while still running.

(That took way too long to write.)

He intentionally ran the other way of the village, so that Rem may find him easier, but also because it’s the most likely way the girl ran.

Straight ahead.

The wind blew from the direction Subaru was going.

“Animals?”

The disgusting stench of blood and rotting flesh suddenly reached his nose.

He went in the direction that the wind blew from, it was the best bet he had.

He saw a small spot where the moonlight and dim sunlight still came into.

Subaru hid behind some bushes and peaked around.

He saw a pair of small feet and a bit of the legs.

*Is that her?*

The girl he was looking for, he never caught her name and didn’t include her in the speach he gave to Rem.

No, he never heard her name and she barely talked.

“Rem will be here to protect me, I’m only scouting around, why not.”

The small consideration that it was a trap almost didn’t cross Subaru’s mind.

Even if he did fully consider it, in Subaru’s eyes, it’s a little girl alone in a forest of dangerous animals.

Even if she survived the animals, she would die from the curse.

*I won’t let her die, I’ll save everyone, even if I’m the only one that dies.*

With that, Subaru walked towards the--probably--sick girl.

When he got past the fallen tree trunk, he noticed the girl was sweating and breathing hard.

*At least she is still alive, thank god.*

Working with absolute care, Subaru had to make sure if she had a beating heart, but when he reached for her wrist to check, he heard a crack from behind him.

When he turned around, he saw a huge muscular dog with glowing crimson eyes.

(I want to make the Konosuba reference AAAAAAA)

Ignore the writer’s internal breakdown while writing in class, this is a story! Not a blog!

Anyway…

“Was the puppy only to bait the cuteness out of it?”

It was the same strategy as a tranquility girl, but instead of sexual tension or a desire to protect, it was just the cuteness of the puppy.

(If you don’t know what a tranquility girl is, just look it up on the konosuba wiki. I’m a konosuba fag now, deal with it.)

“I don’t need your explanation!”

Subaru took off his jacket and wrapped it around his right arm. If the dog pounced him, he would be able to block it without the dog piercing into his arm with its teeth.

Subaru clicked his tongue, if only he knew the writer sometimes drops some major fo-

I’m having too much fun with this.

The dog jumped unto Subaru, way above his own height.

To counter it, Subaru simply ducked into his knees and put his right arm above him.

As planned, the dog bit into where his jacket was, it did hurt because of the amount of pressure but at least his arm is still fully intact.

Subaru groaned and threw the dog over himself, it luckily landed on a thick branch sticking out, piercing it through the heart.

*Just as planned!*

Right…

Subaru caught his breath and calmed down a bit, with a sigh he turned around.

Just to see about 10 pairs of crimson eyes glowing a crimson red.

(I swear, it’s not a Megumin reference! IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO DESCRIBE IT, PLEASE!)

One pounced on him while the others slowly came out of the bush, Subaru prepared to do the same trick, just a useless try, even if he did succeed, he would be reset.

When the dog was closeby, Subaru braced himself.

But the dog was replaced by a line of chains in almost an instant.

“Huh?”

The other dogs tried to pounce but were quickly dealt with by the same set of chains.

“Subaru-kun ran into danger the moment Rem wasn’t here.”

Rem rushed to his side, Subaru smiled at her.

“What are you? A guardian angel?”

Rem blushed.

“Subaru-kun must know Rem is weak against such compliments.”

“Yeah yeah...”

“...We should probably run back now, shouldn’t we?”

Subaru picked up the girl that was possibly also cursed.

“Alright.”

The duo don’t really have time, since more mabeasts are ‘spawning’ in it almost seems.

Rem followed closely behind Subaru, sometimes throwing a variation of the ‘Huma’ spell behind her.

“Which way do we actually go?”

“Subaru-kun is going the right way.”

“I’ll tell you when I see the village bonfires.”

Subaru looked back and saw Rem normally running behind him, focussing on casting her next spell.

He didn’t look back until he had jagged breathing.

When he looked back, he saw Rem, injured all over, blood stained on her maid dress, she was gripping her shoulder that probably got scratched/bitten and mabeast blood all over her face.

It was a horrifying sight. But she wasn’t out of breath like Subaru was, she had enough energy to keep running, it was Subaru holding the two back, not Rem.

“Are you alright?”

They did have a moment to catch their breath though, the wave seemed to just have ended.

“Rem can heal herself quickly, do not worry.”

“Uhh, that’s not the only thing I’m worried about.”

Subaru knows that Rem is an oni and has enhanced physical capabilities, but he doesn’t want to see her in pain, it doesn't matter if she didn’t care that much.

It’s a selfish reasoning but it’s completely reasonable.

Rem activated healing magic on her own shoulder.

“Should we walk for a minute? I’m kinda exhausted.”

Rem wordlessly started walking.

The tension was still there, Rem sometimes sniffed the air and informed Subaru that they weren’t in direct danger.

“The ‘wolgarms’ may be able to pick up Subaru-kun’s ‘scent’ which may be the reason they are closely following us this accurately.”

“Scent?”

“Yes. Subaru-kun has a specific ‘scent’ that Rem can pick up, Rem doesn’t think Nee-sama can pick it up though. She would have killed Subaru-kun on the spot.”

“Is it that bad?!”

“Yes, if Subaru-kun didn’t save Rem in the capital. Admittedly, she would have waited for Subaru-kun to do something suspicious and then use that as judgement to eliminate him.”

“Is that the reason you were hostile- no, aggressive towards me when we first met?”

“Yes, Rem has deemed the scent as evil and attacked without thinking.”

“But, you missed your first throw?”

“Yes, old man Rom flicked my arm ever-so slightly, causing me to miss.”

“So I was that close to dying?”

“Yes, it scares Rem. If she would’ve killed Subaru-kun in that moment, the insignia would not have been recovered nor would Rem be alive right now.”

“Yeah…”

*I don’t know what I would’ve done if I was killed by Rem.*

“Old man Rom is the real hero, isn’t he?”

“If Subaru-kun wasn’t there, we wouldn’t have been able to fight off Elsa.”

“Well, we all played our role, didn’t we then?”

“Yes, we did.”

*So, the scent that is on me is the thing that was causing Rem to be hostile towards me, and is possibly luring the mabeasts to this location? Hmm, I can use all the information I can get, thank you, Rem.*

They both stayed on quiet alert, they’ve been jumped quite a lot of times.

At some point, they found a--somewhat--better path, it’s better to walk on rather than the branches or sticks on the ground.

“I can see the village lights!”

Subaru turned around to see Rem’s reaction, but she wasn’t there.

“You idiot! Where did you run off to?”

Rem’s reasoning was unknown to Subaru, but he did have a hunch.

She ran off somewhere between finding the straight path and Subaru seeing the bonfires.

It’s no use for Subaru to go back into the forest, Rem left him because she didn’t want to.

At least, that’s what Subaru thought.

With an extra kick of adrenaline, Subaru rushed back to the village.

He needed help, from anyone, he himself isn’t even strong enough to kill 2 of the mabeasts at the same time.

Roswaal, Ram, Emilia or even one of the villagers that is proficient with magic, anything that can get Rem back will do for Subaru.

So, when he got back to the village, he asked for someone to care for the girl Rem and him saved, then he rushed back to the mansion.

Subaru doesn’t want Rem to fight alone in there.

But, about halfway about the mansion, Subaru noticed someone running at full speed towards them both, the wind seemingly circling around them.

Upon closer inspection, the person seemed to be quite small.

Anyway, the writer can’t be asked to carry this out for too long, so, uhh.

It’s Ram, ok? It’s just Ram.

“Barusu!”

They met each other on the path, Ram’s eyes filled with fury.

“What happened to my little sister?!”

*How does she know something happened?*

“I don’t know, she just disappeared!”

“Rem did what?”

“I was running back to get the help of you or Emilia-sama!”

“So why did Rem feel so much bloodlust just now? Something happened.”

“We were running back to the village after retrieving a girl, we had to fight some mabeasts and Rem got really injured, so we slowed down a lot. Rem said she heals faster because she’s an oni, but when we got close to the village, I turned back, and Rem was gone.”

“Tch.”

“Do you understand what Rem is thinking?”

“She probably went straight back into fighting.”

Subaru’s head dropped. He feels powerless.

He’s not strong enough to help, if he goes in there. He’ll probably be lifeless weight, only slowing the others down. (With nuts.)

“Barusu...”

Ram shook her head.

“....No… Subaru.”

Subaru was around to turn back to go to the village.

“Huh?”

“I don’t think Ram can save Rem on her own, Subaru is a necessary piece for that.”

*That’s not true, is it?*

“What do you mean?”

“My little sister has not been this open to anyone other than myself. Ram doesn’t think Rem would be happy if Subaru isn’t there to save her as well.”

Ram closed her eyes and put on a smug.

“Are you sure? Is it worth it for me to tag along and pull you down?”

“It does not matter which path you take, it’s the end that matters. So, if Subaru succeeds in saving Rem. Ram will allow Subaru to take Rem.”

“Alright, you got it boss!”

“So, care to tell your boss what happened?”

“Well, the reason we went into the forest is because the children of the village were in there.”

“They were probably cursed, can we get Beako to the village?”

“Ram thinks we can, although Beatrice-sama doesn’t leave her library that often, she does have a kind heart. So maybe Subaru can convince Beatrice-sama to come to the village.”

(I don’t know if I’m going to regret the decision of having Ram call Subaru by his actual name.)

“So, what will Boss do in the meantime?”

“Ram will go to the village and try to locate Rem with Clairvoyance.”

“Clairvoyance?”

“Yes, Ram can look in the eyes of insects and animals on the same wavelength as myself.”

“Oh, so you’re basically tapping into cameras around the forest? Do you think you can get a bird’s eye view?”

“If we get lucky, Ram will be able to locate Rem in the time Subaru takes to convince Beatrice-sama.”

“Alright, got it!”

Subaru started running towards the mansion.

(My friend wants to put the dutch equivalent of cancer somewhere, so here it is : kanker.)

It is quite fitting for the situation, since, if this was the original Re:Zero, this is where you would get Rem’s backstory.

Anyway, Subaru ran into the mansion looking for Beatrice.

Luckily, Subaru found her quickly, only about 3 doors-that felt right-later, he found her.

“I suppose you aren’t going to give up, what do you want?”

Subaru caught his breath and bowed deeply.

“I need your help.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“The children in the village were cursed, can you release those curses from them?”

“Betty has already heard, I suppose.”

Beatrice stood up.

“On one condition, you will save the blue-haired maid by yourself.”

“I was planning on doing that either way, but Ram will help me.”

“Hmph, that’s fine, I suppose.”

Beatrice held out her hand, her palm pointing at Subaru and her fingers spread out.

“Hold out your hand.”

Subaru did the exact same and put his hand right in front of Beatrice’s

Beatrice took his hand and intertwined their fingers.

“I, Beatrice, shall take your selfish request, and sacrifice my teacher’s name to fulfill it.”

“Huh?”

“Betty just needed a contract-temporary or not- to overwrite the contract she currently has.”

“Oh, alright.”

*Maybe now she can help aswe-*

“Betty shall not help you with the mabeasts, I suppose.”

“You read my mind?!”

Beatrice held out her hand.

“This shall make the walk shorter, I suppose.”

A black circle started to appear and it was sucking a lot of air in.

“A portal?”

“Portal?”

Beatrice looked confused.

“Oh well, who cares?”

Beatrice took Subaru’s arm and tugged him towards the ‘portal’.

“Betty is not waiting any longer, I suppose.”

She jumped into the portal and dragged Subaru with her.

Subaru fell on the ground while Beatrice landed nonchalantly.

Beatrice ignored Subaru’s grunts of discomfort and started walking towards the village.

“How close are we?”

“A minute or so of walking, I suppose. The red haired maid has arrived not long before us.”

“Alright, you’ll be fine on your own right, Beatrice-sama?”

“Yes, Betty isn’t a child. So she’ll be fine.”

“Alright, good luck with the curses!”

Subaru ran ahead into the village in search of Ram.

He ran towards where the forest was, since Ram said she’d be using clairvoyance to look for Rem.

Luckily, his guess was right and she was right by the fence that was separating the forest to the village.

“Ram!”

She opened her eyes and turned to him.

“Oh, Baru… Subaru, did you convince Beatrice-sama to come?”

“Yeah, she’s currently going through the village curing the children of the curses.”

“Alright, great.”

“Did you have any luck?”

“No, Ram did not find Rem yet, but she did see some dogs flocking somewhere, so we may be able to find her rather quickly.”

“Today is a lucky day, isn’t it.”

“You can say that, but if it was, we wouldn’t even be in this mess.”

“Guess you’re right.”

“Either way, let’s not slack off and go look for my little sister.”

Subaru was already set on jumping over the fence, like a dog waiting for the sign that’s telling them that they can go get the toy.

In this case, Subaru was waiting for Ram to say something related to going to find Rem, so, without a word or warning, Subaru already jumped over the fence with his newfound adrenaline.

Ram didn’t expect Subaru to start this quickly but caught up quite quickly.

“You twins sure are fast.”

“Yes, now let Ram lead, Barusu doesn’t know where he’s supposed to go.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Ram is in the right with taking the lead, but Subaru didn’t really waste a lot of time since they needed to get into the forest either way.

“Tch, breaking some of the sense of direction not even a minute into the forest.”

(Author’s note : I am not going to lie, I kinda forgot how Subaru works, so some or a lot of his dialogue will be out of character. Mostly because I’ve read too many fanfics that were ‘bad’ or really good like BWAO. But more than that, I’ve been way too into Konosuba lately, hence my other fanfic.)

Anyway, Ram and Subaru didn’t run into many dogs, since most of them were occupied attacking Rem, but it seemed like they were too slow every time, Rem changed locations to not get cornered before Ram and Subaru could arrive.

So…

“Do those dogs have an enhanced sense of smell?”

“Yes, ‘Wolgarms’ hunt in packs, so they need to find enough prey to feed on. Hence their enhanced smell.”

“Okay, I’m going to try something I’ve been hesitant to try for these last few days.”

Subaru smirked.

“And, what is that?”

“Well, you see Ram…”

Ram looked him straight in the eyes, expecting nothing.

“I can return by--!”

Everything around Subaru stopped, the leaves and Ram’s hair blowing in the wind, the small creatures running around in a panic from all the chaos and anything else that moved.

Everything was slowly swallowed in a hue of grey, Subaru could’ve sworn he himself was getting swallowed by the hue of grey as well.

Slowly but surely, at some point, everything was taken in by the hue of grey. Nothing was spared. Not even him.

Actually, there was one thing that was spared, the dark purple-like hand that was approaching Subaru.

It had a cold feel to it, but it wasn’t cold. It was just the fear that came with touching that ‘thing’.

Actually, Subaru didn’t know which of the two. It may’ve been both.

He has experienced it before, and has been hesitant to use it again because of his fears.

Subaru won’t regret it now, only later if it was deemed useless.

So, the hand crept through his chest and it’s cold air touched his heart.

It caressed it for about half a second, and then squeezed it tightly.

An unimaginable amount of pain was felt by Subaru.

“AARGh!”

He was let go and can move again.

“Subaru? What happened?”

Ram put a hand on his shoulder, attempting to give him some amount of comfort.

But, before Subaru could regain his composure, Ram heard lots of rustling from behind her.

“Fula!”

The dogs that were about to jump out of the bushes were slashed into pieces the moment they jumped out.

“What did you do?!”

“An oni’s instinct is to kill, right?”

“Not quite, but it is the main instinct when going out of control.”

Ram had to slash down another set of dogs.

“I basically made myself a living lure. Rem’s instinct is to kill the dogs, right now. So, she will go to where the dogs are as well. And so, the more dogs that come to us, the closer that Rem will get.”

Ram can get rid of a set of dogs really quickly.

“Subaru may be right, but it does take a lot of risk.”

“That’s something I’m willing to take!”

With more adrenaline flowing into their blood because of the bigger risk, they can now go on for longer.

“Let’s find Rem!”

“Ha! Don’t die on me, Subaru!”

Subaru stood up and started stabbing and slashing dogs on his own.

But, it didn’t take long for Ram to collapse.

“I thought you told ME not to die!

“Mana reserves are not equal to the amount of adrenaline.”

“I’m not good enough to hold off three dogs on my own!”

“Well, then pick me up and run.”

“Alright, alright.”

Subaru picked up Ram and just started running in a random direction, since their goal hasn’t changed.

He had his sword sheathed at first and carried Ram bridal, but that didn’t work, since he couldn’t defend himself that way.

So, Ram ended up going over Subaru’s left shoulder.

“Hold on tight!”

If Subaru were to get pounced right now he would have no chance of dodging, his balance would be completely thrown off by Ram, who is trying to hold her own balance.

So, running in a straight line is the only option. Pray to any high being that he doesn’t trip.

Subaru didn’t trip for the entire time running. Which is a miracle.

But when you get something, you lose something as well.

Instead of tripping, Subaru is going to fall off of a high cliff.

As stated before, his balance would be thrown off because of Ram on his shoulder.

So, with his momentum and most of the weight on top of him, he wasn’t able to stop completely, and fell forward, straight down the cliff.

Screaming and cursing at himself for being careless, he was able to mindlessly use his sword to stab into the side of the cliff.

On Earth, there would be no way he could even hold himself, although his shoulder is now broken, on Earth, his arm would not even be on his body anymore.

That aside, he managed to save himself by stopping the momentum, but he wasn’t able to save the sword.

Subaru managed to save himself, using the thin side of the sword, so it can hold less pressure.

(I learnt this in science a few weeks ago!)

Well, in short, Subaru had too much momentum and the sword broke in half after hanging for two seconds.

At least he stopped enough momentum that he won’t die immediately upon landing.

“Fula!”

Right before they landed, Ram shouted that out.

Enough pressure was created to block their fall.

“Wow!”

His momentum was once again stopped and he was able to compose himself quick enough to land on his feet.

Ram created the shockwave of wind, so she was way up in the air.

Subaru was able to land quickly and catch her, with his broken shoulder, that is.

“Hey, are you okay? You said you didn’t have any mana-”

Subaru took a look at Ram, her nose was bleeding and she was unconscious.

“Tch, that’s going to create even more difficulties.”

He fell down a cliff and his sword is half-broken, he only has the hilt and a small part of the blade.

So, the sword is almost useless, he can only stab with it.

But, a huge amount of dogs appeared. More than he saw saving the girl with the braids.

“This timing can’t be worse!”

Chains were heard from above, the quick rattling of chains and then it slowed down.

Subaru looked up to see Rem jumping down headfirst and turning around to land on her feet with excellency.

She was turned away from Subaru, but he can still see the mana going towards the middle of her head.

“Rem! Are you ok?”

She turned around with nothing in her eyes. Well, they were completely opened but they didn’t seem like they were looking at something.

They were only looking for something to kill, nothing more, nothing less.

Rem flailed her arm around nonchalantly and threw her morningstar at Subaru.

But, Subaru didn’t move and it went right past his head.

Her aim has never been off with her morningstar, every time she threw it, it would be straight on the target. But she didn’t hit Subaru, with clear intent to kill.

“You missed, Rem! You would never miss a target, if you had missed a single dog, you would have been dead!”

Her brows twitched, she was unreadable.

“That isn’t going to work.”

Rem has shown that she has at least a bit of control, not cold bloodedly killing Subaru, but forcing herself to miss.

Rem got ambushed by another few dogs, she’ll be occupied for a while.

Subaru looked at her bounce from dog to dog, slaughtering every single one of them for a few seconds.

“Alright, I can put Ram in a safe spot.”

Subaru started running towards an opening in the side.

But, before he got completely into cover. Subaru wanted to try ‘that’ again.

“Why the hell are you being so scary Rem! You should be smiling and laughing! I CAN RETURN BY-”

This time the writer shall not waste 5 minutes of his life, explaining how much pain and suffering Subaru went through upon saying ‘it’.

So, I’ll just leave it by ‘Subaru experienced a lot of pain.’ for all following times Subaru mentions RBD.

Everything went quiet for half a second, the rattling of chains, the growling of the dogs or even his own breath. It stopped for half a second.

At least…

“AAAAAAAAARRRGHHHH!”

Every single dog and Rem screamed or howled at hard as they could.

Subaru composed himself and ran to the cover he was supposed to be going in.

“Her horn...”

“Huh? You’re awake?”

“That would’ve been the perfect opening.”

“Great intuition Nee-sama!”

Still running to cover, Subaru couldn’t pick up on what Ram was saying.

So, when they were in cover, they had the smallest time to talk.

“Her horn is what makes her an oni.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you hit her horn, with, for example, the wrong side of the sword, it should make her normal again.”

“A hit right on her horn?”

“Yes, that should bring back her composure.”

“I do have an idea, but it may make you mad.”

“If it succeeds in saving Rem, I won’t get mad.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, Ram is serious.”

“Does Nee-sama swear on Roswaal-sama?”

Subaru started walking towards Rem again.

“Sure, I swear on Roswaal-sama”

“Alright, that’s all I need!”

Subaru sped up his walking until he was almost in full sprint.

“Heave…”

Spinning a bit to the side Ram is on.

“Ho!”

Throwing her as hard as he can, in the direction Rem is in.

Rem quickly turned aggressive towards where the sound was.

But, when she laid her eyes on Ram, those hostile eyes turned to concern and she was able to catch her sister.

*This is the only shot I get!*

Running at full-speed, the only thing Subaru sees was Rem’s horn, if he hits that, he’ll be saved from this hell of a week.

If only, he hits.

Hit… Hit, the horn… The horn is what’s making Rem, not Rem.

Every step of the way, Subaru tried to muster more courage, even more.

COURAGE OVERDRIVE!

*There’s no way, I can disappoint you, Rem!*

The sword going down, closer, closer to the end of all of it.

“You will smile, Rem!”

With Rem’s attention being drawn to the ground, she saw earth magic being used, she has been distracted once more.

*Thank you! Fate-sama!*

Subaru finally hit her horn.

“Can you move, Ram?”

Rem’s horn disappeared into her head and she went unconscious.

Ram stood up and carried Rem on her back.

“Well, that answers my question...”

Subaru wanted to run to the village but…

“...Do you know which way it is?”

“Yes, it is this way, come with me.”

Ram started running to where Subaru wanted to go.

“Actually, Subaru should carry Rem. Ram doesn’t have much strength left.”

“We don’t really have time for that!”

Dogs were tailing them closely.

Subaru was running out of energy, he was exhausted. They have to run for another long time.

They’re gone quite a long distance already, though.

“W-why are you two here?”

“You’re awake already?”

“S-subaru-kun shouldn’t be here…”

“Thank goodness, you’re awake, Rem.”

Subaru saw tears drop from Ram’s back.

“Fula!”

Ram cleared out a dog in front of them and ran into cover with Subaru quickly tailing her.

The bushes will keep them from being spotted visually but dogs have noses, and noses can smell.

He also said the ‘thing’ twice in a single night, so his ‘scent’ would also be at an all-time high.

Well, it’ll buy them enough time.

“Rem was supposed to do this herself.”

“Huh?”

“R-Rem was going in alone, to not put Subaru-kun in danger…”

“A bit too late for that now, isn’t it?”

“Rem keeps making the same mistakes, she put Subaru-kun in danger again…”

“You, never did…”

*Rem tried to stop me from going into the forest, right?*

“...Hey, Rem.”

She looked up to him with sad puppy eyes.

“Oni headbutt!”

Subaru bashed his head full-force onto Rem’s head.

“Are you stupid? You must be stupid if you think that!”

“Subaru, you just created a cut on your forehead.”

“I know! I’m stupid aswell, but Rem here is way more stupid!”

Blood flowed from his forehead to his chin.

“You put me in danger again?! No, you did not. It was completely my choice and I was prepared to die from my own choices!”

Rem wanted to say something but she was abruptly stopped by the fast rustling of dogs, they heard the screaming from Subaru.

The village was to their right, the dogs to their left.

“You know, I can run full-speed to the left and let you two-”

“Ram will create a diversion, Rem and Subaru can run to the village.”

“Hey! Don’t ruin my statement!”

“Well, do you have a better idea?”

Ram shoved Rem closer to Subaru.

*I am not necessary for this. Right?*

If Subaru dies, they will live on, right now. Right?

Subaru can retry things over and over, but they can’t, so isn’t it better if he makes the sacrifice to let them live and do it better next time?

He’ll be able to save them at least, right?

Or is that just wishful thinking?

“Ah! Forget it!”

“Subaru-kun?”

Subaru picked up Rem and put her on Ram’s back, much to Ram’s dismay.

“Why do you want to save us this badly?”

“Well…”

Subaru put a hand on Rem’s head.

“It’s because I’m non-necessary.”

“Huh?”

“Rem. Subaru is going to buy us time, so let’s not waste it.”

Subaru ran out of the bushes towards the horde of dogs while Ram ran in the direction of the village.

The puppy that has tormented him for weeks was standing atop all of them. As if looking down on Subaru.

“Ha! There you are!”

The problem is the other dogs.

“Tch, if it was only the puppy, maybe I’d have a chance…”

Flags, a lot of flags.

The other dogs retreated into the bushes and the puppy slowly stepped towards him, stomping the ground and roaring.

While it roared, it transformed, it grew, it developed the key features of a wolgarm in the span of 5 seconds.

“Wow!”

Subaru was now standing head-to-head with a 3-meter long dog.

“Well, what a cliché fight.”

Subaru took a deep breath.

Closing his eyes and picturing the flow of black smoke with a white orb in the middle, he will be careful not to put in too much this time.

He heard a faint scream from behind him, Rem called out for him.

Subaru smiled.

“SHAMAAAK!!!”

The area around him was engulfed with the black smoke he imagined.

The best thing was, Subaru wasn’t unconscious.

Unsheathing his half-broken sword, he dashed towards it.

Jumping to reach its height, he stabbed it where you’d think a vein would be. But he couldn’t take the sword back out, so he jumped back to reposition himself.

The black smoke disappeared.

Subaru didn’t expect the spell’s duration to be this short, so he got surprised and got pinned to the ground by the wolgarm.

(I am so very bad at fight scenes.)

Pinned to the ground by the massive paw that covered his entire torso and threatened to crush him, he was able to pull the sword out of the dog and stab it in the mouth it wanted to use to bite his head off.

Shocked by the pain it just received from a stab in its mouth, it screamed and stepped backwards.

Subaru stood up, sword still in his hand.

“How do you like that?! Boss garm!”

The ‘Boss garm’ started to swipe at Subaru.

An undodgeable attack, Subaru surely is going to die here.

“Ul Goa!”

Everything was engulfed in flames instantly.

The big dog first and then the other small ones that tried attacking Subaru.

“Oooohhhh, myyyyy. Aren’t you in a pathetic staaate.”

The man himself, Roswaal L Mathers, appeared in person, to save Subaru.

“You’re pretty late, Ros-chi.”

Ram seemingly teleported to them with Rem hanging over her.

“Roswaal-sama! I sincerely apologize!”

“For what? You two have done an amaaazing job in my absence…”

He eyed at Subaru.

“Especially you…”

Roswaal wanted to say more but Rem jumped onto Subaru, pinning him onto the ground.

“Y-you’re alive! Subaru-kun made it!”

Rem was crying into his chest.

“Hey! Calm down!”

No she didn’t.

“Subaru-kun! Subaru-kun! Subaru-kun!”

“I feared this already...”

As always, Subaru passed out.

(WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO)

Subaru’s consciousness was coming back to him. He felt warm but one of his hands was even warmer. It was as if there was another heat source there. It was touching him, no. It was holding him tightly, it was shaking as well.

Subaru opened his eyes and gazed at the heat source. What he saw before him was a worried angel, holding his hand.

“Subaru-kun...”

Her hand loosened a bit and her face became calmer as if a burden was taken off of her, seeing his face moving, without any scars, wounds, or exhaustion.

“...Are you alright?”

“I am fine, RMT.”

Rem seriously looked like an angel to Subaru at this moment.

“Subaru-kun looked like he was in pain so Rem decided to-”

“Hold my hand?”

Rem nodded.

“Rem doesn’t know what to do in these situations, so she thinks about what would make her the happiest if she were in Subaru-kun’s place.”

“Well, you did a great job in that case. This is what made me the happiest.”

This was the truth in the realm of possibilities, but truthfully he would’ve rather woken up with Rem holding him tightly.

“But anyway, am I safe now? Were the dogs killed?”

“Yes, Roswaal-sama cleared the forest of almost all of the Wolgarms. The village should be safe from invasion.”

“Everyone did their job didn’t they?”

Subaru smiled to try to get Rem’s feelings up.

But it didn’t work.

Rem lowered her head.

“Rem is very sorry, Subaru-kun.”

“Huh? What do you mean, you did nothing wrong?”

Rem only lowered her head deeper from Subaru’s response.

“Rem realized that she is a powerless and incompetent demon clan reject. So no matter what she does, she can never match Nee-sama. She is merely her replacement. She has always been inferior. Good for nothing.”

There was a second of silence between the two.

“Rem…”

“Why is Rem the one that still has her horn? Why couldn’t Nee-sama’ve kept hers instead? Why was she only born with one horn? Why did we have to be twins?”

Rem finally realized what she was saying.

“I’m sorry, that was a strange thing for me to say. Please don’t think about it.”

Subaru decided to sit up on the side of the bed.

“You know Rem. Why do you put your sister on such a pedestal? You don’t value yourself highly because of it, but if she were in your position, I don’t think she’d do any better than you. Ram is weaker than you, she can’t cook, apart from the tatoes but, she slacks off on the job and has a vicious tongue.”

Rem felt like she was getting insulted by Subaru talking about her sister like that.

“N-No, that’s not true. Nee-sama’s true self is more…”

She was hesitating a lot.

“...If she had her horn you wouldn’t--”

Subaru interrupted.

“Ram doesn’t have the power that her horn gives her. So I don’t know that Ram. I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who cares whether she has her horn or not…”

Rem is really conflicted.

“...What Ram doesn’t have, you do. Just look at it like that. You’re kind, hardworking and always do your best.” (No, I’m not adding the joke.)

“If you hadn’t been around, I would’ve been dog chow right now. I was saved because you were there. You, Rem, saved me.”

“The true Nee-sama would have done a way better job.”

“Maybe so, but she would have only saved me physically, you also saved me from overworking myself, you make me feel less lonely... Thank you.”

He put his hand over Rem’s which he was already holding with his other one.

“I’m glad it was you who saved me.”

“Rem told you she’s only Nee-sama’s replacement.”

“Why are you still so stuck up on this Rem? Of course, I don’t know what happened, and I will never know, but it shouldn’t stick this much.”

“You call yourself her replacement, but no one could’ve done what you did to save me better. No one can replace you Rem.”

Rem is still not so hung up on letting it go, accepting that she has filled the burden and should not beat herself down so much.

“Where I come from there’s a saying....”

Rem looked up.

“Demons laugh when you talk about next year...”

“Laugh, Rem. I don’t like seeing you all depressed, you’re best when you smile. Please laugh when you talk to me about the future, it’s the best thing I could experience.”

“Please, let the past go and laugh while thinking about the future. Don’t waste the time you have left mourning over the past.”

“Why did you save Rem?”

“Well, because I want you to ask me for help sometime.”

“Rem is weak and won’t be able to fill the debt Subaru-kun placed on her.”

“It’s not a debt, it’s just the trust I want from you.”

“Will Subaru-kun really be able to save everyone always?

“I’m sure I can if you are helping me, Rem.”

Rem was almost taken by his words. Just a little more.

“But, for now, let’s let go of that awfully awful past and look into the future with a smile. Alright?”

Subaru shot her a beaming smile while still having a questioning face.

The wind blew into the windows.

Rem’s tears started flowing but she had a big smile on her face.

“Alright.”

Rem wasn’t able to say much.

Subaru was able to see both of her eyes.

Subaru walked up to her and buried her face in his chest.

After a few seconds of enjoying the moment Subaru decided to say something.

“Rem…”

Rem looked up with a smile.

Subaru wiped her tears away.

“I love you.”

Rem did not let go, she just relaxed more.

“That is the answer Rem needed.”

Rem held on to him more tightly and let herself fall onto the bed with Subaru.

She then looked up.

“I love you too, Subaru-kun.”

Rem just kept looking at Subaru.

Rem understood what Subaru wanted.

She was now just enjoying the moment with the one that opened her heart a few seconds ago.

“Well then, we’re even aren’t we?”

“Yes, Rem will ask Subaru-kun for help whenever she needs it.”

They laid in each other’s arms for a few more minutes, they couldn’t let this moment be wasted by needing to prepare breakfast.

They would both gladly get scolded for being too late than letting this moment be wasted.

“Hey! Subaru, Rem...”

Emilia-sama was standing at the door…

“U-uh, R-ram needed Rem to help her prepare breakfast…”

Rem let go and stood up to walk towards Emilia. The new day started.

The start of a new way of living, for Rem. Her new life in this mansion starts here, From Zero!