7
“After the song, we’ll have a pleasant chat, so could you prepare some snacks, Master Natsuki? Do you not think that sweets will make everyone happy and bring us all closer together?”
“!”
“Oww! Owww! That hurts! That hurts, Subaru!”
A moment after he blinked, a certain voice made Subaru jump in shock.
He had been using every bit of strength he could muster to answer the hand that sought comfort from him—from right before his consciousness had gone out—while squeezing Beatrice’s little hand.
Subaru’s sudden act of violence made Beatrice kick his shin with tears in her eyes. With that tiny spike of pain bringing him back to his senses, Subaru released Beatrice and stepped back.
“Wh-wh-what is the matter? To suddenly try and break Lady Moppet’s hand… What a poor way to treat such a lovely hand. I might even offer to lick it, hoo-haaah…”
“Is that not quite unnecessary, I wonder?! Do not suddenly draw so close with such a repulsive demeanor about you!”
When Liliana tried to rub the injured hand against her cheek, Beatrice shook her off and immediately hid behind Subaru. The inexplicable attack on her hand hadn’t dented Subaru and Beatrice’s bond in the slightest.
Sadly, there was no time to find relief in that happy observation.
“Subaru, are you all right? Your face has suddenly gotten very pale.”
“E-Emilia-tan…”
Coming near, Emilia gently touched a hand to Subaru’s cheek with a look of distinct concern. Subaru drew a sharp breath when he saw himself reflected in her violet eyes, which were rimmed by long eyelashes.
He’d returned once again.
“ ”
He patted his shoulder and side, checking to see if he was still in one piece.
He’d experienced terrible deaths before, including getting his belly torn open and his head smashed apart, but this was the first time he’d died from a proper slashing. At the instant of his death, a sense of surprise and loss won out over pain.
But that hadn’t been the only cause of his enormous sense of loss—
“This is the first…or, actually, the second time I got done in completely due to friendly fire, right?”
As Subaru tried to make sense of the memories he’d returned with, his death demanded his recognition and acknowledgment of what had happened. And this time, when Subaru looked back at what had occurred in his final moments, he was able to grasp exactly what had brought about his demise.
“But that’s just broken…”
Subaru’s death was identical to how Sirius had died only moments earlier.
They had been killed the exact same way. That incomprehensible fact explained his first death when he watched Lusbel fall to his doom.
When they saw Lusbel plummet to his death, Subaru and the onlookers suffered the same fate all at once. In other words, Sirius’s Authority not only created a resonance of emotions but also transferred physical conditions.
“What am I supposed to do…?”
Reinhard joining the fight had certainly fulfilled Subaru’s goal of striking down Sirius—at the cost of a great deal of lives in the square, rendering all their efforts meaningless.
Leaving things up to Reinhard had looked like the right choice at first, but knowing what he knew now, it had clearly been a mistake.
“Subaru…”
“Ah.”
Emilia and the others looked on in concern as they watched Subaru fall into silence with a difficult expression on his face. For the moment, his priority was to avoid needlessly worrying them further about the Witch Cult being in the city.
With that in mind, Subaru quickly recomposed himself.
“Ah, yeah, uh, it’s nothing, really. I’m just a little… Oh, I know! That daisukiyaki we had this morning came back with a vengeance, and it’s giving me some serious heartburn.”
“Ahh, I completely understand that feeling. The same thing happens to me quite a lot. Sometimes, when I mean to burp, I throw up instead, and other times, I pass a little gas the wrong way, and…”
“You don’t need to finish that thought. You’re technically a young lady, you know? Please never bring that up again.”
Stopping Liliana in the middle of what was clearly supposed to be an outrageous joke, Subaru flashed Emilia a smile. For the briefest of moments, that charming smile made Emilia’s lips tremble before she replied:
“If you insist, I’ll take you at your word, Subaru… But only this time, okay?”
“Yeah, I hear you. Thanks… Anyway, I’m gonna follow Liliana’s suggestion and go play errand boy for a bit. You just sit back and enjoy her song, all right, Emilia-tan?”
Appreciative of Emilia’s thoughtfulness, Subaru saluted as he played the fool. Then Subaru took Beatrice’s hand in a natural fashion while she hid behind him.
“Beako, you’re on shopping detail with me. We can be lovey-dovey the whole way there.”
“Wh-what are you saying all of a—? Yes, I understand.”
Beatrice’s face instantly went red as she instinctively got ready to make some retort, but she calmed down immediately instead the moment she saw Subaru’s expression. She’d deduced something when she noticed in his gaze the hope that he could rely on her.
“Emilia-tan—I’ll be back soon.”
“…Mm-hmm.”
With Beatrice in tow, Subaru said his farewell to Emilia before setting off from the park.
He was unspeakably worried about leaving her by herself. At the same time, he could no longer think of any other way to break out of the dead end that he found himself trapped in—without borrowing Beatrice’s strength.
It was in that darkness with no way out in sight that Subaru ran alongside his partner.
“—Hmph.”
Little did he know, a certain red-eyed girl stared intensely after them as they left.
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