2
Shortly after, the true gravity of the situation became clear.
While Subaru was preoccupied with how badly his introduction had gone, the two beauties had a much more stunning story to share with him.
“So I’ve been with both of you for over a year…?”
“…You really don’t remember anything? Not this tower, or what happened in Pristella…no, not just that, not Ram and the others or Beatrice? …Or me?”
“Umm, yeah. That’s what it looks like…”
The girl’s eyes widened as he sat penitently, making himself as small as he could. He was gutted by an intense guilt as he watched her eyes waver as if hit by a terrible shock.
“No…memories…? That can’t be…”
The little girl was possibly even more stunned by this revelation. As Subaru sat on the edge of a bed woven from vines, he couldn’t help but notice how the girl’s slender fingers trembled as they held onto his sleeve. It made his heart ache.
“ ”
But Subaru couldn’t reassure them because he had his hands full dealing with his own immense confusion.
At first, he thought this was the typical “summoned to another world” story beginning to unfold. He was well acquainted with the idea from manga and anime. And in a sense, he wasn’t exactly wrong. This clearly wasn’t the world where he had spent the first seventeen years of his life.
He was basing this on the eccentric outfits and almost inhuman beauty of these two girls.
And if that isn’t enough proof, the defense requests for the horse-sized black lizard to be admitted as further evidence.
—This has to be a different world where these sorts of things are possible.
As he came to this conclusion, Subaru realized there was still a major discrepancy that had to be resolved.
“So I’ve met both of you before and I’m the only one who doesn’t remember…”
That wasn’t one of the usual tropes featured in stories about being summoned to another world and it was bothering Subaru.
Honestly, everything about his current situation came as a surprise. In Subaru’s mind, there was a seamless transition from the moment he left the convenience store to waking up in this unfamiliar world. As far as he could tell, nothing had transpired between those two events.
At the same time, it was hard to imagine these two were just making things up, and he had no idea what they could possibly gain from lying about it.
Plus, if I have to pick between believing a beautiful girl and believing my gut, I’m gonna have to go with the beautiful girl.
“Well, I’m mostly joking, but I gotta admit…my arm definitely wasn’t like this when I stepped out of the convenience store.”
Subaru pushed up the sleeve on his right arm, then opened and closed his fist.
It seemed noticeably stronger. He noticed calluses on his hand that weren’t there before. And…
“And this is pretty nasty…”
Something that almost looked like black blood vessels covered his arm from the elbow to the back of his hand. He could tell right away this was no tattoo. There was something undeniably grotesque about it.
Aside from that, there were white scars all over his body. Fortunately, Subaru didn’t mind that very much. He felt a little guilty when he considered what his parents might think, but that was just one more thing to throw on the pile of complicated feelings he felt when it came to his mom and dad.
In any case, he had clearly missed some episodes.
That was enough for him to conclude that their story was credible.
“So, I left the convenience store, got summoned to this other world, made friends with a couple beautiful girls, and then completely lost my memory?”
The rush of words came out too fast, too frantic. Obviously overwhelmed, Subaru did his best to come to terms with his new reality when he noticed the expressions on the girls’ faces.
Seeing them looking even more down than him lit a fire in his heart.
“Okay, look! I totally get why you’re feeling down, but let’s look on the bright side!”
“ ”
“As far as I know, this sort of temporary amnesia tends to resolve itself in no time. If this was a movie, everything would be good as new in under two hours! So no need to worry so much!”
“Sorry, I don’t really understand what you’re saying.”
“Huh? For real…?”
Despite his frantic attempt to cheer them up, the beautiful girl only offered a muted response. But as his shoulders slumped, she continued, “But you’re still yourself, Subaru… That’s a relief.”
“Oh. R-really? Hearing you say that makes me feel a little better… Wait, what are you doing?!”
The beauty had just slapped herself without warning. Hard. Her cheeks turned bright red.
“All right, I’m doing better now. I can’t sit here and mope around. Not when you’re wrestling with all this.”
“You’re a lot tougher than I would’ve guessed from that cute face of yours…” Subaru was stunned by her spirit.
“Come on, Beatrice! You too!”
Now she was talking to the little girl frozen next to Subaru.
“I understand how shocked and sad you must feel…but you have to think about who has it worse right now. We have to do something, right?”
“I-I…”
Overwhelmed by the silver-haired girl’s sudden question, the little girl couldn’t get any words out. But the silver-haired girl just stood there and waited. There was a palpable sense of trust in her eyes.
They shared a bond that was beyond Subaru.
“Subaru…do you need help?”
“…Yeah, if I’m being honest, I’d love some. I have no idea what to do.”
“ ”
Even though he felt pathetic admitting it, Subaru told the little girl how he was really feeling. When she heard that, her blue eyes opened wide. He could see a peculiar marking in them.
To Subaru, that expression looked almost like the moment when a butterfly spread its wings…
“—Aghhh! You really are the most troublesome contractor!”
The next instant, the little girl’s attitude changed dramatically. It was almost as if that butterfly’s wings had caused a tornado. With her little arms crossed and her cheeks puffed out, she raised her voice.
“You always, always saddle Betty with the most irritating problems! This better be the last time, or even Betty’s patience will wear thin!”
“Uhhh…does that mean…?”
“Since you were honest and asked for help, just this once, we can overlook it… Besides, I suppose that without Betty’s help, you are a weakling who would never survive on your own.”
“Did you really need to say it like that?!”
Subaru was completely thrown by her shocking transformation. The way she was talking, it almost sounded like he was someone who would get so lonely without her he’d die. What a claim.
Still, it was a relief to see her regain some life.
For now, I’ll hold my questions about this contractor business and a couple other things that need some further explanation.
“ ”
Honestly, Subaru needed more time to wrap his head around the situation.
The confusion was not subsiding. He was finding it difficult to simply accept this new reality and taking all this novel information at face value was nigh impossible.
Even so, he didn’t want to believe their kindness was a lie.
“My name’s Subaru Natsuki. I don’t really know right from left here, but I was probably your friend. I know it’s shameless of me, but I’d like to ask you a favor.”
Standing back up, Subaru held his finger up toward the ceiling as he introduced himself one more time. And then he held out his hand toward them with a wink.
“Could you tell me your names?”
“ ”
The little girl blinked, and for some reason the silver-haired beauty also seemed like she had no idea how to respond. But that only lasted for a second. A moment later, they both slowly smiled.
“My name is Emilia. Just Emilia. Nice to meet you again, Subaru.”
“And you should call me the Great Spirit Beatrice. You are Betty’s contractor.”
And so they all introduced themselves to each other once again.
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