7
“Ugh…”
Feeling something rough rubbing against his face, Subaru groaned and opened his eyes.
His consciousness slowly rose to the surface, and opening his eyes, he saw the blurry world gradually clear up.
The rough feeling against his cheek continued throughout all that.
“Aaagh?”
A rough feeling and unfamiliar voice. He had assumed the tongue licking his cheek was his trusty ground dragon’s, but…
“Ugh?!”
—It was Louis Arneb, straddling him, licking his face.
“Ugh, whoaaaa?!”
Shocked by that impossible scene, he immediately pushed Louis away. She cried out and rolled across the ground.
“Wh-wh-what the hell?! What are you doing?! Mocking me again…”
“Ugh, uuuh? Whaaah.”
“Not whah! What, what happened…did I die…?”
Glaring at Louis in disbelief, Subaru raised his voice frantically.
Louis was lying flat on the grass, groaning and flailing her arms and legs like a child. He didn’t know what her goal was, or what… No, more importantly…
“Where is this…?”
Subaru tore his attention away from the Archbishop as he cautiously checked his surroundings.
He was greeted by a wide, vibrantly green plain. There were flowers here and there swaying in the breeze. It was an impossible sight for the Auguria Dunes.
“The grass…is real. And it tastes…bleh, bleh! It’s definitely grass!”
The clump he pulled up smelled like vegetation. It was the real deal.
And his wounds and the condition of his clothes, the scars of the battle earlier that had enveloped the entire Pleiades Watchtower were still there.
Meaning that battle had actually happened, and Subaru had not died yet.
The enormous black shadow that had attacked the green room. He had survived being swallowed up by…
“—Rem! Where’s Rem…?”
If Louis was there, then Rem should be, too, since he had been holding her. Ignoring Louis, he immediately scanned the surroundings for Rem. And before long, he saw her lying quietly in the short grass.
“Rem! Ahhh, thank goodness! You’re, you’re really safe…”
Running over, he confirmed she wasn’t injured and slumped in relief.
There were no obvious external wounds. Her body heat and breathing were the same as ever. With a heartfelt relief, Subaru wiped the sweat from his brow and looked around.
There was no trace of the tower or his friends anywhere.
“Emilia-tan!!! Beako!!! Ram!!!”
“Uh, ahhh!”
He shouted in the hopes that even if he couldn’t see them, they might still answer, but his voice echoed hollowly. The only response came from Louis, lying on the ground.
Whatever she was planning in this unmanageable situation, he was the only one who could protect Rem, so he stood up to confront Louis…
“ ”
As he moved his arms to get up, there was a tug.
“…Eh?”
A hoarse gasp escaped him. The pull on the hem of his clothes wasn’t that strong. But still, he couldn’t move.
“ ”
His knees trembling, he started sweating incomprehensibly heavily.
It was a genuinely strange impulse. His insides all started moving, and everything that made up the human Natsuki Subaru went wild, stricken by the sight.
“…Ah.”
Slowly, her eyelids quivered, beginning to open.
The faint blue of a clear lake that had been hidden behind those eyelids.
He had loved how joyous and cheerful her eyes were. Their occasional impish gleam. That pleading gleam that made his heart ache.
He had always, always, always loved that gleam.
“Re…”
His heart leaped, his throat quivered, and he was speechless, like something was blocked.
It was blocked. It was. His chest was filled with so many emotions.
The words he wanted to say, the things he wanted to tell her, the pleas he wanted to make—they were all bottled up inside.
“…Rem.”
His lips quivered, calling her name wistfully.
Pathetically, even just that much was a struggle that he failed several times to achieve.
Had he said it clearly enough for her to understand? Or was it just his imagination, and he’d failed to convey the most important things?
“Rem, Rem…Rem…Remmm…Rem!”
A stream of tears poured from his eyes each time he spoke her name.
“ ”
Blinking quietly, her eyes showed a faint but clear light.
At that point, he could tell that his desperate plea really wasn’t just a trick of his eyes.
She was really there…Rem was there.
“…Ah.”
Weakly moving her lips, Rem tried to say something.
Just a single hoarse sound from her lips was heartrending to Subaru.
Talking to her as she slept all this time, her shallow, sleeping breaths his only confirmation she was still alive.
He had spent so many days and nights vowing in his heart to get her back. But in all that time, he had never once heard her voice.
Closing his eyes, he could remember her voice calling to him, saying his name, all the time they had spent together.
But they were all memories.
He wanted to hear her voice again in a new tomorrow.
And that was finally coming true. That wish was finally being realized.
“Rem…it’s all right. Take your time…”
“…Ugh…”
Her lips slowly, impatiently quivered.
He should be getting her some water to drink, but there was no obvious water around, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
One word was enough. If she would just say his name again.
Just that one word would be enough…
“…re…ou…”
“…Rem?”
Her lips moved softly, seeking something to wet her hoarse throat.
She wet her tongue with saliva and managed to summon enough strength to open her mouth.
And in those blue eyes where Subaru could see his reflection…
“Who are you?”
Kneeling there, peering into her face, Subaru caught his breath.
When he finally let go of the breath that he’d been holding for a painfully long time, he thumped his chest.
Again, and a third time, pleading with himself.
You already considered this possibility…
He had considered the possibility that Rem wouldn’t remember him when she woke up. Considering Gluttony’s authority, it was a natural progression. It was entirely plausible she would wake still having lost her name or memories.
It was entirely plausible, so there was no way he wouldn’t have considered it. Of course, that didn’t mean the impact, the pain of it was nothing. But he wasn’t so pitiful to act the tragic hero, despairing and cursing his fate or raging at the unfairness of it all.
And more than anything, she had already told him:
“Show me how cool you are, Subaru.”
“…My name is Natsuki Subaru.”
Clenching his teeth, Subaru looked down as the grief threatened to overcome him, and his expression twisted.
Rubbing his face, he put on his best brave face and smiled at Rem. With that cheerful, entirely unfounded smile that was befitting of Natsuki Subaru.
“You might not remember it yet, but I’m…”
“You are…?”
Subaru’s words trailed off for a moment, and he closed his eyes tightly. And then he looked back into those blue eyes and continued.
“I’m you’re hero… I’ve been waiting to see you again, Rem.”
And with that, for the sake of the girl to whom he had made his vow, he introduced himself as a hero.
Donning the scarred and battered image of a hero, the boy took up that title again for this girl’s sake.
I’ll renew it here. To start my story with her again from zero.
<END>
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