Having been thrust into the flower bed for more like thirty seconds than three, Subaru leapt out. He desperately tried to brush the mud—and perhaps things other than mud—off him as he stood before Emilia at an oddly close distance.
“It doesn’t count! It doesn’t count, right?! That was yesterday and all!”
“Well, just think of it as: When bad luck is with you, good luck is not far away.”
“And Emilia’s already in Consolation Mode!”
As Subaru wiped away small tears with his sleeve, Emilia, a bitter smile on her noble face, must have felt pity for him as she touched the pendant between her breasts.
“—Puck, wake up.”
The green crystal flared lightly, responding to Emilia’s call. The light formed first the contours, then the full image of a little cat that materialized and rested on Emilia’s palm.
The little kitty heavily stretched its little body, looking like it was making a yawn.
“Mm, good morning, Lia. Ahh, Subaru’s up already.”
“Good morning, Puck. Sorry to wake you all of a sudden, but could you wash Subaru, please?”
Puck, watching with one eye as Emilia pled her request, suddenly oohed as he looked in Subaru’s direction. Looking at Subaru’s mud-covered appearance, he nodded, apparently agreeing with the girl’s request.
“Time for a bath, then. There!”
“Bath is putting it mildly. I… Whoa?!”
As Puck thrust out both hands, the dazzling, pale light that came from them turned into a large amount of water the next moment, slamming into Subaru’s upper body with incredible force, scrubbing away all the world’s impurities.
“That’s a water cannon—!!”
“Whoops, I threw off his balance a little.”
With Subaru’s body turning around from his upper body being bathed in water, Puck adjusted the water flow in the other direction with a little too much oomph. Subaru was unable to resist being turned right to left, round and round.
“See? You’re all clean now. Isn’t that nice?”
“Wh… When you play with me like that…my heart goes…round and round…”
Subaru, sitting on a soggy patch of grass, was groggy with his eyes still spinning. He wiped his face with his soaked sleeve and somehow rose up despite his wobbly state.
“Man, if you’re that rough, I’ll start seriously thinking you’re the culprits?”
“I’m not sure what I’m being suspected of, but I’m deeply, deeply hurt… Nyaa?!”
As the little kitty floated in midair, pretending to be upset, Subaru pressed a finger to his narrow forehead and turned him toward Emilia as he cried out.
Somehow, this was the most frivolous, wonderful reunion he’d had so far. Putting aside that Emilia should have been tearfully rushing to greet Subaru upon his revival from mortal injury…
He wondered what he should say as his first step to resolving the situation—
“Bwa.”
“Huh?”
“Bwahaha! I’m sorry, I can’t, ah-ha-ah-ha-ha-ha! What are you two doing… Ah, my sides hurt; I’m going to die…”
Suddenly Emilia, unable to hold it in any longer, burst out laughing, driving away all his worries.
As Emilia pointed at Subaru, who looked like a drowned rat, her normally neatly arranged expression was gripped by mirth. The unexpected reaction made Subaru look at Puck, who was floating right beside his face.
“Well, my initial bad impression’s all gone! Thanks for the assist, Dad!”
In response to Subaru’s impudent suggestion, Puck puffed out his chest haughtily.
“Who are you calling ‘Dad’?! You won’t have my daughter that easily!!”
Upon hearing this, Emilia’s loud, laughing voice filled the whole garden.
3
Having finished her laughter, Emilia was watching Subaru as she spoke.
“I heard Ram and Rem were heading for the garden, but they’re a little late…”
Emilia was still wiping the vestiges of the tears from her eyes from laughing so hard. Subaru, the chief culprit, toyed with Puck in the middle of his hand.
“Huh. So when you say they’re late, can I take it that you’ve been waiting here for my sake?”
“Uh, isn’t it the other way around? It’s true that I should thank you, and if I moved without thinking, we might miss each other and I don’t want that, but it’s just coincidence that I stayed here with you.”
“Right, it’s just coincidence, Subaru. She makes me drag out my grooming for one reason after another and speaks to the lesser spirits about the same things over and over… She says it’s all just coincidence.”
As usual, just as Emilia was in the middle of completely self-destructing, Puck added fuel to the fire.
“Sheesh, Puck!”
“She should just be honest with herself. That’s a cute thing about Lia, though…don’t you think, Subaru?”
“Oh, definitely! Everything about Emilia-tan is the brightest star in my sky!”
“Now Subaru’s teasing me… And what is that ‘tan’? Where did that come from?”
She was finally voicing some doubts about the way he was speaking to her.
Up until last time, it was a subject Emilia had managed to let slide. Subaru put a hand to his chin and made what sounded like some kind of diabolical chuckle.
“It’s a sign of my affection. It’s like how Puck calls you Lia… A way for two people to show how close they are to each other.”
“…Not that I remember being quite that close to you?”
“Wow, that statement kind of hurts, you know. I was kind of making a down payment. I’m totally planning to have a relationship with Emilia-tan that goes hand in hand with the pet names. Okay?”
At the very least, he hoped to get close enough to her by a few nights from then that she’d forgive him for it.
Emilia’s face expressed surprise at Subaru’s strong approach, then her cheeks reddened a bit.
“F-fine. I’ll accept that. Hey, don’t look at me like that!”
“Er? I thought I was getting brushed off? What’s that positive reaction? Explain this, Mr. Puck.”
As Emilia turned her face aside, Puck sat on her shoulder and twirled his mustache.
“My daughter doesn’t have many friends, so being called by an intimate nickname makes her happy. Put simply, she’s easy.”
Subaru exclaimed in surprise, “My leading lady’s easy!”
He thought he’d merely climbed a treacherous wall, but he felt the sudden realization that it was more. He continued, “But we’re still a long way apart… I need to learn a little more about this whole nobility thing.”
“Ugh…could you not mention something I really don’t want to talk about?”
“I just want to reach an agreement on E M P (Emilia-tan’s Majorly Pretty). Oh?”
Subaru pressed silliness onto Emilia when he abruptly looked back at the mansion and narrowed his eyes. Emilia followed Subaru’s gaze, tilting her head as she watched the twins come out of the mansion.
“Ram and Rem, huh… It’s a bit too soon to be breakfast time, though…”
The image of the sunlight reflecting off her silver hair seemed to burn into Subaru’s eyes as he confirmed that events were proceeding.
It was the time of Roswaal’s return. The twins simultaneously bowed their heads before them.
They spoke with the same stereo effect he’d now heard many times over.
“Master Roswaal, lord of the manor, has returned. Please come with us.”
Subaru watched Emilia nod to them as he turned toward the twins with a hand casually pressed to his rear.
“Sister, Sister. Since last we saw him, he has become a muddy drowned rat.”
“Rem, Rem. Since last we saw him, our guest has become a stained, filthy rag.”
Subaru made a pained smile at their sharp comments as he looked up at the sight of the mansion.
He would change clothes, tidy hims
elf up, and head to meet Roswaal for a fresh start.
—Because this time, he intended to take a completely different approach than before.
4
—And so, his first week at Roswaal Manor began in earnest for the third time.
For this third loop, Subaru wanted to emphasize gathering information.
“My keywords are magic and chain…but that doesn’t tell me anything yet.”
The only thing he knew for sure was that someone would attack in the dead of night on the fourth day.
Under the present circumstances, if he told Roswaal and the others, they’d no doubt ignore him. Subaru simply couldn’t explain where he got his information. Subaru could even get himself suspected as one of the assassins arrayed against them. If he at least had a physical description of the attacker, things might be different, but…
“That’s why I’ve gotta spend this time gathering intel. If the Return by Death conditions are the same as before…”
On the royal capital loop, he’d died three times and had a breakthrough on the fourth. If things were as before, he’d be able to return one more time. So this time he’d gather the intel he needed for a breakthrough the fourth time around.
“To be honest, I don’t like picking a plan that’s giving up from the start…”
However, his options being very limited, he had to resign himself to some sacrifices. At any rate, he had no intention of throwing away his opportunity. It was the difference between resolving to redo everything and aiming from the start to overcome the challenge. This time, he’d focus entirely on getting out of the loop.
“For that, I had to tell Puck under the table to keep Emilia safe.”
In the middle of playing around with Puck in the garden, Subaru had whispered to Puck to pay attention to Emilia’s surroundings. The little kitty could read minds; Subaru figured he’d know Subaru’s earnestness was no lie.
“I made things pretty vague, but he seems genuinely protective of Lia.”
After all, he’d given Subaru’s pushy suggestion a warm reception. He could now assume that Emilia would be relatively safe.
It wasn’t much, but it did relieve a bit of the burden on his shoulders.
“After that, there’s Roswaal and the loli… But after that, what?”
Subaru scratched his head all over, plucked out a hair, pinched his feather pen under his nose, and stretched his back.
His head hurt from the difficult dilemmas. That being said, he had to do whatever he could. If possible, he wanted Ram and Rem, and of course Roswaal and Beatrice as well, to get through those four days safely. He had his reasons for not running no matter how formidable the challenge.
“My concentration just ain’t cutting it. What to do… Huh?”
As he leaned back against his chair, it made a creaking sound when he heard a voice from outside.
“Pardon me, Dear Guest.”
Faster than Subaru could reply, the door opened and he saw a pink-haired maid—Ram.
Subaru raised an eyebrow as Ram came in with a steaming cup sitting on a tray in her hands.
“Oh my, Dear Guest, you really are studying.”
“That’s super rude, you know. I am kind of an actual guest at the moment?”
“Dear Guest, you are the manner of houseguest known as a freeloader.”
Looking calm and composed, Ram let herself into the room and began serving tea.
Watching from the side as she worked, Subaru could not conceal his bitter smile at her words.
A houseguest and freeloader—he thought the terms fit all too well.
“Here you go, Dear Guest.”
“Oh, thanks. Hot-hot-hot…”
When he took the cup and looked down into it, he saw steam rising from the surface of the hot amber liquid. The tea of this world was nearest to black tea in appearance and taste. The rich aroma was just as easy to enjoy.
Ram’s attitude was very blunt, but it was odd that she’d come in to serve tea like this. As he watched Ram’s polished movements, Subaru slowly tasted the tea he’d been offered, nodding.
“Mm…really does taste awful.”
“This manor serves tea using leaves of the highest quality, so that is quite a statement.”
“If it tastes bad, it tastes bad. I just can’t think of it as anything but black tea. Tastes like…plant.”
Ram coldly watched Subaru’s scowling face as she served herself tea that she had brought like it was the most normal thing in the world, sitting down on the bed and stretching her legs without a care.
“I don’t have words for the guts you have, slacking off in front of a guest.”
“I believe you were the one who said to take it easier, Dear Guest? I am doing this only to respond to your request. You should be thanking me.”
“This is, like, even pushier than you were before, though?”
Subaru voiced his complaints as he sank back in his chair and made a loud sound. Ram listened to that sound as she wet her tongue with black tea, finally giving Subaru a sideways glance.
“And, Dear Guest leaving in two days, have you made any progress?”
Subaru broke out in a small, bitter smile as he listened to her exceptionally dry delivery.
—It was already the second night since he had begun the third loop.
For this third time around, Subaru had been treated at the mansion like a guest, a sharp difference from before. That was because Subaru had requested as much at that first breakfast.
Now that he was being treated as a guest, Subaru had his own room and Rem and Ram took turns serving him as he continued the language study he’d begun the last time.
—All of it was to justify his leaving the mansion temporarily without creating a stir.
He was forming plans in his head while his fingers continued copying I-script almost automatically. His movements were robotic enough to make one’s stomach twist, but nothing was really getting into his head.
“Are you always this bad, or is your foolish head unable to concentrate?”
“Got some nerve saying that to a literary enthusiast like me. Aren’t you inspired from watching me give this desk my all back there?”
“An uncouth statement to match such sloppy writing—I am aghast you call yourself a literary enthusiast, Dear Guest.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen a maid talk to her guests like you do.”
Ram politely ignored Subaru’s resentful statement and browsed with apparent interest the pages filled with characters. Even with the distance so close, he glared as he watched the side of her face, unable to stop the feeling that his insides were being wrung.
Unlike the previous occasions when Subaru had been treated as a servant, he’d had little contact with Ram this time around. Beyond his time spent in pursuit of Emilia, he’d mainly stayed in his room writing characters like this. Though once in a while he spared some time to go tease Beatrice a little…
So the distance between Ram and Rem and himself felt far greater than when he was treated as a servant.
In spite of that, here was Ram visiting Subaru in his room, spending time with him and speaking to him like a very blunt friend. He couldn’t help but find it strange.
“If you do not stop staring at me like that, I shall slap you, Dear Guest.”
“Hey, the only one making the inside of my head go pink is Emilia… Oh, that’s right.”
Trying to deflect his unease as he averted his eyes, he set aside the tea and picked up a book with its back cover facing up. This was the picture book he was using as learning material; he was finally able to understand the characters in it.
“In other words, I want to make all this studying feel like it got me somewhere.”
“It contains only common stories you should be ashamed not to know. You need to master basic I-script before calling yourself a ‘literary enthusiast.’”
“Does calling myself that tick you off that much?”
Ram made no reply to Subaru�
��s question as she poured the remaining contents of her cup down her throat. She then reached for Subaru’s cup.
“Wait, you’re gonna drink all the tea you brought here?!”
“You do not need it if you are making a face like that when you drink it. At least it shall be enjoyed by someone with a properly functioning tongue.”
“I told you, I just can’t get that plant taste out of my h… Oh, never mind. I’m gonna focus on this book, so you can kill time or head off, whatever you want.”
Subaru made a brusque wave before leaning forward in his chair and opening the picture book.
First came the author’s preface and the table of contents; after that came the body, written in the characters he’d now grown accustomed to.
“Err, let’s see…a long, long time ago…”
So fairy tales start the same way in every world, huh, he accepted with strange ease as he continued reading the story. The fact that it was in a picture book meant the story was exceptionally concise with a clearly defined introduction, body, and conclusion. Child-level comprehension was prioritized, with pictures used precisely where there was room for imagination.
Incidentally, if one asked Subaru which fairy tale he liked best, he would reply, “The Crying Red Demon.” If one asked Subaru which fairy tale he hated most, he would reply, “The Crying Red Demon.”
“It’s, like, a happy ending and a bitter ending slamming into you at once. Why can’t it all be happily ever after?”
“Sorry to intrude on your deep thoughts, but are you finished reading?”
“I’m finished reading. The things that went against common sense were fun, so it was more interesting than I expected. Guess that’s another world’s culture for you. Maybe I should bring in fairy tales from my own homeland, too, like ‘The Crying Red Demon’?”
“‘The Crying Red Demon’…?”
Subaru was mumbling about the copyright issues in another world’s jurisdiction when Ram’s eyebrows trembled in response. Huh, went Subaru, getting a rare rise out of Ram.
“It’s the title of a fairy tale from where I come from. How about I tell it to you?”
Ram did not reply as Subaru made the suggestion with a thumbs-up. However, the way she sat on the bed with her hands on her knees, shifting her gaze to Subaru, clearly conveyed that he should get on with it.
Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Vol. 2 Page 15
