Re:Zero EX: "Mistaking Life in Another World from Zero II (Mimigau IF)"

"The pillow feels different..."

Subaru muttered as she felt the soft, fluffy sensation behind her head. The feeling of waking up was different from usual, and it wasn't just the pillow. Subaru’s body, which was just a bit taller than the average height of a Japanese woman, the bed supporting her, and even the smooth touch of the sheets—everything was far too different from what she was used to.

"In other words, my life in another world is continuing..."

Subaru sat up abruptly, her body responding well to the wake-up call. She felt the annoying sensation of her long hair spreading across the nape of her neck as she confirmed the facts. Subaru had woken up in a massive bed, the kind someone from a typical middle-class background would never encounter, in a room so large it had space to spare even with such furniture. Since she was an uninvited foreigner, this was likely a guest room, and she surmised there were probably more than a few rooms of this size in this place.

"No wounds on my stomach. No stitches to be found either. Doctors in another world sure are skilled. If I’d been left with a scar, I’d never be able to get married."

Cracking jokes to herself, Subaru climbed out of bed and lifted her shirt to check the white skin of her belly. Feeling the inconvenience of not having a hair tie, she tilted her neck and nodded. This meant—

"—It looks like I managed to avoid 'Return by Death' this time."

She accepted the fact with a sigh of relief, realizing she must have been saved from the brink of death after that horrific bleeding at the end of the struggle in the loot cellar.

△▼△▼△▼△

Natsuki Subaru, a high school girl in the prime of her youth, suddenly summoned to another world. Thrown into this world without any particular special skills, she nonetheless possessed a special authority promised to many protagonists of other-world stories since ancient times. Its name was 'Return by Death'—a transcendent power that allowed her to go back in time by losing her life, enabling a process of trial and error to avoid the tragedies that befell her and grasp the future she desired.

"Well, it hurts like hell whenever I try to trigger it, so it's a cheat ability I'd rather never use again if possible..."

"You have quite the nerve, muttering to yourself in someone else's stronghold, little girl."

"Oops, the first villager has spoken."

Subaru lamented that if she could have chosen her ability when being summoned, she couldn't have picked a worse one. Just then, a voice called out from behind her. Turning around, Subaru saw a small figure sitting atop a stepladder in the middle of a vast library, staring at her with half-closed eyes.

—It was a 'shota' boy around ten years old, with short, cream-colored ringlets, wearing a tailcoat adorned with reddish-purple accents.

A characteristic pattern floated in his round, bluish eyes, and a somewhat cheeky expression was plastered on his adorable, well-featured face. A large book was spread open across the knees of his short-panted legs, and he seemed quite displeased that his reading had been interrupted. However—

"Even if you glare at me with such a cute face, it won't work on a high school girl who classifies almost every mammal smaller than herself as 'soooo cuuuute.'"

"...Not only did you ruin the labyrinth Vi-cha put so much effort into, but you keep piling on nonsensical words and actions. You lack respect."

"Labyrinth? You mean that hallway that felt like it looped forever? Sorry, sorry, I just happened to pick the right answer on the first try. I'm the type whose intuition is as socially awkward as my words. Forgive me."

Subaru raised a hand and winked, bringing up the hallway she had encountered after leaving the room where she first woke up. Passing by the same paintings, vases, endless carpets, and doors with the same plates over and over, Subaru had judged it to be a looping corridor. Without hesitation, she had chosen the very first bedroom door she had come out of.

When she opened it, as expected, it didn't lead back to the first room, but to this curly-haired boy who had likely created that hallway.

"What should I do? Should I go back out and act really surprised? If that'll satisfy your ego, I'll put on the performance of a lifetime."

"...Good grief. Vi-cha's patience has reached its limit."

"Oh?"

As he spoke, the young boy closed his book, climbed down the ladder, and walked toward Subaru. Feeling a somewhat intimidating aura, Subaru found her feet wouldn't move to back away, and she stood frozen as he closed the distance. Then, his reaching hand softly touched Subaru's stomach.

"Oh my."

"If those are your last words, you truly are a foolish girl to the very end."

"Gyah—!?"

In an instant, Subaru's entire body was struck by a shock originating from the boy's palm pressed against her stomach. She couldn't even think about bracing herself; she collapsed on the spot, helpless. Despite being the culprit, the boy didn't even try to catch her. Thanks to that, she hit her head on the floor. The carpet was fluffy, so it didn't hurt, though.

"But... you're no... gentleman... kid... In this case... in two senses..."

"I'm surprised you can still speak. That evaluation isn't wrong, either. —Do not measure a noble existence like Vi-cha with your own yardstick, human."

With that cold, dry declaration as the last thing she heard, Subaru's consciousness faded. Honestly, she felt she was losing consciousness far too frequently since being summoned, and as a young maiden, she worried about catching a cold from sleeping on the floor so much—and then, her consciousness cut out.

△▼△▼△▼△

"Oh, you've awakened, Brother." "Indeed, she has awakened, Leu."

Once again, the fluffy, strange sensation behind her head, etc., etc. The voices of two young men from the tomorrow that had arrived beyond her closed eyelids were what pulled the pathetically unconscious Subaru back to reality.

"Not only did I just wake up, but they saw my sleeping face... my maiden index is plummeting with a crash..."

She didn't have such a grand face, but even a face that wasn't grand deserved the minimum rights guaranteed by the constitution. The constitution was about as far from high school girl trends as one could get, but surely it contained a clause stating that one must not lightly look upon a maiden's sleeping or waking face. It would be strange otherwise. If it weren't protected by the constitution, how could other maidens, who put flowers to shame, endure such disgrace and humiliation?

"I shall resolutely continue to fight alongside the constitution...! Until I have eradicated all men from this world who peer at a maiden's waking face and get disappointed or say unnecessary things...!"

"Oh, I feel a quite useless amount of enthusiasm from her, Brother." "Yes, she is a woman who has wasted her life on useless talk and useless thoughts, Leu."

"Hey! You're saying whatever you want just because I'm too flustered to move! That's it, both of you, step outside! I'll fix those attitudes—!"

Stung by their harsh words, Subaru finally sprang up, her morning humiliation shattered. As she kicked off the sheets, Subaru saw two slender silhouettes watching her from the foot of the bed. Though they had different hair colors—one pink and one blue—their facial features, the shape of their eyes, and the impression of their neatly worn butler uniforms were identical. Witnessing the two of them, Subaru's momentum from jumping up stopped—no, it swung in a completely different direction.

"I-I-I-It's handsome twin butlers...!!"

The twins, with bob-cut hair and long bangs covering one eye each, were a symmetrical masterpiece except for their hair color, making Subaru's heart race. However, the reaction from the two of them to Subaru's high praise was less than favorable. The blue-haired youth frowned slightly, while the pink-haired youth shot her a look of blatant contempt.

"Guh... control yourself, Subaru...! Honestly, the moment I realized I was sleeping in a mansion, I should have anticipated the possibility of handsome butlers. If it had been a handsome middle-aged man, I would have lost my mind."

"Brother, she is a guest, but is there perhaps something wrong with her?" "Leu, it goes without saying. It is her head that is wrong, and it is far too late."

"If anything, the way the 'Brother' one talks is seriously cruel!"

Subaru snapped back at the sharp tongue, but the twin butlers remained cool. If she was being treated as a guest, she wished they would treat her more like a princess, with flowers and butterflies.

"In that regard, I'm sure Emilio-kyun would be much kinder to me..."

"—Is that 'Emilio-kyun' supposed to be me?"

"Oh."

As she pouted at the twin butlers' cold attitude, a third person's voice caught her off guard—a voice that vibrated sweetly in her chest and gently against her eardrums. Turning around, she saw a figure peeking through the half-open door—a beauty with violet eyes and silver hair who captivated Subaru's soul at a single glance.

"I'm glad, Subaru. You've woken up safely."

"Emilio-kyun is here!!"

Subaru shouted, her eyes—which had been called wicked and cursed—widening at the appearance of the youth, Emilio, who was smiling softly and truly rejoicing in her safety. Emilio was surprised by Subaru's excitement, then he let his lips relax into a smile.

"What is this 'kyun'? Where did that come from?"

He asked such a simple, yet difficult-to-answer question.

△▼△▼△▼△

"Nice to meet you, Natsuki Subaru-kun. I am the owner of this mansion, Roswaal L. Mathers-daaa-yo."

After various events, Subaru was invited to the breakfast table and introduced to the self-proclaimed lord of the manor, a blue-haired presumed beauty named Roswaal L. Mathers. The reason she was called a 'presumed beauty' was—

"Why the mask...?"

"Naturally, it is part of my hobby-daaa-to-mo. Isn't curiosity piqued more by something mysterious?"

Roswaal shrugged without a hint of shame, the left half of her face covered by a white mask. The mask looked like a clown's mask split in half, characterized by a clownish grin. The visible right half of her face, combined with her yellow eye, made her look like a beauty, so perhaps the mask was there to hide a scar or something.

"My read is that there isn't even a tragic past behind it."

"It's irritating to agree with you, but that assessment isn't bad. It's foolish to seek a reason for everything Roswaal does."

"And there's the endorsement from the cheeky shota."

Subaru snapped her fingers and pointed toward the end of the long table covered in a white cloth, where the young boy from before was sitting with a sour face. The boy she had encountered when she first woke up in the mansion wasn't a dream; he was a real, living shota. Roswaal raised an eyebrow at the exchange between Subaru and the boy.

"Are you already getting along with Victor? I thought he hadn't been speaking to me much lately. Has he gotten over his shyness-kaaa-na?"

"That is an unnecessary and incorrect understanding, Roswaal."

"See, he's cold like this-daaa-yo."

Roswaal showed her raised hands, demonstrating her relationship with the cold youth—Victor. Subaru still didn't quite understand Victor's position in the mansion. He didn't look like Roswaal's son, but should she suspect a complicated family environment? Even in another world, the houses of nobles seemed to harbor their own entanglements and troubles. After all—

"I can't believe Emilio-kyun was a candidate for the throne... I mean, that makes him a prince."

"I'm not a prince. I don't have a deep connection to the royal castle or the capital. I was simply added as one of the candidates for the Royal Selection in accordance with the covenant of the 'Divine Dragon.'"

"I don't really get the Divine Dragon or the covenant, but the proof of being a candidate is..."

"The insignia Subaru was trying to get back in the capital, right~?"

The one who chimed in and stole the end of Subaru and Emilio's conversation was Tink, who had a small set of tableware prepared for her at the table. The spirit contracted to Emilio, who claimed to be his surrogate mother, held the insignia as if hugging it with her short arms and showed it off.

That was the insignia Subaru had struggled to recover, the MacGuffin that had cost her her life three times in the capital—

"But I'm standing right here. And the wound on my stomach is gone! Oh right, thank you for healing that, Emilio-kyun."

"Ah, the one who healed that wasn't me, it was Victor. Victor is very, very well-versed in all kinds of magic."

"What, this cheeky half-pants kid!?"

"I am currently regretting healing you. If I had known you were such an impolite and noisy girl, I wouldn't have lent a hand."

"No, sorry, sorry, I was just hiding my embarrassment. Thanks for the help, Vic-ta. I'll definitely pay you back for this favor in some way eventually."

"Before that, what did you just call Vi-cha!?"

Subaru blew a kiss to Victor, who was shouting in a cute voice with wide eyes. Then, she looked back at Emilio and Tink, who was lying down next to the insignia.

"Back to the topic, if I hadn't helped, the insignia would have been stolen and Emilio-kyun would have been in big trouble. Like being disqualified from the Royal Selection!"

"—Yes, that's right. That's why I owe Subaru a very, very big debt. A debt that can't be repaid just by healing a wound on your stomach."

"As a house, it would have been a major blow if Emilio-sama, whom we support, were disqualified before the Royal Selection even began-tooo-koro. We feel we must reward Subaru-kun, who prevented that, in some way-daaa-yo."

"Yes, yes, this is exactly the flow I wanted. In that case, I have only one wish! Just one!"

Subaru pointed her fingers sharply at both Emilio and Roswaal, the two highest authorities in the room, and made her demand with vigor. Subaru's wish was simple.

"Please, hire me at this mansion!"

—It was a master plan aimed at the classic 'living together' development, intended to launch an all-out offensive while under the same roof as her favorite guy.

△▼△▼△▼△

"You have too little greed, Subaru. To ask for my name or a job at the mansion as a reward... it makes me worry."

That was Emilio's reaction to Subaru's request for employment. Subaru's heart was turned into a pincushion by arrows of love at the sight of the beautiful youth lowering his brows and genuinely worrying about her, but that was a separate matter. Fortunately, Subaru's request to be hired went through smoothly, and with Roswaal's permission, Natsuki Subaru was officially welcomed as a member of the Roswaal Manor.

Establishing a solid foundation for life in another world where she had no one to rely on. Though she hadn't thought deeply about how big of an advantage that was, Subaru was relieved to have secured it. However, on the other hand, if there was one thing she thought she might have rushed into—

"The maid outfit is too revealing! Isn't this way too much for me to wear!?"

Slipping into the official uniform of the Roswaal Manor maids, Subaru complained about the shortness of the skirt and the drafty feeling on her back, nearly in tears. Naturally, since she was an employee, she intended to follow the rules of the mansion, but the baptism of another world, which disregarded functional beauty, was merciless and set about destroying Subaru's self-esteem.

"This kind of outfit is only okay because beautiful girls wear it! For a girl like me with wicked eyes and a bony frame to wear this... I can hear my inner self screaming at me to know my place!"

"Brother, it seems Subaru-san is having some kind of internal conflict." "Leu, she's just getting ahead of herself. Don't pay too much attention to Barusu."

"You twins! Don't you have a better reaction for a young maiden!? I'm exposing ten times more skin than usual and enduring the shame, you hear!? Say something like 'It suits you,' or 'Fine feathers make fine birds,' or 'It's too good for you' to offset my embarrassment!"

The twins—Lau and Leu—remained indifferent to Subaru's barking. They seemed to be the type who didn't show much emotion, but wasn't it a universal etiquette to offer a comment when a lady changed her attire?

"Thinking about it, isn't Ros-chi's education lacking?"

"Don't criticize Roswaal-sama so casually. Do you not value your life, Barusu?"

"Stop glaring at me with such a serious tone! Also, my name has been turned into a spell for blinding people! It's going to trend!"

"Brother, Leu thinks it will only be tiring to take her seriously."

"...You're right. Hey, don't trouble this Lau too much, Barusu."

"Hmph, my coworkers are so cold, the world is a harsh place..."

Lau and Leu had an aura that didn't easily let others in, but their high loyalty to their master, Roswaal, was evident. Though they gave off similar impressions, Subaru felt that Leu would probably be easier to talk to about both work and private matters than Lau.

"I bet the hard-to-approach Lau is the type who gives the cold shoulder until he opens his heart."

"What is that unpleasant evaluation? Were you not listening to Lau?"

"Brother, please leave this to Leu. You have more important duties than instructing a newcomer, Brother."

"—Fine. I'll leave it to you."

Lau, irritated by Subaru's private assessment, nodded at Leu's suggestion. However, before leaving the room, he gave Subaru one last glance.

"I'll tell you now, don't mess with Lau's precious younger brother. If you get in the way of Leu's work, I'll kick you out of this mansion even if you are Emilio-sama's benefactor."

"Whoa, strong intimidation. But I won't lose. I have my own ambitions to achieve...!"

"Hah."

Lau laughed through his nose with immense arrogance and walked away, leaving Subaru pouting. As she watched his back, Leu stepped up beside Subaru.

"Please don't take it too personally. Brother is simply always embracing a dignity that is true to himself and does not falsify words."

"That's one way to put it! From the sound of it, you're really devoted to your brother."

"Brother has a greatness that warrants such fascination."

"I see. By the way, what work did Lau go off to do?"

"He likely went to take a short nap before lunch..."

"Define 'important duty'!!"

Suddenly, Lau's pretentious behavior from just a moment ago was rewritten as a ploy to go slack off and nap, and her impression of him was rewritten accordingly. If he was going to be that arrogant, he should at least be able to do his job perfectly.

"Is he actually great at working? An expert in cleaning, laundry, and cooking?"

"Brother is good at cleaning. Though Leu is more skilled at it. And there are some difficulties in asking him to do laundry or cooking."

"Then Lau's reason for existence is gone!!"

Whether it was Leu's lack of follow-up or Lau's pure lack of ability, either way, his reason for existence was apparently just being handsome, but his reason for acting so high and mighty had vanished. I mean, thinking about it that way, why did Subaru have to be treated like that?

"Geez, what is with that guy...!"

She had ended up sounding like a heroine blushing at a man who lived freely outside her common sense, but Subaru's heart belonged solely to Emilio. She wanted to be kind to those who were kind to her; that was Subaru's honest maidenly heart.

"Well then, I will teach you your duties. Please follow me."

"Ugh... Leu-ppe's kindness is soaking into my soul. I... I like people who are kind to me."

"It is because of Roswaal-sama's orders, and because it would be troublesome if Brother's or Leu's workload were increased unnecessarily. I have no particular feelings toward you, Subaru-san. Please do not misunderstand."

"Dammit! Both brothers are so cold! Fine, I won't lose!"

Whether it was the older brother's bluntness or the younger brother's polite dismissal, Subaru vowed to the sky that she would not give up despite the cold treatment. If she worked hard and stayed virtuous, surely Emilio would come to her on a white horse.

"Wait, we're under the same roof, so I've already cleared that stage. Huh? But how do I move forward from here? My otome game knowledge pretty much ends once the relationship starts..."

"I'm leaving you behind."

"Ah, I'm coming, I'm coming... wait, you're fast! No consideration!"

"Please be more careful with your language so as not to embarrass Roswaal-sama, Subaru-san."

Receiving such helpful nagging from her senior, Subaru hurried along, mindful of her skirt length, as she boldly challenged her first work experience in another world.

△▼△▼△▼△

The following few days of her first maid experience were a series of various hardships.

To be honest, what was surprising was that Lau and Leu took care of Subaru quite kindly. Of course, since any mistakes Subaru made would increase their burden, it could be said their attitude was only natural. However, Lau with his cold, sharp-edged tongue, and Leu with his heavy, blunt-force-like politeness, both played a part in Subaru's improvement.

"No, Lau really just gives verbal orders, though."

"Is that so? Sorry, I haven't looked closely at the details of Lau and Leu's work. I just always thought they were working hard."

"It's fine, it's fine. Emilio-kyun is busy with his studies. But don't push yourself too hard. Human concentration doesn't last long—there's a theory like that, or maybe there isn't, or maybe I'm just saying it myself, or something like that."

"Heh, is that so... eh? You're just saying it yourself, Subaru?"

Whether it was actually true or not was ambiguous, as theories were overturned quite frequently. For example, the timing of seasoning meat with salt and pepper—whether to do it before cooking, during cooking, or where exactly—was a point of divided opinion. Humans have probably been grilling meat since they first used fire, yet even such basic discussions haven't reached a conclusion; that is what a theory is.

"And so says I, who doesn't really know much about it."

Summarizing crudely, Subaru sat cross-legged on the grass and yawned. No need to worry; she wasn't in the short skirt of the maid uniform. She had already finished her daytime work and was ready for bed, so Subaru was styled in her jersey tracksuit.

She thought her jersey was a goner after being cut across the stomach by that terrifying Eins, the assassin she encountered in the capital, but fortunately, they had kept the jersey even when it was nearly a rag, so she was able to mend it and wear it again.

"I'm glad I have sewing skills. Having them or not makes a huge difference in how long your things last."

"Come to think of it, Leu was praising you too. He said Subaru's skill at mending things is like a craftsman's."

"My skill tree is growing in a weird way, and I tend to pick up skills based on feeling. I'm the type who forgets to take passive enhancement skills."

"Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Perhaps there were too many technical terms, as Emilio brushed off her growth strategy with a wry smile. Regardless, it was Subaru's fault for not speaking clearly, and it didn't matter at all if Emilio didn't understand. Just being able to talk to him like this made Subaru happy.

Emilio's nightly routine was to converse with lesser spirits in the courtyard of the Roswaal Manor. Since hearing that he spent his time that way, Subaru had been sitting at the edge of his vision, thinking she might be a nuisance but unable to resist the urge to be near him. Of course, if she were rejected, she would suffer damage so great she might not recover, but for now, Emilio hadn't ordered her to leave, so she was in the 'safe' zone.

"————"

Lesser spirits flew through the night, emitting a faint, soft glow. Surrounded by them, Emilio's figure as he brushed back his mystical silver hair looked terribly fragile, with a fantastical atmosphere that made it seem like he might crumble if she touched him. Gazing at such otherworldly beauty up close, Subaru's feelings gradually grew heated.

"The moon is beautiful, isn't it?"

"It's in a place where hands can't reach, after all."

"Guh-ack!"

"What's wrong!?"

Cold water was poured over her heated feelings, and Subaru's love nearly suffered a heart attack. A worried Emilio rushed over to her, and Subaru raised a hand, saying "I'm fine, I'm fine," responding bravely to his concern. Then, seeing Subaru's outstretched palm, Emilio let out a small "Ah..."

Wondering what it was, Subaru looked up and understood the meaning of Emilio's murmur. The fingers of Subaru's outstretched hand were covered in numerous bandages.

"Oh, how embarrassing. A hand full of wounds isn't very girly, is it?"

"That's not true. —Shall I cast healing magic? I'm not very good at it, but for wounds like those..."

"Hmm, I'm happy for the offer, Emilio-kyun, but I think I'll wait on that."

"Why?"

Emilio lowered his brows anxiously at the rejection of his proposal. Seeing that he seemed hurt by the idea of being rejected by Subaru, she hurriedly shook her head, saying "No, no," and—

"It's not about you, Emilio-kyun, it's my own problem. ...These wounds are proof that I'm working hard here. I thought I'd keep them for a bit."

"Proof of working hard..."

"This one's from cooking, this one's from a mistake using a cleaning tool I wasn't used to, and this one's from tripping while looking away during window cleaning. Each one is a mark of my growth."

After all, for Subaru, who had no part-time job experience, these maid days at the mansion were her first and only employment experience. She had been confident that she was quite dexterous, but such baseless confidence was crushed one after another by her first job, and her fingers ended up in this ragged state.

But that wasn't a bad thing.

"When there's proof of hard work in a visible form, I can trust my own footsteps... sorry, I might be saying something weird."

"—No. That's not true. I understand perfectly."

"Emilio-kyun..."

Emilio didn't laugh at Subaru's foolish stubbornness, looking at her with a serious face. While her heart was struck by his words, Subaru simultaneously felt her heart race with a heat that wasn't light, but truly poured into her. And so, emboldened by those feelings, she decided to take a gamble.

"Um, Emilio-kyun... if it's okay, I'm planning to go to the village for supplies tomorrow, so would you like to go on a d-date... I mean, an outing with me?"

"To the village..."

"W-Was that a no!? Did I misread the distance!? Was I being a pig!?"

"I'm not thinking anything that mean at all!?"

Subaru saw a vision of her head being lopped off by a counter-attack because she had stepped in too deep. Emilio hurriedly waved his hands at her intensity, and this time he was the one explaining himself, saying "That's not it." Emilio hesitated on how to put it, but—

"This isn't about you, Subaru, it's a problem on my end. About the village... I was worried you might have an unpleasant experience if you went with me..."

"That's not true! If I'm with Emilio-kyun, there'll be rose-colored effects scattered everywhere!"

"But, I don't think the people around us will look very happy..."

"It's fine! No matter what faces the people around us make, I'll be right next to you with the best smile of the century, and my clinginess will become an addictive habit!"

"...Pfft."

Emilio finally burst out laughing, looking as if he had been defeated by Subaru's invitation, which ignored out-boxing and went straight for an in-fight. Subaru waited with bated breath for his next words—

"Okay, I understand. I'll go to the village with you, Subaru."

At Emilio's slightly helpless smile, Subaru was already forced into a victory cheer with the biggest grin of the century.

"And that's why I have a date with Emilio-kyun tomorrow! Hehehehe, I have to say, progress in our relationship is imminent! Isn't it great? Isn't it great?"

"Why did you come all the way here to report that to Vi-cha..."

"Well, Lau and Leu have work and have to be up early tomorrow, and the only person I can talk to is Vic-ta, who's just hanging around the mansion doing nothing, right?"

"I don't understand the logic of how you can break through 'Door Crossing' so easily with that attitude!"

Victor shouted, his face turning red. It was late at night, and making a lot of noise would bother others, but Subaru didn't scold him. It was partly because she was in a good mood, but also because of the special power of this library—no, the Forbidden Library.

Apparently, this young boy named Victor was an incredibly powerful being, skilled in magic that could twist or connect spaces. The 'Door Crossing' magic he used was a grand technique that could connect the door of this Forbidden Library to any door in the mansion. However, Subaru could break through the randomness that was supposed to make it hard to reach, simply by following her intuition.

"Haa, this is all a reward for my daily hard work... c-c-could I, could I be a bit more greedy? What do you think?"

"I don't think anything of it."

"Like holding hands! W-Would it be considered unmaidenly if I went for it?"

"Listen to me! If you're going to talk, at least listen to what I say!"

"Bom-bar-dier!"

Subaru thought it might be inappropriate to seek romance advice from a young boy, but it was also questionable for him to respond to an older sister's earnest troubles with some kind of invisible shockwave. In the end, without getting a decent answer, Subaru was blown away by a fierce wind and kicked out of the Forbidden Library, ending her tryst with Victor.

"Despite having such a cute face, he lacks cuteness. Someday I'll pamper him like a cat."

Muttering a grudge about being rolled down the hallway, Subaru brushed herself off, then regained her composure and skipped toward her room with a bouncy step. After she was kicked out, behind the closed door in the Forbidden Library, Victor—

"—It has nothing to do with Vi-cha."

He muttered, without her ever knowing.

△▼△▼△▼△

"—A new day, and a day for a remarkable leap forward! Natsuki Subaru, as of today, graduates from being a woman who just waits!"

The moment she paid off her sleepiness and bought her awakening, Subaru sprang up. Subaru's brain, which woke up incredibly well, had been constructing the best route toward her first date with Emilio—her promised engagement from last night—from the moment she opened her eyes.

First, she would use clever words to guide Leu into assigning her the easiest possible tasks. Then she would brush off Lau's sarcasm with a mature smile, take on the job of going to the village for supplies, and eventually reach the goal with Emilio.

"Now, I can't afford to dally. I need to transform into my Victory Form right now—whoa!?"

"————" "————"

Subaru finished her plan while wiggling her hips on the bed, and a very un-cute scream escaped her throat when she turned around. The reason was simple: there were figures other than Subaru standing in the room. Two of them. And in the Roswaal Manor, if two figures were standing side-by-side, there was only one possibility for their identity.

"Hey, hey! You were relatively considerate after the first day, but isn't it taboo to barge into a maiden's room in the morning!? You saw my waking face again! Don't look!"

Covering her face with both hands, Subaru tried to hide her rising embarrassment by making a joke of it. She'd want to die if they saw her truly blushing, and when she covered her face, she felt the sensation of drool at the corner of her mouth, making her want to die even more. Even if it wasn't Emilio, she wasn't such a 'tough boy' that she could take a boy seeing her terrible sleeping face with zero damage. Well, she wasn't a boy to begin with. However, the reaction of the two to Subaru's response was inexplicable.

"Brother, we were addressed quite familiarly by the guest." "Leu, we were given a greeting that completely misjudged the distance, by the guest."

Subaru was trying her best to cover up the situation, but Lau and Leu's reactions were cold, as if they couldn't read the room at all. No matter the reason, no matter how close they were, there should be etiquette even among friends.

"Or did I oversleep? Did my two seniors come to wake me up together..."

"Seniors? What on earth are you talking about, guest?" "Seniors? To be called that is a repulsive thought, guest."

"Eh..."

Frowning, the two seemed genuinely suspicious. Subaru realized this couldn't be dismissed as a joke, so she lowered the hands she had been holding to her face, her teeth chattering. Honestly, she could understand Lau's harsh words as being part of his personality, but for Leu to join in on the joke like this was going too far. As fellow servants, she had to teach them where her limits were so they could maintain smooth human relations.

If she did that, the problem would be solved—she wanted to believe that. But—

"—Ah?"

Before she could properly scold the two, her own lowered hands caught her eye. Last night, the hands she had thrust out to Emilio, the ones soみっともない and full of wounds that he had offered to cast healing magic on them. The hands that had become ragged from unfamiliar cooking, water work, and cleaning with tools she wasn't used to—they were now beautiful, as if they knew nothing of the hardships of labor.

"No way."

Trembling, she flipped her hands over and over, but the wounds that should have been there were nowhere to be found. She couldn't believe her head could feel so turned upside down just by looking at her pristine fingers. No, what she couldn't believe was this situation before her.

"Guest?" "Guest?"

Lau and Leu tilted their heads in perfect unison, appearing concerned about the state of the 'first-time' Natsuki Subaru. Looking into the eyes of the twins, which held no ill will, Subaru was certain. And along with that certainty came despair.

"Why... why did it go back!?"

She had learned the work, learned how to get along with them, and come to understand each other's personalities. She was sure they could make it work, and she had welcomed this day with a racing heart, imagining a fun future, only for it to be a dead end.

As if to say that unreasonable fate would never allow Natsuki Subaru any peace.

—The second 'First Day' begins.

△▼△▼△▼△

To be honest, the second 'nice to meet you' hit Subaru's heart incredibly hard. When she first experienced 'Return by Death' and was struck by the shock of approaching 'death,' she had suffered an extraordinary amount of heartache.

Still, that had been an event of only a few hours. In less than half a day, the bonds built might be large, but they couldn't be called deep. So, she could convince herself that being treated as a stranger was just how it was. But this time was different.

This time, she had spent several days with them, and they weren't just people whose faces and names she knew; there had been an opportunity to deeply know their characters, and an opportunity for them to know hers. The situation where all of that was overturned, as if everything on the game board had been wiped away, wasn't just a feeling of futility or loss, but a feeling that everything had been trampled upon.

It was painful. Truly. How much effort it took for Subaru to rouse herself, determined to take back that time once more. Subaru's desire to overcome that suffering and move forward should be commended. She deserved a 'You Worked Really Hard' award for her fortitude.

It was wrong to put her through something even worse, something more gruesome. It was wrong—

"—Are you a member of the Witch Cult?"

To have to be tortured with an iron flail by Leu, who was brimming with rage and hostility, in the middle of this dim forest at twilight.

"U-Ugh..."

Subaru groaned, her throat rattling as she reached a trembling hand toward her right leg. From the knee down, it had been sliced off by something sharp, and she had lost a massive amount of blood. However, the bleeding had already been stopped. Leu, who had chased her down, had done it. Not to save her, but because it would be troublesome if she died before he could get any information out of her.

—This was Subaru's third attempt since waking up at the Roswaal Manor.

Returning to the first day after the first loop, Subaru, determined to overcome this situation, tried to recreate the same circumstances as much as possible, attempting to trace those first few days. It was doubtful if that attempt went well, but the conclusion was the same. —No, it was worse.

The first time, Subaru didn't know why she had been sent back to the first day, but the second time, she had clearly had her head crushed by someone before 'Returning by Death.' As a result, she acted in the third loop with the goal of identifying the culprit, suspecting that someone was targeting her or the people of the mansion. And she had succeeded in luring out the culprit who had crushed her head—

"...Le...u."

"Do not call me so familiarly. With such a stench of miasma drifting from your entire body, even if you say you have no connection to the Witch Cult, you are not worthy of trust."

"What... are you talking about..."

She couldn't answer questions about terms she'd never heard of or things she didn't know. Leu's cold, dismissive tone was different from the polite but rude one Subaru knew; it was colored with a much, much deeper and darker hatred.

She had thought they had become friends. She thought that through work and small talk, she was gradually getting closer to him—the excellent youth who was devoted to his brother even if he lacked confidence in himself—and that the distance between their hearts was shrinking.

That was a mistake. He had been watching for an opportunity to kill Subaru all along, and he had carried it out. No, he had already done it many times. Each time, Subaru had been sent back to the first day.

And this time, too—

"Why do I have to be killed!? What did I do!? What was done to you that made you, Leu, why...!"

"You are—"

"I... I l-love... all of you..."

With a whoosh, the wind blowing past wouldn't let her say the last words. Only a hot sensation escaped her throat, and Natsuki Subaru collapsed on the spot, motionless. Her limbs twitched, and in the distance of her fading vision, she heard a voice.

"Brother is far too kind."

Subaru didn't understand the meaning of those words at all.

△▼△▼△▼△

"—I... 'Return by Death'—"

The moment she tried to say it, time stopped for Emilio in front of her, and Natsuki Subaru realized that sound, color, and the passage of time had been lost from the world. Her own body wouldn't move; her consciousness was gripped by fear at the arrival of the world's stillness.

If she were left behind in a world where nothing moved, her mind would surely be eroded in a matter of minutes, despite it being a world where time had stopped. The fear that it was scary, scary, scary tried to fill her brain—the only part of her still working inside her unmoving body—but that fear did not come to pass.

—Because a terror even greater and more undeniable was slowly approaching.

『—I love you.』

The voice of someone she didn't know whispered in her ear, and the only thing in this world that should be unmoving, the only thing excluded from that law, approached Subaru. It was hideous, and though silent, it approached Subaru eloquently, sliding right in front of her. What appeared was a black shadow, a shadow of pure black that she intuitively knew would never be lost even if light were shone upon it, a shadow whose other side could not be seen.

From that pitch-black shadow, a slender arm slid out smoothly. It was slender, but she felt a certain core of strength in that arm as it slowly, slowly slid into Subaru's chest. And—

『—I love you.』

While chanting love, an unbelievable pain painted over Natsuki Subaru's consciousness, making her understand it through unimaginable agony.

No one could share the despair Subaru tasted. She must not reveal it. Natsuki Subaru had no choice but to keep fighting all alone.

—Yes, that's what she thought.

"It's a provisional contract with Vi-cha, little girl."

"—Ah."

Even though she had pushed away even Emilio's hand of salvation, the one who reached out to Subaru was, of all people, the young boy Victor, who was thought to be outside the scope of her conquest. Seeing Subaru's haggard state and being asked for help by a desperate Subaru, Victor looked terribly annoyed, yet with a flippant attitude that couldn't hide his caring nature, he took Subaru's self-harmed hand and promised to stay by her side.

Subaru laughed at her own cheapness, having her heart saved by such a simple promise. But being able to laugh like that was something she hadn't done in a very, very long time, and Subaru shed tears. Victor never laughed at the cheap tears flowing from Subaru's eyes.

That blunt kindness would save Natsuki Subaru—

△▼△▼△▼△

"I'm going to take you outside. If I send you to a place where neither Roswaal's hand nor the hand of the older twin can reach, you won't have to die."

"————"

On a cliff as the sunset approached, Victor, who had searched for the escaped Subaru and found her here, offered a lifeline to Subaru, who no longer had a place to belong.

It was half a day ago that she had formed a provisional contract with Victor and reached the time limit in his Forbidden Library—the morning of the fifth day, which she had never been able to reach before. After struggling and struggling, she had reached that time so easily that she was taken aback, but her joy was short-lived, as the cruelty of fate did not overlook Subaru.

—Lau's wailing over Leu's death. That sight instantly shattered Subaru's joy.

Subaru, who had thought Leu was the one who triggered the tragedy at the mansion, was dazed and lost at the sight of his cold body in bed, never to wake again. All the premises she had built up collapsed, as if everything she had gathered was in vain, and she felt like she had been thrown into the middle of the ocean without a compass.

No matter where she looked, she couldn't see land. The wind blowing like a storm wouldn't let Subaru move in the direction she wanted to go. On top of that, the great waves didn't care about her feelings, and they raged mercilessly, trying to sink Subaru's tossed raft to the bottom of the sea.

"Lau is..."

"Regardless of your involvement, the older twin will not forgive you. Those two must not be missing each other. Now that one is gone, there's nothing that can be done."

"————"

Exposing his emotions, Lau had directed the brunt of his anger at Subaru. He was seeking an answer. Why did his precious younger brother, his other half, Leu, have to die? If Subaru had that answer, she would have wanted to answer Lau's question.

But it was impossible. Subaru didn't have the answer. In fact, Subaru was repeating this world over and over with the same question.

While being targeted by Leu, and surely by Lau as well. For the sake of their selfish bond, what Subaru could do for them was—

"—Why can't I say there's nothing, I wonder."

She lifted her hand, which had been pressed against the ground, and mocked herself. As she brushed off the sand, Subaru suddenly had the illusion of her hand being held by someone—no, she recalled a memory of it having been held in the past.

Subaru intuitively believed that it had really happened. Subaru woke up well. Her brain was easily awakened, and she noticed even small things immediately. Most things would come to nothing while she drifted in the vague gap between waking and sleeping, but.

"I can't let this be something that never happened. ...For me to move forward."

A desperate voice, a voice asking why, was chasing Natsuki Subaru. Running and running and running, the wailing of someone who had been robbed of something precious was at Subaru's back, a heartbreaking scream just from hearing it.

"Victor-sama, please move."

"I won't let you. This person is Vi-cha's contractor. Even a provisional contract is a contract, and I won't let anyone call Vi-cha unfaithful."

In front of Subaru, who was slowly building her resolve, Lau, who had reached the cliff, and Victor, who was shielding Subaru behind him, were facing off. Both sides were getting heated on their own, ignoring Subaru, the center of the conversation, and it wasn't fun for Subaru, the guest of honor, to be left out. So—

"Knee-buckle!"

"Ukyah!?"

She mercilessly buckled the knees of the young boy in front of her. Suddenly losing his balance and nearly falling, Victor's eyes widened, then they immediately flared with anger as he glared at Subaru behind him for her reckless act.

"W-What are you doing all of a sudden!? Do you know what Vi-cha was trying to do..."

"Something dangerous, right? I understand you want to put yourself on the line for an older sister, but unfortunately, I'm not such a cheap woman. Well, honestly, I was really wavering, though."

Victor's face turned red; it was true that his thoughtfulness had struck her heart. Honestly, if Victor hadn't stayed by her side, Subaru might not have been able to escape the spiral of the vicious cycle she had created and might have made an even stupider choice.

But Victor's kindness had somehow allowed Subaru to stand firm. That's why Subaru's resolve was set, and her courage was bolstered.

"Lau, I can't give you an answer as to why this happened, either. If I knew the answer, I'd tell you, but I can't. —So, I'm going to find it."

"—Tch, what's the point of that! Leu is already dead! He's nowhere anymore... this Lau has been left behind!"

"I won't let you be alone. I'll never let you feel like you've been left behind again. I swear it to no one else but myself."

Looking at Lau's face, distorted and grinding his teeth, Subaru thought, out of place. He looked just like Leu, who had been looking at Subaru with rage in that twilight forest. They really were twins. But if possible, she wanted to confirm that with an expression other than anger.

With the two of them standing side-by-side, smiling, and facing Natsuki Subaru.

"What do you know about Lau and Leu!?"

"Nothing. But you don't know either, do you?"

"What..."

"—That I! Love! All of you!!"

Natsuki Subaru's confession of love momentarily turned Lau's thoughts white. Thinking that there might have been a chance after all, Subaru cracked a pointless joke as she turned her back on the frozen Lau and the wide-eyed Victor and headed for the cliff.

"Wait—"

The young boy's reaching hand couldn't catch up to Subaru, who had stepped forward without hesitation. She felt guilty for shaking off the hand that had held hers to protect her. But she wouldn't let that be a reason to stop. She would move forward. —Toward the tomorrow that lay beyond this.

To reach that moment, that morning she truly wanted to reach. He had said he would definitely kill her. So, Subaru—

"—I will definitely save you."

Immediately after her lips moved to say that, a massive impact shattered her entire body. It would have been fine if that had instantly cut off Subaru's consciousness and carried her to the next attempt she was supposed to leap into, but—

—The fact that she hit the ground in a way that didn't lead to an instantaneous 'death' spoke volumes about the poor luck of the woman named Natsuki Subaru.

△▼△▼△▼△

"—You worked hard, Subaru."

With those words and the sensation of a lap pillow—thighs that were soft for a boy—under her head, Natsuki Subaru was overwhelmed by the feeling of her emotions breaking and overflowing uncontrollably. Even as she tried to stop them, they wouldn't stop; tears overflowed from the corners of her eyes one after another.

"W-Wait, no, this is, weird..."

"Is it weird to cry your heart out when you're relieved? If so, it would mean it's weird for babies to cry a lot, too."

"That's... not... what I meant... You know... that...!"

Falling from right above her was Emilio's voice, gently caring for her. With that voice, the warmth of the palm stroking her head, and the sensation of his knees supporting her, Natsuki Subaru felt her very soul being comforted.

She wanted to save Lau and Leu, and everyone in the mansion, and everything Natsuki Subaru wanted to love—she had prayed, wished, and resolved to do so as she jumped off the cliff. She had vowed not to let a single thing slip through her fingers, maintaining a state of tension and awareness over every detail, determined to protect everything, and yet.

"Right away... this is... pathetic..."

"Is it? I don't think so."

Subaru's forced smile, which had become unnatural because she was trying too hard not to fail even once in her resolve and determination, was easily seen through by Emilio's clear gaze. Without even giving her time to compose herself, Emilio had forcibly pulled Subaru into an empty room, lent her his knees, and smashed down the battered walls of her heart.

The things those battered walls had been barely holding back. They were pried open by Emilio's forceful kindness and all flowed out.

As if it weren't enough that Subaru was already significantly lowering the facial beauty average of the Roswaal Manor, exposing her crying face would be the end of the world.

"It won't end. It's not weird at all, Subaru."

"Stop... that..."

"I won't stop. Not until Subaru truly stops thinking that way."

It was as if he knew everything about Natsuki Subaru. She wished he wouldn't be so ridiculous. Unlike Subaru, who had repeated these few days over and over, how much could Emilio possibly know about her?

The only chances Emilio had to know Subaru were that moment in the loot cellar in the capital and these few days of this loop—only a short time of about four days. For him to speak as if he saw through everything about Subaru, even for a high school dropout with a lack of life experience like Subaru, she didn't want him to think he could do it.

—Ah, but.

"————"

Emilio stayed by Subaru's side as she sobbed, stroking her black hair. Emilio had almost no chance to know Subaru. But that was exactly the flip side of Subaru having had the chance to know Emilio for as many times as she had repeated those days, and that's why she understood the weight of his words.

Emilio was kind, thoughtful, and thought desperately about how not to hurt others. The way he couldn't stand to just watch Subaru like this was also because of his kindness.

In this posture of gently and softly unraveling Subaru's feelings, there was absolutely no lie, no calculation, not even a shred.

"It must have been hard."

Because there was no need to doubt the feelings behind those words.

—Natsuki Subaru could truly wish from the bottom of her heart to live for this love.

"————"

Subaru was sleeping with a peaceful, child-like breathing. Looking at the relieved profile of the girl on his knees, Emilio lowered his brows and gently brushed aside the bangs on her forehead. Then—

"It seems Subaru-san won't be of any use today."

"Yeah, that's right. She's only been a maid for a little while, and yet she's slacking off like this. She's a lazy one. Make sure to scold her properly later."

"—Looking at this sleeping face, I lose the will to do so."

Leu, who must have noticed Subaru's struggle, voiced such a thought as he looked at her sleeping face while she was being given a lap pillow. Emilio was told from inside the magic crystal that it was wrong to stare at a sleeping girl like that, and he apologized to Tink in his heart.

But if Tink hadn't seen through Subaru's fragility and pushed him, Emilio wouldn't have been able to step in this far. He was glad he had spoken to Subaru and let her let it all out.

"I'll go talk to Brother. I'll have to take over Subaru-san's work."

Without saying anything harsh, Leu left those words and turned his back on Emilio and the others. Emilio, who had thought Leu had been somewhat distant toward Subaru since she started working at the mansion, called out to Leu's back.

"Leu."

"————"

"Subaru is a good girl."

There's no need to doubt that, Emilio appealed. There was no answer from Leu, only the sound of the door closing.

"Good luck, good luck..."

As he stroked the head of the sleeping Subaru, Emilio offered such words of encouragement. He said it over and over, as if praying that everything would eventually work out, and that Subaru's wish to make it so would come true.

△▼△▼△▼△

—Among the children of Arlam Village, Pietro took pride in being the smartest and the best-looking.

It was a self-awareness of lacking cuteness, so to speak, but he could also carry himself well enough that the people and adults around him wouldn't find out. Those who had their own strengths but ended up being disliked by others were just bad at handling themselves. How to solidify the ground beneath one's feet. If one could realize early on that this was the important thing, one would have the ability to bend their surroundings to their will.

That was Pietro's philosophy and his sense of omnipotence born of youth. However—

"Suba...ru... that child... Maoro... was taken... to the back..."

He desperately conveyed this with a feverish head. The one looking down at Pietro, who was lying on a hill in the low-lying grassland, was the maid of the mansion with black hair tied back and a wicked-eyed look that didn't quite suit her maid uniform.

She was the maid who had recently been hired at the Lord's mansion and had become a topic of conversation, and for Pietro, she was someone toward whom he couldn't help but feel a complicated heart.

First of all, adults were supposed to dote on Pietro. Pietro, who was the most beautiful in the village and expected to captivate many women in the future, dominated his surroundings with the signs of his potential even though he was still young, and with a charm that understood his own talent. That ultimate life strategy of Pietro's didn't work on the maid—Subaru.

It wasn't that she already had someone she liked or that her personal tastes didn't match. Truly beautiful things transcend such individual preferences and fascinate others. Pietro possessed that. That's why he had this self-esteem.

And yet, it didn't work on Subaru. Of course, she would say things like he was promising or cute or cool, but beyond that, there was zero envy for him as a transcendent being. She treated Pietro as an equal and looked at him the same way as the other children around him.

That was a fresh feeling for Pietro, and at the same time, it was frustrating. However, unlike the adults Pietro could manipulate at will, Subaru's way of being, having a firm sense of self, seemed like something that wasn't moved by anything. That's why—

"It's okay, Pietro. I'll go look for them with this big brother here!"

Subaru, who took his hand, took his words seriously as he appealed through his breathlessness. The strength with which she gripped his hand seemed like proof of how sincerely she had accepted Pietro's words, and Pietro was relieved.

"Subaru-san, if a mabeast took them, that child is..."

"Wait, Leu. Pietro desperately told us that his friend was taken. Even when he's suffering himself, he's worried about his friend. I want to honor that feeling."

"————"

"If it's no good, I'll go alone. Leu, take these children back to the village..."

"Don't say such foolish things. —Leu will go too. Brother told me to look after you, Subaru-san."

He saw the blue-haired butler beside Subaru nod at her earnest appeal. He was a butler who worked at the mansion and frequently came to the village for supplies. He looked much more reliable than Subaru, but if he was there, would Subaru be okay?

"—! Just in time! Over here! Can I leave the children to you!?"

Beyond Pietro's hazy consciousness, Subaru was waving to someone. The sound of boots approaching told him that an adult had run over from the village. Leaving Pietro and the others to those adults, Subaru went into the depths of the forest with the butler.

To save Maoro, who had disappeared into the forest with the mabeast.

"Be careful, Subaru..."

"Yeah, I know. Pinky swear."

As Pietro was being held by an adult, Subaru linked her pinky with his and shook them while saying something he didn't quite understand. Finally, their pinkies separated, and at the same time he felt lonely, a mysterious feeling of relief that he could believe in her arose in Pietro's chest.

"Let's go, Leu! I'm counting on you!"

"You don't even have to say it. Subaru-san, please don't step forward. You're in the way."

"Don't say things that dampen my enthusiasm!"

With Pietro's relieved feelings seeing them off, Subaru and the butler disappeared into the darkness. Feeling his own consciousness fading, Pietro prayed earnestly.

If the world truly became as he thought it would.

"Please, don't let anything bad happen."

For the first time, Pietro prayed earnestly for someone else's sake from the bottom of his heart.

△▼△▼△▼△

"If this continues, you will die in less than half a day."

Being told that directly by Victor, Subaru was surprised at how she didn't feel as shocked as she thought she would. Of course, being given a death sentence to her face meant she wasn't exactly calm, but.

"You seem to have accepted it more calmly than I thought."

"I wonder. Rather, maybe it's because I'm being burdened with so much heavy information that I've gone full circle and I'm just spaced out. For reference, can I ask why I'm going to die?"

"—A curse."

"...I knew it."

At Victor's answer as he narrowed his eyes, Subaru scratched her head, her hair down. Excluding Leu's direct bludgeoning, the factor that would lead Subaru to 'death' was indeed due to a curse, and the culprit was the mabeast living around Arlam Village.

Every time she 'Returned by Death' and went to the village for supplies, Subaru had always had her hand bitten by a puppy playing with the village children, but that dog was the very mabeast in question—the silent killer known as an Ulgarm. This was the revelation.

In the loop where Leu lost his life, Leu was cursed by the mabeast instead of Subaru. However, unlike the careless Subaru, it was hard to imagine Leu being easily bitten by a mabeast, so she wanted to suspect some kind of intentional act.

"Actually, if neither I nor Leu get bitten by the dog in the village, then the children get dragged into the forest instead. ...And when I went into the forest to help..."

"You were bitten by the Ulgarms a lot. That will be the cause of your death."

"...Can't even Vic-ta do anything about that?"

"If it were a normal curse, it would be easy for Vi-cha to break it. But the curses cast by multiple mabeasts are intricately intertwined and are eroding you."

"Ah~, so it's like a game controller cord that's gotten incredibly tangled. Then yeah, it certainly can't be undone."

Subaru shook her head at the added malice that had befallen her. Victor frowned at Subaru's attitude and continued, "You—"

"Are you saying you're not afraid of dying?"

"There's no way that's true. Dying is super scary. My knees are shaking. Even now, I'm about to pee myself, but I'm desperately holding it in. Understand a maiden's heart."

"————"

"But I'm saying goodbye to my bad habit of giving up and throwing it all away immediately. I've finally managed to avoid making our relationship worse this time, so giving up here is—"

That was when she answered Victor's question.

『—I won't give up. Tell me the method, Victor-sama.』

"————"

An appeal Subaru didn't know struck her eardrums. Subaru had had experiences like this in the past. Memories of conversations she shouldn't have known, as if she remembered them.

It was the same as the warmth of the palms the twins had given her, which had been the catalyst for Subaru to jump off the cliff to take everything back. It was proof that Subaru's brain, which woke up unusually well, had remembered, even if only shallowly, the events that had occurred by her pillow while she was asleep—

"—Victor, where did Leu go?"

"————"

"Answer me! What happened to Leu, where did he go!"

The voice of Leu released while she was asleep—Subaru reached for it, as it was in the shallow part of her memory and seemed like it would disappear at any moment, and questioned Victor. At Subaru's questioning, Victor hesitated for a moment, then—

"—He went into the forest to hunt the mabeasts that are eroding your life."

"What..."

"It's the simplest way to break a curse. If you kill the caster, the possibility of the curse's effect triggering disappears. Even if the opponent is a mabeast, that law doesn't change."

"But! The mabeasts that cursed me are all over that forest...!"

To hunt down all of them and save Subaru was a pipe dream. He couldn't let even one escape. Since there was no way to confirm, Leu wouldn't stop until he had hunted down every single mabeast that could be a candidate. But that wasn't realistic.

"—What is the meaning of what you just said, Victor-sama?"

"—Tch, Lau."

Subaru and Victor had been talking in a corner of the village where there were no people. There, Lau had stepped in as an uninvited third party. He was staring intently at Victor, his light pink eyes harboring a complicated color.

She didn't know how much of the conversation he had heard. However, Lau, whose wit was above average regardless of his ability as a servant, immediately realized the situation from Victor's reaction as he slightly averted his eyes.

That something had happened to his younger brother, to Leu.

"Wait! Don't be hasty!"

"Let go! Leu is in danger. Even if you stop me, Lau is going."

"I get it! I won't stop you! Just listen to me for a second!"

She physically held back Lau, who looked like he was about to turn around and jump into the forest. If she didn't do this, she would be easily shaken off by the difference in strength between a man and a woman. However, Subaru set about dampening his reckless spirit by clinging to the hem of Lau's butler uniform. Thanks to that unmaidenly tactic, Lau stopped, but.

"First of all, I'm totally against searching for Leu blindly. I can only see a future where there's secondary damage—the hunter becoming the hunted—so let's use another method!"

"Lau has 'Clairvoyance.' Using this, it's possible to take time and find Leu's location. Now, I've refuted you. Move."

"Wait, wait! If you have such a convenient power, then it's even more of a bargain to take me with you! That way, no one will have to be missing!"

"What?"

Lau's hand, which had been pushing Subaru away, stopped, and his light pink eyes narrowed in question. At Lau's reaction, Subaru rubbed her nose with her thumb and—

"I want all of us to reach the morning of the fifth day together. I'm greedy and a bit stingy, so I'm already done with letting all my hard work this time go to waste."

"...What do you mean?"

"I have a constitution that easily attracts mabeasts. Leu is trying to exterminate the Ulgarms, the mabeasts in the forest. If I enter the forest, the distance between me and Leu will naturally shrink. How about it?"

"————"

"I'm telling you now, I won't tell such a nonsensical lie. If you think it's a lie, you can leave me behind in the forest without mercy."

"I can't report such a thing to Roswaal-sama or Emilio-sama. —Besides, if I let Barusu die pointlessly, Leu's efforts will be in vain."

Lau thought for a while with his hand to his mouth. However, it seemed he couldn't think of a clever plan to silence Subaru, who had eyes of determination, and make her back down. Or did he think there was merit in Subaru's argument?

"If you're going to be a hindrance, I'll break your knees and dump you in the village."

"Is that something you say to a girl!?"

"Hah!"

He laughed through his nose as if triumphant, but Subaru felt as if Lau's spirits had returned. Then, Subaru turned to Victor, who had been watching the turn of events.

"And that's why Lau and I are going into the forest to find Leu. When Emilio-kyun, who's sleeping because he's tired from treating everyone, wakes up, make sure to deceive him well."

"...Are you seriously going to do it?"

"Of course. Wouldn't it be in bad taste to make everything up to this point a joke?"

To worry about Leu and bring him back meant leaving the bomb known as a curse inside Subaru's body. Subaru had already felt—no, it wasn't an exaggeration to say it was engraved in her soul—that if it exploded, she would lose her life.

But she would never let it become the development Victor was worried about. Subaru wasn't going there to die; she was going there to live.

"Now then, since I'm greedy and want to get everything I want, let's give it a shot! —Fate, bring it on!"

The great adventure of Natsuki Subaru, who was summoned to another world. Stage 2 'Roswaal Manor' Day 4, the fifth attempt begins—

△▼△▼△▼△

—To be honest, Leu didn't know himself why he was putting himself on the line and risking his life this much.

He concentrated his consciousness on his forehead, and as he felt a rise in heat there, he made his skull creak, and the oni horn that had been stored inside his head slowly pushed outward. The horn, which was clad in light, hungrily sought power and devoured mana the moment it touched the outside air, and the heat it emitted surged through Leu's entire body, bringing forth a strength that was unthinkable in normal times.

This was the source of the oni race's power, the power of the 'oni' that was said to be the strongest even among the demi-human races.

However, Leu was a failure among the oni race who were treated as such; he was an oni who should originally have two horns, yet he only had one. But the number of horns had nothing to do with the reason Leu was a failure.

Because Lau, who also had only one horn just like himself, possessed a talent so great that he was said to be the second coming of the 'Oni God,' the legendary existence passed down through the oni race.

Lau had been blessed with a talent that made it ridiculous to compare him to those around him since he was a young child. As for Leu, even though he was a twin born at the same time as Lau, his strength was significantly inferior to Lau's, and he had only accumulated self-hatred for being a disgrace to the oni race.

Even when the village was attacked by the Witch Cult and his parents and fellow oni were being killed, when his brother, who had fought to protect the helpless Leu, had his horn broken in the gap when he reached out to Leu.

—Ah, it finally broke.

He was the worst for thinking of the fulfillment of his own inferiority complex before worrying about his brother's life.

"A-Aaaahhh—!!"

While filling his entire body with the power of the oni, Leu struck out with violence against the four-legged mabeasts that surrounded him and were jumping at him. He crushed the head of a mabeast that opened its large mouth to bite him with his fist, and he swung the morning star he held in his other hand with great force, mowing down the torsos of the mabeasts that had foolishly jumped into the air.

The mabeasts scattered their lives, spraying blood and entrails. He hadn't counted the number, but he must have already killed thirty or forty. However, no matter how many of their comrades were killed, the mabeasts would not lower their murderous intent toward humans.

Nothing was more important than killing a different life. That was the mabeasts' distorted instinct, a twisted way of being that took priority even over their own survival.

"Die! Die! Dieee—!!"

He crushed those hideous, wrongly existing creatures one after another. While mixing anger and hatred with some pity and sympathy, he swung the iron flail many times.

They were wrong existences, the mabeasts. And in that sense, Leu was no different from the mabeasts.

He had made a mistake. His choices, and maybe even from the very first moment, he had gotten it wrong. At the point when he was born by stealing Lau's horn, he had gotten it wrong.

The mabeasts who were born as mabeasts, and Leu who was born as a failure. How much difference was there? If there was no difference that could be found, the swung iron flail was a mercy, and at the same time, it was a tantrum of taking his anger out on them.

At least—

"Aaaaah—!!"

If all of this anger that was painting his vision red could at least be of use to someone's future, if it could help save the wicked-eyed girl who had tried to help such a pathetic version of himself. There was surely nothing more that Leu should wish for—

"————"

Drunk on blood, Leu's world eventually turned red, and his brain's function became extremely dull. In a situation where his own life was in danger, the explosion of survival instinct that occurred in the body of an oni—it was a tremendous surge that excluded all factors that would slow down his body's movement, such as calm judgment of the battle situation, fear, or anxiety, and poured all of Leu's physical function into survival.

He didn't distinguish anything, yes, anything. Everything that moved around him was something Leu should crush. So—

"Ooooh, ess!"

"—Ha?"

Even that, which was thrown in with such a silly shout, was originally nothing more than an obstacle Leu should intercept. Without any distinction whatsoever.

If there was only one thing in the wide world that could evoke a possibility other than destruction or killing in Leu, who was dominated by the oni instinct at this time.

—The one thing that was thrown in was that miraculous one.

"————"

Instinctively, Leu reached out and caught the body that flew in with a low trajectory, not even a parabola. He held the slender body firmly and saw what it was at close range.

It was unmistakably the figure of his brother, who was more precious to Leu than his own life.

"Gah! I couldn't throw him as high as I thought!"

Immediately after Lau was firmly embraced in Leu's arms, a figure jumped in. It was a distance that could be reached if she reached out her hand, but she didn't have the arms to reach out. Both arms were holding his brother's body, which he couldn't let go of, and he couldn't reach out. However—

"Ah-fun."

The sword that the figure who jumped in swung—the sword that was broken in the middle—was aimed at the horn on Leu's forehead, but it missed by a few centimeters, falling short of the range. As it was, the person who swung the sword ran past Leu's side with great momentum and went behind him.

"I messed up! I just lacked a bit of courage—uhyaaaaa!?"

"—!?"

The next moment, the ground beneath the feet of the black-haired person who had run past erupted as if exploding, tossing her slender body high, high into the air.

It was done by one of the mabeasts that had been carefully observing the offense and defense and waiting for the moment to take Leu's life—the one that looked small had released magic that launched the woman's body. And—

"Laugh, Leu. —Because today, I'm more demonically inspired than a demon!"

The all-out blow delivered by the figure falling while spinning round and round. This time, there was no way for Leu, who was tightly embracing his brother's body, to prevent it—

"————"

A satisfying impact delivered a numbing blow to the horn on Leu's forehead.

△▼△▼△▼△

"The Ulgarms in the forest have been wiped out. Now neither you nor Subaru-kun need to worry-tooo-mo. While I was away, you also dealt with the problem in Arlam Village. You worked well-daaa-yo."

Roswaal had wiped out the pack of Ulgarms in the forest with her overwhelming magical firepower. Even though she was his master, Leu could only bow deeply and show both gratitude and apology for the actions of Roswaal, who possessed extraordinary strength and execution.

—The conclusion of the curse incident brought about by the pack of mabeasts living near the village.

The pack of Ulgarms, which hunted by cursing people and stealing their life force, ended up being burned to the last one by Roswaal's overwhelming flames after she returned, following the struggle of Lau and Subaru in the process of bringing back Leu from his reckless act.

The overall extermination rate of the pack was thirty percent by Leu alone, ten percent by Lau and Subaru together, and the remaining sixty percent was hunted down by Roswaal alone. Thinking about it that way, one could see how reckless and meaningless Leu's actions were.

Even if Leu hadn't done such a foolish thing without considering those around him, Roswaal, who had returned, would have made it in time to wipe out the pack, and Subaru's curse would not have triggered. Or maybe Roswaal would have known a way to break the curse that even Victor didn't know.

"That would be overestimating me far too much-daaa-yo. There isn't a big difference in knowledge about magic between me and Victor. If Victor said it couldn't be done, it's safe to say I couldn't do it either. —Regrettably, that is."

The last sentence she added was lonely, and no lie could be felt. That's why he could believe that the words before it weren't just a deception to comfort Leu, even though he felt some resistance. Anyway—

"—Leu?"

"Ah..."

While he was watching over her peaceful sleeping face by the bedside, her eyelids suddenly trembled, and the sleeping girl's consciousness awakened. From her slight reaction, the sequence until she woke up was too fast, and Leu was slow to respond. She claimed to wake up well, but it was too well. Because of that,

"Were you holding my hand?"

"—I'm sorry. I couldn't think of anything else I could do."

"————"

"When something painful happened, Leu felt relieved when his hand was held. So, I did what was done for me... it was like a child, wasn't it."

Even if his height and limbs grew, Leu's own way of being hadn't changed at all since he was a child. Feeling as if he had proven that with his own actions, Leu felt awkward.

When he was a child, the one who protected Leu when he couldn't sleep due to anxiety or misery was the warmth of Lau's palm, his brother who would get into the same futon and hold his hand. His brother, who always walked ahead and told him not to worry as long as he was with him, was Leu's guidepost—and that remained the same even after they lost their hometown and were picked up by Roswaal.

"Subaru-san, the curse that was eroding your body will no longer trigger. Please rest assured."

"That's good... wait, what's with these scribbles on my pajamas!?"

"It's the village children. While you were asleep, the children who came to visit you wrote them. Everyone was worried."

"Every single one of them, don't just casually come to see a maiden's sleeping face..."

Subaru muttered as she covered her face with both hands, her cheeks turning slightly red. However, she looked at the many words of encouragement the children had written on the sleeves of her pajamas, her eyes softening with affection. Seeing that, Leu felt as if his chest were being tightened.

For some reason, it felt terribly out of place for him to be here, and Leu felt like running away from that lingering feeling, so he continued, "And so."

"Leu must apologize to you, Subaru-san. —Even if the worry about the curse is gone, scars will remain on your body. And in your heart."

"Ah~, certainly I might not want to see a dog's face for a while. As for the scars... um, are there any on my face?"

"No, I made sure there were no scars on your face, neck, or any other visible places."

"Then it's fine for now. As for anything more than that... well, the only ones who'd have a chance to see them are me, or if not, you know, someone I'd want to show them to."

"But..."

"More importantly, are you okay, Leu? That's what's important to me."

Leu felt choked by such consideration. Subaru said she didn't mind, but that couldn't be true. It was unmistakably Leu's responsibility that she had suffered wounds she didn't have to suffer.

"Leu is fine. It's nothing. But that is what's painful."

"Painful?"

"Everything this time is Leu's responsibility. If Leu had been firm, there would have been no worry about you being in danger, no danger to Brother, and no damage to the village."

Externally, there was a view that those were the responsibility of Roswaal, the lord. However, while Roswaal was away, the one entrusted with the mansion was Leu, the house steward. He had the role of managing everything well and operating it properly. Because he couldn't fulfill that, this happened—

"Therefore, Leu will take responsibility for everything this time—"

"Then, are you saying you'll take me in now that I'm damaged goods?"

"—If that is necessary."

"Hahahaha, I'm joking, don't say such silly things. First of all, if you say all of that is your responsibility, then I'm responsible too."

Subaru shrugged as she said it in a joking way. For a moment, Leu didn't understand the meaning of what she was saying. There was no way she, who had just been hired and didn't know the left or right of the Mathers territory, could be responsible. However, contrary to Leu's thoughts, Subaru smiled wryly and,

"I am. I have that responsibility."

"————"

"And I took responsibility for the range my hands could reach. Since this sunrise is what I reached by doing that, don't say it was wrong."

Subaru had a distant look in her eyes, and the meaning of her words remained unknown. And yet, for some reason, Leu felt like he was going to cry. In the depths of her rare black eyes, he could catch a glimpse of a radiance where the agony and conflict he couldn't even imagine had been cleared away. Compared to what Subaru had experienced, he felt his own troubles were small—

"Besides, I wouldn't have reached here if Leu hadn't been here. So, rather than cursing today, the day I finally welcomed, I want to celebrate it."

"...Eh?"

"What, what? Are you thinking it would have worked out somehow even if you weren't here? Sorry, I haven't tried it, but I'll say it loud and clear: it wouldn't have turned out that way."

Subaru, with her arms crossed, spoke as if to crush Leu's hesitation. As Leu was taken aback, Subaru raised a finger and said, "Okay?"

"For some reason, you seem to be convinced that everything you do backfires, and all the bad things are your fault, and all the good things are thanks to someone else, but that's not true."

"B-But, actually, Leu is—"

"It's not. Anyway, how much do you think I was running around carrying Brother on my back when we were being chased by mabeasts in the forest? He dropped out at a very early stage, that man."

"————"

"In other words, Lau was out of the fight early in that situation! Then, are all the results thanks to me? No way! I don't have that kind of power! Then,"

Subaru paused there and looked at Leu. Leu felt like he wanted to avert his eyes from the gaze in her black eyes, but he couldn't. It was as if his path of retreat was burned by her gaze, and his escape was taken away.

"It's a big mistake to think you couldn't do anything. The fact that I can be like this is largely thanks to you! So, you should stand tall."

"...If Brother were in perfect condition, it wouldn't be like that."

"Maybe not. But I heard from Lau. The perfect Lau you're imagining is nowhere. Or is Lau without a horn a worthless existence to you?"

"—! That's not true! Brother is always Leu's!"

"You know it yourself."

"Ah—"

Dazed, Leu was guided by Subaru's words and led into his own inner self. As someone who was born as a twin and had stolen Lau's horn, Leu had been blaming himself endlessly. Subaru, who should have known him for only a few days, easily saw through Leu, who always thought of what it would be like if Lau were there.

Was it because Leu's troubles were shallow, fragile, and meaningless?

"It's because I was desperately watching you and the others."

"————"

"I don't think you can change your mind immediately. It's not as easy as saying it, and maybe you have to experience something like dying once to be reborn, but I don't recommend dying. Truly, it's seriously painful."

"...You talk as if you've died before."

She said it with such a sense of reality that he ended up thinking she really had died before. In fact, Subaru, who saved Emilio in the capital, was said to have almost died in his place, so in the sense of a near-death experience, she might have tasted something close to death.

However, even before she tasted that, she was able to risk her life for Emilio, so he couldn't help but think she was fundamentally different from Leu. But—

"If you want to change from your current self, or if you want to welcome tomorrow with a better feeling, I'll help. If I'm not in the way."

"Leu, changing?"

"In my hometown, there's a proverb that says, 'If you talk about next year, the oni will laugh.' So,"

Subaru grinned at the stunned Leu. That smile of hers, who mocked herself for having wicked eyes, seemed more radiant than anything, anything else to Leu at this moment—

"Let's laugh, Leu. A gloomy face doesn't suit anyone. Let's laugh and talk about the future. Since you were looking backward, from now on, look forward! For now, let's talk about tomorrow."

"Tomorrow's..."

"Yeah, anything is fine. Like what menu to make tomorrow, or wanting to use a slightly expensive bath salt, or showing off a different bowtie than usual—let's talk about those kinds of trivial things with me."

At Subaru's proposal of something truly small, where no one knew what would change about the tomorrow that would arrive, Leu let out a breath. Suddenly, what had been stuck in his chest, the fog that had been over his head, cleared up a little.

When it cleared up even a little, he felt as if his vision had expanded.

"I am much more clumsy than you think, Subaru-san. So, I might lean on you so much that you'll regret those words."

"Hmm, well, I'll do my best. It's something I said myself. Besides, I'm not a superwoman who can do everything by myself either, so let's go while leaning on each other. Don't worry, Emilio-kyun, Tink, Vic-ta, Ros-chi, and of course Lau won't dislike that."

Subaru laughed without a hint of shame and gave a thumbs-up, showing her teeth. While keeping that gesture,

"Laughing and frolicking, talking about the future called tomorrow. It's been my dream to talk about next year while laughing with an oni."

"...You're truly demonically inspired."

"Right?"

Drawn in by Subaru's unpretentious way of speaking, Leu naturally said so, and before he knew it, something hot welled up and wet his cheeks from the corners of his eyes.

Come to think of it, when was the last time he had shed tears without restraint like this?

"————"

In the past, when Leu shed tears like this, his brother was always by his side. Lau had always, always been by his side as a guidepost and a standard for his younger brother, who was afraid of anxiety because he didn't know how to live in this wide world.

So, it was the first time. That Lau wasn't by Leu's side when he was shedding tears, and instead, his hand was held.

A soft, small hand, different from his brother's, the hand of another person. Leu continued to lean on the sensation of the hand that wanted a future with him.

He continued to lean on it.

△▼△▼△▼△

—After a total of four 'Returns by Death,' Natsuki Subaru had escaped the dead end.

The only point of comparison was that one day in the capital, but as expected, the challenge of 'Returning by Death' over several days had worn down Subaru's nerves, crushed her spirit, and nearly clouded her soul. But Subaru had overcome those many obstacles and finally reached the fifth day. However—

"—I'm angry, Subaru."

"Emilio-kyun..."

"It's no good even if you look at me like that! Honestly, it was really dangerous. After hearing the story later, do you know how much my blood ran cold..."

With his hands on his hips and his white cheeks turning red, Emilio was huffing with anger. When it came to a world-class handsome youth, even such an angry gesture made Subaru's brain tingle, but she understood why he was so furious, so she couldn't drop her repentant attitude.

The children of Arlam Village were targeted by mabeasts, and as a result of both Subaru and Leu risking their lives, Emilio was exhausted from his desperate healing magic and had fallen asleep.

The events of Subaru entering the forest with Lau, saving Leu, and counterattacking the mabeasts occurred while Emilio was asleep. The state of Emilio's heart upon learning that while he was away, the other people of the mansion had been in a life-or-death battle was this beautiful angry face.

"Ugh, I feel bad for Emilio-kyun, but it's a feast for the eyes..."

"See! You're trying to deceive me with such nonsense again. If Roswaal hadn't returned, what would have happened? Tink is Tink, too."

"Sorry, sorry, don't be mad at Tink. I'm the one who asked her to stay with you, Emilio-kyun."

Just in case, considering the possibility that those mabeasts were set on them by someone, there was a fear that the next attack would be launched on Arlam Village while Subaru and the others were away. Fortunately, the preparation ended up being in vain, but she thought it was a problem that couldn't be left unprepared. Maybe because Tink and Emilio were in the village, there was no next attack on the village. Anyway—

"It's fine to shield Tink, but how are you going to make an excuse, Subaru? You, who tied me to a chair so I couldn't follow you."

"Ugh."

"It's not 'ugh,' honestly. ...I was really, really worried."

At Emilio lowering his brows and saying so, Subaru's guilt was at its maximum. No matter what excuse she made, it wouldn't be an atonement for what Subaru had done to Emilio. It was true that she left him in the village as a backup, but it was also true that her maidenly heart didn't want to put Emilio in danger.

"Victor also came all the way to the village, so he must have been worried."

"Yes, I'll make sure to thank Vic-ta properly. I've been indebted to that shota for everything..."

It was thanks to Victor that she found out the cause of her repeated deaths was the mabeast's curse, and that Subaru's life would have been in danger if she had been left alone after returning from the forest, and that he had shown her the path she needed to take to survive even by a quite reckless method. Before that, it was thanks to him that Subaru was able to once again believe in Lau and Leu and resolve to welcome the future with everyone in the mansion, so she truly couldn't hold her head up to him.

"Next time, I'll kindly clean his ears for him."

"Will Victor be happy with that?"

"Eh? He won't? Isn't a girl cleaning your ears a boy's dream?"

"I don't know, but..."

Subaru was truly surprised by Emilio's reaction, which didn't seem to resonate much. Was it a mistake in Subaru's values, or a difference in the culture unique to another world?

"Then I'm out of options..."

"Why don't you just say thank you honestly?"

"But that alone won't satisfy me... how about cleaning his ears ten times?"

"If there are no other options, I think it's best to just say thank you first."

At the presentation of a method that didn't change much, Subaru agonized over whether that was enough. If possible, Subaru was the type who wanted to go overboard with wrapping for anniversaries and events. She even thought it was better not to celebrate at all if she couldn't give it her all.

"So, if I'm going to compromise, I'll put off the thanks until I think of something."

"Let's think of something as soon as possible. I'll help you think, too."

"Wow, how encouraging. It's like, you know, our first joint task! First bite!"

"Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Emilio responded with a troubled face to Subaru's frolicking nonsense. Then, silence fell for a while between the two as they felt the wind in the mansion's courtyard. Sharing such a small amount of time was also a joyful reward for Subaru. Originally, Subaru was bad at times of silence, but she didn't mind it with Emilio. Anyway—

"I was saved by Subaru again. I'm the one who has to thank you."

"Eh! Emilio-kyun, are you giving me a reward!?"

"It's not a reward, it's a thank-you. Would ear cleaning be good?"

"Ear cleaning isn't a reward! Ah! It's true! When I replaced myself with it, it wasn't a reward at all!"

Subaru's eyes widened as she was sliced by the sharpness of the boomerang she had thrown herself. While smiling wryly at Subaru's reaction, Emilio asked, "Then, what will you do?"

"————"

At that defenseless attitude, an evil thought sprouted within Subaru. Despite having such a well-formed appearance, this Emilio had a very low defensive wall that should originally be present in interpersonal relationships. That was a good condition for Subaru, but at the same time, it was a good condition for other people as well. In other words, if she dithered, he might be snatched away in an instant.

"This is the time to make the most of my advantage...!"

"Subaru?"

"A-Anything is fine, right? Emilio-kyun is grateful to me, after all."

"That's true, but for some reason it's a confirmation that's hard to honestly nod 'yes' to..."

Subaru's voice inadvertently went up, and she sounded like a pervert, making Emilio anxious. But Subaru took a deep breath and succeeded in sealing away the evil thought that had welled up. Placing the rice cooker of her closed heart under her bottom, Subaru cleared her throat, and then—

"Then, will you go on a date with me?"

"A de-ate?"

"It means going out together, just the two of us, seeing the same things, eating the same things, doing the same things, and sharing the same memories."

"...Is that all you want?"

"That is what I want."

That was the promise that had already disappeared, and the brilliant future Subaru had wished for at the end of repeating these painful five days over and over.

At Subaru's proposal, Emilio put his hand to his mouth and thought for a while. To Subaru, who thought that even his thinking figure was picture-perfect, Emilio smiled with a "Yeah," and,

"I understand. Then let's 'de-ate,' Subaru."

"Yes! Emilio-kyun is Seriously an Angel!"

"What's that?"

"Abbreviated, E.M.T!"

"What's that, after all?"

Emilio burst out laughing at Subaru's bursting excitement. Because Emilio laughed like that, Subaru got even more carried away and acted even more silly, wanting to bring out his smile.

Finally, finally, she had reached a new day. As if to bless its beginning and future path, the sun rising high in the sky watched over Subaru and Emilio while shining.

—Natsuki Subaru's life in another world was still continuing, while shining.

《The End?》