Beatrice's Introduction to Electronic Entertainment

"I'm awake… I suppose." Beatrice mumbled as she slowly opened her eyes. After stretching her body and letting out a yawn, Beatrice complained "I'm still tired, but Subaru will complain if I sleep any longer, I suppose."

Taking in her surrounding, Beatrice noticed that she was the only one in the room and complained "It's very rude to leave me alone in his room; however, I'll be considerate just this once because of the circumstances, I suppose."

The spirit hated waking up alone; however, she felt that Subaru's mana was still very close so she reasoned the boy was spending time with his parents downstairs.

After getting out of bed, Beatrice walked over to the door but grew hesitant. As she slowly turned the door knob, Beatrice sighed heavily "What kind of buffoonery awaits me downstairs, I wonder?"

After leaving Subaru's room, Beatrice walked down the staircase and entered the living room. Once again, the spirit found herself in a situation that she couldn't comprehend. Even though the spirit found Subaru and his parents sitting normally on the couch, they were all holding strange objects as they focused on something that truly baffled her. The object that held their focus was some sort of bright picture that had movement in the frame.

"I got him, honey." Naoko spoke to her husband as she held Subaru's character in place.

In complete shock from his mother's actions, Subaru mashed every button on his controller as he pleaded "M-Mom, when did you learn how to grab?! Let me go before dad-"

"FALCON… PUNCH!" Kenichi roared at the top of his lungs as his character punched the other two characters off the screen.

"Game!" The game announcer spoke as there was only one character left standing.

The three family members had different reactions to Kenichi's victory. Kenichi was laughing at the top of his lungs. Naoko had a soft smile on her face as she stated proudly "I did it." Feeling slightly frustrated, Subaru scratched his head and sighed in defeat "I never thought mom would actually ensure my defeat."

"What is all this, I wonder?" A soft voice asked from behind the couch.

Turning around to see Beatrice, Naoko spoke first "Did you sleep well? Me and the boys are just playing some video games."

"That's… a game?" Beatrice asked Naoko as she continued looking at the mysterious object. Remembering Subaru's explanation about videos from earlier, Beatrice asked "Video? You mean those pictures that move? That's a bigger video than the video on that 'phone' thing, I suppose."

Before Naoko could reply, Subaru spoke to the spirit "It's bigger this time because the screen is bigger. Paintings have frames, right? Well, videos have frames called screens. Oh man, I really suck at explaining these things." Subaru tried so hard to explain to the spirit who had never seen this kind of technology before.

Putting the pieces together, Beatrice tried to understand "I see. You're playing some sort of game made out of video on that, uh, screen. Am I correct, I wonder?"

Seeing that Beatrice understood what he was saying, Subaru nodded vigorously as he explained "Yup, yup! Man, you're just so smart, Beako! So smart indeed! Anyways, this game is called Smash and it's where you control a character on the screen using this thing called a controller."

Observing the device in Subaru's hand, Beatrice asked in puzzlement "How does all of this work, I wonder? I still do not understand."

"Why don't you play and find out?" Kenichi spoke to the little girl.

After the spotlight turned to her, Beatrice hesitated and struggled to answer. Putting his controller in Beatrice's hands, Subaru reassured the spirit "C'mon, there's no harm in trying. It's easy and fun, I promise. At worst, you'll just be bored."

Seeing that she had little choice in the matter, Beatrice sighed "I guess I'll indulge your persistent nagging, I suppose."

Subaru explained what the controller did and told her which buttons did what. Subaru kept the explanation brief and simple as to not overload the spirit.

"I see. So, this thing makes it move and these two things make it attack?" Beatrice asked as she continued looking down at the controller in her hands.

Nodding in agreement with the spirit, Subaru added "Yup, and if you feel like guarding yourself, this is the button that does it."

Next, Subaru explained to the spirit how to select a character. After taking a minute to decide carefully, Beatrice decided "I'll choose this one, I suppose. This one's a little cute and reminds me Bubby."

Seeing who Beatrice decided on, Subaru told the spirit "Huh, it's funny you chose that one. He's probably one of the most popular video game creatures of all time. Anyways, you're playing as a mouse that can use electricity."

After setting the CPU to its lowest difficulty and the stage was chosen at random, the fight commenced.

Looking at the opponent she was meant to fight, Beatrice exclaimed "Wait a second, that's unfair! This small mouse is forced to fight a knight who's able to channel fire magic through his sword?!"

"The person you're fighting also has dragon-like powers, but don't worry. This game is balanced so it should be a fair fight." Subaru spoke to the spirit to ease her worries.

"What does all that mean, I wonder?! Is he receiving aid from The Dragon?!" Beatrice exclaimed who thought her situation was dire.

As the battle progressed, Beatrice went through a couple of different playstyles. At first, all the spirit did was run around the stage. Next, the spirit learned how to jump and shield. After that, Beatrice used some basic attacks; however, none of them were hitting the opponent.

As Beatrice kept playing, the mouse she controlled slowly took damage until it was launched off the stage from a strong attack. The mouse didn't outright leave the playing field; however, if Beatrice didn't recover then she would lose. The problem was Subaru didn't teach her how to recover since she probably wouldn't understand from an explanation.

"I think I understand everything about this 'controller' now." Beatrice spoke up.

All of a sudden, the mouse jumped up and zoomed back onto the stage. It was a perfect recovery.

"H-Huh?" Both Subaru and his father uttered at Beatrice's recovery. The two boys realized that Beatrice utilized a jump and one of her specials to get back on the stage.

Not knowing much about the game, Naoko asked honestly "Wow, how did you do that?"

Continuing to watch Beatrice in awe, Subaru saw that her playstyle became more aggressive and the mouse started to hit the opponent.

Thinking back to when the mouse attacked at random, Subaru realized that Beatrice was testing out all the different control combinations. What startled Subaru even more was that Beatrice had already tested out all the mouse's aerials, tilts, strong attacks, and specials and memorized them. Now when Beatrice attacked, it wasn't at random with every move being intentional.

The only way Subaru saw this match playing out was with Beatrice button-mashing until she lost; however, now she was making a comeback.

"H-Hey, son. This is her first time playing video games, right?" Kenichi asked Subaru nervously who nodded in response.

Subaru prided himself for his video gaming ability, especially in Smash. Whenever he played with others, Subaru usually won by a large margin. Of course, Subaru wasn't a pro and never intended to be one, but that didn't stop him from getting better at the game. The only person who Subaru could consider an equal at Smash was his father and the two had an intense rivalry over the years.

A rivalry that was now being threatened by a little girl who just picked up a controller for the first time in her life. The two boys looked at what appeared to be a gamer prodigy.

Once the mouse launched the opponent off the stage and secured victory, Beatrice exclaimed with a smile "I won, I suppose!"

Even though the CPU was set to the lowest level, it's a huge achievement to win the first match of the first video game you've ever played. Even though Subaru's skill level far surpassed Beatrice's in the game, the boy was sure that she could catch up quickly if she continued to play the game from here on out.

"Wow, Beatrice. You're already better than me." Naoko stated honestly. Just watching her husband and son play against each other was fun for Naoko so she rarely played.

Feeling like his pride was being threatened, Kenichi stated "You're pretty good, but it's still a thousand years too soon for you to be challenging me."

"W-Well, you did good for a beginner." Subaru spoke who felt like his pride was being threatened as well.

Realizing that her joy got the better of her, Beatrice slightly blushed and mumbled "W-Well, it was to be expect from someone of my ability, I suppose."

Leaning towards his father, Subaru whispered to him "Dad… let's wreck her."

There stood two grown men who have basically mastered the game, and now those two masters decided to team up against a little girl who just won her first match to display their dominance at the game. As that thought swirled inside his head, Subaru changed his mind and decided to focus on fighting his father. Plus, the boy didn't want to give Beatrice bad memories of video games just yet.

As the four continued to play the game for about half an hour, Kenichi clutched his head and exclaimed "Aghh! What are we doing?! Since it's Beatrice's first time being here, we should be showing her around town!"

Adding to Kenichi's argument, Naoko said to Beatrice "Subaru said you don't go outside that often, so we decided to show you around the city today, if that's okay with you."

Although Beatrice was enjoying playing Smash, she consented to the idea "As long as I'm taken somewhere interesting, I suppose."

With everyone coming to an agreement, the four set off and made their way towards the subway as Beatrice kept asking Subaru questions along the way.

Once the family arrived at the station and boarded the train, the four sat down and Subaru explained to the spirit that a train was basically a metal carriage for transporting a large number of people.

Once the train came to a stop, the four of them reached their destination and exited the subway. The scene that unfolded before Beatrice stunned her. The buildings around her seemed so tall that they reached towards the sky. In front of her, Beatrice saw what appeared to be carriages made from metal and didn't have animals pulling it. The spirit thought that Subaru and his parents wore strange outfits because their family was strange; however, she was shocked to find out that everyone around her wore similar outfits as well. For the first time, Beatrice was looking at a city in this world.

"Welcome to my world, Beako." Subaru said to the spirit in a low voice that no one else could hear. Grabbing the spirit's hand, Subaru warned her "Hold my hand and don't let go, okay? It would be unfortunate if you got hit by a car." Subaru pointed out towards the street to emphasize his point.

"'Car'… right." Beatrice uttered who was frozen from the culture shock.

Seeing the shock on Beatrice's face, Subaru squeezed her hand and reassured her "Hey, don't worry. You have me here so you don't need to look so lost. I'll guide you."

"Yeah, what my son said. You've got him by your side and us at your back. Right now, you're the most protected person in the world!" Kenichi spoke to the little girl after seeing her concern.

If the spirit were alone, this world would've terrified her. The cause of her fear was a lack of understanding how things worked in this world. The spirit couldn't comprehend anything; however, she realized that she didn't have to force herself to understand. Subaru and his parents were there to help her navigate this world.

Snapping out of her puzzlement, Beatrice answered "R-Right. If you guys will be my guide, then I don't have any complaints at the moment, I suppose."

Happy to see that Beatrice didn't look so confused anymore, Subaru smiled at the spirit "Well, let's go!"

Once the four started walking, Beatrice asked Subaru "What is our destination, I wonder?"

Once again wearing a smug smile, Subaru explained to the spirit "We're going to the mall. It's basically like the market in the capital of Lugnica, but the mall has air conditioning so it's a thousand times better."

Subaru kept explaining little things to the spirit until they entered the nearby mall.

Seeing all the humans inside, Beatrice complained "No matter where we go, there's no shortage of humans; however, it does feel quite nice in here, I suppose."

"I know, right? That's thanks to the air conditioning." Subaru agreed with the spirit.

As the four stood inside the mall, Beatrice asked "Now then, what was the purpose in coming here? If this place is like a market, then this should be a place of purchasing materials, am I correct?"

Nodding at the spirit, Naoko explained "Yup. We came here because me and Kenichi were talking about going shopping soon anyways, so we thought we'd come here and buy you some new clothes."

All of this being news to the spirit, Beatrice exclaimed "W-What?! No one informed me of this! I don't want to resemble you people at all, I suppose!"

Assisting his wife in persuading the little girl, Kenichi said "Man, Beatrice, you must be exhausted from walking around in that dress. Why not put on some more comfortable clothes? Also, my son here said that walking around with someone wearing such a flashy and colorful dress is embarrassing for him."

With Kenichi's words having no effect on her, Beatrice snorted "Hmpf, this elegant dress transcends the comprehension of humans, so your statements are invalid. Besides, I already know that Subaru and his parents have no sense of shame or embarrassment."

Seeing that Beatrice wasn't budging an inch, Naoko stepped closer to the spirit and whispered into her ear "I know it'll make Subaru really happy."

"Geh!" Beatrice flinched as her face tensed up.

Not having any idea what Naoko whispered to the little girl, Subaru and his father watched in confusion as Beatrice visibly faltered.

"I'll… I'll concede this one time, I suppose! There! Are you happy now, I wonder?!" Beatrice shouted as she directed her anger towards Subaru.

"H-Huh? Why are you yelling at me?" Subaru asked nervously from the spirit's aggressive attitude.

Going through with the idea, Naoko spoke "So, how about me and Beatrice go shopping for clothes together while you boys can do whatever boys do at the mall?"

Seeing Beatrice flinch from Naoko's suggestion, Subaru cut in "Actually, mom, how about I go with Beako while you and dad go-"

"I'm fine with your mother's proposal, I suppose." Beatrice interrupted Subaru as she explained "I'm simply more comfortable with a girl helping me pick out clothes, I suppose."

Once the two girls went on their way, Subaru told his father "I'm surprised that Beako went along with it. She's already warming up to you guys."

With a proud smile on his face, Kenichi replied "Of course she would warm up to us! We're the biggest band of idiots in town, after all! No one can hate a good idiot."

Disregarding what his father said, Subaru said "Well, I guess it's just me and you again, dad."

Suddenly realizing he made another critical mistake, Kenichi clutched his head and yelled "OH MY GOD! I stole you away from your mother again! SON OF A BITCH!"

"D-Dad, you're going to get us kicked out!" Subaru said who felt uncomfortable from the staring bystanders.

After Kenichi settled down, the two boys wandered aimlessly around the mall. Tired of walking around without a purpose, Kenichi pointed at the mall's putt-putt golf course and asked "How about we play some putt-putt just like we did in the old days? I'll be Shooter and you can be Happy."

Right after Kenichi suggested it, a loud breaking sound followed by a scream came from the putt-putt golf course in question.

Starting to sweat from the loud noises, Subaru answered nervously "E-Ehh, that kind of stuff is for kids."

"R-Right. What was I thinking?" Kenichi agreed as he started to sweat a little himself.

With his sleepiness finally catching up with him, Subaru asked if they could visit a shop that serves coffee. After his father agreed, the two sat down and enjoy their coffee together.

After Kenichi downed his coffee, he spoke to his son "Hey, Subaru, I want to give you something."

"Just remember that we're in the mall right now so no public displays of affection." Subaru warned his father nervously. The displays of affection that Subaru was afraid of was his father trying to recreate pro-wrestling moves that he sees on TV.

Reaching for his wallet, Kenichi pulled out some cash and handed it to his son "Here you go."

Looking at the money his father offered him, Subaru asked cautiously "Umm, how much is that?"

"Just five-hundred bucks." Kenichi answered plainly.

Not being able to comprehend the true value of the money offered to him, Subaru simply repeated "Oh, just five-hundred bucks…"

"…Five-hundred dollars?!" Subaru exclaimed once he truly realized how much his father was offering him.

After his father gave a simple nod, Subaru shook his head frantically "No, no, no, no! I can't accept that! That's too much for a shut-in NEET such as myself to physically handle!" To Subaru, it felt like his entire body would collapse from gravity if he accepted such a ridiculous amount of cash.

Starting to become impatient, Kenichi waved the cash in Subaru's face as he explained "I can't handle cash either, that's why I'm giving this to you. Over the past three months, my wallet slowly overflooded with cash and I realized it was because I wasn't spending money on you. This is all the money I would've spent on your food, drinks, electricity, mayonnaise, and all that other stuff. Anyways, I don't want it so just take it, dammit!"

With the whole situation still feeling wrong to Subaru, he still refused "Still, I'll just blow it all on stupid stuff like junk food and video games so-"

Interrupting his son, Kenichi made his last argument "If you don't take it, I'm going to rip it up right here. So, why don't you lose the humble attitude, shut up, and take my money."

Knowing that he was trapped in a corner, Subaru grabbed the money and complained "Oh, fine! I'll take the money, but don't blame me if I do something stupid with it like blowing it all on microtransactions for some crappy mobile game!"

After getting his way, Kenichi laughed "Haha, that's my boy! Spend it however you like, but maybe you should use some of it to get Beatrice something."

After getting his son's attention, Kenichi went on "Speaking of that girl, you said you met her during your job, right? You've probably met other people during your time there, so I'm just wondering why did a little girl decide to come with you?"

Although his father's question did put Subaru in a bit of bind, Subaru answered honestly "It's hard to explain, but it was because of her that I was able to come here in the first place. Even though it physically hurts me to say this, that loli is actually very important to me so I'm glad that she's the one who decided to come with me. I really like her… W-Wait, I didn't mean like her in 'that' way, and even if I did, she's older than me."

"And probably older than you too." Subaru finished in his thoughts.

Noticing his son's panicking, Kenichi got excited as his smile widened "Oh! Ohhhh! Why did you bring her age up?! Could it be that you have a crush on her?!"

Shaking his head violently, Subaru blushed furiously as he exclaimed "D-Don't be stupid! S-Sure, she means a lot to me, but I don't see her like that!"

With a smug smile resting on his face, Kenichi replied "All I'm saying is that as long as you two are old enough and mature enough, there's nothing stopping you two from dating each other."

"Except for the fact that a relationship like that could never work between us!" Subaru exclaimed who wanted to make his father understand without stating that Beatrice isn't even a human.

After the smile faded from his face, Kenichi recalled "Well, it's not like you can get a girl anyways. The last time you tried was when you asked a girl for her number. You were so excited when she gave it to you, but later you found out that it wasn't even all seven digits. You were so traumatized that you stopped eating for two days, remember?"

"It's hard to forget one of the most traumatic experiences of my high school life." Subaru mumbled as he rested his head against the table.

Seeing his son beat himself up over the past, Kenichi went back to talking about Beatrice "When we were playing, eating, and walking together, I noticed that Beatrice often glanced over at you, and these weren't simple glances either. It was as if she was studying you, like you were someone she found fascinating. Honestly, it's like you're always the center of her attention. Also, if she saw you smiling, she would smile too. I'm just saying that she's probably fonder of you then she lets on."

"Yeah, because she's the living definition of the word 'tsundere'." Subaru replied who still refused to lift his face from the table.

After getting that little response from his son, Kenichi added "Remember how she glared at you when she decided to go shopping for clothes? My intuition was telling me that her glare meant 'I'm going to put on some really cute clothes, so you better like them'!"

After he slowly raised his head from the table, Subaru replied "Don't you think-"

-Back with Beatrice and Naoko-

"Don't you think you're being completely absurd, I wonder?!" Beatrice exclaimed as she stared at Naoko in disbelief.

Watching the little girl standing before her starting to rant, Naoko replied "Huh? Isn't it obvious that you've been staring at Subaru all day? You've even agreed to come along with me because I mentioned him. You seem to like him a lot."

Starting to stomp her feet on the floor, Beatrice exclaimed "I deny all of it. All of it, I say! Everything you have said is just baseless speculation, I suppose! Sure, I've warmed up to the boy, but I'm not 'crushing' on him! Me and your son are already bound by a pact that's stronger than such types of human relationships so we have no need for this 'dating', I suppose."

Not wanting to anger Beatrice anymore, Naoko tried to switch topics "Well, if you say so, I'll take your word for it. Beatrice, come look at this cute outfit. If you wore this, there's a good chance that my son would fall for you."

Shaking her head from her built up frustration, Beatrice sighed "It's just like Subaru said, the first sentence contradicts the second sentence! I'm telling you I don't have romantic feelings for- Wait a moment, I can somehow see the appeal in these clothes. Would Subaru like it, I wonder?"

Not grasping the clear contradiction Beatrice made in her argument, Naoko explained "I don't know what Subaru likes to see when it comes to clothes, but Subaru loves his parents more than anything. Therefore, something like what I'm wearing would look best on you in his eyes."

Unsatisfied with Naoko's logic, Beatrice exclaimed "That reasoning is flimsy at best, I suppose!" Turning away from the outfit, Beatrice found something nearby that caught her attention.

"This is…" Beatrice uttered to herself who was drawn to the article of clothing.

Once Naoko saw what Beatrice was considering wearing, she tried stopping her "Umm, Beatrice, that's not really… Well, we all have our unique tastes. If that's what you want to get, then it's fine. At the very least, I'm sure it would make Subaru happy in a way."

Back with the two boys at the coffee shop, Kenichi mumbled impatiently "I wonder what's taking our lovely ladies so long."

Starting to get bored as well, Subaru complained "Beako's just taking her sweet time just to piss me off. That's probably not true, but it's easier to think like-" Before Subaru finished his sentence, his phone started playing a horrible sound.

"What the **** is going onnnnnnn?!" A deathcore song started loudly playing from Subaru's phone.

Already knowing the culprit behind the sabotage, Subaru panicked as exclaimed "D-Dad, you bastard! You even set my ringtone?!"

Watching as his son tried frantically to get his phone out of his pocket, Kenichi heartily laughed "I warned you that I messed with that phone. It was naïve of you to think I didn't set certain ringtones and text tones!"

After Subaru finally pulled his phone out of his pocket, he frantically answered the call "H-Hello?"

"… Is this Subaru, I wonder?" A voice spoke timidly from the other end.

Recognizing the voice in an instant, Subaru calmed down as he replied "Yup, it's me. Wow, Beako, you sound really weird when I'm talking to you over the phone."

"Grr… You sound strange as well so you have no room for complaints, I suppose!" Beatrice growled back.

This moment felt surreal to Subaru who never thought he would ever be talking on the phone with Beatrice. Savoring the moment, Subaru asked "Mom let you borrow her phone, right?"

"Indeed. Still, I can't help but be impressed, I suppose. This object really can be used to communicate with those you cannot see." Beatrice spoke as she kept shifting the phone to hear Subaru better.

Remembering his bad experience with phones, Subaru explained "It's pretty impressive, but I think communication should be held in person whenever possible. With stuff like texting and talking over the phone, you can't pick up on another person's facial cues, sarcasm, and a bunch of other things so misunderstandings are more likely to happen. I can't tell you how many relationships have been destroyed because there's more to communicating than just speaking and writing using this stupid thing."

The truth was Subaru has always been salty towards electronic methods of communication ever since he failed at getting his crush's number.

"I have to agree with you. While it's nice knowing I can speak with you whenever I want if I use this thing, I still can't help but feel a little bit lonely." Beatrice agreed with Subaru and she added "Anyways, your mother said to meet at the, uh, elebator in the middle of the mall."

Trying to contain his laughter from the bad pronunciation, Subaru replied "O-Oh, yeah. W-We'll head over to the e-elebator right now so I'll see you soon."

Before Beatrice could reply, Subaru ended the call so he could let out all his laughter.

Hearing a strange noise coming from the phone, Beatrice looked up at Naoko and said "I can't hear Subaru anymore and this thing is making a strange noise, I suppose."

"Subaru hung up on you. It's basically like leaving the room in the middle of a conversation." Naoko explained to the little girl plainly.

"He did what, I wonder?!" Beatrice exclaimed as an angry blush appeared on her face.

As Subaru and his father made their way toward the meeting place, Subaru kept chuckling "She called it the 'elebator'! I swear, she sounds just like a child!"

Once the two boys arrived, they found the two ladies waiting for them there. Naoko simply stood there with a soft smile on her face and Beatrice seemed to be staring at the floor with a soft blush on her face.

"W-Woah, didn't see that coming!" Kenichi spoke with amazement as he looked at Beatrice's new outfit.

Not believing what he was seeing, Subaru never considered the possibility that Beatrice would ever choose an outfit like that.

"D-Do you have anything to say to me, I wonder?" Beatrice asked Subaru timidly as she refused to look him in the eyes.

Since Subaru already had the giggles, he couldn't stop himself from laughing at the top of his lungs.

"W-What is so funny, I wonder?!" Beatrice exclaimed as her blush intensified from her anger.

Trying to stop his laughter, Subaru explained "I-It's just that, I should've seen something like this coming, but I just didn't think it was possible for anyone to have a fashion sense as bad as mine!"

Beatrice was wearing a tracksuit that was identical to Subaru's. The only difference between the two tracksuits was the size and the color scheme. The color scheme on Subaru's was black, orange, and white and Beatrice's was pink, red, and white.

"Grr… this was a mistake, I suppose." Beatrice grumbled as she continued looking at the floor in embarrassment.

Trying to lift the girl's spirits, Kenichi pointed at her tracksuit and smiled "Wow, our family's crest looks great on you, so you don't need to look so embarrassed."

"Family crest?" Beatrice asked as she looked down to her tracksuit to see a strange symbol that Subaru's family would call an "N". After finally noticing the symbol on her tracksuit, Beatrice exclaimed "Gyaa! Wearing this crest makes me feel even more embarrassed! I've been tricked, I suppose!"

"Huh? Didn't you pick that out all by yourself?" Naoko reminded the angry Beatrice.

Before Beatrice could feel regret, Subaru put his hand on her head and smiled "Sorry about laughing. You just made me really happy. Look, now we match!"

With Subaru's smile dissolving her anger, Beatrice grumbled "If I made you happy, then you would do well to show me your appreciation, I suppose."

Unable to contain his joy, Subaru wrapped his arms around the spirit and shook side to side violently as his smile widened "Ahaha! You silly loli! You're just so dumb, I love it!"

"P-Please stop this foolishness!" Beatrice pleaded as Subaru kept shaking her.

After their little moment came to an end, the four walked around the mall some more. After stopping by a game store, Subaru blew all the money his father gave him and some from his own savings on new games and devices to share with Beatrice since she seemed interested in video games.

The family was about to exit the mall when they came across a photo booth.

"You know, we can't leave the mall until we've all taken our picture together, right?" Kenichi spoke as he walked towards the machine.

As they stood in front of the machine, Naoko asked "So, what are we going to do this time?" The family of three contemplated that question. Along with the theme the photo booth offered, the Natsuki's always came up with their own theme as well to give the pictures a little spice.

An idea popping into his head, Subaru proposed with a smile "I know! The Natsuki theme this time will be… Beatrice!" As Subaru said this, the boy pointed a finger dramatically at the little girl.

"Please don't involve me in your family's nonsense, I suppose!" Beatrice replied as she pouted.

Adding to his son's proposal, Kenichi agreed "Since it takes four pictures, that'll work. The first picture can have all of us in it. Then, we can take turns taking pictures with Beatrice for the next three."

"Then we're all in agreement." Naoko smiled who was relieved that it didn't take too long this time.

"I haven't agreed to anything, I suppose!" Beatrice cut in, but quickly realized she had little choice when the three of them came to an agreement.

After the family of four squeezed into the compact photo booth, Beatrice complained "This is very uncomfortable, I suppose. Is this thing really meant to hold four people, I wonder?"

"No, but we're doing it anyways for the sake of our family's memories." Naoko answered Beatrice as she put money into the machine.

Unsatisfied from Naoko's answer, Beatrice scoffed "You'd subject yourselves to this kind of torture for the sake of your memories together? I fear that this family is a lot crueler than they appear, I suppose."

"Ha! You'll never find a family that's more tightly-knitted together than us. How we're so squished together is a testament to our tight and close bonds as a family." Kenichi stated proudly.

"It's so tightly-knit that it's suffocating, I suppose." Beatrice complained to Kenichi.

After getting the first picture taken, Kenichi stayed behind in the booth to take the second picture alone with Beatrice. Then Naoko swapped places with her husband and the two girls got their picture taken together for the third one.

"Your turn, Subaru." Naoko said to her son as she exited the booth.

As Subaru entered the booth, he asked the spirit "Have any ideas for our picture together?"

"Unlike you, I don't clutter my mind with unnecessary thoughts, I suppose." Beatrice replied coldly.

Already having an idea, Subaru suggested "Well then, how about you sit on my lap?"

Although Beatrice hesitated for a moment, she didn't oppose Subaru's suggestion. After Beatrice sat down comfortably in his lap, Subaru wrapped his arms around the spirit and smiled "It's been a while since I've held you like this. I think my Beako batteries were running low."

"What does that even mean, I wonder?" Beatrice asked who became slightly annoyed.

Holding the spirit a little tighter, Subaru asked "Hey, Beako? Can you smile for me? Your smile is really cute, after all."

Although Subaru's compliment caught the spirit off guard, Beatrice grumbled "I-I won't smile just because someone requests it, I suppose." As Beatrice kept thinking about Subaru's compliment, her face softened as she murmured timidly "If you want me to smile, make it happen yourself, I suppose."

Since their photo was about to be taken, Subaru couldn't come with anything that would make Beatrice smile naturally. Right before their picture was taken, Subaru took his thumb and his index finger to force Beatrice's mouth to curve into a smile.

Once their picture was taken, Beatrice exclaimed "H-How rude! You can't force me to make a face like that by intruding upon my face, I suppose!"

"What? You told me to make you smile." Subaru teased back at the spirit.

The two bickered even as they exited the photo booth. Once the pictures finished developing, the four looked at them. The first picture was pretty normal with everyone smiling together except for Beatrice.

The next picture was with Kenichi who put his left hand on Beatrice's head and used his right hand to stick his finger up his nose. With a strange facial expression, Kenichi leaned closer to the camera with Beatrice still sitting upright who seemed disgusted by the man's behavior.

Neither disgusted nor entertained, Naoko simply said to her husband "Please wash your hands, dear."

"I'm already on it." Kenichi replied to his wife as he pulled out hand-sanitizer from his pocket.

Moving on to the next picture, the group noticed that it was a relatively normal one between Beatrice and Naoko. With a gentle smile on her face, Naoko rested her left hand on Beatrice's left shoulder who seemed to be blushing slightly.

"My wife is lovely as always." Kenichi smiled at the picture once he finished cleaning his hands.

Moving on to the last picture, the parents saw Beatrice on Subaru's lap and saw that Subaru's arms were wrapped around the girl. The parents also saw Subaru smiling brightly in the picture and forced Beatrice to make a similar but distorted smile.

"Aww, that's really cute." Naoko smiled as she looked at the picture.

"There's nothing cute about it, I suppose!" Beatrice complained as she pouted.

Since the photo booth printed two sets of pictures, Naoko offered one set to Beatrice "Me and Kenichi want to keep one set, but since you were the theme this time around, we'd like you to have the other set."

Looking at the strip of pictures offered to her, Beatrice reluctantly accepted "If you're so adamant about it, then I'll accept. Honestly, these pictures just embarrass me, I suppose."

Patting the spirit's head, Subaru told her "Sure, it may be embarrassing for you now, but you're going to look back on these memories and laugh. I guarantee it."

"Just by adding 'I guarantee it' makes you sound much less credible, I suppose." Beatrice sighed as she examined the pictures in her hand.

Once they were done looking at the pictures, the group left the mall and made their way towards a bus stop. Once the bus arrived, the group got on as Subaru briefly explained what a bus was to the spirit.

"So, this 'bus' is like a carriage made out of metal?" Beatrice asked Subaru as they tried finding seats on the bus.

Nodding to the spirit, Subaru added "Yup. There's someone driving it, but it doesn't have any animals pulling it, so it's like the train we rode earlier. Hey, I could only find three seats, so is it all right if you sit on my lap, Beako?"

"I guess there's no helping it, I suppose." Beatrice answered as she sat down in Subaru's lap again.

Worried that she would fall off, Subaru wrapped his arms around the spirit and said "The bus stops a lot, so I'm going to make sure you don't go flying off my lap."

"How considerate." Beatrice replied simply with no emotion in her voice.

Seizing the moment to embarrass his son, Kenichi teased "Wow, you two sure are close."

"I was just thinking the same thing." Naoko added to her husband's teasing.

With his father teasing him, even Subaru started feeling embarrassed as he lightly blushed "I just don't want Beako to get hurt. This is her first time riding a bus and-"

Interrupting the nervous boy, Beatrice supported Subaru "Yes, as someone who cares about my well-being, Subaru is simply doing what I expect of him, I suppose."

While the boy did have mixed feelings about Beatrice's statement, Subaru knew that Beatrice was helping his case so he chose not to argue with her.

"Anyways, where are we going now, I wonder?" Beatrice asked as the bus started moving.

After his embarrassment died down, a big smile appeared on Subaru's face as he became filled with excitement at the thought of their destination.

"Where we're going is…"

Author's notes: Well, I finished this chapter faster than I thought I would. Usually, there's a least one part in each chapter where I just don't know what to write to continue the story, but everything in this chapter came out naturally.

I just realized that this arc is ridiculously long. The first three chapters are about Subaru and Beatrice forming a contract, the fourth chapter was kind of a feel good chapter with a bunch of fluff. Then, chapters five through seven were about visiting Subaru's world and we're not even done with Subaru's world yet. Heck, we may never be done with Subaru's world. I already know how this arc will end, so I'm kind of curious. Do you guys think Subaru will go back to the parallel world, or will stay with his parents? What will Beatrice do?

Holy cow I've been writing on this site for almost four years now. Dang, I still remembering writing my first fanfiction. Time really flies when you're in college.

Also, this fanfiction is half a year old and is going to become my longest fanfiction once I post the next chapter.

Well, my Emilia figure just came in so I'm gonna go find a place for her. I swear, if they release a Beatrice figure I will pay almost any price for it! Anyways, see ya!