Chapter 22: Try Again
Subaru ran past another building. Each building he had ran past previously all looked the same in his eyes. Perhaps it was the uneasy feeling in his stomach that was causing all of this.
As the others were panickly trying to escape from the intruders, Subaru stopped. Okabe noticed his action and stopped as well.
'What's...wrong…' Okabe said in between breathes. It seemed that he wasn't athletic at all.
'I feel like something bad has happened...I want to go back and check on the girls!' Okabe had a shocked expression plastered on his face.
'It's dangerous!' Subaru merely grinned as he brought up his right hand and flexed.
'Well, I am capable of fighting!' Subaru announced.
Okabe looked like he had more to say, but when he realised that everyone had stopped running, he knew he had to make a decision.
'Fine...come back safe.' Subaru gave him a thumbs up.
Rem approached Subaru and looked like she was about to speak when Subaru waved his hand.
'Rem, we need as many fighters as possible to ensure the safety of everyone here.' Rem stayed silent for a few moments before nodding.
Subaru turned around and ran back the direction he came.
Alcohol Town
He arrived back at the town after about 45 minutes of travel.
He crouched down as he approached the Hideout cautiously.
Noticing the door being left slightly open, Subaru armed himself with his shortsword and kicked the door open.
His eyes widened in shock when he saw the mess the Hideout was in. Broken chairs and tables.
He wasn't really sure what it all meant as he began inspecting the room for clues as to where the girls could've gone.
Suddenly, something caught his eyes. He picked the item up and it turned out that it was the highly advanced receiver that Okabe gave the girls.
'What is this doing here? ...Don't tell me they were…' Subaru paled at the thought.
As the receiver was tiny, black, and circular, if one of the girls had dropped it to tried to signify something has happened, the intruders wouldn't have noticed it.
Clenching his right hand tightly, Subaru was unsure as to how he could search for the girls. First of all, he didn't know where their base of operations was. Secondly, based on his past experiences, he knew that he couldn't beat the enemies without heavy backup.
And finally, despite his encounters with the enemies, he haven't even figured out the secrets behind their powers.
Subaru's head began aching from thinking too much. He sat up and closed his eyes. Suddenly, he realised something
'(Do they want to use them as bait to blackmail me into surrendering myself? I mean, their leader is not gonna be happy with how they only managed to capture four people...they must've brought them to their base! But then again, I don't know where it is…)' Subaru didn't know what he could do.
'(I mean...all this time...all I did was die...wait!)'
Grabbing the shortsword tight in his shivering hands, he prepared to stab himself in the heart.
'C'mon...don't be scared...this is all because of you! Don't be a damned coward!' He roared as he landed the blow.
Mysterious Place
'Hrk!' Subaru opened his eyes in cold sweat.
He looked around and saw that he was back in the place filled with mysterious shadows.
'Oh…' Subaru turned his head towards the source of the sound and saw Emi-no, Satella.
'Satella?' Subaru questioned. Satella puked out her tea and dropped her teacup on the flowery, blue table.
'You...didn't mistake me for Emilia?' Satella asked, her voice trembling.
Subaru narrowed his eyes in confusion. Why would he mistake her for Emilia twice?
'Uh...no? You kinda cleared that up the last time I was here…'
'How?! You shouldn't be able to remember me?!' Satella roared. She was bewildered. Out of the countless times Subaru had revived, he had never once retained memories of what had happened.
'Wha?' Subaru muttered.
'(Could it be because I granted him powers? No...I did that before in the past...or could his brain have adapted to the countless revivals, thus letting him remember...but this time as well...his deaths are the same...wait! He died more times this time...but…the current amount is still insignificant compared to the amount amassed in the future…)'
'It can't be...I know that you are now living in a new world, contrary to the previous cycles...but...' Subaru's eyes widened at what he had heard.
'What did you say?!' He asked. Satella realised her mistake and placed her hands in front of her mouth.
'(I thought out loud!)' Satella began sweating profusely. Subaru approached Satella.
'What. Did. You. Say.' He said menacingly as he felt like he heard something important.
'You cannot know it! Not when you will remember it!' Satella cried as she raised her hand, summoning countless Unseen Hands to try to restrain Subaru.
'Damn!' Subaru summoned his own singular Unseen Hand to try to fight back. However, against a superior number, Subaru obviously stood no chance as he quickly got restrained.
'Satella! Tell me the truth! The truth as to why I was summoned!' Subaru struggled against the restraints.
'I-I…'
'TELL ME! I NEED TO KNOW!' Subaru yelled at Satella. This flipped a switch in Satella.
'Why would you need to know! Isn't it enough for you to know that I love you unconditionally?!' Satella aggressively said.
Although Subaru would've normally began shaking at the appearance of Satella's more aggressive side, this time, due to his anger at being denied the truth, he stared straight into Satella's eyes.
Satella sighed as she raised her right hand and placed a palm on Subaru's forehead.
'Whatever. Time for you to leave.'
'No! NO!' Subaru's eyes widened as he began returning to reality.
Real World
'Argh…' Subaru groaned as he opened his eyes.
'OOF!' A book suddenly struck Subaru in the gut.
'Hahahahaha!' He heard a cheeky voice laugh.
'Ram! Didn't I tell you not to do that to others? Blanc towered behind Ram. Ram quickly laughed it off as she ran away.
'Wait for me.' Rom called out as she chased after Ram.
'Ah…' Subaru moaned. Rem patted his back.
'Are you alright?' Subaru turned around with a smile, albeit forced, as he nodded.
'(Satella...damn you!)' He thought as he clenched his fist.
'Shit!' Okabe cursed. Subaru, knowing what was wrong, quickly ran up to Okabe and pretended to look at the monitor.
'Two intruders?!' He gasped.
Like before, Nepgear convinced Okabe to let her be the distraction. However, this time, Subaru managed to convince Ruby, Yang, and Weiss to leave while being the distraction himself.
Of course, with Subaru staying, this meant that Rem was staying as well.
After everyone left, Subaru began planning.
'It's Sasuke and Kisame huh…' Nepgear and Rem looked at Subaru with widened eyes.
'How do you know them?' Rem asked.
'I...uh...encountered them…' Subaru answered hesitantly. However, due to the severity of the situation, the two girls didn't seem to notice Subaru's hesitant tone.
'Anyway,' Subaru continued: 'They are both not to be trifled with. Using your full strength from the start will be wise.'
The two girls nodded.
Soon, the trio began their ambush.
Nepgear sent Gehaburn flying at Kisame who rolled on the floor to avoid it. During the chaos, Rem slammed her flail at Sasuke who used the side of his chokutō to deflect it.
'Hard Drive Divinity: Activate!' Nepgear activated her HDD before moving at blinding speeds in an attempt to decapitate Kisame.
However, Kisame managed to counter her strikes with Samehada and land a kick in her midriff.
Meanwhile, Subaru jumped onto Rem's flail. Rem then shot her flail forward, giving Subaru a speed boost as he tried kicking Sasuke whom blocked it with his left hand.
'I won't let you win again!' He announced. Subaru ignored it as he struck with his shortsword.
Sasuke pushed Subaru away before back-flipping and landing.
'Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!' A huge glowing orb of fire was sent at Subaru.
'(Three more!)' Subaru made a mental note as he used his first summoning of the Unseen Hand to contain the fireball and swing it at Kisame.
'Nepgear!' Subaru yelled. Nepgear nodded as she flew out of the way and let the attack hit Kisame. A cloud of smoke appeared.
When the smoke cleared, Kisame appeared to be hurt.
'How did you know that that was his weakness?' Rem asked quizzically.
'I mean...he is a shark…' Subaru quipped.
'Pay attention!' Nepgear suddenly roared as she blocked an attack that was aimed at Subaru's neck.
'Tch!' Sasuke clicked his tongue and activated his Sharingan.
'Genjutsu: Sharingan!' Sasuke announced. However, Nepgear shrugged as she didn't feel anything different and punched Sasuke in the face.
Sasuke sprawled back with blood oozing out of his nose. He stood up, confused.
'How...your mind should've been under my control...you should've been paralysed!' Nepgear smirked.
'Paralysis eh? Well, sorry to say but my ability wrecks debuffs you twat!' She laughed.
Sasuke growled angrily as he rushed Nepgear. As Nepgear was preparing to attack, Rem shot forward.
'You handle shark guy!' Subaru said. Nepgear sighed as she turned to face Kisame once again.
'AGHHHH!!!' Sasuke roared as he began striking at intense speeds. Rem, however, was able to keep up while Subaru acted as the occasional attacker.
Sasuke then tried to take Rem by surprise by telephoning behind her but Subaru threw his shortsword. It struck Sasuke's back and this disoriented him, allowing Rem enough time for a counterattack.
The flail struck Sasuke's face as he went flying towards Subaru's leg. Subaru then kicked Sasuke into Kisame.
Nepgear managed to move fast enough to use Time Fragmentation on Kisame, allowing him to be hit by Sasuke.
'Damn it! Stop being so reckless!' Kisame cursed at Sasuke.
'Shut it! You aren't even using your full strength! Do you want to let the others escape huh?' Sasuke retorted.
'Heh. We probably can't even catch up with them anyway not knowing where they're headed. We should just be satisfied with capturing those here. It's even better that the host of the malicious chakra is here. At least when we report it to Pain, he won't have anything to say.' Kisame laughed.
Subaru readied himself.
'(This is gonna be difficult to survive…)'
AN: The feeling of wax being cleared out of one's ear is so damned satisfying.