Chapter 23: Sloth
Sasuke weaved hand seals as he jumped up high into the air.
Knowing that a strong attack will come out of it, Subaru summoned his second Unseen Hand and grabbed Sasuke in his palms, forcing him to lose his focus.
On the other hand, Nepgear and Kisame was engaged in pure swordfighting as the clashing of metal sounded throughout the room.
Nepgear dropped Gehaburn mid-clash. Kisame smirked as he drove Samehada into her chest. All of a sudden, Gehaburn floated and flew into Kisame's side, forcing Kisame to quickly back up and weave hand seals.
'Water Clone Jutsu!' Two Kisame clones made of water appeared and they aimed their own Samehada at Nepgear, who was forced to jump into the air.
'Slash Wave!' The attack tore through the clones. However, they very quickly regenerated.
Nepgear spat as she threw Gehaburn, letting it spin and gather force, becoming a blood red tornado.
'Bleeding Tear!' Gehaburn burst through the two clones, damaging them beyond repair. Kisame ran towards Gehaburn and laughed.
'Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!' Kisame's location became eluded from Nepgear. Cursing, she squinted her eyes, trying to focus and sense Kisame.
She managed to sense Kisame's energy signature. However, Nepgear still couldn't find Kisame due to the mist emitting the same energy signature.
'Damn it! Get out here!' She roared before feeling pain on the side of her head. She instinctively dove down and dodged Samehada.
'(Shit…)' She covered the wound formed on the side of her head.
Suddenly, a huge shard of ice went flying by her, the force splitting the mist apart temporarily, giving Nepgear a chance to counter as she quickly kicked Kisame's chin.
'Al Huma: Crystal!' Rem announced. Sasuke was on his knees with a bleeding arm.
'Sword of Kusanagi: Chidori Katana!' Sasuke channeled Chidori through his chokutō, letting the blade cackle with electricity.
'(A vibrating blade…)' Subaru thought as he tighten his grip on his shortsword.
Sasuke lunged at Rem who quickly sidestepped him before slamming her flail into his body, forcing him to twist.
Subaru then drove his shortsword at Sasuke who blocked it with his weapon. Due to the power surging through the Sword of Kusanagi, Subaru lost his grip on his shortsword.
'Subaru!' Rem yelled as Sasuke quickly tried stabbing Subaru. Subaru used his third Unseen Hand to hold onto Sasuke's hands, pushing his chokutō away.
'El Huma!' A multitude of ice spikes launched towards Sasuke who used his hand strength to balance his body on the hilt of his chokutō, allowing the ice spikes to break against the Unseen Hand.
'Rgh!' Subaru groaned as he exerted enough force to throw Sasuke to the floor before punching him in the stomach.
'Argh!' Sasuke fell unconscious. Subaru gasped for air from exhaustion as he fell into Rem's arms.
Meanwhile, Kisame clicked his tongue upon seeing the condition Sasuke was in.
'Water Release: Water Transportation Jutsu!' Kisame announced as his molecules divided and he instantly got beside Sasuke before kicking Rem and Subaru to the side.
Subaru instinctively summoned his fourth Unseen Hand to take the hit for his head against the wall whilst holding onto Rem tightly.
Nepgear widened her eyes in surprise and flew towards Kisame with Gehaburn cocked back, ready to strike.
However, Kisame merely smirked.
'Water Release: Exploding Water Shock Wave!' Kisame vomitted a huge amount of water. The water transformed into huge waves that threatened to swallow and crush the trio.
'Subaru! Hold on tight!' Rem cried as she sent her flail up and lodged it into the ceiling. She then pulled both Subaru and her up to avoid the waves.
Nepgear began levitating higher, sticking her tongue out as she did so.
'Trash!' She then gave Kisame the middle finger. Suddenly, Kisame disappeared from his spot and appeared behind Nepgear.
He slammed Samehada down as Nepgear barely dodged it, resulting in strands of her hair being cut off.
'Processor Unit: Release 50! Starshine! Lindworn!' Nepgear yelled as a grey glow engulfed her. She then started with such speed that all that was seen was the electricity trailing off of her.
Kisame quickly felt stabs in his vital points before using Water Release: Water Transportation Jutsu once again.
He gained the ability to catch up with the supersonic Nepgear as he began attacking, forcing Nepgear to retreat due to Kisame's superior sword arts.
A flail suddenly approached Kisame's head from behind. He turned and a disturbing smirk was seen on his face.
'Chidori!' Sasuke suddenly roared ferociously as he appeared behind Rem.
'No!' Subaru yelled as he raised his hand, trying his best to summon a fifth Unseen Hand. However, he could only look as Sasuke pierced his hand through Rem's heart, before throwing her lifeless body down.
Nepgear looked upon the scene with shock and this was enough time for Kisame to swiftly decapitate her, just like how he had once done to Kazuma.
'Ah...ah...AHHHHH!!!' Subaru yelled as he blacked out. However, even in the midst of unconsciousness, he heard a voice eerily like his.
'Now...you've awoken...Sloth…'
Subaru clutched his aching head. He looked around.
'Ew...look...that guy's the reject everyone has been talking about!' A rich-looking girl said.
'Really?!' A girl sitting beside her gasped.
'(School sucks, as usual)' Subaru thought. He placed his head in the wooden table.
He was depressed. Just yesterday, the last member of the Tracksuit Gang left, saying he had to study for mid-terms as he wanted to finally focus on school.
'(I mean...didn't we all agree that school is nothing useful...everyone of them…)' Subaru clenched his fist.
Irritated, he decided that he would skip homeroom. The teachers never seem to care about him anyway. In fact, other than his parents, no one really gave a damn about him.
He kicked open the door, ignoring the gossips from his class and began walking to the stairs. On his way there, he earned a lot of stares.
'Hey. Isn't he the one who was absent for 364 days last year?'
'Yesh.'
Things like that always happened whenever he decided to listen to his parents and come to school.
'(Why am I here...fuck them all!)' Subaru thought angrily as he began running to the rooftop.
He opened the door to the rooftop and walked over to the edge. He quickly plopped himself down and got comfortable.
Looking down, he could see the many students who were excited, afraid, or irritated. He wondered what was so different between them and himself.
Oh...they had a fucking future. He didn't.
Subaru wondered how nice it would be to just jump down from the rooftop. He would definitely savour the experience.
But he couldn't. Not when his parents were still smiling whenever they saw him. Whenever they saw their failure of a son.
He would only kill himself when his parents has finally had enough of his crappy attitude and behaviour. Because when that happens, he was sure no one would care about him anymore.
'Creak.' The door to the rooftop was opened. Subaru gritted his teeth.
'(Now I'm gonna get detention…)' He turned around, and was shocked when he saw not a teacher, but a fellow student. It was a girl. She possessed blue hair that was waist length.
Somehow, she felt awfully familiar.
'R-Rem?' Subaru widened his eyes. Why did he say that name? Who was that? The girl seemed to be surprised.
'How do you know my name?' Subaru laughed dryly. He didn't know the reason himself.
'Well...you just looked like a Rem...I guess.' Rem chuckled.
'Well...you must be Subaru?' Subaru raised an eyebrow.
'You fit the description of the 'Eternal Absentee'.' She continued. Subaru's eye twitched.
Rem seemed to have noticed it and waved her hand in a placating manner.
'I didn't mean to offend you...it's just...you seem...similar to me…' Subaru scratched his head. He didn't understand what she meant.
'I'm sorry...but what did you mean?' Rem smiled.
'People always say that you have the eyes of a fugitive...but I'll say...it's more like the eyes of someone...lonely...someone who feels like he is different from the rest of the world.'
She was spot-on. Subaru's father was well-known for being able to do anything expertly. Thus, everything he did that he felt was great, people would just say: 'You are indeed your father's son.'
Being unable to differentiate himself from his father in people's eyes, he decided to be an expert at the things his father wasn't.
That is, he started skipping school. Smoking. Fighting. All the evil of the world, he almost did them all.
Because of this, the friends he once had, he lost. His future became bleak as well. He might as well die right that moment.
As if sensing Subaru's depression, Rem walked in front of him.
'I'm the same as you.' Subaru was curious by the sudden declaration.
'My family...they always compared me to my older sister...it made me felt so worthless I idiotically took drugs.' She said with a fake smile. Subaru was dumbfounded.
'Luckily, I snapped out of it last year and now, I'm finally going back to school...I don't really get the lessons though.' Subaru smiled. She was like him.
'I can teach you. I'm not the best at studying...but I try.' Rem nodded.
His first friend in ages, he was happy. They spent the next few months together. Be it studying, eating, hanging out, they did it with each other.
Then, that happened. While having fun at an opera, terrorists came in and in the midst of all the chaos, Rem died. In order to protect the useless Subaru.
He was guilt-ridden...filled with self-reproach. He forced himself to forget it all and returned to his old lifestyle. One where no one except for his parents cared about him.
That happened when he was 16. Not too long after, he was sent into the Kingdom of Lugnica. And there, he met the one who he treated as a goddess. Emilia.
However, despite how kindly Emilia treated him and how she cared for him, it wasn't comparable to Rem. Nor was his so-called love. It was more of gratitude that someone has finally cared for and needed him.
'Rem...you can't be...can you?'
He woke up and saw that the Hideout was in tatters. There, on the floor, was a headless Nepgear and Rem, with a hole through her heart.
Subaru almost puked at the sight of them. Then, his eyes was drawn to the mutilated bodies of Sasuke and Kisame.
'(Who did it?!)' Subaru anxiously thought, thinking that it may be after him. However, that thought was swiftly dismissed when he saw the blood on his person.
He then groped his body. Sure, he may have had some injuries on his body, but he didn't have a big enough wound to cause all this blood.
'(So...I did it to them…)' Subaru questioned. Strangely enough, he didn't feel any remorse for what he did.
I mean, should he? After all that he's been through? No.
In fact, Subaru was gleefully moving about now that Sasuke and Kisame was dead. Still, he took the Sword of Kusanagi and stabbed himself.
He needed Rem. He wanted Rem to stay alive. He had questions too. But, he would not ask them now. Not when he knows he is no longer normal, wishing for the deaths of others.
AN: So, Subaru has some kind of hidden power.