Subaru trudged through the snow-laden field, the eerie silence only broken by his shuffling feet and ragged breaths. His widened eyes were blankly looking at his feet, a lifeless expression on his face. He was entering shock after seeing Garfiel rip through his friends.
"Why? Why can't anything just go right…" He muttered, plunged into a sea of despair. However, the sound of footsteps behind him made him pause in his tracks. Subaru slowly turned, expecting the worst, only for his expression to morph into confusion. "Who are you?" He asked, suspicious of the strange man before him.
The man was of average height, with a stockier build. His eyes were covered by grey welders goggles, completely hiding his eyes. A bright yellow construction hat sat atop the man's bald head. He wore a light blue shirt, which was covered by dark blue overalls. On his right hand was a yellow glove, holding a large dark grey wrench, which he was tapping against his normal left hand. He stared at Subaru, unmoving besides the steady beat of the wrench.
"A-Are you a technician or something? Did-did you get stuck here too?" Subaru asked desperately, seeing the man had clothing from Earth. He saw no response, and began to move towards the man. "Uh, are you th-" He was cut off as the wrench disappeared from the man's hands as he began to...dance? He swung his arm from side to side, his legs kicking from underneath him in a repetitive pattern.
Subaru watched the man in shock, about to question him again, when the man let out a holler.
"ENGINEER GAMING!" The man shouted, the cry echoing throughout the empty forest.
Subaru was befuddled by the strange choice of words. "S-So you game?" He scratched his head in confusion. "Are you like a Youtuber or som-"
"ENGINEER GAMING!" Came a familiar cry from behind Subaru, causing him to whip around, his eyes wide in shock. There, behind him, was an exact copy of the man, clothes and all. He was dancing, seemingly oblivious to the black-haired boy before him.
"EH?!" Subaru shouted out, head whipping back and forth between them. "But-"
"ENGINEER GAMING!" Came another enthusiastic shout from the edge of the forest. Subaru froze, and slowly looked over in growing terror. There, on the very edge of the forest, another blue dressed man was dancing away.
"N-No." Subaru stuttered in horror, backing away, only to bump into something he swore wasn't there before.
"ENGINEER GAMING!"
The loud shout from behind Subaru caused him to leap away from the noise in shock. Yet another man had appeared behind him, dancing in perfect unison with the others. Subaru began to run away, fear flooding through his veins as more dancing men appeared throughout the field with shouts of ENGINEER GAMING!
Subaru sprinted towards the forest with all of his might, desperately trying to escape the taunting engineers, before one teleported right in front of him.
"ENGINEER GAMING!" He cried out, sending the boy into panic, seeing he was now surrounded by hundreds of men, all dancing in sync. Slowly and methodically, the man started moving forward towards the terrified boy. "ENGINEER GAMING!" They all cried out once more, sending the boy into a frenzy.
"NONONONO!" Subaru cried out desperately, trying to shove past the men, his efforts futile as they did not move at all. "HELP! SOMEBODY PLEASE!" He shouted out frantically, only for his pleads to fall onto dear ears.
"ENGINEER GAMING! ENGINEER GAMING! ENGINEER GAMING!"
The repetitive cries drilled into Subaru's head as the men surrounded him, his form curled up into a ball. As they finally reached him, Subaru could only say one thing.
"engineer gaming." The boy muttered, beginning to stand up, as if in a trance. "Engineer gaming." He said louder, arms and legs beginning to dance in a familiar tune. "ENGINEER GAMING!" He cried out, a smile adorning his face. In a flash, Natsuki Subaru was no more, there was only…
ENGINEER GAMING