Re:Circuit (Redux)
I have receive authorization of the original fiction writer to take the story over, however it will have my own spin, also please do read my other fics while you wait for updates, the more (actual, not nonsensical or trollish buffoonery) reviews I get, the more motivated I get.
Also, I will provide an explanation of how RBD works, at least it will be my own theory, whether I am right or wrong… that will be to the re:zero author to prove or disprove.
Without further ado, I bid you all adieu.
Chapter 1: To Save someone...
The name is Natsuki Subaru, I am 18 years old… and currently I am looking at some Shounen Jump and Weekly Jump at the local combi at night, I was feeling a bit peckish so I decided to buy some snacks, after buying said things I sighed as I saw a couple by the window.
I sighed, it is… difficult to be my father's son, now don't get me wrong, I don't hate him, in fact he is a great dad, it's just… I get compared to him so much, and people have expectations on me.
He is super popular, everyone loves him and is… perfect in everything he does.
Due to that, I tried hard to be like him, but in the end I couldn't, it was too hard and alienated myself by trying to be him.
I wished I could find my own way, but it is hard for me because to be honest I am a bit of a punk, I lack direction, I know that, but I have no idea on what or how to do said thing.
I became a shut in, lost a year of schooling, but my family did not get mad, they understood.
That made it more painful for me. I am such a loser, I couldn't even be the son they deserved.
I sighed and left the combi, I felt a bit drowsy and blinked.
As soon as I opened my eyes I had to shield them as there was a lot of light, after blinking a bit, I realised it was daytime, which was odd since I left to go to the combi around 8pm or so.
I looked around, the place did not look anything like the street I was, in fact it looked like a renaissance festival or something, and then I noticed beast-like humans.
"I GOT SUMMONED TO ANOTHER WORLD?!"
As I looked around I managed to get into an alley, a trio of guys came over and tried to rob me, I managed to get 2 of them but the 3rd had a pair of weapons, I got cocky and paid for it, I was being beaten quite a bit.
It was then when she arrived, she was beautiful, I saw her amethyst colored eyes and silver hair. She fired ice spears and made the trio run away.
I passed out.
Moments later
I felt something rather soft, VERY SOFT and warm, then I remembered who helped me.
I turned around to thank her only to find a rather realistic novelty sized plush, then realised that it wasn't a plush but a real being.
Right in front of me, in my upside-down vision, was the face of a giant cat. "I thought that at least until you woke up, I'd make you feel comfortable. You can thank me later." the huge cat said with a rather girlish voice.
I blinked a bit.
"Ok. First of all, I'd like you to stop with that terrible falsetto voice. There's no way I'd mistake a cat for the heroine."
I certainly never been in a situation before where I got to use a human-size cat's lap for a pillow and, well, it wasn't like you get to experience this every day, so I decided to make the best of it.
"Wow, this is actually really comfortable. Like, this is amazing. Now I understand why people want to love their cats 'til they go bald."
"Well, if you're going to be this happy about it, I guess it was really worth super-sizing… Don't you think so, too?"
The cat scratched at his face as if it were embarrassed and winked as if seeking a confirmation. At the end of that glance was a silver-haired girl, standing at the entrance to the alley looking unfazed.
It was the same girl from before, if I was to believe my memories, eyes, and heart, which were all deeply branded by her image right before he lost consciousness.
"Umm…I'm sorry about all of this. It looks like you ended up staying here with me until I woke up, and—" I begun to say, however...
"Don't get any ideas about this. The only reason I stayed is because I still have some questions to ask you. If it weren't for that, I would have left you behind. I mean it. So don't get any ideas."
Pressing the point, the girl put strong emphasis on her words. This was a level of girl power that I, who had no resistance against such beautiful girls, simply could not stand against. It was so strong that I could do nothing but nod, ignoring the content of whatever she was saying.
"The reason I healed your wounds, and the reason I had Puck serve as a pillow until you woke up—all of that was for me. So I'm going to have you make it up to me, okay?"
"I know you're trying to build this up and everything, but if you just have something to ask, go right ahead," I said with a chuckle. This girl was just not good at being honest, I did not dislike that. She was one of those people who took the saying "helping others isn't just for their sake" to heart.
The girl looked sternly at Subaru and shook her head.
"I'm not asking, I'm commanding. You know something about my stolen badge, don't you?" asked the girl, dropping the tone of her voice. However, as this wasn't any different from what she had asked before, so I tilted my head in confusion.
They had gone through this once already, right before I had passed out.
She keeps calling the thing a "badge," I thought. So is it something like what police and detectives keep on themselves to prove what they are? I haven't seen anything like that.
"You didn't hit your head real hard or anything while I was passed out, did you?" I asked.
"You were only out for about ten minutes, and no, nothing like that happened. Answer the question."
"Well…if that's the case, I've got to say I really don't know. Ha-ha…"
You can't do anything about what you don't know. My answer was no different from before. However, the girl didn't look particularly crestfallen, but instead nodded.
"Well, if you don't know, you don't know. But, the fact that you know absolutely nothing itself is information you have provided to me, and enough for me to justify healing you," the girl replied, using twisted enough logic to baffle any swindler to describe her complete loss.
As I looked on, dumbfounded, the girl clapped her hands together as if to finish things.
"Well, I'm in a hurry, so I'm going to get going now. Your wounds should all be healed, and I threatened those other guys so much I doubt they'll go near you again, but it's still dangerous to enter an alley like this all alone. Oh, and I'm not saying this because I'm worried about you; this is a warning: If I see you in a similar situation again, there won't be any merit to me saving you, so you can't expect me to do so again," said the girl with machine-gun rapidity. She took Subaru's silence as affirmation, nodded to herself, and turned around to leave.
The girl's long silver hair swayed as she moved, and sparkled fantastically in the dim light of the alley.
"I'm sorry about that. She's not really honest with herself. Don't think too strangely of her, okay?" said the cat with a laugh as, having returned to its original size, it jumped up onto the girl's shoulder.
"That's fine, I dont dislike that about her, he must have her own circumstances, so I understand, we all have something after all" I said to the creature who turned small.
Puck looked at me closed his eyes and smiled, "you ate a good boy aren't you? Anyways please do take care" with that he went towards the girl again.
He understood her, she was someone who did things cause it was the right thing to do, however her efforts never yielded fruit, and it was likely she would be taken advantage of, someone like that…
"If you live like that, you're just going to keep losing until there's nothing left," I said to myself as I got up, patted my dust-and dirt-covered tracksuit and started running.
I caught up to her.
"Hey, wait, since you helped me it's only fair for me to do the same, so since you lost that badge if yours, allow me to repay your kindness" I said.
The girl blinked a few times, surprised. "But you said you don't know anything…"
"It's true that I don't know the name of the girl who stole that badge from you, or where she's from, but at least I know what she looks like! She's got blond hair, is sort of like a kitten, and has this canine tooth that sticks out that's hard to miss. She's shorter than you and her chest is pretty flat so she's maybe two or three years younger than you! How about that?!" When I get flustered, I have the bad habit of speaking fast and not really even knowing what I was saying.
Right now that bad habit was running at full blast, and how that I noticed I just wanted to distance himself from my own words.
The ensuing silence was painful. A cold sweat drenched my back, not to mention my hands and armpits, which was followed by heart palpitations, shortness of breath, as well as dizziness, and in addition to feeling faint, my nose stuffed up in an allergic reaction accompanied by a migraine, such that there were problems on every front.
However…
"…You're strange," the girl said with a hand up to her mouth, tilting her head to the side as if she were looking at some rare animal.
With a finger still at her lips she stared at Subaru, sizing him up.
"I should say up front that I can't offer you anything in return for your help. I might not look it, but I don't have a copper piece on me."
"Don't worry, that makes two of us," replied Subaru.
"Three of us, if you count me… Pretty terrible for us as a group," added a voice jokingly from the girl's silver hair, but I ignored it and pounded his chest.
"I don't need anything in thanks. I'm the one who should thank you. That's why I want to help."
"I haven't done anything deserving of your thanks. I've already gotten something in return from healing you."
She just won't give it up, will she? I looked at the girl and her stubborn attitude with a weak smile.
"If that's the case, then I'll help you for my own sake. The reason is…yeah, that's it. I'll use you for my 'one good deed a day' project!" I said.
"One good deed a day?"
"That's right. Once a day you do one good thing. If you do that, after you die you've got a one-way ticket to heaven! If I can do it, then a wonderful life of just eating and sleeping is waiting for me—so I hear! So that's why I'm going to help you for my own sake."
I felt like turning to himself and asking what the hell he was going on about, but at least he'd managed to make his point.
The girl stood in thought, considering my words, when her cat poked at her cheek with its paws.
"I don't sense any evil intentions from him, and I don't really think it's a bad idea, you know? With how large the capital is, it's way better than going on no clues at all."
"But if I get him involved…"
"You're cute when you're stubborn, but it's foolish to let your stubbornness get the best of you and make you lose sight of your goals. I'd really rather not think of my own master as a fool."
The cat added its support in favor of me, but the girl was still hesitant. In response, the cat dropped its expression and continued in a serious voice.
"Plus, the sun is starting to set. If night falls, I won't be able to help you. I'm not worried about you handling a thug or two, but…it's better to be safe than sorry."
"Well, it sounds like you're the one to call if there's danger! But, wait—according to what you said, you can't come out at night? Is that one of the deals of your contract or something?" I asked, taking a step closer.
The cat flicked its whiskers with its front paw and said, "It's more like, I may look cute, but I'm a spirit, you know? I use a lot of mana just by materializing. When night falls, I return to the crystal that is my vessel and prepare for when the sun is out again. I suppose you could say it's the perfect nine-to-five job."
"Nine to five? That sounds like a government job… The conditions to hire a spirit sound more severe than I expected…!"
I was able to talk naturally about spirits, but that was only because of the analytical power he had as a modern otaku, poisoned by anime and games. Even traits looked down on by the public come in handy sometimes.
While the cat and myself continued their conversation, the girl continued to anguish over her decision. However, that last point seemed to have tipped the scales, so after much moaning with a number of buts and stills and ifs she finally conceded."I'm telling you, I really can't give you anything in return, okay?"
"That is fine, I am paying back for your help, so we will be even" I said brushing off her attempt at making me turn her down.
Much later
"It my knowledge of tropes is as good as I think it is, we should probably look over in the slums, by how you go about that badge being important l, the thief would probably sell it, right?" I asked.
"I guess? Say… what is a trope?" The girl asked.
"However we are both clueless, we need soemone who knows this town, but since we dont have a single coin between us…" I said with a sigh.
We walked down the streets and noted that the script used in here was completely alien to me, it seems that while I could talk AND understand them, I could not read, well that sucked.
"I was just thinking… I know your cat's name now, but I don't think you ever told me your name, ha-ha."
While I thought that bringing this up now might have not been the best time, the girl's eyes widened a bit in surprise. She then closed them, and after a few seconds of silence, said…
"…Satella."
"Oh?"
I, who because of her silence had begun to think that he had made a mistake, was a bit late in reacting to her whispered reply.
In response, the girl turned away from Subaru and continued.
"I don't have a last name, so you can just call me Satella."
Her voice had no emotion in it. Because of her attitude, it was as if, though she was giving her name, she was refusing to be called by it. Through her actions, this girl, who gave her name as "Satella," was putting a distance between herself and Subaru more than she had ever done before.
I, who already thought that I would feel more comfortable having a surname to call her by rather than having to use her personal name, felt that I really couldn't use that name at all. For the time being, looking for a way out, Subaru decided to avoid using her name entirely, and instead just use pronouns.
As he observed my and the girl's exchange from the sidelines, Puck had one thing to say before slipping back under the girl's silver hair.
"…That's in really bad taste, you know," it muttered, though its voice did not even reach the girl's ears, let alone mine.
We continued our search, but it was rather hard, however...
"Hey, Subaru…"
When I looked back at Satella I saw that she had her gaze fixed on something on the other side of the street. Looking in the same direction and realized what Satella was looking at.
I had a bad feeling about this, he thought.
Adding further weight to his fears, Satella continued, with a serious look on her face.
"…Do you think that kid is lost?"
Out of all the possible things that could go wrong with this plan, the final one had reared its head.
"…Well, uh…"
One of the several things that I had discovered throughout the day was that the silver-haired girl standing next to him was an incorrigibly kind person. But, whether it was due to a curse or some other reason, she would not ever admit it herself.
I sighed a deep sigh. "Let's just calm down a minute."
"What are we going to do if she gets up and goes somewhere while we're dillydallying?! We've got to go talk to her right away…"
"You know, that kindness of yours is a great virtue, and given the fact that I myself was saved by that kindness I really don't want to say this, but do you have any idea what situation you're in right now?"
Where Satella was looking, near the buildings across the street, there stood a young girl. She looked as though she was around ten years old, with shoulder-length brown hair that was very cute. If she smiled, the people around her probably would not be able to resist smiling back, but unfortunately, at the moment her eyes were filled with anxiety, and she looked moments away from tears.
There was probably an 80 or 90 percent chance that Satella's observation was correct. I was sure it was, but…
"There's also that my screw-ups are partially at fault, but the thief who stole from you is just getting farther and farther away from us. If we waste any more time here, by the time we catch her, she might already have sold it and then we'll have no way to get it back."
"You're probably right…but…"
"Then…"
Certainly it would feel bad to just leave the girl like that, but with all of the other people around, the chance that someone else would help her was high. On the other hand, Satella and myself were pressed for time, and needed to gather information to continue their search.
No matter how he thought about it, their current plan should have priority over helping that little girl, but…
"But don't you see, Subaru? Look at her, she's crying."
"…"
"If you don't want to stick around with me, that's just fine. Thanks for everything you've done, Subaru. I'll figure this out on my own…after I help that little girl." While I stood at a loss for words, Satella looked like she had already made her decision. The way she said it, it wasn't as though she was saying that I just didn't understand and she was tired of him, but that she felt guilty for forcing me to play along with her unreasonableness.
Her silver hair dancing behind her, Satella trotted off across the street to where the little girl was standing. The girl, who had been looking down with her teary eyes, noticed that someone had suddenly come to her side. There was a glimmer of hope in her eyes as she looked up, probably because she thought the person she was looking for had found her.
"I'm sorry I'm not the one you're looking for," said Satella as she knelt down to talk to the girl, whose eyes opened wide in surprise.
But in those eyes was not a feeling of relief, but a feeling of fear. You could tell, even from far away, that being spoken to by a stranger had caused her heart to shrink away, afraid.
"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but where are your father and mother? Aren't they with you?"It looked as though Satella had noticed the girl was afraid, and her voice was in a tone that was kinder than Subaru had ever heard it before. However, it wasn't enough to convey her concern to the girl, who had lost sight of her parents and was now shivering because she did not know what to do.
"Umm… Uh… Please don't cry. I won't do anything to hurt you, okay?"
Satella tried to keep open the girl's heart before it shut completely on her, but it didn't seem to work, and the little girl only shook her head back and forth. The tears that had welled up in her eyes looked as though they were about to overflow, when…
"Now feast your eyes on this magnificent notched ten-yen coin!"
"Huh?" said Satella, surprised by the sudden voice that had leapt in, and when she looked up, there was Subaru in his gray tracksuit.
I first smiled weakly at Satella's reaction, and then turned his smile from her to the little girl. The sudden intruder had also surprised her. I then put out my right hand in front of her.
"Now, can you see this coin here in my right hand? I bet you can! All right, now I'm going to squeeze it tight. Like this…squeeze squeeze squeeze…"
"Wait, Subaru…what are you…?"
"And would you look at that!"
Ignoring Satella's interruption, I took my fist where he had been holding the notched ten-yen coin and opened it wide for the two to see. When he did, the coin that should have been in his hand was gone.
"Wow! The coin I was squeezing is gone! Now where could it have run off to…?"
The little girl blinked a few times and then stared hard at my right hand, but whether she looked at the back of his hand or his palm, she couldn't find it. Emboldened by the girl's reaction, nodded, and then reached out with his left hand and gently brushed his fingers through her hair."Would you look at that! So this is where the coin was hiding."
When the little girl saw the coin resting between the fingers of my left hand, she was stunned.
Satella, who couldn't figure out the trick, was just as confused.
Subaru took a magnificent bow before the two and then dropped the notched ten-yen coin in the little girl's hand.
"I'll let you keep it as a present. It's special, so take good care of it, okay?"
I looked on with a smile as the little girl held the coin close and nodded vigorously.
As he was doing so, Satella poked him in the side. "Hey, Subaru…"
"Don't look at me like that. I mean, I'll admit what I said before was a bit harsh but…"
"How did you do that?"
"Oh, you mean that? You're not questioning my motives, but how I did the trick?"
I promised to explain the trick later to Satella, who looked very interested, before turning back to the little girl, who was looking very curiously at the ten-yen coin. It seemed like my amazing magic had helped calm down her anxiety. When I knelt down and asked her a few questions, she answered them quickly and clearly.
"I see. So you got separated from your mother, huh. Don't worry, don't worry. Just leave it to your big brother and sister. We'll find her right away!"
After giving the girl another pat on the head, I held out his hand to her, and with a little hesitation, she grabbed it. Satella, who was watching, opened her eyes wide.
"You really look like you're used to this… Subaru, is your profession taming children?"
"The way you said that sounds really, really bad! And no. I'm unemployed."
Technically, Subaru had the incredibly convenient status of being a student. However, given that he hadn't been going to school lately, and particularly now that he had been summoned to a different world, he didn't really feel that he was qualified to call himself that anymore.
But, regardless…
"So, big sister, how about you hold this lonely little girl's hand? She looks like she could use another friend," I with a wink. The little girl had reached her other hand, the one that was not holding on to mine, out to Satella.
Satella looked surprised for a moment and held her breath, but then let it out and took the little girl's hand in her own. "Right. Don't you worry. Just let your big sister handle this. We'll definitely find your mom, okay?" Satella said, smiling at the little girl as she nodded silently.
Subaru and Satella led the girl along, with her between them, and the three continued down the main road through the waves of people together.
"The way we are now, don't you think there are some people out there who look at us and think that we're a young couple with our child? How embarrassing!"
"…Huh? Even with the benefit of the doubt I don't see how anyone would think that you and that girl are anything other than brother and sister…"
"I can't tell if that's just a really dry joke, or that's really what you thought I meant!"
As Satella and nyself went on talking, the little girl between them let a small smile spread across her face.
Seeing this, it made smile, I am glad I helped out.
Fortunately, perhaps because they really stood out as a group, it didn't take long before they found the little girl's mother. In this case, it wasn't only I who stood out, but also Satella, with her silver hair and extraordinary beauty.
"Thank you so much!"
Once the girl's mother was reunited with her child, she thanked both several times, though we smiled and played it off as if it were nothing.
As the little girl and her mother were leaving, the girl looked back and waved good-bye several times, and we waved back. I turned to look at Satella, as she stood beside me waving to the girl, and saw that she had a bright and cheerful expression on her face.
"Now, I get the feeling that we've wasted a lot of time doing this, but what does our big sister have to say? I'm sure she'll find some kind of way to describe this as a means to an end!" I said in an orchestrated manner, snapping my fingers and making fun of Satella's all-too-kind nature.
Of course, I wasn't really criticizing her; it was more that I was just poking fun. After all, Satella had given such a roundabout excuse for why her encounter with me was useful, so he was curious to hear what she would say.
"…It's simple." In response to Subaru's teasing, Satella smiled. "Now we can be in a good mood as we continue to search."
"…"
"Even if we got my badge back, I'm sure I would have regretted not helping that girl. Don't you think it is better to both help the girl and get my badge back?"
It didn't look like Satella was just saying that to keep her own hopes up. She looked so refreshed she probably believed it.
With that kind of response, I really didn't know what to say. He would have to rethink his opinion of this girl.
Not only was she the type of person who was so kind she always ended up losing everything, she also was the type of person who wanted to have it all.
"I see. You're right. Thanks to your quick decision, we won't have to say, 'Sure, we abandoned that little anxious crying girl all lost and by herself, but we were able to get the badge back, safe and sound, hooray!'"
"Well that's a really negative way to put it," said Satella, frowning, then glaring at him as though she seemed to have remembered something. "But besides that… Why did you help me? I thought you were against helping the girl, Subaru."
"I just wanted to show off my ability to do magic tricks! …Which is, of course, a lie. Didn't I say so before? I'm going to help you find your badge so I can do my good deed for the day and go to heaven."
"But since you helped the girl, doesn't that count for your good deed for the day already?"
"That's a very good argument! But I mean, it's not like I'm limited to one a day or anything. I can do more. So anyway, I'm going to do enough for tomorrow today! I'm actually planning to get this whole week out of the way!"
Subaru had the feeling that he was getting away from the true meaning of this whole "do one good deed a day" concept, but he still tried to make an argument.
Satella stood by, shocked.
"Subaru…with a personality like that, you're going to end up losing everything one day."
"You're the last person I want to hear that from!" I shouted, flipping her words back toward her, but Satella just tilted her head in confusion.
Apparently she really just didn't get it. "You really are a nice boy, aren't you?"
"You know, it kind of bothers me that you're treating me like I'm younger than you. I know that a lot of people think East Asians are younger than they are, but we really can't be that different in age, can we?"
I thought that by a rough estimate Satella looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old. Given that I had a rather early birthday compared to others in his age group, he was seventeen and thought that it was possible she could even be younger than him.
But in response, Satella narrowed her violet eyes slightly and said, "However old you think I am, I don't think that you're very close… After all, I'm a half-elf."
"…"
I was at a loss for words. Seeing his response, a number of complicated emotions flashed across Satella's eyes. Finally, the emotion that settled was an ineffable mixture of resignation and hopelessness.
"I see. No wonder you're so cute. After all, it's like a given in fantasy worlds that elves are always beautiful."
"…Huh?"
Subaru finally nodded, having come to his own conclusions about Satella being a half-elf. Satella blinked her eyes several times. Her expectations had completely missed their mark.
"Hmm? Something wrong?"
"It's not that anything is wrong, it's just…I mean…I'm a half-elf, and…"
"Yeah…I heard you the first time."
Unsure of what Satella had a problem with, that's the only way I could think to answer, but Satella's reaction was dramatic.
"….ah."
Satella made a strange sound in her throat, before suddenly turning away from Subaru, finding the nearest wall, kneeling beside it, and holding her silver-haired head in her hands.
In the face of such an inexplicable reaction, I just didn't know what to say.
"Take that!"
"Ow! What the hell was that for?!"
The gray cat, which as always seemed to come and go as it pleased, had punched me in the face with its paw like it was reenacting a fancy fighting move.
Puck purred, flicking at his whiskers with the same paw he had punched me with. "I don't know, I just felt this overwhelming frustration and couldn't keep it bottled up inside of me."
"If that's the only reason, it's going to be hard to get rid of the feeling that a great injustice has been done to me, but it was a soft and squishy punch, so I forgive you."
"I mean, I'm not really mad at you or anything. If I had to say one way or the other, I'd say it's the opposite."
"The opposite?" I asked, confused.
"Yes, the opposite," Puck said with a nod.
But before I could ask what Puck really meant by that, Satella had returned.
Twisting the ends of her silver hair in her fingers, Satella glared at me.
"Subaru, you…nincompoop."
"Nobody uses the word 'nincompoop' anymore, and what have I done to be insulted by you?"
"Hmph. If you don't understand, that's not my problem. More importantly, we've got to continue our search."
With the subject of Satella's unreasonableness cut off without another word, I looked irritated, but that irritation evaporated as Satella began to act more friendly and familiar. I still didn't know why she'd had such a sudden change in attitude, but there were more important things to think about.
"Anyway, that episode with the little lost girl made it painfully clear—isn't this town just too big to be searching around for something in?"
"Well, it's the capital of Lugunica. It's the largest city in the nation. If I remember correctly, there are about…three hundred thousand people who live here, and a lot of others come and go." Satella answered my question in detail and with a hint of pride in her voice.
"I see, I see. Three hundred thousand people, huh. That's quite a lot… Thanks for the regurgitated information."
"Urr…" Satella muttered. It appeared my guess had been on the mark.
I tried to use that new information to picture Lugunica's capital city in his mind. If it had a population of 300,000 people, then for a city in a medieval fantasy setting, it was quite large. Of course, that number only reflected the people who lived in the city, so after adding in traveling merchants and adventurers, the number of people at any given time would probably be greater than that.
As I watched all of the people passing by from the side of the street, he was again astonished by the concentration of such variety in a group of people. There were half-humans, half-beasts, and regular humans all mixed together, and it really was like a melting pot of different fact that they had gotten lost in the alleyways for almost an hour wasn't just something to laugh about, either.
The area was so large and the roads so complicated that they really had gotten lost.
"In other words, we don't have any more room for error. We have already given up a big advantage to the thief, and if we get stuck again it really will be too late. So let's choose our next move carefully."
"What do you mean?"
"If we run around without some sort of plan, we won't get any results. For instance, if we go back to the place where your badge was stolen, we might be able to get more information out of people. Was there anyone who saw what happened?"
"Actually…I think there may have been." Satella put her hand to her mouth as if she had remembered something and then explained herself to me.
According to Satella, her badge had been stolen in broad daylight, right in the middle of a crowd of people. If so, the theft was a bold move, but looking at the commotion on the street in front of him, I thought that it wasn't necessarily a bad decision on the part of the thief. The more people there are, the easier it is to get lost in the crowd.
"Do you remember where it was stolen from you?"
"Yes, I think…it was this way."
I followed Satella down the street. As they made their way through the confusion of the bustling crowd with its many different kinds of people, I felt like my sense of distance and direction taken from me just as quickly as when they had made their way through the maze of alleyways before.
I felt as if he no longer had any idea of where he was walking. While the place they were in should have been one he had never seen before, I felt a strange feeling that he had seen it before, and that feeling just wouldn't go away.
"Wait. No, I have definitely seen this place before."
Seeing the place that Satella had led me to, I scratched the side of his face and smiled a half smile.
The place where Satella had had her badge stolen from her was the same street corner to which I had been summoned.
"This is where I was so confused I decided to go cool my head down in an empty alley, and then had my encounter with thugs A, B, and C…"
Remembering what had happened about two hours earlier, I now mused to myself that amazing coincidences like this really did happen sometimes.
If so, he was in in luck. He had someone in mind that they could talk to.
"So that's the situation. I told her, 'Leave it to me!' and came over here to see you, Mr. Fruit Salesman."
I spun around and pointed at the owner of a fruit shop on the side of the main road. The fruit that lined his shop was fresh, and just looking at it made his mouth water.
"…What, it's you again? I was hoping for a customer, Mr. Broke," said the shop owner with a cold glare that didn't seem fitting for one who dealt with customers on a daily basis.
The man wore a bandanna and was very muscular. He had a stern looking face and a deep, threatening voice.
To top it all off, he also had a white scar that ran down the left side of his face, probably left by some kind of blade. No matter how you looked at it, there was no way he was a respectable, law-abiding citizen.
That's why it was so surprising for him to be behind the counter of a fruit shop.
"Oh, don't be so cold, Pops. You were acting pretty nice to me not all that long ago."
"That's because I thought you were a customer. If I had known you had no money on you, I would have chased you out earlier, like I'm about to do now."
I was trying to act like they were best friends, but the shop owner was having none of it. He waved his hand as if he was shooing away a bug.
"Oh, come on," I sighed, relaxing his shoulders. "Are you sure you want to treat me like this? Haven't you noticed that I'm different from the last time I came here?"
"What's that?" said the shop owner, unsure of how to react as I made a triumphant expression, nostrils flaring.
I stepped aside and held both his hands out to show Satella standing behind him.
"Look at that! I brought someone with me! You may have chased me off once you learned I was penniless, but what do you think, now that I've brought in someone who just very well may become a new frequent customer of yours?!"
"Um, Subaru…? I hate to say this when you've got your hopes up, but I don't have any money on me."
"Huh, what, really? You're telling me that we were walking around the capital without so much as a single coin between us?!"
It was hard again, the salesman was really a stubborn one, not only that but I noted the white scar, so he had to at least lived a hardened life, actually it was surprising he was a fruitsellsman.
Still, he was our last hope, and seems that we hit a dead end… damn it.
"Hmm? Are you…the two from before?"
Satella and myself turned around. Standing right in front of them was a woman with long brown hair. It was someone they had both seen before; after all, the woman was not alone. Holding her hand was a little girl who looked very happy to see them.
"We are, but…why are you here in a place like this? The only other person here is this heartless, scary-faced man." I said.
"Ha-ha… This is my husband's shop, so I thought I'd stop by and say hello."
"Your husband's shop?"
Satella and myself looked at each other, and then turned back to look inside the shop, their gazes finally settling on the scar-faced man, who had folded his arms.
"Pops…you didn't kill this woman's husband and take their shop, did you?" I asked, albeit in jest.
"What are you going on about? This is my shop, and that is my wife!"
I looked back in shock at the woman, who smiled, looking a bit unsure of how to react. She was a beautiful woman, with fine features and a gentle demeanor. This woman and that stern-faced man? There had to be some mistake.
He couldn't possibly be threatening her, could he? I thought with a worried look. But despite my rude conjecture, the little girl who was holding her mother's hand darted past me to the shop owner, who hugged her and picked her up.
"Oh, look at you! Aren't you all excited. Now tell me, do you know these two destitute beggars?" he said as a jab to my being penniless.
"Beggars? Dear, don't call them that!"After hearing her husband's sharp words, the girl's mother raised her eyebrows and began berating her husband. She then explained how she, her daughter, Subaru, and Satella had come to meet.
After hearing what happened, the shop owner set his daughter down.
"I'm sorry about that. That was not the way to talk to the people who saved my daughter. Please forgive me." he said with gratitude.
"Oh, don't worry about it. I mean, it is true that we don't have any money on us, and…"
"That's right, old man! I hope you think long and hard about your action…s… Um…your cute face looks pretty scary right now." A look from Satella shut me up.
Right after that, the little girl reached out her hand to Satella. In her hand was a small ornament in the shape of a red flower. Satella held her breath, and looked from the ornament to the little girl and back several times, with a slightly troubled expression.
"Please, take it," said the mother, placing her hand on Satella's back, urging her on. "My daughter wants to thank you in her own way."
Satella nodded slightly and then took the flower ornament from the little girl's hand, and pinned it on the left breast of her white cloak, before kneeling down so that the little girl could see it.
"Thank you. I like it very much."
As Subaru watched Satella's brilliant smile from the side, he found himself unable to look away. Seeing that smile, the little girl blushed and looked away, and the shop owner, watching all of this, cleared his throat.
"You saved my daughter. I want to thank you. Ask me whatever you want."
With a strong nod, the stern-faced shop owner put on his best smile.
Satella was surprised, but then looked to me and smiled, but it wasn't the same smile as before. This one was a triumphant one.
"See, I told you. It really did come around and help us in the end!" she said, as if this odd twist of fate was entirely her own doing.
"You sure did" I said with a smile.
Much later
We were told that our mystery thief was a girl named Felt, this little minx had a place were she would pawn the stolen item.
Basically, it was likely we would have to A) fight the thief and break out, or B) have to negotiate.
B was likely candidate, however the problem was the fact that we have no money.
Wait… I remembered the fact that I have my phone, maybe I could pawn it to get her badge back and have a bit left over? It would suck but its not like I had much contacts in there.
The only contacts I had was the pizza place, emergency number of the city town hall, police and my home…
We arrived at the place and I was about to knock at the door.
The door was ajar.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up.
Danger…
Something was wrong… dont go there…
However I ignored my gut feeling, I opened the door, it was dark, I used my phone to light the place.
I stepped on something wet… and when I placed the light to see…
Blood.
BloodBloodBloodBloodBloodBloodBloodBlood
So much blood!
At that moment, Subaru's mind had blanked out. His thought processes had completely left him, and his hands and feet had frozen in was a pause, and then…
"…Well, you found it. That's just too bad. Now I have no choice, yes, no choice at all."
I thought that it was the voice of a woman. The voice was low and cold, the voice of a woman who seemed somewhat to be having fun.
"Gwah!"
I didn't have the opportunity to turn around. As soon as I turned to face the voice, my body was blown away by an incredible force. I hit his back against the wall, and on impact let go of my phone, and darkness closed in as it tumbled into the distance.
But I wasn't thinking about that. What now ruled over his consciousness was…
"Gu…it's…h-hot."
A heat assaulted me and completely overwhelmed me.—This is really, really not good.
Feeling the hard texture of the ground against my face, I realized that I had fallen facedown on the ground. I couldn't move, even when I tried, and I already couldn't feel my fingers. What I could feel was heat, and it overwhelmed my entire body.
I coughed and vomited the blood I felt rising in my throat—the source of his waning life. So much came out that it frothed at the edges of his mouth. With my hazy vision, I could see the ground in front of me stained red.
—You've…got to be kidding me… All of this is mine?
Feeling as though all of the blood in my body had spilled out of him, he reached a shaking hand to try to find the source of the heat that was burning through his body. As his fingertips reached the large cut in his stomach, I now understood.
No wonder it felt so hot. My brain must have been mistaking pain for heat. The clean cut that ran through his torso was so deep it had almost cut me in half. Only bits of skin were still holding me together.
In other words, he had run right into a checkmate in the chess game of his life. As soon as I realized that, my consciousness immediately began to fall away from him.
Now, even the heat that had been ravaging me disappeared, and the unpleasant feeling of touching my own blood and organs vanished as my consciousness continued to fade. The only thing left behind was my body, which refused to follow his soul.
Right before my eyes, he saw a black boot step down and make ripples in the red carpet of his fresh blood.
Someone was there, and that someone…was probably the one who killed me.
But I didn't even think to look that person in the face. It didn't matter anymore.
—The only thing he did wish for was that she, at least, she would be safe.
"—baru?"
He felt as if he heard a voice that rang like bells. That he heard that voice, that he could hear that voice, felt like salvation to him more than anything else, so—
"!"
With a short scream, someone else fell upon the carpet of blood.
She fell right beside him. There he was, weakly attempting to reach her.
Her white hand fell, powerless. I lightly grasped it in my own bloodstained grip.
I felt the fingers of her hand move slightly to grasp his own.
"Just you wait…"
I seized his fading consciousness, pulling it desperately back around to buy a bit more time.
"I'm going to…"
My eyes had tears on it… I was useless, all that bravado, all that energy… I couldn't, would not accept this… this girl… this fate of ours.
—find a way to save you.
In the next instant, I—Subaru Natsuki—lost my life.
Dark hands were carrying me, probably to the depths of hell, after all I caused soemone to die due to my own stupidity, I would deserve no less, however there was something… odd.
"I see, you too are marked, it seems you will have a difficult time ahead, that being is quite taken by you, however you are pitiful, you wish to save that girl, yet have no strenght to call of your own, as the meager strenght you have pales in comparison to the might if the people of this land, and you wish to save her? How foolish, however I cannot reprimand you for doing so, it would be hypocritical of me, then again, I have been always called a hypocrite as well as a fake, since you wish to save her, to fight that dead end, I suppose I will lend you my strenght, you will be my vessel, I shall make sure you dont die...I will try to teach and train you so you have a modicum of power and skill to call your own, and so you may forge a legend that is different from this [No name] hero… I will do as Gallahad had done before with that young girl…"
I felt something invading me it felt cold, it felt sharp.
I yelled and then…
"…What's wrong, my man? You're staring off into space."
"…Huh?"
When a man with a white scar across his stern face spoke to me, that's all I could respond with.
The man with the scar twisted his face.
"Look, I'm asking you what you're going to do! Are you going to buy that abble or not?!"
"…Huh?"
"An abble! You want to eat one, right? You started talking to me, and then you suddenly stopped and stared off into space! I almost freaked out! …So, what'll it be?"
The muscular, scar-faced man, put a round, cute-looking red fruit into the palm of my hand. Whatever it was, it looked almost exactly like an apple.
And there was this particular scent in me that felt… ominous, dark. It was cloying, it was comming from me, but it was just me who could sense it, and then… it begun to slowly recede back, as if it was fighting to remain.
What the hell just happened to me?
I patted myself as I felt "pain" but nothing, my outfit was back to pristine condition.
I felt a jolt of pain in ny body…
I tried to find any wounds but nothing, was it due to the dream I had?
"You beleive it was a dream?"
And now a voice inside me? Have I finally snapped?
"While seeing you flounder around is quite amusing, you have bigger things to worry about" the voice said.
Somehow the voice had a tone of sarcasm and cynicism, it was rather grating.
"Indeed you have a voice in your head, however that is not the important thing, you, young boy… have died" the voice said.
I chuckled "that's not possible, I am alive afterall" I said mentally.
"Then… why is your left hand shaking like a leaf in the wind?" The voice asked.
My hand was shaking uncontrollably… when I saw that my body begun to tremble, then I remembered that searing heat… and the coldness.
"So you finally accepted it, good, I will wait for a bit when you come to terms with it" he said.
I was hyperventilating, how did this happen?
The voice… the sheer delight of the death it causes… and…
SATELLA!
"Right, about that, lets face it kid, you cant save her… at least as you are now, while I am able to guide you and teach you things, I cannot influence your body unless you relinquish control to me" the voice said.
While intriguing I did not like the sound of that
"Is nothing like demonic possession, is more of your body being controlled by me and you become a passenger for a small time frame, however is likely that your body would not be able to handle my movements and it would end up hurting you, however seeing your body you seem to be in better shape than most kids in your age, so you could PROBABLY handle it… for a bit" the voice said.
With that said I decided to place that on hold and look for her… Satella, now that I think about it why is it that I remembered a particular scent of something spicy and fresh mint when I think of her?
"Good…. My sense of smell has been placed in… now… how long till he us aske to open them? And how long can you hold to that ideal boy? Will you break like I did? Or become something more?"
Chapter end