Chapter 15 (Seriously!?)
A couple weeks have passed, and it is now the first week of October. The leaves started turning yellow as the season of autumn sets in. School life has been more of the same for Rem, still keeping a great work ethic with every subject she attended.
As for Subaru, he is slowly but surely getting used to being back in school. His work ethic has seen improvement due in part with Rems assistance. Even though he is starting to regularly complete his assignments on time, Rem constantly finds mistakes in his math homework.
Sometimes there were so many to the point Subaru had to practically redo the entire paper. This was always an extreme moral killer to Subaru. He usually took several hours to redo one paper.
He spent his homeroom class working on his late assignments. Before he would just sleep through it. But he somehow found the motivation to push through and finish his assignments. He didn't have Rem next to him, since Rem decided to do swimming classes instead of homeroom. Meaning Subaru couldn't get distracted by looking at her all class and zoning out.
On this particular morning Subaru was on a roll completing a missing assignment that was due all the way back in September. Whenever Subaru was in his working mood he always worked well and efficiently.
The homeroom teacher walked in and went over the morning announcements. Subaru would on most mornings filter these out not paying any attention to what the announcements had to say. But a particular announcement took his attention.
"If anybody is interested in attending post secondary. Some colleges from across the country would be willing to give you a virtual tour, going over what classes they have to offer. Come to me and I will email you the link if you are interested"
Subaru's head went up. He had never put much thought into post secondary options. It was still something he was stuck on. One thing Subaru had to make sure to do is find a career that could provide for both Rem and the family she wanted to have.
A small tour wouldn't hurt, it might even give him an idea on what to do. Something inside Subaru made him stand up and walk over to the teachers desk to get more information on this opportunity.
Subaru was given a small description of how the virtual tours went. Basically the teacher emailed him links. He clicked one that caught his eye, and he would then be connected to a video call with a representative from said college. Subaru gave the teacher his email and returned to his seat.
Rest of the homeroom went on pretty standard. Rem eventually rejoined Subaru to continue their classes. Rem has been very proud of Subaru's' attempts to at least put some effort into his assignments. It was definitely a step in the right direction. Though Subaru still tried to get out of doing stuff when he could.
Later in the day Rem had to attend the one class she genuinely disliked. The female gym class. Things haven't gotten much better since September. In fact it got worse. Everybody wanted to beat Rem at least once in a sport. Her title was a trophy to be had. A trophy Rem never wanted.
She disliked it so much. Rem started to intentionally lose just so she would be left alone. Every time she was challenged by somebody who seemed competitive she would just throw the competition. Hoping to give the student their weird satisfaction and move on.
This strategy actually worked. Most of the students kicked Rem to the curve after they achieved their great victory, and usually moved onto someone else they found more worthy of their time.
Unfortunately one still remained. The one student that still wasn't satisfied was none other than the student Rem raced a couple weeks ago.
Rem intentionally lost against her multiple times, but this would only infuriate her. She knew Rem was throwing and refused to put up a fight..She was starting to think Rem didn't see her as a real challenge worth her effort.
Today in gym class. Rem had constantly put up with loud scoldings from her opponent for deliberately putting in no effort. Rem acted oblivious every time, pretending not to know what she was onto her about. This did little to help the situation, and only further encouraged her opponents anger.
No matter what sport or activity the coach had them play. The student always chooses Rem as her opponent. This was only made worse by the fact the gym coach put in a rule that stated if you were challenged by another student you couldn't decline.
Rem deliberately lost every single time, trying to sell the lie to her opponent that she was better than her. But her opponent saw right through it each time, and grew more aggressive and angry with each activity or sport. When the class was dismissed, Rem let out a relieved sigh. Happy to finally get through another gym class.
After getting changed and collecting her things. Rem started to make her way to the cafeteria for lunch break. While walking out of the change room. Rem felt a pair of hands on her back shove her onto the ground.
Rem lifted her head from the floor and turned to look over her shoulder. She wasn't in the least bit surprised to see the competitive girl standing over her.
"Why are you intentionally losing! Why won't you just compete against me properly!" The girl said in a very agitated tone.
Rem just got up and attempted to walk off not wanting to deal with this girl any longer than she had too. The agitated student walked up behind her and grabbed her shoulder, turning Rem around to look at her.
"Hey! You look at me when I am trying to talk to you! Tell me why won't you compete against me!"
"I don't know what you are talking about. You won the competition, why are you still bothering me?" Rem asked in a calm voice acting oblivious.
"I won a competition you threw to get away from me! That's not a win in my book!"
"What do you want Rem to do then?"
"Come with me and compete against me properly!"
"Not today, I am going to eat lunch" Rem said, denying her request. She gently removed the students hand off her shoulder and began to walk off.
Apparently Rem gently touching her hand was the thing that made the student go over the edge. Immediately after Rem turned back around she was tackled back down to the floor by the enraged student.
Subaru was in the cafeteria attempting to understand a math text book that went over the current unit they were on. No matter how many times he repeated the questions to himself none of them made sense. It didn't help him understand the material one bit.
He noticed as the minutes passed by Rem had yet to join him in the cafeteria. Subaru was beginning to think Rem got lost. Something that hasn't happened in weeks.
His concerns were put to rest when he noticed Rem walking to his table with her head leaning down slightly. He immediately noticed her hair was a mess and her uniform was scuffed up. Ultimately replacing one concern with another. She sat down next to Subaru and placed her bag on the floor.
"Rem, where were you?" Subaru asked. Rem sighed heavily as she moved her head up to look up at Subaru.
"Rem got into an altercation with another student," Rem said calmly.
Subaru almost passed out. When he heard the words that left Rem's mouth.
"Wait like a fight!?" Subaru asked.
Rem nodded her head in response. Subaru began to pray in his mind that it was not a physical one. But he could tell by her messed up hair and uniform that it was indeed a physical one. Subaru was scared that Rem severely injured her opponent to the point of death. He knew what she was capable of.
Rem reached over and unzipped her bag, reaching in and pulling out a small piece of paper and handed it over to Subaru. Subaru took the dark yellow piece of paper and held it up. His hands started to tremble when he read the black and bold words "detention slip" at the top of the paper.
"Rem, you got two hours of detention after school everyday for a week!?" Subaru said in disbelief.
Rem nodded her head, and took the paper from Subaru's hand and put it back in her bag.
"What happened?" Subaru asked concerned.
Rem proceeded to tell the story about her gym class and the student that would constantly bother her. Eventually she went over how the fight started. Rem tried to walk off but she was tackled and was beaten on the floor.
Rem was able to shove the girl off of her and accidentally slammed her into a locker trying to get her off. A giant dent was left in the locker, and the girl who attacked her held her arm as it throbbed in pain. Apparently the noise of her slamming against a lock attracted some unwanted attention. Eventually leading to both of them getting written up for the altercation.
Rem didn't bother to fight it. Truth was she felt bad for injuring the student somewhat. It did not give Rem a desirable feeling. She hated it when she hurt other people, so she just accepted her punishment and walked off not saying another word.
She was surprisingly very calm about this. Rem wasn't worked up with anger. She was more sad about how things played out. Subaru couldn't believe what happened, this is exactly what he feared when he brought Rem to school alongside him.
A serious question rose in Subaru's' mind. Whenever students get into fights at school, usually their parent or guardian is called. Who would the school would call to tell about Rems altercation.
In The Forbidden Library
Beatrice was having fun playing with Puck cuddling him tight and petting his fur. Their play session was suddenly interrupted with the loud sound of Beatrice's phone ringing in her pocket.
"What does he want I suppose?" Beatrice said as she reached in her pocket and retrieved her phone.
"Maybe Rem and Subaru want to come visit us" Puck said happily.
Beatrice flipped her phone open and got confused. The number she was reading wasn't in her contacts. She had no idea who was trying to call her, and how they managed to do it.
"Wait this isn't the moron. It's someone else I suppose" Beatrice said confused.
"You should answer it, and see who it is," Puck said.
Beatrice did what Puck said, and accepted the call to reveal the voice and identity to who was calling her.
"Hello is this the parent or guardian of Rem Rosswal" A formal women asked
Beatrice grew further confused as to who this woman was. She didn't understand why she was calling them asking for Rem. Puck on the other hand grew a giant smile.
"Yes this is the... Father of my beautiful daughter Rem, who may this be?" Puck said confidently, taking control of the call.
"This is the secretary to the school Rem is enrolled in. We have just called to inform you that Rem got into an altercation with another student"
"An altercation you say? Could you please explain?" Puck said, curious to what altercation Rem got herself into.
"Well... You know how student fights go just a little ruff housing that's all. Anyway we won't suspend her this time, but she will be expected to attend two hours of detention at the end of class for a week." The secretary said.
"Thank you for not suspending my daughter. I am greatly appreciative of your kindness. I will... Make sure to talk about it with her when she comes home today" Puck said
"Thank you for your cooperation sir, good day" The secretary said as she hung up the call.
Beatrice closed the phone and placed it back in her pocket. Her hand somewhat burned from the phone overheating from their short call.
"How was she able to call us I suppose?" Beatrice said confused. She also thought it was funny seeing Puck act as Rems father.
In Japan
The rest of the day played its course. Subaru and Rem didn't talk much. Neither of them had words for the incident that Rem found herself in. Subaru was surprised to see Rem be insistent and accepting to serve out her punishment.
When school was let out. Subaru let out a heavy sigh, and told Rem that the door to the apartment would be unlocked when she arrived and to let herself in.
Rem nodded in acknowledgement and walked off to carry out her sentence. Voluntarily checking herself into detention. No attempt was made to skip out on her punishment. She accepted it, and was going to get it over with.
She sat down in the boring classroom that only had a few students in it. She looked very out of place in the crowd. Someone like her would never be in detention, but here she was. Pulling out her work from that day she continued to work on assignments and study for tests.
Rem made double sure to pay no mind to the student that fought her on the floor that sat right next to her. Neither of them could look at each other. One would feel anger and rage. While the other would feel sympathy and regret.
Subaru returned home without Rem. He was still in complete disbelief that someone like Rem would get detention.
He tried to watch TV to get his mind off the event, but he simply couldn't. He didn't know why he was so worked up about it. It was just a strong emotion he felt. An emotion he couldn't shake.
Subaru thought the best thing he could do for now is get on the computer and look at some post secondary options. He knew Rem would be happy to see that he was planning ahead after high school, and that is exactly what he wanted to do for Rem. That is to make her happy.
Being a virtual tour Subaru had to dig around his cable bin and pull out his old headset and webcam. He walked over to his computer, switched it on and plugged the appliances in. He was now ready to explore the world of post secondary schools.
He opened up his email on the browser and looked for his teacher's name. He eventually found an email sent by him earlier this morning. When he clicked on the email he was met with many links that apparently were all schools located all over the country willing to give Subaru a small virtual tour to their establishments.
There were just so many options Subaru didn't know which one to pick; they all caught his eye in a unique way. Being the master of choosing stuff at random, he closed his eyes and clicked a random link.
The link directed him to a video call with a sweet looking old woman who seemed glad to make Subaru's acquaintance. She looked professional wearing glasses and dressed neatly.
"Hello there, young fellow, are you ready to learn?" The women greeted
"Sure am, I'm here to learn about potential post secondary options," Subaru said with a smile on his face
"You came to the right place dear. I have been teaching for over fifty years. Teaching all sorts of young hot men" The women said
Before Subaru could respond. His eyes watched in complete horror as the old woman began stripping down. Revealing her naked figure to Subaru's innocent and unsuspecting eyes.
Rem's detention was finally let out, she packed up her things and began her journey home. She had a long day. It wasn't exactly a pleasant one. All Rem wanted to do was get into bed and cuddle Subaru all night.
That was always the number one medicine to times like these. It always helped her without fail. She eventually reached the apartment and opened the door.
Before Rem could call out to Subaru she overheard him yell out something that caught her attention.
"What are you doing!?" Subaru shouted as he watched in pure horror and disgust. He had never seen something so horrifying in his life. The image of the naked old lady permanently engraved itself in his head.
The terrifying sound of Rem opening the door filled his ear drums. She opened the door and immediately noticed the disgusting image on Subaru's computer screen.
"Subaru, what are you doing!?" Rem shouted.
Subaru immediately shut off the computer and looked over to Rem still in shock at what just transpired. Rem couldn't have walked in on a more awkward time.
"I swear Rem it's not what it looks like!" Subaru said hastily as he cowered back in his chair. He covered his face as he grew extremely embarrassed and intimidated by Rem's reaction.
"Who was that, Subaru!" Rem demanded.
"Some old women that was supposed to teach me about potential colleges!"
"Subaru, did you have an affair while I was out with that..." Rem couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence as tears started to form in her eyes.
"No! Rem, I wasn't trying to have an affair! She's like eighty years old!"
"Subaru, that's disgusting!"
"I know it's disgusting! I don't know why she did something like that! She was supposed to tell me about post secondary options!"
"Subaru..." Was the only word that left Rems' mouth as tears began to stream down her face. Rem's day just grew to be ten times worse.
"Please trust me Rem I don't want her! I have you!" Subaru said
"I just need some time alone," Rem said as she laid down in bed and buried her face in the pillows.
Subaru got up from his chair and walked out of the room to give Rem some space for a couple hours. He didn't want to argue with her. "This cannot be happening to me!" Subaru cried in his head.
He sat down on the couch and looked out the window. He didn't know what to do. This was by far the most humiliating thing that had ever happened to him. Subaru just turned on the TV and collected his thoughts.
Whenever an advertisement came up showing an old person, Subaru's mind would replay the video call he had with the old lady. He felt like he was never going to be able to look at an old person normally again. The video call had permanently scarred his brain.
A couple hours passed and it was growing pretty late outside. Subaru decided to go check up on Rem hoping she calmed down and accepted Subaru's' explanation for what happened.
Rem was having such a terrible day, Subaru truly felt bad for her. This was the last thing he wanted Rem to come home to. If Subaru were to be honest with himself, she was handling it better than he thought she would
Subaru expected to get kicked out of the apartment like Ram was, but it seemed like anger was not at all present in Rem's mood. Just sadness and exhaustion.
He slowly opened his bedroom door. All the lights were off and Rem was still laying down in bed, her face being covered by the pillows. Subaru couldn't hear her crying, a small glimmer of hope started growing inside him.
He walked over and laid down right beside her. Immediately he took notice of how Rem breathed, Subaru already knew she wasn't sleeping, but she was still ignoring Subaru's presence. Doing nothing to protest or welcome it.
"Rem, my teacher directed me to that old lady," Subaru said, thinking Rem was calm enough to reproach the topic.
Subaru's' silent treatment continued. Rem didn't even turn to look at him. She continued to lay there pretending to be asleep. If Subaru was being honest with himself he thought the silent treatment he was getting was adorable in a weird way.
"Rem, I know you're not sleeping because you are not snoring" Subaru joked.
Immediately Rem rolled over aggressively to face Subaru. Looking at him wide eyed.
"Rem doesn't snore!" Rem said, shouting slightly. Clearly not finding Subaru's' joke funny.
Subaru noticed small tears stream down her face. As her blue crystal eyes glistened in the moon light illuminating from the window.
"Don't cry Rem" Subaru said sympathetically. He tried to reach out and wipe Rem's tears from her face, but Rem rolled back around looking away from him. Not yet ready to lift Subaru's silent treatment, and also not ready to talk about what happened a couple hours ago.
Subaru wanted to make Rem feel better. He couldn't find it in him to Rem lay there all night. Dampening her pillow with tears as she cried herself to sleep.
"Rem I am sorry. I wasn't trying to cheat on you. That was the first time I ever done that" Subaru said
"Then why did you look so comfortable!?" Rem said, breaking the silent treatment.
"Why would I be comfortable with that!? It was meant to be learning"
"Learning!? If you weren't so comfortable, Subaru. Explain to me why you couldn't take your eyes off the computer screen!"
"Because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was an old lady who had clothes on, and then she didn't have clothes on. She was supposed to be teaching me about college. It didn't make sense!"
"We will talk about it tomorrow. Just leave me alone" Rem said, dropping the subject.
An awkward silence followed. Many minutes went by, and Subaru could still hear that Rem had yet to fall asleep. He was hoping his explanation was enough to calm her down.
He slowly dragged himself to get closer to Rem trying to not make too much noise. When he was close enough, he tried to put his arm around her. Rem caught his wrist and threw it off of her. She made sure to be gentle, even though she was really angry with Subaru. Rem didn't want to hurt him.
"Subaru, if you aren't going to let me sleep, then go sleep on the couch" Rem said.
Subaru got out of bed and made his way to the living room. Not saying any words to Rem. He
Decided to let Rem have her space for tonight, and try again the next day.
He slowly walked out of his bedroom and gently closed the door. He turned around, and his eyes immediately took in the sight of his resting spot for the night, the couch.
He threw himself down on the couch. Officially making this the first time in his relationship with Rem that he had been couched. He was hoping that it would be the last time. Subaru was just thankful Rem didn't run off somewhere, making him have to look all over the city for her.
Subaru didn't have the slightest clue what constantly got him into situations like these. First there was Rem's fight with Ram, next was Rem's fight with Emilia, now this. He didn't know what situation was worse to be in.
He hated to admit it, but when Rem and Emilia had their fight wrestling each other on the kitchen floor, he kind of found it attractive. Making it more favorable to the others. Though he would never admit this out loud.
"These emotional demons and half elves are going to be the end of me" Subaru thought to himself. Maybe his career choice laid within being a therapist of some sort.
Eventually Subaru found himself drifting off to sleep for the night. He suddenly awoke the next morning to his father calling his name.
"Subaru?"
Subaru opened his eyelids and sat up right to answer his father.
"Good morning dad" Subaru greeted as he rubbed his eyes.
"Why are you sleeping on the couch?" Kenichi asked. He was confused to see Subaru sleep away from Rem. He always thought that they were inseparable.
Memories of the previous day refreshed in Subaru's' mind. He remembered the old lady live chat, and how Rem thought he was cheating on her. Subaru couldn't respond to his fathers question; he hated everything about the situation he was in and did not want to talk about it. It was also very embarrassing.
Kenichi could already tell by Subaru's troubled facial expression that Rem and Subaru got into a disagreement of some sort. It was really the only explanation to why he was sleeping on the couch.
"Did you get couched?" Kenichi asked. Subaru nodded his head in response.
"Well what happened?"
"Rem thinks I am cheating on her with an eighty year old woman," Subaru said as he hid his face in humiliation. Kenichi covered his face as he began laughing lightly.
"How?" Kenichi asked
"Long story. I was trying to go on a virtual post secondary tour, and one of the links the school provided led to a naked old women"
Tears flowed from Kenichi's eyes as he continued to laugh. He made sure to laugh quietly so as to not wake the whole house up. It was still very early in the morning. This was by far the funniest situation he had ever heard of.
"Is she still asleep?" Kenichi asked.
"Probably?" Subaru said his voice carried uncertainty. He then got a little sad thinking about Rem crying herself to sleep last night.
"Well it's pretty early in the morning. You guys don't have to get up for another three hours. I was about to head off to work. I think it would be a good idea that you go check up on her, see how she's doing now that it's the next morning" Kenichi said.
Subaru decided to follow through on his fathers advice and got up from the couch and made his way to the bedroom to check up on Rem. He hoped that she was asleep and wasn't crying her eyes out.
When he opened the door he saw Rem still laying down in bed. She was breathing peacefully, being a clear indicator that she was asleep. Walking over to her Subaru looked down at her pillow and noticed it slightly damp. He looked back at Rem's face and noticed dried up tear streams down her cheeks.
Instead of walking off back to the couch Subaru laid down next to Rem, and drifted back off to sleep. He really regretted leaving her last night and letting her cry herself to sleep. All he wanted to do was give her space.
His consciousness regained with the feeling of someone hugging him tightly. Subaru could feel someone breathing near his face and also took notice of the texture of someone's hair brush against him.
Opening his eyes slightly revealed Rems blue hair and a little bit of her face. She was so close to him that Subaru couldn't see anything else past her. Rem held onto him tight. Her Oni embrace made it impossible for Subaru to perform the littlest of movements.
Subaru continued to stare at Rem while she slept, unsure of what to do next. When he suddenly noticed Rem's eyes started to open slowly. He felt an uncertain and scared feeling fill his body. He started preparing himself for a strong slap to the face or a knee to the stomach.
To Subaru's unexpected surprise, when Rems eyes fully opened she got closer and kissed him, hugging him tight like he was the only thing that mattered to her. She rolled over on top of him, refusing the break away for air. Continuing to breathe through her nostrils heavily as all her regenerated energy went into a romantic kiss.
Subaru was very glad to see that Rem felt better after her horrible day yesterday. Clearly she had time to think the situation over and know that Subaru loved her more than anything, and under no circumstance would leave her. He started to think Rem cried herself to sleep in regret of how she acted.
"What are you two doing?" Naoko asked while standing by the door.
While checking in on Rem earlier in the morning it would seem that Subaru forgot to close the door on his way in. Rem broke away from Subaru to roll over and hide under the covers. Growing more embarrassed with each passing second.
"Nothing Mom!" Subaru said hastily.
"I hate to interrupt but breakfast is ready. I will let you guys get ready. Don't be too long" Naoko said before she walked out, closing the door behind her.
Rem slithered up from the covers and turned her attention back to Subaru. She needed to get some stuff off her chest. She felt horrible for how she acted yesterday when she got home. Being extremely disappointed with herself for her actions.
"Subaru... I am sorry" Rem said apologetically.
"It's alright Rem. Just promise me from now on that you will not ever think that I like old people, or anybody else that's not you from now on ok?" Subaru asked.
Rem nodded her head in agreement. She was glad to know Subaru forgave her, she hasn't even forgiven herself yet.
As much as Subaru and Rem would want to continue their make out session they had school to attend. So they got ready and went on their way..
When they arrived Subaru and Rem split off at the entrance of the school. Subaru went to homeroom and Rem went to swimming class.
Subaru walked to homeroom ready to tell off his teacher for emailing him that link. He entered the classroom and sat teacher had yet to arrive.
Eventually he walked in and did his normal morning attendance and announcements before walking up to Subaru's desk. He slowly dragged himself there, he was extremely embarrassed at the mistake he made.
"Hey, ummmm. Yeah I sort of got my folders mixed up yesterday, and I gave you the wrong link to one of the colleges" The teacher said apologetically.
"I am aware," Subaru responded.
"Do you like?" The teacher asked.
"No, I don't like!"